THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
EX LIBRIS
LETTERS
AND
JOURNALS
OF
MRS. CALDERWOOD
OF
POLTON
LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF
MRS. CALDERWOOD OF POLTON
FROM ENGLAND HOLLAND AND
THE LOW COUNTRIES IN 1756
EDITED BY ALEXANDER FERGUSSON, LIEUT.-COLONEL
Author of 'HENRY ERSKINE AND HIS KINSFOLK,' etc.
EDINBURGH
PRINTED FOR DAVID DOUGLAS
MDCCCLXXXIV
PRINTED BY T. AND A. CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY
AT THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS
College
Library
TO
THE MEMORY OF
LILIAS CALDERWOOD DURHAM,
MRS. DUNDAS DURHAM OF LARGO AND POLTON,
'THE LAST OF THE CALDERWOODS'
Cjjis Oolume
IS INSCRIBED.
A M
\f\
JLvJ
-The more I think of it I find this conclusion more
impressed upon me that the greatest thing a human soul ever
does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw
in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can
think; but thousands can think for one who can see. To see
clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion all in one.'
John Ruskin.
TO THE READER
A MONGST those who think and
read there are some who feel it
to be a characteristic of much of the
writing of the present day, that the
refinement of modern phrasing,
sweetly modulated diction, and
extreme polish, have been carried
to a point where the vigour of
sound English is endangered; even
as we have seen pictures lose what
of strength they may have had, by
an excessive use of c finish.' To
some feeling of this kind may, per-
haps, be due the fact that, of late,
the even tenour of one-coloured
viii TO THE READER
narrative in several modern stories
has been relieved effectively by
dashes of strong unvarnished talk,
plain and homely, put into the
mouths of old Scotch ladies. The
process has been effective, more or
less, according as it approached, or
fell short of, reality.
In the following letters and jour-
nals we see how a well-born Scots
lady of the last century thought and
wrote. They are a literary curiosity,
and over and above the interest they
possess, without an undue admix-
ture of Scotch words, have a value
as a standard of the purest Scottish
idiom. Accordingly it is thought
they will be welcomed by all who,
like Mr. Ruskin, can appreciate the
TO THE READER ix
language of Scott, and of our
grandmothers ; and can discriminate
between it and inferior imitations,
even as he c knows Horatian Latin
from modern and scientific ditto.'
Mrs. Calderwood wrote not with
a c flourit pen.' But, as a very dis-
tinguished countryman of hers has
said, in connection with another
matter, her c notion of style was to
fold words as closely as possible
round the very things she meant ;
and she used, with more or less of
tact, every means for that purpose
that her English [or Scotch] afforded.'
It will be allowed that in her
remarks on persons and things that
came under her notice, and in her
descriptions of those simple appear-
x TO THE READER
ances which we now suppose to be
known, she is as cogent, and as much
to the point, as ever her brilliant
nephews were ; namely, Henry Ers-
kine, the Lord Advocate of Scot-
land ; and Thomas Erskine, Lord
High Chancellor of Great Britain.
For ' closeness ' of writing there
are passages that would have de-
lighted Charles Reade. Probably
no single line in his c Wandering
Heir' contains more than this of
Mrs. Calderwood's, c he dying, the
mother bred the children popish, and
lived here.' Then there are touches,
whether altogether original or not,
that deserve to be remembered; as
that regarding the Flemish Jewess,
who, by her marriage, c pleased her
TO THE READER xi
eye, but vexed her heart.' A writer
who alludes to her infant grandson
as a c hellicat thief must be classed
among the originals.
The narrative of her journey is
little, if at all, known to many in
Scotland. Even to many of those
who are connected with Mrs. Calder-
wood by birth, it will be new;
though it does not now appear for
the first time. Forty-two years ago it
was printed, just as the writer left the
bare MS., by the Maitland Club; but
their books were c privately printed,'
were not published, nor for sale.
Consequently, the bulky quarto vol-
ume, entitled the Coltness Collections ,
admirably put together by the late
Mr. James Dennistoun of Dennistouri,
xii TO THE READER
which contains, amongst other things,
Mrs. Calderwood's journal and letters,
is rarely to be met with, except in
public libraries, or in the collections
of book-hunters. When a copy is
by chance offered for sale, it fetches
a large price.
Such being the case, it was the
opinion of several that the narrative
might be read with interest if pre-
sented in a convenient form, and with
such explanatory matter as would
make it intelligible to readers in the
present day. The favourable recep-
tion accorded by English critics to
the few short specimens of these
letters submitted, not long ago, to the
judgment of readers, has confirmed
this idea. With this view one or
TO THE READER xiii
two letters hitherto imprinted have
been added.
In furtherance of this object Mr.
Robert Dundas of Arniston, the di-
rect descendant of Mrs. Calderwood,
and her representative, has afforded
assistance which has been of the ut-
most value.
Besides an Introductory Chapter,
necessarily much condensed, showing
who those Calderwoods and Steuarts
were, and the occasion of the letters,
it has been attempted to compare
small things with great to do for
these writings, as far as has been
possible, what has been so excellently
done, in the way of elucidation, by
Peter Cunningham and Moy Thomas
respectively, for the correspondence
xiv TO THE READER
of the two great English letter- writers
of the last century.
' History,' wrote Michelet, c ought
to be a resurrection.' Accordingly,
it is thought, these unvarnished
sketches may serve, in some degree,
to illustrate a very interesting period
in Scottish annals.
A. F.
Lennox Street, Edinburgh,
October 1884.
CONTENTS
To THE READER, .... page vii
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
Sir Walter Scott on Scotch dialect: Old Scots ladies: Sir
Walter's forecast : Country ladies as critics : Effective Scots
narrative : Provost Stewart of Kirkfield : Anna Hope :
' Lady Gutters ' : Sir James Steuart of Goodtrees : Bishop
Leighton at Goodtrees : James Steuart in hiding : Pardoned :
1688: Lord Advocate: Solicitor-General Coltness ' :
Calderwoods of Polton : Agnes, Countess of Buchan : Sir
James Steuart of Coltness and Lady Frances Wemyss :
Letter from Paris : Lady Buchan's Letter : Jacobite Exiles :
Start of the Calderwoods, . . . page xxi
CHAPTER I.
Over the Border : Sunday in England : Durham Cathedral :
A Highwayman : Rachel, the Chambermaid : Irish or
Welsh : Impressions of England : The Cattle : The People :
Their Talk : Comparisons of Land Tenure : Population,
Trade, and Wages : London Gossip: Vauxhall and Ranelagh:
The Duke in Hyde Park : Food and Cookery : Mr. Traill
of Jamaica : English Vapours, ... 3
xvi CONTENTS
CHAPTER II.
On the Road for Harwich : Cattle Plague : Fish Ponds and
Swine : Visit to Provost Stewart at Mitcham : Colchester :
The Harwich Packets : The Calderwoods embark : Fellow
Passengers : Dr. Monro : Peter Dondie : The Opera
Dancer : King's Messengers : Misery at Sea : Helvoet
Sluys: A disputed landing: Helvoet to Rotterdam: Life
at the Swyn's Hooft: Dutch currency, . page 37
CHAPTER III.
Preliminary Note : Rotterdam depicted : Canals and Coaches :
Horses and Horse-chairs : Boompjees : Markets : Dutch
Houses : The Beds : Pewter Work : Mr. Crawfurd's
House : Peats and Charcoal : The Secret of Dutch
Bleaching : Worship of the Herring : Dutch Farming :
A Dutch Sunday : The People criticised : Character and
Appearance : Dutch Vivers : Delft to the Hague, . 6 1
CHAPTER IV.
At the Hague : The Light-headed English : Dr. Monro cross-
examined : The Dutch Court : The ( Princess Governante ' :
Princess Caroline : The Young Stadtholder : States Chambers :
' House in the Wood ' : Scheveling : Arbours and Summer-
houses : A Burgomaster's Politics : The Anabaptist Pro-
fessor's Views : Dutch Jews : The Burgomaster's gratitude :
Fair at Harlem : Amsterdam : Frederic the Great incognito :
Philosophy of Travel, . . . .92
CONTENTS xvii
CHAPTER V.
Preliminary Note: The 'Track-Scoot': Esthetics of the
Dutch : Extortion : Canal Scenes : Fletcher of Salton and
the Skipper : Church at Targow : Post Waggon to Rotter-
dam : Loss of the Guide-book : Bergen-op-Zoom : The
siege criticised : On to Antwerp : Characteristics of Soph.
Johnstone : The Bells of Antwerp : Peggie from Edin-
burgh : Mass in the great Church : Visit to the English
Convent: A Festival, . . . page 119
CHAPTER VI.
Preliminary Note : Antwerp to Tirlemont : Jesuits' College at
Louvaine : Roman Catholic Education : Difficulties for
Protestant boys : Mr. Needham and Young Townley : Liege
and Edinburgh compared : ' Trifoncias ' : Johnston a Scotch
impostor : Gordon of Cowbairdy at Liege : The Jesuits'
College : Father Blair : Father Daniel and his Opinions :
Mrs. Calderwood's views of the Papacy : Field of Rocoux :
Meeting with Sir James Steuart : Coal Mines of Liege, 149
CHAPTER VII.
Spa and its Waters : Mr. Luck : Mr. Hay : Dutch Jews in the
Ball-room : Mr. Hay's Farro Bank : The Spencers : Young
Perry and his Governor : Mrs. Poyntz and the Duchess
d' Aremberg : A Jesuit ruse at Liege : The Bishop and Prince
of Osburgh : Lady Betty Worsley : Lord Dungarvan and
the Hon. H. Boyle : Madame Beaton : Madame Patine :
Baron de la Fael : M. de Marr : Madame Hussy : Madame
Cresnar : Sir James Steuart and Mons. D'Aubigny, . 1 84
xviii CONTENTS
CHAPTER VIII.
The Capucines at Spa : Catholic Devotions : The ' Ten
Commands': At the 'Benediction': A Jacobite Com-
munity : Their servants' French : Sir Richard Lyttelton :
Mr. Ward : Mr. Burrage : A Hungarian Princess :
Industries of Spa : Economies : The Ardennes : Father
Needham's experiments : Young Townley : Move towards
Brussels : Chaude Fontaine : Gordons of Cowbairdy at
Liege : Father Steuart : A young monk of St. Benedict :
Tirlemont to Brussels, . . . page 210
CHAPTER IX.
Arrival at Brussels : House-hunting : A friendly Irishman :
Mr. Davies : Educational : Veto of the Priest's housekeeper :
Boys sent to School : Household matters : Prices of Labour :
A Jewess married for love : Difficulties with a Flemish
Contract: Currency: ' A Ready-reckoner,' . . 235
CHAPTER X.
Brussels Streets and Fair : The Manneken Fountain : Water
Supply : Church of St. Gudule : The Beguinage : Flemish
Charity : Work of the Sisters : Festival of St. Michael :
Processions : Taxes and Provisions : Fuel and Stoves :
Beauties of Charcoal : Mrs. Calderwood's Secret of the
Pen : Fruits of Travel : Continental breadth of vision and
politeness, . . . . . . 257
CHAPTER XL
Preface to the ' Fourth Volume ' : Brussels, its inhabitants'
characteristics : Spanish pride of the Nobility : An Irish
CONTENTS
xix
Lady and her daughter : Madame Beaton : Major Ducary
of Lord Stair's Regiment: Wanderings of Mme. Beaton: Her
French : Her card-playing : Mme. Jolly : Her provisional
Baptism: Controversial talk: Gossip: An unfortunate Prince :
Dutch Rapacity : Frost and the ' English Key,' page 273
CHAPTER XII.
An unsuccessful Candidate : His menage : A simple Ice-house :
The Sun and Smoke : Mr. Whitnor and the Nuns : Visit
to a Convent: English desire of Ease: Unknown to the
Scotch: Ceremony of a Nun's Profession: The Sermon
and Farewell, ..... 299
.CHAPTER XIII.
Concerts and Masked Balls : Theatrical : Passage of Arms with
Captain Hew: Eccentricities of Captain Hew and Lady
Nell: Lord Bellew : Mr. Butler and Mr. O'Farle : At
Count Callenberg's : Economy in High places : The Jesuits
outwitted : A Scotch Tailor and a Franciscan Friar from the
Wars : German and French Politics : Despatch of the MS., 3 20
L'ENVOI.
Mrs. Calderwood's writings and style : Her essay in novel-
writing : ' Adventures of Fanny Roberts ' : Novel-writing,
ancient and modern : Mrs. Calderwood to Mrs. Durham of
Largo : ' The Secret Expedition ' : Further wanderings of
Sir James Steuart : Lady Mary Wortley Montagu : Arrest
and imprisonment of Sir James : ' Aunt Betty ' : Pardon
and Return : ' Journal of Factorship ' : Mrs. Calderwood's
sons: Subsequent Family History, . . -353
Genealogical Sketch, . . . . -379
ILLUSTRATIONS
POLTON HOUSE ; Etching by W. B. Hole, A.R.S.A.,
on Title-page
' THE GLORY OF THE PEN ' (after L. Friedrich, Ulm ;
1756), drawn by C. M. F., . . page xiv
' VELUTI IN SPECULO ; ' designed and drawn by A. F., . xx
i8TH CENTURY ORNAMENT ; drawn by C. M. F., . Iviii
SIGNATURE OF MRS. CALDERWOOD, . . . 349
' A THOUGHT IN THE CANDLEMAKER Row ; ' designed
and drawn by A. F., . . . . 378
IN TROD UC TOR Y CHA P TER
There is a saying among the Scotch that an ounce of
mother wit is worth a pound of clergy.'
ADDISON.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
Sir Walter Scott on Scotch dialect : Old Scots ladies :
Sir Walter's forecast : Country ladies as critics :
Effective Scots narrative: PROVOST STEWART
of Kirkfield : Anna Hope : c Lady Gutters ' :
SIR JAMES STEUART of Goodtrees : Bishop
Leigh ton at Goodtrees : James Steuart in hiding :
Pardoned: 1688: Lord Advocate: 'Solicitor-
General Coltness ' : Calderwoods of Polton :
Agnes, Countess of Euchan : SIR JAMES
STEUART of Coltness and LADY FRANCES
WEMYSS : Letter from Paris : Lady Euchan s
Letter : Jacobite Exiles : Start of the Calder-
woods.
IT is now sixty years since Sir Walter Scott
wrote to his friend Constable deploring the speedy
extinction, imminent as it seemed to him, if it had
not actually taken place, of that class of Scots
gentlewomen that he himself delighted to portray ;
those fine old ladies who thought and spoke in
xxiv MRS. CALDERWOOD
racy Scotch, their own native tongue. He recalls
with what elegance Mrs. Murray Keith, Lady
Dumfries, his own mother, and many other ladies
of that day would clothe their quaint ideas in a
dialect as different from English as Venetian is
from Tuscan speech. It never occurred to any
one in those days that Scotch, when spoken as it
then was by the learned, and the wise, and the
witty, had a trace of vulgarity in it ; on the con-
trary, says Sir Walter, c it sounded rather graceful
and genteel.'
But it is certain that Scott took a view some-
what too despondent when he wrote in this regret-
ful mood. Happily the process of extinction has
been more leisurely than was foretold, and the race
of old gentlewomen, speaking with perfect purity
their own mother tongue, so dear to Scott, and
Cockburn, and Dean Ramsay, has proved more
tenacious to the soil than was thought for. And it
has been the privilege of some still living to hear
from venerable lips this gentle Scottish speech,
incomparable alike for the expression of pathos and
of humour. But it may truly now be said in Sir
Walter's phrase ( all this is gone, and the remem-
brance will be drowned with us elders of the
existing generation.'
INTRODUCTORY xxv
But if these fine old talkers have hastened thus
tardily away, the case is different with the old
letter-writers, a class of Scotch ladies even more
interesting. They have long been gone, and
nought but a memory. It is needless to recount
the many different causes that rendered it a
necessity that this should be so ; but it is un-
doubted that they have done much by their graphic
and truthful writing to preserve for us traces of
manners, modes of thought, and speech that other-
wise would have been lost. How it is that these
ladies have given such a distinct character to Scotch
narrative writing may be, perhaps, explained partly
by their position, and partly by national tempera-
ment.
Those ruthless correspondents in the last cen-
tury, like Mrs, Mure of Caldwell, or before her,
Elizabeth Mure, with many others that might
be named, who swept the face of society with their
light artillery, whose pens were arms of precision
effective to pick off the prominent characters of the
hour with the most delicate of sharpshooting, were
of that well-defined sphere of Edinburgh society
which rendered everything possible to them in the
way of fearless and effective criticism which their
natural talents enabled them to make. Things
xxvi MRS. CALDERWOOD
were done, and said, and written by ladies of this
class which would not have been borne at the
hands of persons of lower degree. There was, it
is true, a line which might not be passed, as may be
seen by those who read with a careful eye, but it
is acknowledged it is not always easy to discern
this line.
The best of these letter-writers were as a rule
country gentlefolk who came occasionally to town.
Along with an enjoyment of town gaiety, all the
more keen because of the rarity of such pleasures
which expense and bad roads entailed, city manners
were a never-failing subject of interest to those who
knew how to observe. How quaintly, for instance,
and with what force does Lady Elliot Murray write
from Edinburgh the result of her observations ;
that f the misses are the most rotten part of the
society ; ' c envy and jealousy of their rivals,' she
says, f are the absorbing objects of their lives.'
But, it is admitted, t there are many worthy, agree-
able, well- principled people, if you get over the
language, manners, and adress, which at first are
striking.'
This was from a critic whose study had been
nature and a few standard books ; to whom much
laborious needle-work, and silent communing with
INTRODUCTORY xxvii
her own thoughts, had given a feeling akin to the
1 exaltation of loneliness,' and a stand-point higher
than that of the city folks so freely canvassed.
It has more than once been stated fortunately
by writers who had no Scotch prejudices that
there appears to have been in Scotland, in the old
time, a gift so common as to seem almost a
national characteristic, of facility and felicity of
expression, combined with the clearest inward
sight, of the character of ' artistic vision.' Or it is
of the nature of that quality which Hazlitt defined
as 'gusto.'
It may not be known to all that there are still
extant records of evidence taken before the old
Church courts, and elsewhere, in Scotland, which
afford instances of happy expression and apparent
artless candour on the part of the witnesses
wonderful in effectiveness, if single-fold ; and if
otherwise, marvels of self-concealing art. In-
stances of this felicity of expression are to be
found in plenty in the old Acts of General
Assembly of the Scottish Church : for example,
when inquiry into a matter under notice was
postponed, they directed that it be c sisted till God
give further light.' Again, in most of the com-
plaints to the Scotch king in the sixteenth century,
xxviii MRS. CALDERWOOD
of wrong and violence done on the Border, the
complainants begin by stating that at the time in
question they were f dreading harm from no man,
but only wishing to live in God's peace and the
king's ' when the outrage complained of was per-
petrated. Here is a picture of rural simplicity and
innocence as skilful and full of suggestion as a
sketch from the needle of Seymour Haden, which
these Border artists in words were very sure to
belie on the first opportunity.
Whether this gift of effective narrative be a part
of that shrewdness said to be a Scotch peculiarity
is a question that may be fairly discussed. 1 But
it is believed that in the letters and journals of
1 A notable instance of what is meant may be cited ; namely,
the brisk passage of arms between Major Somerville and Captain
Crawfurd, as narrated by that most prolix of writers, Lord
James Somerville Memorie of the Somervills, vol. ii. pp. 272-4.
The combat between the Major, with his ' half rapper-sword
backed, and a great kain in his left hand,' and the Captain armed
with ' a large broad-sword and Highland dirk,' began at the middle
of the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh : step by step, they fought
down the High Street till some way past the wooden booths of
the goldsmiths. The varying fortunes of the fight are told in a
manner so minute and graphic that, indeed, we seem to hear the
clash of the swords as they meet, and the click of the dagger in
the parries. La Rixe of Meissonier is not a more life-like picture
of a deadly brawl. This is all the more remarkable as probably
the writer was not born at the time of the occurrence.
INTRODUCTORY xxix
Mrs. Calderwood there may be found abundant
evidence to support the theories now advanced.
Indeed these letters seem, in some measure, to
give a clue to the secret of all good narrative
writing ; in simplicity, earnestness, and intense
interest in the matter in hand, brooking no un-
necessary ornamentation.
Mrs. Calderwood's position as will be shown
was such as to give her the freedom necessary
for good letter-writing, while her clear-headedness,
genial humour, and a goodly measure of the
national gift combined to make her notes of travel
the entertaining pictures it is hoped the reader
may find them.
Sir James Stewart of Kirkfield and Coltness, 1
commonly known as Provost Stewart, was a
merchant and banker of Edinburgh. He was
accounted one of the c stiff' Presbyterians in
1 There has been much and bitter contention regarding the
origin of this branch of the Stewart family. Whether the
Stewarts of Allanton (the progenitors of Provost Stewart) were
descendants of Sir John Stewart of Bonkill, or only ' rentallers ' of
the See of Glasgow, forms the subject of the great ' Saltfoot
Controversy,' originally carried on in the first numbers of
B/ackwood's Magazine, some 64 years ago, and afterwards pub-
lished in book form. The question can scarcely be said to be
satisfactorily settled to this day.
xxx MRS. CALDERWOOD
Covenanting times, but was withal an amiable
and tender-hearted man, with little of the c dour '
fanatical Whig about him. He is described, at a
time when there was little of leniency on either
side, as having 'nothing of insolence or bloody
cruelty in his disposition,' and it is said he con-
sidered that c the Marques Argyle pursued and
prosecute the unfortunate Montrose with too keen
resentment.' c What need,' Sir James would say,
4 of so much butchery and dismembering ? Has
not heading and publickly affixing the head been
thought sufficient for the most atrocious State
crimes hitherto ? We are embroyled and have
taken sydes, but to insult too much over the
mislead is unmanly.'
When the army of the Commonwealth entered
Scotland, and before the battle of Dunbar was
fought, Provost Stewart, together with the Mar-
quis of Argyle and the Earl of Eglinton, held a
conference with Cromwell on Bruntsfield Links ;
and withstood stoutly his Independent and sectarian
arguments, opposing to them views based on
respect for the Church of Scotland, the Covenant,
Royalty, and true Reformation. So persistently
were these urged that Oliver mounted his horse
and rode off, muttering as he went threats of
INTRODUCTORY xxxi
bloodshed, and words singularly prognostic of a
Restoration. 1
For all his moderation there came, with the
restored king, a hard time for Sir James and his
sons ; fines and imprisonments, and { forfaulting.'
Only the great legal skill of his third son, the
future Lord Advocate, extricated him from for-
feiture that would have involved the ruin of the
whole family.
