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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


LETTERS  OF 

HORACE    WALPOLE 

MRS.  PAGET  TOYNBEE 


HENRY    FROWDE,    M.A. 

PUBLISHER   TO   THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    OXFORD 

LONDON,    EDINBURGH 

NEW    YORK 


Two  hundred  and  sixty  copies  of  this  edition 
have  been  printed  on  hand-made  paper,  of  which 
this  is  Number 


eTUntices 


THE  LETTERS  OF 
HORACE    WALPOLE 


CHRONOLOGICALLY    ARRANGED 

AND    EDITED   WITH    NOTES    AND    INDICES 

BY 

MRS.   PAGET  TOYNBEE 


IN    SIXTEEN    VOLUMES 
WITH    PORTRAITS    AND    FACSIMILES 

VOL.  V:    1760—1764 


OXFORD 

AT    THE    CLARENDON    PRESS 

MDCCCCIV 


OXFORD 

PRINTED    AT   THE   CLARENDON    PRESS 

BY   HORACE   HART,    M.A. 
PRINTER  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY 


CONTENTS   OF   VOL.    V 

PAGES 

LIST  OF  PORTRAITS vi 

LIST  OF  LETTERS  IN  VOLUME  V vii-xii 

LETTERS  721-933  1-454 


LIST    OF   PORTRAITS 


HORACE  WALPOLE    .       .        .       •    ,.  *       •        •    Frontispiece 
From  painting  by  J.  GK  Eckhardt  in  National  Portrait 
Gallery. 

LADY  MARY  COKE To  face  p.  156 

From  a  mezzotint  after  Ramsay. 

Miss  NELLY  O'BRIEN »          „      294 

From  painting  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  in  Hertford  House 
Collection. 

FRANCIS  SEYMOUR  CONWAY,  FIRST  EARL  (after- 
wards FIRST  MARQUIS)  OF  HERTFORD  ...          „      437 

From  painting  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  in  possession  of  the 
Marquis  of  Hertford. 


LIST  OF  LETTERS   IN  VOL.    V 


1760]. 


T 


721  Thursday  [Nov. 

722  Nov.  14,  1760  . 

723  Nov.  24,  1760. 

724  Nov.  27,  1760 . 

725  Dec.  5,  1760  . 

726  Dec.  11,  1760  . 

727  [1760]   .   . 


728  Jan.  2,  1761  .  .  . 

729  Jan.  3,  1761  .  .  . 

730  Jan.  7,  1760  [1761]  . 

731  Jan.  22,  1761  .  .  . 

732  Jan.  27,  1761  .  .  . 

733  Feb.  7,  1761  .  .  . 

734  Feb.  12,  1761  .  .  . 

735  Monday,  five  o'clock, 

Feb.  1761 

736  March  3,  1761  .  . 

737  March  7,  1761  .  . 

738  March  13,  1761  .  . 

739  Friday  night  . 

740  March  17,  1761  .  . 

741  March  17,  1761  .  . 

742  March  21,  1761  .  . 

743  March  25,  1761  .  . 

744  March  [April]  7,  1761. 

745  April  10,  1761  .  . 

746  April  10,  1761  .  . 

747  April  14,  1761  .  . 

748  April  16,  1761  .  . 

749  April  28,  1761  .  . 

750  May  5,  1761    .  .  . 

751  May  14, 1761  .  .  . 

752  May  14,  1761  .  .  . 


1760. 

George  Montagu ....  6% 

Sir  Horace  Mann      .       .       .  697 

George  Montagu ....  698 
Kev.  Henry  Zouch  .  .  .699 

Sir  Horace  Mann       .       .       .  700 

George  Montagu.  .  .  .  701 
Earl  of  Bute. 

1761. 

Sir  Horace  Mann       .      .       .  702 

Rev.  Henry  Zouch    .       .       .  703 

George  Montagu.       .      .      .  646 

George  Montagu ....  704 

Sir  Horace  Mann      .       .       .  705 

George  Montagu.  .  .  .  706 
Lady  Mary  Coke. 

Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway  707 

Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  708 
Rev.  Henry  Zouch  .  .  .710 
George  Montagu.  .  .  .713 
Countess  of  Suffolk  .  .  .719 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .711 
George  Montagu .  .  .  .712 
George  Montagu .  .  .  .714 
George  Montagu ....  715 
George  Montagu ....  709 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  716 
Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway  717 
Sir  David  Dalrymple  .  .  718 
George  Montagu.  .  .  .  720 
George  Montagu ....  721 
George  Montagu.  .  .  .  722 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .723 
George  Montagu ....  724 


Vlll 


List  of  Letters 


T 

758  June  8,  1761  .  .  . 

764  June  18,  1761.  .  . 

765  June  18,  1761.  .  . 

766  July  5,  1761  .  .  . 

767  July  6,  1761  .  .  . 
758  July  9,  1761  .  .  . 
769  July  10,  1761  .  .  . 

760  July  14,  1761 .  .  . 

761  Sunday  [July  19, 1761] 

762  July  20,  1761  .  .  . 

763  July  22,  1761  .  .  . 

764  July  22,  1761  .  .  . 

765  July  28,  1761 .  .  . 

766  July  23,  1761 .  .  . 

767  July  28,  1761  .  .  . 

768  [Aug.  6,  1761]  .  . 

769  Aug.  17,  1761 .  .  . 

770  Aug.  20,  1761.  .  . 

771  Tuesday         morning 

[Sept.  1761] 

772  Sept.  9, 1761  .  .  . 

773  Sept.  10,  1761.  .  . 

774  Sept.  23, 1761.  *;  'i 

775  Sept.  24, 1761.  .  v 

776  Sept.  25,  1761.  .•  V 

777  Sept.  27,  1761.  .  . 

778  Sept.  28,  1761.  .  ., 

779  Oct.  6,  1761     .  .  .' 

780  Oct.  8,  1761     .  .  v» 

781  Oct.  8,  1761    .  .-  * 

782  Oct.  10,1761  .  .  -v 
788  Oct.  10,  1761  .  ..,-•'*; 

784  Oct.  10,  1761  .  ..  :-l 

785  Oct.  12,  1761  .  . .  1; 

786  Oct.  24,  1761  . 

787  Oct.  26,  1761  . 

788  Nov.  7,  1761    . 

789  Nov.  14,  1761.  .'.  '  . 

790  Nov.  28,  1761. 

791  Nov.  28,  1761 .  .  ifi 

792  Nov.  80,  1761.  .  . 

793  Dec.  8,  1761    .  .  . 

794  Dec.  12,  1761  .  .  . 


Lady  Mary  Coke. 
Countess  of  Ailesbury 
George  Montagu . 
George  Montagu . 
Earl  of  Strafford. 
Sir  Horace  Mann 
George  Montagu. 


c 


725 
726 
727 
728 
729 
781 


Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Con  way  780 

Grosvenor  Bedford    .      .      .  782 

Countess  of  Ailesbury     .       .  738 
Earl  of  Strafford.      .      .      .734 

George  Montagu ....  735 

Sir  Horace  Mann      .      .      .  736 

Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Con  way  737 

George  Montagu ....  738 

Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway  739 

Sir  Horace  Mann      .      .      .  740 
George  Montagu .      .      .      .741 

Earl  of  Strafford       ...  742 

Hon.  Henry  Seym  our  Conway  743 

Sir  Horace  Mann      .      .      .  744 

Grosvenor  Bedford    .      .      .  745 

George  Montagu ....  746 

Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway  747 

Countess  of  Ailesbury     .      .  748 

Sir  Horace  Mann      .      .      .  749 

Sir  Horace  Mann      *  •    -.  •    .  750 

George  Montagu.      •'•.-•      .  751 

Sir  Horace  Mann      .      .      .  752 

Sir  Horace  Mann     •  J '    .      .  753 

George  Montagu.  •  •»  •  -v      .  754 

Countess  of  Ailesbury     .      .  755 

Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Con  way  756 

George  Montagu ....  757 

Hon.  Henry  SeymourConway  758 

George  Montagu ....  759 

Sir  Horace  Mann      .      .      .  760 

George  Montagu ....  761 

Countess  of  Ailesbury     .       .  762 

Sir  David  Dalrymple       .       .  763 

George  Montagu ....  764 

Sir  Horace  Mann       .    '  .       ,  765 


List  of  Letters 


IX 


795  Dec.  21,  1761  . 

796  Dec.  23, 1761  . 

797  Dec.  28,  1761  . 

798  Dec.  30,  1761  . 


799  Jan.  4,  1762  .  . 

800  Jan.  26,  1762  .  . 

801  Jan.  29,  1762  .  . 

802  Feb.  2,  1762  .  . 

803  Feb.  6,  1762  .  . 

804  Feb.  7,  1762  .  . 

805  Feb.  13,  1762  .  . 

806  Feb.  15,  1762  .  . 

807  Feb.  22,  1762  .  . 

808  Feb.  24,  1762  .  . 

809  Feb.  25,  1762  .  . 

810  Feb.  25,  1762  .  . 

811  March  5,  1762 

812  March  9,  1762 

813  March  20,  1762  . 

814  March  22,  1762  . 

815  March  22,  1762  . 

816  April  13,  1762 
817f  April  20,  1762 

818  April  29,  1762 

819  April  30,  1762 

820  May  14,  1762  .  . 

821  May  20,  1762  .  . 

822  May  25,  1762  .  . 

823  May  26,  1762  .  . 

824  June  8,  1762  .  . 

825  June  20,  1762.  . 

826  June  30,  1762.  . 

827  Wednesday  night. 

828  July  1,  1762  .  . 

829  July  29,  1762  .  . 

830  July  31,  1762.  . 

831  July  31,  1762  .  . 

832  Aug.  5,  1762  .  . 

833  Aug.  5,  1762  .  . 

834  Aug.  10,  1762.  . 


c 

Sir  David  Dalrymple 

.     766 

George  Montagu  . 

.     767 

Sir  Horace  Mann 

.     768 

George  Montagu  . 

.     769 

1762. 

Sir  Horace  Maim 

.     770 

George  Montagu  . 

.     771 

Sir  Horace  Mann 

.     772 

George  Montagu  . 

.     773 

George  Montagu  . 

.     774 

Rev.  William  Cole     . 

.     775 

Rev.  Henry  Zouch     . 

.     776 

Earl  of  Bute  .... 

777 

George  Montagu  . 

.     778 

Dr.  Ducarel  .... 

779 

Sir  Horace  Mann 

.     780 

George  Montagu  . 

.     781 

Countess  of  Ailesbury 

.     782 

George  Montagu  . 

.     783 

Rev.  Henry  Zouch     . 

.     784 

Sir  Horace  Mann 

.     785 

George  Montagu  . 

.     786 

Sir  Horace  Mann 

.     787 

Earl  of  Egremont  (?). 

George  Montagu  . 

.     788 

Sir  Horace  Mann 

.     789 

George  Montagu  . 

.     790 

Rev.  William  Cole     . 

.     791 

George  Montagu  . 

.     792 

Sir  Horace  Mann 

.     793 

George  Montagu  . 

.     795 

Sir  Horace  Mann 

.     7% 

Lady  Mary  Coke. 

George  Montagu  . 

.     794 

Sir  Horace  Mann 

.     797 

Rev.  William  Cole    . 

.     798 

Countess  of  Ailesbury     . 

.     799 

Sir  Horace  Mann 

.     800 

Earl  of  Strafford  . 

.     801 

Rev.  William  Cole    . 

.     802 

George  Montagu  . 

.     803 

•f  Now  printed  for  the  first  time. 


List  of  Letters 


835 

Aug.  12,  1762  . 

836 

Aug.  19,  1762. 

837 

Aug.  21,  1762. 

. 

838 

Aug.  29,  1762. 

839 

Sept.  9,  1762  . 

840 

Sept.  9,  1762  . 

841 

Sept.  24,  1762. 

842 

Sept.  24,  1762  . 

843 

Sept.  26,  1762. 

844 

Sept.  28,  1762  . 

845 

Sept.  30,  1762. 

. 

846 

Oct.  1,  1762  . 

. 

847 

Oct.  3,  1762  . 

848 

Oct.  4,  1762  . 

849 

Oct.  14,  1762  . 

850 

Oct.  20,  1762  . 

. 

851 

Oct.  29,  1762  . 

852 

Oct.  31,  1762  . 

853 

Nov.  4  [1762]  . 

854 

Nov.  9,  1762  . 

855 

Nov.  13,  1762  . 

856 

Nov.  21,  1762  . 

, 

857 

Nov.  22,  1762  . 

. 

858 

Nov.  30,  1762  . 

, 

859 

Dec.  20,  1762  . 

f 

860 

Dec.  20,  1762  . 

861 

Dec.  23,  1762  . 

». 

862 

Jan.  28,  1763  . 

863 

Feb.  28,  1763  . 

•j 

864 

March  4,  1763 

v 

865 

March  14,  1763 

v 

866 

March  16,  1763 

. 

867 

March  16,  1763 

^' 

868 

March  25,  1763 

. 

869 

April  6,  1763  . 

•  .• 

870f 

[April  1763]  . 

\ 

871 

Friday  night,  late 

872 

April  10,  1763 

, 

873 

April  14,  1763 

•  » 

874f  [April  1763]  .   . 

C 

Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  804 
Rev.  William  Cole  .  .  .805 
Rev.  Thomas  Warton  .  .  806 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  807 
Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway  808 
Grosvenor  Bedford  ...  809 
Grosvenor  Bedford  .  .  .  810 
George  Montagu ....  815 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  816 
Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway  817 
Rev.  William  Cole  .  .  *.  818 
Lady  Hervey  ....  819 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .820 
Hon.  HenrySeymourConway  821 
George  Montagu ....  822 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  823 
Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway  824 
Lady  Hervey  ....  825 
George  Montagu ....  826 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .827 
Rev.  William  Cole  .  .  .828 
Henry  Fox  .  .  .  .  .830 
Earl  of  Oxford  .  ,.  .  .  831 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  833 
George  Montagu ....  832 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  834 
Rev.  William  Cole  ...  835 

1763. 

Sir  Horace  Mann      .       .       .     836 
Hon.  HenrySeymourConway    837 
Sir  Horace  Mann       .       .       .     838 
Earl  of  Bute. 
Earl  of  Bute. 
Viscount  Nuneham. 
George  Montagu . 
George  Montagu . 


George  Montagu. 
Sir  Horace  Mann 
George  Montagu . 
Contessa  Rena. 
f  Now  printed  for  the  first  time. 


839 
840 

841 

842 
843 


List  of  Letters 


XI 


875  April  22,  1763  .  . 

876  April  30,  1763  .  . 

877  May  1,1763    .  .  . 

878  May  2,  1763    .  .  . 

879  May  6,  1763     .  .  . 

880  May  10,  1768  .  .  . 

881  May  16,  1763  .  .  . 

882  May  17,  1763  .  .  . 

883  May  21,  1763  .  .  . 

884  Saturday  evening 

[May  28,  1763] 

885  May  30,  1763  .  .  . 

886  June  5,  1763   . 

887  June  16,  1763.  .  . 

888  June  30,  1763.  .  . 

889  July  1,  1763    .  .  . 

890  July  1,  1763    .  .  . 

891  July  1,  1763    .  .  . 

892  July  10,  1763  .  .  . 

893  July  12,  1768  .  .  . 

894  [July  1763]     .  .  . 

895  July  23,  1763.  .  . 

896  July  25,  1763  .  .  . 

897  Aug.  8,  1763  .  .  . 

898  Aug.  8,  1763   .  .  . 

899  Aug.  9,  1763  .  .  . 

900  Aug.  10,  1763 .  .  . 

901  Aug.  11,1763.  .  . 

902  Aug.  15,  1763.  .  . 

903  Sept.  1,  1763  .  .  . 

904  Sept.  3,  1763  .  .  . 

905  Sept.  7,  1763  .  .  . 

906  Sept.  7, 1763   .  .  . 

907  Sept.  13,  1768.  .  . 

908  Oct.  3,  1763     .  .  . 

909  Oct.  8,  1763     .  .  . 

910  Oct.  17,  1763  .  .  . 

911  Oct.  18,  1763  .  .  . 

912  Nov.  12,  1763  .  .  . 

913  Nov.  17,  1763  .  .  . 

914  Nov.  17,  1763.  . 

915  Nov.  20,  1763.  .  . 

916  Nov.  25,  1763  .  .  . 


George  Montagu.  .  .  .  844 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  845 
Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway  846 
Sir  David  Dalrymple  .  .847 
Hon.  Henry  Seym  our  Con  way  848 
Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  849 
Rev.  William  Cole  ...  850 
George  Montagu.  .  .  .851 
Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway  852 

Hon.  Heniy  Seymour  Conway  853 

George  Montagu ....  854 

Sir  Horace  Mann       .       .       .  855 

George  Montagu ....  856 

Sir  Horace  Maun      .       .       .  857 

George  Montagu ....  858 

Sir  David  Dalrymple       .       .  859 

Rev.  William  Cole    .       .       .  860 
Bishop  of  Carlisle. 
Rev.  William  Cole     .       .       .861 

Rev.  William  Cole    .       .       .  862 

George  Montagu ....  863 

George  Montagu ....  864 

Rev.  William  Cole    ...  865 

Dr.  Ducarel 866 

Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway  867 
Earl  of  Strafford.  .  .  .868 

Sir  Horace  Mann       .       .       .  869 

George  Montagu.       .       .       .  870 

Sir  Horace  Mann       .       .       .  871 

George  Montagu ....  872 

George  Montagu.       .       .       .  873 

Hon.  George  Grenville    .       .  874 

Sir  Horace  Mann       .       .       .  875 

George  Montagu ....  876 
Rev.  William  Cole  .  .  .877 

Sir  Horace  Mann  .  .  .  878 
Earl  of  Hertford.  .  .  .879 

George  Montagu ....  880 

Earl  of  Hertford.       ...  881 

Sir  Horace  Mann       .       .       .  882 

George  Montagu.       .       .       .  883 

Earl  of  Hertford.       .              .  884 


xii  List  of  Letters 

T  C 

917  Dec.  2,  1763    .  .       •  Earl  of  Hertford .  ...     885 

918  Dec.  6,  1763    .  .       .  Rev.  William  Cole  .       .       .886 

919  Dec.  9,  1768    .,  ,     •=.  Earl  of  Hertford .  ...     887 

920  Dec.  10,  1763  .  <.«-.'"  Miss  Anne  Pitt. 

921  Dec.  12,  1763  ...  Sir  Horace  Mann  .       .       .     888 

922  Dec.  16,  1763.  .       .  Earl  of  Hertford .  ...     889 

923  Dec.  29,  1763.  .       .  Earl  of  Hertford .  ...     890 

924  Dec.  29,  1763  .  .       .  Rev.  William  Mason .       .       .     891 

1764. 

925  Jan.  8,  1764    ...  Sir  Horace  Mann  .       .       .892 

926  Jan.  11,  1764.  .       .  George  Montagu .  .       .       .893 

927  Jan.  18,  1764  .  .       .  Sir  Horace  Mann  .       .       .894 

928  Jan.  22,  1764  .  .       .  Earl  of  Hertford .  .       .       .895 

929  [Jan.  1764]     .  .       .  Countess  Temple  .       .       .     896 

930  Jan.  28,  1764  .  .       .  Countess  Temple  .       .       .897 

931  Jan.  81,  1764  .  .       .  Rev.  William  Cole  .       .       .     898 

932  Jan.  81,  1764  .  .       .  Sir  David  Dalrymple       .       .     900 

933  Feb.  6,  1764    .  .       .  Earl  of  Hertford .  ...     901 


ERRATUM 

P.  432,  line  4  from  below,  for  'your  brother  General'  read  'your 
brother  [the]  General.' 


THE  LETTERS 


OF 


HORACE   WALPOLE 


721.    To  GEOSGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Thursday  [1760]. 

As  a  codicil  to  my  last  letter,  I  send  you  the  Bed- 
chamber: there  are  to  be  eighteen  Lords  and  thirteen 
Grooms ;  all  the  late  King's  remain,  but  your  cousin 
Manchester1,  Lord  Falconberg,  Lord  Essex,  and  Lord 
Hyndford,  replaced  by  the  Duke  of  Eichmond,  Lord  Wey- 
mouth,  Lord  March,  and  Lord  Eglinton 2 ;  the  last  at  the 
earnest  request  of  the  Duke  of  York.  Instead  of  Clavering, 
Nassau,  and  General  Campbell,  who  is  promised  something 
else,  Lord  Northampton's  brother 8  and  Commodore  Keppel 
are  Grooms.  When  it  was  oifered  to  the  Duke  of  Kich- 
mond,  he  said  he  could  not  accept  it,  unless  something 
was  done  for  Colonel  Keppel,  for  whom  he  has  interested 
himself;  that  it  would  look  like  sacrificing  Keppel  to 
his  own  views:  this  was  handsome.  Keppel  is  to  be 
Equerry. 

Princess  Amelia  goes  everywhere,  as  she  calls  it ;  she 
was  on  Monday  at  Lady  Holderness's,  and  next  Monday 
is  to  be  at  Bedford  House  ;  but  there  is  only  the  late  King's 

LETTER    721. — 1  Robert    Montagu         3  Hon.    Spencer   Compton   (173S- 

(circ.  1710-1762),  third  Duke  of  Man-  1796),  brother  of  seventh    Earl    of 

Chester.  Northampton,  whom  he  succeeded 

2  Alexander  Montgomerie  (d.  1770),  in  1763. 
tenth  Earl  of  Eglinton. 


WALPOLE.  v 


2  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i760 

set,  and  the  court  of  Bedford :  so  she  makes  the  houses  of 
other  people  as  trist  as  St.  James's  was.     Good  night. 

Not  a  word  more  of  the  King  of  Prussia :  did  you  ever 
know  a  victory  mind  the  wind  so  ? 


722.    To  SIR  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  14,  1760. 

I  AM  vexed,  for  I  find  that  the  first  packet-boat  that 
sailed  after  the  death  of  the  King  was  taken  by  the  French, 
and  the  mail  thrown  overboard.  Some  of  the  parcels  were 
cast  on  shore,  but  I  don't  know  whether  they  were  legible, 
or  whether  the  letter  I  had  written  to  you  was  among  them, 
and  is  got  to  you.  It  must  be  very  irksome  to  you  not  to 
hear  from  me  on  that  occasion  ;  and  it  is  particularly  so  to 
me,  as  I  had  given  you  all  the  satisfaction  imaginable  that 
you  would  be  safe.  This  is  of  much  more  consequence 
than  the  particulars  of  the  news.  I  repeat  it  now,  but 
I  cannot  bear  to  think  that  you  feel  any  anxiety  so  long. 
Everything  remains  so  much  in  the  same  situation,  that 
there  is  no  probability  of  your  being  removed.  I  have 
since  given  you  a  hint  of  purchasing  medals,  antiquities,  or 
pictures  for  the  King.  I  would  give  much  to  be  sure  those 
letters  had  reached  you.  Then,  there  is  a  little  somebody 
of  a  German  prince,  through  whose  acre  the  post-road  lies, 
and  who  has  quarrelled  with  the  Dutch  about  a  halfpenny- 
worth of  postage  ;  if  he  has  stopped  my  letters,  I  shall  wish 
that  some  frow  may  have  emptied  her  pail  and  drowned  his 
dominions !  There  is  a  murmur  of  Mr.  Mackenzie *  being 
Vice-Chamberlain,  — I  trust  you  have  been  very  well  with 
him ;  I  am  so  connected  with  the  Campbells 2  that  I  can 

LETTER  722.  —  *  James  Stewart  2  Not  only  Lady  Ailesbury  was 
Mackenzie,  brother  of  Lord  Bute.  a  Campbell,  but  Lady  Strafford, 
Walpole.  sister  of  Lady  Eliz.  Mackenzie,  was 


1760]  To  George  Montagu  3 

increase  it.  Why  should  not  you  write  to  him  to  offer  your 
services  for  any  commissions  in  virtu  that  the  King  may  be 
pleased  to  give  ? 

Lord  Huntingdon s  remains  Master  of  the  Horse ;  nothing 
else  is  decided  yet.  The  changes  in  the  Household,  and 
those  few,  will  constitute  almost  all  the  revolution.  The 
King  seems  the  most  amiable  young  man  in  the  world  ; 
you  may  trust  me,  who  am  not  apt  to  be  the  Humorous 
Lieutenant 4  and  fall  in  love  with  Majesty. 

We  are  all  in  guns  and  bonfires  for  an  unexpected  victory 
of  the  King  of  Prussia  over  Daun  ;  but  as  no  particulars 
are  yet  arrived,  there  are  doubters.  The  courier  comes 
so  exactly  in  cadence  with  the  intended  meeting  of  the 
Parliament,  having  set  out  before  the  late  King's  death 
could  be  known,  that  some  people  are  disposed  to  believe  it 
is  a  dispatch  to  the  City,  which  he  meant  to  take  by  surprise 
sooner  than  he  will  Dresden. 

I  make  this  a  short  letter,  for  I  could  only  repeat  the 
contents  of  my  two  last,  which  I  have  forgot,  and  which 
I  will  flatter  myself  you  have  received.  Adieu  ! 

723.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Monday,  Nov.  24,  1760. 

UNLESS  I  were  to  send  you  journals,  lists,  catalogues, 
computations  of  the  bodies,  tides,  swarms  of  people  that  go 
to  court  to  present  addresses,  or  to  be  presented,  I  can  tell 
you  nothing  new.  The  day  the  King  went  to  the  House, 
I  was  three-quarters  of  an  hour  getting  through  Whitehall : 
there  were  subjects  enough  to  set  up  half  a  dozen  petty 
kings.  The  Pretender  would  be  proud  to  reign  over  the 

a  Campbell,  and  wife  of  the  Earl  of  ingdon.     Walpole. 

Strafford,  one  of  Mr.  Walpole's  par-  *  A  play  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher, 

ticular  friends.     Walpole.  Walpole. 
8  Francis  Hastings,  Earl  of  Hunt- 

B  2 


4  To  George  Montagu  [1760 

footmen  only — and,  indeed,  unless  he  acquires  some  of 
them,  he  will  have  no  subjects  left :  all  their  masters  flock 
to  St.  James's.  The  palace  is  so  thronged,  that  I  will  stay 
till  some  people  are  discontented.  The  first  night  the  King 
went  to  the  play,  which  was  civilly  on  a  Friday,  not  on  the 
opera-night,  as  he  used  to  do,  the  whole  audience  sung  God 
save  the  King  in  chorus.  For  the  first  act,  the  press  was 
so  great  at  the  door,  that  no  ladies  could  get  to  the  boxes  ; 
and  only  the  servants  appeared  there,  who  kept  places.  At 
the  end  of  the  second  the  whole  mob  broke  in,  and  seated 
themselves.  Yet  all  this  zeal  is  not  likely  to  last,  though 
he  so  well  deserves  it.  Seditious  papers  are  again  stuck 
up :  one  t'other  day  in  Westminster  Hall  declared  against 
a  Saxe-Gothan  Princess.  The  Archbishop,  who  is  never 
out  of  the  Drawing-room,  has  great  hopes,  from  the  King's 
goodness,  that  he  shall  make  something  of  him — that  is, 
something  bad  of  him.  On  the  Address,  Pitt  and  his  zany 
Beckford  quarrelled,  on  the  latter's  calling  the  campaign 
languid.  What  is  become  of  our  magnanimous  ally  and 
his  victory,  I  know  not.  In  eleven  days  no  courier  was 
arrived  from  him ;  but  I  have  been  here  these  two  days, 
perfectly  indifferent  about  his  magnanimity.  I  am  come  to 
put  my  Anecdotes  of  Painting  into  the  press.  You  are 
one  of  the  few  that  I  expect  will  be  entertained  with  it.  It 
has  warmed  Gray's  coldness  so  much,  that  he  is  violent 
about  it — in  truth,  there  is  an  infinite  quantity  of  new  and 
curious  things  about  it ;  but  as  it  is  quite  foreign  from  all 
popular  topics,  I  don't  suppose  it  will  be  much  attended  to. 
There  is  not  a  word  of  Methodism  in  it,  it  says  nothing  of 
the  disturbances  in  Ireland,  it  does  not  propose  to  keep  all 
Canada,  it  neither  flatters  the  King  of  Prussia  nor  Prince 
Ferdinand,  it  does  not  say  that  the  City  of  London  are  the 
wisest  set  of  men  in  the  world,  it  is  silent  about  George 
Townshend,  and  does  not  abuse  my  Lord  George  Sackville — 


I76o]  To  George  Montagu  5 

how  should  it  please  ?  I  want  you  to  help  me  in  a  little 
affair  that  regards  it.  I  have  found  in  a  MS.  that  in  the 
church  of  Beckley1,  or  Becksley,  in  Sussex,  there  are 
portraits  on  glass,  in  a  window,  of  Henry  the  Third  and 
his  Queen.  I  have  looked  in  the  map,  and  find  the  first 
name  between  Bodiham  and  Eye,  but  I  am  not  sure  it  is 
the  place.  I  will  be  much  obliged  to  you  if  you  will  write 
directly  to  your  Sir  Whistler2,  and  beg  him  to  inform 
himself  very  exactly  if  there  is  any  such  thing  in  such  a 
church  near  Bodiham.  Pray  state  it  minutely,  because  if 
there  is,  I  will  have  them  drawn  for  the  frontispiece  to 
my  work s. 

Did  I  tell  you  that  the  Archbishop  tried  to  hinder  The 
Minor  from  being  played  at  Drury  Lane?  For  once 
the  Duke  of  Devonshire  was  firm,  and  would  only  let  him 
correct  some  passages,  and  even  of  those  the  Duke  has 
restored  some.  One  that  the  prelate  effaced  was,  'You 
snub-nosed  son  of  a  bitch.'  Foote  says  he  will  take  out 
a  licence  to  preach,  Sam.  Cant  against  Tom  Cant. 

The  first  volume  of  Voltaire's  Peter  the  Great  is 
arrived,  I  weep  over  it !  It  is  as  languid  as  the  campaign ; 
he  is  grown  old.  He  boasts  of  the  materials  communicated 
to  him  by  the  Czarina's  order — but,  alas  I  he  need  not  be 
proud  of  them.  They  only  serve  to  show  how  much  worse 
he  writes  history  with  materials  than  without.  Besides,  it 
is  evident  how  much  that  authority  has  cramped  his  genius. 
I  had  heard  before,  that  when  he  sent  the  work  to  Peters- 
burgh  for  imperial  approbation,  it  was  returned  with  orders 
to  increase  the  panegyric.  I  wish  he  had  acted  like  a  very 

LETTER    723.  —  *   Bexhill    is    the         2  Sir    Whistler    Webster,  second 

place  referred  to.     The  window  was  Baronet,   of  Battle  Abbey,   Sussex ; 

in  1774  presented  to  Horace  Walpole  d.  1779. 

by    Lord    Ashburnham,    and    was         3  The  portraits  were  engraved  as 

placed  in  the  chapel  at  Strawberry  a  frontispiece  to  the  first   volume 

HilL  of  the  Anecdotes  of  Painting. 


6  To  the  Rev.  Henry  Zouch  [i760 

inferior  author :  Knyphausen  once  hinted  to  me  that  I 
might  have  some  authentic  papers,  if  I  was  disposed  to 
write  the  life  of  his  master 4 — but  I  did  not  care  for  what 
would  lay  me  under  such  restrictions.  It  is  not  fair  to  use 
weapons  against  the  persons  that  lend  them — and  I  do  not 
admire  his  master  enough  to  commend  anything  in  him 
but  his  military  actions.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

724.    To  THE  REV.  HENKY  ZOUCH. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  27,  1760. 

You  are  extremely  kind,  Sir,  in  remembering  the  little 
commission  I  troubled  you  with.  As  I  am  in  great  want  of 
some  more  painted  glass  to  finish  a  window  in  my  round 
tower,  I  should  be  glad,  though  it  may  not  be  a  Pope,  to 
have  the  piece  you  mentioned,  if  it  can  be  purchased 
reasonably. 

My  Lucan  is  finished,  but  will  not  be  published  till  after 
Christmas,  when  I  hope  you  will  do  me  the  favour  of  accepting 
one,  and  let  me  know  how  I  shall  convey  it.  The  A  necdotes 
of  Painting  have  succeeded  to  the  press :  I  have  finished 
two  volumes  ;  but  as  there  will  at  least  be  a  third,  I  am  not 
determined  whether  I  shall  not  wait  to  publish  the  whole 
together.  You  will  be  surprised,  I  think,  to  see  what 
a  quantity  of  materials  the  industry  of  one  man  (Vertue) 
could  amass!  and  how  much  he  retrieved  at  this  late 
period.  I  hear  of  nothing  new  likely  to  appear  ;  all  the 
world  is  taken  up  in  penning  Addresses,  or  in  presenting 
them ;  and*  the  approaching  elections  will  occupy  the 
thoughts  of  men  so  much  that  an  author  could  not  appear 
at  a  worse  era. 

4  Frederick  the  Great. 


1760]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann 


725.    To  SIB  HOB  ACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  5,  1760. 

WHEN  I  mentioned  the  brocadella  two  or  three  times 
to  you,  it  was  not  from  impatience  for  the  patterns,  but 
because  I  thought  my  first  letter  about  them  had  mis- 
carried. 

I  have  now  received  the  samples,  but  they  are  so  small 
that  I  cannot  form  any  judgement  of  the  pattern.  I  will 
beg  you  to  follow  your  own  method,  and  send  me  some 
pieces  by  the  first  person  that  will  bring  them,  that  is, 
a  quarter  of  a  yard  or  thereabouts  of  each ;  but  they  must 
be  of  three  colours.  I  am  sure  I  remember  such  at  Florence, 
particularly  at  Madame  Kinuncini's  or  Madame  Eicardi's, 
I  think  the  former's ;  it  was  in  a  bedchamber  where  she 
saw  company  when  she  was  with  child.  Of  two  colours 
they  make  them  here  very  well,  but  they  cannot  arrive 
at  three.  I  do  not  approve  damask  at  all,  for  as  there 
will  be  no  pictures  in  the  chamber,  nothing  is  more  trist 
than  a  single  colour. 

Don't  think  I  took  ill  your  giving  away  my  books :  I  had 
really  forgot  them ;  you  shall  certainly  have  another  set, 
and  one  for  Lady  Mary  Wortley1,  who  scolded  me  by 
Stosch.  I  shall  send  you  a  curious  pamphlet,  the  only 
work  I  almost  ever  knew  that  changed  the  opinions  of 
many.  It  is  called  Considerations  on  the  present  German 
War,  and  is  written  by  a  wholesale  woollen-draper 2 ;  but 
the  materials  are  supposed  to  be  furnished  by  the  faction 
of  the  Yorkes.  The  confirmation  of  the  King  of  Prussia's 
victory  near  Torgau  does  not  prevent  the  disciples  of  the 

LETTER  725. — l  The  famous  Lady          2  Isaac  Manduifc.  Walpole. — Israel 
Mary   Wortley  Montagu,  who.  was      (not  Isaac)  Mauduit  (1708-1787). 
then  in  Italy.     Walpole. 


8  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1760 

pamphlet  from  thinking  that  the  best  thing  which  could 
happen  for  us  would  be  to  have  that  monarch's  head  shot 
off.  There  are  letters  from  the  Hague,  that  say  Daun  is 
dead8  of  his  wounds.  If  he  is,  I  shall  begin  to  believe 
that  the  King  of  Prussia  will  end  successfully  at  last.  It 
has  been  the  fashion  to  cry  down  Daun ;  but,  as  much 
as  the  King  of  Prussia  may  admire  himself,  I  dare  say  he 
would  have  been  glad  to  have  been  matched  with  one  much 
more  like  himself  than  one  so  opposite  as  the  Marshal. 

I  have  heard  nothing  lately  of  Stosch,  and  am  told  he 
has  been  ill  at  Salisbury.  This  climate  is  apt  to  try  foreign 
constitutions.  Elisi,  the  first  singer,  cannot  get  rid  of  a 
fever,  and  has  not  appeared  yet.  The  comic  opera  pleases 
extremely;  the  woman  Paganini  has  more  applause  than 
I  almost  ever  remember ;  every  song  she  sings  is  encored. 

I  have  little  to  tell  you  more  of  the  new  reign.  The 
King  is  good  and  amiable  in  everything  he  does,  and 
seems  to  have  no  view  but  of  contenting  all  the  world ; 
but  that  is  not  just  the  most  attainable  point.  I  will  tell 
you  a  bon  mot  of  a  Mrs.  Hardinge,  a  physician's  wife — and 
a  bon  mot  very  often  paints  truly  the  history  or  manners 
of  the  times.  She  says,  it  is  a  great  question  what  the 
King  is  to  burn  in  his  chamber,  whether  Scotch-coal  *,  New- 
castle-coal, or  Pitt-coaL  The  Bedchamber,  I  was  going  to 
say,  is  settled,  but  there  are  additions  made  to  it  every 
day ;  there  are  already  twenty  Lords  and  seventeen  Grooms. 
To  the  King's  own  set  are  added  all  the  late  King's,  but 
Lord  Hyndford,  Lord  Essex,  the  Duke  of  Manchester,  and 
Lord  Falconberg ;  added,  are  the  Duke  of  Eichmond,  Lord 
Weymouth,  Lord  March,  and  Lord  Eglinton;  and,  since 
that,  two  Tory  Lords,  Oxford8  and  Bruce 6.  General  Camp- 

8  He  was   dangerously  wounded,  6  Edward     Harley    (1726  -  1790). 

but  lived  until  1766.  fourth  Earl  of  Oxford. 

4  Alluding  to  Lord  Bute,  the  Duke  •  Afterwards  Earl  of  Ailesbury. 
of  Newcastle,  and  Mr.  Pitt.    Walpole. 


1760]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  9 

bell,  Mr.  Nassau,  and  Mr.  Clavering  are  omitted;  Mr. 
Compton,  and  I  forget  who,  are  new  Grooms,  with  three 
Tories,  Norbonne  Berkeley,  George  Pitt,  whom  you  re- 
member, and  Northey.  Worsley,  Madame  Suares'  old 
cicisbeo,  is  made  Surveyor  of  the  Board  of  Works ;  he  was 
this  King's  Equerry,  and  passes  for  having  a  taste  for 
architecture,  of  which  I  told  you  the  King  was  fond.  Lord 
Rochford  is  amply  indemnified  by  a  pension  on  Ireland  of 
two  thousand  a  year.  Of  a  Queen,  the  talk  is  dropped ; 
and  no  other  change  is  likely  to  be  made  yet.  We  have 
already  been  in  danger  of  losing  this  charming  young  King ; 
his  horse  threw  him  the  day  before  yesterday,  and  bruised 
his  head  and  shoulder ;  with  difficulty  they  made  him  be 
blooded.  He  immediately  wrote  to  the  Princess  that  she 
might  not  be  frightened,  and  was  well  enough  to  go  to 
the  play  at  night. 

Thank  you  for  your  kindness  to  Mr.  Strange ;  if  he  still 
persists  in  his  principles,  he  will  be  strangely  unfashion- 
able at  his  return.  I,  who  could  make  great  allowances 
in  the  last  reign,  cannot  forgive  anybody  being  a  Jacobite 
now. 

As  you  have  a  print  of  my  eagle,  I  will  be  obliged  to 
you  if  you  will  employ  anybody  at  Eome  to  pick  me  up 
an  altar  as  like  to  the  pedestal  of  the  eagle  as  they  can. 
I  don't  insist  upon  an  exact  resemblance ;  but  should  like 
it  to  be  pretty  much  of  the  same  height  and  size :  it  is  for 
my  Vespasian,  which  is  to  answer  the  eagle  in  a  recess  in 
my  approaching  gallery.  Adieu ! 

P.S.  As  I  was  going  to  seal  my  letter,  the  post  brought 
me  one  from  Stosch,  who  is  at  the  Bath,  and  says  he  shall 
be  in  town  in  a  month.  The  secret  expedition  is  beating 
about  off  Portsmouth. 


10  To  George  Montagu  [i?6o 


726.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  11,  1760. 

I  THANK  you  for  the  inquiries  about  the  painted  glass, 
and  shall  be  glad  if  I  prove  to  be  in  the  right. 

There  is  not  much  of  new  to  tell  you ;  and  yet  there 
is  much  dissatisfaction.  The  Duke  of  Newcastle  has 
threatened  to  resign  on  the  appointment  of  Lord  Oxford 
and  Lord  Bruce  without  his  knowledge.  His  court  rave 
about  Tories,  which  you  know  conies  with  a  singular  grace 
from  them,  as  the  Duke  never  preferred  any — Murray, 
Lord  Gower,  Sir  John  Cotton,  Jack  Pitt,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.,  were 
all  firm  Whigs.  But  it  is  unpardonable  to  put  an  end  to 
all  faction,  when  it  is  not  for  factious  purposes.  Lord 
Fitzmaurice  *,  made  aide-de-camp  to  the  King,  has  disgusted 
the  army.  The  Duke  of  Richmond,  whose  brother2  has 
no  more  been  put  over  others  than  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 
has  preferred  Tories,  has  presented  a  warm  memorial  in 
a  warmer  manner,  and  has  resigned  the  Bedchamber,  not 
his  regiment — another  propriety. 

Propriety  is  so  much  in  fashion,  that  Miss  Chudleigh 
has  called  for  the  council  books  of  the  subscription  concert, 
and  has  struck  out  the  name  of  Mrs.  Naylor — I  have  some 
thoughts  of  remonstrating  that  General  Waldegrave  is  too 
lean  to  be  a  Groom  of  the  Bedchamber. 

Mr.  Chute  has  sold  his  house  to  Miss  Speed3  for  3,000?., 
and  has  taken  one  for  a  year  in  Berkeley  Square. 

LETTER    726.  —  l    William    Petty  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Southern 

(1737-1805),    Viscount    Fitzmaurice,  Province,    1766-68 ;    Foreign  Secre- 

eldest  son  of  first  Earl  of  Shelburne,  tary,  1782  ;  First  Lord  of  the  Trea- 

whom    he  succeeded    in    1761 ;    cr.  sury  (Prime  Minister),  1782-83. 

Marquis  of  Lansdowne,   1784.     En-  2  Lord  George  Lennox, 

tered  the  army  in   1758,   and  was  3  Henrietta  Jane  (d.  1783),  daugh- 

present  at  the  battle  of  Minden  and  ter  of  Colonel  Samuel    Speed  ;    m. 

at  the  affair  of  Kampen ;  President  (1761)  Baron  de  la  Peyrifere,  after- 

of  the    Board    of  Trade,    1762-63 ;  wards  Comte  de  Viry.     She  resided 


1760]  To  the  Earl  of  Bute  11 

This  is  a  very  brief  letter;  I  fear  this  reign  will  soon 
furnish  longer.  When  the  last  King  could  be  beloved, 
a  young  man  with  a  good  heart  has  little  chance  of  being 
so.  Moreover,  I  have  a  maxim,  that  the  extinction  of  party 
is  the  origin  of  faction.  Good  night ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

727.    To  THE  EAEL  OP  BUTE. 

MY  LORD, 

Having  heard  that  his  Majesty  was  curious  about  his 
pictures,  I  recollected  some  catalogues  of  the  royal  collections 
which  I  had  a  little  share  in  publishing  some  years  ago. 
I  dare  not  presume  to  offer  them  to  his  Majesty  myself; 
but  I  take  the  liberty  of  sending  them  to  your  Lordship, 
that,  if  you  should  think  they  may  contribute  to  his 
Majesty's  information  or  amusement,  they  may  come  to  his 
hand  more  properly  from  your  Lordship  than  they  could 
do  from  me.  I  have  added  some  notes  that  illustrate  a  few 
particulars. 

Having  dabbled  a  good  deal  in  this  kind  of  things,  if 
there  is  any  point  in  which  I  could  be  of  use  to  your 
Lordship  for  his  Majesty's  satisfaction,  I  should  be  very 
ready  and  happy  to  employ  my  little  knowledge  or  pains. 
And  permit  me  to  say,  my  Lord,  your  Lordship  cannot 
command  anybody  who  will  execute  your  orders  more  cheer- 
fully or  more  disinterestedly,  or  that  will  trouble  you  less 
with  any  solicitations :  an  explanation  which  even  esteem 
and  sincerity  are  forced  to  make  to  one  in  your  Lordship's 
situation.  The  mere  love  of  the  arts,  and  the  joy  of  seeing 

for  many  years  with  her   relative,  •was  written  after  a  call  made  upon 

Lady  Cobham,   whose  country  seat  him  by  herself  and  a  friend. 

was  the  Manor  House,  Stoke  Poges.  LETTER  727. — Not  in  C. ;  reprinted 

Here  she  made  the  acquaintance  of  from  Lord  Orford's   Works,  voL  ii. 

Thomas  Gray.     She  was  one  of  the  pp.  376-7. 

heroines  of  his  Long  Story,  which 


12  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?6l 

on  the  throne  a  prince  of  taste,  are  my  only  inducements 
for  offering  my  slender  services.  I  know  myself  too  well 
to  think  I  can  ever  be  of  any  use  but  as  a  virtuoso  and 
antiquarian  ;  a  character  I  should  formerly  have  called  very 
insignificant;  though  now  my  pride,  since  his  Majesty 
vouchsafes  to  patronize  the  arts,  and  your  Lordship  has 
the  honour  to  countenance  genius,  a  rank  of  which  at  most 
I  can  be  but  an  admirer. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  &c., 
HOB.  WALPOLE. 


728.    To  SIB  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  2,  1761. 

I  NEVER  was  so  rich  in  letters  from  you  before ;  I  have 
received  four  packets  at  once  this  morning — there  had 
been  thirteen  mails  due.  It  is  supposed  that  the  packet- 
boats  were  afraid  of  French  privateers,  who  swarmed  about 
the  Dutch  coast,  believing  that  the  late  King's  jewels  were 
coming  over.  I  have  not  yet  received  the  letter  by  Prince 
San  Severino's 1  courier ;  but,  as  you  mention  the  fans  in 
a  subsequent  dispatch,  I  shall  immediately  provide  them ; 
but,  as  the  packets  have  been  detained  so  long,  I  fear 
any  courier  to  Mr.  Mackenzie  must  be  departed  some  time : 
I  shall  send  them  by  sea,  with  the  books  I  promised  you. 

With  regard  to  enlarged  credentials,  I  cannot  think  this 
a  likely  time  to  obtain  them.  You  yourself  hold  the  com- 
pliment paid  to  the  Emperor 2  extraordinary ;  undoubtedly 

LETTER  728.  —  l  The    Neapolitan  and  his  twenty  years  of  service  being 

Minister.     Walpole.  remembered,  he  had  fair  claim  to  be 

8  '  The  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  to  elevated  to  a  position  above  that  of 

whom  [Mann]  had  been  originally  an  Envoy,  and  to  be  furnished  with 

accredited,  had  enjoyed  increase  of  additional  means  to  illustrate  the 

dignity    by    becoming    Emperor   of  elevation.'    (Mann  and  Manners,  voL 

Germany,  and  Mann  suggested  that  ii.  pp.  70-1.) 
such  circumstances  being  considered, 


1761]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  13 

they  would  not  make  that  civility  greater.  Should  he  send 
a  minister  in  form,  I  should  be  glad  if  increasing  your 
dignity  would  be  thought  a  sufficient  return ;  but,  in  my 
own  opinion,  the  Peace  will  be  the  best  season  for  pushing 
your  request.  When  that  will  arrive,  God  knows  !  or  who 
will  be  the  person  to  whom  application  must  be  then  made. 
Quiet  as  things  are  at  present,  no  man  living  expects  or 
believes  they  can  continue  so.  Three  separate  ministers 
and  their  factions  cannot  hold  together  in  a  more  phlegmatic 
country  than  this.  The  preferment  of  some  Tories  had 
already  like  to  have  overset  the  system  ;  and,  though  Lord 
Bute  avoids  preferring  his  countrymen  more  sedulously 
than  it  was  supposed  he  would  try  to  prefer  them,  the 
clamour  is  still  unreasonably  great,  nor  can  all  his  caution 
or  the  King's  benignity  satisfy. 

With  regard  to  foreign  affairs,  I  beg  you  to  be  cautious. 
Stick  to  your  orders,  and  give  no  opinion :  make  no  declara- 
tion of  the  King's  intentions,  farther  than  you  are  authorized 
by  Mr.  Pitt's  directions.  He  is  too  much  a  man  of  honour 
not  to  support  you,  if  you  act  by  his  instructions  ;  but  don't 
exceed  them.  The  German  war  is  not  so  popular  as  you 
imagine,  either  in  the  closet  or  in  the  nation.  Mystery, 
the  wisdom  of  blockheads,  may  be  allowable  in  a  foreign 
minister ;  use  it  till  you  see  farther.  If  I  have  any  sagacity, 
such  times  are  coming  as  will  make  people  glad  to  have 
nothing  to  unsay.  Judge  of  my  affection  for  you,  when 
a  nature  so  open  as  mine  prescribes  reserve;  but  I  wish 
your  fortune  to  be  firm,  whatever  happens.  At  present,  there 
is  no  kind  of  news — everybody  is  in  the  country  for  the 
holidays.  The  laying  aside  of  the  expedition  gave  universal 
pleasure ;  as  France  had  had  so  much  time  to  be  upon  its 
guard,  and  the  season  is  so  far  advanced,  and  so  tempestuous. 

We  have  lost  poor  Lord  Downe 8,  one  of  the  most  amiable 

3  H.  Pleydell-Dawnay,  Viscount  Downe.     Walpcle, 


14  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1761 

men  in  the  world.  Frank,  generous,  spirited,  and  odd, 
with  a  large  independent  fortune,  he  had  conceived  a  rage 
for  the  army.  He  received  twelve  wounds  in  the  affair 
of  Campen ;  and  though  one  of  them  was  in  his  knee,  he 
was  forced  to  walk  five  miles.  This  last  wound  was  neg- 
lected, and  closed  too  soon,  with  a  splinter  in  it,  not  being 
thought  of  consequence ;  and  proved  mortal.  He  bid  the 
surgeons  put  him  to  as  much  pain  as  they  pleased,  so  they 
did  but  make  him  fit  for  the  next  campaign.  He  languished 
ten  weeks;  and  not  a  mouth  is  opened  but  in  praise  or 
regret  of  him. 

I  question  a  little  whether  you  will  see  the  Duchess 
of  Hamilton ;  these  mails  have  brought  so  good  an  account 
of  her  that,  unless  she  grows  worse,  they  will  scarce  pass 
Lyons,  where  they  are  established  for  the  winter.  I  never 
heard  of  that  Lord  Archibald  Hamilton4;  he  would  pass 
his  time  ill  with  General  Campbell,  who  is  not  at  all  of 
a  humour  to  suffer  any  impertinence  to  his  wife. 

Thank  you  much  for  the  seeds ;  in  return,  behold  a  new 
commission,  but,  I  trust,  not  a  troublesome  one.  A  friend 
of  mine,  one  Mr.  Hawkins5,  is  writing  the  History  of  Music: 
the  sooner  you  could  send  us  the  following  books  the  better ; 
if  by  any  English  traveller,  we  should  be  glad. 

1.  Tutte  le  Opere  di   Giuseppe  Zarlino.     Venezia,   1589; 
2  vols.  folio. 

2.  History  of  Music,  in  Italian,  by  Gio.  Andr.  Angelini 
Bontempi.     1695,  folio. 

3.  Dialogo  della  Musica  antica  e  moderna,  di  Vincenzo  Galiki. 
Folio,  1602,  or  1541,  in  Firenze. 

4.  Musica  vaga  ed  artifiziosa  di  Romano  Michieli.    Folio, 
1615,  Venezia. 

4  Sir  H.  Mann  did  not  know  that  1799,  and  died  in  1819. 

he  was  half-brother  of  the  late  Duke  6  Afterwards  Sir  John  Hawkins, 

of   Hamilton.      Wdlpole.  —  He    sue-  His  history  was  published    in  five 

ceeded  his  nephew  as  ninth  Duke  in  volumes  quarto.     WalpcHe. 


I76i]  To  the  Rev.  Henry  Zouch  15 

5.  Osservazioni  di  ten  regolare  il  Coro  della  CappeUa  Ponti- 
ficizia,  fatte  da  Andrea  Adami.  Quarto,  1714 ;  in  Roma. 

Any  other  books  of  character  on  the  subject  will  be  very 
acceptable ;  but,  when  I  review  the  list  and  see  so  many 
thundering  folios,  I  don't  expect  that  any  gentleman  will 
bring  them  in  his  breeches-pocket,  or  even  in  his  cloak- 


Pray,  is  there  any  print  of  the  Cardinal  of  York6?     If 
there  is,  do  send  me  one. 
Adieu,  my  good  child  ! 

729.    To  THE  EEV.  HENBY  ZOUCH. 

SlKj  Arlington  Street,  Jan.  3,  1761. 

I  stayed  till  I  had  the  Lucan  ready  to  send  you,  before 
1  thanked  you  for  your  letter,  and  for  the  pane  of  glass, 
about  which  you  have  given  yourself  so  much  kind  trouble, 
and  which  I  have  received  ;  I  think  it  is  clearly  Heraclitus 
weeping  over  a  globe. 

Illuminated  MSS.,  unless  they  have  portraits  of  particular 
persons,  I  do  not  deal  in ;  the  extent  of  my  collecting  is 
already  full  as  great  as  I  can  afford.  I  am  not  the  less 
obliged  to  you,  Sir,  for  thinking  of  me.  Were  my  fortune 
larger,  I  should  go  deeper  into  printing,  and  having  engraved 
curious  MSS.  and  drawings ;  as  I  cannot,  I  comfort  myself 
with  reflecting  on  the  mortifications  I  avoid,  by  the  little 
regard  shown  by  the  world  to  those  sort  of  things.  The 
sums  laid  out  on  books  one  should,  at  first  sight,  think 
an  indication  of  encouragement  to  letters ;  but  booksellers 
only  are  encouraged,  not  books.  Bodies  of  sciences,  that 
is,  compilations  and  mangled  abstracts,  are  the  only  salable 
commodities.  Would  you  believe,  what  I  know  is  fact, 

6  Younger  brother  of  Prince  called,  by  the  remaining  adherents 
Charles  Edward,  and  after  his  death  to  his  family,  Henry  IX.  Walpole. 


16  To  George  Montagu  [i7Gi 

that  Dr.  Hill  earned  fifteen  guineas  a  week  by  working 
for  wholesale  dealers?  he  was  at  once  employed  on  six 
voluminous  works  of  botany,  husbandry,  &c.,  published 
weekly.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  this  journeyman  is  one  of  the 
first  men  preferred  in  the  new  reign  :  he  is  made  gardener 
of  Kensington,  a  place  worth  two  thousand  pounds  a  year. 
The  King  and  Lord  Bute  have  certainly  both  of  them  great 
propensity  to  the  arts ;  but  Dr.  Hill,  though  undoubtedly 
not  deficient  in  parts,  has  as  little  claim  to  favour  in  this 
reign,  as  Gideon,  the  stock-jobber,  in  the  last ;  both  en- 
grossers without  merit.  Building,  I  am  told,  is  the  King's 
favourite  study ;  I  hope  our  architects  will  not  be  taken 
from  the  erectors  of  turnpikes. 

730.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  7,  1760. 

You  must  not  wonder  I  have  not  writ  to  you  a  long  time ; 
a  person  of  my  consequence !  I  am  now  almost  ready  to 
say  We  instead  of  /.  In  short,  I  live  amidst  royalty — con- 
sidering the  plenty,  that  is  no  great  wonder.  All  the  world 
lives  with  them,  and  they  with  all  the  world.  Princes  and 
Princesses  open  shops  in  every  corner  of  the  town,  and  the 
whole  town  deals  with  them.  As  I  have  gone  to  one, 
I  chose  to  frequent  all,  that  I  might  not  be  particular,  and 
seem  to  have  views ;  and  yet  it  went  so  much  against  me, 
that  I  came  to  town  on  purpose  a  month  ago  for  the  Duke's 
levee,  and  had  engaged  Brand  to  go  with  me — and  then 
could  not  bring  myself  to  it.  At  last,  I  went  to  him  and 
Princess  Emily  yesterday.  It  was  well  I  had  not  flattered 
myself  with  being  still  in  my  bloom ;  I  am  grown  so  old 
since  they  saw  me,  that  neither  of  them  knew  me.  When 

LETTER  730. — Misdated  by  Horace  •written  in  1761.  (See  Notes  and 
Walpole  Jan.  7,  1780 ;  evidently  Queries,  Ang.  4,  1900.) 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  17 

they  were  told,  he  just  spoke  to  me  (I  forgive  him,  he  is 
not  out  of  my  debt,  even  with  that),  she  was  exceedingly 
gracious,  and  commended  Strawberry  to  the  skies.  To-night 
I  was  asked  to  their  party  at  Norfolk  House.  These  parties 
are  wonderfully  select  and  dignified :  one  might  sooner  be 
a  Knight  of  Malta  than  qualified  for  them ;  I  don't  know 
how  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire,  Mr.  Fox,  and  I,  were  for- 
given some  of  our  ancestors.  There  were  two  tables  at  loo, 
two  at  whisk,  and  a  quadrille.  I  was  commanded  to  the 
Duke's  loo ;  he  was  set  down ;  not  to  make  him  wait, 
I  threw  my  hat  upon  the  marble  table,  and  broke  four 
pieces  off  a  great  crystal  chandelier.  I  stick  to  my  etiquette, 
and  treat  them  with  great  respect,  not  as  I  do  my  friend, 
the  Duke  of  York — but  don't  let  us  talk  any  more  of 
princes. — My  Lucan  appears  to-morrow ;  I  must  say  it  is 
a  noble  volume.  Shall  I  send  it  you,  or  won't  you  come 
and  fetch  it? 

There  is  nothing  new  of  public,  but  the  violent  com- 
motions in  Ireland1,  whither  the  Duke  of  Bedford  still 
persists  in  going,  ^lolus  to  quell  a  storm. 

I  am  in  great  concern  for  my  old  friend,  poor  Lady  Harry 
Beauclerc ;  her  lord  dropped  down  dead  two  nights  ago,  as 
he  was  sitting  with  her  and  all  their  children.  Admiral 
Boscawen  is  dead  by  this  time — Mrs.  Osborn a  and  I  are  not 
much  afflicted.  Lady  Jane  Coke8  too  is  dead,  exceedingly 
rich  ;  I  have  not  heard  her  will  yet. 

If  you  don't  come  to  town  soon,  I  give  you  warning,  I  will 


1  In  consequence  of  a  dispute  with  Osborne,    Baronet,    of    Chicksands, 

the  Irish  Privy  Council,  Bedford  and  Bedfordshire.     She  was  the  sister  of 

his  secretary,  Bigby,  had  been  burnt  Admiral  Byng. 

in  effigy  in  Dublin.    Bedford  did  not  8  Lady     Jane      Wharton,     elder 

return  to  Ireland,  and  shortly  after-  daughter  of  first  Marquis  of  Wharton; 

wards  resigned  the  viceroyalty.  m.  1.  John  Holt ;  2.  Robert  Coke,  of 

a  Sarah  (d.  1775),  only  surviving  Longford,  Derbyshire.    Her  fortune 

daughter  of  first  Viscount  Torring-  was  left  to  Miss  Draycott,  afterwarda 

ton ;  m.  John,  eldest  son  of  Sir  John  Countess  of  Pomfret. 


WALPOLE.    V 


18  To  George  Montagu 

be  a  Lord  of  the  Bedchamber,  or  a  Gentleman  Usher. — If  you 
will,  I  will  be  nothing  but  what  I  have  been  so  many  years, 
my  own  and  yours  ever, 

H.  WALPOLE. 


731.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  22,  1761. 

I  AM  glad  you  are  coming,  and  now  the  time  is  over,  that 
you  are  coming  so  late,  as  I  like  to  have  you  here  in  the 
spring.  You  will  find  no  great  novelty  in  the  new  reign. 
Lord  Denbigh  is  made  Master  of  the  Harriers,  with  two 
thousand  a  year ;  Lord  Temple  asked  it,  and  Newcastle  and 
Hardwicke  gave  in  to  it  for  fear  of  Denbigh's  brutality  in 
the  House  of  Lords — does  this  differ  from  the  etyle  of 
George  the  Second? 

The  King  designs  to  have  a  new  motto  ;  he  will  not  have 
a  French  one,  so  the  Pretender  may  enjoy  Dieu  et  mon  droit 
in  quiet. 

Princess  Emily  is  already  sick  of  being  familiar ;  she  has 
been  at  Northumberland  House,  but  goes  to  nobody  more. 
That  party  was  larger,  but  still  more  formal  than  the  rest, 
though  the  Duke  of  York  had  invited  himself  and  his 
commerce-table.  I  played  with  Madam  Emily,  and  we 
were  mighty  well  together — so  well,  that  two  nights  after- 
wards she  commended  me  to  Mr.  Conway  and  Mr.  Fox,  but 
calling  me  that  Mr.  Walpole,  they  did  not  guess  who  she 
meant.  For  my  part,  I  thought  it  very  well,  that  when 
I  played  with  her,  she  did  not  call  me  that  gentleman. 
I  was  surprised  at  her  being  so  vulgar ;  as  she  went  away, 
she  thanked  my  Lady  Northumberland,  like  a  parson's  wife, 
for  all  her  civilities. 

I  was  excessively  amused  on  Tuesday  night ;  there  was 
a  play  at  Holland  House  acted  by  children  ;  not  all  children, 


1761]  To  George  Montagu  19 

for  Lady  Sarah  Lenox 1  and  Lady  Susan  Strangways 2  played 
the  women.  It  was  Jane  Shore ;  one  Price s,  Lord  Barring- 
ton's  nephew,  was  Gloster,  and  acted  better  than  three  parts 
of  the  comedians.  Charles  Fox 4,  Hastings ;  a  little  Nichols, 
who  spoke  well,  Belmour ;  Lord  Ofaly 6,  Lord  Ashbroke 6, 
and  other  boys,  did  the  rest— but  the  two  girls  were 
delightful ;  and  acted  with  so  much  nature  and  simplicity, 
that  they  appeared  the  very  things  they  represented.  Lady 
Sarah  was  more  beautiful  than  you  can  conceive,  and  her 
very  awkwardness  gave  an  air  of  truth  to  the  shame  of  the 
part,  and  the  antiquity  of  the  time,  which  was  kept  up  by 
her  dress,  taken  out  of  Montfaucon.  Lady  Susan  was 
dressed  from  Jane  Seymour,  and  all  the  parts  were  clothed 
in  ancient  habits,  and  with  the  most  minute  propriety. 
I  was  infinitely  more  struck  with  the  last  scene  between 
the  two  women  than  ever  I  was  when  I  have  seen  it  on 
the  stage.  When  Lady  Sarah  was  in  white,  with  her  hair 
about  her  ears,  and  on  the  ground,  no  Magdalen  by  Corregio 
was  half  so  lovely  and  expressive.  You  would  have  been 
charmed  too  with  seeing  Mr.  Fox's  little  boy 7  of  six  years 

Lirms731. — *  Lady  Sarah  Lennox  shire,  by  Sarah,  daughter  of  first 
(1745-1826),  seventh  daughter  and  Viscount  Harrington;  created  a 
eleventh  child  of  second  Duke  of  Baronet  in  1828.  He  was  a  school- 
Richmond  ;  m.  1.  (1762)  Thomas  fellow  and  friend  of  Charles  Fox. 
Charles  Bunbury,  afterwards  sixth  4  Charles  James  Fox  (1749-1806), 
Baronet,  from  whom  she  was  di-  third  son  of  Henry  Fox,  afterwards 
vorced  in  1776 ;  2.  (1782)  Hon.  George  Lord  Holland  ;  Lord  of  the  Ad- 
Napier.  She  was  the  object  of  miralty,  1770-72;  Lord  of  the  Trea- 
George  IITs  early  affection,  and  sury,  1772-74 ;  Foreign  Secretary  (in 
there  seems  no  doubt  that  he  would  Bockingham  ministry),  March-July, 
have  married  her  but  for  the  in-  1782  ;  (in  Coalition  ministry)  April- 
fluence  of  his  mother  and  Lord  Bute.  Dec.,  1783  ;  Feb.-Sept.,  1806. 
By  her  second  husband  she  was  the  5  George  Fitzgerald  (1748-1765), 
mother  of  Sir  Charles  Napier  and  Lord  Offaly,  eldest  son  of  twentieth 
Sir  William  Napier.  Earl  of  Kildare ;  styled  Earl  of 

2  Lady    Susan     Fox-Strangeways,  Offaly  after  the  promotion    of   his 
eldest    daughter    of    first    Earl    of  father  (whom  he  predeceased)  to  the 
Ilchester.    In  1764  she  made  a  ran-  Marquisate  of  Kildare.    He  was  the 
away  match  with  William  O'Brien,  first  consin  of  Charles  Fox. 

an  actor.  6  William     Flower    (1744  -  1780), 

3  Uvedale  Price  (1747-1829),    son     second  Viscount  Ashbrook. 

of  Robert  Price,  of  Foxley,  Hereford-         7  Henry  Edward  Fox  (1755-1811), 

C  2 


20  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i76i 

old,  who  is  beautiful,  and  acted  the  Bishop  of  Ely,  dressed 
in  lawn  sleeves  and  with  a  square  cap ;  they  had  inserted 
two  lines  for  him,  which  he  can  hardly  speak  plainly. 
Francis 8  had  given  them  a  pretty  prologue.  Adieu ! 

You  give  me  no  account  from  Sir  Whistler  of  the  painted 
glass ;  do  press  him  for  an  answer.  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.W. 

732.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  27,  1761. 

I  SHOULD  like  Marshal  Botta's1  furniture,  which  you 
describe,  if  my  tenure  in  Strawberry  were  as  transitory 
as  a  Florentine  commander's ;  but,  in  a  castle  built  for 
eternity,  and  founded  in  the  most  flourishing  age  of  the 
greatest  republic  now  in  the  world,  which  has  extended 
its  empire  into  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  can  I  think  of 
a  peach-coloured  ground,  which  will  fade  like  the  bloom 
on  Chloe's  cheek?  There's  a  pompous  paragraph!  A 
Grecian  or  a  Eoman  would  have  written  it  seriously,  and 
with  even  more  slender  pretensions.  However,  though 
my  castle  is  built  of  paper,  and  though  our  empire  should 
vanish  as  rapidly  as  it  has  advanced,  I  still  object  to  peach- 
colour — not  only  from  its  fading  hue,  but  for  wanting  the 
solemnity  becoming  a  Gothic  edifice:  I  must  not  have 
a  round  tower  dressed  in  a  pet-en-l'air.  I  would  as  soon 
put  rouge  and  patches  on  a  statue  of  St.  Ethelburgh.  You 
must  not  wonder  at  my  remembering  Kinuncini's  hangings 
at  the  distance  of  nineteen  or  twenty  years :  my  memory  is 
exceedingly  retentive  of  trifles.  There  is  no  hurry :  I  can 

fourth  son  of  Henry  Pox,  afterwards  Charles  Fox's  tutor  at  Eton. 

Lord  Holland ;  entered  the  army  in  LITTER  732. — l  Commander  of  the 

1770,  and  became  full   general   in  troops  in  Tuscany  for  the  Emperor 

1808.  Francia     Walpole. 
8  Eev.  Philip   Francis,   who  was 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  21 

wait  till  you  send  me  patterns,  and  an  account  of  that  triple- 
coloured  contexture,  for  which,  in  gratitude  to  my  memory, 
I  still  have  a  hankering.  Three  years  ago  I  had  the  ceiling 
of  my  china-room  painted,  from  one  I  had  observed  in  the 
little  Borghese  villa.  I  was  hoarding  ideas  for  a  future 
Strawberry  even  in  those  days  of  giddiness,  when  I  seemed 
to  attend  to  nothing.  The  altar  of  the  eagle  is  three  feet 
two  inches  and  a  half  high,  by  one  foot  eight  inches  wide. 
If  that  for  the  Vespasian  should  be  a  trifle  larger,  especially 
a  little  higher,  it  would  carry  so  large  a  bust  better  ;  but 
I  imagine  the  race  of  altar-tombs  are  pretty  much  of  the 
same  dimensions. 

So  much  for  myself — surely  it  is  time  to  come  to  you. 
Mr.  Mackenzie,  by  the  King's  own  order  and  thought, 
was  immediately  named  plenipotentiary.  I  fear  you  have 
not  exactly  the  same  pretensions;  however,  as  I  think 
services  will  be  pretensions  in  this  reign,  the  precedent 
I  hope  will  not  hurt  you.  The  Peace  seems  the  proper 
period  for  asking  it. 

I  have  delivered  to  your  brother  the  famous  pamphlet * ; 
two  sets  of  the  Royal  and  Noble  Authors  for  yourself  and 
Lady  Mary  Wortley;  a  Lucan,  printed  at  Strawberry, 
which,  I  trust,  you  will  think  a  handsome  edition;  and 
six  of  the  newest-fashioned  and  prettiest  fans  I  could  find 
— they  are  really  genteel,  though  one  or  two  have  caprices 
that  will  turn  a  Florentine  head.  They  were  so  dear,  that 
I  shall  never  tell  you  the  price  ;  I  was  glad  to  begin  to  pay 
some  of  the  debts  I  owe  you  in  commissions.  All  these 
will  depart  by  the  first  opportunity ;  but  the  set  for  Lady 
Mary  will,  I  suppose,  arrive  too  late,  as  her  husband  is 
dead,  and  she  now  will  probably  return  to  England.  I  pity 
Lady  Bute8;  her  mother  will  sell  to  whoever  does  not  know 

8  See  letter  to  Mann,  Dec.  5, 1760.       daughter   of  Lady  Mary   Wortley. 
3  Mary,  Countess   of  Bute,  only      Walpole. 


22  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1761 

her,  all  kinds  of  promises  and  reversions,  bestow  lies  gratis 
and  wholesale,  and  make  so  much  mischief,  that  they  will 
be  forced  to  discard  her  in  three  months,  and  that  will  go 
to  my  Lady  Bute's  heart,  who  is  one  of  the  best  and  most 
sensible  women  in  the  world ;  and  who,  educated  by  such 
a  mother,  or  rather  with  no  education,  has  never  made  a 
false  step.  Old  Avidien4,  the  father,  is  dead,  worth  half 
a  million.  To  his  son 6,  on  whom  six  hundred  a  year  was 
settled,  the  reversion  of  which  he  has  sold,  he  gives  1,0001. 
a  year  for  life,  but  not  to  descend  to  any  children  he  may 
have  by  any  of  his  many  wives.  To  Lady  Mary,  in  lieu 
of  dower,  but  which  to  be  sure  she  will  not  accept,  instead 
of  the  thirds  of  such  a  fortune,  1,2001.  a  year ;  and  after  her 
to  their  son  for  life ;  and  then  the  1,200Z.  and  the  1,0001.  to 
Lady  Bute  and  to  her  second  son6;  with  2,OOOZ.  to  each  of 
her  younger  children  ;  all  the  rest,  in  present,  to  Lady  Bute, 
then  to  her  second  son,  taking  the  name  of  Wortley,  and  in 
succession  to  all  the  rest  of  her  children,  which  are  numerous ; 
and  after  them  to  Lord  Sandwich,  to  whom,  in  present,  he 
leaves  about  4,0001.  The  son,  you  perceive,  is  not  so  well 
treated  by  his  own  father  as  his  companion  Taaffe 7  is  by  the 
French  court,  where  he  lives,  and  is  received  on  the  best 
footing ;  so  near  is  Fort  1'^lveque  to  Versailles.  Admiral 
Forbes  told  me  yesterday,  that  in  one  of  Lady  Mary's  jaunts 
to  or  from  Genoa,  she  begged  a  passage  of  Commodore 
Barnard.  A  storm  threatening,  he  prepared  her  for  it,  but 
assured  her  there  was  no  danger.  She  said  she  was  not 

*  Edward  Wortley  Montagu,  bus-  6  Hon.    James    Stuart    (d.    1818), 

band  of  Lady  Mary.    Both  were  re-  afterwards      Stuart  •  Wortley  -  Mac- 

markably  avaricious,  and  are  satir-  kenzic. 

ized  by  Pope  in  one  of  his  Imitations  7  Theobald  Taaffe,  an  Irish  adven- 

of    Horace,    under    the    names    of  turer,     was,     with     his     associate, 

Avidien  and  his  Wife,     Walpole.  Wortley    Montagu,    imprisoned    in 

6  Edward  Wortley  Montagu,  jun.,  Fort  I'Evdqtie  at  Paris,  for  cheating 

their    only  son,   whose    adventures  and  robbing   a  person  with  whom 

deserve  better  to  be  known  than  his  they  had  gamed.     Walpole, 
own  writings.     Walpole, 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  23 

afraid,  and,  going  into  a  part  of  the  gallery  not  much 
adapted  to  heroism,  she  wrote  these  lines  on  the  side: 

Mistaken  seaman,  mark  my  dauntless  mind, 
Who,  wrecked  on  shore,  am  fearless  of  the  wind. 

On  landing,  this  magnanimous  dame  desired  the  com- 
mander to  accept  a  ring :  he  wore  it  as  a  fine  emerald,  but 
being  over-persuaded  to  have  it  unset  before  his  face,  it 
proved  a  bit  of  glass. 

I  know  nothing  of  Stosch,  and  have  all  your  letters  for 
him  still.  A  fortnight  Knyphausen 8  told  me  he  was  every 
day  expected  in  town. 

News  we  have  of  no  sort — Ireland  seems  to  be  preparing 
the  first  we  shall  receive.  The  good  Primate 9  has  conjured 
up  a  storm,  in  which,  I  believe,  he  will  not  employ  the 
archiepiscopal  gift  of  exorcism.  Adieu ! 

733.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Feb.  7,  1761. 

I  HAVE  not  written  to  you  lately,  expecting  your  arrival. 
As  you  are  not  come  yet,  you  need  not  come  these  ten  days, 
if  you  please,  for  I  go  next  week  into  Norfolk,  that  my 
subjects  of  Lynn  may  at  least  once  in  their  lives  see  me. 
Tis  a  horrible  thing  to  dine  with  a  mayor !  I  shall  profane 
King  John's  cup1,  and  taste  nothing  but  water  out  of  it  as  if 
it  was  St.  John  Baptist's. 

Prepare  yourself  for  crowds,  multitudes.  In  this  reign 
all  the  world  lives  in  one  room.  The  capital  is  as  vulgar  as 
a  county  town  in  the  season  of  horse-races.  There  were  no 
fewer  than  four  of  these  throngs  on  Tuesday  last,  at  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland's,  Princess  Emily's,  the  Opera,  and 

8  The  Prussian  Resident.  Walpole,         LETTER  733. — 1  A  cup  possessed  by 

9  Dr.  Stone,  Archbishop  of  Armagh,      the  Lynn  Corporation. 
Walpole. 


24:  To  George  Montagu  [i?6i 

Lady  Northumberland's— for  even  operas,  Tuesday's  operas, 
are  crowded  now.  There  is  nothing  else  new.  Last  week 
was  a  magnificent  ball  at  Norfolk  House :  the  two  royal 
Dukes  and  Princess  Emily  were  there.  He  of  York  danced ; 
the  other  and  his  sister  had  each  their  table  at  loo.  I  played 
at  hers,  and  am  grown  a  favourite — nay,  have  been  at  her 
private  party,  and  was  asked  again  last  Wednesday,  but  took 
the  liberty  to  excuse  myself — and  yet  am  again  summoned 
for  Thursday.  It  is  trist  enough :  nobody  sits  till  the  game 
begins,  and  then  she  and  the  company  are  all  on  stools.  At 
Norfolk  House  were  two  armchairs  placed  for  her  and  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  the  Duke  of  York  being  supposed  a 
dancer,  but  they  would  not  use  them.  Lord  Huntingdon 
arrived  in  a  frock,  pretending  he  was  just  come  out  of  the 
country;  unluckily,  he  had  been  at  court,  full-dressed,  in 
the  morning.  No  foreigners  were  there  but  the  son  and 
daughter-in-law  of  Monsieur  de  Fuentes :  the  Duchess  told 
the  Duchess  of  Bedford  that  she  had  not  invited  the 
ambassadress,  because  her  rank  is  disputed  here — you 
remember  the  Bedford  took  place  of  Madame  de  Mirepoix 
— but  Madame  de  Mora  danced  first,  the  Duchess  of  Norfolk 
saying  she  supposed  that  was  of  no  consequence. 

Have  you  heard  what  immense  riches  old  Wortley  has 
left  ?  One  million  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds. 
It  is  all  to  centre  in  my  Lady  Bute ;  her  husband  is  one 
of  fortune's  prodigies.  They  talk  of  a  print,  in  which  her 
mistress  is  reprimanding  Miss  Chudleigh — the  latter  curtseys, 
and  replies,  '  Madame,  chacun  a  son  But.' 

Have  you  seen  a  scandalous  letter  in  print,  from  Miss 
Ford 2  to  Lord  Jersey  ?  with  the  history  of  a  boar's  head — 

9  Anne  (1737-1824),  only  child  of  her  beauty  and  talents  for  music. 

Thomas  Ford,  Clerk  of  the  Arraigns ;  For  her  letter  to  Lord  Jersey  and  his 

m.  (1762),  as  his  third  wife,  Philip  reply  see  Gent.  Mag.  1761,  pp.  33-31 

Tbicknesse,    Gainsborough's    friend  and  79-80. 
and  patron.    She  was  celebrated  for 


1761]  To  Lady  Mary  Coke  25 

George  Selwyn  calls  him  Meleager.    Adieu !  this  is  positively 
my  last.  Yours  ever, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 


734.    To  LADY  MAEY  COKE. 

Newmarket,  Feb.  12,  1761. 

You  would  be  puzzled  to  guess,  Madam,  the  reflections 
into  which  solitude  and  an  inn  have  thrown  me.  Perhaps 
you  will  imagine  that  I  am  regretting  not  being  at  loo  at 
Princess  Emily's,  or  that  I  am  detesting  the  corporation  of 
Lynn  for  dragging  me  from  the  amusements  of  London ; 
perhaps  that  I  am  meditating  what  I  shall  say  to  a  set  of 
people  I  never  saw ;  or — which  would  be  more  like  me — 
determining  to  be  out  of  humour  the  whole  time  I  am  there, 
and  show  how  little  I  care  whether  they  elect  me  again  or 
not.  If  your  absolute  sovereignty  over  me  did  not  exclude 
all  jealousy,  you  might  possibly  suspect  that  the  Duchess  of 
Grafton  has  at  least  as  much  share  in  my  chagrin  as  Pam 
himself.  Gome  nearer  to  the  point,  Madam,  and  conclude 
I  am  thinking  of  Lady  Mary  Coke,  but  in  a  style  much 
more  becoming  so  sentimental  a  lover  than  if  I  was  merely 
concerned  for  your  absence.  In  short,  Madam,  I  am 
pitying  you,  actually  pitying  you !  how  debasing  a  thought 
for  your  dignity !  but  hear  me.  I  am  lamenting  your  fate ; 
that  you,  with  all  your  charms  and  all  your  merit,  are  not 
yet  immortal!  Is  not  it  provoking  that,  with  so  many 
admirers,  and  so  many  pretensions,  you  are  likely  to  be 
adored  only  so  long  as  you  live?  Charming,  in  an  age 
when  Britain  is  victorious  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  you 
are  not  yet  enrolled  in  the  annals  of  its  fame !  Shall  Wolfe 
and  Boscawen  and  Amherst  be  the  talk  of  future  ages,  and 

LETTER  734. — Not  in  G. ;  reprinted  from  Letters  and  Journals  of  Lady 
Mary  Coke,  vol.  iii.  pp.  xi-xii. 


26  To  Lady  Mary  Coke  [i?6i 

the  name  of  Mary  Coke  not  be  known  ?  'Tis  the  height  of 
disgrace  !  When  was  there  a  nation  that  excelled  the  rest 
of  the  world  whose  beauties  were  not  as  celebrated  as  its 
heroes  and  its  orators?  Thais,  Aspasia,  Livia,  Octavia — 
I  beg  pardon  for  mentioning  any  but  the  last  when  I  am 
alluding  to  you — are  as  familiar  to  us  as  Alexander,  Pericles, 
or  Augustus  ;  and,  except  the  Spartan  ladies,  who  were 
always  locked  up  in  the  two  pair  of  stairs  making  child-bed 
linen  and  round-eared  caps,  there  never  were  any  women  of 
fashion  in  a  gloriously  civilized  country,  but  who  had  cards 
sent  to  invite  them  to  the  table  of  fame  in  common  with 
those  drudges,  the  men,  who  had  done  the  dirty  work  of 
honour.  I  say  nothing  of  Spain,  where  they  had  so  true 
a  notion  of  gallantry,  that  they  never  ventured  having  their 
brains  knocked  out,  but  with  a  view  to  the  glory  of  their 
mistress.  If  her  name  was  but  renowned  from  Segovia 
to  Saragossa  they  thought  all  the  world  knew  it  and  were 
content.  Nay,  Madam,  if  you  had  but  been  lucky  enough 
to  be  born  in  France  a  thousand  years  ago,  that  is  fifty  or 
sixty,  you  would  have  gone  down  to  eternity  hand  in  hand 
with  Louis  Quatorze ;  and  the  sun  would  never  have  shined 
on  him,  as  it  did  purely  for  seventy  years,  but  a  ray  of  it 
would  have  fallen  to  your  share.  You  would  have  helped 
him  to  pass  the  Ehine  and  been  coupled  with  him  at  least 
in  a  lout  rime. 

And  what  are  we  thinking  of  ?  Shall  we  suffer  posterity 
to  imagine  that  we  have  shed  all  this  blood  to  engross  the 
pitiful  continent  of  America?  Did  General  Clive  drop 
from  heaven  only  to  get  half  as  much  as  Wortley  Montagu  ? 
Yet  this  they  must  suppose,  unless  we  immediately  set 
about  to  inform  them  in  authentic  verse  that  your  eyes  and 
half  a  dozen  other  pair  lighted  up  all  this  blaze  of  glory. 
I  will  take  my  death  your  Ladyship  was  one  of  the  first 
admirers  of  Mr.  Pitt,  and  all  the  world  knows  that  his 


I76i]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway        27 

eloquence  gave  this  spirit  to  our  arms.  But,  unluckily, 
my  deposition  can  only  be  given  in  prose.  I  am  neither 
a  hero  nor  a  poet,  and,  though  I  am  as  much  in  love  as  if 
I  had  cut  a  thousand  throats  or  made  ten  thousand  verses, 
posterity  will  never  know  anything  of  my  passion.  Poets 
alone  are  permitted  to  tell  the  real  truth.  Though  an 
historian  should,  with  as  many  asseverations  as  Bishop 
Burnet,  inform  mankind  that  the  lustre  of  the  British  arms 
under  George  II  was  singly  and  entirely  owing  to  the 
charms  of  Lady  Mary  Coke,  it  would  not  be  believed — 
the  slightest  hint  of  it  in  a  stanza  of  Gray  would  carry 
conviction  to  the  end  of  time. 

Thus,  Madam,  I  have  laid  your  case  before  you.  You 
may,  as  you  have  done,  inspire  Mr.  Pitt  with  nobler  orations 
than  were  uttered  in  the  House  of  Commons  of  Greece  or 
Rome  ;  you  may  set  all  the  world  together  by  the  ears ;  you 
may  send  for  all  the  cannon  from  Cherbourg,  all  the  scalps 
from  Quebec,  and  for  every  nabob's  head  in  the  Indies  ; 
posterity  will  not  be  a  jot  the  wiser,  unless  you  give  the 
word  of  command  from  Berkeley  Square  in  an  ode,  or  you 
and  I  meet  in  the  groves  of  Sudbrook *  in  the  midst  of  an 
epic  poem.  'Tis  a  vexatious  thought,  but  your  Ladyship 
and  this  age  of  triumphs  will  be  forgotten  unless  somebody 
writes  verses  worthy  of  you  both. 

I  am  your  Ladyship's 

Most  devoted  slave, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

735.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUB,  CONWAY. 

Monday,  five  o'clock,  Feb.  1761. 

I  AM  a  little  peevish  with  you — I  told  you  on  Thursday 
night  that  I  had  a  mind  to  go  to  Strawberry  on  Friday 

1  Near  Kingston-on-Thames ;  the  seat  of  the  Dowager-Duchess  of  Argyll, 
Lady  Mary  Coke's  mother. 


28  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?6i 

without  staying  for  the  Qualification  Bill.  You  said  it  did 
not  signify — No  !  What  if  you  intended  to  speak  on  it  ? 
Am  I  indifferent  to  hearing  you  ?  More — am  I  indifferent 
about  acting  with  you  ?  Would  not  I  follow  you  in  any- 
thing in  the  world? — This  is  saying  no  profligate  thing. 
Is  there  anything  I  might  not  follow  you  in  ?  You  even 
did  not  tell  me  yesterday  that  you  had  spoken.  Yet  I  will 
tell  you  all  I  have  heard ;  though  if  there  was  a  point  in 
the  world  in  which  I  could  not  wish  you  to  succeed  where 
you  wish  yourself,  perhaps  it  would  be  in  having  you 
employed.  I  cannot  be  cool  about  your  danger ;  yet 
I  cannot  know  anything  that  concerns  you,  and  keep  it 
from  you.  Charles  Townshend  called  here  just  after  I  came 
to  town  to-day.  Among  other  discourse  he  told  me  of  your 
speaking  on  Friday,  and  that  your  speech  was  reckoned 
hostile  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle.  Then,  talking  of  regi- 
ments going  abroad,  he  said, .  .  . 1 

With  regard  to  your  reserve  to  me,  I  can  easily  believe 
that  your  natural  modesty  made  you  unwilling  to  talk  of 
yourself  to  me.  I  don't  suspect  you  of  any  reserve  to  me  : 
I  only  mention  it  now  for  an  occasion  of  telling  you,  that 
I  don't  like  to  have  anybody  think  that  I  would  not  do 
whatever  you  do.  I  am  of  no  consequence :  but  at  least 
it  would  give  me  some,  to  act  invariably  with  you  ;  and 
that  I  shall  most  certainly  be  ever  ready  to  do.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  ever, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

736.    To  SIR  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  March  3,  1761. 

WELL,  are  not  you  peevish  that  the  new  reign  leaves  our 
correspondence  more  languid  than  the  old  ?  In  all  February 

LETTER  735.— *  So  in  4to  (1798)  ed.  of  Lord  Orford's  Works,  in  which  this 
letter  was  first  printed. 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  29 

not  an  event  worth  packing  up  and  sending  to  you !  Neither 
changes,  nor  honours,  nor  squabbles  yet.  Lord  Bute  obliges 
everybody  he  can,  and  people  seem  extremely  willing  to  be 
obliged.  Mr.  Pitt  is  laid  up  with  a  dreadful  gout  in  all  his 
limbs ;  he  did  not  sleep  for  fourteen  nights,  till  one  of  his 
eyes  grew  as  bad  as  his  hands  or  feet.  He  begins  to  mend. 

Whatever  mysteries  or  clouds  there  are,  will  probably 
develop  themselves  as  soon  as  the  elections  are  over,  and 
the  Parliament  fixed,  which  now  engrosses  all  conversation 
and  all  purses  ;  for  the  expense  is  incredible.  West  Indians, 
conquerors,  nabobs,  and  admirals,  attack  every  borough ; 
there  are  no  fewer  than  nine  candidates  at  Andover.  The 
change  in  a  Parliament  used  to  be  computed  at  between 
sixty  and  seventy;  now  it  is  believed  there  will  be  an 
hundred  and  fifty  new  members.  Corruption  now  stands 
upon  its  own  legs — no  money  is  issued  from  the  Treasury ; 
there  are  no  parties,  no  pretence  of  grievances,  and  yet 
venality  is  grosser  than  ever!  The  borough  of  Sudbury 
has  gone  so  far  as  to  advertise  for  a  chapman !  We  have 
been  as  victorious  as  the  Romans,  and  are  as  corrupt : 
I  don't  know  how  soon  the  Praetorian  militia  will  set  the 
empire  to  sale.  Sir  Nathaniel  Curzon1  has  struck  a  very 
novel  stroke ;  advertising  that  the  Bang  intended  to  make 
him  a  peer ;  and,  therefore,  recommending  his  brother  *  to 
the  county  of  Derby  for  the  same  independent  principles 
with  himself.  He  takes  a  peerage  to  prove  his  indepen- 
dence, and  recommends  his  brother  to  the  opposition  to 
prove  his  gratitude! 

Ireland  is  settled  for  the  present ;  the  Duke  of  Bedford 
relinquishes  it,  with  some  emoluments,  to  his  court.  Lord 
Kilciare's  neutrality  is  rewarded  with  a  marquisate — he  has 

LETTER  736.  — l  Created  Baron  Baronet,  of  Kedleston,  Derbyshire  ; 

Scarsdale.  Walpole.  or.  Baron  Curzon,  1794,  and  Viscount 

8  Assheton  (1730-1820),  second  son  Curzon,  1802.  He  was  not  elected 

of  Sir  Nathaniel  Curzon,  fourth  for  Derby  county. 


30  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1701 

been  prevailed  upon  to  retain  the  oldest  title  in  Europe, 
instead  of  Leinster,  which  he  had  a  mind  to  take3.  Lord 
Temple  has  refused  that  island,  very  unwillingly,  I  believe, 
or  veiy  fearfully ;  but  Mr.  Pitt  was  positive,  having  nobody 
else  in  the  House  of  Lords — and  what  is  such  an  only  one  ! 
Some  who  are  tolerably  shrewd,  think  this  indicates  more, 
and  that  Mr.  Pitt  would  not  let  Lord  Temple  engage  in 
Ireland,  when  he  himself  may  be  thinking  of  quitting  in 
England.  Lord  Halifax,  I  believe,  will  be  Lord-Lieutenant. 

Mr.  Conway  is  going  to  Germany 4,  to  his  great  content- 
ment, as  his  character  is  vindicated  at  last.  It  may  show 
he  deserved  to  lose  no  glory,  but  the  ensuing  campaign  does 
not  open  much  prospect  of  his  gaining  any. 

The  new  peerages  will  soon  be  declared.  Legge5  is  not 
of  the  number ;  and  yet  has  had  an  intimation  to  resign, 
being  extremely  out  of  favour  in  the  new  court,  where  he 
had  been  so  well,  and  which  he  had  officiously  contrived  to 
disoblige  very  late  in  the  day.  Lord  Barrington  will  be 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer;  Charles  Townshend  Secretary 
at  War ;  and  Lord  Talbot,  who  is  to  be  an  earl,  and  is  much  a 
favourite,  will  succeed  Lord  Halifax  in  the  Board  of  Trade fi. 

Voltaire  has  been  charmingly  absurd.  He  who  laughed 
at  Congreve  for  despising  the  rank  of  author  and  affecting 
the  gentleman,  set  out  post  for  a  hovel 7  he  has  in  France, 
to  write  from  thence,  and  style  himself  Gentleman  of  the 
Bedchamber  to  Lord  Lyttelton,  who,  in  his  Dialogues  of  tlie 
Dead,  had  called  him  an  exile.  He  writes  in  English,  and 
not  a  sentence  is  tolerable  English.  The  answer  is  very 
civil  and  sensible. 


3  And  which  he  afterwards  took,  Halifax  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
with  a  dukedom.     Walpole.  7  Voltaire  wrote  from  '  my  castle 

4  To  command  under  Lord  Granby.  of  Ferney  in   Burgundy.'    For  his 

5  Henry  Bilson  Legge,  Chancellor  letter,    and    Lyttelton's    reply,    see 
of  the  Exchequer.     Walpole.  Phillimore's    Memoirs    of    Lyttelton, 

8  Lord    Sandys    succeeded    Lord  vol.  ii.  pp.  666-8. 


1761]  To  the  Eev.  Henry  Zouch  31 

There  has  been  a  droll  print:  her  mistress8  reproving 
Miss  Chudleigh  for  her  train  of  life.  She  replies,  '  Madame, 
chacun  a  son  But.' 

Pray,  is  there  a  print  of  the  Cardinal  of  York,  or  any 
medal  of  him  ?  If  there  is,  do  be  so  good  to  send  them  to 
me.  Adieu ! 


737.    To  THE  EEV.  HENEY  ZOUCH. 

Arlington  Street,  March  7,  1761. 

JUST  what  I  supposed,  Sir,  has  happened ;  with  your 
good  breeding,  I  did  not  doubt  but  you  would  give  yourself 
the  trouble  of  telling  me  that  you  had  received  the  Lucan, 
and  as  you  did  not,  I  concluded  Dodsley  had  neglected  it : 
he  has  in  two  instances.  The  moment  they  were  published, 
I  delivered  a  couple  to  him,  for  you,  and  one  for  a  gentle- 
man in  Scotland.  I  received  no  account  of  either,  and 
after  examining  Dodsley  a  fortnight  ago,  I  learned  three 
days  since  from  him,  that  your  copy,  Sir,  was  delivered  to 
Mrs.  Ware,  bookseller,  in  Fleet  Street,  who  corresponds 
with  Mr.  Stringer,  to  be  sent  in  the  first  parcel ;  but,  says 
he,  as  they  send  only  once  a  month,  it  probably  was  not 
sent  away  till  very  lately. 

I  am  vexed,  Sir,  that  you  have  waited  so  long  for  this 
trifle :  if  you  neither  receive  it,  nor  get  information  of  it, 
I  will  immediately  convey  another  to  you.  It  would  be 
very  ungrateful  in  me  to  neglect  what  would  give  you  a 
moment's  amusement,  after  your  thinking  so  obligingly  of 
the  painted  glass  for  me.  I  shall  certainly  be  in  Yorkshire 
this  summer,  and  as  I  flatter  myself  that  I  shall  be  more 
lucky  in  meeting  you,  I  will  then  take  what  you  shall  be  so 
good  as  to  bestow  on  me,  without  giving  you  the  trouble  of 
sending  it. 

8  The  Princess-Dowager.     Walpole. 


32  To  George  Montagu  '  [i76i 

If  it  were  not  printed  in  the  London  Chronicle,  I  would 
transcribe  for  you,  Sir,  a  very  weak  letter  of  Voltaire  to 
Lord  Lyttelton,  and  the  latter's  answer:  there  is  nothing 
else  new,  but  a  very  indifferent  play,  called  The  Jealous 
Wife1,  so  well  acted  as  to  have  succeeded  greatly.  Mr. 
Mason,  I  believe,  is  going  to  publish  some  Elegies :  I  have 
seen  the  principal  one,  on  Lady  Coventry  ;  it  was  then  only 
an  unfinished  draft. 

The  second  and  third  volumes  of  Tristram  Shandy,  the 
dregs  of  nonsense,  have  universally  met  the  contempt  they 
deserve :  genius  may  be  exhausted ; — I  see  that  folly's 
invention  may  be  so  too. 

The  foundations  of  my  gallery  at  Strawberry  Hill  are 
laying.  May  I  not  flatter  myself,  Sir,  that  you  will  see  the 
whole  even  before  it  is  quite  complete  ? 

P.S.  Since  I  wrote  my  letter,  I  have  read  a  new  play 
of  Voltaire's,  called  Tancred,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  it 
repairs  the  idea  of  his  decaying  parts,  which  I  had  con- 
ceived from  his  Peter  the  Great,  and  the  letter  I  mentioned. 
Tancred  did  not  please  at  Paris,  nor  was  I  charmed  with  the 
two  first  acts ;  in  the  three  last  are  great  flashes  of  genius, 
single  lines  and  starts  of  passion  of  the  first  fire :  the 
woman's  part  is  a  little  too  Amazonian. 

738.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  March  13,  1761. 

I  CAN  now  tell  you,  with  great  pleasure,  that  your 
cousin 1  is  certainly  named  Lord-Lieutenant — I  wish  you  joy. 
You  will  not  be  sorry  too  to  hear  that  your  Lord  North  is 

LETTER    737.  —  l    A    comedy    by          LETTER  738. — Wrongly  dated  in  C. 
George  Colman,  produced  in  1761  at      March  19. 
Drury  Lane.  *  The  Earl  of  Halifax. 


1761]  To  George  Montagu  33 

much  talked  of  for  succeeding  him  at  the  Board  of  Trade. 
I  tell  you  this  with  great  composure,  though  to-day  has  been 
a  day  of  amazement.  All  the  world  is  staring*,  whispering, 
and  questioning — Lord  Holderness  has  resigned  the  Seals, 
and  they  are  given  to  Lord  Bute — which  of  the  two  Secre- 
taries of  State  is  first  minister?  the  latter  or  Mr.  Pitt? 
Lord  Holderness  received  the  command  but  yesterday,  at 
two  o'clock,  till  that  moment  thinking  himself  extremely 
well  at  court — but  it  seems  the  King  said  he  was  tired 
of  having  two  Secretaries,  of  which  one  would  do  nothing, 
and  t'other  could  do  nothing ;  he  would  have  a  Secretary 
who  both  could  act  and  would.  Pitt  had  as  short  notice  of 
this  resolution  as  the  sufferer,  and  was  little  better  pleased. 
He  is  something  softened  for  the  present  by  the  offer  of 
Cofferer  for  Jemmy  Grenville,  which  is  to  be  ceded  by  the 
Duke  of  Leeds,  who  returns  to  his  old  post  of  Justice  in 
Eyre,  from  whence  Lord  Sandys  is  to  be  removed,  some 
say  to  the  head  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  Newcastle,  who 
enjoys  this  fall  of  Holderness,  who  had  deserted  him  for 
Pitt,  laments  over  the  former,  but  seems  to  have  made 
his  terms  with  the  new  favourite — if  the  Bedfords  have 
done  so  too,  will  it  surprise  you  ?  It  will  me,  if  Pitt  sub- 
mits to  this  humiliation — if  he  does  not,  I  take  for  granted 
the  Duke  of  Bedford  will  have  the  other  Seals. 

The  temper  with  which  the  new  reign  has  hitherto  pro- 
ceeded seems  a  little  impeached  by  this  sudden  act,  and 
the  Earl  now  stands  in  the  direct  light  of  a  minister,  if 
a  House  of  Commons  should  choose  to  cavil  at  him. 

Lord  Delawar  kissed  hands  to-day  for  his  earldom ;  the 
other  new  peers  are  to  follow  on  Monday. 

There  are    horrid    disturbances  about   the    militia8  in 

8  Oent.  Mag.  1761.  Monday,  March 9:  for  the  militia.     A  great  number  of 

'  A  terrible  riot  happened  at  Hex-  pit-men,  &c.  having  attacked  a  party 

ham,    in    Northumberland,    on  the  of  the  Yorkshire  Militia,  who  were 

deputy-lieutenants  meeting  to  ballot  sent  for  to   prevent    mischief,  the 


WALPOLE.    %' 


34  To  the  Countess  of  Suffolk  [1701 

Northumberland,  where  the  mob  have  killed  an  officer 
and  three  of  the  Yorkshire  militia,  who,  in  return,  fired  and 
shot  twenty-one. 

Adieu !  I  shall  be  impatient  to  hear  some  consequence 
of  my  first  paragraph. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

P.S.    Saturday. 

I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  Lord  Hardwicke  has  writ  some 
verses  to  Lord  Lyttelton,  upon  those  the  latter  made  on 
Lady  Egremont 3.  If  I  had  been  told  that  he  had  put  on 
a  bag,  and  was  gone  off  with  Kitty  Fisher,  I  should  not 
have  been  more  astonished  ! 

Poor  Lady  Gower  *  is  dead  this  morning  of  a  fever  in  her 
lying-in :  I  believe  the  Bedfords  are  very  sorry — for  there 
is  a  new  opera  this  evening. 

739.    To  THE  COUNTESS  OP  SUFFOLK. 

Friday  night. 

WE  are  more  successful,  Madam,  than  I  could  flatter  my- 
self we  should  be.  Mr.  Conway  (and  I  need  say  no  more) 
has  negotiated  so  well,  that  the  Duke  of  Grafton  is  disposed 
to  bring  Mr.  Beauclerk l  in  for  Thetford.  It  will  be  expected, 
I  believe,  that  Lord  Vere  should  resign  Windsor 2  in  a  hand- 
some manner  to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  It  must  be  your 
Ladyship's  part  to  prepare  this — which  I  hope  will  be  the 

men  were  obliged  to  fire,  which  they  Notes  and  Queries,  Feb.  7,  1900.)  Col- 
did  with  such  fury  for  near  ten  lated  with  original  in  Brit.  Museum. 
minutes,  that  forty-two  were  killed,  1  Hon.  Aubrey  Beauclerk  (1740- 
or  have  since  died  of  their  wounds,  1802),  only  son  of  first  Baron  Vere 
and  forty-eight  were  wounded.'  of  Hanworth,  whom  he  succeeded 

3  For  Lord  Lyttelton's  verses,  and  in  1781  ;  succeeded  his  cousin  as  fifth 
Lord  Hardwicke's  addition  to  them,  Duke  of  St.  Albans,    1787.    He  was 
see  Ann.  Reg.  1761,  pp.  240-2.  elected  as  one  of  the  members  for 

4  Countess    Gower    was    sister-in-  Thetford  on  March  28,  his  colleague 
law  of  the  Duchess  of  Bedford.  being  General  Conway. 

LETTER  789. — Misplaced  in  C.  (See          2  The  borough  of  New  Windsor. 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  35 

means  of  putting  an  end  to  these  unhappy  differences.  My 
only  fear  now  is,  lest  the  Duke  should  have  promised  the 
Lodge :  Mr.  Conway  writes  to  Lord  Albemarle,  who  is  yet 
at  Windsor,  to  prevent  this,  if  not  already  done,  till  the 
rest  is  ready  to  be  notified  to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland. 
Your  Ladyship's  good  sense  and  good  heart  make  it  unneces- 
sary for  me  to  say  more. 

I  am  your  Ladyship's 

Most  obedient  Servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 

740.    To  SIE  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  March  17,  1761. 

You  will  have  no  reason  to  complain  now  that  there  is 
a  barrenness  of  events.  Here  are  changes  enough  to  amount 
to  a  revolution,  though  it  is  all  so  gilded  and  crowned  that 
you  can  scarce  meet  a  face  that  is  not  triumphant.  On 
Friday  last  it  was  notified  pretty  abruptly  to  Lord  Holder- 
nesse  that  he  must  quit  the  Seals l,  which  the  King  thought 
proper  to  give  to  Lord  Bute.  This  measure  was  as  great 
a  secret  as  it  was  sudden.  Mr.  Pitt  heard  it  as  late  as  his 
colleague  himself.  To  soften,  however,  the  disagreeableness 
of  his  not  being  consulted,  and  whatever  else  might  be 
unpleasant  to  him  in  the  measure,  Mr.  Pitt  was  acquainted 
that  the  King  bestowed  the  Cofferer's  place  on  Mr.  James 
Grenville,  and  would  restore  the  department  of  the  West 
Indies,  which  had  been  disjoined  to  accommodate  Lord 
Halifax,  to  the  Secretary  of  State.  As  Mr.  Pitt's  passion 
is  not  the  disposal  of  places,  and  as  he  has  no  dependants 
on  whom  to  bestow  them,  this  feather  is  not  likely  to  make 
him  amends  for  the  loss  of  his  helmet,  which  it  is  supposed 
Lord  Bute  intends  to  make  useless ;  and,  as  he  has  hitherto 

LETTER  740. — 1  As  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Southern  Province. 
D  2 


36  To  Sir  Horace  Mann 

behaved  with  singular  moderation,  it  is  believed  that  his 
taking  the  Seals  in  so  particular  a  juncture  was  determined 
by  the  prospect  of  his  being  able  to  make  a  popular  peace, 
France  having  made  the  most  pressing  offers.  Nothing 
else,  I  think,  could  justify  Lord  Bute  to  himself  for  the 
imprudence  of  this  step,  which  renders  him  the  responsible 
minister,  and  exposes  him  to  all  the  danger  attendant 
on  such  a  situation.  As  Groom  of  the  Stole,  he  had 
all  the  credit  of  favourite  without  the  hazard.  The 
world  does  not  attribute  much  kindness  to  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle  and  Lord  Hardwicke,  who  advised  him  to  this 
measure. 

Lord  Halifax  goes  to  Ireland ;  Lord  Sandys  succeeds 
him  in  the  Board  of  Trade,  which  is  reduced  to  its  old 
insignificance;  and  the  additional  thousand  pounds  a  year 
granted  to  Lord  Halifax  are  turned  over  to  the  Duke  of 
Leeds,  who  is  forced  to  quit  the  Cofferer's  place  to  James 
Grenville,  and  to  return  to  his  old  post  of  Justice  in  Eyre, 
which  Lord  Sandys  had ; — but  to  break  the  fall,  the  Duke 
is  made  cabinet  counsellor,  a  rank  that  will  soon  become 
indistinct  from  Privy  Counsellor  by  growing  as  numerous. 
You  will  ask  what  becomes  of  Lord  Holdernesse;— truly, 
he  is  no  unlucky  man.  For  a  day  or  two  he  was  to  be 
Groom  of  the  Stole,  with  an  addition  of  1,OOOZ.  a  year, — 
at  last  he  has  the  reversion  of  the  Cinque  Ports  for  life, 
after  the  Duke  of  Dorset,  who  is  extremely  infirm. 

When  you  have  digested  all  this  in  your  head — have 
you  ? — I  shall  open  a  new  vein  of  surprise, — a  new  favourite ! 
Lord  Talbot  is  made  an  earl,  and  his  son-in-law,  Eice2,  a 
Lord  of  Trade; — stay,  this  is  nothing:  the  new  Earl  is  made 
Lord  Steward  too !  To  pave  his  way,  Lord  Huntingdon  is 
removed  to  Groom  of  the  Stole,  and  the  duke  of  Rutland  to 

8  George  Rice. 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  37 

Master  of  the  Horse  j — you  see  great  dukes  are  not  immov- 
able as  rocks.  The  comments  on  this  extraordinary  pro- 
motion are  a  little  licentious,  but,  as  I  am  not  commentator 
enough  to  wrap  them  up  in  Latin,  I  shall  leave  them  to 
future  expounders ;  and  the  rest  of  the  changes,  which  have 
less  mystery,  I  shall  reduce  to  a  catalogue. 

Legge,  turned  out  from  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
succeeded  by  Lord  Barrington,  Secretary  at  War;  he  by 
Charles  Townshend,  Treasurer  of  the  Chambers ;  and  he 
by  Sir  Francis  Dashwood,  at  the  solicitation  of  Lord 
Westmorland.  Mr.  Elliot  succeeds  James  Grenville  in  the 
Treasury.  Lord  Villiers 3  and  your  friend  T.  Pelham,  Lords 
of  the  Admiralty.  Rice,  John  Yorke,  and  Sir  Edm.  Thomas, 
Lords  of  Trada  The  new  peers,  Earl  Talbot  and  Earl  of 
Delawar ;  Mr.  Spencer,  Lord  Viscount  Spencer ;  Sir  Richard 
Grosvenor,  a  Viscount  or  Baron,  I  don't  know  which,  nor 
does  he,  for  yesterday,  when  he  should  have  kissed  hands, 
he  was  gone  to  Newmai'ket  to  see  the  trial  of  a  race-horse. 
Dodington,  Lord  Melcombe ;  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  Lord 
Grantham ;  Sir  William  Irby,  Lord  Boston ;  Sir  Nathaniel 
Curzon,  Lord  Scarsdale ;  and  Lady  Bute,  Lady  Mount- 
Stuart  of  Wortley.  This  is  a  sensible  way  of  giving  the 
English  peerage  to  her  family  regularly,  and  approved  by 
all  the  world,  both  from  her  vast  property  and  particular 
merit,  which  is  not  at  all  diminished  by  the  torrent  of  her 
fortune.  Lord  Carpenter  is  made  Earl  of  Tyrconnel,  in 
Ireland ;  and  a  Mr.  Turnour,  a  Lord  *  there.  The  next 
shower  is  to  rain  red  ribands,  but  those  I  suppose  you  are 
in  no  hurry  to  learn. 

The  Parliament  rises  in  two  days.  Mr.  Onslow  quits  the 
chair  and  the  House ;  George  Grenville  is  to  be  Speaker 5. 

»  George    Bossy   Villiers    (1785  -      1769. 

1806),  Viscount   Villiers,  succeeded          *  Lord  Winterton.     Walpole. 
his  father  as  fourth  Earl  of  Jersey,          *  This  did  not  happen. 


38  To  George  Montagu  [i76i 

You  will  not  wonder  that  in  a  scene  so  busy  and  amusing, 
I  should  be  less  inquisitive  about  the  Jesuitical  war  at  Eome. 
The  truth  is,  I  knew  nothing  of  it,  nor  do  we  think  more  of 
Rome  here  than  of  a  squabble  among  the  canons  of  Liege  or 
Cologne.  However,  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your 
accounts,  and  beg  you  will  repay  my  anecdotes  with  the 
continuation  of  them.  If  Pasquin  should  reflect  on  any 
Signora  Eezzonica  for  recommending  a  major  domo 6  to  his 
Holiness,  pray  send  me  his  epigram. 

Thank  you  for  the  trouble  you  have  had  about  the  books 
on  music ;  I  paid  Stosch  eight  guineas  for  the  Burgundy, 
and  your  brother  has  repaid  me. 

If  our  political  campaign  should  end  here,  and  our  German 
one  where  it  is,  we  still  are  not  likely  to  want  warfare. 
The  colliers  in  Northumberland  are  in  open  hostilities  with 
the  militia,  and  in  the  last  battle  at  Hexham  the  militia 
lost  an  officer  and  three  men,  and  the  colliers  one-and- 
twenty.  If  this  engagement,  and  a  peace  abroad,  had 
happened  in  the  late  reign,  I  suppose  Prince  Ferdinand 
would  have  had  another  pension  on  Ireland  for  coming  over 
to  quell  the  colliers.  Adieu  I 

741.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  March  17,  1761. 

IF  my  last  letter  raised  your  wonder,  this  will  not  allay 
it.  Lord  Talbot  is  Lord  Steward !  The  stone  which  the 
builders  refused  is  become  the  head-stone  of  the  corner. 
My  Lady  Talbot,  I  suppose,  would  have  found  no  charms 
in  Cardinal  Mazarin.  As  the  Duke  of  Leeds  was  forced 
to  give  way  to  Jemmy  Grenville,  the  Duke  of  Rutland  has 
been  obliged  to  make  room  for  this  new  Earl.  Lord 

8  The  name  of  the  then  Pope  was  to  Lord  Talbot's  being  Lord  Steward. 
Bezzonico.  The  major  domo  alludes  Walpole. 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  39 

Huntingdon  is  Groom  of  the  Stole,  and  the  last  Duke  I  have 
named,  Master  of  the  Horse — the  red  liveries  cost  Lord 
Huntingdon  a  pang.  Lord  Holderness  has  the  reversion 
of  the  Cinque  Ports  for  life,  and  I  think  may  pardon  his 
expulsion. 

If  you  propose  a  fashionable  assembly,  you  must  send 
cards  to  Lord  Spencer,  Lord  Grosvenor,  Lord  Melcomb, 
Lord  Grantham,  Lord  Boston,  Lord  Scarsdale,  Lady 
Mountstewart,  the  Earl  of  Tirconnel,  and  Lord  Wintertown. 
The  two  last  you  will  meet  in  Ireland.  No  joy  ever 
exceeded  your  cousin's  or  Dodington's.  The  former  came 
last  night  to  Lady  Hilsborough's  to  display  his  triumph. 
The  latter  too  was  there,  and  advanced  to  me.  I  said, 
'  I  was  coming  to  wish  you  joy.'  '  I  concluded  so,'  replied 
he,  'and  came  to  receive  it.'  He  left  a  good  card  yesterday 
at  Lady  Harrington's,  'A  very  young  Lord  to  wait  on 
Lady  Harrington,  to  make  her  Ladyship  the  first  offer  of 
himself.'  I  believe  she  will  be  content  with  the  Exchequer  *. 
Mrs.  Grey 2  has  a  pension  of  £800  a  year. 

Mrs  Clive  is  at  her  villa  for  Passion  week  ;  I  have  writ 
to  her  for  the  box,  but  I  don't  doubt  of  its  being  gone — 
but  considering  her  alliance3,  why  does  not  Miss  Eke 
bespeak  the  play  and  have  the  stage  box? 

I  shall  smile  if  Mr.  Bentley  and  Mtintz  and  their  two 
Hannahs  meet  at  St.  James's.  So  I  see  neither  of  them, 
I  care  not  where  they  are. 

Lady  Hinchinbrook  and  Lady  Mansel 4  are  at  the  points 

LETTER   741. — *  Lord  Barrington,  Stamford. 

who  was  apparently  an  admirer  of  3  Miss  Bice's  brother  was  married 

Lady  Harrington  (see  letter  to  Mon-  to  the  only  child  of  Earl  Talbot,  the 

tagu  of  Dec.  23,  1769),  had  just  been  King's  '  new  favourite.' 

appointed    Chancellor    of    the    Ex-  4  Lady  Barbara  Villiers  (d.  June 

chequer.  11,  1761),  daughter  of  second  Earl  of 

2  Lucy,    daughter  of   Sir  Joseph  Jersey ;  m.  1.  Sir  William  Blackett ; 

Danvers,     Baronet,     of    Swithland,  2.     Bussy     Mansel,     fourth     Baron 

Leicestershire;   m.  (1748)  Hon.  John  Mansel. 
Grey,  second  son  of  third  Earl  of 


40  To  George  Montagu  [i?6i 

of  death.  Lord  Hardwicke  is  to  be  Poet-Laureate,  and, 
according  to  modern  usage,  I  suppose  it  will  be  made  a 
cabinet  counsellor's  place.  Good  night ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

742.  To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

March  21,  1761. 

OF  the  enclosed,  as  you  perceive,  I  tore  off  the  seal,  but  it 
has  not  been  opened. 

I  grieve  at  the  loss  of  your  suit,  and  for  the  injustice  done 
you — but  what  can  one  expect  but  injury,  when  forced  to 
have  recourse  to  law  ?  Lord  Abercorn  asked  me  this  evening 
if  it  was  true  that  you  are  going  to  Ireland  ?  I  gave  a  vague 
answer,  and  did  not  resolve  him  how  much  I  knew  of  it. 
I  am  impatient  for  the  reply  to  your  compliment. 

There  is  not  a  word  of  newer  news  than  what  I  sent  you 
last.  The  Speaker1  has  taken  leave,  and  received  the 
highest  compliments,  and  substantial  ones  too — he  did  not 
overact,  and  it  was  really  a  handsome  scene. 

I  go  to  my  election  on  Tuesday,  and,  if  I  do  not  tumble 
out  of  the  chair  and  break  my  neck,  you  shall  hear  from 
me  at  my  return.  I  got  the  box  for  Miss  Kice.  Lady 
Hinchinbrook  is  dead. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

743.  To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Houghton,  March  25,  1761. 

HEBE  I  am  at  Houghton  !  and  alone !  in  this  spot,  where 
(except  two  hours  last  month)  I  have  not  been  in  sixteen 
years !  Think,  what  a  crowd  of  reflections  1 — no,  Gray,  and 
forty  churchyards,  could  not  furnish  so  many ;  nay,  I  know 

LETTER  742. — *  Arthur  Onslow. 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  41 

one  must  feel  them  with  greater  indifference  than  I  possess, 
to  have  patience  to  put  them  into  verse.  Here  I  am,  pro- 
bably for  the  last  time  of  my  life,  though  not  for  the  last  time 
— every  clock  that  strikes  tells  me  I  am  an  hour  nearer  to 
yonder  church — that  church,  into  which  I  have  not  yet  had 
courage  to  enter,  where  lies  that  mother  on  whom  I  doted, 
and  who  doted  on  me  !  There  are  the  two  rival  mistresses 
of  Houghton,  neither  of  whom  ever  wished  to  enjoy  it ! 
There  too  lies  he  who  founded  its  greatness,  to  contribute  to 
whose  fall  Europe  was  embroiled — there  he  sleeps  in  quiet 
and  dignity,  while  his  friend  and  his  foe,  rather  his  false 
ally  and  real  enemy,  Newcastle  and  Bath,  are  exhausting 
the  dregs  of  their  pitiful  lives  in  squabbles  and  pamphlets ! 

The  surprise  the  pictures  gave  me  is  again  renewed — 
accustomed  for  many  years  to  see  nothing  but  wretched 
daubs  and  varnished  copies  at  auctions,  I  look  at  these  as 
enchantment.  My  own  description  of  them l  seems  poor — 
but  shall  I  tell  you  truly— the  majesty  of  Italian  ideas 
almost  sinks  before  the  warm  nature  of  Flemish  colouring ! 
Alas  !  don't  I  grow  old  ?  My  young  imagination  was  fired 
with  Guide's  ideas — must  they  be  plump  and  prominent 
as  Abishag  to  warm  me  now  ?  Does  great  youth  feel  with 
poetic  limbs,  as  well  as  see  with  poetic  eyes?  In  one 
respect  I  am  very  young;  I  cannot  satiate  myself  with 
looking — an  incident  contributed  to  make  me  feel  this  more 
strongly.  A  party  arrived,  just  as  I  did,  to  see  the  house,  a 
man  and  three  women  in  riding  dresses,  and  they  rode  post 
through  the  apartments — I  could  not  hurry  before  them 
fast  enough — they  were  not  so  long  in  seeing  for  the  first 
time,  as  I  could  have  been  in  one  room,  to  examine  what 
I  knew  by  heart.  I  remember  formerly  being  often 
diverted  with  this  kind  of  seers — they  come,  ask  what  such 
a  room  is  called,  in  which  Sir  Kobert  lay,  write  it  down, 

LETTER  743. — *  In  the  Aedes  Walpolianae. 


42  To  George  Montagu  [i76i 

admire  a  lobster  or  a  cabbage  in  a  market-piece,  dispute 
whether  the  last  room  was  green  or  purple,  and  then  hurry 
to  the  inn  for  fear  the  fish  should  be  over-dressed — how 
different  my  sensations !  not  a  picture  here  but  recalls 
a  history ;  not  one,  but  I  remember  in  Downing  Street  or 
Chelsea,  where  queens  and  crowds  admired  them,  though 
seeing  them  as  little  as  these  travellers ! 

When  I  had  drunk  tea,  I  strolled  into  the  garden — they 
told  me  it  was  now  called  the  pleasure-ground — what  a  dis- 
sonant idea  of  pleasure — those  groves,  those  dtte'es,  where  I 
have  passed  so  many  charming  moments,  are  now  stripped  up 
or  overgrown ;  many  fond  paths  I  could  not  unravel,  though 
with  a  very  exact  clue  in  my  memory — I  met  two  game- 
keepers, and  a  thousand  hares  !  In  the  days  when  all  my 
soul  was  tuned  to  pleasure  and  vivacity  (and  you  will  think, 
perhaps,  it  is  far  from  being  out  of  tune  yet),  I  hated 
Houghton  and  its  solitude — yet  I  loved  this  garden  ;  as 
now,  with  many  regrets,  I  love  Houghton — Houghton, 
I  know  not  what  to  call  it,  a  monument  of  grandeur  or 
ruin !  How  I  have  wished  this  evening  for  Lord  Bute  ! 
how  I  could  preach  to  him !  For  myself,  I  do  not  want 
to  be  preached  to — I  have  long  considered,  how  every 
Balbec  must  wait  for  the  chance  of  a  Mr.  Wood. 

The  servants  wanted  to  lay  me  in  the  great  apartment — 
what,  to  make  me  pass  my  night  as  I  have  done  my 
evening  !  It  were  like  proposing  to  Margaret  Koper  to  be 
a  duchess  in  the  court  that  cut  off  her  father's  head,  and 
imagining  it  would  please  her.  I  have  chosen  to  sit  in  my 
father's  little  dressing-room,  and  am  now  by  his  scrutore, 
where,  in  the  height  of  his  fortune,  he  used  to  receive  the 
accounts  of  his  farmers,  and  deceive  himself — or  us,  with 
the  thoughts  of  his  economy — how  wise  a  man  at  once, 
and  how  weak  !  For  what  has  he  built  Houghton  ?  for  his 
grandson  to  annihilate,  or  for  his  son  to  mourn  over !  If 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  43 

Lord  Burleigh  could  rise  and  view  his  representative  driving 
the  Hatfield  stage,  he  would  feel  as  I  feel  now — poor  little 
Strawberry !  at  least  it  will  not  be  stripped  to  pieces  by  a 
descendant ! — You  will  think  all  these  fine  meditations  dic- 
tated by  pride,  not  by  philosophy — pray  consider  through 
how  many  mediums  philosophy  must  pass,  before  it  is 
purified — 

.  .  .  how  often  must  it  weep,  how  often  burn! 

My  mind  was  extremely  prepared  for  all  this  gloom  by 
parting  with  Mr.  Conway  yesterday  morning — moral  re- 
flections on  commonplaces  are  the  livery  one  likes  to  wear, 
when  one  has  just  had  a  real  misfortune. — He  is  going  to 
Germany — I  was  glad  to  dress  myself  up  in  transitory 
Houghton,  in  lieu  of  very  sensible  concern.  To-morrow 
I  shall  be  distracted  with  thoughts — at  least  images,  of 
very  different  complexion — I  go  to  Lynn,  and  am  to  be 
elected  on  Friday.  I  shall  return  hither  on  Saturday,  again 
alone,  to  expect  Burleighides  *  on  Sunday,  whom  I  left  at 
Newmarket— I  must  once  in  my  life  see  him  on  his  grand- 
father's throne. 

Epping,  Monday  night,  thirty-first. 

No,  I  have  not  seen  him,  he  loitered  on  the  road,  and  I  was 
kept  at  Lynn  till  yesterday  morning.  It  is  plain  I  never 
knew  for  how  many  trades  I  was  formed,  when  at  this  time 
of  day  I  can  begin  electioneering,  and  succeed  in  my  new 
vocation.  Think  of  me,  the  subject  of  a  mob,  who  was 
scarce  ever  before  in  a  mob  !  addressing  them  in  the  town- 
hall,  riding  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  people  through 
such  a  town  as  Lynn,  dining  with  above  two  hundred  of 
them,  amid  bumpers,  huzzas,  songs,  and  tobacco,  and 
finishing  with  country  dancing  at  a  ball  and  sixpenny 
whisk !  I  have  borne  it  all  cheerfully  ;  nay,  have  sat  hours 
in  conversation,  the  thing  upon  earth  that  I  hate,  have  been 

2  His  nephew,  the  Earl  of  Orford. 


44  To  George  Montagu  [1701 

to  hear  misses  play  on  the  harpsichord,  and  to  see  an 
alderman's  copies  of  Eeubens  and  Carlo  Marat.  Yet  to  do 
the  folks  justice,  they  are  sensible,  and  reasonable,  and 
civilized ;  their  very  language  is  polished  since  I  lived 
among  them.  I  attribute  this  to  their  more  frequent  inter- 
course with  the  world  and  the  capital,  by  the  help  of  good 
roads  and  postchaises,  which,  if  they  have  abridged  the 
King's  dominions,  have  at  least  tamed  his  subjects — well ! 
how  comfortable  it  will  be  to-morrow,  to  see  my  perroquet, 
to  play  at  loo,  and  not  to  be  obliged  to  talk  seriously— the 
Heraclitus  of  the  beginning  of  this  letter  will  be  overjoyed  on 
finishing  it  to  sign  himself 

Your  old  friend, 

DEMOCRITUS. 

P.S.  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  my  ancient  aunt  Hammond 
came  over  to  Lynn  to  see  me — not  from  any  affection,  but 
curiosity — the  first  thing  she  said  to  me,  though  we  have  not 
met  these  sixteen  years,  was,  '  Child,  you  have  done  a  thing 
to-day,  that  your  father  never  did  in  all  his  life  ;  you  sat  as 
they  carried  you ;  he  always  stood  the  whole  time.'  'Madam,' 
said  I,  '  when  I  am  placed  in  a  chair,  I  conclude  I  am  to  sit 
in  it — besides,  as  I  cannot  imitate  my  father  in  great  things, 
I  am  not  at  all  ambitious  of  mimicking  him  in  little  ones.' — 
I  am  sure  she  proposes  to  tell  her  remark  to  my  uncle 
Horace's  ghost,  the  instant  they  meet. 


744.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  March  [April]  7,  1761. 

I  REJOICE,  you  know,  in  whatever  rejoices  you,  and  though 
I  am  not  certain  what  your  situation  is  to  be.  I  am  glad  you 

LBTTKB    744. —  Dated    by    Horace      dently  written  in  April.     (See  Notes 
Walpole    March  7,   1761,   but    evi-      and  Queries,  May  12,  1900.) 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  45 

go,  as  you  like  it.  I  am  told  it  is  Black  Rod  *.  Lady  Anne 
Jekyll2  said  she  had  writ  to  you  on  Saturday  night.  I 
asked  when  her  brother  was  to  go,  if  before  August?  she 
answered,  'Yes,  if  possible.'  Long  before  October  you  may 
depend  upon  it ;  in  the  quietest  times  no  Lord-Lieutenant 
ever  went  so  late  as  that.  Shall  not  you  come  to  town 
first  ?  You  cannot  pack  up  yourself,  and  all  you  will  want, 
at  Greatworth. 

We  are  in  the  utmost  hopes  of  a  peace ;  a  congress  is 
agreed  upon  at  Ausbourg;  but  yesterday's  mail  brought 
bad  news.  Prince  Ferdinand  has  been  obliged  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Cassel,  and  to  retire  to  Paderborn ;  the  Hereditary 
Prince  having  been  again  defeated3,  with  the  loss  of  two 
generals,  and  to  the  value  of  five  thousand  men,  in  prisoners 
and  exchanged.  If  this  defers  the  Peace  it  will  be  grievous 
news  to  me,  now  Mr.  Conway  is  gone  to  the  army. 

The  town  talks  of  nothing  but  an  immediate  Queen  ;  yet 
I  am  certain  the  ministers  know  not  of  it.  Her  picture  is 
come,  and  lists  of  her  family  given  about;  but  the  latter 
I  do  not  send  you,  as  I  believe  it  apocryphal.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.W. 

P.S.  Have  you  seen  the  advertisement  of  a  new  noble 
author?  A  Treatise  of  Horsemanship,  by  Henry  Earl  of 
Pembroke — as  George  Selwyn  said  of  Mr.  Greville  *,  so  far 
from  being  a  writer,  I  thought  he  was  scarce  a  courteous 
reader. 

1  Montagu    had    been   appointed  Halifax ;  m.  Joseph  Jekyll.   She  was 
Usher    of   the    Black    Bod    by    his  Montagu's  first  cousin.  See  Table  II. 
cousin    the    Earl    of    Halifax,    the  3  By  Broglie,  near   Grunberg,   in 
newly-appointed  Viceroy.  Hesse. 

2  Lady  Anne  Montagu   (d.    1766),  *  Fnlke  Greville,  author  of  Maxims 
second    daughter  of   first    Earl    of  and  Characters. 


46  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1761 


745.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  April  10,  1761. 

WELL,  I  have  received  my  cousin  Boothby1  and  the 
packet.  Thank  you  for  the  trouble  you  have  given  your- 
self ;  but,  another  time,  I  will  trust  my  memory  rather  than 
my  taste.  Einuncini's  brocadella  is  frightful ;  how  could 
I  treasure  up  an  idea  of  anything  that  consisted  of  such 
a  horrid  assemblage  as  green  and  yellow  ?  Those  that  have 
red,  green,  and  white,  are  very  pretty,  and  as  soon  as  I  can 
determine  the  quantity  I  shall  want,  I  will  take  the  liberty 
of  employing  you  for  the  manufacture.  The  gallery  advances 
by  large  strides,  and  when  that  is  complete,  I  shall  furnish 
the  Bound  Tower.  My  cousin  Boothby  is  my  cousin  ;  my 
mother  and  his  were  first  cousins ;  but  his,  happening  not 
to  be  the  most  amiable  person  in  the  world,  we  have  had  so 
little  connection,  that  it  was  perfectly  nothing  at  all. 

If  I  can  find  an  opportunity  of  presenting  the  account  of 
the  statues,  I  certainly  will,  and  in  a  manner  not  to  hurt 
you.  Strange's  information  is,  I  believe,  by  no  means  ill- 
founded,  and  I  give  up  my  advice.  Kings,  though  the 
representatives  of  Heaven,  have  none  of  its  all-seeingness 
inserted  in  their  patents,  and  being  obliged  to  use  many 
pair  of  eyes  besides  their  own,  no  wonder  if  they  are  made 
to  pay  for  all  the  light  they  borrow.  The  young  King  has 
excellent  and  various  dispositions — just  so  many  occasions 
for  being  imposed  upon  !  Whatever  a  king  loves,  is  ready 
money  to  those  who  gratify  his  inclinations — except  he 
loves  what  his  grandfather  did,  the  money  itself.  I  who 
love  the  arts,  like  the  King,  have  found  that  even  I  was 
worth  cheating. 

Blessed  be  Providence !  we  are  going  to  have  peace ;  I  do 

LETTER  745. — *  Thomas  Boothby  Schrimshire,  Esq.     Walpole. 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  47 

not  regret  it,  though  the  little  dabs  I  save  would  be  almost 
doubled  if  the  stocks  continued  at  low-water  mark.  France, 
who  will  dictate  even  in  humiliation,  has  declared  to 
Sweden  that  she  must  and  will  make  peace ;  that  even  their 
Imperial  Furiousnesses,  Tisiphone  and  Alecto*,  would  be 
Content  with  less  perdition  of  the  King  of  Prussia  than  they 
had  meditated ;  and  when  snakes  smile,  who  can  help 
hoping  ?  France  adds,  that  she  will  even  let  the  Peace  be 
made  vis-a-vis  du  Roi  de  la  Grande  Bretagne.  It  is  to  be 
treated  here,  and  the  imps  of  the  two  Empresses  are  to 
reside  at  Paris,  to  communicate  their  instructions ;  the 
congress  will  be  afterwards  held,  for  form,  at  Augsbourg. 
All  Canada  is  offered.  I  don't  believe  we  shall  be  intract- 
able, as  all  Prince  Ferdinand's  visionary  vivacities  are 
vanished  into  smoke ;  his  nephew  is  again  beaten,  himself 
retired  to  Paderborn,  and  the  siege  of  Cassel  raised. 
Luckily,  the  French  cannot  pursue  their  success  for  want 
of  magazines. 

And  so  you  don't  think  we  are  obliged  to  Mr.  Pitt  ?  Yes, 
I  am  sure  you  do.  Who  would  have  believed  five  years  ago 
that  France  would  send  to  Whitehall  to  beg  peace  ?  And 
why  would  they  not  have  believed  it?  Why,  because 
nobody  foresaw  that  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  and  Lord  Hard- 
wicke  would  not  be  as  absolute  as  ever.  Had  they  con- 
tinued in  power,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  would  now  be 
treating  at  Paris  to  be  Intendant  of  Sussex,  and  Sir  Joseph 
Yorke  would  be  made  a  Prince  of  the  Empire  for  signing  the 
cession  of  Hanover.  'Tis  better  as  it  is,  though  the  City  of 
London  should  burn  Mr.  Pitt  in  effigy  upon  the  cessation  of 
contracts  and  remittances.  And  so  you  and  I  are  creeping 
near  to  one  another  again ;  we  shall  be  quite  sociable  when 
there  is  only  all  France  betwixt  us.  Will  you  breakfast 
in  the  Holbein  chamber  the  first  week  in  June  ? 

2  The  two  Empresses  of  Germany  and  Russia.     Walpole. 


48        To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i76i 

I  must  announce  a  loss  to  you,  though  scarce  a  misfor- 
tune, as  you  never  saw  her.  Your  dear  brother's  second 
daughter s  is  dead  of  a  consumption.  She  was  a  most  soft- 
tempered  creature,  like  him,  and  consequently  what  he 
much  loved. 

As  the  elections  are  now  almost  over,  people  will  begin 
to  think  of  something  else,  or  at  least  will  consider  what 
they  intend  to  think  about  next  winter— no  matter  what ! 
Let  us  sheathe  the  sword,  and  fight  about  what  we  will. 
Adieu ! 


746.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUR  CONWAY. 

Arlington  Street,  April  10,  1761. 

IF  Prince  Ferdinand  had  studied  how  to  please  me, 
I  don't  know  any  method  he  could  have  lighted  upon  so 
likely  to  gain  my  heart,  as  being  beaten  out  of  the  field 
before  you  joined  him.  I  delight  in  a  hero  that  is  driven 
so  far  that  nobody  can  follow  him.  He  is  as  well  at  Pader- 
born,  as  where  I  have  long  wished  the  King  of  Prussia,  the 
other  world.  You  may  frown  if  you  please  at  my  impru- 
dence, you  who  are  gone  with  all  the  disposition  in  the 
world  to  be  well  with  your  commander ;  the  Peace  is  in 
a  manner  made,  and  the  anger  of  generals  will  not  be  worth 
sixpence  these  ten  years.  We  peaceable  folks  are  now  to 
govern  the  world,  and  you  warriors  must  in  your  turn 
tremble  at  our  subjects  the  mob,  as  we  have  done  before 
your  hussars  and  court-martials. 

I  am  glad  you  had  so  pleasant  a  passage1.  My  Lord 
Lyttelton  would  say  that  Lady  Mary  Coke,  like  Venus, 
smiled  over  the  waves,  et  mare  praestabat  eunti.  In  truth, 
when  she  could  tame  me,  she  must  have  had  little  trouble 

8  Sarah,  second  daughter  of  Gal-         LKTTKB  746. — J  From  Harwich  to 
fridus  Mann.  Helvoetsluys.     Walpole. 


1761]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway        49 

with  the  ocean.  Tell  me  how  many  burgomasters  she  has 
subdued,  or  how  many  would  have  fallen  in  love  with  her 
if  they  had  not  fallen  asleep  ?  Come,  has  she  saved  two- 
pence by  her  charms?  Have  they  abated  a  farthing  of 
their  impositions  for  her  being  handsomer  than  anything  in 
the  seven  provinces?  Does  she  know  how  political  her 
journey  is  thought  ?  Nay,  my  Lady  Ailesbury,  you  are  not 
out  of  the  scrape  ;  you  are  both  reckoned  des  Marechales  de 
Guebriant*,  going  to  fetch,  and  consequently  govern  the  young 
Queen.  There  are  more  jealousies  about  your  voyage,  than 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle  would  feel  if  Dr.  Shaw  had  pre- 
scribed a  little  ipecacuanha  to  my  Lord  Bute. 

I  am  sorry  I  must  adjourn  my  mirth,  to  give  Lady 
Ailesbury  a  pang  ;  poor  Sir  Harry  Ballendene  3  is  dead  ; 
he  made  a  great  dinner  at  Almack's4  for  the  house  of 
Drummond,  drank  very  hard,  caught  a  violent  fever,  and 
died  in  a  very  few  days.  Perhaps  you  will  have  heard  this 
before  ;  I  shall  wish  so  ;  I  do  not  like,  even  innocently,  to 
be  the  cause  of  sorrow. 

I  do  not  at  all  lament  Lord  Granby's  leaving  the  army, 
and  your  immediate  succession.  There  are  persons  in  the 
world  who  would  gladly  ease  you  of  this  burden.  As  you 
are  only  to  take  the  viceroyalty  of  a  coop,  and  that  for 
a  few  weeks,  I  shall  but  smile  if  you  are  terribly  distressed. 
Don't  let  Lady  Ailesbury  proceed  to  Brunswick  :  you  might 
have  had  a  wife  5  who  would  not  have  thought  it  so  terrible 
to  fall  into  the  hands  (arms)  of  hussars  ;  but  as  I  don't  take 
that  to  be  your  Countess's  turn,  leave  her  with  the  Dutch, 

2  The  Marechale  de  Gu6briant  was  den,  Knight,  Usher  of  the  Black  Bod. 

sent  to  the  King  of  Poland  with  the  *  Almack's   (afterwards   Brooks's) 

character  of  Embassaclress  by  Louis  Club    in    Pall    Mall,    founded     by 

XTTT    to    accompany    the    Princess  William  Almack  (d,  1781),  a  former 

Marie  de  Gonzague,  who  had  been  valet  of  the  Duke  of  Hamilton. 

married  by  proxy  to  the  King  of  5  The    Countess    of    Harrington, 

Poland  at  Paris.     Walpole.  with  whom  Conway  was  formerly  in 

8  Uncle  to  the  Countess  of  Ailes-  love. 
bury.     Walpole.  —  Sir  Harry  Bellen- 


WALPOLB.  v 


50  To  Sir  David  Dairy  mple  [i761 

who  are  not  so  boisterous  as  Cossacks  or  Chancellors  of  the 
Exchequer 6. 

My  love,  my  duty,  my  jealousy,  to  Lady  Mary,  if  she  is 
not  sailed  before  you  receive  this — if  she  is,  I  shall  deliver 
them  myself.  Good  night !  I  write  immediately  on  the 
receipt  of  your  letter,  but  you  see  I  have  nothing  yet  new 
to  tell  you. 

Yours  ever, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 

747.    To  SIR  DAVID  DALEYMPLE. 

gIB?  Arlington  Street,  April  14,  1761. 

I  have  deferred  answering  the  favour  of  your  last,  till 
I  could  tell  you  that  I  had  seen  Fingal.  Two  journeys  into 
Norfolk  for  my  election,  and  other  accidents,  prevented  my 
seeing  any  part  of  the  poem  till  this  last  week,  and  I  have 
yet  only  seen  the  first  book.  There  are  most  beautiful 
images  in  it,  and  it  surprises  one  how  the  bard  could  strike 
out  so  many  shining  ideas  from  a  few  so  very  simple  objects, 
as  the  moon,  the  storm,  the  sea,  and  the  heath,  from  whence 
he  borrows  almost  all  his  allusions.  The  particularizing 
of  persons,  by  'he  said,'  'he  replied,'  so  much  objected  to 
Homer,  is  so  wanted  in  Fingal,  that  it  in  some  measure 
justifies  the  Grecian  Highlander ;  I  have  even  advised 
Mr.  Macpherson l  (to  prevent  confusion)  to  have  the  names 
prefixed  to  the  speeches,  as  in  a  play.  It  is  too  obscure 
without  some  such  aid.  My  doubts  of  the  genuineness  are 
all  vanished. 