Provost Stewart married, while yet young, an
excellent industrious lady of his own age, Anna
Hope, niece of Sir Thomas Hope, Lord Advocate,
who, even after her marriage, at her own house
in the Luckenbooths, carried on a successful
commerce in silks and velvets, as more than one
generation of the Hopes, her predecessors, is said
to have done; if the historian of The Somervills
and Sir Archibald Stewart are to be believed. Y-
The estimable Anna died young, leaving six
children ; and Sir James afterwards fixed his
choice on a greave matron of middle age, of ap-
proved virtue and piety,' Marion M'Culloch,
1 ' If ever there is a return or restoration, you Lord
Marquess shall smart among the first.' ' Most of this,' writes
Sir Arch. Stewart, ' 1 had from Major Bunting, who on this
conference attended Earl Eglinton.' Coltneis Coll., pp. 32-33.
xxxii MRS. CALDERWOOD
widow of John Elliot, younger of Stobbs.
Though a person with many pettish humours,
she seems to have been not altogether unreason-
able. Sir James had f a dexterity to manage the
lady's temper,' gently admonishing ; and * some-
times with ane " Insist, Marion ! " ' the good
woman was all submission and acknowledgment. 1
To her belonged the estate of Goodtrees com-
monly called f Gutters ' near Edinburgh ; and,
according to the Scotch fashion, she was usually
styled ' Lady Gutters.' This pretty estate (now
called Moredun) ultimately passed into the posses-
sion of the Provost Stewart's third son, Sir James
Steuart, Lord Advocate. 2
During his father's lifetime James Steuart, the
grandfather of Mrs. Calderwood, was driven to
seek refuge in France. His successful defence
of his father had caused him to be obnoxious.
His sympathy more than suspected with the
leaders of the Pentland Rising, 3 if not substantial
1 Coltness Collections, p. 28.
2 Sir James Stewart, the Provost, died in March 1681. 'So
he had a numerous and honourable funeral!, and was laid in his
own burying-ground in Grey Friars Church-yard, and in his
loving wife Anna Hope's grave, and many sincere tears were
dropped upon his turf, at his buriall.' Coltness Collections.
' Sir James Steuart told me his father, the Lord Advocate,
3 t
INTRODUCTORY xxxiii
assistance afforded to them ; his share, whether
known or suspected, in the production of two of
the most rancorous of the many bitter tractates *
put out by the Presbyterians at this time, rendered
this step a necessity. He was absent four years ;
and he had not been long returned when another
severe cut was inflicted on the Scotch administra-
tion of government, apparently from the hand of
James Steuart : this was the appearance of another
virulent print, entitled Scotland's Grievances by
Reason of the Duke of Lauder dale's Ministry. His
brother's house of Coltness was searched for trace
of the offender and his treasons ; but he was
gone.
Subsequently James Steuart became an im-
portant agent in the efforts then being made to
corresponded with the Pentland people . . . that his father lost
all hope of them when he heard they wer come to Collingtoun,
yet he sent a letter to them by a wif that sold draff the night
before the engagement ; but it being a terrible snou she lost her
way. He sent a message to them the Cougate port was secured.'
WODROW'S Analecta, ii. 327.
1 Naphtali; or, the Wrestlings of the Church for the Kingdom
of Christ ; and Jus Populi Vindicatum ; or, the People's right
to defend themselves and their Covenanted Religion Vindicated,
books which have been said to possess great intellectual and
moral power, though their tendency is somewhat inadequately
described by Lord Macaulay.
xxxiv MRS. CALDERWOOD
re-establish Protestant rule, and was concerned in
Argyle's rebellion to the extent of affording him
professional advice and assistance. 1 He is also
said to have been concerned in the Rye House
Plot. He, along with Lord Stair, was ultimately
charged with rebellion, in absence ; after having
been cited at the Pier of Leith, according to old
custom, Steuart was tried and condemned to exe-
cution, when he should be apprehended. 2
He was at this time at Utrecht, where were
assembled many of his fellow-countrymen similarly
situated with himself; amongst others, Fletcher of
Saltoun, Lord Cardross, Lord Stair, Lord Melville,
1 . . . ' The Earl published a manifesto, drawn up in Hol-
land, under the direction of the Committee, by James Steuart, a
Scotch advocate. ... In this paper were set forth, with a
strength of language sometimes approaching to scurrility, many
real and imaginary grievances.' MACAULAY, vol. ii. chap. 5.
2 It was upon this occasion that Sir George Mackenzie, the
Lord Advocate, upon sentence being passed, uttered in Court
the extraordinary speech : ' This family are not Stewarts ;
their father, Provost Stewart, was a pair-legged Macgregor, and
changed his name when he came to town because of the Act of
Parliament ; and these forfault Stewarts are all damned Mac-
gregors ! ' Coltness Collections t p. 80. The allusion is to ' a
strict Act against the clan Greigour suppressing the name.' Ch.
i. part I. cap. 30, revived in the following reign. See Index
to Scots Acts by Sir James Steuart, Her Majesty's Advocate.
Edin. 1707.
INTRODUCTORY xxxv
Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, as well as his own
elder brother Sir Thomas Stewart, to whom Perm
had given the name of f Gospel Coltness,' all
awaiting better days. In Holland he met William
Penn, the Quaker, King James's diplomatic emis-
sary charged to persuade the Prince of Orange of
f the king's great sanctity in religious matters, and
of his unlimited charity for Christians of all deno-
minations.' He succeeded in convincing Penn of
the moderation of his views, 1 so that James, at the
instigation of his adviser, pardoned Steuart in the
hope that by his means future dealings with the
stiffnecked Whigs might be facilitated. Bygones
were accordingly forgotten, his share in Argyle's
rebellion was pardoned, and he was called over to
James's court.
Whether or not it was that James Steuart was
able, from the sagacity that a life of struggle
and adversity had taught him, to make a skilful
forecast of the events of the next year or two
in the interests of his party, it is certain that
before leaving Holland he managed to come to an
understanding with the Prince of Orange. These
1 His correspondence at this period with Flagel, the Stadt-
holder's Pensionary, is noticed, amongst others, by Lord Mac-
aulay.
xxxvi MRS. CALDERWOOD
' premature actings,' as they were termed, had,
however, the effect of shaking, for a time, what
confidence in him either party may have had, and
procured for him the nickname of f Jamie Wylie.'
His political career at this time was not marked
by that uncompromising spirit which characterised
the leaders of the party, and failed to give entire
satisfaction to either side. Still there were those
as Carstares and Wodrow who never doubted
his good faith ; the latter knew him personally,
and was his confidant, and familiar friend, so that
the easy credulity which has been charged upon
the historian of the Church's sufferings can with
less force be said to affect his opinion in this case.
Connected with the Steuart family, and especially
with the good old Provost and Sir James, his son,
at the period of their greatest suffering, are many
interesting details which would go far to make a
comprehensive biography of the Lord Advocate,
in which an effort might be made, in dealing with
the motives of the far-seeing statesman, to solve
one of the most complex cases of * historic doubt '
of modern times.
Provost Stewart, for example, had been in-
trusted with the care of a young student from
England, the same who afterwards became Prin-
INTRODUCTORY xxxvii
cipal of the Edinburgh University, and Bishop
of Dunblane, the gentle and lovable Robert
Leighton. It is touching to read how, when,
after his elevation to a Bishopric, he paid a
visit to Goodtrees, his old friend and guardian, the
Provost, would meet him with the familiar'
f Welcome, Robin.' But it is added, c though his
Lordship of Dumblain took easy what Sir James
Stewart said, he did not so easy digest what his
eldest son, Thomas, put closer home.' In refer-
ring to these home truths urged by c Gospel
Coltness ' the Bishop would say c I have dined at
Goodtrees. I wish I had stayed at home and
chawed gravel !' The Provost, on the other hand,
used to liken him to a c sanct travelling to heaven
sincerely but by dubious steps a prey to whims
and novelties ' and used to add, f The Court have
called up two little better than Judas, and seduced
one Nathanael.' l
Again, a story is told by Wodrow, with his
usual fascinating quaintness 3 from which it may be
inferred that even at the period when Steuart was
concealed in London, Sir George Mackenzie, the
1 ' Thus he expressed of those consecrate at London, namely.
Mr. James Sharp, Mr. John Fairfowl, and Mr. Robert Leighton.'
Sir ARCH. STEWART'S Mem., Coltness Coll.
d
xxxviii MRS. CALDERWOOD
Lord Advocate, had little difficulty in finding him
when he wanted his assistance. Wodrow relates
that c a debate fell in betwixt one of our Scotch
Bishops about the English ceremonies and Prelacy
with one of the English Bishops.' The position
taken up by the Scottish Prelate Wodrow is not
sure if it was Dunblane is curious. c Our
Scotch Bishop,' he says, c set up a defence of
Scots Moderate Episcopacy without Liturgy and
Ceremonies.' l
Ultimately Sir George produced a man in ' a
very negligent mean habit ' who amazed the
English Bishops with his knowledge and skill in
debate. f Could he be gained ' they said f he
deserved the highest post in the Church for his
learning and good sense.' 2 This poor man was
James Steuart, the future Statesman and King's
Advocate.
When the Revolution of '88 was accom-
plished, and the re-settlement of Scotch affairs
of both Church and State demanded atten-
tion, it was found impossible to get on without
1 The striking fact has more than once been pointed out that
for a long period the Presbyterian Church of Scotland used
a Liturgy while the Episcopal Church did not.
2 Analecta, ii. p. 258.
INTRODUCTORY xxxix
the assistance of Steuart. He was appointed
Lord Advocate in 1692, and knighted three
years afterwards. Unlike the majority of the
Whig party he * was not for the Union.' He
was deprived of his office after holding it some
sixteen years.
In Wodrow's correspondence where the matter
is mentioned (vol. i. p. 17), no reason is assigned
for this dismissal : c The Advocate is put off with-
out knowing anything of it ; ... he is a little
offended at the manner of his removal.' In the
Coltness Papers his resignation is spoken of, but
no definite reason given.
Two surmises have been adventured regarding
the cause of Steuart's dismissal ; first, that he was
not in Parliament : secondly, that the government
were dissatisfied with his conduct of the prosecu-
tion in the preceding year of certain Scotch
gentlemen who had rashly taken up arms in the
Stuart cause ; when an expedition actually sailed,
but had to put back to France. In the mean-
time three lairds of the Jacobite family of Stirling
namely, Keir, Garden, and Kippendavie, with
Seton of Touch and Edmonston of Newton,
had so far committed themselves that they were
brought to trial, but, partly from mismanage-
xl MRS. CALDERWOOD
ment, as was alleged, on the part of the Lord
Advocate, the charge of treason was found not
proven. 1
Now, Sir John Dairy mple tells a curious story
in reference to this period which may possibly
supply grounds for a third surmise, though the
anecdote is not told in this connection by the
Baron of Exchequer. He writes f During the
intended French invasion of Scotland in the year
1708, the English fleet at the mouth of the Frith
of Forth was mistaken at Edinburgh for the
French. Upon that occasion Sir Hew Dalrymple,
Lord President of the Court of Session, who was
flying into England himself, advised Sir James
Steuart to do so too, putting him in mind that he
had had a hand in drawing the Prince of Orange's
manifesto. He answered, (< Ay, ay, my dear,
that is true; and I must draw this man's too."
f This is a story,' adds Sir John, f well known to
both families.' 2
Whether true or not, the effect of such an
anecdote in those days, if it got into circulation,
could hardly be exaggerated.
1 See Lives of the Lord Advocates, by Mr. G. W. T.
OMOND. Edin., 1883, i. 276-77.
2 Da/rympte's Memoirs. Edin. 1790. Vol. ii. p. 40.
INTRODUCTORY xli
Sir James was again appointed f Advocate ' in
1712.
For many years Sir James Steuart enjoyed his
father's estate of Goodtrees. Shortly before his
death he purchased from his nephew, Sir David
Stewart, 2d Baronet, the family property of Colt-
ness. He was twice married; his first wife and
the mother of all his children, was Agnes Traill of
the Fifeshire family of Blebo, a family that had
suffered much hardship and imprisonment in
Covenanting times.
In 1712 the Church sustained a grievous loss
by the death of c this great man and extraordinary
Christian.' The worthy old minister of Eastwood
says of his last moments that they were f truly
wonderful,' marked by much humility and c a con-
vincing demonstration of the reality of religion.'
Though the Advocate on his deathbed had charged
his son f No pageantry, James !' there was at his
funeral no little display of public feeling. Fifteen
hundred gentlemen were invited, and by the time
the Magistrates in procession had wended their
way amidst the dense crowds by the Lawn-
market, the West Bow, and the Candlemaker
Row to the grave in Grey friars' Churchyard,
the corpse had not left Sir James's house at the
xlii MRS. CALDERWOOD
foot of the Advocate's Close. Several lives were
lost on this occasion. 1
As might be expected there were two very
opposite opinions of Steuart's character. While
there were some who did not scruple to apply to
him the bitter sarcasm in the line,
' Tuque colens Christum coelum nee Tartara credis,'
and to inflict many another venomous sting ;
others, like Wodrow, were at a loss to find words
to express their admiration for this the greatest
lawyer and the best Christian (in his station) that
ever they had.' 2
A very high opinion was held of the Lord
Advocate's son, Sir James Steuart, f Solicitor-
General Cultness,' and hopes were entertained of
the advantages his services might have been to the
Church had opportunity offered. He might, it
was thought, in part have filled his father's place
in the church and country. The historian of the
{ Sufferings of the Church * paid him the compliment
of submitting to him the proofs of his great work. 3
1 A striking portrait of Sir James Steuart, the Lord Advo-
cate, by Sir John de Medina, is at Polton; and another by the
same artist in the Library of Writers to the Signet, Edinburgh.
2 Wodrow Correspondence.
3 ' I '11 be fond,' he writes, ' of your corrections and additions.'
Ibid. ii. 42-44.
INTRODUCTORY xliii
Sir James, who was M.P. for Edinburgh, was
knighted in 1704 by the Marquis of Tweeddale,
the Lord High Commissioner to the Church of
Scotland ; one of the last of the Scotch knights
elevated in this manner, before the Union. He
was created a baronet by Queen Anne in 1705.
The same year he was married to the witty and
beautiful Anne Dalrymple, daughter of Sir Hew
Dalrymple, Lord President of the Court of Session.
Thus she was niece, and her eldest daughter
Margaret, Mrs. Calderwood, a grandniece of the
Bride of Lammermuir, that is to say, of Janet
Dalrymple, daughter of the first Viscount Stair,
the heroine of Scott's story. 1
In a letter dated c Edin., the i4th April 1735,'
in which Rachel Erskine details to her nephew,
Lord Buchan, in London much of the homely
cackle of the bourg, there are these items of news
1 The connection between the Steuarts and Dalrymples is shown more
clearly, thus :
James Dalrymple, Lord President, = Margaret Ross, of Balneil.
ist Viscount Stair.
I TT I
John 2d Viscount, cr. Sir Hew, J an et,
Earl of Stair ; Lord Advocate, of North Berwick, ' Bride of
and Secy, of State. Lord President. Lammermuir.'
I I74-
Anne, = Sir James Steuart, of
| Coltness, Sol.-General.
I ~i735-
Margaret Steuart, = Thomas Calderwood,
of Coltness. ofPolton.
xliv MRS. CALDERWOOD
Justice Clerk died last night Miss Peggie
Steuart is married to Mr. Calderwood of Polton.' 1
This gentleman was the son of Sir William
Calderwood, Lord Polton, f an upright, judicious,
and dispassionate man/ who was elevated to the
bench of the Court of Session with this title in
1711; in which same year he had purchased the
estate of Polton, 2 near Edinburgh. From the end
of the sixteenth century downwards, the Calder-
woods had been a notable family in that district,
as is shown by several notices of them that have
been preserved.
Thomas Calderwood is described as being a
good easy-going man, somewhat indolent, and not
unwilling, when he had proved his wife's wonderful
talents for management, to intrust the care of his
estate entirely to her. It may be noticed that his
wife's journals show him to have been in some
respects her superior in point of attainment ; for
example, he seems to have been an excellent
linguist, never at a loss in carrying on a conversa-
1 Sir DAVID ERSKINE'S MS., formerly in possession of Charles
Kirkpatrick Sharpe.
2 The lands and mill of Polton belonged originally to the
Chapel of the Hospital of St. Leonard the Abbot, at the
Bridge of Lasswade ; the revenue being applied to its support
and the maintenance of weekly masses.
INTRODUCTORY xlv
tion with the diverse persons they met, whether in
French or Latin ; and pleased when he found any
who could talk with him of books. He it was who
presented to the British Museum the MS. volumes
of the Rev. David Calderwood (author of the
prohibited Altar e Damascenum, 1625 ; and grand-
uncle of Lord Polton) which formed the substance
of his well-known History of the Church of Scot-
land.
Mrs. Calderwood's sister, the beautiful Agnes
Steuart of Goodtrees, married in 1739 Henry
David, tenth Earl of Buchan, 1 and so became the
mother of two very distinguished men, namely,
the Hon. Henry Erskine, better known in Scot-
land as f Harry Erskine,' Lord Advocate ; and of
Thomas, Lord Erskine, Lord Chancellor of Great
Britain.
The fact that Lady Buchan is mentioned
as having studied mathematics under Professor
Maclaurin, the friend of Newton, shows that in
point of education these sisters were far in advance
1 Horace Walpole writes in October 1766 of having met at
Bath * a Scotch Countess of Buchan carrying a pure, rosey, vulgar
face to heaven.' Letters, vol. v. p. 16.
' She died in Dec. 1778, in St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh,
in the corner house [her son, Lord Buchan's] joining George St.,
on the north side, aged 61 years.' Sir D. ERSKINE'S MS.
xlvi MRS. CALDERWOOD
of the usual attainments of ladies of that age, when
* whoever had read Pope, Addison, and Swift, and
some ill-wrot history, was thought a learned lady '
which character, adds Miss Mure of Caldwell
f was by no means agreable.' Her other sisters
were Elizabeth Steuart of Coltness (to be after-
wards mentioned) and Marianne, Mrs. Murray of
Cringletie, mother of Lord Cringletie, a judge of
the Court of Session.
But the only son of Solicitor-General Coltness,
the fourth Sir James Steuart, demands further
mention, as he was in great measure the cause of
these letters and journals being written.
Sir James, after having been taught at the school
of North Berwick, where he was in some degree
under the eye of his grandfather, the old President
of the Court of Session, Sir Hew Dalrymple ;
and at Edinburgh University ; travelled much
abroad. At Rome he made the friendship of
several gentlemen, the Duke of Ormond, Earl
Marischal, Lord Elcho, and others, from whom it
was alleged f his political principles received a
tincture ' to which was attributed the rashness of
his engagements in 1745.
Four years previous to that date he returned
home, and in the spring of 1741 he accompanied
INTRODUCTORY xlvii
his friend Lord Elcho to Dunrobin, where Lady
Frances Wemyss, the eldest sister of Lord Elcho,
was on a visit to her aunt, the Countess of Suther-
land. Lady Frances, f the flower of the Wemyss
family,' as she is described, notwithstanding f her
timidity in regard to the marriage state, and the
observations she had made on the infelicities and
anxieties to which that state is frequently subject,'
ultimately became the wife of Sir James Steuart.
They were married at Dunrobin on the i4th of
October 1743.
In the following year Sir James was unhappily
engaged in a contested election for the county of
Edinburgh, at which it was sought to interfere
with that direction of affairs which the family
of Arniston had long exerted, c with an eminent
reputation.' In the end Sir James's claims, upheld
by himself in court, to be admitted, a free-holder
of Mid- Lothian, were refused. This circumstance
is said to have been instrumental in giving a
colour to his future life and feelings.
At all events, it was unfortunate that when
Prince Charles Edward held his court at Holy rood
in '45, Lady Frances lay ill of small-pox. Her
life was in danger, and her husband consequently
could not retire to his country house of Coltness
xlviii MRS. CALDERWOOD
as prudence might have suggested. He was pain-
fully situated ; surrounded by friends and relatives
in sympathy with the young Prince, and his mind
distracted with domestic anxiety, he was induced,
it is said, to make concessions that he afterwards
regretted. In October he retired to the Continent,
embarking at Stonehaven, not without as was
alleged some show of his having been seized,
and forcibly put on board ship. Later he
reached Paris, where Lady Frances joined him as
soon as the state of her health would permit ; his
son being left at Caldwell, under the care of his
aunt, Mrs. Mure,
Tempting offers were made to him while in
France ; amongst others the command of a regi-
ment of the Scots Brigade, which he refused,
recommending Lord Airlie for the post, being
determined to do nothing that might tell against
his young son's interests.
Though Sir James's name was not included in
the Bill of Attainder after the Rebellion, yet it
was inserted in the list, issued soon after, of those
excluded from the benefits of the Bill of Indemnity ;
this he had not expected, seeing he had taken no
active part in the recent Rebellion.
A letter dated only c 1746,' and without signa-
INTRODUCTORY xlix
ture, describes in his own words his position at
this time. The letter, it is believed, has not been
printed hitherto.
(70 HENRY DAVID, 'Tenth Earl of Euchan.']
1746.
* MY DEAR LORD, I see some good friend or
other has been pleased to tack my name to a bill
of attainder; of this I was informed by H
B some days ago, whose letter I immediately
answered, and in it I inclosed a paper, which was
all I could obtain from the People, I may say, ex-
ported me from Stonhive 1 a Prisoner to France.
I have since written to my uncle to come up to
Paris from . . . retirement. I have seen the
Count D'Argentson, Minister at War, and have
presented to him a petition to allow me to go over
to London in order to Vindicate my innocence,
and prevent the consequences of attainder ; his
answer was more in compliments, of the bad ob-
servance of the Cartell, infractions of the Laws of
Nations, etc., than any reply to my request. I
have applied to several friends here to use their
interest at Court for my liberty but who knows
when it is granted if at all that it will come in
time ? The death of the Dauphiness, and the de-
1 Stonehaven.
1 MRS. CALDERWOOD
parture of the King for the army, makes the
ministers quite inaccessible, who, when they don't
like to be pressed, want only an excuse to bet.
c You know how cautious a part I acted while
confined in Edinburgh on account of my wife's
illness, and that it was only to avoid suspicion
that I proposed to withdraw myself to Holland.
If a day is fixed by the act of our delivering our-
selves, and if I am not at liberty to do so, I should
think that the maxim of the civil law should avail
me something " Contra non potentes agendi non
currit prescriptio."
< I am sure there cannot be the least proof
against me of high treason. You know all my
actions while in London, and since I have been
abroad. I have never, I do assure you, sent one
scrap of paper by the common Post. That I am
deeply suspected I know very well, and that I
was looked upon as a furious Jacobite by many
but, good God, is that a reason to class me in a
bill of attainder without having some sort of evi-
dence of my being guilty of high treason ? If I
had a mind to have taken up arms, as many others
did, I might have done it it was not for want of
them. If ever I had a mind to have furnished
them to others, I had it in my power at a time
INTRODUCTORY li
they were most wanted, before Cope's battle.
Inform yourself at Wilson the gunsmith, if they
had not many complete stands of mine in their
hands ; and if I did not desire him to dismount
them.