I  fear,  Sir,  from   Dodsley's   carelessness,  you  have   not 

6  See  note  on  letter  to  Montagu  of  Macpherson's  historical  writings  and 

March  17,  1761.  newspaper  defences  of  Lord  North's 

LITTER  747. — *  James  Macpherson  ministry  made  him    the  object    of 

(1736-1796),   the   'editor'  of  Fingal,  Horace  Walpole's  special  dislike  and 

which    had    recently    appeared    in  contempt. 
London.    At   a   subsequent    period 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  51 

received  the  Lucan.  A  gentleman  in  Yorkshire,  for  whom 
I  consigned  another  copy  at  the  same  time  with  yours,  has 
got  his  but  within  this  fortnight.  I  have  the  pleasure  to 
find  that  the  notes  are  allowed  the  best  of  Dr.  Bentley's 
remarks  on  poetic  authors.  Lucan  was  muscular  enough  to 
bear  his  rough  hand. 

Next  winter  I  hope  to  be  able  to  send  you  Vertue's  History 
of  the  Arts,  as  I  have  put  it  together  from  his  collections. 
Two  volumes  are  finished,  the  first  almost  printed  and  the 
third  begun.  There  will  be  a  fourth,  I  believe,  relating 
solely  to  engravers.  You  will  be  surprised,  Sir,  how  the 
industry  of  one  man  could  at  this  late  period  amass  so  near 
a  complete  history  of  our  artists.  I  have  no  share  in  it,  but 
in  arranging  his  materials.  Adieu ! 

748.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  April  16, 1761. 

You  are  a  very  mule — one  offers  you  a  handsome  stall  and 
manger  in  Berkeley  Square,  and  you  will  not  accept  it 

I  have  chosen  your  coat,  a  claret  colour,  to  suit  the  com- 
plexion of  the  country  you  are  going  to  visit — but  I  have 
fixed  nothing  about  the  lace.  Barret  had  none  of  gauze,  but 
what  were  as  broad  as  the  Irish  Channel.  Your  tailor  found 
a  very  reputable  one  at  another  place,  but  I  would  not 
determine  rashly ;  it  will  be  two  or  three-and-twenty  shillings 
the  yard — you  might  have  a  very  substantial  real  lace,  and 
that  would  wear  like  your  buffet,  for  twenty.  The  second 
order  of  gauzes  are  frippery,  none  above  twelve  shillings, 
and  those  tarnished,  for  the  species  is  out  of  fashion.  You 
will  have  time  to  sit  in  judgement  upon  these  important 
points,  for  Hamilton1,  your  secretary,  told  me  at  the 
Opera  two  nights  ago,  that  he  had  taken  a  house  near 

LETTER  748. — *  William  Gerard  Hamilton,  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland. 

E  2 


52  To  George  Montagu  [1701 

Bushy,  and  hoped  to  be  in  my  neighbourhood  for  four 
months. 

I  was  last  night  at  your  plump  Countess's2,  who  is  so 
shrunk,  that  she  does  not  seem  to  be  composed  of  above 
a  dozen  hassocks.  Lord  Guildford  rejoiced  mightily  over 
your  preferment.  The  Duchess  of  Argyle  was  playing  there, 
not  knowing  that  the  great  Pan  was  just  dead,  to  wit,  her 
brother-in-law 3.  He  was  abroad  in  the  morning,  was  seized 
with  a  palpitation  after  dinner,  and  was  dead  before  the 
surgeon  could  arrive — there's  the  crown  of  Scotland  too 
fallen  upon  my  Lord  Bute's  head !  Poor  Lord  Edgecumbe  * 
is  still  alive,  and  may  be  so  for  some  days ;  the  physicians, 
who  no  longer  ago  than  Friday  se'nnight  persisted  that  he 
had  no  dropsy,  in  order  to  prevent  his  having  Ward,  on 
Monday  last  proposed  that  Ward  should  be  called  in — and 
at  night  they  owned  they  thought  the  mortification  begun — 
it  is  not  clear  it  is  yet ;  at  times  he  is  in  his  senses,  and 
entirely  so,  composed,  clear,  and  most  rational ;  talks  of  his 
death,  and  but  yesterday,  after  such  a  conversation  with  his 
brother,  asked  for  a  pencil  to  amuse  himself  with  drawing. 
What  parts,  genius,  and  agreeableness  thrown  away  at  a 
hazard  table,  and  not  permitted  the  chance  of  being  saved 
by  the  villainy  of  physicians ! 

You  will  be  pleased  with  the  following  anacreontic, 
written  by  Lord  Middlesex  upon  Sir  Harry  Ballendine — I 
have  not  seen  anything  so  antique  for  ages ;  it  has  all  the 
fire,  poetry,  and  simplicity  of  Horace. 

Ye  sons  of  Bacchus,  come  and  join 
In  solemn  dirge,  while  tapers  shine 
Around  the  grape-embossed  shrine 
Of  honest  Harry  Bellendine. 

8  The  Countess   of  Bockingham,     of  Argyll 

Lord  Guilford's  third  wife.  *  Richard  Edgcumbe,  second  Baron 

3  Archibald  Campbell,  third  Duke     Edgcumbe. 


1761]  To  George  Montagu  53 

Pour  the  rich  juice  of  Bourdeaux's  wine, 
Mix'd  with  your  falling  tears  of  brine, 
In  full  libation  o'er  the  shrine 
Of  honest  Harry  Bellendine. 

Your  brows  let  ivy  chaplets  twine, 
While  you  push  round  the  sparkling  wine, 
And  let  your  table  be  the  shrine 
Of  honest  Harry  Bellendine. 

He  died  in  his  vocation,  of  a  high  fever,  after  the  celebra- 
tion of  some  orgies.  Though  but  six  hours  in  his  senses,  he 
gave  a  proof  of  his  usual  good  humour,  making  it  his  last 
request  to  the  sister  Tuftons 6  to  be  reconciled — which  they 
are.  His  pretty  villa,  in  my  neighbourhood,  I  fancy  he  has 
left  to  the  new  Lord  Lorn 6.  I  must  tell  you  an  admirable 
bon  mot  of  George  Selwyn,  though  not  a  new  one;  when 
there  was  a  malicious  report  that  the  eldest  Tufton  was  to 
marry  Dr.  Duncan,  Selwyn  said,  '  How  often  will  she  repeat 
that  line  of  Shakespear, 

Wake  Duncan  with  thy  knocking — would  th,ou  couldst ! ' 

I  enclose  the  receipt  from  your  lawyer.    Adieu  ! 

Yours  ever, 
H.W. 

749.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  April  28,  1761. 

I  AM  glad  you  relish  June  for  Strawberry.  By  that  tune 
I  hope  the  weather  will  have  recovered  its  temper.  At 
present  it  is  horridly  cross  and  uncomfortable ;  I  fear  we 

6  The  Ladies  Mary  and  Charlotte  6  General  John  Campbell,  brother 

Tnfton,  daughters  of  seventh  Earl  of  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury.    He 

of  Thanet.    Lady    Mary   m.  (1768)  had  become   Marquis  of  Lome  in 

Dr.,  afterwards  Sir  William,  Duncan,  consequence  of  his  father's  succes- 

and  died  in  1806.    Lady  Charlotte  sion  to  the  Dukedom  of  Argyll, 
died  unmarried,  1803. 


54  To  George  Montagu  [I?GI 

shall  have  a  cold  season ;  we  cannot  eat  our  summer  and 
have  our  summer. 

There  has  been  a  terrible  fire  in  the  little  traverse  street, 
at  the  upper  end  of  Sackville  Street.  Last  Friday  night l 
between  eleven  and  twelve,  I  was  sitting  with  Lord  Digby 2 
in  the  coffee-room  at  Arthur's.  They  told  us  there  was  a 
great  fire  somewhere  about  Burlington  Gardens.  I,  who  am 
as  constant  at  a  fire  as  George  Selwyn  at  an  execution,  pro- 
posed to  Lord  Digby  to  go  and  see  where  it  was.  We  found 
it  within  two  doors  of  that  pretty  house  of  Fairfax,  now 
General  Waldegrave's.  I  sent  for  the  latter,  who  was  at 
Arthur's ;  and  for  the  guard  from  St.  James's.  Four  houses 
were  in  flames  before  they  could  find  a  drop  of  water ;  eight 
were  burnt.  I  went  to  my  Lady  Suffolk,  in  Saville  Eow, 
and  passed  the  whole  night,  till  three  in  the  morning, 
between  her  little  hot  bedchamber  and  the  spot,  up  to  my 
ankles  in  water,  without  catching  cold.  As  the  wind,  which 
had  sat  towards  Swallow  Street,  changed  in  the  middle  of 
the  conflagration,  I  concluded  the  greatest  part  of  Saville 
Row  would  be  consumed.  I  persuaded  her  to  prepare  to 
transport  her  most  valuable  effects— -joortantur  avari  Pyg- 
malionis  opes  miserae.  She  behaved  with  great  composure, 
and  observed  to  me  herself  how  much  worse  her  deafness 
grew  with  the  alarm.  Half  the  people  of  fashion  in  town 
were  in  the  streets  all  night,  as  it  happened  in  such  a  quarter 
of  distinction.  In  the  crowd,  looking  on  with  great  tran- 
quillity, I  saw  a  Mr.  Jackson,  an  Irish  gentleman,  with  whom 
I  had  dined  this  winter  at  Lord  Hertford's.  He  seemed 
rather  grave — I  said,  'Sir,  I  hope  you  don't  live  anywhere 
hereabouts.' — 'Yes,  Sir,'  said  he,  'I  lodged  in  that  house 
that  is  just  burnt.' 

LETTKS  749. — 1  Friday,  April  24.      houses  were  burnt. 
The  fire  broke  out  in  some  stables  at          2  Henry  Digby  (1731-1793),  seventh 
the  back  of  Swallow  Street ;  fourteen      Baron  Digby ;  cr.  Earl  Digby,  1790. 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  55 

Last  night  there  was  a  mighty  ball  at  Bedford  House  ;  the 
royal  Dukes  and  Princess  Emily  were  there ;  your  Lord- 
Lieut[en]ant,  the  great  lawyer-lords,  and  old  Newcastle, 
whose  teeth  are  tumbled  out,  and  his  mouth  tumbled  in  ; 
hazard  very  deep ;  loo,  beauties,  and  the  Wilton  Bridge  in 
sugar,  almost  as  big  as  the  life.  I  am  glad  all  these  joys  are 
near  going  out  of  town.  The  Graftons  go  abroad  for  the 
Duchess's  health.  Another  climate  may  mend  that — I  will 
not  answer  for  more.  Adieu  I 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

750.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  May  5,  1761. 

WE  have  lost  a  young  genius,  Sir  William  Williams  * ;  an 
express  from  Belleisle,  arrived  this  morning,  brings  nothing 
but  his  death.  He  was  shot  very  unnecessarily,  riding  too 
near  a  battery :  in  sum,  he  is  a  sacrifice  to  his  own  rashness 
— and  to  ours— for  what  are  we  taking  Belleisle 2  ?  I  rejoiced 
at  the  little  loss  we  had  on  landing — for  the  glory,  I  leave  it 
[to]  the  Common  Council.  I  am  very  willing  to  leave  London 
to  them  too,  and  do  pass  half  the  week  at  Strawberry,  where 
my  two  passions,  lilacs  and  nightingales,  are  in  full  bloom. 
I  spent  Sunday  as  if  it  was  Apollo's  birthday ;  Gray  and 
Mason  were  with  me,  and  we  listened  to  the  nightingales 
till  one  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Gray  has  translated  two 
noble  incantations3  from  the  Lord  knows  who,  a  Danish 
Gray,  who  lived  the  Lord  knows  when.  They  are  to  be 

LETTER  750, — 1  Sir  William  Peere  son  and  Commodore  Keppel)  effected 

Williams,  fourth  Baronet,  M.P.  for  a  landing  on  Belleisle  on  April  25, 

Shoreh am,  and  captain  in  Burgoyne's  and  finally  took  possession  of  the 

Dragoons.      At    the  request  of  his  island  on  June  7. 

friend,    Frederick    Montagu,    Gray  3  The  Fatal  Sisters  and  The  Descent 

wrote  an  epitaph  on  Will  Jams.  of  Odin,  paraphrases  from  the  Ico- 

2  After  a  repulse  on  April  8,  the  landic. 
English  forces  (under  General  Hodg- 


56  To  George  Montagu  [i76i 

enchased  in  a  history  of  English  bards,  which  Mason  and 
he  are  writing,  but  of  which  the  former  has  not  writ  a  word 
yet,  and  of  which  the  latter,  if  he  rides  Pegasus  at  his  usual 
foot-pace,  will  finish  the  first  page  two  years  hence.  But 
the  true  frantic  oestnis  resides  at  present  with  Mr.  Hogarth  ; 
I  went  t'other  morning  to  see  a  portrait  he  is  painting  of 
Mr.  Fox — Hogarth  told  me  he  had  promised,  if  Mr.  Fox 
would  sit  as  he  liked,  to  make  as  good  a  picture  as  Vandyke 
or  Eubens  could.  I  was  silent — '  Why  now,'  said  he,  '  you 
think  this  very  vain,  but  why  should  not  one  speak  truth  ? ' 
This  truth  was  uttered  in  the  face  of  his  own  Sigismonda, 
which  is  exactly  a  maudlin  whore,  tearing  off  the  trinkets 
that  her  keeper  had  given  her,  to  fling  at  his  head.  She 
has  her  father's  picture  in  a  bracelet  on  her  arm,  and  her 
fingers  are  bloody  with  the  heart,  as  if  she  had  just  bought 
a  sheep's  pluck  in  St.  James's  Market.  As  I  was  going, 
Hogarth  put  on  a  very  grave  face,  and  said,  '  Mr.  Walpole, 
I  want  to  speak  to  you.'  I  sat  down,  and  said  I  was  ready 
to  receive  his  commands.  For  shortness,  I  will  mark  this 
wonderful  dialogue  by  initial  letters. 

H.  I  am  told  you  are  going  to  entertain  the  town  with 
something  in  our  way.  W.  Not  very  soon,  Mr.  Hogarth. 
H.  I  wish  you  would  let  me  have  it,  to  correct ;  I  should 
be  sorry  to  have  you  expose  yourself  to  censure.  We 
painters  must  know  more  of  those  things  than  other  people. 
W.  Do  you  think  nobody  understands  painting  but  painters  ? 
H.  Oh !  so  far  from  it,  there's  Keynolds,  who  certainly  has 
genius  ;  why,  but  t'other  day  he  offered  £100  for  a  picture 
that  I  would  not  hang  in  my  cellar;  and  indeed,  to  say 
truth,  I  have  generally  found  that  persons  who  had  studied 
painting  least  were  the  best  judges  of  it — but  what  I  parti- 
cularly wanted  to  say  to  you  was  about  Sir  James  Thornhill  * 
(you  know  he  married  Sir  James's  daughter) :  I  would  not 
4  Sir  James  ThornhiU,  Knight  (1675-1734),  Sergeant-Fainter  to  George  I. 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  57 

have  you  say  anything  against  him  ;  there  was  a  book  pub- 
lished some  time  ago,  abusing  him,  and  it  gave  great 
offence — he  was  the  first  that  attempted  history  in  England, 
and,  I  assure  you,  some  Germans  have  said  that  he  was  a 
very  great  painter.  W.  My  work  will  go  no  lower  than 
the  year  1700,  and  I  really  have  not  considered  whether 
Sir  J.  Thornhill  will  come  within  my  plan  or  not ;  if  he 
does,  I  fear  you  and  I  shall  not  agree  upon  his  merits. 
H.  I  wish  you  would  let  me  correct  it — besides,  I  am  writing 
something  of  the  same  kind  myself ;  I  should  be  sorry  we 
should  clash.  W.  I  believe  it  is  not  much  known  what  my 
work  is ;  very  few  persons  have  seen  it.  H.  Why,  it  is 
a  critical  history  of  painting,  is  not  it  ?  W.  No,  it  is  an 
antiquarian  history  of  it  in  England  ;  I  bought  Mr.  Vertue's 
MSS.,  and  I  believe  the  work  will  not  give  much  offence. 
Besides,  if  it  does,  I  cannot  help  it :  when  I  publish  any- 
thing, I  give  it  to  the  world  to  think  of  it  as  they  please. 
H.  Oh!  if  it  is  an  antiquarian  work,  we  shall  not  clash. 
Mine  is  a  critical  work  ;  I  don't  know  whether  I  shall  ever 
publish  it — it  is  rather  an  apology  for  painters — I  think  it 
owing  to  the  good  sense  of  the  English  that  they  have  not 
painted  better.  W.  My  dear  Mr.  Hogarth,  I  must  take  my 
leave  of  you,  you  now  grow  too  wild — and  I  left  him. — If 
I  had  stayed,  there  remained  nothing  but  for  him  to  bite 
me.  I  give  you  my  honour  this  conversation  is  literal,  and, 
perhaps,  as  long  as  you  have  known  Englishmen  and 
painters,  you  never  met  with  anything  so  distracted.  I  had 
consecrated  a  line  to  his  genius  (I  mean,  for  wit)  in  my 
Preface ;  I  shall  not  erase  it ;  but  I  hope  nobody  will  ask 
me  if  he  was  not  mad.  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 
H.  W. 


58  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1761 


751.    To  SIB  HORACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  May  14,  1761. 

FROM  your  silence.  I  began  to  fear  you  was  ill ;  but 
yesterday  I  received  yours  of  the  25th  of  last  month,  with 
the  account  of  your  absence  at  Pisa.  The  little  convulsions 
which  surprised  you  so  much  in  my  letter  of  March  17th, 
subsided  the  moment  they  were  settled  ;  and  if  any  factions 
design  to  form  themselves,  they  will  at  least  not  bespeak 
their  colours  till  next  session  of  Parliament,  or  till  the 
Peace.  The  latter  is  the  present  object,  and  the  stocks  at 
least  give  credit  to  the  professions  of  France.  The  im- 
pertinent Bussy  (who,  I  believe,  will  be  a  little  more  humble 
than  formerly)  is  coming,  exchanged  with  Mr.  Stanley, — but 
with  all  the  impatience  of  France  to  treat,  they  modestly 
proposed  that  Bussy1  should  come  in  the  man-of-war  that 
carried  Stanley 2.  This  was  flatly  refused ;  and  an  Irish 
arrangement  is  made ;  the  one  is  to  be  at  Dover,  the  other 
at  Calais,  on  the  22nd,  and  if  the  same  wind  can  blow 
contrary  ways  at  once,  they  will  sail  at  the  same  moment ; 
if  it  cannot,  I  am  persuaded  the  French  weathercocks  will 
not  blow  east  till  ours  have  been  four-and-twenty  hours  in 
the  west.  I  am  not  among  the  credulous,  not  conceiving 
why  the  court  of  Versailles  should  desire  a  peace  at  the 
beginning  of  a  campaign,  when  they  will  have  so  much 
more  in  bank  to  treat  with  at  the  end  of  it.  They  will 
have  Hesse  and  Hanover ;  shall  we  have  the  rock  of 
Belleisle?  That  expedition  engrosses  as  much  attention 
as  the  Peace.  Though  I  have  no  particular  friends  there, 
I  tremble  every  day  in  expectation  of  bloody  journals, 

LETTER  751. — 1  The  Abb6  de  Bnsay :      for  a  neutrality  for  Hanover.     Wai- 
he  had  been  very  insolent,  even  to      pole. 
the  King,  in  a  former  negotiation          -  Hans  Stanley,  Esq.     Walpole. 


To  Sir  Horace  Mann  59 

whether  successful  or  disadvantageous.  Sir  William  Williams, 
a  young  man  much  talked  of,  from  his  exceeding  ambition, 
enterprising  spirit,  and  some  parts  in  Parliament,  is  already 
fallen  there ;  and  even  he  was  too  great  a  price  for  such 
a  trumpery  island — we  have  dozens  as  good  in  the  north  of 
Scotland,  and  of  as  much  consequence.  For  the  Empress 
Queen,  she  has  marked  her  Christian  disposition  to  peace 
sufficiently,  by  forbidding  her  Knights  of  Malta  to  assist 
their  religion,  lest  it  should  offend  the  Turk,  and  take  her 
off  from  pursuing  the  King  of  Prussia. 

Your  friend,  Lord  Huntingdon,  is  safe — at  least  till  some 
new  court  earthquake.  To  Mr.  Dodington  you  ask  what 
you  shall  say  ?  Nothing :  but  to  my  Lord  Melcombe  address 
as  many  lords  and  lordships  as  you  please,  and  you  cannot 
err :  he  is  as  fond  of  his  title  as  his  child  could  be,  if  he  had 
one.  Another  of  your  friends,  Lord  Northampton,  is  named 
to  return  the  compliment  to  Venice s. 

I  rejoice  that  you  have  got  Mr.  Pitt 4 ;  make  him  a  thousand 
speeches  from  me,  and  tell  him  how  much  I  say  you  witt 
like  one  another.  You  will  be  happy  too  in  Sir  Kichard 
Lyttelton  and  his  Duchess 5 ;  they  are  the  best  humoured 
people  in  the  world.  I  promised  you  another  Duchess,  the 
famous  beauty  Duchess,  she  of  Hamilton,  but  she  is  returning 
to  England.  In  her  room  I  announce  her  Grace  of  Grafton 6, 
a  passion  of  mine — not  a  regular  beauty,  but  one  of  the 
finest  women  you  ever  saw,  and  with  more  dignity  and 
address.  She  is  one  of  our  first  great  ladies.  She  goes 
first  to  Genoa — an  odd  place  for  her  health,  but  she  is  not 
very  bad.  The  Duke  goes  with  her,  and  as  it  is  not  much 

3  Lord  Northampton  had  been  ap-  first  Lord  Lyttelton.     Walpole. 

pointed  Ambassador  to  Venice.  6  Anne  Liddel,  only  child  of  Lord 

*  Thomas  Pitt,  of  Boconnock.  Wai-  Bavensworth,  was  first  married  to 

pole.  Augustus  Henry,  Duke  of  Grafton, 

8  Rachel,    Duchess    Dowager    of  and,    being    divorced     from    him, 

Bridgwater,  married  to  her  second  secondly,  to  John  Fitzpatrick,  second 

husband,  Richard,  brother  of  George,  Earl  of  Upper  Ossory.     Walpole. 


60  To  George  Montagu  [1761 

from  inclination  that  she  goes,  perhaps  they  will  not  agree 
whither  they  shall  go  next.  He  is  a  man  of  strict  honour, 
and  does  not  want  sense,  nor  good-breeding ;  but  is  not 
particularly  familiar,  nor  particularly  good-humoured,  nor 
at  all  particularly  generous. 

I  sent  your  proposal  to  Dr.  Dalton ;  the  answer  was,  he 
was  in  Holland,  but  was  expected  in  a  week — neither  the 
week  nor  he  are  arrived  yet. 

As  we  have  a  rage  at  present  for  burlettas,  I  wish  you 
would  send  me  the  music  of  your  present  one,  which 
you  say  is  so  charming.  If  pleasures  can  tempt  people 
to  stay  in  town,  there  will  be  a  harvest  all  summer; 
operas  at  the  little  theatre  in  the  Haymarket,  and  plays 
at  Drury  Lane. 

I  have  lost  one  of  the  oldest  friends  I  had  in  the  world, 
Lord  Edgecumbe ;  a  martyr  to  gaming :  with  every  quality 
to  make  himself  agreeable,  he  did  nothing  but  make  himself 
miserable.  I  feel  the  loss  much,  though  long  expected  ;  and 
it  is  the  more  sensible  here,  where  I  saw  most  of  him.  My 
towers  rise,  my  galleries  and  cloisters  extend — for  what? 
For  me  to  leave,  or  to  inhabit  by  myself,  when  I  have 
survived  my  friends !  Yet,  with  these  ungrateful  reflections, 
how  I  wish  once  to  see  you  here  !  And  of  what  should  we 
most  talk  ? — of  a  dear  friend  we  have  both,  alas  !  survived. 
Gal  served  me  to  talk  to  of  you — now  I  can  only  talk  to  you 
of  him !  But  I  will  not — I  love  to  communicate  my  satisfac- 
tions— my  melancholy  I  generally  shut  up  in  my  own  breast ! 
Adieu ! 

752.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  May  14,  1761. 

As  I  am  here,  and  know  nothing  of  our  poor  heroes  at 
Belleisle,  who  are  combating  rocks,  mines,  famine,  and 
Mr.  Pitt's  obstinacy,  I  will  send  you  the  victory  of  a 


17G1]  To  George  Montagu  61 

heroine — but  must  preface  it  with  an  apology,  as  it  was 
gained  over  a  sort  of  relation  of  yours.  Jemmy  Lumley l 
last  week  had  a  party  of  whisk  at  his  own  house;  the 
combatants,  Lucy  Southwell2,  that  curtseys  like  a  bear, 
Mrs.  Prujean,  and  a  Mrs.  Mackinsy.  They  played  from 
six  in  the  evening  till  twelve  next  day;  Jemmy  never 
winning  one  rubber,  and  rising  a  loser  of  two  thousand 
pound.  How  it  happened  I  know  not,  nor  why  his  suspicions 
arrived  so  late,  but  he  fancied  himself  cheated,  and  refused 
to  pay.  However,  the  bear  had  no  share  in  his  evil  surmises. 
On  the  contrary,  a  day  or  two  afterwards,  he  promised 
a  dinner  at  Hampstead  to  Lucy  and  her  virtuous  sister3. 
As  he  went  to  the  rendezvous  his  chaise  was  stopped  by 
somebody,  who  advised  him  not  to  proceed.  Yet  no  whit 
daunted,  he  advanced.  In  the  garden  he  found  the  gentle 
conqueress,  Mrs.  Mackinsy,  who  accosted  him  in  the  most 
friendly  manner.  After  a  few  compliments,  she  asked  him 
if  he  did  not  intend  to  pay  her — 'No,  indeed  I  shan't, 
I  shan't ;  your  servant,  your  servant.' — '  Shan't  you  ? '  said 
the  fair  virago — and  taking  a  horsewhip  from  beneath  her 
hoop,  she  fell  upon  him  with  as  much  vehemence  as  the 
Empress-Queen  would  upon  the  King  of  Prussia,  if  she 
could  catch  him  alone  in  the  garden  at  Hampstead — Jemmy 
cried  out  murder ;  his  servants  rushed  in,  rescued  him  from 
the  jaws  of  the  lioness,  and  carried  him  off  in  his  chaise  to 
town.  The  Southwells,  who  were  already  arrived,  and 
descended  on  the  noise  of  the  fray,  finding  nobody  to  pay 
for  the  dinner,  and  fearing  they  must,  set  out  for  London 
too,  without  it,  though  I  suppose  they  had  prepared  tin 
pockets  to  carry  off  all  that  should  be  left.  Mrs.  Mackinsy 
is  immortal,  and  in  the  Crown  Office. 

LETTKE  752. — *  Hon.  James  Lum-  2  Hon.    Lucy    Southwell,    second 

ley,  son  of  first  Earl  of  Scarborough ;  daughter  of  first  Baron  Southwell, 

his  sister  married  the  Earl  of  Halifax,  s  Hon.  Frances  Southwell. 
Montagu's  uncle. 


62  To  George  Montagu  [JTGI 

I  can  tell  you  two  more  quarrels,  that  have  not  ended 
quite  so  bloodily.  Long  Herbert  has  lately  made  some 
alterations  to  his  house  in  Berkeley  Square :  the  workmen 
overturned  three  stone  posts.  Lady  Mary  Coke's  servants 
disputed  with  his  for  the  property,  and  she  herself  sent  him 
a  message  about  them.  .  .  .* 

The  last  battle  in  my  military  journal  happened  between 
the  mother  of  the  last-mentioned  dame  and  Lord  Vere.  The 
Duchess,  who  always  talks  of  puss  and  pug,  and  who,  having 
lost  her  memory,  forgets  how  often  she  tells  the  same  story, 
had  tired  the  company  at  Dorset  House  with  the  repetition  of 
this  narration  ;  when  the  Duke's  spaniel  reached  up  into  her 
lap,  and  placed  his  nose  as  critically  .  .  .6  'See,'  said  she, 
'see,  how  fond  all  creatures  are  of  me.'  Lord  Vere,  who 
was  at  cards,  and  could  not  attend  to  them  from  her 
gossipping,  said  peevishly,  without  turning  round  or  seeing 
where  the  dog  was,  'I  suppose  he  smells  puss.' — 'What!' 
said  the  Duchess  of  Argyle,  in  a  passion,  '  do  you  think  my 
puss  stinks  ? ' — I  believe  you  have  not  three  better  stories 
in  Northamptonshire. 

Don't  imagine  that  my  gallery  will  be  prance-about-irnible, 
as  you  expect,  by  the  beginning  of  June ;  I  do  not  propose 
to  finish  it  till  next  year — but  you  will  see  some  glimpse  of 
it — and  for  the  rest  of  Strawberry,  it  never  was  more 
beautiful.  You  must  now  begin  to  fix  your  motions :  I  go 
to  Lord  Dacre's  the  end  of  this  month,  and  to  Lord 
Ilchester's  the  end  of  the  next — between  those  periods 
I  expect  you. 

Saturday  morning,  Arl.  Street. 

I  came  to  town  yesterday  for  a  party  at  Bedford  House, 
made  for  Princess  Emily ;  the  garden  was  open,  with  French 
horns  and  clarionets,  and  would  have  been  charming  with 
one  single  zephyr  that  had  not  come  from  the  north-east — 

*  Passage  omitted.  8  Passage  omitted. 


1761]  To  George  Montagu  63 

however,  the  young  ladies  found  it  delightful.  There  was 
limited  loo  for  the  Princess,  unlimited  for  the  Duchess  of 
Grafton,  to  whom  I  belonged,  a  table  of  quinze,  and  another 
of  quadrille.  The  Princess  had  heard  of  our  having  cold 
meat  upon  the  loo-table,  and  would  have  some.  A  table 
was  brought  in,  she  was  served  so,  others  rose  by  turns  and 
went  to  the  cold  meat ;  in  the  outward  room  were  four  little 
tables  for  the  rest  of  the  company.  Think,  if  George  the 
Second  could  have  risen  and  seen  his  daughter  supping  pell- 
mell  with  men,  as  it  were  in  a  booth !  The  tables  were 
removed,  the  young  people  began  to  dance  to  a  tabor  and 
pipe ;  the  Princess  sat  down  again,  but  to  unlimited  loo,  we 
played  till  three,  and  I  won  enough  to  help  on  the  gallery. 
I  am  going  back  to  it,  to  give  my  nieces  and  their  lords 
a  dinner. 

We  were  told  there  was  a  great  victory  come  from  Pondi- 
cherry6,  but  it  came  from  too  far  to  divert  us  from  liking 
our  party  better.  Poor  George  Monson7  has  lost  his  leg 
there.  You  know  that  Sir  W.  Williams  has  made  Fred 
Montagu  heir  to  his  debts.  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

6  Oent.  Mag.  1761.     'Friday,  May  sary    of  life.    Other   accounts  say, 

15.    Advice  was  received  over  land  that  the   siege  was  obliged    to    be 

by  the  way  of  Bassora  from  the  East  raised  on  account  of  the  monsoons, 

Indies,   that  the  garrison    of   Pon-  but  was  to  be  resumed  in  Jan.  (last).' 

dicherry  had  made  a  vigorous  sally,  Pondicherry  surrendered  to  the  Eng- 

but  were  repulsed  with  great  loss,  lish  under  Colonel  (afterwards  Sir 

and  that,  on  our  side,  Col.  Monson  Eyre)  Coote  and  Admiral  Stevens  on 

had  one    of   his    legs    shot    off   by  Jan.  15,  1761. 

a  cannon  ball     This  account  came  7  Colonel  (afterwards  Lieutenant- 

by  the  Groine  mail,  and  adds,  that  General)  Hon.  George  Monson  (1730- 

the    English    expected    soon  to    be  1776),  third  son  of  first  Baron  Mon- 

masters  of  the  place,  as  they  had  son,   afterwards  well  known  as  an 

learned  by  the  prisoners  that  the  opponent  of  Warren  Hastings, 
garrison  was  in  want  of  every  neces- 


64  To  Lady  Mary  Coke  [1701 

753.    To  LADY  MAEY  COKE. 

DEAR  MADAM,  Strawberry  Hill,  June  3,  1761. 

I  will  renounce  my  new  vocation  if  my  zeal  hath  eaten 
you  up.  I  intended  to  laugh  you  out  of  danger,  but  I  resign 
all  the  honour  that  has  attended  my  preaching,  if  I  have 
given  you  an  uneasy  moment  or  a  disagreeable  thought. 
You  answer  me  too  seriously  upon  the  foot  of  looks ;  I  wish 
I  could  always  justify  myself  as  well  as  I  can  on  this 
chapter  !  Did  ever  any  man  tell  a  very  pretty  woman  that 
she  looked  ill,  but  when  it  was  in  her  power  to  look  well, 
or  when  she  was  sure  of  looking  well  immediately  ?  It  is 
brutal — a  behaviour  I  think  your  Ladyship  cannot  suspect 
me  of — to  tell  a  woman  her  beauty  is  gone ;  it  is  kind  to 
warn  her  to  preserve  it,  or  to  take  care  to  recover  it  when  it 
is  clouded  by  sickness.  I  don't  love  to  put  myself  too  much 
in  your  power,  but  how  are  you  sure  that  I  was  not  jealous 
lest  anybody  should  look  better  than  you  at  the  Birthday? 
I  knew  you  would  not  borrow  any  bloom,  I  knew  a  little 
time  would  restore  it ;  it  is  for  the  honour  of  my  passion 
that  you  should  never  be  seen  without  being  admired,  and 
it  imported  to  my  glory  that  Lady  Mary  Coke  should  rather 
be  missed  at  the  first  Birthday  of  the  King,  than  that 
a  charm  of  hers  should  be  missing.  But  I  had  a  better 
reason  than  all  these ;  I  was  seriously  afraid  of  your  hurting 
yourself,  and  my  having  staggered  your  resolution  proves  to 
me,  that  if  our  divines  make  no  more  converts,  it  is  because 
they  do  not  feel  what  they  preach  *.  I  was  eloquent  because 
I  spoke  from  my  heart. 

I  propose  to  be  in  town  on  Friday,  and  shall  be  happy  to 
receive  your  commands  for  a  visit  from  Strawberry — if  Straw- 

LETTKR  768. — Not  in  C.  ;  reprinted  to  dissuade  Lady  Mary  Coke  from 

from  Letters  and  Journals  of  Lady  going  to  the  King's  Birthday,  as  she 

Mary  Coke,  vol.  iii.  pp.  xiv-xv.  had  lately  been  ill."  (Horace  Walpole, 

1  '  May  30.    Wrote  a  mock  sermon  Short  Notts  of  my  Life.) 


I76i]  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury  65 

berry  is  not  drowned.  I  have  scarce  been  able  to  stir  out  of 
the  house  since  Monday  morning  ;  my  workmen  are  all  at 
a  stand,  and  the  deluge  seems  to  be  arrived  before  my  ark 
is  half  ready.  Adieu  !  Madam. 

Your  most  faithful 

Humble  servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 

754.    To  THE  COUNTESS  OP  AILESBUEY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  June  13,  1761. 

I  NEVER  ate  such  good  snuff,  nor  smelt  such  delightful 
bonbons,  as  your  Ladyship  has  sent  me.  Every  time  you 
rob  the  Duke's  dessert,  does  it  cost  you  a  pretty  snuff-box  ? 
Do  the  pastors  at  the  Hague *  enjoin  such  expensive  retribu- 
tions? If  a  man  steals  a  kiss  there,  I  suppose  he  does 
penance  in  a  sheet  of  Brussels  lace.  The  comical  part  is, 
that  you  own  the  theft,  and  send  it  me,  but  say  nothing  of 
the  vehicle  of  your  repentance.  In  short,  Madam,  the  box 
is  the  prettiest  thing  I  ever  saw,  and  I  give  you  a  thousand 
thanks  for  it. 

When  you  comfort  yourself  about  the  operas,  you  don't 
know  what  you  have  lost ;  nay,  nor  I  neither ;  for  I  was 
here,  concluding  that  a  serenata  for  a  Birthday  would  be  as 
dull  and  as  vulgar  as  those  festivities  generally  are:  but 
I  hear  of  nothing  but  the  enchantment  of  it.  There  was 
a  second  orchestra  in  the  footman's  gallery,  disguised  by 
clouds,  and  filled  with  the  music  of  the  King's  chapel.  The 
choristers  behaved  like  angels,  and  the  harmony  between 
the  two  bands  was  in  the  most  exact  time.  Elisi  piqued 
himself,  and  beat  both  heaven  and  earth.  The  joys  of  the 
year  do  not  end  there.  The  under-actors  open  at  Drury  Lane 
to-night  with  a  new  comedy  by  Murphy,  called  All  in  the 

LKTTKK  754. — 1  Lady  Ailesbury  re-  Conway  was  with  the  army  during 
mained  at  the  Hague  while  Mr.  the  campaign  of  1761.  Berry. 

WALPOLE-    V  V 


66  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury          [i76i 

Wrong.  At  Kanelagh,  all  is  fireworks  and  sky-rockets.  The 
Birthday  exceeded  the  splendour  of  Haroun  Alraschid  and 
the  Arabian  Nights,  when  people  had  nothing  to  do  but  to 
scour  a  lantern  and  send  a  genie  for  a  hamper  of  diamonds 
and  rubies.  Do  you  remember  one  of  those  stories 2,  where 
a  prince  has  eight  statues  of  diamonds,  which  he  overlooks, 
because  he  fancies  he  wants  a  ninth ;  and  to  his  great 
surprise  the  ninth  proves  to  be  pure  flesh  and  blood,  which 
he  never  thought  of  ?  Somehow  or  other,  Lady  Sarah  is  the 
ninth  statue ;  and,  you  will  allow,  has  better  white  and  red 
than  if  she  was  made  of  pearls  and  rubies.  Oh  !  I  forgot, 

I  was  telling  you  of  the  Birthday:  my  Lord  P had 

drunk  the  King's  health  so  often  at  dinner,  that  at  the  ball 

he  took  Mrs. for  a  beautiful  woman,  and,  as  she  says, 

'  made  an  improper  use  of  his  hands.'  The  proper  use  of 
hers,  she  thought,  was  to  give  him  a  box  on  the  ear,  though 
within  the  verge  of  the  court.  He  returned  it  by  a  push, 
and  she  tumbled  off  the  end  of  the  bench ;  which  his 
Majesty  has  accepted  as  sufficient  punishment,  and  she  is 
not  to  lose  her  right  hand s. 

I  enclose  the  list  your  Ladyship  desired :  you  will  see  that 
the  plurality  of  Worlds  are  Moore's4,  and  of  some  I  do  not 
know  the  authors.  There  is  a  late  edition  with  these  names 
to  them. 

My  Duchess5  was  to  set  out  this  morning.  I  saw  her 
for  the  last  time  the  day  before  yesterday  at  Lady  Kildare's : 
never  was  a  journey  less  a  party  of  pleasure.  She  was  so 
melancholy,  that  all  Miss  Pelham's  oddness  and  my  spirits 
could  scarce  make  her  smile.  Towards  the  end  of  the 

a  The  story  of  King  Zeyn  Alasnam.  1757.    A    collected    edition    of   the 

3  The  old  punishment  for  giving  papers  appeared  in  that  year,  and 
a  blow  in  the  King's  presence.   Berry,  another  in   1761.     The  mention  of 

4  Edward  Moore,  author  of  sixty-  the  plurality  of  Worlds  is  an  allusion 
one  out  of  the  two  hundred  and  ten  to  Fontenelle's  Entretiens  de  la  Plura- 
papera  of  the  periodical  called  The  lite  des  Mondes. 

World,   which  ceased  to  appear  in         8  The  Duchess  of  Grafton. 


I76i]  To  ike  Countess  of  Ailesbury  67 

night,  and  that  was  three  in  the  morning,  I  did  divert 
her  a  little.  I  slipped  Pam  into  her  lap,  and  then  taxed  her 
with  having  it  there.  She  was  quite  confounded  ;  but 
taking  it  up,  saw  he  had  a  telescope  in  his  hand,  which 
I  had  drawn,  and  that  the  card,  which  was  split,  and  just 
waxed  together,  contained  these  lines : 

Ye  simple  astronomers,  lay  by  your  glasses; 

The  transit  of  Venus6  has  proved  you  all  asses: 

Your  telescopes  signify  nothing  to  scan  it ; 

'Tis  not  meant  in  the  clouds,  'tis  not  meant  of  a  planet : 

The  seer  who  foretold  it  mistook  or  deceives  us, 

For  Venus's  transit  is  when  Grafton  leaves  us. 

I  don't  send  your  Ladyship  these  verses  as  good,  but  to  show 
you  that  all  gallantry  does  not  centre  at  the  Hague. 

I  wish  I  could  tell  you  that  Stanley  and  Bussy,  by 
crossing  over  and  figuring  in,  had  forwarded  the  Peace.  It 
is  no  more  made  than  Belleisle  is  taken.  However,  I  flatter 
myself  that  you  will  not  stay  abroad  till  you  return  for  the 
Coronation,  which  is  ordered  for  the  beginning  of  October. 
I  don't  care  to  tell  you  how  lovely  the  season  is  ;  how  my 
acacias  are  powdered  with  flowers,  and  my  hay  just  in  its 
picturesque  moment.  Do  they  ever  make  any  other  hay 
in  Holland  than  bulrushes  in  ditches  ?  My  new  buildings 
rise  so  swiftly,  that  I  shall  not  have  a  shilling  left,  so  far 
from  giving  commissions  on  Amsterdam.  When  I  have 
made  my  house  so  big  that  I  don't  know  what  to  do  with  it, 
and  am  entirely  undone,  I  propose,  like  King  Pyrrhus 7,  who 
took  such  a  roundabout  way  to  a  bowl  of  punch,  to  sit  down 
and  enjoy  myself ;  but  with  this  difference,  that  it  is  better 

6  The  transit  of  Venus  took  place  should  have  conquered  the  world, 
on  June  6,  1761.  replied  that  he  proposed  to  pass  his 

7  A  reference  to  an  anecdote  re-  time  in  feasting  and  pleasure ;  where- 
lated  by  Plutarch   in    his  Life  of  upon  Cineas  asked  Pyrrhus  why  he 
Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus.    Pyrrhus,  did  not  take  his  ease  at  once,  instead 
when  asked    by  his  friend   Cineas  of  first   undergoing   the  toils   and 
what  he  intended  to  do  when  he  perils  of  war  ? 

F  2 


68  To  George  Montagu  [ITGI 

to  ruin  one's  self  than  all  the  world.  I  am  sure  you  would 
think  as  I  do,  though  Pyrrhus  were  King  of  Prussia.  I  long 
to  have  you  bring  back  the  only  hero8  that  ever  I  could 
endure.  Adieu,  Madam  !  I  sent  you  just  such  another  piece 
of  tittle-tattle  as  this  by  General  Waldegrave :  you  are  very 
partial  to  me,  or  very  fond  of  knowing  everything  that 
passes  in  your  own  country,  if  you  can  be  amused  so.  If 
you  can,  'tis  surely  my  duty  to  divert  you,  though  at  the 
expense  of  my  character ;  for  I  own  I  am  Ashamed  when 
I  look  back  and  see  four  sides  of  paper  scribbled  over  with 
nothings.  Your  Ladyship's  most  faithful  servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 

755.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  June  18,  1761. 

I  AM  glad  you  will  come  on  Monday,  and  hope  you  will 
arrive  in  a  rainbow  and  pair,  to  signify  that  we  are  not  to 
be  totally  drowned.  It  has  rained  incessantly,  and  floated 
all  my  new  works ;  I  seem  rather  to  be  building  a  pond 
than  a  gallery.  My  farm  too  is  all  under  water,  and  what 
is  vexatious,  if  Sunday  had  not  thrust  itself  between,  I  could 
have  got  in  my  hay  on  Monday.  As  the  parsons  will  let 
nobody  else  make  hay  on  Sundays,  I  think  they  ought  to 
make  it  on  that  day  themselves. 

By  the  papers  I  see  Mrs.  Trevor  Hampden 1  is  dead  of  the 
smallpox.  Will  he  be  much  concerned  ? 

If  you  stay  with  me  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks,  perhaps 
I  may  be  able  to  carry  you  to  a  play  of  Mr.  Bentley's — you 
stare — but  I  am  in  earnest — nay,  and  de  par  le  roy.  In 
short,  here  is  the  history  of  it.  You  know  the  passion  he 

8  Her  husband,  General  Conway.  (1706-1783),  third  son  of  first  Baron 

LETTER  755. — *  Constantly,  daugh-  Trevor.    He  took  the  name  of  Hamp- 

ter  of   Peter  Antony  de    Huybert,  den  in  1754 ;  succeeded  his  brother 

Lord   of   Van-Kruyningen   in    Hoi-  as  fourth  Baron  Trevor,  1764  ;  and 

land;  m.  (1743)  Hon.  Robert  Trevor  was  created  Viscount  Hampden,  17  76. 


1761]  To  George  Montagu  69 

always  had  for  the  Italian  comedy.  About  two  years  ago 
he  writ  one,  intending  to  get  it  offered  to  Kich — but  without 
his  name. — He  would  have  died  to  be  supposed  an  author, 
and  writing  for  gain.  I  kept  this  a  most  inviolable  secret. 
Judge  then  of  my  surprise,  when  about  a  fortnight  or  three 
weeks  ago,  I  found  my  Lord  Melcomb  reading  this  very 
Bentleiad  in  a  circle  at  my  Lady  Hervey's.  Cumberland 2 
had  carried  it  to  him  with  a  recommendatory  copy  of  verses, 
containing  more  incense  to  the  King,  and  my  Lord  Bute, 
than  the  Magi  brought  in  their  portmanteaus  to  Jerusalem. 
The  idols  were  propitious,  and  to  do  them  justice,  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  wit  in  the  piece,  which  is  called  The  Wishes, 
or  Harlequin's  Mouth  Opened.  A  bank-note  of  200Z.  was  sent 
from  the  Treasury  to  the  author,  and  the  play  ordered  to  be 
performed  by  the  summer  company.  Foote  was  summoned 
to  Lord  Melcomb's,  where  Parnassus,  was  composed  of  the 
peer  himself,  who,  like  Apollo,  as  I  am  going  to  tell  you, 
was  dozing,  the  two  chief  justices,  and  Lord  Bute.  Bubo8  read 
the  play  himself, '  with  handkerchief  and  orange  by  his  side.' 
But  the  curious  part  is  a  prologue,  which  I  never  saw.  It 
represents  the  god  of  verse  fast  asleep  by  the  side  of  Helicon. 
The  race  of  modern  bards  try  to  wake  him,  but  the  more 
they  repeat  their  works,  the  louder  he  snores.  At  last  'Ruin 
seize  thee,  ruthless  King,'  is  heard,  and  the  god  starts  from  his 
trance.  This  is  a  good  thought,  but  will  offend  the  bards 
so  much,  that  I  think  Dr.  Bentley's  son  will  be  abused  at 
least  as  much  as  his  father  was.  The  prologue  concludes 
with  young  Augustus,  and  how  much  he  excels  the  ancient 
one  by  the  choice  of  his  friend.  Foote  refused  to  act  this 
prologue,  and  said  it  was  too  strong.  'Indeed,'  said 
Augustus's  friend,  'I  think  it  is.'  They  have  softened  it 

8  Richard  Cumberland  (1782-181 1),  called '  Bubo '  by  Pope  in  the  Prologue 

dramatist,  nephew  of  Richard  Bent-  to  the  Satires,  from  which  (line  228) 

ley  the  younger.  the  quotation  in  the  next  line  is 

3  Bubb  Dodington,  Lord  Melcombe,  taken. 


70  To  George  Montagu  [i?6i 

a  little,  and  I  suppose  it  will  be  performed.  You  may 
depend  upon  the  truth  of  all  this  ;  but  what  is  much  more 
credible  is,  that  the  comely  young  author  appears  every  night 
in  the  Mall  in  a  milk-white  coat  with  a  blue  cape,  disclaims 
any  benefit,  and  says  he  has  done  with  the  play  now  it  is 
out  of  his  own  hands,  and  that  Mrs.  Hannah  Clio,  alias 
Bentley,  writ  the  best  scenes  in  it.  He  is  going  to  write 
a  tragedy,  and  she,  I  suppose,  is  going — to  court. 

You  will  smile  when  I  tell  you  that  t'other  day  a  party 
went  to  Westminster  Abbey,  and  among  the  rest  saw  the 
ragged  regiment 4.  They  inquired  the  names  of  the  figures. 
'  I  don't  know  them,'  said  the  man,  '  but  if  Mr.  Walpole  was 
here  he  could  tell  you  every  one.' 

Adieu !    I  expect  Mr.  John  and  you  with  impatience. 

Yours  ever,  H.  W. 

756.      To  GrEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  July  5,  1761. 

You  are  a  pretty  sort  of  a  person  to  come  to  one's  house 
and  get  sick,  only  to  have  an  excuse  for  not  returning  to  it. 
Your  departure  is  so  abrupt,  that  I  don't  know  but  I  may 
expect  to  find  that  Mrs.  Jane  Truebridge,  whom  you  com- 
mend so  much,  and  call  Mrs.  Mary,  will  prove  Mrs.  Hannah. 
Mrs.  Clive  is  still  more  disappointed  ;  she  had  proposed  to 
play  at  quadrille  with  you  from  dinner  to  supper,  and  to 
sing  old  Purcell  to  you  from  supper  to  breakfast  next 
morning.  If  you  cannot  trust  yourself  from  Greatworth 
for  a  whole  fortnight,  how  will  you  do  in  Ireland  for  six 
months  ?  Kemember  all  my  preachments,  and  never  be  in 
spirits  at  supper.  Seriously  I  am  sorry  you  are  out  of  order, 
but  am  alarmed  for  you  at  Dublin,  and  though  all  the  bench 
of  bishops  should  quaver  Purcell's  hymns,  don't  let  them 
warble  you  into  a  pint  of  wine — I  wish  you  was  going 
*  The  wax  effigies  formerly  carried  in  funeral  processions. 


1761]  To  the  Earl  of  Straffbrd  71 

among  Catholic  prelates,  who  would   deny  you  the  cup. 
Think  of  me  and  resist  temptation.     Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 
H.  W. 

757.    To  THE  EARL  OF  STBAFFOBP. 

MY  DEAR  LORD,  Strawberry  Hill,  July  5,  1761. 

1  cannot  live  at  Twickenham  and  not  think  of  you: 
I  have  long  wanted  to  write,  and  had  nothing  to  tell  you. 
My  Lady  Denbigh  seems  to  have  lost  her  sting ;  she  has 
neither  blown  up  a  house  nor  a  quarrel  since  you  departed. 
Her  wall,  contiguous  to  you,  is  built,  but  so  precipitate  and 
slanting,  that  it  seems  hurrying  to  take  water.     I  hear  she 
grows  sick  of  her  undertakings.     We  have  been  ruined  by 
deluges ;  all  the  country  was  under  water.     Lord  Holder- 
nesse's  new  fosse 1  was  beaten  in  for  several  yards  :   this 
tempest  was  a  little  beyond  the  dew  of  Hermon,  that  fell  on 
the  HUl  of  Sion.     I  have  been  in  still  more   danger  by 
water  :  my  parroquet  was  on  my  shoulder  as  I  was  feeding 
my  gold-fish,  and  flew  into  the  middle  of  the  pond :  I  was 
very  near  being  the  Nouvelle  Eloi'se 2,  and  tumbling  in  after 
him  ;  but  with  much  ado  I  ferried  him  out  with  my  hat. 

Lord  Edgecumbe  has  had  a  fit  of  apoplexy ;  your  brother 
Charles 8  a  bad  return  of  his  old  complaint ;  and  Lord 
Melcombe  has  tumbled  down  the  kitchen  stairs,  and — waked 
himself. 

London  is  a  desert ;  no  soul  in  it  but  the  King.  Bussy 
has  taken  a  temporary  house.  The  world  talks  of  peace — 
would  I  could  believe  it!  every  newspaper  frightens  me: 
Mr.  Conway  would  be  very  angry  if  he  knew  how  I  dread 
the  very  name  of  the  Prince  de  Soubise. 

LETTER  757. — 1  At  Sion  Trm,  near  *  Charles  Townshend,  married  to 

Brentford.     Walpole.  Lady    Greenwich,    eldest   sister   to 

2  Rousseau's  Julie,  ou  la  Nouvelle  Lady  Strafford.     Walpole, 
Elotee,  recently  published. 


72  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?6i 

We  begin  to  perceive  the  tower  of  Kew  *  from  Montpellier 
Kow B ;  in  a  fortnight  you  will  see  it  in  Yorkshire. 

The  apostle  Whitfield  is  come  to  some  shame :  he  went 
to  Lady  Huntingdon  lately,  and  asked  for  forty  pounds  for 
some  distressed  saint  or  other.  She  said  she  had  not  so 
much  money  in  the  house,  but  would  give  it  him  the  first 
time  she  had.  He  was  very  pressing,  but  in  vain.  At  last 
he  said,  '  There's  your  watch  and  trinkets,  you  don't  want 
such  vanities ;  I  will  have  that.'  She  would  have  put  him 
off :  but  he  persisting,  she  said,  '  Well,  if  you  must  have 
it  you  must.'  About  a  fortnight  afterwards,  going  to  his 
house,  and  being  carried  into  his  wife's  chamber,  among  the 
paraphernalia  of  the  latter  the  Countess  found  her  own 
offering.  This  has  made  a  terrible  schism :  she  tells  the 
story  herself — I  had  not  it  from  Saint  Frances ',  but  I  hope 
it  is  true.  Adieu,  my  dear  Lord ! 

Yours  ever, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

P.S.  My  gallery  sends  its  humble  duty  to  your  new  front, 
and  all  my  creatures  beg  their  respects  to  my  Lady. 

758.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  July  9,  1761. 

WAS  it  worth  while  to  write  a  letter  on  purpose  to  tell 
you  that  Belleisle  was  taken?  I  did  not  think  the  news 
deserved  postage.  I  stayed,  and  hoped  to  send  you  peace. 
Yesterday  I  concluded  I  should.  An  extraordinary  Privy 
Council  of  all  the  members  in  and  near  town  was  summoned 
by  the  King's  own  messengers,  not  by  those  of  the  Council, 
to  meet  on  the  most  urgent  and  important  business.  To 

*  The  pagoda  in  the  royal  garden         '•'  In  Twickenham, 
at  Kew.     Walpole.  6  Lady  Frances  Shirley.     Walpcle. 


1761]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  73 

sanctify  or  to  reject  the  pacification,  was  concluded.  Not 
at  all — To  declare  a  queen.  Urgent  business  enough,  I 
believe ;  I  do  not  see  how  it  was  important.  The  hand- 
kerchief has  been  tossed  a  vast  way ;  it  is  to  a  Charlotte  *, 
Princess  of  Mecklenbourg.  Lord  Harcourt  is  to  be  at  her 
father's  court — if  he  can  find  it — on  the  1st  of  August,  and 
the  Coronation  of  both  their  Majesties  is  fixed  for  the  22nd 
of  September.  What  food  for  newsmongers,  tattle,  solicita- 
tions, mantua-makers,  jewellers,  &c.,  for  above  two  months 
to  come ! 

Though  exceedingly  rejoiced  that  we  are  to  have  more 
young  princes  and  princesses,  I  cannot  help  wishing  the 
Council  had  met  for  a  peace.  It  seems  to  be  promised,  but 
I  hate  delays,  and  dread  the  episode  of  a  battle.  Bussy  has 
taken  a  temporary  house,  and  is  to  be  presented  here  as 
Stanley  has  been  at  Paris. 

You  will  be  pleased  with  a  story  from  thence :  Monsieur 
de  Souvr62,  a  man  of  wit,  was  at  Madame  Pompadour's, 
who  is  learning  German.  He  said,  'II  me  semble  que 
depuis  que  Madame  la  Marquise  apprenne  I'Allemande,  elle 
ecorche  le  francois.'  As  the  company  laughed  violently  at 
this,  the  King  came  in,  and  would  know  what  diverted 
them  so  much.  They  were  forced  to  tell  him.  He  was 
very  angry,  and  said,  'Monsieur  de  Souvr6,  est-il  longtems 
que  vous  n'avez  pas  et4  a  vos  terres?'  'Oui,  Sire,'  replied 
he  ;  *  mais  je  compte  d'y  partir  ce  soir.'  The  frank  hardiesse 
of  the  answer  saved  him. 

Have  you  seen  Voltaire's  miserable  imitation,  or  second 
part,  or  dregs,  of  his  Candide  ?  Have  you  seen  his  delightful 
ridicule  of  the  Nouvelk  EMse,  called  Prediction  ? 

I  have  often  threatened  you  with  a  visit  at  Florence; 

LETTER  758. — *    Charlotte  Sophia  1761,  and  was  married  to  George  III 
(1744-1818),    daughter    of    Charles  in  the  evening  of  Sept.  8. 
Louis,  Prince  of 'Mecklcnburg-Strelitz.  2  The  Chevalier  de  Souvr6,  after- 
She    reached  England  on    Sept.   7,  wards  Marquis  de  Louvois. 


74  To  George  Montagu  [i76i 

I  believe  I  shall  now  be  forced  to  make  you  one,  for  I  am 
ruining  myself;  my  gallery,  cabinet,  and  round  tower, 
will  cost  immensely.  However,  if  you  can,  find  me  a 
pedestal ;  it  will  at  least  look  well  in  my  auction.  The 
brocadella  I  shall  postpone  a  little,  not  being  too  impatient 
for  a  commission  of  bankruptcy. 

I  have  not  connection  enough  with  the  Northumberlands 
to  recommend  a  governor  for  their  son.  I  don't  even  know 
that  he  is  going  abroad.  The  poor  lad 3,  who  has  a  miser- 
able constitution,  has  been  very  near  taking  a  longer 
journey.  His  brother*  has  as  flimsy  a  texture;  and  they 
have  just  lost  their  only  daughter8. 

Adieu !  We  shall  abound  with  news  for  three  or  four 
months,  but  it  will  all  be  of  pageants. 

759.      To  GrEOBGE   MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Friday  night,  July  10,  1761. 
I  DID  not  notify  the  King's  marriage  to  you  yesterday, 
because  I  knew  you  would  learn  as  much  by  the  Evening 
Post,  as  I  could  tell  you.  The  solemn  manner  of  summoning 
the  Council  was  very  extraordinary  :  people  little  imagined 
that  the  urgent  and  important  business  in  the  rescript  was  to 
acquaint  them  that  his  Majesty  was  going  to  lose  his 
maidenhead.  You  may  choose  what  complexion  you  please 
for  the  new  Queen :  every  colour  under  the  sun  is  given  to 
her.  All  I  can  tell  you  of  truth,  is,  that  Lord  Harcourt 
goes  to  fetch  her,  and  comes  back  her  Master  of  Horse. 

3  Earl   Percy,   eldest  son  of  the  created    in    1766.    His   second   son 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  Northumber-  succeeded  him  as  Baron  Lovaine  in 
land.     Wdlpole. — He    succeeded    his  1786,  was  created  Earl  of  Beverley 
father  in  1786  as  second  Duke,  and  in  1790,  and  died  in  1880. 

died  in  1817.  6  Lady  Elizabeth    Anne    Frances 

4  Lord    Algernon    Percy.      Lord  Percy ;  d.  May  27,  1761. 
Northumberland  was    not    made  a  LETTER  759. — Wrongly  dated    by 
duke    till    after  the    period  of  the  C.  July  16. 

letter  above.     Walpole. — He  was  so 


176i]  To'  George  Montagu  75 

She  is  to  be  here  in  August,  and  the  Coronation  certainly 
on  the  22nd  of  September.  Think  of  the  joy  the  women 
feel — there  is  not  a  Scotch  peer  in  the  Fleet,  that  might  not 
marry  the  greatest  fortune  in  England  between  this  and  the 
22nd  of  September.  However,  the  ceremony  will  lose  its 
two  brightest  luminaries,  my  niece  Waldegrave  for  beauty, 
and  the  Duchess  of  Grafton  for  figure.  The  first  will  be 
lying-in,  the  latter  at  Geneva — but  I  think  she  will  come, 
if  she  walks  to  it,  as  well  as  at  it.  I  cannot  recollect  but 
Lady  Kildare  and  Lady  Pembroke  of  great  beauties.  Mrs. 
Bloodworth  and  Mrs.  Kobert  Brudenel,  Bedchamber  Women ; 
Miss  Wrottesley l  and  Miss  Meadows,  Maids  of  Honour,  go  to 
receive  the  Princess  at  Helvoet ;  what  Lady  I  do  not  hear. 
Your  cousin's  Grace  of  Manchester,  they  say,  is  to  be 
Chamberlain,  and  Mr.  Stone,  Treasurer — the  Duchess  of 
Ancaster2  and  Lady  Bolinbroke3  of  her  Bedchamber:  these 
I  do  not  know  are  certain,  but  hitherto  all  seems  well 
chosen.  Miss  Molly  Howe,  one  of  the  pretty  Bishops,  and 
a  daughter  of  Lady  Harry  Beauclerc,  are  talked  of  for  Maids 
of  Honour.  The  great  apartment  at  St.  James's  is  enlarging, 
and  to  be  furnished  with  the  pictures  from  Kensington: 
this  does  not  portend  a  new  palace. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  novelty  and  hurry,  my  mind  is  very 
differently  employed.  They  expect  every  minute  the  news 
of  a  battle  between  Soubise  and  the  Hereditary  Prince. 
Mr.  Conway  is,  I  believe,  in  the  latter's  army;  judge  if  I 
can  be  thinking  much  of  espousals  and  coronations !  It  is 
terrible  to  be  forced  to  sit  still,  expecting  such  an  event — in 

1  Mary,   eldest  daughter  of  Eev.  St.   John,   second   Viscount  Boling- 
Sir    Richard    Wrottesley,    seventh  broke,  from  whom  she  was  divorced 
Baronet ;  d.  1769.  in    1768  ;    2.   (1768)  Topham    Beau- 

2  Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas  Pan-  clerk,    grandson    of   first    Duke    of 
ton ;     m.    (1750)    Peregrine    Bertie,  St.   Albans.    She    had   considerable 
third  Duke  of  Aiicaster.  artistic    talent,    and    executed    for 

3  Lady  Diana  Spencer  (1734-1808),  Horace  Walpole  a  series  of  designs 
eldest  daughter  of   third    Duke  of  in  illustration   of   his    tragedy    The, 
Marlborough;  in.  1.  (1757)  Frederick  Mysterious  Mother, 


76        To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [1761 

one's  own  room  one  is  not  obliged  to  be  a  hero;  conse- 
quently, I  tremble  for  one  that  is  really  a  hero  ! 

Mr.  H. 4,  your  secretary,  has  been  to  see  me  to-day ;  I 
am  quite  ashamed  not  to  have  prevented  him.  I  will  go 
to-morrow  with  all  the  speeches  I  can  muster. 

I  am  sorry  neither  you  nor  your  brother  are  quite  well, 
but  shall  be  content  if  my  Pythagorean  sermons  have 
any  weight  with  you.  You  go  to  Ireland  to  make  the  rest 
of  your  life  happy — don't  go  to  fling  the  rest  of  it  away ! 
Good  night ! 

Yours  most  faithfully, 
.0*  H.W. 

Mr.  Chute  is  gone  to  his  Chutehood. 

760.    To  THE  HON.  HEITOY  SEYMOUE  CONWAY. 

Arlington  Street,  July  14,  1761. 

MY  dearest  Harry,  how  could  you  write  me  such  a  cold 
letter  as  I  have  just  received  from  you,  and  beginning  Dear 
Sir  I  Can  you  be  angry  with  me,  for  can  I  be  in  fault  to 
you?  Blamable  in  ten  thousand  other  respects,  may  not 
I  almost  say  I  am  perfect  with  regard  to  you  ?  Since  I  was 
fifteen  have  not  I  loved  you  unalterably?  Since  I  was 
capable  of  knowing  your  merit,  has  not  my  admiration  been 
veneration  ?  For  what  could  so  much  affection  and  esteem 
change  ?  Have  not  your  honour,  your  interest,  your  safety 
been  ever  my  first  objects  ?  Oh,  Harry !  if  you  knew  what 
I  have  felt  and  am  feeling  about  you,  would  you  charge  me 
with  neglect  ?  If  I  have  seen  a  person  since  you  went,  to 
whom  my  first  question  has  not  been, '  What  do  you  hear  of 
the  Peace  ? '  you  would  have  reason  to  blame  me.  You  say 
I  write  very  seldom :  I  will  tell  you  what,  I  should  almost 
be  sorry  to  have  you  see  the  anxiety  I  have  expressed  about 
4  William  Gerard  HamUton. 


I76i]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway        77 

you  in  letters  to  everybody  else.  No ;  I  must  except  Lady 
Ailesbury,  and  there  is  not  another  on  earth  who  loves  you 
so  well  and  is  so  attentive  to  whatever  relates  to  you. 

With  regard  to  writing,  this  is  exactly  the  case :  I  had 
nothing  to  tell  you  ;  nothing  has  happened  ;  and  where  you 
are,  I  was  cautious  of  writing.  Having  neither  hopes  nor 
fears,  I  always  write  the  thoughts  of  the  moment,  and  even 
laugh  to  divert  the  person  I  am  writing  to,  without  any  ill- 
will  on  the  subjects  I  mention.  But  in  your  situation  that 
frankness  might  be  prejudicial  to  you :  and  to  write  grave 
unmeaning  letters,  I  trusted  you  was  too  secure  of  me  either 
to  like  them  or  desire  them.  I  knew  no  news,  nor  could  I : 
I  have  lived  quite  alone  at  Strawberry ;  am  connected  with 
no  court,  ministers,  or  party ;  consequently  heard  nothing, 
and  events  there  have  been  none.  I  have  not  even  for  this 
month  heard  my  Lady  Townshend's  extempore  gazette.  All 
the  morning  I  play  with  my  workmen  or  animals,  go 
regularly  every  evening  to  the  meadows  with  Mrs.  Clive,  or 
sit  with  my  Lady  Suffolk1,  and  at  night  scribble  my 
Painters — what  a  journal  to  send  you  !  I  write  more 
trifling  letters  than  any  man  living ;  am  ashamed  of  them, 
and  yet  they  are  expected  of  me.  You,  my  Lady  Ailesbury, 
your  brother,  Sir  Horace  Mann,  George  Montagu,  Lord 
Strafford — all  expect  I  should  write — of  what  ?  I  live  less 
and  less  in  the  world,  care  for  it  less  and  less,  and  yet  am 
thus  obliged  to  inquire  what  it  is  doing.  Do  make  these 
allowances  for  me,  and  remember  half  your  letters  go  to  my 
Lady  Ailesbury.  I  writ  to  her  of  the  King's  marriage,  con- 
cluding she  would  send  it  to  you :  tiresome  as  it  would  be, 
I  will  copy  my  own  letters,  if  you  expect  it ;  for  I  will  do 
anything  rather  than  disoblige  you.  I  will  send  you  a  diary 
of  the  Duke  of  York's  balls  and  Kanelaghs,  inform  you  of 

LETTER  760.  — J  Henrietta  Hobart,  Countess  of  Suffolk,  then  living  at 
Marble  Hill.  Walpole. 


78        To  the  lion.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i76i 

how  many  children  my  Lady  Berkeley  is  with  child,  and 
how  many  races  my  nephew  goes  to.  No  ;  I  will  not,  you 
do  not  want  such  proofs  of  my  friendship. 

The  papers  tell  us  you  are  retiring,  and  I  was  glad.  You 
seem  to  expect  an  action — can  this  give  me  spirits?  Can 
I  write  to  you  joyfully,  and  fear?  Or  is  it  fit  Prince 
Ferdinand  should  know  you  have  a  friend  that  is  as  great 
a  coward  about  you  as  your  wife  ?  The  only  reason  for  my 
silence,  that  can  not  be  true,  is,  that  I  forget  you.  When 
I  am  prudent  or  cautious,  it  is  no  symptom  of  my  being 
indifferent.  Indifference  does  not  happen  in  friendships,  as 
it  does  in  passions ;  and  if  I  was  young  enough  or  feeble 
enough  to  cease  to  love  you,  I  would  not  for  my  own  sake 
let  it  be  known.  Your  virtues  are  my  greatest  pride ; 
I  have  done  myself  so  much  honour  by  them,  that  I  will 
not  let  it  be  known  you  have  been  peevish  with  me  un- 
reasonably. Pray  God  we  may  have  peace,  that  I  may 
scold  you  for  it! 

The  King's  marriage  was  kept  the  profoundest  secret  till 
last  Wednesday,  when  the  Privy  Council  was  extraordinarily 
summoned,  and  it  was  notified  to  them.  Since  that,  the 
new  Queen's  mother  is  dead,  and  will  delay  it  a  few  days  ; 
but  Lord  Harcourt  is  to  sail  on  the  27th,  and  the  Coronation 
will  certainly  be  on  the  22nd  of  September.  All  that 
I  know  fixed,  is,  Lord  Harcourt  Master  of  the  Horse,  the 
Duke  of  Manchester  Chamberlain,  and  Mr.  Stone  Treasurer. 
Lists  there  are  in  abundance ;  I  don't  know  the  authentic : 
those  most  talked  of  are  Lady  Bute  Groom  of  the  Stole,  the 
Duchesses  of  Hamilton  and  Ancaster,  Lady  Northumber- 
land, Bolingbroke,  Weymouth2,  Scarborough3,  Abergavenny, 

2  Lady  Elizabeth  Cavendish-Ben-  3  Barbara,  daughter  of  Sir  Georgo 

tinck,    eldest    daughter    of    second  Savile,    sixth    Baronet;    m.    (1752) 

Duke  of  Portland ;  m.  (1759)  Thomas  Richard  Lumley-Saunderson,  fourth 

Thynne,  third  Viscount  Weymouth,  Earl  of  Scarborough  ;  d.  1797. 
afterwards  Marquis  of  Bath. 


I76i]  To  Grosvenor  Bedford  79 

Effingham  *,  for  Ladies ;  you  may  choose  any  six  of  them 
you  please ;  the  four  first  are  most  probable.  Misses,  Henry 
Beauclerc,  M.  Howe,  Meadows,  Wrottesley,  Bishop,  &c.,  &c. 
Choose  your  Maids  too.  Bedchamber  Women,  Mrs.  Blood- 
worth,  Robert  Brudenel,  Charlotte  Dives,  Lady  Erskine  ;  in 
short,  I  repeat  a  mere  newspaper. 

We  expect  the  final  answer  of  France  this  week.  Bussy5 
was  in  great  pain  on  the  fireworks  for  Quebec,  lest  he  should 
be  obliged  to  illuminate  his  house  :  you  see  I  ransack  my 
memory  for  something  to  tell  you. 

Adieu !  I  have  more  reason  to  be  angry  than  you  had ; 
but  I  am  not  so  hasty :  you  are  of  a  violent,  impetuous,  jealous 
temper — I,  cool,  sedate,  reasonable.  I  believe  I  must  subscribe 
my  name,  or  you  will  not  know  me  by  this  description. 

Yours  unalterably, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


761.    To  GROSVENOR  BEDFORD. 

DEAR  SIB,  Strawb.  Sunday1. 

I  will  beg  you  to  copy  the  following  lines 2  for  me,  and 
bring  or  send  them,  whichever  is  most  convenient  to  you, 
to  my  house  in  Arlington  Street  on  Tuesday  morning. 
Pray  don't  mention  them  to  anybody. 

Yours,  &c., 

H.W. 

I  hope  you  did  not  suffer  by  all  the  trouble  I  gave  you 
yesterday. 

*  Elizabeth,    daughter     of    Peter  LETTER  761.— 1  Probably  July  19, 

Beckford,  of  Jamaica ;  m.   1.  (1746)  1761,  which  fell  on  Sunday. 

Thomas    Howard,    second    Earl    of  2  '  July  16,  1761.     Wrote  The  Gar- 

Emngham;    2.  (1776)  Field-Marshal  land,  a  poem  on  the  King,  and  sent 

Sir  George  Howard,  K.B.  ;  d.  1791.  it  to  Lady  Bute,  but  not  in  my  own 

5  The  Abb6  de   Bussy,   sent  here  hand,  nor  with  my  name,  nor  did 

with  overtures  of  peace.    Mr.  Stanley  ever  own  it.'  (Horace  Walpole,  Short 

was  at  the  same  time  sent  to  Paris.  Notes  of  my  Life.) 
Walpole. 


80  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury          [1701 

THE    GARLAND. 

In  private  life,  where  Virtues  safely  bloom, 
What  flow'rs  diffuse  their  favourite  perfume? 

Devotion  first  the  Garland's  front  commands, 
Like  some  fair  Lily  borne  by  Angel  hands. 
Next,  Filial  Love  submissive  warmth  displays, 
Like  Heliotropes,  that  court  their  parent  rays. 
Friendship,  that  yields  its  fragrance  but  to  those 
That  near  approach  it,  like  the  tender  Kose, 
As  royal  Amaranths,  unchanging  Truth ; 
And  Violet-like,  the  bashful  blush  of  youth. 
Chaste  Purity  by  no  loose  heat  misled, 
Like  virgin  Snowdrops  in  a  winter  bed. 
Prudence,  the  Sensitive,  whose  leaves  remove 
When  hands,  too  curious,  would  their  texture  prove. 
Bounty,  full-flush'd  at  once  with  fruit  and  flower, 
As  Citrons  give  and  promise  ev'ry  hour. 
Soft  Pity  last,  whose  dews  promiscuous  fall, 
Like  lavish  Eglantines,  refreshing  all. 

How  blest  a  cottage  where  such  Virtues  dwell ! 
To  Heaven  ascends  the  salutary  smell : 
But  should  such  virtues  round  imperial  state 
Their  cordial  gales  in  balmy  clouds  dilate, 
Nations  a  long-lost  Paradise  would  own, 
And  Happiness  reclaim  her  proper  Throne. 
Hate,  Discord,  War,  and  each  foul  ill  would  cease, 
And  laurel'd  Conquest  only  lead  to  Peace. 

'  Ah  !   vain  Idea ! '   cries  the  servile  Bard, 
Who  lies  for  hire,  and  flatters  for  reward ; 
'Such  I  have  sung  of — such  have  never  seen — 
My  Kings  were  visions  and  a  dream  my  Queen. 

Point  out  the  charming  Phantom.' One  there  is 

Un-nam'd — the  world  will  own  the  Garland  His: 
Truth  so  exactly  wove  the  wreath  for  one, 
It  must  become  his  honest  brow — or  none. 

762.    To  THE  COUNTESS  OP  AILESBUEY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  July  20,  1761. 

I  BLUSH,  dear  Madam,  on  observing  that  half  my  letters 
to  your  Ladyship  are  prefaced  with  thanks  for  presents : — 


1761]          To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury  81 

don't  mistake ;  I  am  not  ashamed  of  thanking  you,  but  of 
having  so  many  occasions  for  it.  Monsieur  Hop  has  sent 
me  the  piece  of  china :  I  admire  it  as  much  as  possible,  and 
intend  to  like  him  as  much  as  ever  I  can ;  but  hitherto  I  have 
not  seen  him,  not  having  been  in  town  since  he  arrived. 

Could  I  have  believed  that  the  Hague  would  so  easily 
compensate  for  England  ?  nay,  for  Park  Place  !  Adieu,  all 
our  agreeable  suppers !  Instead  of  Lady  Cecilia's J  French 
songs,  we  shall  have  Madame  Welderen 2  quavering  a  con- 
fusion of  d's  and  t's,  b's  and  p's — Bourquoi  sqais  du  llaire 3  ? 
— Worse  than  that,  I  expect  to  meet  all  my  mad  relations 
at  your  house,  and  Sir  Samson  Gideon  instead  of  Charles 
Townshend.  You  will  laugh  like  Mrs.  Tipkin4  when  a  Dutch 
Jew  tells  you  that  he  bought  at  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  and 
sold  at  four.  Come  back,  if  you  have  any  taste  left :  you 
had  better  be  here  talking  robes,  ermine,  and  tissue,  jewels 
and  tresses,  as  all  the  world  does,  than  own  you  are  so 
corrupted.  Did  you  receive  my  notification  of  the  new 
Queen?  Her  mother  is  dead,  and  she  will  not  be  here 
before  the  end  of  August. 

My  mind  is  much  more  at  peace  about  Mr.  Conway  than 
it  was.  Nobody  thinks  there  will  be  a  battle,  as  the  French 
did  not  attack  them  when  both  armies  shifted  camps ;  and 
since  that,  Soubise  has  entrenched  himself  up  to  the 
whiskers : — whiskers  I  think  he  has,  I  have  been  so  afraid 
of  him !  Yet  our  hopes  of  meeting  are  still  very  distant : 
the  Peace  does  not  advance  ;  and  if  Europe  has  a  stiver  left  in 
its  pockets,  the  war  will  continue ;  though  happily  all  parties 

LETTER  762. — l  Lady  Cecilia  West,  Baron    Griffin,   and  wife  of   Count 

daughter  of  John,  Earl  of  Delawar,  Welderen,Envoy  Extraordinary  from 

afterwards  married  to  General  James  the  States  General. 

Johnston.     Walpole.  3  The  first  words  of  a  favourite 

2  Anne  (d.  1796),  second  daughter  French  air.     Walpole. 

of   William   Whitwell,    of   Oundle,  *  A  character  in  the  Tender  Hus- 

Northamptonshire,    by    Hon.    Anne  band,    or    the    Accomplished    Foolt. 

Griffin,  second  daughter  of  second  Walpole. 


WALPOLE.  v 


82  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury          [1761 

have  been  so  scratched,  that  they  only  sit  and  look  anger  at 
one  another,  like  a  dog  and  cat  that  don't  care  to  begin  again. 

We  are  in  danger  of  losing  our  sociable  box  at  the  Opera. 
The  new  Queen  is  very  musical,  and  if  Mr.  Deputy  Hodges 
and  the  City  don't  exert  their  veto,  will  probably  go  to  the 
Haymarket.  .  .  .  George  Pitt,  in  imitation  of  the  Adonises 
in  Tanzal's5  retinue,  has  asked  to  be  her  Majesty's  grand 
harper.  Dieu  s$ait  quelle  raclerie  il  y  aura 6 .'  All  the  guitars 
are  untuned ;  and  if  Miss  Conway 7  has  a  mind  to  be  in 
fashion  at  her  return,  she  must  take  some  David  or  other 
to  teach  her  the  new  twing  twang,  twing  twing  twang.  As 
I  am  still  desirous  of  being  in  fashion  with  your  Ladyship, 
and  am,  over  and  above,  very  grateful,  I  keep  no  company 
but  my  Lady  Denbigh  and  Lady  Blandford 8,  and  learn  every 
evening,  for  two  hours,  to  mash  my  English.  Already 
I  am  tolerably  fluent  in  saying  she  for  he '. 

Good  night,  Madam !  I  have  no  news  to  send  you :  one 
cannot  announce  a  royal  wedding  and  a  coronation  every 
post.  Your  most  faithful  and  obliged  servant, 

HOE.  WALPOLE. 

P.S.  Pray,  Madam,  do  the  gnats  bite  your  legs?  Mine 
are  swelled  as  big  as  one,  which  is  saying  a  deal  for  me. 

July  22. 

I  had  writ  this,  and  was  not  time  enough  for  the  mail, 
when  I  received  your  charming  note,  and  this  magnificent 

6  Tanzai  et  N6adarm6,  a  novel  by  8  Maria    Catherina,    daughter    of 

the  younger  Cre'billon.  Peter  de  Jonge,  of  Utrecht ;   in.    1. 

6  'Ce  Francisqne  venait  de  faire  (1729)  William  Godolphin,  Marquis 
une  sarabande  qui  charmait  ou  deso-  of  Blandford  ;  2.  (1734),  as  his  second 
lait  tout  le  monde ;  .  .  .  toute  la  gui-  wife,  Sir  William  Wyndham,  third 
tareriede  la  course  mit&l'apprendre,  Baronet.    She  was  the  sister  of  Lady 
et  Dieu  salt  la  r&clerie  universelle  Denbigh.    She  died  in  1779. 

que  c'e'tait.'    (Grammont,  H6moirea,  '  A  mistake  which  these  ladies, 

ch.  ix.)  who  were  both  Dutch  women,  con- 

7  The  Honourable   Anne    Darner,  stantly  made.    Berry, 
Walpole. 


1761]  To  the  Earl  of  Strafford  83 

victory 10 !  Oh !  my  dear  Madam,  how  I  thank  you,  how 
I  congratulate  you,  how  I  feel  for  you,  how  I  have  felt  for 
you  and  for  myself!  But  I  bought  it  by  two  terrible 
hours  to-day — I  heard  of  the  battle  two  hours  before  I  could 
learn  a  word  of  Mr.  Conway — I  sent  all  round  the  world, 
and  went  half  round  it  myself.  I  have  cried  and  laughed, 
trembled  and  danced,  as  you  bid  me.  If  you  had  sent  me 
as  much  old  china  as  King  Augustus  gave  two  regiments 
for11,  I  should  not  be  half  so  much  obliged  to  you  as  for 
your  note.  How  could  you  think  of  me,  when  you  had 
so  much  reason  to  think  of  nothing  but  yourself? — And 
then  they  say  virtue  is  not  rewarded  in  this  world.  I  will 
preach  at  Paul's  Cross,  and  quote  you  and  Mr.  Conway ;  no 
two  persons  were  ever  so  good  and  so  happy.  In  short, 
I  am  serious  in  the  height  of  all  my  joy.  God  is  very  good 
to  you,  my  dear  Madam ;  I  thank  him  for  you  ;  I  thank  him 
for  myself:  it  is  very  unalloyed  pleasure  we  taste  at  this 
moment! — Good  night!  My  heart  is  so  expanded,  I  could 
write  to  the  last  scrap  of  my  paper ;  but  I  won't. 

Yours  most  entirely, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

763.    To  THE  EABL  OF  STBAFFOBD. 

MY  DEAK  LORD,  Strawberry  Hill,  July  22,  1761. 

I  love  to  be  able  to  contribute  to  your  satisfaction,  and 
I  think  few  things  would  make  you  happier  than  to  hear 

10  Of  Zirckdenkirck.     Walpole. —  Monday,     22nd     September,     1777. 

Kirch-Denkern,  in  Westphalia,  where,  China-ware.     "  Saw  the  collection  of 

on  July  16,  1761,  Prince  Ferdinand  Dresden  and  Indian  China,  curious 

of  Brunswick  defeated  the  French  enough  to  Conoisseurs,  of  which  I  am 

under  Broglie.    Conway  commanded  not,  it  contained,  however,  the  pro- 

the  centre  of  the  allied  forces.  gress    of   the    Dresden    or    Meissen 

II  The  following  extract  from  the  Manufactory  and  22  jars  of  Indian 
unpublished  Journal  of  Captain  John  china  which  the  late  Kin g  of  Prussia 
Floyd,  of  the  Fifteenth  Light  Dra-  gave  the  King  of  Poland  for  eight 
goons  (afterwards  General  Sir  John  hundred    Dragoons    mounted    and 
Floyd,  first  Baronet),  explains  Horace  equipped," ' 

Walpole's     allusion  :  —  '  Dresden  — 

a  2 


84:  To  the  Earl  of  Strafford  [i76i 

that  we  have  totally  defeated  the  French  combined  armies, 
and  that  Mr.  Conway  is  safe.  The  account  came  this 
morning:  I  had  a  short  note  from  poor  Lady  Ailesbury, 
who  was  waked  with  the  good  news  before  she  had  heard 
there  had  been  a  battle.  I  don't  pretend  to  send  you 
circumstances,  no  more  than  I  do  of  the  wedding  and 
Coronation,  because  you  have  relations  and  friends  in  town 
nearer  and  better  informed.  Indeed,  only  the  blossom  of 
victory  is  come  yet.  Fitzroy  is  expected,  and  another  fuller 
courier  after  him.  Lord  Granby,  to  the  mob's  heart's 
content,  has  the  chief  honour  of  the  day — rather,  of  the 
two  days1.  The  French  behaved  to  the  mob's  content  too, 
that  is,  shamefully :  and  all  this  glory  cheaply  bought  on 
our  side.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Keith2  killed,  and  Colonel 
Marlay  and  Harry  Townshend  wounded.  If  it  produces 
a  peace,  I  shall  be  happy  for  mankind — if  not,  shall  content 
myself  with  the  single  but  pure  joy  of  Mr.  Conway's  being 
safe. 

Well !  my  Lord,  when  do  you  come  ?  You  don't  like  the 
question,  but  kings  will  be  married  and  must  be  crowned — 
and  if  people  will  be  earls,  they  must  now  and  then  give  up 
castles  and  new  fronts  for  processions  and  ermine.  By  the 
way,  the  number  of  peeresses  that  propose  to  excuse  them- 
selves makes  great  noise ;  especially  as  so  many  are  breed- 
ing, or  trying  to  breed,  by  commoners,  that  they  cannot 
walk.  I  hear  that  my  Lord  Delawar,  concluding  all  women 
would  not  dislike  the  ceremony,  is  negotiating  his  peerage 
in  the  City,  and  trying  if  any  great  fortune  will  give  fifty 
thousand  pounds  for  one  day,  as  they  often  do  for  one  night. 

I  saw  Miss  this  evening  at  my  Lady  Suffolk's,  and 

fancy  she  does  not  think  my  Lord quite  so  ugly  as  she 


LETTER  763. — 1    Broglie    attacked     retired  after  a  few  hours'  cannonade, 
the  English  troops  on  July  15,  bat         2  Keith  was  not  killed. 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  85 

did  two  months  ago.     Adieu,  my  Lord  !     This  is  a  splendid 
year! 

Yours  ever, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


764.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  July  22,  1761. 

FOB  my  part,  I  believe  Mademoiselle  Scuderi  drew  the 
plan  of  this  year — it  is  all  royal  marriages,  coronations,  and 
victories ;  they  come  tumbling  so  over  one  another  from 
distant  parts  of  the  globe,  that  it  looks  just  like  the  handi- 
work of  a  lady  romance  writer,  whom  it  costs  nothing  but 
a  little  false  geography  to  make  the  Great  Mogul  in  love 
with  a  Princess  of  Mecklemburg,  and  defeat  two  marshals 
of  France  as  he  rides  post  on  an  elephant  to  his  nuptials. 
I  don't  know  where  I  am !  I  had  scarce  found  Meeklemburg- 
Strelitz  with  a  magnifying-glass  before  I  am  whisked  to 
Pondicherri  * — well,  I  take  it,  and  raze  it — I  begin  to  grow 
acquainted  with  Colonel  Coote 2,  and  to  figure  him  packing 
up  chests  of  diamonds,  and  sending  them  to  his  wife  against 
the  King's  wedding — thunder  go  the  Tower  guns,  and  behold, 
Broglio  and  Soubise  are  totally  defeated — if  the  mob  have 
not  a  much  stronger  head  and  quicker  conceptions  than 
I  have,  they  will  conclude  my  Lord  Granby  is  become 
nabob.  How  the  deuce  in  two  days  can  one  digest  all 
this?  Why,  is  not  Pondicherri  in  Westphalia?  I  don't 
know  how  the  Eomans  did,  but  I  cannot  support  two 
victories  every  week.  Well,  but  you  will  want  to  know 
the  particulars.  Broglio  and  Soubise  being  united,  attacked 
our  army  on  the  15th,  but  were  repulsed — the  next  day, 

LETTEB  764. — 1  Pondicherry  sur-  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  Eyre  Coote 
rendered  to.  the  Kngliah,  under  (1726-1783) ;  K.B.,  1771 ;  Commander- 
Admiral  Stevens  and  Colonel  Coote,  in-Chief  in  India,  1777;  Lieutenant- 
on  January  15,  1761,  General,  1777. 


86  To  George  Montagu  [i?6i 

the  Prince  Mahomet  Alii  Cawn3 — no,  no,  I  mean  Prince 
Ferdinand,  returned  the  attack,  and  the  French  threw  down 
their  arms  and  fled,  run  over  my  Lord  Harcourt,  who  was 
going  to  fetch  the  new  Queen — in  short,  I  don't  know  how 
it  was,  but  Mr.  Con  way  is  safe,  and  I  am  as  happy  as 
Mr.  Pitt  himself.  We  have  only  lost  a  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Keith — a  Colonel  Marlay  and  Harry  Townshend 
are  wounded. 

I  could  beat  myself  for  not  having  a  flag  ready  to  display 
on  my  round  tower,  and  guns  mounted  on  all  my  battle- 
ments. Instead  of  that,  I  have  been  foolishly  trying  on 
my  pictures  upon  my  gallery — However,  the  oratory  of  our 
Lady  of  Strawberries  shall  be  dedicated  next  year  on  the 
anniversary  of  Mr.  Conway's  safety — think  with  his  intre- 
pidity, and  delicacy  of  honour  wounded,  what  I  had  to 
apprehend !  You  shall  absolutely  be  here  on  the  sixteenth 
of  next  July.  Mr.  Hamilton  tells  me  your  King4  does 
not  set  out  for  his  new  dominions  till  the  day  after  the 
Coronation — if  you  will  come  to  it,  I  can  give  you  a  very 
good  place  for  the  procession — where 5,  is  a  profound  secret, 
because,  if  known,  I  should  be  teased  to  death,  and  none 
but  my  first  friends  shall  be  admitted.  I  dined  with  your 
secretary 6  yesterday ;  there  were  Garrick  and  a  young 
Mr.  Burk 7,  who  wrote  a  book  in  the  style  of  Lord  Bolin- 
broke,  that  was  much  admired.  He  is  a  sensible  man,  but 
has  not  worn  off  his  authorism  yet — and  thinks  there  is 
nothing  so  charming  as  writers,  and  to  be  one — he  will 
know  better  one  of  these  days.  I  like  Hamilton's  little 

3  Mahomed  Ali,    Nawab    of    the  Grosvenor  Bedford. 
Carnatic.  6  William  Gerard  Hamilton. 

4  The  Earl  of  Halifax,  Viceroy  of  7  Edmund  Burke  (1729-1797),  at 
Ireland.  this  time  private  secretary  to  Gerard 

6  At  Horace  Walpole's  official  Hamilton,  Chief  Secretary  for  Ire- 
residence  (as  Usher  of  the  Exchequer)  land.  The  book  '  in  the  style  of  Lord 
in  New  Palace  Yard,  Westminster.  Bolinbroke '  was  the  Vindication  of 
It  was  occupied  by  his  deputy,  Natural  Society,  published  in  1756. 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  87 

Marly — we  walked  in  the  great  attee,  and  drank  tea  in  the 
arbour  of  treillage ;  they  talked  of  Shakespear  and  Booth 8, 
of  Swift  and  my  Lord  Bath,  and  I  was  thinking  of  Madame 
Sevigne.  Good  night — I  have  a  dozen  other  letters  to  write ; 
I  must  tell  my  friends  how  happy  I  am — not  as  an  English- 
man, but  as  a  cousin. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  WALPOLE. 


765.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  July  23,  1761. 

ONE  cannot  take  the  trouble  of  sending  every  victory  by 
itself;  I  stay  till  I  have  enough  to  make  a  packet,  and 
then  write  to  you.  On  Monday  last  we  learned  the  con- 
quest of  Pondicherry,  and  away  went  a  courier  to  Mr. 
Stanley  to  raise  our  terms.  Before  the  man  could  get  half- 
way, comes  an  account  of  the  entire  defeat  of  Broglio  and 
Soubise.  I  don't  know  what  Mr.  Stanley  will  be  to  ask 
now.  We  have  been  pretty  well  accustomed  to  victories  of 
late,  and  yet  this  last  is  as  much  as  we  know  how  to  bear 
decently ;  it  is  heightened  by  the  extreme  distress  our  army 
had  suffered,  and  by  the  little  hopes  we  had  of  even  keeping 
our  ground  against  such  superior  force.  It  seals  all  our 
other  conquests ;  we  have  nothing  to  restore  for  Germany. 
The  King  may  be  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  like  Charle- 
magne, if  he  pleases,  and  receive  the  diadems  of  half  the 
world.  Of  all  our  glories,  none  ever  gave  me  such  joy  as 
this  last.  Mr.  Conway,  you  know,  is  with  Prince  Ferdinand, 
and  is  safe — indeed  everybody  is ;  we  lost  but  one  officer  of 
rank,  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  Keith ;  and  two  are  wounded, 
a  Lieutenant-Colonel  Marlay  and  Captain  Harry  Townshend1. 

8  *Barton  Booth,  tragedian  (1681-         LKTMB    765.  —  *  Third    son    of 
1733).  Thomas  Townshend,  Teller  of  the 


88 


To  Sir  Horace  Mann 


[1761 


No  particulars  are  come  yet ;  if  I  hear  any  before  this  goes 
away,  you  shall. 

You  will  see  the  history  of  Pondicherry  in  the  Gazette. 
Pray  like  Monsieur  Lally's2  spirited  insolence  in  the  crisis 
of  his  misfortune.  His  intercepted  letter 8  shows  it  was  not 
mere  impertinence,  but  that  he  had  tried  and  attempted  every- 
thing upon  earth  to  save  his  charge.  We  have  got  another 
little  windfall  in  the  West  Indies,  the  Isle  of  Dominique 4 ; 
but  one  does  not  stoop  to  pick  up  such  diminutive  countries, 
unless  they  are  absolutely  of  no  use,  like  Belleisle,  and  then 
it  is  heroic  obstinacy  to  insist  on  having  them. 

How  all  this  must  sound  to  the  Princess  of  Mecklenburg ! 


Exchequer,  who  was  second  son  of 
Charles,  Viscount  Townshend,  Sec- 
retary of  State.  Walpole. 

*  Thomas  Arthur  (1703-1766), 
Baron  de  Tollendal,  Comte  de  Lally, 
appointed  in  1756  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  French  forces  in  India. 
After  a  chequered  career,  he  sur- 
rendered Pondicherry  to  the  English 
(Jan.  15,  1761),  and  was  brought  to 
England  a  prisoner  of  war.  In  Oct. 
1761  he  returned  to  France  on  parole 
to  reply  to  accusations  brought 
against  his  administration.  After 
a  protracted  trial,  conducted  by  the 
Parliament  of  Paris  with  closed 
doors,  he  was  declared  guilty  of  be- 
traying the  king's  interests  in  India, 
and  was  executed  three  days  later, 
under  peculiarly  odious  circum- 
stances. His  son,  Lally  Tollendal, 
ably  seconded  by  Voltaire,  devoted 
half  his  life  to  the  rehabilitation  of 
his  father's  memory. 

Lally's  '  spirited  insolence '  led 
him  to  decline  to  offer  any  terms  of 
surrender.  'He  sent  out  a  paper 
full  of  invectives  against  the  Eng- 
lish, for  the  breach  of  treaties  relative 
to  India ;  he  alleged  that  those 
breaches  disqualified  him  from  pro- 
posing any  terms ;  and,  in  conse- 
quence, he  rather  suffered  our  troops 
to  take  possession  of  the  place,  than 
formally  surrendered  it.'  (Ann-  Reg. 
1761,  p.  56.) 


8  'Translation  of  an  intercepted 
letter  from  General  Lally  to  Mr. 
Raymond,  French  resident  at  Pulli- 
cat,  dated  Pondicherry,  the  2nd  of 
January,  1761 : — 

'  MR.  RAYMOND, 

'  The  English  squadron  is  no  more, 
Sir ;  out  of  the  twelve  ships  they 
had  in  our  road,  seven  are  lost,  crews 
and  all ;  the  four  others  dismasted ; 
and  it  appears  there  is  no  more  than 
one  frigate  that  hath  escaped,  there- 
fore don't  lose  an  instant  to  send  us 
chelingoes  upon  chelingoes  loaded 
with  rice :  the  Dutch  have  nothing 
to  fear  now ;  besides  (according  to 
the  law  of  nations)  they  are  only  to 
send  us  no  provisions  themselves, 
and  we  are  no  more  blocked  up  by 
sea.  The  saving  of  Pondicherry 
hath  been  in  your  power  once 
already ;  if  you  miss  the  present 
opportunity,  it  will  be  entirely  your 
fault :  do  not  forget  also  some  small 
chelingoes ;  offer  great  rewards ;  I 
expect  seventeen  thousand  Morattoes 
within  these  four  days.  In  short, 
risque  all,  attempt  all,  force  all,  and 
send  us  some  rice,  should  it  be  but 
half  a  garse  at  a  time. 

'  Signed,  LALLT.' 
(Ann.  Reg.  1761,  p.  56.) 

*  Dominica  was  surrendered  by 
the  French  to  Lord  Hollo  and  Com- 
modore Sir  James  Douglas  on 
June  6,  1761. 


I76l]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  89 

To  be  sure,  she  thinks  herself  coming  to  marry  Alexander 
the  Great.  There  is  a  Lady  Statira  Lenox 5  that  had  like  to 
have  stood  a  little  in  her  way,  or,  rather,  I  believe,  helped 
her  a  little  on  her  way.  The  Mother-Duchess  is  dead,  and 
retards  the  nuptials,  but  the  Princess  is  expected,  however, 
by  the  end  of  August. 

Is  Sir  Richard  Lyttelton  with  you,  and  Mr.  Pitt? — the 
latter's  father 6  was  just  married  again  ;  but  to  make  his  son 
some  amends  for  giving  away  a  jointure  of  600?.  a  year,  is 
just  dead — very  happily  for  his  family. 

The  new  Queen's  family7  consists  of  Lord  Harcourt, 
Master  of  the  Horse ;  Duke  of  Manchester,  Chamberlain ; 
Mr.  Stone,  Treasurer ;  the  Duchess  of  Ancaster,  Mistress  of 
the  Robes,  and  First  Lady  of  the  Bedchamber;  the  others 
are,  the  Duchess  of  Hamilton,  Lady  Effingham,  Lady  North- 
umberland, Lady  Weymouth,  and  Lady  Bolingbroke.  Bed- 
chamber Women  and  Maids  of  Honour,  I  could  tell  you 
some  too ;  but  what  can  you  care  about  the  names  of  girls 
whose  parents  were  not  married  when  you  was  in  England  ? 
This  is  not  the  only  circumstance  in  which  you  would  not 
know  your  own  country  again.  You  left  it  a  private  little 
island,  living  upon  its  means.  You  would  find  it  the 
capital  of  the  world ;  and,  to  talk  with  the  arrogance  of 
a  Roman,  St.  James's  Street  crowded  with  nabobs  and 
American  chiefs,  and  Mr.  Pitt  attended  in  his  Sabine  farm 
by  Eastern  monarchs  and  Borealian  electors,  waiting,  till 
the  gout  is  gone  out  of  his  foot,  for  an  audience.  The  City 

5  Lady  Sarah  Lenox,  sister  of  Chester  ;  Andrew  Stone ;  Mary  Pan- 

the  Duke  of  Richmond,  with  whom  ton,  Duchess  of  Ancaster ;  Eliz. 

the  King  was  thought  to  be  in  love.  Gunning,  Duchess  of  Hamilton  ; 

Walpole. — Statira  and  Roxana  are  Eliz.  Beckford,  Countess  of  Effing- 

the  rival  queens  in  Lee's  play  Alex-  ham ;  Eliz.  Seymour,  Countess  of 

ander  the  Great.  Northumberland  ;  Eliz.  Bentinck, 

8  Thomas  Pitt,  elder  brother  of  Viscountess  Weymouth ;  Diana 

the  famous  William  Pitt.  Walpole.  Spencer,  Viscountess  Bolingbroke  ; 

7  Simon,  first  Earl  of  Harcourt ;  and  Alicia  Carpenter,  Countess  of 

Robert  Montagu,  Duke  of  Man-  Egremont,  omitted  above.  Walpole. 


90        To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Gonway    [i?6i 

of  London  is  so  elated,  that  I  think  it  very  lucky  some 
alderman  did  not  insist  on — 

Matching  his  daughter  with  the  King8. 

Adieu !  I  shall  be  in  town  to-morrow ;  and,  perhaps, 
able  to  wrap  up  and  send  you  half  a  dozen  French  standards 
in  my  postscript. 

Arlington  Street,  Friday,  24th. 

Alack  !  I  do  not  find  our  total  victory  so  total  as  it  was. 
It  is  true  we  have  taken  three  thousand  prisoners  ;  but  we 
have  lost  two  thousand,  and  the  French  army  is  still  so 
superior  as  to  be  able  to  afford  it.  The  Broglians  thought 
themselves  betrayed  by  the  Soubisians,  whose  centre  did 
not  attack.  Some  say  it  was  impossible — that  is  not  your 
business  or  mine ;  there  are  certainly  great  jarrings  in  their 
army — but  the  worst  is  (I  mean  to  me)  there  is  likely  to  be 
another  battle.  I  wish  they  would  be  beaten  once  for  all, 
and  have  done! 

766.    To  THE  HON.  HENEY  SEYMOUE  CONWAY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  July  23,  1761. 

WELL,  mon  biau  cousin!  you  may  be  as  cross  as  you 
please  now :  when  you  beat  two  marshals  of  France  and  cut 
their  armies  to  pieces  \  I  don't  mind  your  pouting ;  but  in 
good  truth,  it  was  a  little  vexatious  to  have  you  quarrelling 
with  me,  when  I  was  in  greater  pain  about  you  than  I  can 
express.  I  will  say  no  more ;  make  a  peace,  under  the 
walls  of  Paris  if  you  please,  and  I  will  forgive  you  all — but 
no  more  battles :  consider,  as  Dr.  Hay  said,  it  is  cowardly 
to  beat  the  French  now. 

8  '  A  senator  of  Eome,  while  Eomo          LBTTHE    766. — *  The  victory  ob- 

surviv'd,  tained    by    Prince    Ferdinand    of 

Would  not    have   match'd  his  Brunswick   over  the    Mar6chal    de 

daughter  with  a  king.'  Broglio  and  the  Prince  de  Soubise 

Addison,  Goto,  v.  4.  at  Kirk  Denckirk.     Walpole, 


I76i]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway       91 

Don't  look  upon  yourselves  as  the  only  conquerors  in  the 
world.  Pondicherry  is  ours,  as  well  as  the  field  of  Kirk 
Denckirk.  The  Park  guns  never  have  time  to  cool ;  we 
ruin  ourselves  in  gunpowder  and  sky-rockets.  If  you  have 
a  mind  to  do  the  gallantest  thing  in  the  world  after  the 
greatest,  you  must  escort  the  Princess  of  Mecklenburg2 
through  France.  You  see  what  a  bully  I  am ;  the  moment 
the  French  run  away,  I  am  sending  you  on  expeditions. 
I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  the  King  has  got  the  isle  of 
Dominique  and  the  chicken-pox,  two  trifles  that  don't  count 
in  the  midst  of  all  these  festivities.  No  more  does  your 
letter  of  the  8th,  which  I  received  yesterday :  it  is  the  one 
that  is  to  come  after  the  1 6th,  that  I  shall  receive  graciously. 

Friday,  24th. 

Not  satisfied  with  the  rays  of  glory  that  reached  Twicken- 
ham, I  came  to  town  to  bask  in  your  success ;  but  am  most 
disagreeably  disappointed  to  find  you  must  beat  the  French 
once  more,  who  seem  to  love  to  treat  the  English  mob  with 
subjects  for  bonfires.  I  had  got  over  such  an  alarm,  that 
I  foolishly  ran  into  the  other  extreme,  and  concluded  there 
was  not  a  French  battalion  left  entire  upon  the  face  of 
Germany.  Do  write  to  me ;  don't  be  out  of  humour,  but 
tell  me  every  motion  you  make:  I  assure  you  I  have 
deserved  you  should.  Would  you  were  out  of  the  question, 
if  it  were  only  that  I  might  feel  a  little  humanity !  There 
is  not  a  blacksmith  or  link-boy  in  London  that  exults  more 
than  I  do,  upon  any  good  news,  since  you  went  abroad. 
What  have  I  to  do  to  hate  people  I  never  saw,  and  to 
rejoice  in  their  calamities  ?  Heaven  send  us  peace,  and  you 
home !  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

Hon.  WALPOLE. 

2  Her  present  Majesty.     Walpole, 


92  To  George  Montagu  [i?6i 

767.    To  GEOKGE  MONTAGU, 

Arlington  Street,  July  28,  1761. 

No,  I  shall  never  cease  being  a  dupe,  till  I  have  been 
undeceived  round  by  everything  that  calls  itself  a  virtue. 
I  came  to  town  yesterday,  through  clouds  of  dust,  to  see 
The  Wishes l,  and  went  actually  feeling  for  Mr.  Bentley,  and 
full  of  the  emotions  he  must  be  suffering.  What  do  [you] 
think,  in  a  house  crowded,  was  the  first  thing  I  saw? 
Mr.  and  Madam  Bentley,  perked  up  in  the  front  boxes,  and 
acting  audience  at  his  own  play — no,  all  the  impudence  of 
false  patriotism  never  came  up  to  it!  Did  one  ever  hear 
of  an  author  that  had  courage  to  see  his  own  first  night  in 
public  ?  I  don't  believe  Fielding  or  Foote  himself  ever  did — 
and  this  was  the  modest,  bashful  Mr.  Bentley,  that  died  at 
the  thought  of  being  known  for  an  author  even  by  his  own 
acquaintance !  In  the  stage-box  was  Lady  Bute,  Lord 
Halifax,  and  Lord  Melcomb — I  must  say  the  two  last  enter- 
tained the  house  as  much  as  the  play — your  King8  was 
prompter,  and  called  out  to  the  actors  every  minute  to 
speak  louder — the  other  went  backwards  and  forwards 
behind  the  scenes,  fetched  the  actors  into  the  box.  and  was 
busier  than  Harlequin.  The  curious  prologue  was  not 
spoken,  the  whole  very  ill  acted.  It  turned  out  just  what 
I  remembered  it,  the  good  parts  extremely  good,  the  rest 
very  flat  and  vulgar — the  genteel  dialogue,  I  believe,  might 
be  written  by  Mrs.  Hannah3.  The  audience  were  extremely 
fair.  The  first  act  they  bore  with  patience,  though  it 
promised  very  ill — the  second  is  admirable,  and  was  much 
applauded — so  was  the  third — the  fourth  woful — the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  it  seemed  expiring,  but  was  revived 

LETTER  767. — J  Produced  at  Drnry  Lane. 

2  The  Earl  of  Halifax,  Viceroy  of  Ireland 

3  Mrs.  Bentley.    See  p.  70. 


I76i]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway       93 

by  a  delightful  burlesque  of  the  ancient  chorus — which  was 
followed  by  two  dismal  scenes,  at  which  people  yawned — 
but  were  awakened  on  a  sudden  by  Harlequin's  being 
drawn  up  to  a  gibbet,  nobody  knew  why  or  wherefore — 
this  raised  a  prodigious  and  continued  hiss,  Harlequin  all 
the  while  suspended  in  the  air — at  last  they  were  suffered 
to  finish  the  play,  but  nobody  attended  to  the  conclusion — 
Modesty  and  his  lady  all  the  while  sat  with  the  utmost 
indifference — I  suppose  Lord  Melcomb  had  fallen  asleep 
before  he  came  to  this  scene,  and  had  never  read  it.  The 
epilogue  was  about  the  King  and  new  Queen,  and  ended 
with  a  personal  satire  on  Garrick — not  very  kind  on  his 
own  stage — to  add  to  the  judgement  of  this  conduct, 
Cumberland  two  days  ago  published  a  pamphlet  to  abuse 
him.  It  was  given  out  for  to-night  with  more  claps  than 
hisses,  but  I  think  will  not  do  unless  they  reduce  it  to 
three  acts. 

I. am  sorry  you  will  not  come  to  the  Coronation — the 
place  I  offered  you  I  am  not  sure  I  can  get  for  anybody 
else — I  cannot  explain  it  to  you,  because  I  am  engaged  to 
secrecy— if  I  can  get  it  for  your  brother  John  I  will,  but 
don't  tell  him  of  it,  because  it  is  not  sure.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

768.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUR  CONWAY. 

Strawberry  Hill. 

THIS  is  the  5th  of  August,  and  I  just  receive  your  letter 
of  the  1 7th  of  last  month  by  Fitzroy l.  I  heard  he  had  lost 
his  pocket-book  with  all  his  dispatches,  but  had  found  it 
again.  He  was  a  long  time  finding  the  letter  for  me. 

LETTER  768. — 1  George  Fitzroy,  afterwards  created  Lord  Southampton. 
WalpoU. 


94        To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i?6r 

You  do  nothing  but  reproach  me  ;  I  declare  I  will  bear  it 
no  longer,  though  you  should  beat  forty  more  marshals 
of  France.  I  have  already  writ  you  two  letters  that  would 
fully  justify  me  if  you  receive  them ;  if  you  do  not,  it  is 
not  I  that  am  in  fault  for  not  writing,  but  the  post  offices 
for  reading  my  letters,  content  if  they  would  forward  them 
when  they  have  done  with  them.  They  seem  to  think, 
like  you,  that  I  know  more  news  than  anybody.  What  is 
to  be  known  in  the  dead  of  summer,  when  all  the  world  is 
dispersed  ?  Would  you  know  who  won  the  sweepstakes  at 
Huntingdon?  what  parties  are  at  Woburn?  what  officers 
upon  guard  in  Betty's  fruit-shop  ?  whether  the  peeresses 
are  to  wear  long  or  short  tresses  at  the  Coronation  ?  how 
many  jewels  Lady  Harrington  borrows  of  actresses  ?  All 
this  is  your  light  summer  wear  for  conversation  ;  and  if  my 
memory  were  as  much  stuffed  with  it  as  my  ears,  I  might 
have  sent  you  volumes  last  week.  My  nieces,  Lady  Walde- 
grave  and  Mrs.  Keppel,  were  here  five  days,  and  discussed 
the  claim  or  disappointment  of  every  miss  in  the  kingdom 
for  Maid  of  Honour.  Unfortunately  this  new  generation 
is  not  at  all  my  affair.  I  cannot  attend  to  what  concerns 
them — not  that  their  trifles  are  less  important  than  those 
of  one's  own  time,  but  my  mould  has  taken  all  its  im- 
pressions, and  can  receive  no  more.  I  must  grow  old  upon 
the  stock  I  have.  I,  that  was  so  impatient  at  all  their  chat, 
the  moment  they  were  gone,  flew  to  my  Lady  Suffolk,  and 
heard  her  talk  with  great  satisfaction  of  the  late  Queen's 
coronation-petticoat.  The  preceding  age  always  appears 
respectable  to  us  (I  mean  as  one  advances  in  years),  one's 
own  age  interesting,  the  coming  age  neither  one  nor  t'other. 

You  may  judge  by  this  account  that  I  have  writ  all  my 
letters,  or  ought  to  have  written  them ;  and  yet,  for  occasion 
to  blame  me,  you  draw  a  very  pretty  picture  of  my  situation : 
all  which  tends  to  prove  that  I  ought  to  write  to  you  every 


I76i]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway       95 

day,  whether  I  have  anything  to  say  or  not.  I  am  writing, 
I  am  building — both  works  that  will  outlast  the  memory  of 
battles  and  heroes!  Truly,  I  believe,  the  one  will  as  much 
as  t'other.  My  buildings  are  paper,  like  my  writings,  and 
both  will  be  blown  away  in  ten  years  after  I  am  dead ;  if 
they  had  not  the  substantial  use  of  amusing  me  while  I  live, 
they  would  be  worth  little  indeed.  I  will  give  you  one 
instance  that  will  sum  up  the  vanity  of  great  men,  learned 
men,  and  buildings  altogether.  I  heard  lately,  that  Dr. 
Pearce8,  a  very  learned  personage,  had  consented  to  let 
the  tomb  of  Aylmer  de  Valence,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  a  very 
great  personage,  be  removed  for  Wolfe's  monument s ;  that 
at  first  he  had  objected,  but  was  wrought  upon  by  being 
told  that  hight  Aylmer  was  a  Knight  Templar,  a  very  wicked 
set  of  people,  as  his  Lordship  had  heard,  though  he  knew 
nothing  of  them,  as  they  are  not  mentioned  by  Longinus. 
I  own  I  thought  this  a  made  story,  and  wrote  to  his  Lord- 
ship, expressing  my  concern  that  one  of  the  finest  and  most 
ancient  monuments  in  the  Abbey  should  be  removed,  and 
begging,  if  it  was  removed,  that  he  would  bestow  it  on  me, 
who  would  erect  and  preserve  it  here.  After  a  fortnight's 
deliberation,  the  bishop  sent  me  an  answer,  civil  indeed, 
and  commending  my  zeal  for  antiquity!  but  avowing  the 
story  under  his  own  hand.  He  said  that  at  first  they  had 
taken  Pembroke's  tomb  for  a  Knight  Templar's.  Observe, 
that  not  only  the  man  who  shows  the  tombs  names  it  every 
day,  but  that  there  is  a  draught  of  it  at  large  in  Dart's 
Westminst er ;  that  upon  discovering  whose  it  was,  he  had 
been  very  unwilling  to  consent  to  the  removal,  and  at  last 
had  obliged  Wilton  to  engage  to  set  it  up  within  ten  feet 
of  where  it  stands  at  present.  His  Lordship  concluded  with 
congratulating  me  on  publishing  learned  authors  at  my 

2  Zachary  Pearce,  Dean  of  Westminster  and  Bishop  of  Rochester ;  editor 
of  Longinus.  8  This  was  not  done. 


96       To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Gonway    [i?6i 

press.  I  don't  wonder  that  a  man  who  thinks  Lucan  a 
learned  author  should  mistake  a  tomb  in  his  own  cathedral. 
If  I  had  a  mind  to  be  angry,  I  could  complain  with  reason  ; 
as,  having  paid  forty  pounds  for  ground  for  my  mother's 
tomb,  that  the  Chapter  of  Westminster  sell  their  church 
over  and  over  again ;  the  ancient  monuments  tumble  upon 
one's  head  through  their  neglect,  as  one  of  them  did,  and 
killed  a  man  at  Lady  Elizabeth  Percy's 4  funeral ;  and  they 
erect  new  waxen  dolls  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  &c.,  to  draw 
visits  and  money  from  the  mob.  I  hope  all  this  history  is 
applicable  to  some  part  or  other  of  my  letter ;  but  letters  you 
will  have,  and  so  I  send  you  one,  very  like  your  own  stories 
that  you  tell  your  daughter :  There  was  a  King,  and  he  had 
three  daughters,  and  they  all  went  to  see  the  tombs ;  and 
the  youngest,  who  was  in  love  with  Aylmer  de  Valence,  &c. 

Thank  you  for  your  account  of  the  battle ;  thank  Prince 
Ferdinand  for  giving  you  a  very  honourable  post,  which,  in 
spite  of  his  teeth  and  yours,  proved  a  very  safe  one ;  and 
above  all,  thank  Prince  Soubise,  whom  I  love  better  than 
all  the  German  princes  in  the  universe.  Peace,  I  think, 
we  must  have  at  last,  if  you  beat  the  French,  or  at  least 
hinder  them  from  beating  you,  and  afterwards  starve  them. 
Bussy's  last  last  courier  is  expected ;  but  as  he  may  have 
a  last  last  last  courier,  I  trust  no  more  to  this  than  to  all 
the  others.  He  was  complaining  t'other  day  to  Mr.  Pitt  of 
our  haughtiness,  and  said  it  would  drive  the  French  to  some 
desperate  effort ;  '  Thirty  thousand  men,'  continued  he, 
'would  embarrass  you  a  little,  I  believe!'  'Yes,  truly/ 
replied  Pitt,  '  for  I  am  so  embarrassed  with  those  we  have 
already,  I  don't  know  what  to  do  with  them.' 

Adieu !  Don't  fancy  that  the  more  you  scold,  the  more 
I  will  write :  it  has  answered  three  times,  but  the  next  cross 

4  Daughter  of  the  Earl  of  North-  Abbey  on  June  6,  1761,  in  her 
umberland.  She  was  buried  in  the  eighteenth  year. 


1761]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  97 

word  you  give  me  shall  put  an  end  to  our  correspondence. 
Sir  Horace  Mann's  father  used  to  say,  '  Talk,  Horace,  you 
have  been  abroad  : ' — You  cry,  '  Write,  Horace,  you  are  at 
home.'  No,  Sir,  you  can  beat  an  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  French,  but  you  cannot  get  the  better  of  me. 
I  will  not  write  such  foolish  letters  as  this  every  day,  when 
I  have  nothing  to  say. 

Yours  as  you  behave, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


769.    To  SIR  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Aug.  17,  1761. 

You  must  now  quit  Mr.  Dalton;  you  are  saved  from 
dunning  him,  and  I  from  doing  an  awkward  thing.  The 
last  time  I  was  in  town,  I  found  a  big  picture,  which 
I  saw  clearly  was  by  Castiglione  :  the  maid  told  me  it  came 
from  Mr.  Dalton.  As  you  had  not  explained  the  nature  of 
your  transaction,  I  concluded  it  was  a  debt,  and  that  money 
was  what  he  was  to  send  me  for  you.  This  was  so  fixed  in 
my  head,  that  supposing  he  wanted  to  pay  you  with  a 
picture,  I  was  at  first  going  to  send  it  back  to  him.  How- 
ever, I  thought  it  best  to  wait  a  little,  and  see  if  he  did  not 
come  or  send  me  some  message ;  and  having  just  writ  to 
you,  I  determined  to  stay  till  I  wrote  to  you  again.  Your 
letter  has  explained  the  affair,  and  I  certainly  shall  not 
deliver  yours  to  him.  Do  but  observe ;  when  I  sent  to  him 
by  your  order,  he  was  at  Mecklenburg — not  thinking  of 
detaining  your  picture,  but  drawing  queens — pray  respect 
your  brother  minister !  the  picture  is  undoubtedly  the  true 
one  and  safe — but  now,  my  dear  child,  here  ends  my  com- 
mission— don't  imagine  I  will  rob  you  of  your  picture — you 
are  very  kind,  and  I  equally  obliged  to  you,  but  you  shall 
not  make  me  a  bailiff  to  seize  your  goods,  and  then  have 

WALPOLE.   V  TT 


98  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1761 

the  sole  benefit  of  the  seizure.  Tell  me  what  you  would 
have  done  with  it.  The  altar  pleases  me  extremely,  and 
I  hope  will  arrive  safe.  Draw  upon  your  brother  James 
for  all  expenses  relating  to  it — and  say  no  more.  He  and 
I  have  so  many  money  transactions,  that  there  is  no  trouble 
that  way,  and  then  I  shall  never  scruple  teasing  you  with 
commissions,  when  they  cost  you  nothing  but  kind  services. 

I  am  come  to  town  to-day  to  prepare  my  wedding 
garments.  The  new  Queen  may  be  here  by  this  day 
se'nnight,  but  scarce  will  before  the  28th,  and  if  the  winds 
are  not  in  hymeneal  humour,  it  may  be  the  Lord  knows 
how  long.  There  will  be  as  great  magnificence  as  people 
can  put  upon  their  backs — nothing  more ;  no  shows,  no 
ceremonies.  Six  Drawing-rooms  and  one  ball — that  is  all ; 
and  then  the  honeymoon  in  private  till  the  Coronation. 
They  told  me  the  painting  of  the  Charlotte  yatch1  would 
certainly  turn  the  Queen's  stomach.  I  said  if  her  head  is 
not  turned,  she  may  compound  for  anything  else.  Think 
of  the  crown  of  England  and  a  handsome  young  King 
dropping  out  of  the  clouds  into  Strelitz  !  The  crowds,  the 
multitudes,  the  millions,  that  are  to  stare  at  her;  the 
swarms  to  kiss  her  hand,  the  pomp  of  the  Coronation.  She 
need  be  but  seventeen  to  bear  it. 

In  the  meantime,  adieu  peace !  France  has  refused  to 
submit  to  our  terms.  They  own  themselves  undone,  but 
depend  on  the  continuation  of  the  war  for  revenging  them 
— not  by  arms,  but  by  exhausting  us.  I  can  tell  you  our 
terms  pretty  exactly.  All  Canada,  but  letting  them  fish  on 
Newfoundland ;  Goree  and  Senegal,  but  with  a  promise  of 
helping  them  somehow  or  other  in  their  black  trade ;  the 

LETTER   769. — 1  Gent.  Mag.    1761,  ornament  on  board  being  finely  gilt, 

Friday,    July    81.      '  The    Charlotte  even  the  blocks  and  carriages  for 

yacht    is    the    most    superbly    and  the    guns    are    not   excepted ;    and 

elegantly  decorated  as  can  be  con-  there  is  the  finest  bed  on  board  that 

ceived,  the  pillars  and  every  other  ever  was  seen.' 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  99 

neutral  islands  to  be  divided  ;  Hesse  and  Hanover  restored, 
and  Minorca:  Guadaloupe  and  Belleisle  to  return  to  them. 
The  East  Indies  postponed  to  the  Congress ;  Dunkirk  to  be 
demolished,  a  la  Utrecht;  at  least,  a  Z'Aix-la-Chapellea. 
The  last  article  is  particularly  offered  to  glory.  If  they 
have  no  fleet,  Dunkirk  will  not  hurt  us ;  when  they  have, 
twenty  other  places  will  do  the  business,  especially  if  they 
have  Nieuport  and  Ostend,  on  which,  notwithstanding  all 
reports,  I  hear  we  have  been  silent.  Our  terms  are  lofty ; 
yet,  could  they  expect  that  we  would  undo  them  and  our- 
selves for  nothing?  We  shall  be  like  the  late  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  have  a  vast  landed  estate,  and  warit  a  guinea. 
The  great  prince  of  the  coalpits,  Sir  James  Lowther, 
marries  the  eldest  infanta  of  the  adjoining  coalpits,  Lord 
Bute's  daughter s.  You  will  allow  this  Earl  is  a  fortunate 
man  ;  the  late  King,  old  Wortley,  and  the  Duke  of  Argyle 4, 
all  dying  in  a  year,  and  his  daughter  married  to  such  an 
immense  fortune !  He  certainly  behaves  with  great  modera- 
tion, and  nobody  has  had  reason  to  complain  of  him. 

1  return  you  your  letter  to  Stosch ;  he  writ  to  me  a  fort- 
night ago  that  he  was  embarking  for  Italy ;  I  sent  yesterday 
to  his  lodgings;   the  answer,  he  was  sailed  for  Spain — 
I  suppose  the  ship  touches  there — but  you  will  see  him 
soon.    Adieu ! 

770.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Aug.  20,  1761. 

A  FEW  lines  before  you  go.  Your  resolutions  are  good, 
and  give  me  great  pleasure;  bring  them  back  unbroken. 
I  have  no  mind  to  lose  you — we  have  been  acquainted  these 

2  Viz.  in  the  manner  stipulated  in  Baronet,  afterwards  Earl  of  Lons- 
those  treaties.  dale ;  d.  1824. 

3  Lady  Mary  Stuart,  eldest  daugh-  *  By  whose  death  Lord  Bute  ob- 
ter  of  third  Earl  of  Bute  ;  m.  (Sept.  7,  taincd  the  chief  power  in  Scotland. 
1761)    Sir    James    Lowther,    fifth  Walpole. 

H   2 


100  To  George  Montagu  [i76i 

thirty  years,  and  to  give  the  devil  his  due,  in  all  that  time 
I  never  knew  a  bad,  a  false,  a  mean  or  ill-natured  thing  in 
the  devil — but  don't  tell  him  I  say  so — especially  as  I 
cannot  say  the  same  of  myself.  I  am  now  doing  a  dirty 
thing,  nattering  you  to  preface  a  commission.  Dicky  Bate- 
man1  has  picked  up  a  whole  cloister  full  of  old  chairs  in 
Herefordshire — he  bought  them  one  by  one,  here  and  there 
in  farm-houses,  for  three-and-sixpence  and  a  crown  apiece. 
They  are  of  wood,  the  seats  triangular,  the  backs,  arms,  and 
legs  loaded  with  turnery.  A  thousand  to  one  but  there  are 
plenty  up  and  down  Cheshire  too — if  Mr.  or  Mrs.  Wetenhall, 
as  they  ridet  or  drive  out,  would  now  and  then  put  up  such 
a  chair,  it  would  oblige  me  greatly.  Take  notice,  no  two 
need  be  of  the  same  pattern. 

Keep  it  as  the  secret  of  your  life,  but  if  your  brother 
John  addresses  himself  to  me  a  day  or  two  before  the 
Coronation,  I  can  place  him  well  to  see  the  procession — 
when  it  is  over,  I  will  give  you  a  particular  reason  why 
this  must  be  such  a  mystery.  I  was  extremely  diverted 
t'other  day  with  my  mother's  and  my  old  milliner.  She 
said  she  had  a  petition  to  me — '  What  is  it,  Mrs.  Burton  ? ' — 
'  It  is  in  behalf  of  two  poor  orphans.' — I  began  to  feel  for 
my  purse. — 'What  can  I  do  for  them,  Mrs.  Burton?' — 
'  Only,  if  your  honour  would  be  so  compassionate  as  to  get 
them  tickets  for  the  Coronation.' — I  could  not  keep  my 
countenance — and  these  distressed  orphans  are  two  and 
three-and -twenty ! — Did  you  ever  hear  a  more  melancholy 
case? 

The  Queen  is  expected  on  Monday,  I  go  to  town  on 
Sunday — would  these  shows  and  your  Irish  journey  were 
over,  and  neither  of  us  a  day  the  poorer! 

I  am  expecting   Mr.  Chute  to   hold   a   chapter  on   the 

LETTER  770. — l  Richard  (d.  1773),  sou  of  Sir  James  Bateman,  Knight,  and 
brother  of  first  Viscount  Bateman. 


1761]  To  the  Earl  of  Strafford  101 

cabinet — a  barge-load  of  niches,  window-frames,  and  ribs,  is 
arrived.  The  cloister  is  paving,  the  privy-garden  making, 
painted  glass  adjusting  to  the  windows  on  the  back  stairs — 
with  so  many  irons  in  the  fire,  you  may  imagine  I  have 
not  much  time  to  write,  I  wish  you  a  safe  and  pleasant 
voyage. 

Yours  faithfully, 

H.  W. 

771.    To  THE  EAEL  OP  STRAFFOBD. 

MY  DEAB  LORD,  Arlington  Street,  Tuesday  morning. 

Nothing  was  ever  equal  to  the  bustle  and  uncertainty  of 
the  town  for  these  three  days.  The  Queen  was  seen  off  the 
coast  of  Sussex  on  Saturday  last,  and  is  not  arrived  yet — 
nay,  last  night  at  ten  o'clock  it  was  neither  certain  when 
she  landed,  nor  when  she  would  be  in  town.  I  forgive 
history  for  knowing  nothing  when  so  public  an  event  as 
the  arrival  of  a  new  Queen  is  a  mystery  even  at  the  very 
moment  in  St.  James's  Street.  The  messenger  that  brought 
the  letter  yesterday  morning  said  she  arrived  at  half  an 
hour  after  four  at  Harwich.  This  was  immediately  trans- 
lated into  landing,  and  notified  in  those  words  to  the 
ministers.  Six  hours  afterwards  it  proved  no  such  thing, 
and  that  she  was  only  in  the  Harwich  Eoad :  and  they 
recollected  that  half  an  hour  after  four  happens  twice  in 
twenty-four  hours,  and  the  letter  did  not  specify  which  of 
the  tunces  it  was.  Well !  the  bridemaids  whipped  on  their 
virginity ;  the  new  road  and  the  parks  were  thronged  ;  the 
guns  were  choking  with  impatience  to  go  off;  and  Sir 
James  Lowther,  who  was  to  pledge  his  Majesty,  was 
actually  married  to  Lady  Mary  Stuart.  Five,  six,  seven, 
eight  o'clock  came,  and  no  Queen — she  lay  at  Witham  *,  at 
Lord  Abercorn's,  who  was  most  tranquilly  in  town :  and  it 

LETTER  771. — *  In  Essex,  eight  miles  from  ChslmsforcL 


102  To  the  Earl  of  Stra/ord  [i76l 

is  not  certain  even  whether  she  will  be  composed  enough  to 
be  in  town  to-night.  She  has  been  sick  but  half  an  hour : 
sung  and  played  on  the  harpsichord  all  the  voyage,  and 
been  cheerful  the  whole  time.  The  Coronation  will  now 
certainly  not  be  put  off — so  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  you  on  the  1 5th.  The  weather  is  close  and  sultry ; 
and  if  the  wedding  is  to-night,  we  shall  all  die. 

They  have  made  an  admirable  speech  for  the  Tripoline 
ambassador — that  he  said  he  heard  the  King  had  sent  his 
first  eunuch  to  fetch  the  Princess.  I  should  think  he 
meaned  Lord  Anson. 

You  will  find  the  town  over  head  and  ears  in  disputes 
about  rank,  precedence,  processions,  entrees,  &c.  One  point, 
that  of  the  Irish  peers,  has  been  excellently  liquidated: 
Lord  Halifax  has  stuck  up  a  paper  in  the  coffee-room  at 
Arthur's,  importing,  'That  his  Majesty,  not  having  leisure 
to  determine  a  point  of  such  great  consequence,  permits  for 
this  time  such  Irish  peers  as  shall  be  at  the  marriage  to 
walk  in  the  procession.'  Everybody  concludes  those  per- 
sonages will  understand  this  order,  as  it  is  drawn  up  in 
their  own  language  ;  otherwise  it  is  not  very  clear  how  they 
are  to  walk  to  the  marriage,  if  they  are  at  it  before  they 
come  to  it. 

Strawberry  returns  its  duty  and  thanks  for  all  your  Lord- 
ship's goodness  to  it,  and  though  it  has  not  got  its  wedding- 
clothes  yet,  will  be  happy  to  see  you.  Lady  Betty  Mackenzie 
is  the  individual  woman  she  was — she  seems  to  have  been 
gone  three  years,  like  the  Sultan  in  the  Persian  tales, 
who  popped  his  head  into  a  tub  of  water,  pulled  it  up 
again,  and  fancied  he  had  been  a  dozen  years  in  bondage 
in  the  interim.  She  is  not  altered  in  a  tittle.  Adieu,  my 
dear  Lord ! 

Your  most  faithful  servant, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 


I76i]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      103 

Twenty  minutes  past  three  in  the  afternoon, 
not  in  the  middle  of  the  night. 

Madame  Charlotte  is  this  instant  arrived.  The  noise  of 
coaches,  chaises,  horsemen,  mob,  that  have  been  to  see  her 
pass  through  the  parks,  is  so  prodigious  that  I  cannot 
distinguish  the  guns.  I  am  going  to  be  dressed,  and  before 
seven  shall  launch  into  the  crowd.  Pray  for  me  ! 


772.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUR  CONWAY. 

Arlington  Street,  Sept.  9,  1761. 

THE  date  of  my  promise  is  now  arrived,  and  I  fulfil  it — 
fulfil  it  with  great  satisfaction,  for  the  Queen  is  come; 
I  have  seen  her,  have  been  presented  to  her — and  may  go 
back  to  Strawberry.  For  this  fortnight  I  have  lived  upon 
the  road  between  Twickenham  and  London :  I  came,  grew 
impatient,  returned ;  came  again,  still  to  no  purpose.  The 
yachts  made  the  coast  of  Suffolk  last  Saturday,  on  Sunday 
entered  the  road  of  Harwich,  and  on  Monday  morning  the 
King's  chief  eunuch,  as  the  Tripoline  ambassador  calls  Lord 
Anson,  landed  the  Princess.  She  lay  that  night  at  Lord 
Abercorn's  at  Witham,  the  palace  of  silence  ;  and  yesterday 
at  a  quarter  after  three  arrived  at  St.  James's.  In  half  an 
hour  one  heard  of  nothing  but  proclamations  of  her  beauty  : 
everybody  was  content,  everybody  pleased.  At  seven  one 
went  to  court.  The  night  was  sultry.  About  ten  the  pro- 
cession began  to  move  towards  the  chapel,  and  at  eleven 
they  all  came  up  into  the  drawing-room.  She  looks  very 
sensible,  cheerful,  and  is  remarkably  genteel.  Her  tiara  of 
diamonds  was  very  pretty,  her  stomacher  sumptuous ;  her 
violet  velvet  mantle  and  ermine  so  heavy,  that  the  spectators 
knew  as  much  of  her  upper  half  as  the  King  himself.  You 
will  have  no  doubts  of  her  sense  by  what  I  shall  tell  you. 
On  the  road  they  wanted  her  to  curl  her  toupet:  she  said 


104      To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i?6i 

she  thought  it  looked  as  well  as  that  of  any  of  the  ladies 
sent  to  fetch  her;  if  the  King  bid  her,  she  would  wear 
a  periwig,  otherwise  she  would  remain  as  she  was.  When 
she  caught  the  first  glimpse  of  the  palace,  she  grew 
frightened  and  turned  pale ;  the  Duchess  of  Hamilton 
smiled — the  Princess  said,  'My  dear  Duchess,  you  may 
laugh,  you  have  been  married  twice,  but  it  is  no  joke  to  me.' 
Her  lips  trembled  as  the  coach  stopped,  but  she  jumped  out 
with  spirit,  and  has  done  nothing  but  with  good-humour 
and  cheerfulness.  She  talks  a  great  deal — is  easy,  civil,  and 
not  disconcerted.  At  first,  when  the  bridemaids  and  the 
court  were  introduced  to  her,  she  said,  '  Mon  Dieu,  il  y  en  a 
tant,  il  y  en  a  tant ! '  She  was  pleased  when  she  was  to  kiss 
the  peeresses ;  but  Lady  Augusta  was  forced  to  take  her 
hand  and  give  it  to  those  that  were  to  kiss  it,  which  was 
prettily  humble  and  good-natured.  While  they  waited  for 
supper,  she  sat  down,  sung,  and  played.  Her  French  is 
tolerable,  she  exchanged  much  both  of  that  and  German 
with  the  King,  the  Duke,  and  the  Duke  of  York.  They  did 
not  get  to  bed  till  two.  To-day  was  a  Drawing-room :  every- 
body was  presented  to  her ;  but  she  spoke  to  nobody,  as  she 
could  not  know  a  soul.  The  crowd  was  much  less  than  at 
a  Birthday,  the  magnificence  very  little  more.  The  King 
looked  veiy  handsome,  and  talked  to  her  continually  with 
great  good-humour.  It  does  not  promise  as  if  they  two 
would  be  the  two  most  unhappy  persons  in  England,  from 
this  event.  The  bridemaids,  especially  Lady  Caroline  Kussel, 
Lady  Sarah  Lenox,  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Keppel,  were  beauti- 
ful figures.  With  neither  features  nor  air,  Lady  Sarah  was 
by  far  the  chief  angel.  The  Duchess  of  Hamilton  was 
almost  in  possession  of  her  former  beauty  to-day ;  and  your 
other  Duchess1,  your  daughter,  was  much  better  dressed 
than  ever  I  saw  her.  Except  a  pretty  Lady  Suther- 
LETTEB  772.— l  The  Duchess  of  Richmond.  Walpole, 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  105 

land8,  and  a  most  perfect  beauty,  an  Irish  Miss  Smith8,  I 
don't  think  the  Queen  saw  much  else  to  discourage  her :  my 
niece,  Lady  Kildare,  Mrs.  Fitzroy,  were  none  of  them  there. 
There  is  a  ball  to-night,  and  two  more  Drawing-rooms ;  but 
I  have  done  with  them.  The  Duchess  of  Queensbury  and 
Lady  Westmoreland 4  were  in  the  procession,  and  did  credit 
to  the  ancient  nobility. 

You  don't  presume  to  suppose,  I  hope,  that  we  are 
thinking  of  you,  and  wars,  and  misfortunes,  and  distresses, 
in  these  festival  times.  Mr.  Pitt  himself  would  be  mobbed 
if  he  talked  of  anything  but  clothes,  and  diamonds,  and 
bridemaids.  Oh  yes,  we  have  wars,  civil  wars;  there  is 
a  campaign  opened  in  the  Bedchamber.  Everybody  is 
excluded  but  the  ministers;  even  the  Lords  of  the  Bed- 
chamber, cabinet  counsellors,  and  foreign  ministers:  but  it 
has  given  such  offence  that  I  don't  know  whether  Lord 
Huntingdon 6  must  not  be  the  scapegoat.  Adieu !  I  am 
going  to  transcribe  most  of  this  letter  to  your  Countess. 

Yours  ever, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

773.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Sept.  10,  1761. 

WHEN  we  least  expected  the  Queen,  she  came,  after  being 
ten  days  at  sea,  but  without  sickness  for  above  half  an  hour. 
She  was  gay  the  whole  voyage,  sung  to  her  harpsichord,  and 
left  the  door  of  her  cabin  open.  They  made  the  coast  of 

s  Mary,  eldest  daughter  and  co-  Smyth,  of  Tinney  Park,  Wicklow ; 

heir  of  William  Maxwell,  of  Preston,  d.  1781. 

Kirkcudbright ;    m.  (1761)  William  *  Mary,  daughter  and  heiress  of 

Sutherland,     eighteenth     Earl     of  Lord  Henry  Cavendish,  second  son 

Sutherland;  d.  1766.  of  first  Duke  of  Devonshire  ;  m.  John 

8  Afterwards     married     to     Mr.  Fane,    seventh    Earl    of    Westmor- 

Matthew,  now  Lord  Landaff.     Wai-  land ;  d.  1778. 

pole.  —  Ellis,    daughter    of    James  D  As  Groom  of  the  Stole. 