C I had several broad swords . . . and there
they are still, I suppose. I write you these cir-
cumstances, because they can be verified without
my presence, and I hope it is not, nor will not be
deemed high treason for any body to speak in my
defence ; if after all that can be said or done for
me, I shall be deemed a traitor to Scotland, which
to me sounds oddly, I hope my Creditors will
not be sufferers, for in my disposition to my Son,
I expressly burthened my estate with all my lawful
debts. ... If your Lordship were a looser it
would be a heavier load upon my spirits than my
own misfortunes. I thank God I have no fear of
Starving.' l
Hew Dalrymple, Lord Drummore, a Judge of
the Court of Session, writing to Mr. Mure of
Caldwell some little time after this, states what
was probably the general impression regarding
Sir James's case. He says :
c We all know that Sir James's parts, and his
1 Sir DAVID ERSKINE'S MS.
lii MRS. CALDERWOOD
behaving contrary to the principles of his educa-
tion, made him more the object of vengeance than
many a one who actually had been in arms.' 1
It was the rule rather than the exception that
the ladies inclined towards the Prince's cause, no
matter what the family principles might be. It could
hardly have been otherwise where there was a scrap
of sentiment or romance. There is a very quaint
letter from Agnes, Countess of Buchan, to Lady
Frances Steuart, which seems to accord with this
theory. It was written from Edinburgh, after the
collapse of the rash adventure, and while the
young Ascanius was a houseless wanderer with a
price of ^30,000 on his head ; and apparently
about the same time as her brother's letter from
France.
(AGNES, COUNTESS OF BUCHAN, to her sister-in-
law, LADY FRANCES STEUART.)
[EDIN.], Octo. 1746.
< . . . We are to have a very gay town this
winter, by which you will see our sperets are
not much the lower by cure misfortons. On
Thursday first, there is to be a great assembly, in
honour of the king's birthday. Everybody is to
1 Caldzvell Papers, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 17.
INTRODUCTORY liii
be there ; the loyal folks from love of the day,
and the Jacobets for fear of being obnoxious to
them, for whom they are not matches. There is
four generals in town and vast numbers of officers,
which cannot fail to put the town in a speret of
gayety, as they are looked upon as preferable to
all other gentlemen by the ladys in this place, on
account of their success in destroying the rebels
in the north. The brags of this they make at all
the tea-tables in town would fill a volum, tho'
some of there best friends think it wold be better
they wold hold there toung. One of the most
remarkable in this way is a man who was at Colt-
ness with Jamie Barclay, when Nelly the chamber-
maid was dress'd and passed for Miss Patersone.
He tells how prodigiously he was disapounted,
for that he once thought he had the therty thousand
rugg 1 as he tells it.
c He found in the north a young man who from
his looks, and the make of his person, and by his
speaking both the French and Italin, and English
toungs, convinced him it was the young Pretender :
" On which," says he, " I hanged him on the first
tree I came to : but to my great disapountment
afterwards, I found he was a French officer."
1 A great bargain, a stroke of luck.
e
liv MRS. CALDERWOOD
However, his good intentions has been rewarded
by a higher command in the army.'
Mrs. Calderwood was not a woman likely to
cramp her heart, nor take half views of the men
and things which had convulsed the whole of
Scotland ; what her ideas were may be gathered
from her letters. She would talk yacobitism, and
recount prates of the Duke of Cumberland to the
heart's content of the most fiery of the Prince's
followers abroad ; but she had received in the sad
experience of her brother a lesson of caution she
was far too prudent to neglect.
The unfortunate Jacobite couple had determined
to live in retirement for a time at Sedan ; and
afterwards moved to Angouleme. Here Sir James
remained till 1754, making the commencement of
his great work on Political Economy, besides
completing his Vindication of Sir Isaac Newton's
Chronology > in French.
For their son's education they now proceeded to
Paris, but finding that war between France and
England was imminent, they were forced to move
once more to Flanders.
Lady Frances joined her husband at Brussels in
INTRODUCTORY lv
the spring of 1756, after a short trip to Scotland
necessitated by the state of their affairs. They
now resolved to pass the summer f at the German
Spa/ and it was at this juncture that Mrs. Calder-
wood and her husband resolved to join the exiles,
with a view to affording them the comfort of their
society, while their sons might receive the benefit
of the Continental schools.
Three years before the date of Mrs. Calder-
wood's Journey her only daughter Anne, at the
age of nineteen, had married James Durham of
Largo, a gentleman of good and ancient family
in the county of Fife. Many letters of hers
remain, in the possession of her descendants.
These show her to have been endowed with much
of the sound common sense and great ' reality,' that
quality so thoroughly Scotch, which characterised
her mother. From one of these letters it appears
that her husband had a claim to the much dis-
puted title of Lord Rutherford, his grandmother
having been a daughter of Sir Thomas Rutherford
who became heir of line of Lord Rutherford
\_East Neuk of Fife, p. 294]. He went so
far as to have a statement of his descent drawn
up, as much for the purpose of saving the
dignity from falling into wrong hands, as for
Ivi MRS. CALDERWOOD
any hope he had of securing it for himself. See
Polton MSS.
There was the same close sympathy between
Mrs. Calderwood and her daughter 1 that existed be-
tween Madame de Sevigne and hers ; and the desire
that the one should live into the daily experience
of the other, expressed in the sentence often quoted,
f Vous ne sauriez jamais trop me parler, sur tout ce
que vous touche, se sont mes veri tables inter ets.'
Thus it fell out that in the early summer of
1756, Mrs. Calderwood, her husband, her two
sons ; together with Peggy Rainy, a servant of the
family ; and John Rattray, their man, started from
Polton on the momentous journey they had under-
taken.
The letters began at once on their departure
from Scotland, and apparently ceased not till the
return of the party. Mrs. Calderwood also kept
a journal carefully, and, when in the winter of
1756 she found herself settled at Brussels, the
good idea occurred to her of writing into a con-
tinuous narrative the substance of the letters and
1 The portrait of Mrs. Durham of Largo, by Romney, now
at Polton, shows a face of exceeding brightness and intelligence,
and much of the Dalrymple beauty, admirably set off by a
large hat, and plume of ostrich feathers.
INTRODUCTORY Ivii
journals made up in < Volumes/ which, as oppor-
tunity offered, she sent by the hands of trusty
messengers to Scotland, for the entertainment of
her friends. It is evident throughout that she
knew her letters would be widely circulated ; her
careful revision of her writings has been of the
greatest service in making the account of her
journey, and all that remains regarding her sojourn
in the Low Countries, eminently readable.
The arrival in London of the party was at an
important juncture in affairs, and Mrs. Calder-
wood's record of it coincides with what Horace
Walpole has written of the same period. The
first news of the unsuccess of our forces at
Minorca had reached England. Admiral Byng
was in everybody's mouth ; and people did not
know what to think of his conduct. It was
believed to be the object of the enemy's move-
ments to draw our ships from the Channel.
The number of German troops in England the
Jacobites affected to think threatened the people's
liberties rather than tended towards the protection
of the country. It was not till after the departure
of the Calderwoods that full accounts arrived of
the surrender, f through the negligence or treachery '
Iviii MRS. CALDERWOOD
of certain persons, as it was phrased, of St. Philip's
by General Blakeney. The Government them-
selves being arraigned, to emphasise their views,
they thought fit to give General Blakeney a
peerage ; and to try, and shoot Admiral Byng.
For the rest, the too brief description of Vauxhall
and Ranelagh, and Mrs. Calderwood's general
impressions of them, are corroborated by Sir Gilbert
Elliot who, a little later, wrote to his wife that it
was never without a sense of fear of the con-
sequences that he went with a party to such places ;
while Walpole's admirably told story of a supper
party at Vauxhall, shows that a feeling of reckless
daring on the part of the ladies was a chief cause
of their enjoyment, and a terror to their escort.
MRS. CALDERWOOD'S JOURNEY
' L'univers est une espece de livre, dont on n'a lu que la
premiere page quand on n'a vu que son pays. J'en ai feuillete
un assez grand nombre, que j'ai trouve egalement mauvaises.
Get examen ne m'a point etc infructueux. Je haissais ma patrie.
Toutes les impertinences des peuples divers, parmi lesquels j'ai
vecu, m'ont reconcilie avec elle. Quand je n'aurais tire d'autre
benefice de mes voyages que celui-la, je n'en regretterais ni les
frais ni les fatigues.'
FOUGEROT DE MoNBRON. I75O.
MRS. CALDERWOOD'S JOURNEY
CHAPTER I.
Over the Border: Sunday in England: Durham
Cathedral : A Highwayman : Rachel, the
Chambermaid: Irish or Welsh: IMPRESSIONS
of ENGLAND: 'The Cattle : The People : Their
Talk : Comparisons of Land Tenure : Popu-
lation j Trade y and Wages: LONDON Gossip:
Vauxhall and Ranelagh : The Duke in Hyde
Park : Food and Cookery : Mr. Traill of
Jamaica : English Vapours.
JUNE 3d, at 4 afternoon, I set out from Poltoun ;
sleeped at Pilmure.
June 4th. Dined at Beltounfoord, and lay at
Auldcamus.
June 5th. Met there next morning with
Provost Alexander, and, as we had set out in
haste, and had not got our credit on London
4 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
setled, he gave us credit on his correspondent.
Finding that journying 1 was too litle exercise,
we took post horses in our own chaise at Bel-
foord, being the 5th of June, and came at
night to Morpeth, where we met with Lady
Ann Erskine. 2
June 6th. We dined at Durhame, and I went
to see the cathedrall; it is a prodigious bulky
building. It was on Sunday betwixt sermons, and
in the piazzas there were several boys playing
at ball. I asked the girl that attended me, if
it was the custome for the boys to play at ball
on Sunday.
She said, ( they play on other days as well as on
Sundays.'
She called her mother to show me the church ;
and I suppose, by my questions, the woman took
me for a heathen, as I found she did not know of
any other mode of worship but her own ; so, that
1 Performing a fixed distance in the day.
2 Mrs. Calderwood's niece ; daughter of Agnes, Countess of
Buchan. At this time she was about seventeen years of age.
Lady Anne Agnes Erskine became a great light in the religious
world, and was the friend and executor of the Methodist Lady
Huntingdon. ' I consider it to be the highest illustration of my
name and family that she was my sister' wrote Lord Chancellor
Erskine. She died in 1804, aged 64.
JOURNEY 5
she might not think the Bishop's chair defiled by
my sitting doun in it, I told her I was a Christian,
though the way of worship in my country differed
from hers. In particular, she stared when I asked
what the things were that they kneeled upon, as
they appeared to me to be so many Cheshire
cheeses. I asked the rents of the lands about
Durham, and was told by the landlord they were
so dear he had no farm, for they let at thirty or
forty shillings per aiker near that toun ; that a cow
was from four to six pounds sterling, and they
gave, the best, about eight Scots pints per day.
That night we lay at Northallertoun.
Next day, the 7th, we dined none, but baited
at different places ; and betwixt Doncaster and
Bautry a man rode about in an odd way, whom
we suspected for a highwayman. Upon his
coming near, John Rattry pretended to make a
quarle with the post-boy, and let him know, so
loud as to be heard by the other, that he keept
good powder and ball to keep such folks as him
in order; upon which the felow scampered off
cross the common. Upon our coming to Bautry,
we were told that a gentelman was robed there
some days before, by a man whose description
answered to the one we saw. I found in generall,
6 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
before I came here, that all the grounds lett very
low, and that, about all the towns, the aikers were
about twenty-five shillings, and the farms not
above fifteen.
The first intelligent person I met with was
Rachel, the chamber-maid. Rachel could answer
almost every question I asked, and I suppose, by
that time, I had learned to conform my enquirys
to the knowledge of the people, being, before this,
always answered with f l don't know,' to the
simplest question I could ask, and often stared at,
as much as to say, * I wonder how such things
comes in anybody's head.'
The post-boys, who drive the same road for
years, hardly know a gentleman's house, or the
name of any place less than a vilage. Rachel
could tell who lived near her, what farm her
master keeps, and what rent he payd, and what it
produced : gave me a receipt for salting butter,
which was, to wash it well from the milk with
salt and water, and a little salt, then take it piece
by piece like the bigness of half a pound, and put
it in a can, spreading every piece above another
with a sprinkling of salt betwixt each ; but to keep
it from touching the sides of the can, that the salt
betwixt the layers throw a sort of pickle which
JOURNEY 7
keeps the air from it, and so to do till the can
was full.
She told me likewayes how they fed their calfs :
those for killing they let suck ; and those for
rearing fed as we do ; but in that house, as they
had a great deal of broth in which their meat
is boiled, and which they did not use as we
do, they gave to their calfs the length of six
Scots pints per day, upon which they throve very
well.
June 8th. From Bautry we went seventy-five
miles, and lay at Stilton : there was a fine large inn,
and everything in great order, but the linen was as
perfit rags as ever I saw, plain linen with fifty holes
in each towell. The landlady gave me the receipt
for making Stilton cheese, (which is famous,) as
follows : two thirds cream, and one milk ; the
whey prest off, and the curd broke, and salted in
the curd ; great care in dressing them well, and
keeping them clean from moulding.
June 9th. From Stilton we dined at Hatfeild,
where there was a great many coaches in the court-
yard with company leaving London, and every
family had a coach full of abigalls, who held a
most prodigious chatering and scolding at not
having proper attendance given them. From
8 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
Hatfeild we came to Barnet, the last stage from
London, where we stopped, and, whilst we changed
horses, I asked some questions at the maid who
stood at the door, which she answered, and went
in, for we did not come out of the chaise. In a
little, out comes a squinting smart-like black girl,
and spoke to me, as I thought, in Irish, upon
which I said,
f Are you a Highlander ?'
f No,' said she, f I am Welch, are not you
Welch?'
c No,' said I, ' but I am Scots, and the Scots
and Welch are near relations, and much better
born than the English.'
c Oh ! ' said she, f the maid said you was Welch,
and sent me to see you.'
She took me by the hand, and looked so kindly
that I suppose she thought me her relation, because
I was not English ; which makes me think the
English are a people one may perhaps esteem or
admire, but they do not draw the affection of
strangers, neither in their own country nor out
of it.
From Barnet we were to come to Kensingtoun
green, which led us a great way round, a very
lonly and wild road, and nothing like the repair
JOURNEY 9
one would expect so near a great town. We
arrived at Lady Trelawny's 1 at six o'clock,
to the great astonishment of the family, who
looked as little for me as for the day of
judgment.
Before I say any thing of the great city, you
will ask me what I think of England in generall.
In the first place, it is easy to be seen who has
long been in peaceable possession, and who not ;
for, till you come to Newark-upon- Trent, the
furthest 2 ever the Scots went into England, the
improvements are not of old standing, nor the
grounds don't seem to be of great value, they use
them mostly for breeding of cattell and sheep.
In some places I saw, the wool was very fine, but
the sheep not very large, nor of the true English
1 Sir John Trelawny of Trelawny, County Cornwall, M.P.
for Liskeard, married Miss Blackwood : he died four months
before the Calderwoods' visit, namely, in February 1756.
Rebecca his sister (see post) was wife of John Butler, Esq. of
Morval, in the same county.
2 Swarkstone Bridge, six miles beyond Derby, on the road to
London, was in reality the extreme point reached by the Scots
Army in this invasion. No former host from Scotland had
penetrated further than the Tees. See Chambers's History of
the Rebellion, p. 62.
io MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
[kind], for they had all horns, but they had the
bushy tail, for I observed they cut the tails off
them, for weight I suppose, and cleanlyness. The
villages to north of Trent are but indifferent, and
the churches very thin sown, and indeed, for a
long time, one would think the country of no
religion at all, being hardly either Christian church
or heathen temple to be seen.
The fields on both hands were mostly grass, and
the greatest variety and plenty of fine cattell, all
of various coulours. I observe breeders chuse to
please the eye, and certainly study the coulour of
their cattell, for I did not observe one cow or ox
all black or all red on the whole road, nor one
black sheep or lamb. It is commonly thought
with us that the white cattell are neither so good
nor so hardy as the black, but I found a great
number quite white, and in seven calfs there
would be three white.
I admired the cattel much more than the
people, for they seem to have the least of what we
call smartness of any folks I ever saw, and totally
void of all sort of curiosity, which perhaps some
may think a good quality. In our first day's
journey in England,, I asked the post-boy to whom
the lands on each hand belonged ?
JOURNEY ii
He said, ( to Sir Carneby.' l
l knew who he meant, and, to try him, asked
s what Sir Carneby, or what other name he had ? '
But he answered, 'just Sir Carneby, who lives
yonder,' and that he had never inquired the
sirname of the man in whose ground he was born.
As, for the inclosing in England, it is of all the
different methods, both good and bad, that can be
imagined ; and that such insufficient inclosures as
some are keeping in the cattell, (which is so hard
with us in Scotland) is intirely owing to the level-
ness of the grounds, so that an English cow does
not see another spot than where she feeds, and has
as little intelligence as the people ; whereas, with
us, there are few places which does not hang on the
side of a hill, by which means the cattell sees what
is above or below them, and so endeavours to get
at it. I was convinced of this, by some oxen a
butcher was driving to market, very large and fat.
They walked along betwixt the hedges very well,
but, no sooner were they come to a place where
there was only an old ditch and no hedge on the
1 Sir Carnaby Haggerston of Haggerston, Bart., County
Northumberland. Into his family married, in 1758, the Lady
Winifred Maxwell of Nithsdale, the heir of an ancient name
and of many romantic memories.
12 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
one hand, but they scrambled over it very cleverly
into a feild of rye.
The horses are very good, and what they use for
posting are large light ones, mostly bays ; they
gallop away six or seven miles an hour, without
being much disturbed. The price of these posters
are ^15 or 16 a piece for the best. They use
few or no mares over all England for the roads in
draught.
I could have little conversation with the people
I saw, for, though they could have understood me,
I did not them, and never heard a more barbarous
language, and unlike English as any other lingo.
I suppose it is the custome in a publick house for
strangers to roar and bully, for I found, when I
spoke softly, they had all the appearance of being
deaf.
I think the cathedrall of Durham is the most
ridiculous piece of expence I saw, to keep up such
a pagentry of idle fellows in a country place, where
there is no body either to see or join with them,
for there was not place for above fifty folks besides
the performers.
After we past Durham the country was more
closs and levell. We sometimes had an extensive
prospect, but not the least variety, so that one
JOURNEY 13
would say there was too much of it ; no opening of
a scene, no watter, no distinction betwixt a gentle-
man's seat and his tenant's house, but that he was
a little more smothered up with trees, so that I
am perswaded, if Scotland was as much inclosed, it
would be much prettier to look at. I do not
think any thing could be more beautifull than the
straths of some of our large rivers, inclosed on
every side, where the grounds hang so that each
inclosure might be seen above another, and, after
they had advanced so high and steep, then the
green hill appearing above, covered with sheep, and
the waterfalls coming doun now and then betwixt
the hills. They have nothing of the landscape
prospect, but a rich extensive woody prospect, and
nothing appearing above another but a Gothick
spire in severall touns, and that for many miles
from each other. We used to laugh at the folks
in the Highlands for counting their neighbours ten
and twelve miles off; but in England, they think
no more of thirty miles than we do of five.
Their roads are good indeed, and their horses
and machines light, and the miles about London
are, I am very sure, not above 1000 yards,
whereas they should be 1750 : besides the levelness
of the country makes travelling much quicker.
H MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
They are very carefull in driving their horses, for,
on the smallest ashent, they go quite slow, and will
tell you they are going up hill. I could not learn
what weight their great waggons carried, none of
them knowing any thing about it; but, by the
number of horses they yoke, it must be a great
deal, otherways they carry at too great an expence :
they yoke seven and eight horses. Some have
four wheels and others two; these last must be
very exactly ballanced, not to overburthen the
horse, who has the weight on his back, and this
sort of carriage is only practicable where there is
no dounhill road ; for, if this carriage was put off
its ballance in comeing doun, it would crush the
horses, or, if going up, it would lift them up in
the air.
It is surprizing how much nonsense I have
heard spoken by folks who would introduce
English customs into Scotland, without considering
the difference of the two countrys : I must own
I saw very little new to me, but what I could
plainly see was calculated for the particular
situation of the country, and could never answer
for generall use. It has always been my opinion,
that the fault-finders are the folks who want judge-
ment, and not the people whose practice they
JOURNEY 15
quarell, 1 for time and experience has taught every
part of every country to follow the method
most agreeable to their soil and situation, though
perhaps mechanicks may not have arrived to the
utmost perfection amongst them ; neither has that
generall benefit! of made roads reached them yet,
which in all probability will have many various
effects we cannot forsee.
I do not think the grounds in England are in
generall so rich as they have the appearance of; in
many places the soil is thin, within at least four
inches of a soft sandy stone, so open in the cutters,
and so loose, that the ground above it can have
very little moisture. Other grounds are clay, and
often of a white mouldering kind, in which appears
to be little richness, and it appears by the crops
that are not extraordinary, neither is the grass for
either hay or pasture. The tennants pay but a
small rent for their grounds, otherways they could
not live as they do upon what they produce.
There are many and various ways of letting
farms, but I beleive it is very seldome that one
farmer puts out another, by which means the land-
lord has it not often in his power to raise his
rents ; but this I had no great opportunity of
1 Object to.
16 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
inquiring about, as the only people I saw, who
rented grounds, were the publick houses, who, I
suppose, had but short leases.
In some countys, such as in Cornwall, I find
they let the ground by a sort of feu, which
I think is not a bad way for Scotland, where
the grounds are in many hands, which I cannot
account a loss, for reasons I shall give after.
In Cornwall, a man of ^500 per annum, his
estate does not bring him in above ,200, which
he can count upon yearly ; but then, upon this
he will have perhaps a hundred tennants or feuars.
Each of these has a lease for three lives ; this
gives him the chance of three hundred people, the
death of every one of which brings the landlord
fourteen, fifteen or sixteen years' purchass of the
rent or feu-duty in order to have a life put in
in the place of the one that fell ; so that, by the
course of things, these people falling may, at an
average, bring in ^500 per annum. The large
farms in England are a loss, so far as they de-
populate the country.
The people in London, who see such crouds
every day, were surprised at me when I said, I did
not think England sufficiently peopled, nor so
populous by far, in proportion to its extent and
JOURNEY 17
produce, as the best cultivated countys in Scot-
land ; and I must beleive this till I see one fact
that can contradict it, which I have not seen yet,
but many presumptions for what I assert. In the
first place, look from the road on each hand, and
you see very few houses ; touns there are, but at
the distance of eight or ten miles. Then, who is it
that lives in them ? There are no manufactories
carried on in them ; they live by the travellers,
and by the country about, that is, there are trades-
men of all kinds, perhaps two or three of each,
smiths, wrights, shoemakers, etc. ; and here is a
squire of a small estate in the county near by, and
here are Mrs. this or that, old maids, and so many
widow ladies, a parsonage house, a flourishing
house.
All the houses built of brick, and very slight,
and even some of timber, and two stories high,
make them have a greater appearance than there
is reality for ; for, I shall suppose you took out
the squire and set him in his country house, and
the old maids and widow ladies and place them with
their relations, if they have any, in the country or
in a greater toun, and take a stone house with a
thatch roof of one story high, instead of a brick one
of two, and there are few country villages in Scot-
i8 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
land [where] I will not muster out as many
inhabitants as are in any of these post touns.
Then I observed there were very few folks to be
met with on the road, and many times we would
^
post an hour, which is seven miles, and not see as
many houses and people put together on the road.
Then, on Sunday, we travelled from eight o'clock,
till we came to Newcastle where the church was
just going in, so that I may say we travelled
fifteen miles to Newcastle, and the few people we
met going to church upon the road surprised me
much. The same as we went all day long ; it had
no appearance of the swarms of people we always
see in Scotland going about on Sunday, even far
from any considerable toun.
Then the high price of labour is an evidence of
the scarcity of people. I went into what we call
a cottage, and there was a young woman with her
child, sitting ; it was very clean, and laid with
coarse flags on the floor, but built of timber
stoops, and what we call cat and clay walls. She
took me into what she called her parlour, for the
magnificent name they give makes one beleive them
very fine till they see them ; this parlour was just
like to the other. I asked what her husband was ?
She said, a labouring man, and got his shilling per
JOURNEY 19
day ; that she did nothing but took care of her
children, and now and then wrought a little plain
work. So I found, that, except it is in the
manufacturing countys, the women do nothing,
and, if there were as many men in the country as
one might suppose there would, a man could be
got for less wages than a shilling per day.
Then the high wages at London shows the
country cannot provide it with servants. It
drains the country, and none who ever goes there
return again, as chairmen, porters, hackney coach-
men or footmen ; if they come to old age, seldom
spend it in the country, but oftener in an alms-
house, and often leave no posterity.
Then the export they make of their victuall
is a presumption they have not inhabitants to
consume it in the country, for, by the common
calculation, there are seven millions and one half
in England, and the ground in the kingdom is
twenty-eight millions of aikers, which is four
aikers to each person. Take into this the im-
mense quantity of horses which are keept for no
real use all over the kingdom, and it will be
found, I think, that England could maintain many
more people than are in it. Besides, let every
nation pick out its own native subjects who are
20 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
but in the first generation, the Irish, the Scots, the
French, etc., and I am afraid the native English
would appear much fewer than they imagine.
On the other hand, Scotland must appear to be
more populous for its extent and produce ; first,
by its bearing as many evacuations in proportion,
both to the plantations, 1 to the fleet and army,
besides the numbers who go to England; and
indeed breeding inhabitants to every country
under the sun ; and if, instead of following the
wrong policy of supplying their deficiency of
grain by importing it, they would cultivate their
waste lands, it would do more than maintain all
its inhabitants in plenty.
But one great drawback to this improvement is
the intaills upon our greatest familys, and that in
the south, and most uncultivated plains in the
whole kingdome, as these estates cannot grant
leases upon any term but the life of the landlord,
which is no security for a tennant to improve his
grounds.
But the demand for corn from England is no
proof that there is a generall scarcity of provi-
sions; for, ever since the disease amongst the black
cattell, there has been so much incouragement in
1 Colonies.
JOURNEY 21
Scotland for rearing greater numbers, that there
is more grass ground than formerly ; and many
farms where grew some corn are now turned
intirely to sheep, as the price of them is so greatly
increased ; so that, what we [pay to] import in
corn, we draw back again in cattell.
We have no supply of people from other
countrys, and, if we did not produce more people
than England, we could never supply them and
serve ourselves. I had no opportunity of knowing
the price of provisions, but at London and upon
the road, where every thing has a high value
whatever the original price is.
The grounds about London are not dear ;
garden and nursery ground is ^4 the aiker. I
do not think the soil near London is naturaly rich,
and neither the corns nor grass are extraordinary.
I thought their crops of hay all very light, and
but of an indifferent quality ; they call it meadow
hay, but we would call it tending pretty near to
bogg hay. I think the most surprising [thing] is,
how they are supplyed with such an immense
number of fine horses, and how they are all
mantained on hard meat all the year round.
As for London, every body has either heard of
22 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
or seen it. The first sight of it did not strike me
with anything grand or magnificent. It is not
situated so as to show to advantage, and, indeed,
I think the tile roofs have still a paltry look, and
so has the brick houses ; for a village it does well
enough, as the character of a village is clean and
neat ; but there is something more substantiall and
durable in our ideas of a great city than what
brick and tile can answer.
Many authors and correspondents take up much
time and pains to little purpose in descriptions. I
never could understand any body's description,
and I suppose no body will understand mine ;
neither do I intend to say any things which have
ever been thought worthy to be put in print, so
will only say London is a very large and extensive
city. But I had time to see very little of it, and
every street is so like another, that, seeing part,
you may easily suppose the whole. There are
severall openings and squares which are very
pretty ; but the noise in most of the houses in the
rooms to the street is intolerable.
You will think it very odd, that I was a fortnight
in London, and saw none of the royall family, but
I got no cloaths made till the day before I left it,
though I gave them to the making the day after I
JOURNEY 23
came. I cannot say my curiosity was great :
I found, as I approached the Court and the
grandees, they sunk so miserably in my oppinion,
and came so far short of the ideas I had conceived,
that I was loath to lose the grand ideas I had of
Kings, Princes, Ministers of state, Senators, etc.,
which I suppose I had gathered from romance in
my youth. We used to laugh at the English for
being so soon afraid when there was any danger in
state affairs, but now I do excuse them. For we,
at a distance, think the wisdom of our governours
will prevent all these things ; but those who know
and see our ministers every day see there is no
wisdom in them, and that they are a parcell of old,
ignorant, senseles bodies, who mind nothing but
eating and drinking, and rolling about in Hyde
Park, and know no more of the country, or the
situation of it, nor of the numbers, strength and
circumstances of it, than they never had been in
it : or how should they, when London, and twenty
miles round it, is the extent ever they saw of it ?
Lord Anson, he sailed round the world, there-
fore he must rule all navall affairs ; which is just
like a schoolmaster imagining himself qualified for
the greatest post in the law, because he understands
the language in which the law is wrote. It puts me
24 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
always in mind of Lundin's 1 story of the gentle-
man who was going to be tryed for his life ;
c It 's true, you know, he is our brother-in-law,
but what is he worth when a man's life is in
danger?'
You may apply this to our ministry upon all
emergent occasions. The King, every body says,
and I do beleive it, knows more of the world, and
takes more concern than any of them. It is
reported he cryed when he read Byng's 2 account
of his actions, and said,
c Who can I trust ? or upon whom can I
depend ?'
There is no depending on news at London :
there was a lye coined for every day I was there,
and every one of them the English beleived,
providing it was agreeable. And the Court is no
better informed than the vulgar : for, providing
there are two lyes raised in one day, a good one in
the forenoon ; then the Duke of Newcastle drinks
Mr. Byng's health at dinner : out comes a defeat
1 Lundin of Lundin in Fife, whose facetiae and ingenious
contrivances were often mentioned.
2 Admiral Byng's engagement off Minorca, for ' want of
judgment ' in which he was tried and shot, took place on zoth
May 1756.
JOURNEY 25
in the afternoon ; he damns Mr. Byng for a
scoundrell. Out goes one of the Princess's
masters to Kew : he tells, Mr. Byng has defeat the
French. The Prince of Wales hears it : then it
comes, Who told you, Heny Peny? At last, it
lands on the French dancing-master, who lays it on
a Hanoverian officer, whose name he knew not.
So the reports go abroad.
I had frequent opportunitys of seeing George
Scott, 1 and asked him many questions about the
Prince of Wales. He says he is a lad of very
good principles, good-natured, and extreamly
honest, has no heroick strain, but loves peace, and
has no turn for extravagance ; modest, and has no
1 George Lewis Scott was a cousin of Mrs. Calderwood's.
His mother, Marion Steuart of Coltness, was wife of George
Scott, a gentleman who held diplomatic posts at various German
courts. George Lewis Scott was preceptor to George in. while
Prince of Wales, and to his brothers (Caldwell Papers], He
married Sarah Robinson, the bright and clever sister of Mrs.
Elizabeth Montague, the author of an Essay on the Genius of
Shakespeare Mrs. Montague ' of Shakespearshire,' her friend
Walpole used to call her but the marriage turned out badly ;
Scott being blamed. Much regarding this couple (including
many of Mrs. Scott's letters, rivalling those of her sister in grace
of diction) is to be found in A Lady of the Last Century ;
selections from Mrs. Montague's letters, edited by Dr. Doran,
Lond. 1872.
26 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
tendency to vice, and has as yet very virtuous
principles ; has the greatest temptation to gallant
with the ladies, who lay themselves out in the
most shamefull manner to draw him in, but to no
purpose. He says, if he were not what he is, they
would not mind him.
Prince Edward 1 is of a more amorous com-
plexion, but no court is payed to him, because he
has so little chance to be King. The King is at
present at Kensingtoun, the Princess at Kew. She
comes in every Sunday to Court. I saw them
pass in their coaches, but had no distinct view of
them : their equipages are very plain.
No body thinks of going further to air than
Hyde Park, which is very pretty. But nothing
but the greatest stupidity can suffer the same mile
or two of ground every day in their lives, when, at
the same time, it is no exercise nor air, for it is a
gravell road, quite smothered with trees. The
trees indeed are very pretty, being fine timber, and
fine carpet-grass, with cows and deer going in it :
but it is a small part of the Park in which
coaches are allowed to go. There are always
1 Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of York and Albany, K.G.,
died, unmarried, at Monaco in September 1767, at the age of
thirty, to the great grief of the whole nation.
JOURNEY 27
a great number of coaches, and all other machines,
except hacks, some of them very neat and light ;
but the beauty of them is the horses of all
different kinds. The Duke of Marlborough 1 had
a sett of peyets, 2 very prettily marked.
Any of the English folks I got acquainted with
I liked very well. They seem to be good-natured
and humane ; but still there is a sort of ignorance
about them with regard to the rest of the world,
and that their conversation runs in a very narrow
channell. They speak with a great relish of their
publick places, and say, with a sort of flutter, that
they shall to Vauxhall and Ranelagh, but do not
seem to enjoy it when there. As for Vauxhall
and Ranelagh, I wrote you my opinion of them
before. The first I think but a vulgar sort of
entertainment, and could not think myself in
genteel company, whiles I heard a man calling,
' Take care of your watches and pockets.'
I saw the Countess of Coventry 3 at Ranelagh.
1 Charles Spencer, fifth Earl of Sunderland and second Duke
of Marlborough.
2 Piebald, literally magpies.
3 The Countess of Coventry nee Maria Gunning died
prematurely, of the effects, it was said, of an over application of
cosmetics. Horace Walpole's Jour., 1 8th June 1757.
28 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
I think she is a pert, stinking-like 1 husy, going
about with her face up to the sky, that she might
see from under her hat, which she had pulled
quite over her nose that nobody might see her face.
She was in dishabile and very shabby drest, but was
painted over her very jaw-bones. I saw only
three English Peers, and I think you could not
mak a tolerable one out of them : Lord Baltimore, 2
Lord Edgecome and Lord Chomly. 3 Lord
Baltimore is sadly married, and parted from his
wife because she loves diversions and he loved
home ; but, ever since they parted, she keeps
home and he goes to every publick place.
Lord Edgecome's eldest son 4 is the greatest
1 Haughty, or supercilious.
2 Frederick, seventh Lord Baltimore, married in 1753 Lady
Diana Egerton, 'a. pretty daughter of the Duchess of Bridge-
water.' He is chiefly remarkable for the trial he stood on a
charge of felony, of which he was acquitted, in 1768.
3 George, third Earl of Cholmondeley, K.B., married the only
daughter of Sir Robert Walpole, first Earl of Orford. Horace
Walpole makes pointed reference to the Genoa Damask under
pretence of which he had borrowed great sums from various
people (Letters, ii. 295). He died 1770.
4 Dick Edgecumbe, who succeeded his father as second
Baron in 1758, was the draftsman of the famous satirical coat of
arms of the two gambling clubs at White's invented at Straw-
berry Hill in 1756. He died unmarried in 1761, when the
JOURNEY 29
gamster in England. His second is a commodore
in Byng's fleet ; my Lord says, if his son has
not behaved well, he will never see his face.
Miss Pelham 1 was along with Lady Coventry,
she my Lord March 2 would run away with, had
it not been for the marriage bill ; 3 truly I would
sooner excuse him for stealing a sheep, for, of
all the draghling, odd-like things ever I saw,
she is the first.
I saw very few, either men or women, tolerably
handsome. There was a Miss Bishope, 4 a girl
of no fortune, who is reckoned a beauty, and
she is very well ; something of a solemn, black,
loomy countenance. The ladys pass and repass
each other with very little appearance of being
acquainted, and no company separates or goes
from those they come in with, or joins another,
and indeed they all seem to think there is no
Barony passed to his brother George, ' Commodore, 1 and
afterwards Admiral, and First Earl of Mount Edgecumbe.
1 Daughter of Henry Pelham, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
' 2 Afterwards Duke of )ueensberry ; better known as ' old Q.'
3 The Bill to deal with clandestine and other irregular,
but especially with the infamous Fleet marriages, passed in
4 One of ' endless hoard of beauty daughters ' of Sir Cecil
Bishop of Parkham, Essex, spoken of so often by Walpole.
30 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
great entertainment; but, however, they are
there, and that is enough.
The Duke uses to frequent Ranelagh, but was
not there that night I went. There were severall
Hanoverian officers very rugged-like carles, stiff-
backed and withered, with gray hairs tyed behind,
and the forelock cut short by the ear, and there
was a hussar attending them, a thick, fat fellow,
drest in furrs, and Bess's 1 great French muff upon
his head, not the red feather one.
I went one morning to the Park, in hopes to
see the Duke 2 review a troop of the Horse Guards,
but he was not there ; but the Guards were very
pretty. Sail Blackwood and Miss Buller 3 were
with me ; they were afraid to push near for the
croud, but I was resolved to get forward, so
pushed in. They were very surly, and one of
them asked me where I would be ;
f Would I have my toes trode off? '
f Is your toes trode off?' said I.
( No,' said he.
f Then give me your place, and I '11 take care
of my toes.'
1 The writer's sister, Elizabeth Steuart of Coltness.
2 H.R.H. William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, K.G.,
Field-Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.
3 See note, p. 9.
JOURNEY 31
< But they are going to fire,' said he.
Then it 's time for you to march off,' said
I ; f for I can stand fire. I wish your troops may
do as well.'
On which he sneaked off, and gave me his
place. Some of them were very civill ; but, what
was of a peice with many other things, these
Horse Guards are closs in London, seen every
day by every body, are reviewed almost every
morning in the Park, where I suppose the same
folks sometimes come to see them, yet none [of]
all near where I stood could tell me the name of
one officer : that I insist upon is peculiar to the
English.
I paid some visits, and went to see Greenwich
Hospitall, which is a ridiculous fine thing. The
view is very pretty, which you see just as well
in a rary-show glass. No wonder the English are
transported with a place they can see about them
in. The only fine houses I went to see more were
the King's at Kensingtoun, and the Jew's I wrote
you of.
The palace looks better within than without,
and there is some very fine marbles, pictures and
mirrors in it. But I could not see the private
appartment of the old goodman, which they say is
32 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
a great curiosity. There [are] a small bed with
silk curtains, two sattin quilts and no blanket, a
hair matress; a plain wicker basket stands on
a table, with a silk night-gown and night-cap in
it ; a candle with an extinguisher ; some billets of
wood on each side of the fire. He goes to bed
alone, rises, lights his fire and mends it himself, and
nobody knows when he rises, which is very early,
and is up severall hours before he calls any body.
He dines in a small room adjoining, in which there
is nothing but very common things. He some-
times, they say, sups with his daughters and their
company, and is very merry and sings French
songs, but at present he is in very low spirits.
Now, this appearance of the King's manner of
living would not diminish my idea of a King. It
rather looks as if he applyed to business, and knew
these hours were the only ones he could give up to
it, without having the appearance of a recluse, and
that he submitted to the pagentry rather than
made it his only bussiness.
As for their victualls they make such a work
about, I cannot enter into the taste of [them], or
rather, I think they have no taste to enter into.
The meat is juicy enough, but has so little taste,
that, if [you] shut your eyes, you will not know
JOURNEY 33
by either taste or smell what you are eating. The
lamb and veall look as if it had been blanched in
water. The smell of dinner will never intimate that
it is on the table. No such effluvia as beef and cab-
badge was ever found at London. I never used to be
fond of bacon or salt things, and did not reflect upon
it, till after that I ate of them whenever I could,
as it was without thinking but that it was better
than it used to be, till I considered and found that it
had been from its having more taste that made me
have a naturall desire for it. I am not surprised the
English run into the French cookry, or speak with
so much pleasure of rashers of bacon or of roasted
beef, for their beef and bacon are their best meat.
The fish, I think, have the same fault. They
are keeped in fresh water till they are quite
tasteless. As for the salmond, I did not meddle
with it, for it cut like cheese. Their turbet is very
small by ours, but I do not think it preferable
when ours is as long keept as theirs. Their soil is
much smaller, and not so much meat on them;
they are like the least ever you saw ; were it not
that they are long and narrow, I should think them
common flounders. Their lobsters come from
Norway or Scotland ; they are sold for four and
five pence, the small ones.
34 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
At London, garden things of all kinds are very
good, but they do not understand the right culter
of strawberries, nor are they at pains to propagate
many of them ; they pull them all with the husk,
but it was very few I saw before I left the place.
The night before I left London I sleeped at Mr.
Traill's, 1 as his house saved us all the toun going
through in our journey. His wife was staying
with Lady Trelawny all the time I was at
Kensingtoun ; she is a very good woman, and,
indeed, I may say they are one of the best and
most obliging couples ever I saw. She has been
very unlucky in her family, and he has had as good
luck in meeting with her : she was left a widow
with one son, the only remaining child of twenty-
two; she had severalls born before the time.
Her husband was an appothecary, and she carried
on the business after his death for five years.
During this time, Mr. Traill, who had made a
good deall of money in Jamaica, intending to come
home, put all his effects, wife and children, in one
ship, and he followed in another. The ship in
which his all was, with wife and children, was cast
away, and home came he not worth a farthing,
1 Probably a relative of Agnes Traill's, the wife of Sir James
Steuart, Lord Advocate.
JOURNEY 35
after labouring the best part of his life. Some how
or other, he was recommended to this widow to
go in partner, and to carry on her business ; and,
after two years' acquaintance, they married, and
live in a very handsome manner.
His acquaintance with Jamaica made most of the
folks there be recommended to him when they
came to London, and severall of their children
entrusted to their care, when sent over for
education. Of this number was a young man,
whom she has brought up from a child, and loves
as her son ; and a young girl of ; 12,000 fortune,
with whom her only remaining son fell in love.
When the girl was but fourteen her mother came
over for her ; nobody regarded the lad's affection
for her, or her's for him, till they came to part,
and then he told his mother he would follow her.
The poor woman stood out against [it] all she
could, as it was losing him for ever, as he must
settle in that country ; upon which he drooped and
turned quite melancholy. The girl's mother found
her daughter as fond of him, and offered Mrs.
Traill, if she would let him go, she would regard
him as her son, and marry him to her daughter in
two years, so that she was forced to agree to it.
Over he went, was married at the two years' end,
3 6 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S JOURNEY
and lived but seven months after. It is little more
than a twelvemonth since he died ; since which she
has been very ill, is still low-spirited, but bore
such a stroke with great resignation.
When she is in any good spirits she is very
entertaining. She is a little, well lookt, neat
body, and far from being conceited ; but her low
spirits take often the turn of making her imagine
she has a very bad appearance, and looks very odd-
like. This makes her very shy to appear to
strangers, and she told me, she thinks
f Bless me, I wonder such an one comes abroad,
I am not so odd-like as her.'
( Yet sometimes ' (says she) c I dress my-self
well, and go out well enough pleased with my-
self; then in a little I think, bless me ! I am set
here, just like a monkey, and if any looks to me, I
think they say to themselves, what an odd monkey-
like creature is that ? and if two or three look at me,
I turn afraid, and am just ready to run away.'
There are few or none of the English who are
not troubled with low spirits and vapours, of
which they speak very freely ; they will tell you
they are quite over-run with the hip, or that they
are quite c hipacondryick ' ; that is the name they
give to low spirits or nervous.
CHAPTER II.
On the Road for Harwich : Cattle Plague, Fish
Ponds , and Swine: Visit to Provost Stewart
at Mitcham: Colchester: The Harwich Packets:
The Calderwoods embark: Fellow Passengers:
Dr. Monro : Peter Dondie : The Opera Dancer :
King's Messengers : Misery at Sea : HEL-
VOETSLUYS: A disputed landing: Helvoet to
ROTTERDAM : Life at the Swyn's Hooft : Dutch
currency.
WE set out from Mr. TrailPs on Friday the
25th of June, for Harwich, all through the county
of Essex ; we past through Stratfoord, Rumfoord,
Brantwood and Ingerston, where we dined. There
we got a mighty chatty inteligent landlady ; she
told me the most of the busness in that country
was feeding calfs for the London market. They
let them suck (she had three, sucking two cows)
till they are two months or ten weeks old, then
people come about whose busness it is to buy them
up, and they have a long-bodied waggon, divided
38 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
in places, where a calf stands on its feet cross the
waggon ; some waggons hold six or seven, and
they pay the feeders about fifty shillings a-head for
them. I found the cows did not give much more
milk there than in other places, and as for the
price, it can be no rule, as it is according as they
have had the disease, as in that country it has been
the most fatall. A cow that has recovered will
give to. There is no remedy like to be found
out for it, neither is there any fixt symptom, but
all take it almost in different ways, but all have
a terrible running at nose and eyes, with such a
smell that is intolerable. They are not allowed to
open them, but to bury skin and all.
Nowhere in England they milk their cows more
than twice a-day ; all down Essex they feed calfs,
so some are carried seventy-two miles to market.
She showed me her fish ponds, which were three
in number ; the first was a breeding pond, it was
made with no great nicety ; it shelved in from all
sides, and very little fresh water was let into it,
and it was full of weeds and dirty ; the other two
they called feeding ponds ; these two had a com-
munication betwixt them, cross a walk of about
twelve foot broad, and about eight foot over. This
place was open above, and covered only with a lid
JOURNEY 39
made of timber spoked, which opened to every hand
like a chest. It likeways had a spoked bottom
which lifted up and let doun with a pully ; the use
of this was that they drew the pond, and took out
the best of the carp, and put them into this place
betwixt the ponds, which was fenced on each side
with wicker or spokes, so that the water from
both ponds got in, but the fish could not get out.
So when they wanted to take any of them, they
lifted up this bottom with the pully, which came
up like a brander, 1 and all the fish on it, so took
what they wanted, and let it down again. They
give their carp no meat, except sometimes a few
grains, or that we call draff- with pardon. The
ponds were very weedy and thick ; they clean
them every year, and I imagine the reason the
fish do not thrive with us in Scotland is, we supply
our ponds too plentifully with fresh water.
This woman keept a great many swine, which
fed with the sheep ; she had them ringed with a
broad bit of iron, about a quarter of an inch broad,
and put in like a ring in each of their nosetrills, as
closs as a lady's ear-ring is in her ear, and some
had one in the grissel betwixt the nosetrills. She
told me they made very fat just on the grass ; she
1 Gridiron.
40 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
complained heavily of the dear rents, twenty-five
shillings per aiker, inclosed ground, and wished it
were uninclosed that they might have it cheaper.