106  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?6i 

Suffolk  last  Saturday,  and  on  Monday  morning  she  landed 
at  Harwich  ;  so  prosperously  has  his  Majesty's  chief  eunuch, 
as  they  have  made  the  Tripoline  ambassador  call  Lord 
Anson,  executed  his  commission.  She  lay  that  night  at 
your  old  friend  Lord  Abercorn's,  at  Witham ;  and,  if  she 
judged  by  her  host,  must  have  thought  she  was  coming  to 
reign  in  the  realm  of  taciturnity.  She  arrived  at  St.  James's 
a  quarter  after  three  on  Tuesday  the  8th.  When  she  first 
saw  the  palace  she  turned  pale :  the  Duchess  of  Hamilton 
smiled.  'My  dear  Duchess,'  said  the  Princess,  lyou  may 
laugh ;  you  have  been  married  twice ;  but  it  is  no  joke  to 
me.'  Is  this  a  bad  proof  of  her  sense?  On  the  journey 
they  wanted  her  to  curl  her  toupet.  '  No,  indeed,'  said  she, 
'I  think  it  looks  as  well  as  those  of  the  ladies  that  have 
been  sent  for  me :  if  the  King  would  have  me  wear  a  peri- 
wig, I  will ;  otherwise  I  shall  let  myself  alone.'  The  Duke 
of  York  gave  her  his  hand  at  the  garden-gate :  her  lips 
trembled,  but  she  jumped  out  with  spirit.  In  the  garden 
the  King  met  her ;  she  would  have  fallen  at  his  feet ;  he 
prevented  and  embraced  her,  and  led  her  into  the  apart- 
ments, where  she  was  received  by  the  Princess  of  Wales 
and  Lady  Augusta :  these  three  Princesses  only  dined  with 
the  King.  At  ten  the  procession  went  to  chapel,  preceded 
by  unmarried  daughters  of  peers,  peers,  and  peeresses  in 
plenty.  The  new  Princess  was  led  by  the  Duke  of  York 
and  Prince  William * ;  the  Archbishop  married  them ;  the 
King  talked  to  her  the  whole  time  with  great  good-humour, 
and  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  gave  her  away.  She  is  not 
tall,  nor  a  beauty  ;  pale,  and  very  thin  ;  but  looks  sensible, 
and  is  genteel.  Her  hair  is  darkish  and  fine ;  her  forehead 
low,  her  nose  very  well,  except  the  nostrils  spreading  too 
wide ;  her  mouth  has  the  same  fault,  but  her  teeth  are  good. 
She  talks  a  good  deal,  and  French  tolerably ;  possesses  her- 
LITTIB  773. — *  Afterwards  Duke  of  Gloucester.  Walpole. 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  107 

self,  is  frank,  but  with  great  respect  to  the  King.  After  the 
ceremony,  the  whole  company  came  into  the  drawing-room 
for  about  ten  minutes,  but  nobody  was  presented  that  night. 
The  Queen  was  in  white  and  silver ;  an  endless  mantle  of 
violet-coloured  velvet,  lined  with  ermine,  and  attempted  to 
be  fastened  on  her  shoulder  by  a  bunch  of  large  pearls, 
dragged  itself  and  almost  the  rest  of  her  clothes  halfway 
down  her  waist.  On  her  head  was  a  beautiful  little  tiara  of 
diamonds ;  a  diamond  necklace,  and  a  stomacher  of  dia- 
monds, worth  threescore  thousand  pounds,  which  she  is  to 
wear  at  the  Coronation  too.  Her  train  was  borne  by  the 
ten  bridemaids,  Lady  Sarah  Lenox,  Lady  Caroline  Kussell, 
Lady  Caroline  Montagu2,  Lady  Harriot  Bentinck3,  Lady 
Anne  Hamilton  *,  Lady  Essex  Kerr 5  (daughters  of  Dukes  of 
Richmond,  Bedford,  Manchester,  Portland,  Hamilton,  and 
Koxburgh) ;  and  four  daughters  of  the  Earls  of  Albemarle, 
Brook,  Harcourt,  and  Hchester, — Lady  Elizabeth  Keppel, 
Louisa  Greville8,  Elizabeth  Harcourt7,  and  Susan  Fox 
Strangways:  their  heads  crowned  with  diamonds,  and  in 
robes  of  white  and  silver.  Lady  Caroline  Kussell8  is  ex- 
tremely handsome  ;  Lady  Elizabeth  Keppel 9  very  pretty ; 
but  with  neither  features  nor  air,  nothing  ever  looked  so 
charming  as  Lady  Sarah  Lenox 10 ;  she  has  all  the  glow  of 
beauty  peculiar  to  her  family.  As  supper  was  not  ready, 

2  Eldest  daughter  of  third  Duke  d.  unmarried,  1819. 

of  Manchester;   m.    (1776)  Captain  6  Eldest    daughter    of  first  Earl 

Charles     Herbert,     son    of    Major-  of   Warwick;    m.    (1770)    William 

General  Hon.  William  Herbert,  and  Churchill,  of  Henbury,  Dorsetshire, 

brother  of  first  Earl  of  Carnarvon.  7  Eldest  daughter    of   first   Earl 

8  Lady  Henrietta  Cavendish-Ben-  Harcourt ;    m.   (1763)  Sir    William 

tinck,  second    daughter   of  second  Lee,   fourth   Baronet,    of  Hartwell, 

Duke  of  Portland  ;  m.  (1763)  George  Buckinghamshire. 

Harry  Grey,  fifth  Earl  of  Stamford  ;  8  Afterwards    Duchess    of   Marl- 

<L  1827.  borough.     WcHpole. 

*  Fifth  daughter  of  fifth  Duke  of  9  Afterwards  Marchioness  of  Tavis- 

Hamilton ;  m.   (1761)  Arthur   Chi-  tock.     WcUpole. 

Chester,  fifth  Earl  (afterwards  first  10  Lady  Sarah  Lenox  was  mar- 
Marquis)  of  Donegal.  ried  to  Sir  Charles  Bunbury,  and, 

5  Eldest  daughter  of  Robert  Kerr  being  divorced  from  him,  to  Captain 

(d.  1755),  second  Duke  of  Roxburgh  ;  Napier.     Walpole. 


108  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i76i 

the  Queen  sat  down,  sung,  and  played  on  the  harpsichord 
to  the  royal  family,  who  all  supped  with  her  in  private. 
They  talked  of  the  different  German  dialects;  the  King 
asked  if  the  Hanoverian  was  not  pure — '  Oh  no,  sir,'  said 
the  Queen ;  '  it  is  the  worst  of  all.' — She  will  not  be 
unpopular. 

The  Duke  of  Cumberland  told  the  King  that  himself  and 
Lady  Augusta  were  sleepy.  The  Queen  was  very  averse  to 
going  to  bed,  and  at  last  articled  that  nobody  should  retire 
with  her  but  the  Princess  of  Wales  and  her  own  two  German 
women,  and  that  nobody  should  be  admitted  afterwards  but 
the  King — they  did  not  get  to  bed  till  between  two  and 
three.  The  Princess  Dowager  wanted  to  sit  a  little  at  table, 
and  pressed  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  to  stay ;  he  pleaded 
being  tired — 'and  besides,  Madam,'  said  he,  'what  should 
I  stay  for?  if  she  cries  out,  I  cannot  help  her.' 

The  next  morning  the  King  had  a  levee.  He  said  to 
Lord  Hardwicke,  '  It  is  a  very  fine  day : '  that  old  gossip 
replied,  '  Yes,  Sir,  and  it  was  a  veiy  fine  night.'  Lord  Bute 
had  told  the  King  that  Lord  Orford  had  betted  his  having 
a  child  before  Sir  James  Lowther,  who  had  been  married 
the  night  before  to  Lord  Bute's  eldest  daughter ;  the  King 
told  Lord  Orford  he  should  be  glad  to  go  his  halves.  The 
bet  was  made  with  Mr.  Kigby11.  Somebody  asked  the 
latter  how  he  could  be  so  bad  a  courtier  as  to  bet  against 
the  King?  He  replied,  'Not  at  all  a  bad  courtier;  I  betted 
Lord  Bute's  daughter  against  him.' 

After  the  King's  levee  there  was  a  Drawing-room ;  the 
Queen  stood  under  the  throne  :  the  women  were  presented 
to  her  by  the  Duchess  of  Hamilton,  and  then  the  men  by 
the  Duke  of  Manchester ;  but  as  she  knew  nobody,  she  was 
not  to  speak.  At  night  there  was  a  ball,  Drawing-rooms 
yesterday  and  to-day,  and  then  a  cessation  of  ceremony  till 

11  Richard  Bighy,  afterwards  Paymaster  of  the  Forces.     Walpole. 


I76i]  To  Grosvenor  Bedford  109 

the  Coronation,  except  next  Monday,  when  she  is  to  receive 
the  address  of  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen,  sitting  on  the 
throne  attended  by  the  bridemaids.  There  was  a  ridiculous 
circumstance  happened  yesterday ;  Lord  Westmoreland,  not 
very  young  nor  clear-sighted,  mistook  Lady  Sarah  Lenox 
for  the  Queen,  kneeled  to  her,  and  would  have  kissed  her 
hand  if  she  had  not  prevented  him.  People  think  that  a 
Chancellor  of  Oxford  was  naturally  attracted  by  the  blood 
of  Stuart.  It  is  as  comical  to  see  Kitty  Dashwood12,  the 
famous  old  beauty  of  the  Oxfordshire  Jacobites,  living  in  the 
palace  as  duenna  to  the  Queen.  She  and  Mrs.  Boughton 1S, 
Lord  Lyttelton's  ancient  Delia,  are  revived  again  in  a  young 
court  that  never  heard  of  them.  There,  I  think  you  could 
not  have  had  a  more  circumstantial  account  of  a  royal 
wedding  from  the  Heralds'  Office.  Adieu ! 

Yours  to  serve  you, 

HORACE  SANDFORD  14. 
Mecklenburgh  King-at-Arms. 


774.    To  GROSVENOE  BEDFOED. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  Sept.  23,  1761. 

Ten  thousand  thanks  to  you  for  all  your  goodness  and 
all  your  trouble;  I  can  never  say  enough  to  you  for  the 
obliging  kindness  you  have  shown  me,  I  fear  you  will 
suffer  by  it ;  tell  me  how  you  do  to-day  and  if  you  have 
got  a  good  night's  rest.  Compose  yourself  till  you  are 
perfectly  recovered.  Pray  make  my  thanks  too  to  Miss 

14  Mrs.  Catherine  Dashwood,  on  was  sister  of  Fulke  Greville,  author 

whom  Mr.  Hammond  wrote  many  of  Maxims  and  Characters. 

poems.     Walpole.  **  An  allusion   to  Francis  Sand- 

18  Mary  (d.  1786),  eldest  daughter  ford  (1630-1694),  Lancaster  Herald, 

of  Hon.  Algernon  Greville,  second  and  author  (amongst  other  works) 

son    of    fifth    Baron    Brooke ;    m.  of  The  History  of  the  Coronation  of 

Shuckburgh,  third  son  of  Sir  Wil-  James  II. 
liam  Boughton,  fourth  Baronet.  She 


110  To  George  Montagu  [i76i 

Bedford  and  your  sons,  who  have  had  nothing  but  plague 
with  me.     Adieu !  Your  much  obliged 

And  sincere  friend, 

Ho.  WALPOLE. 

Don't  wonder  I  was  so  impatient  to  get  away ;  I  was 
fatigued  to  death ;  but  got  home  perfectly  well  and  am 
quite  so1. 

775.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Sept.  24,  1761. 

I  AM  glad  you  arrived  safe  in  Dublin,  and  hitherto  like  it 
so  well ;  but  your  trial  is  not  begun  yet ;  when  your  King 
comes,  the  ploughshares  will  be  put  into  the  fire.  Bless 
your  stars  that  your  King  is  not  to  be  married  or  crowned : 
all  the  vines  of  Bourdeaux  and  all  the  fumes  of  Irish 
brains  cannot  make  a  town  so  drunk  as  a  royal  wedding 
and  coronation.  I  am  going  to  let  London  cool,  and  will 
not  venture  myself  into  it  again  this  fortnight.  Oh !  the 
buzz,  the  prattle,  the  crowds,  the  noise,  the  hurry!  Nay, 
people  are  so  little  come  to  their  senses,  that  though  the 
Coronation  was  but  the  day  before  yesterday,  the  Duke 
of  Devonshire  had  forty  messages  yesterday,  desiring  tickets 
for  a  ball  that  they  fancied  was  to  be  at  court  last  night — 
people  had  sat  up  a  night  and  a  day — and  yet  wanted  to 
see  a  dance.  If  I  was  to  entitle  ages,  I  would  call  this  the 
century  of  crowds.  For  the  Coronation,  if  a  puppet-show 
could  be  worth  a  million,  that  is.  The  multitudes,  balconies, 
guards,  and  processions,  made  Palace  Yard  the  liveliest 
spectacle  in  the  world ;  the  Hall  was  the  most  glorious. 

LETTER  774. — l  Note  by  Mr.  Bed-  Hertford,  Lady  Anne  Conway,  Mr. 

ford. — '  Mr.  Walpole's  friends  invited  Chute,  Mrs.  Clive,  Mr.  Raftor,  Lady 

by    Mr.    Grosvr.    Bedford    to     bis  Townshend  and  Master,  Miss  Hotham 

house  in  Palace  Yard  to  see  the  Coro-  and  her  maid.' 
nation  in  1761 : — Lady  Hervey,  Lady 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  111 

The  blaze  of  lights,  the  richness  and  variety  of  habits,  the 
ceremonial,  the  benches  of  peers  and  peeresses,  frequent  and 
full,  was  as  awful  as  a  pageant  can  be — and  yet  for  the 
King's  sake — and  my  own,  I  never  wish  to  see  another ; 
nor  am  impatient  to  have  my  Lord  Effingham's  promise 
fulfilled — the  King  complained  that  so  few  precedents  were 
kept  for  their  proceedings ;  Lord  Effingham  owned  the 
Earl  Marshal's  office  had  been  strangely  neglected ;  but  he 
had  taken  such  care  for  the  future,  that  the  next  Coronation 
would  be  regulated  in  the  most  exact  manner  imaginable. 
The  number  of  peers  and  peeresses  present  was  not  very 
great — some  of  the  latter,  with  no  excuse  in  the  world, 
appeared  in  Lord  Lincoln's  gallery,  and  even  walked  about 
the  Hall  indecently  in  the  intervals  of  the  procession.  My 
Lady  Harrington,  covered  with  all  the  diamonds  she  could 
borrow,  hire,  or  seize,  and  with  the  air  of  Koxana,  was  the 
finest  figure  at  a  distance ;  she  complained  to  George  Selwyn 
that  she  was  to  walk  with  Lady  Portsmouth1,  who  would 
have  a  wig  and  a  stick — 'Pho,'  said  he,  'you  will  only  look 
as  if  you  was  taken  up  by  the  constable' — she  told  this 
everywhere,  thinking  the  reflection  was  on  my  Lady  Ports- 
mouth. Lady  Pembroke,  alone  at  the  head  of  the  coun- 
tesses, was  the  picture  of  majestic  modesty ;  the  Duchess  of 
Bichmond,  as  pretty  as  nature  and  dress,  with  no  pains  of 
her  own,  could  make  her ;  Lady  Spencer 2,  Lady  Sutherland, 
and  Lady  Northampton,  very  pretty  figures — Lady  Kildare, 
still  beauty  itself,  if  not  a  little  too  large.  The  ancient 
peeresses  were  by  no  means  the  worst  party — Lady  West- 
morland, still  handsome,  and  with  more  dignity  than  all ;  the 
Duchess  of  Queensberry  looked  well,  though  her  locks  milk- 

LETTER   775.  —  l  Hon.    Elizabeth  2  Margaret   Georgiana    (d.    1814), 

Griffin,  daughter  of  second  Baron  eldest  daughter  of  Stephen  Poyntz ; 

Griffin ;     m.    (1741)    John    Wallop,  m.    (1755)    John    Spencer,    created 

ViscountLymington,whowascreated  Viscount  Spencer  in  1761,  and  Earl 

Earl  of  Portsmouth  in  1743 ;  d.  1762.  Spencer  in  1765. 


112  To  George  Montagu  [i?6i 

white  ;  Lady  Albemarle  very  genteel ;  nay,  the  middle-aged 
had  some  good  representatives  in  Lady  Holderness,  Lady 
Eochford,  and  Lady  Strafford,  the  perfectest  little  figure  of 
all.  My  Lady  Suffolk  ordered  her  robes,  and  I  dressed  part 
of  her  head,  as  I  made  some  of  my  Lord  Hertford's  dress ; 
for  you  know,  no  profession  comes  amiss  to  me,  from  a 
tribune  of  the  people  to  a  habit-maker.  Don't  imagine  that 
there  were  not  figures  as  excellent  on  the  other  side :  old 
Exeter,  who  told  the  King  he  was  the  handsomest  young 
man  she  ever  saw,  old  Effingham3,  and  a  Lady  Say  and 
Seal4,  with  her  hair  powdered  and  her  tresses  black,  were 
an  excellent  contrast  to  the  handsome.  Lord  Bolinbroke 
put  on  rouge  upon  his  wife  and  the  Duchess  of  Bedford  in 
the  Painted  Chamber ;  the  Duchess  of  Queensberry  told  me 
of  the  latter,  that  she  looked  like  an  orange-peach,  half  red 
and  half  yellow.  The  coronets  of  the  peers  and  their  robes 
disguised  them  strangely ;  it  required  all  the  beauty  of  the 
Dukes  of  Kichmond  and  Marlborough  to  make  them  noticed. 
One  there  was,  though  of  another  species,  the  noblest  figure 
I  ever  saw,  the  High-Constable  of  Scotland,  Lord  Errol5 — as 
one  saw  him  in  a  space  capable  of  containing  him,  one 
admired  him.  At  the  wedding,  dressed  in  tissue,  he  looked 
like  one  of  the  Giants  in  Guildhall,  new  gilt.  It  added  to 
the  energy  of  his  person,  that  one  considered  him  acting  so 
considerable  a  part  in  that  very  Hall,  where  so  few  years 
ago  one  saw  his  father,  Lord  Kilmarnock,  condemned  to 
the  block.  The  Champion  acted  his  part  admirably,  and 
dashed  down  his  gauntlet  with  proud  defiance.  His 
associates,  Lord  Effingham,  Lord  Talbot,  and  the  Duke 

3 Anne(d.  1774), daughterof Eobert  Thomas  Tyrel,  second  Baronet;  m. 

Bristow  ;    m.    (1728)    Hon.    Francis  (1763),  as  her  third  husband,  Bichard 

Howard,  who  succeeded  his  brother  Piennes,   sixth  Viscount   Saye  and 

as  eighth  Baron  Howard  of  Effing-  Sele;  d.  1789. 

ham  in  1726,  and  was  created  Earl  6  James  Hay  (1726-1778),  fifteenth 

of  Effingham  in  1731.  Earl  of  Enroll. 

*  ChriBtobeUa,    daughter    of    Sir 


To  George  Montagu  113 

of  Bedford8,  were  woful,  yet  the  last  the  least  ridiculous 
of  the  three.  Lord  Talbot  piqued  himself  on  backing  his 
horse  down  the  Hall,  and  not  turning  its  rump  towards  the 
King,  but  he  had  taken  such  pains  to  dress  it  to  that  duty, 
that  it  entered  backwards  j  and  at  his  retreat  the  spectators 
clapped,  a  terrible  indecorum,  but  suitable  to  such  Bar- 
tholomew Fair  doings.  He  put  me  in  mind  of  some  King's 
fool,  that  would  not  give  his  right  hand  to  the  King  of 
Spain,  because  he  wiped  his  backside  with  it.  He  had 
twenty  demelts,  and  came  out  of  none  creditably.  He  had 
taken  away  the  table  of  the  Knights  of  the  Bath,  and  was 
forced  to  admit  two  in  their  old  place,  and  dine  the  others 
in  the  Court  of  Requests.  Sir  William  Stanhope  said,  '  We 
are  ill-treated,  for  some  of  us  are  gentlemen.'  Beckford 
told  the  Earl,  it  was  hard  to  refuse  a  table  to  the  City  of 
London,  whom  it  would  cost  ten  thousand  pounds  to 
banquet  the  King,  and  that  his  Lordship  would  repent  it, 
if  they  had  not  a  table  in  the  Hall — they  had.  To  the 
Barons  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  who  made  the  same  complaint, 
he  said,  '  If  you  come  to  me  as  Lord  Steward,  I  tell  you  it 
is  impossible ;  if  as  Lord  Talbot,  I  am  a  match  for  any  of 
you ' ;  and  then  he  said  to  Lord  Bute,  '  If  I  was  a  minister, 
thus  I  would  talk  to  France,  to  Spain,  to  the  Dutch — none 
of  your  half-measures.'  This  has  brought  me  to  a  melan- 
choly topic — Bussy  goes  to-morrow,  a  Spanish  war  is  hang- 
ing 7  in  the  air,  destruction  is  taking  a  new  lease  of  mankind 
— of  the  remnant  of  mankind — I  have  no  prospect  of  seeing 

8  As  Deputy  Earl  Marshal,  Lord  nantly  refused  by  Pitt.  Shortly  after- 
High  Steward,  and  Lord  High  Con-  wards  Pitt  became  aware  of  the  exist- 
stable  of  England  respectively.  ence  of  the '  FamilyCompact '  between 

7  The  Spanish  court,  at  the  instiga-  France  and  Spain  (signed  Aug.  15, 
tion  of  Choiseul,  the  French  Minister  1761).  He  was  thus  assured  of  Spain's 
for  War,  demanded  that  certain  hostile  intentions,  and  wished  to  de- 
Spanish  grievances  against  the  Eng-  clare  war  immediately,  but  was  op- 
lish  should  be  considered  in  the  posed  by  all  his  colleagues  except 
negotiations  between  England  and  Temple ;  he  consequently  resigned 
France.  This  demand  was  indig-  in  Oct.  1761. 


WALPOLE.    V 


114     To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [1761 

Mr.  Conway !  Adieu !  I  will  not  disturb  you  with  my 
forebodings.  You  I  shall  see  again  in  spite  of  war,  and, 
I  trust,  in  spite  of  Ireland.  Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

I  was  much  disappointed  at  not  seeing  your  brother  John : 
I  kept  a  place  for  him  to  the  last  minute,  but  have  heard 
nothing  of  him. 


776.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUR  CONWAY. 

Arlington  Street,  Sept.  25,  1761. 

THIS  is  the  most  unhappy  day  I  have  known  of  years : 
Bussy  goes  away !  Mankind  is  again  given  up  to  the 
sword !  Peace  and  you  are  far  from  England ! 

Strawberry  Hill. 

I  was  interrupted  this  morning,  just  as  I  had  begun  my 
letter,  by  Lord  Waldegrave ;  and  then  the  Duke  of  Devon- 
shire sent  for  me  to  Burlington  House  to  meet  the  Duchess 
of  Bedford,  and  see  the  old  pictures  from  Hardwicke.  If 
my  letter  reaches  you  three  days  later,  at  least  you  are 
saved  from  a  lamentation.  Bussy  has  put  off  his  journey 
to  Monday  (to  be  sure,  you  know  this  is  Friday) :  he  says 
this  is  a  strange  country,  he  can  get  no  waggoner  to  carry 
his  goods  on  a  Sunday.  I  am  glad  a  Spanish  war  waits 
for  a  conveyance,  and  that  a  waggoner's  veto  is  as  good 
as  a  tribune's  of  Rome,  and  can  stop  Mr.  Pitt  on  his  career 
to  Mexico.  He  was  going  post  to  conquer  it — and  Beckford, 
I  suppose,  would  have  had  a  contract  for  remitting  all  the 
gold,  of  which  Mr.  Pitt  never  thinks,  unless  to  serve  a  City 
friend.  It  is  serious  that  we  have  discussions  with  Spain, 
who  says  France  is  humbled  enough,  but  must  not  be 
ruined :  Spanish  gold  is  actually  coining  in  frontier  towns 


I76i]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway     115 

of  France ;  and  the  privilege  which  Biscay  and  two  other 
provinces  have  of  fishing  on  the  coast  of  Newfoundland,  has 
been  demanded  for  all  Spain.  It  was  refused  peremptorily; 
and  Mr.  Secretary  Cortez1  insisted  yesterday  se'nnight  on 
recalling  Lord  Bristol 2.  The  rest  of  the  council,  who  are 
content  with  the  world  they  have  to  govern,  without  con- 
quering others,  prevailed  to  defer  this  impetuosity.  How- 
ever, if  France  or  Spain  are  the  least  untractable,  a  war 
is  inevitable:  nay,  if  they  don't  submit  by  the  first  day 
of  the  session,  I  have  no  doubt  but  Mr.  Pitt  will  declare 
it  himself  on  the  Address.  I  have  no  opinion  of  Spain 
intending  it:  they  give  France  money  to  protract  a  war, 
from  which  they  reap  such  advantages  in  their  peaceful 
capacity ;  and  I  should  think  would  not  give  their  money 
if  they  were  on  the  point  of  having  occasion  for  it  them- 
selves. In  spite  of  you,  and  all  the  old  barons  our  ancestors, 
I  pray  that  we  may  have  done  with  glory,  and  would 
willingly  burn  every  Roman  and  Greek  historian  who  have 
done  nothing  but  transmit  precedents  for  cutting  throats. 

The  Coronation  is  over :  'tis  even  a  more  gorgeous  sight 
than  I  imagined.  I  saw  the  procession  and  the  Hall ;  but 
the  return  was  in  the  dark.  In  the  morning  they  had 
forgot  the  Sword  of  State,  the  chairs  for  King  and  Queen, 
and  their  canopies.  They  used  the  Lord  Mayor's  for  the 
first,  and  made  the  last  in  the  Hall:  so  they  did  not  set 
forth  till  noon  ;  and  then,  by  a  childish  compliment  to  the 
King,  reserved  the  illumination  of  the  Hall  till  his  entry ; 
by  which  means  they  arrived  like  a  funeral,  nothing  being 
discernible  but  the  plumes  of  the  Knights  of  the  Bath, 
which  seemed  the  hearse.  Lady  Kildare,  the  Duchess  of 
Richmond,  and  Lady  Pembroke  were  the  capital  beauties. 
Lady  Harrington,  the  finest  figure  at  a  distance ;  old  West- 

LKTTKB776. — t  Mr.  Pitt,  then  Score-  2  The  English  Embassador  at  the 
tary  of  State.  Walpole.  court  of  Madrid.  Walpole, 

I   2 


116      To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [1761 

moreland,  the  most  majestic.  Lady  Hertford  could  not 
walk,  and  indeed  I  think  is  in  a  way  to  give  us  great 
anxiety.  She  is  going  to  Kagley  to  ride.  Lord  Beauchamp 
was  one  of  the  King's  train-bearers.  Of  all  the  incidents 
of  the  day,  the  most  diverting  was  what  happened  to  the 
Queen.  She  had  a  retiring-chamber,  with  all  conveniences, 
prepared  behind  the  altar.  She  went  thither — in  the  most 
convenient  what  found  she  but— the  Duke  of  Newcastle ! 
Lady  Hardwicke  died  three  days  before  the  ceremony,  which 
kept  away  the  whole  house  of  Yorke.  Some  of  the  peeresses 
were  dressed  overnight,  slept  in  armchairs,  and  were  waked 
if  they  tumbled  their  heads.  Your  sister  Harris's  maid, 
Lady  Peterborough3,  was  a  comely  figure.  My  Lady 
Cowper  refused,  but  was  forced  to  walk  with  Lady  Maccles- 
field.  Lady  Falmouth  was  not  there;  on  which  George 
Selwyn  said,  '  that  those  peeresses  who  were  most  used  to 
walk,  did  not.'  I  carried  my  Lady  Townshend,  Lady  Hert- 
ford, Lady  Anne  Connolly,  my  Lady  Hervey,  and  Mrs. 
Olive,  to  my  deputy's  house  at  the  gate  of  Westminster  Hall. 
My  Lady  Townshend  said  she  should  be  very  glad  to  see 
a  Coronation,  as  she  never  had  seen  one.  '  Why,'  said  I, 
'Madam,  you  walked  at  the  last?'  'Yes,  child,'  said  she, 
'  but  I  saw  nothing  of  it :  I  only  looked  to  see  who  looked 
at  me.'  The  Duchess  of  Queensbury  walked !  her  affecta- 
tion that  day  was  to  do  nothing  preposterous.  The  Queen 
has  been  at  the  Opera,  and  says  she  will  go  once  a  week. 
This  is  a  fresh  disaster  to  our  box,  where  we  have  lived 
so  harmoniously  for  three  years.  We  can  get  no  alternative 
but  that  over  Miss  Chudleigh's ;  and  Lord  Strafford  and 
Lady  Mary  Coke  will  not  subscribe,  unless  we  can.  The 
Duke  of  Devonshire  and  I  are  negotiating  with  all  our  art 
to  keep  our  party  together.  The  crowds  at  the  Opera  and 

8  Bobiniana,  daughter  of  Colonel  Browne;  m.  (1756)  Charles  Mordaunt, 
fourth  Earl  of  Peterborough ;  d.  1794. 


176i]  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury  117 

play  when  the  King  and  Queen  go,  are  a  little  greater  than 
what  I  remember.  The  late  Royalties  went  to  the  Hay- 
market,  when  it  was  the  fashion  to  frequent  the  other  Opera 
in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  Lord  Chesterfield  one  night  came 
into  the  latter,  and  was  asked,  if  he  had  been  at  the  other 
house?  'Yes,'  said  he,  'but  there  was  nobody  but  the 
King  and  Queen ;  and  as  I  thought  they  might  be  talking 
business,  I  came  away.' 

Thank  you  for  your  journals:  the  best  route  you  can 
send  me  would  be  of  your  journey  homewards.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  most  sincerely, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

P.S.  If  you  ever  hear  from,  or  write  to,  such  a  person 
as  Lady  Ailesbury,  pray  tell  her  she  is  worse  to  me  in  point 
of  correspondence  than  ever  you  said  I  was  to  you,  and  that 
she  sends  me  everything  but  letters ! 

777.    To  THE  COUNTESS  OF  ATLESBUEY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  27,  1761. 

You  are  a  mean,  mercenary  woman.  If  you  did  not  want 
histories  of  weddings  and  coronations,  and  had  not  jobs 
to  be  executed  about  muslins,  and  a  bit  of  china,  and 
counterband  goods,  one  should  never  hear  of  you.  When 
you  don't  want  a  body,  you  can  frisk  about  with  greffiers 
and  burgomasters,  and  be  as  merry  in  a  dyke  as  my  lady 
frog  herself.  The  moment  y our  t  curiosity  is  agog,  or  your 
cambric  seized,  you  recollect  a  good  cousin  in  England,  and, 
as  folks  said  two  hundred  years  ago,  begin  to  write  upon 
the  knees  of  your  heart.  Well !  I  am  a  sweet-tempered 
creature,  I  forgive  you.  I  have  already  writ  to  a  little 
friend  in  the  Custom  House,  and  will  try  what  can  be 
done;  though,  by  Mr.  Amyand's  report  to  the  Duchess  of 


118  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury          [irei 

Richmond,  I  fear  your  case  is  desperate.  For  the  genea- 
logies, I  have  turned  over  all  my  books  to  no  purpose ; 
I  can  meet  with  no  Lady  Howard  that  married  a  Carey, 
nor  a  Lady  Seymour  that  married  a  Caufield.  Lettice 
Caufield,  who  married  Francis  Staunton,  was  daughter  of 
Dr.  James  (not  George)  Caufield,  younger  brother  of  the 
first  Lord  Charlemont.  This  is  all  that  I  can  ascertain. 
For  the  other  pedigree  ;  I  can  inform  your  friend  that  there 
was  a  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton,  who  married  an  Anne 
Carew,  daughter  of  Sir  Nicholas  Carew,  Knight  of  the 
Garter,  not  Carey. — But  this  Sir  Nicholas  Carew  married 
Joan  Courtney — not  a  Howard:  and  besides,  the  Careys 
and  Throckmortons  you  wot  of  were  just  the  reverse  :  your 
Carey  was  the  cock,  and  Throckmorton  the  hen — mine  are 
vice  versa :— otherwise,  let  me  tell  your  friend,  Carews  and 
Courtneys  are  worth  Howards  any  day  of  the  week,  and 
of  ancienter  blood  ; — so,  if  descent  is  all  he  wants,  I  advise 
him  to  take  up  with  the  pedigree  as  I  have  refitted  it. 
However,  I  will  cast  a  figure  once  more,  and  try  if  I 
can  conjure  up  the  dames  Howard  and  Seymour  that  he 
wants. 

My  heraldry  was  much  more  offended  at  the  Coronation 
with  the  ladies  that  did  walk,  than  with  those  that  walked 
out  of  their  place;  yet  I  was  not  so  perilously  angry  as 
my  Lady  Cowper,  who  refused  to  set  a  foot  with  my  Lady 
Macelesfield ;  and  when  she  was  at  last  obliged  to  associate 
with  her,  set  out  on  a  round  trot,  as  if  she  designed  to 
prove  the  antiquity  of  h«r  family  by  marching  as  lustily 
as  a  Maid  of  Honour  of  Queen  Gwiniver.  It  was  in  truth 
a  brave  sight.  The  sea  of  heads  in  Palace  Yard,  the  guards, 
horse  and  foot,  the  scaffolds,  balconies,  and  procession, 
exceeded  imagination.  The  Hall,  when  once  illuminated, 
was  noble ;  but  they  suffered  the  whole  parade  to  return 
into  it  in  the  dark,  that  his  Majesty  might  be  surprised 


1761]  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury  119 

with  the  quickness  with  which  the  sconces  catched  fire. 
The  Champion  acted  well ;  the  other  paladins  had  neither 
the  grace  nor  alertness  of  Rinaldo.  Lord  Effingham  and 
the  Duke  of  Bedford  were  but  untoward  knights  errant ; 
and  Lord  Talbot  had  not  much  more  dignity  than  the 
figure  of  General  Monk  in  the  Abbey.  The  habit  of  the 
peers  is  unbecoming  to  the  last  degree ;  but  the  peeresses 
made  amends  for  all  defects.  Your  daughter  Kichmond, 
Lady  Kildare,  and  Lady  Pembroke  were  as  handsome  as 
the  Graces.  Lady  Kochford,  Lady  Holdernesse,  and  Lady 
Lyttelton  looked  exceedingly  well  in  that  their  day  j  and 
for  those  of  the  day  before,  the  Duchess  of  Queensbury, 
Lady  Westmoreland,  and  Lady  Albemarle  were  surprising. 
Lady  Harrington  was  noble  at  a  distance,  and  so  covered 
with  diamonds,  that  you  would  have  thought  she  had  bid 
somebody  or  other,  like  Falstaff,  rob  me  the  Exchequer1. 
Lady  Northampton  was  very  magnificent  too,  and  looked 
prettier  than  I  have  seen  her  of  late.  Lady  Spencer  and 
Lady  Bolingbroke  were  not  the  worst  figures  there.  The 
Duchess  of  Ancaster  marched  alone  after  the  Queen  with 
much  majesty ;  and  there  were  two  new  Scotch  peeresses 
that  pleased  everybody,  Lady  Sutherland  and  Lady  Dun- 
more  a.  Per  contra,  were  Lady  P ,  who  had  put  a  wig 

on,  and  old  E ,  who  had  scratched  hers  off ;  Lady  S , 

the   Dowager  E ,  and  a  Lady  Say  and  Sele,  with  her 

tresses  coal-black,  and  her  hair  coal-white.  Well!  it  was 
all  delightful,  but  not  half  so  charming  as  its  being  over. 
The  gabble  one  heard  about  it  for  six  weeks  before,  and 
the  fatigue  of  the  day,  could  not  well  be  compensated  by 
a  mere  puppet-show ;  for  puppet-show  it  was,  though  it  cost 
a  million.  The  Queen  is  so  gay  that  we  shall  not  want 

LETTER  777. — 1  See  p.  89,  note  1.          loway ;  m.  (1759)  John  Murray,  fourth 
2  Lady  Charlotte  Stewart  (d.  1818),       Earl  of  Dunmore. 
sixth  daughter  of  sixth  Earl  of  Gal- 


120  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury          [i?6i 

sights ;  she  has  been  at  the  Opera,  the  Beggar's  Opera  and 
the  Rehearsal,  and  two  nights  ago  carried  the  King  to 
Eanelagh.  In  short,  I  am  so  miserable  with  losing  my 
Duchess 3,  and  you  and  Mr.  Conway,  that  I  believe,  if  you 
should  be  another  six  weeks  without  writing  to  me,  I  should 
come  to  the  Hague  and  scold  you  in  person — for,  alas  !  my 
dear  lady,  I  have  no  hopes  of  seeing  you  here.  Stanley 
is  recalled,  is  expected  every  hour.  Bussy  goes  to-morrow ; 
and  Mr.  Pitt  is  so  impatient  to  conquer  Mexico,  that  I  don't 
believe  he  will  stay  till  my  Lord  Bristol  can  be  ordered 
to  leave  Madrid.  I  tremble  lest  Mr.  Conway  should  not 
get  leave  to  come — nay,  are  we  sure  he  would  like  to  ask 
it  ?  He  was  so  impatient  to  get  to  the  army,  that  I  should 
not  be  surprised  if  he  stayed  there  till  every  suttler  and 
woman  that  follows  the  camp  was  come  away.  You  ask 
me  if  we  are  not  in  admiration  of  Prince  Ferdinand.  In 
truth,  we  have  thought  very  little  of  him.  He  may  outwit 
Broglio  ten  times,  and  not  be  half  so  much  talked  of  as 
Lord  Talbot's  backing  his  horse  down  Westminster  Hall. 
The  generality  are  not  struck  with  anything  under  a  com- 
plete victory.  If  you  have  a  mind  to  be  well  with  the  mob 
of  England,  you  must  be  knocked  on  the  head  like  Wolfe, 
or  bring  home  as  many  diamonds  as  Clive.  We  live  in 
a  country  where  so  many  follies  or  novelties  start  forth 
every  day,  that  we  have  not  time  to  try  a  general's  capacity 
by  the  rules  of  Polybius. 

I  have  hardly  left  room  for  my  obligations — to  your 
Ladyship, for  my  commissions  at  Amsterdam ;  to  Mrs.  Sally*, 
for  her  teapots,  which  are  likely  to  stay  so  long  at  the 
Hague,  that  I  fear  they  will  have  begot  a  whole  set  of 
china ;  and  to  Miss  Conway  and  Lady  George8,  for  thinking 

3  The  Duchess  of  Grafton,  who  was  abroad.     Walpcle. 

*  Lady  Ailesbury's  woman.     WaLpole. 

8  Lady  George  Lennox,  whose  husband  was  with  the  army. 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  121 

of  me.  Pray  assure  them  of  my  re-thinking.  Adieu,  dear 
Madam !  Don't  you  think  we  had  better  write  oftener  and 
shorter? 

Yours  most  faithfully, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 


778.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept  28,  1761. 

WHAT  is  the  finest  sight  in  the  world  ?  A  Coronation. 
What  do  people  talk  most  about?  A  Coronation.  What 
is  delightful  to  have  passed  ?  A  Coronation.  Indeed,  one 
had  need  be  a  handsome  young  peeress  not  to  be  fatigued 
to  death  with  it.  After  being  exceeded  with  hearing  of 
nothing  else  for  six  weeks,  and  having  every  cranny  of  my 
ideas  stuffed  with  velvet  and  ermine,  and  tresses,  and 
jewels,  I  thought  I  was  very  cunning  in  going  to  lie  in 
Palace  Yard,  that  I  might  not  sit  up  all  night  in  order  to 
seize  a  place.  The  consequence  of  this  wise  scheme  was, 
that  I  did  not  get  a  wink  of  sleep  all  night ;  hammering 
of  scaffolds,  shouting  of  people,  relieving  guards,  and  jangling 
of  bells,  was  the  concert  I  heard  from  twelve  to  six,  when 
I  rose ;  and  it  was  noon  before  the  procession  was  ready 
to  set  forth,  and  night  before  it  returned  from  the  Abbey. 
I  then  saw  the  Hall,  the  dinner,  and  the  Champion,  a 
gloriously  illuminated  chamber,  a  wretched  banquet,  and 
a  foolish  puppet-show.  A  trial  of  a  peer,  though  by  no 
means  so  sumptuous,  is  a  preferable  sight,  for  the  latter 
is  interesting.  At  a  Coronation  one  sees  the  peerage  as 
exalted  as  they  like  to  be,  and  at  a  trial  as  much  humbled 
as  a  plebeian  wishes  them.  I  tell  you  nothing  of  who 
looked  well ;  you  know  them  no  more  than  if  I  told  you 
of  the  next  Coronation.  Yes,  two  ancient  dames  that  you 
remember  were  still  ornaments  of  the  show, — the  Duchess 


122  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1761 

of  Queensbury  *  and  Lady  Westmoreland J.  There  was  one 
very  entertaining  circumstance ;  in  the  Abbey  behind  the 
altar  the  Queen  had  a  retiring  chamber.  She  had  occasion 
to  go  thither — in  the  privatest  spot,  where  she  certainly 
did  not  want  company,  she  found  the  Duke  of  Newcastle. 
Some  of  the  peeresses  were  so  fond  of  their  robes,  that  they 
graciously  exhibited  themselves  for  a  whole  day  before  to 
all  the  company  their  servants  could  invite  to  see  them. 
A  maid  from  Richmond  begged  leave  to  stay  in  town 
because  the  Duchess  of  Montrose s  was  only  to  be  seen  from 
two  to  four.  The  Heralds  were  so  ignorant  of  their  busi- 
ness, that,  though  pensioned  for  nothing  but  to  register 
lords  and  ladies,  and  what  belongs  to  them,  they  advertised 
in  the  newspaper  for  the  Christian  names  and  places  of 
abode  of  the  peeresses.  The  King  complained  of  such 
omissions  and  of  the  want  of  precedents ;  Lord  Effingham  *, 
the  Earl  Marshal,  told  him,  it  was  true  there  had  been 
great  neglect  in  that  office,  but  he  had  now  taken  such  care 
of  registering  directions,  that  next  Coronation  would  be  con- 
ducted with  the  greatest  order  imaginable.  The  King  was 
so  diverted  with  this  flattering  speech  that  he  made  the  Earl 
repeat  it  several  times. 

On  this  occasion  one  saw  to  how  high-watermark  extra- 
vagance is  risen  in  England.  At  the  Coronation  of  George  II 
my  mother  gave  forty  guineas  for  a  dining-room,  scaffold, 
and  bedchamber.  An  exactly  parallel  apartment,  only  with 
rather  a  worse  view,  was  this  time  set  at  three  hundred  and 
fifty  guineas — a  tolerable  rise  in  thirty-three  years!  The 
platform  from  St.  Margaret's  Eoundhouse  to  the  church- 
door,  which  formerly  let  for  forty  pounds,  went  this  time 

LETTER  778. — *   Catherine   Hyde,  trose.     Walpole. 

Dnchess  of  Queensberry.     Walpole.  *  Thomas  Howard,  second  Earl  of 

2  Mary    Cavendish,    Countess    of  Effingham,    Deputy    Earl    Marshal. 
Westmoreland.     Walpole.  Walpole. 

3  Lucy  Manners,  Duchess  of  Mon- 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  123 

for  two  thousand  four  hundred  pounds.  Still  more  was 
given  for  the  inside  of  the  Abbey.  The  prebends  would 
like  a  Coronation  every  year.  The  King  paid  nine  thousand 
pounds  for  the  hire  of  jewels ;  indeed,  last  time,  it  cost 
my  father  fourteen  hundred  to  be  jewel  my  Lady  Orford 5. 
A  single  shop  now  sold  six  hundred  pounds'  sterling  worth 
of  nails — but  nails  are  risen — so  is  everything,  and  every- 
thing adulterated.  If  we  conquer  Spain,  as  we  have  done 
France,  I  expect  to  be  poisoned.  Alas !  we  are  going  to 
conquer  Spain.  They  have  taken  France  by  the  hand,  and 
bully  for  her.  Mr.  Pitt,  who  desires  nothing  better  than  to 
bid  upon  anybody's  haughtiness,  has  recalled  Mr.  Stanley, 
and  would  willingly  have  recalled  my  Lord  Bristol  too. 
If  the  Turks  don't  know  what  to  do  with  their  arma- 
ment, Mr.  Pitt  will  be  obliged  to  them  if  they  will  be 
a  little  impertinent  too.  If  all  this  did  but  starve  us 
I  should  not  much  mind  it :  I  should  look  as  well  as  other 
people  in  haughty  rags,  and  while  one's  dunghill  is  the  first 
dunghill  in  Europe,  one  is  content.  But  the  lives !  the 
lives  it  will  cost !  to  wade  through  blood  to  dignity !  I 
had  rather  be  a  worm  than  a  vulture.  Besides,  I  am  no 
gamester ;  I  do  not  love  doubling  the  bet,  but  would  realize 
something. 

The  Duchess  of  Grafton  is  drawing  nearer  to  you  ;  you 
will  see  her  by  the  end  of  the  winter ;  they  leave  Geneva 
the  1  Oth  of  next  month,  and  go  to  Turin.  I  believe  I  liked 
the  Coronation  the  less  for  wanting  the  principal  figure. 
Good  night! 

6  Margaret  Eolle,  wife  of  Robert,  Walpole,  and  afterwards  Earl  of 
Lord  Walpole,  eldest  son  of  Sir  Bobert  Orford.  Walpole. 


124  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1761 


779.    To  SIB  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Oct.  6,  1761. 

I  WROTE  to  you  but  last  week.  You  will  conclude  I  have 
a  victory  to  tell  you,  by  following  that  letter  with  another 
BO  soon.  Oh  no!  you  may  bid  adieu  to  victories.  It  is 
not  that  Spain  or  we  have  declared  war,  but  Mr.  Pitt  has 
resigned.  The  Cabinet  Council  were  for  temporizing.  This 
is  not  his  style. 

Without  entering  into  discussions  of  which  side  is  in 
the  right,  you  will  easily  see  how  fatal  this  event  must 
be,  even  from  its  creating  two  sides.  What  saved  us, 
and  then  what  lifted  us  so  high,  but  union  ?  What  could 
France,  what  could  your  old  friend  the  Empress  Queen, 
desire  so  ardently  as  divisions  amongst  us  ?  They  will  have 
their  wish  to  satiety.  I  foresee  nothing  but  confusion. 
Nor  shall  we  have  a  war  the  less :  if  Spain  bullied  while 
Mr.  Pitt  was  minister,  I  don't  believe  she  will  tremble 
more  at  his  successors.  Who  they  will  be  I  cannot  imagine. 
It  required  all  his  daring  to  retrieve  our  affairs.  Who 
will  dare  for  him,  nay,  and  against  him  ?  Next  to  pitying 
our  country  and  ourselves,  I  feel  for  the  young  King.  It 
is  hard  to  have  so  bright  a  dawn  so  soon  overcast !  I  fear 
he  is  going  to  taste  as  bitter  a  cup  as  ever  his  grandfather 
swallowed!  This  happened  but  yesterday.  It  is  not  an 
event  to  lie  dormant  long  without  consequences. 

In  answer  to  your  letter  of  September  12,  which  I  have 
received  since  I  wrote,  I  must  thank  you  again  about  the 
Castiglione,  and  reprove  you  too :  you  speak  of  it  as  if 
I  thought  it  not  worth  accepting — my  difficulty  was  because 
it  is  too  fine  to  accept.  I  don't  like  your  giving  me  any- 
thing but  your  affection.  At  the  same  time  you  shall 
not  think  I  don't  value  whatever  you  persist  in  giving  me. 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  125 

With  regard  to  a  picture  of  Lord  Koyston  *,  you  will  excuse 
me  from  troubling  myself  about  it.  I  have  no  connection 
with  that  family. 

The  bills  of  lading  came  safe,  and  I  have  given  them 
to  your  brother,  and  thank  you  for  the  prints.  Adieu ! 
my  dear  child ;  this  is  an  unpleasant  letter,  and  I  don't 
care  how  soon  I  finish  it.  Squabbles  of  ministers  are 
entertaining  in  time  of  peace ;  they  are  a  little  too  serious 
now.  Adieu ! 


780.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Oct.  8,  1761. 

I  CANNOT  swear  I  wrote  to  you  again  to  offer  your  brother 
the  place  for  the  Coronation;  but  I  was  confident  I  did, 
nay,  I  think  so  still — my  proofe  are,  the  place  remained 
empty,  and  I  sent  to  old  Richard  to  inquire  if  Mr.  John 
was  not  arrived.  He  had  no  great  loss,  as  the  procession 
returned  in  the  dark. 

Tour  King  will  have  heard  that  Mr,  Pitt  resigned  last 
Monday.  Greater  pains  have  been  taken  to  recover  him 
than  were  used  to  drive  him  out.  He  is  inflexible,  but 
mighty  peaceable.  Lord  Egremont  is  to  have  the  Seals 
to-morrow.  It  is  a  most  unhappy  event  —France  and  Spain 
will  soon  let  us  know  we  ought  to  think  so.  For  your  part, 
you  will  be  invaded ;  a  blacker  Kod  than  you  will  be  sent 
to  Ireland.  Would  you  believe  that  the  town  is  a  desert  ? 
The  wedding  filled  it,  the  Coronation  crammed  it ;  Mr.  Pitt's 
resignation  has  not  brought  six  people  to  London.  As  they 
could  not  hire  a  window  and  crowd  one  another  to  death 
to  see  him  give  up  the  Seals,  it  seems  a  matter  of  perfect 
indifference.  If  he  will  accuse  a  single  man  of  checking 
our  career  of  glory,  all  the  world  will  come  to  see  him 

LKTTEB  779.— '  Eldest  son  of  the  Earl  of  Hardwicke. 


126  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1761 

hanged — but  what  signifies  the  ruin  of  a   nation,   if  no 
particular  man  ruins  it? 

The  Duchess  of  Marlborough '  died  the  night  before  last. 

Thank  you  for  your  descriptions ;  pray  continue  them. 
Mrs.  Delany8  I  know  a  little.  Lord  Charlemont's 8  villa  is 
in  Chambers's  book. 

I  have  nothing  new  to  tell  you ;  but  the  grain  of  mustard - 
seed  sown  on  Monday  will  soon  produce  as  large  a  tree  as 
you  can  find  in  any  prophecy.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

P.S.  Lady  Mary  Wortley  is  arrived.  If  you  could  meet 
with  ever  a  large  print4  very  cheap,  you  would  make 
your  court  to  her  by  it. 

781.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Oct.  8,  1761. 

1  WHITE  to  you  so  often,  you  will  think  I  have  succeeded 
Mr.  Pitt  as  Secretary  of  State.     The  truth  is,  I  want  to 
overtake  my  last  letter.     I  fear  I  was  peevish  in  it — my 
answer  about  the  picture  for  which  you  have  a  commission 
was  too  squab. — I  own  I  was  out  of  humour,  I  was 

So  odd,  my  country's  ruin  made  me  grave. 

And  imagining  the  people1  you  wot  of  might  have  con- 
tributed a  little  to  throw  us  into  confusion,  it  made  me 

LETTER  780. — *  The  widow  of  the  '  Marino,'  near  Dublin,  was  designed 

third  Duke.  by  Chambers.    The  latter's  book  was 

2  Mary  (1700-1788),   daughter  of  presumably  his  Treatise  ondvilArchi- 
Bernard  Granville ;  m.  1.  (1718)  Alex-  lecture. 

ander  Pendarves ;   2.  (1743)  Patrick  *  So  apparently  in  MS. ;   the  word 

Delany,  Dean  of  Down.     She  was  at  is  almost  obliterated, 

this  time  living  near  Dublin.  LETTER  781. — a  The  Earl  of  Hard- 

8    James     CauHeld     (1728-1799),  wicke  and  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 

fourth    Viscount    (afterwards    first  had  united  with  Lord  Bute  against 

Earl    of)    Charlemont.      His    villa,  Mr.  Pitt.     Walpole. 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  127 

eager  even  to  you,  with  whom  I  certainly  had  no  cause  of 
displeasure.  Forgive  me ;  it  was  an  air  of  departing 
haughtiness.  We  have  been  used  of  late  to  triumph ;  it 
felt  unpleasant  to  relinquish  glory ;  and  I  am  exactly  that 
sort  of  philosopher  to  be  angry  if  I  am  not  prepared  to  keep 
my  temper. 

Spain  tells  us  to-day  that  she  means  us  no  harm.  She 
has  only  made  a  defensive  and  offensive  league a  with  France 
to  keep  the  peace.  When  she  hears  Mr.  Pitt  is  out,  I 
suppose  she  will  make  a  neutrality,  that  she  may  invade 
Ireland.  If  she  does,  pray  hold  your  militia  ready  to 
attack  Naples. 

Great  attempts,  great  offers  have  been  made  to  recover 
Mr.  Pitt.  He  waives  them,  goes  to  court,  bows,  and  goes 
to  Bath.  In  the  City  it  was  proposed  at  first  to  go  into 
mourning  on  his  resignation ;  as  yet  they  have  come  to  no 
resolution.  It  will  perhaps  depend  on  some  trifle  to  set 
fire  to  the  train — should  it  not  be  lighted  up  now,  that  will 
insure  nothing.  It  cannot  be  indifferent  whether  he  is  in 
place  or  out.  Your  new  master  is  to  be  Lord  Egremont  *, 
who  was  to  have  gone  to  Augsburgh  * :  he  is  to  have  the 
Seals  to-morrow.  As  Mr.  Pitt  declares  against  being  hostile, 
I  conclude  nobody  will  resign  with  him. 

I  began,  intending  to  tell  you  about  the  commission  for 
the  picture,  and  forgot  it — not  that  I  have  anything  to  tell 
you.  I  went  this  morning  to  your  brother,  and  he  knows 
not  a  syllable  more  than  the  orders  he  delivered  to  you 
from  your  brother  Ned.  I  only  mention  this,  to  prove  to 
you  that  when  my  patriotism  subsides,  my  friendship  revives 
as  strong  as  ever. 

Lady  Mary  Wortley  is  arrived.     I  have  not  seen  her  yet, 

5  The  Family  Compact.  *  The  negotiations  for  peace  were 

3  Sir  Charles  Windham,  first  Earl      to  have  been  carried  on  there, 
of  Egremont.     Walpole. 


128  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1761 

though  they  have  not  made  her  perform  quarantine  for  her 
own  dirt. 

This  short  letter,  and  t'other  short  letter,  make  a  long 
one.  Adieu ! 

Stop,  I  have  told  you  a  monstrous  lie ;  Lady  Mary  is  not 
arrived;  it  was  a  Dutch  blunder  of  Lady  Denbigh6,  who 
confounded  Lady  Mary  Wrottesley8  and  Lady  Mary  Wortley. 

Lord  Talbot,  on  Mr.  Pitt's  resignation,  advised  the  Duke 
of  Newcastle  not  to  die  for  joy  on  the  Monday,  nor  for  fear 
on  Tuesday. 

782.    To  SIB  HOBACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  10,  1761. 

AM  not  I  an  old  fool  ?  at  my  years  to  be  a  dupe  to  virtue 
and  patriotism ;  I,  who  have  seen  all  the  virtue  of  England 
sold  six  times  over !  .  .  .  Here  have  I  fallen  in  love  with 
my  father's  enemies,  and  because  they  served  my  country, 
believed  they  were  the  most  virtuous  men  upon  earth.  I 
adored  Mr.  Pitt,  as  if  I  was  just  come  from  school  and 
reading  Livy's  lies  of  Brutus  and  Camillus,  and  Fabius ; 
and  romance  knows  whom.  Alack  !  alack  !  Mr.  Pitt  loves 
an  estate  as  well  as  my  Lord  Bath !  The  Conqueror  of 
Canada,  of  Afric,  of  India,  would,  if  he  had  been  in  the 
latter,  have  brought  my  Lady  Esther  as  many  diamonds 
as  General  Clive  took.  Spain  assures  us  she  is  still  very 
pacific,  and  what  if  France  would  have  been  so  too,  if 
Mr.  Pitt  would  have  suffered  her !  one  day  or  other  we 
shall  know.  In  the  meantime,  as  the  mob  have  not  pulled 
the  King  out  of  St.  James's,  nor  Mr.  Pitt  into  it  again,  the 
latter  has  contented  himself  with  a  barony  for  Lady  Esther1, 

5  Isabella  de  Jonghe,  of  Utrecht,  ley,    seventh    Baronet,    afterwards 
wife  of  William  Fielding,  Earl  of  (1765)  Dean  of  Worcester. 
Denbigh.     Walpole.  LETTER  782. — *  Lady  Esther,  wife 

6  Lady  Mary  Leveson-Gower  (d.  of  Mr.  Pitt,  and  sister  of  Lord  Temple. 
1771),  second  daughter  of  first  Earl  Walpole. 

Qower ;  m.  Rev.  Sir  Richard  Wrottes- 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  129 

and  three  thousand  pounds  a  year  for  three  lives.  Lord 
Temple  has  resigned  ;  I  don't  understand  that.  Mr.  George 
Grenville  is  to  be  representing  minister  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  not  Speaker;  Lord  Egremont  is  Secretary 
of  State;  and  Lord  Hardwicke,  I  suppose,  Privy  Seal2. 
You  will  like  your  new  master  the  Secretary,  who  is 
extremely  well  bred. 

Don't  be  frightened  at  this  torrent  of  letters ;  I  will  send 
you  no  more  this  age ;  and  when  I  do,  I  shall  only  talk  to 
you  of  assemblies,  plays,  operas,  balls,  &c.,  which  are  subjects 
of  dignity  compared  to  politics. 

Is  Sir  Kichard  Lyttelton5  with  you  still,  or  in  your 
neighbourhood?  You  need  not  read  my  opinion  to  him 
of  this  transaction.  Confess,  however,  that  I  send  you 
quick  intelligence, — three  letters  in  a  week. 

783.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  10,  1761. 

PRAY,  Sir,  how  does  virtue  sell  in  Ireland  now  ?  I  think 
for  a  province  they  have  now  and  then  given  large  prices. 
Have  you  a  mind  to  know  what  the  biggest  virtue  in  the 
world  is  worth  ?  If  Cicero  had  been  a  Drawcansir  instead 
of  a  coward,  and  had  carried  the  glory  of  Kome  to  as  lofty 
a  height  as  he  did  their  eloquence,  for  how  much  do  you 
think  he  would  have  sold  all  that  reputation  ? — Oh !  sold 
it !  you  will  cry,  vanity  was  his  predominant  passion ;  he 
would  have  trampled  on  sesterces  like  dirt,  and  provided 
the  tribes  did  but  erect  statues  enough  for  him,  he  was 
content  with  a  bit  of  Sabine  mutton,  and  would  have  pre- 
ferred his  little  Tusculan  villa,  or  the  flattery  of  Caius  and 
AUenius  Atticus  at  Baiae,  to  the  wealth  of  Crassus,  or  to 

2  The  Duke  of  Bedford  succeeded  '  Cousin  of  Lady  Esther,  and  at- 
Lord  Temple  as  Privy  SeaL  tached  to  Mr.  Pitt.  Walpole. 


WALFOLE.    V 


130  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury          [I?GI 

the  luxurious  banquets  of  Lucullus — Take  care,  there  is  not 
a  Tory  gentleman,  if  there  is  one  left,  who  would  not  have 
laid  the  same  wager  twenty  years  ago  on  the  disinterested- 
ness of  my  Lord  Bath — Come,  you  tremble ;  you  are  so 
incorrupt  yourself,  you  would  give  the  world  Mr.  Pitt  was 
so  too — You  adore  him  for  what  he  has  done  for  us ;  you 
bless  him  for  placing  England  at  the  head  of  Europe,  and 
you  don't  hate  him  for  infusing  as  much  spirit  into  us,  as 
if  a  Montagu,  Earl  of  Salisbury1,  was  still  at  the  head  of 
our  armies — nothing  could  be  more  just.  We  owe  the 
recovery  of  our  affairs  to  him,  the  splendour  of  our  country, 
the  conquest  of  Canada,  Louisbourg,  Guardaloupe,  Africa, 
and  the  East — nothing  is  too  much  for  such  services — 
accordingly,  I  hope  you  will  not  think  the  barony  of 
Chatham  and  three  thousand  pounds  a  year  for  three 
lives  too  much  for  my  Lady  Esther.  She  has  this  pittance. 
Good  night ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  WALPOLE. 

P.S.  I  told  you  falsely  in  my  last  that  Lady  Mary 
Wortley  was  arrived — I  cannot  help  it  if  my  Lady  Denbigh 
cannot  read  English  in  all  these  years,  but  mistakes 
Wrottesley  for  Wortley. 

784.    To  THE  COUNTESS  OP  AILESBUEY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  10,  1761. 

I  DON'T  know  what  business  I  had,  Madam,  to  be  an 
economist:  it  was  out  of  character.  I  wished  for  a  thou- 
sand more  drawings  in  that  sale  at  Amsterdam,  but  con- 
cluded they  would  be  very  dear ;  and  not  having  seen 

LETTER  788. — l  John  Montacute  bury,  beheaded  by  the  mob  for  con- 
(circ.  1350-1400),  third  Earl  of  Salis-  spiring  against  Henry  IV. 


I76i]  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury  131 

them,  I  thought  it  too  rash  to  trouble  your  Ladyship  with 
a  large  commission. 

I  wish  I  could  give  you  as  good  an  account  of  your 
commission;  but  it  is  absolutely  impracticable.  I  em- 
ployed one  of  the  most  sensible  and  experienced  men  in 
the  Custom  House ;  and  all  the  result  was,  he  could  only 
recommend  me  to  Mr.  Amyand  as  the  newest,  and  con- 
sequently the  most  polite  of  the  commissioners — but  the 
Duchess  of  Kichmond  had  tried  him  before — to  no  purpose. 
There  is  no  way  of  recovering  any  of  your  goods,  but  pur- 
chasing them  again  at  the  sale. 

What  am  I  doing,  to  be  talking  to  you  of  drawings  and 
chintzes,  when  the  world  is  all  turned  topsy-turvy  ?  Peace, 
as  the  poets  would  say,  is  not  only  returned  to  heaven, 
but  has  carried  her  sister  Virtue  along  with  her  ! — Oh  no  ! 
Peace  will  keep  no  such  company — Virtue  is  an  errant 
strumpet,  and  loves  diamonds  as  well  as  my  Lady  Harring- 
ton, and  is  as  fond  of  a  coronet  as  my  Lord  Melcombe. 
Worse !  worse !  She  will  set  men  to  cutting  throats,  and 
pick  their  pockets  at  the  same  time.  I  am  in  such  a 
passion,  I  cannot  tell  you  what  I  am  angry  about — why, 
about  Virtue  and  Mr.  Pitt ;  two  errant  cheats,  gipsies ! 
I  believe  he  was  a  comrade  of  Elizabeth  Canning1,  when 
he  lived  at  Enfield  Wash.  In  short,  the  council  were  for 
making  peace; 

But  he,  as  loving  his  own  pride  and  purposes, 
Evades  them  with  a  bombast  circumstance, 
Horribly  stuff  d  with  epithets  of  war, 
And  in  conclusion— nonsuits  my  mediators2. 

He  insisted  on  a  war  with  Spain,  was  resisted,  and  last 
Monday  resigned.  The  City  breathed  vengeance  on  his 

LETTER  784. — *  See  note  on  letter  lived  for  some  years  at  the  South- 
to  Bentley  of  May  18,  1754.     Eliza-  bailey  lodge  in  Enfield  Chase, 
beth  Canning  asserted  that  she  had  3  Otlietto,  i.  1. 
been  detained  at  Enfield  Wash  ;  Pitt 

K  2 


132  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury 

opposers,  the  Council  quaked,  and  the  Lord  knows  what 
would  have  happened ;  but  yesterday,  which  was  only 
Friday,  as  this  giant  was  stalking  to  seize  the  Tower  of 
London,  he  stumbled  over  a  silver  penny,  picked  it  up, 
carried  it  home  to  Lady  Hester,  and  they  are  now  as  quiet, 
good  sort  of  people,  as  my  Lord  and  Lady  Bath  who  lived 
in  the  vinegar-bottle8.  In  fact,  Madam,  this  immaculate 
man  has  accepted  the  barony  of  Chatham  for  his  wife,  with 
a  pension  of  three  thousand  pounds  a  year  for  three  lives ; 
and  though  he  has  not  quitted  the  House  of  Commons, 
I  think  my  Lord  Anson  would  now  be  as  formidable  there. 
The  pension  he  has  left  us,  is  a  war  for  three  thousand  lives  ! 
perhaps,  for  twenty  times  three  thousand  lives  I—But — 

Does  this  become  a  soldier?  this  become 
Whom  armies  follow'd,  and  a  people  loved  ? 

What !  to  sneak  out  of  the  scrape,  prevent  peace,  and  avoid 
the  war !  blast  one's  character,  and  all  for  the  comfort  of 
a  paltry  annuity,  a  long-necked  peeress,  and  a  couple  of 
Grenvilles !  The  City  looks  mighty  foolish,  I  believe,  and 
possibly  even  Beckford  may  blush.  Lord  Temple  resigned 
yesterday:  I  suppose  his  virtue  pants  for  a  dukedom. 
Lord  Egremont  has  the  Seals;  Lord  Hardwicke,  I  fancy, 
the  Privy  Seal ;  and  George  Grenville,  no  longer  Speaker, 
is  to  be  the  cabinet  minister  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Oh !  Madam,  I  am  glad  you  are  inconstant  to  Mr.  Conway, 
though  it  is  only  with  a  barbette 4 !  If  you  piqued  yourself 
on  your  virtue,  I  should  expect  you  would  sell  it  to  the 
master  of  a  trechscoot. 

I  told  you  a  lie  about  the  King's  going  to  Eanelagh — no 
matter ;  there  is  no  such  thing  as  truth.  Garrick  exhibits 
the  Coronation,  and,  opening  the  end  of  the  stage,  discovers 

8  An  allusion  to  the  west-country          *  A  barbet,  a  little  dog  with  long 
tale  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Vinegar  '  who      curly  hair, 
lived  in  a  vinegar-bottle.' 


I76i]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      133 

a  real  bonfire  and  real  mob :  the  houses  in  Drury  Lane  let 
their,  windows  at  threepence  a  head.  Kich  is  going  to  pro- 
duce a  finer  Coronation,  nay,  than  the  real  one ;  for  there 
is  to  be  a  dinner  for  the  Knights  of  the  Bath  and  the 
Barons  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  which  Lord  Talbot  refused  them. 
I  put  your  Caufields  and  Stauntons  into  the  hands  of  one 
of  the  first  heralds  upon  earth,  and  who  has  the  entire 
pedigree  of  the  Careys;  but  he  cannot  find  a  drop  of 
Howard  or  Seymour  blood  in  the  least  artery  about  them. 
Good  night,  Madam ! 

Yours  most  faithfully, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 


785.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUR  CONWAY. 

Arlington  Street,  Oct.  12,  1761. 

IT  is  very  lucky  that  you  did  not  succeed  in  the  expe- 
dition to  Kochfort.  Perhaps  you  might  have  been  made 
a  peer ;  and  as  Chatham  is  a  naval  title,  it  might  have  fallen 
to  your  share.  But  it  was  reserved  to  crown  greater  glory : 
and  lest  it  should  not  be  substantial  pay  enough,  three 
thousand  pounds  a  year  for  three  lives  go  along  with  it. 
Not  to  Mr.  Pitt — you  can't  suppose  it.  Why  truly,  not 
the  title,  but  the  annuity  does,  and  Lady  Hester  is  the 
baroness ;  that,  if  he  should  please,  he  may  earn  an  earldom 
himself.  Don't  believe  me,  if  you  have  not  a  mind.  I  know 
I  did  not  believe  those  who  told  me.  But  ask  the  Gazette 
that  swears  it — ask  the  King,  who  has  kissed  Lady  Hester 
— ask  the  City  of  London,  who  are  ready  to  tear  Mr.  Pitt 
to  pieces — ask  forty  people  I  can  name,  who  are  overjoyed 
at  it — and  then  ask  me  again,  who  am  mortified,  and  who 
have  been  the  dupe  of  his  disinterestedness.  Oh,  my  dear 
Harry !  I  beg  you  on  my  knees,  keep  your  virtue :  do  let 
me  think  there  is  still  one  man  upon  earth  who  despises 


134      To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i?6i 

money.  I  wrote  you  an  account  last  week  of  his  resigna- 
tion. Could  you  have  believed  that  in  four  days  he  would 
have  tumbled  from  the  conquest  of  Spain  to  receiving 
a  quarter's  pension  from  Mr.  West1?  To-day  he  has  adver- 
tised his  seven  coach-horses  to  be  sold — three  thousand 
a  year  for  three  lives,  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  his  own, 
will  not  keep  a  coach  and  six.  I  protest  I  believe  he  is 
mad,  and  Lord  Temple  thinks  so  too ;  for  he  resigned  the 
same  morning  that  Pitt  accepted  the  pension.  George 
Grenville  is  minister  in  the  House  of  Commons.  I  don't 
know  who  will  be  Speaker.  They  talk  of  Prowse,  Hussey2, 
Bacon3,  and  even  of  old  Sir  John  Eushout.  Delaval  has 
said  an  admirable  thing:  he  blames  Pitt — not  as  you  and 
I  do  ;  but  calls  him  fool ;  and  says,  if  he  had  gone  into 
the  City,  told  them  he  had  a  poor  wife  and  children 
unprovided  for,  and  had  opened  a  subscription,  he  would 
have  got  five  hundred  thousand  pounds,  instead  of  three 
thousand  pounds  a  year.  In  the  meantime  the  good  man 
has  saddled  us  with  a  war  which  we  can  neither  carry  on 
nor  carry  off.  'Tis  pitiful !  'tis  wondrous  pitiful !  Is  the 
communication  stopped,  that  we  never  hear  from  you? 
I  own  'tis  an  Irish  question.  I  am  out  of  humour:  my 
visions  are  dispelled,  and  you  are  still  abroad.  As  I  cannot 
put  Mr.  Pitt  to  death,  at  least  I  have  buried  him :  here  is 
his  epitaph : 

Admire  his  eloquence — it  mounted  higher 

Than  Attic  purity  or  Eoman  fire : 

Adore  his  services — our  lions  view 

Hanging,  where  Roman  eagles  never  flew: 

Copy  his  soul  supreme  o'er  Lucre's  sphere ; 

— But  oh !  beware  three  thousand  pounds  a  year ! 

LETTER  785. — l  Secretary  to  the  s  Edward  Bacon  (d.  1786),  of  Earl- 
Treasury.     Walpole.  ham  Hall,   Norfolk ;   M.P.  for  Nor- 

2  Richard    Hussey,   M.P.    for   St.  wich  ;  Lord  of  Trade,  1759-66. 
Mawes ;  d.  1770. 


176l]  To  George  Montagu  135 

Oct.  13. 

Jemmy  Grenville  resigned*  yesterday.  Lord  Temple  is 
all  hostility;  and  goes  to  the  Drawing-room  to  tell  every- 
body how  angry  he  is  with  the  court — but  what  is  Sir 
Joseph  Wittol,  when  Nol  Bluff6  is  pacific?  They  talk  of 
erecting  a  tavern  in  the  City,  called  The  Salutation :  the 
sign  to  represent  Lord  Bath  and  Mr.  Pitt  embracing.  These 
are  shameful  times.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  ever, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


786.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  24,  1761. 

I  HAVE  got  two  letters  from  you,  and  am  sensibly  pleased 
with  your  satisfaction.  I  love  your  cousin  for  his  behaviour 
to  you ;  he  will  never  place  his  friendship  better.  His 
parts  and  dignity,  I  did  not  doubt,  would  bear  him  out. 
I  fear  nothing  but  your  spirits,  and  the  frank  openness  of 
your  heart ;  keep  them  within  bounds,  and  you  will  return 
in  health,  and  with  the  serenity  I  wish  you  long  to  enjoy. 

You  have  heard  our  politics — they  do  not  mend.  Sick 
of  glory,  without  being  tired  of  war,  and  surfeited  with 
unanimity  before  it  had  finished  its  work,  we  are  running 
into  all  kind  of  confusion.  The  City  have  bethought  them- 
selves, and  have  voted  that  they  will  still  admire  Mr.  Pitt — 
consequently,  he,  without  the  check  of  seeming  virtue, 
may  do  what  he  pleases.  An  address  of  thanks  to  him 
has  been  carried  by  109  against  15,  and  the  City  are 
to  instruct  their  members — that  is,  because  we  are  dis- 
appointed of  a  Spanish  war,  we  must  have  one  at  home — 
Merciful !  how  old  I  am  grown !  Here  am  I,  not  liking 

4  He  was  Cofferer  of  the  House-  5  Characters  in  Congreve's  Old 
hold.  Bachelor. 


136  To  George  Montagu  [i?6i 

a  civil  war !  Do  you  know  me  ?  I  am  no  longer  that 
Gracchus,  who,  when  Mr.  Bentley  told  him  something  or 
other,  I  don't  know  what,  would  make  a  sect,  answered 
quick,  'Will  it  make  a  party?'  in  short,  I  think  I  am 
always  to  be  in  contradiction ;  now  I  am  loving  my 
country ! 

Worksop  is  burnt  down — I  don't  know  the  circum- 
stances ;  the  Duke  and  Duchess *  are  at  Bath  :  it  has  not 
been  finished  a  month  ;  the  last  furniture  was  brought 
in  for  the  Duke  of  York.  I  have  some  comfort  that  I  had 
seen  it,  and  except  the  bare  chambers,  in  which  the  Queen 
of  Scots  was  lodged,  nothing  remained  of  ancient  time. 

I  am  much  obliged  to  Mr.  Hamilton's  civilities ;  but 
I  don't  take  too  much  to  myself ;  yet  it  is  no  drawback  to 
think  that  he  sees  and  compliments  your  friendship  for  me. 
I  shall  use  his  permission  of  sending  you  anything  that 
I  think  will  bear  the  sea ;  but  how  must  I  send  it  ?  by 
what  conveyance  to  the  sea,  and  where  deliver  it? 
Pamphlets  swarm  already;  none  very  good,  and  chiefly 
grave  ;  you  would  not  have  them.  Mr.  Glover  has  pub- 
lished his  long-hoarded  Medea,  as  an  introduction  to  the 
House  of  Commons2 — it  had  been  more  proper  to  usher 
him  from  school  to  the  university.  There  are  a  few  good 
lines,  not  much  conduct,  and  a  quantity  of  English  iambics, 
and  trochaics,  that  scarce  speak  English,  and  yet  have 
no  rhyme  to  keep  one  another  in  countenance.  If  his 
chariot  is  stopped  at  Temple  Bar,  I  suppose  he  will  take  it 
for  the  Straits  of  Thermopylae,  and  be  delivered  of  his  first 
speech  before  its  time. 

The  catalogue  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's  collection 
is  only  in  the  six  volumes  of  the  Description  of  London. 
I  did  print  about  a  dozen,  and  gave  them  all  away  so 

LETTER  786.— *  Of  Norfolk.  mouth  at  the  recent  general  elec- 

8  He  had  been  elected  for  Wey-      tion. 


I76i]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      137 

totally,  that  on  searching,  I  find  I  had  not  reserved  one 
for  myself.  When  we  are  at  leisure,  I  will  reprint  a  few 
more,  and  you  shall  have  one  for  your  Speaker.  I  don't 
know  who  is  to  be  ours:  Prowse,  they  say,  has  refused  ; 
Sir  J.  Oust 8  was  the  last  I  heard  named — but  I  am  here 
and  know  nothing;  sorry  that  I  shall  hear  anything  on 
Tuesday  se'nnight. 

Pray  pick  me  up  any  prints  of  lord-lieutenants,  Irish 
bishops,  ladies — nay,  or  Patriots:  but  I  will  not  trouble 
you  for  a  snuff-box  or  toothpick-case,  made  of  a  bit  of  the 
Giant's  Causey. 

My  Anecdotes  of  Painting  will  scarcely  appear  before 
Christmas.  My  gallery  and  cabinet  are  at  a  full  stop  till 
spring — but  I  shall  be  sorry  to  leave  it  all  in  ten  days ; 
October,  that  scarce  ever  deceived  one  before,  has  ex- 
hibited a  deluge ;  but  it  has  recovered,  and  promised  to 
behave  well  as  long  as  it  lives,  like  a  dying  sinner.  Good 
night !  Yours  ever, 

H.W. 

P.S.  My  niece  lost  the  Coronation  for  only  a  daughter4. 
It  makes  me  smile,  when  I  reflect  that  you  are  come 
into  the  world  again,  and  that  I  have  above  half  left  it. 

787.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUR  CONWAY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct  26,  1761. 

How  strange  it  seems!  You  are  talking  to  me  of  the 
King's  wedding,  while  we  are  thinking  of  a  civil  war. 
Why,  the  King's  wedding  was  a  century  ago,  almost  two 
months ;  even  the  Coronation  that  happened  half  an  age 
ago,  is  quite  forgot.  The  post  to  Germany  cannot  keep 

3  Sir  John  Curt  (1718-1770),  third      House  of  Commons,  1761-70. 
Baronet,   of  Bel  ton,    Lincolnshire;  4  Lady  Charlotte  Maria  Walde- 

M.F.  for  Grantham ;  Speaker  of  the      grave,  afterwards  Countess  of  Euston. 


138      To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i76i 

pace  with  our  revolutions.  Who  knows  but  you  may 
still  be  thinking  that  Mr.  Pitt  is  the  most  disinterested  man 
in  the  world?  Truly,  as  far  as  the  votes  of  a  Common 
Council  can  make  him  so,  he  is.  Like  Cromwell,  he  has 
always  promoted  the  Self-Denying  Ordinance,  and  has 
contrived  to  be  excused  from  it  himself.  The  City  could 
no  longer  choose  who  should  be  their  man  of  virtue  ;  there 
was  not  one  left :  by  all  rules  they  ought  next  to  have 
pitched  upon  one  who  was  the  oldest  offender  :  instead 
of  that,  they  have  re-elected  the  most  recent ;  and,  as  if 
virtue  was  a  borough,  Mr.  Pitt  is  re-chosen  for  it,  on 
vacating  his  seat.  Well,  but  all  this  is  very  serious : 
I  shall  offer  you  a  prophetic  picture,  and  shall  be  very  glad 
if  I  am  not  a  true  soothsayer.  The  City  have  voted  an 
address  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Pitt,  and  given  instructions  to 
their  members ;  the  chief  articles  of  which  are,  to  promote 
an  inquiry  into  the  disposal  of  the  money  that  has  been 
granted,  and  to  consent  to  no  peace,  unless  we  are  to  retain 
all,  or  very  near  all,  our  conquests.  Thus  the  City  of 
London  usurp  the  right  of  making  peace  and  war.  But 
is  the  government  to  be  dictated  to  by  one  town?  By 
no  means.  But  suppose  they  are  not — what  is  the  con- 
sequence ?  How  will  the  money  be  raised  ?  If  it  cannot 
be  raised  without  them,  Mr.  Pitt  must  again  be  minister  : 
that  you  think  would  easily  be  accommodated.  Stay,  stay  ; 
he  and  Lord  Temple  have  declared  against  the  whole 
Cabinet  Council.  Why,  that  they  have  done  before  now, 
and  yet  have  acted  with  them  again.  It  is  very  true  ; 
but  a  little  word  has  escaped  Mr.  Pitt,  which  never  entered 
into  his  former  declarations  ;  nay,  nor  into  Cromwell's, 
nor  Hugh  Capet's,  nor  Julius  Caesar's,  nor  any  reformer's 
of  ancient  time.  He  has  happened  to  say,  he  will  guide l. 

LETTER   787. — l   Horace    Walpole      letter  to  Beckford  of  Oct.  15,  1761, 
here  misrepresented  Pitt,  who  in  his      wrote : — '  I    resigned    the   Seals    on 


I76i]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      139 

Now,  though  the  Cabinet  Council  are  mighty  willing  to 
be  guided,  when  they  cannot  help  it,  yet  they  wish  to  have 
appearances  saved :  they  cannot  be  fond  of  being  told  they 
are  to  be  guided  ;  still  less,  that  other  people  should  be 
told  so.  Here,  then,  is  Mr.  Pitt  and  the  Common  Council 
on  one  hand,  the  great  lords  on  the  other.  I  protest,  I  do 
not  see  but  it  will  come  to  this.  Will  it  allay  the  con- 
fusion, if  Mr.  Fox  is  retained  on  the  side  of  the  court? 
Here  are  no  Whigs  and  Tories,  harmless  people,  that  are 
content  with  worrying  one  another  for  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  together.  The  new  parties  are,  I  will,  and 
You  shall  not]  and  their  principles  do  not  admit  delay. 
However,  this  age  is  of  suppler  mould  than  some  of  its 
predecessors;  and  this  may  come  round  again,  by  a  coup 
de  bagttette,  when  one  least  expects  it.  If  it  should  not, 
the  honestest  part  one  can  take  is  to  look  on,  and  try  if  one 
can  do  any  good  if  matters  go  too  far. 

I  am  charmed  with  the  Castle  of  Hercules 2 ;  it  is  the 
boldest  pile  I  have  seen  since  I  travelled  in  fairyland. 
You  ought  to  have  delivered  a  princess  imprisoned  by 
enchanters  in  his  club :  she,  in  gratitude,  should  have 
fallen  in  love  with  you :  your  constancy  should  have 
been  immaculate.  The  devil  knows  how  it  would  have 
ended — I  don't — and  so  I  break  off  my  romance. 

You  need  not  beat  the  French  any  more  this  year : 
it  cannot  be  ascribed  to  Mr.  Pitt ;  and  the  mob  won't 
thank  you.  If  we  are  to  have  a  warm  campaign  in 
Parliament,  I  hope  you  will  be  sent  for.  Adieu!  We 
take  the  field  to-morrow  se'nnight. 

Yours  ever, 

HOE.  WALPOLE. 

Monday,  the  5th  of  this  month,  in  2  Alluding  to  a  description  of  a 

order  not  to  remain  responsible  for  building  in  Hesse-Cassel,   given  by 

measures  which  I  was    no  longer  Mr.  Conway  in  one  of  his  letters, 

allowed  to  guide.'  WalpdU. 


140  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1701 

P.S.  You  will  be  sorry  to  hear  that  Worksop  is  burned. 
My  Lady  Waldegrave  has  got  a  daughter,  and  your  brother 
an  ague. 

788.  To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  7,  1761. 

You  will  rejoice  to  hear  that  your  friend  Mr.  Amyand 
is  going  to  marry  the  dowager  Lady  Northampton l ;  she 
has  two  thousand  pounds  a  year,  and  twenty  thousand  in 
money.  Old  Dunch  *  is  dead,  and  Mrs.  Felton  Hervey 3 
was  given  over  last  night,  but  is  still  alive. 

Sir  John  Gust  is  Speaker,  and  bating  his  nose,  the  chair 
seems  well  filled.  There  are  so  many  new  faces  in  this 
Parliament,  that  I  am  not  at  all  acquainted  with  it. 

The  enclosed  print4  will  divert  you,  especially  the 
baroness  in  the  right-hand  corner — so  ugly,  and  so  satisfied  ! 
The  Athenian  head  was  intended  for  Stewart5,  but  was 
so  like,  that  Hogarth  was  forced  to  cut  off  the  nose. 
Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

789.  To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  14,  1761. 

IF  my  share  in  our  correspondence  was  all  considered, 
I  could  willingly  break  it  off;  it  is  wearisome  to  pursue 
the  thread  of  folly  for  so  many  years,  and  with  the  same 
personages  on  the  scene.  Patriotism,  prostitution,  power, 

LETTER  788. — 1  Frances  (d.  1801),  Hon.  Felton  Hervey,  ninth  son  of 

daughter  of  Rev.  Thomas  Payne  ;  m.  first  Earl  of  Bristol ;  d.  Nov.  8,  1761. 

1.  (1748)  Hon.  George  Compton, after-  4  The  Five  Orders  of  Periwigs,  by 

wards  sixth  Earl  of  Northampton.  Hogarth,  published  on  Oct.  15,  1761. 

8   Elizabeth,  widow    of   Edmund  6  James  Stuart  (1718-1 788),painter 

Dunch  ;  d.  Nov.  4, 1761.  and  architect,  known  as  '  Athenian 

8  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Solomon  Stuart' 
Ashley;    m.  1.  Charles  Pitfield;   2. 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  141 

patriotism  again — one  ought  to  be  new  to  it  all,  to  see  it 
in  an  amusing  light — but  I  recollect  that  you  wish  to  hear 
it,  and  I  submit  to  run  through  a  recapitulation  of  what 
moves  little  more  than  my  contempt ! 

The  Common  Council  (calling  themselves  the  City  of 
London)  have  given  Mr.  Pitt  a  dispensation  for  taking  a 
pension,  on  his  writing  them  a  letter,  in  which  he  acquainted 
them,  that  as  he  could  not  be  monarch  for  their  sakes, 
he  would  content  himself,  like  them,  with  a  private  station, 
and  with  giving  all  the  disturbance  he  could.  You  have 
seen  his  letters  in  the  papers — my  paraphrase  is  not  stronger 
than  his  own  commentary  on  his  behaviour.  They  thanked 
him,  and  instructed  their  members  to  tread  in  his  steps. 
Hitherto  this  flame  has  had  much  ado  to  spread.  Exeter, 
and  Stirling,  and  at  last  York,  are  the  only  towns  that  have 
copied  the  example. 

In  the  midst  of  this  came  over  the  negotiation  for  peace 
published  in  France — a  melancholy  volume  to  any  feeling 
heart !  You  may  see  what  a  beneficial,  what  a  splendid 
peace  we  might  have  had ;  you  will  not  so  easily  find  the 
reason  why  we  rejected  it.  You  will  see  nothing  but  facility 
on  their  side,  nothing  but  haughtiness  on  ours ;  yet  the  eyes 
that  the  pension  and  peerage  could  not  open  are  not  purged 
by  this  memorial.  There  are  men  who  wish  for  more  than 
the  world  we  have  conquered ! 

Well !  the  Parliament  opened  ;  and  the  first  production 
of  the  rebaptized  Patriots,  was  a  constitutional  proposal  from 
Lord  Temple  for  a  First  Minister.  Patriots  used  to  attack 
such  officers,  though  they  intended  to  be  in  their  place  ; 
this  is  the  first  time  they  ever  demanded  such  a  post  for 
the  good  of  their  country.  This  was  on  the  Address,  and 
was  answered  by  the  Duke  of  Bedford. 

A  week  afterwards  the  King,  Queen,  and  royal  family 
dined  with  the  Lord  Mayor ;  but  a  young  King,  and  a  new 


142  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1761 

Queen,  were  by  no  means  the  principal  objects  of  attention. 
A  chariot  and  pair,  containing  Mr.  Pitt  and  Lord  Temple, 
formed  the  chief  part  of  the  triumph.  The  reception, 
acclamation,  and  distinction  paid  to  Mr.  Pitt  through  the 
streets,  and  the  observance  of  him  in  Guildhall,  were  equal 
to  anything  you  can  imagine.  You  will  call  his  appearance 
there  arrogant, — I  do  not  think  it  was  very  well  bred. 
Since  that — for  pensions  stop  the  mouths  only  of  courtiers, 
not  of  the  virtuous — he  has  harangued  in  the  House  with 
exceeding  applause ;  it  was  fine,  guarded,  artful — very  in- 
flammatory. Don't  think  I  am  paying  court  by  censuring 
a  late  minister.  He  is  too  near  being  minister  again  for 
mine  to  be  interested  conduct.  It  never  was  my  turn, 
nor  do  the  examples  I  see  make  me  more  in  love  with 
the  practice.  Nor  think  me  changed  lightly  about  Mr.  Pitt 
— nobody  admired  him  more — you  saw  it.  When  he  pre- 
ferred haughtiness  to  humanity,  glory  to  peaceful  glory, — 
when  his  disinterestedness  could  not  resist  a  pension,  nor 
a  pension  make  him  grateful — he  changed,  not  I.  When 
he  courts  a  mob,  I  certainly  change ;  and  whoever  does 
court  the  mob,  whether  an  orator  or  a  mountebank,  whether 
Mr.  Pitt  or  Dr.  Rock,  are  equally  contemptible  in  my  eyes. 
Could  I  now  decide  by  a  wish,  he  should  have  remained 
in  place,  or  have  been  ruined  by  his  pension.  When  he 
would  not  do  all  the  good  in  his  power,  I  would  leave  him 
no  power  to  do  harm, — would  that  were  always  the  case ! 
Alas !  I  am  a  speculatist  and  he  is  a  statesman ;  but  I 
have  that  advantage,  or  disadvantage,  over  others  of  my 
profession,  I  have  seen  too  much  to  flatter  myself  with 
visions ! 

George  Pitt,  whom  you  must  well  remember,  is  coming 
to   you  to   Turin1,  with   his  lovely  wife2,    all   loveliness 

LETTER  789. — 1  As  English  Envoy.       Atkins,  wife  of  George  Pitt,  after- 
2  Penelope,  sister  of  Sir  Richard       wards    Lord   Rivera     She    ia   cele- 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  143 

within  and  without.  If  you  see  my  Duchess3  soon,  tell 
her  I  trust  my  letter  of  thanks  for  the  decoupure4  she 
sent  me  of  herself  did  not  miscarry.  We  hear  your  neigh- 
bour Sir  Kichard5  thinks  of  resigning  the  Jewel  Office. 
Adieu ! 

Nov.  16th. 

I  have  just  received  yours  of  the  31st  of  last  month, 
but  can  tell  you  no  more  than  I  have  already  said.  We 
don't  know  the  particulars  of  the  treaty  between  Spain 
and  France :  Lord  Bristol 6  is  certainly  coming  home ;  Lord 
Temple  says,  has  demanded  to  come,  and  insinuates,  from 
political  reasons ;  the  court  calls  it  asking  to  come  for  his 
health  ;  he  certainly  has  wished  to  come  before  these  broils. 
You  may  expect  new  events  every  day  in  politics.  I  don't 
see  how  we  can  make  peace,  or  another  war;  even  in 
Germany  it  is  not  over  for  this  campaign.  Lord  Granby 
and  Mr.  Conway  have  been  successful  in  some  fresh 
skirmishes,  when  I  thought  the  latter  gone  to  Pyrmont 
for  his  amusement,  and  the  rest  of  our  generals  coming 
home.  As  he  went  abroad  last,  he  does  not  return  this 
winter.  When  the  officers  do  come  I  expect  a  new  scene ; 
we  hear  of  nothing  but  hardships  and  abuses ;  the  German 
war  was  already  become  unpopular,  and  had  Mr.  Pitt  sunk 
entirely,  would  not  have  supported  itself.  It  will  require 
all  the  compromising  spirit  of  the  age  to  bring  things  back 
into  a  settled  channel.  I  am  not  shining  in  prophecy,  so 
I  shall  foretell  nothing ;  while  we  have  a  shilling  left,  it 
will  quiet  somebody  or  other.  Good  night. 

P.S.   I  have  forgot  to  answer  one  of  your  questions,  that 

brated  in  Mr.  Walpole's  poem  on  was  famous  in  that  art.     Walpole. 

The  Beauties.     Walpole.  5  Sir  E.  Lyttelton.     Walpole. 

*  The  Duchess  of  Grafton.     TTaZ-  '  George  William  Hervey,  Earl  of 
pole.  Bristol,  Ambassador  at  Madrid.  Wdl- 

*  Her  figure  cut  out  in  card  by  pole. 
Monsieur  Hubert,    of  Geneva,   who 


144  To  George  Montagu  [1761 

I  can  answer :  you  ask  if  the  City  had  not  rather  part  with 
Mr.  Pitt  than  have  a  Spanish  war?  How  tramontane  you 
are !  I  believe  the  chief  reason  of  their  forgiving  his 
pension,  was  his  holding  out  Spanish  plunder  to  them. 
Though  they  say  they  have  ceased  to  be  Jacobites,  they 
have  not  relinquished  the  principles  of  privateering,  broker- 
age, insurance,  contracts,  and  twenty  other  tenets,  not  to 
be  found  in  the  Crusca7.  Perhaps,  you  do  not  know  that 
merchants  thrive  by  taxes,  which  ruin  everybody  else. 
Your  own  country  is  delightful,  but  you  are  not  acquainted 
with  half  its  virtues. 


790.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  28,  1761. 

I  AM  much  obliged  for  the  notice  of  Sir  Compton's1 
illness ;  if  you  could  send  me  word  of  peace  too,  I  should 
be  completely  satisfied  on  Mr.  Conway's  account.  He  has 
been  in  the  late  action,  and  escaped,  at  a  time  that  I  flattered 
myself  the  campaign  was  at  an  end.  However,  I  trust  it 
is  now.  You  will  have  been  concerned  for  young  Courtney. 
The  war,  we  hear,  is  to  be  transferred  to  these  islands ; 
most  probably  to  yours — the  Black  Rod  I  hope,  like  a 
herald,  is  a  sacred  personage. 

There  has  been  no  authentic  account  of  the  Coronation 
published  ;  if  there  should  be,  I  will  send  it.  When  I  am 
at  Strawberry,  I  believe  I  can  make  you  out  a  list  of  those 
that  walked ;  but  I  have  no  memorandums  in  town.  If 
Mr.  Bentley's  play  is  printed  in  Ireland,  I  depend  on  your 
sending  me  two  copies. 

There  has  been  a  very  private  ball  at  court,  consisting 

7  Alluding  to  the  celebrated  Die-  ville,  Baronet  (d.  1768).  He  was 

tionary  of  ihsAcademici  della  Crusca.  Clerk  of  the  Hanaper  in  Ireland,  of 

Walpole.  which  place  General  Con  way  had  the 

LETTER  790. — J  Sir  Compton  Dom-  reversion. 


I76i]  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury  145 

of  not  above  twelve  or  thirteen  couple ;  some  of  the  Lords  of 
the  Bedchamber,  most  of  the  Ladies,  the  Maids  of  Honour, 
and  six  strangers,  Lady  Caroline  Kussel,  Lady  Jane  Stewart2, 
Lord  Suffolk8,  Lord  Northampton,  Lord  Mandeville,  and 
Lord  Grey  *.  Nobody  sat  by,  but  the  Princess,  the  Duchess 
of  Bedford,  and  Lady  Bute.  They  began  before  seven, 
danced  till  one,  and  parted  without  a  supper. 

Lady  Sarah  Lenox  has  refused  Lord  Errol.  The  Duke 
of  Bedford  is  Privy  Seal ;  Lord  Thomond  Cofferer ;  Lord 
George  Cavendish  Comptroller;  George  Pitt  goes  minister 
to  Turin ;  and  Mrs.  Speed  must  go  thither 5,  as  she  is 
marrying  the  Baron  de  Perrier,  Count  Virry's  son.  Adieu ! 
Commend  me  to  your  brother. 

Yours  ever, 
H.  W. 

791.    To  THE  COUNTESS  OF  AILESBUEY. 

DEAR  MADAM,  Arlington  Street,  Nov.  28,  1761. 

You  are  so  bad  and  so  good,  that  I  don't  know  how 
to  treat  you.  You  give  me  every  mark  of  kindness  but 
letting  me  hear  from  you.  You  send  me  charming  drawings 
the  moment  I  trouble  you  with  a  commission,  and  you  give 
Lady  Cecilia  *  commissions  for  trifles  of  my  writing,  in  the 
most  obliging  manner.  I  have  taken  the  latter  off  her 
hands.  The  Fugitive  Pieces  and  the  Catalogue  of  Royal  and 
Noble  Authors  shall  be  conveyed  to  you  directly.  Lady 
Cecilia  and  I  agree  how  we  lament  the  charming  suppers 

8  Lady  Jane  Stuart,  second  dangh-  1771 ;  K.G.,  1778. 

ter  of  third  Earl  of  Bnte ;  m.  (1768)  «  George  Harry  Grey  (1787-1819), 

George    Macartney,   of    Lissanoure,  Lord  Grey ;  eldest  son  of  fourth  Earl 

Antrim,  afterwards  K.B.  and  Earl  of  Stamford,  whom  he  succeeded  in 

Macartney;  d.  1828.  1768. 

3    Henry    Howard    (1739-1779),  6  Count  Viry  was  Minister  to  the 
twelfth  Earl  of  Suffolk ;  Lord  Privy  King  of  Sardinia. 
Seal,  Jan. -June,  1771;  Secretary  of  LETTER  791. — '  Lady  Cecilia  John- 
State    for   the  Northern  Province,  ston.     Walpole. 


WALPOLE.    V 


146  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury          [i76i 

there,  every  time  we  pass  the  corner  of  Warwick  Street  * ! 
We  have  a  little  comfort  for  your  sake  and  our  own,  in 
believing  that  the  campaign  is  at  an  end,  at  least  for  this 
year — but  they  tell  us,  it  is  to  recommence  here  or  in 
Ireland.  You  have  nothing  to  do  with  that.  Our  politics, 
I  think,  will  soon  be  as  warm  as  our  war.  Charles  Town- 
shend  is  to  be  lieutenant-general  to  Mr.  Pitt.  The  Duke  of 
Bedford  is  Privy  Seal ;  Lord  Thomond  Cofferer ;  Lord 
George  Cavendish  Comptroller. 

Diversions,  you  know,  Madam,  are  never  at  high-water 
mark  before  Christmas :  yet  operas  flourish  pretty  well : 
those  on  Tuesdays  are  removed  to  Mondays,  because  the 
Queen  likes  the  burlettas,  and  the  King  cannot  go  on 
Tuesdays,  his  post-days.  On  those  nights  we  have  the 
middle  front  box,  railed  in,  where  Lady  Mary8  and  I  sit 
in  triste  state  like  a  Lord  Mayor  and  Lady  Mayoress.  The 
night  before  last  there  was  a  private  ball  at  court,  which 
began  at  half  an  hour  after  six,  lasted  till  one,  and  finished 
without  a  supper.  The  King  danced  the  whole  time  with 
the  Queen, — Lady  Augusta  with  her  four  younger  brothers. 
The  other  performers  were  :  the  two  Duchesses  of  Ancaster 
and  Hamilton,  who  danced  little;  Lady  Effingham  and 
Lady  Egremont,  who  danced  much ;  the  six  Maids  of 
Honour ;  Lady  Susan  Stewart,  as  attending  Lady  Augusta  ; 
and  Lady  Caroline  Eussel,  and  Lady  Jane  Stuart,  the  only 
women  not  of  the  family.  Lady  Northumberland  is  at 
Bath  ;  Lady  Weymouth  lies  in ;  Lady  Bolingbroke  was  there 
in  waiting,  but  in  black  gloves,  so  did  not  dance.  The 
men,  besides  the  royals,  were  Lords  March  and  Eglintoun, 
of  the  Bedchamber ;  Lord  Cantelupe,  Vice-Chamberlain  ; 
Lord  Huntingdon ;  and  four  strangers,  Lord  Mandeville, 
Lord  Northampton,  Lord  Suffolk,  and  Lord  Grey.  No 

8  General  Conway'a  London  house  was  4  Little  Warwick  Street. 
8  Lady  Mary  Coke.     Walpole, 


I76i]  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury  147 

sitters-by,  but  the  Princess,  the  Duchess  of  Bedford,  and 
Lady  Bute. 

If  it  had  not  been  for  this  ball,  I  don't  know  how  I  should 
have  furnished  a  decent  letter.  Pamphlets  on  Mr.  Pitt 
are  the  whole  conversation,  and  none  of  them  worth  sending 
'cross  the  water:  at  least  I,  who  am  said  to  write  some 
of  them,  think  so ;  by  which  you  may  perceive  I  am  not 
much  flattered  with  the  imputation.  There  must  be  new 
personages,  at  least,  before  I  write  on  any  side. — Mr.  Pitt 
and  the  Duke  of  Newcastle!  I  should  as  soon  think  of 
informing  the  world  that  Miss  Chudleigh  is  no  vestal. 
You  will  like  better  to  see  some  words  which  Mr.  Gray  has 
writ,  at  Miss  Speed's  request,  to  an  old  air  of  Geminiani : 
the  thought  is  from  the  French. 


Thyrsis,  when  we  parted,  swore 
Ere  the  spring  he  would  return. 

Ah !   what  means  yon  violet  flow'r, 
And  the  bud  that  decks  the  thorn ! 

'Twas  the  lark  that  upward  sprung, 

'Twas  the  nightingale  that  sung. 

ii. 

Idle  notes  !  untimely  green ! 

Why  this  unavailing  haste! 
Western  gales  and  skies  serene 

Speak  not  always  winter  past. 
Cease  my  doubts,  my  fears  to  move; 
Spare  the  honour  of  my  love. 

Adieu,  Madam ! 

Your  most  faithful  servant, 

HOK.  WALPOLE. 


L  2 


148  To  Sir  David  Dalrymple  [1761 

792.    To  SIB  DAVID  DALBYMPLE. 

Nov.  80,  1761. 

I  AM  much  obliged  to  you,  Sir,  for  the  specimen  of  letters1 
you  have  been  so  good  as  to  send  me.  The  composition 
is  touching,  and  the  printing  very  beautiful.  I  am  still 
more  pleased  with  the  design  of  the  work ;  nothing  gives 
so  just  an  idea  of  an  age  as  genuine  letters ;  nay,  history 
waits  for  its  last  seal  from  them.  I  have  an  immense 
collection 2  in  my  hands,  chiefly  of  the  very  time  on  which 
you  are  engaged  ;  but  they  are  not  my  own. 

If  I  had  received  your  commands  in  summer  when  I  was 
at  Strawberry  Hill,  and  at  leisure,  I  might  have  picked 
you  out  something  to  your  purpose  ;  at  present  I  have  not 
time,  from  Parliament  and  business,  to  examine  them  :  yet 
to  show  you,  Sir,  that  I  have  great  desire  to  oblige  you 
and  contribute  to  your  work,  I  send  you  the  following 
singular  paper,  which  I  have  obtained  from  Dr.  Charles 
Lyttelton,  Dean  of  Exeter,  whose  name  I  will  beg  you  to 
mention  in  testimony  of  his  kindness,  and  as  evidence  for 
the  authenticity  of  the  letter,  which  he  copied  from  the 
original  in  the  hands  of  Bishop  Tanner3,  in  the  year  1733. 
It  is  from  Anne  of  Denmark,  to  the  Marquis  of  Buck- 
ingham. 

ANNA  R 

My  kind  dogge,  if  I  have  any  power  or  credit  with  you, 
let  me  have  a  trial  of  it  at  this  time,  in  dealing  sincerely 
and  earnestly  with  the  King,  that  Sir  Walter  Kaleigh's  life 
may  not  be  called  in  question.  If  you  do  it,  so  that  the 
success  answer  my  expectation,  assure  yourself  that  I  will 
take  it  extraordinarily  kindly  at  your  hands,  and  rest  one 

LETTER  792. — J  Memorials  and  Let-  2  The  Conway  Papers. 

ters  relating  to  the  History  of  Britain  3  Thomas  Tanner,  Bishop  of  St. 

in  the  reign  of  James  7,  published  from  Asaph  ,1731-1 736. 
the  originals  (in  1762). 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  149 

that  wisheth  you  well,  and  desires  you  to  continue  still  as 
you  have  been,  a  true  servant  to  your  master. 

I  have  begun  Mr.  Hume's  History*,  and  got  almost  through 
the  first  volume.  It  is  amusing  to  one  who  knows  a  little 
of  his  own  country,  but  I  fear  would  not  teach  much  to 
a  beginner ;  details  are  so  much  avoided  by  him,  and  the 
whole  rather  skimmed  than  elucidated.  I  cannot  say  I 
think  it  very  carefully  performed.  Dr.  Robertson's  work 
I  should  expect  would  be  more  accurate. 

P.S.  There  has  lately  appeared,  in  four  little  volumes, 
a  Chinese  tale,  called  Hau  Kiou  Choaun*,  not  very  enter- 
taining from  the  incidents,  but  I  think  extremely  so  from 
the  novelty  of  the  manner  and  the  genuine  representation 
of  their  customs. 

793.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  8,  1761. 

I  RETURN  you  the  list  of  prints,  and  shall  be  glad  you  will 
bring  me  all  to  which  I  have  affixed  this  mark  x .  The  rest 
I  have ;  yet  the  expense  of  the  whole  list  would  not  ruin 
me.  Lord  Farnham,  who,  I  believe,  departed  this  morning, 
brings  you  the  list  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's  pictures. 

I  had  been  told  that  Mr.  Bourk's  history  was  of  England, 
not  of  Ireland — I  am  glad  it  is  the  latter,  for  I  am  now  in 
Mr.  Hume's  England,  and  would  fain  read  no  more — I  not 
only  know  what  has  been  written,  but  what  would  be 
written.  Our  story  is  so  exhausted,  that  to  make  it  new, 
they  really  make  it  new.  Mr.  Hume  has  exalted  Edward 
the  Second,  and  depressed  Edward  the  Third.  The  next 

*  Two  volumes  of  his  History  of  MS.  by  Thomas  Percy  (1729-1811), 

England  '  containing  the  period  from  afterwards  Bishop  of  Dromore,  and 

Julius  Caesar  to  Henry  VII  '(D.N.B.).  editor  of  the  Beliquet  of  Ancient 

5  Translated  from   a  Portuguese  English  Poetry. 


150  To  George  Montagu  [1761 

historian,  I  suppose,  will  make  James  the  First  a  hero,  and 
geld  Charles  the  Second. 

Fingal  is  come  out — I  have  not  yet  got  through  it — not  but 
it  is  very  fine — yet  I  cannot  at  once  compass  an  epic  poem 
now.  It  tires  me  to  death  to  read  how  many  ways  a  warrior 
is  like  the  moon,  or  the  sun,  or  a  rock,  or  a  lion,  or  the 
ocean.  Fingal  is  a  brave  collection  of  similes,  and  will 
serve  all  the  boys  at  Eton  and  Westminster  for  these 
twenty  years.  I  will  trust  you  with  a  secret,  but  you  must 
not  disclose  it,  I  should  be  ruined  with  my  Scotch  friends — 
in  short,  I  cannot  believe  it  genuine — I  cannot  believe 
a  regular  poem  of  six  books  has  been  preserved,  uncorrupted, 
by  oral  tradition,  from  times  before  Christianity  was  intro- 
duced into  the  island.  What!  preserved  unadulterated  by 
savages  dispersed  among  mountains,  and  so  often  driven 
from  their  dens,  so  wasted  by  wars  civil  and  foreign !  Has 
one  man  ever  got  all  by  heart?  I  doubt  it.  Were  parts 
preserved  by  some,  other  parts  by  others?  Mighty  lucky, 
that  the  tradition  was  never  interrupted,  nor  any  part  lost — 
not  a  verse,  not  a  measure,  not  the  sense !  luckier  and 
luckier — I  have  been  extremely  qualified  myself  lately  for 
this  Scotch  memory ;  we  have  had  nothing  but  a  coagulation 
of  rains,  fogs,  and  frosts,  and  though  they  have  clouded  all 
understanding,  I  suppose,  if  I  had  tried,  I  should  have 
found  that  they  thickened,  and  gave  great  consistence  to  my 
remembrance. 

You  want  news — I  must  make  it,  if  I  send  it.  To  change 
the  dullness  of  the  scene  I  went  to  the  play,  where  I  had 
not  been  this  winter.  They  are  so  crowded,  that  though 
I  went  before  six,  I  got  no  better  place  than  a  fifth  row, 
where  I  heard  very  ill,  and  was  pent  for  five  hours  without 
a  soul  near  me  that  I  knew.  It  was  Gynibdine,  and  appeared 
to  me  as  long  as  if  everybody  in  it  went  really  to  Italy  in 
every  act,  and  came  back  again.  With  a  few  pretty  passages 


I76i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  151 

and  a  scene  or  two,  it  is  so  absurd  and  tiresome,  that  I  am 
persuaded  Garrick *  . .  . 


794.    To  SIE  HORACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Dec.  12,  1761. 

You  may  conclude,  my  dear  Sir,  that  when  my  letters  do 
not  arrive  so  frequently  as  you  expect,  there  have  been  no 
great  events.  I  never  fail  you  at  a  new  epoch  ;  nay,  nor  let 
you  lose  any  considerable  links  of  the  political  chain.  My 
details,  indeed,  must  be  more  barren  than  they  were  twenty 
years  ago,  when  I  came  fresh  from  talking  with  you  of  the 
dramatis  personae,  and  when  your  own  acquaintance  with 
them  was  recent.  When  I  mention  them  now,  I  talk  to 
you  of  Sevarambians  *,  of  unknown  nations ;  or  must  enter 
into  more  explanations  than  could  be  packed  up  in  a  letter. 
The  new  opposition  have  not  proceeded  very  briskly,  con- 
sidering the  alertness  of  their  leader :  yet  they  have  marked 
out  a  camp  at  the  St.  Alban's  Tavern,  and  in  a  council  of 
war  determined  that  the  chief  effort  of  the  campaign  should 
be  exerted  in  behalf  of  a  perpetital  militia  :  a  measure  most 
unwelcome  to  many  of  the  great  lords,  and  not  peculiarly 
agreeable  to  all  concerned  in  that  service ;  yet  difficult  to  be 
denied  now,  lest  the  officers  should  disband,  in  a  moment 
when  we  have  so  few  regulars  at  home,  and  are  threatened 
with  an  invasion,  if  such  a  thing  can  be  put  in  practice. 
This  plan  has  waited  for  the  arrival  from  Germany  of 
General  George  Townshend 2,  the  restorer  of  militia,  who  is 
not  yet  landed ;  but  Lord  Strange s  is  to  present  the  bill 

LETTER  793. — *  The  rest  of  the  a  Eldest  son  of  Charles,  Viscount 

letter  is  missing  in  the  Kimbolton  Townshend,  whom  he  succeeded  in 

MS.  the  title.     Walpole. 

LETTER  794. — 1  There  was  a  political  3  James  Stanley,  Lord  Strange,  only 

French  romance,  called  L'Hutoire  des  son  of  the  Earl  of  Derby.     Walpole. 
Sevarambet.     Walpole. 


152  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i76i 

two  days  hence.  In  the  meantime,  there  have  passed 
scenes,  which  make  this  attempt  more  necessary  to  Mr.  Pitt, 
and  which  yet  may  relax  the  ardour  of  his  half-ally,  Charles 
Townshend4,  the  Secretary  at  War,  who  is  discontented 
with  the  precedence  given  to  George  Grenville,  and  has 
attended  the  assemblies  at  the  St.  Alban's.  Last  Wednes- 
day the  question  of  the  war  in  Germany  was  agitated.  The 
court  support  it,  for  they  don't  know  how  to  desert  it,  nor 
care  to  be  taxed  with  abatement  of  vigour ;  yet  the  temper 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  the  tone  even  of  the  advo- 
cates for  that  war,  were  evidently  repugnant  to  the  measure  ; 
yet,  as  it  was  accorded  unanimously,  Mr.  Pitt  had  rather 
matter  of  triumph.  On  Friday,  his  superiority  declined 
strangely,  his  friends  proposed  calling  for  the  memorials 
that  have  intervened  between  us  and  Spain  on  their  late 
demands.  He  supported  this  proposition  with  great  ability, 
but  even  his  friends  the  Tories,  who  had  been  falling  back 
to  him,  abandoned  him  on  this  motion,  which  was  rejected 
with  great  spirit  by  the  administration ;  and  on  putting 
the  question,  his  numbers  were  so  trifling,  that  he  could 
not  venture  a  division.  If  the  militia  produces  no  con- 
fusion, he  must  wait  for  some  calamitous  moment.  The 
Spanish  war  is  still  ambiguous.  We  do  not  think  they 
intend  it  openly ;  but  as  any  repugnance  to  it  on  our  side 
will  encourage  their  flippancies,  it  is  scarce  probable  but  it 
will  arrive,  even  without  the  direct  intention  of  either 
court.  This  is  the  situation  of  the  present  minute:  your 
own  sagacity  will  tell  you  how  soon  it  may  be  altered. 

What  an  assembly  of  English  dames  at  Naples!  The 
Duchess  of  Grafton  is  at  Turin  ;  but,  I  should  think,  would 
soon  be  at  Florence,  on  her  way  to  Kome.  Don't  forget  to 
ask  her  if  she  received  my  answer  and  thanks  for  her 
present ;  I  should  be  vexed  if  they  had  not  reached  her. 
4  Brother  of  the  foregoing  George  Townshend.  Walpole. 


1761]  To  Sir  David  Dalrymple  153 

The  politics  occasioned  by  Mr.  Pitt  are  our  only  news. 
The  court,  the  town,  the  theatres,  produce  no  novelty. 
Mr.  Conway  will  get  a  little  into  Gazettes,  though  not  in 
a  light  worthy  his  name,  as  it  will  not  be  for  action :  Lord 
Granby  is  returning,  and  leaves  the  command  to  him. 
Lady  Ailesbury  passes  the  winter  with  him  in  quarters — 
I  believe  at  Osnaburg. 

I  have  told  your  brother  to  let  me  know  when  a  ship 
sails.  I  shall  send  you  the  fashionable  pamphlets,  and 
prints  of  the  King  and  Queen.  His  is  like,  but  not  so 
handsome;  the  Queen's,  rather  improved  in  the  features, 
but  with  less  agreeableness  in  the  countenance  than  she 
deserves :  yet  both  are  sufficient  resemblances.  Adieu ! 

P.S.  Pray,  in  the  first  person's  pocket  that  is  returning, 
send  me  a  little  box  of  pastils,  such  as  they  burn  in  churches  ; 
the  very  best  you  can  get.  I  have  a  few  left,  black  and  in 
a  pyramidal  form,  that  are  delicious.  It  is  long,  too,  since 
you  sent  home  any  parcel  of  my  letters. 

Tuesday,  15th.  I  was  surprised  this  morning  with  an 
article  in  the  papers  containing  the  death  of  your  eldest 
brother — I  immediately  sent  to  your  brother  James,  but  it 
proves  your  uncle  Edward  at  Chelsea,  whom  I  believe  you 
knew  so  little,  that  I  need  not  even  condole  with  you. 

795.    To  SIR  DAVID  DALRYMPLE. 

Dec.  21,  1761. 

YOUB  specimen  pleases  me,  and  I  give  you  many  thanks 
for  promising  me  the  continuation.  You  will,  I  hope,  find 
less  trouble  with  printers  than  I  have  done.  Just  when  my 
book  was,  I  thought,  ready  to  appear,  my  printer  ran  away, 
and  has  left  it  very  imperfect.  This  is  the  fourth  I  have 
tried,  and  I  own  it  discourages  me.  Our  low  people  are  so 


154  To  George  Montagu  [i76i 

corrupt  and  such  knaves,  that  being  cheated  and  dis- 
appointed are  all  the  fruits  of  attempting  to  amuse  oneself 
or  others.  Literature  must  struggle  with  many  difficulties. 
They  who  print  for  profit  print  only  for  profit ;  we,  who 
print  to  entertain  or  instruct  others,  are  the  bubbles  of  our 
designs.  Defrauded,  abused,  pirated— don't  you  think,  Sir, 
one  need  have  resolution  ?  Mine  is  very  nearly  exhausted. 


796.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  past  midnight,  Dec.  23,  1761. 
I  AM  this  minute  come  home,  and  find  such  a  delightful 
letter  from  you,  that  I  cannot  help  answering  it,  and  telling 
you  so  before  I  sleep.  You  need  not  affirm,  that  your 
ancient  wit  and  pleasantry  are  revived ;  your  letter  is  but 
five  and  twenty,  and  I  will  forgive  any  vanity,  that  is  so 
honest,  and  so  well  founded.  Ireland  I  see  produces 
wonders  of  more  sorts  than  one — if  my  Lord  Anson  was 
to  go  lord-lieutenant,  I  suppose  he  would  return  a  ravisher. 
How  different  am  I  from  this  state  of  revivification !  Even 
such  talents  as  I  had  are  far  from  blooming  again,  and  while 
my  friends,  or  cotemporaries,  or  predecessors,  are  rising  to 
preside  over  the  fame  of  this  age,  I  seem  a  mere  antedi- 
luvian, must  live  upon  what  little  stock  of  reputation  I  had 
acquired,  and  indeed  grow  so  indifferent,  that  I  can  only 
wonder  how  those,  whom  I  thought  as  old  as  myself,  can 
interest  themselves  so  much  about  a  world,  whose  faces 
I  hardly  know.  You  recover  your  spirits  and  wit,  Rigby  is 
grown  a  speaker,  Mr.  Bentley  a  poet,  while  I  am  nursing 
one  or  two  gouty  friends,  and  sometimes  lamenting  that 
I  am  likely  to  survive  the  few  I  have  left.  Nothing  tempts 
me  to  launch  out  again;  every  day  teaches  me  how  much 
I  was  mistaken  in  my  own  parts,  and  I  am  in  no  danger 
LETTER  796.— Wrongly  dated  by  C.  Dec.  3. 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  155 

now  but  of  thinking  I  am  grown  too  wise  ;  for  every  period 
of  life  has  its  mistake. 

Mr.  Bentley's  relation  to  Lord  Rochester  by  the  St.  Johns 
is  not  new  to  me,  and  you  had  more  reason  to  doubt  of 
their  affinity  by  the  former  marrying  his  whore,  than  to 
ascribe  their  consanguinity  to  it.  I  shall  be  glad  to  see  the 
epistle:  are  not  The  Wishes  to  be  acted?  remember  me,  if 
they  are  printed ;  and  I  shall  thank  you  for  this  new  list  of 
prints. 

I  have  mentioned  names  enough  in  this  letter  to  lead 
me  naturally  to  new  ill  usage  I  have  received.  Just  when 
I  thought  my  book  finished,  my  printer  ran  away,  and  had 
left  eighteen  sheets  in  the  middle  of  the  book  untouched, 
having  amused  me  with  sending  proofs.  He  had  got  into 
debt,  and  two  girls  with  child — being  two,  he  could  not 
marry  both  Hannahs.  You  see  my  luck  ;  I  had  been  kind 
to  this  fellow — in  short,  if  the  faults  of  my  life  had  been 
punished  as  severely  as  my  merits  have  been,  I  should  be 
the  most  unhappy  of  beings ! — but  let  us  talk  of  something 
else. 

I  have  picked  up  at  Mrs.  Dunch's  auction  the  sweetest 
Petitot l  in  the  world — the  very  picture  of  James  the  Second, 
that  he  gave  Mrs.  Godfrey — and  I  paid  but  six  guineas  and 
a  half  for  it — I  will  not  tell  you  how  vast  a  commission 
I  had  given ;  but  I  will  own,  that  about  the  hour  of  sale, 
I  drove  about  the  door  to  find  what  likely  bidders  there 
were — the  first  coach  I  saw  was  the  Chudleighs';  could 
I  help  concluding  that  a  Maid  of  Honour  kept  by  a  Duke 
would  purchase  the  portrait  of  a  Duke  that  kept  a  Maid  of 
Honour? — but  I  was  mistaken.  The  Oxendens 2  reserved  the 
best  pictures ;  the  fine  china,  and  even  the  diamonds,  sold 

1  Jean  Petitot  (1607-1691),  painter          2  Mrs.  Dunch's  daughter  married 

in  enamel.    Horace  Walpole  acquired      Sir  George  Oxenden. 
a  considerable  number  of  his  works. 


156  To  George  Montagu  [i76i 

for  nothing — for  nobody  has  a  shilling — we  shall  be  beggars 
if  we  don't  conquer  Peru  within  this  half-year. 

If  you  are  acquainted  with  my  Lady  Barrimore3,  pray 
tell  her  that  in  less  than  two  hours  t'other  night  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland  lost  450  pounds  at  loo ;  Miss  Pelhani  won 
three  hundred,  and  I  the  rest.  However,  in  general,  loo  is 
extremely  gone  to  decay ;  I  am  to  play  at  Princess  Emily's 
to-morrow  for  the  first  time  this  winter,  and  it  is  with 
difficulty  she  has  made  a  party. 

My  Lady  Pomfret4  is  dead  on  the  road  to  Bath — and 
unless  the  deluge  stops,  and  the  fogs  disperse,  I  think  we 
shall  all  die.  A  few  days  ago,  on  the  cannon  firing  for  the 
King  going  to  the  House  somebody  asked  what  it  was  for  ? 
Monsieur  de  Choiseul B  replied,  '  Apparemment,  c'est  qu'on 
voit  le  soleil.' 

Shall  I  fill  up  the  rest  of  my  paper  with  some  extempore 
lines,  that  I  wrote  t'other  night  on  Lady  Mary  Coke  having 
St.  Antony's  fire  in  her  cheek  ?  You  will  find  nothing  in 
them  to  contradict  what  I  have  said  in  the  former  part  of 
my  letter — they  rather  confirm  it. 

No  rouge  you  wear,  nor  can  a  dart 

From  Love's  bright  quiver  wound  your  heart. 

And  thought  you,  Cupid  and  his  mother 

Would  unrevenged  their  anger  smother? 

No,  no — from  heaven  they  sent  the  fire 

That  boasts  St.  Antony  its  sire ; 

They  pour'd  it  on  one  peccant  part, 

Inflamed  your  cheek,  if  not  your  heart. 

In  vain — for  see  the  crimson  rise, 

And  dart  fresh  lustre  through  your  eyes ; 

3  Hon.  Margaret  Davys,  daughter  B  fitienne    Francois    de  Choiseul 
of  first  Viscount  Mountcashell ;   m.  Stainville  (1719-1785),  Duo  de  Choi- 
(1738)  James   Barry,  fifth  Earl  of  seul,  Minister  for  War.    He  became 
Barrymore.    She  was  an  inveterate  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  in  1766, 
card-player.  but  was  disgraced  and  exiled  in  1770 

4  Henrietta   Louisa,   Countess    of  in  consequence  of  the  intrigues  of 
Pomfret,   often    mentioned    in    the  Madame  du  Barri. 

former  part  of  these  letters.  Walpole. 


176i]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  157 

While  ruddier  drops  and  baffled  pain 
Enhance  the  white  they  meant  to  stain. 
Ah!   nymph,  on  that  unfading  face 
With  fruitless  pencil  Time  shall  trace 
His  lines  malignant,  since  disease 
But  gives  you  mightier  power  to  please. 

Willes 6  is  dead,  and  Pratt  is  to  be  Chief  Justice ;  Mr. 
Yorke  Attorney-General — Solicitor,  I  don't  know  who.  Good 
night !  the  watchman  cries,  past  one !  Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

P.S.  When  you  bring  over  the  prints,  pray  roll  them  on 
a  round  stick,  for  the  least  crease  is  never  to  be  effaced. 


797.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  28,  1761. 

OTJB  correspondence  is  a  register  of  events  and  aeras,  a 
chronicle  of  wars  and  revolutions  in  ministries:  stay! 
Mr.  Pitt  is  not  restored,  but  the  foundation  is  laid.  The 
last  courier  is  arrived  from  Spain  ;  we  demanded  a  sight  of 
their  treaty  with  France,  or  threatened  war.  They  have 
refused  the  one,  and  defied  us  to  the  other.  Lord  Bristol 
is  on  the  road  home:  Fuentes  departs  immediately.  We 
did  not  dare  to  turn  out  war,  as  well  as  Mr.  Pitt ;  and  so, 
I  conclude,  we  shall  have  both.  Three  weeks  ago  he  was 
sunk  to  nothing ;  the  first  calamity  will  make  the  nation 
clamour  for  him.  This  will  sound  very  well  in  his  future 
Plutarch ;  but,  if  he  had  stooped  to  peace,  and  had  con- 
firmed his  conquests,  would  not  his  character  have  been  at 
least  as  amiable?  A  single  life  spared  were  worth  Peru 
and  Mexico,  which  to  be  sure  he  will  subdue,  the  moment 
we  are  undone  and  he  becomes  necessary. 

6  Sir  John  Willee,  Knight,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas. 


158  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?6i 

I  know  nothing  more ;  but  a  Spanish  war  *  will  make  my 
letter  as  heavy  as  if  it  contained  eight  pages.  Young 
Mr.  Pitt  *  is  arrived ;  we  have  exchanged  visits,  but  have 
not  met  yet,  as  I  have  been  the  last  four  days  at  Straw- 
berry. The  Parliament  is  adjourned  to  the  nineteenth  of 
January.  My  gallery  advances,  and  I  push  on  the  works 
there,  for  pictures,  and  baubles,  and  buildings  look  to  me 
as  if  I  realized  something.  I  had  rather  have  a  bronze 
than  a  thousand  pounds  in  the  stocks;  for,  if  Ireland  or 
Jamaica  are  invaded,  I  shall  still  have  my  bronze :  I 
would  not  answer  so  much  for  the  funds,  nor  will  I  buy 
into  the  new  loan  of  glory.  If  the  Eomans  or  the  Greeks 
were  beat,  they  were  beat ;  they  repaired  their  walls, 
and  did  as  well  as  they  could ;  but  they  did  not  lose 
every  sesterce,  every  talent  they  had,  by  the  defeat  affect- 
ing their  Change  Alley.  Crassus,  the  richest  man  on 
t'other  side  Temple  Bar,  lost  his  army  and  his  life,  and 
yet  East  India  bonds  did  not  fall  an  obolus  under  par. 
I  like  that  system  better  than  ours.  If  people  would  be 
heroes,  they  only  suffered  themselves  by  a  miscarriage; 
they  had  a  triumph,  or  a  funeral  oration,  just  as  it  hap- 
pened ;  and  private  folk  were  entertained  with  the  one 
or  the  other,  and  nobody  was  a  farthing  the  richer  or 
poorer ;  but  it  makes  a  strange  confusion  now  that  brokers 
are  so  much  concerned  in  the  events  of  war.  How  Scipio 
would  have  stared  if  he  had  been  told  that  he  must  not 
demolish  Carthage,  as  it  would  ruin  several  aldermen  who 
had  money  in  the  Punic  actions  I  Apropos,  do  you  know 
what  a  Bull,  and  a  Sear,  and  a  Lame  Duck,  are  ?  Nay,  nor 
I  neither ;  I  only  am  certain  that  they  are  neither  animals 
nor  fowl,  but  are  extremely  interested  in  the  new  sub- 
scription. I  don't  believe  I  apply  it  right ;  but  I  feel  as  if 

LETTER  797. — 1  War  with  Spain  was  declared  on  Jan.  4,  1762. 
2  Mr.  Thomas  Pitt.     Walpole. 


1761]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  159 

I  should  be  a  lame  duck  if  the  Spaniards  take  the  vessel 
that  has  my  altar  on  board. 

Monday,  at  night. 

I  have  been  abroad,  and  have  heard  some  particulars 
that  are  well  worth  adjoining  to  my  letter.  Fuentes  last 
night  delivered  copies  to  the  foreign  ministers  of  his 
master's  declaration.  It  is,  properly,  the  declaration  of  the 
King  of  Spain  against  Mr.  Pitt  (a  circumstance  that  will 
not  lessen  the  dignity  of  the  latter).  It  intimates  that,  if 
we  had  asked  to  see  the  treaty  in  a  civil  manner,  we  might 
have  obtained  it;  and  it  pretends  still  to  have  no  hostile 
intentions.  Fuentes  comments  on  this  latter  passage  at 
large.  You  may  judge  of  their  pacific  sentiments,  by  hearing 
that  they  have  threatened  the  court  of  Portugal  to  march 
an  army  into  that  kingdom  if  they  do  not  declare  offen- 
sively against  us.  War  was  the  only  calamity  left  for  the 
Portuguese  to  experience.  When  they  have  dethroned 
the  royal  family  at  Lisbon,  I  suppose,  according  to  the 
tenderness  of  royal  brotherhood,  Don  Carlos  will  afford  his 
sister3,  her  husband,  and  their  race,  an  asylum  in  his  own 
court.  How  much  better  he  behaved  when  he  was  under 
your  tuition  at  Naples !  The  same  courier  brought  Fuentes 
the  Toison  d'Or,  and  carried  another  to  the  Due  de  Choi- 
seul ;  in  return,  the  Cordon  Bleu  was  given  to  Grimaldi 4 
at  Paris.  Well,  we  must  make  our  fortune  now  we  have 
a  monopoly  of  all  the  war  in  Europe ! 

My  Lady  Pomfret  is  dead,  of  a  complication  of  dis- 
tempers, on  the  road  to  Bath.  Lady  Mary  Wortley  is  not 
yet  arrived.  Good  night ! 

3  Maria  Anne,  wife  of  Joseph,  King      with  whom  Choiscul  negotiated  the 
of  Portugal.  '  Family  Compact. ' 

4  The  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Paris, 


160  To  George  Montagu  [i?6i 


798.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  30,  1761. 

I  HAVE  received  two  more  letters  from  you  since  I  wrote 
last  week,  and  I  like  to  find  by  them  that  you  are  so  well 
and  so  happy.     As  nothing  has  happened  of  change  in  my 
situation  but  a  few  more  months  passed,  I  have  nothing  to 
tell  you  new  of  myself.   Time  does  not  sharpen  my  passions 
or  pursuits,  and  the  experience  I  have  had  by  no   means 
prompts  me  to  make  new  connections.     'Tis  a  busy  world, 
and  well  adapted  to  those  who  love  to  bustle  in  it — I  loved 
it  once,  loved  its  very  tempests — now  I  barely  open  my 
window,  to  view  what  course  the  storm  takes.     The  town, 
who,  like  the  devil,  when  one  has  once  sold  oneself  to  him, 
never  permits  one  to  have  done  playing  the  fool,  believe 
I  have  a  great  hand  in  their  amusements ;   but  to  write 
pamphlets,  I  mean  as  a  volunteer,  one  must  love  or  hate, 
and  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  doing  neither.     I  would  not 
be  at  the  trouble  of  composing  a  distich  to  achieve  a  revolu- 
tion.    'Tis  equal  to  me  what  names  are  on  the  scene.     In 
the  general  view,  the  prospect  is  very  dark ;  the  Spanish 
war,  added  to  the  load,  almost  oversets  our  most  sanguine 
heroism ;  and  now  we  have  an  opportunity  of  conquering 
all  the  world,  by  being  at  war  with  all  the  world,  we  seem 
to  doubt  a  little  of  our  abilities.    On  a  survey  of  our  situation, 
I  comfort  myself  with  saying,  Well,  what  is  it  to  me  ? 
A  selfishness  that  is  far  from  anxious,  when  it  is  the  first 
thought  in  one's  constitution — not  so  agreeable  when  it  is 
the  last,  and  adopted  by  necessity  alone. 

You  drive  your  expectations  much  too  fast,  in  thinking 
my  Anecdotes  of  Painting  are  ready  to  appear,  and  in  de- 
manding three  volumes.  You  will  see  but  two,  and  it  will 
be  February  first.  True,  I  have  written  three,  but  I  ques- 


I76i]  To  George  Montagu  161 

tion  whether  the  third  will  be  published  at  all ;  certainly 
not  soon ;  it  is  not  a  work  of  merit  enough  to  cloy  the 
town  with  a  great  deal  at  once.  My  printer  ran  away,  and 
left  a  third  part  of  the  two  first  volumes  unfinished — I  sup- 
pose he  is  writing  a  tragedy  himself,  or  an  epistle  to  my 
Lord  Melcomb,  or  a  panegyric  on  my  Lord  Bute. 

Jemmy  Pelham1  is  dead,  and  has  left  to  his  servants 
what  little  his  servants  had  left  him.  Lord  Legonier  was 
killed  by  the  newspapers,  and  wanted  to  prosecute  them : 
his  lawyer  told  him  it  was  impossible — a  tradesman  indeed 
might  prosecute,  as  such  a  report  might  affect  his  credit. 
'  Well,  then,'  said  the  old  man,  '  I  may  prosecute  too,  for 
I  can  prove  I  have  been  hurt  by  this  report :  I  was  going 
to  marry  a  great  fortune,  who  thought  I  was  but  seventy- 
four  ;  the  newspapers  have  said  I  am  eighty,  and  she  will 
not  have  me.' 

Lord  Charlemont's  Queen  Elizabeth  I  know  perfectly ;  he 
outbid  me  for  it.  Is  his  villa  finished  ?  I  am  well 
pleased  with  the  design  in  Chambers.  I  have  been  my  out- 
of-town  with  Lord  Waldgrave,  Selwyn,  and  Williams;  it 
was  melancholy  the  missing  poor  Edgecumbe,  who  was 
constantly  of  the  Christmas  and  Easter  parties.  Did  you 
see  the  charming  picture  Eeynolds  painted  for  me  of  him, 
Selwyn,  and  Williams  ?  It  is  by  far  one  of  the  best  things 
he  has  executed.  He  has  just  finished  a  pretty  whole- 
length  of  Lady  Elizabeth  Keppel,  in  the  bridemaid's  habit, 
sacrificing  to  Hymen. 

If  the  Spaniards  land  in  Ireland,  shall  you  make  the 
campaign?  No,  no,  come  back  to  England;  you  and  I 
will  not  be  Patriots,  till  the  Gauls  are  in  the  City,  and  we 
must  take  our  great  chairs  and  our  fasces,  and  be  knocked 

LETTEE  798. — *  James  Pelham,  of  Sussex,  by  his  third  wife ;  sometime 
Cr  cm-hurst,  Sussex,  son  of  Sir  Thomas  secretary  to  the  Duke  of  Grafbon  as 
Pelham,  second  Baronet, of  Laughton,  Lord  Chamberlain. 

WALPOLE.    V  JJ 


162  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

on  the  head  with  decorum  in  St.  James's  Market.     Good 
night !  Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

P.S.  I  am  told  that  they  bind  in  vellum  better  at  Dublin 
than  anywhere ;  pray  bring  me  any  one  book  of  their  binding 
as  well  as  it  can  be  done,  and  I  will  not  mind  the  price.  If 
Mr.  Bourk's  history  appears  before  your  return,  let  it  be 
that. 

799.    To  SIR  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  4,  1762. 

1  WROTE  to  you  but  last  week,  just  before  I  heard  from 
you,  so  you  must  look  on  this  only  as  a  postscript.     The 
Spanish  war  that  I  announced  to  you  is  a  full  and  melan- 
choly answer  to  your  idea,  if  Sir  James  Grey l  had  gone  to 
Spain — our  sailors  must  go  thither  first,  either  as  invaders 
or  prisoners !     The  war  was  proclaimed  this  morning :  the 
proclamation  itself  shows  how  little  foundation  for  it.    This 
war  was  conceived   rashly,  adopted   timidly,  carried   into 
practice  foolishly,  and,  I  fear,  will  be  executed  weakly.     But 
why  prophesy,  when  one  hopes  to  be  mistaken  ? 

Besides  your  letter,  I  have  received  one  cargo,  the 
burlettas  and  the  residue  of  Medicean  heads;  I  am  much 
obliged  to  you  for  both.  The  latter  are  ill  executed,  but 
curious :  by  the  Bianca  Capello,  one  sees  that  the  Electress a 
is  dead.  The  Uccellatorii3,  it  was,  I  think,  that  you  told 
me  was  so  pretty.  It  shall  be  performed,  if  they  will 
take  it. 

LETTER  799. — l  He  had  been  Minis-  of  her  hnsband  had  resided  at  Flo- 

ter  at  Naples  when  Charles,  King  of  rence,   where   she    died  very  aged. 

Spain,  was  King  there,  with  whom  Prom  family  pride,  she  would  suffer 

he  had  been  a  favourite.     Walpole.  no  print  of  Bianca  Capello,  who  hav- 

2  The  Electress  Palatine  Dowager,  ing  been  mistress  of  Duke  Francis  I, 
Anna  Louisa,  was  the  last  of  the  became  his  wife.     Walpole. 

House  of  Medici,  and  from  the  death          s  A  comic  opera.     Walpole. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  163 

Mr.  Bobinson  *,  whom  I  begin  to  know  a  little,  tells  me 
that  a  great  discovery  has  been  lately  made  in  Tuscany,  of 
quantities  of  Etrurian  vases.  If  they  are  dispersed  and  sold, 
and  sold  cheap  (for  till  I  have  taken  an  Acapulca8  ship, 
I  shall  be  very  penurious),  I  should  be  glad  of  a  few,  if  the 
forms  are  beautiful ;  for  what  they  call  the  erudition,  I  am 
totally  indifferent.  A  travelling  college  tutor  may  be  struck 
with  an  uncouth  fable,  and  fancy  he  unravels  some  point  of 
mythology,  that  is  not  worth  unravelling ;  I  hate  guessing 
at  ugliness,  and  I  know  in  general,  that  mysteries  are  built 
on  the  unskilfulness  of  the  artists ;  the  moment  nations 
grew  polished,  they  were  always  intelligible.  Mr.  Robinson 
tells  me  too,  that  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  has  purchased 
most  of  Zanetti's 8  gems  at  Venice.  I  remember  one  (you 
will  say  there  is  no  end  of  my  memory)  which  he  has  not 
bought.  It  was  a  couch  ant  tiger,  in  alto  relievo,  and  had 
been  Prince  Eugene's.  I  wish  you  would  inquire  about  it, 
and  know  what  he  would  have  for  it.  Mr.  Murray7  was 
a  good  deal  an  acquaintance  of  mine  in  England,  and 
I  should  think  would  oblige  me  about  it,  but  I  must  know 
the  price  first. 

My  Lady  Pomfret  has  desired  to  be  buried  at  Oxford8. 
It  is  of  a  piece  with  her  life.  I  dare  say  she  had  treasured 
up  some  idea  of  the  Countess  Matilda 9,  that  gave  St.  Peter 
his  patrimony.  How  your  ghost  and  mine  will  laugh  at 
hers,  when  posterity  begins  to  consecrate  her  learning ! 

*  Thomas,  afterwards  the  second  the  Acaptdco  ship  in  1743. 

Lord  Grantham.     Walpole. — He  sue-  8  Antonio    Maria    Zanetti  (1680- 

ceeded  his  father  in  1770 ;  was  Lord  1778). 

of  Trade,  1766 ;  Vice-Chamberlain  of  7  Resident  at  Venice ;  he  was  of 

the  Household,  1770-71 ;  Ambassador  the  Isle  of  Man.     Walpole. 

at  Madrid,  1771-79 ;  President  of  the  8  Lady  Pomfret  had  given  her  hus- 

Board  of  Trade,  1780-82 ;  Secretary  band's  collection  of  statues  to  the 

of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  1782-83 ;  University  of  Oxford.     Walpole. 

d.  1786.  »  Matilda  (1046-1115),  Countess  of 

6  Acapulco,  on  the  western  coast  Tuscany,  who  in  1077  made  a  gift 

of  Mexico,  the  port  whence  a  galleon  of  all  her  possessions  to  Pope  Gregory 

sailed  yearly  for  Manilla,  returning  VlL 
laden  with  treasure.   Anson  captured 

M  2 


164  To  George  Montagu  [1762 

The  Parliament  does  not  meet  till  the  nineteenth ;  by 
that  time  people  will  have  formed  some  opinion — at  present 
there  is  much  gloom.  I  don't  know  whither  it  will  be 
directed.  I  have  abundance  of  conjectures,  but  events  so 
seldom  correspond  to  foresight,  that  I  believe  it  is  as  well 
to  act  like  other  soothsayers,  and  not  broach  one's  visions 
till  they  have  been  fulfilled.  Good  night. 

P.S.  I  should  be  glad  Mr.  Murray  would  not  name  me. 
Zanetti  cheated  my  father  outrageously ;  he  will  think  we 
forgive,  and  have  no  objection  to  being  cheated 10. 

800.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  26,  1762. 

WE  have  had  as  many  mails  due  from  Ireland  as  you  had 
from  us.  I  have  at  last  received  a  line  from  you ;  it  tells 
me  you  are  well,  which  I  am  always  glad  to  hear  ;  I  cannot 
say  you  tell  me  much  more.  My  health  is  so  little  subject 
to  alteration,  and  so  preserved  by  temperance,  that  it  is  not 
worth  repetition ;  thank  God  you  may  conclude  it  good,  if 
I  do  not  say  the  contrary. 

Here  is  nothing  new  but  preparations  for  conquest,  and 
approaches  to  bankruptcy ;  and  the  worst  is,  the  former  will 
advance  the  latter  at  least  as  much  as  impede  it.  You  say 
the  Irish  will  live  and  die  with  your  cousin :  I  am  glad  they 
are  so  well  disposed.  I  have  lived  long  enough  to  doubt 
whether  all  who  like  to  live  with  one  would  be  so  ready  to 
die  with  one — I  know  it  is  not  pleasant  to  have  the  time 
arrived  when  one  looks  about  to  see  whether  they  would  or 
not — but  you  are  in  a  country  of  more  sanguine  complexion, 
and  where  I  believe  the  clergy  do  not  deny  the  laity  the  cup. 

10  Zanetti,  a  Venetian,  had  been       wards  by  Sir  Kobert  Walpole.     Wal- 
employed  by  the  Regent  of  France      pule. 
to  buy  pictures  for  him ;  and  after- 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  165 

The  Queen's  brother  arrived  yesterday:  your  brother, 
Prince  John,  has  been  here  about  a  week ;  I  am  to  dine 
with  him  to-day  at  Lord  Dacre's  with  the  Chute. 

Our  burlettas  are  gone  out  of  fashion ;  do  the  Amicis 
come  hither  next  year,  or  go  to  Guadaloupe,  as  is  said  ? 

I  have  been  told  that  a  Lady  Kingsland 1  at  Dublin  has 
a  picture  of  Madame  Grammont  by  Petitot — I  don't  know 
who  Lady  Kingsland  is,  whether  rich  or  poor,  but  I  know 
there  is  nothing  I  would  not  give  for  such  a  picture.  I  wish 
you  would  hunt  it ;  and  if  the  dame  is  above  temptation,  do 
try  if  you  could  obtain  a  copy  in  water-colours,  if  there  is 
anybody  at  Dublin  could  execute  it. 

The  Duchess  of  Portland  has  lately  enriched  me  exceed- 
ingly— nine  portraits  of  the  court  of  Louis  Quatorze !  Lord 
Portland 2  brought  them  over ;  they  hung  in  the  nursery  at 
Bulstrode,  the  children  amused  themselves  with  shooting 
at  them — I  have  got  them — but  I  will  tell  you  no  more ; 
you  don't  deserve  it — you  write  to  me  as  if  I  was  your  god- 
father :  '  Hond.  Sir,  I  am  brave  and  well,  my  cousin  George 
is  well,  we  drink  your  health  every  night,  and  beg  your 
blessing.'  This  is  the  sum  total  of  all  your  letters; 
I  thought  in  a  new  country,  and  with  your  spirits  and 
humour,  you  could  have  found  something  to  tell  me — I  shall 
only  ask  you  now  when  you  return  ;  but  I  declare  I  will  not 
correspond  with  you  ;  I  don't  write  letters  to  divert  myself, 
but  in  expectation  of  returns — in  short,  you  are  extremely 
in  disgrace  with  me ;  I  have  measured  my  letters  for  some 
time,  and  for  the  future  will  answer  you  paragraph  by  para- 
graph. You  yourself  don't  seem  to  find  letter-writing  so 
amusing  as  to  pay  itself.  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

LETTER  800. — 1  Honors,  daughter      Kingsland. 

ofPeterDaly;  m. (1735) Henry Barne-          2  William  Bentinok  (d.  1709),  first 
wall,  fourth  Viscount  Barnewall  of      Earl  of  Portland. 


166  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 


801.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  29,  1762. 

1  WISH  you  joy,  sir  minister ;  the  Czarina l  is  dead.     As 
we  conquered  America 'in  Germany*,  I  hope  we  shall  overrun 
Spain  by  this  burial  at  Petersburg.     Yet,  don't  let  us  plume 
ourselves  too  fast ;   nothing  is  so  like  a  queen  as  a  king, 
nothing  so  like  a  predecessor  as  a  successor.    The  favourites 
of  the  Prince  Royal  of  Prussia,  who  had  suffered  so  much 
for  him,  were  wofully  disappointed,  when  he  became  the 
present  glorious  monarch ;  they  found  the  English  maxim 
true,  that  the   king  never  dies ;   that  is,  the  dignity  and 
passions  of  the  crown  never  die.     We  were  not  much  less 
defeated  of  our  hopes  on  the  decease  of  Philip  V.     The 
Grand  Duke8  has  been  proclaimed  Czar  at  the  army  in 
Pomerania ;  he  may  love  conquest  like  that  army,  or  not 
know  it  is  conquering,  like  his  aunt.     However,  we  cannot 
suffer  more  by  this  event.     I  would  part  with  the  Empress- 
Queen,  on  no  better  a  prospect. 

We  have  not  yet  taken  the  galleons,  nor  destroyed  the 
Spanish  fleet.  Nor  have  they  enslaved  Portugal,  nor  you 
made  a  triumphant  entry  into  Naples.  My  dear  Sir,  you  see 
how  lucky  you  was  not  to  go  thither ;  you  don't  envy 
Sir  James  Grey  *,  do  you  ?  Pray  don't  make  any  categorical 
demands  to  Marshal  Botta5,  and  be  obliged  to  retire  to 
Leghorn,  because  they  are  not  answered.  We  want  allies ; 
preserve  us  our  friend  the  Great  Duke  of  Tuscany.  I  like 
your  answer  to  Botta  exceedingly,  but  I  fear  the  court  of 

LETTER  801. — J  The  Czarina  Eliza-  July,  1762,  after  having  been  forced 

beth.     Walpole.  to  sign  a  renunciation  of  the  throne. 

2  This  phrase  was  first  used  by  Pitt  *  He  had  been  appointed  Minister 
in  the  debate  on  the  Address  (Nov.  13,  to  Spain,  but  the  war  prevented  his 
1761).  going.     Walpole. 

3  Peter  III.     Walpole.  —  He    was  6  Commander  in  Tuscany.     Wal- 
strangled  by  Orloff  and  others  in  pole. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  167 

Vienna  is  shame-proof.  The  Apostolic  and  Eeligious 
Empress  is  not  a  whit  a  better  Christian,  not  a  jot  less 
a  woman,  than  the  late  Russian  Empress,  who  gave  such 
proofs  of  her  being  a  woman. 

We  have  a  mighty  expedition 6  on  the  point  of  sailing ; 
the  destination  not  disclosed.  The  German  war  loses 
ground  daily ;  however,  all  is  still  in  embryo.  My  subse- 
quent letters  are  not  likely  to  be  so  barren  and  indecisive. 
I  write  more  to  prove  there  is  nothing,  than  to  tell  you 
anything. 

You  was  mistaken,  I  believe,  about  the  Graftons  ;  they  do 
not  remove  from  Turin,  till  George  Pitt 7  arrives  to  occupy 
their  house  there.  I  am  really  anxious  about  the  fate  of 
my  letter  to  the  Duchess;  I  should  be  hurt  if  it  had 
miscarried ;  she  would  have  reason  to  think  me  very 
ungrateful. 

I  have  given  your  letter  to  Mr.  T.  Pitt ;  he  has  been  very 
unfortunate  since  his  arrival — has  lost  his  favourite  sister  in 
child-bed.  Lord  Tavistock8,  I  hear,  has  writ  accounts  of 
you  that  give  me  much  pleasure. 

I  am  ashamed  to  tell  you  that  we  are  again  dipped  into 
an  egregious  scene  of  folly.  The  reigning  fashion  is  a 
ghost 9 — a  ghost,  that  would  not  pass  muster  in  the  paltriest 
convent  in  the  Apennine.  It  only  knocks  and  scratches ; 
does  not  pretend  to  appear  or  to  speak.  The  clergy  give  it 
their  benediction ;  and  all  the  world,  whether  believers  or 
infidels,  go  to  hear  it.  I,  in  which  number  you  may  guess, 
go  to-morrow  ;  for  it  is  as  much  the  mode  to  visit  the  ghost 
as  the  Prince  of  Mecklenburg 10,  who  is  just  arrived.  I  have 
not  seen  him  yet,  though  I  have  left  my  name  for  him.  But 

6  The  expedition  against  Havana ,          8  Francis  Russell,  eldest  son  of  the 
which  sailed  on  March  6,  1762,  com-       Duke  of  Bedford.     Walpole. 
manded  by  the  Earl  of  Albemarle          9  The  Cock  Lane  Ghost. 

and  Admiral  Pocock.  10  Prince  Charles,  brother  of  the 

7  Appointed   Minister   to   Turin ;      Queen.     Walpole. 
afterwards  Lord  Elvers.     Walpole. 


168  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

I  will  tell  you  who  is  come  too — Lady  Mary  Wortley.  I  went 
last  night  to  visit  her  ;  I  give  you  my  honour,  and  you  who 
know  her  would  credit  me  without  it,  the  following  is  a 
faithful  description.  I  found  her  in  a  little  miserable  bed- 
chamber of  a  ready-furnished  house,  with  two  tallow  candles, 
and  a  bureau  covered  with  pots  and  pans.  On  her  head,  in 
full  of  all  accounts,  she  had  an  old  black-laced  hood,  wrapped 
entirely  round,  so  as  to  conceal  all  hair  or  want  of  hair.  No 
handkerchief,  but  up  to  her  chin  a  kind  of  horseman's  riding- 
coat,  calling  itself  a  pet-en-Vair,  made  of  a  dark  green  (green 
I  think  it  had  been)  brocade,  with  coloured  and  silver  flowers, 
and  lined  with  furs ;  boddice  laced,  a  foul  dimity  petticoat 
sprig'd,  velvet  muffeteens  on  her  arms,  grey  stockings  and 
slippers.  Her  face  less  changed  in  twenty  years  than  I  could 
have  imagined ;  I  told  her  so,  and  she  was  not  so  tolerable 
twenty  years  ago  that  she  needed  have  taken  it  for  flattery, 
but  she  did,  and  literally  gave  me  a  box  on  the  ear.  She  is 
very  lively,  all  her  senses  perfect,  her  languages  as  imperfect 
as  ever,  her  avarice  greater.  She  entertained  me  at  first  with 
nothing  but  the  dearness  of  provisions  at  Helvoet.  With 
nothing  but  an  Italian,  a  French,  and  a  Prussian,  all  men 
servants,  and  something  she  calls  an  old  secretary,  but  whose 
age  till  he  appears  will  be  doubtful,  she  receives  all  the 
world,  who  go  to  homage  her  as  Queen  Mother  u,  and  crams 
them  into  this  kennel.  The  Duchess  of  Hamilton,  who  came 
in  just  after  me,  was  so  astonished  and  diverted,  that  she 
could  not  speak  to  her  for  laughing.  She  says  that  she  has 
left  all  her  clothes  at  Venice.  I  really  pity  Lady  Bute ;  what 
will  the  progress  be  of  such  a  commencement ! 

The  King  of  France  has  avowed  a  natural  son ia,  and  given 
him  the  estate  which  came  from  Marshal  Belleisle,  with  the 
title  of  Comte  de  Gisors.  The  mother  I  think  is  called 

11  She  was  mother  of  Lady  Bute,          12  This  was  a  false  report.     Wal- 
wifo  of  the  Prime  Minister.    Walpole.      pole. 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  169 

Matignon  or  Maquignon.  Madame  Pompadour  was  the 
Bathsheba  that  introduced  this  Abishag.  Adieu,  my 
dear  Sir! 

802.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Feb.  2,  1762. 

I  SCOLDED  you  in  my  last,  but  I  shall  forgive  you,  if  you 
return  soon  to  England,  as  you  talk  of  doing;  for  though 
you  are  an  abominable  correspondent,  and  only  write  to  beg 
letters,  you  are  good  company,  and  I  have  a  notion  I  shall 
still  be  glad  to  see  you. 

Lady  Mary  Wortley  is  arrived ;  I  have  seen  her ;  I  think 
her  avarice,  her  dirt,  and  her  vivacity,  are  all  increased.  Her 
dress,  like  her  languages,  is  a  galimatias  of  several  countries ; 
the  groundwork,  rags ;  and  the  embroidery,  nastiness.  She 
wears  no  cap,  no  handkerchief,  no  gown,  no  petticoat,  no 
shoes.  An  old  black-laced  hood  represents  the  first ;  the 
fur  of  a  horseman's  coat,  which  replaces  the  third,  serves 
for  the  second ;  a  dimity  petticoat  is  deputy,  and  officiates 
for  the  fourth  ;  and  slippers  act  the  part  of  the  last.  When 
I  was  at  Florence,  and  she  was  expected  there,  we  were 
drawing  Sortes  Virgttianas — for  her ;  we  literally  drew 

Insanam  vatem  aspicies. — 

It  would  have  been  a  stronger  prophecy  now,  even  than  it 
was  then. 

You  told  me  not  a  word  of  Mr.  Mcnaghton  *,  and  I  have 
a  great  mind  to  be  as  coolly  indolent  about  our  famous 
ghost  in  Cock  Lane — why  should  one  steal  half  an  hour 
from  one's  amusements  to  tell  a  story  to  a  friend  in  another 
island?  I  could  send  you  volumes  on  the  ghost,  and  I 

LETTER  802. — 1  John  Macnaugh-      murder  of  Miss  Knoz  on  the  pro- 
ton, an  Irishman  of  good  position,       ceding  NOT.  10. 
executed  on  Deo.  15,  1761,  for  the 


170  To  George  Montagu  [i?62 

believe  if  I  was  to  stay  a  little,  I  might  send  you  its  life, 
dedicated  to  my  Lord  Dartmouth,  by  the  Ordinaiy  of  New- 
gate, its  two  great  patrons.  A  drunken  parish  clerk 2  set  it 
on  foot  out  of  revenge,  the  Methodists  have  adopted  it,  and 
the  whole  town  of  London  think  of  nothing  else.  Elizabeth 
Canning  and  the  Babbit-woman  were  modest  impostors  in 
comparison  of  this,  which  goes  on  without  saving  the  least 
appearances.  The  Archbishop,  who  would  not  suffer  The 
Minor  to  be  acted  in  ridicule  of  the  Methodists,  permits  this 
farce  to  be  played  every  night,  and  I  shall  not  be  surprised 
if  they  perform  in  the  great  hall  at  Lambeth.  I  went  to 
hear  it — for  it  is  not  an  apparition,  but  an  audition. — We  set 
out  from  the  Opera,  changed  our  clothes  at  Northumberland 
House,  the  Duke  of  York,  Lady  Northumberland,  Lady 
Mary  Coke,  Lord  Hertford,  and  I,  all  in  one  hackney  coach, 
and  drove  to  the  spot ;  it  rained  torrents ;  yet  the  lane  was 
full  of  mob,  and  the  house  so  full  we  could  not  get  in — at 
last  they  discovered  it  was  the  Duke  of  York,  and  the 
company  squeezed  themselves  into  one  another's  pockets  to 
make  room  for  us.  The  house,  which  is  borrowed,  and  to 
which  the  ghost  has  adjourned,  is  wretchedly  small  and 
miserable ;  when  we  opened  the  chamber,  in  which  were 
fifty  people,  with  no  light  but  one  tallow  candle  at  the  end, 
we  tumbled  over  the  bed  of  the  child  to  whom  the  ghost 
comes,  and  whom  they  are  murdering  there  by  inches  in 
such  insufferable  heat  and  stench.  At  the  top  of  the  room 
are  ropes  to  dry  clothes — I  asked,  if  we  were  to  have  rope- 
dancing  between  the  acts? — we  had  nothing ;  they  told  us, 
as  they  would  at  a  puppet-show,  that  it  would  not  come 
that  night  till  seven  in  the  morning — that  is,  when  there 
are  only  prentices  and  old  women.  We  stayed,  however,  till 
half  an  hour  after  one.  The  Methodists  have  promised  them 
contributions ;  provisions  are  sent  in  like  forage,  and  all  the 
2  William  Parsons,  parish  clerk  of  St.  Sepulchre's. 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  171 

taverns  and  ale-houses  in  the  neighbourhood  make  fortunes. 
The  most  diverting  part  is  to  hear  people  wondering  when  it 
will  be  found  out — as  if  there  was  anything  to  find  out — as  if 
the  actors  would  make  their  noises  where  they  can  be  dis- 
covered. However,  as  this  pantomime  cannot  last  much 
longer,  I  hope  Lady  Fanny  Shirley  will  set  up  a  ghost  of 
her  own  at  Twickenham,  and  then  you  shall  hear  one.  The 
Methodists,  as  Lord  Aylsford  assured  Mr.  Chute  two  nights 
ago  at  Lord  Caere's,  have  attempted  ghosts  three  times  in 
Warwickshire.  There !  how  good  I  am ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

803.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Feb.  6,  1762. 

You  must  have  thought  me  very  negligent  of  your  com- 
missions; not  only  in  buying  your  ruffles,  but  in  never 
mentioning  them — but  my  justification  is  most  ample  and 
verifiable.  Your  letter  of  Jan.  2nd  arrived  but  yesterday 
with  the  papers  of  Dec.  29.  These  were  the  mails  that 
have  so  long  been  missing,  and  were  shipwrecked  or  some- 
thing on  the  Isle  of  Man.  Now  you  see  it  was  impos- 
sible for  me  to  buy  you  a  pair  of  ruffles  for  the  18th  of 
January,  when  I  did  not  receive  the  orders  till  the  5th 
of  February. 

You  don't  tell  me  a  word  (but  that  is  not  new  to  you)  of 
Mr.  Hamilton's  wonderful  eloquence,  which  converted  a 
whole  House  of  Commons  on  the  five  regiments1.  We 
have  no  such  miracles  here ;  five  regiments  might  work 
such  prodigies,  but  I  never  knew  mere  rhetoric  gain  above 
one  or  two  proselytes  at  a  time  in  all  my  practice. 

We  have  a  Prince  Charles  here,  the  Queen's  brother ;  he 
is  like  her,  but  more  like  the  Hows.  Low,  but  well  made, 

LKTTEK  803. — 1  On  a  motion  for  an  increase  of  troops. 


172  To  the  Eev.   William  Cole  [i?62 

good  eyes  and  teeth.     Princess  Emily  is  very  ill,  has  been 
blistered,  and  been  blooded  four  times. 

My  books  appear  on  Monday  se'nnight :  if  I  can  find  any 
quick  conveyance  for  them,  you  shall  have  them :  if  not,  as 
you  are  returning  soon,  I  may  as  well  keep  them  for  you. 
Adieu  !  I  grudge  every  word  I  write  to  you. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

804.    To  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  CoLE1. 

DEAR  SlR,  Tuesday,  Feb.  7,  1762. 

The  little  leisure  I  have  to-day  will,  I  trust,  excuse  my 
saying  very  few  words  in  answer  to  your  obliging  letter,  of 
which  no  part  touches  me  more  than  what  concerns  your 
health,  which,  however,  I  rejoice  to  hear  is  re-establishing 
itself. 

I  am  sorry  I  did  not  save  your  trouble  of  cataloguing 
Ames's2  heads,  by  telling  you,  that  another  person  has 
actually  done  it,  and  designs  to  publish  a  new  edition 
ranged  in  a  different  method.  I  don't  know  the  gentleman's 
name,  but  he  is  a  friend  of  Sir  William  Musgrave,  from 
whom  I  had  this  information  some  months  ago. 

You  will  oblige  me  much  by  the  sight  of  the  volume  you 
mention.  Don't  mind  the  epigrams  you  transcribe  on  my 
father.  I  have  been  inured  to  abuse  on  him  from  my  birth. 
It  is  not  a  quarter  of  an  hour  ago  since,  cutting  the  leaves 
of  a  new  dab  called  Anecdotes  of  Polite  Literature,  I  found 

LETTER  804. — *  William  Cole  (17 14-  gence  of  opinion  he  was  always  on 
1782),  antiquary,  at  this  time  Rector  good  terms  with  Walpole.  The  latter 
of  Bletchley.  He  was  a  former  school-  found  Cole's  knowledge  and  industry 
fellow  at  Eton  of  Horace  Walpole,  of  great  use,  while  Cole  was  not  insen- 
whose  antiquarian  tastes  led  him  (in  sible  to  the  honour  of  being  a  cor- 
1762)  to  open  a  correspondence  with  respondent  of  Walpole's.  Walpole's 
Cole,  which  was  continued  until  Cole's  letters  to  Cole  are  now,  with  Cole's 
death.  Cole  was  a  Tory  and  a  High  MSS.,  in  the  British  Museum. 
Churchman,  with  leanings  to  Eoman  2  Joseph  Ames  (1689-1759),  corn- 
Catholicism,  but  in  spite  of  diver-  piler  of  a  Catalogue  of  English  Heads, 


1762]  To  the  Eev.  Henry  Zouch  173 

myself  abused  for  having  defended  my  father.  I  don't  know 
the  author,  and  suppose  I  never  shall,  for  I  find  Glover's 
Leonidas  is  one  of  the  things  he  admires — and  so  I  leave 
them  to  be  forgotten  together,  fortiwati  ambo  I 

I  sent  your  letter  to  Ducarel,  who  has  promised  me  those 
poems — I  accepted  the  promise  to  get  rid  of  him  t'other 
day,  when  he  would  have  talked  me  to  death.  Adieu ! 
dear  Sir. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

H.  WALPOLE. 


805.    To  THE  EEV.  HENEY  ZOUCH. 

Arlington  Street,  Feb.  13,  1762. 

I  should  long  ago  have  given  myself  the  pleasure  of 
writing  to  you,  if  I  had  not  been  constantly  in  hope  of 
accompanying  my  letter  with  the  Anecdotes  of  Painting,  &c. ; 
but  the  tediousness  of  engravers,  and  the  roguery  of  a  fourth 
printer,  have  delayed  the  publication  week  after  week  for 
months :  truly  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  such  a  being  as 
an  honest  printer  in  the  world. 

I  sent  the  books  to  Mr.  Whiston,  who,  I  think  you  told 
me,  was  employed  by  you :  he  answered,  he  knew  nothing 
of  the  matter.  Mr.  Dodsley  has  undertaken  now  to  convey 
them  to  you,  and  I  beg  your  acceptance  of  them :  it  will  be 
a  very  kind  acceptance  if  you  will  tell  me  of  any  faults, 
blunders,  omissions,  &c.,  as  you  observe  them.  In  a  first 
sketch  of  this  nature,  I  cannot  hope  the  work  is  anything 
like  complete.  Excuse,  Sir,  the  brevity  of  this.  I  am 
much  hurried  at  this  instant  of  publication,  and  have  barely 
time  to  assure  you  how  truly  I  am  your  humble  servant. 


174  To  the  Earl  of  Bute  [i?62 


806.    To  THE  EAEL  OP  BUTE. 

MY  LORD,  Arlington  Street,  Feb.  15,  1762. 

I  am  sensible  how  little  time  your  Lordship  can  have  to 
throw  away  on  reading  idle  letters  or  letters  of  compliment ; 
yet  as  it  would  be  too  great  want  of  respect  to  your  Lordship, 
not  to  make  some  sort  of  reply  to  the  note  *  you  have  done 
me  the  honour  to  send  me,  I  thought  I  could  couch  what 
I  have  to  say  in  fewer  words  by  writing,  than  in  troubling 
you  with  a  visit,  which  might  come  unseasonably,  and 
a  letter  you  may  read  at  any  moment  when  you  are  most 
idle.  I  had  already,  my  Lord,  detained  you  too  long  by 
sending  you  a  book,  which  I  could  not  flatter  myself  you 
would  turn  over  in  such  a  season  of  business:  by  the 
manner  in  which  you  have  considered  it,  you  have  shown 
me  that  your  very  minutes  of  amusement  you  try  to  turn  to 
the  advantage  of  your  country.  It  was  this  pleasing  prospect 
of  patronage  to  the  arts  that  tempted  me  to  offer  you  my 
pebble  towards  the  new  structure.  I  am  flattered  that  you 
have  taken  notice  of  the  only  ambition  I  have :  I  should  be 
more  flattered  if  I  could  contribute  to  the  least  of  your  Lord- 
ship's designs  for  illustrating  Britain. 

The  hint  that  your  Lordship  is  so  good  as  to  give  me  for 
a  work  like  Montfaucon's  M onumens  de  la  Monarchic  Francoisc, 

LETTER  806. — Collated  with  copy  Such  a  general  work  would  be  not 

supplied    by   Mr.   Simon    Gratz,  of  only  very  agreeable  but  instructive — 

Philadelphia,  U.SA.,  owner  of  the  the  French  have  attempted  it;  the 

original  letter.  Russians  are  about  it ;  and  Lord  Bute 

1  '  Lord  Bute  presents  his  compli-  has  been  informed  Mr.  Walpole  is 

ments  to  Mr.  Walpole,  and  returns  well  furnished  with   materials   for 

him  a  thousand  thanks  for  the  very  such  a  noble  work, 

agreeable  present  he  has  made  him.  '  Saturday.' 

In  looking  over  it,  Lord  Bute  observes  (Works   of   Lord  Orford,    ed.    1798, 

Mr.  Walpole  has  mixed  several curious  vol.  ii.  p.  878.) 

remarks  on  the  customs,  &c.  of  the  Notes  or  Heads  of  Chapters  compiled 

times  he  treats  of ;    a  thing  much  by  Horace  Walpole  in  view  of  a  work 

wanted,  and  that  has  never  yet  been  of  this  kind  are  printed  in  his  Works 

executed,  except  in  parts  by  Peck,  &c.  (ed.  1798,  vol.  v.  pp.  400-2). 


1762]  To  the  Earl  of  Bute  175 

has  long  been  a  subject  that  I  have  wished  to  see  executed, 
nor,  in  point  of  materials,  do  I  think  it  would  be  a  very 
difficult  one.  The  chief  impediment  was  the  expense,  too 
great  for  a  private  fortune.  The  extravagant  prices  extorted 
by  English  artists  is  a  discouragement  to  all  public  under- 
takings. Drawings  from  paintings,  tombs,  &c.,  would  be 
very  dear.  To  have  them  engraved  as  they  ought  to  be, 
would  exceed  the  compass  of  a  much  ampler  income  than 
mine;  which,  though  equal  to  my  largest  wish,  cannot 
measure  itself  with  the  rapacity  of  our  performers. 

But,  my  Lord,  if  his  Majesty  was  pleased  to  command 
such  a  work,  on  so  laudable  an  idea  as  your  Lordship's, 
nobody  would  be  more  ready  than  myself  to  give  his 
assistance.  I  own  I  think  I  could  be  of  use  in  it,  in 
collecting  or  pointing  out  materials,  and  I  would  readily 
take  any  trouble  in  aiding,  supervising,  or  directing  such 
a  plan.  Pardon  me,  my  Lord,  if  I  offer  no  more  ;  I  mean, 
that  I  do  not  undertake  the  part  of  composition.  I  have 
already  trespassed  too  much  upon  the  indulgence  of  the 
public ;  I  wish  not  to  disgust  them  with  hearing  of  me,  and 
reading  me.  It  is  time  for  me  to  have  done ;  and  when 
I  shall  have  completed,  as  I  almost  have,  the  History  of  the 
Arts  on  which  I  am  now  engaged,  I  did  not  purpose  to 
tempt  again  the  patience  of  mankind.  But  the  case  is  very 
different  with  regard  to  my  trouble.  My  whole  fortune  is 
from  the  bounty  of  the  crown,  and  from  the  public :  it 
would  ill  become  me  to  spare  any  pains  for  the  King's 
glory,  or  for  the  honour  and  satisfaction  of  my  country ; 
and  give  me  leave  to  add,  my  Lord,  it  would  be  an  un- 
grateful return  for  the  distinction  with  which  your  Lordship 
has  condescended  to  honour  me,  if  I  withheld  such  trifling 
aid  as  mine,  when  it  might  in  the  least  tend  to  adorn  your 
Lordship's  administration.  From  me,  my  Lord,  permit  me 
to  say,  these  are  not  words  of  course  or  of  compliment,  this 


176  To  George  Montagu  [i762 

is  not  the  language  of  flattery ;  your  Lordship  knows  I  have 
no  views,  perhaps  knows  that,  insignificant  as  it  is,  my 
praise  is  never  detached  from  my  esteem :  and  when  you 
have  raised,  as  I  trust  you  will,  real  monuments  of  glory, 
the  most  contemptible  characters  in  the  inscription  dedi- 
cated by  your  country,  may  not  be  the  testimony  of, 
My  Lord, 

Your  Lordship's 

Most  obedient 

Humble  servant, 

HORACE  WALPOLE. 


807.    To  GEOKGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Feb.  22,  1762. 

MY  scolding  does  you  so  much  good,  that  I  will  for  the 
future  lecture  you  for  the  most  trifling  peccadilla '.  You 
have  writ  me  a  very  entertaining  letter,  and  wiped  out 
several  debts — not  that  I  will  forget  one  of  them  if  you 
relapse. 

As  we  have  never  had  a  rainbow  to  assure  us  that  the 
world  shall  not  be  snowed  to  death,  I  thought  last  night 
was  the  general  connixation.  We  had  a  tempest  of  wind 
and  snow  for  two  hours  beyond  anything  I  remember: 
chairs  were  blown  to  pieces,  the  streets  covered  with  tassels 
and  glasses  and  tiles,  and  coaches  and  chariots  were  filled 
like  reservoirs.  Lady  Eaymond's a  house  in  Berkeley  Square 
is  totally  unroofed ;  and  Lord  Robert  Bertie,  who  is  going 
to  marry  her,  may  descend  into  it  like  a  Jupiter  Pluvius. 
It  is  a  week  of  wonders,  and  worthy  the  note  of  an  almanac 
maker.  Miss  Draycott,  within  two  days  of  matrimony,  has 

LETTER  807.— *  So  in  MS.  Baron    Raymond  ;     2.    (1762)   Lord 

2   Mary,  daughter  of  John  diet-  Robert   Bertie,    third    son    of   first 

wynd,  of  Grendon,  Warwickshire ;  Duke  of  Ancaster. 

m.  1.  (1741)  Robert  Raymond,  second 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  177 

dismissed  Mr.  Beauclerc — but  this  is  entirely  forgot  already 
in  the  amazement  of  a  new  elopement.  In  all  your  reading, 
true  or  false,  have  you  ever  heard  of  a  young  Earl,  married 
to  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  the  world,  a  Lord  of  the 
Bedchamber,  a  general  officer,  and  with  a  great  estate, 
quitting  everything,  resigning  wife  and  world,  and  em- 
barking for  life  in  a  packet-boat  with  a  miss  ?  I  fear  your 
connections  will  but  too  readily  lead  you  to  the  name  of  the 
peer;  it  is  Henry  Earl  of  Pembroke — the  nymph  Kitty 
Hunter*.  The  town  and  Lady  Pembroke  were  but  too 
much  witnesses  to  this  intrigue,  last  Wednesday,  at  a  great 
ball  at  Lord  Middleton's — on  Thursday  they  decamped. 
However,  that  the  writer  of  their  romance,  or  I,  as  he  is 
a  noble  author,  might  not  want  materials,  the  Earl  has  left 
a  bushel  of  letters  behind  him ;  to  his  mother,  to  Lord 
Bute,  to  Lord  Legonier  (the  two  last  to  resign  his  employ- 
ments), and  to  Mr.  Stopford,  whom  he  acquits  of  all  privity 
to  his  design.  In  none  he  justifies  himself,  unless  this  is 
a  justification !  that  having  long  tried  in  vain  to  make  his 
wife  hate  and  dislike  him,  he  had  no  way  left  but  this — and 
it  is  to  be  hoped  it  will  succeed  ;  and  then  it  may  not  be  the 
worst  event  that  could  have  happened  to  her.  You  may 
easily  conceive  the  hubbub  such  an  exploit  must  occasion. 
With  ghosts,  elopements,  abortive  motions4,  &c.,  we  can 
amuse  ourselves  tolerably  well,  till  the  season  arrives  for 
taking  the  field,  and  conquering  the  Spanish  West  Indies. 

I  have  sent  you  my  books  by  a  messenger ;  Lord  Barring- 
ton  was  so  good  as  to  charge  himself  with  them.  They 
barely  saved  their  distance ;  a  week  later,  and  no  soul  could 
have  read  a  line  in  them,  unless  I  had  changed  the  title- 
page,  and  called  them  '  The  Loves  of  the  Earl  of and 

Miss  H .' 

8  Catherine,  daughter  of  Thomas          *  Against  the  war  in  Germany ; 
Orby  Hunter,  Lord  of  the  Admiralty.       see  p.  180. 


WALPOLE.    V 


178  To  Dr.  Ducarel  [1762 

I  am  sorry  Lady  Kingsland  is  so  rich.  However,  if  the 
Papists  should  be  likely  to  rise,  pray  disarm  her  of  the 
enamel,  and  commit  it  to  safe  custody  in  the  round  tower 
at  Strawberry.  Good  night !  mine  is  a  life  of  letter- writing ; 
I  pray  for  a  peace,  that  I  may  sheathe  my  pen. 

Yours  ever, 

H.W. 

808.    To  DR.  DUCAEEL. 

SIR,  Feb.  24,  1762. 

I  am  glad  my  books  have  at  all  amused  you,  and  am 
much  obliged  to  you  for  your  notes  and  communications. 
Your  thought  of  an  English  Montfaucon  accords  perfectly 
with  a  design  I  have  long  had  of  attempting  something  of 
that  kind,  in  which  too  I  have  been  lately  encouraged  ;  and 
therefore  I  will  beg  you  at  your  leisure,  as  they  shall  occur, 
to  make  little  notes  of  customs,  fashions,  and  portraits, 
relating  to  our  history  and  manners.  Your  work  on 
Vicarages,  I  am  persuaded,  will  be  very  useful,  as  everything 
you  undertake  is,  and  curious. — After  the  medals  I  lent 
Mr.  Perry  *,  I  have  a  little  reason  to  take  it  ill,  that  he  has 
entirely  neglected  me ;  he  has  published  a  number,  and  sent 
it  to  several  persons,  and  never  to  me.  I  wanted  to  see  him 
too,  because  I  know  of  two  very  curious  medals,  which 
I  could  borrow  for  him.  He  does  not  deserve  it  at  my 
hands,  but  I  will  not  defraud  the  public  of  anything 
valuable ;  and  therefore,  if  he  will  call  on  me  any  morning, 
but  a  Sunday  or  Monday,  between  eleven  and  twelve,  I  will 
speak  to  him  of  them. — With  regard  to  one  or  two  of  your 
remarks,  I  have  not  said  that  real  lions  were  originally 
leopards.  I  have  said  that  lions  in  arms,  that  is,  painted 
lions,  were  leopards ;  and  it  is  fact,  and  no  inaccuracy. 
Paint  a  leopard  yellow,  and  it  becomes  a  lion. — You  say, 

LKTTICE  808. — *  Francis  Perry  (d.  1766) ;  he  engraved  a  series  of  gold  and 
silver  British  medals. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  179 

colours  rightly  prepared  do  not  grow  black.  The  art  would 
be  much  obliged  for  such  a  preparation.  I  have  not  said 
that  oil-colours  would  not  endure  with  a  glass ;  on  the 
contrary,  I  believe  they  would  last  the  longer. 

I  am  much  amazed  at  Vertue's  blunder  about  my  Marriage 
of  Henry  VII;  and  afterwards  he  said,  'Sykes,  knowing 
how  to  give  names  to  pictures  to  make  them  sell,'  called 
this  the  Marriage  of  Henry  VII ;  and  afterwards,  he  said, 
Sykes  had  the  figures  inserted  in  an  old  picture  of  a  church. 
He  must  have  known  little  indeed,  Sir,  if  he  had  not  known 
how  to  name  a  picture  that  he  had  painted  on  purpose  that 
he  might  call  it  so !  That  Vertue,  on  the  strictest  examina- 
tion, could  not  be  convinced  that  the  man  was  Henry  VII, 
not  being  like  any  of  his  pictures.  Unluckily,  he  is 
extremely  like  the  shilling,  which  is  much  more  authentic 
than  any  picture  of  Henry  VIL  But  here  Sykes  seems  to 
have  been  extremely  deficient  in  his  tricks.  Did  he  order 
the  figure  to  be  painted  like  Henry  VII,  and  yet  could  not 
get  it  painted  like  him,  which  was  the  easiest  part  of  the 
task?  Yet  how  came  he  to  get  the  Queen  painted  like, 
whose  representations  are  much  scarcer  than  those  of  her 
husband?  and  how  came  Sykes  to  have  pomegranates 
painted  on  her  robe,  only  to  puzzle  the  cause?  It  is  not 
worth  adding,  that  I  should  much  sooner  believe  the 
church  was  painted  to  the  figures,  than  the  figures  to 
the  church.  They  are  hard  and  antique:  the  church  in 
a  better  style,  and  at  least  more  fresh.  If  Vertue  had 
made  no  better  criticisms  than  these,  I  would  never  have 
taken  so  much  trouble  with  his  MS.  Adieu ! 

809.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Feb.  25,  1762. 

WE  have  not  writ  to  one  another  a  great  while :  nothing 
has  happened  here  very  particular  of  a  public  nature.  Our 

N  2 


180  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

great  expedition  under  Lord  Albemarle  is  not  yet  sailed, 
but  waits,  I  believe,  for  a  card  from  Martinico1,  to  know 
how  it  will  be  received  there.  We  have  another  preparing 
for  Lisbon ;  Lord  Tyrawley  is  to  command  it,  but  goes  first 
to  see  whether  he  shall  want  it.  Dunn,  a  Jacobite  Irishman, 
who  married  the  daughter  of  Humphrey  Parsons2,  the 
brewer,  and  much  in  favour  at  Versailles,  is  named  to 
counterwork  Lord  Tyrawley  at  Lisbon.  Just  at  present 
we  have  a  distant  vision  of  peace ;  every  account  speaks 
the  new  Czar  disposed  to  Prussia, — I  hope  no  farther  than 
to  help  him  to  a  treaty,  not  to  more  glory  and  blood. 

We  have  had  an  odd  kind  of  Parliamentary  opposition, 
composed  only  of  the  King's  own  servants.  In  short,  in  the 
House  of  Lords  the  Duke  of  Bedford  made  a  motion  against 
the  German  war;  but  the  previous  question  was  put  and 
carried  by  105  to  16.  Seven  of  the  minority  protested. 
Yet  this  stifled  motion  attempted  to  take  root  in  our 
House.  Young  Bunbury  *,  whom  I  sent  to  you,  and  whom 
you  have  lately  sent  us  back,  and  who  is  enrolled  in  a  club 
of  chicken  orators,  notified  a  day  on  which  he  intended  to 
move  such  a  question  as  had  appeared  in  the  Lords.  When 
the  day  came,  no  Mr.  Bunbury  came — till  it  was  too  late. 
However,  he  pretended  to  have  designed  it,  and  on  the  1 5th 
appointed  himself  to  make  it  on  the  17th,  but  was  again 
persuaded  off,  or  repented,  and  told  us  he  would  reserve 
himself  and  his  objections  for  the  day  of  the  subsidy  to 
Prussia.  Nothing  was  ever  more  childish  than  these  scenes. 
To  show  himself  more  a  man,  he  is  going  to  marry  Lady 
Sarah  Lenox,  who  is  very  pretty,  from  exceeding  bloom  of 
youth :  but,  as  she  has  no  features,  and  her  beauty  is  not 

LETTER  809.  — l  An  expedition  Mayor  of  London.  Mr.  Dunn,  who 

under  General  Monckton  and  Ad-  married  his  eldest  daughter,  took 

miral  Rodney  captured  Martinique  the  title  of  Count  O'Dunn.  Walpole. 

on  Feh.  12,  1762.  *  He  was  afterwards  Sir  Thomas 

*    A    well-known    Jacobite    Lord  Charles  Bunbury.     Walpole. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  181 

likely  to  last  so  long  as  her  betrothed's,  he  will  probably 
repent  this  step,  like  his  motions. 

We  have  one  of  the  Queen's  brothers  here,  Prince  Charles ; 
and  she  herself,  I  believe,  is  breeding— a  secret  that,  during 
the  life  of  old  Cosimo  Kiccardi 4,  would  have  given  you  great 
weight  with  him. 

Our  foolish  ghost,  though  at  last  detected,  lasted  longer 
than  it  was  in  fashion:  the  girl  made  the  noises  herself; 
and  the  Methodists  were  glad  to  have  such  a  key  to  the 
credulity  of  the  mob.  Our  bishops,  who  do  not  dis- 
countenance an  imposture,  even  in  the  subdivisions  of  their 
religion,  looked  mighty  wise,  and  only  took  care  not  to  say 
anything  silly  about  it,  which,  I  assure  you,  considering  the 
capacities  of  most  of  them,  was  a  good  deal. 

You  have  not  sent  word  to  your  brother  or  me  what 
the  altar  cost.  I  should  much  oftener  plague  you  with 
commissions,  if  you  would  draw  for  them.  If  you  will 
not,  I  must  totally  stop,  concluding  you  had  rather  bestow 
your  money  than  your  trouble.  I  have  at  this  moment 
a  job,  with  which  I  will  make  the  trial.  I  have  been 
informed  that  at  Leghorn,  the  palace  (I  suppose  the  Great 
Duke's)  and  the  front  of  a  church5  (I  don't  know  which) 
were  designed  by  Inigo  Jones.  If  you  can  discover  them 
and  ascertain  the  fact,  or  great  probability  of  it,  I  should  be 
glad  to  have  drawings  of  them ;  but  subject  to  the  conclusion 
I  have  stated  above.  You  know  I  never  was  at  Leghorn,  so 
know  nothing  of  this  myself. 

I  almost  wish  to  stop  here,  and  not  relate  the  cruel  story 
I  am  going  to  tell  you ;  for  though  you  are  noways 
interested  for  any  of  the  persons  concerned,  your  tender 
nature  will  feel  for  some  of  them,  and  be  shocked  for  all. 

*  An    old    Marquis    Riccardi,  at       Walpole. 

Florence,  that  was  very  inquisitive  B  The  facade  of  the  cathedral  of 
about  pregnancies,  christenings,  &c.  Leghorn  is  attributed  to  Inigo  Jones. 


182  To  George  Montagu  [i?62 

Lord  Pembroke — Earl,  Lord  of  the  Bedchamber,  Major- 
General,  possessed  of  ten  thousand  pounds  a  year,  master 
of  Wilton,  husband  of  one  of  the  most  beautiful  creatures 6 
in  England,  father  of  an  only  son  \  and  himself  but  eight- 
and-twenty  to  enjoy  this  assemblage  of  good  fortune — is 
gone  off  with  Miss  Hunter,  daughter  to  one  of  the  Lords 
of  the  Admiralty8,  a  handsome  girl  with  a  fine  person,  but 
silly  and  in  no  degree  lovely  as  his  own  wife,  who  has  the 
face  of  a  Madonna,  and,  with  all  the  modesty  of  that  idea, 
is  dotingly  fond  of  him.  He  left  letters  resigning  all  his 
employments,  and  one  to  witness  to  the  virtue  of  Lady 
Pembroke,  whom  he  says  he  has  long  tried  in  vain  to  make 
hate  and  dislike  him.  It  is  not  yet  known  whither  this 
foolish  guilty  couple  have  bent  their  course ;  but  you  may 
imagine  the  distress  of  the  Earl's  family,  and  the  resentment 
of  the  house  of  Marlborough,  who  dote  on  their  sister :  Miss 
Helen's  family  too  takes  it  for  no  honour.  Her  story  is  not 
so  uncommon ;  but  did  ever  one  hear  of  an  Earl  running 
away  from  himself? 

I  have  just  published  a  new  book,  a  sort  of  History  of  the 
Arts  in  England 9 ;  I  will  send  it  you  on  the  first  oppor- 
tunity. Adieu ! 

810.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Feb.  25,  1762. 

I  SENT  you  my  gazette  but  two  days  ago  ;  I  now  write  to 
answer  a  kind  long  letter  I  have  received  from  you  since. 

I  have  heard  of  my  brother's  play  several  years  ago  ;  but 
I  never  understood  that  it  was  completed,  or  more  than 

•  Lady  Elizabeth  Spencer,  younger  1794. 

sister    of    George,    Duke    of    Marl-  8   Thomas    Orby    Hunter.      Miss 

borough.     Walpole.  Hunter  was  afterwards  married  to 

7  George  Augustus  Herbert  (1769-  a  Captain  Clarke.     Walpole. 

1827),  Lord  Herbert;  succeeded  his  9  Anecdotes  of  Painting  in  England. 

father  as  eleventh  Earl  of  Pembroke,  Walpole. 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  183 

a  few  detached  scenes.  What  is  become  of  Mr.  Bentley's 
play  and  Mr.  Bentley's  epistle  ? 

When  I  go  to  Strawberry,  I  will  look  for  where  Lord 
Cutts  was  buried  ;  I  think  I  can  find  it. 

I  am  disposed  to  prefer  the  younger  picture  of  Madame 
Grammont  by  Lely — but  I  stumble  at  the  price ;  twelve 
guineas  for  a  copy  in  enamel  is  very  dear.  Mrs.  Veezy1 
tells  me  his  originals  cost  sixteen,  and  are  not  so  good  as  his 
copies.  I  will  certainly  have  none  of  his  originals.  His; 
what  is  his  name  ?  I  would  fain  resist  this  copy ;  I  would 
more  fain  excuse  myself  for  having  it.  I  say  to  myself,  it 
would  be  rude  not  to  have  it,  now  Lady  Kingsland  and 
Mr.  Montagu  have  had  so  much  trouble— well— 7  think 
I  must  have  it,  as  my  Lady  Wishfort2  says,  why  does  not 
the  fellow  take  me?  Do  try  if  he  will  not  take  ten. 
Kemember  it  is  the  younger  picture — and,  oh !  now  you 
are  remembering,  don't  forget  all  my  prints  and  a  book 
bound  in  vellum.  There  is  a  thin  folio  too  I  want,  called 
Hibernica s :  it  is  a  collection  of  curious  papers,  one  a  transla- 
tion by  Carew  Earl  of  Totness — I  had  forgot  that  you  have  no 
books  in  Ireland — however,  I  must  have  this;  and  your 
pardon  for  all  the  trouble  I  give  you. 

No  news  yet  of  the  runaways4,  but  all  that  comes  out 
antecedent  to  the  escape  is  more  and  more  extraordinary 
and  absurd.  The  day  of  the  elopement  he  had  invited  his 
wife's  family  and  other  folk  to  dinner  with  her,  but  said  he 
must  himself  dine  at  a  tavern — but  he  dined  privately  in  his 
own  dressing-room,  put  on  a  sailor's  habit,  and  black  wig, 
that  he  had  brought  home  with  him  in  a  bundle,  and 

LKTTIB  810.— *  Elizabeth  (d.  1791),  of  the  World. 

daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Vesey,  Baro-  8  Hibernica,  or  some  Ancient  Pieces 

net  (Bishop  of  Ossory;  m.  I.William  relating  to  the  History  bf  Ireland,  by 

Handcock ;  2.  Agmondesham  Vesey.  Walter  Harris. 

Her  London  parties  were  almost  as  4  The  Earl  of  Pembroke  and  Miss 

famous  as  Mrs.  Montagu's.  Hunter. 

2  A  character  in  Congreve's  Way 


184  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury          [i?62 

threatened  the  servants  he  would  murder  them  if  they 
mentioned  it  to  his  wife.  He  left  a  letter  for  her,  which 
the  Duke  of  Marlborough  was  afraid  to  deliver  to  her,  and 
opened.  It  desired  she  would  not  write  to  him,  as  it  would 
make  him  completely  mad.  The  poor  soul,  after  the  first 
transport,  seemed  to  bear  it  tolerably,  but  has  been  writing 
to  him  ever  since.  He  desires  the  King  would  preserve  his 
rank  of  Major-General,  as  some  time  or  other  he  may  serve 
again.  Here  is  an  indifferent  epigram  made  on  the  occasion ; 
I  send  it  to  you,  though  I  wonder  anybody  could  think  it 
a  subject  to  joke  upon : 

As  Pembroke  a  horseman  by  most  is  accounted, 

'Tis  not  strange  that  his  Lordship  a  Hunter  has  mounted. 

Adieu !  yours  ever,  H.  W. 


811.    To  THE  COUNTESS  OP  AILESBURY. 

MADAM,  Strawberry  Hill,  March  5,  1762. 

One  of  your  slaves,  a  fine  young  officer,  brought  me  two 
days  ago  a  very  pretty  medal  from  your  Ladyship.  Amidst 
all  your  triumphs  you  do  not,  I  see,  forget  your  English 
friends,  and  it  makes  me  extremely  happy.  He  pleased  me 
still  more,  by  assuring  me  that  you  return  to  England  when 
the  campaign  opens.  I  can  pay  this  news  by  none  so  good 
as  by  telling  you  that  we  talk  of  nothing  but  peace.  We 
are  equally  ready  to  give  law  to  the  world,  or  peace. 
Martinico  has  not  made  us  intractable.  We  and  the  new 
Czar  are  the  best  sort  of  people  upon  earth:  I  am  sure, 
Madam,  you  must  adore  him ;  he  is  willing  to  resign  all  his 
conquests,  that  you  and  Mr.  Conway  may  be  settled  again 
at  Park  Place.  My  Lord  Chesterfield,  with  the  despondence 
of  an  old  man  and  the  wit  of  a  young  one,  thinks  the  French 
and  Spaniards  must  make  some  attempt  upon  these  islands, 
arid  is  frightened  lest  we  should  not  be  so  well  prepared  to 


1762]          To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury  185 

repel  invasions  as  to  make  them:  he  says,  'What  will  it 
avail  us  if  we  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  our  own  soul  ? ' 

I  am  here  alone,  Madam,  and  know  nothing  to  tell  you. 
I  came  from  town  on  Saturday  for  the  worst  cold  I  ever 
had  in  my  life,  and,  what  I  care  less  to  own  even  to  myself, 
a  cough.  I  hope  Lord  Chesterfield  will  not  speak  more 
truth  in  what  I  have  quoted,  than  in  his  assertion,  that 
one  need  not  cough  if  one  did  not  please.  It  has  pulled  me 
extremely,  and  you  may  believe  I  do  not  look  very  plump, 
when  I  am  more  emaciated  than  usual.  However,  I  have 
taken  James's  powder  for  four  nights,  and  have  found 
great  benefit  from  it ;  and  if  Miss  Conway  does  not  come 
back  with  sotoante  el  douze  quartiers,  and  the  hauteur  of 
a  landgravine,  I  think  I  shall  still  be  able  to  run  down 
the  precipices  at  Park  Place  with  her — this  is  to  be  under- 
stood, supposing  that  we  have  any  summer.  Yesterday 
was  the  first  moment  that  did  not  feel  like  Thule :  not  a 
glimpse  of  spring  or  green,  except  a  miserable  almond-tree, 
half  opening  one  bud,  like  my  Lord  Powerscourt's *  eye. 

It  will  be  warmer,  I  hope,  by  the  King's  Birthday,  or 
the  old  ladies  will  catch  their  deaths.  There  is  a  court 
dress  to  be  instituted — (to  thin  the  Drawing-rooms) — stiff- 
bodied  gowns  and  bare  shoulders.  What  dreadful  dis- 
coveries will  be  made  both  on  fat  and  lean  !  I  recommend 
to  you  the  idea  of  Mrs.  Cavendish,  when  half-stark ;  and 
I  might  fill  the  rest  of  my  paper  with  such  images,  but 
your  imagination  will  supply  them ;  and  you  shall  excuse 
me,  though  I  leave  this  a  short  letter :  but  I  wrote  merely 
to  thank  your  Ladyship  for  the  medal,  and,  as  you  perceive, 
have  very  little  to  say,  besides  that  known  and  lasting 
truth,  how  much  I  am  Mr.  Conway's  and  your  Ladyship's 
faithful  humble  servant,  HOB.  WALPOLE. 

LETTER  811.— *  Edward  Wingfield  (1729-1764),  second  Viscount  Powers- 
court. 


186  To  George  Montagu  [1762 

812.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  March  9,  1762. 

I  AM  glad  you  have  received  my  books  safe,  and  are  con- 
tent with  them.  I  have  little  idea  of  Mr.  Bentley's  Odes ; 
though  his  imagination  is  sufficiently  Pindaric,  nay,  obscure, 
his  numbers  are  not  apt  to  be  so  tuneful  as  to  excuse  his 
flights.  He  should  always  give  his  wit,  both  in  verse  and 
prose,  to  somebody  else  to  make  up.  If  any  of  his  things 
are  printed  at  Dublin,  let  me  have  them — I  have  no  quarrel 
to  his  talents. 

Your  cousin's *  behaviour  has  been  handsome,  and  so  was 
his  speech ;  which  is  printed  in  our  papers. 

Advice  is  arrived  to-day,  that  our  troops  have  made  good 
their  landing  at  Martinico.  I  don't  know  any  of  the  inci- 
dents yet. 

You  ask  me  for  an  epitaph  for  Lord  Cutts ;  I  scratched  out 
the  following  lines  last  night  as  I  was  going  to  bed  ;  if  they 
are  not  good  enough,  pray  don't  take  them  ;  they  were  written 
in  a  minute,  and  you  are  under  no  obligation  to  like  them  : 

Late  does  the  Muse  approach  to  Cutts's  grave, 
But  ne'er  the  grateful  Muse  forgets  the  brave ; 
He  gave  her  subjects  for  th'  immortal  lyre, 
And  sought  in  idle  hours  the  tuneful  choir; 
Skilful  to  mount  by  either  path  to  fame, 
And  dear  to  mem'ry  by  a  double  name. 
Yet  if  ill-known  amid  th'  Aonian  groves, 
His  shade  a  stranger  and  unnoticed  roves, 
The  dauntless  chief  a  nobler  band  may  join: 
They  never  die,  who  conquer'd  at  the  Boyn. 

The  last  line  intends  to  be  popular  in  Ireland ;  but  you 
must  take  care  to  be  certain  that  he  was  at  the  battle  of  the 
Boyn ;  I  conclude  so ;  and  it  should  be  specified  the  year, 

LETTER  812. — l  Lord  Halifax  re-  Viceroy,  although  he  accepted  it  for 
fused  an  addition  to  his  salary  as  his  successors. 


1762]  To  the  Eev.  Henry  Zouch  187 

when  you  erect  the  monument.  The  latter  lines  mean  to 
own  his  having  been  but  a  moderate  poet,  and  to  cover  that 
mediocrity  under  his  valour ;  all  which  is  true.  Make  the 
sculptor  observe  the  stops. 

I  have  not  been  at  Strawberry  above  a  month,  nor  ever 
was  so  long  absent ;  but  the  weather  has  been  cruelly  cold 
and  disagreeable.  We  have  not  had  a  single  dry  week  since 
the  beginning  of  September ;  a  great  variety  of  weather,  all 
bad.  Adieu  !  Yours  ever, 

H.W. 

813.    To  THE  REV.  HENRY  ZOUCH. 

Arlington  Street,  March  20,  1762. 

I  AM  glad  you  are  pleased,  Sir,  with  my  Anecdotes  of 
Painting ;  but  I  doubt  you  praise  me  too  much :  it  was  an 
easy  task  when  I  had  the  materials  collected,  and  I  would 
not  have  the  labours  of  forty  years,  which  was  Vertue's 
case,  depreciated  in  compliment  to  the  work  of  four  months, 
which  is  almost  my  whole  merit.  Style  is  become,  in  a 
manner,  a  mechanical  affair,  and  if  to  much  ancient  lore  our 
antiquaries  would  add  a  little  modern  reading,  to  polish  their 
language  and  correct  their  prejudices,  I  do  not  see  why  books 
of  antiquities  should  not  be  made  as  amusing  as  writings  on 
any  other  subject.  If  Tom  Hearne  had  lived  in  the  world, 
he  might  have  writ  an  agreeable  history  of  dancing;  at 
least,  I  am  sure  that  many  modern  volumes  are  read  for  no 
reason  but  for  their  being  penned  in  the  dialect  of  the  age. 

I  am  much  beholden  to  you,  dear  Sir,  for  your  remarks ; 
they  shall  have  their  due  place  whenever  the  work  pro- 
ceeds to  a  second  edition,  for  that  the  nature  of  it  as  a 
record  will  ensure  to  it.  A  few  of  your  notes  demand 
a  present  answer:  the  Bishop  of  Imola1  pronounced  the 

LETTER  813. — 1  The  ecclesiastic  re-      Walpole,  in  his  Anecdotes,  with  that 
presented  in  Mabuse's  'Marriage  of      Bishop. 
Henry  VII1  was  identified  by  Horace 


188  To  the  Rev.  Henry  Zouch  [1752 

nuptial  benediction  at  the  marriage  of  Henry  VII,  which 
made  me  suppose  him  the  person  represented. 

Burnet,  who  was  more  a  judge  of  character  than  statues, 
mentions  the  resemblance  between  Tiberius  and  Charles  II ; 
but,  as  far  as  countenances  went,  there  could  not  be  a  more 
ridiculous  prepossession  ;  Charles  had  a  long  face,  with  very 
strong  lines,  and  a  narrowish  brow ;  Tiberius  a  very  square 
face,  and  flat  forehead,  with  features  rather  delicate  in  pro- 
portion. I  have  examined  this  imaginary  likeness,  and  see 
no  kind  of  foundation  for  it2.  It  is  like  Mr.  Addison's 
Travels,  of  which  it  was  so  truly  said,  he  might  have  com- 
posed them  without  stirring  out  of  England.  There  are  a 
kind  of  naturalists  who  have  sorted  out  the  qualities  of  the 
mind,  and  allotted  particular  turns  of  features  and  com-- 
plexions  to  them.  It  would  be  much  easier  to  prove  that 
every  form  has  been  endowed  with  every  vice.  One  has 
heard  much  of  the  vigour  of  Burnet  himself;  yet  I  dare 
to  say,  he  did  not  think  himself  like  Charles  II. 

I  am  grieved,  Sir,  to  hear  that  your  eyes  suffer ;  take 
care  of  them ;  nothing  can  replace  the  satisfaction  they 
afford  :  one  should  hoard  them,  as  the  only  friend  that  will 
not  be  tired  of  one  when  one  grows  old,  and  when  one 
should  least  choose  to  depend  on  others  for  entertainment. 
I  most  sincerely  wish  you  happiness  and  health  in  that  and 
every  other  instance. 

2  King  Charles  II's  'person  and  an   appearance  of  softness,   brings 

temper,  his  vices  as  well  as  his  for-  them  so  near  a  likeness,  that  I  did 

tunes,  did  resemble  the  character  not  wonder   much  to   observe    the 

that  we  have  given  as  of  Tiberius  so  resemblance  of  their  face  and  person, 

much,  that  it  were  easy  to  draw  the  At  Borne  I  saw  one  of  the  last  statues 

parallel  between  them.    Tiberius  his  made  for  Tiberius,  after  he  had  lost 

banishment,  and  his  coming  after-  his  teeth  ;  but  bating  the  alteration 

wards  to  reign,  makes  the  comparison  which  that  made,  it  was  so  like  King 

in  that  respect  come  pretty  near.    His  Charles,  that  Prince  Borghese,  and 

hating  of  business,  and  his  love  of  Signior  Dominico  to  whom  it   be- 

pleasures,  his  raising  of  favourites  longed,  did  agree  with  me  in  think- 

and  trusting  them  entirely,  and  his  ing  that  it  looked  like  a  statue  made 

pulling  them  down  and  hating  them  for  him.'    (Burnet,  History  of  My  Own 

excessively,  his  art  of  covering  deep  Time,  ed.  Airy,  vol.  ii.  p.  470.) 
designs,  particularly  of  revenge,  with 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  189 


814.    To  SIR  HOBACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  March  22,  1762. 

You  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  send  for  a  conquest,  and 
I  send  it  you :  Martinico  is  yours.  Victory,  it  seems,  did 
not  expire  with  George  II,  nor  resign  with  Mr.  Pitt.  The 
whole  island  was  not  subdued  when  the  express  came  away, 
but  little  remained  to  be  mastered.  In  short,  General 
Monckton  *,  by  the  first  dispatch,  promised  it  all,  and  when 
he  has  so  well  kept  the  greatest  part  of  his  word,  it  would 
be  abominable  to  doubt  the  residue.  He  is  a  hero  in  all  the 
forms,  eager  to  engage,  and  bold  to  perform.  This  con- 
quest is  entirely  owing  to  his  bravery,  to  his  grenadiers, 
and  his  sailors,  and  I  don't  question  but  he  will  achieve 
the  whole,  though  George  Townshend  is  not  there  to  take 
the  capitulation  and  the  glory  out  of  his  mouth2.  The 
great  fear  was  the  climate:  of  that  I  own  I  shall  be  as 
much  afraid  when  we  have  got  the  island,  for  it  cannot  be 
an  article  of  the  surrender  that  the  climate  should  only 
kill  its  enemies,  not  its  masters.  This  is  a  vast  event,  and 
must  be  signally  so  to  Lord  Albemarle,  who  will  find  a 
victorious  army  ready  to  sail  with  him  on  new  exploits ; 
and  the  Spaniards,  I  should  think,  are  not  more  trained 
than  the  French,  not  to  be  surprised  at  our  hardiness. 

Well !  I  wish  we  had  conquered  the  world,  and  had 
done  !  I  think  we  were  full  as  happy  when  we  were  a 
peaceable  quiet  set  of  tradesfolks,  as  now  we  are  heirs- 
apparent  to  the  Romans,  and  overrunning  East  and  West 
Indies.  The  new  Czar  seems  to  admire  heroes  more  than 
I  do ;  he  is  quite  an  enthusiast  to  the  King  of  Prussia ; 

LITTER  814. — l  Robert,  Monckton,  severely  wounded, 

brother  of  the  Earl  of  Galway.     Wai-  2  George,  Lord  Townshend,  on  the 

pole. — Second   in    command    under  death  of  General  Wolfe,  received  the 

Wolfe    at    Quebec,   where    he    was  capitulation  of  Quebec.     Walpole. 


190  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

it  may  save  the  latter,  but  woe  to  the  world  when  such 
a  portion  of  the  globe  is  in  the  hands  of  a  man  who  admires 
a  great  general !  I  can  tell  you  no  more  of  Martinico  than 
you  will  see  in  the  Gazette,  nor  little  else  that  is  new.  Lord 
Pembroke  is  quite  forgotten.  He  and  his  nymph  were 
brought  back  by  a  privateer,  who  had  obligations  to  her 
father,  but  the  father  desired  no  such  recovery,  and  they 
are  again  gone  in  quest  of  adventures.  The  Earl  was  so 
kind  as  to  invite  his  wife  to  accompany  them ;  and  she, 
who  is  all  gentleness  and  tenderness,  was  with  difficulty 
withheld  from  acting  as  mad  a  part  from  goodness,  as  he 
had  done  from  guilt  and  folly. 

Your  master,  Lord  Egremont,  is  dying  of  an  apoplectic 
lethargy ;  and  your  friend,  Lord  Melcombe,  will,  I  believe, 
succeed  him.  Your  old  acquaintance,  Mrs.  Goldsworthy 3, 
was  t'other  night  at  Bedford  House ;  I  never  saw  her,  and 
wanted  to  see  her,  but  missed  her.  Lady  Mary  Wortley 
too  was  there,  dressed  in  yellow  velvet  and  sables,  with 
a  decent  laced  head  and  a  black  hood,  almost  like  a  veil, 
over  her  face.  She  is  much  more  discreet  than  I  expected, 
and  meddles  with  nothing— but  she  is  wofully  tedious  in 
her  narrations. 

By  this  time  you  have  seen  my  charming  Duchess 4. 
I  shall  build  an  altar  to  Pam,  for  having  engaged  her, 
when  the  house  fell  at  Kome,  where  she  was  invited  to 
a  concert. 

You  scold  me  for  going  to  see  the  ghost,  and  I  don't 
excuse  myself ;  but  in  such  a  town  as  this,  if  a  ghost  is  in 
fashion,  one  must  as  much  visit  it,  as  leave  one's  name  with 
a  new  Secretary  of  State.  I  expect  soon  that  I  shall  keep 
Good  Friday,  for  enthusiasm  is  growing  into  fashion  too ; 
and  while  they  are  cancelling  holidays  at  Rome,  the  Metho- 

3  Her  husband  had  been  Consul  at  *  Anne,  Duchess  of  Grafton.  Wal- 
Leghorn.  Walpole.  pole. 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  ,  191 

dists  are  reviving  them  here.  We  have  never  recovered 
masquerades  since  the  earthquake  at  Lisbon.  Your  country 
is  very  victorious,  but  by  no  means  a  jot  wiser  than  it  was. 
I  hope,  and  I  think  I  did  not  forget  to  tell  you  how  much 
I  like  the  altar ;  you  are  not  apt  to  neglect  a  commission, 
or  to  execute  it  ill.  My  gallery  and  tribune  will  be 
finished  this  summer,  and  then  I  shall  trouble  you  about 
the  brocadella.  Mr.  T.  Pitt  has  taken  a  sweet  little  house 
just  by  me  at  Twickenham,  which  will  be  a  comfortable 
addition  to  my  viUeggiatura.  Adieu  ! 

P.S.  I  am  sorry  for  my  Florentine  friends,  that  they  are 
losing  their  good  governor,  Marshal  Botta — there  are  not 
many  of  the  species  in  an  Austrian  court. 

815.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  March  22,  1762. 

You  may  fancy  what  you  will,  but  the  eyes  of  all  the 
world  are  not  fixed  upon  Ireland.  Because  you  have  a  little 
virtue,  and  a  Lord  Lieutenant  that  refuses  four  thousand 
pounds  a  year,  and  a  Chaplain 1  of  a  Lord  Lieutenant  that 
declines  a  huge  bishopric,  and  a  Secretary  whose  eloquence 
can  convince  a  nation  of  blunderers,  you  imagine  that 
nothing  is  talked  of  but  the  Castle  of  Dublin. — In  the  first 
place,  virtue  may  sound  its  own  praises,  but  it  never  is 
praised ;  and  in  the  next  place  there  are  other  feats  besides 
self-denials ;  and  for  eloquence,  we  overflow  with  it.  Why, 
the  single  eloquence  of  Mr.  Pitt,  like  an  annihilated  star, 
can  shine  many  months  after  it  has  set.  I  tell  you,  it  has 
conquered  Martinico.  If  you  will  not  believe  me,  read  the 
Gazette ;  read  Monckton's  letter ;  there  is  more  martial 

LITTER  815. — 1  Dr.  Crane,  Chaplain      the  bishopric  of  Elphin.    (Note  in  4to 
to  the  Earl  of  Halifax,  had  refused      (1819)  ed.  of  Letters  to  Montagu.) 


192  To  George  Montagu  [i762 

spirit  in  it  than  in  half  Thucydides,  and  in  all  the  Grand 
Cyrus.  Do  you  think  Demosthenes  or  Themistocles  ever 
raised  the  Grecian  stocks  two  per  cent,  in  four-and-twenty 
hours  ?  I  shall  burn  all  my  Greek  and  Latin  books ;  they 
are  histories  of  little  people.  The  Eomans  never  conquered 
the  world,  till  they  had  conquered  three  parts  of  it,  and 
were  three  hundred  years  about  it ;  we  subdue  the  globe  in 
three  campaigns  ;  and  a  globe,  let  me  tell  you,  as  big  again 
as  it  was  in  their  days.  Perhaps  you  may  think  me  proud  ; 
but  you  don't  know  that  I  had  some  share  in  the  reduction 
of  Martinico ;  the  express  was  brought  by  my  godson,  Mr. 
Horatio  Gates 2 ;  and  I  have  a  very  good  precedent  for  attri- 
buting some  of  the  glory  to  myself ;  I  have  by  me  a  love- 
letter,  written  during  my  father's  administration,  by  a 
journeyman  tailor  to  my  mother's  second  chambermaid  ;  his 
offers  were  honourable ;  he  proposed  matrimony,  and  to  better 
his  terms,  informed  her  of  his  pretensions  to  a  place :  they 
were  founded  on  what  he  called,  some  services  to  the  govern- 
ment. As  the  nymph  could  not  read,  she  carried  the  epistle 
to  the  housekeeper  to  be  deciphered,  by  which  means  it 
came  into  my  hands.  I  inquired  what  were  the  merits  of 
Mr.  Vice-Crispin,  was  informed  that  he  had  made  the  suit 
of  clothes  for  a  figure  of  Lord  Marr,  that  was  burned  after 
the  Kebellion.  I  hope  now  you  don't  hold  me  too  pre- 
sumptuous for  pluming  myself  on  the  reduction  of  Martinico. 

2  'Gates  was  the  son  of  a  house-  old  myself.  This  godson,  Horatio 
keeper  of  the  second  Duke  of  Leeds,  Gates,  was  protected  by  General  Corn  - 
who,  marrying  a  young  husband  wallis  when  Governor  of  Halifax ; 
when  very  old,  had  this  son  by  him.  but,  being  afterwards  disappointed  of 
That  Duke  of  Leeds  had  been  saved,  preferment  in  the  army,  he  joined  the 
when  guilty  of  a  Jacobite  plot,  by  my  Americans.'  (Horace  Walpole,  Last 
father,  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  and  the  Journals,  vol.  ii.  p.  200.)  On  the  out- 
Duke  was  very  grateful,  and  took  break  of  the  War  of  Independence 
great  notice  of  me  when  I  was  quite  Gates  received  a  command  in  the 
a  boy.  My  mother's  woman  was  inti-  American  army.  He  defeated  Bur- 
mate  with  that  housekeeper,  and  goyne  at  Saratoga  (1777),  and  was 
thence  I  was  godfather  to  her  son,  himself  defeated  by  Cornwallis  at 
though  I  believe  not  then  ten  years  Camden  (1780).  He  died  in  1806. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  193 

— However,  I  shall  not  aspire  to  a  post,  nor  to  marry  my 
Lady  Bute's  abigail.  I  only  trust  my  services  to  you  as 
a  friend,  and  do  not  mean,  under  your  temperate  adminis- 
tration, to  get  the  list  of  Irish  pensions  loaded  with  my 
name,  though  I  am  godfather  to  Mr.  Horatio  Gates. 

The  Duchess  of  Grafton  and  the  English  have  been 
miraculously  preserved  at  Home  by  being  at  loo,  instead 
of  going  to  a  great  concert,  where  the  palace  fell  in,  and 
killed  ten  persons  and  wounded  several  others.  I  shall 
send  orders  to  have  an  altar  dedicated  in  the  Capitol : 

Pammio  0.  M. 

Capitolino 

Ob  Annam  Ducissam  de  Grafton 
Merito  Incolwnem. 

I  tell  you  of  it  now,  because  I  don't  know  whether  it  will 
be  worth  while  to  write  another  letter  on  purpose.  Lord 
Albemarle  takes  up  the  victorious  grenadiers  at  Martinico, 
and  in  six  weeks  will  conquer  the  Havannah.  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

HORATIO. 

816.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  April  13,  1762. 

I  AM  two  letters  in  your  debt,  without  much  capital  to 
pay  them.  This  twilight  between  Parliament  and  the 
campaign  is  not  favourable  for  news.  The  Houses  are  not 
prorogued  indeed,  but  the  end  of  a  session  always  languishes, 
and  we  actually  are  adjourned  for  the  holidays ;  and  what 
is  more,  for  Newmarket.  All  that  was  reported  of  the  Czar 
proves  true,  but  is  of  consequence  only  to  the  King  of 
Prussia ;  even  the  conquest  of  Martinico  has  not  advanced 
the  Peace.  The  other  Empress  must  die  too,  I  believe, 
before  her  rage  will  subside.  Portugal  cries  out  for  help, 
and  our  troops  are  going  thither ;  but  I  don't  think  that 

WALPOLE.    V  ft 


194  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

every  Spanish  soldier  in  the  world  will  march  to  Lisbon. 
There  are  some  grumblings  in  Ireland,  which  look  as  if 
that  kingdom  would  not  be  quite  inactive  this  summer. 
A  set  of  levellers1  there  have  been  committing  great  dis- 
orders for  some  time,  and  we  think  there  is  a  leaven  of 
French  officers  and  Spanish  gold  among  them.  Two  regi- 
ments of  dragoons  have  been  ordered  against  them,  and  are 
to  be  followed  by  some  foot.  In  short,  our  enemies  must 
try  something,  and  cannot  sit  entirely  tranquil,  while  the 
Havannah  is  probably  following  the  fate  of  Martinico. 
Well!  we  may  make  a  bad  peace  at  last,  and  yet  keep 
a  good  deal ! 

I  don't  know  how  to  execute  the  request  made  to 
Palombo8  for  my  father's  history,  for  the  Nouvelles  Litte- 
raires.  I  have  very  slender  opinion  of  the  capacity  of  such 
panegyrists.  Anecdotes,  which  they  could  not  comprehend, 
and  would  mangle,  are  not  fit  to  be  dispensed  to  such  shops. 
All  I  can  do,  I  think,  is  to  transcribe  the  principal  dates  of 
his  life  from  Collins's  Peerage,  for  there  is  no  good  life  of 
him  :  this,  I  suppose,  would  content  both  Italian  writers 
and  readers.  If  I  have  time  before  the  post  goes  out,  I  will 
subjoin  the  extract  to  this  letter,  or  send  it  by  next  mail. 

It  was  very  true  that  Miss  Hunter  was  brought  back  by 
a  privateer,  but  her  father  desired  she  might  be  released ; 
so  they  sailed  again.  Don't  compassionate  Lord  Pembroke  ; 
he  is  a  worthless  young  fellow.  He  does  nothing  but  write 
tender  and  mournful  letters  to  his  charming  wife,  which 
distress  her,  and  are  intended  to  draw  money  from  her.  He 
is  forgotten  here,  which  is  the  best  thing  can  happen  to  him. 

LETTER  816. — *  The  name '  levellers '  of  the  Whiteboys  were  high  rents  and 

applies  to  their  practice  of  leTelling  low  wages,  those  of  the  Oakboys  the 

walls  and  ditches,  with  a  view  to  exorbitant    tithes ;    and    all    com- 

'  restoring   the    ancient    commons.'  plained  of  the  heavy  rates  levied  for 

The  rioters  were  known  as  White-  road-making. 

boys  in  the  south  of  Ireland,  and  as  2  Secretary  to  Sir  Horace  Mann. 

Oakboye  in  the  north.  The  grievances  Walpole. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  195 

How  could  I  not  commend  the  altar?  It  was  just  the 
thing  I  wished,  and,  if  anything,  prettier  than  I  wished. 
I  would  by  no  means  come  into  the  tariff  you  propose  to 
me  between  us,  if  I  did  not  think  it  would  be  convenient 
to  you.  I  wish  so  much  to  contribute  to  your  satisfaction 
in  any  shape,  that  if  it  will  facilitate  it  I  will  even  consent 
to  your  paying  for  your  commissions ;  but  then  you  must 
take  care  they  are  numerous.  Your  brother  James  is  really 
a  good  creature,  but  he  is  not  your  brother  Gal ;  there  was 
but  one  he!  James  has  no  notion  of  the  delicacies  and 
attentions  of  friendship,— I  hope  I  have ;  therefore  let  me 
be  your  factotum.  Write  to  me  and  employ  me  without 
reserve,  and  you  shall  prescribe  your  own  terms, — that  is, 
if  they  are  not  too  much  in  my  favour.  To  open  the  inter- 
course, I  desire  you  will  send  me  the  new  volume  of 
Herculaneum ;  it  is  the  third,  but  only  the  second  of  prints. 
Don't  let  us  baulk  our  wishes,  but  without  ceremony  draw 
bills  regularly  for  the  commissions  we  execute  ;  and  paying 
them  shall  be  all  your  brother  James  shall  do. 

Mr.  T.  Pitt  has  taken  a  small  house  at  Twickenham, 
within  a  stone's-throw  of  me.  This  will  add  to  the  comfort 
of  my  Strawberry-tide.  He  draws  Gothic  with  taste,  and 
is  already  engaged  on  the  ornaments  of  my  cabinet  and 
gallery.  Adieu ! 

P.S.  Here  are  the  notes  for  my  father's  eulogium.  I  fear 
you  will  be  plagued  in  translating  the  terms  into  Italian. 
Let  them  look  to  the  Latin. 

EGBERT  WALPOLE  was  born  at  Houghton  in  Norfolk, 
August  26th,  1675.  He  was  third  son  of  Kobert  Walpole  of 
the  same  place,  but  his  two  elder  brothers  dying  before 
their  father,  he  succeeded  the  latter,  in  1700,  in  an  estate  of 
above  2,OOOZ.  a  year :  and  was  chosen  member  of  Parliament 
for  Lynn  in  every  Parliament,  except  in  the  year  1711,  from 

o  2 


196  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

his  father's  death  till  his  own  admission  into  the  peerage  in 
1742. 

He  was  extremely  in  the  confidence  of  the  Lord  Treasurer 
Godolphin,  and  particularly  employed  by  him  in  drawing 
Queen  Anne's  speeches.  On  the  change  of  the  ministry 
great  offers  were  made  to  him  by  Lord  Treasurer  Oxford, 
but  he  adhered  steadily  to  the  Whig  party,  and  was  so 
formidable  to  the  Tory  administration  that  they  sent  him 
to  the  Tower;  after  he  had  been  one  of  the  council  to 
Prince  George  in  the  Admiralty  in  1705,  Secretary  at  War 
in  1707,  and  Treasurer  of  the  Navy  in  1709.  In  that  year 
he  was  one  of  the  managers  of  the  House  of  Commons 
against  Dr.  Sacheverel. 

On  the  accession  of  George  I,  he  was  made  Paymaster  of 
the  Forces;  and  in  October  1715  was  appointed  First  Lord 
of  the  Treasury  and  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer ;  and  the 
same  year  was  elected  Chairman  of  the  Secret  Committee 
appointed  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  Queen  Anne's  last 
administration. 

On  the  differences  between  the  King  and  Prince  of  Wales, 
he  followed  the  latter,  and  resigned  his  employments ;  but, 
in  June  1720,  he  was  again  made  Paymaster  of  the  Forces, 
and  in  April  1721  became  once  more  First  Lord  of  the 
Treasury,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  Prime  Minister, 
as  he  continued  during  the  whole  remainder  of  that  reign, 
and  under  the  successor ;  and  was  several  times  one  of  the 
Lords  Justices  during  the  absences  of  those  kings. 

May  27th,  1725,  he  was  made  Knight  of  the  Bath,  on  the 
revival  of  that  Order ;  and  in  the  same  month  of  the 
ensuing  year  was  created  Knight  of  the  Garter — the  only 
commoner  who  had  received  such  an  honour  since  the 
restoration  of  Charles  II. 

He  enjoyed  his  post  of  Prime  Minister  till  February  9th, 
1742,  when  the  opposition  prevailing  in  Parliament,  he 
resigned  his  employments,  and  was  created  Earl  of  Orford. 
His  enemies  obtained  a  secret  committee  to  inquire  into  the 
last  ten  years  of  his  administration  ;  but  being  able  to  prove 
no  more  crimes  against  him,  though  he  had  lost  his  power, 
than  they  could  while  he  held  it,  he  enjoyed  to  his  death 
that  tranquillity  and  honour  that  were  due  to  his  virtues, 
services,  and  age. 


1762]  To  the  Earl  of  Egremont  197 

He  died  of  the  stone,  in  Arlington  Street,  March  25th, 
1745,  aged  near  seventy.  His  first  wife  was  Catherine 
Shorter,  by  whom  he  had  Robert,  his  successor,  created 
a  baron  by  George  I,  and  Knight  of  the  Bath ;  Sir  Edward, 
Knight  of  the  Bath ;  and  Horatio ;  Catherine,  who  died 
unmarried ;  and  Mary,  married  to  George  Earl  of  Chol- 
mondeley,  Lord  Privy  Seal  in  the  reign  of  George  II.  Sir 
Robert  married,  secondly,  Maria  Skerret,  by  whom  he  had 
one  daughter,  Lady  Maria,  married  to  Charles  Churchill, 
Esq. 

817.    To  THE  EAKL  OF  EGBEMONT(?). 

MY  LORD  Arlington  Street,  April  20,  1762. 

I  must  entreat  your  Lordship  to  be  assured  that  in  what 
I  am  going  to  say  I  have  neither  positive  nor  negative 
view;  and  only  lay  the  following  information  before  you, 
as  I  think  it  mine  and  every  man's  duty  to  contribute  their 
mite  to  the  service  of  his  Majesty  and  his  country. 

I  happened  lately  to  have  in  my  hands  the  journal  of  the 
Admiral  Earl  of  Sandwich,  when  he  was  Embassador  at 
Madrid,  negotiating  a  truce  between  Spain  and  Portugal. 
He  sets  down  a  very  exact  relation  of  the  then  force  of  each 
country,  as  he  received  it  from  Don  Gulielmo  Cascar, 
a  Scotch  Sergeant-Major  of  Battalia,  in  the  Spanish  army  in 
Badajoz;  and  adds  this  particular  passage  from  the  same 
intelligence : 

The  climate  (he  is  speaking  of  the  war  on  the  frontiers 
of  Portugal)  too  is  very  unfit  for  war,  there  being  only  two 
months,  viz.  April  and  May,  fit  for  a  campania,  and  then 
begins  drowth  and  heat,  that  it  is  impossible  for  an  army 
to  be  kept  together  in ;  and  at  the  latter  end  of  the  year  the 
season  is  temperate  enough  again,  but  then  the  rains  are  so 
uncertain,  sometimes  coming  earlier  (in  September)  some- 

LETTER  817. — Not  in  C. ;  now  first  dressed ;  it  may  have  been  written 

published  from  original  in  possession  to  the  Earl  of  Egremont,    as   Sec- 

of  Mr.   F.  Sabin,  118   Shaftesbury  rotary    of  State    for  the  Southern 

Avenue,  W.    The  letter  is  not  ad-  Province. 


198  To  George  Montagu  [i?62 

times  later,  and  when  they  come,  they  make  the  country  so 
soft,  that  the  artillery  cannot  stir,  but  must  stay  where  the 
rain  finds  them,  what  design  soever  they  are  upon. 

He  says  (adds  Lord  Sandwich)  the  armies  usually  retire 
to  the  quarters  from  the  hot  season  about  July  15th. 

I  will  beg  your  Lordship  not  to  mention  this  intelligence 
as  coming  from  me.  If  it  is  of  any  use  to  your  Lordship, 
or  of  any  service  in  general,  I  am  satisfied,  and  am, 

My  Lord, 

Your  Lordship's 
Most  obedient 
Humble  Servant, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 


818.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  April  29,  1762. 

I  AM  most  assuredly  glad  to  hear  you  are  returned  well 
and  safe,  of  which  I  have  at  this  moment  received  your 
account  from  Hankelow,  where  you  talk  of  staying  a  week. 
However,  not  knowing  the  exact  day  of  your  departure, 
I  direct  this  to  Greatworth,  that  it  may  rather  wait  for  you, 
than  you  for  it,  if  it  should  go  into  Cheshire  and  not  find 
you  there. 

As  I  should  ever  be  sorry  to  give  you  any  pain,  I  hope 
I  shall  not  be  the  first  to  tell  you  of  the  loss  of  poor  Lady 
Charlotte  Johnston l,  who,  after  a  violent  fever  of  less  than 
a  week,  was  brought  to  bed  yesterday  morning  of  a  dead 
child,  and  died  herself  at  four  in  the  afternoon.  I  heartily 
condole  with  you,  as  I  know  your  tenderness  for  all  your 
family,  and  the  regard  you  have  for  Colonel  Johnston.  The 
time  is  wonderfully  sickly ;  nothing  but  sore  throats,  colds, 

LETTEB  818.  —  *  Sixth  daughter  of  Colonel  James  Johnston.  (See 
of  first  Earl  of  Halifax,  and  wife  Table  H.) 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  199 

and  fevers.  I  got  rid  of  one  of  the  worst  of  these  disorders, 
attended  with  a  violent  cough,  by  only  taking  seven  grains 
of  James's  powder  for  six  nights.  It  was  the  first  cough 
I  ever  had,  and  when  coughs  meet  with  so  spare  a  body  as 
mine,  they  are  not  apt  to  be  so  easily  conquered.  Take 
great  care  of  yourself,  and  bring  the  fruits  of  your  expedition 
in  perfection  to  Strawberry.  I  shall  be  happy  to  see  you 
there  whenever  you  please.  I  have  no  immediate  purpose 
of  settling  there  yet,  as  they  are  laying  floors,  which  is  very 
noisy,  and  as  it  is  uncertain  when  the  Parliament  will  rise  ; 
but  I  would  go  there  at  any  time  to  meet  you.  The  town 
will  empty  instantly  after  the  King's  birthday  ;  and  con- 
sequently I  shall  then  be  less  broken  in  upon,  which  I  know 
you  do  not  like.  If,  therefore,  it  suits  you,  any  time  you 
will  name  after  the  5th  of  June  will  be  equally  agreeable  to 
me ;  but  sooner,  if  you  like  it  better. 

We  have  little  news  at  present  (except  a  profusion  of  new 
peerages),  but  are  likely,  I  think,  to  have  much  greater 
shortly.  The  ministers  disagree,  and  quarrel  with  as  much 
alacrity  as  ever;  and  the  world  expects  a  total  rupture 
between  Lord  Bute  and  the  late  King's  servants.  This 
comedy  has  been  so  often  represented,  it  scarce  interests 
one,  especially  one  who  takes  no  part,  and  who  is  deter- 
mined to  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  world,  but  hearing 
and  seeing  the  scenes  it  furnishes. 

The  new  peers  (I  don't  know  their  rank,  scarce  their 
titles)  are  Lord  Wentworth2  and  Sir  William  Courtney8, 
Viscounts ;  Lord  Egmont,  Lord  Milton,  Vernon  of  Sudbury  *, 
old  Fox  Lane 6,  Sir  Edward  Montagu 6,  Barons,  and  Lady 

*  Edward  Noel  (1715-1774),  eighth  1780),  of  Sndbnry,  Derbyshire ;    cr. 
Baron    Wentworth  ;    cr.    Viscount  (May  12, 1762)  Baron  Vernon  of  Kin- 
Wentworth.  derton,  Cheshire, 

*  Sir  William  Courtenay,  Baronet  6  George  Fox  Lane,  or.  (May  4, 
(1710-1762),   of  Powderham   Castle,  1762)    Baron    Bingley    of    Bingley, 
Devonshire ;  cr.  Viscount  Courtenay.  Yorkshire. 

*  George  Venables  Vernon  (1708-  6  Sir   Edward  Hussey  -  Montagu, 


200  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

Caroline  Fox,  a  Baroness ;  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  is  created 
Lord  Pelham,  with  an  entail  to  Tommy  Pelham ;  and  Lord 
Brudenel7  is  called  to  the  House  of  Lords,  as  Lord 
Montagu.  The  Duchess  of  Manchester  was  to  have  had 
the  peerage  alone,  and  wanted  the  latter  title:  her  sister 
(very  impertinently,  I  think,  as  being  the  younger)  objected, 
and  wished  her  husband  Marquis  of  Monthermer.  This 
difference  has  been  adjusted,  by  making  Sir  Edward 
Montagu  Lord  Bewley,  and  giving  the  title  of  the  family 
to  Lord  Brudenel.  With  pardon  of  your  Cw-blood,  I  hold 
that  Lord  Cardigan  makes  a  very  trumpery  figure  by  so 
meanly  relinquishing  all  Brudenelhood. 

Adieu !  let  me  know  soon  when  you  will  keep  your 
Strawberry-tide. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

P.S.  Lord  Anson  is  in  a  very  bad  way ;  and  Mr.  Fox, 
I  think,  in  not  a  much  better. 

819.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  April  30,  1762. 

SOME  people  think  we  are  going  to  have  peace — whatever 
we  have  abroad,  it  does  not  increase  at  home.  The 
ministers  are  divided  ;  the  old  for  continuing  the  German 
war  (take  care  you  don't  look  back  to  my  letters  of  last 
October),  the  new  for  supporting  Portugal ;  neither  point 
is  resolved,  consequently  either  will  not  be  over  timely. 
With  much  affection  for  Portugal,  and  seriously  with 

K.B.,    husband     of    the    Dowager  Brudenell,  eldest  son  of  fourth  Earl 

Duchess  of  Manchester ;  or.  (May  11,  of   Cardigan    (afterwards    Duke    of 

1762)  Baron  Beaulicu  of  Beaulieu,  Montagu),  whom  he  predeceased ;  cr. 

Hampshire.  Baron  Montagu  of  Boughton. 
7  John  Montagu  (1735-1770),  Lord 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  201 

much  commiseration,  I  cannot  entirely  lament  that  Spain 
is  occupied  there.  If  we  quarrel  on  great  chapters,  you 
may  be  sure  we  do  not  agree  more  on  little  ones.  A  new 
cargo  of  peers  has  set  much  ill-humour  afloat,  for  when 
large  pains  are  taken  to  content  many,  they  are  sure  to 
offend  more.  As  I  neither  wished  to  be  a  peer,  nor  to 
hinder  anybody  else  from  being  one,  I  can  repeat  the  list 
without  any  gall. 

Lord  Wentworth  and  Sir  William  Courtney  Viscounts, 
same  names. 


Lord  Milton,  "V  /  Milton. 

Sir  Edward  Montagu,  (  r>  J  Beaulieu,  or  Beirley. 

Fox  Lane,  f  ±5aroJ          }  Bingley. 

Vernon  of  Sudbury,  /  '  Vernon. 


Lady  Caroline  Fox,  a  Baroness,  Lady  Holland.  Lord 
Brudenel  called  up  to  the  House  of  Lords  as  Lord  Montagu. 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  created  Lord  Pelham,  with  reversion 
to  your  friend  Mr.  Pelham ;  and  Lord  Egmont l  made 
Lord  Lou  vain  and  Holland,  and  Baron  of  Enmore. 

The  Flemish  titles  of  Lord  Egmont  are  very  diverting, — 
I  suppose  he  is  descended  from  one  of  the  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  brats  of  the  Countess  of  Holland.  People 
recollect  a  pamphlet,  published  in  the  reign  of  James  I, 
called  A  Help  to  Weak  Memories,  for  the  use  of  those 
who  would  know  all  the  new  peers ;  and  they  tell  a  story 
of  a  Neapolitan,  who  being  offered  a  dukedom  by  the 
Germans,  when  they  were  so  profuse  of  honours  at  Naples, 
refused  it,  unless  they  would  make  his  footman  a  duke  too  ; 
but  in  this  country  ten  new  peerages  will  at  least  produce 
twenty  bons  mots.  Our  war  is  more  serious,  and  I  wish 
it  well  finished.  It  is  uncertain  whether  we  will  give  the 
King  of  Prussia  a  subsidy,  or  whether  he  will  accept  it. 

LETTER  819.  — l  John  Pcrcival,  He  was  created  Baron  Lovel  and 
second  Earl  of  Egmont.  Walpole. —  Holland  of  Enmore. 


202  To  George  Montagu  [i?62 

The  disturbances  in  Ireland  are  at  least  checked ;  the 
insurgents  are  driven  into  bogs  and  woods.  The  French 
squadron  narrowly  escaped  their  fate :  sailing  to  Martinico, 
they  met  their  own  prisoners  conducted  to  France,  and 
steered  away ;  but  Kodney  soon  followed  them,  with 
thirteen  ships  to  their  eight,  and  we  hope  will  overtake 
them  ;  however,  it  is  plain  they  had  not  joined  the  Spanish 
fleet.  The  chief  of  our  naval  affairs,  Lord  Anson,  is  dying 
at  Bath.  Indeed,  many  of  our  former  actors  seem  to  be 
leaving  the  stage:  Lord  Granville  is  much  broken,  and 
Mr.  Fox  in  a  very  bad  state  of  health  ;  but  Lord  Egremont 
is  recovered. 

Poor  Lady  Pembroke  has  at  last  acted  with  spirit.  Her 
Lord  being  ordered  to  the  German  army,  wrote  that  he 
had  a  mind  to  come  over  first  and  ask  her  pardon.  To 
the  surprise  of  her  family  and  without  their  instigation, 
she  sent  him  word  that  she  was  surprised  he  could  think 
of  showing  himself  in  England  ;  and,  for  her  part,  she 
never  wished  to  see  him,  till  he  should  have  retrieved 
his  character. 

I  am  very  happy,  as  I  told  you,  in  my  new  neighbour 
Mr.  Pitt ;  he  calls  his  small  house  Palazzo  Pitti 2 ;  which 
does  not  look  as  if  he  had  forgotten  you,  and  sounds 
pleasantly  in  my  ears.  Adieu  ! 

820.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  May  14,  1762. 

IT  is  very  hard,  when  you  can  plunge  over  head  and 
ears  in  Irish  claret,  and  not  have  even  your  heel  vulnerable 
by  the  gout,  that  such  a  Pythagorean  as  I  am  should  yet 
be  subject  to  it  I  It  is  not  two  years  since  I  had  it  last, 
and  here  am  I  with  my  foot  again  upon  cushions — but 
8  Name  of  the  Great  Duke's  palace  at  Florence.  Walpole, 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  203 

I  will  not  complain ;  the  pain  is  trifling,  and  does  little 
more  than  prevent  my  frisking  about.  If  I  can  bear  the 
motion  of  the  chariot,  I  shall  drive  to  Strawberry  to- 
morrow, for  I  had  rather  only  look  at  verdure  and  hear  my 
nightingales  from  the  bow-window,  than  receive  visits  and 
listen  to  news.  I  can  give  you  no  certain  satisfaction 
relative  to  the  Viceroy,  your  cousin.  It  is  universally  said 
that  he  has  no  mind  to  return  to  his  dominions,  and  pretty 
much  believed  that  he  will  succeed  to  Lord  Egremont's 
Seals,  who  will  not  detain  them  long  from  whoever  is 
to  be  his  successor. 

I  am  sorry  you  have  lost  another  Montagu,  the  Duke  of 
Manchester.  Your  cousin  Guilford  is  among  the  com- 
petitors for  Chamberlain  to  the  Queen.  The  Duke  of 
Chandos1,  Lord  Northumberland,  and  even  the  Duke  of 
Kingston,  are  named  as  other  candidates;  but  surely  they 
will  not  turn  the  latter  loose  into  another  chamber  of 
Maids  of  Honour !  Lord  Cantelupe  has  asked  too  to  rise 
from  Vice-Chamberlain,  but  met  with  little  encouragement. 
It  is  odd,  that  there  are  now  seventeen  English  and  Scotch 
dukes  unmarried,  and  but  seven  out  of  twenty-seven  have 
the  Garter. 

It  is  very  comfortable  to  me  to  have  a  prospect  of 
seeing  Mr.  Conway  soon ;  the  ruling  part  of  the  adminis- 
tration are  disposed  to  recall  our  troops  from  Germany. 
In  the  meantime  our  officers  and  their  wives  are  embarked 
for  Portugal — what  must  Europe  think  of  us,  when  we 
make  wars  and  assemblies  all  over  the  world  ? 

I  have  been  for  a  few  days  this  week  at  Lord  Thomond's 2 ; 
by  making  a  river-like  piece  of  water,  he  has  converted 
a  very  ugly  spot  into  a  tolerable  one.  As  I  was  so  near, 
I  went  to  see  Audley  Inn  once  more — but  it  is  only  the 

LKTTEB  820. — *  Henry  Brydgea  2  Shortgrove,  near  Saffron Walden, 
(1708-1 771\  second  Duke  of  Chandos.  in  Essex. 


204  To  the  Rev.   William  Cole  [i762 

monument  now  of  its  former  grandeur.  The  gallery  is 
pulled  down,  and  nothing  remains  but  the  great  hall,  and 
an  apartment  like  a  tower  at  each  end.  In  the  church  * 
I  found,  still  existing  and  quite  fresh,  the  escutcheon  of 
the  famous  Countess  of  Essex  and  Somerset 4. 

Adieu!  I  shall  expect  you  with  great  pleasure  the 
beginning  of  next  month. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

821.    To  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

DEAR  SlB,  Strawberry  Hill,  May  20,  1762. 

You  have  sent  me  the  most  kind  and  obliging  letter  in 
the  world,  and  I  cannot  sufficiently  thank  you  for  it ;  but 
I  shall  be  very  glad  to  have  an  opportunity  of  acknowledging 
it  in  person,  by  accepting  the  agreeable  visit  you  are  so 
good  as  to  offer  me,  and  for  which  I  have  long  been 
impatient.  I  should  name  the  earliest  day  possible  ;  but, 
besides  having  some  visits  to  make,  I  think  it  will  be  more 
pleasant  to  you  a  few  weeks  hence  (I  mean  any  time  in 
July)  when  the  works  with  which  I  am  finishing  my 
house  will  be  more  advanced,  and  the  noisy  part,  as  laying 
floors  and  fixing  wainscots,  at  an  end,  and  which  now 
make  me  in  a  deplorable  litter.  As  you  give  me  leave, 
I  will  send  you  notice. 

I  am  glad  my  books  amused  you — yet  you,  who  are 
so  much  deeper  an  antiquarian,  must  have  found  more 
faults  and  omissions,  I  fear,  than  your  politeness  suffers 
you  to  reprehend.  Yet  you  will,  I  trust,  be  a  little  more 
severe.  We  both  labour,  I  will  not  say  for  the  public, 
for  the  public  troubles  its  head  very  little  about  our 
labours,  but  for  the  few  of  posterity  that  shall  be  curious, 

»  Saffron  Walden  Church.  Howards,  Earls  of  Suffolk,  former 

4  She  was  of  the  family  of  the      owners  of  the  Walden  estates. 


1762]  To  the  Eev.   William  Cole  205 

and  therefore,  for  their  sakes,  you  must  assist  me  in 
making  my  work  as  complete  as  possible.  This  sounds 
ungrateful,  after  all  the  trouble  you  have  given  yourself: 
but  I  say  it  to  prove  my  gratitude,  and  to  show  you  how 
fond  I  am  of  being  corrected. 

For  the  faults  of  impression,  they  were  owing  to  the 
knavery  of  a  printer,  who,  when  I  had  corrected  the  sheets, 
amused  me  with  revised  proofs,  and  never  printed  off  the 
whole  number,  and  then  ran  away — this  accounts,  too,  for 
the  difference  of  the  ink  in  various  sheets,  and  for  some 
other  blemishes ;  though  there  are  still  enough  of  my  own 
which  I  must  not  charge  on  others. 

Ubaldini's l  book  I  have  not,  and  shall  be  pleased  to  see 
it ;  but  I  cannot  think  of  robbing  your  collection,  and  am 
amply  obliged  by  the  offer. 

The  anecdotes  of  Horatio  Palavacini2  are  extremely 
entertaining.  In  an  Itinerary  of  the  late  Mr.  Smart 
Lethuillier,  I  met  the  very  tomb  of  Gainsborough3  this 
winter  that  you  mention,  and,  to  be  secure,  sent  to  Lincoln 
for  an  exact  draft  of  it.  But  what  vexed  me  then,  and 
does  still,  is,  that  by  the  defect  at  the  end  of  the  in- 
scription, one  cannot  be  certain  whether  he  lived  in  CCC 
or  CCCC ;  as  another  C  might  have  been  there.  Have  you 
any  corroborating  circumstance,  Sir,  to  affix  his  existence 
to  1300,  more  than  to  1400?  Besides,  I  don't  know  any 
proof  of  his  having  been  architect  of  the  church,  his 

LETTER  821.  — 1  Petruccio  Ubal-  who  executed  the  carved  work  of  the 

dini,  a  Florentine  illuminator  and  Angel  Choir  in  Lincoln  Cathedral,  as 

scholar,  who  flourished  in  the  six-  well  as  that  on  the  crosses  in  memory 

teenth  century.    He  resided  for  some  of  Queen  Eleanor.    He  is  buried  in 

time  in  England,  and  is  noticed  in  the  cloister  at  Lincoln.    The  inscrip- 

the  Anecdotes  of  Painting.  tion  on  his  monument  is  as  follows : — 

3  Sir  Horatio  Pallavicini,  Knight  '  Hio  jacet  Hicardus  de  Gaynisburgh 

(d.  1600),  collector  of  the  Pope's  taxes  olym  cementarius  istius  ecclesie  qui 

in  England  during  the  reign  of  Queen  obiit    duodecim   kalendarum    junii 

Mary.  Anno  Domini  MCCC.'   (Kendrick,  Lin- 

3  Bichard  of  Gainsborough,  or  of  coin  Cathedral,  p.  142.) 
Stow  (a  village  dear  Gainsborough), 


206  To  George  Montagu  [i?62 

epitaph  only  calls  him   Caementarius,   which,   I  suppose, 
means  Mason. 

I  have  observed,  since  my  book  was  published,  what 
you  mention  of  the  tapestry  in  Laud's  trial 4 ;  yet  as  the 
Journals  were  my  authority,  and  certainly  cannot  be 
mistaken,  I  have  concluded  that  Hollar  engraved  his 
print  after  the  Eestoration.  Mr.  Wight,  clerk  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  says  that  Oliver  placed  them  in  the  House 
of  Commons. — I  don't  know  on  what  grounds  he  says  so. 
I  am,  Sir,  with  great  gratitude, 

Your  most  obliged  humble  servant, 
Hon.  WALPOLE. 


822.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  May  25,  1762. 

I  AM  diverted  with  your  anger  at  old  Kichard ;  can  you 
really  suppose  that  I  think  it  any  trouble  to  frank  a  few 
covers  for  you?  Had  I  been  with  you,  I  should  have 
cured  you  and  your  whole  family  in  two  nights  with 
James's  powder.  If  you  have  any  remains  of  the  disorder, 
let  me  beg  you  to  take  seven  or  eight  grains  when  you  go 
to  bed.  If  you  have  none,  shall  I  send  you  some?  For 
my  own  part,  I  am  released  again,  though  I  have  been 
tolerably  bad,  and  one  day  had  the  gout  for  several  hours  in 
my  head.  I  do  not  like  such  speedy  returns.  I  have  been 
so  much  confined  that  I  could  not  wait  on  Mrs.  Osborn,  and 
I  do  not  take  it  unkindly  that  she  will  not  let  me  have  the 
prints  without  fetching  them.  I  met  her,  that  is,  passed 
her,  t'other  day  as  she  was  going  to  Bushy,  and  was  sorry 
to  see  her  look  much  older. 


4  Cole  stated  that  the  tapestry  in       graved  in  Hollar's  print  of  Laud's 
the  House  of  Lords,  representing  the      trial, 
destruction  of  the  Armada,  was  en- 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  207 

Well !  to-morrow  is  fixed  for  that  phenomenon,  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle's  resignation1.  He  has  had  a  parting 
levee,  and  as  I  suppose  all  bishops  are  prophets,  they  foresee 
that  he  will  never  come  into  place  again,  for  there  was  but 
one  that  had  the  decency  to  take  leave  of  him,  after  crowding 
his  rooms  for  forty  years  together ;  it  was  Cornwallis a. 
I  hear  not  even  Lord  Lincoln  resigns.  Lord  Bute  succeeds 
to  the  Treasury,  and  is  to  have  the  Garter  too  on  Thursday, 
with  Prince  William.  Of  your  cousin  I  hear  no  more 
mention,  but  that  he  returns  to  his  island.  I  cannot  tell 
you  exactly  even  the  few  changes  that  are  to  be  made ; 
but  I  can  divert  you  with  a  Ion  mot,  which  they  give  to 
my  Lord  Chesterfield.  The  new  peerages  being  mentioned, 
somebody  said,  '  I  suppose  there  will  be  no  duke  made ' ; 
he  replied,  '  Oh  yes,  there  is  to  be  one.' — '  Is  ?  who  ? ' — 
'  Lord  Talbot — he  is  to  be  created  Duke  Humphrey,  and 
there  is  to  be  no  table  kept  at  court  but  his8.'  If  you 
don't  like  this,  what  do  you  think  of  George  Selwyn,  who 
asked  Charles  Boone  if  it  is  true  that  he  is  going  to  be 
married  to  the  fat  rich  Crawley4?  Boone  denied  it — 
'  Lord ! '  said  Selwyn,  '  I  thought  you  was  to  be  Patrick 
Fleming  on  the  mountain,  and  that  gold  and  silver  you 
were  counting  ! '. .  .B 

P.S.  I  cannot  help  telling  you  how  comfortable  the  new 
disposition  of  the  court  is  to  me  ;  the  King  and  his  wife 
are  settled  for  good  and  all  at  Buckingham  House6,  and 
are  stripping  the  other  palaces  to  furnish  it.  In  short,  they 

LKTTEU  822. — I  The  Duke's  resigna-  3  Alluding  to  the  extreme  economy 

tion  was  announced  on  May  26.    The  introduced  by  him  (as  Lord  Steward) 

reason  given  was  Lord  Bute's  refusal  into  the  royal  household, 

to  grant  farther  subsidies  to  the  King  4  Boone  married  Miss  Crawley  on 

of  Prussia.  Oct.  22,  1762. 

1  Hon.  Frederick  Cornwallis  (17 13-  c  Passage  omitted. 

1783),  seventh  son  of  fourth  Baron  6  Eecently     purchased     for     the 

Cornwallis ;  Bishop  of  Lichfield,  1750;  Queen. 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  1768. 


208  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

have  already  fetched  pictures  from  Hampton  Court,  which 
indicates  their  never  living  there  ;  consequently  Strawberry 
Hill  will  remain  in  possession  of  its  own  tranquillity,  and 
not  become  a  cheese-cake-house  to  the  palace.  All  I  ask 
of  Princes  is,  not  to  live  within  five  miles  of  me. 


823.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  May  26,  1762. 

WHENEVER  I  am  a  little  remiss  in  writing  to  you,  I  am 
sure  to  make  you  amends  by  a  revolution.  Anybody  would 
wait  five  weeks  for  a  letter,  if  it  was  to  tell  them  that  the 
government  was  turned  topsy-turvy.  Not  that  it  is  set 
upon  its  head  now ;  it  has  only  lost  an  old  tooth  that  had 
bit  all  the  world.  The  Duke  of  Newcastle  resigned  this 
morning !  Finding,  at  last,  to  his  great  surprise  that  he  had 
not  as  much  power  under  this  King  as  under  his  great- 
grandfather and  grandfather,  he  is  retired,  meditating, 
I  suppose,  a  plan  for  being  Prime  Minister  again  under 
this  King's  son.  Of  four-and-twenty  bishops  that  he  had 
made,  but  one  expects  this  restoration ;  all  the  rest,  hoping 
to  arrive  at  Canterbury  before  that  aera,  took  care  not  to 
be  at  his  Grace's  last  levee.  People  think  that  a  little 
more  than  want  of  power  had  been  necessary  to  make 
him  take  this  resolution,  and  that  all  kind  of  disgusts 
had  been  given  to  convince  him  how  unwelcome  his 
company  was.  This  is  the  second  revolution  in  a  year 
and  a  half — I  wish  the  next  struggle  be  not  a  little  more 
serious.  Lord  Bute  plays  a  dangerous  game ;  he  is  now 
First  Lord  of  the  Treasury,  and  is  to  have  the  Garter  to- 
morrow, with  Prince  William.  The  other  changes  are  few, 
for  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's  friends  episcopfee,  that  is,  abandon 
him,  or  are  ordered  to  remain  as  they  are.  Mr.  George 
Grenville  is  Secretary  of  State ;  and  Sir  Francis  Dash- 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  209 

wood  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer;  Mr.  Elliot1,  Treasurer 
of  the  Chambers.  The  Navy  Board  and  one  or  two  com- 
missions of  the  Treasury  will  be  all  the  other  vacancies. 

But  there  is  a  bigger  event  to  come ;  the  stocks  believe 
the  Peace  is  made,  and  lift  up  their  heads.  It  is  certain 
that  a  very  courteous  answer  is  arrived  from  France ;  and 
the  moneyd  philosophers,  who  do  not  look  on  dangers  as 
wise  measures,  conclude  that  unless  Lord  Bute  was  sure 
of  peace,  he  would  not  have  ventured  on  dismissing  the 
Duke.  If  you  should  not  hear  from  me  soon,  you  will  be 
persuaded  that  we  are  up  in  arms.  I  have  some  fear  that 
Spain  is  not  very  pacific :  they  have  begun  the  siege  of 
Miranda2.  I  used  to  expect  the  King  of  Prussia  at 
Somerset  House ;  perhaps  now  Queen  Catherine's 3  apart- 
ment will  be  inhabited  by  her  great  nephews  and  nieces. 
I  shall  have  curiosity  enough  to  go  and  see  Infantas,  though 
I  have  little  else  left :  I  have  none  of  that  vigour  of  ambition 
that  has  carried  on  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  for  five-and-forty 
years.  Three  slight  fits  of  the  gout  have  taught  me  what 
I  believe  all  the  ingratitude  of  the  clergy  of  Cambridge  *  has 
not  been  able  to  instil  into  him.  I  am  just  recovered  of  an 
attack,  far  from  painful,  except  one  day  that  it  was  in  my 
head ;  but  even  the  harbinger  of  age  is  sufficient  to  convince 
me  that  retirement  is  a  blessing. 

It  would  look  like  vanity  in  me  to  thank  you  for 
attentions,  where  so  much  attention  is  due ;  and  yet  I  am 
apt  to  think  you  did  pay  a  little  homage  extraordinary  on 
my  account  to  the  Duchess  of  Grafton.  I  am  pleased  you 
admire  her  so  much,  and  she  tells  me  how  charmed  she  is 
with  your  reception  of  her.  I  warned  you  to  expect  no  great 

LETTER    823.  —  *  Afterwards    Sir  s  Catherine  of  Braganza,  after  the 

Gilbert  Elliot.     Walpole.  death  of  Charles  II,  lived  at  Somerset 

*  In  the  province  of  Traz  os  Montes ;  House.     Walpole. 

taken  by  the  Spaniards  on  May  9,  *  The  Duke  was  Chancellor  of  that 

1762.  University. 


WALPOLK.  v 


210  To  George  Montagu  [1762 

beauty,  and  yet  the  more  you  saw  her,  did  not  you  like  her 
the  more?  Her  air,  and  manner,  and  majesty  are  quite 
her  own.  I  must  not  forget  my  thanks  too  for  Mr.  Morrice 
— you  must  have  had  some  satisfaction  in  talking  over  the 
Chute  and  me  with  him. 

You  may  imagine  that  I  am  anxious  to  have  the  Peace, 
and  to  see  Mr.  Conway  safe  in  England.  I  wish  it  privately 
and  publicly — I  pray  for  an  end  to  the  woes  of  mankind  ; 
in  one  word,  I  have  no  public  spirit,  and  don't  care  a  farthing 
for  the  interests  of  the  merchants.  Soldiers  and  sailors  who 
are  knocked  on  the  head,  and  peasants  plundered  or 
butchered,  are  to  my  eyes  as  valuable  as  a  lazy  luxurious 
set  of  men,  who  hire  others  to  acquire  riches  for  them  ; 
who  would  embroil  all  the  earth,  that  they  may  heap  or 
squander;  and  I  dare  to  say  this,  for  I  am  no  minister. 
Beckford  is  a  patriot5,  because  he  will  clamour  if  Guadaloupe 
or  Martinico  is  given  up,  and  the  price  of  sugars  falls.  I  am 
a  bad  Englishman,  because  I  think  the  advantages  of  com- 
merce are  dearly  bought  for  some  by  the  lives  of  many 
more.  This  wise  age  counts  its  merchants,  and  reckons 
its  armies  ciphers.  But  why  do  I  talk  of  this  age  ? — every 
age  has  some  ostentatious  system  to  excuse  the  havoc  it 
commits.  Conquest,  honour,  chivalry,  religion,  balance  of 
power,  commerce,  no  matter  what,  mankind  must  bleed,  and 
take  a  term  for  a  reason.  'Tis  shocking !  Good  night. 

824.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  June  8,  1762. 

WELL!  you  have  had  Mr.  Chute.  I  did  not  dare  to 
announce  him  to  you,  for  he  insisted  on  enjoying  all  your 
ejaculations.  He  gives  me  a  good  account  of  your  health 
and  spirits,  but  does  not  say  when  you  come  hither. 

6  William  Beckford,  of  Jamaica,  man  of  London ;  and  friend  of  Mr. 
and  Fonthill  in  Dorsetshire,  Alder-  Pitt.  Walpole. 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  211 

I  hope  the  General,  as  well  as  your  brother  John,  know 
how  welcome  they  would  be,  if  they  would  accompany  you. 
I  trust  it  will  be  before  the  end  of  this  month,  for  the  very 
beginning  of  July  I  am  to  make  a  little  visit  to  Lord 
Dchester,  in  Somersetshire1,  and  I  should  not  like  not  to 
see  you  before  the  middle  or  end  of  next  month. 

Mrs.  Osborn  has  sent  me  the  prints ;  they  are  woful ;  but 
that  is  my  fault  and  the  engraver's,  not  yours,  to  whom  I  am 
equally  obliged ;  you  don't  tell  me  whether  Mr.  Bentley's 
play  was  acted  or  not,  printed  or  not. 

There  is  another  of  the  Queen's  brothers  come  over. 
Lady  Northumberland  made  a  pompous  festino  for  him 
t'other  night ;  not  only  the  whole  house,  but  the  garden, 
was  illuminated,  and  was  quite  a  fairy  scene.  Arches  and 
pyramids  of  lights  alternately  surrounded  the  enclosure ; 
a  diamond  necklace  of  lamps  edged  the  rails  and  descent, 
with  a  spiral  obelisk  of  candles  on  each  hand  ;  and  dispersed 
over  the  lawn  were  little  bands  of  kettle-drums,  clarionets, 
fifes,  &c.,  and  the  lovely  moon,  who  came  without  a  card. 
The  Birthday  was  far  from  being  such  a  show  ;  empty  and 
unfine  as  possible.  In  truth,  popularity  does  not  make 
great  promises  to  the  new  administration,  and  for  fear  it 
should  hereafter  be  taxed  with  changing  sides,  it  lets 
Lord  Bute  be  abused  every  day,  though  he  has  not  had 
time  to  do  the  least  wrong  thing.  His  first  levee  was 
crowded.  Bothmar,  the  Danish  minister,  said,  'La  chaleur 
est  excessive!'  George  Selwyn  replied,  'Pour  se  mettre 
au  froid,  il  faut  aller  chez  Monsieur  le  Due  de  Newcastle.' 
There  was  another  George,  not  quite  so  tender:  George 
Brudenel  was  passing  by ;  somebody  in  the  mob  said, 
'What  is  the  matter  here?'  Brudenel  answered,  'Why, 
there  is  a  Scotchman  got  into  the  Treasury,  and  they  can't 

LETTER  824. — l  At  Redlynch  House,  near  Bruton. 
P  2 


212  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

get  him  out.'  The  Archbishop8,  conscious  of  not  having 
been  at  Newcastle's  last  levee,  and  ashamed  of  appearing  at 
Lord  Bute's  first,  pretended  he  had  been  going  by  in  his 
way  from  Lambeth,  and,  upon  inquiry,  had  found  it  was 
Lord  Bute's  levee,  and  so  had  thought  he  might  as  well  go 
in — I  am  glad  he  thought  he  might  as  well  tell  it. 

The  mob  call  Buckingham  House,  Holyrood  House — in 
short,  everything  promises  to  be  like  times  I  can  remember. 
Lord  Anson  is  dead — poor  Mrs.  Osborn  will  not  break  her 
heart.  I  should  think  Lord  Melcomb  would  succeed  to  the 
Admiralty.  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

825.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  June  20,  1762. 

I  SHALL  certainly  execute  your  commissions  cheerfully, 
punctually,  and  on  the  terms  you  desire:  the  Annual 
Registers,  I  mean  the  historic  parts,  are  incomparable.  The 
oratorios,  as  Mr.  Morrice  rightly  advises,  I  will  choose  by 
proxy ;  for,  as  he  and  you  know,  I  have  not  only  very  little 
music  in  me,  but  the  company  I  keep  are  far  from 
Handelians.  But  what  shall  I  say  about  your  brother 
James?  I  should  have  lectured  him  severely,  if  you  had 
not  enjoined  me  not — nay,  I  wish  you  would  permit  me  ; 
he  is  a  good  creature  in  general,  and  I  think  would  mind 
me  ;  but  attentions  are  not  his  excellence — I  need  not  repeat 
the  name  of  our  dear  Gal,  when  I  talk  of  attentions  and 
excellence]  he  was  perfect  from  the  least  offices  to  the 
greatest 

Have  you  not  felt  a  pang  in  your  royal  capacity?  Seriously, 
it  has  been  dreadful,  but  the  danger  is  over.  The  King  had 
one  of  the  last  of  these  strange  and  universally  epidemic 

>  Thomas  Seeker. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  213 

colds,  which,  however,  have  seldom  been  fatal:  he  had  a 
violent  cough,  and  oppression  on  his  breast,  which  he  con- 
cealed, just  as  I  had ;  but  my  life  was  of  no  consequence, 
and  having  no  physicians  in  ordinary,  I  was  cured  in  four 
nights  by  James's  powders,  without  bleeding.  The  King 
was  blooded  seven  times,  and  had  three  blisters.  Thank 
God,  he  is  safe,  and  we  have  escaped  a  confusion  beyond 
what  was  ever  known,  but  on  the  accession  of  the  Queen  of 
Scots — nay,  we  have  not  even  the  successor  born.  Faza- 
kerley1,  who  has  lived  long  enough  to  remember  nothing 
but  the  nonsense  of  the  law,  maintained,  according  to  their 
wise  tenets,  that  as  the  King  never  dies,  the  Duke  of  York 
must  have  been  proclaimed  King,  and  then  been  unpro- 
claimed  again  on  the  Queen's  delivery.  We  have  not  even 
any  standing  law  for  the  regency ;  but  I  need  not  paint  to 
you  all  the  difficulties  there  would  have  been  in  our 
situation. 

The  new  administration  begins  tempestuously.  My 
father  was  not  more  abused  after  twenty  years  than  Lord 
Bute  is  in  twenty  days.  Weekly  papers  swarm,  and  like 
other  swarms  of  insects,  sting.  The  cry  you  may  be  sure  is 
on  his  Scot-hood.  Lord  Halifax  *  is  made  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  but  will  keep  Ireland  for  some  time,  as  it  will 
not  be  necessary  to  appoint  a  new  Lord-Lieutenant  this 
twelvemonth.  He  is  popular  with  the  merchants,  so  that 
at  least  this  promotion  does  not  offend. 

Our  great  expedition  were  all  well  at  Martinico,  and  had 
lost  but  sixteen  men.  Lord  Albemarle  carried  thence  nine 
thousand  men.  We  are  very  sanguine,  and  reckon  the 
Havannah  ours ;  but  we  shall  not  know  it  at  least  before 
the  end  of  next  month. 

LKTTKB  825. — 1  Nicholas  Fazacker-  -  George  Montagu,  third  and  last 
ley,  Esq.,  an  eminent  Tory  lawyer.  Earl  of  Halifax.  Wai  pole. — He  was 
Walpole.  the  second  Earl  of  that  creation. 


214  To  Lady  Mary  Coke  [i?62 

I  smiled  at  your  idea  of  our  war  with  Spain  lying  in 
Portugal,  as  our  war  with  France  does  in  Germany.  The  latter 
is  dormant,  and  yet  I  do  not  think  the  Peace  advances.  Our 
allies,  the  Portuguese,  behave  wofully.  I  don't  know  what 
spirit  Count  La  Lippe s,  who  is  still  here,  will  transport  to 
them  from  Westphalia :  he  is  to  command  the  Portuguese, 
and  Lord  Tyrawley  the  English. 

This  is  a  diminutive  letter,  but  you  excuse  duodecimos  in 
summer. 

826.    To  LADY  MAEY  COKE. 

Strawberry  Hill,  June  80th,  1762. 

WHEN  Britons  are  victorious1,  it  is  impossible  not  to 
congratulate  the  first  heroine  of  Britain.  Pray,  Madam, 
did  your  Ladyship  command  Prince  Ferdinand  to  attack  the 
French  camp  in  revenge  for  the  Governor  of  Calais  presum- 
ing to  attempt  making  you  a  prisoner  ?  Or  did  the  spirit 
of  John,  Duke  of  Argyle,  inspire  his  countrymen  with  this 
ardour,  and  vindicate  his  daughter  from  such  an  insult? 
I  have  told  my  Lord  Hertford  that  I  expect  to  hear  your 
Ladyship  has  made  a  triumphant  entry  into  our  headquarters, 
and  that  with  becoming  dignity  you  have  obtained  from 
our  general  the  liberty  of  the  two  hundred  French  officers, 
a  proper  way  of  resenting  your  confinement.  Go  to  the 
army  you  certainly  will.  Steel  waters  you  cannot  want,  you 
who  want  nothing  but  a  helmet  to  be  taken  for  Britannia. 

Pray,  let  me  know  in  time ;  it  would  be  most  shameful 
in  me  to  be  languishing  under  an  acacia,  while  my  sovereign 

8  Comte  de  la  Lippe  had  been  born  during  the  Seven  Years'  War. 

in  England,  his  father  and  mother  LETTER  826. — Not  in  C. ;  reprinted 

being  here  in  the  reign  of  George  L  from  Lettert  and  Journal*  of  Lady 

Walpole. — William,  Count  of  Lippe-  Mary  Coke,  vol.  iii.  pp.  xv-xvi. 

Buckeburg  (1724-1777).    His  mother  *  At  Wilhelmsthal  in  Hesse-Casael, 

was  a  daughter  of  George  I  by  the  where  on  June  24,  1762,  Prince  Fer- 

Duchess  of  Kendal.    He  acted  as  Ord-  dinand  defeated  the  French  under 

nance  Master  to  Prince  Ferdinand  Soubise  and  D'Estrees. 


1762]  To  Lady  Mary  Coke  215 

lady  is  at  the  head  of  a  squadron.  All  our  other  militant 
dames  have  followed  their  husbands;  your  Ladyship  will 
follow  victory,  and  influence  more.  It  is  grievous  that  one 
female  Campbell 8  should  have  quitted  Germany  at  the  open- 
ing of  a  campaign — no,  I  will  go  fetch  my  Lady  Ailesbury 
from  Park  Place,  and  my  Lady  Cecilia,  who  is  not  big 
enough  yet  to  hurt  Master  Johnson's  head  by  wearing  a  coat 
of  mail,  though  I  fear  she  and  I  shall  look  a  little  like 
starved  vultures  that  follow  the  army  for  prey.  As  to  peace, 
it  is  now  undoubtedly  removed  to  a  great  distance ;  there 
can  be  no  end  of  war  while  another  Mary  has  Calais  written 
on  her  heart,  and  a  Mary  whose  heart  will  not  easily  break. 
I  know  to  my  sorrow  how  invulnerable  it  is  !  Well !  I  can 
but  go  and  be  killed.  I  shall  die  in  your  sight,  and  you 
will  revenge  my  death,  though  you  would  not  save  my  life. 
I  did  not  think  this  would  be  my  end,  but  the  Kong  of 
Prussia  and  other  great  men  have  been  made  heroes,  whom 
nature  never  intended  for  the  profession,  yet  I  cannot  help 
laughing  to  think  what  a  figure  I  shall  make  !  for  I  am  too 
much  a  Goth,  and  not  so  much  a  hero,  but  I  will  be  com- 
pletely armed — and  from  my  own  armoury  here.  A  rusty 
helmet  with  rotten  wadding ;  a  coat  of  mail  that  came  from 
Coombe,  and  belonged  to  a  trooper  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick 3  ; 
it  will  be  full  heavy  for  my  strength,  but  there  is  a  mark  of 
its  being  bullet-proof — alas !  I  had  forgot  I  am  to  be  shot — 
one  gauntlet ;  I  have  no  more  ;  a  Persian  shield  enamelled, 
a  Chinese  bow,  quiver,  and  arrows,  an  Indian  sabre  and 
dagger,  and  a  spear  made  of  wood  with  fifty  points.  Dear 

1  The  Cotmtess  of  Ailesbury  had  to  the  great  Richard  Neville  Earl  of 

recently  returned  to  England.  Warwick.  These  arms  therefore  prob- 

8  '  Two  suits  of  armour,  on  one  of  ably  were  part  of  those  which  served 
which  is  the  mark  of  a  bullet ;  two  his  troops  when  he  marched  to  West- 
helmets  ;  a  gauntlet ;  a  round  leathern  minster  to  awe  the  Parliament  in  the 
quiver  ;  and  two  pair  of  stirrups ;  reign  of  Henry  the  Sixth.'  (Detcrip- 
from  Coombe,  near  Kingston  in  tion  of  Strawberry  Hill.) 
Surry,  which  seat  formerly  belonged 


216  To  George  Montagu  [1762 

Lady,  don't  set  out  without  me,  stay  for  Sir  Scudamore. 
Cannot  you  find  any  little  episode  to  amuse  you  in  the 
meantime  ?  How  has  the  Bishop  of  Liege 4  behared  to  you  ? 
has  he  neglected  to  kiss  the  hem  of  your  garment  ?  dispossess 
him ;  order  the  Chapter  to  elect  another.  I  flatter  myself 
you  cannot  want  warfare.  '  Confined  to  an  inn !  Sir,  I  never 
was  a  prisoner  yet ;  I  will  not  stay  a  moment  in  your  town.' 
Dear  Lady  Mary,  how  I  honour  your  spirit !  I  can  give 
you  a  very  good  account  of  part  of  your  family.  I  was  at 
Sudbroke  this  evening  and  saw  the  Duchess  and  Lady  Betty 
in  perfect  health.  Mr.  McKinsy  told  me  of  the  battle. 

If  you  had  not  had  my  heart  before,  you  would  have  won 
it  by  your  kind  attention  to  Lady  Hertford  ;  but  I  fear  all 
is  in  vain.  She  will  not  hear  of  Spa,  and  is  gone  to-day  to 
Kagley,  and  I  doubt  will  go  to  Ireland.  Nothing  touches 
her  about  herself ;  she  is  as  indifferent  to  that,  as  active  and 
anxious  about  her  family.  Adieu,  Madam.  Whether  we 
meet  on  the  banks  of  the  Elbe  or  the  Thames,  you  know 
I  am 

Most  devotedly  yours, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

827.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Wednesday  night 

SINCE  you  left  Strawberry,  the  town  (not  the  King  of 

Prussia)  has  beaten  Count  Daun,  and  made  the  Peace,  but 

the  benefits  of  either  have  not  been  felt  beyond  Change  Alley. 

Lord  Melcomb  is  dying  of  a  dropsy  in  his  stomach,  and 

Lady  Mary  Wortley  of  a  cancer  in  her  breast. 

Mr.  Hamilton  was  here  last  night,  and  complained  of 

*  John  Theodore  of  Bavaria,  Bishop  C.  Jane  1,  1762.  (See  Notet  and 
of  Liege,  1744-63.  Queries,  Feb.  17,  1900.) 

LETTER  827. — Wrongly   dated  by 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  217 

your  not  visiting  him.  He  pumped  me  to  know  if  Lord 
Hertford  has  not  thoughts  of  the  crown  of  Ireland,  and  was 
more  than  persuaded  that  I  should  go  with  him.  I  told 
him  what  was  true,  that  I  knew  nothing  of  the  former,  and 
for  the  latter,  that  I  would  as  soon  return  with  the  King  of 
the  Cherokees1. — When  England  has  nothing  that  can  tempt 
me,  it  would  be  strange  if  Ireland  had.  The  Cherokee 
Majesty  dined  here  yesterday  at  Lord  Macclesfield's,  where 
the  Olive  sang  to  them  and  the  mob — don't  imagine  I  was 
there,  but  I  heard  so  at  my  Lady  Suffolk's. 

We  have  tapped  a  little  butt  of  rain  to-night,  but  my 
lawn  is  far  from  being  drunk  yet.  Did  not  you  find  the 
Vine  in  great  beauty?  My  compliments  to  it,  and  to  your 
society — I  only  write  to  enclose  the  enclosed.  I  have 
consigned  your  button  to  old  Kichard.  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

I  hope  Mr.  John  has  had  no  return. 

828.    To  SIB  HORACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  July  1,  1762. 

I  NEVER  attempt  to  tell  you  the  first  news  of  a  battle  in 
Germany,  which  must  always  reach  you  before  it  can  arrive 
here  and  be  sent  to  Florence.  I  scarcely  ought  to  call  it  a 
battle,  though  it  is  a  victory  for  us ;  but  the  French  (to 
speak  in  Gibber's  style)  have  outrun  their  usual  outrunnings l. 
Their  camp  was  ill-guarded,  and  Prince  Ferdinand  surprised 
it.  At  first  their  cavalry  made  a  decent  show  of  advancing, 
but  soon  turned  and  fled.  Stainville 2  flung  three  thousand 

1  Three  Cherokee  chiefs  from  South  'Mrs.  Gibber  had  outdone  her  usual 

Carolina  arrived  in  London  on  June  outdoings.'     Walpole. 

21 ;  they  set  ont  on  their  return  in  *  Jacques  de  Choiseul,  Marquis  de 

the  following  August.  Stainville,  brother  of  the  Duo  de 

LETTER  828. — 1  Gibber,  in  the  Pro-  Choiseul. 
face  to  his  Provoked  Husband,  said, 


218  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

men  into  a  wood  to  cover  their  retreat ;  they  were  all  taken, 
with  above  one  hundred  and  forty  officers ;  he  himself  is 
believed  slain.  Our  loss  was  trifling ;  two  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  a  Captain  Middleton s  killed ;  and  Colonel  Henry 
Townshend,  a  brave  spirited  young  fellow  of  parts,  youngest 
son  of  Mr.  Thomas  Townshend.  The  French  grenadiers 
raved  against  their  commanders,  who,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will 
shift  off  the  blame  on  each  other,  quarrel,  and  pass  the 
campaign  in  altercation.  D'Estr6es  will  not  make  Broglio 4 
appear  a  worse  general  than  Soubize.  Lord  Granby  is  much 
commended.  My  chief  joy  arises  from  knowing  Mr.  Conway 
is  safe. 

Poor  Lady  Ailesbury  is  just  arrived,  and  this  is  the  first 
taste  of  the  peace  she  promised  herself.  Unless  the  French 
now  despair  of  Germany,  where  their  fairest  prospect  lay, 
I  should  think  this  action  likely  to  continue  the  war ;  and 
I  don't  doubt  but  Prince  Ferdinand  hoped  it  would.  He 
had  much  ground  to  regain  here,  and  has  now  revived  the 
passions  of  the  people,  who  will  not  be  eager  for  peace  on 
the  morrow  of  a  victory,  nor  be  very  reasonable  after  re- 
peated successes.  Lord  Bute's  situation  is  unpleasant :  mis- 
fortunes would  remind  us  of  Mr.  Pitt's  glory ;  advantages 
will  stiffen  us  against  accepting  even  such  a  peace  as  he 
rejected ;  and,  I  think,  two  Havannahs  lost  will  not  weigh 
with  the  Spaniards  against  their  rapid  progress  in  Portugal : 
the  recovery  of  that  diadem  will  soothe  their  pride  more 
than  any  province  taken  from  them  will  mollify  it.  The 
Portuguese  behave  shamefully;  Lord  Tyrawley  is  coming 
home  disgusted  with  the  nomination  of  Count  La  Lippe ; 
and  in  truth  I  cannot  see  the  wisdom  or  honour  of  that 
measure.  If  we  protect  Portugal,  is  not  it  more  creditable 
to  give  them  an  English  commander?  And  that  general 

3  This  was  not  the  case. 

*  He  had  been  recalled  before  the  battle. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  219 

was  almost  a  Portuguese,  almost  naturalized  amongst  them, 
trusted,  and  beloved  there.  What  do  they  know  of  this 
German  ?  Or  can  the  English  soldiery  prefer  him  to  their 
countryman?  For  though  La  Lippe  was  born  here,  he  is 
a  German  prince. 

I  trust  very  soon  to  be  able  to  send  you  a  brick,  like 
Harlequin,  as  a  sample  of  the  Havannah  we  shall  have  taken. 
In  return,  you  must  make  Saunders 6  beat  the  French  and 
Spanish  squadrons. 

Poor  Hamburgh  has  tasted  of  the  royal  injustice  of  this 
age  ;  they  have  compounded  with  the  King  of  Denmark  for 
a  million  6.  But  his  is  trifling  usurpation  ;  commend  me  to 
the  King  of  Spain,  for  violating  more  ties  than  were  ever 
burst  by  one  stroke  of  a  sceptre.  We  have  not  had  a 
masquerade  here  these  eight  or  nine  years,  because  there 
was  an  earthquake  at  Lisbon  ;  while  that  earthquake  which 
fell  about  the  ears  of  his  own  sister  and  her  children  could 
not  stop  the  King  of  Spain  from  marching  to  drive  her  and 
them  out  of  the  ruins !  Montezuma's  ghost  cannot  complain 
now! 

I  have  ordered  all  your  books,  and  your  brother  James 
has  undertaken  for  the  oratorios.  There  is  a  ship  going,  so 
I  would  not  wait  for  more  consultation  in  the  choice  of 
them.  Handel's  best  pieces  are  settled  among  his  sect,  and 
your  brother  knows  more  of  his  followers  than  I  do.  I  was 
impatient  to  have  your  commission  executed,  and  I  knew 
no  better  way  than  this.  I  did  not  say  a  syllable  to  James, 
as  he  has  repaired  his  omissions. 

I  am  in  distress  about  my  gallery  and  cabinet :  the  latter 
was  on  the  point  of  being  completed,  and  is  really  striking 

6  Coinmander-in-Chief  in  the  Modi-  possession  of  Schleswig.  The  King, 

terranean.  ill-provided  with  money,  suddenly 

•  Frederick  V  was  threatened  with  appeared  before  Hamburg,  and  forced 

war  by  the  Czar,  who,  in  his  capacity  that  city,  under  threat  of  a  siege,  to 

of  Duke  of  Holstein ,  wished  to  regain  raise  the  necessary  funds. 


220  To  the  Eev.   William  Cole  [i?62 

beyond  description.  Last  Saturday  night  my  workmen  took 
their  leave,  made  their  bow,  and  left  me  up  to  the  knees  in 
shavings.  In  short,  the  journeymen  carpenters,  like  the 
cabinet-makers,  have  entered  into  an  association  not  to  work 
unless  their  wages  are  raised  ;  and  how  can  one  complain  ? 
The  poor  fellows,  whose  all  the  labour  is,  see  their  masters 
advance  their  prices  every  day,  and  think  it  reasonable  to 
touch  their  share.  You  would  be  frightened  at  the  dearness 
of  everything ;  I  build  out  of  economy,  for  unless  I  do  now, 
in  two  years  I  shall  not  be  able  to  afford  it.  I  expect  that 
a  pint  of  milk  will  not  be  sold  under  a  diamond,  and 
then  nobody  can  keep  a  cow  but  my  Lord  Clive.  Indeed 
your  country's  fever  is  almost  at  the  height  every  way. 
Adieu ! 

P.S.  You  have  asked  for  the  last  volumes  of  the  Monthly 
Review ;  I  have  ordered  you  the  five  last  volumes ;  if  that  is 
not  all  you  want,  let  me  know.  In  this  parcel  you  will 
receive  my  two  first  volumes  of  the  Anecdotes  of  Painting. 

829.    To  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

SIR)  Strawberry  Hill,  July  29,  1762. 

I  fear  you  will  have  thought  me  neglectful  of  the  visit  you 
was  so  good  as  to  offer  me  for  a  day  or  two  at  this  place : 
the  truth  is,  I  have  been  in  Somersetshire  on  a  visit,  which 
was  protracted  much  longer  than  I  intended.  I  am  now 
returned,  and  shall  be  glad  to  see  you  as  soon  as  you  please, 
Sunday  or  Monday  next  if  you  like  either,  or  any  other  day 
you  will  name.  I  cannot  defer  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you 
any  longer,  though  to  my  mortification  you  will  find  Straw- 
berry Hill  with  its  worst  looks — not  a  blade  of  grass.  My 
workmen  too  have  disappointed  me :  they  have  been  in  the 
association  for  forcing  their  masters  to  raise  their  wages,  and 


1762]  To  the  Countess  of  Ailesbury  221 

but  two  are  yet  returned — so  you  must  excuse  litter  and 
shavings.  I  am,  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 


830.    To  THE  COUNTESS  OP  AILESBUEY. 

MADAM,  Strawberry  Hill,  July  31,  1762. 

Magnanimous  as  the  fair  soul  of  your  Ladyship  is,  and 
plaited  with  superabundance  of  Spartan  fortitude,  I  felicitate 
my  own  good  fortune  who  can  circle  this  epistle  with 
branches  of  the  gentle  olive,  as  well  as  crown  it  with 
victorious  laurel.  This  pompous  paragraph,  Madam,  which 
in  compliment  to  my  Lady  Lyttelton  I  have  penned  in  the 
style  of  her  Lord,  means  no  more,  than  that  I  wish  you  joy 
of  the  castle  of  Waldeck  *,  and  more  joy  on  the  Peace,  which 
I  find  everybody  thinks  is  concluded.  In  truth,  I  have  still 
my  doubts ;  and  yesterday  came  news,  which,  if  my  Lord 
Bute  does  not  make  haste,  may  throw  a  little  rub  in  the 
way.  In  short,  the  Czar  is  dethroned2.  Some  give  the 
honour  to  his  wife s ;  others,  who  add  the  little  circumstance 
of  his  being  murdered  too,  ascribe  the  revolution  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Novogorod,  who,  like  other  priests,  thinks 
assassination  a  less  affront  to  Heaven  than  three  Lutheran 
churches  *.  I  hope  the  latter  is  the  truth  ;  because,  in  the 
honey-moonhood  of  Lady  Cecilia's  tenderness,  I  don't  know 
but  she  might  miscarry  at  the  thought  of  a  wife  preferring 
a  crown,  and  scandal  says  a  regiment  of  grenadiers,  to  her 
husband. 

LETTKE  830. — *  Taken  by  General  She  was  proclaimed  Empress  on  her 

Con  way.  husband's  deposition,  and  reigned  as 

*  He  was  deposed  on  June  28, 1762,  Catherine  II  till  her  death  in  1796. 
by  a  decree  of  the  senate  and  clergy,  *  The    clergy    apprehended    that 
and  murdered  on  July  6  following.  Peter  intended  to  disestablish  the 

*  Catherine,  a  princess  of  Anhalt-  Greek  Church  in  favour  of  Luther- 
Zorbst,  married  to  the  Czar  in  1745.  anism. 