But this puts me in mind, that I should have told
you before I left London, Lady Trilawny and I
paid a visit to Provost Stewart, 1 at a place called
Mitchem, about eight miles from London, on the
other side of the river, which we passed at Fulham
Bridge, which is a large bridge made of timber,
and pays a very high toll ; a chaise and pair pays
a shilling both going and coming. We had a
good part of the road pretty wild, what they call
downs and we call moor. The road, as all are
near London, was very solitary ; however, we
passed severall little villages, and came to that
where Mr. Stewart was, where there is a little
running water, very clear and pretty, led by canalls
through the court and garden. Mr. Stewart has
taken a long lease of this place, and has a very
pretty large house, with a great deall of garden
1 Archibald Stewart, only son of Sir Robert Stewart of Allan-
bank, Bart., was Lord Provost of Edinburgh when Prince
Charles Edward's army occupied the city in 1 745 ; for his
alleged partisanship with them he was tried, but acquitted, in
October 1747. The records of the trial are very voluminous.
The male line having failed, this family is now represented by
Sir John Marjoribanks of Lees, Bart.
JOURNEY 41
ground, and other grounds from another landlord,
inclosed for thirteen shillings per aiker. He has
the house, with every sort of office houses and
pidgeon house, fine fruit walls and gardens, made
at a great expence, with twenty-four aikers of
ground, for ,69 per annum, the house very neatly
finished, the hall laid with marble, a mahogany
stair-case, a cold bath, all which I thought very
cheap, within an hour and a half of London, for we
must not count by miles there. Archy was not at
home, but Madam was, and we were very genteelly
entertained, with an air of frugality rather than ex-
pence ; and there we had a full desertation upon the
politicks, and more intelligence than I had heard
from my being in London, but as it may all be
stale by the time it reach you, I shall omit it.
So, to return from whence I left my story, we
slept that night at Witham ; we set out early for
fear of being too late for the paquet, and break-
fasted at Colchester. We were attended at break-
fast by a drawer, whom I questioned according to
custom about the town and the country, and from
whom I received much more satisfaction than
common, upon which I was going to declare him
the smartest Englishman I had seen, when, un-
42 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
fortunatly for England, he turned out to be a
Frenchman transplanted young.
From this we took post, being too late, and
came to Manningtree, where, for the satisfaction of
my Lady Buchan, 1 I must not omitt that I drank
the best cyder ever I tasted, and it was directly the
same taste as what she made at Goodtrees. Hers
was 2 so much of the taste of the apple, that I did
not beleive it was the true cyder till I tasted this.
We past by the fine seat of Squire Rigby, which
Miss Rigby used to speak so much of, but though
it be just on the banks of the Stour, which there is
a very fine river, yet it is so situated, what with
the planting, and the ground rising a little betwixt 3
and the river, that it has not a sight of it.
1 Agnes Steuart of Goodtrees, the writer's sister, wife of
Henry David, tenth Earl of Buchan, and mother of David,
eleventh Earl ; the Honourable Henry Erskine, Lord Advocate ;
and Thomas, Lord Chancellor Erskine.
2 It is a well-established fact that many expressions that are
now considered to be Americanisms are, in reality, only relics
of speech that has become obsolete in the old country, but has
been better preserved in the new. In a quaint New England
story recently published, entitled Cape Cod Folks, more than
once such phrases as this occur : ' By doing pretty much they
was a mind to ; ' this may be compared with Mrs. Calderwood's
expressions in the text.
This is a common Scots idiom and legal formula. Compare
JOURNEY 43
We arrived at Harwich in time enough, but
found the wind was not fair for sailing, but as the
paquet is obliged to saill so soon as the maill
arrives, the captain would not tell us whether he
would saill or not, till nine o'clock at night, and then
let us know we might go to bed, which I was very
happy at, as we had been very early up that morning.
Harwich is a pretty large town, but nobody but
seafaring men lives in it, and most of its busness is
the passage. There are four paquets belongs to
it in time of peace ; and, in time of war, they call
the paquets from Dover, as it is not so safe from
privateers as Harwich. The commanders of the
paquets are named by the Government, and the
ships are theirs ; they are very small, not being a
third longer than a Kinghorn boat, but much
deeper, and somewhat broader, for they have two
very neat cabins with eight beds in each of them,
and in the first, or rather off it, is a small state-
room with a bed.
It is surprising the constant intercourse of
passengers alone (for they carry no goods) there is
betwixt England and Holland, for each of these
with this the phrase made use of at the attempted introduction
into the Scottish Church of Archbishop Laud's Service Book,
and often called in question ' betwixt and Pasch/ i.e. Easter.
44 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
paquets makes twelve hundred pounds per annum
to the captain, who imposes sadly on the passengers.
I suppose it raises as much to the publick, for we
paid twelve shillings for our passage, and a shilling
to the clerk ; this should be for our passage, but
then the captain has the cabin bedded at his
expence, and, if you take a bed, you pay a guinea,
and if not, the half: this makes the captain be
sure to keep you a night on sea, though, if the
wind be good, it may be made in twelve hours ;
you take provisions on board, or can have it from
the steuart of the ship.
The river at Harwich is but like half a mile
broad. There is no harbour built, but they have
two old men-of-war, one of seventy, and another
of forty guns, the one runs out like a peer, the
other turns like a head; they are firm to the
ground, and make a very good harbour. You
may propose this method to the Laird of Lundin ;
it will save so much time and labour, but I do not
know the price of an old man-of-war, for these
were given by the Government, so I do not know
if it would save money. There was a seventy gun
ship building in the dock-yard ; it was as high to
the top from the ground as a house of three
stories, and a prodigious length.
JOURNEY 45
This county of Essex, which reaches all the way
to Harwich, is a very rich country, and more
pleasing to the eye, as it has severall rising grounds
in it, and towns and houses set up to view, as it
were. Its produce is mostly wheat, barly, and
beans, and rapeseed, which they change alternatly
with fallow. This looks to be a very rich,
plentifull country, and is reckoned one of the best
in England. Its whole produce goes to the
London market ; and I do not think it is so
populous as I would expect. If you see one
English town or village you see them all ; they
are very neat and pleasant. The inns in all this
country are built (round a court-yard) of timber,
and open galleries from whence most of the rooms
enter.
On Sunday the 2jth of June we went on board
the paquet about eleven o'clock forenoon. We
were in an inn which is not so much frequented as
another, so that we did not know of any passengers
but two young gentlemen I saw walking about,
and one who lodged in our inn, come from New
England ; but we were no sooner on board but we
found ourselves a very numerous company.
As I have now got all their names, I may call
46 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
them by name, which I could not do whilst on
ship-board, nor for many days after : In the first
place, there was an old lady with her son and
daughter, the lady's name was Mrs. Clark, her son
was Peter Dondie, bred a corn factor ; Miss
Dondie was a girl about eighteen, not ill-lookt,
quite a cockney, she has exactly the voice of the
stage, and might be made a player, had she as
much sense or feeling as to enter into the spirit of
her part.
Peter you have often seen acted by Stamper; 1
he seemed to understand a horse-race or a cock-
match much better than the price of corn ; he is
just the figure of a young squire who would be
married to a cast-mistress, if some good-natured
person in the drama did not prevent it, for which
he would express his thankfulness with many grins
and smiles, severall bows and scrapes, shrugs, and
rubbing of his hands for gladness.
The old woman is a good-natured body, and
seems to desire nothing so much that she would
run the risque of giving offence to obtain it. She
told me that she had severall troubles in her life ;
1 Stamper was one of Mr. Digge's and Mrs. Ward's company
at the theatre in the Canongate in 1753-56, and is described as
' an actor of merit.' ARNOT'S History of Edinburgh, p. 369.
JOURNEY 47
her first husband was a Frenchman, he died when
the lassie was at nurse, and left her with Peter,
another daughter and her. The other daughter
was most charmingly married, but died a few
months after, of the small-pox : that she had
married, for a second time, a coall-merchant of
the name of Clark. She did not know whether he
was Scots or not. She supposed he was of no great
family, or she would have heard enough of it, but
indeed he was so unhappy, (which signifies ill-
nature in Scots,) that she durst never ask anything
at him he was not pleased to tell her.
Now do not suppose I got all this on board a
ship, for you will see, by the course of our travells,
I have met her often again.
The next in rank of our company were two
young gentlemen, the one, Mr. Webb, setting out
for the tour of Italy, and his companion, one Mr.
Bowlls, the son of a very rich father, who keeps
a crown-glass warehouse near London. He had
allowance from his father to accompany Mr. Webb
(who had been a Cambridge companion) the tour
of Flanders, and was to return by Dover in a few
weeks.
Then we had one Mr. Cookson, a merchant
of Leeds, a very good descreet man, going abroad
4 8 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
to settle his correspondence before the war break
out ; a Presbiterian minister going to Utrecht to
supply the place of Mr. Brown, 1 who has got the
Church-history in St. Andrews ; a very fine
body they call M'Culloch ; two messengers, one
returning to Pettersburgh from London, he is an
officer in the service, as the Russian Court has no
people of that kind or office as we have ; this
gentleman, in his way to London from Harwich,
where he had never been before, met with a
company of Germans, so, for the sake of coming
with them, he left the English passengers, and
joined the Germans, who made him pay the whole
expence of the company, which was ^7, and told
him England was a very dear place. He was one
of the merriest finest bodies ever I saw, and sung
vastly fine.
The other messenger was a very smart lad ; he
was going to Berlin, and from that to Petersburgh,
and the two were to set out together a journey of
twenty-two days, night and day travelling, and was
not to have off their clothes till they arrived. He
was sent to Lisbon with the account of the present
1 The Revd. William Brown, Professor of Divinity and
Church History in St. Mary's College, St. Andrews see
University Calendar, where the date 1757 is given.
JOURNEY 49
from the Parliament, 1 and was there at the second
great earthquake.
We had likeways a Doctor Monro going to
study at Leyden, but he had as much knowledge
already as would do all his busness, which he had
bought for forty shillings ; this was a cure for the
jaundice. He had likeways in his pocket a bottle
of drops infallible for preventing sea sickness,
which was no other than the spirit of lavender ;
but if his other specifick be no better than that,
he is forty shillings out of pocket. However,
every body swallowed of it greedily, but, alais ! it
proved of no effect.
Marinasa the opera dancer was in the company,
and a companion of his, a Swiss, who was either a
singer or a dancer, we could not know which, for
he sung very ill, and did not look as if he could
dance. This poor Italian applyed to the doctor
1 The great earthquake of Lisbon occurred on the ist Nov.
1755, and was felt more or less during the following seventeen
days.
In answer to a message to Parliament sent by the King on the
28th Nov. a sum of ^100,000 was voted to enable his Majesty
to afford speedy and effectual relief to the inhabitants, and his
own subjects in that country. On 5th Dec. H.M.S. 'Hampton
Court,' 70 guns, was despatched for Lisbon with ' ^50,000 in
specie, and as much provision of beef, flour, biscuit, etc. as she
could carry.' Scots Magazine, Nov. and Dec. 1755.
D
50 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
for a few of his drops, which after taking, he fell
sick, took his bed, and did not get up again till he
was within smell of land ; we all thought he would
have died outright. All the company were sick,
less or more, for first we plyed doun the river with
a cross wind, tacking every half hour till the tide
was spent, and about three o'clock afternoon, when
we were of Orford, on the coast of Suffolk, we
were obliged to cast anchor ; which was no sooner
done than every one fell a wameling * as the ship
did, and there was such sighing and groaning in
the two cabins, as I never heard the like.
Mr. Calderwood had got possession of the state-
room, and there lay he snug with the door shut, very
squeamish. There was such a stink below, that I
durst not go down, so sat above till it was almost
dark ; then down I must go, and into bed as soon
as possible, very very squeamish. I could not
keep my feet in the cabin. And it was such an
opperation betwixt John 2 and me, to get off some
of my clothes, and to get on my night clothes, that
had anybody been inclined to laugh, they might
have had a good subject. I at last got to bed,
but such a night I think I never will forget.
1 Rolling about. - John Rattray, their servant.
JOURNEY 51
At the upper end of the cabin, a bed lyes across
the stern, in that lay the Swiss dished up like a
boiled salmond, (for it has no cover over it,) sick
to death ; on the right hand of it lay the almost
expiring dancer ; on the left lay the old lady ; at
her feet was Miss making a deplorable lamentation ;
at her feet lay I as quietly as I could ; on the side
with the dancer lay Mr. Webb ; John Rattray
was laid before my bed, with his head on a clog-
bag 1 and his feet into the state-room.
About twelve we all composed ourselves to sleep,
but were very soon awaked by a most dreadfull
storm of thunder, and lightning and rain. When
I waked, I heard Miss calling out,
f Oh, good La, is there any danger ?'
Mr. Webb sitting up in his bed, with a night-
cap and red vest, demonstrating to Miss that the
thunder would not drown her. Bowles, who had
come from the other cabin to pay us a visit, was
speldring 2 with legs and arms to keep his ballance,
and holding by the walls, protesting he had never
seen such a night ; the poor dancer crying out his
prayer, and sick by turns. I had sleeped so sound
I had forgot where I was, when all this presented
itself, and you may figure how astonished I was.
1 Cloak-bag, portmanteau. 2 Spreading himself.
52 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
The thunder continued for three hours ; how-
ever, it had the effect to change the wind, so that
we set saill again with a fair wind, about four
o'clock in the morning.
The minister, poor body, got up about nine,
and made a large pot of coffee, which he came
round with, declaring it to be the finest thing to
settle the stomachs of the whole company ; but it
was ordained in this voiage, that every thing which
was intended for a remedy proved quite contrary,
for no sooner was the coffee swallowed, but every
one fell sick, and I, who had withstood everything,
at last yeilded to the minister's coffee, and made a
clean stomach.
My remedy came next, for about dinner time,
I caused John make some mutton broath ; by the
time it was ready, we were coming within sight of
land, so that it had a great effect on the company
as it is a good remedy comes in the end of a
disease. Every one praised the broath, and
wondered I could be so wise as to think of making
broath ; little did they know that I thought I had
not got a dinner since I left home for want of
broath.
The sight of land cheared every body's spirits,
and even the poor dancer creept out of bed like a
JOURNEY 53
poisoned rottan ; l he returned thanks to the
company for their concern for him, but, indeed, it
was only comiseration he had received from any of
them but us. Every one said, the poor Italian is
[ill], but nobody offered him any assistance but
the minister, who gave him of his coffee, and we
gave him part of any thing we had. I sent him
some peppermint water, and he reached out his
bare neck, and head without a night-cap, and
cryed,
' Me thank ye, Madam.'
John gave him broath, and took great care of
him, at which he was so thankfull that he gave
John half a croun.
We came in sight of land about four o'clock
afternoon, and arrived in sight of the harbour of
Helveotsluce at eight : I say in sight, for there it
seems it is the custome to cast anchor, that there
may be money given for a boat to take you in,
though the ship can go as easily as any other part
of the voiage. The sea run pretty rough ; the
captain went into his boat, and all who were very
impatient got in with him, but those who thought
the sea rough demurred a little, of which number
were the ladies, some of the gentlemen, and the
54 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
Italian, and the Swiss, and two poor servant lasses
I forgot to mention. We waited some time, and
no appearance of the boat's return, and though it
had, they that had gone into it made so bad a
figure on the water, that we did not choose to
follow them.
Whilst we were considering what would be done,
up comes a Dutch boat, a great odd-like thing, by
all the world just like a great parton ;* for, instead
of being hollow in the midst, it rose up round like
the back of a parton, and had two boards fixed to
the sides, not unlike the toes. There was two
men in it, who asked a shilling per head from
us ; they could speak no English, we no Dutch ;
but you must take this alongst with you, that
in money matters, the Dutch understands any
language. The poor lasses say to me,
f But what will become of us, for we have not
a shilling to pay ?'
' Go in boldly,' says I, f we will not pay till
we land, and then what can they do ? If they
threaten to drown you, the company will pay two
shillings to save you.'
So in we all went, and after we entered the
harbour, they demanded the money ; every one
1 Crab.
JOURNEY 55
payed their shilling ; when it came to the Swiss, he
gave a guinea to change, and expected nineteen
shillings back, which paid for him and the dancer,
but they offered him but seventeen, withholding the
other two for the poor lasses ; upon which insued
a scolding bout betwixt the Swiss and the skipper,
each in their own language. The company inter-
posed in every language they could speak, to try
if any party could understand them, but to no
purpose, and this was certainly the most lively
representation of the Confusion of Babell ever I
had been witness to.
The two poor lasses were pointed at by both,
and were terrified out of their wits ; all that I could
understand of the whole dialogue was, f G d d n
ye,' which was thrown out by both sides; which,
to the honour of the English, has become part, and
I think the only part, of the universall language so
much wished for.
This dispute was at last determined in favour of
the Swiss, who got back his guinea, and somebody
gave him two shillings to pay for him and his
companion.
We got on shore, and came to an English
house, we had been recommended to, where we,
Mr. Cookson, and the minister, put up ; all the
56 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
rest went to another. We got very good enter-
tainment in a low parlour, very neat and clean set
forth, with many pictures and much china. When
we came to go up stairs to bed, there was a trap,
which is the Dutch name for a stair, and, indeed,
it answers all the idea anybody can have of a trap,
for there was not two foot of difference betwixt the
head and the foot of it, though it went straight up
before you. The maid spoke English :
* Bless me,' said I, f such a stair !'
c Madam,' said she, f this is one of the best
stairs in all Holland ; ' which I found to be true.
The next question was, in what manner we
should go to Rotterdam. The parson had been
instructed to go by water ; there is no track-scoot
goes from Helveot, but they go to the Brille in a
waggon, which is but two miles, and then takes a
sailing scoot up the Maes to Rotterdam. As this
passage depends on the wind, it may sometimes be
tedious, so that the surest way, though the most
expensive, is to take what they call a rattel waggon,
that being the genteelest conveance, straight to
Rotterdam. In this way Mr. Cookson and we
intended to go, but the parson was instructed to
go by water, and by water he would go ; so Mr.
Cookson, we, and the two gentlemen, Webb and
JOURNEY 57
Bowles, set out in two waggons, and left the parson
with the ladies, the Doctor, Fetter, the dancer, and
the Swiss.
This waggon is a long-bodied narrow cart, that
just holds two to sit in the wideness. There are
four benches in it, including the one the driver sits
in ; it has very soft cushions on the seats, four
wheels, and is very easy. It is drawn by two
horses, but has no pole, for the horses are yoked
to a cross-tree, and betwixt the two fore wheels
there is a peice of timber turned up like a hook,
and this serves for a rudder to the waggon, which
the driver governs with his foot. The intention
of this is, that in this way they can make a much
shorter turn, and pass another machine much
nearer, as the roads are very narrow, high raised on
the top of what they call dykes, with deep ditches
on each hand, and when you have to make a turn
it is very sharp, and often upon a little bridge which
goes over one of these ditches. The horses are
very well trained, and go at a good rate.
This way of travelling was very agreeable ; you
know to a minute how long you will be on the
road, for they count all by hours ; it is four hours
betwixt Helveot and Rotterdam. There was no
cover over our head, and we saw the whole country
58 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
round, which is very flat, but not inclosed any
other way than by water, that is, in broad ditches
always full of water, and in some places canalls ;
there are bushes of trees here and there, for all
these dykes are planted, I suppose to make them
stand the firmer. All through the country are
these dykes, far from the sea, and made only to
prevent the water from going further should it
breake in at any part.
We got to Rotterdam in good time to dine ; the
waggon set us down on the other side of the Maes,
which we had to ferry over in about five minutes
sailing or rowing. When we arrived at the ferry,
Mr. Webb, who had come in another waggon,
told us he had rode in great pain ; he really was
in great distress, poor lad ! We came to the best
inn in Rotterdam, called the Swyn's Hooft, which
being interpreted, signifies the Sow's head. This
house was keeped by a Frenchman, and a Dutch
frowe of the first magnitude. There we had
things dressed in the Dutch manner, some of which
was new, which I shall tell you when I come to
display my acquirements in cookery.
I dined one day at the ordinary for curiosity, and
there was a collection of severall nations, French,
Dutch and German, and some of them could speak
JOURNEY 59
a little English. We had sixteen dishes of meat,
and a very good desert of fruit, fresh and dry, for
we here had the finest strawberries and cherries
since ever we came to Holland. The price, besides
the wine, which every body paid as they called for
it, was a gilder the head.
Now, I must make you acquaint with the Dutch
money in order to save me calculation when I name
the price of any thing : The highest coin they have
here is a ducat, that is a very pretty gold peice,
broader and thinner than our half-guinea ; that,
when changed into silver, is five gilders five
stivers, and the nearest thing to our nine-and-
sixpence. The next coin to that is a gilder, which
is twenty stivers ; a stiver is rather more than our
penny, for our shilling goes for eleven stivers, our
half-crown for twenty-eight ; so that there is a loss
of a twelfth part in bringing English money here.
There is two stiver pieces called doublesees ; there
is likeways five stivers and one-half, which is
exactly the value of an English sixpence. Then
there are six stiver pieces, these they call skillings,
and twelve stiver pieces, called two skillings or
twelve stivers. They have the stiver in silver, and
the only copper coin is doits, of which there are
60 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S JOURNEY
eight for a stiver. They have severall other silver
coins, as double and single dollars, but they are
not now so much in use ; and they have no other
gold coin but the ducat, which, by general agree-
ment, is allowed now to be current all over
Germany, but they are looked upon only as a sort
of conveniency, for they are not reckoned money,
but merchandise.
In any large payments, and in bills of exchange,
or payments of any extent, silver is the only thing
called money ; and when a man makes a bargain,
the payer will stipulate, that so much of the price
is to be received in ducats, or rather gold. They
have no paper credit, so you may judge what a
mint of that ugly ill-coined silver must be in this
country, when there are few pieces of it above
twenty-two pence of our money, which is a gilder.
CHAPTER III.
Preliminary Note: ROTTERDAM depicted: Canals
and Coaches : Horses and Horse-chairs : Boomp-
jees : Markets : Dutch Houses : The Beds :
Pewter Work : MR. CRAWFURD'S House :
Peats and Charcoal: The Secret of Dutch
Bleaching: Worship of the Herring: Dutch
Farming: A Dutch Sunday: THE PEOPLE
criticised: Character and Appearance : Dutch
Vivers : Delft to the Hague.
[WHEN Mrs. Calder wood's party arrived in
Holland, the memory of defeat and humiliation
following the glories of Marlborough's campaigns
were strong in men's minds : how Marshal Saxe
had overrun the country ; one by one the barrier
towns falling into his hands, till the Low Countries
lay at the mercy of the French. The rout of
Fontenoy, and the Jacobite rising in Scotland had
paralysed alike both England and Holland. At
the moment of their greatest need a Dictator had
62 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
arisen and been received with enthusiasm : Prince
William Charles Frisco became Stadtholder and
Captain General of Seven Provinces, offices after-
wards declared hereditary. William iv,, the Stadt-
holder, died in 1751. His widow, Anne, daughter
of King George n., succeeded to the government
in behalf of her son then three years of age
under the title of f Princess Governess.' The
rule of the Princess Anne was hardly a success.