222  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

I  have  a  little  meaning  in  naming  Lady  Lyttelton  and 
Lady  Cecilia,  who  I  think  are  at  Park  Place.  Was  not 
there  a  promise  that  you  all  three  would  meet  Mr.  Churchill 
and  Lady  Mary  here  in  the  beginning  of  August?  Yes, 
indeed  was  there,  and  I  put  in  my  claim. — Not  confining 
your  heroic  and  musical  Ladyships  to  a  day  or  a  week ;  my 
time  is  at  your  command  :  and  I  wish  the  rain  was  at  mine  ; 
for,  if  you  or  it  do  not  come  soon,  I  shall  not  have  a  leaf 
left.  Strawberry  is  browner  than  Lady  Bell  Finch. 

I  was  grieved,  Madam,  to  miss  seeing  you  in  town  on 
Monday,  particularly  as  I  wished  to  settle  this  party.  If 
you  will  let  me  know  when  it  will  be  your  pleasure,  I  will 
write  to  my  sister. 

I  am  your  Ladyship's 

Most  faithful  servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 

831.    To  SIR  HOEACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  July  31,  1762. 

I  BEGIN  this  letter  to-night,  though  I  don't  know  when  it 
will  set  out,  for  I  have  a  mind  it  should  be  a  little  more 
complete  than  I  can  make  it  at  present.  We  are  at  the  eve 
of  big  events,  or  in  the  obscurity  of  them ;  a  Prince  of 
Wales,  a  Peace,  the  Havannah,  a  revolution  in  Kussia,  all 
to  come  to  light  this  week! 

We  know  nothing  certain,  but  that  we  have  lost  New- 
foundland1, and  that  the  new  opposition  have  got  a  real 
topic,  for  hitherto  they  have  only  been  skirmishing  with 
names ;  however,  as  all  oppositions  must  improve  on  the 
foregoing,  the  present  gives  us  names  at  length,  which  at 
least  is  new.  Parallels,  you  know,  are  the  food  of  all  party 

LETTBB  831. — l  Taken  in  June  by  tember  by  Colonel  Amherst,  brother 
De  Ternay,  and  retaken  in  Sep-  of  the  general  of  that  name. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  223 

writings :  we  have  Queen  Isabel  and  Mortimer,  Queen 
Margaret  and  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  every  week.  You  will 
allow  that  abuse  does  not  set  out  tamely,  when  it  even 
begins  with  the  King's  mother.  Last  week  they  were  so 
brutal  as  to  call  the  Queen  a  beggarly  duke's  daughter ;  it  is 
shocking,  for  she  has  offended  nobody,  and  is  far  from  being 
suspected  of  power  ;  but  it  was  to  load  the  Duke  of  Suffolk 2, 
for  making  the  match.  But  what  say  you  to  a  real  Queen 
Isabel*}  We  hear  from  Holland,  but  the  account  is  very 
imperfect,  that  the  Czarina  has  dethroned  her  husband. 
That  he  should  be  dethroned  does  not  surprise  me.  He 
struck  extraordinary  strokes  so  fast,  that  I  suppose  his  head 
had  not  much  ballast.  Her  reign,  probably,  will  not  be  of 
much  longer  duration ;  but  I  do  not  believe  that,  like  her 
husband,  she  will  fall  in  love  with  the  King  of  Prussia. 
The  Czar,  in  his  aunt's  time,  was  reckoned  weak  ;  his  wife, 
very  sensible  and  very  handsome.  Russia  puts  one  in  mind 
of  the  Seleucidae  and  the  Constantinopolitan  History,  the 
Cleopatras  and  Irenes ;  if  vast  crimes  are  not  in  fashion, 
you  see  it  is  only  because  despotism  is  generally  exploded. 
Give  human  nature  scope,  it  can  still  be  sublimely  abomin- 
able. My  prophetic  spirit  says,  that  the  young  Emperor 
John 8  will  come  upon  the  scene  again ;  in  the  meantime 
my  Lord  Buckingham  *,  who  is  going  ambassador  to  Peters- 
burg, may  try  the  remainder  of  his  charms  upon  the  heart 
of  an  Empress. 

Of  all  the  important  events  we  are  expecting,  the  Peace 
is  nearest  my  heart.  We  had  refused  Kussians 5 ;  and  this 
catastrophe,  if  it  is  true,  will  silence  the  clamour  there 
would  have  been  on  that  chapter.  It  delivers  the  King  of 

*  Lord  Bute.  6  Prince  Ferdinand  '  told  Mr.  Con- 

*  John  VI,  deposed  in  1741.    On  way  that  we  might  be  joined  by  a 
an  attempt  to  reinstate  him  in  1764,  body  of  Russians  for  a  trait  deplume.'' 
he  was  put  to  death.  (Memoirs  of  George  III,  ed.  1894,  voL  i, 

4  John    Hobart,   second    Earl    of      p.  146.) 
Buckinghamshire.     Walpole. 


224  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i762 

Denmark,  too,  from  a  storm ;  for  the  hero  of  Prussia,  you 
know,  he  never  was  in  my  litany.  In  short,  we  have  heard 
for  this  week  that  our  peace  with  France  was  in  a  manner 
made,  and  that  the  Dukes  of  Bedford  and  Nivernois  were 
ready  to  be  exchanged  at  Dover.  If  France  has  dabbled  in 
this  revolution,  adieu  the  olive-branch !  Nay,  we  are  told 
that  your  Italian  King 6  is  rather  disposed  to  put  on  his  old 
cuirass  again,  and  thinking  the  Austrians  have  their  hands 
full,  has  an  eye  upon  a  little  more  of  the  Milanese.  Nothing 
will  be  cleared  up,  till  there  is  another  courier  from  Muscovy. 
Their  poor  ambassador7,  who  is  just  arrived,  has  had  no 
letters.  He  is  not  only  nephew  to  the  Chancellor,  but 
brother  to  the  Czar's  mistress.  What  a  region,  where 
Siberia  is  next  door  to  the  drawing-room ! 

Mr.  Conway  has  had  a  little  success,  which  shows,  at 
least,  what  he  is  fit  for.  He  was  ordered  to  besiege  the 
castle  of  Waldeck,  for  which  Prince  Ferdinand  was  in 
a  hurry ;  it  was  impregnable  without  cannon  ;  he  had  none, 
and  his  powder  was  spent.  He  made  them  believe  he  was 
preparing  to  storm  it,  and  they  instantly  surrendered.  You 
may  be  sure  this  makes  me  happy,  and  yet  I  am  impatient 
to  have  the  Peace  nip  his  laurels. 

Your  friend  Lord  Melcombe  is  dead  of  a  dropsy  in  his 
stomach,  just  when  the  views  of  his  life  were  nearest  being 
realized.  Lady  Mary  Wortley,  too,  is  departing.  She  brought 
over  a  cancer  in  her  breast,  which  she  concealed  till  about 
six  weeks  ago.  It  burst,  and  there  are  no  hopes  of  her. 
She  behaves  with  great  fortitude,  and  says  she  has  lived 
long  enough. 

Two  days  ago  I  saw  your  nephew  Horace  ;  it  always  gives 
me  pleasure,  though  a  melancholy  one ;  it  was  increased 
now,  as  he  is  grown  much  more  like  to  his  father.  He 

•  Charles  Emmanuel,  second  King  of  Sardinia.     Walpole. 
7  Count  Woroneow.     Walpole, 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  225 

thinks  he  shall  go  to  you  in  about  a  year ;  I  am  eager  for  it, 
as  I  know  the  tender  satisfaction  it  will  give  you. 

August  4th. 

I  must  send  away  my  letter  to-night,  or  it  will  not  be  in 
town  time  enough  for  the  foreign  post  to-morrow.  The 
Kussian  revolution  is  confirmed ;  the  papers  have  even 
produced  a  declaration  of  the  new  Czarina,  in  which  she 
deposes  her  husband  with  the  utmost  sang-froid.  I  should 
easily  believe  it  genuine  ;  it  is  in  the  style  of  the  age ;  there 
is  an  honest  impudence  in  modern  majesty  that  is  delightful. 
They  scorn  plausibility ;  however,  there  is  one  comfort — 
they  level  their  crimes  chiefly  against  one  another.  This 
Muscovite  history,  as  I  hear  from  very  good  authority, 
happened  thus :  The  Czar,  who  was  originally  supposed 
impotent,  and  who,  notwithstanding  his  mistress,  seems  to 
have  had  the  modesty  of  thinking  himself  so,  intended  to 
return  his  two  children  upon  his  wife's  hands,  and  had 
declared  his  rival  John,  his  successor.  The  late  Czarina 
had  had  the  curiosity  to  see  young  John,  though  unknown 
to  him :  this  had  given  Peter  uneasiness ;  yet  one  of  his 
first  proceedings  was  to  take  the  same  step.  The  anecdotes 
of  that  court,  however,  say  that  John  has  had  so  many 
drugs  given  to  him  as  to  shatter  his  understanding  ex- 
tremely. Probably,  as  our  Charles  II  said  of  a  foolish 
popular  parson,  'John's  nonsense  suited  Peter's  nonsense.' 
Peter,  intoxicated  with  brandy  and  the  King  of  Prussia,  had 
thoughts  of  divorcing  his  Empress.  She  was  at  Peterhoff, 
two  miles  from  Petersburgh ;  the  Czar  at  another  villa.  An 
officer  arrived  post  with  a  led  horse,  told  the  Czarina  there 
was  a  design  against  her  life ;  that  she  had  no  time  to  lose ; 
she  must  fly,  or  present  herself  to  the  army  in  the  city. 
Pray,  Sir  Horace,  what  do  ladies  in  a  panic  do?  To  be 
sure,  run  into  the  danger,  not  from  it.  Just  so  acted  the 

WAUOLE.    V  O 


226  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

Czarina.  She  trotted  away  to  the  capital,  threw  herself 
upon  the  gallantry  of  the  Preobazinsky  (or  Praetorian) 
guards,  who  in  Russia  are  the  most  polite  and  compassionate 
cavaliers  in  the  world,  and  begged  they  would — not  protect 
her — but  give  her  the  crown.  One  troop,  who  have  been 
a  little  Prussianized,  hesitated  ;  the  rest  thought  her  request 
as  reasonable  as  possible,  and  immediately  proclaimed  her. 
The  rest  of  the  people,  who  abhor  innovations,  and  who, 
consequently,  could  not  pardon  the  Czar  for  giving  them 
their  liberty,  concurred  unanimously.  Not  a  word  was  said 
in  favour  of  Master  Fitz-Catherine 8,  who  certainly  has  no 
right  to  the  diadem,  till  his  mother's  no-right  devolves  to 
him  by  her  death.  The  Czar,  informed  of  the  change  of 
scene,  fled  to  Cronstad,  and  embarked.  All  the  royal  galleys 
were  sent  after  him,  and  he  was  overtaken.  An  act  of 
abdication  was  presented  to  him.  He  signed  it,  and  then 
made  three  requests, — for  his  own  life,  and  for  those  of  his 
mistress  and  of  a  Prussian  adjutant  who  had  accompanied 
him  in  his  flight.  Whether  the  first  and  last  boons  were 
granted,  story  is  hitherto  silent ;  but  the  next  morning, 
Mademoiselle  Woronzow  flung  herself  on  her  knees  before 
the  Czarina,  and  begged  to  resign  the  order  of  St.  Catherine, 
which  she  said  the  Czar  had  bestowed  on  her  two  months 
ago,  and  of  which  she  owned  herself  unworthy, — so,  probably, 
knows  the  Czarina,  who  returned  the  cross  and  dismissed 
her.  Bestuchef 9  is  recalled ;  somebody,  I  forgot  who, 
and  Schualow10,  the  late  Empress's  minion,  are  the  chief 
ministers. 

A  civil  message  has  been  sent  to  Mr.  Keith11 — to  the 
King  of  Prussia,  that  he,  having  thirty  thousand  Russians 

8  The  Grand-Duke  Paul  the  Empress  Elizabeth  ;  but  this  did 

9  Count  Bestuchew-Eiumin  (1693-      not  prove  true — he  was  not  employed 
1768),  Chancellor  of  the  Empire  in      by  Catherine  II.     Walpole. 

1744  ;  exiled,  1767.  u  The  English  Minister.    Walpole. 

10  Count  Schoualow,  favourite  of 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  227 

in  his  army,  which  her  Majesty  wants,  she  should  be  glad 
to  have  them  return ;  however,  as  she  knows  his  Majesty's 
occasions,  she  permits  them  to  obey  his  orders  till  he  can 
spare  them.  He  replied  that  by  their  assistance  he  had 
extricated  himself  from  his  greatest  difficulty,  and  would 
send  them  back  immediately.  Here  ends  my  first  tome. 
One  wants  to  know  the  fate  of  the  Czar,  of  his  predecessor 
and  successor  John ;  of  Munich,  Biron,  and  all  those  heroes 
of  former  dramas,  who  had  been  recalled  from  Siberia. 
One  does  not  want  to  know  what  the  Empress-Queen  feels. 
She,  who  devoutly  hates  every  monarch  who  cannot  or  will 
not  get  children,  must  be  transported.  But  what  seeds  are 
here  for  more  revolutions !  If  John  and  Peter  never  come 
to  light  again,  the  blood-royal  of  Russia  will  be  extinct,  at 
least  be  extremely  equivocal ;  and  the  title  of  a  Princess  of 
Anhalt-Zerbst  to  the  crown  cannot  fascinate  the  eyes  of 
every  good  Muscovite.  As  they  are  compendious  in  their 
proceedings,  I  should  think  the  malcontents  would  not 
waste  a  summer  in  writing  Monitors  and  North-Russians  K. 

The  King  of  Prussia  has  certainly  driven  back  Daun,  and 
got  between  him  and  Schweidnitz.  Prince  Ferdinand,  too, 
has  obtained  another  advantage18.  The  accounts  came 
yesterday ;  no  English  were  engaged  ;  the  affair  lay  between 
Hessians  and  Saxons,  and  Stainville  is  dislodged  from  his 
post.  The  advantage  is  reckoned  considerable.  The  King 
of  France  is  impatient  to  stop  the  effusion  of  blood. 
Choiseul  is  eager  for  peace,  and  the  more  so,  as  all  his 
schemes  are  baffled.  That  we  wish  it  all  Europe  knows, 
but  that  is  not  the  best  secret  for  obtaining  it.  Many 
people  think  it  agreed.  I  dread  this  northern  tempest. 

What  a  volume  is  here !  and,  perhaps,  not  a  syllable  of 
it  new  to  you !  You  will,  at  least,  excuse  the  intention. 

11  In  allusion  to  North  Britons,  the  Wilkes  against  Lord  Bute.  Walpole. 
famous  weekly  papers  written  by  ls  On  July  23, 1762,  near  Munden. 

9,  2 


228  To  the  Earl  of  Strafford  [1762 

I  wish  you  and  I  had  any  common  acquaintance  left,  that 
we  might  chat  of  something  else  than  kings  and  queens ! 
Adieu ! 

P.S.  The  Bussian  minister  here,  I  am  told,  has  received 
credentials  from  the  new  government. 


832.    To  THE  EAEL  OP  STBAFFOBD. 

MY  DEAR  LORD,  Strawberry  Hill,  August  5,  1762. 

As  you  have  correspondents  of  better  authority  in  town, 
I  don't  pretend  to  send  you  great  events,  and  I  know  no 
small  ones.  Nobody  talks  of  anything  under  a  revolution. 
That  in  Kussia  alarms  me,  lest  Lady  Mary  should  fall  in 
love  with  the  Czarina,  who  has  deposed  her  Lord  Coke,  and 
set  out  for  Petersburgh.  We  throw  away  a  whole  summer 
in  writing  Britons  and  North  Britons ;  the  Kussians  change 
sovereigns  faster  than  Mr.  Wilkes1  can  choose  a  motto  for 
a  paper.  What  years  were  spent  here  in  controversy  on  the 
abdication  of  King  James,  and  the  legitimacy  of  the  Pre- 
tender !  Commend  me  to  the  Czarina.  They  doubted,  that 
is,  her  husband  did,  whether  her  children  were  of  genuine 
blood-royal.  She  appealed  to  the  Preobazinski  guards,  ex- 
cellent casuists ;  and,  to  prove  Duke  Paul  heir  to  the 
crown,  assumed  it  herself.  The  proof  was  compendious  and 
unanswerable. 

I  trust  you  know  that  Mr.  Conway  has  made  a  figure  by 
taking  the  castle  of  Waldeck.  There  has  been  another 
action  to  Prince  Ferdinand's  advantage,  but  no  English 
were  engaged. 

You  tantalize  me  by  talking  of  the  verdure  of  Yorkshire  ; 
we  have  not  had  a  teacupful  of  rain  till  to-day  for  these  six 

LETTER  832. — *  John  Wilkea  (1727-  to  publish  the  North  Briton  in 
1797),  M.P.  for  Aylesbury.  He  began  January,  1762. 


1762]  To  the  Rev.   William  Cole  229 

weeks.  Corn  has  been  reaped  that  never  wet  its  lips ;  not 
a  blade  of  grass ;  the  leaves  yellow  and  falling  as  in  the  end 
of  October.  In  short,  Twickenham  is  rueful ;  I  don't  believe 
Westphalia  looks  more  barren.  Nay,  we  are  forced  to  fortify 
ourselves  too.  Hanworth  was  broken  open  last  night,  though 
the  family  was  all  there.  Lord  Vere  lost  a  silver  standish, 
an  old  watch,  and  his  writing-box  with  fifty  pounds  in  it. 
They  broke  it  open  in  the  park,  but  missed  a  diamond  ring, 
which  was  found,  and  the  telescope,  which  by  the  weight 
of  the  case  they  had  fancied  full  of  money.  Another  house 
in  the  middle  of  Sunbury  has  had  the  same  fate.  I  am 
mounting  cannon  on  my  battlements. 

Your  chateau,  I  hope,  proceeds  faster  than  mine.  The 
carpenters  are  all  associated  for  increase  of  wages ;  I  have 
had  but  two  men  at  work  these  five  weeks.  You  know,  to 
be  sure,  that  Lady  Mary  Wortley  cannot  live.  Adieu,  my 
dear  Lord! 

Your  most  faithful  servant, 

HOE.  WALPOLB. 

833.    To  THE  KEY.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

SlB,  Strawberry  Hill,  August  5,  1762. 

As  I  had  been  dilatory  in  accepting  your  kind  offer  of 
coming  hither,  I  proposed  it  as  soon  as  I  returned.  As  we 
are  so  burnt,  and  as  my  workmen  have  disappointed  me, 
I  am  not  quite  sorry  that  I  had  not  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
you  this  week.  Next  week  I  am  obliged  to  be  in  town  on 
business.  If  you  please,  therefore,  we  will  postpone  our 
meeting  till  the  first  of  September ;  by  which  time  I  flatter 
myself  we  shall  be  green,  and  I  shall  be  able  to  show  you 
my  additional  apartment  to  more  advantage.  Unless  you 
forbid  me,  I  will  expect  you,  Sir,  the  very  beginning  of  next 
month.  In  the  meantime,  I  will  only  thank  you  for  the 


230  To  George  Montagu  [i?62 

obliging  and  curious  notes  you  have  sent  me,  which  will 
make  a  great  figure  in  my  second  edition. 

I  am,  Sir,  your  much  obliged  humble  servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


834.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  August  10,  1762. 

I  HAVE  received  your  letter  from  Greatworth  since  your 
return,  but  I  do  not  find  that  you  have  got  one,  which  I  sent 
you  to  the  Vine,  enclosing  one  directed  for  you :  Mr.  Chute 
says  you  did  not  mention  hearing  from  me  there.  I  left 
your  button  too  in  town  with  old  Kichard  to  be  trans- 
mitted to  you. 

Our  drought  continues,  though  we  have  had  one  hand- 
some storm.  I  have  been  reading  the  story  of  Phaeton  in 
the  Metamorphosis',  it  is  a  picture  of  Twickenham.  Ardet 
Athos,  taurusque  Cilix,  &c. :  Mount  Kichmond  burns,  parched 
is  Petersham ;  Parnassusque  biceps,  dry  is  Pope's  grot,  the 
nymphs  of  Clivden  are  turning  to  blackmores,  their  faces 
are  already  as  glowing  as  a  cinder ;  Cycnus  is  changed  into 
a  swan  ;  quodque  swo  Tagus  amne  vehit,  fluit  ignibus  aurum, 
my  gold-fishes  are  almost  molten.  Yet  this  conflagration 
is  nothing  to  that  in  Kussia ;  what  do  you  say  to  a  Czarina 
mounting  her  horse,  and  marching  at  the  head  of  fourteen 
thousand  men,  with  a  large  train  of  artillery,  to  dethrone 
her  husband  ?  Yet  she  is  not  the  only  virago  in  that 
country  ;  the  conspiracy  was  conducted  by  the  sister l  of  the 
Czar's  mistress,  a  heroine  under  twenty !  They  have  no 
fewer  than  two  Czars  now  in  coops — that  is,  supposing  these 
gentle  damsels  have  murdered  neither  of  them.  Turkey 
will  become  a  moderate  government ;  one  must  travel  to 

LETTER  834.  —  *  Ekaterina  Eomanova  (1744-1810),  Princess  Daskkov, 
Catherine's  confidante. 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  231 

frozen  climates  if  one  chooses  to  see  revolutions  in  per- 
fection. '  Here's  room  for  meditation  ev'n  to  madness ; '  the 
deposed  Emperor  possessed  Muscovy,  was  heir  to  Sweden, 
and  the  true  heir  of  Denmark ;  all  the  northern  crowns 
centred  in  his  person — one  hopes  he  is  in  a  dungeon — that 
is,  one  hopes  he  is  not  assassinated — you  cannot  crowd  more 
matter  into  a  lecture  of  morality  than  is  comprehended  in 
those  few  words.  This  is  the  fourth  Czarina  that  you  and 
I  have  seen — to  be  sure,  as  historians,  we  have  not  passed 
our  time  ill.  Mrs.  Anne  Pitt,  who,  I  suspect,  envies  the 
heroine  of  twenty  a  little,  says,  'The  Czarina  has  only 
robbed  Peter  to  pay  Paul ' — and  I  do  not  believe  that  her 
brother,  Mr.  William  Pitt,  feels  very  happy,  that  he  cannot 
immediately  dispatch  a  squadron  to  the  Baltic  to  reinstate 
the  friend  of  the  King  of  Prussia.  I  cannot  afford  to  live 
less  than  fifty  years  more,  for  so  long,  at  least,  I  suppose, 
it  will  be  before  the  court  of  Petersburgh  will  cease  to  pro- 
duce amusing  scenes.  Think  of  old  Count  Biron,  formerly 
master  of  that  empire,  returning  to  Siberia,  and  bowing  to 
Bestucheff,  whom  he  may  meet  on  the  road  from  thence. 
I  interest  myself  now  about  nothing  but  Eussia ;  Lord 
Bute  must  be  sent  to  the  Orcades  before  I  shall  ask  a 
question  in  English  politics  :  at  least  I  shall  expect  that 
Mr.  Pitt,  at  the  head  of  the  Preobazinski  guards,  will  seize 
the  person  of  the  prime  minister  for  giving  up  our  conquests 
to  the  chief  enemy  of  this  nation. 

My  pen  is  in  such  a  sublime  humour,  that  it  can  scarce 
condescend  to  tell  you  that  Sir  Edward  Peering 2  is  going 
to  marry  Polly  Hart,  Draper's  old  mistress ;  and  three  more 
baronets,  whose  names  nobody  knows  but  Collins3,  are 
treading  in  the  same  steps.  My  compliments  to  the  house 

2  Sir  Edward  Bering,  sixth  Baronet,       of  the  well-known  Peerage,  published 
of  Surrenden  Bering,  Kent,  d.  1798.       a  Baronetage  of  England  in  1720. 

3  Arthur  Collins  (d.  1760),  author 


232  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

of  Montagu — upon  my  word  I  congratulate  the  General  and 
you,  and  your  Viceroy,  that  you  escaped  being  deposed  by 
the  primate  of  Novogorod. 

Yours  ever, 

H.W. 

I  this  minute  receive  yours  of  Sunday — you  frighten  me 
about  your  bill — was  it  a  bank-bill  ?  Whatever  it  was,  it 
came  in  a  little  dab  of  a  letter  ;  I  enclosed  it  in  one  I  wrote 
to  you  on  the  29th  of  last  month,  and  directed  mine  to  the 
Vine,  so  that  you  ought  to  have  had  it  the  Friday  before 
you  set  out.  Louis  put  it  into  the  post  here,  with  three  or 
four  other  letters,  to  one  of  which  I  have  had  an  answer. 
Write  immediately  to  Mr.  Hampden4;  tell  him  it  went 
from  hence  on  the  29th  for  the  Vine — and  you  may  enclose 
the  following  bit  of  a  direction  to  him,  to  show  how  careless 
his  people  are:  it  is  my  maid's  handwriting  in  Arlington 
Street  and  the  postmark  is  Portsmouth.  But  I  must  scold 
you  a  little ;  how  can  you  be  so  careless,  not  to  give  me 
notice  that  I  was  to  receive  a  bill  of  consequence  for  you ; 
and  why  not  tell  Eichard  when  you  was  to  leave  this  place  ? 
— you  see  how  many  idle  journeys  his  letter  necessarily 
took.  I  shall  be  very  anxious  till  I  hear  you  have  found  it. 

835.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Aug.  12,  1762. 

A  PRINCE  of  Wales l  was  born  this  morning ;  the  pros- 
pect of  your  old  neighbour 2  at  Kome  does  not  improve ;  the 
House  of  Hanover  will  have  numbers  in  its  own  family 
sufficient  to  defend  their  crown — unless  they  marry  a  Prin- 
cess of  Anhalt-Zerbst s.  What  a  shocking  tragedy  that  has 

4  As  Joint  Postmaster-General.  2  The  Pretender.     Walpole. 

LETTER  835. — x  Afterwards  George  8  The  Czarina  Catherine  II   was 

IV.  Princess  of  Anhalt-Zerbst.    Walpole. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  233 

proved  already !  There  is  a  manifesto  *  arrived  to-day  that 
makes  one  shudder !  This  northern  Athaliah,  who  has  the 
modesty  not  to  name  her  murdered  husband  in  that  light, 
calls  him  her  neighbour ;  and,  as  if  all  the  world  were  savages, 
like  Eussians,  pretends  that  he  died  suddenly  of  a  distemper 
that  never  was  expeditious ;  mocks  Heaven  with  pretensions 
to  charity  and  piety ;  and  heaps  the  additional  inhumanity 
on  the  man  she  has  dethroned  and  assassinated,  of  im- 
puting his  death  to  a  judgement  from  Providence.  In  short, 
it  is  the  language  of  usurpation  and  blood,  counselled  and 
apologized  for  by  clergymen!  It  is  Brunehault  and  an 
archbishop ! 

I  have  seen  Mr.  Keith's  first  dispatch;  in  general,  my 
account  was  tolerably  correct ;  but  he  does  not  mention 
Ivan 8.  The  conspiracy  advanced  by  one  of  the  gang  being 
seized,  thougk  for  another  crime ;  they  thought  themselves 
discovered.  Orloff8,  one  of  them,  hurried  to  the  Czarina, 
and  told  her  she  had  no  time  to  lose.  She  was  ready  for 
anything;  nay,  marched  herself  at  the  head  of  fourteen 
thousand  men  and  a  train  of  artillery  against  her  husband, 
but  not  being  the  only  Alecto  in  Muscovy,  she  had  been 
aided  by  a  Princess  Daschkaw,  a  nymph  under  twenty, 
and  sister  to  the  Czar's  mistress.  It  was  not  the  latter, 
as  I  told  you,  but  the  Chancellor's  wife7,  who  oifered  up 
the  order  of  St.  Catherine.  I  do  not  know  how  my  Lord 
Buckingham  feels,  but  unless  to  conjure  up  a  tempest 
against  this  fury  of  the  north,  nothing  could  bribe  me  to 
set  my  foot  in  her  dominions.  Had  she  been  priestess  of 
the  Scythian  Diana,  she  would  have  sacrificed  her  brother 
by  choice.  It  seems  she  does  not  degenerate ;  her  mother 

4  The  manifesto,  with  other  papers  «  Alexis  Orloff  (1737-1808),  brother 
relating  to  the  deposition  of  Peter  IH,  of  the  Empress's  favourite.    He  was 
is    printed    in     Ann.    Beg.,     1762,  supposed  to  be  the  actual  murderer 
pp.  222-8.  of  Peter  in. 

5  Ivan  or  John,  the  former  de-  7  Countess  Woronzow. 
throned  young  Czar.     Walpole. 


234  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i762 

was  ambitious  and  passionate  for  intrigues;   she  went  to 
Paris,  and  dabbled  in  politics  with  all  her  might. 

The  world  had  been  civilizing  itself  till  one  began  to 
doubt  whether  ancient  histories  were  not  ancient  legends. 
Voltaire  had  unpoisoned  half  the  victims  to  the  Church  and 
to  ambition.  Oh  !  there  never  was  such  a  man  as  Borgia ; 
the  league  seemed  a  romance.  For  the  honour  of  poor 
historians,  the  assassinations  of  the  Kings  of  France  and 
Portugal,  majesties  still  living  in  spite  of  Damien  and  the 
Jesuits,  and  the  dethronement  and  murder  of  the  Czar, 
have  restored  some  credibility  to  the  annals  of  former  ages. 
Tacitus  recovers  his  character  by  the  edition  of  Petersburgh. 

We  expect  the  definitive  courier  from  Paris  every  day. 
Now  it  is  said  that  they  ask  time  to  send  to  Spain.  What  ? 
to  ask  leave  to  desert  them?  The  Spaniards,  not  so  ex- 
peditious in  usurpation  as  the  Muscovites,  have  made  no 
progress  in  Portugal.  Their  absurd  manifestoes  appeared 
too  soon.  The  Czarina  and  Princess  Daschkaw  stay  till  the 
stroke  is  struck.  Eeally,  my  dear  Sir,  your  Italy  is  grow- 
ing unfashionably  innocent, — if  you  don't  take  care,  the 
Archbishop  of  Novogorod  will  deserve,  by  his  crimes,  to  be 
at  the  head  of  the  Christian  Church.  I  fear  my  friend, 
good  Benedict 8,  infected  you  all  with  his  virtues. 

You  see  how  this  Russian  revolution  has  seized  every  cell 
in  my  head — a  Prince  of  Wales  is  passed  over  in  a  line,  the 
Peace  in  another  line.  I  have  not  even  told  you  that  the 
treasure  of  the  Hermione 9,  reckoned  eight  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  passed  the  end  of  my  street  this  morning  in  one- 

8  Pope  Benedict  XIV.     Walpole.  English  frigates,  and  carried   into 

9  Gent.  Mag.  1762,  July  6  :  '  In  the  Gibraltar.     Her  cargo  is  said  to  con- 
Ckteette  of  this  day,  is  the  following  sist  of  near  twelve  millions  of  money 
intelligence  from  the  Hague :  "  The  registered,   and  unregistered  to  be 
Hermione,   a  Spanish  register  ship,  likewise  very  considerable,  besides 
•which  left  Lima  the  6th  of  January,  2000  serons  of  cocoa,  and  a  great  deal 
bound  for  Cadiz,  was  taken  the  21st  of  other  valuable  merchandize." ' 

of  May  off  Gape  St.  Vincent,  by  three 


1762]  To  the  Rev.   William  Cole  235 

and-twenty  waggons.  Of  the  Havannah  I  could  tell  you 
nothing  if  I  would  ;  people  grow  impatient  at  not  hearing 
from  thence.  Adieu  ! 

You  see  I  am  a  punctual  correspondent  when  Empresses 
commit  murders. 


836.    To  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

SIR,  Strawberry  Hill,  August  19,  1762. 

I  am  very  sensible  of  the  obligations  I  have  to  you 
and  Mr.  Masters  *,  and  ought  to  make  separate  acknowledge- 
ments to  both ;  but,  not  knowing  how  to  direct  to  him, 
I  must  hope  that  you  will  kindly  be  once  more  the  channel 
of  our  correspondence ;  and  that  you  will  be  so  good  as  to 
convey  to  him  an  answer  to  what  you  communicated  from 
him  to  me,  and  in  particular  my  thanks  for  the  most 
obliging  offer  he  has  made  me  of  a  picture  of  Henry  VII ; 
of  which  I  will  by  no  means  rob  him.  My  view  in  publish- 
ing the  Anecdotes  was,  to  assist  gentlemen  in  discovering 
the  hands  of  pictures  they  possess ;  and  I  am  sufficiently 
rewarded  when  that  purpose  is  answered.  If  there  is 
another  edition,  the  mistake  in  the  calculation  of  the  tapes- 
try shall  be  rectified,  and  any  others,  which  any  gentleman 
will  be  so  good  as  to  point  out.  With  regard  to  the  monu- 
ment of  Sir  Nathaniel  Bacon 2,  Vertue  certainly  describes  it 
as  at  Culford ;  and  in  looking  to  the  place  to  which  I  am 
referred,  in  Mr.  Masters's  History  of  C.C.C.C. 3, 1  think  he 
himself  allows  in  the  note,  that  there  is  such  a  monument 

LETTER    836. — Incomplete  in  C. ;  Christi  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

now  first  printed  entire  after  colla-  (commonly  called  Bene't)  in  the  Univer- 

tion  with  original  in  possession   of  sity  of  Cambridge. 

Mrs.  Alfred  Morrison.  2  Sir  Nathaniel  Bacon,  K.B.,  an 

1  Robert  Masters  (1713-1798),  Bee-  artist  mentioned  in  the  Anecdotes  of 

tor  of  Landbea  c  h  and  Vicar  of  Water-  Painting. 

beach,  in  Cambridgeshire  ;  author  of  3  Corpus    Christi    College,    Cam- 

The  History  of  the  Cottege  of  Corpus  bridge. 


236  To  the  Rev.  Thomas  Warton          [i?62 

at  Culford.  Of  Sir  Balthazar  Gerbier4  there  are  several 
different  prints.  Nich.  Laniere B  purchasing  pictures  at  the 
King's  sale,  is  undoubtedly  a  mistake  for  one  of  his  brothers 
— I  cannot  tell  now  whether  Vertue's  mistake  or  my  own. 
At  Longleat  is  a  whole-length  of  Frances,  Duchess  of 
Richmond,  exactly  such  as  Mr.  Masters  describes,  but  in 
oil,  and  I  have  another  whole-length  of  the  same  Duchess, 
I  believe  by  Mytens8,  but  younger  than  that  at  Longleat. 
But  the  best  picture  of  her  is  in  Wilson's7  Life  of  King 
James,  and  very  diverting  indeed.  I  will  not  trouble  you, 
Sir,  or  Mr.  Masters,  with  any  more  at  present ;  but,  repeat- 
ing my  thanks  to  both,  will  assure  you  that  I  am,  Sir,  your 
obliged  humble  servant, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

Petitot  never  painted  but  in  enamel.  The  miniature 
might,  notwithstanding,  be  copied  from  him. 

837.    To  THE  EEV.  THOMAS  WARTON  *. 

SlB^  Strawberry  Hill,  Aug.  21,  1762. 

I  was  last  week  surprised  with  a  very  unexpected  pre- 
sent a  in  your  name ;  and  still  more,  when,  upon  examining 
it,  I  found  myself  so  much  and  so  undeservedly  distin- 
guished by  your  approbation.  I  certainly  ought  to  have 
thanked  you  immediately,  but  I  chose  to  defer  my  acknow- 
ledgements till  I  had  read  your  volumes  very  attentively. 

4  Sir  Balthazar  Gerbier,   Knight  Hill  Horace  Walpole  attributes  this 

(d.    1667),    '  painter,    architect,   and  portrait  to  Mark  Garrard,  or  Gheer- 

courtier.'    (D.  N.  B.)  aerts. 

6  Nicholas  Lanier  or  Laniere  (d.  7  Arthur  Wilson  (1595-1652). 

1666),  Master  of  the  Music  to  Charles  I  LETTER  837.— *    Thomas  Warton 

and  Charles  II,  and  purchaser  of  (1728-1790),  Professor  of  Poetry  at 

many  pictures  for  the  collection  of  Oxford. 

Charles  I.     He  repurchased  several  a  Observations  en  the  Faery  Qtfeene 

of   these   at  the    sale,   as   Walpole  of  Spenser.     Warton's  mentions  of 

stated  in  the  Anecdotes  of  Painting.  Horace  Walpole  occur  in  the  eighth, 

8  In  hig  Description  of  Strawberry  tenth,  and  eleventh  sections. 


1762]  To  the  Rev.  Thomas  Warton  237 

The  praise  you  have  bestowed  on  me  debars  me,  Sir,  from 
doing  all  the  justice  I  ought  to  your  work:  the  pleasure 
I  received  from  it  would  seem  to  have  grown  out  of  the 
satisfaction  I  felt  in  what,  if  it  would  not  be  ungrateful, 
I  should  be  humble  enough  to  call  flattery ;  for  how  can 
you,  Sir,  approve  such  hasty,  superficial  writings  as  mine, 
you,  who  in  the  same  pursuits  are  so  much  more  correct, 
and  have  gone  so  much  deeper  ?  for  instance,  compare  your 
account  of  Gothic  architecture  with  mine;  I  have  scarce 
skimmed  the  subject ;  you  have  ascertained  all  its  periods. 
If  my  Anecdotes  should  ever  want  another  edition,  I  shall 
take  the  liberty  of  referring  the  readers  to  your  chronicle  of 
our  buildings. 

With  regard  to  the  Dance  of  Death,  I  must  confess  you 
have  not  convinced  me.  Vertue  (for  it  was  he,  not  I,  that 
first  doubted  of  that  painting  at  Basil)  persuaded  me  by  the 
arguments  I  found  in  his  MSS.,  and  which  I  have  given, 
that  Holbein  was  not  the  author.  The  latter's  prints, 
as  executed  by  Hollar,  confirmed  me  in  that  opinion :  and 
you  must  forgive  me  if  I  still  think  the  taste  of  them 
superior  to  Albert  Durer.  This  is  mere  matter  of  opinion, 
and  of  no  consequence,  and  the  only  point  in  your  book, 
Sir,  in  which  I  do  not  submit  to  you  and  agree  with  you. 

You  will  not  be  sorry  to  be  informed,  Sir,  that  in  the 
library  of  the  Antiquarian  Society  there  is  a  large  and  very 
good  print  of  Nonsuch s,  giving  a  tolerable  idea  of  that  pile, 
which  was  not  the  case  of  Speed's  confused  scrap.  I  have 
myself  drawings  of  the  two  old  palaces  of  Kichmond  and 
Greenwich  ;  and  should  be  glad  to  show  them  to  you,  if  at 
any  time  of  your  leisure  you  would  favour  me  with  a  visit 
here.  You  would  see  some  attempts  at  Gothic,  some  minia- 
tures of  scenes  which  I  am  pleased  to  find  you  love. — 
Cloisters,  screens,  round  towers,  and  a  printing-house,  all 
8  In  Surrey,  built  by  Henry  VIII,  pulled  down  about  1670. 


238  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

indeed  of  baby  dimensions,  would  put  you  a  little  in  mind 
of  the  age  of  Caxton  and  Wynken.  You  might  play  at 
fancying  yourself  in  a  castle  described  by  Spenser. 

You  see,  Sir,  by  the  persuasions  I  employ,  how  much 
I  wish  to  tempt  you  hither ! 

I  am,  Sir, 
Your  most  obliged  and  obedient  servant, 

HORACE  WALPOLE. 

P.S.   You  know,  to  be  sure,  that  in  Ames's  Typographical 
Antiquities  are  specified  all  the  works  of  Stephen  Hawes  *. 

838.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sunday,  August  29,  1762. 
WE  cannot  afford  to  stay  any  longer  for  the  Havannah, 
and  must  make  peace  without  it.  The  Duke  of  Bedford, 
on  Wednesday  next,  is  to  be  named  in  form  Ambassador 
Extraordinary,  as  the  Due  de  Nivernois 1  will  be  the  same 
day  at  Paris ;  on  the  7th  of  next  month  they  are  to  meet 
at  Dover,  cross  over  and  figure-in.  Our  duke  carries  good 
dispositions,  but  as  there  is  a  grain  of  wrong-headed  warmth 
in  his  temper,  I  hope  it  will  not  leaven  the  whole  pacific 
cake.  Still  I  fear  that  obstinate  diadem  in  Spain !  who  will 
not  be  bullied  as  when  he  was  plain  Don  Carlos  Bang  of 
Naples,  and  which  perhaps  he  has  not  forgot.  Lord 
Tyrawley  is  returned,  and  as  they  were  not  pleased  to  see 
him  and  English  troops  in  Portugal,  when  they  feared  it 
would  draw  down  the  war  upon  them,  he  now  will  not 
allow  there  is  any  war  there,  calls  it  a  combination  to  get 

*  Stephen  Hawes  (d.  1523  ?),  to  Borne  and  Berlin.  He  was  a  littera- 

\vlaose  writings,  apparently,  Spenser  teur  and  a  member  of  the  French 

was  to  some  extent  indebted.  Academy.  He  translated  into  French 

LETTER  838. — 1  Louis  Jules  Barbon  Horace  Walpole's  Essay  on  Modern 

Mancini  Mazarin  (1716-1798),  Due  de  Gardening,  printed  in  both  languages 

Nivernais,  sometime  Ambassador  at  at  Strawberry  Hill  in  1785. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  239 

our  money,  and  says  he  will  eat  every  man  that  is  killed, 
if  the  Portuguese  will  engage  to  roast  him.  Absurd  as  this 
proposition  is,  it  is  the  only  tolerable  excuse  I  have  heard 
for  the  King  of  Spain.  En  attendant  the  signing  of 
preliminaries,  we  have  a  victory2  of  the  King  of  Prussia 
over  Laudohn,  and  a  new  squabble  with  the  Dutch.  They 
were  sending  a  convoy  of  naval  stores  to  Gales — to  sell 
underhand ;  our  good  allies  do  not  injure  us  for  nothing ; 
Commodore  More  sent  some  men-of-war  to  visit  them ; 
their  guardian  would  not  be  examined,  which  he  intimated 
by  a  cannon ;  a  fight  ensued,  he  has  lost  his  nose  and  his 
first-lieutenant,  and  is  brought  into  Portsmouth.  This  is 
our  story  as  arrived  to-day.  The  Dutch  minister  Borel 
is  very  temperate  about  it,  though  the  lost  nose  belonged 
to  his  nephew. 

1  rejoice  that  you  agree  with  me  in  abhorring  that  good 
woman   the   Czarina.      Semiramis   and   her  models  never 
thought  of  palliating  murders  by  manifestoes.     One  would 
think  that  Peter  the  Great  had  not  yet  taught  the  Kussians 
to  read  !  or  she  could  not  have  the  confidence  to  write  such 
horrid  and  such  gross  falsehoods.     They  are  as  ill-drawn  as 
if  penned  in  Spain  or  Portugal.     But  what  do  you  think  of 
her    recollecting    herself,    crying    for    her    husband,    and 
wanting  to  attend  his  funeral?     This,  and  her  backward 
and  forward  dealing  with  the  King  of  Prussia,  show  what 
confusion  subsists  in  her  councils.     I  do  not  grieve  to  hear 
that  as  much  reigns  in  her  empire.    I  am  impatient  to  learn 
that  she  is  in  a  covered  waggon  on  the  road  to  Siberia. 

I  condole  with  you  for  the  misfortune  of  the  Gallery*, 
and  the  loss  of  the  Laocoon ;  yet,  if  a  fine  statue  was  to  be 
demolished,  it  was  one  that  could  most  easily  be  spared,  as 

2  At    Beichenbach,    where,    on      Schweidnitz. 

August  16,  1762,  the  Prince  of  8  The  fire  took  place  on  August  18, 
Brunswick-Bevern  defeated  Lacy  in  1762.  Except  for  the  loss  of  the 
an  attempt  to  interrupt  the  siege  of  Laocoon,  no  great  damage  was  done. 


240  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1752 

there  is  a  duplicate  at  Eome,  and,  as  I  remember,  not  only 
a  finer,  but  a  more  authentic.  But  how  came  the  Florentines 
to  see  their  gallery  burn  with  so  much  indifference  ?  It  was 
collected  by  the  Medici.  If  formed  by  the  Lorrainers  I 
should  not  wonder. 

Lady  Mary  Wortley  is  dead,  as  I  prepared  you  to  expect. 
Except  some  trifling  legacies,  she  has  given  everything  to 
Lady  Bute,  so  we  shall  never  know  the  sum — perhaps  that 
was  intended.  It  is  given  out  for  inconsiderable,  besides 
some  rich  baubles.  Another  of  our  old  acquaintance  at 
Florence  is  greatly  advanced ;  Lady  Charlotte  Finch 4  is 
made  governess  to  the  Prince ;  a  choice  so  universally 
approved  that  I  do  not  think  she  will  be  abused  even  in 
the  North  Briton. 

Mrs.  Foote's5  friend,  Lord  Westmoreland8,  is  just  dead, 
from  a  stroke  of  the  palsy.  His  countess 7  is  gone  to  your 
sister  at  Linton.  His  Chancellorship  of  Oxford  will  be  an 
object  of  contention.  Lord  Litchfield8  will  have  the  interest 
of  the  court,  which  now  has  some  influence  there ;  yet, 
perhaps,  those9  who  would  have  voted  for  him  formerly 
may  not  now  be  his  heartiest  friends. 

Oh,  when  I  was  talking  of  the  royal  child,  I  should  have 
told  you  of  a  delightful  card  which  was  sent  by  Mrs.  Salvador 
and  Mrs.  Mendez,  two  rich  Jewesses,  to  knmv  how  the  Queen 
did.  Lady  Northumberland,  who  was  in  waiting,  told  the 
servant  that  that  was  not  the  manner — that  they  should 
have  come  in  person  to  inquire.  '  That's  good,'  replied  the 
fellow ;  '  why,  my  mistress  lies  in  herself ' :  if  she  had  not, 

4  Second  daughter  of  Thomas  Far-  '  John    Fane,    seventh     Earl    of 

mor,  Earl  of  Pomfret,  and  widow  of  Westmorland. 

William    Finch,  Vice-Chamberlain,  7   Mary    Cavendish,    Countess    of 

next  brother  to  the  Earl  of  Win-  Westmoreland.     Walpole. 

chelsea,  who  was  succeeded  in  the  8  George  Henry  Lee,  Earl  of  Lich- 

title  by  her  only  son.     Walpole.  field.     Walpole. 

6  Mary,  sister  of  Sir  Horace  Mann.  9  The  Jacobites.     Walpole. 
Walpole. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  241 

I  suppose  she  would  have  expected  the  Queen  to  send 
to  her. 

The  embassy  to  Paris  is  not  the  single  glory  of  the 
Bedfords.  After  long  hopes  and  trials  on  their  side,  and 
vast  repugnance  on  his,  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  has  at 
last  married  their  daughter 10. 

I  will  make  your  compliments  to  Palazzo  Pitti11  when 
I  see  it ;  but  he  has  scarce  been  here ;  he  is  not  well,  and 
drinking  waters  at  Sunning  Hill. 

Have  you  received  your  commissions,  particularly  the 
music?  Your  brother  James  promised  to  be  expeditious, 
but  I  have  been  so  much  out  of  town  I  have  not  seen  him. 
Did  not  you  tell  me  you  had  sent  a  parcel  of  my  letters  by 
somebody  ?  I  have  not  received  them,  and  have  forgot  who 
the  messenger  was. 

Thank  you  for  Cocchi's ia  Spectator,  I  like  it  better  than 
you  shall  own  to  him.  With  his  father's  freedom  of  think- 
ing, he  has  a  great  deal  of  humour;  but  don't  let  him 
pursue  it.  Wit  will  be  but  slender  comfort  in  the  prisons 
of  the  Inquisition,  or  in  a  fortress ;  more  uncomfortable,  if 
his  opening  the  eyes  of  others  leads  them  into  the  same 
situation.  If  curing  old  errors  would  prevent  the  world 
from  falling  into  new  ones,  a  la  bonne  heure',  but  one 
nonsense  is  as  good  as  another;  better,  if  the  change  is 
to  be  made  by  blood.  A  Gustavus  Vasa  may  strike  a  stroke 
for  liberty,  but  few  men  are  born  to  overturn  a  tyranny 
with  their  pen.  When  established  liberty  is  in  danger, 
then  write  for  it ;  one  may  prevent  people  perhaps  from 
shutting  their  eyes ;  'tis  more  difficult  to  unclose  them  if 
shut.  Nor  can  it  be  done  when  the  world  is  in  cold  blood  ; 

10  Lady    Caroline    Bussell,    only  the  Duchess  of  Bedford.     Walpole. 

daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  n  Mr.  T.  Pitt.     Walpole. 

wife    of   George   Spencer,   Duke  of  12  Son  of  Dr.  Cocchi,  a  Florentine 

Marlborough,  who,  though  in  love  physician  and  author  ;  the  son  wrote 

with  her,  was  unwilling  to  marry  some   Spectators    on    the    model   of 

her,  as  he  did  not  like  her  mother,  Addison's.     Walpole. 


WALPOLE.    V 


242     To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [1762 

you  may  snatch  a  fortunate  fermenting  minute,  but  you 
cannot  prepare  it.  If  Cocchi  must  write,  let  him  come 
hither ;  here  he  may  make  reeds  say  what  he  will ls ;  but 
let  his  own  barber  remind  him  that  in  some  countries  it  is 
not  safe  even  to  trust  reeds  with  one's  thoughts.  Adieu  ! 

P.S.  When  I  was  mentioning  acquaintance  you  have 
lost,  I  forgot  to  name  Lady  Fane " ;  you  see  nervous 
disorders  are  not  very  mortal ;  I  think  she  must  have  been 
above  seventy. 


839.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUR  CONWAY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept  9,  1762. 

Nondum  laurus  erat,  longoque  decentia  crine 
Tempora  cingebat  de  gualibct  arbore  Phoebus. 

THIS  is  a  hint  to  you,  that  as  Phoebus,  who  was  certainly 
your  superior,  could  take  up  with  a  chestnut  garland,  or  any 
crown  he  found,  you  must  have  the  humility  to  be  content 
without  laurels,  when  none  are  to  be  had  :  you  have  hunted 
far  and  near  for  them,  and  taken  true  pains  to  the  last  in 
that  old  nursery-garden  Germany,  and  by  the  way  have 
made  me  shudder  with  your  last  journal:  but  you  must 
be  easy  with  qualibet  other  arbore  ;  you  must  come  home 
to  your  own  plantations.  The  Duke  of  Bedford  is  gone  in 
a  fury  to  make  peace,  for  he  cannot  be  even  pacific  with 
temper ;  and  by  this  time  I  suppose  the  Duke  de  Nivernois 
is  unpacking  his  portion  of  olive  dans  la  rue  de  Suffolk  Street. 
I  say,  I  suppose — for  I  do  not,  like  my  friends  at  Arthur's, 
whip  into  my  postchaise  to  see  eveiy  novelty.  My  two 

«  Alluding    to    Midas's    barber.  Charles,  the   last    Viscount    Fane, 

Walpole.  friend  of  Sir  Horace  Mann,  and  hia 

14  Charlotte,  sister  of  James,  first  predecessor  at  Florence.     Walpole. 
Earl     Stnnhope,    and     mother     of 


1762]   To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      243 

sovereigns,  the  Duchess  of  Grafton  and  Lady  Mary  Coke, 
are  arrived,  and  yet  I  have  seen  neither  Polly  nor  Lucy. 
The  former,  I  hear,  is  entirely  French ;  the  latter  as  abso- 
lutely English. 

Well !  but  if  you  insist  on  not  doffing  your  cuirass,  you 
may  find  an  opportunity  of  wearing  it.  The  storm  thickens. 
The  City  of  London  are  ready  to  hoist  their  standard  ; 
treason  is  the  bon  ton  at  that  end  of  the  town ;  seditious 
papers  pasted  up  at  every  corner :  nay,  my  neighbourhood 
is  not  unfashionable;  we  have  had  them  at  Brentford  and 
Kingston.  The  Peace  is  the  cry ;  but  to  make  weight,  they 
throw  in  all  the  abusive  ingredients  they  can  collect.  They 
talk  of  your  friend  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's  resigning ;  and, 
for  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  it  puts  him  so  much  in  mind  of 
the  end  of  Queen  Anne's  time,  that  I  believe  he  hopes  to  be 
minister  again  for  another  forty  years. 

In  the  meantime,  there  are  but  dark  news  from  the 
Havannah ;  the  Gazette,  who  would  not  fib  for  the  world, 
says  we  have  lost  but  four  officers ;  the  world,  who  is  not 
quite  so  scrupulous,  says  our  loss  is  heavy. — But  what 
shocking  notice  to  those  who  have  Harry  Conways  there ! 
The  Gazette  breaks  off  with  saying  that  they  were  to  storm 
the  next  day !  Upon  the  whole,  it  is  regarded  as  a  prepara- 
tive to  worse  news. 

Our  next  monarch  was  christened  last  night,  George 
Augustus  Frederick ;  the  Princess,  the  Duke  of  Cumber- 
land, and  Duke  of  Mecklenburgh,  sponsors ;  the  ceremony 
performed  by  the  Bishop  of  London.  The  Queen's  bed, 
magnificent,  and  they  say  in  taste,  was  placed  in  the  great 
drawing-room :  though  she  is  not  to  see  company  in  form, 
yet  it  looks  as  if  they  had  intended  people  should  have  been 
there,  as  all  who  presented  themselves  were  admitted,  which 
were  very  few,  for  it  had  not  been  notified ;  I  suppose  to 
prevent  too  great  a  crowd  :  all  I  have  heard  named,  besides 

R  2 


244     To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [1702 

those  in  waiting,  were  the  Duchess  of  Queensbury,  Lady 
Dalkeith,  Mrs.  Grenville,  and  about  four  more  ladies. 

My  Lady  Ailesbury  is  abominable :  she  settled  a  party  to 
come  hither,  and  put  it  off  a  month ;  and  now  she  has  been 
here  and  seen  my  cabinet,  she  ought  to  tell  you  what  good 
reason  I  had  not  to  stir.  If  she  has  not  told  you  that  it  is 
the  finest,  the  prettiest,  the  newest,  and  the  oldest  thing  in 
the  world,  I  will  not  go  to  Park  Place  on  the  20th,  as  I  have 
promised.  Oh !  but  tremble  you  may  for  me,  though  you 
will  not  for  yourself — all  my  glories  were  on  the  point  of 
vanishing  last  night  in  a  flame !  The  chimney  of  the  new 
gallery,  which  chimney  is  full  of  deal-boards,  and  which 
gallery  is  full  of  shavings,  was  on  fire  at  eight  o'clock. 
Harry  had  quarrelled  with  the  other  servants,  and  would 
not  sit  in  the  kitchen ;  and  to  keep  up  his  anger,  had 
lighted  a  vast  fire  in  the  servants'  hall,  which  is  under  the 
gallery.  The  chimney  took  fire ;  and  if  Margaret  had  not 
smelt  it  with  the  first  nose  that  ever  a  servant  had,  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  had  set  us  in  a  blaze.  I  hope  you  are  frightened 
out  of  your  senses  for  me :  if  you  are  not,  I  will  never  live 
in  a  panic  for  three  or  four  years  for  you  again. 

1  have  had  Lord  March  and  the  Rena 1  here  for  one  night, 
which  does  not  raise  my  reputation  in  the  neighbourhood, 
and  may  usher  me  again  for  a  Scotchman  into  the  North 
Briton*.     I  have   had   too  a   letter  from  a  German   that 

LETTER  839. — 1  A  fashionable  cour-  with  a  superior  partition  of  sense  (and 

tosan.     Walpole.  he  ought  to  have  added,  of  humour 

2  The  favourable  opinion  given  by  and  taste,  in  both  which  we  excel), 
Mr.  Walpole  of  the  abilities  of  the  /  should  be  inclined  to  give  the  pre- 
Scotch    in    the    Royal    and   Noble  ference  in  that  particular.    How  faith- 
Authora,  first   drew  upon  him  the  ful  is  this  masterly  pen  of  Mr.  Wai- 
notice    of  the   North  Briton.      The  pole  !    How  unlike  the  odious  sharp 
passage  alluded  to  is  the  following,  and  strong  incision  pen  of  Swift ! 
in  the  second  number  of  that  paper :  He  has  called  us  only  a  poor  FIKRCE 
1  Mr.  Horace  Walpole,  in  that  deep  northern  people ;   and  has   asserted, 
book    called    the   Royal   and    Noble  that    the   pensions    and    employments 
Authors,  says,  We  are  the  most  ac-  possessed  by  the  natives  of  Scotland  in 
complished  nation  in  Europe ;  the  nation  England,  amounted  to  more  than  the 
to  which,  if  any  one  country  is  endowed  whole  body  of  their  nobility  ever  spent 


1762]  To  Grosvenor  Bedford  245 

I  never  saw,  who  tells  me  that,  hearing  by  chance  how 
well  I  am  with  my  Lord  Bute,  he  desires  me  to  get  him 
a  place.  The  North  Briton  first  recommended  me  for  an 
employment,  and  has  now  given  me  interest  at  the  back- 
stairs. It  is  a  notion,  that  whatever  is  said  of  one,  has 
generally  some  kind  of  foundation :  surely  I  am  a  contra- 
diction to  this  maxim !  yet,  was  I  of  consequence  enough  to 
be  remembered,  perhaps  posterity  would  believe  that  I  was 
a  flatterer !  Good  night ! 

Yours  ever, 

HOK.  WALPOLE. 


840.    To  GEOSVENOE  BEDFOED. 

DEAR  SiB,  Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  9,  1762. 

I  must  trouble  you  in  an  affair  in  which  it  is  not  easy, 
I  fear,  to  assist  me.  My  servant,  Henry  Jones,  is  grown 
old  and  wants  to  retire.  If  you  could  find  a  very  good 
servant  for  me,  it  would  be  of  great  use.  I  will  tell  you 
exactly  what  sort  of  man  I  want.  He  is  to  be  steward  and 
butler,  not  my  gentleman,  nor  have  anything  to  do  with 
dressing  me,  or  with  my  clothes,  but  is  to  wait  at  table  and 
at  tea.  His  chief  business  will  be  to  look  after  my  family, 
in  which  he  must  be  strict ;  and  he  must  understand  buying 
and  selling,  for  what  I  shall  chiefly  expect  will  be,  that  he 
shall  bring  me  every  Saturday  night  the  house-bills  for  the 
week,  and  every  month  those  of  the  other  tradesmen  and 
servants.  For  these  reasons  which  I  cannot  dispense  with, 
'  I  choose  to  have  a  grave  servant  of  forty,  or  near  it,  with 

at  home  ;  and  that  all  the  money  they  very  particular  a  compliment  (which 
raised,  upon  the  public  was  hardly  suffi-  I  hope  flowed  from  his  heart  still 
dent  to  defray  their  civil  and  military  more  than  from  his  head),  and  I  en- 
lists.  This  was  at  the  latter  end  of  treat  his  Lordship  to  put  him  on  the 
Queen  Anne's  reign.  How  very  list  immediately  after  my  country- 
different  is  the  case  now !  I  heg  to  men  and  the  Cocoa."  Walpole. 
recommend  Mr.  Walpole,  too,  for  so 


246  To  George  Montagu  [1762 

a  very  good  character,  and  I  should  wish,  not  married. 
When  you  inquire,  be  so  good  as  not  to  let  it  be  known 
that  it  is  for  me ;  as  I  do  not  like  to  have  servants  present 
themselves,  whom  I  should  probably  not  care  to  take.  The 
wages  I  shall  make  little  difficulty  about,  if  it  is  one  that 
I  can  depend  upon  for  being  careful  in  my  family,  and 
letting  there  be  no  waste.  I  shall  be  in  town  on  Monday 
night,  and  if  you  will  call  on  me  on  Tuesday  or  Wednesday 
mornings,  I  will  talk  to  you  farther,  for  though  I  should  be 
glad  to  have  this  servant  soon,  I  am  in  no  particular  haste. 
Adieu,  dear  Sir  !  Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

P.S.  One  material  condition  will  be,  that  he  is  not  to 
have  friends  coming  to  my  house  after  him. 

841.      To   GrBOSVENOR   BEDFOBD. 

DEAR  SiB,  Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  24,  1762. 

I  would  not  trouble  you  with  the  enclosed  commissions, 
but  as  I  think  you  pass  by  both  doors  almost  every  day. 
Be  so  good  as  to  inquire  if  the  persons  mentioned  in  these 
advertisements  are  really  objects  of  charity,  and  if  they  are, 
I  will  beg  you  to  leave  a  guinea  for  each,  and  put  it  to  my 
account.  Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

842.      To   GrEOBGE   MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  24,  1762. 

I  WAS  disappointed  at  not  seeing  you,  as  you  had  given 
me  hopes,  but  shall  be  glad  to  meet  the  General,  as  I  think 
I  shall,  for  I  go  to  town  on  Monday  to  restore  the  furniture 
of  my  house,  which  has  been  painted ;  and  to  stop  the  gaps 
as  well  as  I  can,  which  I  have  made  by  bringing  everything 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  247 

hither ;  but  as  long  as  there  are  auctions,  and  I  have  any 
money  or  hoards,  those  wounds  soon  close. 

I  can  tell  you  nothing  of  your  Dame  Montagu  and  her 
arms ;  but  I  dare  to  swear  Mr.  Chute  can.  I  did  not  doubt 
but  you  would  approve  Mr.  Bateman's,  since  it  has  changed 
its  religion ;  I  converted  it  from  Chinese  to  Gothic.  His 
cloister  of  founders,  which  by  the  way  is  Mr.  Bentley's,  is 
delightful;  I  envy  him  his  old  chairs,  and  the  tomb  of 
Bishop  Caducanus 1 ;  but  I  do  not  agree  with  you  in  pre- 
ferring the  Duke's 2  to  Stowe.  The  first  is  in  a  greater  style, 
I  grant,  but  one  always  perceives  the  mesalliance ;  the  blood 
of  Bagshot  Heath  will  never  let  it  be  green.  If  Stowe  had 
but  half  so  many  buildings  as  it  has,  there  would  be  too 
many ;  but  that  profusion,  that  glut,  enriches,  and  makes  it 
look  like  a  fine  landscape  of  Albano ;  one  figures  oneself 
in  Tempe  or  Daphne.  I  never  saw  St.  Leonard's  Hill ; 
would  you  spoke  seriously  of  buying  it !  one  could  stretch 
out  the  arm  of  one's  postchaise,  and  reach  you  when  one 
would. 

1  am  here  all  in  ignorance  and  rain,  and  have  seen  nobody 
these  two  days  since  I  returned  from  Park  Place.     I  do  not 
know  whether  the  mob  hissed  my  Lord  Bute  at  his  installa- 
tion 3,  as  they  intended,  or  whether  my  Lord  Talbot  drubbed 
them  for  it.     I   know  nothing   of  the  Peace,  nor  of  the 
Havannah,  but  I  could  tell  you  much  of  old  English  en- 
gravers4, whose  lives  occupy  me  at  present.     On  Sunday 
I  am  to  dine  with  your  prime  minister  Hamilton,  for  though 
I  do  not  seek  the  world,  and  am  best  pleased  when  quiet 
here,  I  do  not  refuse  its  invitations,  when  it  does  not  press 
one  to  pass  above  a  few  hours  with  it.    I  have  no  quarrel  to 
it,  when  it  comes  not  to  me,  nor  asks  me  to  lie  from  home. 

LETTXR  842. — *  Caducanus  or  Ca-  s  Afl    Knight   of   the  Garter,   on 

dwgan,  Bishop  of  Bangor,  1215-41.  Sept.  22,  1762. 

2  The  Banger's  Lodge,  in  Windsor  *  A  Catalogue  of  Engravers,  printed 
Great  Park.  at  Strawberry  Hill  in  1763. 


248  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

That  favour  is  only  granted  to  the  elect,  to  Greatworth,  and 
a  very  few  more  spots.     Adieu ! 

Yours  most  sincerely, 
H.  W. 

843.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  26,  1762. 

WELL,  my  dear  Sir,  we  write  and  write,  but  we  do  not 
take  the  Havannah  or  make  the  Peace ;  I  wish  the  latter 
may  not  depend  on  the  former !  Lord  Albemarle's  last 
letters  have  not  been  made  public ;  we  do  not  doubt  but 
there  is  great  sickness  among  our  troops,  nor  do  the  Spaniards 
seem  so  terrified  at  the  name  of  an  Englishman  as  the 
French  are.  The  former  proceed  in  conquering  Portugal 
before  our  faces ;  yet  we  have  given  them  a  little  check  \ 
and  I  hope  a  little  spirit  to  the  Portuguese.  The  Duchess 
of  Bedford  is  certainly  going  to  Paris,  but  we  do  not  expect 
the  definitive  treaty  before  the  Parliament  meets.  The 
clamour  does  not  increase,  though  I  do  not  tell  you  it  abates. 
One  knows  not  what  to  believe  about  the  chiefs.  Pitt  is 
said  to  declare  firmly  against  opposition;  others  make  a 
salvo  for  him,  unless  in  case  of  a  lad  peace.  But  neither 
they  nor  he  know  what  he  will  do  till  he  is  in  the  middle 
of  his  first  speech.  In  the  meantime  Lord  Temple  is  all 
flax,  tow,  pitch,  and  combustibles.  What  I  do  believe  is, 
that  Pitt  has  refused  all  junction  with  the  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
who  has  certainly  contributed  most  to  raise  the  flame,  who 
is  for  ever  at  court,  and  yet  ruining  himself  with  more 
alacrity  than  ever  in  entertainments  to  keep  up  a  party ;  yet 
I  dare  to  say  he  will  neither  have  courage  to  head  an  oppo- 
sition, nor  art  enough  to  get  to  the  top  again,  but  will  be 
just  troublesome  enough  to  obtain  some  insignificant  post  in 

LETTER  848. — 1  The  capture  of  Va-       by  British  troops  under  Brigadier 
lencia  de  Alcantara  on  Aug.  27, 1762,       Burgoyne. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  249 

the  Cabinet  Council.  Somebody  said  t'other  day,  '  Yet  sure 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle  does  not  want  parts ' ; — '  No,'  replied 
Lord  Talbot,  'for  he  has  done  without  them  for  forty  years.' 
His  Grace,  Lord  Temple,  and  Lord  Bute,  met  last  Wednesday 
at  the  installation  of  the  last.  The  first,  when  he  performed 
the  ceremony,  embraced  Lord  Bute  ;  Lord  Temple  sat  next 
to  him  at  dinner,  but  they  did  not  exchange  a  syllable,  and 
yet  I  do  not  esteem  habitual  virulence  more  than  habitual 
dissimulation.  The  pomp  was  great ;  the  King,  Queen,  and 
all  the  family,  but  Princess  Amelia  (who  excused  herself 
from  seeing  her  father's  trophies  buried),  were  there :  Prince 
William 2  was  installed  too,  and  it  was  the  King's  first  ap- 
pearance to  take  his  stall.  The  Queen  was  charmed  with 
Windsor,  and  they  stay  there  till  Tuesday.  Pains  had  been 
taken  to  breed  a  riot,  but  nothing  happened.  The  Duke  de 
Nivernois  was  ill,  and  could  not  see  the  ceremony.  He  is 
very  battered,  delicate,  and  anxious  about  his  health ;  very 
plain  and  little  in  his  person,  but  with  the  air  of  a  gentleman, 
so  I  hear.  I  have  not  seen  him,  nor  have  any  curiosity ;  he 
translated  Lord  Lyttelton's  Dialogues  of  the  Dead,  which  has 
not  given  me  much  opinion  of  him. 

I  did  not  doubt  but  such  humanity  as  yours  would  agree 
with  me  about  the  Czarina — but  I  grow  a  little  cooled  upon 
that  subject ;  I  have  not  named  her  with  abhorrence  above 
seven  times  this  week. 

Well,  I  have  seen  my  Duchess s — you  have  not  returned 
her  as  you  received  her.  I  was  quite  struck  at  seeing  her 
so  much  altered.  She  wears  no  rouge,  and  being  leaner, 
her  features,  which  never  were  delicate,  seem  larger.  Then, 
she  is  not  dressed  French,  but  Italian,  that  is,  over-French. 
In  one  point,  in  which  she  cannot  be  improved,  she  seemed 

»  William   Henry,  third    son   of          3  The  Duchess  of  Grafton.     TPoZ- 
Frederick,   Prince  of  Wales,  after-      pole, 
wards  Duke  of  Gloucester.    WalpoU. 


250  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

so ;  being  thinner,  she  looked  taller.  She  spoke  of  you  to 
my  perfect  content ;  and  as  if  I  did  not  know  it,  told  me  of 
all  your  good-breeding,  good-nature,  and  attentions.  She 
had  said  to  a  friend  of  mine  that  she  had  something  for  me 
from  you,  but  that  I  should  not  have  it  till  she  saw  me. 
That  was  but  for  half  an  hour,  and  not  at  her  own  house,  so 
she  and  I  both  forgot  it ;  was  it  my  letters  ?  I  hope  not, 
for  she  is  gone  to  her  father's4  in  Northumberland,  and 
being  doomed  never  to  appear  where  she  is  formed  to  shine, 
was  not  at  the  Installation ;  nay,  will  not  be  in  town  till 
December.  If  she  who  was  so  proper  for  it  was  not  at 
Windsor,  pray  do  not  imagine  I  was.  I  saw  that  show 
above  thirty  years  ago,  and  do  not,  like  the  Duke  of  New- 
castle, tease  every  reign  with  my  presence. 

Lord  Melcombe,  except  some  trifling  legacies,  has  left 
everything  in  his  power  to  a  near  relation,  Mr.  Windham ; 
but  Eastbury5  and  the  estate  are  Lord  Temple's,  who 
having  always  threatened  to  pull  down  that  pile  of  ugliness 
when  it  should  be  his,  is  charmed  since  he  has  seen  it 
through  the  eyes  of  possession.  I  told  you  of  Lady  Mary 
Wortley's  death  and  will,  but  I  did  not  then  know  that, 
with  her  usual  maternal  tenderness,  and  usual  generosity, 
she  has  left  her  son  one  guinea. 

Arlington  Street,  Monday  night,  27th. 

This  codicil  to  my  letter  will  not  rejoice  you.  I  find  here 
great  doubts  of  the  Peace :  in  the  City  they  disbelieve  it,  and 
prove  their  disbelief  substantially :  the  stocks  fall  fast. 
What  a  scene  will  follow,  if  this  negotiation  breaks  off  too  ! 
What  acrimony,  if  we  think  ourselves  again  deluded  by 
France  !  And  does  war  want  new  edge  ?  Wretched  mortals ! 
more  wretched  Kings  and  ministers,  who  look  on  lives  as  on 
gunpowder,  and  care  not  how  many  barrels  they  waste  of 

*  Lord  Bavensworth.     Walpole.  5  Near  Blandford,  in  Dorsetshire. 


1762]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway     251 

either !  Negotiations  indeed  will  fluctuate  before  they  settle. 
I  wish  this  may  be  only  one  of  their  qualms.  Prince 
Ferdinand,  too,  will  not  be  sparing  of  the  human  gunpowder 
committed  to  his  charge :  he  will  have  a  match  ready  in  his 
hand  to  the  last  moment  to  blow  up  the  treaty ; — such  a 
blessing  is  a  foreign  general,  who  has  a  different  interest 
and  cannot  be  called  to  account !  Sure  these  monarchs  and 
heroes  would  shudder,  if  they  saw  a  bill  drawn  upon  them 
thus : — 

Queen  of  Hungary,  debtor  to  the  human  species  Millions. 
King  of  Prussia,        ditto       ....  do. 

King  of  France,  by  his  stewards  ...  do. 

King  of  Spain Many  thousands. 

Prince  Ferdinand,  a  private  gentleman       .         Some  thousands. 
Czarina Only  her  own  husband. 


Total        .        .  Half  Europe. 


844.    To  THE  HON.  HENEY  SEYMOUE  CONWAY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  28,  1762. 

To  my  sorrow  and  your  wicked  joy,  it  is  a  doubt  whether 
Monsieur  de  Nivernois  will  shut  the  temple  of  Janus.  We 
do  not  believe  him  quite  so  much  in  earnest  as  the  dove ' 
we  have  sent,  who  has  summoned  his  turtle  to  Paris.  She 
sets  out  the  day  after  to-morrow,  escorted,  to  add  gravity  to 
the  embassy,  by  George  Selwyn.  The  stocks  don't  mind 
this  journey  of  a  rush,  but  draw  in  their  horns  every  day. 
We  can  learn  nothing  of  the  Havannah,  though  the  axis  on 
which  the  whole  treaty  turns.  We  believe,  for  we  have 
never  seen  them,  that  the  last  letters  thence  brought  accounts 
of  great  loss,  especially  by  the  sickness.  Colonel  Burgoyne 2 

LETTER  844. — l  The  Duke  of  Bed-  goyne,  with  the  Comto  de  Lippe, 

ford,  then  Embassador  at  Paris.  commanded  the  British  troops  sent 

WcUpole.  to  the  relief  of  Portugal.  Walpole.— 

8  Colonel,  afterwards  General  Bur-  John  Burgoyne  (1722-1792),  soldier 


252     To  tJie  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway     [i?62 

has  given  a  little  fillip  to  the  Spaniards,  and  shown  them, 
that  though  they  can  take  Portugal  from  the  Portuguese,  it 
will  not  be  entirely  so  easy  to  wrest  it  from  the  English. 
Lord  Pulteney3,  and  my  nephew4,  Lady  Waldegrave's 
brother,  distinguished  themselves.  I  hope  your  Hereditary 
Prince  is  recovering  of  the  wounds  in  his  loins  ;  for  they  say 
he  is  to  marry  Princess  Augusta. 

Lady  Ailesbury  has  told  you,  to  be  sure,  that  I  have  been 
at  Park  Place.  Everything  there  is  in  beauty  ;  and,  I  should 
think,  pleasanter  than  a  campaign  in  Germany.  Your 
Countess  is  handsomer  than  fame ;  your  daughter  improv- 
ing every  day;  your  plantations  more  thriving  than  the 
poor  woods  about  Marburg  and  Cassel.  Chinese  pheasants 
swarm  there. — For  Lady  Cecilia  Johnston,  I  assure  you,  she 
sits  close  upon  her  egg,  and  it  will  not  be  her  fault  if  she 
does  not  hatch  a  hero.  We  missed  all  the  glories  of  the 
Installation 5,  and  all  the  faults,  and  all  the  frowning  faces 
there.  Not  a  Knight  was  absent,  but  the  lame  and  the 
deaf. 

Your  brother,  Lady  Hertford,  and  Lord  Beauchamp,  are 
gone  from  Windsor  into  Suffolk.  Henry8,  who  has  the 
genuine  indifference  of  a  Harry  Conway,  would  not  stir  from 
Oxford  for  those  pageants.  Lord  Beauchamp  showed  me 
a  couple  of  his  letters,  which  have  more  natural  humour  and 
cleverness  than  is  conceivable.  They  have  the  ease  and 
drollery  of  a  man  of  parts  who  has  lived  long  in  the  world — 
and  he  is  scarce  seventeen ! 

I  am  going  to  Lord  Waldegrave's 7  for  a  few  days,  and, 

and     dramatist,     afterwards     well  Garter.     Walpole. 

known  for  his  surrender  to  Gates  at  6  Henry  Seymour  Conway,  second 

Saratoga  in  1777.  son  of  Francis,  Earl  and  afterwards 

3  Only  son  of  William  Pulteney,  Marquis  of  Hertford.     Walpole.    He 
Earl  of  Bath.     He   died  before  his  died  unmarried  in  1830. 

father.     Walpole.  7  James,  second   Earl  of  Walde- 

4  Edward,  only  son  of  Sir  Edward      grave,  Knight  of  the   Garter,   had 
Walpole.   He  died  in  1771.    Walpole.       married  Maria,  second  daughter  of 

6  An  installation  of  Knights  of  the       Sir  Edward  Walpole.     Walpole. 


1762]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway     253 

when  your  Countess  returns  from  Goodwood,  am  to  meet 
her  at  Churchill's.  Lord  Strafford,  who  has  been  terribly 
alarmed  about  my  Lady,  mentions,  with  great  pleasure,  the 
letters  he  receives  from  you.  His  neighbour  and  cousin, 
Lord  Kockingham,  I  hear,  is  one  of  the  warmest  declaimers 
at  Arthur's  against  the  present  system 8.  Abuse  continues 
in  much  plenty,  but  I  have  seen  none  that  I  thought  had 
wit  enough  to  bear  the  sea.  Good  night.  There  are  satiric 
prints  enough  to  tapestry  Westminster  Hall. 

Yours  ever, 

Hon.  WALPOLE. 

Stay  a  moment :  I  recollect  telling  you  a  He  in  my  last, 
which,  though  of  no  consequence,  I  must  correct.  The  right 
reverend  midwife,  Thomas  Seeker,  Archbishop,  did  christen 
the  babe,  and  not  the  Bishop  of  London 9,  as  I  had  been  told 
by  matron  authority.  Apropos  to  babes :  have  you  read 
Kousseau  on  Education10?  I  almost  got  through  a  volume 
at  Park  Place,  though  impatiently;  it  has  more  tautology 
than  any  of  his  works,  and  less  eloquence.  Sure  he  has 
writ  more  sense  and  more  nonsense  than  ever  any  man  did 
of  both !  All  I  have  yet  learned  from  this  work  is,  that  one 
should  have  a  tutor  for  one's  son  to  teach  him  to  have  no 
ideas,  in  order  that  he  may  begin  to  learn  his  alphabet  as  he 
loses  his  maidenhead. 

Thursday,  noon,  30th. 

lo  Havannah !  lo  Albemarle !  I  had  sealed  my  letter, 
and  given  it  to  Harry  for  the  post,  when  my  Lady  Suffolk 
sent  me  a  short  note  from  Charles  Townshend,  to  say  the 
Havannah  surrendered  on  the  12th  of  August,  and  that  we 
have  taken  twelve  ships  of  the  line  in  the  harbour.  The 

8  Rockingham  resigned  his  place  9  Bichard  Osbaldeston  ;  d.  1764. 

in  the  Bedchamber  in  the  following  10  Emile,  ou   de  V  Education,  pub- 

November,   in    consequence   of   his  lished  in  April,  1761. 
disapproval  of  the  Peace. 


254  To  the  Eev.   William  Cole  [1702 

news  came  late  last  night.  I  do  not  know  a  particular  more. 
God  grant  no  more  blood  be  shed !  I  have  hopes  again  of 
the  Peace.  My  dearest  Harry,  now  we  have  preserved  you 
to  the  last  moment,  do  take  care  of  yourself.  When  one  has 
a  whole  war  to  wade  through,  it  is  not  worth  while  to  be 
careful  in  any  one  battle ;  but  it  is  silly  to  fling  one's  self 
away  in  the  last.  Your  character  is  established ;  Prince 
Ferdinand's  letters  are  full  of  encomiums  on  you  ;  but  what 
will  weigh  more  with  you,  save  yourself  for  another  war, 
which  I  doubt  you  will  live  to  see,  and  in  which  you  may 
be  superior  commander,  and  have  space  to  display  your 
talents.  A  second  in  service  is  never  remembered,  whether 
the  honour  of  the  victory  be  owing  to  him,  or  he  killed. 
Turenne  would  have  a  very  short  paragraph,  if  the  Prince 
of  Conde  had  been  general  when  he  fell.  Adieu  ! 

845.    To  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  30,  1762. 

IT  gives  me  great  satisfaction  that  Strawberry  Hill 
pleased  you  enough  to  make  it  a  second  visit.  I  could 
name  the  time  instantly,  but  you  threaten  me  with  coming 
so  loaded  with  presents,  that  it  will  look  mercenary,  not 
friendly,  to  accept  your  visit.  If  your  chaise  is  empty,  to 
be  sure  I  shall  rejoice  to  hear  it  at  my  gate  about  the  22nd 
of  this  next  month :  if  it  is  crammed,  though  I  have  built 
a  convent,  I  have  not  so  much  of  the  monk  in  me  as  not  to 
blush — nor  can  content  myself  with  praying  to  Our  Lady  of 
Strawberries  to  reward  you. 

I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  the  accounts  from 
Gothurst 1.  What  treasures  there  are  still  in  private  seats, 
if  one  knew  where  to  hunt  them  !  The  emblematic  picture 

LETTER  845. — j  Gothurst  or  Qayhurst,   near  Newport  Pagnell  in  Buck- 
inghamshire. 


1762]  To  Lady  Hervey  255 

of  Lady  Digby 2  is  like  that  at  Windsor,  and  the  fine  small 
one  at  Mr.  Skinner's.  I  should  be  curious  to  see  the 
portrait  of  Sir  Kenelm's  father ;  was  not  he  the  remarkable 
Everard  Digby s  ?  How  singular  too  is  the  picture  of  young 
Joseph  and  Madam  Potiphar !  His  Majora—one  has  heard 
of  Josephs  that  did  not  find  the  lady's  purse  any  hindrance 
to  Majora. 

You  are  exceedingly  obliging  in  offering  to  make  an 
index  to  my  prints,  Sir;  but  that  would  be  a  sad  way  of 
entertaining  you.  I  am  antiquary  and  virtuoso  enough 
myself  not  to  dislike  such  employment,  but  could  never 
think  it  charming  enough  to  trouble  anybody  else  with  it. 
Whenever  you  do  me  the  favour  of  coming  hither,  you  will 
find  yourself  entirely  at  liberty  to  choose  your  own  amuse- 
ments— if  you  choose  a  bad  one,  and  in  truth  there  is  not 
very  good,  you  must  blame  yourself;  while  you  know,  I 
hope,  that  it  would  be  my  wish  that  you  did  not  repent  your 
favours  to,  Sir, 

Yr.  most  obliged 

Humble  Servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


846.    To  LADY  HERVEY. 

MADAM,  Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  1,  1762. 

I  hope  you  are  as  free  from  any  complaint,  as  I  am  sure 
you  are  full  of  joy.  Nobody  partakes  more  of  your  satis- 
faction for  Mr.  Hervey's l  safe  return  * ;  and  now  he  is  safe, 
I  trust  you  enjoy  his  glory :  for  this  is  a  wicked  age ;  you 
are  one  of  those  un-Lacedaemonian  mothers,  that  are  not 

*  Venetia,  daughter  of  Sir  Edward  LETTER  846. — l  General  William 

Stanley,  of  Tonge  Castle,  Shropshire,  Hervey,  youngest  son  of  Lady  Her- 

and  wife  of  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  Knight,  vey.     Walpole. — Probably  a  mistake 

3  Sir  Everard  Digby,  Knight  (1578-  for  Captain  Augustus  Hervey.     See 

1606),  executed  for  participation  in  the  following  letter, 

the  Gunpowder  Plot.  2  From  the  Havannah.     Walpole. 


256  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?G2 

content  unless  your  children  come  off  with  all  their  limbs. 
A  Spartan  countess  would  not  have  had  the  confidence  of 
my  Lady  Albemarle  to  appear  in  the  Drawing-room  without 
at  least  one  of  her  sons  being  knocked  on  the  head 3.  How- 
ever, pray,  Madam,  make  my  compliments  to  her;  one 
must  conform  to  the  times,  and  congratulate  people  for 
being  happy,  if  they  like  it.  I  know  one  matron,  however, 
with  whom  I  may  condole ;  who,  I  dare  swear,  is  miserable 
that  she  has  not  one  of  her  acquaintance  in  affliction,  and  to 
whose  door  she  might  drive  with  all  her  sympathizing  grey- 
hounds to  inquire  after  her,  and  then  to  Hawkins's,  and 
then  to  Graham's,  and  then  cry  over  a  ball  of  rags  that  she 
is  picking,  and  be  so  sorry  for  poor  Mrs.  Such-an-one,  who 
has  lost  an  only  son ! 

When  your  Ladyship  has  hung  up  all  your  trophies,  I  will 
come  and  make  you  a  visit.  There  is  another  ingredient 
I  hope  not  quite  disagreeable  that  Mr.  Hervey  has  brought 
with  him,  un-Lacedaemonian  too,  but  admitted  among  the 
other  vices  of  our  system.  If  besides  glory  and  riches  they 
have  brought  us  peace,  I  will  make  a  bonfire  myself,  though 
it  should  be  in  the  mayoralty  of  that  virtuous  citizen 
Mr.  Beckford.  Adieu,  Madam  ! 

Your  Ladyship's  most  faithful  humble  servant, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

847.    To  SIE  HORACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  3,  1762. 

I  AM  now  only  the  Peace  in  your  debt,  for  here  is  the 
Havannah.  Here  it  is,  following  despair  and  accompanied 
by  glory,  riches,  and  twelve  ships  of  the  line l ;  not  all  in 
person,  for  four  are  destroyed.  The  booty — that  is  an  un- 

3  See  note  on  the  following  letter. 

LKTTER  847. — '  Taken  in  harbour  of  Havana. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  257 

dignified  term — I  should  say,  the  plunder,  or  the  spoils, 
which  is  a  more  classic  word  for  such  heroes  as  we  are, 
amounts  to  at  least  a  million  and  a  half.  Lord  Albemarle'a 
share  will  be  about  140,OOOZ.  I  wish  I  knew  how  much 
that  makes  in  talents,  or  great  sesterces.  What  to  me  is 
better  than  all,  we  have  lost  but  sixteen  hundred  men  ;  but, 
alas !  Most  of  the  sick  recovered !  What  an  affecting 
object  my  Lady  Albemarle2  would  make  in  a  triumph, 
surrounded  by  her  three  victorious  sons  ;  for  she  had  three 
at  stake  !  My  friend  Lady  Hervey 3,  too,  is  greatly  happy ; 
her  son  Augustus  distinguished  himself  particularly4,  brought 
home  the  news,  and  on  his  way  took  a  rich  French  ship 
going  to  Newfoundland  with  military  stores.  I  do  not 
surely  mean  to  detract  from  him,  who  set  all  this  spirit  on 
float,  but  you  see  we  can  conquer,  though  Mr.  Pitt  is  at  his 
plough. 

The  express  arrived  while  the  Due  de  Nivernois  was  at 
dinner  with  Lord  Bute.  The  world  says  that  the  joy  of 
the  company  showed  itself  with  too-  little  politeness — I  hope 
not ;  I  would  not  exult  to  a  single  man,  and  a  minister  of 
peace  ;  it  should  be  in  the  face  of  Europe,  if  I  assumed  that 
dominion  which  the  French  used  to  arrogate;  nor  do  I 
believe  it  happened  ;  all  the  company  are  not  so  charmed 
with  the  event.  They  are  not  quite  convinced  that  it  will 
facilitate  the  pacification,  nor  am  I  clear  it  will  The  City 
of  London  will  not  lower  their  hopes,  and  views,  and 
expectations,  on  this  acquisition.  Well,  if  we  can  steer 

'  Lady   Anne    Lenox,    youngest  William,  Augustus,  and  Frederic,  all 

daughter  of  the  first  Duke  of  Bich-  successively  Earls  of  Bristol.     Wai- 

mond.     George,  third  Earl  of  Albe-  pole. 

marie  ;  Augustus  Keppel,  afterwards  4  In  command  of  the  Dragon  he 

admiral ;  and  General  William  Kep-  took  part  in  the  cannonade  of  the 

pel,  her  three  eldest  sons,  all  com-  Moro  Castle  at  the  entrance  to  the 

manded  at  the  taking  of  the   Ha-  harbour  of  Havana.    His  ship  went 

vannah.     Walpole.  aground,  but  he  continued  to  fire  till 

1  Mary  Lepelle,  widow  of  John,  ordered  to  desist. 
Lord  Hervey,  and  mother  of  George 


WALPOI.E.    V 


258  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

wisely  between  insolence  from  success  and  impatience  for 
peace,  we  may  secure  our  safety  and  tranquillity  for  many 
years.  But  they  are  not  yet  arrived,  nor  hear  I  anything 
that  tells  me  the  Peace  will  certainly  be  made.  France 
wants  peace  ;  I  question  if  she  wishes  it.  How  his  Catholic 
royalty  will  take  this,  one  cannot  guess.  My  good  friend, 
we  are  not  at  table  with  Monsieur  de  Nivernois,  so  we  may 
smile  at  this  consequence  of  the  family-compact.  Twelve 
ships  of  the  line  and  the  Havannah ! — it  becomes  people 
who  cannot  keep  their  own,  to  divide  the  world  between 
them! 

Your  nephew  Foote  has  made  a  charming  figure  ;  the 
King  and  Queen  went  from  Windsor  to  see  Eton ;  he  is 
captain  of  the  Oppidans,  and  made  a  speech  to  them  with 
great  applause.  It  was  in  English,  which  was  right ;  why 
should  we  talk  Latin  to  our  Kings  rather  than  Euss  or 
Iroquois?  Is  this  a  season  for  being  ashamed  of  our 
country  ?  Dr.  Barnard s,  the  master,  is  the  Pitt  of  masters, 
and  has  raised  the  school  to  the  most  flourishing  state  it 
ever  knew. 

Lady  Mary  Wortley  has  left  twenty-one  large  volumes  in 
prose  and  verse,  in  manuscript ;  nineteen  are  fallen  to  Lady 
Bute,  and  will  not  see  the  light  in  haste.  The  other  two 
Lady  Mary  in  her  passage  gave  to  somebody  in  Holland, 
and  at  her  death  expressed  great  anxiety  to  have  them 
published.  Her  family  are  in  terrors  lest  they  should  be, 
and  have  tried  to  get  them :  hitherto  the  man  is  inflexible. 
Though  I  do  not  doubt  but  they  are  an  olio  of  lies  and 
scandal,  I  should  like  to  see  them.  She  had  parts,  and  had 
seen  much.  Truth  is  often  at  bottom  of  such  compositions, 
and  places  itself  here  and  there  without  the  intention  of  the 

5   Edward    Barnard   (1717-1781),      the  numbers  of  the  school  from  three 
Head    Master    of    Eton,    1754-64 ;      to  five  hundred. 
Provost  of  Eton,   1764,    He  raised 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  259 

mother.  I  dare  say  in  general,  these  works  are  like  Madame 
del  Pozzo's '  M&moires.  Lady  Mary  had  more  wit,  and  some- 
thing more  delicacy ;  their  manners  and  morals  were  a  good 
deal  more  alike. 

There  is  a  lad,  a  waiter  at  St.  James's  Coffee  House,  of 
thirteen  years  old,  who  says  he  does  not  wonder  we  beat 
the  French,  for  he  himself  could  thrash  Monsieur  de  Niver- 
nois.  This  duke  is  so  thin  and  small,  that  when  minister 
at  Berlin,  at  a  time  that  France  was  not  in  favour  there, 
the  King  of  Prussia  said,  if  his  eyes  were  a  little  older,  he 
should  want  a  glass  to  see  the  ambassador.  I  do  not  admire 
this  bon  mot.  Voltaire  is  continuing  his  Universal  History ; 
he  showed  the  Duke  of  Grafton  a  chapter,  to  which  the  title 
is,  Les  Anglois  vainqueurs  dans  les  Quatre  Parties  du  Monde. 
There  have  been  minutes  in  the  course  of  our  correspondence 
when  you  and  I  did  not  expect  to  see  this  chapter.  It  is 
bigger  by  a  quarter  than  our  predecessors  the  Eomans  had 
any  pretensions  to,  and  larger  than  I  hope  our  descendants 
will  see  written  of  them,  for  conquest,  unless  by  necessity, 
as  ours  has  been,  is  an  odious  glory ;  witness  my  hand, 

H.  WALPOLE. 

P.S.  I  recollect  that  my  last  letter  was  a  little  melancholy ; 
this,  to  be  sure,  has  a  grain  or  two  of  national  vanity ;  why, 
I  must  own  I  am  a  miserable  philosopher ;  the  weather  of 
the  hour  does  affect  me.  I  cannot  here,  at  a  distance  from 
the  world  and  unconcerned  in  it,  help  feeling  a  little  satis- 
faction when  my  country  is  successful ;  yet,  tasting  its 
honours  and  elated  with  them,  I  heartily,  seriously  wish 

8  Madame  del   Pozzo,  an  Italian  wrote  M&moires  of  her  life,  in  which 

lady,  who,  for  a  short  time,  had  been  she  had  spoken  so  scandalously  of 

mistress  of  the   Itegent  of  France,  Elizabeth  Farnese,  Queen  Dowager 

was  celebrated  for  her  wit,  which  of  Spain,  that  the  latter  employed 

was  extremely  coarse  and  indelicate,  persons  to  seize  her  and  force  them 

and  was  infamous  for  her  debauch-  from  her.    Mr.  Walpole  knew  her  at 

cries    and    abusive    language.     She  Florence.     Walpole. 


S   2 


260  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

they  had  their  quietus.  What  is  the  fame  of  men  compared 
to  their  happiness  ?  Who  gives  a  nation  peace,  gives  tran- 
quillity to  all.  How  many  must  be  wretched,  before  one 
can  be  renowned !  A  hero  bets  the  lives  and  fortunes  of 
thousands,  whom  he  has  no  right  to  game  with :  but,  alas ! 
Caesars  have  little  regard  to  their  fish  and  counters ! 

Arlington  Street,  Oct.  4th. 

I  find  I  have  told  you  an  enormous  lie7,  but  luckily 
I  have  time  to  retract  it.  Lady  Mary  Wortley  has  left 
nothing  like  the  number  of  volumes  I  have  said.  At  the 
Installation  I  hear  Charles  Townshend  said  they  were  four 
— last  Thursday  he  told  me  twenty-one.  I  seldom  do 
believe  or  repeat  what  he  says — for  the  future  I  will  think 
of  these  twenty-one  volumes. 

There  has  been  a  disagreeable  bloody  affair 8  in  Germany. 
Soubize  sent  Lord  Granby  word  that  he  hoped  soon  to 
embrace  him — in  two  days  they  cannonaded  us.  It  was 
entirely  a  cannonading  affair,  but  it  lasted  fourteen  hours, 
and  cost  them  between  two  and  three  thousand  men.  We 
have  lost  between  seven  and  eight  hundred,  with  fourteen 
officers  of  the  Guards  killed  and  wounded.  Prince  Ferdi- 
nand, who  either  suspected  the  Danaos,  or  had  a  mind  his 
army  should,  gave  it  out  in  orders  that  the  whole  army 
should  be  upon  their  guard.  If  our  amity  begins  thus,  how 
will  it  end  ? 

7   It  was  true   that    Lady   Mary  to  publish  them  too ;    but,  in  two 

Wortley  did  leave  seventeen  volumes  days,  the  man  had  a  crown  living 

of  her  works  and  memoires.     She  from  Lord  Bute,  and  Lady  Bute  had 

gave  her  letters  from  Constantinople  the  seventeen  volumes.     Walpole. 

to  an  English  clergyman  in  Holland,  8  The    cannonade    of    Brucken- 

who  published  them ;  and,  the  day  Muhle    or    Amoneburg,    in    Hesse- 

before  she  died,  she  gave  him  those  Nassau,  carried  on  throughout  Sept. 

seventeen  volumes,  with  injunctions  21,  1762,  without  any  decisive  result. 


1762]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      261 


848.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUB  CONWAY. 

Arlington  Street,  Oct.  4,  1762. 

I  AM  concerned  to  hear  you  have  been  so  much  out  of 
order,  but  should  rejoice  your  sole  command *  disappointed 
you,  if  this  late  cannonading  business2  did  not  destroy  all 
my  little  prospects.  Can  one  believe  the  French  negotiators 
are  sincere,  when  their  marshals  are  so  false  ?  What  vexes 
me  more  is  to  hear  you  seriously  tell  your  brother  that  you 
are  always  unlucky,  and  lose  all  opportunities  of  fighting. 
How  can  you  be  such  a  child  ?  You  cannot,  like  a  German, 
love  fighting  for  its  own  sake.  No  :  you  think  of  the  mob 
of  London,  who,  if  you  had  taken  Peru,  would  forget  you 
the  first  Lord  Mayor's  Day,  or  for  the  first  hyaena  that  comes 
to  town.  How  can  one  build  on  virtue  and  on  fame  too  ? 
When  do  they  ever  go  together  ?  In  my  passion,  I  could 
almost  wish  you  were  as  worthless  and  as  great  as  the  King 
of  Prussia !  If  conscience  is  a  punishment,  is  not  it  a  reward 
too?  Go  to  that  silent  tribunal,  and  be  satisfied  with  its 
sentence. 

I  have  nothing  new  to  tell  you.  The  Havannah  is  more 
likely  to  break  off  the  Peace  than  to  advance  it.  We  are 
not  in  a  humour  to  give  up  the  world  ;  anei,  are  much  more 
disposed  to  conquer  the  rest  of  it.  We  shall  have  some 
cannonading  here,  I  believe,  if  we  sign  the  Peace.  Mr.  Pitt, 
from  the  bosom  of  his  retreat,  has  made  Beckford  mayor. 
The  Duke  of  Newcastle,  if  not  taken  in  again,  will  probably 
end  his  life  as  he  began  it — at  the  head  of  a  mob.  Person- 
alities and  abuse,  public  and  private,  increase  to  the  most 
outrageous  degree,  and  yet  the  town  is  at  the  emptiest. 

LITTER  848. — 1  During  Lord  Gran-  8  The  affair  of  Bucker-MuhL    See 

by's  absence  from  the  army  in  Flan-  Annual  Register  for  the  year  1762, 

ders    the    command    in    chief   had  p.  49.     Walpole. 
devolved  on  Mr.  Conway.     Walpole. 


262  To  George  Montagu  [1762 

You  may  guess  what  will  be  the  case  in  a  month.  I  do  not 
see  at  all  into  the  storm  :  I  do  not  mean  that  there  will  not 
be  a  great  majority  to  vote  anything ;  but  there  are  times 
when  even  majorities  cannot  do  all  they  are  ready  to  do. 
Lord  Bute  has  certainly  great  luck,  which  is  something 
in  politics,  whatever  it  is  in  logic :  but  whether  peace  or 
war,  I  would  not  give  him  much  for  the  place  he  will 
have  this  day  twelvemonth.  Adieu !  The  watchman  goes 
past  one  in  the  morning ;  and  as  I  have  nothing  better 
than  reflections  and  conjectures  to  send  you,  I  may  as  well 
go  to  bed. 

849.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  14,  1762. 

You  will  not  make  your  fortune  in  the  Admiralty  at 
least ;  your  King  and  cousin  is  to  cross  over  and  figure 
in  with  George  Grenville ;  the  latter  takes  the  Admiralty, 
Lord  Halifax  the  Seals 1 — still,  I  believe,  reserving  Ireland 
for  pocket-money  —  at  least  no  new  viceroy  is  named. 
Mr.  Fox  undertakes  the  House  of  Commons* — and  the 
Peace — and  the  war — for  if  we  have  the  first,  we  may  be 
pretty  sure  of  the  second. 

You  see  Lord  Bute  totters ;  reduced  to  shift  hands  so 
often,  it  does  not  look  like  much  stability.  The  campaign 
at  Westminster  will  be  warm.  When  Mr.  Pitt  can  have 
such  a  mouthful  as  Lord  Bute,  Mr.  Fox,  and  the  Peace, 
I  do  not  think  three  thousand  pounds  a  year  will  stop  it. 
Well,  I  shall  go  into  my  old  corner  under  the  window,  and 
laugh  ;  I  had  rather  sit  by  my  fire  here  ;  but  if  there  are 
to  be  bull-feasts,  one  would  go  and  see  them,  when  one  has 

LETTER  849. — !   As    Secretary  of  King  that  Parliament  should  approve 

State  for  the  Northern  Province.  of  the  Peace  by  large  majorities,  and 

a  '  In  October  1762,  Fox,  with  con-  by  the  employment  of  the  grossest 

siderable  reluctance,  once  more  ac-  bribery  and  intimidation  he  kept  his 

cepted  the  leadership  of  the  House  of  word.'    (D.  N.  B.) 
Commons. . .  .  Fox  had  assured  the 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  263 

a  convenient  box  for  nothing,  and  is  very  indifferent  about 
the  cavalier-combatants.     Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  WALPOLE. 


850.    To  SIR  HOEACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  20,  1762. 

A  NEW  revolution  has  happened,  which  perhaps  has 
not  struck  you  as  such,  from  what  little  has  appeared 
in  the  papers.  Mr.  Grenville l,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Lord 
Halifax,  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  have  changed  places. 
'  Well ! '  say  you  foreigners,  '  and  do  you  call  that  a  revo- 
lution? Sure,  you  English  are  not  accustomed  to  great 
events,  violent  catastrophes,  when  you  look  on  two 
ministers  crossing  over  and  figuring-in,  as  a  revolution? 
Why,  in  Russia,  a  wife  murders  her  husband,  seizes  the 

crown '     Stay,  my  good  Sir ;  we  do  not  strangle  the 

ten  commandments  every  time  there  is  to  be  an  alteration 
in  the  state  ;  but,  have  a  little  patience,  and  you  will 
find  these  removes  not  quite  so  simple  as  you  imagine. 
Mr.  Grenville,  besides  holding  the  Seals,  was  something 
else,  was  not  he  ?  Have  you  never  heard  of  '  manager  in 
the  House  of  Commons'?  or,  what  defines  it  better,  had 
the  management  of  the  House  of  Commons.  This,  Lord 
Halifax,  being  in  the  Lords,  cannot  execute — if  he  could, 
Lord  Bute  would  perform  it  himself.  'Well,'  you  cry, 
'  and  who  is  to  do  it  ?'  I  will  tell  you  presently — let  us 
dispatch  Mr.  Grenville  first.  Three  explanations  are 
given — the  majority,  of  which  number  for  once  am  I,  say 
he  had  qualms  on  the  Peace,  could  not  digest  such  good 
terms  as  have  been  offered  to  France.  Another  set,  no 

LETTKK  850. — 1  George  Grenville,  next  brother  of  Richard,  Earl  Temple. 
Walpote. 


264  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1762 

friends  of  Mr.  Grenville,  suspect  some  underhand  dealings 
with  his  brother  and  Mr.  Pitt.  This  I,  who  have  a  very 
good  opinion  of  Grenville,  do  not  believe.  At  most,  I  will 
allow  him  to  have  been  afraid  of  signing  the  treaty.  The 
third  opinion,  held  by  some  of  Lord  Bute's  friends,  at 
least,  given  out  by  them,  though  not  by  himself,  who 
imputes  only  timidity  to  Mr.  Grenville,  whisper,  that  the 
latter  wanted  the  real  power2  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  did  not  notify  this  ambition,  till  he  thought  the 
nearness  of  the  Parliament  would  oblige  his  demands  to 
be  accorded.  I  have  many  reasons  for  disbelieving  this. 
In  the  first  place,  the  service  was  forced  upon  him,  not 
sought;  in  the  next,  considering  what  steps  have  been 
taken  for  sole  power,  he  could  not  expect  it.  In  the  last, 
the  designation  of  his  successor  proves  this  was  not  fact, 
as  Lord  Bute  must  still  have  thought  Mr.  Grenville  a  less 
formidable  substitute  than  the  person  he  has  been  obliged 
to  embrace — in  short,  Mr.  Fox  is  again  manager  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  remaining  Paymaster  and  waiving 
the  Seals ;  that  is,  will  defend  the  treaty,  not  sign  it. 
This  wants  no  comment. 

1  see  your  impatience  again — what,   is  the  treaty  then 
made  ?     No — shall  I  tell  you  more  ?     I  mean  my  private 
opinion  ;  it  will  not  be  made.     Not  for  want  of  inclination 
here,  nor  in  the  Ambassador  at  Paris — but  I  do  not  believe 
we  can  get  it.     Does  that  horrid  and  treacherous  carnage, 
cannonading  they  call  it,  look  like  much  sincerity  on  the 
French  side?    But  the  Spaniards  will  not  accede.     Have 
not  I  always  told  you,  I  was  persuaded  that  the  crown  of 
Portugal  reannexed  had   more   charms   in  the   proud   eye 
of  Spain  than  the  Havannah  in  the  eye  of  their  interest  ? 
Mr.  Stanley  is  indeed   going  directly   after  the  Duke  of 

2  Grenville  proved  a  very  ambi-      secretly,  an  enemy  of  Lord  Bute,  as 
tious  man,  and  grew  early,  though      appeared  afterwards.     Walpole. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  265 

Bedford— for  what  I  know  not.  I  do  not  expect  much 
from  it. 

This  is  the  state  of  the  day.  If  you  ask  what  is  to  follow, 
I  answer,  confusion  ;  and  the  end  of  the  war  removed  to 
the  Lord  knows  when.  When  the  administration  totters 
in  four  months, — when  the  first  breach  is  made  within 
the  walls,  not  from  without,  is  such  a  citadel  impregnable  ? 
But  if  new  armies,  unexpected  armies,  join  the  enemy  ? 
nay,  I  do  not  tell  you  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  has  joined 
Mr.  Pitt ;  on  the  contrary,  the  world  says  the  latter  has 
haughtily  rejected  all  overtures.  But,  pray,  did  not  the 
Patriots  and  the  Jacobites  concur  in  every  measure  against 
my  father,  whatever  were  their  different  ends?  That 
an  opposition,  much  more  formidable  than  is  yet  known, 
will  appear,  is  very  probable;  and  that  Mr.  Fox,  so  far 
from  bringing  any  strength,  except  great  abilities,  to  Lord 
Bute's  support,  will  add  fuel  to  the  flame  is,  I  think,  past 
doubt.  Unpopularity  heaped  on  unpopularity  does  not 
silence  clamour.  Even  the  silly  Tories  will  not  like  to 
fight  under  Mr.  Fox's  banner. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  look  on  Lord  Bute's  history  as  drawing 
fast  to  a  conclusion.  So  far  from  being  ready  to  meet  the 
Parliament,  I  shall  not  be  surprised  if  they  are  not  able 
to  meet  it,  but  throw  up  the  cards  before  they  begin  to 
play  them.  My  hopes  of  peace  are  vanished !  Few  dis- 
interested persons  would  be  content  with  so  moderate  a  one 
as  I  should  ;  yet  I  can  conceive  a  peace  with  which 
I  should  not  be  satisfied.  Yet  if  the  time  comes  when  you 
hear  me  again  lamenting  a  glorious  war,  do  not  think 
me  fickle  and  inconsistent.  Had  that  happy  stroke  of 
a  pen  been  struck  last  year,  when  we  might  have  had 
a  reasonable  peace,  we  should  not  now  be  begging  it,  nor 
be  uncertain  whether  we  are  not  to  be  at  last  magnificently 
undone. 


266  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

I  believe  I  have  made  a  great  blunder.  I  told  you  the 
Duchess  of  Grafton  said  she  had  something  for  me  from 
you,  but  would  not  deliver  it  till  she  saw  me.  You, 
I  hooked  into  this,  I  do  not  know  how.  Lady  Mary  Coke 
arrived  from  Paris  at  the  same  time,  and  brought  me 
a  snuff-box,  which  she  would  not  send,  but  give  me  herself. 
I  had  been  inquiring  about  both,  and  interpreted  of  the 
Duchess  what  related  to  Lady  Mary.  So  I  have  answered 
your  surprise  before  I  receive  it. 

My  nephew,  Mr.  Keppel 3,  is  made  Bishop  of  Exeter. 
How  reverently  ancient  this  makes  me  sound  !  my  nephew 
the  bishop !  Would  not  one  think  I  was  fourscore  ?  Lady 
Albemarle ;  there  is  a  happy  mother  !  Honours  military 
and  ecclesiastic  raining  upon  her  children  !  She  owns  she 
has  felt  intoxicated.  The  moment  the  King  had  com- 
plimented the  Duke  of  Cumberland  on  Lord  Albemarle's 
success4,  the  Duke  stepped  across  the  room  to  Lady 
Albemarle,  and  said,  'If  it  was  not  in  the  Drawing- 
room,  I  would  kiss  you.'  He  is  full  as  transported  as 
she  is. 

Princess  Augusta  is  certainly  to  marry  the  young  hero 
of  Brunswick5.  In  Portugal  it  goes  wofully.  Count  la 
Lippe  has  been  forced  to  cut  the  sash  from  the  breast  of 
a  Portuguese  general  officer  for  cowardice.  I  suppose, 
however,  that  they  will  have  honour  enough  left  to  stab 
him  privately  for  it  I  Carvalho's6  situation  is  beyond 
description  ;  when  our  generals  go  to  confer  with  him, 

8  Frederick,    the    fourth    son    of  afterwards  Duke  of  Brunswick.  Wai- 

William  Anne,  second  Earl  of  Al-  pole. 

bemarle,     married     Laura,     eldest  6  The  famous  Prime  Minister  of 

daughter  of  Sir  Edward   Walpole.  Portugal.     Walpole. — Sebastian    Jo- 

Walpole.  seph  Carvalho  (1699-1782),  Count  of 

4  George,  Lord  Albemarle,  the  con-  Oeyras,  Marquis  of  Ponabal.     He  re- 

qneror  of  the  Havannah,  was  the  mained  in  power  until  the  death  of 

chief  favourite  of  William,  Duke  of  Joseph  I  (1777),  when  he  was  dis- 

Cumberland.     Walpole.  graced. 

6  Charles,  Hereditary  Prince,  and 


1762]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      267 

they  find  a  guard  at  every  door  of  every  room  in  his 
house ;  bolts  and  bars  are  unlocked  before  they  can  arrive 
at  him  ;  he  is  forced  to  keep  himself  as  he  would  secure 
the  head  of  the  Jesuits.  I  expect  very  soon  to  see  the 
Portuguese  royal  family  at  Somerset  House.  Adieu  ! 


851.    To  THE  HON.  HENEY  SEYMOUE  CONWAY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  29,  1762. 

You  take  my  philosophy  very  kindly,  as  it  was  meant ; 
but  I  suppose  you  smile  a  little  in  your  sleeve  to  hear 
me  turn  moralist.  Yet  why  should  not  I?  Must  every 
absurd  young  man  prove  a  foolish  old  one?  Not  that 
I  intend,  when  the  hitter  term  is  quite  arrived,  to  profess 
preaching ;  nor  should,  I  believe,  have  talked  so  gravely 
to  you,  if  your  situation  had  not  made  me  grave.  Till  the 
campaign  is  ended,  I  shall  be  in  no  humour  to  smile. 
For  the  war,  when  it  will  be  over,  I  have  no  idea.  The 
Peace  is  a  jack-o'-lanthorn  that  dances  before  one's  eyes, 
is  never  approached,  and  at  best  seems  ready  to  lead  some 
folks  into  a  woful  quagmire. 

As  your  brother  was  in  town,  and  I  had  my  intelligence 
from  him,  I  concluded  you  would  have  the  same,  and 
therefore  did  not  tell  you  of  this  last  revolution,  which  has 
brought  Mr.  Fox  again  upon  the  scene.  I  have  been  in 
town  but  once  since;  yet  learned  enough  to  confirm  the 
opinion  I  had  conceived,  that  the  building  totters,  and 
that  this  last  buttress  will  but  push  on  its  fall.  Besides 
the  clamorous  opposition  already  encamped,  the  world 
talks  of  another,  composed  of  names  not  so  often  found 
in  a  mutiny.  What  think  you  of  the  great  Duke1,  and 
the  little  Duke8,  and  the  old  Duke8,  and  the  Derbyshire 

LKTTKB  851.— *  Of  Cumberland.     Walpole.         *  Of  Bedford.     Walpole. 
»  Of  Newcastle.     Walpole. 


268      To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i?62 

Duke*,  banded   together ' against  the    favourite5?     If  so, 

it  proves  the  court,  as  the  late  Lord  G '  wrote  to  the 

Mayor  of  Litchfield,  will  have  a  majority  in  everything 
but  numbers.  However,  my  letter  is  a  week  old  before 
I  write  it:  things  may  have  changed  since  last  Tuesday. 
Then  the  prospect  was  des  plus  gloomy.  Portugal  at  the 
eve  of  being  conquered — Spain  preferring  a  diadem  to  the 
mural  crown  of  the  Havannah — a  squadron  taking  horse 
for  Naples,  to  see  whether  King  Carlos  has  any  more 
private  bowels  than  public,  whether  he  is  a  better  father 
than  brother 7.  If  what  I  heard  yesterday  be  true,  that  the 
Parliament  is  to  be  put  off  till  the  24th,  it  does  not 
look  as  if  they  were  ready  in  the  green-room,  and  despised 
cat-calls. 

You  bid  me  send  you  the  flower  of  brimstone,  the 
best  things  published  in  this  season  of  outrage.  I  should 
not  have  waited  for  orders,  if  I  had  met  with  the  least 
tolerable  morsel.  But  this  opposition  ran  stark  mad  at 
once,  cursed,  swore,  called  names,  and  has  not  been  one 
minute  cool  enough  to  have  a  grain  of  wit.  Their  prints 
are  gross,  their  papers  scurrilous  ;  indeed  the  authors  abuse 
one  another  more  than  anybody  else.  I  have  not  seen 
a  single  ballad  or  epigram.  They  are  as  seriously  dull 
as  if  the  controversy  was  religious.  I  do  not  take  in  a 
paper  of  either  side ;  and  being  very  indifferent,  the  only 
way  of  being  impartial,  they  shall  not  make  me  pay  till 
they  make  me  laugh.  I  am  here  quite  alone,  and  shall 
stay  a  fortnight  longer,  unless  the  Parliament  prorogued 
lengthens  my  holidays.  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  so  in- 
different, to  have  so  little  curiosity,  as  not  to  go  and  see 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle  frightened  for  his  country — the 

4  Of  Devonshire.     WcUpole.  •  Probably  Lord  Gower. 

5  John  Stuart,  Earl  of  Bute.     Wai-          7  His  son  was  King  of  Naples,  his 
pole.  sister  Queen  of  Portugal. 


1762]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      269 

only  thing  that  never  yet  gave  him  a  panic.  Then  I  am 
still  such  a  schoolboy,  that  though  I  could  guess  half 
their  orations,  and  know  all  their  meaning,  I  must  go 
and  hear  Caesar  and  Pompey  scold  in  the  Temple  of 
Concord.  As  this  age  is  to  make  such  a  figure  hereafter, 
how  the  Gronoviuses  and  Warburtons  would  despise 
a  senator  that  deserted  the  forum  when  the  masters  of 
the  world  harangued !  For,  as  this  age  is  to  be  historic, 
so  of  course  it  will  be  a  standard  of  virtue  too ;  and  we, 
like  our  wicked  predecessors  the  Komans,  shall  be  quoted, 
till  our  very  ghosts  blush,  as  models  of  patriotism  and 
magnanimity.  What  lectures  will  be  read  to  poor  children 
on  this  sera !  Europe  taught  to  tremble,  the  great  King 
humbled,  the  treasures  of  Peru  diverted  into  the  Thames, 
Asia  subdued  by  the  gigantic  Clive !  for  in  that  age  men 
were  near  seven  feet  high ;  France  suing  for  peace  at  the 
gates  of  Buckingham  House,  the  steady  wisdom  of  the 
Duke  of  Bedford  drawing  a  circle  round  the  Gallic  monarch, 
and  forbidding  him  to  pass  it  till  he  had  signed  the  cession 
of  America ;  Pitt  more  eloquent  than  Demosthenes,  and 
trampling  on  proffered  pensions  like — I  don't  know  who  ; 
Lord  Temple  sacrificing  a  brother  to  the  love  of  his  country  ; 
Wilkes  as  spotless  as  Sallust,  and  the  Flamen  Churchill 8 
knocking  down  the  foes  of  Britain  with  statues  of  the 
gods ! — Oh !  I  am  out  of  breath  with  eloquence  and 
prophecy,  and  truth  and  lies :  my  narrow  chest  was  not 
formed  to  hold  inspiration !  I  must  return  to  piddling 
with  my  Painters:  those  lofty  subjects  are  too  much  for 
me.  Good  night ! 

Yours  ever, 

HOK.  WALPOLB. 

P.S.     I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  Gideon,  who  is  dead  worth 

8  Charles  Churchill  the  poet.     Walpole. 


270  To  Lady  Hervey  [i762 

more  than  the  whole  land  of  Canaan,  has  left  the  reversion 
of  all  his  milk  and  honey,  after  his  son  and  daughter  and 
their  children,  to  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  without  in- 
sisting on  his  taking  the  name,  or  even  being  circumcised. 
Lord  Albemarle  is  expected  home  in  December.  My 
nephew  Keppel  is  Bishop  of  Exeter,  not  of  the  Havannah, 
as  you  may  imagine,  for  his  mitre  was  promised  the  day 
before  the  news  came. 


852.    To  LADY  HEBVEY. 

MADAM,  Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  81,  1762. 

It  is  too  late,  I  fear,  to  attempt  acknowledging  the 
honour  Madame  de  Chabot  *  does  me ;  and  yet,  if  she  is  not 
gone,  I  would  fain  not  appear  ungrateful.  I  do  not  know 
where  she  lives,  or  I  would  not  take  the  liberty  again  of 
making  your  Ladyship  my  penny-post.  If  she  is  gone,  you 
will  throw  my  note  into  the  fire. 

Pray,  Madam,  blow  your  nose  with  a  piece  of  flannel — 
not  that  I  believe  it  will  do  you  the  least  good — but,  as  all 
wise  folks  think  it  becomes  them  to  recommend  nursing 
and  flannelling  the  gout,  imitate  them ;  and  I  don't  know 
any  other  way  of  lapping  it  up,  when  it  appears  in  the 
person  of  a  running  cold.  I  will  make  it  a  visit  on  Tuesday 
next,  and  shall  hope  to  find  it  tolerably  vented. 

I  am,  Madam, 
Your  Ladyship's  most  faithful  humble  servant, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

P.S.  You  must  tell  me  all  the  news  when  I  arrive,  for 
I  know  nothing  of  what  is  passing.  I  have  only  seen  in 
the  papers,  that  the  cock  and  hen  doves  *  that  went  to  Paris 

LETTER  852. — 1  Lady  Mary  Chabot,          2  The  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Bed- 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Stafford.      ford.     Walpole. 
Walpole. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  271 

not  having  been  able  to  make  peace,  there  is  a  third  dove s 
just  flown  thither  to  help  them. 


853.  To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Thursday,  Nov.  4. 

THE  events  of  these  last  eight  days  will  make  you  stare. 
This  day  se'nnight  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  came  to  town, 
was  flatly  refused  an  audience,  and  gave  up  his  key1. 
Yesterday  Lord  Kockingham  resigned,  and  your  cousin 
Manchester  was  named  to  the  Bedchamber.  The  King  then 
in  Council  called  for  the  book,  and  dashed  out  the  Duke  of 
Devonshire's  name.  If  you  like  spirit,  en  voila ! 

Do  you  know,  I  am  sorry  for  all  this?  You  will  not 
suspect  me  of  tenderness  for  his  Grace  of  Devon,  nor, 
recollecting  how  the  whole  house  of  Cavendish  treated  me 
on  my  breach  with  my  uncle,  will  any  affronts  that  happen 
to  them  call  forth  my  tears.  But  I  think  the  act  too 
violent  and  too  serious,  and  dipped  in  a  deeper  dye  than 
I  like  in  politics. 

Squabbles,  and  speeches,  and  virtue,  and  prostitution, 
amuse  one  sometimes ;  less  and  less  indeed  every  day ;  but 
measures,  from  which  you  must  advance  and  cannot  retreat, 
is  a  game  too  deep — one  neither  knows  who  may  be  in- 
volved, nor  where  will  be  the  end.  It  is  not  pleasant. 
Adieu !  Yours  ever, 

aw. 

854.  To  SIE  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  9,  1762. 

I  NOW  pay  my  last  debt  to  you,  for  I  send  you  the  Peace  \ 
It  arrived  at  three  o'clock  yesterday  morning,  and  was 

*  Mr.  Hans  Stanley.     WalpoU.  berlain. 

LETTER  853. — 1  He  was  Lord  Cham-          LETTER  854. — l  The  Peace  of  Paris. 


272  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

signed  on  the  third ;  includes  Spain,  saves  Portugal,  and 
leaves  the  hero  and  heroine 2  of  Germany  to  scratch  out  one 
another's  last  eye.  I  do  not  pretend  to  minute  the  par- 
ticulars to  you  ;  you  will  have  heard  them  from  France 
before  you  can  have  received  them  from  me.  Nay,  I  do  not 
know  them  exactly.  Florida  for  the  Havannah  is  the  chief 
thing  mentioned  ;  so  Spain  pays  a  little  for  the  family- 
compact,  besides  the  loss  of  her  ships,  and  disappointment 
of  the  crown  of  Portugal.  I  believe  she  relinquished  her 
prospect  of  the  latter  to  save  that  of  Naples  ;  a  bombarding 
fleet  was  destined  thither.  The  ministry  affect  to  talk 
highly  of  their  peace,  though  I  think  they  are  not  very 
proud  of  it.  The  City  condemns  it  already  by  wholesale, 
and  will  by  retail.  Mr.  Pitt  says  it  is  inadequate  to  our 
successes,  and  inglorious  for  our  allies ;  the  gentlest  words 
I  suppose  he  will  utter.  For  my  part,  who  know  nothing 
of  the  detail,  I  can  but  rejoice  that  peace  is  made.  The 
miserable  world  will  have  some  repose,  and  Mr.  Conway  is 
safe.  I  own  I  have  lived  in  terror  about  him. 

Coupled  with  the  consequences  of  the  Peace  will  be  two 
great  events  that  have  lately  happened  to  one  considerable 
person,  and  which  have  occasioned  much  surprise.  The 
Duke  of  Devonshire,  who  has  been  fluctuating  between  his 
golden  key  and  disgust,  ever  since  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's 
fall,  came  from  the  Bath  last  Thursday  se'nnight ;  prepared 
to  resign,  if  ill  received.  He  went  directly  to  court,  and 
bid  the  page  in  waiting  tell  the  King  he  was  there.  A  flat 
answer  that  the  King  would  not  see  him  was  returned.  He 
sent  in  again  to  know  what  he  must  do  with  his  key  and 
staff, — reply :  he  should  receive  the  King's  orders  about 
them.  He  went  directly  to  Lord  Egremont'ss  and  left 
them  there.  On  the  following  Wednesday  the  King  in 

2  The  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Empress  Queen.     Walpole. 

3  Secretary  of  State.      Walpole. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  273 

Council  called  for  the  Council  book,  and  ordered  the  Duke's 
name  to  be  struck  out  of  it: — a  proceeding  almost  novel, 
having  never  happened  but  to  Lord  Bath  *  and  Lord  George 
Sackville.  There  are  but  faint  reasons  given  for  so  igno- 
minious a  treatment,  as  his  not  coming  to  Council  when 
summoned,  &c.,  but  the  political  cause  assigned  is,  to 
intimidate  the  great  lords,  and  prevent  more  resignations, 
which  were  expected.  Hitherto  in  that  light  it  has  suc- 
ceeded, for  Lord  Eockingham5  alone  has  quitted.  It  is 
very  amusing  to  me  to  see  the  House  of  Lords  humbled. 
I  have  long  beheld  their  increasing  power  with  concern,  and 
though  not  at  all  wishing  to  see  the  higher  scale  prepon- 
derating, I  am  convinced  nothing  but  the  crown  can  reduce 
the  exorbitance  of  the  peers,  and  perhaps  it  will  be  able  ; 
for  I  believe  half  those  who  are  proud  of  twenty  thousand 
pounds  a  year,  will  bear  anything  for  a  thousand  more. 

I  forgot  when  I  named  only  Lord  Eockingham:  the 
Duke's  brother  and  brother-in-law,  Lord  George  Cavendish 
and  Lord  Besborough 6,  resigned  their  places 7  immediately. 
None  of  them  but  the  Marquis  in  the  Bedchamber  are  yet 
filled  up. 

I  am  an  honester  prophet  than  most  of  my  profession. 
I  record  my  blunders.  I  foretold  that  this  ministry  would 
not  be  able  to  open  the  Parliament.  See  how  fair  I  am ; 
I  do  not  pretend  that  I  only  meant  on  the  eleventh — it  is 
put  off  to  the  twenty-fifth,  and  yet  I  do  not  brag  of  the 
event  verifying  my  prediction.  As  the  Peace  is  come,  they 
must  abide  it ;  and  probably  will  be  able  to  carry  it  through 
— and  yet  they  will  have  to  fight  their  way.  The  Duke  of 
Newcastle  certainly — by  certainly  I  only  mean  to  answer 

4  W.  Pulteney,  Earl  of  Bath.    Wai-  of  Besborongh.     Walpole. 

pole.  7    As  Comptroller  of  the  Honse- 

6  Charles  Wentworth,  second  Mar-  hold  and  Joint  Postmaster-General 

quis  of  Rockingham.     Walpole.  respectively. 

6  William  Ponsonby,  second  Earl 


WALPOLE.     V 


274  To  the  Rev.   William  Cole  [i?62 

for  his  resolution  at  this  instant — goes  into  opposition. 
Lord  Hardwicke,  it  is  said,  will  accompany  him — if  he  does, 
I  shall  not  think  Lord  Bute's  game  so  sure  ;  that  is,  I  have 
no  notion  of  Yorkes  in  opposition  without  a  moral  assurance 
of  success.  If  the  man  Hardwicke  comes  out  of  the  weather- 
house,  it  will  certainly  be  a  stormy  season. 

I  write  shortly,  for  I  am  in  a  hurry  ;  but  my  letter,  rolled 
out,  would  make  a  very  large  one.  Your  own  comments 
will  make  it  last  you  some  time.  In  short,  more  than  one 
die  is  cast.  I  am  returning  to  Strawberry  for  some  days, 
rejoiced  that  my  friends  are  secure ;  and  for  events,  let 
them  come  as  they  may.  I  have  nothing  to  do  to  be  glad 
or  sorry,  whatever  happens  ministerially,  and  do  not  know 
why  one  may  not  see  history  with  the  same  indifference 
that  one  reads  it.  Adieu ! 

P.S.  I  wish  you  would  trouble  yourself  to  inquire  at 
Eome  whether  the  mould  of  the  Livia  Mattei,  made  by 
Valory  for  my  mother's 8  statue,  exists.  My  cast  is  broken 
through  and  through,  and  the  plaster  too  rotten  to  be 
repaired  or  to  last.  If  existing,  will  you  inform  yourself  to 
how  much  a  cast  in  bronze  would  amount?  If  it  would 
pass  my  pocket,  I  must  be  glad  of  another  cast. 

855.    To  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

DEAR  SlR,  Strawberry  Hill,  Nov.  13,  1762. 

You  will  easily  guess  that  my  delay  in  answering  your 
obliging  letter  was  solely  owing  to  my  not  knowing  whither 
to  direct  to  you.  I  waited  till  I  thought  you  may  be 
returned  home.  Thank  you  for  all  the  trouble  you  have 
given,  and  do  give  yourself  for  me ;  it  is  vastly  more  than 
I  deserve. 

8  On  her  monument  in  Westminster  Abbey.     Walpole. 


1762]  To  Henry  Fox  275 

Duke  Bichard's  portrait  I  willingly  waive,  at  least  for  the 
present,  till  one  can  find  out  who  he  is.  I  have  more 
curiosity  about  the  figures  of  Henry  VII  at  Christ's  College  ; 
I  shall  be  glad  some  time  or  other  to  visit  them,  to  see  how 
far  either  of  them  agree  with  his  portrait  in  my  picture  of 
his  marriage.  St.  Ethelreda  was  mighty  welcome. 

We  have  had  variety  of  weather  since  I  saw  you,  but 
I  fear  none  of  the  patterns  made  your  journey  more  agree- 
able. I  am,  Sir, 

Your  much  obliged 

Humble  servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 

856.    To  H.ENBY  Fox1. 
DEAR  SIR,  Nov.  21, 1762. 

After  having  done 2  what  the  world  knows  I  have  done, 
to  try  to  retrieve  the  affairs  of  my  family,  and  to  save  my 
nephew  from  ruin,  I  can  have  little  hopes  that  any  inter- 
position of  mine  will  tend  to  an  end  I  wish  so  much. 
I  cannot  even  flatter  myself  with  having  the  least  weight 
with  my  Lord  Orford.  In  the  present  case  I  can  still  less 
indulge  myself  in  any  such  hopes.  You  remember  in  the 
case  of  the  St.  Michael  election,  how  hardly  he  used  me  on 
your  account.  I  know  how  much  he  resented  last  year  his 

LETTER  856. — l  Fox  had  recently  jected  a  match  for  Lord  Orford  with 
been  made  leader  of  the  House  of  Miss  Nicholl,  an  heiress  worth  one 
Commons  in  order  to  procure  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds, 
majority  in  favour  of  the  Peace.  whom  Lord  Orford  would  not  marry  ; 
With  the  view  of  securing  all  possible  and  in  the  course  of  which  negotia- 
parliamentary  support,  he  offered  to  tion  I  had  a  great  quarrel  with  my 
Lord  Orford  the  Bangerships  of  St.  uncle,  old  Horace  Walpole,  who  en- 
James's  and  Hyde  Parks  through  deavoured,  though  trusted  with  her 
Horace  Walpole,  hoping  thus  to  by  me,  to  marry  her  to  one  of  his 
secure  both  uncle  and  nephew.  For  own  younger  sons.  This  quarrel  had 
Fox's  letter  see  Memoirs  of  George  III,  made  a  very  great  noise,  and  many 
ed.  1894,  voL  L  pp.  168-9,  whence  persons  were  engaged  in  it.  The 
Walpole's  notes  on  his  reply  to  Fox  young  lady  afterwards  married  the 
are  also  taken.  Marquis  of  Caernarvon.  Walpole. 

8  This  alludes  to  my  having  pro- 

T  2 


276  To  Henry  Fox  [1762 

thinking  you  concerned  in  the  contest  about  the  borough3 
where  he  set  up  Mr.  Thomas  Walpole ;  as  he  has  not  even 
now  deigned  to  answer  Mr.  Boone's  letter4,  I  can  little 
expect  that  he  will  behave  with  more  politeness  to  me. 
Yet,  I  think  it  so  much  my  duty  to  lay  before  him  anything 
for  his  advantage,  and  what  is  by  no  means  incompatible 
with  his  honour,  that  I  certainly  will  acquaint  him  imme- 
diately with  the  offer  you  are  so  good  as  to  make  him. 

You  see  I  write  to  you  with  my  usual  frankness  and 
sincerity  ;  and  you  will,  I  am  sure,  be  so  good  as  to  keep  to 
yourself  the  freedom  with  which  I  mention  very  nice  family 
affairs.  You  must  excuse  me  if  I  add  one  word  more  on 
myself.  My  wish  is,  that  Lord  Orford  should  accept  this 
offer ;  yet,  I  tell  you  truly,  I  shall  state  it  to  him  plainly 
and  simply,  without  giving  any  advice,  not  only  for  the 
reasons  I  have  expressed  above,  but  because  I  do  not  mean 
to  be  involved  in  this  affair  any  otherwise  than  as  a 
messenger.  A  man  who  is  so  scrupulous  as  not  to  accept 
any  obligation  for  himself,  cannot  be  allowed  to  accept  one 
for  another  without  thinking  himself  bound  in  gratitude  as 
much  as  if  done  to  himself.  The  very  little  share  I  ever 
mean  to  take  more  in  public  affairs  shall  and  must  be 
dictated  by  disinterested  motives.  I  have  no  one  virtue  to 
support  me  but  that  disinterestedness,  and,  if  I  act  with 
you,  no  man  living  shall  have  it  to  say  that  it  was  not  by 
choice  and  by  principle. 

I  am,  dear  Sir, 
Your  obedient  humble  servant, 

HORACE  WALPOLE. 

s    Mr.    Fox    had    supported    Mr.  4  Mr.  Boone  had  acquainted  me 

Sullivan  at  a  borough  in  the  west  with  this,   and  Mr.  Fox  thought  I 

against  Mr.  T.  Walpole.      I  forget  did  not  know  it,  but  I  chose  to  let 

whether  it  was  Callington  or  Ash-  him  see  I  did.     Walpole. — Fox  had 

burton.     Lord    Orford  was   heir  to  sounded  Lord  Orford  through  Mr. 

estates  in  both  by  his  mother.     Wai-  Boone  on  this  matter  of  the  Banger- 

pole. — It  was  the  borough  of  Ash-  ships, 
burton. 


1762]  To  the  Earl  of  Orford  277 


857.    To  THE  EAEL  OP  OEPOED. 

MY  DEAR  LORD,  Arlington  Street,  Nov.  22,  1762. 

I  must  preface  what  I  am  going  to  say,  with  desiring  you 
to  believe  that  I  by  no  means  take  the  liberty  of  giving 
you  any  advice,  and  should  the  proposal  I  have  to  make  to 
you  be  disagreeable,  I  beg  you  to  excuse  it,  as  I  thought  it 
my  duty  to  lay  before  you  anything  that  is  for  your  advan- 
tage, and  as  you  would  have  reason  to  blame  me  if  I  de- 
clined communicating  to  you  a  lucrative  offer. 

I  last  night  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Fox,  in  which  he 
tells  me,  that,  hearing  the  Parks,  vacant  by  Lord  Ash- 
burnham's  resignation,  are  worth  2,2001.  a  year,  he  will, 
if  you  desire  to  succeed  him,  do  his  best  to  procure  that 
employment  for  you,  if  he  can  soon  learn  that  it  is  your 
wish. 

If  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  send  me  your  answer,  I  will 
acquaint  him  with  it,  or  if  you  think  it  more  polite  to 
thank  Mr.  Fox  himself  for  his  obliging  offer,  I  shall  be  very 
well  content  to  be,  as  I  am  in  everything  else,  a  cipher, 
except  where  I  can  show  myself, 

My  dear  Lord, 

Your  very  affectionate  humble  servant, 
HORACE 


LETTER  857.  —  1  '  To  this  letter,  nor  him  with  the  offer.    Without  preface 

to  the  offer,  did  Lord  Orford  give  him-  or  apology,  without  recollecting  his 

self  the  trouble  of  malting  the  least  long  enmity  to  Fox  (it  is  true,  he  did 

reply  ;  but  arriving  in  town  on  the  not  know  why  he  was  Fox's  enemy), 

very  day  the  Parliament  met,  he  came  and  without  a  hint  of  reconciliation  , 

to  me,  and  asked  what  he  was  to  do  ?  to  Fox  he  went,  accepted  the  place, 

I  replied  very  coldly,  I  did  not  know  and  never  gave  that   ministry  one 

what  he  intended  to  do  ;  but  if  his  vote  afterwards  ;  continuing  in  the 

meaning  was  to  accept,  I  supposed  country,  as  he  would  have  done  if 

he  ought  to  go  to  Mr.  Fox,  and  tell  they  had  given  him  nothing.'    (Me- 

him  so,  I  having  nothing  farther  to  moirs  of  George  III,  ed.  1894,  voL  i. 

do  with  it  than  barely  to  acquaint  p.  172.) 


278  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

858.    To  SIB  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  30,  1762. 

As  the  Parliament  is  met,  you  will  naturally  expect  to 
hear  much  news ;  but,  whatever  disposition  there  may  be 
to  create  novelties,  nothing  has  yet  happened  of  any  im- 
portance. One  perceives  that  the  chiefs  of  the  opposition 
have  not  much  young  blood  in  their  veins.  The  first  day 
of  the  session  was  remarkable  for  nothing  but  the  absence 
of  the  leaders ;  Mr.  Fox  had  vacated  his  seat,  and  Mr.  Pitt 
was  laid  up  with  the  gout,  as  he  still  continues.  But,  if 
the  generals  want  fire,  the  troops  do  not :  Lord  Bute  was  in 
great  danger  from  the  mob,  was  hissed  and  pelted,  and,  if 
the  guards  had  not  been  fetched,  would  probably  have  fared 
still  worse.  The  majority  is  certainly  with  the  court ;  the 
nation  against  it.  The  Duke  of  Cumberland,  who  has  en- 
tirely broken  with  Mr.  Fox,  has  had  a  conference  of  four 
hours  with  Mr.  Pitt.  Hitherto  it  has  produced  nothing. 

As  wishing  well  to  Mr.  Fox,  I  can  but  be  sorry  he  has 
undertaken  his  new  province,  to  which  his  health  is  by  no 
means  equal.  I  should  think  the  probability  of  his  death 
must  alarm  the  court,  who  owe  their  present  security 
entirely  to  him,  and  would  not  meet  with  much  quarter 
from  Mr.  Pitt,  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  or  the  greater 
Duke1.  The  resentment  of  the  last  I  guess  to  be  the 
bitterest  of  all.  For  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  he  only  makes 
one  smile  as  usual ;  to  see  him  frisking  while  his  grave 
is  digging.  Contests  for  power  and  struggles  of  faction 
have  long  served  only  to  divert  me.  I  wish  I  thought  the 
present  tempest  would  end  like  all  others  I  have  seen,  in 
gratifying  the  dirty  views  of  particulars ;  they  would  have 
their  pay,  and  we  should  be  quiet  for  a  season.  I  don't 
take  that  to  be  entirely  the  case  at  present. 

LKTTEE  858.— 1  The  Duke  of  Cumberland.     WalpoU. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  279 

The  Duke  of  Marlborough  is  Lord  Chamberlain ;  Lord 
Northumberland,  Chamberlain  to  the  Queen  and  Cabinet 
Counsellor.  Other  places  vacated  by  resignations  are  not 
yet  filled  up ;  but  it  is  known  that  Mr.  Morice,  whom  you 
have  lately  seen,  is  to  be  Comptroller  of  the  Household. 
Your  old  friend,  Lord  Sandwich,  goes  ambassador  to 
Spam8.  Another  of  your  friends  is  dead,  Lord  Corke3; 
and  another  has  desired  me  to  say  much  to  you  from  him — 
Lord  Stormont :  he  is  a  particular  favourite  with  me. 

Mr.  Conway  stays  to  conduct  home  the  troops  :  as  it  will 
be  above  six  weeks  before  I  see  him,  I  should  be  sorry  if 
I  did  not  envy  anybody  that  is  at  a  distance  from  these 
bustles.  I  am  particularly  glad  that  he  is  so,  for  it  is  not 
every  man  that  has  resolution  enough  to  meddle  so  little 
in  them  as  I  do.  Lord  Granby  is  impatiently  expected: 
it  is  not  certain  what  part  he  will  take,  and,  with  his  un- 
bounded popularity,  it  cannot  be  indifferent.  The  most 
tempting  honours  have  been  offered  to  him  ;  but,  however 
it  is,  even  Lord  Hardwicke  has  resisted  temptations — very 
lucrative  temptations !  Yet  I  do  not  brag  of  the  virtue  of 
the  age ;  for,  if  there  are  two  Fabricii,  there  are  two 
hundred  Esaus. 