Personally, she was disliked, notwithstanding that
Frederick the Great has recorded his opinion that
she was a woman of f magnanimity, prudence, and
an understanding superior to her sex.' 1
While the travellers were in the Netherlands, the
f Seven Years' War ' broke out, and it was with
difficulty that the Dutch Provinces stood clear of
the complications that ensued. ED.]
The sight of the town of Rotterdam is some-
thing very new. It is situated on a very fine
fresh water river, up which the largest ships can
come, from whence every large street in the town
has a canall, always supplied with fresh water every
tide ; the streets are on each side of the canall.
1 Letter in Univer. Mag., quoted in Davies's Hist, of Holland,
vol. iii. p. 430.
JOURNEY 63
There are the houses on one hand each within
themselves ; they have commonly two steps, then
a flat of a black stone, or blew like marble, before
the door, and as much on each hand of the door as
hold a binch of the same stone, with the one end
to the street, and the other to the house, where the
carles 1 sit in the evening and smok their pipes.
Next to the steps is a foot-walk of bricks, laid with
their edges uppermost ; this sort of bricks they
call clinkers, and are as hard as any flint. Next
that they have a stone casway, about eight or nine
foot broad ; and, on the other side of that, to the
edge of the canall, is all laid with these clinkers,
and will be about as broad, or broader in many
places, than the casway, and in the middle of it is
planted a continued row of old fine elms, which
are keeped in nice order, and make a fine shade.
Ships of good burthen saill from canall to canall
to any part of the town, and all the bridges are
made to draw up tolet them through, so that the
town is intirely a mixture of houses, trees, and ship
masts from the one end to the other, and this is
the appearance and plan of every town in Holland.
Their streets are keeped as clean as any parlour
floor, washed from the door of every house cross
' Old fellows.
64 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
to the canall every day, with a besome made of
small twigs. The Dutch maid-servants do nothing
on earth but wash the house and the streets, and
the veshells of the house and kitchen ; none of
them wash their linnen at home, they are all washed
in publick fields and brought in wet, so that, when
the maids have not them to dry and dress, they
have nothing to do but slester 1 and wash. They
have plenty of water, and every house has a pump,
and they will have a pump of water in every story.
This is one inducement to wash, but the origi-
nall of it is the necessity, as the streets would in a
few days gather a fog 2 betwixt the bricks, and that
in a short time would certainly breed a vermine.
All the houses and the streets, and every thing
here, are all founded on timber pillars, which
makes the streets so noisy that it is quite intoler-
able ; a wheel-barrow makes as much noise in
passing as a coach and six would do in another
place, and one would think they put rattling things
to their machines to increase the noise. A great
many things they carry on slipes, 3 for instance
barrells. They have slipes of a great length, on
1 To slush, or slop. 2 Moss, or lichen.
3 To slipe, to move freely any weighty body which is dragged
through the mire. JAMIESON'S Scot. Diet.
JOURNEY 65
which I have counted four-and-twenty empty
barrells.
All the bread and things of common use are
wheeled about in what they call a croy waggon y
which is like a large box set on two wheels ; it has
no shaft, but a crooked thing like a hook, which
they hold by, and pushes it before them, as fast as
they can run it drives away. You see no porters
here with burthens on their backs ; all is carried on
wheels or on slipes, which makes a prodigious and
constant ratling on the streets.
Then there are a great number of coaches, made
in a different form from ours. The coachman's seat
is much lower, the fore wheels so low as to run in
under the carriage when they turn. The coach is
supported by two large braces [that] go through
below it ; it hangs very easy. All the back part
is full glass down to the seat. They are large, and
clumsily made ; but all the Dutch carriages have a
certain roundness, and a coach and a ship have
the same bulge, in which both differ from other
nations ; but their coaches are most magnificently
ornamented, and gilded to a high degree.
A Dutch hacke is finer than any coach the King
of Britain has ; black japaned ground, with fine
carved corners ; cornices round the windows, all
E
66 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
upon the carriage, and on the wheels all over
guilt.
The gentlemen's coaches are still finer, all
painted and japaned, and overlaid with coats of
arms and coronets, as if they were all dukes and
princes. They are all lined with flowered velvet,
a gold or silver fringe round the coachman's
seat; the finest liveries quite covered over with
pacements, 1 more than any drummer ever you saw,
broad laced hats and large shoulder knots ; the
harness, some of red Turkey leather, with a great
many fine buckles, double guilt ; the horses' mains
are plet with scarlet or other coulors of worsted
binding ; the reins are the same, and the horses has
a large bob of a tasell at each ear, such as hang at
a lady's chair, the same tying up their tails some-
times, and a large top betwixt their ears.
They mostly are mares, which are very large,
and finely shaped, very black, with long tails ; they
are so fat, so well keeped and clean skined, that
they are the prettiest creatures ever I saw, and
look much better in a coach than the light horses
now used in England ; they are not for such swift
travelling, but they are better for draught and deep
roads, and, were I to breed horses, I would have
1 Lace, passementerie.
JOURNEY 67
them for that use ; the finest of them are bred in
Frisland, and cost about two hundred gilders the
piece, which is just 1 8 sterling.
The English horses of their size have risen since
the war to 25 the piece, and they could never
keep up their number of horses in England with-
out a great supply from this country every year.
Besides the coaches, there are many and various
sorts of machines for travelling in Holland.
There are phaetons made for holding six folks;
the back part is like a coach, where two can sit ;
then there is a window, then another seat with no
back to it ; then there is another window, and then
another seat ; then, below this is a little bench for
the driver ; this goes likeways without a pole, and
is conducted by a rudder ; when it comes down a
slope, (for there is no down hill,) the driver keeps
it back by puting his foot against the horses'
buttocks ; in this way they can yoke either two or
three horses a-breast. They have no harness but
a bridle, and sort of brecham l about their necks,
and yoked by ropes ; to the outermost side of
each bridle comes a small cord, which is all the
command the driver has, but he has no need, for
they are so well trained that they all obey by words.
1 The collar of a working horse. JAMIESON'S Diet.
68 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
In a narrow road they will never flinch, though
the briars and thorns brush against their faces that
you would think it would pull out their eyes.
Such horses as they use in these carriages for
travelling are of a smaller size than those I
mentioned before, and will drive seven or eight
hours in a prodigious hot day, at the rate of
betwixt three and four miles an hour, without any
thing but a little water every two hours, and once
a little grass and a bit of rye bread. There is no
water on the roads for them to drink, as every wet
place has a bridge over it ; for that there are
certain houses on the road who have always grass
and water set out for passengers ; the driver drinks
a pot of beer, whiles his horses drink water ; so on
we go again.
There are a great many rivers and branches of
rivers to pass, which are too broad for bridges ; on
these they have the most convenient passage-boats
can be : I have drawn you a very bad draught of
it. Any carriage, with the horses and passengers
in it, drive just into it, and are ferried over ; the
boatmen pulling the rope pushes the boat from one
side of the river to the other ; so they drive out at
the other end, the end board lying closs on the
ground. This is an improvement may easily be
JOURNEY 69
transplanted into Scotland, where there is much
need of it.
But, to return to the carriages. Another con-
veance is the post- waggon, the draught of which
I send you likeways. It is divided, the two first
seats from the last, next the driver, by a canvas
which draws up and down, so that it is like a
coach and a chaise joined, only the folks in the
coach and chaise may converse together or not as
they please, by putting up or down this canvas.
The two first sits face to face as in a coach, the other
seat faces the horses, so that they sit back to back.
Then they have a single horse chair, which is for
one or two persons to take the air in, and this is a
great diversion in the evenings. They are very
neat, light things, highly ornamented. You have
one of these an afternoon for half a crown, and
drive as much as you please. Nobody rides by,
for the horses are finely trained. Nobody rides
a-horseback here, nor in all Holland almost, but
the post. The country-people all travell in carts
and waggons of various sorts. The conveance in
the track-scoot I shall speak of when I come to
travel in it.
The town of Rotterdam is a very busy place,
7o MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
ships loading and unloading every moment. One
of the finest streets in the town, they call the Bom-
case, is upon the side of the Maes, with a row of
fine trees before the windows, through which you
see an unnumerable quantity of ships and boats
continually passing, and many pleasure boats, on
which the young extravagant Dutch beaux lay out
a vast deall of money. One of them I heard of
had three sloops for his pleasure, of different sizes,
the largest cost a thousand pound sterling.
In this street there are the finest houses in the
place, and severall of the richest merchants live in
it. Every street is full of shops and ware-houses,
and work-houses, where every sort of people are at
work, and there is nothing comes from any part of
the world which is not to be had there.
There are certain places allotted for each
market ; the flesh is sold in a house and not
exposed to the air ; the fish is under shades ; the
herbs and fruit are in a place by themselves.
These last are carried up and down the streets in
baskets carried on the women's shoulders, and it is
surprising what a weight they can carry hung to a
peice of board which goes on their neck, to which
the baskets are hung. All the strawberries are
carried in little earthen pots set in those baskets,
JOURNEY 71
and are of the large hoy boy kind, very good.
They are vastly well supplied with garden stuff of
all kinds; you buy one or two large cucumbers
for a doit; the Dutch live greatly on garden
things, rich and poor.
The houses all over Holland are built of brick,
the walls very thin, six inches is the common ; but
the strength of the houses is in the timber. They
have great oak beams, and severall houses, which
are not of the finest, incline forward so much that
the top is in some two foot off the plum, and
looks as if they were falling forward ; but this is
done, it seems, designedly, either to widen the
house above, or to make them cast the rain, but
I imagine it is just an old fashion that nobody
follows now.
I cannot commend their architecture by no
means.
They look upon a stair as a necessary evil, so
puts it in as little room as possible, and in as dark
an out of the way corner as they can find. If the
street runs a-squint the town, then all the houses
run a-squint in the fore wall, and every room is
two foot longer on the one side than the other.
The chimney places are very droll like ; they have
no jams nor lintell, as we have, but a flat wall the
72 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
grate is set to, and then projects over it a
lum, 1 in the form of the cat-and-clay lums in the
country houses of timber, and commonly a muslin
or point ruffled pawn 2 round it ; above that is
what we call a chimney-piece, and above that
severall other little cornices for setting china upon,
which every house must be decked with.
They have excellent bedding here, fine down and
feather beds; most of the bottomes are timber,
and over that a straw matress, then a large down
bed, then a wool matress very thick ; a Dutch
bolster is at least three quarters broad, and not
made round as ours are, but in the pillow shape ;
the pillows are in proportion, and made square.
The finest bed I lay in in Rotterdam had no
blankets, but a soft callico, quilt very thick with
cotton, and very slightly quilted together. I
thought I should not have enough of clothes, so
took another, but soon found it too warm.
I expected to find in Holland the finest large
basons, and every other thing of Delph, but, to
my great surprise, found nothing but puther.
Every thing you can imagine is made of puther,
tea-kettle, tea-pot, milk-pot, bason, plates, casters,
1 Chimney.
2 A valance, as round a bedstead.
JOURNEY 73
juggs, muggs, and every thing you ever saw in
silver or in china.
When I first went through the town, I saw, as
I thought, the most magnificent silver-smiths'
shops I could imagine, finely polished, in other
shops silver-work unpolished, prettily chaced, but
the culour of the inside of our new plate, and,
upon enquiry, found that all the polished work
was puther, and the unpolished silver.
Providence has certainly wisely ordered, for the
greater correspondence amongst mankind, that
every country should despise its own produce or
manufactures, otherways the Dutch, who are a
very wise and rationall people, could never prefer
the uggly puther to their fine china and Delph, nor
our printed cottons to their fine chinces. If you
say to a Dutch lady,
c Your gown is a vast pretty chince,' she will
say,
'It is not a chince, I do assure you, it is an
English cotton, which I value much more.'
They are not come into the taste of paper in
their houses ; the guilt leather, or silk, or tapestry,
is the only thing used. But the principall finery
and expence in their houses are carving, guilding,
stucko, marble, china of the ornamental kind and
74 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
pictures. As for marble, there is the utmost
profusion of it; a very indifferent house has the
passages in marble, both above and below stairs.
The kitchen floors are marble for certain, lined
with the glased tile.
The Dutch houses are all after the same plan,
which at first appeared to me very odd; some
parts of the house that is to the street was three
stories, some parts two stories, some but one story,
and that lighted from the roof; but the reason of
this is, they are greatly confined to the street, so
can have but the length of one room to it, and
then the house runs a great way back.
Mr. Crawfurd's was the only fine house I was
in. It is built after the Dutch plan, which indeed
the ground prescribes. This house cost him, ware-
houses included, which lye behind the house, and
in the sunk story, seven thousand pounds. His
house is twenty-six foot long, and ninety foot deep.
Now, how is the middle of this house to be lighted,
but by cutting a room out in the middle of it ? so
that, instead of being five rooms in deepth, it is first
two, then a blank, and then two. In this blank
there is one room on the ground, lighted from the
roof, which some makes a parlour of, but they
make some other use of it.
JOURNEY 75
This house is built of brick, some stone pillasters
and ornaments above the door as you come in.
There is a passage laid with very fine white marble,
every stone about six foot long and four broad. Off
that, all on one hand, enters the compting room,
and other places for his busness, and this lantern
room, as they call it, or hot-bed, as I called it.
Above stairs, and up a very good stair, (which is
a wonder,) there is another long passage, laid with
marble, and the walls lined with white tiles. The
fore room is a very pretty one, lined with green
and gold leather, the chimney in the English
fashion ; but as the walls are so thin, they cannot
contain it. It must be built so as to project upon
the room, and all that projection is marble back to
the wall. All above the lintell is carved in wood,
with brecates set out for china.
The roofs in all the best rooms, and in this, are
stucko, which was wrought by an Italian, much
cheaper than Rennick's, and of so hard a nature
that it is like stone. The roofs of the rooms are
all high, and the doors and windows very high ;
the windows will be about twelve by five or six
foot, and the doors more than seven foot.
The bricks of which the houses are built are
vastly hard ; Mr. Crawfurd had forgot to bore a
76 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
hole for a bell, (which, in every house, is put so as
the handle is at the side of the outer door, that,
instead of knocking, you ring,) and in peircing
that hole through the brick, it was as hard to do as
if it had been marble.
Behind this room I have described there is a
parlour, lighted into the void ; beyond the void a
bed-chamber, and behind that a drawing-room.
You may judge of the windows, when three window
curtains and two peices of hangings will take ten
peices of Indian damask to hing them.
Above they have lodging rooms, a large nursery,
(as they have ten children, the eldest little more
than ten years old,) and a place for drying clothes,
which I thought vastly convenient. There are
joists laid alongst at the height one can reach, at
the distance of about eight foot from each other,
and on them are cut out, at about two foot
distance, a notch, and betwixt every joist, at that
distance, is laid a poll, on which the clothes are
hung ; the polls always lye on the joists, so they
just take down the one end, and string the clothes
on and put it up again, which is very clever.
Up in the garret lye the peats : the Dutch allow
nothing to be carried through their houses, so how
think you the peats gets up to the garret ? they
JOURNEY 77
come in at the window, or rather a place made on
purpose, with a tackle and pulley ; a basket is tied
and let down, so everything is put into it that is
wanted up stairs. Then, to take them down again
for use, every story has a bunker for peats, and
these bunkers have a communication from each
other, and up to the garret, by timber spouts, such
as they let down malt with. The peats have little
ashes, so that a white-iron pan takes away the
whole day's ashes, which the maid carries away in
her hand with a cloth thrown over it.
I have been particular in the description of this
house, as I reckon it in the conveniency equall to
the best. Every one of the lower order is in the
same stile, only some very bad copies, and many
exceed it in expensive finishing : their kitchens are
very neat.
The peats are a vast conveniency, as they serve
for stove holes in any part of the kitchen without
a vent above, as the peats they use in the stoves are
chared, and have no smock, that is, they are half
burnt, and then smothered ; but, at any rate, they
are of a much finer kind than we have. They are
all fished with nets out of a lake, like coffee grounds,
then laid out in heaps to dry, and so cut into
square peices ; they are brought to every town by
78 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
the cannalls. Those peats have a fine heat, and
answer all sorts of kitchen use better than coals, as
with them they use every sort of earthen vessells
for the kitchen.
This, or charcoal, with an earthen pot, is the
whole secret of Madamosel's boulie we could never
light upon ; and this is like many imported im-
provements, which, by not answering, gives our
country the character of being stupid, self-conceited,
wedded to our own way, etc. when, behold, the
very materials are not in use amongst us, that such
things can only be done by.
I must here make a degression, least I forget it,
of some things of the same kind. How often
have I heard us blamed for the Dutch excelling us
so much in both whiteness and cheapness in their
bleaching ? The Dutch say they have certainly a
secret, and a method of bleaching which we cannot
obtain, and our wise Trustees 1 have bestowed a
1 During the troubles in which the Fletcher family, and many
other Whigs, were involved in the times of persecution, the
mother of Andrew Fletcher, Lord Milton (see post}, who
was a daughter of Sir David Carnegie of Pitarrow, went to
Holland, taking with her a clever millwright and a weaver,
in the hope that by their means she might be able to discover
JOURNEY 79
vast deall of money upon rogues, who pretend
they have got the secret of the Dutch bleaching,
when the Dutch have no more secret than what
Margaret Pedie [has], and I suppose her great-
grandmother had before her, which is boiling her
cloth and laying it out to the sun, and watering,
and putting it into sowr milk when it is near white.
They give their servants a great day's wage, 1
perhaps twenty-pence, and yet they bleach at two-
pence farthing their yard, which is our three
quarters.
The secret of it is what I am afraid can never
be brought into Scotland, at least the two main
articles, the last may. First, there is no duty on
either soap or pot-ashes. The wood-ashes they
get down from Germany by the Rhine, at a
perfect trifle, as any body may imagine, that, if an
the secret of the weaving and dressing of linen as practised by
the Dutch.
In 1754 and 1755, * the Commissioners and Trustees for
improving Fisheries and Manufactures in Scotland ' were very
zealous in their endeavours to better the system of making and
dressing linen throughout Scotland, and at an outlay of 3000
elaborated a scheme for the erection of stations and schools ; and
the training of teachers and artificers all over the Highlands.
See Scots Magazine, 1754 and 1755.
1 This phrase still is commonly used in Scotland where
' wages ' would be employed in England.
8o MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
ash-midden is worth carriage, it is worth but little
more. In the next place, the weather is quite
serene and constant, and, for most part in summer,
very hot ; and, last of all, the water is quite of a
different quality. There are no springs in all
Holland, though the country is full of water.
This water falls from the heavens in winter, and
covers the whole face of the ground, and what is
carried with great rapidity to the sea with us, by
every river and burn, with them lies in the ground
for want of levell.
For this reason, the whole country is cut into
these cannalls and ditches in order to receive it,
and what lies in the hollow places, and cannot
get into the cannall, is drawn up by wind-milns, and
thrown into the cannalls, and this is one great use
of the unnumberable wind-milns through Holland :
besides, these cannalls have all a circulation of
fresh water from the great rivers, which keeps
them fresh all summer. But it must appear, at
this rate, that the water here is of a much softer
quality than any in Scotland, and the only way
that can be supplied with us for bleaching is, to
make ponds which shall keep as much water as will
serve a bleaching-feild all summer.
Harlem, which is the famous place for bleaching,
JOURNEY 81
has the finest water ; there are many sand hillocks
near it, which the water comes through, and, as it
were, filters it from all sort of minerall or bad
ingredients of any kind.
Most of the reproaches our country meets with
are as ill founded as this, and can only be the
effects of want of enquiry or reflection.
The Dutch herron will cost me another de-
gression, so I shall mention them here. You know
there were great hopes conceived of the British
herron fishery, which has not succeeded, and every
body said that is very odd. Will you see how the
Dutch herron fishery always thrives, and how many
bushes they have ? but you must know that that
affair of herron is like witchcraft here. The first
herron that comes in are cured after a particular
manner. The French salt is refined here, and then
sent out to cure the herron. Every town, or
certain ships, are priviledged by turns to bring
home the first herron, which no sooner arrive, than
every man, woman and child in Holland run upon
them as if they were mad ; they will sell in the
morning for half a crown the peice, and at night
come down to threepence.
The first herron arrived, since I came here,
about three o'clock in the morning, and I was
82 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
told one of the great burgomasters in this town sent
out for a couple, and sat up in his bed and eat
them. It can be nothing but a sort of naturall
instinct that makes them be so run upon, for it is
observed no disease rages the time of the herron,
and they cure every body that is not well. They
are all eat raw, and appear to be so fat that they are
almost transparent, which must be owing to the
curing, for they are the same with ours. They are
not very salt, and they call them fresh herron ;
they will not keep any time, and ships are constantly
coming in, and they are as fast eat up.
They are likeways sent to all parts of Germany,
and the first which arrives are sent in a present,
express to the King of Prussia. Suppose this is
but home consumpt, and brings in no money from
other countries, yet, finding employment for a
people at home makes them not think of going out
of the country ; and when they apply themselves
to get bread at home, they think of many ways of
doing to the advantage of their country.
All the folks in Holland who live by carrying,
(that is, upon the water, either out at sea or on the
cannalls,) their whole family lives in the boat, and
they have no other house ; wife and bairns all live
in the scoot always. But these track-scoots who
JOURNEY 83
carry passengers have no family living in them.
This is the reason why the Dutch fish the herron
and other fish cheaper than other nations. The
master of the vessell is always at home, and does
not keep two families, and they all live on the
herron that they catch, so has no provision to take
with them but bread and cheese.
I find it was a great loss that I could not speak
to the folks and ask questions, so that there are
many things I could not inform myself of. I went
with Mrs. Crawfoord to a dairy farm, for all the
grounds almost in the province of Holland are
grass. They have lost, by the disease, all their
fine breed of cattle, and, by the supply from
Denmark and other countrys, the cattle is become
small. The ground belongs mostly to the boors ;
there are almost no other lairds in the province of
Holland.
No gentleman asks more than a house and
garden, and, indeed, it would be needless to have
land, for, of a hundred gilders of rent, there comes
off seventy gilders of taxes ; for it takes the whole
rents of the country, and much more, to support it
and the government ; as it is all art, 1 it must be
keept up at a great expence.
1 Artificial.
84 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
This dairy I went into ; the woman, her second
husband, (who had been her servant,) and her son,
lived in [it.] There is not a wife in Scotland that
is not as well drest or genteel like as her, and yet
she had had two thousand pounds to her tocher.
Her first husband was very rich, and her marrying
the servant man was not an odd thing at all, he was
as good as she. They keep forty cows, and had
lost their whole stock three times over with the
disease. I inquired into the management of their
milk, and found that, so soon as it is milked, they
sieth 1 it into a brass veshell tinned within, of the
shape of the green water-canns used by our country
people. They immediatly put those veshells into
cold water, and let them stand till the milk is cold ;
then they pour it into earthen veshells, narrow
below and wide above, and let it stand only a day
and half, and take care that the cream be not
sower in the least. They churn three times a-week,
and what the churn wants of being full, they fill it
up with new milk, which is sometimes more or less,
but often a third part. This churn is wider in pro-
portion than ours, and like the hold of a nine gallon
1 To sythe or sey, to strain any liquid for its purification
through a scarce or sey dish. JAMIESON.
JOURNEY 85
barrell ; it works with a churn-staff, and is wrought
by a very simple machine which is moved by a
horse in a little house adjoining, yoked in a thing
of the nature of Lundin's pump.
But the great nicety of the Dutch butter is the
salting of it ; they never put more salt on it than
is common to put in England on the first butter,
which is just a little more than we do. The pro-
portion, they told me, was like our mutchkin of
salt to twenty pound weight of butter, and with
this I eat butter of last summer, which I did not
know but that it was churned the day before.
This salt they work into the butter after it has
been washed from the milk as well as possible, and
pour a pickle on it till the next morning, then pour
it off, and so on till the barrell is full. The
barrells are like half ankers, but all depends on
the keeping it. When in the barrells, it should
stand near nothing that it attracks a taste from ;
where it can contract no taste, nor be too dry. So,
in the best houses in Holland, they have a place
for their butter like a press, lined with tiles, and,
when they take any out, they never hollow it, but
slice it smooth off, and the least bit must not be
left on the sides of the cask.
86 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
The Dutch churches are very clean and pretty,
all paved, some with marble, some with stone.
They have very few seats fixed, and most people
sit on chairs. This church is battered 1 as full of
escutchions as the wall can hold. There is a fine
organ in each, and in severall, very pretty monu-
ments of the Orange family, and of their great
admiralls, as De Roiter, etc. I think they are the
best set of reformers ? for they have just keeped
what they could affoard, and no more ; and whim
or fancy never governs the Dutch.
A Sunday is very droll in Holland; they
almost all wear black to go to church, and you
would take them for so many Seceders, they put
on such a Sunday face, and walk as if they would
not look up. No sooner is the sermon over but
they fall to feasting, drinking and dancing. This
was certainly not originally presbiterian ; but, as
their situation made all nations come amongst
them, they could easily perceive they would not get
a day, in which there was no work, keeped in a
manner peculiar to themselves, so I suppose they
thought it better to permit such things, than to let
them be done by way of a sin ; which, to be sure,
was right, for, when folks come to think light of
1 Plastered, literally pasted.
JOURNEY 87
one sin, they soon think light of others : and you
see, in all penitent confessions, that breach of
Sunday was the first thing loosend their con-
science.
The Dutch folks are very solid and rationall.
They are not the people I would like to live
among, by their appearance ; but one must admire
them for their solidity, industry, and pains-taking
in every thing, and for the latitude they give to
every body to follow their own way. They have
no notion of what we call whity whaty, nor can
they, I find, comprehend one's being undetermined.
Though they have no vivacity, yet I think they
are smart, and smarter, a great deall, than the
English, that is, more uptaking. 1 I must be
judge of this, as I went very much about by my-
self, and into every shop and place, and I found
it very easy to make them understand what I
wanted to know about their business, though I had
not above ten words of Dutch, which did, you will
allow, require some smartness.
A china wife and I turned very great ; 3 she gave
me her direction, and set down the price of several
1 ' Uptak ' in Scotland is equivalent to Anthony Trollope's
' observation and reception.' See Auto biography, ii. 47.
2 Intimate.
88 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
of her best things, and told me the age of every
peice in her shop. It was from her I bought the
small bottles I send you. They have no notion
of your troubling them ; if they think you come
unresolved whether to buy or not, and in that
case are very short, and ask you if you intend to
buy, or if you be wanting anything ; but, if you
buy a triffle, or say that you are a stranger look-
ing for curiosity, or that you would buy, but
cannot carry things from place to place, then they
are very civill.
The thing I think the oddest about the Dutch
is their appearance ; there [are] almost none of
them have the look of gentlemen or ladies. The
men are tolerable ; they have the air of sober men
of busness, but, for the ladies, they look like
chambermaids, put on them what you please, and
they dress very plain. A fine guilt coach will
pass, and in it a chamber-maid in her Sunday's
clothes, or an old worn-out housekeeper ; and,
when you see them walking from church, drest,
they are just like a lady from the country, who has
not had on a hoop, nor a fan in her hand, for
twenty years, looking very prim, with her elbows
into her sides, her two hands streight out before
her, holding the fan out likeways, as if she was to
JOURNEY 89
red 1 her way by it, and hagheling, 2 as if she
thought all her pitecots were coming off. And
this is a description of every body, for there is no
odds 3 in any town, either in the appearance of the
people or the place, for, shut your eyes, and you
will not know in what town you are, they are
so like.
What do you think of their making salt in
Rotterdam, as a proof of their industry ? The
salt water is brought severall leagues off, and their
peats from high up in Germany, yet they made
salt almost as cheap as we buy it in Scotland ; till
of late, that the States has laid a duty on it. The
salt water is brought in a boat, which is made to
hold a certain quantity. The boat goes down the
Maes out to sea, they pull out a cork, and she
draws as much water as she can hold ; in with the
cork, and away they come, and it is pumped out
of the boat into the salt-pan. This is an improve-
ment to Mr. Martin, least his water is too fresh.
Every thing of vivers 4 is dear in Holland but
vegetables, upon which the commons live almost
1 To clear, or straighten.
2 Not translatable by any
uch circumlocution.
3 Difference. 4 Food, provisions.
2 Not translatable by any word in English, nor at all without
much circumlocution.
9? Jt
-* Ait- i. * -
. '-
9 o MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
all summer, and the better sort a great deall.
Every body, great and small, sups on sallad with
oil and vinegar. Their cookery is preferable to
ours in all sorts of stewes or stoved things. They
stew almost all the vegetables which we boil,
which I think is a great improvement, as it gives
many of them a taste which otherways has none ;
for instance, carrots stewed as we do cabbage.
Turky-beans and pease they make great use of,
which are very good boiled, or rather stewed in the
hulle, 1 like kidney-beans : they have no stoffin
within ; I have seen them in Scotland ; the English
name is f pease without parchment.'
Nobody chooses to eat beef in Holland at
present, for the disease ; for, whenever they are
seized with it, they kill them, and eating them
does no harm.
I have just now heard of a hand to carry this to
London, so shall refer further minute particulars,
and carry myself as far on as I have time to do in
this. It was on the last day of June, I beleive, we
got to Rotterdam, which was on Tuesday, and on
Saturday we hired a pheatone, and set out for the
Hague. In our way we dined at Delph, and went
to see the Delph manufactory, which is much the
1 Pod.
JOURNEY 91
same as you saw at Glasgow ; but, least the com-
position be other than they have, I brought away
a peice of it. They had very little of it to dis-
pose of at the place, and that very dear ; it is all
sent out of the country somewhere, for there is
little made, for I told you they did not use it in
Holland.
The road betwixt Delph and the Hague is
about five miles of a fine avenue, quite shaded,
with a cannall on one hand, and grass grounds full
of cattle or hay on the other.
CHAPTER IV.
At the Hague : The Light-headed English : Dr.
Monro cross-examined : The Dutch Court : The
c PRINCESS GOVERNANTE ' : Princess Caroline :
The Young St ad t holder : States Chambers :
f House in the Wood ' : Scheveling : Arbours and
Summer-houses : A Burgomaster's Politics : The
Anabaptist Professor's Views : Dutch Jews ;
The Burgomaster's gratitude : Fair at Harlem :
AMSTERDAM: Frederic the Great incognito:
Philosophy of Travel.
THE Hague is a very pretty town, with cannalls
and trees like the rest, but many very fine houses,
which is a great ornament to the street. We
lodged in an English house, and Mr. Brown, our
landlord, I imagined had been there all his life, as
he spoke broken English, but, to my surprise,
found he had been but two years there, and had
hardly got any Dutch, so that I suppose poor Mr.
Brown will soon fall through betwixt two stools.
MRS. CALDERWOOD'S JOURNEY 93
(N.B. All the English one finds settled abroad
in that sort of station are the lightest headed divels
in the world.)
Here we forgathered 1 with our fellow passengers,
the lady and her son Peter, and Miss, and the
doctor. The doctor declared he had not tasted
meat he could eat since he came to Holland, till
that day that he had eaten roasted chickens and
green pease, and imputed it to the English house.
Mr. Calderwood begun to sift him, as he wore a
Scots name, viz. Monro, and asked him if he was
come of Scots parents, or if he knew Proffessor
Monro 2 at Edinburgh ?
c Yes, yes,' said he, f he is my relation, but it is
by his wife.'
f Then you are related to Sir Alexander Mac-
donald's family ? ' said Mr. Calderwood, at which
the doctor was non-plussed, and asked him if he
had ever been at Cambridge, and talked very fast
about cocks and bulls of Cambridge, by which he
found out that the doctor could not give a very
1 Forgather ' was an excellent word before it was ill-sorted.'
It cannot be used in place of ' to meet ' as has been attempted of
late. You cannot ' forgather ' a person.
2 Professor Alex. Monro, primus, the great anatomist, and
founder of the Medical School of Edinburgh, resigned his chair
in 1759.
94 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
good reason for his being called Monro, and, after
some conversation he had in the ship about the
Duke of Grafton, concluded he was a bastard of
his who bore that name.
I would warn every man, who would conceal
his birth or station, not to choice a Scots name,
for the first of the country he meets will find him
a counterfit.
The Court was not at the Hague ; they were
paying a visit to the old Princess at her country
house in Frisland. The Princess Governante 1 is
in but a bad sort of condition ; she cannot keep
up her eyes all day, but sleeps closs, and, in her
coach on the street, her head lies on her breast,
rolling like a bullet, fast asleep. Whenever she
goes to bed, she cannot sleep a wink. In summer
she is like to starve of cold, and in winter like to
die with heat ; so that she is contra all human
kind. Her daughter, Princess Caroline, 2 1 beleive,
is about fourteen ; she is as big a fraue as is in
Holland, and nobody to look at her would take
1 Anne, Princess Royal of England, married in 1733 Wil-
liam iv., Prince of Orange-Nassau, Hereditary Stadtholder. On
his death in 1751 the Princess was appointed ' Governess of the
United Provinces ' for her son William v. Anne died in 1759.
2 Daughter of William iv. of Orange-Nassau ; afterwards
married to the Prince of Nassau- Weilburg.
JOURNEY 95
her to be under thirty. They say the Prince is a
very pretty boy, but it is thought a great chance
if he claw the head of an old Statholder. 1 The
Princess Governante is not well liked ; she imploys
none of the Dutch in any office almost, and
imploys Germans and Swiss in her troops, and, in
short, is under a weak ministry. I suppose the
Statholder will be thrown overboard sometime or
other to lay a storm.
What is shown to strangers here are the
churches, horses, guards, and States' chambers.
There are three chambers ; first, where the States
meet at a long table, covered with green cloth ; at
the head is a chair for the Statholder, at the one
1 A Scotch figure of speech, meaning that the boy would
probably not live to old age, or hold that dignity if he did.
Mrs. Calderwood's forecast may be said to have come true.
After a reign of thirty years, marked by troubles and much un-
popularity, the Stadtholder retired to England on the invasion of
his country by the army of the French National Convention in
1795. Here he figured as 'the sleepiest Prince of Europe.'
The efforts of Thomas Sheridan and Henry Erskine scarcely
sufficed to keep him awake : but he was not stupid. The story
of the Stadtholder and Dr. Beverley of Cambridge, how the
Prince, inquiring about a text, would not accept for answer
either the ' Second Epistle of Jude,' or ' the Second Chapter,'
has been preserved in the lines :
' For the future be shy, nor dare to reply,
But remember the Second of Jude.''
96 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
side one for the Pensionary, and twenty-four of
the others ; before each lies a quire of paper, and
betwixt two is an inkstandish. The second room
is for the embassadors being received, or their
meeting, and the other is for the triall of state
crimes. In this last are severall pictures, reckoned
very fine ; they are but about a foot and a half
square, and the three first an English peer offered
twenty thousand pounds for. They are the
crewalties of the Spaniards before the revolt, and
their liberty obtained by the Prince of Orange.
The rest of this building is the State-house of the
Hague, for every town is under its own govern-
ment, and none has more to say than another,
further than the richest has influence over the rest
by their power of serving them ; by which means
Amsterdam obtains a leading in the province of
Holland, and the province of Holland leads the
other provinces, so that the Burgomasters of
Amsterdam in a manner govern the country.
Upon Sunday we went down to see what they
call the House in the wood. This is a very neat
house of the Prince's, in the midst of a wood,
which begins at the town, and reaches four or five
miles. It is all cut out in broad and narrow roads
and walks, and in that every body walks, or drives
JOURNEY 97
in their coaches, and that night being Sunday, it
was very full. There is not much fine furniture
in this house, but some very good paintings, and
fine marble and stuco, and a painting of a whitish
culour like stuco, that you cannot beleive is not
raised from the wall till you touch it. There is
a truly Chineas room and closet, with japaned
finishing, and fine china, and all Indian.
I was through all the stables at the Hague ; the
horses were out at grass, but you might have eat
off the floors for cleaness, and not the least smell
of a stable. There was fifty-eight treveses 1 in
one end, and thirty in another ; the poles hung
betwixt the stalls were covered with plates of
copper, and the side of the manger likeways, to
hinder the horses from biting it with their teeth.
I cannot see how the Princess can keep up things
in proportion to her stables and coaches, with
servants to wait on them.
Her coaches were very fine, and of all kinds, but
no grander than many others ; and, indeed, unless
you come to fine painting, they can go no greater
length in guilding and carving. I saw a chariot
exposed to sale, quite new, as a generall who had
bespoke it was dead. The whole ground of it was
1 Treviss, the partition between two stalls. JAMIESON.
G
98 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
gold, and green flowers painted on it ; it cost but
,100 sterling at first, and was sold for about
^75 ; had it been made at London, it would have
cost in proportion to other machines, ^300.
We went likeways to Schevelin, which is a little
town on the sea, about two miles from the Hague,
and may be called their Leith, but that no vesell
larger than a fishing sloop lies there. The sand
is all of the gray culour, and large hillocks of it,
with bent on them ; [it] is all the defence they have
against the sea. Last winter, they lived in the terror
of their lives ; eight hundred men wrought night
and day to keep the sea from breaking in, and there
was a battry of cannon placed, the firing of which
was to be a warning to the people to make their
escape into Utrecht or Gelderland, which lies
higher than the province of Holland and the Hague.
We saw, betwixt the Hague and Schevelin, the
fine gardens made by the Duke of Portland, and
now possessed by his son, the Count Bentick ; l
1 William, Count Bentinck of Rhoon and Pendrecht in Hol-
land, and of Terrington St. Clement's, County Norfolk ; second
son of the first Duke of Portland, was created a Count of the
Holy Roman Empire by the Emperor Charles vi. in 1732 ; he
married in the following year the Countess Charlotte, only
daughter and heir of Anthony n., Count of Aldenburgh,
Sovereign Lord of Kniphausen, etc. He died in 1774.
JOURNEY 99
there is nothing but a summer-house on the place,
but the gardens are of great extent, with walks and
hedges, water-works and shell grottos and oran-
geries, all with a neatness and cleanness which
appears no place but in Holland. There [is] no
green grass under trees in all this country where
one is to walk, which is certainly a good contriv-
ance ; if it is not keeped, it is very rough and
course, and if keeped, is very expensive, and
besides, it is damp, and wants air. They have
no gravel either, so they supply the want with
sand, which does very well.
They are very fond of arbours and summer-
houses of honeysuckle, and long walks, which
they train up with an hedge on every side, and
after it is come to a proper hight, then they pleat
the boughs over to meet, and arches the roof with
stick, like girths, to which they tye the tender
shoots, till it is closs above, and clips it as smooth
ever after as the rooff of a house ; and these, with
a sand floor, make a very pretty walk, oppen at
both ends. They have a way of rearing their thorn
hedges here contrary to ours ; they bring them first
to their hight, and then to the thickness. The
way is, they train them up upon small pailling-like
espaliers, and tye them round with rushes to it, till
ioo MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
it come to a proper hight, which it comes to in
about three years, and then they keep it down,
and clip the sides of it, till it is at a proper thick-
ness.
And all the little gardens in Holland are vastly
neat. Round every town are little country houses ;
they are very showy, they train vines upon the
walls by speking over the walls, and nailing the
vines to that. They have little parterrs laid in
the shapes of flowers, with culoured bits of glass,
which look very pretty. They lay out vast summs
on those country houses betwixt the Hague and
Harlem. They stand very closs to each other,
and no man has more than a house, garden and
park ; and that he will lay out ten, fifteen, twenty
thousand pounds sterling upon, in statues, marble
grottos, fine furniture and paintings ; and there
are the finest flower gardens in all Holland, and
the country there is but a dead sand.
We set out from the Hague for Amsterdam in
the post waggon : when we came to take our seats,
there came in a very genteel well-looked man,
about thirty-five years old, his own hair, and looked
liker a French than a Dutchman ; he had a very
fine diamond ring, and looked like a finer man of
JOURNEY 101
note in that country than you would think would
travell in a post waggon, so we took him for a
stranger. Mr. Calderwood spoke to him in French,
but he answered in very good English, which I
was very glad of, as it was dull for me to travel a
whole day with folks I did not understand.
After we were set, a very tall, grave-like man
came up to take his place, but, finding there was
only a back seat, he chused to go up beside John,
who sat on the seat which was oppen to the horses,
behind where the driver sat. The first man told
us that man was professor of devinity amongst the
anabaptists at Amsterdam, and a very learned man.
After he was set, we let down the canvas which
divided him from us, and, when he heard us
speaking English, he joined in the conversation,
though he did not speak it so well as the other.
We soon found the first was a Burgomaster of
Amsterdam ; he knew all the places on the road
and told us the great folks who lived in them.
Severalls l of the best were his near relations ; such
an one was embassador in France, and such an
other had been or was embassador in England, and
1 Throughout her writings, Mrs. Calderwood, as here,
occasionally uses the plurals of adjectives, according to the old
Scots fashion.
102 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
so on, and the valuable and curious peices of furni-
ture they had. We got all the Dutch politicks ;
we joked them upon the rest of Europe saying
they were in the interest of France, but the
professor said the English could not be perswaded
but they must be in the interest of France, since
they would not join in the war, but that was a
mistake ; for they loved the English better than
the French, but they loved themselves better than
either, and that a strict neutrality was their true
interest.
c The English,' said he, c has been very rash, and
it will be a most unhappy war ; had the French
begun and hurt Britain in Europe, we are bound
by treaty to give a certain specified assistance, but
America is out of that question.'
They were very inquisitive about the ministry
in England, for they said it appeared to be a very
weak administration. We found they had both
been in England, and were acquented with severalls
of the great folks, especially the young man. He
said he could not understand the pleasure the
English took in horse-races and cock-fighting, such
cruel diversions, but said, what things folks were
accustomed to, they did not reflect upon the cruelty
of them; for, when he was in England, a gentleman,
JOURNEY 103
whose house he was at desired him to show him the
way of dressing a water-sutchy.
' I took/ said he, f the pearches alive, and scraped
them with a knife, for otherways the scales do not
come off.
c " Oh !" cried the Englishman, " was there ever
such cruelty, to scrape the fish alive ? "
f " Are not you as cruel," said I, <c who can take
so much pleasure in tormenting a poor cock for
your diversion?"
c " Truly," says the Englishman, " I never
thought on that before."
'"Nor I," said I, " of the pain it gives the
pearches."'
This puts me in mind of an English boy who
served in the inn at Rotterdam. We asked him
how he liked Holland ; he said, very well, but it
was not like England. We questioned him to find
in what he thought England excelled it to the like
of him, and found that his fault to Holland was,
there was no horse-racing nor cock-fighting.
' In good faith,' says John, who was standing
by, f the Dutch has some other tow in their rock I' 1
1 Rock, a distaff. To have other tow in one's rock ' is a
common Scotch phrase, meaning to have business on hand of
quite another kind.
io 4 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
The professor was very fond of the English
books, in particular the divines; and to see the
odds 1 of clergymen in one country from another,
or rather the Dutch from any other ! a generall
tolleration to all religions intirely puts out bigotry.
This man, who differed from others in some re-
ligious points, had no notion of suppressing or
discouraging popery; on the contrary, he exclaimed
against laws for suppressing it, or using any means
but perswasion, and wondered how the English
could make laws for Ireland to hinder protestants
and papaists marrying together ; and the Burgo-
master told us their custom with regard to that
was, that when papaists and protestants married
together, they made a contract concerning the way
the children were to be educated. If any of the
parties died, if the survivor did not keep up to the
articles, arid the friends complained to the magis-
trate, they called for the contract, and ordered it
to be fulfilled ; and that he had been in that office
last year, and during the time he filled it, he had
ordered severall protestant fathers and mothers to
breed their children papaists, in terms of their con-
tract of marriage.
This puts me in mind of the Jews, who are the
1 Differences.
JOURNEY 105
drollest set I ever saw. We call them, by way of
reproach, smouce, but that is only a name for a cer-
tain sort of them ; I asked a man if he was a
smouce, and he said, <Ya, Mefrowe.'
They wear their bairds, and the women you will
know by a certain sort of mutch 1 they wear with a
double row of plaits, and close battered 2 to their
faces, so that you see none of their hair, and some
has a curl of wool round their faces, by way of a
wigg, some black and some white.
I went into their synegogue one morning, and
they were at service, but what kind I could not
find out, but I suppose it was a fast-day, for there
were two men standing on the altar, I suppose, for
it was raised higher than the rest, in the midst of
the room ; there was a lamp burning, though the
sun was shining. They were both reading aloud,
with harn clouts 3 on their heads, and severall of
the congregation had harn clouts likeways. Some
were sitting with books in their hands, some stand-
ing, reading or looking on a book, some walking
about, snuffing and cracking 4 as loud as if they had
1 A cotton cap. 2 Pasted, plastered.
3 Literally brain-cloths, a cloth round the head. ' Harn
pan,' the skull, is used by Gawin Douglas, and frequently by Sir
Walter Scott. 4 Conversing, gossiping.
106 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
been in the street ; in short you never saw such a
congregation ; some were coming in, some going
out, and those who went out had their harn clouts
in their pockets.
In Amsterdam, they have a quarter of the town
to themselves, and they say it is the oddest, nasty,
raggamuffin-like place ever was seen, and people
go to see the Jews' quarter for a curiosity.
But to return to our company. The first time
we changed horses, which we did three times by
the road, the professor came into the coach, but
all we could say he would not accept of a seat to
be drawn forward ; for well did he like to crack
with a stranger, and Mr. Calderwood and he went
through all the English books, which he was
delighted with. The first time we changed horses,
we met an empty post-waggon returning to the
Hague ; we stopped, and their horses were put
into ours, and on we went without stopping five
minutes, for it is only taking out and putting in a
cleik, 1 for all the horses are yoked in together.