There  is  come  forth  a  new  state  coach,  which  has  cost 
8,OOOZ.  It  is  a  beautiful  object,  though  crowded  with  im- 
proprieties. Its  support  are  tritons,  not  very  well  adapted 
to  land-carriage ;  and  formed  of  palm-trees,  which  are  as 
little  aquatic  as  tritons  are  terrestrial.  The  crowd  to  see 
it  on  the  opening  of  the  Parliament  was  greater  than  at  the 
Coronation,  and  much  more  mischief  done. 

The  Duchess  of  Grafton  has  given  me  the  drawing  of  the 
Casino  at  Leghorn  by  Inigo  Jones.  It  is  very  pretty :  was 
not  I  to  have  a  church  by  him  too  ? 

a  Lord  Sandwich   did  not   go  to          *  John  Boyle,  fifth  Earl  of  Cork 
Spain  ;  he  was  appointed  First  Lord       and  Orrery, 
of  the  Admiralty  in  April,  1763. 


280  To  George  Montagu  [1702 

The  Duchess  of  Bedford  has  sent  to  Lady  Bolingbroke  * 
a  remarkably  fine  enamelled  watch,  to  be  shown  to  the 
Queen.  The  Queen  desired  her  to  put  it  on,  that  she  might 
see  how  it  looked— and  then  said  it  looked  so  well,  it  ought 
to  remain  by  Lady  Bolingbroke's  side,  and  gave  it  her. 
Was  not  this  done  in  a  charming  manner  ? 

George  Selwyn,  of  whom  you  have  heard  so  much,  but 
don't  know,  is  returned  from  Paris,  whither  he  went  with 
the  Duchess  of  Bedford.  He  says  our  passion  for  every- 
thing French  is  nothing  to  theirs  for  everything  English. 
There  is  a  book  published  called  the  Anglomanie.  How 
much  worse  they  understand  us,  even  than  we  do  them, 
you  will  see  by  this  story.  The  old  Marechale  de  Villars 
gave  a  vast  dinner  to  the  Duchess  of  Bedford.  In  the 
middle  of  the  dessert,  Madame  de  Villars  called  out,  '  Oh, 
Jesus !  they  have  forgot !  yet  I  bespoke  them,  and  I  am 
sure  they  are  ready  ;  you  English  love  hot  rolls — bring  the 
rolls.'  There  arrived  a  huge  dish  of  hot  rolls,  and  a  sauce- 
boat  of  melted  butter.  Adieu  ! 


859.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  20,  1762. 

As  I  am  far  from  having  been  better  since  I  wrote  to  you 
last,  my  postchaise  points  more  and  more  to  Naples.  Yet 
Strawberry,  like  a  mistress, 

As  oft  as  I  ascend  the  hill  of  health, 
Washes  my  hold  away. 

Your  company  would  have  made  me  decide  much  faster, 
but  I  see  I  have  little  hopes  of  that,  nor  can  I  blame  you ; 
I  don't  use  so  rough  a  word  with  regard  to  myself,  but  to 

4  Lady  Diana  Spencer,  eldest  Viscount  Bolingbroke,  and  one  of 
daughter  of  Charles,  Duke  of  Marl-  the  Ladies  of  the  Bedchamber  to  the 
borough,  wife  of  Frederic  St.  John,  Queen.  Walpole, 


1762]  To  George  Montagu  281 

your  pursuing  your  amusement,  which  I  am  sure  the 
journey  would  be.  I  never  doubted  your  constant  kindness 
to  me  one  moment ;  the  affectionate  manner  in  which  you 
offered,  three  weeks  ago,  to  accompany  me  to  Bath,  will 
never  be  forgotten.  I  do  not  think  my  complaint  very 
serious,  for  how  can  it  be  so,  when  it  has  never  confined 
me  a  whole  day  ?  But  my  mornings  are  so  bad,  and  I  have 
had  so  much  more  pain  this  last  week,  with  restless  nights, 
that  I  am  convinced  it  must  not  be  trifled  with.  Yet 
I  think  Italy  would  be  the  last  thing  I  would  try,  if 
it  were  not  to  avoid  politics.  Yet  I  hear  nothing  else. 
The  court  and  opposition  both  grow  more  violent  every  day 
from  the  same  cause,  the  victory  of  the  former.  Both  sides 
torment  me  with  their  affairs,  though  it  is  so  plain  I  do 
not  care  a  straw  about  either.  I  wish  I  was  great  enough 
to  say,  as  a  French  officer  on  the  stage  at  Paris  said  to  the 
pit,  '  Accordez-vous,  canaille!'  Yet  to  a  man  without  am- 
bition or  interestedness,  politicians  are  canaille.  Nothing 
appears  to  me  more  ridiculous  in  my  life  than  my  having 
ever  loved  their  squabbles,  and  that  at  an  age  when  I  loved 
better  things  too !  My  poor  neutrality,  which  thing  I  signed 
with  all  the  world,  subjects  me,  like  other  insignificant 
monarchs  on  parallel  occasions,  to  affronts.  On  Thursday 
I  was  summoned  to  Princess  Emily's  loo.  Loo  she  called 
it,  politics  it  was.  The  second  thing  she  said  to  me  was, 
'How  was  you  the  two  long  days?'  'Madam,  I  was  only 
there  the  first.'  'And  how  did  you  vote?'  'Madam, 
I  went  away.'  '  Upon  my  word,  that  was  carving  well.' — 
Not  a  very  pleasant  apostrophe  to  one  who  certainly  never 
was  a  time-server  ! — Well,  we  sat  down.  She  said,  '  I  hear 
Wilkinson1  is  turned  out,  and  that  Sir  Edward  Winnington2 

LETTKK859. — *  Andrew  Wilkinson,  *  Sir  Edward  Winnington,  first 
M.P.  for  Aldborough,  Store-Keeper  Baronet,  of  Stanford  Court,  Worces- 
of  the  Ordnance.  tershire,  M.P.  for  Bewdley;  d.  1791. 


282  To  George  Montagu  [i?62 

is  to  have  his  place ;  who  is  he  ? '  addressing  herself  to  me, 
who  sat  over  against  her.  '  He  is  the  late  Mr.  Winnington's 
heir,  Madam.'  ' Did  you  like  that  Winnington ? '  'I  can't 
but  say  I  did,  Madam.'  She  shrugged  up  her  shoulders, 
and  continued  :  '  Winnington  originally  was  a  great  Tory ; 
what  do  you  think  he  was  when  he  died?'  'Madam, 
I  believe  what  all  people  are  in  place.' — Pray,  Mr.  Montagu, 
do  you  perceive  anything  rude  or  offensive  in  this  ?  Hear 
then — she  flew  into  the  most  outrageous  passion,  coloured 
like  scarlet,  and  said,  '  None  of  your  wit ;  I  don't  under- 
stand joking  on  those  subjects ;  what  do  you  think  your 
father  would  have  said  if  he  had  heard  you  say  so  ?  He 
would  have  murdered  you,  and  you  would  have  deserved 
it.' — I  was  quite  confounded  and  amazed — it  was  impossible 
to  explain  myself  'cross  a  loo-table,  as  she  is  so  deaf :  there 
is  no  making  a  reply  to  a  woman  and  a  Princess,  and  par- 
ticularly for  me,  who  have  made  it  a  rule,  when  I  must 
converse  with  royalties,  to  treat  them  with  the  greatest 
respect,  since  it  is  all  the  court  they  will  ever  have  from 
me.  I  said  to  those  on  each  side  of  me,  '  What  can  I  do  ? 
I  cannot  explain  myself  now.'  Well,  I  held  my  peace — 
and  so  did  she  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour — then  she  began 
with  me  again — examined  me  on  the  whole  debate,  and  at 
last  asked  me  directly,  which  I  thought  the  best  speaker, 
my  father  or  Mr.  Pitt  ?  If  possible,  this  was  more  dis- 
tressing than  her  anger.  I  replied,  it  was  impossible  to 
compare  two  men  so  different — that  I  believed  my  father 
was  more  a  man  of  business  than  Mr.  Pitt — 'Well,  but 
Mr.  Pitt's  language?' — 'Madam,'  said  I,  'I  have  always 
been  remarkable  for  admiring  Mr.  Pitt's  language.'  At 
last,  this  unpleasant  scene  ended ;  but  as  we  were  going 
away,  I  went  close  to  her,  and  said,  '  Madam,  I  must  beg 
leave  to  explain  myself ;  your  Eoyal  Highness  has  seemed 
to  be  very  angry  with  me,  and  I  am  sure  I  did  not  mean 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  283 

to  offend  you :  all  I  intended  to  say  was,  that  I  supposed 
Tories  were  Whigs  when  they  got  places!'  'Oh!'  said 
she,  '  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you ;  indeed,  I  was 
very  angry.'  Why  she  was  angry,  or  what  she  thought 
I  meant,  I  do  not  know  to  this  moment,  unless  she  sup- 
posed that  I  would  have  hinted  that  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 
and  the  opposition  were  not  men  of  consummate  virtue,  and 
had  not  lost  their  places  out  of  principle.  The  very  reverse 
was  at  that  time  in  my  head ;  for  I  meant  that  the  Tories 
would  be  just  as  loyal  as  the  Whigs,  when  they  got  any- 
thing by  it. 

You  will  laugh  at  my  distresses,  and  in  truth  they  are 
little  serious ;  yet  they  almost  put  me  out  of  humour.  If 
your  cousin  realizes  his  fair  words  to  you,  I  shall  be  very 
good-humoured  again.  I  am  not  so  morose  as  to  dislike 
my  friends  for  being  in  place.  Indeed,  if  they  are  in  great 
place,  my  friendship  goes  to  sleep  like  a  paroli  at  pharaoh, 
and  does  not  wake  again  till  their  deal  is  over.  Good 
night ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

860.    To  SIR  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  20,  1762. 

I  RECEIVED  your  letter  for  the  Duchess  of  Grafton,  and 
gave  it  to  her  last  night.  She  was  so  pleased  with  your 
good-breeding  and  compliments,  that  she  made  me  read  it. 
Her  Duke  is  appearing  in  a  new  light,  and  by  the  figure  he 
•makes  will  probably  soon  be  the  head  of  the  opposition, 
if  it  continues;  though  the  vast  majority  on  the  pre- 
liminaries will  probably  damp  it  extremely.  In  the  Lords 
there  was  no  division ;  in  the  Commons,  319  to  65.  Such 
a  triumphancy  in  the  court  will  not  be  easily  mastered. 
To-day  has  been  execution-day ;  great  havoc  is  made 


284  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?62 

amongst  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's  friends,  who  are  turned 
out  down  to  the  lowest  offices. 

This  is  a  want  of  moderation  after  victory,  which  I,  who 
never  loved  the  house  of  Pelham,  cannot  commend.  He 
cannot  indemnify  his  friends  ;  and  I  am  not  apt  to  think 
he  would  if  he  could.  Some  of  them,  who  had  the  same 
doubt,  took  care  not  to  put  this  last  ingratitude  in  his 
power,  but  abandoned  him.  I  did  miss  a  scene  that  would 
have  pleased  me.  The  Chancellor1  abused  the  Duke  of  New- 
castle and  Lord  Hardwicke  unmercifully,  though  the  latter 
moves  mighty  slowly  towards  opposition,  and  counts  his 
purse  over  at  every  step.  So  oft  I  have  seen  unbounded 
subservience  to  those  two  men  in  the  House  of  Lords,  that 
it  would  have  pleased  me  to  have  been  witness  of  their 
defeat  on  the  same  spot,  and, — there  I  have  done  with  it. 
It  is  an  angry  opposition,  but  very  dull ;  does  not  produce 
a  lively  ballad  or  epigram.  I  have  even  heard  but  one 
bon  mot  of  its  manufacture,  and  that  was  very  delicate  and 
pretty.  They  were  saying  that  everybody,  without  ex- 
ception, was  to  be  turned  out  that  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 
had  brought  in  ;  somebody  replied,  '  Save  the  King.' 

For  twenty  years  I  have  been  looking  at  parties,  factions, 
changes,  and  struggles ;  do  you  wonder  I  am  tired,  when 
I  have  seen  them  so  often  acted  over,  and  pretty  much  by 
the  same  dramatis  personae  ?  Yet  I  wish  I  had  no  worse 
reason  for  not  enjoying  the  repetition.  I  am  not  only 
grown  old  (though  I  find  that  is  no  reason  with  the 
generality,  for  I  think  all  the  chiefs  are  very  Struldbrugs 
in  politics),  but  my  spirits  are  gone. 

It  is  always  against  my  will  when  I  talk  of  my  health, 
and  I  have  disguised  its  being  out  of  order  as  long  as  I  could  ; 
but  since  the  fit  of  the  gout  that  I  had  in  the  spring,  and 
whose  departure  I  believe  I  precipitated  too  fast,  I  have  had 

LETTER  860. — l  Lord  Northington.     Walpole. 


1762]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  285 

a  constant  pain  in  my  breast  or  stomach.  It  comes  like  a 
fever  at  six  in  the  morning,  proceeds  to  a  pain  by  the  time 
I  rise,  and  lasts  with  a  great  lowness  of  spirits  till  after 
dinner.  In  most  evenings  I  am  quite  well.  I  am  teased 
about  my  management  of  myself.  I  abhor  physicians,  and 
have  scarce  asked  a  question  of  one ;  my  regimen  is  still 
more  condemned ;  but  I  act  by  what  I  find  succeeds  best 
with  me.  You  will  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you,  that 
though  I  think  my  complaint  a  flying  gout,  I  treat  it  with 
water  and  the  coldest  things  I  can  find,  except  hartshorn ; 
fifty  drops  of  the  latter  and  three  pears  are  my  constant 
supper,  and  my  best  nights  are  when  I  adhere  to  this  method. 
I  thought  for  three  weeks  I  had  cured  myself,  but  for  these 
last  ten  days  I  have  been  rather  worse  than  before.  In 
short,  what  I  hope  you  will  not  dislike,  though  you  will  be 
sorry  for  the  cause,  I  am  thinking  seriously  of  a  journey  to 
Italy  in  March.  Much  against  my  inclination,  I  own,  except 
for  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you. 

Strawberry,  which  I  have  almost  finished  to  my  mind, 
and  where  I  mean  to  pass  the  greatest  part  of  the  remainder 
of  my  life,  pulls  hard.  I  shall  decide  in  a  few  days  whether 
I  shall  set  out,  or  first  try  Bath  or  Bristol.  The  two  latter, 
except  for  the  shortness  of  the  time,  are  much  more  against 
my  inclination  than  going  abroad  ;  but  I  have  talked  too 
much  of  myself ;  let  us  come  to  you.  I  am  heartily  glad 
Mr.  Mackenzie  is  your  friend  ;  he  is  a  man  of  strict  honour, 
and  will  be  so  if  he  professes  it.  I  do  not  know  what  to 
advise  about  Naples.  You  know  I  always  repeat  my  father's 
maxim,  Quieta  non  movere.  Besides,  should  you  like  it? 
After  so  many  years,  would  you  care  to  tap  a  new  world, 
a  new  set  of  acquaintance  ?  But  I  am  a  bad  counsellor :  my 
aversion  to  embarking  in  new  scenes,  not  early  in  one's  life, 
is,  I  find  it,  particular ;  few  think  themselves  so  old  as  I  do 
at  five-and-forty ;  nor  would  I  give  myself  for  a  rule  to  any 


286  To  the  Eev.   William  Cole  [1762 

man  else.  My  bidding  adieu  to  the  world  already  (I  do  not 
mean  by  a  formal  retreat,  of  which  one  always  grows  tired, 
and  which  one  makes  a  silly  figure  by  quitting  again)  is  not 
a  part  for  everybody;  for  I  never  had  any  ambition,  and 
though  much  love  for  fame,  I  very  near  despise  that  as  much 
too  now.  Youth  is  the  only  real  season  for  joy,  but  cannot, 
nor  surely  should  be  pushed  a  moment  beyond  its  term — 
but  this  is  moralizing!  If  Mr.  Mackenzie  could  send  you 
to  Naples,  he  can  keep  you  at  Florence.  Continue  to  secure 
him.  Try  to  be  useful  to  the  King  in  his  love  of  virtu. 
I  counselled  this  from  the  first  minute  of  his  reign. 

If  you  choose  to  try  for  Naples,  I  cannot  dissuade  it ;  nor 
can  the  solicitation  hurt  you  whether  it  succeed  or  not. 
Whatever  you  wish  I  wish  heartily.  I  have  long  made 
myself  of  too  little  consequence  to  contribute  anything  to 
my  friends  but  wishes.  Adieu!  my  dear  Sir. 

P.S.  It  is  very  true,  I  had  the  jesse  of  my  mother's 
statue,  but,  as  I  told  you,  it  is  so  rotten  and  crumbling  that 
I  want  another. 

861.    To  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

DEAR  SiB,  Arlington  Street,  Dec.  23,  1762. 

You  are  always  abundantly  kind  to  me,  and  pass  my 
power  of  thanking  you.  You  do  nothing  but  give  yourself 
trouble,  and  me  presents.  My  cousin  Calthorp  is  a  great 
rarity,  and  I  think  I  ought,  therefore,  to  return  him  to  you, 
but  that  would  not  be  treating  him  like  a  relation,  or  you 
like  a  friend.  My  ancestor's  epitaph,  too,  was  very  agreeable 
to  me. 

I  have  not  been  at  Strawberry  Hill  these  three  weeks. 
My  maid  is  ill  there,  and  I  have  not  been  well  myself  with 
the  same  flying  gout  in  my  stomach  and  breast,  of  which 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  287 

you  heard  me  complain  a  little  in  the  summer.  I  am  much 
persuaded  to  go  to  a  warmer  climate,  which  often  disperses 
these  unsettled  complaints.  I  do  not  care  for  it,  nor  can 
determine  till  I  see  I  grow  worse :  if  I  do  go,  I  hope  it  will 
not  be  for  long ;  and  you  shall  certainly  hear  again  before 
I  set  out. 

Yours  most  sincerely, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


862.    To  SIB  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  28,  1763. 

I  AH  a  slatternly  correspondent  when  I  have  nothing  to 
say.  When  that  is  the  case,  I  like  you  should  understand  it 
by  my  silence,  rather  than  give  a  description  of  a  vacuum. 

The  Peace,  which  has  hitched  and  hobbled,  draws,  they 
say,  to  a  conclusion.  The  opposition  died  in  the  birth.  All 
is  quiet,  but  a  little  paper-war,  which  is  pungent  enough, 
but  no  citadel  was  ever  taken  by  popguns. 

Shall  you  be  glad  or  sorry  that  my  postchaise  is  not  at 
the  door  bound  for  Florence  ?  For  me  you  will  rejoice,  as 
I  trust  you  will  be  a  little  disappointed  on  your  own  account, 
though  I  have  been  so  often  bound  for  Italy,  that  perhaps 
you  did  not  expect  me  even  now.  For  this  month  we  have 
had  a  most  severe  frost,  which  kills  everybody  else,  and 
cures  me.  In  short,  I  am  so  much  better  since  the  cold 
weather  set  in,  that  it  has  almost  persuaded  me  that  my 
complaint  was  nervous  and  not  gouty ;  and,  consequently, 
if  Greenland  suits  me,  Naples  would  not:  however,  I  am 
come  to  no  decision.  I  await  the  thaw  before  I  shall  know 
what  to  think ;  still  extremely  disposed  to  an  Italian  voyage, 
if  Strawberry  would  give  its  consent. 

This  winter  has  produced  no  ghost,  no  new  madness. 
I  fear  Monsieur  de  Nivernois  will  think  we  have  been 


288      To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i?63 

scandalized,  and  that  we  are  quite  a  reasonable  people  ;  but 
he,  too,  must  wait  for  the  thaw ! 

I  have  nothing  to  send  you  more  but  the  enclosed  lines 
on  Lord  Granville  *,  which  I  wrote  last  year.  The  picture 
is  allowed  to  be  so  like,  that  you,  who  could  scarcely  be 
acquainted  with  him,  will  know  it.  Adieu !  I  am  sorry 
tranquillity  and  the  post  agree  so  ill  together! 

863.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUR  CONWAY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Feb.  28,  1763. 

YOUR  letter  of  the  19th  seems  to  postpone  your  arrival 
rather  than  advance  it ;  yet  Lady  Ailesbury  tells  me  that  to 
her  you  talk  of  being  here  in  ten  days.  I  wish  devoutly  to 
see  you,  though  I  am  not  departing  myself;  but  I  am  im- 
patient to  have  your  disagreeable  function l  at  an  end,  and 
to  know  that  you  enjoy  yourself  after  such  fatigues,  dangers, 
and  ill-requited  services.  For  any  public  satisfaction  you 
will  receive  in  being  at  home,  you  must  not  expect  much. 
Your  mind  was  not  formed  to  float  on  the  surface  of  a 
mercenary  world.  My  prayer  (and  my  belief)  is,  that  you 
may  always  prefer  what  you  always  have  preferred,  your 
integrity,  to  success.  You  will  then  laugh,  as  I  do,  at  the 
attacks  and  malice  of  faction  or  ministers.  I  taste  of  both  ; 
but,  as  my  health  is  recovered,  and  my  mind  does  not 
reproach  me,  they  will  perhaps  only  give  me  an  opportunity, 
which  I  should  never  have  sought,  of  proving  that  I  have 
some  virtue — and  it  will  not  be  proved  in  the  way  they 
probably  expect.  I  have  better  evidence  than  by  hanging 
out  the  tattered  ensigns  of  patriotism.  But  this  and  a 

LETTER862. — J  These  lines  on  John,  Jan.  2,  1763. 

Earl  Granville,  got  into  print,  and,  LETTER   863. — l  The    re-embarka- 

therefore,   are    not    repeated    here.  tion    of   the    British    troops    from 

Wdlpole.— See  Lord  Orford's  Works,  Flanders  after  the  Peace.     Walpole. 
vol.  i.  p.  81.     Lord  Granville  died  on 


1763]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      289 

thousand  other  things  I  shall  reserve  for  our  meeting.  Your 
brother *  has  pressed  me  much  to  go  with  him,  if  he  goes, 
to  Paris s.  I  take  it  veiy  kindly,  but  have  excused  myself, 
though  I  have  promised  either  to  accompany  him  for  a  short 
time  at  first,  or  to  go  to  him  if  he  should  have  any  particular 
occasion  for  me :  but  my  resolution  against  ever  appearing 
in  any  public  light  is  unalterable.  When  I  wish  to  live  less 
and  less  in  the  world  here,  I  cannot  think  of  mounting  a 
new  stage  at  Paris.  At  this  moment  I  am  alone  here,  while 
everybody  is  balloting  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Sir  John 
Philips  proposed  a  Commission  of  Accounts,  which  has  been 
converted  into  a  select  committee  of  twenty-one,  eligible  by 
ballot.  As  the  ministry  is  not  predominant  in  the  affections 
of  mankind,  some  of  them  may  find  a  jury  elected  that  will 
not  be  quite  so  complaisant  as  the  House  is  in  general  when 
their  votes  are  given  openly.  As  many  may  be  glad  of  this 
opportunity,  I  shun  it;  for  I  should  scorn  to  do  anything 
in  secret,  though  I  have  some  enemies  that  are  not  quite  so 
generous. 

You  say  you  have  seen  the  North  Briton,  in  which  I  make 
a  capital  figure.  Wilkes,  the  author,  I  hear,  says,  that  if  he 
had  thought  I  should  have  taken  it  so  well,  he  would  have 
been  damned  before  he  would  have  written  it — but  I  am  not 
sore  where  I  am  not  sore. 

The  theatre  at  Covent  Garden  has  suffered  more  by  riots 4 
than  even  Drury  Lane.  A  footman  of  Lord  Dacre  has  been 
hanged  for  murdering  the  butler.  George  Selwyn  had  great 
hand  in  bringing  him  to  confess  it.  That  Selwyn  should  be 
a  capital  performer  in  a  scene  of  that  kind  is  not  extra- 
ordinary :  I  tell  it  you  for  the  strange  coolness  which  the 
young  fellow,  who  was  but  nineteen,  expressed :  as  he  was 

1  The  Earl  of  Hertford.  the  managers  to  admit  spectators  at 

8  As  Embassador.     Walpole.  half-price  after  the  third  act. 

*  In  consequence  of  the  refusal  of 


WALPOLE.    V 


290  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

writing  his  confession,  '  I  murd — '  he  stopped,  and  asked, 
'  How  do  you  spell  murdered  ? ' 

Mr.  Fox  is  much  better  than  at  the  beginning  of  the  winter  ; 
and  both  his  health  and  power  seem  to  promise  a  longer 
duration  than  people  expected.  Indeed,  I  think  the  latter  is 
so  established,  that  Lord  Bute  would  find  it  more  difficult 
to  remove  him,  than  he  did  his  predecessors,  and  may  even 
feel  the  effects  of  the  weight  he  has  made  over  to  him  ;  for 
it  is  already  obvious  that  Lord  Bute's  levee  is  not  the  present 
path  to  fortune.  Permanence  is  not  the  complexion  of  these 
times — a  distressful  circumstance  to  the  votaries  of  a  court, 
but  amusing  to  us  spectators.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  ever, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

864    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  March  4,  1763. 

IT  is  an  age  since  I  wrote  to  you,  but  I  told  you  that  the 
conclusion  of  the  war  would  leave  our  correspondence  a  little 
dry.  The  Peace  is  now  general1,  and  the  King  of  Prussia, 
who  has  one  life  more  than  Rominagrobis  the  monarch  of 
the  cats  had,  lights  upon  all  his  legs.  He  has  escaped  an 
hundred  battles,  and  what  was  more  threatening,  three  angry 
Empresses a,  of  whom  one 3,  at  least,  is  not  tender  of  sovereign 
lives.  If  he  does  not  write  his  own  history,  I  shall  not 
rejoice  much  for  him  ;  yet  now  he  will  have  managements ; 
he  will  not  be  quite  so  frank,  as  in  the  middle  of  his  career 
and  anger.  Besides,  his  objects  will  have  shifted  so  often, 
that  his  Memoires,  like  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough's,  will 
vary  continually  from  his  first  impressions.  There  is  no 
change  in  the  scene  at  home.  The  opposition  has  proved 

LETTER  864. — *  The  Peace  of  Hu-  2    Elizabeth     and     Catherine    of 

bertsburg  (Feb.  16,  1763)  had  put  an  Russia,  and  Maria  Theresa  of  Ger- 

and  to  the  war  of  the  King  of  Prussia  many.     Walpole. 

with  Austria  and  Saxony.  3  The  Czarina  Catherine.  Walpole, 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  291 

the  silliest  that  ever  was,  and  has  scarcely  even  pretensions 
to  the  title.  There  have  been  more  hostilities  at  the  play- 
houses, than  between  anything  that  calls  itself  party.  Both 
theatres  have  been  demolished  on  the  inside.  The  cause 
was,  the  managers  refusing  to  take  half  prices  after  the 
second  act ;  and  with  good  reason ;  considering  how  every- 
thing is  advanced  in  dearness,  it  is  hard  on  them  to  be 
stinted  to  primitive  tolls.  The  managers  have  submitted ; 
but  the  King's  Bench  is  not  likely  to  be  so  acquiescent, 
where  some  of  the  rioters  are  to  be  tried. 

The  Duchess  of  Hamilton,  who  was  thought  in  a  deep 
consumption  like  her  sister  Coventry,  has  produced  a  son 4, 
and,  according  to  the  marvellous  fortune  attending  those 
two  beauties,  will  probably  be  mother  of  the  two  dukes5, 
whose  rival  houses  so  long  divided  Scotland.  Lord  Bath's 
history  winds  up  in  a  more  melancholy  manner.  After 
preserving  his  only  son  Lord  Pulteney  through  the  course 
of  the  war,  he  has  just  lost  him  by  a  putrid  fever  at  Madrid, 
as  he  was  returning  from  Portugal.  That  enormous  wealth, 
heaped  up  with  so  little  credit,  is  left  without  an  heir ! 

I  saw  yesterday  a  magnificent  service  of  Chelsea  china, 
which  the  King  and  Queen  are  sending  to  the  Duke  of 
Mecklenburgh.  There  are  dishes  and  plates  without  number, 
an  epergne,  candlesticks,  salt-cellars,  sauce-boats,  tea  and 
coffee  equipages ;  in  short,  it  is  complete ;  and  costs  twelve 
hundred  pounds !  I  cannot  boast  of  our  taste ;  the  forms 
are  neither  new,  beautiful,  nor  various.  Yet  Sprimont,  the 
manufacturer,  is  a  Frenchman6.  It  seems  their  taste  will 
not  bear  transplanting.  But  I  have  done ;  my  letter  has 
tumbled  from  the  King  of  Prussia  to  a  set  of  china ;  encore 
passe,  if  I  had  begun  with  the  King  of  Poland,  ce  Roy  de 
Fayence 7,  as  the  other  called  him.  Adieu ! 

4  George  John  Campbell;  d.  1764.  7  From  the  manufacture  of  porce- 

6  Hamilton  and  Argyll.  lain  at  Dresden.     Walpole. 

6  He  was  a  Fleming. 

U  2 


292  To  the  Earl  of  Bute  [1763 

865.  To  THE  EARL  OP  BUTE. 

MY  LORD, 

As  it  is  now  near  five  months  since  your  Lordship  signed 
my  orders,  I  should  be  glad  if  your  Lordship  would  please 
to  direct  the  payment  of  the  money '. 

I  am,  my  Lord, 

Your  Lordship's  obedient  humble  servant, 
Arlington  Street,  March  14,  1763.  HoR-  WALPOLE. 

866.  To  THE  EARL  OP  BUTE. 

MY  LORD, 

I  am  very  sensible  of  your  Lordship's  obliging  civility  in 
immediately  ordering  my  money  on  my  application.  It 
was  by  no  means  from  want  of  respect  to  your  Lordship 
that  that  application  was  not  made  sooner ;  but  for  above 
twenty  years  that  I  have  held  the  office,  it  has  been  the 
constant  practice  to  write  to  the  First  Secretary  to  desire  his 
letter,  when  the  Lords  have  signed  the  orders,  and  the 
payment  has  seldom  been  delayed  above  a  fortnight  after. 

If  your  Lordship  should  approve  of  it,  I  had  much  rather, 
as  my  bills  become  due,  apply  to  your  Lordship,  than  to 
anybody  else,  unless  your  Lordship  please  to  give  any  other 
directions. 

I  am,  my  Lord, 
Your  Lordship's  most  obedient  humble  Servant, 

Arlington  Street,  March  16,  1763.  HoR-  WALPOLE. 

LETTER  865. — Not  in  C. ;  reprinted  stopped  for  some  months,  nor  made 

from    Lord    Orford's    Works  (1798),  but  on  my  writing  to   Lord  Bute 

voL  ii.  p.  880.  himself.'     (Memoirs    of  George  III, 

i  Money  due  to  Horace  Walpole  as  ed.  1894,  voL  L  p.  171.) 

Usher  of  the  Exchequer.     Walpole  LETTER  866. — Not  in  C. ;  reprinted 

explains  that  he  had  disobliged  Fox  ;  from    Lord   Orford's    Works  (1798), 

1  the  consequence  to  me  was  that  by  voL  ii.  p.  380,  after  collation  with 

his  influence  with  Martin,  Secretary  original  in  possession  of  Maggs  Bros., 

of  the  Treasury,  my  payments  were  Strand,  W.C. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  293 

867.    To  VISCOUNT  NuNEHAM1. 

MY  LORD,  Arlington  Street,  March  16,  1763. 

I  wish  all  words  had  not  been  so  prostituted  in  compli- 
ments that  some  at  least  might  be  left  to  express  real 
admiration.  Your  Lordship's  etchings  *  deserve  such  sincere 
praises  that  I  cannot  bear  you  should  think  that  mere  civility 
or  gratitude  dictate  what  I  would  say  of  them,  though  I  assure 
you  the  latter  is  what  I  feel  to  a  great  degree.  I  will  even 
trust  your  Lordship  with  my  vanity  ;  I  think  I  understand 
your  prints,  and  that  mine  is  not  random  praise.  If  it  has 
any  worth  it  will  encourage  you  to  proceed,  and  yet  you 
have  already  gone  beyond  what  I  have  ever  seen  in  etching. 
I  must  beg  for  the  white  paper  edition  too,  as  I  shall  frame 
the  brown,  and  bind  the  rest  of  your  Lordship's  works 
together.  I  am,  my  Lord, 

Yr.  Lordship's 
Most  obliged 
Humble  servant, 

H.  WALPOLE. 

868.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  March  25,  1763. 

THOUGH  you  are  a  runaway,  a  fugitive,  a  thing  without 
friendship  or  feeling,  though  you  grow  tired  of  your  acquaint- 
ance in  half  the  time  you  intended,  I  will  not  quite  give  you  up. 
I  will  write  to  you  once  a  quarter,  just  to  keep  up  a  connection 
that  grace  may  catch  at,  if  it  ever  proposes  to  visit  you. 
This  is  my  plan,  for  I  have  little  or  nothing  to  tell  you. 

LETTER  867. — Not  in  C. ;  reprinted  superior  in  boldness  and  freedom  of 

from  the  Harccwrt  Papers,  edited  by  stroke  to  anything  we  have  seen 

E.  W.  Harcourt,  voL  viii.  pp.  91-2.  from  established  artists.'  (Horace 

1  Only  son  of  first  Earl  Harcourt,  Walpole,  in  Essay  on  Modern  Gar- 

whom  he  succeeded  in  1777.  dening.) 

8  'Lord  Nuneham'a  etchings  are 


294:  To  George  Montagu  [1763 

The  ministers  only  cut  one  another's  throats,  instead  of  ours. 
They  growl  over  their  prey  like  two  curs  over  a  bone,  which 
neither  can  determine  to  quit ;  and  the  whelps  in  opposition 
are  not  strong  enough  to  beat  either  away,  though,  like  the 
species,  they  will  probably  hunt  the  one  that  shall  be  worsted. 
The  saddest  dog  of  all,  Wilkes,  shows  most  spirit.  The  last 
North  Briton  is  a  masterpiece  of  mischief.  He  has  writ  a 
dedication  too  to  an  old  play,  The  Fall  of  Mortimer1,  that  is 
wormwood  ;  and  he  had  the  impudence  t'other  day  to  ask 
Dyson9  if  he  was  going  to  the  Treasury,  'because,'  said  he, 
'  a  friend  of  mine  has  dedicated  a  play  to  Lord  Bute,  and  it 
is  usual  to  give  dedicators  something ;  I  wish  you  would  put 
his  Lordship  in  mind  of  it.' 

Lord  and  Lady  Pembroke  are  reconciled,  and  live  again 
together.  Mr.  Hunter  would  have  taken  his  daughter 
too,  but  upon  condition  she  should  give  back  her  settle- 
ment to  Lord  Pembroke  and  her  child.  She  replied  nobly, 
that  she  did  not  trouble  herself  about  fortune,  and  would 
willingly  depend  on  her  father,  but  for  her  child,  she  had 
nothing  right  left  to  do  but  to  take  care  of  that,  and 
would  not  part  with  it — so  she  keeps  both — and  I  suppose 
will  soon  have  her  lover  again  too,  for  my  Lady  Pembroke's 
beauty  is  not  glutinous.  T'other  sister 3  has  been  sitting  to 
Reynolds,  who  by  her  husband's  directions  has  made  a 
speaking  picture.  Lord  Bolinbroke  said  to  him,  '  You  must 
give  the  eyes  something  of  Nelly  O'Brien,  or  it  will  not  do.' 
As  he  has  given  Nelly  something  of  his  wife's,  it  was  but 
fair  to  give  her  something  of  Nelly's — and  my  Lady  will  not 
throw  away  the  present ! 

LETTKK  868. — 1  A  completion  of  an  the  Treasury,  1768-74 ;  Cofferer  of  the 

imperfect  play  by  Ben  Jonson,  which  r  Household,  1774-76.  He  began  life  as 

was  acted  in  1781.  "'an  advanced  Whig,  but  changed  his 

2  JeremiahDyson(1722-1776),  M.P.  opinions  on  the  accession  of  George 

for  Yarmouth  in  the  Isle  of  Wight ;  III,  and  became  one  of  the  small 

Joint  Secretary  to  the  Treasury,  1762-  body  known  as  the  '  King's  friends." 

64  ;  Lord  of  Trade,  1764-68  ;  Lord  of  3  Viscountess  Bolingbroke. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  295 

I  am  going  to  Strawberry  for  a  few  days  pour  faire  mes 
paques.  The  gallery  advances  rapidly.  The  ceiling  is 
Harry  the  Seventh's  Chapel  in  propria  persona :  the  canopies 
are  all  placed.  I  think  three  months  will  quite  complete  it. 
I  have  bought  at  Lord  Granville's  sale  the  original  picture 
of  Charles  Brandon4  and  his  queen ;  and  have  to-day  received 
from  France  a  copy  of  Madame  Maintenon,  which  with  my 
La  Valiere,  and  copies  of  Madame  Grammont,  and  of  the 
charming  portrait  of  the  Mazarine  at  the  Duke  of  St.  Albans's, 
is  to  accompany  Bianca  Capello  and  Ninon  L'Enclos  in  the 
round  tower.  I  hope  now  there  will  never  be  another 
auction,  for  I*  have  not  an  inch  of  space,  or  a  farthing  left. 
As  I  have  some  remains  of  paper,  I  will  fill  it  up  with  a  song 
that  I  made  t'other  day  in  the  postchaise,  after  a  particular 
conversation  that  I  had  had  with  Miss  Pelham  the  night 
before  at  the  Duke  of  Kichmond's. 

THE  ADVICE. 


The  business  of  woman,  dear  Chloe,  is  pleasure, 

And  by  love  ev'ry  fair  one  her  minutes  should  measure. 

'Oh!   for  love  we're  all  ready,'  you  cry. — Very  true; 

Nor  would  I  rob  the  gentle  fond  god  of  his  due. 

Unless  in  the  sentiments  Cupid  has  part, 

And  dips  in  the  amorous  transport  his  dart ; 

'Tis  tumult,  disorder,  'tis  loathing  and  hate ; 

Caprice  gives  it  birth,  and  contempt  is  its  fate. 


ii. 

True  passion  insensibly  leads  to  the  joy, 
And  grateful  esteem  bids  its  pleasures  ne'er  cloy. 
Yet  here  you  should  stop — but  your  whimsical  sex 
Such  romantic  ideas  to  passion  annex, 

*  Charles  Brandon  (d.  1545),  Duke      wife,  Mary  Tudor,  Queen  Dowager  of 
of  Suffolk ;   m.  (1515),  as  his  third      France,  daughter  of  Henry  VIL 


296  To  George  Montagu  [i?63 

That  poor  men,  by  your  visions  and  jealousy  worried, 
To  nymphs  less  ecstatic,  but  kinder,  are  hurried. 
In  your  heart,  I  consent,  let  your  wishes  be  bred ; 
Only  take  care  your  heart  don't  get  into  your  head. 

Adieu,  till  Midsummer  Day ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

869.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  April  6,  1768. 

You  will  pity  my  distress  when  I  tell  you  that  Lord 
Waldegrave  has  got  the  small-pox,  and  a  bad  sort.  This 
day  se'nnight,  in  the  evening,  I  met  him  at  Arthur's ;  he 
complained  to  me  of  the  headache,  and  a  sickness  in  his 
stomach.  I  said,  '  My  dear  Lord,  why  don't  you  go  home, 
and  take  James's  powder  ?  you  will  be  well  in  the  morning.' 
He  thanked  me,  said  he  was  glad  I  had  put  him  in  mind  of 
it,  and  he  would  take  my  advice.  I  sent  in  the  morning ; 
my  niece  said  he  had  taken  the  powder,  and  that  James 
thought  he  had  no  fever,  but  that  she  found  him  very  low. 
As  he  had  no  fever,  I  had  no  apprehension.  At  eight  o'clock 
on  Friday  night,  I  was  told  abruptly  at  Arthur's  that  Lord 
Waldegrave  had  the  small-pox.  I  was  excessively  shocked, 
not  knowing  if  the  powder  was  good  or  bad  for  it.  I 
instantly  went  to  the  house — at  the  door  I  was  met  by 
a  servant  of  Lady  Ailesbury,  sent  to  tell  me  that  Mr.  Conway 
was  arrived.  These  two  opposite  strokes  of  terror  and  joy 
overcame  me  so  much,  that  when  I  got  to  Mr.  Conway's 
I  could  not  speak  to  him,  but  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears. 
The  next  morning,  Lord  Waldegrave  hearing  I  was  there, 
desired  to  speak  to  me  alone — I  should  tell  you,  that  the 
moment  he  knew  it  was  the  small-pox  he  signed  his  will. 
This  has  been  the  unvaried  tenor  of  his  behaviour,  doing 
just  what  is  wise  and  necessary,  and  nothing  more.  He 


176s]  To  George  Montagu  297 

told  me,  he  knew  how  great  the  chance  was  against  his 
living  through  that  distemper  at  his  age1.  That,  to  be  sure, 
he  should  like  to  have  lived  a  few  years  longer,  but  if  he 
did  not,  he  should  submit  patiently.  That  all  he  had  to 
desire  was,  that  if  he  should  fail,  we  would  do  our  utmost 
to  comfort  his  wife,  who,  he  feared,  was  breeding,  and  who, 
he  added,  was  the  best  woman  in  the  world.  I  told  him 
he  could  not  doubt  our  attention  to  her,  but  that  at  present 
all  our  attention  was  fixed  on  him.  That  the  great  difference 
between  having  the  small-pox  young,  or  more  advanced  in 
years,  consisted  in  the  fears  of  the  latter ;  but  that  as  I  had 
so  often  heard  him  say,  and  now  saw,  that  he  had  none  of 
those  fears,  the  danger  of  age  was  considerably  lessened. 
Dr.  Wilmot  says,  that  if  anything  saves  him,  it  will  be  this 
tranquillity.  To  my  comfort  I  am  told,  that  James's  powder 
has  probably  been  a  material  ingredient  towards  his  recovery. 
In  the  meantime,  the  universal  anxiety  about  him  is 
incredible.  Dr.  Barnard,  the  master  of  Eton,  who  is  in 
town  for  the  holidays,  says,  that,  from  his  situation,  he  is 
naturally  invited  to  houses  of  all  ranks  and  parties,  and 
that  the  concern  is  general  in  all.  I  cannot  say  so  much 
of  my  Lord,  and  not  do  a  little  justice  to  my  niece  too.  Her 
tenderness,  fondness,  attention,  and  courage  are  surprising. 
She  has  no  fears  to  become  her,  nor  heroism  for  parade. 
I  could  not  help  saying  to  her,  '  My  dear  child,  there  never 
was  a  nurse  of  your  age  had  such  attention' — she  replied, 
'There  never  was  a  nurse  of  my  age  had  such  an  object.' 
It  is  this  astonishes  one,  to  see  so  much  beauty  sincerely 
devoted  to  a  man  so  unlovely  in  his  person ;  but  if  Adonis 
was  sick,  she  could  not  stir  seldomer  out  of  his  bedchamber. 
The  physicians  seem  to  have  little  hopes,  but,  as  their  argu- 
ments are  not  near  so  strong  as  their  alarms,  I  own  I  do  not 
give  it  up— and  yet  I  look  on  it  in  a  very  dangerous  light. 

LETTER  869. — *  He  was  forty-eight. 


298  To  George  Montagu  [i?63 

I  know  nothing  of  news  and  the  world,  for  I  go  to 
Albemarle  Street  early  in  the  morning,  and  don't  come 
home  till  late  at  night.  Young  Mr.  Pitt  has  been  dying 
of  a  fever  in  Bedfordshire.  The  Bishop  of  Carlisle 2,  whom 
I  have  appointed  Visitor  of  Strawberry,  is  gone  down  to 
him.  You  will  be  much  disappointed  if  you  expect  to  find 
the  gallery  near  finished.  They  threaten  me  with  three 
months  before  the  gilding  can  be  begun.  Twenty  points 
are  at  a  stand  by  my  present  confinement,  and  I  have  a 
melancholy  prospect  of  being  forced  to  carry  my  niece 
thither  the  next  time  I  go.  The  Due  de  Nivernois,  in 
return  for  a  set  of  the  Strawberry  editions,  has  sent  me 
four  'Seasons,' which,  I  conclude,  he  thought  good,  but  they 
shall  pass  their  whole  round  in  London,  for  they  have  not 
even  the  merit  of  being  badly  old  enough  for  Strawberry. 
Mr.  Bentley's  epistle  to  Lord  Melcomb  has  been  published 
in  a  magazine.  It  has  less  wit  by  far  than  I  expected  from 
him,  and  to  the  full  as  bad  English.  The  thoughts  are  old 
Strawberry  phrases — so  are  not  the  panegyrics.  Here  are 
six  lines  written  extempore  by  Lady  Temple  on  Lady  Mary 
Coke,  easy  and  genteel,  and  almost  true  : 

She  sometimes  laughs,  but  never  loud  ; 
She  'B  handsome  too,  but  somewhat  proud ; 
At  court,  she  bears  away  the  bell ; 
She  dresses  fine,  and  figures  well: 
With  decency  she's  gay  and  airy; 
Who  can  this  be  but  Lady  Mary? 

There  have  been  tough  doings  in  Parliament  about  the 
tax  on  cider 3 ;  and  in  the  western  counties  the  discontent  is 
so  great,  that  if  Mr.  Wilkes  will  turn  patriot-hero,  or  patriot- 
incendiary  in  earnest,  and  put  himself  at  their  head,  he  may 
obtain  a  rope  of  martyrdom  before  the  summer  is  over. 

2  Charles  Lyttelton ;  d.  1768. 

3  A.  bill  for  laying  an  additional  duty  on  cider  and  perry. 


To  George  Montagu  299 

Adieu !     I  tell  you  my  sorrows,  because,  if  I  escape  them, 
I  am  sure  nobody  will  rejoice  more. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

870.     To  —     — . 

DEAR  SIR, 

The  medical  people  certainly  give  us  little  hopes  of  poor 
Lord  Waldegrave,  though  they  owned  last  night  that  all  the 
symptoms  were  less  unfavourable  than  in  the  morning.  If 
I  was  not  thoroughly  persuaded  of  their  ignorance,  it  would 
be  very  impertinent  in  me  to  form  any  opinion,  not  founded 
on  theirs;  yet  till  their  arguments  are  clearer  and  more 
satisfactory,  I  shall  not  despair.  His  head  is  so  perfectly 
unaffected  by  his  disorder,  that  I  cannot  conceive  how  his 
danger  should  be  so  imminent ;  as  they  affirm  that  the 
bodily  symptoms  are  not  of  half  the  consequence  in  this 
disorder  as  are  those  of  the  head.  His  tranquillity  they 
own  is  his  best  chance.  It  is  unalterable ;  his  temper, 
goodness,  reason,  and  patience  double  what  one  feels  on 
the  prospect  of  losing  him.  I  am  just  going  thither,  and 
if  I  should  find  any  material  alteration,  will  let  you  know. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

871.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

< 

Arlington  Street,  Friday  night,  late l. 

AMIDST  all  my  own  grief,  and  all  the  distress  which 
I  have  this  moment  left,  I  cannot  forget  you,  who  have 
so  long  been  my  steady  and  invariable  friend.  I  cannot 
leave  it  to  newspapers  and  correspondents  to  tell  you  my 

LETTER  870. — Not  in  C. ;  now  first       Place,    S.W.      The    name    of    the 
printed  from  original  in  possession       addressee  is  unknown, 
of  J.  Pearson  &   Co.,   5   Pall   Mall  LETTER  871.— l  April  8,  1763. 


300  To  George  Montagu  [i?63 

loss.  Lord  Waldegrave  died  to-day.  Last  night  he  had 
some  glimmerings  of  hope.  The  most  desponding  of  the 
faculty  flattered  us  a  little.  He  himself  joked  with  the 
physicians,  and  expressed  himself  in  this  engaging  manner  ; 
asking  what  day  of  the  week  it  was;  they  told  him 
Thursday:  'Sure,'  said  he,  'it  is  Friday' — 'No,  my  Lord, 
indeed  it  is  Thursday ' — '  Well ! '  said  he,  '  see  what  a  rogue 
this  distemper  makes  one ;  I  want  to  steal  nothing  but 
a  day.'  By  the  help  of  opiates,  with  which,  for  these  two 
or  three  days,  they  had  numbed  his  sufferings,  he  rested 
well.  This  morning  he  had  no  worse  symptoms.  I  told 
Lady  Waldegrave,  that  as  no  material  alteration  was 
expected  before  Sunday,  I  would  go  and  dine  at  Strawberry, 
and  return  in  time  to  meet  the  physicians  in  the  evening — 
in  truth,  I  was  worn  out  with  anxiety  and  attendance,  and 
wanted  an  hour  or  two  of  fresh  air.  I  left  her  at  twelve, 
and  had  ordered  dinner  at  three  that  I  might  be  back  early. 
I  had  not  risen  from  table  when  I  received  an  express  from 
Lady  Betty  Waldegrave,  to  tell  me  that  a  sudden  change 
had  happened,  that  they  had  given  him  James's  powder, 
but  that  they  feared  it  was  too  late,  and  that  he  probably 
would  be  dead  before  I  could  come  to  my  niece,  for  whose 
sake  she  begged  I  would  return  immediately.  It  was  indeed 
too  late !  too  late  for  everything — late  as  it  was  given,  the 
powder  vomited  him  even  in  the  agonies — had  I  had  power 
to  direct,  he  should  never  have  quitted  James — but  these 
are  vain  regrets  !  vain  to  recollect  how  particularly  kind  he, 
who  was  kind  to  everybody,  was  to  me !  I  found  Lady 
Waldegrave  at  my  brother's ;  she  weeps  without  ceasing, 
and  talks  of  his  virtues  and  goodness  to  her  in  a  manner 
that  distracts  one.  My  brother  bears  this  mortification 
with  more  courage  than  I  could  have  expected  from  his 
warm  passions:  but  nothing  struck  me  more  than  to  see 
my  rough  savage  Swiss,  Louis,  in  tears,  as  he  opened  my 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  301 

chaise.  I  have  a  bitter  scene  to  come  ;  to-morrow  morning 
I  carry  poor  Lady  Waldegrave  to  Strawberry.  Her  fall  is 
great,  from  that  adoration  and  attention  that  he  paid  her, 
from  that  splendour  of  fortune,  so  much  of  which  dies  with 
him,  and  from  that  consideration,  which  rebounded  to  her 
from  the  great  deference  which  the  world  had  for  his 
character — visions  perhaps — yet  who  could  expect  that  they 
would  have  passed  away  even  before  that  fleeting  thing,  her 
beauty ! 

If  I  had  time  or  command  enough  of  my  thoughts,  I  could 
give  you  as  long  a  detail  of  as  unexpected  a  revolution  in  the 
political  world.  To-day  has  been  as  fatal  to  a  whole  nation, 
I  mean  to  the  Scotch,  as  to  our  family.  Lord  Bute  resigned 
this  morning.  His  intention  was  not  even  suspected  till 
Wednesday,  nor  at  all  known  a  very  few  days  before.  In 
short,  it  is  nothing,  more  or  less,  than  a  panic — a  fortnight's 
opposition  has  demolished  that  scandalous  but  vast  majority, 
which  a  fortnight  had  purchased  — and  in  five  months  a  plan 
of  absolute  power  has  been  demolished  by  a  panic !  He 
pleads  to  the  world  bad  health ;  to  his  friends,  more  truly, 
that  the  nation  was  set  at  him.  He  pretends  to  intend 
retiring  absolutely,  and  giving  no  umbrage.  In  the  mean- 
time he  is  packing  up  a  sort  of  ministerial  legacy,  which 
cannot  hold  even  till  next  session,  and  I  should  think 
would  scarce  take  place  at  all.  George  Grenville  is  to  be 
at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  and  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer ;  Charles  Townshend  *  to  succeed  him ;  and  Lord 
Shelburn,  Charles.  Sir  Francis  Dashwood  to  have  his 
barony  of  Despencer3  and  the  Great  Wardrobe,  in  the 
room  of  Lord  Gower,  who  takes  the  Privy  Seal*,  if  the 

2  Charles  Townshend  had  no  place  was    terminated    in    favour  of  Sir 

in   the    ministry.     Lord   Shelburne  Francis  Dashwood,   as  son    of   the 

became  First  Lord  of  Trade.  eldest  daughter  of  the  fourth  Earl  of 

*  The  barony  of  Despencer  fell  into  Westmorland. 

abeyance  on  the  death  of  the  Earl  of  *  Earl  Glower  became  Lord  Cham- 
Westmorland  in  1762.    The  abeyance  berlain. 


302  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?63 

Duke  of  Bedford  takes  the  Presidentship 5— but  there  are 
many  ifs  in  this  arrangement;  the  principal  if  is,  if  they 
dare  stand  a  tempest  which  has  so  terrified  the  pilot.  You 
ask  what  becomes  of  Mr.  Fox  ?  Not  at  all  pleased  with  this 
sudden  determination,  which  has  blown  up  many  of  his 
projects,  and  left  him  time  to  heat  no  more  furnaces,  he 
goes  to  France  by  the  way  of  the  House  of  Lords8 — but 
keeps  his  place  and  his  tools— till  something  else  happens. 
— The  confusion  I  suppose  will  be  enormous— and  the  next 
act  of  the  drama  a  quarrel  among  the  opposition,  who 
would  be  all-powerful  if  they  could  do,  what  they  cannot, 
hold  together  and  not  squabble  for  the  plunder.  As  I  shall 
be  at  a  distance  for  some  days,  I  shall  be  able  to  send  you 
no  more  particulars  of  this  interlude,  but  you  will  like 
a  pun  my  brother  made  when  he  was  told  of  this  explosion 
— '  Then, '  said  he,  '  they  must  turn  the  Jacks  out  of  the 
drawing-room  again,  and  again  take  them  into  the  kitchen.' 
Adieu  !  what  a  world  to  set  one's  heart  on ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

872.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  April  10,  1763. 

AT  a  time  when  the  political  world  is  in  strange  and 
unexpected  disorder,  you  would  wonder  that  I  should  be 
here,  and  be  so  for  some  days ;  but  I  am  come  on  a  very 
melancholy  occasion.  Lord  Waldegrave1  is  just  dead  of  the 
small-pox,  and  I  have  brought  my  poor  unhappy  niece 
hither  till  he  is  buried.  He  was  taken  ill  on  the  Wednes- 

5  The  Duke  of  Bedford   became  Governor  of  George  III  when  Prince 
President  of  the  Council.  of  Wales,  Teller  of  the  Exchequer 

6  Fox  was  created  Baron  Holland  and  Warden  of  the  Stannaries,  mar- 
of  Foxley,  Wiltshire,  on  April   17,  ried  Maria,  second  daughter  of  Sir 
1768.  Edward    Walpole,    Knight    of   the 

LETTER  872. — J  James,  second  Earl       Bath,  Mr.  Walpole's  eldest  brother, 
of  Waldegrave,  Knight  of  the  Garter,        Walpole. 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  303 

day,  the  distemper  showed  itself  on  the  Friday,  a  very  bad 
sort,  and  carried  him  off  that  day  se'nnight.  His  brother 
and  sister  were  inoculated,  but  it  was  early  in  the  practice 
of  that  great  preservative,  which  was  then  devoutly  opposed ; 
he  was  the  eldest  son,  and  weakly.  He  never  had  any  fear 
of  it,  nor  ever  avoided  it.  We  scarce  feel  this  heavy  loss 
more  than  it  is  felt  universally.  He  was  one  of  those  few 
men  whose  good-nature  silenced  even  ill-nature.  His  strict 
honour  and  consummate  sense  made  him  reverenced  as 
much  as  beloved.  He  died  as  he  lived,  the  physicians 
declaring  that  if  anything  saved  him,  it  would  be  his 
tranquillity:  I  soon  saw  by  their  ignorance  and  contra- 
dictions that  they  would  not.  Yet  I  believe  James's  powder 
would  have  preserved  him.  He  took  it  by  my  persuasion, 
before  I  knew  what  his  disorder  was.  But  James  was  soon 
chased  away,  to  make  room  for  regular  assassins.  In  the 
course  of  the  illness  nobody  would  venture  to  take  on  them 
so  important  a  hazard  as  giving  the  powder  again ;  yet  in 
his  agonies  it  was  given,  and  even  then  had  efficacy  enough 
to  vomit  him ;  but  too  late  !  My  niece  has  nothing  left  but 
a  moderate  jointure  of  a  thousand  pounds  a  year,  three  little 
girls,  a  pregnancy,  her  beauty,  and  the  testimonial  of  the 
best  of  men,  who  expressed  no  concern  but  for  her,  and  who 
has  given  her  as  much  as  he  could,  and  ratified  her  character 
by  making  her  sole  executrix.  Her  tenderness,  which  could 
not  be  founded  on  any  charms  in  his  person,  shows  itself  in 
floods  of  tears,  in  veneration  for  his  memory,  and  by  acting 
with  just  such  reason  and  propriety  as  he  would  wish  her 
to  exert ;  yet  it  is  a  terrible  scene !  She  loses  in  him  a  father, 
who  formed  her  mind,  and  a  lover  whose  profusion  knew  no 
bounds.  From  his  places  his  fortune  was  very  great — that 
is  gone  !  From  his  rank  and  consideration  with  all  parties, 
she  was  at  the  summit  of  worldly  glory — that  is  gone  too  ! 
Four  short  years  were  all  their  happiness.  Since  the  death 


304  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

of  Lady  Coventry,  she  is  allowed  the  handsomest  woman  in 
England  ;  as  she  is  so  young,  she  may  find  as  great  a  match 
and  a  younger  lover — but  she  never  can  find  another  Lord 
Waldegrave ! 

Yesterday,  when  her  brother-in-law,  the  Bishop  of  Exeter, 
came  hither  to  acquaint  her  with  the  will,  and  we  were 
endeavouring  to  stop  the  torrent  of  her  tears,  by  observing 
how  satisfactory  it  must  be  to  her  to  find  what  confidence 
her  Lord  had  placed  in  her  sense  and  conduct,  she  said, 
charmingly,  '  Oh !  I  wish  he  had  ever  done  one  thing 
I  could  find  fault  with ! '  The  trial  is  great  and  dismal. 
She  is  not  above  three  months  gone  with  child,  and  is  to 
pass  seven  more  in  melancholy  anxiety,  to  have  a  labour 
without  a  father,  perhaps  another  girl,  or  a  son,  whose 
chance  of  life  will  be  a  constant  anxiety  to  her. 

The  same  day  that  put  an  end  to  Lord  Waldegrave's  life 
gave  a  period  too  to  the  administration  of  Lord  Bute,  his 
supplanter,  whom  he  did  not  love,  and  yet  whom  he  could 
hardly  hate,  for  aversion  was  not  in  his  nature;  nor  did 
ever  any  man  who  had  undertaken  such  a  post  as  governor 
to  a  Prince  with  the  utmost  reluctance,  and  who  could  not 
have  been  totally  void  of  the  ambition  which  must  have 
attended  such  a  charge  when  once  accepted,  feel  less  resent- 
ment at  the  disappointment ;  but  I  will  say  no  more  on 
Lord  Waldegrave,  for  I  forget  that  you  never  knew  him, 
and  have  kept  you  for  above  two  pages  in  suspense.  Ill 
health,  antecedent  determination  of  retirement,  and  national 
antipathy  to  him,  are  pleaded  as  the  motives  to  Lord  Bute's 
sudden  resignation,  which  was  not  known,  nay,  not  sus- 
pected, till  two  days  before  it  happened.  Leave  out  the  two 
first  causes,  which  are  undoubtedly  false,  and  call  the  third 
by  its  true  name,  panic,  and  you  have  the  whole  secret  of 
this  extraordinary  revolution.  It  is  plain,  that  if  Mr.  Pitt 
had  headed  the  opposition  sooner,  or  that  the  opposition 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  305 

had  had  any  brains  without  him,  this  event  would  have 
happened  earlier.  A  single  fortnight  of  clamour  and  debate 
on  the  cider  tax,  copied  from  the  noise  on  the  excise  in 
my  father's  time,  and  adopted  into  petitions  from  the  City, 
frightened  this  mighty  favourite  out  of  all  his  power  and 
plans,  and  has  reduced  Mr.  Fox  to  take  almost  the  same 
steps,  though  he,  too,  has  an  intended  project  of  retirement 
to  plead  ;  but  he  keeps  his  place,  takes  a  peerage,  and  goes 
to  France.  Lord  Bute  keeps  nothing  but  the  King's  favour, 
and  that,  too,  he  is  not  to  use.  He  will  be  wise  to  adhere 
to  this  measure,  now  he  has  taken  the  other,  lest  necessity 
should  prescribe  instead  of  option. 

I  suppose  you  by  this  time  conclude,  that  when  Lord 
Bute  quitted  the  King,  he  sent  the  keys  of  St.  James's  and 
Buckingham  House  to  Mr.  Pitt.  Stay  a  little — we  are  to 
have  another  episode  of  a  summer  administration  first,  for 
you  find  we  do  not  wear  the  same  suits  in  both  seasons. 
Mr.  Grenville  is  to  be  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury  and 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer ;  Charles  Townshend  at  the 
head  of  the  Admiralty,  and  Lord  Shelburne  at  the  Board  of 
Trade.  Sir  Francis  Dashwood,  in  recompense  for  the  woful 
incapacity  he  has  shown,  goes  into  the  House  of  Lords,  and 
is  to  succeed  in  the  Great  Wardrobe  to  Lord  Gower,  who 
again  takes  the  Privy  Seal,  as  the  Duke  of  Bedford  is  to  be 
President  of  the  Council.  Lord  Hertford  is  named  for  Paris, 
and  Lord  Stormont  for  Vienna ;  the  Duke  of  Marlborough 
gets  what  he  wished,  the  Master  of  the  Horse 3 ;  I  suppose 
to  leave  the  Chamberlain's  office  vacant  for  the  last  in- 
cumbent3. The  Duke  of  Rutland  to  be  contented  with 
Lord  Granby's  being  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  where  he 
will  finish  his  life  and  fortune 4. 

*  The  Duke  of  Marlborough   be-  *  Lord  Granby  drank  very  hard, 
came  Lord  Privy  Seal.  and  was  profusely  generous.     Wal- 

*  The  Duke  of  Devonshire.     Wai-  pole, 
pole. 


WALPOLK.    V 


306  To  George  Montagu  [1763 

In  this  state  I  left  history.  All  this  arrangement  may  be 
already  overturned.  No  man,  I  suppose,  is  so  unwise  as  to 
expect  any  duration  to  it.  It  can  only  mean,  time  to  deal 
with  the  opposition,  or  to  divide  them ;  and,  considering 
what  numbers  and  what  great  names  are  to  be  satisfied,  it 
is  a  chaos  into  which  one  cannot  foresee.  I  have  seldom 
been  a  lucky  prophet,  and  therefore  shall  not  exercise  my 
talent.  The  poor  man  who  is  gone 5  could  have  been  of  the 
utmost  consequence  at  this  moment  to  accomplish  some 
establishment ;  he  had  been  offered,  and  had  refused  the 
greatest  things— no  bad  ingredient  in  reconciling  others. 
In  that  or  any  other  qualification  I  know  few  equal  to  him. 
Adieu ! 

873.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  April  14,  1763. 

I  HAVE  received  your  two  letters  together,  and  foresaw 
that  your  friendly  good  heart  would  feel  for  us  just  as  you 
do.  The  loss  is  irreparable,  and  my  poor  niece  is  sensible 
it  is.  She  has  such  a  veneration  for  her  Lord's  memory, 
that  if  her  sisters  and  I  make  her  cheerful  for  a  moment, 
she  accuses  herself  of  it  the  next  day  to  the  Bishop  of 
Exeter,  as  if  he  was  her  confessor,  and  that  she  had  com- 
mitted a  crime.  She  cried  for  two  days  to  such  a  degree, 
that  if  she  had  been  a  fountain  it  must  have  stopped.  Till 
yesterday  she  scarce  eat  enough  to  keep  her  alive,  and  looks 
accordingly — but  at  her  age  she  must  be  comforted :  her 
esteem  will  last,  but  her  spirits  will  return  in  spite  of  her- 
self. Her  Lord  has  made  her  sole  executrix,  and  added  what 
little  douceurs  he  could  to  her  jointure,  which  is  but  a 
thousand  pounds  a  year,  the  estate  being  but  three-and- 
twenty  hundred.  The  little  girls  will  have  about  8,OOOZ. 
apiece,  for  the  Teller's J  place  was  so  great  during  the  war, 

8  Lord  Waldegrave. 

LETTER  873. — 1  Lord  Woldegravo  was  a  Teller  of  the  Exchequer. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  307 

that  notwithstanding  his  temper  was  a  sluice  of  generosity, 
he  had  saved  30,OOOZ.  since  his  marriage. 

Her  sisters  have  been  here  with  us  the  whole  time ;  Lady 
Huntingtower  is  all  mildness  and  tenderness ;  and  by  dint 
of  attention  I  have  not  displeased  the  other 2.  Lord  Hunting- 
tower  has  been  here  once  ;  the  Bishop  most  of  the  time :  he 
is  very  reasonable  and  good-natured,  and  has  been  of  great 
assistance  and  comfort  to  me  in  this  melancholy  office, 
which  is  to  last  here  till  Monday  or  Tuesday.  We  have  got 
the  eldest  little  girl  too,  Lady  Laura3,  who  is  just  old 
enough  to  be  amusing ;  and  last  night  my  nephew  arrived 
here  from  Portugal.  It  was  a  terrible  meeting  at  first ;  but 
as  he  is  very  soldierly  and  lively,  he  got  into  spirits,  and 
diverted  us  much  with  his  relations  of  the  war  and  the 
country.  He  confirms  all  we  have  heard  of  the  villainy, 
poltroonery,  and  ignorance  of  the  Portuguese,  and  of  their 
aversion  to  the  English ;  but  I  could  perceive,  even  through 
his  relation,  that  our  flippancies  and  contempt  of  them  must 
have  given  a  good  deal  of  play  to  their  antipathy. 

You  are  admirably  kind,  as  you  always  are,  in  inviting 
me  to  Greatworth,  and  proposing  Bath ;  but  besides  its 
being  impossible  for  me  to  take  any  journey  just  at  present, 
I  am  really  very  well  in  health,  and  the  tranquillity  and  air 
of  Strawberry  have  done  much  good.  The  hurry  of  London, 
where  I  shall  be  glad  to  be  again  just  now,  will  dissipate 
the  gloom  that  this  unhappy  loss  has  occasioned,  though 
a  deep  loss  I  shall  always  think  it.  The  time  passes 
tolerably  here  ;  I  have  my  painters  and  gilders  and  constant 
packets  of  news  from  town,  besides  a  thousand  letters  of 
condolence  to  answer ;  for  both  my  niece  and  I  have 
received  innumerable  testimonies  of  the  regard  that  was  felt 

2  Mrs.  Keppel.  eldest  son  of  third  Earl  Waldegrave, 

8  Lady  Elizabeth  Laura  Walde-  whom  he   succeeded   in  1784.     She 

grave  ;  m.  (1782)  her  cousin,  George  died  in  1816. 

Waldegrave,      Viscount      Chewton, 

X     2 


To  George  Montagu  [ires 

for  Lord  Waldegrave — I  have  heard  of  but  one  man  *  who 
ought  to  have  known  his  worth,  that  has  shown  no  concern 
— but  I  suppose  his  childish  mind  is  too  much  occupied 
with  the  loss  of  his  last  governor !  I  have  given  up  my 
own  room  to  my  niece,  and  have  betaken  myself  to  the 
Holbein  chamber,  where  I  am  retired  from  the  rest  of  the 
family  when  I  choose  it,  and  nearer  to  overlook  my  work- 
men. The  chapel  is  quite  finished,  except  the  carpet.  The 
sable  mass  of  the  altar  gives  it  a  very  sober  air ;  for,  not- 
withstanding the  solemnity  of  the  painted  windows,  it  had 
a  gaudiness  that  was  a  little  profane. 

I  can  know  no  news  here  but  by  rebound,  and  yet,  though 
they  are  to  rebound  again  to  you,  they  will  be  as  fresh  as 
any  you  can  have  at  Greatworth.  A  kind  of  administration 
is  botched  up  for  the  present,  and  even  gave  itself  an  air  of 
that  fierceness  with  which  the  winter  set  out.  Lord  Hard- 
wicke  was  told  that  his  sons  must  vote  with  the  court,  or  be 
turned  out.  He  replied,  as  he  meant  to  have  them  in  place, 
he  chose  they  should  be  removed  now.  It  looks  ill  for  the 
court  when  he  is  sturdy.  They  wished,  too,  to  have  Pitt, 
if  they  could  have  had  him  without  consequences ;  but  they 
don't  find  any  recruits  repair  to  their  standard.  They  brag 
that  they  should  have  had  Lord  Waldegrave;  a  most 
notorious  falsehood,  as  he  had  refused  every  offer  they  could 
invent  the  day  before  he  was  taken  ill.  The  Duke  of 
Cumberland  orders  his  servants  to  say,  that  so  far  from 
joining  them,  he  believes  if  Lord  Waldegrave  could  have 
been  foretold  of  his  death,  he  would  have  preferred  it  to  an 
union  with  Bute  and  Fox.  The  former's  was  a  decisive 
panic  ;  so  sudden,  that  it  is  said  Lord  Egremont  was  sent  to 
break  his  resolution  of  retiring  to  the  King.  The  other, 
whose  journey  to  France  does  not  indicate  much  less  appre- 
hension, affects  to  walk  in  the  streets  at  the  most  public 

*  George  III. 


1763]  To  the  Contessa  Rena  309 

hours  to  mark  his  not  trembling.  In  the  meantime  the 
two  chiefs  have  paid  their  bravoes  magnificently — no  less 
than  fifty-two  thousand  pounds  a  year  are  granted  in  rever- 
sions! Young  Martin5,  who  is  older  than  I  am,  is  named 
my  successor — but  I  intend  he  shall  wait  some  years — if 
they  had  a  mind  to  serve  me,  they  could  not  have  selected 
a  fitter  tool  to  set  my  character  in  a  fair  light  by  the  com- 
parison. Lord  Bute's  son 6  has  the  reversion  of  an  Auditor 
of  the  Imprest — this  is  all  he  has  done  ostensibly  for  his 
family,  but  the  great  things  bestowed  on  the  most  insig- 
nificant objects  make  me  suspect  some  private  compacts — 
yet  I  may  wrong  him,  but  I  do  not  mean  it.  Lord  Granby 
has  refused  Ireland,  and  the  Northumberlands  are  to  trans- 
port their  jovial  magnificence  thither.  I  lament  that  you 
made  so  little  of  that  voyage,  but  is  this  the  season  of 
rewarded  merit  ?  One  should  blush  to  be  preferred  within 
the  same  year.  Do  but  think  that  Calcraft  is  to  be  an  Irish 
lord 7 !  Fox's  millions,  or  Calcraft's  tithes  of  millions,  can- 
not purchase  a  grain  of  your  virtue  or  character.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  most  truly, 

H.  W. 

874.    To  THE  CONTESSA  BENA. 

MONSIEUR  WALPOLE  est  tres  sensible  aux  bontes  de 
Madame  la  Comtesse  Rena,  et  la  remercie  infiniment  de  la 
peine  qu'elle  s'est  bien  voulu  donner  pour  scavoir  de  ses 
nouvelles  et  de  celles  de  Madame  sa  niece.  La  pauvre 
Milady  Waldegrave  est  aussi  touchee  qu'elle  doit  1'etre  d'une 
perte  si  grander  Elle  pleure  le  meilleur  mari,  1'amant  le 

6  Samuel  Martin,  sometime  Secre-  Madrid,  March-Dec.  1783,  and  1795- 

tary  to  the  Treasury.  96. 

6  John    Stuart  (1744-1814),   Lord  7  This  did  not  happen. 

Mountstuart ;  succeeded  his  father  LETTER  874. — Not  in  C. ;  now  first 

as  fourth  Earl  of  Bute  in  1792  ;  cr.  printed  from,  original  in  possession  of 

Marquis   of  Bute  in   1796.     Envoy  Mr.  W.  V.  Daniell,  Mortimer  Street, 

to  Turin,   1779-83  ;  Ambassador  at  Cavendish  Square,  W. 


310  To  George  Montagu  [1763 

plus  tendre,  et  I'homme  le  plus  respectable  de  son  siecle. 
Monsieur  Walpole,  qui  ne  quitte  pas  une  niece  si  veritable- 
ment  afnigee,  aura  1'honneur  de  remercier  en  personne 
Madame  Rena  quand  il  retournera  a  la  ville.  En  attendant, 
il  1'assure  de  sa  vive  reconnoissance  et  de  son  respect. 


875.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  April  22,  1763. 

I  HAVE  two  letters  from  you,  and  shall  take  care  to 
execute  the  commission  in  the  second.  The  first  diverted 
me  much. 

I  brought  my  poor  niece  from  Strawberry  on  Monday. 
As  executrix,  her  presence  was  quite  necessary,  and  she  has 
never  refused  to  do  anything  reasonable  that  has  been 
desired  of  her.  But  the  house  and  the  business  have 
shocked  her  terribly;  she  still  eats  nothing,  sleeps  worse 
than  she  did,  and  looks  dreadfully:  I  begin  to  think  she 
will  miscarry.  She  said  to  me  t'other  day,  'They  tell  me 
that  if  my  Lord  had  lived,  he  might  have  done  great  service 
to  his  countiy  at  this  juncture,  by  the  respect  all  parties 
had  for  him — this  is  very  fine ;  but  as  he  did  not  live  to  do 
those  services,  it  will  never  be  mentioned  in  history!' 
I  thought  this  solicitude  for  his  honour  charming — but  he 
will  be  known  by  history  :  he  has  left  a  small  volume  of 
Memoirs*,  that  are  a  chef-d'oeuvre.  He  twice  showed  them 
to  me,  but  I  kept  his  secret  faithfully;  now  it  is  for  his 
glory  to  divulge  it. 

I  am  glad  you  are  going  to  Dr.  Lewis.  After  an  Irish 
voyage  I  do  not  wonder  you  want  careening.  I  have  often 
preached  to  you,  nay,  and  lived  to  you  too — but  my  sermons 
were  flung  away  and  my  example. 

This  ridiculous   administration  is  patched   up   for   the 

LETTER  875. — '  Published  by  Murray  in  1821. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  311 

present;  the  detail  is  delightful,  but  that  I  shall  reserve 
for  Strawberry-tide. 

Lord  Bath  has  complained  to  Fanshaw 2  of  Lord  Pultney's 
extravagance,  and  added,  'if  he  had  lived  he  would  have 
spent  my  whole  estate.'  This  almost  comes  up  to  Sir 
Robert  Brown,  who,  when  his  eldest  daughter  was  given 
over,  but  still  alive,  on  that  uncertainty  sent  for  an  under- 
taker, and  bargained  for  her  funeral  in  hopes  of  having  it 
cheaper,  as  it  was  possible  she  might  recover.  Lord  Bath 
has  purchased  the  Hatton  vault  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
squeezed  his  wife,  son,  and  daughter  into  it,  reserved  room 
for  himself,  and  has  set  the  rest  to  sale 3 — come  ;  all  this  is 
not  far  short  of  Sir  Robert  Brown. 

To  my  great  satisfaction,  the  new  Lord  Holland  has  not 
taken  the  least  friendly,  or  even  formal  notice  of  me,  on 
Lord  Waldegrave's  death.  It  dispenses  me  from  the  least 
farther  connection  with  him,  and  saves  explanations,  which 
always  entertain  the  world  more  than  satisfy. 

Dr.  Cumberland  *  is  an  Irish  bishop ;  I  hope  before  the 
summer  is  over  that  some  beam  from  your  cousin's  portion 
of  the  triumvirate 6  may  light  on  poor  Bentley.  If  he  misses 
it  till  next  winter,  he  will  be  forced  to  try  still  new  sun- 
shine. 

I  have  taken  Mrs.  Pritchard's  *  house  for  Lady  Waldegrave ; 
1  offered  her  to  live  with  me  at  Strawberry,  but  with  her 
usual  good  sense  she  declined  it,  as  she  thought  the  children 
would  be  troublesome. 

Charles  Townshend's  episode7  in  this  revolution  passes 

8  Probably  Simon  Fanshaw,  M.P.  George  Grenville  and  the  Earls  of 

for  Grampotmd.  Egremont  and  Halifax. 

*  This  last  was  not  the  case.    See  °  The    actress.     Her   cottage   at 

Gent.  Mag.  1780,  p.  231.  Twickenham  was  called  Bagman's 

4  Denison  Cumberland,  Bishop  of  Castle. 

Clonfert,   1763-72  ;    Bishop  of  Kil-  7  Townshend  '  accepted  the  post  of 

more,    1772-74 ;    brother-in-law    of  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  and 

Richard  Bentley  the  younger.          •  actually  went  to  St.  James's  to  kiss 

6    The    triumvirate    consisted    of  hands  for  it.     Presuming  that  no- 


312  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

belief,  though  he  does  not  tell  it  himself.  If  I  had  a  son 
born,  and  an  old  fairy  was  to  appear  and  offer  to  endow  him 
with  her  choicest  gifts,  I  should  cry  out,  '  Powerful  Goody, 
give  him  anything  but  parts ! '  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

876.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  April  30,  1763. 

I  BEGIN  with  your  own  affairs,  as  what  must  naturally 
interest  you  the  most.  This  morning  before  I  came  out  of 
town  I  sent  for  your  brother  James,  and  made  him  sensible, 
by  stating  his  conduct  and  dear  Gal's,  how  much  he  is  to 
blame  towards  you.  However,  I  was  not  sorry  to  have  out- 
gone my  commission  :  he  has  so  often  been  negligent  to  you, 
that  I  wished  to  reclaim  him  thoroughly ;  and  I  trust  I  have, 
for  he  frankly  owned  he  was  in  fault  and  seemed  sorry  that 
he  had  forced  you  to  complain.  I  don't  know  whether  I  am 
not  innocently  accessory  to  his  idleness,  as  he  trusts  to  my 
constant  writing — but  that  ought  not  to  excuse  him.  If  he 
mends,  you  will  easily  forgive  him. 

The  papers  have  told  you  all  the  formal  changes  ;  the  real 
one  consists  solely  in  Lord  Bute  being  out  of  office,  for 
having  recovered  his  fright  he  is  still  as  much  minister  as 
ever,  and  consequently  does  not  find  his  unpopularity  de- 
crease. On  the  contrary,  I  think  his  situation  more  dangerous 
than  ever :  he  has  done  enough  to  terrify  his  friends,  and 
encourage  his  enemies,  and  has  acquired  no  new  strength  ; 

thing  would  or  could  be  refused  to  would  not  kiss  the  King's  hand  un- 

him  ...  he  carried  to  court  with  less  Bnrrel  was    admitted  too.     It 

him  a  Mr.  Barrel,  one  of  his  fol-  was  flatly  refused,  and  Townshend 

lowers,  intending  the  latter  should  was  told  that  the  King  had  no  further 

kiss  hands  along  with  himself  as  occasion  for  his  service.'    (Memoirs 

another    Lord    of   the    Admiralty.  of  George  III,   ed.  1894,  vol.  i.  pp. 

Thinking   his    honour    engaged    to  209-10.) 
carry  through    this    absurdity,    he 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  313 

rather  has  lost  strength,  by  the  disappearance  of  Mr.  Fox 
from  the  scene.  His  deputies,  too,  will  not  long  care  to 
stand  all  the  risk  for  him,  when  they  perceive,  as  they  must 
already,  that  they  have  neither  credit  nor  confidence.  Indeed 
the  new  administration  is  a  general  joke,  and  will  scarce 
want  a  violent  death  to  put  an  end  to  it.  Lord  Bute  is  very 
blamable  for  embarking  the  King  so  deep  in  measures  that 
may  have  so  serious  a  termination.  The  longer  the  court 
can  stand  its  ground,  the  more  firmly  will  the  opposition  be 
united,  and  the  more  inflamed.  I  have  ever  thought  this 
would  be  a  turbulent  reign,  and  nothing  has  happened  to 
make  me  alter  my  opinion. 

Mr.  Fox's  exit  has  been  very  unpleasant.  He  would  not 
venture  to  accept  the  Treasury,  which  Lord  Bute  would  have 
bequeathed  to  him ;  and  could  not  obtain  an  earldom,  for 
which  he  thought  he  had  stipulated ;  but  some  of  the 
negotiators  asserting  that  he  had  engaged  to  resign  the  Pay- 
master's place,  which  he  vehemently  denies,  he  has  been 
forced  to  take  up  with  a  barony,  and  has  broken  with  his 
associates — I  do  not  say  friends,  for  with  the  chief l  of  them 
he  had  quarrelled  when  he  embarked  in  the  new  system. 
He  meets  with  little  pity,  and  yet  has  found  as  much  in- 
gratitude as  he  had  had  power  of  doing  service. 

1  am  glad  you  are  going  to  have  a  Great  Duke  * ;  it  will 
amuse  you,  and  a  new  court  will  make  Florence  lively,  the 
only  beauty  it  wants.     You  divert  me  with  my  friend  the 
Duke  of  Modena's  conscientious  match :  if  the  Duchess 3  had 
outlived  him,  she  would  not  have  been  so  scrupulous.     But, 
for  Hymen's  sake,  who  is  that  Madame  Simonetti  ?    I  trust, 

LETTER  876. — 1  The  Dukes  of  Cum-  ceeded  his  father  as  Grand  Duke  in 
berland  and.  Devonshire.  Walpole.  1765,  and  his  brother  as  Emperor  in 

2  Mann  announced  that  the  Em-       1790. 

peror's  second  son,  Peter  Leopold,          3  She  was  a  daughter  of  the  Eegent 
was  to  reside    in    Florence  as  his      Duke  of  Orleans.     Walpole. 
father's   lieutenant.     Leopold    sue- 


314  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?63 

not  that  old  painted,  gaining,  debauched  Countess4  from 
Milan,  whom  I  saw  at  the  fair  of  Keggio ! 

I  surprise  myself  with  being  able  to  write  two  pages  of 
pure  English  ;  I  do  nothing  but  deal  in  broken  French. 
The  two  nations  are  crossing  over  and  figuring-in.  We  have 
had  a  Count  d'Usson 5  and  his  wife  these  six  weeks ;  and  last 
Saturday  arrived  a  Madame  de  Boufflers 6,  s$avante,  galante, 
a  great  friend  of  the  Prince  of  Conti,  and  a  passionate  ad- 
mirer de  nous  autres  Anglois.  I  am  forced  to  live  much  with 
tout  fa,  as  they  are  perpetually  at  my  Lady  Hervey's ;  and 
as  my  Lord  Hertford  goes  Ambassador  to  Paris,  where  I 
shall  certainly  make  him  a  visit  next  year — don't  you  think 
I  shall  be  computing  how  far  it  is  to  Florence  ?  There  is 
coming,  too,  a  Marquis  de  Fleury,  who  is  to  be  consigned  to 
me,  as  a  political  relation,  vu  Vamitie  entre  le  Cardinal  son 
oncle  et  feu  monsieur  mon  pere.  However,  as  my  cousin 
Fleury  is  not  above  six-and-twenty,  I  had  much  rather  be 
excused  from  such  a  commission  as  showing  the  tombs  and 
the  lions,  and  the  King  and  Queen,  and  my  Lord  Bute,  and 
the  waxwork 7,  to  a  boy.  All  this  breaks  in  upon  my  plan 
of  withdrawing  by  little  and  little  from  the  world,  for  I  hate 
to  tire  it  with  an  old  lean  face,  and  which  promises  to  be  an 
old  lean  face  for  thirty  years  longer,  for  I  am  as  well  again 
as  ever.  The  Due  de  Nivernois  called  here  the  other  day  in 
his  way  from  Hampton  Court ;  but,  as  the  most  sensible 
French  never  have  eyes  to  see  anything,  unless  they  see  it 
every  day  and  see  it  in  fashion,  I  cannot  say  he  flattered  me 
much,  or  was  much  struck  with  Strawberry.  When  I  carried 
him  into  the  cabinet,  which  I  have  told  you  is  formed  upon 
the  idea  of  a  Catholic  chapel,  he  pulled  off  his  hat,  but  per- 

*  It  was  that  Madame  Simonetti.  6  Mademoiselle  Sanjon,  Marquise 

Walpole.  de  Boofflers,  mistress  of  the  Prince 

8  He    was    afterwards    Envoy  to  de  Conti,  whom  she  hoped  to  marry. 

Sweden,  where  he  died  in  1781-2.  Walpole. 

H  e  married  a  Dutchwoman.  Walpole.  7  Rackstrow's  waxworks ;  see  p.  31 7. 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  315 

ceiving  his  error,  he  said,  '  Ce  n'est  pas  une  chapelle  pour- 
tant,'  and  seemed  a  little  displeased. 

My  poor  niece  does  not  forget  her  Lord,  though  by  this 
time  I  suppose  the  world  has.  She  has  taken  a  house  here, 
at  Twickenham,  to  be  near  me.  Madame  de  Boufflers  has 
heard  so  much  of  her  beauty,  that  she  told  me  she  should 
be  glad  to  peep  through  a  grate  anywhere  to  get  a  glimpse 
of  her, — but  at  present  it  would  not  answer.  I  never  saw 
so  great  an  alteration  in  so  short  a  period ;  but  she  is  too 
young  not  to  recover  her  beauty,  only  dimmed  by  grief  that 
must  be  temporary.  Adieu  !  my  dear  Sir.  I  wish  to  hear 
that  you  are  content  with  your  brother  James :  I  think  you 
will  be. 

Monday,  May  2nd,  Arlington  Street. 

The  plot  thickens :  Mr.  Wilkes  is  sent  to  the  Tower  for 
the  last  North  Briton 8 ;  a  paper  whose  fame  must  have 
reached  you.  It  said  Lord  Bute  had  made  the  King  utter 
a  gross  falsehood  in  his  last  speech.  This  hero  is  as  bad 
a  fellow  as  ever  hero  was,  abominable  in  private  life,  dull  in 
Parliament,  but,  they  say,  very  entertaining  in  a  room,  and 
certainly  no  bad  writer,  besides  having  had  the  honour  of 
contributing  a  great  deal  to  Lord  Bute's  fall.  "Wilkes  fought 
Lord  Talbot  in  the  autumn,  whom  he  had  abused  ;  and  lately 
at  Calais,  when  the  Prince  de  Croy,  the  Governor,  asked 
him  how  far  the  liberty  of  the  press  extended  in  England, 
replied,  '  I  cannot  tell,  but  I  am  trying  to  know.'  I  don't 
believe  this  will  be  the  only  paragraph  I  shall  send  you  on 
this  affair. 

8  No.  45.   '  This  famous  paper  gave  peace    for   the    King    of   Prussia.' 

a  fiat  lie  to  the  King  himself,  for  (Memoirs   of  George   III,   cd.    1894, 

having,  by  the  Favourite's  sugges-  vol.  i.  p.  217.) 
tion,  assumed  the  honour  of  obtaining 


316      To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i7G3 
877.    To  THE  HON.  HENEY  SEYMOUE  CONWAY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  May  1,  1763. 

I  FEEL  happy  at  hearing  your  happiness ;  but,  my  dear 
Harry,  your  vision  is  much  indebted  to  your  long  absence, 
which 

Makes  bleak  rocks  and  barren  mountains  smile. 

I  mean  no  offence  to  Park  Place,  but  the  bitterness  of  the 
weather  makes  me  wonder  how  you  can  find  the  country 
tolerable  now.  This  is  a  May-day  for  the  latitude  of  Siberia  1 
The  milkmaids  should  be  wrapped  in  the  motherly  comforts 
of  a  swan-skin  petticoat.  In  short,  such  hard  words  have 
passed  between  me  and  the  north  wind  to-day,  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  language  of  the  times,  I  was  very  near  abusing  it 
for  coming  from  Scotland,  and  to  imputing  it  to  Lord  Bute. 
I  don't  know  whether  I  should  not  have  written  a  North 
Briton  against  it,  if  the  printers  were  not  all  sent  to  Newgate, 
and  Mr.  Wilkes  to  the  Tower — ay,  to  the  Tower,  tout  de  bon. 
The  new  ministry  are  trying  to  make  up  for  their  ridiculous 
insignificance  by  a  coup  d'eclat.  As  I  came  hither  yesterday, 
I  do  not  know  whether  the  particulars  I  have  heard  are 
genuine — but  in  the  Tower  he  certainly  is,  taken  up  by 
Lord  Halifax's  warrant  for  treason  ;  vide  the  North  Briton  of 
Saturday  was  se'nnight.  It  is  said  he  refused  to  obey  the 
warrant,  of  which  he  asked  and  got  a  copy  from  the  two 
messengers,  telling  them  he  did  not  mean  to  make  his 
escape,  but  sending  to  demand  his  Habeas  Corpus,  which 
was  refused.  He  then  went  to  Lord  Halifax,  and  thence  to 
the  Tower ;  declaring  they  should  get  nothing  out  of  him 
but  what  they  knew.  All  his  papers  have  been  seized. 
Lord  Chief  Justice  Pratt,  I  am  told,  finds  great  fault  with 
the  wording  of  the  warrant. 

I  don't  know  how  to  execute  your  commission  for  books 


1763]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      317 

of  architecture,  nor  care  to  put  you  to  expense,  which  I  know 
will  not  answer.  I  have  been  consulting  my  neighbour, 
young  Mr.  Thomas  Pitt  *,  my  present  architect :  we  have  all 
books  of  that  sort  here,  but  cannot  think  of  one  which  will 
help  you  to  a  cottage  or  a  greenhouse.  For  the  former  you 
should  send  me  your  idea,  your  dimensions ;  for  the  latter, 
don't  you  rebuild  your  old  one,  though  in  another  place? 
A  pretty  greenhouse  I  never  saw  ;  nor  without  immoderate 
expense  can  it  well  be  an  agreeable  object.  Mr.  Pitt  thinks 
a  mere  portico  without  a  pediment,  and  windows  removable 
in  summer,  would  be  the  best  plan  you  could  have.  If  so, 
don't  you  remember  something  of  that  kind,  which  you 
liked,  at  Sir  Charles  dottrel's  at  Kousham?  But  a  fine 
greenhouse  must  be  on  a  more  exalted  plan.  In  short,  you 
must  be  more  particular,  before  I  can  be  at  all  so. 

I  called  at  Hammersmith  yesterday  about  Lady  Ailesbury's 
tubs ;  one  of  them  is  nearly  finished,  but  they  will  not  both 
be  completed  these  ten  days.  Shall  they  be  sent  to  you  by 
water?  Good-night  to  her  Ladyship  and  you,  and  the 
infanta  *,  whose  progress  in  waxen  statuary  I  hope  advances 
so  fast,  that  by  next  winter  she  may  rival  Kackstrow's  old 
man.  Do  you  know  that,  though  apprised  of  what  I  was 
going  to  see,  it  deceived  me,  and  made  such  impression  on 
my  mind,  that,  thinking  on  it  as  I  came  home  in  my  chariot, 
and  seeing  a  woman  steadfastly  at  work  in  a  window  in 
Pall  Mall,  it  made  me  start  to  see  her  move  ?  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

Arlington  Street,  Monday  night. 

The  mighty  commitment  set  out  with  a  blunder ;  the 
warrant  directed  the  printer,  and  all  concerned  (unnamed) 

LBTTKR877. — l  Afterwards  created          *  Anne  Conway,  afterwards  Mrs. 
Lord  Camelford.     Walpole.  Darner. 


318  To  Sir  David  Dalrymple  [i763 

to  be  taken  up.  Consequently  Wilkes  had  his  Habeas 
Corpus  of  course,  and  was  committed  again ;  moved  for 
another  in  the  Common  Pleas,  and  is  to  appear  there  to- 
morrow morning.  Lord  Temple  being,  by  another  strain 
of  power,  refused  admittance  to  him,  said,  'I  thought  this 
was  the  Tower,  but  find  it  is  the  Bastille.'  They  found 
among  Wilkes's  papers  an  unpublished  North  Briton,  designed 
for  last  Saturday.  It  contained  advice  to  the  King  not  to 
go  to  St.  Paul's  on  the  Thanksgiving,  but  to  have  a  snug  one 
in  his  own  chapel ;  and  to  let  Lord  George  Sackville  carry 
the  sword.  There  was  a  dialogue  in  it  too  between  Fox  and 
Calcraft3:  the  former  says  to  the  latter,  'I  did  not  think 
you  would  have  served  me  so,  Jemmy  Twitcher.' 

878.    To  SIB  DAVID  DALRYMPLE. 

SIR,  Strawberry  Hill,  May  2,  1763. 

I  forbore  to  answer  your  letter  for  a  few  days,  till  I  knew 
whether  it  was  in  my  power  to  give  you  satisfaction.  Upon 
inquiry,  and  having  conversed  with  some  who  could  inform 
me,  I  find  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  obtain  so  peremptory 
an  order  for  dismissing  fictitious  invalids  (as  I  think  they 
may  properly  be  called),  as  you  seem  to  think  the  state  of 
the  case  requires ;  by  any  interposition  of  mine,  quite  im- 
possible. Very  difficult  I  am  told  it  would  be  to  get  them 
dismissed  from  our  hospitals  when  once  admitted,  and 
subject  to  a  clamour  which,  in  the  present  unsettled  state  of 
government,  nobody  would  care  to  risk.  Indeed,  I  believe 
it  could  not  be  done  by  any  single  authority.  The  power  of 
admission,  and  consequently  of  dismission,  does  not  depend 

3  Calcraft  had  treated  Fox  with  creature,  his  cousin,  raised  from  ex- 
great  ingratitude.  '  In  the  discus-  treme  indigence  and  obscurity  to 
sion  and  during  the  defending  and  enormous  wealth  .  .  .  took  part  with 
proving  what  he  [Fox]  had  or  had  Lord  Shelburne,  and  witnessed  to  the 
not  said  relative  to  the  cession  of  the  latter's  tale.'  (Memoirs  of  George  III, 
Paymaster's  place,  Calcraft,  his  own  ed.  1694,  yol.  i.  pp.  207-8.) 


1763]  To  Sir  David  Dalrymple  319 

on  the  minister,  but  on  the  Board  who  direct  the  affairs  of 
the  Hospital,  at  which  Board  preside  the  Paymaster, 
Secretary  at  War,  Governor,  &c. ;  if  I  am  not  quite  exact, 
I  know  it  is  so  in  general.  I  am  advised  to  tell  you,  Sir, 
that  if  upon  examination  it  should  be  thought  right  to  take 
the  step  you  counsel,  still  it  could  not  be  done  without 
previous  and  deliberate  discussion.  As  I  should  grudge  no 
trouble,  and  am  very  desirous  of  executing  any  commission, 
Sir,  you  will  honour  me  with,  if  you  will  draw  up  a  memorial 
in  form,  stating  the  abuses  which  have  come  to  your  know- 
ledge, the  advantages  which  would  result  to  the  community 
by  more  rigorous  examination  of  candidates  for  admission, 
and  the  uses  to  which  the  overflowings  of  the  military  might 
be  put,  I  will  engage  to  put  it  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Grenville, 
the  present  head  of  the  Treasury,  and  to  employ  all  the  little 
credit  he  is  so  good  to  let  me  have  with  him,  in  backing 
your  request.  I  can  answer  for  one  thing  and  no  more,  that 
as  long  as  he  sits  at  that  Board,  which  probably  will  not  be 
long,  he  will  give  all  due  attention  to  any  scheme  of  national 
utility. 

It  is  seldom,  Sir,  that  political  revolutions  bring  any  man 
upon  the  stage,  with  whom  I  have  much  connection.  The 
great  actors  are  not  the  class  whom  I  much  cultivate ;  con- 
sequently I  am  neither  elated  with  hopes  on  their  advance- 
ment, nor  mortified  nor  rejoiced  at  their  fall.  As  the  scene 
has  shifted  often  of  late,  and  is  far  from  promising  duration 
at  present,  one  must,  if  one  lives  in  the  great  world,  have 
now  and  then  an  acquaintance  concerned  in  the  drama. 
Whenever  I  happen  to  have  one,  I  hope  I  am  ready  and 
glad  to  make  use  of  such  (however  substantial)  interest  to 
do  good  or  to  oblige  ;  and  this  being  the  case  at  present, 
and  truly  I  cannot  call  Mr.  Grenville  much  more  than  an 
acquaintance,  I  shall  be  happy,  Sir,  if  I  can  contribute  to 
your  views,  which  I  have  reason  to  believe  are  those  of  a 


320      To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i7S3 

benevolent  man  and  good  citizen  ;  but  I  advertise  you  truly, 
that  my  interest  depends  more  on  Mr.  Grenville's  goodness 
and  civility,  than  on  any  great  connection  between  us,  and 
still  less  on  any  political  connection.  I  think  he  would  like 
to  do  public  good,  I  know  I  should  like  to  contribute  to  it — 
but  if  it  is  to  be  done  by  this  channel,  I  apprehend  there  is 
not  much  time  to  be  lost — you  see,  Sir,  what  I  think  of  the 
permanence  of  the  present  system !  Your  ideas,  Sir,  on  the 
hard  fate  of  our  brave  soldiers  concur  with  mine ;  I  lamented 
their  sufferings,  and  have  tried  in  vain  to  suggest  some  little 
plans  for  their  relief.  I  only  mention  this,  to  prove  to  you 
that  I  am  not  indifferent  to  the  subject,  nor  undertake  your 
commission  from  mere  complaisance.  You  understand  the 
matter  better  than  I  do,  but  you  cannot  engage  in  it  with 
more  zeal.  Methodize,  if  you  please,  your  plan,  and  com- 
municate it  to  me,  and  it  shall  not  be  lost  for  want  of 
solicitation.  We  swarm  with  highwaymen,  who  have  been 
heroes.  We  owe  our  safety  to  them,  consequently  we  owe 
a  return  of  preservation  to  them,  if  we  can  find  out  methods 
of  employing  them  honestly.  Extend  your  views,  Sir,  for 
them,  and  let  me  be  solicitor  to  the  cause. 

879.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUR  CONWAY. 

Arlington  Street,  May  6,  very  late,  1763. 

THE  complexion  of  the  times  is  a  little  altered  since  the 
beginning  of  this  last  winter.  Prerogative,  that  gave  itself 
such  airs  in  November,  and  would  speak  to  nothing  but 
a  Tory,  has  had  a  rap  this  morning  that  will  do  it  some 
good,  unless  it  is  weak  enough  to  do  itself  more  harm. 
The  judges  of  the  Common  Pleas  have  unanimously  dis- 
missed Wilkes  from  his  imprisonment,  as  a  breach  of 
privilege ;  his  offence  not  being  a  breach  of  the  peace,  only 
tending  to  it.  The  people  are  in  transports;  and  it  will 


1763]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      321 

require  all  the  vanity  and  confidence  of  those  able  ministers, 

Lord  Sandwich  and  Mr.  C ,  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  the 

court 

I  must  change  this  tone,  to  tell  you  of  the  most  dismal 
calamity  that  ever  happened.  Lady  Molesworth's 1  house, 
in  Upper  Brook  Street,  was  burned  to  the  ground  between 
four  and  five  this  morning.  She  herself,  two  of  her 
daughters,  her  brother*,  and  six  servants,  perished.  Two 
other  of  the  young  ladies  jumped  out  of  the  two  pair  of 
stairs  and  garret  windows :  one  broke  her  thigh,  the  other 
(the  eldest  of  all)  broke  hers  too,  and  has  had  it  cut  off. 
The  fifth  daughter  is  much  burnt.  The  French  governess 
leaped  from  the  garret,  and  was  dashed  to  pieces.  Dr.  Moles- 
worth  and  his  wife,  who  were  there  on  a  visit,  escaped ; 
the  wife  by  jumping  from  the  two  pair  of  stairs,  and  saving 
herself  by  a  rail ;  he  by  hanging  by  his  hands  till  a  second 
ladder  was  brought,  after  a  first  had  proved  too  short. 
Nobody  knows  how  or  where  the  fire  began ;  the  cata- 
strophe is  shocking  beyond  what  one  ever  heard  :  and  poor 
Lady  Molesworth,  whose  character  and  conduct  were  the 
most  amiable  in  the  world,  is  universally  lamented.  Your 
good  hearts  will  feel  this  in  the  most  lively  manner. 

I  go  early  to  Strawberry  to-morrow,  giving  up  the  new  opera, 
Madame  de  Boumers,  and  Mr.  Wilkes,  and  all  the  present 
topics.  Wilkes,  whose  case  has  taken  its  place  by  the  side  of 
the  seven  Bishops,  calls  himself  the  eighth — not  quite  im- 
properly, when  one  remembers  that  Sir  Jonathan  Trelawney8, 
who  swore  like  a  trooper,  was  one  of  those  confessors. 

There  is  a  good  letter  in  the  Gazetteer  on  the  other  side, 
pretending  to  be  written  by  Lord  Temple,  and  advising 

LKTTKK  879. — 1  Mary,  daughter  of  *  Sir  Jonathan  Trelawney,  third  • 
Archdeacon  Usher  ;  m.  (1743),  as  his  Baronet    (d.   1721),    Bishop    succes- 
second   wife,   Richard    Molesworth,  sively  of  Bristol,  Exeter,  and  Win- 
third  Viscount  Molesworth.  Chester. 

«  Captain  Usher. 


WALPOLE.    V 


322  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?63 

Wilkes  to  cut  his  throat,  like  Lord  E 4,  as  it  would  be 

of  infinite  service  to  their  cause.  There  are  published,  too, 
three  volumes  of  Lady  Mary  Wortley's  Letters,  which  I  be- 
lieve are  genuine,  and  are  not  unentertaining. — But  have 
you  read  Tom  Hervey's  letter  to  the  late  King?  That 
beats  everything  for  madness,  horrid  indecency,  and  folly, 
and  yet  has  some  charming  and  striking  passages. 

I  have  advised  Mrs.  Harris  to  inform  against  Jack,  as 
writing  in  the  North  Briton  ;  he  will  then  be  shut  up  in  the 
Tower,  and  may  be  shown  for  old  Nero 8.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  ever, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 

880.     To  SIR  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  May  10,  17G3. 

You  will  be  impatient  to  hear  the  event  of  last  Friday. 
Mr.  Wilkes  was  delivered  by  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
unanimously :  not,  said  they,  on  a  defect  of  affidavit  in  the 
warrant ;  not  on  defect  of  specification  of  libellous  matter 
in  the  warrant  (two  objections  that  had  been  made  by  his 
counsel  to  the  legality  of  the  commitment) ;  but  on  a  breach 
of  privilege,  the  libel  in  question  not  being  a  breach  of  the 
peace,  but  only  tending  to  it. 

The  triumph  of  the  opposition,  you  may  be  sure,  is  great. 
Though  he  is  still  liable  to  be  prosecuted  in  the  Bong's 
Bench,  a  step  gained  against  the  court  gives  confidence  and 
encouragement.  It  has  given  so  much  to  Mr.  Wilkes  and 
the  warmest  of  his  friends,  that  I  think  their  indiscretion 
and  indecency  will  revolt  the  gravest  of  their  well-wishers. 
He  keeps  no  bounds ;  wrote  immediately  to  the  Secretaries 
of  State  that  his  house  had  been  robbed,  and  that  he  sup- 

4  Probably  Arthur   Capel    (1631-  prisoner. 

1683),  Earl  of  Essex,  who  is  supposed  5  An   old    lion   there,    so  called, 

to  have  committed  suicide  in  the  Walpole. 
Tower  of  London,  where  he  was  a 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  323 

posed  they  had  his  goods — nay,  he  went  to  a  justice  of 
peace  to  demand  a  warrant  for  searching  their  houses, 
which,  you  may  imagine,  he  did  not  obtain.  The  King 
ordered  Lord  Temple,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Buckinghamshire, 
to  remove  him  from  the  militia  of  that  county.  The  Earl 
acquainted  him  with  that  dismission,  in  terms  of  condo- 
lence ;  for  which  his  Lordship  has  since  been  displaced 
himself.  In  short,  the  scene  grows  every  day  more  serious 
— violence  on  one  side,  and  incapacity  on  the  other. 

I  quit  politics,  to  tell  you  the  most  melancholy  cata- 
strophe that  one  almost  ever  heard  or  read  of.  The  house 
of  Lady  Molesworth,  in  Upper  Brook  Street,  was  suddenly 
burnt  to  the  ground  last  Friday,  between  four  and  five  in 
the  morning.  Herself,  two  of  her  daughters,  her  brother, 
and  three  servants  perished,  with  all  the  circumstances  of 
horror  imaginable !  The  house,  which  was  small,  hap- 
pened to  be  crowded,  by  the  arrival  of  her  brother,  Captain 
Usher,  from  Jamaica,  who  lay  there  but  that  night  for  the 
first  time,  and  by  a  visit  from  Dr.  Molesworth  (her  brother- 
in-law)  and  his  wife.  The  doctor  waked,  hearing  what  he 
thought  haiL  He  rose,  opened  the  window  and  saw  no- 
thing. The  noise  increased,  he  opened  the  door,  and  found 
the  whole  staircase  in  flames  and  smoke.  Seeing  no  retreat, 
he  would  have  persuaded  his  wife  to  rush  with  him  into 
the  smoke,  and  perish  at  once,  as  the  quickest  death.  She 
had  not  resolution  enough.  He  then  flung  out  a  mattress 
for  her  to  jump  on  (it  was  two  pair  of  stairs  backwards) : 
while  he  was  doing  this  he  saw  from  the  garret  above  one 
of  the  young  ladies  leap  into  the  back  court.  Mrs.  Moles- 
worth  then  jumped  out  of  the  window,  and  was  scarce 
hurt ;  he  clambered  out  too,  and  hung  by  a  hook :  a  man 
from  the  back  of  another  house  saw  him,  and  called  to  him 
that  he  would  bring  a  ladder ;  he  did,  but  it  was  too  short. 
However,  he  begged  the  doctor,  if  possible,  to  hang  there 

Y  2 


324  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

still,  which,  though  his  strength,  for  he  is  a  very  old  man, 
almost  failed  him,  he  did  and  was  saved ;  but  he  is  since 
grown  so  disordered  with  the  terror  and  calamity,  that  they 
doubt  if  he  will  live.  Lady  Molesworth,  who  lay  two  pair 
of  stairs  forwards,  and  who,  to  make  room,  had  taken  her 
eldest  daughter,  of  seventeen,  to  lie  with  her,  was  seen  by 
persons  in  the  street  at  the  window  :  the  daughter  jumped 
into  the  street,  fell  on  the  iron  spikes,  and  from  thence  into 
the  area.  Lady  Molesworth  was  at  the  other  window  in 
her  shift,  and  lifted  up  her  hands,  either  to  open  the  sash, 
or  in  agonies  for  her  daughter,  but  suddenly  disappeared. 
Some  think  that  the  floor  at  that  instant  fell  with  her; 
I  rather  conclude  that  she  swooned  when  her  daughter 
leaped,  and  never  recovered. 

The  young  lady  has  had  her  leg  cut  off,  and  has  not  been 
in  her  senses  since.  The  youngest  daughter,  about  nine  or 
ten,  had  the  quickness  to  get  out  at  window  on  the  top  of 
the  house,  but  from  spikes  and  chimneys  could  get  no 
farther.  She  went  back  to  her  room  where  her  governess 
was,  who  jumped  first,  and  was  dashed  to  pieces.  The 
child  then  jumped,  and  was  little  hurt,  though  burnt,  and 
almost  stifled  by  the  bed-clothes  which  Dr.  Molesworth 
flung  out,  for  this  was  her  that  he  saw.  They  told  her  her 
governess  was  safe ;  she  replied,  '  Don't  pretend  to  make 
me  believe  that,  for  I  saw  her  dead  on  the  pavement,  and 
her  brains  scattered  about.' 

Another  of  the  sisters  jumped  too,  and  escaped  with  a 
fractured  thigh.  A  footman,  who  lay  below,  and  could 
have  saved  himself  easily,  ran  up  to  try  to  save  some  of 
the  family,  but  being  involved  in  flames  and  much  burnt, 
was  forced  to  try  the  window,  fell  on  the  spikes  like  Miss 
Molesworth,  but  they  think  will  live.  Lord  Molesworth  *, 

LETTER  880.— *  Richard  Nassau  Molesworth  (1748-1793),  fourth  Viscount 
Molesworth. 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  325 

the  only  son,  a  boy  at  Westminster,  was  at  home  that  day, 
and  was  to  have  lain  there,  but  not  having  done  his  task, 
was  obliged  to  go  back  to  school,  and  was  thus  fortunately 
preserved.  * 

The  general  compassion  on  this  dreadful  tragedy  is  much 
heightened  by  the  very  amiable  character  of  Lady  Moles- 
worth.  She  had  been  a  very  great  beauty,  and  was  still 
a  most  pleasing  woman,  not  above  forty.  Lord  Moles- 
worth2,  then  very  aged,  married  her,  and  had  several 
children  by  her ;  her  character  and  virtue  beyond  all  sus- 
picion, untainted  and  irreproachable.  Her  care  of  her 
children  was  most  meritorious,  and  her  general  behaviour 
to  the  greatest  degree  engaging.  Dr.  Molesworth  had  been 
much  her  enemy,  yet,  while  her  husband  lived,  she  had 
persuaded  him  to  give  the  doctor  an  annuity,  and  since  his 
death  has  treated  him  with  the  utmost  friendship. 

It  is  not  yet  known  how  this  terrible  accident  happened. 
Many  suspect  two  blacks  belonging  to  Captain  Usher,  but 
I  believe  merely  from  not  knowing  how  to  account  for  it, 
nor  where  it  began. 

We  have  just  got  three  volumes  of  Lady  Mary  Wortley's 
Letters ;  of  which  she  had  given  copies  at  Venice.  They 
are  entertaining,  though  perhaps  the  least  of  all  her  works, 
for  these  were  written  during  her  first  travels,  and  have  no 
personal  history.  All  relating  to  that  is  in  the  hands  of 
Lady  Bute,  and  I  suppose  will  never  see  the  light.  These 
letters,  though  pretty  well  guarded,*  have  certain  marks  of 
originality— not  bating  freedoms,  both  of  opinion,  and  with 
regard  to  truth,  for  which  you  know  she  had  little  par- 
tiality. Adieu ! 

P.S.  Apropos  to  letters,  I  have  never  received  mine, 
which  you  told  me  you  had  sent  so  long  ago. 

2  Eichard  Molesworth  (d.  1758),  third  Viscount  Molesworth. 


326  To  George  Montagu  [1753 

881.    To  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

DEAR  SlR,  Strawberry  Hill,  May  16,  1763. 

I  promised  you  should  hear  from  me  if  I  did  not  go 
abroad,  and  I  flatter  myself  that  you  will  not  be  sorry  to 
know  that  I  am  much  better  in  health  than  I  was  at  the 
beginning  of  the  winter.  My  journey  is  quite  laid  aside, 
at  least  for  this  year ;  though,  as  Lord  Hertford  goes  Em- 
bassador  to  Paris,  I  propose  to  make  him  a  visit  there  early 
next  spring. 

As  I  shall  be  a  good  deal  here  this  summer,  I  hope  you 
did  not  take  a  surfeit  of  Strawberry  Hill,  but  will  bestow 
a  visit  on  it  while  its  beauty  lasts ;  the  gallery  advances 
fast  now,  and  I  think  in  a  few  weeks  will  make  a  figure 
worth  your  looking  at. 

I  am,  dear  Sir, 
Your  obedient  humble  servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 

882.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  May  17,  1763. 

'  ON  vient  de  nous  donner  une  tres  jolie  fete  au  chateau  de 
Straberri :  tout  etoit  tapiss6  de  narcisses,  de  tulipes,  et  de 
lilacs ;  des  cors  de  chasse,  des  clarionettes,  des  petits  vers 
galants  faits  par  des  fees,  et  qui  se  trouvoient  sous  la  presse, 
des  fruits  a  la  glace,  du  th6,  du  cafe,  des  biscuits,  et  force 
hot-rolls.' — This  is  not  the  beginning  of  a  letter  to  you,  but 
of  one  that  I  might  suppose  sets  out  to-night  for  Paris,  or 
rather,  which  I  do  not  suppose  will  set  out  thither,  for  though 
the  narrative  is  circumstantially  true,  I  don't  believe  the 
actors  were  pleased  enough  with  the  scene,  to  give  so 
favourable  an  account  of  it.  The  French  do  not  come 
hither  to  see.  A  I'angloise  happened  to  be  the  word  in 
fashion ;  and  half  a  dozen  of  the  most  fashionable  people 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  327 

have  been  the  dupes  of  it.  I  take  for  granted  that  their 
next  mode  will  be  a  I'iroquoise,  that  they  may  be  under 
no  obligation  of  realizing  their  pretensions.  Madame  de 
Boufflers  I  think  will  die  a  martyr  to  a  taste,  which  she 
fancied  she  had,  and  finds  she  has  not.  Never  having 
stirred  ten  miles  from  Paris,  and  having  only  rolled  in  an 
easy  coach  from  one  hotel  to  another  on  a  gliding  pave- 
ment, she  is  already  worn  out  with  being  hurried  from 
morning  till  night  from  one  sight  to  another.  She  rises 
every  morning  so  fatigued  with  the  toils  of  the  preceding 
day,  that  she  has  not  strength,  if  she  had  inclination,  to 
observe  the  least,  or  the  finest  thing  she  sees !  She  came 
hither  to-day  to  a  great  breakfast  I  made  for  her,  with  her 
eyes  a  foot  deep  in  her  head,  her  hands  dangling,  and 
scarce  able  to  support  her  knotting-bag.  She  had  been 
yesterday  to  see  a  ship  launched,  and  went  from  Greenwich 
by  water  to  Kanelagh.  Madame  Dusson,  who  is  Dutch- 
built,  and  whose  muscles  are  more  pleasure-proof,  came 
with  her ;  there  were  besides,  Lady  Mary  Coke,  Lord  and 
Lady  Holderness,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Grafton,  Lord 
Hertford,  Lord  Villiers,  Offley,  Messieurs  de  Fleury,  Deon  *, 
et  Duclos2.  The  latter  is  author  of  the  Life  of  Louis 
Onze ;  dresses  like  a  dissenting  minister,  which  I  suppose 
is  the  livery  of  a  bel  esprit,  and  is  much  more  impetuous 
than  agreeable.  We  breakfasted  in  the  great  parlour,  and 
I  had  filled  the  hall  and  large  cloister  by  turns  with  French 
horns  and  clarionets.  As  the  French  ladies  had  never 
seen  a  printing-house,  I  carried  them  into  mine ;  they  found 
something  ready  set,  and  desiring  to  see  what  it  was,  it 
proved  as  follows : — 

LETTER  882. — 1  Charles  Genevieve  sequently    masqueraded    for    many 

de  Beaumont  d'Eon  (1728-1810),  at  years  in  woman's  dress,  both  in  Eng- 

tbis   time  secretary  to  the  Due  de  land  and  France. 

Nivernais,  on  whose  return  to  France  2  Charles    Pinot    Duclos    (1704- 

hu  was  for  a  short  period  Minister  1774). 
Plenipotentiary  in  London.    He  sub- 


328  To  George  Montagu  [1763 

The  Press  speaks — 

FOE  MADAME  DE  BOUFFLERS. 

The  graceful  fair,  who  loves  to  know, 
Nor  dreads  the  north's  inclement  snow ; 
Who  bids  her  polish'd  accent  wear 
The  British  diction's  harsher  air ; 
Shall  read  her  praise  in  every  clime 
Where  types  can  speak  or  poets  rhyme. 

FOR  MADAME  DUSSON. 

Feign  not  an  ignorance  of  what  I  speak ; 

You  could  not  miss  my  meaning,  were  it  Greek. 

'Tis  the  same  language  Belgium  utter'd  first, 

The  same  which  from  admiring  Gallia  burst. 

True  sentiment  a  like  expression  pours ; 

Each  country  says  the  same  to  eyes  like  yours. 

You  will  comprehend  that  the  first  speaks  English,  and 
that  the  second  does  not ;  that  the  second  is  handsome, 
and  the  first  not ;  and  that  the  second  was  born  in  Holland. 
This  little  gentillesse  pleased,  and  atoned  for  the  popery 
of  my  house,  which  was  not  serious  enough  for  Madame 
de  Boufflers,  who  is  Montmorency,  et  du  sang  du  premier 
Chretien ;  and  too  serious  for  Madame  Dusson,  who  is  a 
Dutch  Calvinist.  The  latter's  husband  was  not  here,  nor 
Drumgold8,  who  have  both  got  fevers,  nor  the  Due  de 
Nivernois,  who  dined  at  Claremont.  The  gallery  is  not 
advanced  enough  to  give  them  any  idea  at  all,  as  they 
are  not  apt  to  go  out  of  their  way  for  one  ;  but  the  cabinet, 
and  the  glory  of  yellow  glass  at  top,  which  had  a  charming 
sun  for  a  foil,  did  surmount  their  indifference,  especially 

3    Properly    written    Dromgoole.  Johnaon  visited  Paris  in  1775  he  was 

The   Colonel  belonged  to  an   Irish  entertained  by  Dromgoole,  who  was 

family  of  Danish  extraction.    He  was  then  at  the  head  of  the  IScole  MiLU 

at  this  time  acting  as  secretary  to  taire. 
the  Due  de  Nivernais.     When  Dr. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  329 

as  they  were  animated  by  the  Duchess  of  Grafton,  who 
had  never  happened  to  be  here  before,  and  who  perfectly 
entered  into  the  air  of  enchantment  and  fairyism,  which 
is  the  tone  of  the  place,  and  was  peculiarly  so  to-day — 
apropos,  when  do  you  design  to  come  hither?  Let  me 
know,  that  I  may  have  no  measures  to  interfere  with 
receiving  you  and  your  Grandisons 4. 

Before  Lord  Bute  ran  away,  he  made  Mr.  Bentley  a 
Commissioner  of  the  Lottery  ;  I  don't  know  whether  a  single 
or  double  one :  the  latter,  which  I  hope  it  is,  is  two  hundred 
a  year. 

Thursday,  19th. 

I  am  ashamed  of  myself  to  have  nothing  but  a  journal 
of  pleasures  to  send  you !  I  never  passed  a  more  agreeable 
day  than  yesterday.  Miss  Pelham  gave  the  French  an 
entertainment  at  Esher,  but  they  have  been  so  feasted 
and  amused,  that  none  of  them  were  well  enough,  or 
reposed  enough,  to  come,  but  Nivernois  and  Madame 
Dusson.  The  rest  of  the  company  were,  the  Graftons, 
Lady  Kockingham5,  Lord  and  Lady  Pembroke,  Lord  and 
Lady  Holderness,  Lord  Villiers,  Count  Woronzow  the  Eussian 
minister,  Lady  Sondes,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pelham,  Miss  Mary 
Pelham,  Lady  Mary  Coke,  Mrs.  Pitt,  Mrs.  Anne  Pitt,  and 
Mr.  Shelley.  The  day  was  delightful,  the  scene  trans- 
porting, the  trees,  lawns,  concaves,  all  in  the  perfection 
in  which  the  ghost  of  Kent  would  joy  to  see  them.  At 
twelve  we  made  the  tour  of  the  farm  in  eight  chaises  and 
calashes,  horsemen,  and  footmen,  setting  out  like  a  picture 
of  Wouverman.  My  lot  fell  in  the  lap  of  Mrs.  Anne  Pitt, 
which  I  could  have  excused,  as  she  was  not  at  all  in  the 
style  of  the  day,  romantic,  but  political.  We  had  a  mag- 

*  Montagu's  brother,  General  heiress  of  Thomas  Bright,  of  Bads- 
Charles  Montagu,  had  recently  mar-  worth,  Yorkshire ;  m.  (1752)  Charles 
ried  Countess  Grandison.  Watson- Wentworth,  second  Marquis 

6  Mary  (d.    1804),    daughter    and  of  Kockingham. 


330  To  George  Montagu  [1753 

nificent  dinner,  cloaked  in  the  modesty  of  earthenware : 
French  horns  and  hautboys  on  the  lawn.  We  walked  to 
the  belvedere  on  the  summit  of  the  hill,  where  a  threatened 
storm  only  served  to  heighten  the  beauty  of  the  landscape, 
a  rainbow  on  a  dark  cloud  falling  precisely  behind  the 
tower  of  a  neighbouring  church,  between  another  tower 
and  the  building  at  Claremont.  Monsieur  de  Nivernois, 
who  had  been  absorbed  all  day,  and  lagging  behind,  trans- 
lating my  verses,  was  delivered  of  his  version,  and  of  some 
more  lines  which  he  wrote  on  Miss  Pelham  in  the  belvedere, 
while  we  drank  tea  and  coffee.  From  thence  we  passed 
into  the  wood,  and  the  ladies  formed  a  circle  on  chairs 
before  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  which  was  overhung  to 
a  vast  height  with  woodbines,  lilacs,  and  laburnums,  and 
dignified  by  those  tall  shapely  cypresses.  On  the  descent 
of  the  hill  were  placed  the  French  horns ;  the  abigails, 
servants,  and  neighbours  wandering  below  by  the  river — 
in  short,  it  was  Parnassus,  as  Watteau  would  have  painted 
it  Here  we  had  a  rural  syllabub,  and  part  of  the  company 
returned  to  town ;  but  were  replaced  by  Giardini '  and 
Onofrio,  who  with  Nivernois  on  the  violin,  and  Lord 
Pembroke  on  the  bass,  accompanied  Miss  Pelham,  Lady 
Rockingham,  and  the  Duchess  of  Grafton,  who  sang.  This 
little  concert  lasted  till  past  ten  ;  then  there  were  minuets, 
and  as  we  had  seven  couple  left,  it  concluded  with  a  country 
dance — I  blush  again,  for  I  danced,  but  was  kept  in  counte- 
nance by  Nivernois,  who  has  one  wrinkle  more  than  I  have. 
A  quarter  after  twelve  they  sat  down  to  supper,  and  I  came 
home  by  a  charming  moonlight.  I  am  going  to  dine  in 
town,  and  to  a  great  ball  with  fireworks  at  Miss  Chudleigh's 
— but  I  return  hither  on  Sunday,  to  bid  adieu  to  this 
abominable  Arcadian  life,  for  really  when  one  is  not  young, 

6  Felice  de'  Giardini  (171&-1796),a  celebrated  violinist. 


1763]     To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    331 

one  ought  to   do  nothing  but  s'ennuyer — I  will  try,  but 
I  always  go  about  it  awkwardly.     Adieu  ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

P.S.    I  enclose  a  copy  of  both  the  English  and  French 
verses. 

A  MADAME  DE  BOUFFLERS  7. 
Boufflers,  qu'embellissent  les  graces, 
Et  qui  plairoit  sans  le  vouloir, 
Elle  a  qui  I'amour  du  scavoir 
Fit  braver  le  Nord  et  les  glaces ; 
Boufflers  se  plait  en  nos  vergers, 
Et  veut  a  nos  sons  etrangers 
Flier  so,  voix  enchanteresse. 
Repetons  son  nom  mule  fois, 
Sur  tous  les  cceurs  Boufflers  aura  des  droits, 
Partout  ou  la  rime  et  la  Presse 
A  Vamour  preteront  leur  voix. 

A  MADAME  D'UssoN. 

Ne  feignez  point,  Iris,  de  ne  pas  nous  entendre ; 
Ce  que  vous  inspires,  en  grec  doit  se  comprendre. 

On  vous  Ta  dit  d'abord  en  hoUandois, 

Et  dans  un  langage  plus  tendre 

Paris  vous  Va  repete  mitte  fois. 

C'est  de  nos  cceurs  I'expression  sincere; 
En  tout  climat,  Iris,  a  toute  heure,  en  tous  licux. 

Partout  ou  britteront  vos  yeux, 
Vous  apprendrez  combien  ils  scavent  plaire. 

883.    To  THE  HON.  HENEY  SEYMOUE  CONWAY. 

Arlington  Street,  May  21, 1768. 

You  have  now  seen  the  celebrated  Madame  de  Boufflers  *. 
I  dare  say  you  could  in  that  short  time  perceive  that  she 

7  The  French  translation  ia  not  at          LETTER  683. — *  The  Comtesse  de 
present  amongst  the  Kimbolton  MSS.       Boufflers,  who  since  the  lie  volution 


332      To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i763 

is  agreeable,  but  I  dare  say  too  that  you  will  agree  with 
me  that  vivacity  is  by  no  means  the  partage  of  the  French — 
bating  the  etourderie  of  the  mousquetaires  and  of  a  high-dried 
petit  maltre  or  two,  they  appear  to  me  more  lifeless  than 
Germans.  I  cannot  comprehend  how  they  came  by  the 
character  of  a  lively  people.  Charles  Townshend  has  more 
sal  volatile  in  him  than  the  whole  nation.  Their  King  is 
taciturnity  itself,  Mirepoix  was  a  walking  mummy,  Nivernois 
has  about  as  much  life  as  a  sick  favourite  child,  and 
M.  Dusson  is  a  good-humoured  country  gentleman,  who 
has  been  drunk  the  day  before,  and  is  upon  his  good 
behaviour.  If  I  have  the  gout  next  year,  and  am  thoroughly 
humbled  by  it  again,  I  will  go  to  Paris,  that  I  may  be  upon 
a  level  with  them :  at  present,  I  am  trop  fou  to  keep  them 
company.  Mind,  I  do  not  insist  that,  to  have  spirits, 
a  nation  should  be  as  frantic  as  poor  Fanny  Pelham,  as 
absurd  as  the  Duchess  of  Queensbury,  or  as  dashing  as  the 
Virgin  Chudleigh.  Oh  that  you  had  been  at  her  ball 
t'other  night !  History  could  never  describe  it  and  keep 
its  countenance.  The  Queen's  real  birthday,  you  know, 
is  not  kept :  this  Maid  of  Honour  kept  it — nay,  while  the 
court  is  in  mourning,  expected  people  to  be  out  of  mourning  ; 
the  Queen's  family  really  was  so,  Lady  Northumberland 
having  desired  leave  for  them.  A  scaffold  was  erected  in 
Hyde  Park  for  fireworks.  To  show  the  illuminations  with- 
out to  more  advantage,  the  company  were  received  in  an 
apartment  totally  dark,  where  they  remained  for  two  hours. 
— If  they  gave  rise  to  any  more  birthdays,  who  could  help 
it?  The  fireworks  were  fine,  and  succeeded  well.  On 
each  side  of  the  court  were  two  large  scaffolds  for  the 
Virgin's  tradespeople.  When  the  fireworks  ceased,  a  large 
scene  was  lighted  in  the  court,  representing  their  Majesties ; 

in  France  of  the  year  1789,  resided  with  her  daughter-in-law  the  Com- 
in  England  for  two  or  three  years  tesse  fimilie  de  Boufflers.  Walpole. 


176s]     To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      333 

on  each  side  of  which  were  six  obelisks,  painted  with 
emblems,  and  illuminated ;  mottoes  beneath  in  Latin  and 
English :  1.  For  the  Prince  of  Wales,  a  ship,  Multorum  spes. 
2.  For  the  Princess  Dowager,  a  bird  of  paradise,  and  two 
little  ones,  Meos  ad  sidera  toUo.  People  smiled.  3.  Duke 
of  York,  a  temple,  Virtuti  et  lionori.  4.  Princess  Augusta, 
a  bird  of  paradise,  Non  hdbet  parem — unluckily  this  was 
translated,  I  have  no  peer.  People  laughed  out,  considering 
where  this  was  exhibited.  5.  The  three  younger  Princes, 
an  orange-tree,  Promittit  et  dat.  6.  The  two  younger 
Princesses,  the  flower  crown-imperial.  I  forget  the  Latin : 
the  translation  was  silly  enough,  Bashful  in  youth,  graceful 
in  age.  The  lady  of  the  house  made  many  apologies  for 
the  poorness  of  the  performance,  which  she  said  was  only 
oil-paper,  painted  by  one  of  her  servants ;  but  it  really 
was  fine  and  pretty.  The  Duke  of  Kingston  was  in  a  frock, 
comme  chez  lui.  Behind  the  house  was  a  cenotaph  for  the 
Princess  Elizabeth,  a  kind  of  illuminated  cradle  ;  the  motto, 
All  the  honours  the  dead  can  receive.  This  burying-ground 
was  a  strange  codicil  to  a  festival ;  and,  what  was  more 
strange,  about  one  in  the  morning,  this  sarcophagus  burst 
out  into  crackers  and  guns.  The  Margrave  of  Anspach8 
began  the  ball  with  the  Virgin.  The  supper  was  most 
sumptuous. 

You  ask,  when  I  propose  to  be  at  Park  Place.  I  ask, 
shall  not  you  come  to  the  Duke  of  Kichmond's  masquerade, 
which  is  the  6th  of  June  ?  I  cannot  well  be  with  you  till 
towards  the  end  of  that  month. 

The  enclosed  is  a  letter  which  I  wish  you  to  read 
attentively,  to  give  me  your  opinion  upon  it,  and  return 
it.  It  is  from  a  sensible  friend  of  mine  in  Scotland s,  who 

2  Christian  Charles,  Margrave  of  3  Sir  David  Dalrymple.  See  Horace 
Anspach.  He  sold  his  territories  to  Walpole's  letter  to  him  of  May  2, 
Prussia  in  1791,  and  died  in  1806.  1763. 


334      To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway    [i?63 

has  lately  corresponded  with  me  on  the  enclosed  subjects, 
which  I  little  understand ;  but  I  promised  to  communicate 
his  ideas  to  George  Grenville,  if  he  would  state  them — 
are  they  practicable  ?  I  wish  much  that  something  could 
be  done  for  those  brave  soldiers  and  sailors,  who  will  all 
come  to  the  gallows,  unless  some  timely  provision  can  be 
made  for  them. — The  former  part  of  his  letter  relates  to 
a  grievance  he  complains  of,  that  men  who  have  not  served 
are  admitted  into  garrisons,  and  then  into  our  hospitals, 
which  were  designed  for  meritorious  sufferers.  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


884.    To  THE  HON.  HENRY  SEYMOUR  CONWAY. 

Arlington  Street,  Saturday  evening  [May  28,  1763]. 

No,  indeed  I  cannot  consent  to  your  being  a  dirty  Phi- 
lander *.  Pink  and  white,  and  white  and  pink !  and  both 
as  greasy  as  if  you  had  gnawed  a  leg  of  a  fowl  on  the  stairs 
of  the  Haymarket  with  a  bunter  from  the  Cardigan's  Head ! 
For  Heaven's  sake  don't  produce  a  tight  rose-coloured 
thigh,  unless  you  intend  to  prevent  my  Lord  Bute's  return 
from  Harrowgate.  Write,  the  moment  you  receive  this, 
to  your  tailor  to  get  you  a  sober  purple  domino  as  I 
have  done,  and  it  will  make  you  a  couple  of  summer 
waistcoats. 

In  the  next  place,  have  your  ideas  a  little  more  correct 
about  us  of  times  past.  We  did  not  furnish  our  cottages 2 
with  chairs  of  ten  guineas  apiece.  Ebony  for  a  farm-house ! 
So,  two  hundred  years  hence  some  man  of  taste  will  build 
a  hamlet  in  the  style  of  George  the  Third,  and  beg  his 

LETTER  884. — *  At  the  masquerade       Privy  Garden.     Walpole. 
given  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond  on  2  General  Conway  was  fitting  np 

the  6th  of  June,  1763,  at  his  house  in       a  little  rustic  building  in  his  grounds. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  335 

cousin  Tom  Hearne  to  get  him  some  chairs  for  it  of  mahogany 
gilt,  and  covered  with  blue  damask.  Adieu !  I  have  not 
a  minute's  time  more. 

Yours,  &c., 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 


885.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Huntingdon,  May  30,  1763. 

As  you  interest  yourself  about  Kimbolton,  I  begin  my 
journal  of  two  days  here.  But  I  must  set  out  with  owning 
that  I  believe  I  am  the  first  man  that  ever  went  sixty  miles 
to  an  auction.  As  I  came  for  ebony,  I  have  been  up  to 
my  chin  in  ebony ;  there  is  literally  nothing  but  ebony 
in  the  house ;  all  the  other  goods,  if  there  were  any,  and 
I  trust  my  Lady  Conyers l  did  not  sleep  upon  ebony  mat- 
tresses, are  taken  away.  There  are  two  tables  and  eighteen 
chairs,  all  made  by  the  Hallet  of  two  hundred  years  ago. 
These  I  intend  to  have;  for  mind,  the  auction  does  not 
begin  till  Thursday.  There  are  more  plebeian  chairs  of 
the  same  materials,  but  I  have  left  commission  for  only 
the  true  black  blood.  Thence  I  went  to  Kimbolton  and 
asked  to  see  the  house.  A  kind  footman,  who  in  his  zeal 
to  open  the  chaise  pinched  half  my  finger  off,  said  he  would 
call  the  housekeeper :  but  a  groom  of  the  chambers  insisted 
on  my  visiting  their  Graces ;  and  as  I  vowed  I  did  not 
know  them,  he  said  they  were  in  the  great  apartment, 
that  all  the  rest  was  in  disorder  and  altering,  and  would 
let  me  see  nothing. — This  was  the  reward  of  my  first  lie. 
I  returned  to  my  inn  or  alehouse,  and  instantly  received 
a  message  from  the  Duke*  to  invite  me  to  the  Castle. 

LETTER  885. — l  The  Conyers'  were  Manchester ;  his  wife  was  Elizabeth, 
of  Great  Stoughton,  in  Huntingdon-  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  James  Dash- 
shire,  wood,  second  Baronet. 

2  George  Montagu,  fourth  Duke  of 


336  To  George  Montagu  [i?63 

I  was  quite  undressed,  and  dirty  with  my  journey,  and 
unacquainted  with  the  Duchess — yet  was  forced  to  go — 
thank  the  god  of  dust,  his  Grace  was  dirtier  than  me. 
He  was  extremely  civil,  and  detected  me  to  the  groom  of 
the  chambers — asked  me  if  I  had  dined.  I  said  yes — lie 
the  second.  He  pressed  me  to  take  a  bed  there.  I  hate 
to  be  criticized  at  a  formal  supper  by  a  circle  of  stranger- 
footmen,  and  protested  I  was  to  meet  a  gentleman  at 
Huntingdon  to-night.  The  Duchess  and  Lady  Caroline* 
came  in  from  walking;  and  to  disguise  my  not  having 
dined,  for  it  was  past  six,  I  drank  tea  with  them.  The 
Duchess  is  much  altered,  and  has  a  bad  short  cough.  I  pity 
Catherine  of  Arragon  for  living  at  Kimbolton :  I  never  saw 
an  uglier  spot.  The  fronts  are  not  so  bad  as  I  expected, 
by  not  being  so  French  as  I  expected ;  but  have  no  pre- 
tensions to  beauty,  nor  even  to  comely  ancient  ugliness. 
The  great  apartment  is  truly  noble,  and  almost  all  the 
portraits  good,  of  what  I  saw ;  for  many  are  not  hung  up, 
and  half  of  those  that  are,  my  Lord  Duke  does  not  know. 
The  Earl  of  Warwick4  is  delightful ;  the  Lady  Mandeville*, 
attiring  herself  in  her  wedding  garb,  delicious.  The  Pro- 
metheus is  a  glorious  picture,  the  eagle  as  fine  as  my 
statue.  Is  not  it  by  Vandyck?  The  Duke  told  me  that 
Mr.  Spence  found  out  it  was  by  Titian — but  critics  in 
poetry  I  see  are  none  in  painting.  This  was  all  I  was 
shown,  for  I  was  not  even  carried  into  the  chapel.  The 
walls  round  the  house  are  levelling,  and  I  saw  nothing 
without  doors  that  tempted  me  to  taste.  So  I  made  my 
bow,  hurried  to  my  inn,  snapped  up  my  dinner,  lest  I 
should  again  be  detected,  and  came  hither,  where  I  am 
writing  by  a  great  fire,  and  give  up  my  friend  the  east 

s  Lady  Caroline  Montagu.  6  According  to  Cunningham,  Anne 

4  According  to  Cunningham,  Eo-  Rich  (d.  1641),  Viscountess  Mande- 

bert  Rich  (1587-1658),  second  Earl  of  ville. 

Warwick,  by  Mytens. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  837 

wind,  which  I  have  long  been  partial  to  for  the  south-east's 
sake,  and  in  contradiction  to  the  west,  for  blowing  per- 
petually and  bending  all  one's  plantations.  To-morrow 
I  see  Hinchinbrook — and  London.  Memento,  I  promised 
the  Duke  that  you  should  come  and  write  on  all  his 
portraits.  Do,  as  you  honour  the  blood  of  Montagu  !  Who 
is  the  man  *  in  the  picture  with  Sir  Charles  Goring,  where 
a  page  is  tying  the  latter's  scarf?  And  who  are  the  ladies 
in  the  double  half-lengths  ? 

Arlington  Street,  May  31. 

Well !  I  saw  Hinchinbrook  this  morning.  Considering 
it  is  in  Huntingdonshire,  the  situation  is  not  so  ugly  nor 
melancholy  as  I  expected ;  but  I  do  not  conceive  what 
provoked  so  many  of  your  ancestors  to  pitch  their  tents  in 
that  triste  country,  unless  the  Capulets 7  loved  fine  prospects. 
The  house  of  Hinchinbrook  is  most  comfortable,  and  just 
what  I  like ;  old,  spacious,  irregular,  yet  not  vast  or  forlorn. 
I  believe  much  has  been  done  since  you  saw  it — it  now  only 
wants  an  apartment,  for  in  no  part  of  it  are  there  above  two 
chambers  together.  The  furniture  has  much  simplicity,  not 
to  say  too  much  ;  some  portraits  tolerable,  none  I  think  fine. 
When  this  lord  gave  Blackwood  the  head  of  the  Admiral 8 
that  I  have  now,  he  left  himself  not  one  so  good.  The  head 
he  kept  is  very  bad :  the  whole-length  is  fine,  except  the  face 
of  it.  There  is  another  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  by 
Reynolds,  the  colours  of  which  are  as  much  changed  as  the 
original  is  to  the  proprietor.  The  garden  is  wondrous  small, 
the  park  almost  smaller,  and  no  appearance  of  territory. 
The  whole  has  a  quiet  decency  that  seems  adapted  to  the 
Admiral  after  his  retirement,  or  to  Cromwell  before  his 

8   According     to      Cunningham,  7  As  opposing  in  everything  the 

Monntjoy  Blount  (d.  1666),  first  Earl  Montagus.     Walpole. 

of  Newport,    with    George    Goring  8  Admiral  Montagu,  Earl  of  Sand- 

(d.  1663),  first  Earl  of  Norwich,  and  wich,   by  Sir  P.   Lely,  now  in  the 

one  of  the  latter's  sons.  gallery  at  Strawberry  HilL  Walpole. 


WALPOLE.    V 


338  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?63 

exaltation.  I  returned  time  enough  for  the  Opera ;  observing 
all  the  way  I  came  the  proof  of  the  duration  of  this  east  wind, 
for  on  the  west  side  the  blossoms  were  so  covered  with  dust 
one  could  not  distinguish  them ;  on  the  eastern  hand  the 
hedges  were  white  in  all  the  pride  of  May.  Good-night ! 

Wednesday,  June  1. 

My  letter  is  a  perfect  diary.  There  has  been  a  sad  alarm 
in  the  kingdom  of  white  satin  and  muslin.  The  Duke  of 
Richmond  was  seized  last  night  with  a  sore  throat  and  fever  ; 
and  though  he  is  much  better  to-day,  the  masquerade9  of 
to-morrow  night  is  put  off  till  Monday.  Many  a  Queen  of 
Scots,  from  sixty  to  sixteen,  has  been  ready  to  die  of  the 
fright.  Adieu  once  more !  I  think  I  can  have  nothing  more 
to  say  before  the  post  goes  out  to-morrow. 

Yours  ever, 

HOE.  WALPOLE. 


886.    To  SIE  HOEACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  June  5,  1763. 

I  AM  much  concerned  at  the  melancholy  accounts  you  give 
me  of  both  Lord  and  Lady  Northampton l.  They  are  young, 
handsome,  and  happy,  and  life  was  very  valuable  to  them. 
She  has  been  consumptive  some  time  ;  but  he  seemed  healthy 
and  strong. 

The  misery  in  the  family  of  Molesworth  is  not  yet  closed. 
The  eldest  young  lady,  who  has  had  her  leg  cut  off,  does  not 
yet  know  of  the  loss  of  her  mother  and  sisters,  but  believes 
them  much  hurt,  and  not  able  even  to  write  to  her ;  by 

9  The  masked  ball  given  by  the  Noel,  Duke  of  Somerset.    Walpole. — 

Duke  of  llichmond  at  his  house  in  The  husband  and  wife  died  this  year 

Privy  Garden.     Walpole.  (1763)  within  a  few  months  of  each 

LETTER  886. — 1  Charles  Compton,  other,  the  one  at  Lyons,  the  other  at 

Earl  of  Northampton,  married  Lady  Naples. 
Anne  Somerset,  eldest  daughter  of 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  339 

degrees  they  intend  to  tell  her  that  her  mother  grows  worse 
and  then  dies.  Till  this  week  she  did  not  know  she  had 
lost  a  limb  herself,  they  keeping  the  mangled  part  in  a  frame. 
One  of  her  sisters,  she  of  eleven,  who  is  still  lame  with  her 
bruises,  was  lately  brought  to  her.  They  had  not  prepared 
the  child,  thinking  she  knew  nothing  of  what  had  happened 
to  Miss  Molesworth.  The  moment  the  girl  came  in,  she 
said,  '  Oh  !  poor  Harriet !  they  tell  me  your  leg  is  cut  off ! ' 
Still  this  did  not  undeceive  her.  She  replied,  '  No,  it  is  not.' 
The  method  they  have  since  taken  to  acquaint  her  with  it 
was  very  artful :  they  told  her  her  leg  must  be  taken  off, 
and  then  softened  the  shock  by  letting  her  know  the  truth. 
She  wept  much,  but  soon  comforted  herself,  saying,  '  Thank 
God,  it  is  not  my  arm,  for  now  I  can  still  amuse  myself.' 
It  would  surprise  one  that  at  her  age  so  many  indications 
should  not  lead  her  to  the  full  extent  of  her  calamity ;  but 
they  keep  her  in  a  manner  intoxicated  with  laudanum.  She 
is  in  the  widow  Lady  Grosvenor's 8  house,  and  the  humanity, 
tenderness,  and  attention  of  Lord  Grosvenor  to  her  is  not  to 
be  described.  The  youngest  girl  overheard  the  servants  in 
the  next  room  talking  of  her  mother's  death,  and  would  not 
eat  anything  for  two  days. 

Lord  Bath's  extravagant  avarice  and  unfeelingness  on  his 
son's  death  rather  increases.  Lord  Pulteney  left  a  kind  of 
will,  saying  he  had  nothing  to  give,  but  made  it  his  request 
to  his  father  to  give  his  postchaise  and  one  hundred  pounds 
to  his  cousin  Colman 3 ;  the  same  sum  and  his  pictures  to 
another  cousin,  and  recommended  the  Lakes,  his  other 
cousins,  to  him.  Lord  Bath  sent  Colman  and  Lockman 
word  they  might  get  their  hundred  pounds  as  they  could, 
and  for  the  chaise  and  pictures  they  might  buy  them  if  they 

2  Jane,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Bath's    sister,    author    of    several 
Thomas  Warre,   and  widow  of  Sir  dramatic     works,    and     afterwards 
Robert  Grosvenor,  sixth  Baronet.  manager  of  the  Little  Theatre  in  the 

3  George    Colman,   son    of   Lady  Haymarket,     Walpole, 

Z    2 


340  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

pleased,  for  they  would  be  sold  for  his  son's  debts ;  and  he 
expressed  great  anger  at  the  last  article,  saying  that  he  did 
not  know  what  business  it  was  of  his  son  to  recommend 
heirs  to  him. 

I  have  told  you  of  our  French:  we  have  got  another 
curious  one,  La  Condamine  *,  qui  se  donne  pour  philosophe. 
He  walks  about  the  streets,  with  his  trumpet  and  a  map, 
his  spectacles  on,  and  hat  under  his  arm.  He  lodged  in 
Suffolk  Street ;  his  servants  bawling  to  him  disturbed  the 
lodgers ;  the  landlady  sent  two  men  as  bailiffs  to  turn  him 
out.  On  this  he  has  printed  in  the  public  newspapers 
a  letter  to  the  people  of  England,  telling  them  that  he  has 
travelled  in  the  most  barbarous  countries,  and  never  met 
with  such  savages  as  we  are — pretty  near  truth ;  and  yet 
I  would  never  have  abused  the  Iroquois  to  their  faces  in 
one  of  their  own  gazettes. 

But,  to  give  you  some  idea  of  his  philosophy,  he  was  on 
the  scaffold  to  see  Damien  executed.  His  deafness  was  very 
inconvenient  to  his  curiosity ;  he  pestered  the  confessor  with 
questions  to  know  what  Damien  said:  'Monsieur,  il  jure 
horriblement.'  La  Condamine  replied,  'Ma  foi,  il  n'a  pas 
tort ' ;  not  approving  it,  but  as  sensible  of  what  he  suffered. 
Can  one  bear  such  want  of  feeling 5  ?  Oh !  but  as  a  philo- 
sopher he  studied  the  nature  of  man  in  torments ; — pray,  for 
what  ?  One  who  can  so  far  divest  himself  of  humanity  as  to 
be,  uncalled,  a  spectator  of  agony,  is  not  likely  to  employ 
much  of  his  time  in  alleviating  it.  We  have  lately  had  an 
instance  that  would  set  his  philosophy  to  work.  A  young 
highwayman  was  offered  his  life  after  condemnation,  if  he 
would  consent  to  have  his  leg  cut  off,  that  a  new  styptic 

4  Charles  Marie  de  la  Condamine  to    another,    '  Est-il    des    ndtres  ? ' 

(1701-1774),     traveller,      mathema-  '  Non,'  replied  he,  '  Monsieur  n'est 

tician,  and  member  of  the  French  qu'amateur.' — Yet,    La    Condamine 

Academy.  was  a  very  humane  and  good  man. 

6  As  La  Condamine  was  on  the  Walpole. 
scaffold,  one  of  the  executioners  said 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  341 

might  be  tried.  '  What ! '  replied  he,  '  and  go  limping  to 
the  devil  at  last?  no,  I'll  be  damned  first' — and  was 
hanged ! 

Mr.  Crawford  has  given  me  the  second  plan ;  Inigo  Jones's 
church  at  Leghorn,  for  which  I  thank  you.  I  am  happy 
that  you  are  easy  about  your  brother  James :  I  had  told  you 
he  would  write ;  have  not  you  received  that  letter  ? 

No  public  news.  Parliamentary  and  political  campaigns 
end  when  the  military  used  to  begin,  and,  thank  God,  we 
have  now  not  them  ! 

Did  I,  or  did  I  not,  tell  you  how  much  I  am  diverted  with 
his  Serenity  of  Modena's  match  with  that  old,  battered, 
painted,  debauched  Simonetta  ?  An  antiquated  bagnio  is  an 
odd  place  for  conscience  to  steal  a  wedding  in !  Two-and- 
twenty  years  ago  she  was  as  much  repaired  as  Lady  Mary 
Wortley,  or  as  her  own  new  spouse.  Why,  if  they  were 
not  past  approaching  them,  their  faces  must  run  together 
like  a  palette  of  colours,  and  they  would  be  disputing  to 
which  such  an  eyebrow  or  such  a  cheek  belonged.  The 
first  time  I  saw  her,  at  the  fair  of  Keggio,  in  1741,  I  was  to 
dine  with  her ;  and  going  at  three  o'clock,  found  her  in  a 
loose  linen  gown,  with  no  other  woman,  playing  at  faro 
with  eleven  men  in  white  waistcoats  and  nightcaps.  Such 
a  scene  was  very  new  to  me  at  that  age  !  I  did  not  expect 
that  twenty  years  afterwards  she  would  become  mistress  of 
the  duchy,  or  be  a  ladder  to  help  the  Duke  to  heaven. 

June  7th. 

Last  night  we  had  a  magnificent  entertainment  at  Eich- 
mond  House,  a  masquerade  and  fireworks.  As  we  have 
consciences  no  wiser  than  his  Modenese  Highness's,  a 
masquerade  was  a  new  sight  to  the  young  people,  who  had 
dressed  themselves  charmingly,  without  having  the  fear  of 
an  earthquake  before  their  eyes,  though  Prince  William  and 


342  To  George  Montagu  [1763 

Prince  Henry 6  were  not  suffered  to  be  there.  The  Duchesses 
of  Kichmond 7  and  Graf  ton,  the  first  as  a  Persian  Sultana,  the 
latter  as  Cleopatra, — and  such  a  Cleopatra ! — were  glorious 
figures,  in  very  different  styles.  Mrs.  Fitzroy8  in  a  Turkish 
dress,  Lady  George  Lenox 9  and  Lady  Bolingbroke  in  Grecian 
girls,  Lady  Mary  Coke  as  Imoinda,  and  Lady  Pembroke  as 
a  pilgrim,  were  the  principal  beauties  of  the  night.  The 
whole  garden  was  illuminated,  and  the  apartments.  An 
encampment  of  barges  decked  with  streamers  in  the  middle 
of  the  Thames,  kept  the  people  from  danger,  and  formed 
a  stage  for  the  fireworks,  which  were  placed,  too,  along  the 
rails  of  the  garden.  The  ground  rooms  lighted,  with  suppers 
spread,  the  houses  covered  and  filled  with  people,  the  bridge, 
the  garden  full  of  masks,  Whitehall  crowded  with  spectators 
to  see  the  dresses  pass,  and  the  multitude  of  heads  on  the 
river  who  came  to  light  by  the  splendour  of  the  fire-wheels, 
composed  the  gayest  and  richest  scene  imaginable,  not  to 
mention  the  diamonds  and  sumptuousness  of  the  habits. 
The  Dukes  of  York  and  Cumberland,  and  the  Margrave  of 
Anspach,  were  there,  and  about  six  hundred  masks.  Adieu ! 

887.      To  GrEOBGE   MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  June  16,  1763. 

I  DO  not  like  your  putting  off  your  visit  hither  for  so  long. 
Indeed,  by  September  the  gallery  will  probably  have  all  its 
fine  clothes  on,  and  by  what  have  been  tried,  I  think  it  will 
look  very  well.  The  fashion  of  the  garments  to  be  sure  will 
be  ancient,  but  I  have  given  them  an  air  that  is  very 
becoming.  Princess  Amelia  was  here  last  night  while  I  was 

6  Afterwards  Dukes  of  Gloucester  9  Lady  Louisa  Kerr,  eldest  daughter 
and  Cumberland.     Walpole.  of  the  Marquis  of  Lothian,  and  wife 

7  Lady  Mary  Bruce.     Walpole.  of  Lord  George  Lenox,  second  son 

8  Eldest    daughter    of   Sir  Peter  of  Charles,   second  Duke  of  Kich- 
Warren.     Walpole.  mond.     Walpole. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  343 

abroad,  and  if  Margaret  is  not  too  much  prejudiced  by 
the  guinea  left,  or  by  natural  partiality  to  what  servants 
call  our  house,  I  think  was  pleased,  particularly  with  the 
chapel. 

As  Mountain-George  will  not  come  to  Mahomet-me, 
Mahomet-I  must  come  to  Greatworth.  Mr.  Chute  and  I 
think  of  visiting  you  about  the  seventeenth  of  July,  if  you 
shall  be  at  home,  and  nothing  happens  to  derange  our 
scheme.  Possibly  we  may  call  at  Horton * ;  we  certainly 
shall  proceed  to  Drayton,  Burleigh,  Fotheringay,  Peter- 
borough, and  Ely;  and  shall  like  much  of  your  company, 
all,  or  part  of  the  tour.  The  only  present  proviso  I  have  to 
make  is  the  health  of  my  niece 2,  who  is  at  present  much  out 
of  order,  we  think  not  breeding,  and  who  was  taken  so  ill  on 
Monday,  that  I  was  forced  to  carry  her  suddenly  to  town, 
where  I  yesterday  left  her  better  at  her  father's. 

There  has  been  a  report  that  the  new  Lord  Holland  was 
dead  at  Paris,  but  I  believe  it  is  not  true.  I  was  very 
indifferent  about  it:  eight  months  ago  it  had  been  lucky. 
I  saw  his  jackal  t'other  night  in  the  meadows,  the  Secretary 
at  War 3,  so  emptily  important  and  distilling  paragraphs  of 
old  news  with  such  solemnity,  that  I  did  not  know  whether 
it  was  a  man  or  the  Utrecht  Gazette,  Good-night. 

Yours  ever, 

H.W. 

P.S.  Since  I  wrote  this  I  have  received  yours,  and  will 
take  care  of  your  pictures,  as  soon  as  they  are  notified 
to  me. 

LETTER  887. — *  The  seat  of  the          3  Welbore  Ellis,  afterwards  Lord 
Earl  of  Halifax,  near  Northampton.       Mendip. 
a  Countess  Waldegrave. 


344  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

888.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  June  80,  1763. 

MOKSIEUR  DE  LA  CoNDAMiNE  will  certainly  have  his  letter ; 
but,  my  dear  Sir,  it  is  as  sure  that  I  shall  not  deliver  it 
myself.  I  have  given  it  to  my  Lord  Hertford  for  him, 
while  I  act  being  in  the  country.  To  tell  you  the  truth, 
La  Condamine  is  absurdity  itself.  He  has  had  a  quarrel 
with  his  landlady,  whose  lodgers  being  disturbed  by  La 
Condamine's  servant  being  obliged  to  bawl  to  him,  as  he 
is  deaf,  wanted  to  get  rid  of  him.  He  would  not  budge: 
she  dressed  two  chairmen  for  bailiffs  to  force  him  out.  The 
next  day  he  published  an  address  to  the  people  of  England, 
in  the  newspaper,  informing  them  that  they  are  the  most 
savage  nation  in  or  out  of  Europe.  I  honour  his  zeal  for 
inoculation,  which*  is  combated  by  his  countrymen.  Even 
here,  nonsense  attacks  it ;  that  is  of  course,  for  the  practice 
is  sense;  but  I  wish  humane  men,  or  men  of  reflection, 
would  be  content  to  feel  and  to  think,  without  advertising 
themselves  by  a  particular  denomination.  But  they  will 
call  themselves  philosophers,  and  the  instant  they  have 
created  themselves  a  character,  they  think  they  must  distin- 
guish themselves  by  it,  and  run  into  all  kind  of  absurdities. 
I  wish  they  would  consider  that  the  most  desirable  kind  of 
understanding  is  the  only  kind  that  never  aims  at  any  parti- 
cularity ;  I  mean  common  sense.  This  is  not  Monsieur  de  la 
Condamine's  kind  ;  and  Count  Lorenzi  must  excuse  me  if 
I  avoid  the  acquaintance.  I  think  I  said  something  of  him 
in  a  former  letter. 

Lord  Strathmore  is  arrived,  and  has  brought  the  parcel. 
He  has  been  twice  at  Palazzo  Pitti 1.  I  prefer  the  master  of 
the  latter.  The  Lord  is  too  doucereux  and  Celadonian  *. 

LETTER  888. — l  The  house  of  Mr.          2  Too  much  of  a  swain,  a  Celadon. 
Thomas  Pitt,  at  Twickenham.    Wai-       WaJpole. 
pole. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  345 

You  say  I  am  patron  of  the  French ;  I  fear  they  do  not 
think  so.  Very,  very  few  of  them  have  struck  me.  Then 
the  trouble  of  conversing  in  a  language  not  one's  own,  and 
the  difficulty  of  expressing  one's  ideas  as  one  would,  dis- 
heartens me.  Madame  de  Boufflers  has  pleased  me  most, 
and  conceives  us  the  best ;  though  I  doubt  whether  she  will 
return  so  partial  to  us  as  she  came.  She  told  me  one  day, 
'  Dans  ce  pays-ci  c'est  un  effort  perpetuel  pour  se  divertir ' ; 
and  she  did  not  seem  to  think  we  succeed.  However,  next 
spring  I  must  go  to  Paris,  which  at  present,  like  the  de- 
scription of  the  grave,  is  the  way  of  all  flesh.  Foley,  the 
banker  at  Paris,  told  Lord  Strathmore  that  thirty  thousand 
pounds  have  been  remitted  from  hence  every  month  since 
the  Peace,  for  the  English  that  flock  thither. 

Your  account  of  Lord  Northampton  is  moving.  He  will, 
I  fear,  be  little  better  for  Tronchin8,  who,  I  am  assured, 
from  very  good  judges  at  Paris,  is  little  better  than  a 
charlatan. 

I  have  nothing  to  tell  you,  and  I  am  glad  of  it ;  we  have 
a  long  repose  from  politics;  and  it  is  comfortable  when 
folks  can  be  brought  to  think  or  talk  of  something  else, 
which  they  seldom  will  in  winter.  My  gallery  occupies  me 
entirely,  but  grows  rather  too  magnificent  for  my  humility ; 
however,  having  at  no  time  created  myself  a  philosopher, 
I  am  at  liberty  to  please  myself,  without  minding  a  contra- 
diction or  two.  Adieu ! 

889.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  July  1,  1763. 

MR.  CHUTE  and  I  intend  to  be  with  you  on  the  seventeenth 
or  eighteenth,  but  as  we  are  wandering  swains,  we  do  not 
drive  our  nail  into  one  day  of  the  almanac  irremovably. 
8  Louis  Tronchin  (1709-1781),  a  celebrated  Swiss  physician. 


34:6  To  George  Montagu  [ires 

Our  first  stage  is  to  Blecheley1,  the  parsonage  of  venerable 
Cole,  the  antiquarian  of  Cambridge.  Blecheley  lies  by 
Fenny  Stratford ;  now  can  you  direct  us  how  to  make 
Horton  in  our  way  from  Stratford  to  Greatworth  ?  If  this 
meander  engrosses  more  time  than  we  propose,  do  not  be 
disappointed,  and  think  we  shall  not  come,  for  we  shall. 
The  journey  you  must  accept  as  a  great  sacrifice  either  to 
you  or  to  my  promise,  for  I  quit  the  gallery  almost  in  the 
critical  minute  of  consummation.  Gilders,  carvers,  up- 
holsters, and  picture-cleaners  are  labouring  at  their  several 
forges,  and  I  do  not  love  to  trust  a  hammer  or  a  brush 
without  my  own  supervisal.  This  will  make  my  stay  very 
short,  but  it  is  a  greater  compliment  than  a  month  would 
be  at  another  season  ;  and  yet  I  am  not  profuse  of  months. 
Well !  but  I  begin  to  be  ashamed  of  my  magnificence  ; 
Strawberry  is  growing  sumptuous  in  its  latter  day ;  it  will 
scarce  be  any  longer  like  the  fruit  of  its  name,  or  the 
modesty  of  its  ancient  demeanour,  both  which  seem  to  have 
been  in  Spenser's  prophetic  eye,  when  he  sung  of 

the  blushing  strawberries 

Which  lurk,  close-shrouded  from  high-looking  eyes, 
Showing  that  sweetness  low  and  hidden  lies. 

In  truth,  my  collection  was  too  great  already  to  be  lodged 
humbly ;  it  has  extended  my  walls,  and  pomp  followed.  It 
was  a  neat  little  house,  it  now  will  be  a  comfortable  one, 
and,  except  one  fine  apartment,  does  not  deviate  from  its 
simplicity.  Adieu  !  I  know  nothing  about  the  world,  care 
nothing  about  the  world,  and  am  only  Strawberry's  and 

Yours  sincerely, 

H.  WALPOLE. 

LETTER  889.— 1  Bletchley. 


1763]  To  Sir  David  Dalrymple  347 

890.    To  SIR  DAVID  DALRYMPLE. 

Strawberry  Hill,  July  1,  1763. 

PERHAPS,  Sir,  you  have  wondered  that  I  have  been  so 
long  silent  about  a  scheme  that  called  for  dispatch.  The 
truth  is,  I  have  had  no  success.  Your  whole  plan  has  been 
communicated  to  Mr.  Grenville  by  one 1  whose  heart  went 
with  it,  going  always  with  what  is  humane.  Mr.  Grenville 
mentions  two  objections ;  one,  insuperable  as  to  expedition  ; 
the  other,  totally  so.  No  crown  or  public  lands  could  be 
so  disposed  of  without  an  Act  of  Parliament.  In  that  case 
the  scheme  should  be  digested  during  a  war,  to  take  place 
at  the  conclusion,  and  cannot  be  adjusted  in  time  for 
receiving  the  disbanded.  But  what  is  worse,  he  hints,  Sir, 
that  your  good  heart  has  only  considered  the  practicability 
with  regard  to  Scotland,  where  there  are  no  poor's  rates. 
Here  every  parish  would  object  to  such  settlers.  This  is 
the  sum  of  his  reply;  I  am  not  master  enough  of  the 
subject  or  the  nature  of  it,  to  answer  either  difficulty.  If 
you  can,  Sir,  I  am  ready  to  continue  the  intermediate 
negotiator;  but  you  must  furnish  me  with  answers  to 
these  obstacles,  before  I  could  hope  to  make  any  way  even 
with  any  private  person.  In  truth,  I  am  little  versed  in 
the  subject;  which  I  own,  not  to  excuse  myself  from 
pursuing  it  if  it  can  be  made  feasible,  but  to  prompt  you, 
Sir,  to  instruct  me.  Except  at  this  place,  which  cannot  be 
called  the  country,  I  have  scarce  ever  lived  in  the  country, 
and  am  shamefully  ignorant  of  the  police  and  domestic 
laws  of  my  own  country.  Zeal  to  do  any  good,  I  have ; 
but  I  want  to  be  tutored  when  the  operation  is  at  all 
complicated.  Your  knowledge,  Sir,  may  supply  my  de- 
ficiencies ;  at  least  you  are  sure  of  a  solicitor  for  your  good 
intentions  in  your,  &c. 

LETTEK  890. — 1  Probably  General  Conway.  See  letter  to  him  of  May  21, 1763. 


348    To  Charles  Lyttelton,  Bishop  of  Carlisle  [i?63 


891.    To  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

DEAR  SlR,  Strawberry  Hill,  July  1,  1763. 

As  you  have  given  me  leave,  I  propose  to  pass  a  day  with 
you,  on  my  way  to  Mr.  Montagu's.  If  you  have  no  engage- 
ment, I  will  be  with  you  on  the  1 6th  of  this  month,  and  if 
it  is  not  inconvenient,  and  you  will  tell  me  truly  whether  it 
is  or  not,  I  shall  bring  my  friend  Mr.  Chute  with  me,  who 
is  destined  to  the  same  place.  I  will  beg  you  too  to  let  me 
know  how  far  it  is  to  Blecheley,  and  what  road  I  must 
take.  That  is,  how  far  from  London,  or  how  far  from 
Twickenham,  and  the  road  from  each,  as  I  am  uncertain 
yet  from  which  I  shall  set  out.  If  any  part  of  this  proposal 
does  not  suit  you,  I  trust  you  will  own  it,  and  I  will  take 
some  other  opportunity  of  calling  on  you,  being  most  truly, 
dear  Sir, 

Your  much  obliged  and  obedient  servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 

892.    To  CHAELES  LYTTELTON,  BISHOP  OF  CARLISLE. 

MY  GOOD  LORD,  Strawberry  Hill,  July  10,  1763. 

You  are  ever  kind  and  obliging  to  me,  and  indulge  my 
virtuoso  humour  with  as  much  charity  as  if  a  passion  for 
collecting  were  a  Christian  want.  I  thank  you  much  for 
the  letter  on  King  James's  death:  it  shall  certainly  make 
its  appearance  with  the  rest  of  your  bounties.  At  present 
that  volume  is  postponed ;  I  have  got  a  most  delectable 
work  to  print,  which  I  had  great  difficulty  to  obtain,  and 
which  I  must  use  while  I  can  have  it.  It  is  the  life  of  the 
famous  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury,  written  by  himself — one 

LETTER  892. — Not  in  C. ;  now  printed  from  original  in  possession  of 
Viscount  Cobham. 


1763]  To  Charles  Lyttelton,  Bishop  of  Carlisle    349 

of  the  most  curious  pieces  my  eyes  ever  beheld — but  I  will 
not  forestall  the  amusement  it  will  give  you. 

Do  I  confound  it,  or  is  the  print  of  Master  Prideaux  the 
same  with  that  of  Master  Basset  ?  I  have  some  such  notion : 
if  it  is,  I  have  it.  If  not,  I  will  inquire  of  Kamsay.  As  to 
your  nephew1,  he  is  a  lost  thing;  I  have  not  set  eyes  on  him 
this  fortnight;  he  has  deserted  Palazzo  Pitti,  at  least  has 
abandoned  me.  Nay,  I  do  not  guess  when  we  shall  meet, 
for  this  day  se'nnight  I  begin  a  ramble  to  George  Montagu's, 
Drayton,  Burleigh,  Ely,  Peterborough,  and  I  don't  know 
where.  This  is  to  occupy  the  time,  while  they  finish  what 
remains  to  paint  and  gild  of  the  gallery.  This  is  very 
necessary,  for  with  impatience  I  have  spoiled  half  the 
frames  that  are  new  gilt,  and  do  ten  times  more  harm  than 
I  mean  to  do  good.  However,  I  see  shore ;  three  weeks  will 
terminate  all  the  workmen  have  to  do — I  shall  long  to  have 
your  Lordship  see  it,  though  I  shall  blush,  for  it  is  much 
more  splendid  than  I  intended,  and  too  magnificent  for  me. 

Mr.  Borlase2,  I  believe,  knows  your  Lordship  has  some 
partiality  for  me.  He  honours  me  far  beyond  my  deserts  ; 
and  forgets  how  little  share  I  can  claim  in  the  Anecdotes,  as 
greatly  the  largest  part  was  owing  to  Vertue. 

If  I  have  any  time  towards  the  end  of  the  summer,  I  will 
certainly  visit  the  Museum ;  I  have  much  business  there ; 
but  you  will  allow,  my  good  Lord,  that  it  is  not  from 
idleness  that  I  have  neglected  going  thither.  I  am  not  apt 
to  be  idle ;  few  people  have  done  so  much  of  nothing,  or 
have  been  so  constantly  employed,  though  indeed  about 
trifles.  I  have  almost  tired  myself,  it  is  true,  and  yet  I  do 
not  hitherto  find  my  activity  much  relaxed. 

You  do  not  mention  Kose  Castle8:  is  it  in  disgrace? — 

1  Thomas  Pitt,  afterwards   Lord  on  Cornish  antiquities,  and  a  friend 

Camelford.  and  correspondent  of  Bishop  Lyttel- 

8  Dr.  William  Borlase  (1695-1772),  ton. 

Rector  of  Ludgvan, Cornwall,  a  writer  3  Lyttelton's   episcopal  residence 


350  To  the  Rev.   William  Cole  [ires 

well,  be  it  so.  Change  it  for  Hartlebury  or  Farnham 
Castles — to  these  Pitt  and  I  can  come  with  our  Gothic 
trowels. 

News  I  can  send  you  none,  for  none  I  know.     I  seldom 
in  summer  do  know  an  event  that  has  happened  since  1600. 
It  is  one  of  those  ancient  truths  that 
I  am  your  Lordship's 

Most  bounden  Servant  and  poor 
Beadsman, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


893.    To  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

DEAR  SlR,  Strawberry  Hill,  July  12,  1763. 

Upon  consulting  maps  and  roads  and  the  knowing,  I  find 
it  will  be  my  best  way  to  call  on  Mr.  Montagu  first,  before 
I  come  to  you,  or  I  must  go  the  same  road  twice.  This 
will  make  it  a  few  days  later  than  I  intended  before  I  wait 
on  you,  and  will  leave  you  time  to  complete  your  hay- 
harvest,  as  I  gladly  embrace  your  offer  of  bearing  me 
company  on  the  tour  I  meditate  to  Burleigh,  Drayton, 
Peterborough,  Ely,  and  twenty  other  places,  of  all  which 
you  shall  take  as  much  or  as  little  as  you  please.  It  will 
I  think  be  Wednesday  or  Thursday  se'nnight  before  I  wait 
on  you,  that  is  the  20th  or  21st,  and  I  fear  I  shall  come 
alone,  for  Mr.  Chute  is  confined  with  the  gout:  but  you 
shall  hear  again  before  I  set  out.  Kemember  I  am  to  see 
Sir  Kenelm  Digby's. 

Thank  you  much  for  your  informations ;  the  Countess  of 
Cumberland  is  an  acquisition,  and  quite  new  to  me.  With 
the  Countess  of  Kent  I  am  acquainted  since  my  last  edition. 

Addison  certainly  changed  sties  in  the  epitaph  to  indicabit 

near  Carlisle  ;  Hartlebury  and  Farn-      the  Bishops  of  Worcester  and  Win- 
ham  Castles  are  the  residences  of      Chester. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  351 

to  avoid  the  jingle  with  dies :  though  it  is  possible  that  the 
thought  may  have  been  borrowed  elsewhere.     Adieu,  Sir ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  WALPOLE. 


894.    To  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

BEAR  SIR, 

Wednesday  is  the  day  I  propose  waiting  on  you ;  what 
time  of  it  the  Lord  and  the  roads  know ;  so  don't  wait  for 
me  any  part  of  it.  If  I  should  be  violently  pressed  to  stay 
a  day  longer  at  Mr.  Montagu's,  I  hope  it  will  be  no  dis- 
appointment to  you ;  but  I  love  to  be  uncertain,  rather  than 
make  myself  expected  and  fail. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  WALPOLE. 

895.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Stanford,  Saturday  night,  July  23,  1763. 

'  THUS  far  our  arms  have  with  success  been  crowned ' — 
bating  a  few  mishaps,  which  will  attend  long  marches  like 
ours.  We  have  conquered  as  many  towns  as  Louis  Quatorze 
in  the  campaign  of  seventy -two ;  that  is,  seen  them,  for  he 
did  little  more,  and  into  the  bargain  he  had  much  better 
roads,  and  a  drier  summer.  It  has  rained  perpetually  till 
to-day,  and  made  us  experience  the  rich  soil  of  North- 
amptonshire, which  is  a  clay-pudding,  stuck  full  of  villages. 
After  we  parted  with  you  on  Thursday,  we  saw  Castle 
Ashby l  and  Easton  Mauduit s.  The  former  is  most  magni- 
ficently trist,  and  has  all  the  formality  of  the  Comptons. 
I  should  admire  it  if  I  could  see  out  of  it,  or  anything  in  it, 

LETTER  895. — *  A  seat  of  the  Earl      borough, 
of     Northampton,     near     Welling-          2  A  seat  of  the  Earl  of  Sussex. 


352  To  George  Montagu  [i763 

but  there  is  scarce  any  furniture,  and  the  bad  little  panes  of 
glass  exclude  all  objects. 

Easton  is  miserable  enough ;  there  are  many  modern 
portraits,  and  one  I  was  glad  to  see  of  the  Duchess  of 
Shrewsbury3.  We  lay  at  Wellinborough — pray  never  lie 
there — the  beastliest  inn  upon  earth  is  there!  We  were 
carried  into  a  vast  bedchamber,  which  I  suppose  is  the 
club-room,  for  it  stunk  of  tobacco  like  a  justice  of  peace. 
I  desired  some  boiling  water  for  tea ;  they  brought  me  a 
sugar-dish  of  hot  water  in  a  pewter  plate ! 

Yesterday  morning  we  went  to  Boughton4,  where  we 
were  scarce  landed,  before  the  Cardigans,  in  coach  and  six 
and  three  chaises,  arrived  with  a  cold  dinner  in  their 
pockets,  on  their  way  to  Deane,  for  as  it  is  in  dispute,  they 
never  reside  at  Boughton.  This  was  most  unlucky,  that 
we  should  pitch  on  the  only  hour  in  the  year  in  which  they 
are  there.  I  was  so  disconcerted,  and  so  afraid  of  falling 
foul  of  the  Countess  and  her  caprices,  that  I  hurried  from 
chamber  to  chamber,  and  scarce  knew  what  I  saw,  but  that 
the  house  is  in  the  grand  old  French  style,  that  gods  and 
goddesses  lived  over  my  head  in  every  room,  and  that  there 
was  nothing  but  pedigrees  all  round  me  and  under  my  feet, 
for  there  is  literally  a  coat  of  arms  at  the  end  of  every  step 
of  the  stairs — did  the  Duke  mean  to  pun,  and  intend  this 
for  the  descent  of  the  Montagus  ? — Well !  we  hurried  away 
and  got  to  Drayton  an  hour  before  dinner.  Oh !  the  dear 
old  place !  you  would  be  transported  with  it.  In  the  first 
place,  it  stands  in  as  ugly  a  hole  as  Boughton — well !  that 
is  not  its  beauty.  The  front  is  a  brave  strong  castle  wall, 
embattled  and  loopholed  for  defence.  Passing  the  great 
gate,  you  come  to  a  sumptuous  but  narrow  modern  court, 

3  Adelaida     Paleotti     (d.     1726),  dispute  between  his  daughters,  Lady 
Duchess  of  Shrewsbury.  Beaulieu  and  the  Countess  of  Car- 

4  A  seat  of  the  late  Duke  of  Mon-  digan. 
tagu,   near    Kettering.     It    was    in 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  353 

behind  which  rises  the  old  mansion,  all  towers  and  turrets. 
The  house  is  excellent  ;  has  a  vast  hall,  ditto  dining-room, 
king's  chamber,  trunk  gallery  at  the  top  of  the  house,  hand- 
some chapel,  and  seven  or  eight  distinct  apartments,  besides 
closets  and  conveniences  without  end.  Then  it  is  covered 
with  portraits,  crammed  with  old  china,  furnished  richly, 
and  not  a  rag  in  it  under  forty,  fifty,  or  a  thousand  years 
old  ;  but  not  a  bed  or  chair  that  has  lost  a  tooth,  or  got 
a  grey  hair,  so  well  are  they  preserved.  I  rummaged  it 
from  head  to  foot,  examined  every  spangled  bed,  and 
enamelled  pair  of  bellows,  for  such  there  are  ;  in  short, 
I  do  not  believe  the  old  mansion  was  ever  better  pleased 
with  an  inhabitant,  since  the  days  of  Walter  de  Drayton, 
except  when  it  has  received  its  divine  old  mistress.  If  one 
could  honour  her  more  than  one  did  before,  it  would  be  to 
see  with  what  religion  she  keeps  up  the  old  dwelling  and 
customs,  as  well  as  old  servants,  who  you  may  imagine  do 
not  love  her  less  than  other  people  do.  The  garden  is  just 
as  Sir  John  Germain  brought  it  from  Holland  ;  pyramidal 
yews,  treittages,  and  square  cradle  walks,  with  windows 
clipped  in  them.  Nobody  was  there,  but  Mr.  Beauclerc 
and  Lady  Catherine5,  and  two  parsons:  the  two  first 
suffered  us  to  ransack  and  do  as  we  would,  and  the  two 
last  assisted  us,  informed  us,  and  carried  us  to  every  tomb 
in  the  neighbourhood.  I  have  got  every  circumstance  by 
heart,  and  was  pleased  beyond  my  expectation,  both  with 
the  place  and  the  comfortable  manner  of  seeing  it.  We 
stayed  there  till  after  dinner  to-day,  and  saw  Fotheringam  8 
in  our  way  hither.  The  castle  is  totally  ruined.  The 
mount,  on  which  the  keep  stood,  two  doorcases,  and  a  piece 
of  the  moat,  are  all  the  remains.  Near  it  is  a  front  and 

8   Lady    Catherine    Ponsonby  (d.  of  Han  worth,  •whom  he   succeeded 

1789),  eldest  daughter  of  second  Earl  in  1781,  becoming  Duke  of  St.  Albans 

of    Bessborough  ;     m.    (1763)    Hon.  in  1787. 

Aubrey  Beauclerk,  son  of  Lord  Vere  6  So  in  MS.  ;  read  Fotheringay. 


WALTOLE.    V 


354  To  George  Montagu  [176  3 

two  projections  of  an  ancient  house,  which,  by  the  arms 
about  it,  I  suppose  was  part  of  the  palace  of  Kichard  and 
Cicely,  Duke  and  Duchess  of  York 7.  There  are  two  pretty 
tombs  for  them  and  their  uncle  Duke  of  York  in  the  church, 
erected  by  order  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  church  has  been 
very  fine,  but  is  now  intolerably  shabby,  yet  many  large 
saints  remain  in  the  windows,  two  entire,  and  all  the  heads 
well  painted.  You  may  imagine  we  were  civil  enough  to 
the  Queen  of  Scots,  to  feel  a  feel  of  pity  for  her,  while  we 
stood  on  the  very  spot  where  she  was  put  to  death  ;  my 
companion8,  I  believe,  who  is  a  better  royalist  than  I  am, 
felt  a  little  more — there,  I  have  obeyed  you.  To-morrow 
we  see  Burleigh  and  Peterborough,  and  lie  at  Ely;  on 
Monday  I  hope  to  be  in  town,  and  on  Tuesday  I  hope  much 
more  to  be  in  the  gallery  at  Strawberry  Hill,  and  to  find 
the  gilders  laying  on  the  last  leaf  of  gold.  Good  night ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  WALPOLE. 

896.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Hockerill l,  Monday  night,  July  25,  vol.  2nd. 
I  CONTINUE.  You  must  know  we  were  drowned  on  Satur- 
day night.  It  rained,  as  it  did  at  Greatworth  on  Wednesday, 
all  night  and  all  next  morning,  so  we  could  not  look  even 
at  the  outside  of  Burleigh ;  but  we  saw  the  inside  pleasantly  ; 
for  Lord  Exeter,  whom  I  had  prepared  for  our  intentions, 
came  to  us,  and  made  every  door  and  every  lock  fly  open, 
even  of  his  magazines,  yet  unranged.  He  is  going  through 
the  house  by  degrees,  furnishing  a  room  every  year,  and  has 

7   Lady    Cicely    Nevill   (d.    1495),  8  William  Cole, 

daughter  of  first  Earl  of  Westmor-  LETTER  896. — l  Hockerill  or  Bi- 

land,  wife  of  Richard  Plantagenet,  shop's  Stortford,  on  the  high  road 

Duke  of  York,  and  mother  of  Edward  between  London  and  Newmarket. 
IV  and  Richard  III. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  355 

already  made  several  most  sumptuous.  One  is  a  little  tired 
of  Carlo  Maratti  and  Luca  Jordano,  yet  still  these  are 
treasures.  The  china  and  japan  are  of  the  finest,  miniatures 
in  plenty,  and  a  shrine  full  of  crystal  vases,  filigree,  enamel, 
jewels,  and  the  trinkets  of  taste  that  have  belonged  to  many 
a  noble  dame.  In  return  for  his  civilities,  I  made  my  Lord 
Exeter  a  present  of  a  glorious  cabinet,  whose  drawers  and 
sides  are  all  painted  by  Kubens.  This  present  you  must 
know  was  his  own,  but  he  knew  nothing  of  the  hand  or  the 
value.  Just  so  I  have  given  Lady  Betty  Germain  a  very 
fine  portrait,  that  I  discovered  at  Drayton  in  the  wood-house. 
I  was  not  much  pleased  with  Peterborough ;  the  front  is 
adorable,  but  the  inside  has  no  more  beauty  than  consists  in 
vastness. — By  the  way,  I  have  a  pen  and  ink  that  will  not 
form  a  letter2. — We  were  now  sent  to  Huntingdon  in  our 
way  to  Ely,  as  we  found  it  impracticable,  from  the  rains 
and  floods,  to  cross  the  country  thither.  We  landed  in  the 
heart  of  the  assizes,  and  almost  in  the  middle  of  the  races, 
both  which,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  virtuosi,  we  eagerly 
quitted  this  morning.  We  were  hence  sent  south  to  Cam- 
bridge, still  on  our  way  northward  to  Ely — but  when  we 
were  got  to  Cambridge  we  were  forced  to  abandon  all 
thoughts  of  Ely,  there  being  nothing  but  lamentable  stories 
of  inundations  and  escapes.  However,  I  made  myself 
amends  with  the  University,  which  I  have  not  seen  these 
four-and-twenty  years,  and  which  revived  many  youthful 
scenes,  which,  merely  from  their  being  youthful,  are  forty 
times  pleasanter  than  any  other  ideas.  You  know  I  always 
long  to  live  at  Oxford — I  felt  that  I  could  like  to  live  even 
at  Cambridge  again.  The  colleges  are  much  cleaned  and 
improved  since  my  days,  and  the  trees  and  groves  more 
venerable  ;  but  the  town  is  tumbling  about  their  ears.  We 
surprised  Gray  with  our  appearance,  dined  and  drank  tea 
*  The  original  is  very  ill-written. 

A  a  2 


356  To  Dr.  Ducarel  [i?63 

with  him,  and  are  come  hither  within  sight  of  land. 
I  always  find  it  worth  my  while  to  make  journeys,  for  the 
joy  I  have  in  getting  home  again.  A  second  adieu ! 


897.    To  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

DEAR  SlR,  Strawberry  Hill,  Aug.  8,  1763. 

You  judge  rightly,  I  am  very  indifferent  about  Dr.  Shorton, 
since  he  is  not  Dr.  Shorter. 

It  has  done  nothing  but  rain  since  my  return ;  whoever 
wants  hay,  must  fish  for  it ;  it  is  all  drowned,  or  swimming 
about  the  country.  I  am  glad  our  tour  gave  you  so  much 
pleasure ;  you  was  so  very  obliging,  as  you  have  always 
been  to  me,  that  I  should  have  been  grieved  not  to  have 
had  it  give  you  satisfaction.  I  hope  your  servant  is  quite 
recovered. 

The  painters  and  gilders  quit  my  gallery  this  week,  but 
I  have  not  got  a  chair  or  a  table  for  it  yet ;  however,  I  hope 
it  will  have  all  its  clothes  on  by  the  time  you  have  promised 
me  a  visit.  I  am,  dear  Sir, 

Your  much  obliged 

Humble  servant, 

HOE.  WALPOLE. 

898.    To  DR.  DUCAEEL. 

gIR)  Strawberry  Hill,  Aug.  8,  1763. 

I  have  been  rambling  about  the  country,  or  should  not  so 
long  have  deferred  to  answer  the  favour  of  your  letter. 
I  thank  you  for  the  notices  in  it,  and  have  profited  of  them. 
I  am  much  obliged  to  you  too  for  the  drawings  you  intended 
me ;  but  I  have  since  had  a  letter  from  Mr.  Churchill,  and 
he  does  not  mention  them. 


1763]    To  the  Hon.  Henry  Seymour  Conway      357 


899.    To  THE  HON.  HENEY  SEYMOUE  CONWAY. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Aug.  9,  1763. 

MY  gallery  claims  your  promise  ;  the  painters  and  gilders 
finish  to-morrow,  and  next  day  it  washes  its  hands.  You 
talked  of  the  15th ;  shall  I  expect  you  then,  and  the 
Countess  *,  and  the  Contessina 2,  and  the  Baroness 3  ? 

Lord  Digby  is  to  be  married  immediately  to  the  pretty 
Miss  Feilding  * ;  and  Mr.  Boothby 5,  they  say,  to  Lady  Mary 
Douglas.  What  more  news  I  know  I  cannot  send  you  ;  for 
I  have  had  it  from  Lady  Denbigh  and  Lady  Blandford6, 
who  have  so  confounded  names,  genders,  and  circumstances, 
that  I  am  not  sure  whether  Prince  Ferdinand  is  not  going 
to  be  married  to  the  Hereditary  Prince.  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

P.S.  If  you  want  to  know  more  of  me,  you  may  read 
a  whole  column  of  abuse  upon  me  in  the  Public  Ledger  of 
Thursday  last;  where  they  inform  me  that  the  Scotch 
cannot  be  so  sensible  as  the  English,  because  they  have  not 
such  good  writers.  Alack !  I  am  afraid  the  most  sensible 
men  in  any  country  do  not  write. 

I  had  writ  this  last  night  This  morning  I  receive  your 
paper  of  evasions,  perfide  que  vous  etes!  You  may  let  it 

LETTER  899. — *  Of  Ailesbury.   Wai-  Tooley    Park,   near   Leicester,    and 

pole.  brother-in-law  of  Hugo  Meynell,  first 

2  Miss   Anne    Seymour    Conway.  master  of  the  Quorn  Hounds.    He 
Walpole.  was  a  man  about  town,  and  a  com- 

3  Elizabeth  Rich,  second  wife  of  paiiion    of    Fox,    Fitzpatrick,    and 
George,  Lord  Lyttelton.     Walpole,  others  of  that  set.     In  later  life  he 

*  Elizabeth  (d.  1765),  daughter  of  became  very  eccentric,  and  com- 

Hon.  Charles  Fielding ;  m.  (Sept.  5,  mitted  suicide  (July  27,  1800)  by 

1763)  Henry  Digby,  seventh  Baron  shooting  himself  at  his  rooms  in 

(afterwards  first  Earl)  Digby.  Clarges  Street. 

5  Charles  Skrimshire  Boothby  «  They  were  both  Dutchwomen, 

Clopton,  known  as '  Prince '  Boothby,  and  spoke  yery  bad  English.  Wal- 

grandson  of  Thomas  Boothby,  of  pole. 


358  To  the  Earl  of  Stra/ord  [i?63 

alone,  you  will  never  see  anything  like  my  gallery — and 
then  to  ask  me  to  leave  it  the  instant  it  is  finished  !  I  never 
heard  such  a  request  in  my  days ! — Why,  all  the  earth  is 
begging  to  come  to  see  it :  as  Edging 7  says,  I  have  had 
offers  enough  from  blue  and  green  ribands  to  make  me 
a  falbala-apron.  Then  I  have  just  refused  to  let  Mrs.  Keppel 
and  her  Bishop  be  in  the  house  with  me,  because  I  expected 
all  you — it  is  mighty  well,  mighty  fine ! — No,  sir,  no, 
I  shall  not  come  ;  nor  am  I  in  a  humour  to  do  anything  else 
you  desire:  indeed,  without  your  provoking  me,  I  should 
not  have  come  into  the  proposal  of  paying  GiardinL  We 
have  been  duped  and  cheated  every  winter  for  these  twenty 
years  by  the  undertakers  of  operas,  and  I  never  will  pay 
a  farthing  more  till  the  last  moment,  nor  can  be  terrified  at 
their  puffs ;  I  am  astonished  you  are.  So  far  from  frighten- 
ing me,  the  kindest  thing  they  could  do  would  be  not  to  let 
one  have  a  box  to  hear  their  old  threadbare  voices  and 
frippery  thefts ;  and  as  for  Giardini  himself,  I  would  not  go 
'cross  the  room  to  hear  him  play  to  eternity.  I  should  think 
he  could  frighten  nobody  but  Lady  Bingley 8  by  a  refusal. 

900.     To  THE  EAEL  OF  STEAFFOBD. 

MY   DEAR   LORD,  Strawberry  Hill,  Aug.  10,  1763. 

I  have  waited  in  hopes  that  the  world  would  do  some- 
thing worth  telling  you  :  it  will  not,  and  I  cannot  stay  any 
longer  without  asking  you  how  you  do,  and  hoping  you 
have  not  quite  forgot  me.  It  has  rained  such  deluges,  that 
I  had  some  thoughts  of  turning  my  gallery  into  an  ark, 
and  began  to  pack  up  a  pair  of  bantams,  a  pair  of  cats,  in 
short,  a  pair  of  every  living  creature  about  my  house :  but  it 

7  A  character  in  Gibber's  Careless      of   first  Baron   Bingley ;    m.  (1731) 
Husband.  George  Fox  Lane,  cr.  Baron  Bingley 

8  Hon.  Harriet  Benson,  daughter      in  1762. 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  359 

is  grown  fine  at  last,  and  the  workmen  quit  my  gallery 
to-day  without  hoisting  a  sail  in  it.  I  know  nothing  upon 
earth  but  what  the  ancient  ladies  in  my  neighbourhood 
knew  threescore  years  ago ;  I  write  merely  to  pay  you  my 
peppercorn  of  affection,  and  to  inquire  after  my  Lady,  who 
I  hope  is  perfectly  well.  A  longer  letter  would  not  have 
half  the  merit :  a  line  in  return  will  however  repay  all  the 
merit  I  can  possibly  have  to  one  to  whom  I  am  so  much 
obliged. 

I  am,  my  dear  Lord,  your  most  faithful  servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


901.    To  SIB  HOE  ACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Aug.  11,  1763. 

I  AM  never  so  fruitful  in  summer,  you  know,  as  in  winter. 
This  year  I  am  particularly  barren.  Your  letter  of  July  23rd 
has  given  me  a  little  fillip,  or  I  don't  know  when  I  should 
have  writ,  for  I  have  not  a  single  circumstance  to  tell  you, 
but  that  you  will  soon  see  a  greater  prince  than  him  of 
Lichtenstein.  The  Duke  of  York  is  going  to  take  a  Medi- 
terranean tour  with  Augustus  Hervey1,  and,  when  at  Leg- 
horn, will  certainly  see  Florence.  You  will  find  him  civil, 
condescending,  and  good-natured  to  a  great  degree ;  and  loro 
eccellenze,  the  Dame  Florentine,  will  like  him  still  better,  for 
he  is  very  gdlant  and  very  generous. 

I  am  very  sorry  for  Lord  Northampton,  and  yet  I  could 
not  help  smiling  at  his  physician's  expression,  that  he 
seemed  to  go  al  patibolo  in  gala 2.  La  Condamine,  I  believe, 
is  departed  ;  I  have  heard  nothing  of  him  this  month  or  six 
weeks.  The  French  do  not  arrive  in  such  shoals  as  we  do 

LETTER  901. — 1  Captain  of  a  man-  though  dying  of  consumption,  in- 

of-war,  and  afterwards  Earl  of  sisted  on  making  his  state  entry  as 

Bristol  Walpole,  Ambassador  to  the  Venetian  Re- 

2  The   Earl  of  Northampton,  al-  public. 


360  To  George  Montagu  [i?63 

at  Paris;  there  are  no  fewer  than  five  English  Duchesses 
there,  Ancaster,  Kichmond,  Bridge-water,  Hamilton,  and 
Douglas 8 :  the  two  last,  indeed,  upon  an  extraordinary  law- 
suit*, which  is  vastly  too  long  for  a  letter,  and  curious 
enough  for  the  Causes  Celebres.  It  is  a  contest  about  the 
Douglas  estate,  to  which  the  Hamiltons  think  a  pretender 
has  been  set  up,  and  whom  they  say  they  shall,  or  have 
detected.  This  suit  is  not  more  extraordinary  than  the 
taste  of  the  French,  who  prefer  the  Duchess  of  Ancaster B  to 
either  the  Hamilton  or  the  Eichmond.  The  last  (Lady 
Ailesbury's  daughter)  is  in  all  the  bloom  of  youth  and 
beauty,  but  awkward  and  unfashioned ;  the  second  is  sadly 
changed  by  ill  health  from  that  lovely  figure  which  disputed 
with  her  sister  Coventry ;  and  yet  one  is  surprised  that  what 
was  so  charming,  or  what  could  be  so  charming,  should  not 
be  preferred  to  the  first,  who  is  not  young,  was  at  best 
a  pretty  figure,  is  now  repaired  by  every  evident  art,  and  is 
a  heap  of  minauderies  and  affectations  which  have  not  even 
the  stamp  of  a  woman  of  quality  ;  but  taste  seems  as  much 
extinguished  ia  France  as  spirit  or  parts.  Adieu ! 

902.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Aug.  15,  1763. 

THE  most  important  piece  of  news  I  have  to  tell  you  is, 
that  the  gallery  is  finished ;  that  is,  the  workmen  have 
quitted  it.  For  chairs  and  tables,  not  one  is  arrived  yet. 
Well !  how  you  will  tramp  up  and  down  in  it ! — Methinks 
I  wish  you  would.  We  are  in  the  perfection  of  beauty; 
verdure  itself  was  never  green  till  this  summer,  thanks  to 
the  deluges  of  rain.  Our  complexion  used  to  be  mahogany 

3  Margaret,    daughter    of   James  *  The  Douglas  Cause. 

Douglas,  of  Mains,  Dumbartonshire  ;  5  Daughter  of  Mr.  Pan  ton,  of  New- 

m.   (1758)  Archibald    Douglas,  first  market.     Walpole. 
Duke  of  Douglas ;  d.  1774. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  361 

in  August.  Nightingales  and  roses  indeed  are  out  of  blow, 
but  the  season  is  celestial.  I  don't  know  whether  we  have 
not  even  had  an  earthquake  to-day.  Lady  Buckingham1, 
Lady  Waldegrave,  the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  and  Mrs.  Keppel, 
and  the  little  Hotham  *  dined  here  ;  between  six  and  seven 
we  were  sitting  in  the  great  parlour ;  I  sat  in  the  window 
looking  at  the  river.  On  a  sudden  I  saw  it  violently 
agitated,  and,  as  it  were,  lifted  up  and  down  by  a  thousand 
hands.  I  called  out,  they  all  ran  to  the  window;  it  con- 
tinued ;  we  hurried  into  the  garden,  and  all  saw  the  Thames 
in  the  same  violent  commotion  for  I  suppose  a  hundred 
yards.  We  fancied  at  first  there  must  be  some  barge  rope  ; 
not  one  was  in  sight.  It  lasted  in  this  manner,  and  at  the 
farther  end,  towards  Teddington,  even  to  dashing.  It  did 
not  cease  before  I  got  to  the  middle  of  the  terrace,  between 
the  fence  and  the  shell 3.  Yet  this  is  nothing  to  what  is  to 
come.  The  Bishop  and  I  walked  down  to  my  meadow  by 
the  river.  At  this  end  were  two  fishermen  in  a  boat,  but 
their  backs  had  been  turned  to  the  agitation,  and  they  had 
seen  nothing.  At  the  farther  end  of  the  field  was  a  gentle- 
man fishing,  and  a  woman  by  him ;  I  had  perceived  him  in 
the  same  spot  at  the  time  of  the  motion  of  the  waters, 
which  was  rather  beyond  where  it  was  terminated.  I  now 
thought  myself  sure  of  a  witness,  and  concluded  he  could 
not  have  recovered  his  surprise.  I  ran  up  to  him ;  '  Sir,' 
said  I,  '  did  you  see  that  strange  agitation  of  the  waters  ? ' 
'When,  Sir?' — 'When,  Sir!  now,  this  very  instant,  not 
two  minutes  ago.'  He  replied,  with  the  phlegm  of  a  philo- 
sopher, or  of  a  man  that  can  love  fishing,  '  Stay,  Sir,  let  me 
recollect  if  I  remember  nothing  of  it.'  '  Pray,  Sir,'  said  I, 

LETTER  902. — 1  Mary  Anne  Drury,  the  Countess  of  Suffolk,  with  whom 

Countess  of  Buckinghamshire.  she  frequently  resided.   She  died  un- 

*  Henrietta  Gertrude,  daughter  of  married  in  1816. 

Sir     Charles     Hotham  -  Thompson,  3  The   shell    bench,   designed  by 

eighth  Baronet,  and  great-niece  of  Bentley 


362  To  George  Montagu  [i?G3 

scarce  able  to  help  laughing,  'you  must  remember  whether 
you  remember  it  or  not,  for  it  is  scarce  over. '  '  I  am  trying 
to  recollect,'  said  he,  with  the  same  coolness.  'Why,  Sir,' 
said  I,  'six  of  us  saw  it  from  my  parlour  window  yonder.' 
'Perhaps,'  answered  he,  'you  might  perceive  it  better  where 
you  was,  but  I  suppose  it  was  an  earthquake.'  His  nymph 
had  seen  nothing  neither,  and  so  we  returned  as  wise  as 
most  who  inquire  into  natural  phenomena.  We  expect  to 
hear  to-morrow  that  there  has  been  an  earthquake  some- 
where ;  unless  this  appearance  portended  a  state-quake.  You 
see,  my  impetuosity  does  not  abate  much;  no,  nor  my 
youthfullity,  which  bears  me  out  even  at  a  sabbat.  I  dined 
last  week  at  Lady  Blandford's,  with  her,  the  old  Denbigh, 
the  old  Litchfield4,  and  Methuselah  knows  who.  I  had 
stuck  some  sweet  peas  in  my  hair,  was  playing  at  quadrille, 
and  singing  to  mes  sorcieres.  The  Duchess  of  Argyle  and 
Mrs.  Young  came  in.  You  may  guess  how  they  stared — at 
last  the  Duchess  asked  what  was  the  meaning  of  those 
flowers?  'Lord,  Madam,'  said  I,  'don't  you  know  it  is  the 
fashion  ?  The  Duke  of  Bedford  is  come  over  with  his  hair 
full.'  Poor  Mrs.  Young  took  this  in  sober  sadness,  and  has 
reported  that  the  Duke  of  Bedford  wears  flowers.  You  will 
not  know  me  less  by  a  precipitation  of  this  morning.  Pitt 
and  I  were  busy  adjusting  the  gallery.  Mr.  Elliot  came  in 
and  discomposed  us ;  I  was  horridly  tired  of  him.  As  he 
was  going,  he  said,  '  Well,  this  house  is  so  charming,  I  don't 
wonder  at  your  being  able  to  live  so  much  alone ' — I,  who 
shudder  at  the  thought  of  anybody's  living  with  me,  replied 
very  innocently,  but  a  little  too  quick — 'No,  only  pity  me 
when  I  don't  live  alone.'  Pitt  was  shocked,  and  said,  'To 
be  sure  he  will  never  forgive  you,  as  long  as  he  lives.' 
Mrs.  Leneve  used  often  to  advise  me  never  to  begin  being 

*    Probably     Frances     (d.     1769),       Baronet,  of  Woodchurch,  Kent,  and 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Hales,  fourth       widow  of  second  Earl  of  Lichneld. 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  363 

civil  to  people  I  did  not  care  for,  '  For,'  says  she,  '  you  grow 
weary  of  them,  and  can't  help  showing  it,  and  so  make  it  ten 
times  worse,  than  if  you  had  never  attempted  to  please  them.' 

I  suppose  you  have  read  in  the  papers  the  massacre  of  my 
innocents.  Every  one  of  my  Turkish  sheep,  that  I  have 
been  nursing  up  these  fourteen  years,  torn  to  pieces  in  one 
night  by  three  strange  dogs !  They  killed  sixteen  outright, 
and  mangled  the  two  others  in  such  a  manner,  that  I  was 
forced  to  have  them  knocked  on  the  head.  However,  I  bore 
this  better  than  an  interruption. 

I  have  scrawled  and  blotted  this  letter,  so  I  don't  know 
whether  you  can  read  it ;  but  it  is  no  matter,  for  I  perceive 
it  is  all  about  myself ;  but  what  has  one  else  in  the  dead  of 
summer  ?  In  return,  tell  me  as  much  as  you  please  about 
yourself,  which  you  know  is  always  a  most  welcome  subject 
to  me.  One  may  preserve  one's  spirits  with  one's  juniors, 
but  I  defy  anybody  to  care  but  about  their  cotemporaries. 
One  wants  to  know  about  one's  predecessors ;  but  who  has 
the  least  curiosity  about  their  successors  ?  This  is  abomin- 
able ingratitude :  one  takes  wondrous  pains  to  consign  one's 
own  memory  to  them  at  the  same  time  that  one  feels  the 
most  perfect  indifference  to  whatever  relates  to  them  them- 
selves.— Well,  they  will  behave  just  so  in  their  turns. 
Adieu !  Yours  ever, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 


903.    To  SIR  HOEACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  1,  1763. 

MY  letters  are  like  the  works  of  Vertot ;  I  write  nothing 

but  les  Revolutions  d'Angleterre.     Indeed,  the  present  history 

is  like  some  former  I  have  sent  you, — a  revolution  that  has 

not  taken  place,  and,  resembling  Lord  Granville's ',  begun 

LETTEB  903. — *  In  1746.     Walpole. 


364  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i?63 

and  ended  in  three  days.  I  could  have  dispatched  it  last 
Tuesday  with  regard  to  the  termination  of  it ;  but,  though 
I  heard  it  was  begun,  even  on  the  Saturday  while  it  was 
beginning,  my  curiosity  did  not  carry  me  to  town  till 
Tuesday,  when  I  found  it  all  addled.  Still,  I  knew  too  little 
to  detail  it  to  you ;  and,  even  now,  I  can  tell  you  little  more 
than  the  outlines  and  general  report — but  have  patience ; 
this  is  one  of  the  events  which  in  this  country  will  produce 
paper-war  enough,  and  between  attacks  and  defences  one 
comes  pretty  near  to  the  truth  of  the  whole. 

Last  Sunday  was  se'nnight  Lord  Egremont 2  died  suddenly, 
though  everybody  knew  he  would  die  suddenly :  he  used  no 
exercise,  and  could  not  be  kept  from  eating,  without  which 
prodigious  bleedings  did  not  suffice.  A  day  or  two  before 
he  died,  he  said,  'Well,  I  have  but  three  turtle-dinners  to 
come,  and  if  I  survive  them  I  shall  be  immortal.'  He  was 
writing,  as  my  Lady  breakfasted,  complained  of  a  violent 
pain  in  his  head,  asked  twice  if  he  did  not  look  very  particu- 
larly, grew  speechless,  and  expired  that  evening.  He  has 
left  eighteen  thousand  pounds  a  year,  and,  they  say,  an 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  pounds  in  money.  I  hope 
you  have  as  much  philosophy  as  I  have,  or  you  will  lose 
patience  at  these  circumstances,  when  you  are  eager  to  hear 
the  revolution.  That  week,  you  may  be  sure,  was  passed 
by  the  public  in  asking  who  was  to  be  Secretary  of  State  ? 
It  seemed  to  lie  between  your  old  friend,  Lord  Sandwich, 
and  Lord  Egmont.  Lord  Shelburne,  a  young  aspirer,  who 
intends  the  world  shall  hear  more  of  him,  et  gui  postule  le 
ministere,  was  in  the  meantime  one  of  the  candidates  to 
succeed  Lord  Egremont.  Somebody  said,  'It  ought  to  be 
given  to  him  as  you  marry  boys  under  age,  and  then  send 
them  to  travel  till  they  are  ripe.'  While  this  vacancy  was 

2  Sir  Charles  Wyndham,  first  Earl  of  Egremont.  Walpole. — He  was  the 
second  EarL 


176s]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  365 

the  public's  only  object,  behold  Mr.  Pitt,  in  his  chair,  with 
two  servants  before  it,  goes  openly,  at  nine  o'clock  on 
Saturday  morning,  through  the  Park  to  Buckingham  House. 
You  rub  your  eyes ;  so  did  the  mob,  and  thought  they  did 
not  see  clear.  Mr.  Pitt,  of  all  men  alive,  except  Lord  Temple 
and  Mr.  Wilkes,  the  most  proscribed  there,  Mr.  Pitt  to 
Buckingham  House !  Oui,  veritdblement !  What !  to  ask  to 
be  Secretary  of  State  ?  By  no  means :  sent  for ;  desired  to 
accept  the  administration.  Well,  but  do  you  know  who 
stared  more  than  the  mob  or  you  ?  the  ministers  did  ;  for  it 
seems  this  was  the  act  and  deed  of  Lord  Bute,  who,  though 
he  had  given  the  present  administration  letters  of  attorney 
to  act  for  him,  has  thought  better  of  it,  and  retained  the  sole 
power  himself ;  the  consequence  of  which  was,  as  it  was 
before,  he  grew  horridly  frightened,  and  advised  this  step, 
which  has  done  him  more  hurt  than  all  he  had  done  before. 
Mr.  Pitt  stayed  with  the  King  three  hours ;  is  said  not 
to  have  demanded  more  than  might  well  be  expected  that 
he  would  demand ;  and  had  all  granted.  The  next  day, 
Sunday,  the  opposition  were  much  pleased,  looking  on  their 
desires  as  obtained ;  the  ministers,  as  much  displeased, 
thinking  themselves  betrayed  by  Lord  Bute.  On  Monday, 
Mr.  Pitt,  who  the  day  before  had  seen  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 
and  the  Lord  Mayor  Beckford, — the  one  or  the  other  of 
whom  is  supposed  to  have  advised  what  follows, — went 
again  to  the  King,  with  a  large  increase  of  demands.  What 
those  were  are  variously  stated,  nor  do  I  pretend  to  tell  you 
how  far  the  particulars  are  exact.  The  general  purport  is, 
though  I  dare  say  not  to  the  extent  given  out,  that  he  in- 
sisted on  a  general  dismission  of  all  who  had  voted  for  the 
Peace ;  and  that  he  notified  his  intention  of  attacking  the 
Peace  itself:  that  he  particularly  proscribed  Lord  Holland, 
Lord  Halifax,  Lord  Sandwich,  Lord  Barrington,  and  Lord 
Shelburne ;  named  himself  and  Charles  Townshend  for 


366  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

Secretaries  of  State,  Lord  Temple  for  the  Treasury,  Pratt  for 
Chancellor ;  proposed  some  place,  not  of  business,  for  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  forgot  Mr.  Legge,  and  desired  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland  for  the  head  of  the  army.  They  tell  you, 
that  the  King  asked  him,  '  Mr.  Pitt,  if  it  is  right  for  you  to 
stand  by  your  friends,  why  is  it  not  as  right  for  me  to  stand 
by  mine?'  and  that  the  treaty  broke  off,  on  his  Majesty 
refusing  to  give  up  his.  Broken  off  the  negotiation  certainly 
is.  Why  broken,  I  shall,  as  I  told  you  before,  wait  a  little 
before  I  settle  my  belief.  The  ministers  were  sent  for 
again  ;  Mr.  Pitt  and  Lord  Temple,  according  to  the  modern 
well-bred  usage,  were  at  the  levee  yesterday,  had  each  their 
Drawing-room  question  ;  and  there  ended  this  interlude. 

It  is  said  Lord  Sandwich  kisses  hands  to-morrow  for 
Secretary  of  State.  If  a  President  of  the  Council  is  named 
too,  I  shall  think  they  mean  to  stand  it :  if  not,  shall  con- 
clude a  door  is  still  left  open  for  treating. 

There  was  a  little  episode,  previous  to  this  more  dignified 
drama,  which  was  on  the  point  of  employing  the  attention 
of  the  public,  if  it  had  not  been  overlaid  by  the  revolution  in 
question.  The  famous  Mr.  Wilkes  was  challenged  at  Paris, 
by  one  Forbes,  an  outlawed  Scot  in  the  French  service,  who 
could  not  digest  the  North  Britons.  Wilkes  would  have 
joked  it  off,  but  it  would  not  do.  He  then  insisted  on 
seconds ;  Forbes  said  duels  were  too  dangerous  in  France 
for  such  extensive  proceedings.  Wilkes  adhered  to  his 
demand.  Forbes  pulled  him  by  the  nose,  or,  as  Lord  Mark 
Kerr s,  in  his  well-bred  formality,  said  to  a  gentleman,  '  Sir, 
you  are  to  suppose  I  have  thrown  this  glass  of  wine  in  your 
face.'  Wilkes  cried  out  murder!  The  lieutenant  de  police 
was  sent  for,  and  obliged  Forbes  to  promise  that  he  would 
proceed  no  farther.  Notwithstanding  the  present  discussion, 

8  Brother  of  the  Marquis  of  Lothian,  a  very  brave  but  remarkably 
formal  man.  Walpole. 


176.3]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  367 

you  may  imagine  the  Scotch  will  not  let  this  anecdote  be 
still-born.  It  is  cruel  on  Lord  Talbot,  whom  Wilkes  ventured 
to  fight. 

Other  comical  passages  have  happened  to  us  at  Paris. 
Their  King,  you  know,  is  wondrous  shy  to  strangers,  awkward 
at  a  question,  or  too  familiar.  For  instance,  when  the  Duke 
of  Eichmond  was  presented  to  him,  he  said,  '  Monsieur  le 
Due  de  Cumberland  boude  le  Koi,  n'est-ce  pas?'  The  Duke 
was  confounded.  The  King  persisted,  '  II  le  fait,  n'est-il  pas 
vrai  ? '  The  Duke  answered  very  properly,  '  Ses  ministres 
quelquefois,  Sire,  jamais  sa  Majeste.'  This  did  not  stop 
him  :  '  Et  vous,  Milord,  quand  aurez-vous  le  cordon  bleu  ? ' 
George  Selwyn,  who  stood  behind  the  Duke,  said  softly, 
'Answer  that  if  you  can,  my  Lord.'  To  Lord  Holland,  the 
King  said,  '  Vous  avez  fait  bien  du  bruit  dans  votre  pays, 
n'est-ce  pas  ? '  His  answer  was  pretty  too :  '  Sire,  je  fais 
tout  mon  possible  pour  le  faire  cesser.'  Lord  Holland  was 
better  diverted  with  the  Duchess  d'Aiguillon 4 ;  she  got  him 
and  Lady  Holland  tickets  for  one  of  the  best  boxes  to  see 
the  fireworks  on  the  Peace,  and  carried  them  in  her  coach. 
When  they  arrived,  he  had  forgot  the  tickets ;  she  flew  into 
a  rage,  and,  sans  marchander,  abused  him  so  grossly  that 
Lady  Holland  coloured,  and  would  not  speak  to  her.  Not 
content  with  this,  when  her  footman  opened  the  door  of  the 
coach,  the  Duchess,  before  all  the  mob,  said  aloud,  '  C'est  une 
des  meilleures  tetes  de  1'Angleterre,  et  voici  la  betise  qu'il  a 
faite ! '  and  repeated  it.  He  laughed,  and  the  next  day  she 
recollected  herself,  and  made  an  excuse.  .  .  . 5 

Mrs.  Poyntz 6  is  an  comble  de  la  gloire  there ;  she  has  cured 
Madame  Victoire 7  of  the  stone,  by  Mrs.  Stephens's  medicine. 

4  Anne   Charlotte   de   Crussol  de  a  great  beauty :   the  poem  of  The 

Florensac,  Duchesse  d'Aiguillon.  Fair  Circassian  was  written  on  her. 

*  Passage  omitted.  She  was  Maid  of  Honour  to  Queen 

6  Anna  Maria  Mordaunt,  wife  of  Caroline.     Walpole. 
Stephen  Poyntz,  governor  of  William,          7  Fourth  daughter  of  Louis  XV; 

Duke  of  Cumberland.    She  had  been  d.  1800. 


368  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i763 

When  Mrs.  Poyntz  took  leave  of  them  for  Spa,  they  shut 
the  door,  and  the  whole  royal  family  kissed  her ;  for  the 
King  is  so  fond  of  his  children  that,  they  say,  it  was  visible 
every  day  in  his  countenance  whether  his  daughter  was 
better  or  worse. 

We  sent  you  Sir  William  Stanhope 8  and  my  Lady,  a  fond 
couple  ;  you  have  returned  them  to  us  very  different.  When 
they  came  to  Blackheath,  he  got  out  of  the  chaise  to  go  to 
his  brother  Lord  Chesterfield's,  made  her  a  low  bow,  and 
said,  'Madam,  I  hope  I  shall  never  see  your  face  again.' 
She  replied, '  Sir,  I  will  take  all  the  care  I  can  that  you  never 
shall.'  He  lays  no  gallantry  to  her  charge.  It  would  not 
be  very  wonderful  if  he  did,  considering  the  disproportion 
of  their  ages,  of  which  he  was  so  sensible,  that  finding  her 
extremely  alarmed  the  first  night,  he  said,  '  It  is  I,  Madam, 
that  have  most  reason  to  be  frightened.' 

We  are  sending  you  another  couple,  the  famous  Garrick 9 
and  his  once  famous  wife10.  He  will  make  you  laugh  as 
a  mimic,  and  as  he  knows  we  are  great  friends,  will  affect 
great  partiality  to  me  ;  but  be  a  little  upon  your  guard, 
remember  he  is  an  actor. 

My  poor  niece  u  has  declared  herself  not  breeding :  you 
will  be  charmed  with  the  delicacy  of  her  manner  in  breaking 
it  to  General  Waldegrave 12.  She  gave  him  her  Lord's  seal 
with  the  coronet.  You  will  be  more  charmed  with  her. 
On  Sunday  the  Bishop  of  Exeter13  and  I  were  talking  of 
this  new  convulsion  in  politics — she  burst  out  in  a  flood 
of  tears,  reflecting  on  the  great  rank  her  Lord,  if  living, 
would  naturally  attain  on  this  occasion. 

8  A  man  of  wit,  and  brother  of  the          10  La  Violetta,  a  German  dancer, 
famous  Lord  Chesterfield.    His  third       Walpole. 

wife  was  sister  of  Sir  Francis  Del  aval.  n  Lady  Waldegrave.     Walpole. 

Walpole.  12  General  John  Waldegrave,  her 

9  The  Garricks  left  England  in  husband's  brother  and  successor. 
September  1768,   and  travelled  on  1S  Dr.  Keppel,  her  brother-in-law, 
the  Continent  until  April  1765.  Walpole. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  369 

I  think  I  have  nothing  more  to  tell  you,  but  a  bon  mot 
of  my  Lady  Townshend.  She  has  taken  a  strange  little 
villa  at  Paddington,  near  Tyburn.  People  were  wondering 
at  her  choosing  such  a  situation,  and  asked  her,  in  joke, 
what  sort  of  neighbourhood  she  had:  'Oh,'  said  she,  'one 
that  can  never  tire  me,  for  they  are  hanged  every  week.' 
Good  night.  This  would  be  a  furious  long  letter,  if  it  was 
not  short  by  containing  a  whole  revolution. 


904.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept  3,  1763. 

I  HAVE  but  a  minute's  time  for  answering  your  letter ; 
my  house  is  full  of  people,  and  has  been  so  from  the  instant 
I  breakfasted,  and  more  are  coming — in  short,  I  keep  an 
inn ;  the  sign,  '  The  Gothic  Castle.' — Since  my  gallery  was 
finished  I  have  not  been  in  it  a  quarter  of  an  hour  together ; 
my  whole  time  is  passed  in  giving  tickets  for  seeing  it,  and 
hiding  myself  while  it  is  seen. — Take  my  advice,  never 
build  a  charming  house  for  yourself  between  London  and 
Hampton  Court :  everybody  will  live  in  it  but  you. 

I  fear  you  must  give  up  all  thoughts  of  the  Vine  for  this 
year,  at  least  for  some  time.  The  poor  master  is  on  the 
rack.  I  left  him  the  day  before  yesterday  in  bed,  where 
he  had  been  ever  since  Monday  with  the  gout  in  both  knees 
and  one  foot,  and  suffering  martyrdom  every  night.  I  go 
to  see  him  again  on  Monday.  He  has  not  had  so  bad  a  fit 
these  four  years ;  and  he  has  probably  the  other  foot  still 
to  come.  You  must  come  to  me  at  least  in  the  meantime, 
before  he  is  well  enough  to  receive  you.  After  next  Tuesday 
I  am  unengaged,  except  on  Saturday,  Sunday,  and  Monday 
following ;  that  is,  the  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth,  when 
the  family  from  Park  Place  are  to  be  with  me.  Settle  your 
motions,  and  let  me  know  them  as  soon  as  you  can,  and 

WALPOLE.    V  B    b 


370  To  George  Montagu  [1763 

give  me  as  much  time  as  you  can  spare.  I  flatter  myself 
the  General  and  Lady  Grandison  will  keep  the  kind  promise 
they  made  me,  and  that  I  shall  see  your  brother  John  and 
Mr.  Miller  too. 

My  niece  is  not  breeding.  You  shall  have  the  auction 
books  as  soon  as  I  can  get  them,  though  I  question  if  there 
is  anything  in  your  way ;  however,  I  shall  see  you  long 
before  the  sale,  and  we  will  talk  on  it. 

There  has  been  a  revolution  and  a  re-revolution,  but  I 
must  defer  the  history  till  I  see  you,  for  it  is  much  too  big 
for  a  letter  written  in  such  a  hurry  as  this.  Adieu  ! 

Yours  faithfully, 

H.  W. 

905.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  7,  1763. 

As  I  am  sure  the  house  of  Conway  will  not  stay  with  me 
beyond  Monday  next,  I  shall  rejoice  to  see  the  house  of 
Montagu  this  day  se'nnight  (Wednesday),  and  shall  think 
myself  highly  honoured  by  a  visit  from  Lady  Beaulieu  *  ; 
I  know  nobody  that  has  a  better  taste,  and  it  would  flatter 
me  exceedingly  if  she  should  happen  to  like  Strawberry. 

I  knew  you  would  be  pleased  with  Mr.  T.  Pitt ;  he  is 
very  amiable  and  very  sensible,  and  one  of  the  very  few 
that  I  reckon  quite  worthy  of  being  at  home  at  Strawberry. 

I  have  again  been  in  town  to  see  Mr.  Chute;  he  thinks 
the  worst  over,  yet  he  gets  no  sleep,  and  is  still  confined  to 
his  bed :  but  his  spirits  keep  up  surprisingly.  As  to  your 
gout,  so  far  from  pitying  you,  'tis  the  best  thing  that  can 
happen  to  you.  All  that  claret  and  port  are  very  kind  to 
you,  when  they  prefer  the  shape  of  lameness  to  that  of 
apoplexies,  or  dropsies,  or  fevers,  or  pleurisies. 

LETTER  905. — ^  Isabella  Montagu,  Baroness  Beaulieu,  formerly  Dowager 
Duchess  of  Manchester. 


176s]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  371 

Let  me  have  a  line  certain  what  day  I  may  expect  your 
party,  that  I  may  pray  to  the  sun  to  illuminate  the  cabinet. 
Adieu!  Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 


906.    To  THE  HON.  GEOEGE  GEENVILLE. 

DEAR  SIR,  Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  7,  1763. 

Though  I  am  sensible  I  have  no  pretensions  for  asking 
you  a  favour,  and,  indeed,  should  be  very  unwilling  to 
trespass  on  your  good  nature,  yet  I  flatter  myself  I  shall 
not  be  thought  quite  impertinent  in  interceding  for 
a  person,  who  I  can  answer  has  neither  been  to  blame, 
nor  any  way  deserved  punishment,  and  therefore  I  think 
you,  Sir,  will  be  ready  to  save  him  from  prejudice.  The 
person  is  my  deputy,  Mr.  Grosvenor  Bedford,  who,  above 
five-and-twenty  years  ago,  was  appointed  Collector  of  the 
Customs  in  Philadelphia  by  my  father. 

I  hear  he  is  threatened  to  be  turned  out.  If  the  least 
fault  can  be  laid  to  his  charge,  I  do  not  desire  to  have 
him  protected.  If  there  cannot,  I  am  too  well  persuaded, 
Sir,  of  your  justice  not  to  be  sure  you  will  be  pleased  to 
protect  him. 

When  I  have  appealed  to  your  good  nature  and  justice, 
it  would  be  impertinent  to  say  more  than  that  I  am, 
&c.,  &c. 

HORACE  WALPOLE. 

907.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Sept.  13,  1763. 

THE  administration  is  resettled:  the  opposition  does 
not  come  in  ;  and  the  old  ministers  have  resumed  their 
functions.  The  Duke  of  Bedford,  who  had  formerly  advised 

B  b  2 


372  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

to  invite  Mr.  Pitt  to  court,  finding  himself  omitted  in 
Mr.  Pitt's  list,  is  cordially  united,  nay,  incorporated  with 
the  administration;  he  has  kissed  hands  for  President  of 
the  Council.  Lord  Sandwich  is  the  new  Secretary  of 
State,  Lord  Egmont  the  new  head  of  the  Admiralty,  and 
Lord  Hilsborough  the  new  First  Lord  of  Trade,  for  Lord 
Shelburne,  whom  I  mentioned  to  you  in  my  last,  has 
resigned  in  the  midst  of  these  bustles.  Many  reasons  are 
given,  but  the  only  one  that  people  choose  to  take  is, 
that,  thinking  Mr.  Pitt  must  be  minister,  and  finding 
himself  tolerably  obnoxious  to  him,  he  is  seeking  to  make 
his  peace  at  any  rate. 

This  concussion  has  produced  one  remarkable  event,  the 
total  removal  of  Lord  Bute,  which  Mr.  Grenville  and 
Lord  Halifax  made  the  absolute  sine  qua  non  of  their 
re-acceptance.  The  favourite  Earl  has  given  it  under 
his  hand  that  he  will  go  abroad.  Thus  ends  his  foolish 
drama — not  its  consequences,  for  the  flames  he  has  lighted 
up  will  not  be  extinguished  soon. 

I  could  tell  you  a  great  deal  of  what  is  reported  of  the 
dialogue  in  the  closet,  but  not  a  circumstance  which  is  not 
denied  on  one  side  or  the  other,  for  though  there  were  but 
two  interlocutors1,  there  is  a  total  disagreement  in  the 
relation.  Parties  will  not  meet  in  better  humour  next 
session  for  this  abortive  negotiation :  the  paper-war  is  re- 
kindled with  violence,  but  produces  no  wit ;  nay,  scarce 
produces  the  bulk  of  a  pamphlet,  for  the  fashionable 
warfare  at  present  is  carried  on  by  anonymous 2  letters  in 
the  daily  newspapers,  which  die  as  suddenly  as  other  lies 
of  the  day.  This  skirmishing  is  sharp  and  lively,  but  not 
very  entertaining. 

LETTER  907. — 1  The  King  and  Pitt       their    letters    printed  in  the  daily 
*  It  is  certain  that  from  this  time,       newspapers,  pamphlets  grew  exceed- 
when  anonymous  writers  oould  get      ingly  more  rare.     Walpcile. 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  373 

I  have  not  a  syllable  of  other  news  to  send  you.  You 
must  take  this  rather  as  a  codicil  to  my  last  letter,  than 
as  pretending  to  be  a  letter  itself.  The  Parliament,  I 
suppose,  will  not  meet  till  after  Christmas,  and  till  then 
little  material  is  likely  to  happen ;  unless  some  notable 
death  should  intervene,  which,  considering  the  tottering 
condition  of  some  principal  performers,  is  not  unlikely. 
An  old  statesman  that  has  November  to  pass  through 
in  his  way  to  preferment,  may  chance  never  to  arrive 
at  it.  Adieu  ! 


908.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  3,  1763. 

I  WAS  just  getting  into  my  chaise  to  go  to  Park  Place, 
when  I  received  your  commission  for  Mrs.  Cosby's  pictures  ; 
but  I  did  not  neglect  it,  though  I  might  as  well,  for  the 
old  gentlewoman  was  a  little  whimsical,  and  though  I  sent 
my  own  gardener  and  farmer  with  my  cart  to  fetch  them 
on  Friday,  she  would  not  deliver  them,  she  said,  till 
Monday ;  so  this  morning  they  were  forced  to  go  again — 
they  are  now  all  safely  lodged  in  my  cloister  ;  when  I  say 
safely,  you  understand  that  two  of  them  have  large  holes 
in  them,  as  witness  this  bill  of  lading  signed  by  your  aunt. 
There  are  eleven  in  all,  besides  Lord  Halifax,  seven  half- 
lengths  and  four  heads ;  the  former  are  all  desirable,  and 
one  of  the  latter ;  the  three  others  woful.  Mr.  Wicks 
is  now  in  the  act  of  packing  them,  for  we  have  changed 
our  minds  about  sending  them  to  London  by  water,  as 
your  waggoner  told  Louis  last  time  I  was  at  Great  worth, 
that  if  they  were  left  at  the  Old  Hat,  near  Acton,  he 
would  take  them  up  and  convey  them  to  Greatworth ; 
so  my  cart  carries  them  thither,  and  they  will  set  out 
towards  you  next  Saturday. 


374  To  George  Montagu  [i?63 

I  felt  shocked,  as  you  did,  to  think  how  suddenly  the 
prospect  of  joy  at  Osterley  was  dashed  after  our  seeing  it. 
However,  the  young  lover1  died  handsomely.  Fifty  thousand 
pounds  will  dry  tears,  that  at  most  could  be  but  two 
months  old.  His  brother 2,  I  heard,  has  behaved  still  more 
handsomely,  and  confirmed  the  legacy,  and  added  from 
himself  the  diamonds  that  had  been  prepared  for  her — here 
is  a  charming  wife  ready  for  anybody  that  likes  a  senti- 
mental situation,  a  pretty  woman,  and  a  large  fortune 3. 

I  have  been  often  at  Bulstrode  from  Chaffont,  but  I  don't 
like  it.  It  is  Dutch  and  trist.  The  pictures  you  mention 
in  the  gallery  would  be  curious  if  they  knew  one  from 
another ;  but  the  names  are  lost,  and  they  are  only  sure 
that  they  have  so  many  pounds  of  ancestors  in  the  lump. 
One  or  two  of  them  indeed  I  know,  as  the  Earl  of 
Southampton,  that  was  Lord  Essex's  friend. 

The  works  of  Park  Place  go  on  bravely;  the  cottage 
will  be  very  pretty,  and  the  bridge  sublime,  composed 
of  loose  rocks,  that  will  appear  to  have  been  tumbled 
together  there  the  very  week  of  the  deluge.  One  stone 
is  of  fourteen  hundred  weight.  It  will  be  worth  an 
hundred  of  Palladio's  bridges,  that  are  only  fit  to  be  used 
in  an  opera.  I  had  a  ridiculous  adventure  on  my  way 
thither.  A  Sir  Thomas  Eeeves  wrote  to  me  last  year, 
that  he  had  a  great  quantity  of  heads  of  painters,  drawn 
by  himself  from  Dr.  Mead's  collection,  of  which  many 
were  English,  and  offered  me  the  use  of  them.  This  was 
one  of  the  numerous  unknown  correspondents  which  my 
books  have  drawn  upon  me.  I  put  it  off  then,  but  being 
to  pass  near  his  door,  for  he  lives  but  two  miles  from 

LETTER    908.  — 1    Francis    Child,  stantia  Hampden,  only  daughter  of 

banker  and  M.P.  for  Bishop's  Castle.  fourth     Baron    Trevor    (afterwards 

*  Robert  Child  ;  d.  1782.  Viscount  Hampden).     She  married, 

*  Francis  Child  had  been  on  the  in  1764,  Henry  Howard,  twelfth  Earl 
point  of  marrying  Hon.  Maria  Con-  of  Suffolk,  and  died  in  1767. 


176s]  To  George  Montagu  375 

Maidenhead,  I  sent  him  word  I  would  call  on  my  way 
to  Park  Place.  After  being  carried  to  three  wrong  houses, 
I  was  directed  to  a  very  ancient  mansion,  composed  of 
timber,  and  looking  as  unlike  modern  habitations,  as  the 
picture  of  Penderel's  house  in  Clarendon.  The  garden  was 
overrun  with  weeds,  and  with  difficulty  we  found  a  bell. 
Louis  came  riding  back  in  great  haste,  and  said,  'Sir,  the 
gentleman  is  dead  suddenly.'  You  may  imagine  I  was 
surprised — however,  as  an  acquaintance  I  had  never  seen 
was  a  very  endurable  misfortune,  I  was  preparing  to 
depart,  but  happening  to  ask  some  women,  that  were 
passing  by  the  chaise,  if  they  knew  any  circumstance  of 
Sir  Thomas's  death,  I  discovered  that  this  was  not  Sir 
Thomas's  house,  but  belonged  to  a  Mr.  Meake*,  a  fellow 
of  a  college  at  Oxford,  who  was  actually  just  dead,  and 
that  the  antiquity  itself  had  formerly  been  the  residence 
of  Nel  Gwyn.  Pray  inquire  after  it  the  next  time  you 
are  at  Frogmore.  I  went  on,  and  after  a  mistake  or  two 
more  found  Sir  Thomas — a  man  about  thirty  in  age,  and 
twelve  in  understanding;  his  drawings  very  indifferent, 
even  for  the  latter  calculation.  I  did  not  know  what  to 
do  or  say,  but  commended  them,  and  his  child,  and  his 
house,  said  I  had  all  the  heads,  hoped  I  should  see  him 
at  Twickenham,  was  afraid  of  being  too  late  for  dinner, 
and  hurried  out  of  his  house  before  I  had  been  there 
twenty  minutes.  It  grieves  one  to  receive  civilities  when 
one  feels  obliged,  and  yet  finds  it  impossible  to  bear  the 
people  that  bestow  them. 

I  have  given  my  assembly,  to  show  my  gallery ;  and  it 
was  glorious ;  but  happening  to  pitch  upon  the  feast  of 
tabernacles,  none  of  my  Jews  could  come,  though  Mrs.  Clive 
proposed  to  them  to  change  their  religion.  So  I  am  forced 
to  exhibit  once  more.  For  the  morning  spectators,  the 
*  Rev.  John  Meeke,  Fellow  of  Pembroke  College. 


376  To  the  Eev.   William  Cole  [1763 

crowd  augments  instead  of  diminishing.  It  is  really  true 
that  Lady  Hertford  called  here  t'other  morning,  and 
I  was  reduced  to  bring  her  by  the  back  gate  into  the 
kitchen ;  the  house  was  so  full  of  company  that  came 
to  see  the  gallery,  that  I  had  nowhere  else  to  carry  her. 
Adieu! 

Yours  ever, 

HOB.  WALPOLE. 

P.S.  I  hope  the  least  hint  has  never  dropped  from  the 
Beaulieus  of  that  terrible  picture  of  Sir  Charles  Williams B, 
that  put  me  into  such  confusion  the  morning  they  break- 
fasted here.  If  they  did  observe  the  inscription,  I  am 
sure  they  must  have  seen  too  how  it  distressed  me. 

Your  collection  of  pictures  is  packed  up,  and  makes  two 
large  cases  and  one  smaller. 

My  next  assembly  will  be  entertaining;  there  will  be 
five  countesses,  two  bishops,  fourteen  Jews,  five  papists, 
a  doctor  of  physic,  and  an  actress ;  not  to  mention  Scotch, 
Irish,  East  and  West  Indians. 

I  find  that,  to  pack  your  pictures,  Louis  has  taken  some 
paper  out  of  a  hamper  of  waste,  into  which  I  had  cast 
some  of  the  Conway  Papers.  Perhaps  only  as  useless  — 
however,  if  you  find  any  such  in  the  packing,  be  so  good  as 
to  lay  them  by  for  me. 

909.    To  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

DEAR  SIB,  Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  8,  1763. 

You  are  always  obliging  to  me  and  always  thinking  of 
me  kindly ;  yet  for  once  you  have  forgotten  the  way  of 

5  The  portrait  of  Sir  Charles  Han-  hang  in  the  blue  bedchamber  at 
bury  Williams,  holding  a  paper  in-  Strawberry  Hill.  The  '  Isabella '  of 
scribed  Isabella  or  the  Morning,  which  the  poem  was  Lady  Beaulieu. 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  377 

obliging  me  most.  You  do  not  mention  any  thought 
of  coming  hither,  which  you  had  given  me  cause  to  hope 
would  be  about  this  time.  I  flatter  myself  nothing  has 
intervened  to  deprive  me  of  that  visit.  Lord  Hertford 
goes  to  France  the  end  of  next  week  ;  I  shall  be  in  town  to 
take  leave  of  him;  but  after  the  15th,  that  is,  this  day 
se'nnight,  I  shall  be  quite  unengaged,  and  the  sooner  I  see 
you  after  the  15th,  the  better,  for  I  should  be  sorry 
to  drag  you  across  the  country  in  the  badness  of  November 
roads. 

I  shall  treasure  up  your  notices  against  my  second 
edition ;  for  the  volume  of  Engravers  is  printed  off,  and 
has  been  some  time ;  I  only  wait  for  some  of  the  plates. 
The  book  you  mention  I  have  not  seen,  nor  do  you 
encourage  me  to  buy  it.  Some  time  or  other  however 
I  will  get  you  to  let  me  turn  it  over. 

As  I  will  trust  that  you  will  let  me  know  soon  when 
I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  here,  I  will  make 
this  a  very  short  letter ;  indeed  I  know  nothing  new  or  old 
worth  telling  you. 

Your  obedient  and  obliged  humble  servant, 

HOE.  WALPOLE. 

910.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Oct.  17,  1763. 

I  DON'T  know  how  long  it  is  since  I  wrote  to  you, — 
I  fear  a  great  while;  but  I  think  my  fidelity  to  you  as 
a  correspondent  is  so  proved,  that  you  may  be  sure  not 
an  incident  worthy  of  a  paragraph  has  happened  when 
you  do  not  hear  from  me.  The  very  newspapers  have 
subsisted  only  on  the  price  of  stocks,  horse-races,  the 
arrival  of  the  good  ship  Charming  Nancy,  and  such 
anecdotes,  with  the  assistance  of  the  heroic  controversy 


378  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

between  Mr.  Wilkes  and  Mr.  Forbes,  of  which  one  is 
heartily  sick.  But  the  campaign  draws  near,  and  will 
be  hot  enough.  Methinks  I  wish  we  had  some  fresh 
generals  ;  I  am  rather  tired  of  the  old  ones,  all  of  whom 
I  have  seen  so  often  both  on  the  offensive  and  defensive, 
that  I  am  incredibly  incurious  about  their  manoeuvres. 

The  press  for  soldiers  is  so  warm  that  Augustus  Hervey 
could  not  be  spared  to  attend  the  Duke  of  York,  who  has 
sailed  some  time.  I  shall  be  very  impatient  to  hear  of 
the  Duke's  arrival  at  Florence ;  tell  me  the  whole  history. 
You  will  be  very  anxious,  but  you  will  acquit  yourself 
perfectly  well.  Lord  Hertford  set  out  on  his  embassy  last 
Thursday,  and  by  this  time  I  suppose  Monsieur  de  Guerchy 1 
is  in  London.  Most  of  our  Parisian  English  are  come 
back.  The  newspapers  have  given  the  rage  of  going  to 
Paris  a  good  name  ;  they  call  it  the  French  disease.  I  shall 
be  a  little  ashamed  of  having  it  so  late;  but  I  shall  next 
spring.  Having  Lord  Hertford  there  will  be  so  agreeable 
a  way  of  seeing  Paris,  that  one  cannot  resist,  especially 
as  I  took  such  pains  to  see  so  little  of  it  when  I  was  there 
before.  I  don't  expect  to  like  it  much  better  now,  though 
having  a  particular  friend  minister  goes  a  great  way  in 
reconciling  one  to  a  country  not  one's  own  ;  I  don't  believe 
I  should  have  been  quite  so  fond  of  Florence,  if  I  had  lived 
with  nothing  but  Florentines.  This  time  I  am  determined 
to  ascertain  what  I  have  always  doubted  of,  whether  there 
is  any  such  thing  as  a  lively  Frenchman  ;  the  few  I  knew, 
and  all  those  I  have  seen  here,  have  had  no  more  vivacity 
than  a  German.  You  see  I  do  not  go  prejudiced. 

Have  you  got  Mr.  Garrick  yet?  If  you  have,  you  may 
keep  him ;  there  is  come  forth  within  these  ten  days 
a  young  actor,  who  has  turned  the  heads  of  the  whole 

LETTER  910. — l  Claude  Frai^ois  cently  appointed  French  Ambassador 
(1716-1767),  Comte  de  Guerchy,  re-  in  London, 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  379 

town.  The  first  night  of  his  appearance  the  audience, 
not  content  with  clapping,  stood  up  and  shouted.  His 
name  is  Powell 2 ;  he  was  clerk  to  Sir  Kobert  Ladbroke, 
and  so  clever  in  business  that  his  master  would  have  taken 
him  in  partner,  but  he  had  an  impulse  for  the  stage,  was 
a  Heaven-born  hero,  as  Mr.  Pitt  called  my  Lord  Clive.  His 
figure  is  fine  and  voice  most  sonorous,  as  they  say,  for 
I  wait  for  the  rebound  of  his  fame,  and  till  I  can  get  in, 
for  at  present  all  the  boxes  are  taken  for  a  month.  As 
the  reputation  of  this  prodigy  could  not  have  reached 
France,  where  they  have  the  English  disease,  they  were 
content  with  showering  honours  on  Mr.  Garrick  ;  appointed 
a  box  for  him,  revived  their  best  plays,  and  recalled  their 
veteran  actors.  Their  Helvetius,  whose  book  has  drawn 
such  persecution  on  him,  and  the  persecution  such  fame, 
is  coming  to  settle  here,  and  brings  two  Miss  Helvetiuses, 
with  fifty  thousand  pounds  apiece,  to  bestow  on  two 
immaculate  members  of  our  most  august  and  incorruptible 
senate,  if  he  can  find  two  in  this  virtuous  age  who  will 
condescend  to  accept  his  money.  Well,  we  may  be  dupes 
to  French  follies,  but  they  are  ten  times  greater  fools  to  be 
the  dupes  of  our  virtue.  Good  night. 

Arlington  Street,  Oct.  18. 

I  brought  this  to  town  to-day  for  the  Secretary's  office, 
and  found  yours  of  October  1st.  Marshal  Botta's  advice  of 
ceding  your  palace  to  the  Duke  of  York  may  be  very  proper, 
but  his  Eoyal  Highness,  who  is  all  good  breeding  and  good 
humour,  will  certainly  not  suffer  it.  Yet,  I  am  not  averse 
to  your  making  the  offer,  if  it  is  still  to  make.  Do  you 
know,  my  national  pride  is  wonderfully  gratified  by  the 
Pope's  humility  and  respect  for  whom  we  please  to  have 

2  William  Powell  (1735-1769),  whose  popularity  became  so  great  as  to 
excite  Garrick's  jealousy. 


380  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i763 

Duke  of  York.  An  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  an  English 
Protestant  dared  not  own  himself  for  such  at  Eome ;  now 
they  invite  the  very  son  of  a  family  that  has  turned  out 
their  Stuarts,  under  the  nose  of  those  very  Stuarts,  nay, 
when  the  Stuart  Duke  of  York  is  even  a  cardinal.  I  trust 
it  is  not  only  the  Papal  chair  that  has  sunk,  but  the  crown 
of  England  that  has  risen.  Think  of  the  mighty  Elizabeth 
excommunicated  by  Sixtus  V  and  the  brother  of  George  III 
invited  to  Rome  by  Clement  XIII !  If  the  honours  I  have 
told  you  Mr.  Garrick  has  received  in  France  do  not  obtain 
him  a  chair  in  a  Florentine  conversazione,  I  think  you  must 
threaten  them  with  the  thunder  of  the  Vatican,  which  you 
see  we  have  at  command ;  but  to  be  serious,  I  would  not 
have  you  get  into  a  squabble  about  him ;  he  is  not  worth 
that. 

We  hear  the  King  of  Poland s  is  dead ;  is  that  to  be  the 
source  of  a  new  war?  You  will  see  by  the  Gazette,  that 
without  such  an  event  we  had  a  nest-egg  for  another  war. 
There  have  been  half  a  dozen  battles  in  miniature  with  the 
Indians  in  America*.  It  looked  so  odd  to  see  a  list  of 
killed  and  wounded  just  treading  on  the  heels  of  the  Peace. 

911.     To  THE  EAEL  OF  HERTFORD. 

MY  DEAR  LORD,  Arlington  Street,  Oct.  18,  1763. 

I  am  very  impatient  for  a  letter  from  Paris1,  to  hear  of 
your  outset,  and  what  my  Lady  Hertford  thinks  of  the  new 
world  she  is  got  into,  and  whether  it  is  better  or  worse  than 
she  expected.  Pray  tell  me  all:  I  mean  of  that  sort,  for 

8  Augustus  HI,  King  of  Poland ;  feated  by  Colonel  Bouquet  in  August, 

d.  Oct.  6,  1763.  at  Bushy  Bun,  but  the  war  was  still 

4  Some  tribes  of  Indians  rose  in  the  in  progress,  and  continued  till  the 

summer  of  1763.     They  laid  waste  following  year. 

the  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania,  Vir-  LETTER  911. — *  Lord  Hertford  had 

ginia,  and  Maryland,  and  took  some  just  gone  to  Paris  as  Ambassador, 
of  the  smaller  forts.    They  were  de- 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  381 

I  have  no  curiosity  about  the  family  compact,  nor  the 
harbour  of  Dunkirk.  It  is  your  private  history — your 
audiences,  reception,  comforts  or  distresses,  your  way  of 
life,  your  company — that  interests  me ;  in  short,  I  care 
about  my  cousins  and  friends,  not,  like  Jack  Harris,  about 
my  Lord  Ambassador.  Consider  you  are  in  my  power. 
You,  by  this  time,  are  longing  to  hear  from  England,  and 
depend  upon  me  for  the  news  of  London.  I  shall  not  send 
you  a  tittle,  if  you  are  not  very  good,  and  do  not  (one  of  you, 
at  least)  write  to  me  punctually. 

This  letter,  I  confess,  will  not  give  you  much  encourage- 
ment, for  I  can  absolutely  tell  you  nothing.  I  dined  at 
Mr.  Grenville's  to-day,  where,  if  there  had  been  anything  to 
hear,  I  should  have  heard  it ;  but  all  consisted  in  what  you 
will  see  in  the  papers — some  diminutive  battles  in  America, 
and  the  death  of  the  King  of  Poland,  which  you  probably 
knew  before  we  did.  The  town  is  a  desert ;  it  is  like  a  vast 
plain,  which,  though  abandoned  at  present,  is  in  three  weeks 
to  have  a  great  battle  fought  upon  it.  One  of  the  colonels, 
I  hear,  is  to  be  in  town  to-morrow,  the  Duke  of  Devonshire. 
I  came  myself  but  this  morning,  but  as  I  shall  not  return  to 
Strawberry  till  the  day  after  to-morrow,  I  shall  not  seal  my 
letter  till  then.  In  the  meantime,  it  is  but  fair  to  give  you 
some  more  particular  particulars  of  what  I  expect  to  know. 
For  instance,  of  Monsieur  de  Nivernois's  cordiality;  of 
Madame  Dusson's  affection  for  England ;  of  my  Lord 
Holland's  joy  at  seeing  you  in  France,  especially  without 
your  secretary 2 ;  of  all  my  Lady  Hertford's  cousins  at 
St.  Germains ;  and  I  should  not  dislike  a  little  anecdote 
or  two  of  the  late  embassy s,  of  which  I  do  not  doubt  you 

2    Lord    Holland    'procured    his  it,   he   treated  Bunbury  with  such 

wife's  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Bunbury,  obstinate  coldness,  that  the  latter 

to  be  imposed  on  Lord  Hertford  as  was  glad  to  quit  the  employment.' 

secretary  of  the  embassy,  an  affront  (Memoirs    of  George   III,   ed.    1894, 

Lord  Hertford  was  advised  not  to  voL  L  p.  209.) 

digest :  but  though  he  acquiesced  in  3  That  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford. 


382  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?63 

will  hear  plenty.  I  must  trouble  you  with  many  compli- 
ments to  Madame  de  Boufflers,  and  with  still  more  to  the 
Duchesse  de  Mirepoix,  who  is  always  so  good  as  to  remember 
me.  Her  brother,  Prince  de  Beauvau4,  I  doubt  has  for- 
gotten me.  In  the  disagreeableness  of  taking  leave,  I  omitted 
mentioning  these  messages.  Good  night  for  to-night — oh ! 
I  forgot — pray  send  me  some  cafe  au  lait:  the  Due  de 
Picquigny B  (who  by  the  way  is  somebody's  son,  as  I  thought) 
takes  it  for  snuff,  and  says  it  is  the  new  fashion  at  Paris ; 
I  suppose  they  drink  rappee  after  dinner. 

Wednesday  night. 

I  might  as  well  have  finished  last  night;  for  I  know 
nothing  more  than  I  did  then,  but  that  Lady  Mary  Coke 
arrived  this  evening.  She  has  behaved  very  honourably, 
and  not  stolen  the  Hereditary  Prince. 

Mr.  Bowman 6  called  on  me  yesterday  before  I  came,  and 
left  word  that  he  would  come  again  to-day,  but  did  not. 
I  wished  to  hear  of  you  from  him,  and  a  little  of  my  old 
acquaintance  at  Kheims.  Did  you  find  Lord  Beauchamp 
much  grown?  Are  all  your  sons  to  be  like  those  of  the 
Amalekites 7  ?  who  were  I  forget  how  many  cubits  high. 

Pray  remind  Mr.  Hume 8  of  collecting  the  whole  history 
of  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits.  It  is  a  subject  worthy  of 
his  inquiry  and  pen.  Adieu !  my  dear  Lord. 

4  The  son  of  Horace  Walpole's  old  Beauchamp,    with    whom    he    had 

friend,  the  Princesse  de  Craon.  lately  been  at  Bheims. 

8    Marie    Joseph    Louis    d'Albert  7    All  Lord  Hertford's  sons,  and 

d'Ailly  (1741-1793),  Due  de  Piquigny,  some    of   his    daughters,   were    un- 

eldest  son  of  the  Due  de  Chaulnes,  usually  tall, 

whom  he  succeeded  in  1769.  8  David  Hume  was  secretary  to 

6  According  to  Croker,  Mr.  Bow-  Lord  Hertford, 
man  was  travelling  tutor  to  Lord 


1763]  To  George  Montagu  383 

912.    To  GEORGE  MONTAGU. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Nov.  12,  1763. 

1  SEND  you  the  catalogue  as  you  desired ;  and  as  I  told 
you,  you  will,  I  think,  find  nothing  to  your  purpose:  the 
present  Lord  bought  all  the  furniture-pictures  at  Navestock : 
the  few  now  to  be  sold  are  the  very  fine  ones  of  the  best 
masters,  and  likely  to  go  at  vast  prices,  for  there  are  several 
people  determined  to  have  some  one  thing  that  belonged  to 
Lord  Waldegrave.     I  did  not  get  the  catalogue  till  the  night 
before  last,  too  late  to  send  by  the  post,  for  I  had  dined  with 
Sir  Kichard  Lyttelton  at  Eichmond,  and  was  forced  to  return 
by  Kew  Bridge,  for  the  Thames  was  swelled  so  violently 
that  the  ferry  could  not  work.     I  am  here  quite  alone  in  the 
midst  of  a  deluge,  without  Mrs.  Noah,  but  with  half  as  many 
animals.    The  waters  are  as  much  out  as  they  were  last  year, 
when  her  vice-majesty  of  Ireland1,  that  now  is  sailed  to 
Newmarket  with  both  legs  out  at  the  fore  glass,  was  here. 
Apropos,  the  Irish  court  goes  on  ill ;  they  lost  a  question  by 
forty  the  very  first  day  on  the  Address.    The  Irish  not  being 
so  absurd  or  so  complimental  as  Mr.  Allen 2,  they  would  not 
suffer  the  word  adequate  to  pass.     The  Prime  Minister  is  so 
unpopular  that  they  think  he  must  be  sent  back.    His  patent 
and  Kigby's  are  called  in  question.     You  see  the  age  is  not 
favourable  to  Prime  Ministers !     Well !  I  am  going  amidst 
it  all,  very  unwillingly ;  I  had  rather  stay  here,  for  I  am 
sick  of  the  storms,  that  once  loved  them  so  cordially.     Over 
and  above,  I  am  not  well;   this  is  the  third  winter  my 
nightly  fever   has  returned.     It   comes   like  the  bellman 
before  Christmas,  to  put  me  in  mind  of  my  mortality. 

LETTER  912. — 1  The    Countess  of  fellow  member  for  Bath  in  present- 
Northumberland,  ing  to  the  King  an  address  from  the 

2  Ralph  Allen  (1694-1764),  of  Prior  Bath  Corporation,  in  which  the  word 
Park,  Bath.     A  coolness  had  arisen  'adequate,'  describing  the  recently- 
between  him  and  Pitt  in  consequence  concluded  Peace,  was    inserted    by 
of   the  latter's  refusal  to  join  his  Allen's  advice. 


384  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [1768 

Sir  Michael  Foster 3  is  dead,  a  Whig  of  the  old  rock :  he 
is  a  greater  loss  to  his  country  than  the  prim  Attorney- 
General  4,  who  has  resigned,  or  than  the  Attorney's  father 5, 
who  is  dying,  will  be. 

My  gallery  is  still  in  such  request,  that,  though  the  middle 
of  November,  I  gave  out  a  ticket  to-day  for  seeing  it.  I  see 
little  of  it  myself,  for  I  cannot  sit  alone  in  such  state; 
I  should  think  myself  like  the  mad  Duchess  of  Albemarle ', 
who  fancied  herself  Empress  of  China.  Adieu ! 

Yours  ever, 

H.  WALPOLE. 

* 

I  ask  you  nothing  about  your  coming,  for  I  conclude  we 
shall  not  see  you  till  Christmas.  My  compliments  to  your 
brother  John  and  your  almoner  Mr.  Miller. 

913.    To  THE  EARL  OP  HERTFORD. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  17,  1763. 

IP  the  winter  keeps  up  to  the  vivacity  of  its  debut,  you 
will  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  the  sterility  of  my  letters. 
I  do  not  say  this  from  the  spirit  of  the  House  of  Commons 
on  the  first  day,  which  was  the  most  fatiguing  and  dull 
debate  I  ever  heard,  dull  as  I  have  heard  many ;  and  yet  for 
the  first  quarter  of  an  hour  it  looked  as  if  we  were  met  to 
choose  a  Xing  of  Poland,  and  that  all  our  names  ended  in 
isJcy.  Wilkes,  the  night  before,  had  presented  himself  at 
the  Cockpit :  as  he  was  listening  to  the  Speech,  George 
Selwyn  said  to  him,  in  the  words  of  the  Dunciad,  '  May 
Heaven  preserve  the  ears  you  lend ! '  We  lost  four  hours 
debating  whether  or  not  it  was  necessary  to  open  the  session 

8  Sir  Michael  Poster,  Knight  (1689-  5  The  Earl  of  Hard  wicke. 

1768),  Puisne  Judge  of  the  King's  6  Elizabeth  Cavendish,  Duchess  of 

Bench.  Albemarle  ;  d.  1734. 

4  Hon.  Charles  Yorke. 


176s]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  385 

with  reading  a  bill.  The  opposite  sides,  at  the  same  time, 
pushing  to  get  the  start,  between  the  King's  message,  which 
Mr.  Grenville  stood  at  the  bar  to  present,  and  which  was  to 
acquaint  us  with  the  arrest  of  Wilkes  and  all  that  affair,  and 
the  complaint  which  Wilkes  himself  stood  up  to  make.  At 
six  we  divided  on  the  question  of  reading  a  bill.  Young 
Thomas  Townshend 1  divided  the  House  injudiciously,  as  the 
question  was  so  idle ;  yet  the  whole  argument  of  the  day 
had  been  so  complicated  with  this  question,  that  in  effect  it 
became  the  material  question  for  trying  forces.  This  will 
be  an  interesting  part  to  you,  when  you  hear  that  your 
brother2  and  I  were  in  the  minority.  You  know  him,  and 
therefore  know  he  did  what  he  thought  right ;  and  for  me, 
my  dear  Lord,  you  must  know  that  I  would  die  in  the  House 
for  its  privileges,  and  the  liberty  of  the  press.  But  come, 
don't  be  alarmed  :  this  will  have  no  consequences.  I  don't 
think  your  brother  is  going  into  opposition  ;  and  for  me,  if 
I  may  name  myself  to  your  affection  after  him,  nothing  but 
a  question  of  such  magnitude  can  carry  me  to  the  House  at 
all.  I  am  sick  of  parties  and  factions,  and  leave  them  to 
buy  and  sell  one  another.  Bless  me !  I  had  forgot  the 
numbers  :  they  were  300,  we  111.  We  then  went  upon  the 
King's  message ;  heard  the  North  Briton  read  ;  and  Lord 
North,  who  took  the  prosecution  upon  him  and  did  it  very 
well,  moved  to  vote  it  a  scandalous  libel,  &c.,  tending  to 
foment  treasonable  insurrections.  Mr.  Pitt  gave  up  the  paper, 
but  fought  against  the  last  words  of  the  censure.  I  say 
Mr.  Pitt,  for  indeed,  like  Almanzor,  he  fought  almost  singly, 
and  spoke  forty  times :  the  first  time  in  the  day  with  much 
wit,  afterwards  with  little  energy.  He  had  a  tough  enemy 

LETTER  913. — l  Thomas  (d.  1800),  Whitchurch  ;  Lord  of  the  Treasury, 

eldest  son  of  Hon.  Thomas  Town-  1765-67  ;  Paymaster-General,  1767- 

shend ;    cr.  (March   6,   1783)  Baron  68 ;  Secretary  at  War,  1782 ;  Home 

Sydney  of  Chislehurst,  Kent ;    and  Secretary,  1782-83,  and  1783-89. 

Viscount    Sydney,   1789.      M.P.    for  2  General  Con  way. 

WALPOLK.    V  C     C 


386  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?63 

too ;  I  don't  mean  in  parts  or  argument,  but  one  that  makes 
an  excellent  bull-dog,  the  Solicitor-General  Norton.  Legge 
was,  as  usual,  concise ;  and  Charles  Townshend,  what  is  not 
usual,  silent.  We  sat  till  within  few  minutes  of  two,  after 
dividing  again ;  we,  our  exact  former  number,  111;  they, 
273  ;  and  then  we  adjourned  to  go  on  the  point  of  privilege 
the  next  day ;  but  now 

Listen,  lordlings,  and  hold  you  still ; 
Of  doughty  deeds  tell  you  I  will. 

Martin,  in  the  debate,  mentioned  the  North  Briton,  in  which 
he  himself  had  been  so  heavily  abused  ;  and  he  said,  '  Who- 
ever stabs  a  reputation  in  the  dark,  without  setting  his 
name,  is  a  cowardly,  malignant,  and  scandalous  scoundrel.' 
This,  looking  at  Wilkes,  he  repeated  twice,  with  such  rage 
and  violence,  that  he  owned  his  passion  obliged  him  to  sit 
down.  Wilkes  bore  this  with  the  same  indifference  as  he 
did  all  that  passed  in  the  day.  The  House  too,  who  from 
Martin's  choosing  to  take  a  public  opportunity  of  resent- 
ment, when  he  had  so  long  declined  any  private  notice, 
and  after  Wilkes's  courage  was  become  so  problematic, 
seemed  to  think  there  was  no  danger  of  such  champions 
going  further ;  but  the  next  day,  when  we  came  into  the 
House,  the  first  thing  we  heard  was  that  Martin  had  shot 
Wilkes :  so  he  had ;  but  Wilkes  has  six  lives  still  good. 
It  seems  Wilkes  had  writ,  to  avow  the  paper,  to  Martin,  on 
which  the  latter  challenged  him.  They  went  into  Hyde 
Park  about  noon ;  Humphrey  Cotes,  the  wine-merchant, 
waiting  in  a  postchaise  to  convey  Wilkes  away  if  trium- 
phant. They  fired  at  the  distance  of  fourteen  yards :  both 
missed.  Then  Martin  fired  and  lodged  a  ball  in  the  side 
of  Wilkes;  who  was  going  to  return  it,  but  dropped  his 
pistol.  He  desired  Martin  to  take  care  of  securing  himself, 
and  assured  him  he  would  never  say  a  word  against  him, 
and  he  allows  that  Martin  behaved  well.  The  wound 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  387 

yesterday  was  thought  little  more  than  a  flesh-wound,  and 
he  was  in  his  old  spirits.  To-day  the  account  is  worse, 
and  he  has  been  delirious :  so  you  will  think  when  you 
hear  what  is  to  come.  I  think,  from  the  agitation  his 
mind  must  be  in,  from  his  spirits,  and  from  drinking,  as 
I  suppose  he  will,  that  he  probably  will  end  here.  He 
puts  me  in  mind  of  two  lines  of  Hudibras s,  which,  by  the 
arrangement  of  the  words  combined  with  Wilkes's  story, 
are  stronger  than  Butler  intended  them : — 

But  he  that  fights  and  runs  away 
May  live  to  fight  another  day. 

His  adventures  with  Lord  Talbot,  Forbes,  and  Martin,  make 
these  lines  history. 

Now  for  Part  the  Second.  On  the  first  day,  in  your 
House,  where  the  Address  was  moved  by  Lord  Hillsborough 
and  Lord  Suffolk,  after  some  wrangling  between  Lord 
Temple,  Lord  Halifax,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  and  Lord 
Gower,  Lord  Sandwich  laid  before  the  House  the  most 
blasphemous  and  indecent  poem  that  ever  was  composed, 
called  An  Essay  on  Woman,  with  notes,  by  Dr.  Warburton. 
I  will  tell  you  none  of  the  particulars :  they  were  so  ex- 
ceedingly bad,  that  Lord  Lyttelton  begged  the  reading 
might  be  stopped.  The  House  was  amazed ;  nobody 
ventured  even  to  ask  a  question :  so  it  was  easily  voted 
everything  you  please,  and  a  breach  of  privilege  into  the 
bargain.  Lord  Sandwich  then  informed  your  Lordships 
that  Mr.  Wilkes  was  the  author.  Fourteen  copies  alone 
were  printed,  one  of  which  the  ministry  had  bribed  the 
printer  to  give  up.  Lord  Temple  then  objected  to  the 
manner  of  obtaining  it ;  and  Bishop  Warburton,  as  much 
shocked  at  infidelity  as  Lord  Sandwich  had  been  at  ob- 
scenity, said,  'the  blackest  fiends  in  hell  would  not  keep 
company  with  Wilkes  when  he  should  arrive  there.'  Lord 

3  These  lines  are  not  in  Httdibras. 
C   C   2 


388  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?63 

Sandwich  moved  to  vote  Wilkes  the  author ;  but  thia  Lord 
Mansfield  stopped,  advertising  the  House  that  it  was  neces- 
sary first  to  hear  what  Wilkes  could  say  in  his  defence. 
To-day,  therefore,  was  appointed  for  that  purpose ;  but  it 
has  been  put  off  by  Martin's  lodging  a  caveat.  This  bomb 
was  certainly  well  conducted,  and  the  secret,  though  known 
to  many,  well  kept.  The  management  is  worthy  of  Lord 
Sandwich,  and  like  him.  It  may  sound  odd  for  me,  with 
my  principles,  to  admire  Lord  Sandwich ;  but  besides  that 
he  has  in  several  instances  been  very  obliging  to  me,  there 
is  a  good  humour  and  an  industry  about  him  that  are  very 
uncommon.  I  do  not  admire  politicians  ;  but  when  they  are 
excellent  in  their  way,  one  cannot  help  allowing  them  their 
due.  Nobody  but  he  could  have  struck  a  stroke  like  this. 

Yesterday  we  sat  till  eight  on  the  Address,  which  yet 
passed  without  a  negative  :  we  had  two  very  long  speeches 
from  Mr.  Pitt  and  Mr.  Grenville ;  many  fine  parts  in  each. 
Mr.  Pitt  has  given  the  latter  some  strong  words,  yet  not  so 
many  as  were  expected.  To-morrow  we  go  on  the  great 
question  of  privilege ;  but  I  must  send  this  away,  as  we 
have  no  chance  of  leaving  the  House  before  midnight,  if 
before  next  morning. 

This  long  letter  contains  the  history  of  but  two  days  ; 
yet  if  two  days  furnish  a  history,  it  is  not  my  fault.  The 
ministry,  I  think,  may  do  whatever  they  please.  Three 
hundred,  that  will  give  up  their  own  privileges,  may  be 
depended  upon  for  giving  up  anything  else.  I  have  not 
time  or  room  to  ask  a  question,  or  say  a  word  more. 

Nov.  18,  Friday. 

I  have  luckily  got  a  holiday,  and  can  continue  my  dis- 
patch, as  you  know  dinner-time  is  my  chief  hour  of  busi- 
ness. The  Speaker  *,  unlike  Mr.  Onslow,  who  was  immortal 

4  Sir  John  Gust. 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  389 

in  the  chair,  is  taken  very  ill,  and  our  House  is  adjourned 
to  Monday.  Wilkes  is  thought  in  great  danger:  instead 
of  keeping  him  quiet,  his  friends  have  shown  their  zeal  by 
visiting  him,  and  himself  has  been  all  spirits  and  riot,  and 
sat  up  in  his  bed  the  next  morning  to  correct  the  press  for 
to-morrow's  North  Briton.  His  bons  mots  are  all  over  the 
town,  but  too  gross,  I  think,  to  repeat ;  the  chief  are  at  the 
expense  of  poor  Lord  George 6.  Notwithstanding  Lord  Sand- 
wich's masked  battery,  the  tide  runs  violently  for  Wilkes, 
and  I  do  not  find  people  in  general  so  inclined  to  excuse 
his  Lordship  as  I  was.  One  hears  nothing  but  stories  of 
the  latter's  impiety,  and  of  the  concert  he  was  in  with 
Wilkes  on  that  subject.  Should  this  hero  die,  the  Bishop 
of  Gloucester  may  doom  him  whither  he  pleases,  but  Wilkes 
will  pass  for  a  saint  and  a  martyr. 

Besides  what  I  have  mentioned,  there  were  two  or  three 
passages  in  the  House  of  Lords  that  were  diverting.  Lord 
Temple  dwelled  much  on  the  Spanish  ministry  being 
devoted  to  France.  Lord  Halifax  replied,  '  Can  we  help 
that  ?  We  can  no  more  oblige  the  King  of  Spain  to  change 
his  ministers,  than  his  Lordship  can  force  his  Majesty  to 
change  the  present  administration.'  Lord  Gower,  too, 
attacking  Lord  Temple  on  want  of  respect  to  the  King, 
the  Earl  replied,  '  he  never  had  wanted  respect  for  the  King  : 
he  and  his  family  had  been  attached  to  the  House  of 
Hanover  full  as  long  as  his  Lordship's  family  had6.' 

You  may  imagine  that  little  is  talked  of  but  Wilkes,  and 
what  relates  to  him.  Indeed,  I  believe  there  is  no  other 
news,  but  that  Sir  George  Warren 7  marries  Miss  Bishop, 
the  Maid  of  Honour.  The  Duchess  of  Grafton  is  at  Euston, 
and  hopes  to  stay  there  till  after  Christmas.  Operas  do  not 
begin  till  to-morrow  se'nnight ;  but  the  Mingotti  is  to  sing, 

8  Lord  George  Sackville.  7  Sir    George    Warren,  KB.,    of 

6  Lord  Gower's  father  was  a  con-      Poynton,  Cheshire, 
vert  from  Jacobitism. 


390  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?63 

and  that  contents  me.  I  forgot  to  tell  you,  and  you  may 
wonder  at  hearing  nothing  of  the  Keverend  Mr.  Charles 
Py lades 8,  while  Mr.  John  Orestes  is  making  such  a  figure  : 
but  Dr.  Py  lades,  the  poet,  has  forsaken  his  consort  and  the 
Muses,  and  is  gone  off  with  a  stone-cutter's  daughter.  If 
he  should  come  and  offer  himself  to  you  for  chaplain  to  the 
embassy ! 

The  Countess  of  Harrington  was  extremely  alarmed  last 
Sunday,  on  seeing  the  Due  de  Perquigny  enter  her  assembly : 
she  forbade  Lady  Caroline 9  speaking  to  such  a  debauched 
young  man,  and  communicated  her  fright  to  everybody. 
The  Duchess  of  Bedford  observed  to  me  that  as  Lady 
Berkeley  and  some  other  matrons  of  the  same  stamp  were 
there,  she  thought  there  was  no  danger  of  any  violence  being 
committed.  For  my  part,  the  sisters  are  so  different,  that 
I  conclude  my  Lady  Hertford  has  not  found  any  young  man 
in  France  wild  enough  for  her.  Your  counterpart,  M.  de 
Guerchy,  takes  extremely.  I  have  not  yet  seen  his  wife. 

I  this  minute  received  your  charming  long  letter  of  the 
llth,  and  give  you  &  thousand  thanks  for  it.  I  wish  next 
Tuesday  was  past,  for  Lady  Hertford's  sake.  You  may 
depend  on  my  letting  you  know,  if  I  hear  the  least  rumour 
in  your  disfavour.  I  should  do  so  without  your  orders, 
for  I  could  not  bear  to  have  you  traduced  and  not  adver- 
tise you  to  defend  yourself.  I  have  hitherto  not  heard 
a  syllable ;  but  the  newspapers  talk  of  your  magnificence, 
and  I  approve  extremely  your  intending  to  support  their 
evidence ;  for  though  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  scatter 
pearls  and  diamonds  about  the  streets  like  their  vice-majesties 
of  Ireland,  one  owes  it  to  oneself  and  to  the  King's  choice 
to  prove  it  was  well  made. 

8  Wilkes's  friend,  Charles  Churchill,  Harrington ;  m.  (1765)  Kenneth  Mac- 

thepoet.  konzic,    Viscount     Fortrose    (after- 

»  Lady  Caroline  Stanhope  (d.  1767),  wards  Earl  of  Seaforth). 
eldest  daughter  of  second  Earl  of 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  391 

The  colour  given  at  Paris  to  Bunbury's  stay  in  England 
has  been  given  out  here  too.  You  need  not,  I  think, 
trouble  yourself  about  that ;  a  majority  of  three  hundred 
will  soon  show,  that  if  he  was  detained,  the  reason  at  least 
no  longer  subsists. 

Hamilton 10  is  certainly  returning  from  Ireland.  Lord 
Shannon's  son "  is  going  to  marry  the  Speaker's  daughter, 
and  the  Primate  has  begged  to  have  the  honour  of  joining 
their  hands. 

This  letter  is  wofully  blotted  and  ill-written,  yet  I  must 
say  it  is  print  compared  to  your  Lordship's.  At  first  I 
thought  you  had  forgot  that  you  was  not  writing  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  and  had  put  it  into  cipher.  Adieu  ! 
I  am  neither  dead  of  my  fever  nor  apoplexy,  nay,  nor  of 
the  House  of  Commons.  I  rather  think  the  violent  heat 
of  the  latter  did  me  good.  Lady  Aylesbury  was  at  court 
yesterday,  and  benignly  received ;  a  circumstance  you  will 
not  dislike. 

P.S.  If  I  have  not  told  you  all  you  want  to  know, 
interrogate  me,  and  I  will  answer  the  next  post. 

914.    To  SIR  HORACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  17,  1763. 

THE  campaign  is  opened,  hostilities  begun,  and  blood 
shed.  Now  you  think,  my  dear  Sir,  that  all  this  is  meta- 
phor, and  mere  eloquence.  You  are  mistaken:  our  diets, 
like  that  approaching  in  Poland,  use  other  weapons  than 
the  tongue ;  ay,  in  good  truth,  and  they  who  use  the  tongue 
too,  and  who  perhaps  you  are  under  the  common  error 

10  William  Gerard  Hamilton.  1764 ;  m.  Catherine(d.  1827), daughter 

11  Richard  Boyle  (1728-1807),  Vis-      of  Hon.  John  Ponsonby,  Speaker  of 
count  Boyle,  eldest  son  of  first  Earl      the  Irish  House  of  Commons. 

of  Shannon,  whom  he  succeeded  in 


392  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [i763 

of  thinking  would  not  fight,  have  signalized  their  prowess. 
But  stay,  I  will  tell  you  my  story  more  methodically ; 
perhaps  you  shall  not  know  for  these  two  pages  what 
member  of  the  British  Senate,  of  that  august  divan  whose 
wisdom  influences  the  councils  of  all  Europe,  as  its  incorrupt 
virtue  recalls  to  mind  the  purest  ages  of  Kome,  was  shot 
in  a  duel  yesterday  in  Hyde  Park.  The  Parliament  met 
on  Tuesday.  We — for  you  know  I  have  the  honour  of 
being  a  senator — sat  till  two  in  the  morning;  and  had  it 
not  been  that  there  is  always  more  oratory,  more  good 
sense,  more  knowledge,  and  more  sound  reasoning  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  than  in  the  rest  of  the  universe  put 
together,  the  House  of  Lords  only  excepted,  I  should  have 
thought  it  as  tedious,  dull,  and  unentertaining  a  debate  as 
ever  I  heard  in  my  days.  The  business  was  a  complaint 
made  by  one  King  George  of  a  certain  paper  called  the 
North  Briton,  No.  45,  which  the  said  King  asserted  was 
written  by  a  much  more  famous  man  called  Mr.  Wilkes. — 
Well !  and  so  you  imagine  that  Mr.  Wilkes  and  King 
George  went  from  the  House  of  Commons  and  fought  out 
their  quarrel  in  Hyde  Park?  And  which  do  you  guess 
was  killed?  Again  you  are  mistaken.  Mr.  Wilkes,  with 
all  the  impartiality  in  the  world,  and  with  the  phlegm 
of  an  Areopagite,  sat  and  heard  the  whole  matter  discussed, 
and  now  and  then  put  in  a  word,  as  if  the  affair  did  not 
concern  Mm.  The  House  of  Commons,  who  would  be 
wisdom  itself,  if  they  could  but  all  agree  on  which  side 
of  a  question  wisdom  lies,  and  who  are  sometimes  forced 
to  divide  in  order  to  find  this  out,  did  divide  twice  on 
this  affair.  The  first  time,  one  hundred  and  eleven,  of 
which  I  had  the  misfortune  to  be  one,  had  more  curiosity 
to  hear  Mr.  Wilkes's  story  than  King  George's  ;  but  three 
hundred  being  of  the  contrary  opinion,  it  was  plain  they 
were  in  the  right,  especially  as  they  had  no  private  motives 


17G3]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  393 

to  guide  them.  Again,  the  individual  one  hundred  and 
eleven  could  not  see  that  the  North  Briton  tended  to  foment 
treasonable  insurrections,  though  we  had  it  argumentatively 
demonstrated  to  us  for  seven  hours  together:  but  the 
moment  we  heard  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  gentlemen 
counted,  it  grew  as  plain  to  us  as  a  pike-staff,  for  a  syllogism 
carries  less  conviction  than  a  superior  number,  though  that 
number  does  not  use  the  least  force  upon  earth,  but  only 
walk  peaceably  out  of  the  House  and  into  it  again.  The 
next  day  we  were  to  be  in  the  same  numerical  way  con- 
vinced that  we  ought  to  be  but  one  hundred  and  ten,  for 
that  we  ought  to  expel  Mr.  Wilkes  out  of  the  House  :  and 
the  majority  were  to  prove  to  us  (for  we  are  slow  of 
comprehension,  and  imbibe  instruction  very  deliberately) 
that  in  order  to  have  all  London  acquainted  with  the  person 
and  features  of  Mr.  Wilkes,  it  would  be  necessary  to  set 
him  on  a  high  place  called  the  pillory,  where  everybody 
might  see  him  at  leisure.  Some  were  even  almost  ready 
to  think  that,  being  a  very  ugly  man,  he  would  look  better 
without  his  ears ;  and  poor  Sir  William  Stanhope,  who 
endeavoured  all  day  by  the  help  of  a  trumpet  to  listen  to 
these  wise  debates  and  found  it  to  no  purpose,  said,  'If 
they  want  a  pair  of  ears  they  may  take  mine,  for  I  am 
sure  they  are  of  no  use  to  me.'  The  regularity,  however, 
of  these  systematic  proceedings  has  been  a  little  interrupted. 
One  Mr.  Martin1,  who  has  much  the  same  quarrel  to 
Mr.  Wilkes  with  King  George,  and  who  chose  to  suspend 
his  resentment  like  his  Majesty,  till  with  proper  dignity  he 
could  notify  his  wrath  to  Parliament,  did  express  his 
indignation  with  rather  less  temper  than  the  King  had 
done,  calling  Mr.  Wilkes  to  his  face  cowardly  scoundrel, 

LETTER  914. — l  Samuel  Martin,  a      Lord,  and  Treasurer  to  the  Princess 
West     Indian,     Secretary     to     the      Dowager  of  Wales.     Walpole. 
Treasury,  when  Lord  Bute  was  First 


394:  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

which  you,  who  represent  monarchs,  know  is  not  royal 
language.  Mr.  Wilkes,  who,  it  seems,  whatever  may  have 
been  thought,  had  rather  die  compendiously  than  piece- 
meal, inquired  of  Mr.  Martin  by  letter  next  morning,  if 
he,  Mr.  Wilkes,  was  meant  by  him,  Mr.  Martin,  under  the 
periphrasis  cowardly  scoundrel.  Mr.  Martin  replied  in  the 
affirmative,  and  accompanied  his  answer  with  a  challenge. 
They  immediately  went  into  Hyde  Park ;  and,  at  the  second 
fire,  Mr.  Wilkes  received  a  bullet  in  his  body.  Don't  be 
frightened,  the  wound  was  not  mortal — at  least  it  was  not 
yesterday.  Being  corporally  delirious  to-day,  as  he  has  been 
mentally  some  time,  I  cannot  tell  what  to  say  to  it.  How- 
ever, the  breed  will  not  be  lost,  if  he  should  die.  You 
have  still  countrymen  enough  left :  we  need  not  despair  of 
amusement. 

Now,  would  not  you  think  that  this  man  had  made  noise 
enough,  and  that  he  had  no  occasion  to  burn  a  temple  to 
perpetuate  his  name?  Alas,  alas!  there  is  nothing  like 
having  two  strings  to  one's  bow.  The  very  day  in  which 
the  scene  I  have  mentioned  passed  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
Lord  Sandwich  produced  to  the  Lords  a  poem,  called  an 
Essay  on  Woman,  written  by  the  same  Mr.  Wilkes,  though 
others  say,  only  enlarged  by  him  from  a  sketch  drawn  by 
a  late  son 2  of  a  late  archbishop.  It  is  a  parody  on  Pope's 
Essay  on  Man ;  and,  like  that,  pretending  to  notes  by 
Dr.  Warburton,  the  present  holy  and  orthodox  Bishop  of 
Gloucester.  It  is  dedicated  to  Fanny  Murray s,  whom  it 
prefers  to  the  Virgin  Mary  from  never  having  had  a  child  ; 
and  it  calls  the  ass  a  noble  animal,  which  never  disgraced 
itself  but  once,  and  that  was  when  it  was  ridden  on  into 
Jerusalem.  You  may  judge  by  these  samples  of  the  whole  : 
the  piece,  indeed,  was  only  printed,  and  only  fourteen 

«  Thomas  Potter,  son  of  Dr.  Potter,  *  A  noted   courtesan,  afterwards 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury.    Walpolc.       married  to  Boss  the  actor.     Walpole. 


1763]    v^  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  395 

copies,  but  never  published.  Mr.  Wilkes  complains  that 
he  never  read  it  but  to  two  persons,  who  both  approved 
it  highly,  Lord  Sandwich  and  Lord  Despencer 4.  The  style, 
to  be  sure,  is  at  least  not  unlike  that  of  the  last.  The 
wicked  even  affirm,  that  very  lately,  at  a  club  with  Mr. 
Wilkes,  held  at  the  top  of  the  playhouse  in  Drury  Lane, 
Lord  Sandwich  talked  so  profanely  that  he  drove  two 
harlequins  out  of  company.  You  will  allow,  however,  that 
the  production  of  this  poem  so  critically  was  masterly :  the 
secret  too  was  well  kept :  nor  till  a  vote  was  passed  against 
it,  did  even  Lord  Temple  suspect  who  was  the  author. 
If  Mr.  Martin  has  not  killed  him,  nor  should  we,  you  see 
here  are  faggots  enough  in  store  for  him  still.  The  Bishop 
of  Gloucester,  who  shudders  at  abuse  and  infidelity,  has 
been  measuring  out  ground  in  Smithfield  for  his  execution  ; 
and  in  his  speech  begged  the  devil's  pardon  for  comparing 
him  to  Wilkes. 

Well,  now !  after  all,  do  you  with  your  plain  Florentine 
understanding  comprehend  one  word  of  what  I  have  been 
saying?  Do  you  think  me  or  your  countrymen  quite 
distracted?  Go,  turn  to  your  Livy,  to  your  history  of 
Athens,  to  your  life  of  Sacheverel.  Find  upon  record  what 
mankind  has  been,  and  then  you  will  believe  what  it  is. 
We  are  poor  pigmy,  short-lived  animals,  but  we  are  comical, 
— I  don't  think  the  curtain  fallen  and  the  drama  closed. 
Three  hundred  is  an  omnipotent  number,  and  may  do 
whatever  it  will ;  and  yet  I  think  there  are  some  single 
men,  whom  three  hundred  cannot  convince.  Well,  but 
then  they  may  cut  their  ears  off ;  I  don't  see  what  could 
hinder  it.  Adieu ! 

4  Sir  Francis  Dashwood,  Lord  Despencer.     WalpoU. 


396  To  George  Montagu  [1763 


915.    To  GEOEGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  20,  1763. 

You  are  in  the  wrong,  believe  me  you  are  in  the  wrong 
to  stay  in  the  country ;  London  never  was  so  entertaining 
since  it  had  a  steeple  or  a  mad-house.  Cowards  fight  duels  ; 
Secretaries  of  State  turn  Methodists  on  the  Tuesday,  and 
are  expelled  the  playhouse  for  blasphemy  on  Friday.  I  am 
not  turned  Methodist,  but  Patriot,  and  what  is  more  extra- 
ordinary, am  not  going  to  have  a  place.  What  is  more 
wonderful  still,  Lord  Hardwicke  has  made  two  of  his  sons 
resign  their  employments.  I  know  my  letter  sounds  as 
enigmatic  as  Merlin's  Almanack  ;  but  my  events  have  really 
happened.  I  had  almost  persuaded  myself  like  you  to  quit 
the  world — thank  my  stars  I  did  not !  Why,  I  have  done 
nothing  but  laugh  since  last  Sunday ;  though  on  Tuesday  I 
was  one  of  a  hundred  and  eleven  that  were  outvoted  by  three 
hundred ;  no  laughing  matter  generally  to  a  true  Patriot, 
whether  he  thinks  his  country  undone  or  himself.  Nay, 
I  am  still  more  absurd — even  for  my  dear  country's  sake 
I  cannot  bring  myself  to  connect  with  Lord  Hardwicke,  or 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  though  they  are  in  the  minority — 
an  unprecedented  case,  not  to  love  everybody  one  despises, 
when  they  are  of  the  same  side.  On  the  contrary,  I  fear 
I  resemble  a  fond  woman,  and  dote  on  the  dear  betrayer. 
In  short  (and  to  write  something  that  you  can  understand), 
you  know  I  have  long  had  a  partiality  for  your  cousin 
Sandwich,  who  has  out-Sandwiched  himself.  He  has  im- 
peached Wilkes  for  a  blasphemous  poem,  and  has  been 
expelled  for  blasphemy  himself  by  the  Beef-steak  Club  at 
Covent  Garden.  Wilkes  has  been  shot  by  Martin,  and 
instead  of  being  burnt  at  an  auto  da  fe,  as  the  Bishop  of 
Gloucester  intended,  is  reverenced  as  a  saint  by  the  mob, 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  397 

and  if  he  dies,  I  suppose,  the  people  will  squint  themselves 
into  convulsions  at  his  tomb,  in  honour  of  his  memory. 
Now,  is  not  this  better  than  feeding  one's  birds  and  one's 
bantams,  poring  one's  eyes  out  over  old  histories,  not  half 
so  extraordinary  as  the  present,  or  ambling  to  Squire  Blen- 
cow's  on  one's  pad-nag,  and  playing  at  cribbage  with  one's 
brother  John  and  one's  parson?  Prithee  come  to  town, 
and  let  us  put  off  taking  the  veil  for  another  year.  Besides, 
by  this  time  twelvemonth  we  are  sure  the  world  will  be 
a  year  older  in  wickedness,  and  we  shall  have  more  matter 
for  meditation.  One  would  not  leave  it  methinks  till  it 
comes  to  the  worst,  and  that  time  cannot  be  many  months 
off.  In  the  meantime,  I  have  bespoken  a  dagger,  in  case 
the  circumstances  should  grow  so  classic  as  to  make  it 
becoming  to  kill  oneself;  however,  though  disposed  to  quit 
the  world,  as  I  have  no  mind  to  leave  it  entirely,  I  shall 
put  off  my  death  to  the  last  minute,  and  do  nothing  rashly, 
till  I  see  Mr.  Pitt  and  Lord  Temple  place  themselves  in 
their  curule  chairs  in  St.  James's  Market,  and  resign  their 
throats  to  the  victors.  I  am  determined  to  see  them  dead 
first,  lest  they  should  play  me  a  trick,  and  be  hobbling  to 
Buckingham  House,  while  I  am  shivering  and  waiting  for 
them  on  the  banks  of  Lethe.  Adieu  !  Yours, 

HORATIUS. 

916.    To  THE  EARL  OP  HERTFORD. 

Arlington  Street,  Nov.  25,  1763. 

You  tell  me,  my  dear  Lord,  in  a  letter  I  have  this  moment 
received  from  you,  that  you  have  had  a  comfortable  one  from 
me ;  I  fear  it  was  not  the  last :  you  will  not  have  been  fond 
of  your  brother's  voting  against  the  court  \  Since  that,  he 

LETTER     916.  — J  Con  way's    vote      the  King,  who  at  once  proposed  to 
against    the  court  deeply  offended       Grenville  to  dismiss  him  from  his 


398  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?63 

has  been  told  by  different  channels  that  they  think  of  taking 
away  regiments  from  opposers.  He  heard  it,  as  he  would 
the  wind  whistle :  while  in  the  shape  of  a  threat  he  treats  it 
with  contempt ;  if  put  into  execution,  his  scorn  would  subside 
into  indifference.  You  know  he  has  but  one  object — doing 
what  is  right ;  the  rest  may  betide  as  it  will.  One  or  two 
of  the  ministers,  who  are  honest  men,  would,  I  have  reason 
to  believe,  be  heartily  concerned  to  have  such  measures 
adopted  ;  but  they  are  not  directors.  The  little  favour  they 
possess,  and  the  desperateness  of  their  situation,  oblige  them 
to  swallow  many  things  they  disapprove,  and  which  ruin 
their  character  with  the  nation  ;  while  others,  who  have  no 
character  to  lose,  and  whose  situation  is  no  less  desperate, 
care  not  what  inconveniences  they  bring  on  their  master, 
nor  what  confusion  on  their  country,  in  which  they  can 
never  prosper,  except  when  it  is  convulsed.  The  nation, 
indeed,  seem  thoroughly  sensible  of  this  truth.  They  are 
unpopular  beyond  conception  :  even  of  those  that  vote  with 
them  there  are  numbers  that  express  their  aversion  without 
reserve.  Indeed,  on  Wednesday,  the  23rd,  this  went  farther : 
we  were  to  debate  the  great  point  of  privilege 2 :  Wilbraham 
objected,  that  Wilkes  was  involved  in  it,  and  ought  to  be 
present.  On  this,  though,  as  you  see,  a  question  of  slight 
moment,  fifty-seven  left  them  at  once :  they  were  but  243 
to  166.  As  we  had  sat,  however,  till  eight  at  night,  the 

employments.      This  step  was    not  of  Pitt  and  of  a  powerful  protest 

taken    until    after    Conway's    vote  signed  by  seventeen  peers,  a  resolu- 

against  the  legality  of  general  war-  tion  was  now  carried  through  both 

rants  in  February  1764.  Houses  "  that  privilege  of  Parliament 

2  'The  doctrine  that  no  member  does  not  extend  to  the  case  of  writing 

of  Parliament  could  be  arrested  or  and  publishing  seditious  libels,  nor 

prosecuted  without  the  express  per-  ought  to  be  allowed  to  obstruct  the 

mission   of   the   House,   except    for  ordinary  course  of  the  laws  in  the 

treason,  felony,  or  actual  breach  of  speedy  and  effectual  prosecution  of 

the    peace,   or    for    refusal  to    pay  so  heinous   and    dangerous   an  of- 

obedience  to  a  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  fence.'"    (Lecky,  Hist.  Cent,  XVIII, 

had    hitherto    been    fully    acknow-  ed.  1895,  voL  iii.  p.  264.) 
ledged.  ...  In  spite  of  the  opposition 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  399 

debate  was  postponed  to  next  day.  Mr.  Pitt,  who  had  a 
fever  and  the  gout,  came  on  crutches,  and  wrapped  in 
flannels :  so  he  did  yesterday,  but  was  obliged  to  retire  at 
ten  at  night,  after  making  a  speech  of  an  hour  and  fifty 
minutes  ;  the  worst,  I  think,  I  ever  heard  him  make  in  my 
life.  For  our  parts,  we  sat  till  within  ten  minutes  of  two  in 
the  morning ;  yet  we  had  but  few  speeches,  all  were  so  long. 
Hussey,  Solicitor  to  the  Princess  of  Wales s,  was  against  the 
court,  and  spoke  with  great  spirit,  and  true  Whig  spirit. 
Charles  Yorke  shone  exceedingly.  He  had  spoke  and  voted 
with  us  the  night  before ;  but  now  maintained  his  opinion 
against  Pratt's.  It  was  a  most  able  and  learned  performance, 
and  the  latter  part,  which  was  oratorio, uncommonly  beautiful 
and  eloquent.  You  find  I  don't  let  partiality  to  the  Whig 
cause  blind  my  judgement.  That  speech  was  certainly  the 
masterpiece  of  the  day.  Norton  would  not  have  made  a 
figure,  even  if  Charles  Yorke  had  not  appeared  ;  but  giving 
way  to  his  natural  brutality,  he  got  into  an  ugly  scrape. 
Having  so  little  delicacy  or  decency  as  to  mention  a  cause  in 
which  he  had  prosecuted  Sir  John  Kushout  (who  sat  just 
under  him)  for  perjury,  the  tough  old  knight  (who  had  been 
honourably  acquitted  of  the  charge)  gave  the  House  an 
account  of  the  affair ;  and  then  added,  '  I  was  assured  the 
prosecution  was  set  on  foot  by  that  honest  gentleman ;  I  hope 
I  don't  call  him  out  of  his  name — and  that  it  was  in  revenge 
for  my  having  opposed  him  in  an  election.'  Norton  denied 
the  charge,  upon  his  honour,  which  did  not  seem  to  persuade 
everybody.  Immediately  after  this  we  had  another  episode. 
Eigby,  totally  unprovoked  either  by  anything  said  or  by  the 
complexion  of  the  day,  which  was  grave  and  argumentative, 
fell  upon  Lord  Temple,  and  described  his  behaviour  on  the 
commitment  of  Wilkes.  James  Grenville,  who  sat  behind 
him,  rose  in  all  the  acrimony  of  resentment :  drew  a  veiy 

*  He  was  Solicitor  to  the  Queen. 


400  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [1733 

favourable  picture  of  his  brother,  and  then  one  of  Rigby, 
conjuring  up  the  bitterest  words,  epithets,  and  circumstances 
that  he  could  amass  together :  told  him  how  interested  he 
was,  and  how  ignorant:  painted  his  journey  to  Ireland  to 
get  a  law-place4,  for  which  he  was  so  unqualified;  and 
concluded  with  affirming  he  had  fled  from  thence  to  avoid 
the  vengeance  of  the  people.  The  passive  Speaker  suffered 
both  painters  to  finish  their  works,  and  would  have  let  them 
carry  their  colours  and  brushes  into  Hyde  Park  the  next 
morning,  if  other  people  had  not  represented  the  necessity 
of  demanding  their  paroles  that  it  should  go  no  farther. 
They  were  both  unwilling  to  rise:  Rigby  did  at  last,  and 
put  an  end  to  it  with  humour  and  good-humour.  The 
numbers  were  258  to  133.  The  best  speech  of  all  those 
that  were  not  spoken  was  Charles  Townshend's.  He  has 
for  some  time  been  informing  the  world  that  for  the  last 
three  months  he  had  constantly  employed  six  clerks  to 
search  and  transcribe  records,  journals,  precedents,  &c.  The 
production  of  all  this  mountain  of  matter  was  a  mouse,  and 
that  mouse  still-born:  he  has  voted  with  us,  but  never 
uttered  a  word. 

We  shall  now  repose  for  some  time ;  at  least  I  am  sure 
I  shall.  It  has  been  hard  service :  and  nothing  but  a  Whig 
point  of  this  magnitude  could  easily  have  carried  me  to  the 
House  at  all,  of  which  I  have  so  long  been  sick.  Wilkes 
will  live,  but  is  not  likely  to  be  in  a  situation  to  come  forth 
for  some  time.  The  blasphemous  book  has  fallen  ten  times 
heavier  on  Sandwich's  own  head  than  on  Wilkes's :  it  has 
brought  forth  such  a  catalogue  of  anecdotes  as  is  incredible  ! 
Lord  Hardwicke  fluctuates  between  life  and  death.  Lord 
Effingham  is  dead  suddenly,  and  Lord  Cantelupe  has  got  his 
troop. 

These  are   all  our   news;   I   am   glad   yours   go  on  so 

4  Rigby  was  Master  of  the  Bolls  in  Ireland. 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  401 

smoothly.  I  take  care  to  do  you  justice  at  M.  de  Guerchy's 
for  all  the  justice  you  do  to  France,  and  particularly  to  the 
house  of  Nivernois.  D'6on 5  is  here  still :  I  know  nothing 
more  of  him  but  that  the  honour  of  having  a  hand  in  the 
Peace  overset  his  poor  brain.  This  was  evident  on  the  fatal 
night  at  Lord  Halifax's :  when  they  told  him  his  behaviour 
was  a  breach  of  the  peace,  he  was  quite  distracted,  thinking 
it  was  the  peace  between  his  country  and  this. 

Our  operas  begin  to-morrow.  The  Duchess  of  Grafton  is 
come  for  a  fortnight  only.  My  compliments  to  the  Ambassa- 
dress, and  all  your  court. 

917.    To  THE  EAEL  OP  HEETFOED. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  2,  1763. 

I  HAVE  been  expecting  a  letter  all  day,  as  Friday  is  the 
day  I  have  generally  received  a  letter  from  you,  but  it  is 
not  yet  arrived,  and  I  begin  mine  without  it.  M.  de  Guerchy 
has  given  us  a  prosperous  account  of  my  Lady  Hertford's 
audience:  still  I  am  impatient  to  hear  it  from  yourselves. 
I  want  to  know,  too,  what  you  say  to  your  brother's  being 
in  the  minority.  I  have  already  told  you  that  unless 
they  use  him  ill,  I  do  not  think  him  likely  to  take  any 
warm  part.  With  regard  to  dismission  of  officers,  I  hear 
no  more  of  it:  such  a  violent  step  would  but  spread  the 
flames,  which  are  already  fierce  enough.  I  will  give  you 
an  instance :  last  Saturday,  Lord  Cornwallis l  and  Lord 

5  '  D'Eon  took  it  into  his  fancy  George  III,  ed.  1894,  vol.  i.  p.  242.) 
that  one  Treyssac  de  Vergy,  an  LETTER  917. — 1  Charles  Cornwallis 
adventurer,  -was  brought  over  to  (1738-1805),  second  Earl  Cornwallis, 
assassinate  him;  and  on  this  belief  cr.  Marquis  Cornwallis  in  1792;  en- 
broke  out  so  outrageously  against  the  tered  the  army  in  1756.  He  took 
Count  after  dinner  at  Lord  Halifax's,  a  prominent  part  in  the  American 
that  the  Earl,  at  M.  de  Guerchy's  War,  but  after  several  successes  he 
desire,  was  obliged  to  aend^for  Justice  was  obliged  to  surrender  at  York- 
Fielding  and  put  D'Eon  under  town  (Oct.  19,  1781).  He  was 
arrest;  and  next  day  Vergy  swore  Governor-General  and  Commancler- 
the  peace  against  him.'  (Memoirs  of  in-Chief  in  the  East  Indies,  1786-98 ; 

WALPOLE.    V  D    d 


402  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i763 

Allen*  came  drunk  to  the  Opera:  the  former  went  up  to 
Rigby  in  the  pit,  and  told  him  in  direct  words  that  Lord 
Sandwich  was  a  pickpocket.  Then  Lord  Allen,  with  looks 
and  gestures  no  less  expressive,  advanced  close  to  him,  and 
repeating  this  again  in  the  passage,  would  have  provoked 
a  quarrel,  if  George  West"  had  not  carried  him  away  by 
force.  Lord  Cornwallis,  the  next  morning  in  Hyde  Park, 
made  an  apology  to  Rigby  for  his  behaviour,  but  the  rest 
of  the  world  is  not  so  complaisant.  His  pride,  insolence, 
and  over-bearingness,  have  made  him  so  many  enemies, 
that  they  are  glad  to  tear  him  to  pieces  for  his  attack  on 
Lord  Temple,  so  unprovoked,  and  so  poorly  performed.  It 
was  well  that  with  his  spirit  and  warmth  he  had  the  sense 
not  to  resent  the  behaviour  of  those  two  drunken  young 
fellows. 

On  Tuesday  your  Lordship's  House  sat  till  ten  at  night, 
on  the  resolutions  we  had  communicated  to  you ;  and  you 
agreed  to  them  by  114  to  35:  a  puny  minority  indeed, 
considering  of  what  great  names  it  was  composed !  Even 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland  voted  in  it ;  but  Mr.  Yorke's 
speech  in  our  House,  and  Lord  Mansfield's  in  yours,  for 
two  hours,  carried  away  many  of  the  opposition,  particularly 
Lord  Lyttelton,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  Duke  of  New- 
castle's Bishops.  The  Duke  of  Grafton  is  much  com- 
mended. The  Duke  of  Portland  commenced,  but  was  too 
much  frightened.  There  was  no  warmth  nor  event ;  but 
Lord  Shelburne,  who  they  say  spoke  well,  and  against  the 
court,  and  as  his  friends  had  voted  in  our  House,  has 
produced  one,  the  great  Mr.  Calcraft  being  turned  out 
yesterday,  from  some  muster-mastership ;  I  don't  know 
what. 


General,  1798  ;   Lord-Lieutenant  of      Viscount  Allen. 
Ireland,  1798-1801.  »  Hon.  George  West  (1733-1776), 

2  Joshua  Allen  (1728-1816),  fifth       second  son  of  first  Earl  Delaware. 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  403 

Lord  Sandwich  is  canvassing  to  succeed  Lord  Hardwicke, 
as  High  Steward  of  Cambridge ;  another  egg  of  animosity. 
We  shall,  however,  I  believe,  be  tolerably  quiet  till  after 
Christmas,  as  Mr.  Wilkes  will  not  be  able  to  act  before  the 
holidays.  I  rejoice  at  it :  I  am  heartily  sick  of  all  this  folly, 
and  shall  be  glad  to  get  to  Strawberry  again,  and  hear  nothing 
of  it.  The  ministry  have  bought  off  Lord  Clive  with  a  bribe 
that  would  frighten  the  King  of  France  himself:  they  have 
given  him  back  his  25,OOOZ.  a  year4.  Walsh6  has  behaved 
nobly:  he  said  he  could  not  in  conscience  vote  with  the 
administration,  and  would  not  vote  against  Lord  Clive,  who 
chose  him :  he  has  therefore  offered  to  resign  his  seat.  Lady 
Augusta's 6  fortune  was  to  be  voted  to-day,  and  Lord  Strange 
talked  of  opposing  it ;  but  I  had  not  the  curiosity  to  go  down. 
This  is  all  our  politics,  and  indeed  all  our  news ;  we  have 
none  of  any  other  kind.  So  far  you  will  not  regret  England. 
For  my  part,  I  wish  myself  with  you.  Being  perfectly 
indifferent  who  is  minister  and  who  is  not,  and  weary  of 
laughing  at  both,  I  shall  take  hold  of  the  first  spring  to 
make  you  my  visit. 

Our  operas  do  not  succeed.  Giardini,  now  become  minister, 
and  having  no  exchequer  to  buy  an  audience,  is  grown  un- 
popular. The  Mingotti,  whom  he  has  forced  upon  the  town, 
is  as  much  disliked  as  if  he  had  insisted  on  her  being  first 
Lord  of  the  Treasury.  The  first  man,  though  with  sweet 
notes,  has  so  weak  a  voice  that  he  might  as  well  hold  his 
tongue  like  Charles  Townshend.  The  figurantes  are  very 
pretty,  but  can  dance  no  more  than  Tommy  Pelham.  The 
first  man  dancer  is  handsome,  well  made,  and  strong  enough 
to  make  his  fortune  anywhere :  but,  you  know,  fortunes 
made  in  private  are  seldom  agreeable  to  the  public.  In 

4  The  '  jaghir '  granted  to  Clive  by  '  The  Princess  Augusta,  eldest 

Mir  Jaffier,  of  which  the  East  India  daughter  of  Frederick,  Prince  of 

Directors  wished  to  deprive  him.  Wales,  married  in  Jan.  1764  to  the 

•  John  Walah,  M.P.  for  Worcester.  Hereditary  Prince  of  Brunswick. 

D   d  2 


404  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?63 

short,  it  will  not  do ;  there  was  not  a  soul  in  the  pit  the 
second  night. 

Lady  Mary  Coke  has  received  her  gown  by  the  Prince  de 
Masseran7,  and  is  exceedingly  obliged  to  you,  though  much 
disappointed ;  this  being  a  slight  gown  made  up,  and  not 
the  one  she  expected,  which  is  a  fine  one  bought  for  her  by 
Lady  Holland,  and  which  you  must  send  somehow  or  other : 
if  you  cannot,  you  must  dispatch  an  ambassador  on  purpose. 
I  dined  with  the  Prince  de  Masseran,  at  Guerchy's  the  day 
after  his  arrival ;  and  if  faces  speak  truth,  he  will  not  be 
our  ruin.  Oh !  but  there  is  a  ten  times  more  delightful 
man — the  Austrian  minister8:  he  is  so  stiff  and  upright, 
that  you  would  think  all  his  mistress's  diadems  were  upon 
his  head,  and  that  he  was  afraid  of  their  dropping  off. 

I  know  so  little  of  Irish  politics,  that  I  am  afraid  of  mis- 
informing you  ;  but  I  hear  that  Hamilton,  who  has  come  off 
with  honour  in  a  squabble  with  Lord  Newton9  about  the 
latter's  wife,  speaks  and  votes  with  the  opposition  against 
the  Castle.  I  don't  know  the  meaning  of  it,  nor,  except  it 
had  been  to  tell  you,  should  I  have  remembered  it. 

Well !  your  letter  will  not  come,  and  I  must  send  away 
mine.  Remember,  the  holidays  are  coming,  and  that  I 
shall  be  a  good  deal  out  of  town.  I  have  been  charming 
hitherto,  but  I  cannot  make  brick  without  straw.  Encore, 
you  are  almost  the  only  person  I  ever  write  a  line  to. 
I  grow  so  old  and  so  indolent  that  I  hate  the  sight  of  a  pen 
and  ink. 

7  The    Spanish    Ambassador    in      Lanesborough,  whom  he  succeeded 
London.  in  1768 ;  m.  (1754)  Lady  Jane  Boch- 

8  Count  von  Seillern.  fort,  daughter  of  first  Earl  of  Belvi- 

9  Brinsley  Butler  (1728-1 7  79),  Lord      dere. 
Newtown  Butler,  son  of  first  Earl  of 


1763]  To  the  Rev.   William  Cole  405 


918.    To  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

DEAR  SlR,  Arlington  Street,  Dec.  6,  1763. 

According  to  custom  I  am  excessively  obliged  to  you : 
you  are  continually  giving  me  proofs  of  your  kindness. 
I  have  now  three  packets  to  thank  you  for,  full  of  informa- 
tion, and  have  only  to  lament  the  trouble  you  have  given 
yourself. 

I  am  glad  for  the  tomb's  sake  and  my  own,  that  Sir  Giles 
Allington's1  monument  is  restored.  The  draft  you  have 
sent  is  very  perfect.  The  account  of  your  ancestor  Tuer 2 
shall  not  be  forgotten  in  my  next  edition.  The  pedigree  of 
Allington  I  had  from  Collins s  before  his  death,  but  I  think 
not  so  perfect  as  yours.  You  have  made  one  little  slip  in 
it :  my  mother  was  grand-daughter,  not  daughter  of  Sir  John 
Shorter,  and  was  not  an  heiress,  having  three  brothers,  who 
all  died  after  her,  and  we  only  quarter  the  arms  of  Shorter, 
which  I  fancy  occasioned  the  mistake,  by  their  leaving  no 
children.  The  verses  by  Sir  Edward  Walpole4,  and  the 
translation  by  Bland 5,  are  published  in  my  Description  of 
Houghton. 

I  am  come  late  from  the  House  of  Lords,  and  am  just 
going  to  the  Opera,  so  you  will  excuse  me  saying  more, 
than  that  I  have  a  print  of  Archbishop  Button 8  for  you  (it 
is  Dr.  Ducarel's),  and  a  little  plate  of  Strawberry,  but  I  do 
not  send  them  by  the  post,  as  it  would  crease  them  :  if  you 


LETTER  918. — 1  Sir  Giles  Allington,  *  Sir  Edward  Walpole,  K.B.,  great- 
Knight,  of  Horseheath,  Cambridge-  grandfather  of  Horace  Walpole.  The 
shire,  an  ancestor  of  Horace  Walpole.  verses  in  question  were  written  upon 

8  Herbert  Tner,  painter,  of  whom  his  wife's  death. 

a  short  account  ia  given  in  Anecdotes  6  Henry  Bland,  Dean  of  Durham  ; 

of  Painting.  d.  1746. 

8  Arthur  Collins  (d.  1760),  author  6  Matthew  Hutton,  Archbishop  of 

of  the  Peerage.  Canterbury;  d  .1758. 


406  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [ires 

will  tell  me  how  to  convey  them  otherwise,  I  will.     I  repeat 
many  thanks  to  you  and  am, 

Dear  Sir, 

Yours  most  sincerely, 

H.  WALPOLE. 


919.     To  THE  EAEL  OF  HEBTFOED. 

Friday,  Dec.  9,  1763. 

YOUR  brother  has  sent  you  such  a  full  account  of  his 
transaction  with  Mr.  Grenville *,  that  it  is  not  necessary  for 
me  to  add  a  syllable,  except,  what  your  brother  will  not 
have  said  himself,  that  he  has  acted  as  usual  with  the 
strictest  honour  and  firmness,  and  has  turned  this  negotia- 
tion entirely  to  his  own  credit.  He  has  learned  the  ill 
wishes  of  his  enemies,  and  what  is  more,  knows  who  they 
are :  he  has  laughed  at  them,  and  found  at  last  that  their 
malice  was  much  bigger  than  their  power.  Mr.  Grenville, 
as  you  would  wish,  has  proved  how  much  he  disliked  the 
violence  of  his  associates,  as  I  trust  he  will,  whenever  he 
has  an  opportunity,  and  has  at  last  contented  himself  with 
so  little  or  nothing,  that  I  am  sure  you  will  feel  yourself 
obliged  to  him.  For  the  measure  itself,  of  turning  out  the 
officers  in  general  who  oppose,  it  has  been  much  pressed, 
and  what  is  still  sillier,  openly  threatened  by  one  set ;  but 
they  dare  not  do  it,  and  having  notified  it  without  effect, 
are  ridiculed  by  the  whole  town,  as  well  as  by  the  persons 
threatened,  particularly  by  Lord  Albemarle,  who  has  treated 
their  menaces  with  the  utmost  contempt  and  spirit.  This 
mighty  storm,  like  another  I  shall  tell  you  of,  has  vented 
itself  on  Lord  Shelburne  and  Colonel  Barre2,  who  were 

LETTER  919. — 1  At  a  meeting  on  Conway  refused  to  bind  himself. 

Dec.  4,  in  presence  of  the  Dnke  of  a  Isaac  Barre  (1726-1802),  M.P.  for 

Richmond,  Grenville  tried  to  pledge  Chipping    Wycombe.      Joint    Vice- 

Conway  to  support  the  government.  Treasurer  of  Ireland,  1766-68  ;  Trea- 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  407 

yesterday  turned  out ;  the  first  from  aide-de-camp  to  the 
King,  the  latter  from  adjutant-general  and  governor  of 
Stirling.  Campbell 3,  to  whom  it  was  promised  before,  has 
got  the  last ;  Ned  Harvey,  the  former.  My  present  expecta- 
tion is  an  oration  from  Barre,  in  honour  of  Mr.  Pitt;  for 
those  are  scenes  that  make  the  world  so  entertaining. 
After  that,  I  shall  demand  a  satire  on  Mr.  Pitt,  from 
Wilkes ;  and  I  do  not  believe  I  shall  be  balked,  for  Wilkes 
has  already  expressed  his  resentment  on  being  given  up  by 
Pitt,  who,  says  Wilkes,  ought  to  be  expelled  for  an  im- 
postor. I  do  not  know  whether  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 
does  not  expect  a  palinodia  from  me.  T'other  morning  at 
the  Duke's  levee  he  embraced  me,  and  hoped  I  would  come 
and  eat  a  bit  of  Sussex  mutton  with  him.  I  had  such 
difficulty  to  avoid  laughing  in  his  face  that  I  got  from  him 
as  fast  as  I  could.  Do  you  think  me  very  likely  to  forget 
that  I  have  been  laughing  at  him  these  twenty  years  ? 

Well !  but  we  have  had  a  prodigious  riot :  are  not  you 
impatient  to  know  the  particulars?  It  was  so  prodigious 
a  tumult,  that  I  verily  thought  half  the  administration 
would  have  run  away  to  Harrowgate.  The  North  Briton 
was  ordered  to  be  burned  by  the  hangman  at  Cheapside 
on  Saturday  last.  The  mob  rose ;  the  greatest  mob,  says 
Mr.  Sheriff  Blunt,  that  he  has  known  in  forty  years.  They 
were  armed  with  that  most  bloody  instrument,  the  mud 
out  of  the  kennels:  they  hissed  in  the  most  murderous 
manner;  broke  Mr.  Sheriff  Harley's*  coach-glass  in  the 
most  frangent  manner;  scratched  his  forehead,  so  that  he 
is  forced  to  wear  a  little  patch  in  the  most  becoming 

surer  of  the  Navy,  1782 ;  Paymaster-  *  Captain  (afterwards  Sir  James) 

General,  1782-88.    He  was  a  political  Campbell,  of  Ardkinglas»,  M.P.  for 

adherent  of  Shelburne,   and,   after  Stirling  Burghs, 

his  dismissal,  of  Pitt*    He  was  one  *  Hon.  Thomas  Harley(1730-1804), 

of  the  most  prominent  members  of  third  son  of  third  Earl  of  Oxford, 

the    opposition    to    Lord    North's  M.P.  for  the  City  of  London.   He  was 

ministry.  Lord  Mayor  in  1767. 


408  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i763 

manner ;  and  obliged  the  hangman  to  burn  the  paper  with 
a  link,  though  faggots  were  prepared  to  execute  it  in  a  more 
solemn  manner.  Numbers  of  gentlemen,  from  windows 
and  balconies,  encouraged  the  mob,  who,  in  about  an  hour 
and  half,  were  so  undutiful  to  the  ministry,  as  to  retire 
without  doing  any  mischief,  or  giving  Mr.  Carteret  Webb 5 
the  opportunity  of  a  single  information,  except  against  an 
ignorant  lad,  who  had  been  in  town  but  ten  days. 

This  terrible  uproar  has  employed  us  four  days.  The 
sheriffs  were  called  before  your  House  on  Monday,  and 
made  their  narrative.  My  brother  Cholmondeley,  in  the 
most  pathetic  manner,  and  suitably  to  the  occasion,  recom- 
mended it  to  your  Lordships,  to  search  for  precedents  of 
what  he  believed  never  happened  since  the  world  began. 
Lord  Egmont,  who  knows  of  a  plot,  which  he  keeps  to 
himself,  though  it  has  been  carrying  on  these  twenty  years, 
thought  more  vigorous  measures  ought  to  be  taken  on  such 
a  crisis,  and  moved  to  summon  the  mistress  of  the  Union 
Coffee-house6.  The  Duke  of  Bedford  thought  all  this  but 
piddling,  and  at  once  attacked  Lord  Mayor,  Common  Council, 
and  charter  of  the  City,  whom,  if  he  had  been  supported, 
I  believe  he  would  have  ordered  to  be  all  burned  by  the 
hangman  next  Saturday.  Unfortunately  for  such  national 
justice,  Lord  Mansfield,  who  delights  in  every  opportunity 
of  exposing  and  mortifying  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  and  Sand- 
wich, interposed  for  the  magistracy  of  London,  and,  after 
much  squabbling,  saved  them  from  immediate  execution. 
The  Duke  of  Grafton,  with  infinite  shrewdness  and  cool- 
ness, drew  from  the  witnesses  that  the  whole  mob  was  of 
one  mind  ;  and  the  day  ended  in  a  vote  of  general  censure 
on  the  rioters.  This  was  communicated  to  us  at  a  confer- 

6  Philip  Carteret  Webb  (d.  1770),  8  The  sheriff  stated  that  the  rioters 
M.P.  for  Haslemere  and  Joint  Soli-  had  been  encouraged  by  persons  at 
citor  to  the  Treasury.  the  Union  Coffee-house. 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  409 

ence,  and  yesterday  we  acted  the  same  farce ;  when  Eigby 
trying  to  revive  the  imputation  on  the  Lord  Mayor,  &c. 
(who,  by-the-by,  did  sit  most  tranquilly  at  Guildhall  during 
the  whole  tumult),  the  ministry  disavowed  and  abandoned 
him  to  a  man,  vindicating  the  magistracy,  and  plainly  dis- 
covering their  own  fear  and  awe  of  the  City,  who  feel  the 
insult,  and  will  from  hence  feel  their  own  strength.  In 
short,  to  finish  this  foolish  story,  I  never  saw  a  transaction 
in  which  appeared  so  little  parts,  abilities,  or  conduct ;  nor 
do  I  think  there  can  be  anything  weaker  than  the  adminis- 
tration, except  it  is  the  opposition :  but  an  opposition,  bed- 
rid and  tongue-tied,  is  a  most  ridiculous  body.  Mr.  Pitt  is 
laid  up  with  the  gout;  Lord  Hardwicke,  though  much 
relieved  by  a  quack  medicine,  is  still  very  ill;  and  Mr. 
Charles  Townshend  is  as  silent  as  my  Lord  Abercorn — that 
they  two  should  ever  be  alike ! 

This  is  not  all  our  political  news ;  Wilkes  is  an  in- 
exhaustible fund :  on  Monday  was  heard,  in  the  Common 
Pleas,  his  suit  against  Mr.  Wood7,  when,  after  a  trial  of 
fourteen  hours,  the  jury  gave  him  damages  of  one  thousand 
pounds;  but  this  was  not  the  heaviest  part  of  the  blow. 
The  Solicitor-General 8  tried  to  prove  Wilkes  author  of  the 
North  Briton,  and  failed  in  the  proof.  You  may  judge  how 
much  that  miscarriage  adds  to  the  defeat.  Wilkes  is  not 
yet  out  of  danger :  they  think  there  is  still  a  piece  of  coat 
or  lining  to  come  out  of  the  wound.  The  campaign  is  over 
for  the  present,  and  the  troops  going  into  country  quarters. 
In  the  meantime,  the  house  of  Harrington  has  supplied  us 
with  new  matter  of  talk.  My  Lord  was  robbed 9  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  night  between  Saturday  and  Sunday  last,  of 
money,  bills,  watches,  and  snuff-boxes,  to  the  amount  of 

7  For  seizing  Wilkes's  papers.  porter,  and  one  Bradley.     Wesket 

8  Sir  Fletcher  Norton.  was  hanged  on  evidence  given  by 

9  The  robbery  was  committed  by  Bradley. 
John    Weaket,    Lord    Harrington's 


410  To  Miss  Anne  Pitt  [i?63 

three  thousand  pounds.  Nothing  is  yet  discovered,  but 
that  the  guard  in  the  Stable  Yard  saw  a  man  in  a  great- 
coat and  white  stockings  come  from  thereabouts,  at  the 
time  I  have  named.  The  servants  have  all  been  examined 
over  and  over  to  no  purpose.  Fielding  is  all  day  in  the 
house,  and  a  guard  of  his  at  night.  The  bureau  in  my 
Lord's  dressing-room  (the  little  red  room  where  the  pictures 
are)  was  forced  open.  I  fear  you  can  guess  who  was  at  first 
suspected 10. 

I  have  received  yours,  my  dear  Lord,  of  Nov.  30th,  and 
am  pleased  that  my  Lady  Hertford  is  so  well  reconciled  to 
her  ministry.  You  forgot  to  give  me  an  account  of  her 
audience,  but  I  have  heard  of  the  Queen's  good-natured 
attention  to  her. 

The  anecdotes  about  Lord  Sandwich  are  numerous ;  but 
I  do  not  repeat  them  to  you,  because  I  know  nothing  how 
true  they  are,  and  because  he  has,  in  several  instances,  been 
very  obliging  to  me ;  and  I  have  no  reason  to  abuse  him. 
Lord  Hardwicke's  illness,  I  think,  is  a  rupture  and  conse- 
quences. 

I  hope  to  hear  that  your  little  boy  is  recovered.  Adieu  ! 
I  have  filled  my  gazette,  and  exhausted  my  memory.  I  am 
glad  such  gazettes  please  you :  I  can  have  no  other  excuse 
for  sending  such  tittle-tattle. 

920.    To  Miss  ANNE  PITT. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  10,  1763. 

I  SHOULD  be  much  concerned  that  anybody  should  have 
reason  to  complain  of  Lord  Hertford,  much  more  so  amiable 
a  man  and  one  I  esteem  so  much  as  Mr.  Selwin.  However 

10  Walpole  evidently  refers  to  Lady  printed  from  Hist.  XSS.  Comm.,  18th 

Harrington's  favourite  footman  Report,  Appendix,  Part  III,  voL  i. 

Richard.  See  vol.  iii.  p.  889.  p.  145. 

LETTER    920.  —  Not    in    C.  ;    now 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  411 

this  neglect  has  happened,  nothing  shall  be  wanting  on  my 
part,  as  far  as  I  have  any  credit,  to  set  it  right,  not  only 
from  an  old  partiality  to  Mr.  Selwin.  but  as  your  recom- 
mendation, Madam,  tells  me  that  you  wish  it  too.  I  was 
ignorant  that  my  Lord  Hertford  did  not  use  Mr.  Selwin's 
and  Mr.  Foley's  house l ;  but  with  those  private  affairs  you 
may  believe,  Madam,  I  never  meddle,  nor  ask  a  question 
relating  to  them.  Mr.  Selwin  indeed  does  not  seem  to 
desire  it,  nor  if  he  did,  would  it  become  me  to  take  liberties 
with  my  Lord  Hertford's  goodness  to  me,  on  such  subjects. 
The  obliging  esteem  with  which  Mr.  Selwin  mentions  both 
my  Lord  and  Lady  deserves  a  return  from  them ;  I  shall 
certainly  let  them  know  it,  and  can  answer  for  the  goodness 
of  their  hearts  that  they  will  not  be  insensible  to  it. 

The  passages  you  are  so  kind  as  to  quote,  Madam,  relative 
to  Lady  Hertford,  and  confirmed  by  Mr.  Selwin,  give  me 
the  greatest  satisfaction.  Indeed  I  hear  from  all  hands 
that  she  is  not  disliked. 

I  hope,  Madam,  you  find  benefit  from  the  waters ;  the 
town  begins  to  empty  very  fast,  though  I  believe  the  Parlia- 
ment will  not  adjourn  before  Thursday  se'nnight.  I  return 
you,  Madam,  Mr.  Selwin's  letter;  assure  you  I  shall  take 
the  first  opportunity  of  doing  him  justice. 

921.    To  SIR  HOBACB  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  12,  1763. 

MY  last  journal  was  dated  the  18th  of  last  month.  Since 
that  period  we  have  been  totally  employed  upon  Mr.  Wilkes, 
or  events  flowing  from  him;  for  he  is  an  inexhaustible 
source.  I  shall  move  regularly,  and  tell  you  his  history  in 
order. 

In  the  first  place,  he  is  not  dead  of  his  wound,  though  not 

1  Mr.  Selwyn  and  Mr.  Foley  were  bankers  in  Paris.  See  letter  to  the 
Earl  of  Hertford  of  Dec.  16,  1763. 


412  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [ires 

yet  out  of  danger,  for  they  think  another  piece  of  his  coat  is 
to  come  away,  as  two  have  already. 

On  the  23rd  we,  the  Commons,  had  a  debate  that  lasted 
late,  whether  we  should  proceed  to  the  question  on  privilege, 
as  Wilkes  could  not  attend.  There  was  a  great  defection 
among  the  royal  troops,  and  the  minority  amounted  to  166  : 
but  the  next  day,  on  the  question  itself,  it  sunk  to  133,  when 
we  resigned  our  privilege  into  the  hands  of  any  messengers 
that  should  be  sent  for  it.  Mr.  Pitt  was  brought  thither  in 
flannels,  and  spoke  for  two  hours,  but  was  forced  to  retire 
four  hours  before  we  came  to  the  question. 

These  debates  were  followed  by  a  curious  account  of  the 
famous  blasphemous  and  bawdy  poem,  the  Essay  on  Woman, 
published  by  one  Kidgell1,  a  Methodist  parson,  who  had 
been  employed  to  hunt  it  out.  The  man  has  most  de- 
servedly drawn  on  himself  a  torrent  of  indignation  and 
odium,  which  I  suppose  he  will  forget  in  a  deanery2. 

The  next  proceeding  was  in  the  Lords,  who  sat  till  ten  at 
night  on  the  question  of  agreeing  to  our  resolutions.  The 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  who  voted  at  the  head  of  the  minority, 
was  as  unsuccessful  as  he  has  been  in  other  engagements, 
and  was  beaten  by  114  to  35. 

So  much  for  within  doors.  But  without,  where  the 
minority  is  the  majority,  the  event  was  very  different.  The 
North  Briton  was  ordered  to  be  burned  by  the  hangman  at 
Cheapside  on  the  third  of  this  month.  A  prodigious  riot 
ensued ;  the  sheriffs  were  mobbed,  the  constables  beaten, 
and  the  paper  with  much  difficulty  set  on  fire  by  a  link,  and 
then  rescued.  The  ministry,  some  in  a  panic  and  some  in 
a  rage,  fetched  the  sheriffs  before  both  Houses ;  but,  after 
examinations  and  conferences  for  four  days,  the  whole  result 

LETTEB921. — *  Rev.  John  Kidgell,  land  for  debt,  and  died  abroad. 
Chaplain  to  the  Earl  of  March.  Walpole. 

2  Kidgell  was  forced  to  leave  Eng- 


1763]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  413 

was,  that  all  the  world  had  appeared  to  be  on  the  same  side, 
that  is,  not  well  disposed  to  the  administration.  This  dis- 
satisfaction has  been  increased  by  a  violent  attack  made  by 
the  Duke  of  Bedford  on  the  Lord  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and 
Common  Council,  for  not  discountenancing  and  suppressing 
the  riot ;  and  though  he  was  abandoned  by  the  rest  of  the 
ministry,  who  paid  court  to  the  City  at  his  Grace's  expense, 
they  were  so  exasperated,  that  a  motion  being  made  to 
thank  the  sheriffs  for  their  behaviour,  and  to  prosecute  one 
of  the  rioters,  who  is  in  prison,  it  was  rejected  on  a  division 
by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Lord  Mayor. 

The  ministry  have  received  a  still  greater  mortification : 
the  Under-Secretary,  Mr.  Wood,  has  been  cast  in  the 
Common  Pleas  in  damages  of  a  thousand  pounds  to  Mr. 
Wilkes ;  the  printers  too  have  recovered  four  hundred ; 
and,  what  is  still  more  material,  the  Solicitor-General  could 
not  make  out  his  proof  of  Wilkes  being  author  of  the  North 
Briton. 

The  last  scene  has  been  an  attempt  to  assassinate  Wilkes. 
A  sea-lieutenant,  called  Alexander  Dunn 3,  got  into  his  house 
on  Thursday  night  last  for  that  purpose  ;  but  he  is  not  only 
mad,  but  so  mad  that  he  had  declared  his  intention  in 
a  coffee-house  some  nights  before ;  and  said  twelve  more 
Scotchmen,  for  he  is  one,  were  engaged  in  the  same  design. 

I  have  told  you  all  this  briefly,  but  you  may  imagine 
what  noise  so  many  events  have  made  in  the  hands  of  some 
hundred  thousand  commentators. 

The  famous  Lord  Shelburne,  and  the  no  less  famous 
Colonel  Barre — I  don't  know  whether  their  fame  has 
reached  you — are  turned  out  for  joining  the  opposition. 

The  approaching  holidays  will  suspend  farther  hostilities 
for  some  time,  or  prepare  more.  We  have  scarce  any  other 

8  Dunn  was  examined  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  found 
to  be  insane. 


414:  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1763 

kind  of  news  than  politics.  The  interlude  of  Princess 
Augusta's  wedding  will  be  of  very  short  duration. 

You  have  seen  some  mention  in  the  papers  of  Monsieur 
D'^lon,  who,  from  secretary  to  Monsieur  de  Nivernois, 
became  Plenipotentiary ;  an  honour  that  turned  his  brain. 
His  madness  first  broke  out  upon  one  Vergy,  an  adventurer, 
whose  soul  he  threatened  to  put  into  the  chamber-pot  and 
make  him  drink  it.  This  rage  was  carried  so  far  one  night 
at  Lord  Halifax's,  that  he  was  put  under  arrest.  Being  told 
his  behaviour  was  a  breach  of  the  peace,  he  thought  it 
meant  the  Peace  he  had  signed,  and  grew  ten  times  madder. 
This  idea  he  has  thrust  into  a  wild  book  that  he  has 
published,  the  title-page  of  which  would  divert  you ;  he 
states  all  his  own  names,  titles,  and  offices:  Noble  Claude, 
Genevieve,  Louis,  Auguste,  Caesar,  Alexandre,  Hercule,  and 
I  don't  know  what,  Docteur  en  Droit :  the  chute  from  Caesar 
to  Master  Doctor  is  admirable.  The  conclusion  of  the  story 
is,  that  the  poor  creature  has  all  the  papers  of  the  negotiation 
in  his  hands,  and  threescore  thousand  livres  belonging  to  the 
Comte  de  Guerchy,  and  will  deliver  neither  one  nor  the 
other.  He  is  recalled  from  home,  and  forbidden  the  court 
here,  but  enjoys  the  papers,  and  lives  on  the  money,  and 
they  don't  know  how  to  recover  either.  Monsieur  de 
Guerchy  has  behaved  with  the  utmost  tenderness  and 
humanity  to  him.  This  minister  is  an  agreeable  man,  and 
pleases  much. 

I  have  received  your  long  letter  of  November  12th,  with 
your  expectations  of  the  Duke  of  York,  the  Woronzows,  and 
the  Garricks,  most  of  whom  are,  I  suppose,  arrived  by  this 
time.  The  Chelsea  china,  as  you  guessed,  was  a  present 
from  the  Duchess  of  Grafton :  I  told  her  how  pleased  you 
was  with  it,  and  that  you  flattered  yourself  it  was  her 
present.  She  thought  you  knew  it,  for  she  says  she  had 
writ  you  two  letters. 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  415 

Adieu !  You  must  live  upon  this  letter  for  some  time. 
Our  villeggiatum  begins  when  yours  ends.  The  town  will 
be  quite  empty  in  a  week,  till  the  18th  or  20th  of  January, 
unless  folks  come  to  stare  at  the  Prince  of  Brunswick  ;  but 
I  don't  know  when  he  is  to  be  here.  Nay,  you  will  not 
want  English  news,  while  you  have  English  Princes,  Russian 
Chancellors,  and  English  players. 


922.    To  THE  EAEL  OP  HERTFORD. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  16,  1768. 

ON  the  very  day  I  wrote  to  you  last,  my  dear  Lord,  an 
extraordinary  event  happened,  which  I  did  not  then  know. 
A  motion  was  made  in  the  Common  Council,  to  thank  the 
sheriffs  for  their  behaviour  at  the  riot,  and  to  prosecute  the 
man  who  was  apprehended  for  it.  This  was  opposed,  and 
the  previous  question  being  put,  the  numbers  were  equal ; 
but  the  casting  vote  of  the  Lord  Mayor l  was  given  against 
putting  the  first  question— a  pretty  strong  proceeding ;  for 
though,  in  consequence  and  in  resentment  of  the  Duke  of 
Bedford's  speech,  it  seemed  to  justify  his  Grace,  who  had 
accused  the  Mayor  and  magistracy  of  not  trying  to  suppress 
the  tumult ;  if  they  will  not  prosecute  the  rioters,  it  is  not 
very  unfair  to  surmise  that  they  did  not  dislike  the  riot. 
Indeed,  the  City  is  so  inflamed,  and  the  ministry  so 
obnoxious,  that  I  am  very  apprehensive  of  some  violent 
commotion.  The  court  have  lost  the  Essex  election,  merely 
from  Lord  Sandwich  interfering  in  it,  and  from  the  Duke  of 
Bedford's  speech ;  a  great  number  of  votes  going  from  the 
City  on  that  account  to  vote  for  Luther.  Sir  John  Griffin 2, 

LBTTEB  922. — *  William  Bridgen.  Barony  of  Howard  de  Walden,  and 

1  Lieutenant  -  General    Sir    John  was   created  (Sept.  6,  1788)  Baron 

Griffin  Griffin,  KB.  (1719-1797) ;  in  Braybrooke  of  Braybrooke,  North- 

1784  be  established  his  claim  to  the  amptonshire. 


416  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i763 

who  was  disobliged  by  Sandwich's  espousing  Conyers,  went 
to  Chelmsford  at  the  head  of  five  hundred  voters. 

One  of  the  latest  acts  of  the  ministry  will  not  please  my 
Lady  Hertford :  they  have  turned  out  her  brother,  Colonel 
Fitzroy3:  Fitzherbert4,  too,  is  removed,  and,  they  say,  Sir 
Joseph  Yorke  recalled6.  I  must  do  Lord  Halifax  and 
Mr.  Grenville  the  justice  to  say  that  these  violences  are  not 
imputed  to  them.  It  is  certain  that  the  former  was  the 
warmest  opposer  of  the  measure  for  breaking  the  officers ; 
and  Mr.  Grenville's  friends  take  every  opportunity  of 
throwing  the  blame  on  the  Duke  of  Bedford  and  Lord 
Sandwich.  The  Duchess  of  Bedford,  who  is  too  fond  a  wife 
not  to  partake  in  all  her  husband's  fortunes,  has  contributed 
her  portion  of  indiscretion.  At  a  great  dinner,  lately,  at 
Lord  Halifax's,  all  the  servants  present,  mention  being 
made  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  M.  de  Guerchy 
asked  the  Duchess,  '  Est-il  de  famille  ? '  She  replied,  '  Oh  ! 
mon  Dieu,  non,  il  a  ete  sage-femme.'  The  mistake  of  sage- 
femme  for  accoucheur,  and  the  strangeness  of  the  proposition, 
confounded  Guerchy  so  much,  that  it  was  necessary  to 
explain  it :  but  think  of  a  minister's  wife  telling  a  foreigner, 
and  a  Catholic,  that  the  primate  of  her  own  Church  had 
been  bred  a  man-midwife ! 

The  day  after  my  last,  another  verdict  was  given  in  the 
Common  Pleas,  of  four  hundred  pounds  to  the  printers ; 
and  another  episode  happened,  relating  to  Wilkes:  one 
Dunn,  a  mad  Scotchman,  was  seized  in  Wilkes's  house, 
whither  he  had  gone  intending  to  assassinate  him.  This 
was  complained  of  in  the  House  of  Commons,  but  the 
man's  frenzy  was  verified ;  it  was  even  proved  that  he  had 

*  Colonel  Charles  Fitzroy,  M.P.  for  Derby  ;  Lord  of  Trade,  1765-72.    He 
Bury  St.  Edmunds,  natural  son  of  was  dismissed  from  the  post  of  Gen- 
second  Duke  of  Grafton.  tleman-Usher  to  the  King. 

*  William  Fitzherbert  (d.  1772),  of  8  This  was  not  the  case. 
Tissington,     Derbyshire,     M.P.    for 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  417 

notified  his  design  in  a  coffee-house,  some  days  before. 
The  mob,  however,  who  are  determined  that  Lord  Sandwich 
shall  answer  for  everybody's  faults,  as  well  as  his  own, 
believe  that  he  employed  Dunn.  I  wish  the  recess,  which 
begins  next  Monday,  may  cool  matters  a  little,  for  indeed 
it  grows  very  serious. 

Nothing  is  discovered  of  Lord  Harrington's  robbery,  nor 
do  I  know  any  other  news,  but  that  George  West  is  to 
marry  Lady  Mary  Grey 8.  The  Hereditary  Prince's  wound 
is  broken  out  again,  and  will  defer  his  arrival.  We  have 
had  a  new  comedy7,  written  by  Mrs.  Sheridan,  and  admi- 
rably acted ;  but  there  was  no  wit  in  it,  and  it  was  so  vulgar 
that  it  ran  but  three  nights. 

Poor  Lady  Hervey  desires  you  will  tell  Mr.  Hume  how 
incapable  she  is  of  answering  his  letter.  She  has  been 
terribly  afflicted  for  these  six  weeks  with  a  complication 
of  gout,  rheumatism,  and  a  nervous  complaint.  She  cannot 
lie  down  in  her  bed,  nor  rest  two  minutes  in  her  chair. 
I  never  saw  such  continued  suffering. 

You  say  in  your  last,  of  the  7th,  that  you  have  omitted 
to  invite  no  Englishman  of  rank  or  name.  This  gives  me 
an  opportunity,  my  dear  Lord,  of  mentioning  one  English- 
man, not  of  great  rank,  but  who  is  very  unhappy  that  you 
have  taken  no  notice  of  him.  You  know  how  utterly 
averse  I  am  to  meddle,  or  give  impertinent  advice ;  but  the 
letter  I  saw  was  expressed  with  so  much  respect  and  esteem 
for  you,  that  you  would  love  the  person.  It  is  Mr.  Selwyn, 
the  banker.  He  says,  he  expected  no  favour;  but  the 
great  regard  he  has  for  the  amiableness  of  your  character 
makes  him  miserable  at  being  totally  undistinguished  by 
you.  He  has  so  good  a  character  himself,  and  is  so  much 
beloved  by  many  persons  here  that  you  know,  that  I  think 

8  Second  daughter  of  fourth  Earl  of  Stamford. 
7  The  Dupe,  acted  at  Drury  Lane. 

WALPOLE.    V  E     6 


418  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford 

you  will  not  dislike  my  putting  you  in  mind  of  him.  The 
letter  was  not  to  me,  nor  to  any  friend  of  mine ;  therefore, 
I  am  sure,  unaffected.  I  saw  the  whole  letter,  and  he  did 
not  even  hint  at  its  being  communicated  to  me. 

I  have  not  mentioned  Lady  Holdernesse's  presentation, 
though  I  by  no  means  approve  it,  nor  a  Dutchwoman's 
lowering  the  peerage  of  England.  Nothing  of  that  sort 
could  make  me  more  angry,  except  a  commoner's  wife  taking 
such  a  step ;  for  you  know  I  have  all  the  pride  of 

A  citizen  of  Rome,  while  Rome  survives: 

In  that  respect  my  name  is  thoroughly 

HORATIUS. 

923.    To  THE  EAEL  OP  HEETFOED. 

Arlington  Street,  Dec.  29,  1763. 

You  are  sensible,  my  dear  Lord,  that  any  amusement 
from  my  letters  must  depend  upon  times  and  seasons.  We 
are  a  very  absurd  nation  (though  the  French  are  so  good 
at  present  as  to  think  us  a  very  wise  one,  only  because  they 
themselves  are  now  a  very  weak  one) ;  but  then  that 
absurdity  depends  upon  the  almanac.  Posterity,  who  will 
know  nothing  of  our  intervals,  will  conclude  that  this  age 
was  a  succession  of  events.  I  could  tell  them  that  we  know 
as  well  when  an  event,  as  when  Easter,  will  happen.  Do 
but  recollect  these  last  ten  years.  The  beginning  of  October, 
one  is  certain  that  everybody  will  be  at  Newmarket,  and 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland  will  lose,  and  Shafto1  win,  two 
or  three  thousand  pounds.  After  that,  while  people  are 
preparing  to  come  to  town  for  the  winter,  the  ministry  is 
suddenly  changed,  and  all  the  world  comes  to  learn  how 

LKTTEB  928.— *  Eobert  Shafto  (d.  1797),  of  Whitworth,  Durham,  M.P. 
for  Durham  county. 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  419 

it  happened,  a  fortnight  sooner  than  they  intended  ;  and 
fully  persuaded  that  the  new  arrangement  cannot  last  a 
month.  The  Parliament  opens ;  everybody  is  bribed  ;  and 
the  new  establishment  is  perceived  to  be  composed  of 
adamant.  November  passes,  with  two  or  three  self-murders, 
and  a  new  play.  Christmas  arrives ;  everybody  goes  out 
of  town  ;  and  a  riot  happens  in  one  of  the  theatres.  The 
Parliament  meets  again  ;  taxes  are  warmly  opposed ;  and 
some  citizen  makes  his  fortune  by  a  subscription.  The 
opposition  languishes ;  balls  and  assemblies  begin ;  some 
master  and  miss  begin  to  get  together,  are  talked  of,  and 
give  occasion  to  forty  more  matches  being  invented ;  an 
unexpected  debate  starts  up  at  the  end  of  the  session,  that 
makes  more  noise  than  anything  that  was  designed  to 
make  a  noise,  and  subsides  again  in  a  new  peerage  or  two. 
Kanelagh  opens  and  Vauxhall ;  one  produces  scandal,  and 
t'other  a  drunken  quarrel.  People  separate,  some  to  Tun- 
bridge,  and  some  to  all  the  horse-races  in  England;  and 
so  the  year  comes  again  to  October.  I  dare  to  prophesy, 
that  if  .you  keep  this  letter,  you  will  find  that  my  future 
correspondence  will  be  but  an  illustration  of  this  text; 
at  least,  it  is  an  excuse  for  my  having  very  little  to  tell 
you  at  present,  and  was  the  reason  of  my  not  writing  to 
you  last  week. 

Before  the  Parliament  adjourned,  there  was  nothing  but 
a  trifling  debate  in  an  empty  House,  occasioned  by  a  motion 
from  the  ministiy,  to  order  another  physician  and  surgeon  to 
attend  Wilkes :  it  was  carried  by  about  seventy  to  thirty,  and 
was  only  memorable  by  producing  Mr.  Charles  Townshend, 
who,  having  sat  silent  through  the  question  of  privilege, 
found  himself  interested  in  the  defence  of  Dr.  Brocklesby ! ! 
Charles  ridiculed  Lord  North  extremely,  and  had  warm 
words  with  George  Grenville.  I  do  not  look  upon  this  as 
2  Dr.  Richard  Brocklesby  (1722-1797),  who  was  attending  Wilkes. 
E  e  2 


420  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?63 

productive  of  consequential  speaking  for  the  opposition  ;  on 
the  contrary,  I  should  expect  him  sooner  in  place,  if  the 
ministry  could  be  fools  enough  to  restore  weight  to  him, 
and  could  be  ignorant  that  he  can  never  hurt  them  so  much 
as  by  being  with  them.  Wilkes  refused  to  see  Heberden s 
and  Hawkins,  whom  the  House  commissioned  to  visit  him  ; 
and  to  laugh  at  us  more,  sent  for  two  Scotchmen,  Duncan 
and  Middleton.  Well !  but  since  that,  he  is  gone  off  * 
himself :  however,  as  I  did  in  Dion's  case,  I  can  now  only 
ask  news  of  him  from  you,  not  tell  you  any ;  for  you  have 
got  him.  I  do  not  believe  you  will  invite  him,  and  make 
so  much  of  him,  as  the  Duke  of  Bedford  did.  Both  sides 
pretend  joy  at  his  being  gone ;  and  for  once  I  can  believe 
both.  You  will  be  diverted,  as  I  was,  at  the  cordial  esteem 
the  ministers  have  for  one  another ;  Lord  Waldegrave  told 
my  niece,  this  morning,  that  he  had  offered  a  shilling,  to 
receive  an  hundred  pounds  when  Sandwich  shall  lose  his 
head !  what  a  good  opinion  they  have  of  one  another ! 
Apropos  to  losing  heads,  is  Lally 5  beheaded  ? 

The  East  India  Company  have  come  to  an  unanimous 
resolution  of  not  paying  Lord  Clive  the  three  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  which  the  ministry  had  promised  him 
in  lieu  of  his  Nabobical  annuity.  Just  after  the  bargain 
was  made,  his  old  rustic  of  a  father  was  at  the  King's 
levee ;  the  King  asked  where  his  son  was ;  he  replied, 
'Sire,  he  is  coming  to  town,  and  then  your  Majesty  will 
have  another  vote.'  If  you  like  these  franknesses,  I  can 
tell  you  another.  The  Chancellor6  is  chosen  a  governor 
of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital:  a  smart  gentleman,  who 
was  sent  with  the  staff,  carried  it  in  the  evening,  when 
the  Chancellor  happened  to  be  drunk.  '  Well,  Mr.  Bartlemy,' 

8  Dr.  William  Heberden  (1710-  B  Lally  was  not  executed  until 
1801).  May  1766. 

<  Wilkes  left  for  France  on  Dec.  26.  •  Lord  Henley. 


1763]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  421 

said  his  Lordship,  snuffing,  'what  have  you  to  say?'  The 
man,  who  had  prepared  a  formal  harangue,  was  transported 
to  have  so  fair  opportunity  given  him  of  uttering  it,  and 
with  much  dapper  gesticulation  congratulated  his  Lordship 
on  his  health,  and  the  nation  on  enjoying  such  great 
abilities.  The  Chancellor  stopped  him  short,  crying,  'By 
God,  it  is  a  lie !  I  have  neither  health  nor  abilities ;  my 
bad  health  has  destroyed  my  abilities.'  The  late  Chancellor7 
is  much  better. 

The  last  time  the  King  was  at  Drury  Lane,  the  play 
given  out  for  next  night  was  All  in  the  Wrong:  the  galleries 
clapped,  and  then  cried  out,  '  Let  us  be  all  in  the  right ! 
Wilkes  and  Liberty ! '  When  the  Bang  comes  to  a  theatre, 
or  goes  out,  or  goes  to  the  House,  there  is  not  a  single 
applause ;  to  the  Queen  there  is  a  little :  in  short,  Louis  le 
bien-aime  is  not  French  at  present  for  King  George. 

The  town,  you  may  be  sure,  is  very  empty  ;  the  greatest 
party  is  at  Woburn,  whither  the  Comte  de  Guerchy  and 
the  Due  de  Pecquigny  are  going.  I  have  been  three  days 
at  Strawberry,  and  had  George  Selwyn,  Williams,  and 
Lord  Ashburnham ;  but  the  weather  was  intolerably  bad. 
We  have  scarce  had  a  moment's  drought  since  you  went, 
no  more  than  for  so  many  months  before.  The  town  and 
the  roads  are  beyond  measure  dirty,  and  everything  else 
under  water.  I  was  not  well  neither,  nor  am  yet,  with 
pains  in  my  stomach  :  however,  if  I  ever  used  one,  I  could 
afford  to  pay  a  physician.  T'other  day,  coming  from  my 
Lady  Townshend's,  it  came  into  my  head  to  stop  at  one 
of  the  lottery  offices,  to  inquire  after  a  single  ticket  I  had, 
expecting  to  find  it  a  blank,  but  it  was  five  hundred  pounds 
— thank  you!  I  know  you  wish  me  joy.  It  will  buy 
twenty  pretty  things  when  I  come  to  Paris. 

I  read,  last  night,  your  new  French  play,  Le  Comte  de 

7  The  Earl  of  Hardwicke. 


422  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?63 

Warwic 8,  which  we  hear  has  succeeded  much.  I  must  say, 
it  does  but  confirm  the  cheap  idea  I  have  of  you  French : 
not  to  mention  the  preposterous  perversion  of  history  in 
so  known  a  story,  the  Queen's  ridiculous  preference  of  old 
Warwick  to  a  young  Kong  ;  the  omission  of  the  only  thing 
she  ever  said  or  did  in  her  whole  life  worth  recording, 
which  was  thinking  herself  too  low  for  his  wife,  and  too 
high  for  his  mistress  ;  the  romantic  honour  bestowed  on  two 
such  savages  as  Edward  and  Warwick :  besides  these,  and 
forty  such  glaring  absurdities,  there  is  but  one  scene  that 
has  any  merit,  that  between  Edward  and  Warwick  in  the 
third  act.  Indeed,  indeed,  I  don't  honour  the  modern 
French :  it  is  making  your  son  but  a  slender  compliment, 
with  his  knowledge,  for  them  to  say  it  is  extraordinary. 
The  best  proof  I  think  they  give  of  their  taste,  is  liking 
you  all  three.  I  rejoice  that  your  little  boy  is  recovered. 
Your  brother  has  been  at  Park  Place  this  week,  and  stays 
a  week  longer :  his  hill  is  too  high  to  be  drowned. 

Thank  you  for  your  kindness  to  Mr.  Selwyn :  if  he  had 
too  much  impatience,  I  am  sure  it  proceeded  only  from 
his  great  esteem  for  you. 

I  will  endeavour  to  learn  what  you  desire ;  and  will 
answer,  in  another  letter,  that  and  some  other  passages 
in  your  last.  Dr.  Hunter  is  very  good,  and  calls  on  me 
sometimes.  You  may  guess  whether  we  talk  you  over 
or  not.  Adieu! 

P.S.  There  has  not  been  a  death,  but  Sir  William 
Maynard's,  who  is  come  to  life  again ;  or  a  marriage, 
but  Admiral  Knollys's,  who  has  married  his  divorced  wife 
again. 

8  A  tragedy  by  La  Harpe,  recently  produced  at  Paris. 


1763]  To  the  Rev.   William  Mason  423 

924.    To  THE  KEY.  WILLIAM  MASON. 


Arlington  Street,  Dec.  29,  1763. 
Your  bookseller  has  brought  me  the  volume  of  your 
Works,  for  which  I  give  you  a  thousand  thanks  ;  I  have 
read  them  again  in  this  form  with  great  satisfaction.  I  wish 
in  return  that  I  had  anything  literary  to  tell  you  or  send 
you,  that  would  please  you  half  as  much.  I  should  be  glad 
to  know  how  to  convey  to  you  another  volume  of  my 
Anecdotes  and  a  volume  of  Engravers,  which  will  be  pub- 
lished in  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks  —  but  they  will  be  far 
from  amusing  you.  If  the  other  volumes  were  trifling, 
these  are  ten  times  more  so  ;  nothing  but  my  justice  to 
the  public,  to  whom  I  owed  them,  could  have  prevailed 
over  my  dissatisfaction  with  them,  and  have  made  me 
produce  them.  The  painters  in  the  third  volume  are  more 
obscure,  most  of  them,  than  those  in  the  former  ;  and  the 
facts  relating  to  them  have  not  even  the  patina  of  ambiguity 
to  hide  and  consecrate  their  insignificance.  The  tome  of 
Engravers  is  a  mere  list  of  very  bad  prints.  You  will 
find  this  account  strictly  true  and  no  affectation.  To  make 
you  some  amends,  it  will  not  be  long  before  I  have  the 
pleasure  of  sending  you  by  far  the  most  curious  and  enter- 
taining book  that  my  press  has  produced  ;  if  it  diverts  you 
as  much  as  it  does  Mr.  Gray  and  me,  you  will  think  it  the 
most  delightful  book  you  ever  read  ;  and  yet,  out  of  1  50 
pages,  you  had  better  skip  the  fifty  first.  Are  not  you 
impatient  to  know  what  this  curiosity  is  and  to  see  it? 
It  is  the  life  of  the  famous  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury1,  and 
written  by  himself  —  of  the  contents  I  will  not  anticipate 
one  word.  I  address  this  letter  to  Aston8,  upon  the 

LETTER   924.  —  1   Edward  Herbert     self,  was  first  printed  at  Strawberry 
(1683-1648),  first  Baron  Herbert  of      Hill. 
Cherbury.    His  Life,  written  by  him-          -  Mason  was  Hector  of  Aston. 


4:24  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1764 

authority  of  your  book.     I  should  be  sorry  if  it  miscarried 
only  as  it  is  a  mark  of  my  gratitude. 

I  am,  Sir,  your  much  obliged  humble  servant, 

HOE.  WALPOLE. 

P.S.  Have  you  read  Mrs.  Macaulay3?  I  am  glad  again 
to  have  Mr.  Gray's  opinion  to  corroborate  mine,  that  it  is 
the  most  sensible,  unaffected,  and  best  history  of  England 
that  we  have  had  yet. 


925.    To  SIB  HORACE  MANN. 

Strawberry  Hill,  Jan.  8,  1764. 

MY  dear  Sir,  it  does  not  rain  histories  as  it  did  the  first 
week  of  the  session.  I  am  very  faithful  to  you,  and  never 
omit  a  material  event.  The  Parliament  has  been  adjourned 
these  three  weeks,  and  party  been  to  keep  its  Christmas  in 
the  country.  To-morrow  se'nnight  we  meet  again,  and 
some  of  our  passions  will  revive,  though  a  good  quantity 
probably  will  subside,  as  Mr.  Wilkes,  the  hero  of  the  times, 
has  preferred  France  to  martyrdom.  This  excuses  me  from 
what,  by  the  way,  I  would  have  excused  myself  somehow 
or  other,  the  entering  with  you  into  a  discussion  of  the 
controversy  on  his  subject.  I  have  no  objection  to  the 
opinion  you  have  formed,  while  you  are  at  such  a  distance  ; 
I  am  no  maker  of  converts,  and  you  and  I  shall  never  love 
one  another  the  less  for  thinking  differently.  I  will  have 
the  famous  '  No.  45 '  written  out  for  you,  for  it  is  not  to 
be  had  now  but  in  the  collection  printed  together.  The 
Essay  on  Woman  I  do  not  wonder  you  concluded  had  been 
reprinted,  but  it  has  not ;  nor  have  I  ever  seen  it,  though 

»  Catherine  (1781-1791),  daughter  (2)  (1778)  William  Graham.  The  first 
of  John  Sawbridge,  of  Olantigh,  volume  of  her  History  of  England  had 
Kent ;  m.  (1)  Dr.  George  Macaulay  ;  lately  been  published. 


1764]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  425 

it  lies  in  the  House  of  Lords.  The  public  attention  was 
instantly  diverted  from  the  piece  itself  to  indignation  at  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  obtained.  Then  there  was  a  dirty 
parson,  one  Kidgell,  who,  not  content  with  being  the  pro- 
curer, published  such  an  indecent  account  of  it,  as  at  once 
satisfied  the  curiosity  of  the  town,  and  provoked  them  to 
abhorrence  of  the  wretched  tool  himself.  He  has  been 
pelted  in  every  newspaper,  while  the  work  itself  was  for- 
got. Whether  the  ministers  will  be  so  weak  as  to  revive 
this  clamour  now  Wilkes  is  gone,  I  don't  know, — judgement 
is  not  their  bright  side ! 

Don't  think  I  disapprove  your  magnificence  for  your 
Russian  guests;  and  yet,  my  dear  Sir,  the  generosity  of 
your  temper  is  fond  of  catching  at  a  command  to  be  ex- 
pensive. I  can  excuse  it  too,  as  I  conclude  the  Muscovite 
Chancellor  hates  his  mistress,  the  murderess ;  one  can't 
help  being  civil  to  anybody  that  wishes  her  dead.  We  are 
on  the  eve  of  a  royal  wedding,  but  not  a  very  sumptuous 
one.  The  Hereditary  Prince  is  expected  every  hour,  and 
if  arrived,  is,  they  say,  to  be  married  on  the  1 2th.  You  see 
I  talk  of  it  with  little  certainty.  I  shall  satisfy  my 
curiosity  by  seeing  him  at  the  Opera ;  a  glimpse  of  a  hero 
will  content  me.  He  is  to  take  away  his  bride  almost  as 
soon  as  possible  after  the  nuptials. 

There  is  a  wedding  in  embryo  that  touches  you  much 
nearer  than  the  Princess  Augusta's.  Your  nephew  Horace l 
is  to  marry  a  sister  of  the  Earl  of  Gainsborough.  I  believe 
it  is  quite  fixed,  though  not  to  be  perfected  till  he  is  of 
age.  She  has  little  beauty,  I  hear,  and  less  fortune,  but 
the  boy  likes  her,  and  the  alliance  is  very  creditable.  He 
is  a  most  amiable,  gentle,  good-natured  lad ;  I  grieve  that 

LETTER  925. — 1  Horace  Mann  the  of  fourth  Earl  of  Gainsborough,  and 
younger,  married,  in  1765,  Lady  sister  of  Henry  Noel  (174S-1798), 
Lucy  Noel  (d.  1778),  sixth  daughter  sixth  Earl. 


426  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1764 

this  business  will  prevent  your  seeing  him,  but  I  recollect 
that  you  were  not  fond  of  having  him  at  Florence.  Per- 
haps I  tell  you  this  too  imperfectly;  but  it  is  imperfectly 
that  I  know  it ;  and  from  report  that  I  first  heard  it.  I  got 
a  little  from  your  brother  James,  who  is  not  more  com- 
municative to  me  than  to  you :  as  for  your  eldest  brother, 
he  has  totally  dropped  me,  and  indeed  (which  I  may  say  to 
you)  his  insupportable  temper  makes  me  not  very  sorry. 
Gal  and  you  were  as  much  as  one  had  reason  to  expect  in 
one  family ;  accordingly  I  cherish  the  thought  of  you,  and 
the  memory  of  him,  which  is  as  dear  to  me  as  the  first 
moment  I  lost  him.  He  was  the  most  sincere  and  affec- 
tionate friend  that  ever  man  had,  and  could  I  forget  him 
on  his  account  I  never  can  on  my  own. 

Thursday  night,  late,  but  not  the  wedding-night. 
We  have  heard,  but  since  six  this  evening,  that  the 
Hereditary  Prince  has  landed ;  the  wedding,  I  fancy,  will 
scarcely  be  sooner  than  Monday.  Next  week  will  be  the  reign 
of  gold  and  silver  stuffs,  for  besides  the  marriage,  there  is 
the  Queen's  birthday ;  but  Mr.  Wilkes  will  spoil  half  the 
solemnity,  if  he  does  not  return  to  be  sacrificed.  Bishop 
Warburton  has  whetted  ready  a  classic  knife,  which  he 
would  swear  came  from  Diana's  own  altar  in  the  Cherso- 
nesus,  and  whose  religion  he  believes  as  much  as  that  he  pro- 
fesses, except  that  the  archbishopric  of  Tauris  is  at  present 
in  partibus  infidelium ;  and  the  Turks  have  sequestered  the 
revenues.  Adieu. 

P.S.    Here  is  the  '45,'  which  I  have  cut  out  of  a  maga- 
zine. 


1764]  To  George  Montagu  427 

926.    To  GEOBGE  MONTAGU. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  11,  1764. 

IT  is  an  age,  I  own,  since  I  wrote  to  you:  but  except 
politics,  what  was  there  to  send  you  ?  and  for  politics,  the 
present  are  too  contemptible  to  be  recorded  by  anybody  but 
journalists,  gazetteers,  and  such  historians !  The  ordinary 
of  Newgate,  or  Mr.  ,  who  write  for  their  monthly  half- 
crown,  and  who  are  indifferent  whether  Lord  Bute,  Lord 
Melcomb,  or  Maclean  is  their  hero,  may  swear  they  find 
diamonds  on  dunghills;  but  you  will  excuse  me,  if  I  let 
our  correspondence  lie  dormant  rather  than  deal  in  such 
trash.  I  am  forced  to  send  Lord  Hertford  and  Sir  Horace 
Mann  such  garbage,  because  they  are  out  of  England,  and 
the  sea  softens  and  makes  palatable  any  potion,  as  it  does 
claret ;  but  unless  I  can  divert  you,  I  had  rather  wait  till 
we  can  laugh  together ;  the  best  employment  for  friends, 
who  do  not  mean  to  pick  one  another's  pocket,  nor  make 
a  property  of  either's  frankness.  Instead  of  politics,  there- 
fore, I  shall  amuse  you  to-day  with  a  fairy  tale. 

I  was  desired  to  be  at  my  Lady  Suffolk's  on  New  Year's 
morn,  where  I  found  Lady  Temple  and  others.  On  the 
toilette  Miss  Hotham  spied  a  small  round  box.  She  seized 
it  with  all  the  eagerness  and  curiosity  of  eleven  years.  In 
it  was  wrapped  up  a  heart-diamond  ring,  and  a  paper  in 
which,  in  a  hand  as  small  as  Buckinger's  *,  who  used  to 
write  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  compass  of  a  silver  penny, 
were  the  following  lines: — 

Sent  by  a  sylph,  unheard,  unseen, 

A  New  Year's  gift  from  Mab  our  queen : 

But  tell  it  not,  for  if  you  do, 

You  will  be  pinch'd  all  black  and  blue. 

LKTTXK  926. — 1  Matthew  Buckinger  (1674-1722),  born  without  hands  or 
feet. 


4:28  To  George  Montagu  [i?64 

Consider  well,  what  a  disgrace, 
To  show  abroad  your  mottl'd  face : 
Then  seal  your  lips,  put  on  the  ring, 
And  sometimes  think  of 

OB:  THE  KINO. 

You  will  easily  guess  that  Lady  Temple  was  the  poetess, 
and  that  we  were  delighted  with  the  genteelness  of  the 
thought  and  execution.  The  child,  you  may  imagine,  was 
less  transported  with  the  poetry  than  the  present.  Her 
attention,  however,  was  hurried  backwards  and  forwards 
from  the  ring  to  a  new  coat,  that  she  had  been  trying  on 
when  sent  for  down — impatient  to  revisit  her  coat,  and  to 
show  the  ring  to  her  maid,  she  whisked  upstairs — when 
she  came  down  again,  she  found  a  letter  sealed,  and  lying 
on  the  floor — new  exclamations !  Lady  Suffolk  bad  her 
open  it:  here  it  is: — 

Your  tongue,  too  nimble  for  your  sense, 

Is  guilty  of  a  high  offence ; 

Hath  introduc'd  unkind  debate, 

And  topsy-turvy  turned  our  state. 

In  gallantry  I  sent  the  ring, 

The  token  of  a  love-sick  king : 

Under  fair  Mab's  auspicious  name 

From  me  the  trifling  present  came. 

You  blabb'd  the  news  in  Suffolk's  ear, 

The  tattling  zephyrs  brought  it  here, 

As  Mab  was  indolently  laid 

Under  a  poppy's  spreading  shade. 

The  jealous  queen  started  in  rage ; 

She  kick'd  her  crown,  and  beat  her  page: 

'  Bring  me  my  magic  wand,'  she  cries ; 

'  Under  that  primrose,  there  it  lies  : 

I'll  change  the  silly,  saucy  chit, 

Into  a  flea,  a  louse,  a  nit, 

A  worm,  a  grasshopper,  a  rat, 

An  owl,  a  monkey,  hedge-hog,  bat — 


1764]  To  George  Montagu  429 

But  hold — why  not  by  fairy  art 

Transform  the  wretch  into  a  ? 

Ixion  once  a  cloud  embraced, 

By  Jove  and  jealousy  well  plac'd  ; 

What  sport  to  see  proud  Oberon  stare, 

And  flirt  it  with  a  pet-en-l'air ! ' 

Then  thrice  she  stamp'd  the  trembling  ground, 

And  thrice  she  wav'd  her  wand  around — 

When  I,  endow'd  with  greater  skill, 

And  less  inclin'd  to  do  you  ill, 

Mutter'd  some  words,  withheld  her  arm, 

And  kindly  stopp'd  the  unfinished  charm. 

But  though  not  chang'd  to  owl  or  bat, 

Or  something  more  indelicate: 

Yet,  as  your  tongue  has  run  too  fast, 

Your  boasted  beauty  must  not  last. 

No  more  shall  frolic  Cupid  He 

In  ambuscade  in  either  eye, 

From  thence  to  aim  his  keenest  dart 

To  captivate  each  youthful  heart : 

No  more  shall  envious  misses  pine 

At  charms  now  flown,  that  once  were  thine : 

No  more,  since  you  so  ill  behave, 

Shall  injur'd  Oberon  be  your  slave. 

There  is  one  word  which  I  could  wish  had  not  been 
there,  though  it  is  prettily  excused  afterwards.  The  next 
day  my  Lady  Suffolk  desired  I  would  write  her  a  patent  for 
appointing  Lady  Temple  poet  laureate  to  the  fairies.  I  was 
excessively  out  of  order  with  a  pain  in  my  stomach,  which 
I  had  had  for  ten  days,  and  was  fitter  to  write  verses  like 
a  poet  laureate,  than  for  making  one — however,  I  was 
going  home  to  dinner  alone,  and  at  six  I  sent  her  some 
lines,  which  you  ought  to  have  seen  how  sick  I  was,  to 
excuse — but  first  I  must  tell  you  my  tale  methodically. 
The  next  morning  by  nine  o'clock  Miss  Hotham  (she  must 
forgive  me  twenty  years  hence  for  saying  she  was  eleven, 
for  I  recollect  she  is  but  ten)  arrived  at  Lady  Temple's,  her 


430  To  George  Montagu  [i764 

face  and  neck  all  spotted  with  saffron,  and  limping.  '  Oh, 
Madam!'  said  she,  'I  am  undone  for  ever  if  you  do  not 
assist  me ! '  '  Lord,  child,'  cried  my  Lady  Temple,  '  what  is 
the  matter  ? '  thinking  she  had  hurt  herself,  or  lost  the  ring, 
and  that  she  was  stolen  out  before  her  aunt  was  up.  '  Oh, 
Madam,'  said  the  girl,  '  nobody  but  you  can  assist  me.' 
My  Lady  Temple  protests  the  child  acted  her  part  so  well 
as  to  deceive  her. — 'What  can  I  do  for  you?'  'Dear 
Madam,  take  this  load  from  my  back  ;  nobody  but  you  can.' 
— Lady  Temple  turned  her  round,  and  upon  her  back  was 
tied  a  child's  waggon.  In  it  were  three  tiny  purses  of  blue 
velvet ;  in  one  of  them  a  silver  cup,  in  another  a  crown  of 
laurel,  and  in  the  third  four  new  silver  pennies ;  with  the 
patent,  signed  at  top,  '  Oberon  Imperator ' ;  and  two  sheets 
of  warrants  strung  together  with  blue  silk  according  to 
form  ;  and  at  top  an  office  seal  of  wax  and  a  chaplet  of  cut 
paper  on  it.  The  warrants  were  these  : — 

From  the  Koyal  Mews. 

A  waggon  with  the  draught  horses,  delivered  by  command 
without  fee. 

From  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  Office. 
A  warrant  with  the  royal  sign  manual,  delivered  by  com- 
mand without  fee,  being  first  entered  in  the  office  books. 

From  the  Lord  Steward's  Office. 

A  butt  of  sack,  delivered  without  fee  or  gratuity,  with  an 
order  for  returning  the  cask  for  the  use  of  the  office,  by 
command. 

From  the  Great  Wardrobe. 
Three  velvet  bags,  delivered  without  fee,  by  command. 

From  the  Treasurer  of  the  Household's  Office. 
A  year's  salary  paid  free  from  land-tax,  poundage,  or  any 
other  deduction  whatever,  by  command. 


1764]  To  George  Montagu  431 

From  the  Jewel  Office. 

A  silver  butt,  a  silver  cup,  a  wreath  of  bays,  by  command 
without  fee. 

Then  came  the  Patent : 

By  these  presents  be  it  known, 

To  all  who  bend  before  our  throne, 

Fays  and  fairies,  elves  and  sprites, 

Beauteous  dames  and  gallant  knights, 

That  we,  Oberon  the  grand, 

Emperor  of  Fairyland, 

King  of  moonshine,  prince  of  dreams, 

Lord  of  Aganippe's  streams, 

Baron  of  the  dimpl'd  isles 

That  lie  in  pretty  maiden's  smiles, 

Arch-treasurer  of  all  the  graces 

Dispers'd  through  fifty  lovely  faces, 

Sovereign  of  the  Slipper's  order, 

With  all  the  rites  thereon  that  border, 

Defender  of  the  sylphic  faith, 

Declare — and  thus  your  monarch  saith : 

Whereas  there  is  a  noble  dame, 

Whom  mortals  Countess  Temple  name, 

To  whom  ourself  did  erst  impart 

The  choicest  secrets  of  our  art, 

Taught  her  to  tune  th'  harmonious  line 

To  our  own  melody  divine, 

Taught  her  the  graceful  negligence, 

Which,  scorning  art  and  veiling  sense, 

Achieves  that  conquest  o'er  the  heart 

Sense  seldom  gains,  and  never  art : 

This  lady,  'tis  our  royal  will 

Our  laureate's  vacant  seat  should  fill: 

A  chaplet  of  immortal  bays 

Shall  crown  her  brow  and  guard  her  lays ; 

Of  nectar  sack  an  acorn  cup 

Be  at  her  board  each  year  fill'd  up ; 

And  as  each  quarter  feast  comes  round 

A  silver  penny  shall  be  found 

Within  the  compass  of  her  shoe — 

And  so  we  bid  you  all  adieu  ! 


432  To  George  Montagu  [i?64 

Given  at  our  palace  of  Cowslip  Castle,  the  shortest  night 
of  the  year.  OBERON. 

And  underneath 

HOTHAMINA. 

Now  shall  I  tell  you  the  greatest  curiosity  of  the  story  ? 
The  whole  plan  and  execution  of  the  second  act  was  laid 
and  adjusted  by  my  Lady  Suffolk  herself  and  Will  Chet- 
wynd,  Master  of  the  Mint,  Lord  Bolinbroke's  Oroonoko- 
Chetwynd ;  he  fourscore,  she  past  seventy-six — and,  what 
is  more,  much  worse  than  I  was,  for,  added  to  her  deaf- 
ness, she  has  been  confined  these  three  weeks  with  the 
gout  in  her  eyes,  and  was  actually  then  in  misery,  and  had 
been  without  sleep.  What  spirits,  and  cleverness,  and 
imagination,  at  that  age,  and  under  those  afflicting  circum- 
stances !  You  reconnoitre  her  old  court  knowledge ;  how 
charmingly  she  has  applied  it !  Do  you  wonder  I  pass  so 
many  hours  and  evenings  with  her  ?  Alas  !  I  had  like 
to  have  lost  her  this  morning!  They  had  poulticed  her 
feet  to  draw  the  gout  downwards,  and  began  to  succeed 
yesterday,  but  to-day  it  flew  up  into  her  head,  and  she  was 
almost  in  convulsions  with  the  agony,  and  screamed  dread- 
fully— proof  enough  how  ill  she  was,  for  her  patience  and 
good  breeding  makes  her  for  ever  sink  and  conceal  what 
she  feels.  This  evening  the  gout  has  been  driven  back  to 
her  foot,  and  I  trust  she  is  out  of  danger.  Her  loss  will  be 
irreparable  to  me  at  Twickenham,  where  she  is  by  far  the 
most  rational  and  agreeable  company  I  have. 

I  don't  tell  you  that  the  Hereditary  Prince  is  still  expected 
and  not  arrived.  A  royal  wedding  would  be  a  flat  episode 
after  a  real  fairy  tale,  though  the  bridegroom  is  a  hero. 
I  have  not  seen  your  brother  General  yet,  but  have  called  on 
him.  When  come  you  yourself?  Never  mind  the  town  and 
its  filthy  politics ;  we  can  go  to  the  gallery  at  Strawberry — 
stay,  I  don't  know  whether  we  can  or  not,  my  hill  is  almost 


1764]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  433 

drowned,  I  don't  know  how  your  mountain  is — well,  we  can 
take  a  boat,  and  always  be  gay  there ;  I  wish  we  may  be  so 
at  seventy-six  and  eighty !  I  abominate  politics  more  and 
more ;  we  had  glories,  and  would  not  keep  them — well ! 
content,  that  there  was  an  end  of  blood — then  perks  pre- 
rogative its  ass's  ears  up ;  we  are  always  to  be  saving  our 
liberties,  and  then  staking  them  again !  Tis  wearisome  ! 
I  hate  the  discussion,  and  yet  one  cannot  always  sit  at 
a  gaming-table  and  never  make  a  bet.  I  wish  for  nothing, 
I  care  not  a  straw  for  the  ins  or  the  outs ;  I  determine 
never  to  think  of  them,  yet  the  contagion  catches  one — 
can  you  tell  one  anything  that  will  prevent  infection? 
Well  then,  here  I  swear, — no,  I  won't  swear,  one  always 
breaks  one's  oath.  Oh  that  I  had  been  born  to  love  a 
court  like  Sir  William  Breton !  I  should  have  lived  and 
died  with  the  comfort  of  thinking  that  courts  there  will 
be  to  all  eternity,  and  the  liberty  of  my  country  would 
never  once  have  ruffled  my  smile,  or  spoiled  my  bow. 
I  envy  Sir  William  !  Good  night !  Yours  ever, 

H.  W. 

927.    To  SIB  HOEACE  MANN. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  18,  1764. 

Shall  I  tell  you  of  all  our  crowds,  and  balls,  and  em- 
broideries? Don't  I  grow  too  old  to  describe  Drawing- 
rooms  ?  Sure  I  do,  when  I  find  myself  too  old  to  go  into 
them.  I  forswore  puppet-shows  at  the  last  Coronation,  and 
have  kept  my  word  to  myself.  However,  being  bound  by 
a  prior  vow,  to  keep  up  the  acquaintance  between  you  and 
your  own  country,  I  will  show  you,  what  by  the  way 
I  have  not  seen  myself,  the  Prince  of  Brunswick.  He 
arrived  at  Somerset  House  last  Friday  evening ;  at  Chelms- 
ford  a  Quaker  walked  into  the  room,  did  pull  off  his  hat, 
and  said,  'Friend,  my  religion  forbids  me  to  fight,  but 

WALPOLE.    V  F     f 


434  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1764 

I  honour  those  that  fight  well.'  The  Prince,  though  he 
does  not  speak  English,  understands  it  enough  to  be  pleased 
with  the  compliment.  He  received  another,  very  flattering. 
As  he  went  next  morning  to  St.  James's,  he  spied  in  the 
crowd  one  of  Elliot's  Light  Horse  l  and  kissed  his  hand  to 
the  man.  '  What ! '  said  the  populace,  '  does  he  know 
you?'  'Yes,'  replied  the  man;  'he  once  led  me  into  a 
scrape,  which  nothing  but  himself  could  have  brought  me 
out  of  again.'  You  may  guess  how  much  this  added  to  the 
Prince's  popularity,  which  was  at  high-water  mark  before. 

When  he  had  visited  the  King  and  Queen,  he  went  to 
the  Princess  Dowager  at  Leicester  House,  and  saw  his 
mistress.  He  is  very  galant,  and  professes  great  satisfaction 
in  his  fortune,  for  he  had  not  even  seen  her  picture.  He 
carries  his  good  breeding  so  far  as  to  declare  he  would  have 
returned  unmarried,  if  she  had  not  pleased  him.  He  has 
had  levees  and  dinners  at  Somerset  House ;  to  the  latter, 
company  was  named  for  him.  On  Monday  evening  they 
were  married  by  the  Archbishop  in  the  great  drawing-room, 
with  little  ceremony ;  supped,  and  lay  at  Leicester  House. 
Yesterday  morning  was  a  Drawing-room  at  St.  James's,  and 
a  ball  at  night ;  both  repeated  to-day,  for  the  Queen's  birth- 
day. On  Thursday  they  go  to  the  play;  on  Friday  the 
Queen  gives  them  a  ball  and  dinner  at  her  house ;  on 
Saturday  they  dine  with  the  Princess  at  Kew,  and  return 
for  the  Opera ;  and  on  Wednesday — why,  they  make  their 
bow  and  curtsey,  and  sail. 

The  Prince  has  pleased  everybody;  his  manner  is 
thought  sensible  and  engaging;  his  person  slim,  genteel, 
and  handsome  enough ;  that  is,  not  at  all  handsome,  but 

LETTER  927. — 1   The  First  Light  and    famous    as    the    defender    of 

Horse,   raised   in    1759  by  Colonel  Gibraltar  from  1779-S2  ;  K.B.,  1782  ; 

George  Augustus  Elliot  (1719-1790),  cr.  (July  6, 1787)  Baron  Heathfield  of 

seventh  son  of  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot,  third  Gibraltar. 
Baronet,   of   Stobs,   Roxburghshire, 


1764]  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  435 

martial,  and  agreeably  weather-worn.  I  should  be  able  to 
swear  to  all  this  on  Saturday,  when  I  intend  to  see  him ; 
but,  alas  !  the  post  departs  on  Friday,  and,  however  material 
my  testimony  may  be,  he  must  want  it. 

By  the  subsequent  post  I  shall  have  forgotten  him.  A 
new  hero,  or  rather  a  revived  hero,  was  to  have  taken  his 
place.  To-morrow  is  the  day  appointed  by  the  House  of 
Commons  for  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Wilkes.  He  had 
ordered  a  dinner  for  to-day,  and  company  to  be  invited ; 
nay,  he  sent  word  he  should  certainly  be  here — and  who 
do  you  think  was  the  messenger?  only  Mr.  Martin,  who 
was  at  Paris  for  murdering  him.  Wilkes  made  Martin 
a  visit  there,  sat  with  him  an  hour,  joked  as  usual,  told 
him  he  had  really  come  thither  only  to  see  his  daughter ; 
that,  concluding  he  should  be  shut  up  in  prison  for  six  or 
twelve  months,  he  could  not  bear  the  thoughts  of  not  seeing 
her  before  that ;  that  this  passion  was  as  strong  as  the 
maladie  du  pays  of  the  Swiss — very  well :  we  had  no  doubt 
but  we  should  see  him.  Cards  were  sent  to  the  mob  to 
invite  them  to  meet  him — alas  !  last  night  came  a  letter  of 
excuse  to  the  Speaker,  pleading  the  impediment  of  his 
wound,  and  accompanied  by  certificates  of  French  surgeons. 
Paris  seems  very  fatal  to  Wilkes's  courage!  If  he  had 
sent  an  insulting  message  to  the  House  of  Commons,  or 
even  professed  having  fled  from  persecution — pass — all 
that,  or  either,  would  have  coupled  very  well  with  his 
patriotism.  I  cannot  possibly  honour  this  paltry  medium. 
However,  I  am  very  glad  he  is  not  come.  But  he  must 
fight  the  Parliament  of  Paris  to  retrieve  his  character,  or 
at  least  be  sent  to  the  Bastille,  to  excuse  his  not  being  in 
Newgate.  For  our  parts,  we  have  no  occasion  to  practise 
at  a  target a ;  we  may  do  what  we  will  with  him,  now  we 

8  Mr.  Martin  practised  shooting  at  fought  Wilkes.  See  Churchill's 
a  target  for  some  months  before  he  Duellist.  Walpole. 

F  f  2 


436  To  Sir  Horace  Mann  [1764 

can  do  nothing ;  expel  him,  send  his  writings  to  gaol,  and 
execute  his  excuses — nay,  we  may  burn  his  memory ;  no- 
body will  say  a  word  for  it ;  I  expect  very  brave  invectives 
against  him  to-morrow. 

Friday  evening,  20th. 

Yesterday  was  different  from  what  I  expected ;  but  I 
never  guess  right !  Who  could  have  expected  that  a  hun- 
dred and  two  men  would  have  defended  Wilkes,  who  would 
not  defend  himself,  till  four  in  the  morning?  Yet  this  was 
the  case  of  at  least  fifty;  the  rest,  of  which  I  was  one, 
retired  at  eleven  at  night.  He  was  expelled "  at  last,  after 
six  divisions.  But  we  have  not  yet  done  with  him ;  his 
Essay  on  Woman  is  to  be  tried  next  Tuesday  in  the 
House  of  Lords. 

The  crowds  of  this  week  have  proved  the  goodness  of  our 
constitutions ;  that  on  the  Queen's  birthday  was  immo- 
derate ;  but  last  night,  to  see  the  Prince  of  Brunswick  at 
the  play,  exceeded  all  belief.  Your  brother  James  told  me 
this  morning,  that  he  went  to  Covent  Garden  at  two  in  the 
afternoon,  to  wait  till  the  doors  of  the  playhouse  should  be 
opened.  He  soon  found  himself  buried  in  such  a  mob, 
that  he  could  not  even  lift  his  hand  to  his  head,  and  so 
remained  for  five  hours,  without  getting  in  at  last ;  and 
though  he  had  stood  in  the  open  Piazza,  he  had  sweat  so 
violently  that  at  his  return  he  was  forced  to  change  every 
thread  he  had  on.  The  shouts,  claps,  and  huzzas  to  the 
Prince  were  immoderate ;  he  sat  behind  his  Princess  and  her 
brothers ;  the  galleries  called  him  to  come  forward.  In 
the  middle  of  the  play,  he  went  to  be  elected  a  member  of 
the  Koyal  Society,  and  returned  to  the  theatre,  when  the 
applause  was  renewed.  This  was  the  stronger,  as  there 
were  other  folks 4  present,  who  had  no  share  in  the  triumph. 

8  From  membership  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
4  The  King  and  Queen.     Walpole. 


mMrau,  fXMaratu*  o/a%0 


1764]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  437 

When  he  had  gone  out,  he  returned,  presented  himself  in 
the  front  of  the  box,  and  made  a  most  respectful  bow  to 
the  audience,  who  returned  it  with  the  loudest  acclama- 
tions. Do  you  think  he  will  not  go  on  Wednesday  ? 
Adieu ! 

928.    To  THE  EAEL  OF  HEBTFOBD. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  22,  1764. 

MONSIEUR  MONIN,  who  will  deliver  this  to  you,  my  dear 
Lord,  is  the  particular  friend  I  mentioned  in  my  last  *,  and 
is,  indeed,  no  particular  friend  of  mine  at  all,  but  I  had 
a  mind  to  mislead  my  Lord  Sandwich,  and  send  you  one 
letter  which  he  should  not  open.  This  I  write  in  pecu- 
liar confidence  to  you,  and  insist  upon  your  keeping  it 
entirely  to  yourself  from  every  living  creature.  It  will  be 
an  answer  to  several  passages  in  your  letters,  to  which  I  did 
not  care  to  reply  by  the  post. 

Your  brother  was  not  pleased  with  your  laying  the 
stopping  your  bills  to  his  charge.  To  tell  you  the  truth, 
he  thinks  you  as  too  much  inclined  to  courts  and  ministers, 
as  you  think  him  too  little  so.  So  far  from  upbraiding  him 
on  that  head,  give  me  leave  to  say  you  have  no  reason  to 
be  concerned  at  it.  You  must  be  sensible,  my  dear  Lord, 
that  you  are  far  from  standing  well  with  the  opposition, 
and  should  any  change  happen,  your  brother's  being  well 
with  them  would  prevent  any  appearance  that  might 
be  disagreeable  to  you.  In  truth,  I  cannot  think  you 
have  abundant  reason  to  be  fond  of  the  administration. 
Lord  Bute  never  gave  you  the  least  real  mark  of  friendship. 
The  Bedfords  certainly  do  not  wish  you  well :  Lord  Holland 
has  amply  proved  himself  your  enemy :  for  a  man  of  your 
morals,  it  would  be  a  disgrace  to  you  to  be  connected  with 
Lord  Sandwich :  and  for  George  Grenville,  he  has  shown 

LETTER  928. — *  This  letter  does  not  appear. 


438  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i764 

himself  the  falsest  and  most  contemptible  of  mankind. 
He  is  now  the  intimate  tool  of  the  Bedfords,  and  reconciled 
to  Lord  Bute,  whom  he  has  served  and  disserved  just  as 
occasion  or  interest  directed.  In  this  situation  of  things, 
can  you  wonder  that  particular  marks  of  favour  are  with- 
held from  you,  or  that  the  expenses  of  your  journey  are 
not  granted  to  you  as  they  were  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford  ? 

You  ask  me  how  your  letters  please :  it  is  impossible 
for  me  to  learn,  now  I  am  so  disconnected  with  every- 
thing ministerial.  I  wish  you  not  to  make  them  please 
too  much.  The  negotiations  with  France  must  be  the 
great  point  on  which  the  nation  will  fix  its  eyes :  with 
France  we  must  break  sooner  or  later.  Your  letters  will 
be  strictly  canvassed  :  I  hope  and  firmly  believe  that 
nothing  will  appear  in  them  but  attention  to  the  honour 
and  interest  of  the  nation ;  points,  I  doubt,  little  at  the 
heart  of  the  present  administration,  who  have  gone  too  far 
not  to  be  in  the  power  of  France,  and  who  must  bear 
anything  rather  than  quarrel.  I  would  not  take  the  liberty 
of  saying  so  much  to  you,  if,  by  being  on  the  spot,  I  was 
not  a  judge  how  very  serious  affairs  grow,  and  how  necessary 
it  is  for  you  to  be  upon  your  guard. 

Another  question  you  ask  is,  whether  it  is  true  that  the 
opposition  is  disunited  ?  I  will  give  you  one  very  necessary 
direction,  which  is,  not  to  credit  any  court  stories.  Sand- 
wich is  the  father  of  lies,  and  every  report  is  tinctured 
by  him.  The  administration  give  it  out,  and  trust  to  this 
disunion.  I  will  tell  you  very  nearly  what  truth  there  is 
or  is  not  in  this.  The  party  in  general  is  as  firmly  and 
cordially  united  as  ever  party  was.  Consider,  that  without 
any  heads  or  leaders  at  all,  102  men  stuck  to  Wilkes,  the 
worst  cause  they  could  have  had,  and  with  all  the  weight 
of  the  Yorkes  against  them.  With  regard  to  the  leaders 
there  is  a  difference.  The  old  Chancellor  is  violent  against 


1764]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  439 

the  court :  but,  I  believe,  displeased  that  his  son  was 
sacrificed  to  Pratt,  in  the  case  of  privilege.  Charles  Yorke 
resigned,  against  his  own  and  Lord  Koyston's  inclination, 
is  particularly  angry  with  Newcastle  for  complying  with 
Pitt  in  the  affair  of  privilege,  and  not  less  displeased  that 
Pitt  prefers  Pratt  to  him  for  the  seals  ;  but  then  Norton 
is  Attorney-General,  and  it  would  not  be  graceful  to  return 
to  court,  which  he  has  quitted,  while  the  present  ministers 
remain  there.  In  short,  as  soon  as  the  affair  of  Wilkes 
and  privilege  is  at  an  end,  it  is  much  expected  that  the 
Yorkes  will  take  part  with  the  opposition.  It  is  for  that 
declaration  that  Charles  Townshend  says  he  waits.  He 
again  broke  out  strongly  on  Friday  last  against  the  ministry, 
attacking  George  Grenville,  who  seems  his  object.  How- 
ever, the  childish  fluctuation  of  his  temper,  and  the  vehe- 
mence of  his  brother  George  for  the  court,  that  is  for 
himself,  will  for  ever  make  Charles  little  to  be  depended 
on.  For  Mr.  Pitt,  you  know,  he  never  will  act  like  any 
other  man  in  opposition,  and  to  that  George  Grenville 
trusts ;  however,  here  are  such  materials,  that  if  they  could 
once  be  put  in  operation  for  a  fortnight  together,  the  present 
administration  would  be  blown  up.  To  this  you  may 
throw  in  dissensions  among  themselves:  Lord  Halifax 
and  Lord  Talbot  are  greatly  dissatisfied.  Lord  Bute  is 
reconciled  to  the  rest ;  sees  the  Bang  continually ;  and  will 
soon  want  more  power,  or  will  have  more  jealousy  than 
is  consistent  with  their  union.  Many  single  men  are  ill- 
disposed  to  them,  particularly  Lord  George  Sackville:  indeed, 
nobody  is  with  them,  but  as  it  is  farther  off  from,  or  nearer 
to,  quarter-day :  the  nation  is  unanimous  against  them :  a 
disposition  which  their  own  foolish  conduct  during  the 
episode  of  the  Prince  of  Brunswick,  to  which  I  am  now 
coming,  has  sufficiently  manifested. 

The  fourth  question  put  to  him  on  his  arrival  was, 


440  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [1764 

'When  do  you  go?'  The  servants  of  the  King  and  Queen 
were  forbid  to  put  on  their  new  clothes  for  the  wedding,  or 
Drawing-room  next  day,  and  ordered  to  keep  them  for  the 
Queen's  birthday.  Such  pains  were  taken  to  keep  the  Prince 
from  any  intercourse  with  any  of  the  opposition,  that — he 
has  done  nothing  but  take  notice  of  them.  He  not  only 
wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  and  Mr.  Pitt,  but  has  been 
at  Hayes  to  see  the  latter,  and  has  dined  twice  with  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  ;  the  first  time  on  Friday  last,  when 
he  was  appointed  to  be  at  St.  James's  at  half  an  hour  after 
seven,  to  a  concert.  As  the  time  drew  near,  Feronce 2 
pulled  out  his  watch ;  the  Duke  took  the  hint,  and  said, 
'  I  am  sorry  to  part  with  you,  but  I  fear  your  time  is  come.' 
He  replied,  '  N'importe ' ;  sat  on,  drank  coffee,  and  it  was 
half  an  hour  after  eight  before  he  set  out  from  Upper 
Grosvenor  Street  for  St.  James's.  He  and  Princess  Augusta 
have  felt  and  shown  their  disgusts  so  strongly,  and  his  suite 
have  complained  so  much  of  the  neglect  and  disregard  of 
him,  and  of  the  very  quick  dismission  of  him,  that  the 
people  have  caught  it,  and  on  Thursday,  at  the  play,  received 
the  King  and  Queen  without  the  least  symptom  of  applause, 
but  repeated  such  outrageous  acclamations  to  the  Prince,  as 
operated  very  visibly  on  the  King's  countenance.  Not  a  gun 
was  fired  for  the  marriage,  and  Princess  Augusta  asking 
Lord  Gower  about  some  ceremony,  to  which  he  replied,  it 
could  not  be,  as  no  such  thing  had  been  done  for  the  Prince 
of  Orange s ;  she  said,  it  was  extraordinary  to  quote  that 
precedent  to  her  in  one  case,  which  had  been  followed  in  no 
other.  I  could  tell  you  ten  more  of  these  stories,  but  one 
shall  suffice.  The  royal  family  went  to  the  Opera  on 
Saturday:  the  crowd  not  to  be  described:  the  Duchess  of 
Leeds4,  Lady  Denbigh,  Lady  Scarborough,  and  others,  sat 

8  The  Prince's  Chief  Secretary.  daughter  of  George  IL 

3  Who  married,  in  1734,  the  eldest          «  Lady  Mary  Godolphin  (d.  1764), 


1764]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  441 

on  chairs  between  the  scenes :  the  doors  of  the  front  boxes 
were  thrown  open,  and  the  passages  were  all  filled  to  the 
back  of  the  stoves ;  nay,  women  of  fashion  stood  on  the 
very  stairs  till  eight  at  night.  In  the  middle  of  the  second 
act,  the  Hereditary  Prince,  who  sat  with  his  wife  and  her 
brothers  in  their  box,  got  up,  turned  his  back  to  King  and 
Queen,  pretending  to  offer  his  place  to  Lady  Tankerville 8 
and  then  to  Lady  Susan 6.  You  know  enough  of  Germans 
and  their  stiffness  to  etiquette,  to  be  sure  that  this  could 
not  be  done  inadvertently ;  especially  as  he  repeated  this, 
only  without  standing  up.  with  one  of  his  own  gentlemen, 
in  the  third  act. 

I  saw  him,  without  any  difficulty,  from  the  Duchess  of 
Grafton's  box.  He  is  extremely  slender,  and  looks  many 
years  older  than  he  is :  in  short,  I  suppose  it  is  his  manner 
with  which  every  mortal  is  captivated,  for  though  he  is 
well  enough  for  a  man,  he  is  far  from  having  anything 
striking  in  his  person.  To-day  (this  is  Tuesday)  there  was 
a  Drawing-room  at  Leicester  House,  and  to-night  there  is 
a  subscription  ball  for  him  at  Carlisle  House,  Soho,  made 
chiefly  by  the  Dukes  of  Devonshire  and  Graf  ton.  I  was 
invited  to  be  of  it,  but  not  having  been  to  wait  on  him,  did 
not  think  it  civil  to  meet  him  there.  The  court,  by  accident 
or  design,  had  forgot  to  have  a  bill  passed  for  naturalizing 
him.  The  Duke  of  Grafton  undertook  it,  on  which  they 
adopted  it,  and  the  Duke  of  Bedford  moved  it ;  but  the 
Prince  sent  word  to  the  Duke  of  Grafton,  that  he  should 
not  have  liked  the  compliment  half  so  well  if  he  had  not 
owed  it  to  his  Grace.  You  may  judge  how  he  will  report 
of  us  at  his  return ! 

second  daughter  and  coheir  of  second  Baronet,  of  Patshull,  Staffordshire  ; 

Earl  of  Godolphin ;  m.  (1740)Thomas  m.  (1742)  Charles  Bennett,  third  Earl 

Osborne,  fourth  Duke  of  Leeds.  of  Tankerville. 

6  Alicia  (d.  1791),  third  daughter  '  Lady  Susan    Stewart,   Lady-in- 

and  co-heir  of  Sir  John  Astley,  third  Waiting  to  the  Princess. 


442  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?64 

With  regard  to  your  behaviour  to  Wilkes,  I  think  you 
observed  the  just  medium :  I  have  not  heard  it  mentioned : 
if  they  should  choose  to  blame  it,  it  will  not  be  to  me, 
known  as  your  friend  and  no  friend  of  theirs.  They  very 
likely  may  say  that  you  did  too  much,  though  the  Duke  of 
Bedford  did  ten  times  more.  Churchill  has  published  a 
new  satire,  called  The  Duellist,  the  finest  and  bitterest  of 
his  works.  The  poetry  is  glorious ;  some  lines  on  Lord 
Holland,  hemlock:  charming  abuse  on  that  scurrilous 
mortal,  Bishop  Warburton:  an  ill-drawn,  though  deserved, 
character  of  Sandwich ;  and  one,  as  much  deserved,  and 
better,  of  Norton. 

Wednesday,  after  dinner. 

The  Lord  knows  when  this  letter  will  be  finished  ;  I  have 
been  writing  it  this  week,  and  believe  I  shall  continue  it 
till  old  Monin  sets  out.  Encore,  the  Prince  of  Brunswick. 
At  the  ball,  at  Buckingham  House,  on  Monday ;  it  had 
began  two  hours  before  he  arrived.  Except  the  King  and 
Queen's  servants,  nobody  was  there  but  the  Duchesses  of 
Marlborough  and  Ancaster,  and  Lord  Bute's  two  daughters. 
No  supper.  On  Sunday  evening  the  Prince  had  been  to 
Newcastle  House,  to  visit  the  Duchess.  His  speech  to  the 
Duke  of  Bedford,  at  first,  was  by  no  means  so  strong  as 
they  gave  it  out :  he  only  said,  '  Milord,  nous  avons  fait 
deux  metiers  bien  differents  ;  le  votre  a  ete  le  plus  agreable : 
j'ai  fait  couler  du  sang,  vous  1'avez  fait  cesser.'  His  whole 
behaviour,  so  much  a  la  minorite,  makes  this  much  more 
improbable.  His  Princess  thoroughly  agrees  with  him. 
When  Mr.  Grenville  objected  to  the  greatness  of  her  for- 
tune, the  King  said,  '  Oh !  it  will  not  be  opposed,  for 
Augusta  is  in  the  opposition.' 

The  ball,  last  night,  at  Carlisle  House,  Soho,  was  most 
magnificent :  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  subscribed,  at  five 
guineas  each,  and  had  each  three  tickets.  All  the  beauties 


1764]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  443 

in  town  were  there,  that  is,  of  rank,  for  there  was  no  bad 
company.  The  Duke  of  Cumberland  was  there  too ;  and 
the  Hereditary  Prince  so  pleased,  and  in  such  spirits,  that 
he  stayed  till  five  in  the  morning.  He  is  gone  to-day, 
heartily  sorry  to  leave  everything  but  St.  James's  and 
Leicester  House.  They  lie  to-night  at  Lord  Abercorn's,  at 
Witham,  who  does  not  step  from  his  pedestal  to  meet 
them.  Lady  Strafford  said  to  him,  '  Soh !  my  Lord !  I 
hear  your  house  is  to  be  royally  filled  on  Wednesday.' — 
'And  serenely,'  he  replied,  and  closed  his  mouth  again  till 
next  day. 

Our  politics  have  been  as  follow.  Last  Friday  the  oppo- 
sition moved  for  Wilkes's  complaint  of  breach  of  privilege 
to  be  heard  as  to-day :  Grenville  objected  to  it,  and  at  last 
yielded,  after  receiving  some  smart  raps  from  Charles 
Townshend  and  Sir  George  Saville7.  On  Tuesday  the 
latter,  and  Sir  William  Meredith,  proposed  to  put  it  off  to 
the  13th  of  February,  that  Wilkes's  servant,  the  most 
material  evidence,  might  be  here.  George  Grenville  again 
opposed  it,  was  not  supported,  and  yielded.  Afterwards 
Dowdeswell 8  moved  for  a  committee  on  the  Cider  Bill ;  and, 
at  last,  a  committee  was  appointed  for  Tuesday  next,  with 
powers  to  report  the  grievances  of  the  bill,  and  suggest 
amendments  and  redress,  but  with  no  authority  to  repeal  it. 
This  the  administration  carried  but  by  167  to  125.  Indeed, 
many  of  their  people  were  in  the  House  of  Lords,  where 
the  court  triumphed  still  less.  They  were  upon  the  Essay 
on  Woman.  Sandwich  proposed  two  questions;  1st,  that 
Wilkes  was  the  author  of  it ;  2dly,  to  order  the  Black  Kod 
to  attach  him.  It  was  much  objected  by  the  Dukes  of 

7  Sir   George   Savile  (1726-1784),  held  office. 

eighth  Baronet,  of  Bufford,  Notting-  8  William  Dowdeswell  (1721-1775), 

hamshire,  M.P.  for  Yorkshire.     He  of  Pull  Court,  Worcestershire,  M.P. 

was  a  staunch  Whig,  and  adherent  for  Worcestershire;  Chancellor  of  the 

of  the  Kockingham  party,  but  never  Exchequer,  1766-66. 


444  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?64 

Devonshire,  Grafton,  Newcastle,  and  even  Richmond,  that 
the  first  was  not  proved,  and  might  affect  him  in  the  courts 
below.  Lord  Mansfield  tried  to  explain  this  away,  and  Lord 
Marchmont  and  Lord  Temple  had  warm  words.  At  last 
Sandwich,  artfully,  to  get  something,  if  not  all,  agreed  to 
melt  both  questions  into  one,  which  was  accepted  ;  and  the 
vote  passed,  that  it  appearing  Wilkes  was  the  author,  he 
should  be  taken  into  custody  by  the  usher.  It  appearing, 
was  allowed  to  mean  as  far  as  appears.  Then  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  search  for  precedents  how  to  proceed  on 
his  being  withdrawn.  That  dirty  dog  Kidgel  had  been 
summoned  by  the  Duke  of  Grafton,  but  as  they  only  went 
on  the  breach  of  privilege,  he  was  not  called.  The  new 
Club 9,  at  the  house  that  was  the  late  Lord  Waldegrave's,  in 
Albemarle  Street,  makes  the  ministry  very  uneasy ;  but  they 
have  worse  grievances  to  apprehend  ! 

Sir  Kobert  Kich  is  extremely  angry  with  my  nephew,  the 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  who,  like  his  own  and  wife's  family,  is 
tolerably  warm.  They  were  talking  together  at  St.  James's, 
when  A'Court10  came  in.  'There's  poor  A'Court,'  said  the 
Bishop.  '  Poor  A'Court !'  replied  the  Marshal,  '  I  wish  all 
those  fellows  that  oppose  the  King  were  to  be  turned  out 
of  the  army!'  'I  hope,'  said  the  Bishop,  'they  will  first 
turn  all  the  old  women  out  of  it !' 

The  Due  de  Pecquigny  was  on  the  point  of  a  duel  with 
Lord  Garlies11,  at  Lord  Milton's  ball,  the  former  handing 
the  latter's  partner  down  to  supper.  I  wish  you  had  this 
Duke  again,  lest  you  should  have  trouble  with  him  from 

9  A  tavern  in  Albemarle   Street,  wards   appointed  to  command  the 
frequented  by  members  of  the  oppo-  llth  Foot,  and  became  full  general 
sition.    They    subsequently     estab-  in  1778.     He  took  the  additional  sur- 
lished    a    club    there,    called    '  The  name  of  Ashe  on  inheriting  an  estate. 
Coterie.'  "  John  Stewart  (1786-1806),  Lord 

10  Lieutenant  -  General    William      Garlies,  eldest  son  of  sixth  Earl  of 
A'Court  (d.  1781),  M.P.  for  Heytesbury,       Galloway,   whom    he   succeeded  in 
dismissed  from  the  army  for  parlia-      1778. 

mentary  opposition.    He  was  after- 


1764]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  445 

hence :  he  seems  a  genius  of  the  wrong  sort.  His  behaviour 
on  the  visit  to  Woburn  was  very  wrong-headed,  though 
their  treatment  of  him  was  not  more  right.  Lord  Sand- 
wich flung  him  down  in  one  of  their  horse-plays,  and  almost 
put  his  shoulder  out.  He  said  the  next  day  there,  at 
dinner,  that  for  the  rest  of  his  life  he  should  fear  nothing 
so  much  as  a  lettre  de  cachet  from  a  French  secretary  of 
state,  or  a  coup  d'dpaule  from  an  English  one.  After  this 
he  had  a  pique  with  the  Duchess,  with  whom  he  had  been 
playing  at  whisk.  A  shilling  and  sixpence  were  left  on  the 
table,  which  nobody  claimed.  He  was  asked  if  it  was  his, 
and  said  no.  Then  they  said,  '  Let  us  put  it  to  the  cards ' : 
there  was  already  a  guinea.  The  Duchess,  in  an  air  of 
grandeur,  said  as  there  was  gold  for  the  Groom  of  the 
Chambers,  the  sweeper  of  the  room  might  have  the  silver, 
and  brushed  it  off  the  table.  The  Pecquigny  took  this  to 
himself,  though  I  don't  believe  meaned ;  and  complained 
to  the  whole  town  of  it,  with  large  comments,  at  his 
return.  It  is  silly  to  tell  you  such  silly  stories,  but  in 
your  situation  it  may  grow  necessary  for  you  to  know  the 
truth,  if  you  should  hear  them  repeated.  I  am  content 
to  have  you  call  me  gossip,  if  I  prove  but  of  the  least  use 
to  you. 

Here  have  I  tapped  the  ninth  page !  Well !  I  am  this 
moment  going  to  M.  de  Guerchy's,  to  know  when  Monin 
sets  out,  that  I  may  finish  this  eternal  letter.  If  I  tire  you, 
tell  me  so :  I  am  sure  I  do  myself.  If  I  speak  with  too 
much  freedom  to  you,  tell  me  so ;  I  have  done  it  in  con- 
sequence of  your  questions,  and  mean  it  most  kindly.  In 
short,  I  am  ready  to  amend  anything  you  disapprove ;  so 
don't  take  anything  ill,  my  dear  Lord,  unless  I  continue  after 
you  have  reprimanded  me.  The  safe  manner  in  which 
this  goes  has  made  me,  too,  more  explicit  than  you  know 
I  have  been  on  any  other  occasion.  Adieu  ! 


446  To  the  Countess  Temple  [i764 

Wednesday  night,  late. 

Well,  my  letter  will  be  finished  at  last.  M.  Monin  sets 
out  on  Friday ;  so  does  my  Lord  Holland  :  but  I  affect  not 
to  know  it,  for  he  is  not  just  the  person  that  you  or  I  should 
choose  to  be  the  bearer  of  this.  You  will  be  diverted  with 
a  story  they  told  me  to-night  at  the  French  Ambassador's. 
When  they  went  to  supper,  at  Soho,  last  night,  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  table. 
One  of  the  waiters  tapped  him  on  the  shoulder,  and  said, 
'  Sir,  your  Royal  Highness  can't  sit  there ;  that  place  is 
designed  for  the  Hereditary  Prince.'  You  ought  to  have 
seen  how  everybody's  head  has  been  turned  with  this 
Prince,  to  make  this  story  credible  to  you.  My  Lady 
Rockingham,  at  Leicester  House,  yesterday,  cried  great  sobs 
for  his  departure.  Yours  ever, 

PAGE  THE  NINTH. 

929.    To  THE  COUNTESS  TEMPLE. 

[1764.] 

MR.  WALPOLE  cannot  express  how  much  he  is  obliged 
and  honoured  by  the  trust  Lady  Temple  is  so  good  as  to  put 
in  him,  nor  will  her  Ladyship's  modesty  let  her  be  a  proper 
judge  how  great  that  is.  He  will  say  no  more  but  that 
more  than  slight  corrections  in  measure  would  destroy  the 
chief  merit  of  the  poems,  which  consists  in  the  beautiful 
ease  and  negligence  of  the  composition — a  merit  which 
correction  may  take  away,  but  can  never  bestow.  I  do  real 
justice  to  these  poems :  they  should  be  compared  with  the 
first  thoughts  and  sketches  of  other  great  poets.  Mr.  Addi- 
son,  with  infinite  labour,  accomplished  a  few  fine  poems ;  but 
what  does  your  Ladyship  think  were  his  rough  drafts  ? 


1764]  To  the  Rev.   William  Cole  447 


930.    To  THE  COUNTESS  TEMPLE. 

January  28,  1764. 

I  HAVE  now,  Madam,  very  carefully  studied  your  Lady 
ship's  poems,  in  which,  as  I  told  you,  I  can  find  no  faults 
but  in  the  longer  metre.  This  I  have  tried  to  supply  here 
and  there  by  a  syllable,  or  by  little  inversions  which  mend 
the  cadence ;  and  these  I  submit  to  your  Ladyship's  judge- 
ment as  mere  mechanic  corrections,  and  not  at  all  as  im- 
proving the  ease  and  natural  grace  of  the  original,  much 
less  the  poetry,  which  perhaps  suffers  by  my  dull  criticisms. 

Your  Ladyship  will  probably  improve  on  my  hints,  for 
your  own  genteel  pen  is  much  more  likely  to  strike  out 
proper  alterations  than  I,  who  work  by  dull  rules,  can  do. 
One  thing  I  am  sure  of,  that  larger  changes  than  I  have 
ventured  to  make,  would  entirely  prejudice  the  agreeable 
air  of  your  verses,  which  is  so  much  and  so  peculiarly  your 
own. 

When  I  have  the  honour  of  seeing  you,  I  will  hope  for 
further  orders  as  to  the  impression *,  which  I  trust  will  not 
be  so  rigidly  confined  as  you  first  proposed.  I  am,  Madam, 
your  most  obedient  and  most  sensibly  obliged  humble 
servant, 

HOR.  WALPOLE. 

931.    To  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  COLE. 

DEAR  SIR,  Arlington  Street,  Jan.  31,  1764. 

Several  weeks  ago  I  begged  you  to  tell  me  how  to  convey 
to  you  a  print  of  Strawberry  Hill,  and  another  of  Arch- 
bishop Button.  I  must  now  repeat  the  same  request  for 

LETTER  930. — *  Countess  Temple's  Poems  were  printed  at  Strawberry  Hill 
in  1764. 


448  To  Sir  David  Ddlrymple  [1764 

two  more  volumes  of  my  Anecdotes  of  Painting,  which  are 
on  the  point  of  being  published.  I  hope  no  illness  pre- 
vented my  hearing  from  you. 

Yours  ever, 

H.  WALPOLE. 


932.    To  SIB  DAVID  DALRYMPLE. 

Arlington  Street,  Jan.  31,  1764. 

I  AM  very  sorry,  Sir,  that  your  obliging  corrections  of  my 
Anecdotes  of  Painting  have  come  so  late,  that  the  first  volume 
is  actually  reprinted.  The  second  shall  be  the  better  for 
them.  I  am  now  publishing  the  third  volume,  arid  another 
of  Engravers.  I  wish  you  would  be  so  kind  as  to  tell  me 
how  I  may  convey  them  speedily  to  you:  you  waited  too 
long  the  last  time  for  things  that  have  little  merit  but 
novelty.  These  volumes  are  of  still  less  worth  than  the 
preceding ;  our  latter  painters  not  compensating  by  excel- 
lence for  the  charms  that  antiquity  has  bestowed  on  their 
antecessors. 

I  wish  I  had  known  in  time  what  heads  of  Nanteuil l  you 
want.  There  has  been  a  very  valuable  sale  of  Sir  Clement 
Cottrell's  prints,  the  impressions  most  beautiful,  and  of 
which  Nanteuil  made  the  capital  part.  I  do  not  know  who 
particularly  collects  his  works  now,  but  I  have  ordered  my 
bookseller  Bathoe 2,  who  is  much  versed  in  those  things,  to 
inquire ;  and  if  I  hear  of  any  purchaser,  Sir,  I  will  let  you 
know. 

I  have  not  bought  the  Anecdotes  of  Polite  Literature, 
suspecting  them  for  a  bookseller's  compilation,  and  con- 
firmed in  it  by  never  hearing  them  mentioned.  Our  book- 
sellers here  at  London  disgrace  literature  by  the  trash  they 

LETTER  982. — l  Bobert  Nanteuil  (1630-1678),  engraver. 
»  William  Bathoe  (d.  1768). 


1764]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  449 

bespeak  to  be  written,  and  at  the  same  time  prevent  every- 
thing else  from  being  sold.  They  are  little  more  or  less 
than  upholsters,  who  sell  sets  or  bodies  of  arts  and  sciences 
for  furniture ;  and  the  purchasers,  for  I  am  sure  they  are 
not  readers,  buy  only  in  that  view.  I  never  thought  there 
was  much  merit  in  reading :  but  yet  it  is  too  good  a  thing 
to  be  put  upon  no  better  footing  than  damask  and  mahogany. 
Whenever  I  can  be  of  the  least  use  to  your  studies  or 
collections,  you  know,  Sir,  that  you  may  command  me 
freely. 

933.    To  THE  EAEL  OF  HEETFOED. 

Arlington  Street,  Feb.  6,  1764. 

You  have,  I  hope,  long  before  this,  my  dear  Lord,  received 
the  immense  letter  that  I  sent  you  by  old  Monin.  It 
explained  much,  and  announced  most  part  of  which  has 
already  happened :  for  you  will  observe  that  when  I  tell 
you  anything  very  positively,  it  is  on  good  intelligence. 
I  have  another  much  bigger  secret  for  you,  but  that  will 
be  delivered  to  you  by  word  of  mouth.  I  am  not  a  little 
impatient  for  the  long  letter  you  promised  me.  In  the 
meantime  thank  you  for  the  account  you  give  me  of  the 
King's  extreme  civility  to  you.  It  is  like  yourself  to  dwell 
on  that,  and  to  say  little  of  M.  de  Chaulnes's  dirty  behaviour ; 
but  Monsieur  and  Madame  de  Guerchy  have  told  your  brother 
and  me  all  the  particulars. 

I  was  but  too  good  a  prophet  when  I  warned  you  to  expect 
new  extravagances  from  the  Due  de  Chaulnes's  son.  Some 
weeks  ago  he  lost  five  hundred  pounds  to  one  Virette,  an 
equivocal  being,  that  you  remember  here.  Paolucci,  the 
Modenese  minister,  who  is  not  in  the  odour  of  honesty,  was 
of  the  party.  The  Due  de  Pecquigny  said  to  the  latter, 
'Monsieur,  ne  jouez  plus  avec  lui,  si  vous  n'etes  pas  de 
moitie.'  So  far  was  very  well.  On  Saturday,  at  the 

WALPOLE.     V  Q     Of 


450  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?64 

Maccaroni  Club  (which  is  composed  of  all  the  travelled 
young  men  who  wear  long  curls  and  spying-glasses),  they 
played  again :  the  Due  lost,  but  not  much.  In  the  passage 
at  the  Opera,  the  Due  saw  Mr.  Stuart  talking  to  Virette,  and 
told  the  former  that  Virette  was  a  coquin,  a  fripon,  &c.,  &c. 
Virette  retired,  saying  only,  'Voila  un  fou.'  The  Due  then 
desired  Lord  Tavistook  to  come  and  see  him  fight  Virette, 
but  the  Marquis  desired  to  be  excused.  After  the  Opera, 
Virette  went  to  the  Due's  lodgings,  but  found  him  gone  to 
make  his  complaint  to  Monsieur  de  Guerchy,  whither  he 
followed  him ;  and  farther  this  deponent  knoweth  not. 
I  pity  the  Count,  who  is  one  of  the  best-natured  amiable 
men  in  the  world,  for  having  this  absurd  boy  upon  his 
hands ! 

Well !  now  for  a  little  politics.  The  Cider  Bill  has  not 
answered  to  the  minority,  though  they  ran  the  ministry 
hard  ;  but  last  Friday  was  extraordinary.  George  Grenville 
was  pushed  upon  some  Navy  bills1.  I  don't  understand 
a  syllable,  you  know,  of  money  and  accounts ;  but  what- 
ever was  the  matter,  he  was  driven  from  entrenchment  to 
entrenchment  by  Baker2  and  Charles  Townshend.  After 
that  affair  was  over,  and  many  gone  away,  Sir  W.  Meredith 
moved  for  the  depositions  on  which  the  warrant  against 
Wilkes  had  been  granted.  The  ministers  complained  of  the 
motion  being  made  so  late  in  the  day  ;  called  it  a  surprise ; 
and  Kigby  moved  to  adjourn,  which  was  carried  but  by  73 
to  60.  Had  a  surprise  been  intended,  you  may  imagine  the 
minority  would  have  been  better  provided  with  numbers ; 
but  it  certainly  had  not  been  concerted :  however,  a  majority, 
shrunk  to  thirteen,  frightened  them  out  of  the  small  senses 
they  possess.  Heaven,  Earth,  and  the  Treasury  were  moved 

LETTER  933. — l  According  to  Cro-       ties  at  4  per  cent. 

ker,  a  proposal  for  converting  certain  a  Sir  William  Baker,  Knight,  M.  P. 
outstanding  Navy  bills  into  annul-  for  Plympton. 


1764]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  451 

to  recover  their  ground  to-day,  when  the  question  was  re- 
newed. For  about  two  hours  the  debate  hobbled  on  very 
lamely,  when  on  a  sudden  your  brother  rose,  and  made  such 
a  speech — but  I  wish  anybody  was  to  give  you  the  account 
except  me,  whom  you  will  think  partial :  but  you  will  hear 
enough  of  it,  to  confirm  anything  I  can  say.  Imagine  fire, 
rapidity,  argument,  knowledge,  wit,  ridicule,  grace,  spirit; 
all  pouring  like  a  torrent,  but  without  clashing.  Imagine 
the  House  in  a  tumult  of  continued  applause :  imagine 
the  ministers  thunderstruck ;  lawyers  abashed  and  almost 
blushing,  for  it  was  on  their  quibbles  and  evasions  he  fell 
most  heavily,  at  the  same  time  answering  a  whole  session  of 
arguments  on  the  side  of  the  court.  No,  it  was  unique ;  you 
can  neither  conceive  it,  nor  the  exclamations  it  occasioned. 
Ellis,  the  Forlorn  Hope  Ellis,  presented  himself  in  the  gap, 
till  the  ministers  could  recover  themselves,  when  on  a  sudden 
Lord  George  Sackville  led  up  the  Blues s ;  spoke  with  as  much 
warmth  as  your  brother  had,  and  with  great  force  continued 
the  attack  which  he  had  begun.  Did  not  I  tell  you  he  would 
take  this  part  ?  I  was  made  privy  to  it ;  but  this  is  far  from 
all  you  are  to  expect.  Lord  North  in  vain  rumbled  about  his 
mustard-bowl*,  and  endeavoured  alone  to  outroar  a  whole 
party :  him  and  Forrester B,  Charles  Townshend  took  up,  but 
less  well  than  usual.  His  jealousy  of  your  brother's  success, 
which  was  very  evident,  did  not  help  him  to  shine.  There 
were  several  other  speeches,  and,  upon  the  whole,  it  was 
a  capital  debate ;  but  Plutus  is  so  much  more  persuasive  an 
orator  than  your  brother  or  Lord  George,  that  we  divided 
but  122  against  217.  Lord  Strange,  who  had  agreed  to  the 
question,  did  not  dare  to  vote  for  it,  and  declared  off;  and 

8  Which  he  had  failed  to  do  at  Thunder    and    Mustard    were    the 

Minden.  same  ;  but  since,  it  is  more  advan- 

«  Cf.  Dundad,  book  ii.  L  226 : '  With  tageously  performed  by  troughs  of 

thunder  rumbling  from  the  mustard-  wood  with  stops  in  them.' 

bowl.'    Pope's  note  on  this  line  is  as  5  Alexander  Forrester,    M.P,   for 

follows : — '  The  old  way  of  malting  Oakhampton. 


452  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [i?64 

George  Townshend,  who  had  actually  voted  for  it  on  Friday, 
now  voted  against  us.  Well !  upon  the  whole,  I  heartily 
wish  this  administration  may  last:  both  their  characters 
and  abilities  are  so  contemptible,  that  I  am  sure  we  can  be 
in  no  danger  from  prerogative  when  trusted  to  such  hands ! 

Before  I  have  done  with  Charles  Townshend,  I  must  tell 
you  one  of  his  admirable  bons  mots.  Miss  Draycote,  the 
great  fortune,  is  grown  very  fat:  he  says  her  tonnage  is 
become  equal  to  her  poundage. 

There  is  the  devil  to  pay  in  Nabob-land,  but  I  understand 
Indian  histories  no  better  than  stocks.  The  council  rebelled 
against  the  Governor ',  and  sent  a  deputation,  the  Lord  knows 
why,  to  the  Nabob7,  who  cut  off  the  said  deputies'  heads, 
and  then,  I  think,  was  dis-Nabob'd  himself,  and  Olive's  old 
friend  reinstated.  There  is  another  rebellion  in  Minorca, 
where  Johnston  has  renounced  his  allegiance  to  viceroy 
Dick  Lyttelton8,  and  set  up  for  himself.  Sir  Richard  has 
laid  the  affair  before  the  King  and  Council ;  Charles  Town- 
shend first,  and  then  your  brother  (you  know  why  I  am 
sorry  they  should  appear  together  in  that  cause),  have  tried 
to  deprecate  Sir  Richard's  wrath :  but  it  was  then  too  late. 
The  silly  fellow  has  brought  himself  to  a  precipice. 

I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  Lord  George  Sackville  carried 
into  the  minority  with  him  his  own  brother  Lord  Middlesex  ; 
Lord  Milton's  brother 9 ;  young  Beauclerc ;  Sir  Thomas 
Hales 10 ;  and  Colonel  Irwine  u. 

6  Henry   Vansittart    (1732-1770),      Mir  Jaffier,  was  reinstated. 
Governor  of  Bengal.  8  Sir  Richard  Lyttelton  was  Go- 

7  Mir  l^asim,  set  up  by  Vansittart      vernor  of  Minorca. 

in  the  place  of  Mir  Jaffier.     He  in-  9  John  Darner,  M.P.  for  Dorches- 

curred  the  resentment  of  the  Council  ter  ;  d.  1783. 

of  the  East    India  Company,   and  10  Sir  Thomas  Pym  Hales,  fourth 

massacred  the  deputies  sent  to  re-  Baronet  (d.  1773),  M.F.  for  Downton. 

monstrate  with  him.  The  Company's  u     Major  -  General     John    Irwin 

troops  took  the  field  under  Adams,  (1728-1788),  M.P.  for  East  Grinstead; 

and    in    four    months    conquered  afterwards   K.B.,   and   Governor  of 

Bengal,  forcing  Mir  Kasim  to  take  Gibraltar, 
refuge  in  Oude.    '  dive's  old  friend,' 


1764]  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  453 

We  have  not  heard  a  word  yet  of  the  Hereditary  Prince 
and  Princess.  They  were  sent  away  in  a  tempest,  and  I 
believe  the  best  one  can  hope  is,  that  they  are  driven  to 
Norway. 

Good  night,  my  dear  Lord ;  it  is  time  to  finish,  for  it  is 
half  an  hour  after  one  in  the  morning:  I  am  forced  to 
purloin  such  hours  to  write  to  you,  for  I  get  up  so  late,  and 
then  have  such  a  perpetual  succession  of  nothings  to  do, 
such  auctions,  politics,  visits,  dinners,  suppers,  books  to 
publish  or  revise,  &c.,  that  I  have  not  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
without  call  upon  it ;  but  I  need  not  tell  you,  who  know 
my  life,  that  I  am  forced  to  create  new  time,  if  I  will  keep 
up  my  correspondence  with  you.  You  seem  to  like  I  should, 
and  I  wish  to  give  you  every  satisfaction  in  my  power. 

Tuesday,  February  7,  Four  o'clock. 

I  tremble  whilst  I  continue  my  letter,  having  just  heard 
such  a  dreadful  story !  A  captain  of  a  vessel  has  made  oath 
before  the  Lord  Mayor,  this  morning,  that  he  saw  one  of  the 
yachts  sink  on  the  coast  of  Holland  ;  and  it  is  believed  to  be 
the  one  in  which  the  Prince  was.  The  City  is  in  an  uproar ; 
nor  need  one  point  out  all  such  an  accident  may  produce,  if 
true  ;  which  I  most  fervently  hope  it  is  not.  My  long  letter 
will  help  you  to  comments  enough,  which  will  be  made  on 
this  occasion.  I  wish  you  may  know,  at  this  moment,  that 
our  fears  are  ill-placed.  The  Princess  was  not  in  the  same 
yacht  with  her  husband.  Poor  Fanshawe,  as  Clerk  of  the 
Green  Cloth,  with  his  wife  and  sister,  was  in  one  of  them. 

Here  is  more  of  the  Due  de  Pecquigny's  episode.  An 
officer  was  sent  yesterday  to  put  Virette  under  arrest.  His 
servant  disputed  with  the  officer  on  his  orders,  till  his 
master  made  his  escape.  Virette  sent  a  friend,  whom  he 
ordered  to  deliver  his  letter  in  person,  and  see  it  read,  with 
a  challenge,  appointing  the  Due  to  meet  him  at  half  an  hour 


454  To  the  Earl  of  Hertford  [1764 

after  seven  this  morning,  at  Buckingham  Gate,  where  he 
waited  till  ten  to  no  purpose,  though  the  Due  had  not  been 
put  under  arrest.  Virette  absconds,  and  has  sent  M.  de 
Pecquigny  word,  that  he  shall  abscond  till  he  can  find 
a  proper  opportunity  of  fighting  him.  Your  discretion  will 
naturally  prevent  your  talking  of  this ;  but  I  thought  you 
would  like  to  be  prepared,  if  this  affair  should  anyhow 
happen  to  become  your  business,  though  your  late  discus- 
sion with  the  Due  de  Chaulnes  will  add  to  your  disinclina- 
tion from  meddling  with  it. 

I  must  send  this  to  the  post  before  I  go  to  the  Opera,  and 
therefore  shall  not  be  able  to  tell  you  more  of  the  Prince  of 
Brunswick  by  this  post. 


END    OF   VOL.    V 


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