When we came to a ferry, we drove into the
boat and out without stirring ; when we changed
again, we drove into a stable, and the horses were
changed, and we drove out at the other end ; and
1 A hook.
JOURNEY 107
when we changed for the last time, we stopped at
a very small village, the pleasantest ever I saw. It
was quite shaded with fine old trees, in the midst
of a wood, nothing like a street, but a few houses
built as it were on the road side, and all the trees
meeting above, so that it was almost quite dark.
Here we went into a house ; it was about four
o'clock, and we had travelled closs since eight.
We had a cold chicken with us, of which none of
them would partake, but called for a peice bread
and butter, with some thin slices of what they
call cumin caas laid on it, (which is cheese made of
skimed milk, mixed with different sorts of seeds,
which you buy for three half-pence a pound,) and
a drink of beer. We called for a bottle of claret,
which they took a glass of; but, when we asked
what was to pay, we were told nothing, and the
Burgomaster said very politly, that he had been
very handsomely [entertained] in England, and
that it gave him great pleasure to have an oppor-
tunity of showing he was sensible of it to any of
the British. When we told this again, it was said
to be the most wonderfull thing ever happened
from a Dutchman.
When we came near Harlem, there is a large
wood, all cut out in broad walls with vistos, which
i o8 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
were vastly pretty, as each of them looked at the
end like the arch of a bridge, which you saw
through, the wood was so closs and so dark.
Most of them we passed terminated on the
Harlemer-mere, a large salt-water lake.
The Burgomaster ordered the driver to go off
the road, and drive into the wood to show it us,
which showed his authority; for, if a Dutch
driver was driving any king in Europe, he would
not budge out of his road for him. All the road
we came was planted on every side, and, as we
drew near to Harlem, there was a row of these
country houses I mentioned before on each
hand.
As we came through Harlem, it was Kearmas,
which is a great fair, which all the towns in
Holland hold once every year, and to which all
the merchandise of every part of Europe is drawn,
that is, to the great towns. In Amsterdam it
holds six weeks, in Rotterdam one week, and they
say is the greatest curiosity that can be seen ; a
collection of all nations, and the produce of every
nation, to an immense value. Harlem is not a
great town, so the Kearmas was not so fine, but
there were mountebanks and rope-dancers, and the
Lord knows what, and a vast crowd.
JOURNEY 109
Harlem is a very pretty, gay-looking town, but
we did not stop at it. After we passed it, we saw
the cannall, which joins with a sluice to the
Harlemer-mer ; we asked if any attempts had
been made to drain that lake ; they said they had
land enough, and unless they had more inhabitants
the acquisition of land would only diminish the
value of what they had ; and that all the land
they had was dear of the upholding. Here all the
country and road was open, when before it was all
planted, which was a very pleasant variety.
When we came in sight of Amsterdam, and
Saardam, (which lies over a ferry of half an hour's
sailling, but looks to be very near,) it appeared
like a wood of wind-milns ; the road was quite
straight, and the cannall on one hand, with a great
many track-scoots constantly passing.
We arrived at Amsterdam about seven o'clock,
and when we came to the gate of the town, there
was waiting for our Burgomaster a most magnifi-
cent coach, with servants in laced liveries. He
offered to carry us to the inn, but we would not
accept, so the professor and he stepped in, and we
parted. Travelling in Holland, you see, is so
safe, and so easy, that this man, though he could
no MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
very well affbard it, had neither his own coach
nor a servant with him ; it is just stepping in at
one town at a certain hour, and you can promise
to a minute when you will be at the next, without
ever stepping out of the voiture, unless you please.
But they say the Dutch are famous for the care
they take of their horses and their wives ; and,
indeed, it is very seldom you meet a gentleman's
coach upon the road, but all travell in stage
waggons.
So soon as we came in at the port, a man came up
to us driving a very droll machine. This was what
they call a trano> which is just the body of a coach
hirsleing l on its bare sole, and drawn by one horse
yoked with ropes, which a man walks a-foot and
drives, and holds it when it goes off the crown of
the casway, for then in [it] hirsles into the strand.
This is the best description I can give you of it,
for I often heard, that at Amsterdam they had
coaches without wheels, but I imagined there was
more machinery about them than I found. They
are very neat within, and glass, and just a coach
in every respect, but nothing more than the body.
They have, it seems, a great tax on wheels, whether
for shaking the town, which is all founded on piles,
1 Shuffling, scrambling.
JOURNEY in
or not, I cannot tell, for these are the only carriages
used without wheels, more than in any other town.
If you want to have an idea of Amsterdam, you
will find it in the prophet Ezekeal, in his description
of her great-grandmother Tyre ; here all the riches
of both east and west are dayly pouring in.
I was not well the two days I stayed there, and
did not go about so much as I would, but Mr.
Calderwood went to see the granary of their spices,
which is prodigious ; but I went and saw the State-
house, and walked to see the finest streets.
The State-house you have seen a print of, and
very like it, but the inside and out together makes
it the most expensive building in Europe of modern
date, and, if you add, for profain use in opposition
to sacred, the first. It is founded on fourteen
thousand piles of wood ; it contains, below, the
prisons, the banks, the criminall court, and above,
the chambers for all the offices in the state, great
and small. At the door of every chamber is the
emblem of its use, carved in marble, and very finely
done; there is the fishery, with the nets so well
done that you think you see all the folds, as if you
saw through a great fishing net thrown in a heap :
all these chambers are as finely finished within. In
the criminall court are very fine emblems and
ii2 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
examples of justice, with figures as large as the
life, representing shame and remorse, &c., vastly
well exequte. The outside of the building is all
of fine white stone, smooth, and ornamented with
pilasters and festouns, as within. On the timpony
behind and before are three statues ; Atlas carrying
the world on his shoulders, and others, which must
be very large, as they appear at that distance as
big as the life. But what looks very odd, in this
fine building there is no sash window, but all the
old leaded windows ; but I suppose they think it
has cost enough already, as it never was built for
three millions sterling. It requires a particular
order to see the bank, which we had neglected to
get ; there must be an immense quantity of silver
in it, as that is the only money, and almost every
farthing which belongs to any body is lodged there.
There are some of the principall streets that
from one end to the other are all fine houses, with
gardens behind them, and as you pass, each house
has a large gate with panes of glass, through which
you see the gardens behind, full of flowers and
statues, with walks and parterrs, all laid with shells
of various culours, or peices of glass like birds'
eggs of different culours, and laid in shapes which
appear like a rary-show box, when seen through
JOURNEY 113
the glass gate. In these houses are contained
great estates in pictures, china, mirror and marble,
guildings, carvings, and statues, and japaned work,
besides silks, velvets and embrodery. We went to
see a china warehouse, where there was to the value
of at least 40,000 worth of chinas, Japan and
Saxon china; above stairs was all the fine, and
below all the common. I saw jars there as tall as
the Durham, of fine japaned china, five for a set,
of the shape of the largest I send you, for a hun-
dred gilders the set, which, if they were to sell in
Edinburgh, would be valued at 50 ; an hundred
gilders is ^9 sterling. The Saxon china was vastly
pretty, but most extravegantly dear ; I could not
get the smallest bit, such as a mustard dish, or any
little thing for curiosity, for less than twelve or
fifteen shillings. And there was a press, from top
to bottom full of the ornamental things, like
pagods, men on horses, and such noncence, all of
the Chinese figures, [so] that you would have
thought the whole Chinese empire had been
gathered together. Below was a prodigious quan-
tity of plates and dishes, turines, fruit baskets, and
salad basons, which are a square sort of bason,
very good for making salads. I did not see the
rasp-house, for they said it was a disagreeable
H
ii 4 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
sight; this is where all the criminalls are condemned
to work for a term of years, at rasping down
the woods for dying, and other hard labour.
We lodged in the inn called the Morning Star,
the best in the town. There was a convention of
all nations, and it was quite full. There lodged
next room to us a lady and a gentleman, both
young folks : I went to the door one night to call
for something, when out came the man in the next
room, with his head finely curled and powdered,
his neck quite bare, a silk night-gown flowing
behind him, and a pipe in his cheek, I am sure
a yard long ; a very genteel young lad he was,
which I thought made his appearance the more
ridiculous ; but every man smoaks in Holland,
but none of the women.
In this inn the King of Prussia lodged, in his
travels through Holland incog ; he was three days
in Amsterdam, and nobody knew him. He had
but one gentleman with him. He bought a great
many flutes and other musicall instruments, and
when the landlord said to his servant,
c I think your master is very fond of musick,"
c O yes,' says the servant, ' he is cheif musician
to the King of Poland.'
He travelled in the track-scoot, and there was a
JOURNEY 115
gentleman's sons and their governour ; he turned
very fond of the governour, and they discoursed
about the memoirs l of the house of Brandenburgh,
and the governour gave his opinion of it and found
some faults, which the king defended. He, after
he left Holland, let this man know who he was,
and he has gone to pay him a visit. Severall of
his own officers saw him, and did not know him,
nor did his own embassador at the Hague. He
had his hair covered with a wigg, and a coat all
buttoned up about him. When he was going
away from Amsterdam, he bid the landlord get
him a coach; the landlord said he would get a
waggon or a phaeton, for nobody travelled in
coaches. When the waggon came to the door, he
said :
c That is a bad thing to travell in ; are there no
better to be had?'
( The best people that comes to my house,' says
the landlord, f travells in it ; I have hired the same
machine for German counts, ay, for English lords,
and they never found fault with it, and I think it
1 These were the work of the Prussian king himself,
' Memoires pour servir a 1'histoire de la maison Brandebourgh,'
which are comprised in ' Oeuvres de Frederic n. roi de Prusse,
publiees du vivant de PAuteur.' Tome I re , Berlin, 1789.
n6 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
may serve you very well.' So the king stept
into it.
c Now,' says the landlord, f you sit like a king,
I think.'
He took some cold meat with him, and asked
for a napkin to wipe his hand.
f No,' says the landlord, f take just a sheet of
paper, that will serve the purpose as well.'
Very soon after he was gone, it came out that
he was the King of Prussia, and there was such
comparing of notes, what he had said, and what he
had done. The landlord sent him a present of
some cains, to which he returned him a very pretty
peice of silver-plate for the midle of a table, with
casters, etc., very finely wrought but very slight.
This present is keept in a fine carved box, which
the landlord sets down on a table, and there he
flourishes for a compleat hour in French, so fast
and with so many demonstrations, that it is enter-
taining even to those who do not understand a
word of it.
We were very sorry we could not get over to
Saardam, a town that lies on the other side the
water ; the wind was so that we could not go and
come home that night. It was here the .Czar
of Muscovy served his apprenticeship to a ship
JOURNEY 117
carpenter. In that town there are seven hun-
dred wind-milns employed in different manu-
factories, and the people differ as much in
their looks, manners, and way of living, as if
they were not in the same country, and exceed
the Dutch in cleanliness as much as they do
other nations. Everywhere through the town
of Amsterdam there were garlands of flowers
hung out to show the herrings were come in,
and there were a vast number of large odd-like
boats, with all their masts hung with the goods
they have to sell ; these boats come down
the Rhine with goods, and the boats are sold
for timber.
At Amsterdam we forgathered again with
Messrs. Cookson, Webb and Bowles ; Mr. Webb
was bound for Geneva, and Bowles was to return
home. Webb was, I suppose, the same thing on
board the ship he was then, but it was then the
Englishman appeared, when he was compared with
others ; he wished to God most strongly that he
was at Geneva, I suppose that these travels might
be over his head. Mr. Cookson advised them to
stay another day, to go to Saardam.
c Has any of you a taste for mechanicks ? ' says
he ; * for, if you have, the variety of machinery you
n8 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S JOURNEY
will see in these seven hundred wind-milns will
entertain you.'
' O yes/ says they, f we love mechanicks, and
understand them.'
But, in the next breath, Webb declared that he
would not stay, unless to oblige Mr. Bowles, if he
wanted to go, for, damn him if he had seen any-
thing worth his while, or eat anything that was
good, since he had come to Holland, and wished to
God he was at Geneva, where, I suppose, he will
be as much disappointed as he had been before ;
yet I make no doubt but he will return from his
travells so much improved, as to despise every
thing in England as much as he does in every other
part of the world.
I find it is the truest way of obtaining to the
philosophical principle of dispising everything in
this world, first to send a young man abroad
to despise the continent, and then to bring him
back to despise his own island.
CHAPTER V.
Preliminary Note: The ( Track-Scoot' : Aesthetics
of the Dutch : Extortion : Canal Scenes :
Fletcher of Salton and the Skiver : Church at
Targow : Post Waggon to Rotterdam : Loss of
the Guide book: BERGEN-OP-ZOOM : The siege
criticised: On to Antwerp: Characteristics of
Soph. John stone : The Bells of Antwerp :
Peggie from Edinburgh : Mass in the great
Church: Visit to the English Convent: A
Festival.
[THE only excision of any consequence that has
been deemed necessary in the revision of this narra-
tive occurs in this chapter. The cause of it is strik-
ing, and interesting; and lies in the intense bitterness
of expression which Mrs. Calderwood permits her-
self to employ with regard to everything connected
with Roman Catholic ritual which she now saw for
the first time. But it must be borne in mind that
she was separated by only one life from the horrors
120 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
of the persecution in King James's reign, c the
killing time,' so forcibly described in that literature
to which her grandfather contributed ; in which,
according to Lord Macaulay, f ferocity and absur-
dity ' are the most prominent features. Mrs.
Calder wood's two cousins had attended the Rev.
Hugh M'Kaill, the martyr, their tutor, to the
place of his execution at the Cross of Edinburgh,
and there received his blessing ; and the elder of
the lads his Bible. 1 Her grandfather's sufferings,
inseparably associated with Popish pretensions,
were fresh in her memory. If Mrs. Calderwood's
outrageous expressions on this subject appear to
us to be in exceeding bad taste, and not what one
would expect from a gentlewoman of her culture
and kindly nature, the fact shows curiously how
far from being extinct, in her time, were the
rancorous feelings of the Covenanting age. ED.]
We had not yet travelled in the track-scoot, so
resolved to try it in returning to Rotterdam ; so
we got a trano to carry us to the scoot by seven
o'clock. We had before taken what they call
the rooff y which is a little place at the one end,
divided by a partition from the rest where all the
1 Sir Arch. Stewart's Mem., Coltness Colls., pp. 40, 41.
JOURNEY 121
ordinary passengers sit. The whole boat is covered
above, and has windows that they open on each
side, and sit on each side of a long table where the
carles smoak, so that, when a scoot passes, you see
the smoak stoving l out at the windows ; and this
roof is like a little closet, with seats round it, and
plenty of cushions; if you incline to sleep, you
may lay yourself out on the bench at your ease.
It goes down with a step, which makes the door so
low, that if any body from without speaks to you,
they must sit down on their hungkers. 2
We were no sooner set, than comes the skipper
on his hungkers, with a long pipe in his mouth,
gabling a great deall, and pointing to another
trano. We understood that he wanted us to
admit some other passengers to the rooffl which we
had been forbid to do ; as, if you admit one, others
will demand the same, and then you are crowded
and smoaked to death, so that we declared none
should enter. When the skipper could not pre-
vail, there came a gentleman on his hungkers,
1 Steaming.
2 The position, sitting on one's hunkers ' is exactly that of
the natives of the East, who habitually sit squatting on their heels.
Still ' hunkers ' is never applied to any particular part of the
body so far as I am aware nor used at all except as in this
phrase.
122 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
and, as he could speak French, he told he had a
wife, whom he begged we would admit ; so we
told him, if he would pay the half of the rooffl (for
there is no such thing as give and take amongst
the Dutch,) and would promise not to smoak, we
would admit him and his wife ; which he agreed
to, and so they came in.
This man looked like one of our ministers of a
middle age, but was not a clergyman ; his wife he
called his young feme, but she might be past thirty ;
our Maudy, laced in very strait stays, with less
sun-burnt complexion, would be very like her.
What is it about this woman, thinks I, that makes
her look so like a servant lass ? Is it her dress ?
No, it is not that, for she had on a very pretty
chince night-gown, a very good laced mob, her
hair snooded back and powdered, and a new yellow
callimanco pettycoat, twilted.
f That is it,' says I, c it is her snooded hair and
yellow pettycoat that gives her that look.'
She let down her gown, and put on a cap, which
hid these indications, but to no purpose ; she had
diamond rings, shoes with lace, a fine snuff-box,
but all would not do. She did not even turn like
a neat chambermaid, but just a servant lass, and if
it was owing to any thing but to her being a Dutch
JOURNEY 123
woman, it was to her stays. The Dutch stays
contribute greatly to their vulgar look ; they run
in like a sand-glass below, and stand out round like
the same above ; they set their shoulders up to
their ears, and bring them forward as the landward 1
lasses do when they hold up their head. Then
they are quite even down in the back ; then they
all wear night-gowns closs before, and no aprons,
with round short hoops, all which makes them
very daft-like sights.
To make this voyage, we had carried some pro-
visions and a bottle of wine ; we stopped about
dinner time, and came into a house, and brought
the provisions with us. There was set behind a
table a great fat carle with a red face, and so short
necked that you would think he would worry 2 [at]
every word he spoke, with a high crowned hat,
and a long pipe in his mouth; he had standing
before him bread, butter, and cheese, and a long
stick like a spit, with peices of eels cut and stuck
upon it, and roasted. I could not imagine what
that was, it looked like peices of cheese, and came
1 Belonging to a rural district.
2 To worry, to strangle. The sentence on convicted witches
usually ran that they ' be worriet quhil [i.e. until] they be
deid.' Conf. Pitcairn's Ancient Criminal Trials.
i2 4 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
near to touch it, at which the carle gave such a
gurll as made me jump. All these he sold to the
passengers ; I eat some of them with vinegar, which
were very good.
We afterwards eat our own provisions, and
drunk our wine ; but, when we came away, he
made us pay the price of them, as if they had been
his own, at which John was like to go craisy ; but
there was no help for it, for, if anybody challenge
a Dutch bill l they just make it double, and by
the law you must first pay that, and then pursue
for the imposition, for which they will be most
heartily souced.
When we returned to the boat again, we found
the Dutchman, our neighbour, had been wiser, for
he had a basket with some meat, but he did not
bring it in ; nor did he see ours till it was in the
house, otherways he would have told us. His
provisions consisted of things like little French
loaves, browned on the outside, but were composed
of minced veall, mixed with salt and spices, which
1 ' They are the Jews of the New Testament that have
changed only the Law for the Gospel. ... If you travel,
to ask a Bill of Particulars is to purre in a wasps' nest ; you
must pay what they ask as sure as if it were the assessment
of a Subsidy.' The Dutch drawn to the Life. London,
1664.
JOURNEY 125
was very good ; they are made up in that shape,
and then sent and baked in the oven ; and this is a
great fare at Amsterdam ; for I saw folks always
passing on the street, with pails full of minced
meat, which I did not till then know the use of.
These loaves they put amongst their soup, or serve
them up with a sauce about them, or eat them cold,
for carrying with them in the track-scoot.
We came no further than Targow by water,
where we arrived about five at night. I do not
love the track-scoot, it is a very laizy way of
travelling, and you see very little about you, for,
in severall places, the reeds on the cannall sides are
so high that you cannot see well over them. All
the folks, as we came along, were carrying their
hay off the feild, and building it on boats for the
purpose, and severall great sows of hay were on the
cannall, drawn by one horse ; it looked very odd
to see a hay sow, perhaps fifty or sixty foot long,
broad in proportion but not so high, sailling along
with so many men sleeping on the top of it :
severall of them contained, as we could guess,
betwixt two and three thousand stone. Then there
were scoots loaded with peats as large, and others
loaded with baskets full of herbs.
When two scoots meet together, the one going
126 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
to the greatest town has the preference ; the other
stops, and lets the rope of it slack, so as to drop
[into] the water, which the other sails over. When
the road alters from one side of the cannall to the
other, there is a bridge for the horses to go over,
and the mast to which the rope is tyed is let down
till it pass below. The rope is vastly long and
very small, so that the horses go so far before, that
though the mast be in the midst of the boat, and
[the rope] fixed to the top of the mast, yet the
boat steers in the midst of the cannall, and the
skipper's busness is to keep it streight in the water
by the helm.
They tell a story of old Fletcher of Salton and
a skipper :
Salton could not endure the smoak of toback,
and as he was in a night-scoot, the skipper and he
fell out about his forbidding him to smoak ; Salton,
finding he could not hinder him, went up and sat
on the ridge of the boat, which bows like an arch.
The skipper was so contentious that he followed
him, and, on whatever side Salton sat, he put his
pipe in the cheek next him, and whifed it in his
face ; Salton went down severall times, and brought
up stones in his pocket from the ballast, and slipt
them into the skipper's pocket that was next the
JOURNEY 127
water, and when he found he had loadened him as
much as would sink him, he gives him a shove, so
that over he hirsled. The boat went on, and Salton
came down amongst the rest of the passengers,
who probably were asleep, and fell asleep amongst
the rest. In a little time bump came the scoot
against the side, on which they all damned the
skipper ; but, behold, when they called, there was
no skipper ; which would breed no great amase-
ment in a Dutch company. 1
There is nothing worth seeing at Targow but
the church, and that for the very fine paintings on
glass. The windows are fifteen or eighteen in
number, all of the small pained kind, joined with
lead, but made [so] as that that lead does not
obstruct the appearance of the figures of the
1 This was probably a tradition regarding Andrew Fletcher
of Salton, the celebrated politician and author, who was a fellow
exile in Holland with Mrs. Calderwood's grandfather. The
incident here narrated is paralleled by that mentioned by Lord
Macaulay as having occurred during Monmouth's invasion,
when Fletcher, under great provocation, shot dead one Dare,
an Englishman, who had ventured to shake a switch at him.
(See Hist, of England, vol. ii. p. 145.) Fletcher, who is described
as ' a low thin man of a brown complexion, full of fire, with a
stern sour look,' escaped to the Continent, overwhelmed with
remorse. His life and character have been well portrayed by
Mrs. Calderwood's nephew, David, 1 1 th Earl of Buchan.
128 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
history peices, as large as the life, and very finely
done. Indeed it seems this church had been
brunt down, and built by collection, 1 and most of
the churches, states, and kings of Europe gave
these windows to ornament it, in the time of
popery. There is one of them given by Harry
the seventh of England. This town is very neat
and clean, like the rest, and has a fine large open
market place, but seems to have little repair, as
the grass is growing up betwixt the bricks in it ; but
they take great care to keep it down, by pouring
boiling water on it. Here I saw the largest mid-
den cock I think ever I saw, which I coveted, if I
could have known what to do with him.
From this we took our seats in the post-waggon
to Rotterdam, where we travelled on the top of a
dyke, paved with brick, and planted on each side,
which was very pretty ; but the brick pavement
made such a noise that it was very disagreeable.
There was only one passenger besides us ; a
youngish sort of lad, with a wigg as big as Lord
Milton's, 2 and a purple big coat down to his heels.
Says Mr. Calderwood
1 By subscription.
2 Andrew Fletcher (nephew of the politician), a Judge of the
Court of Session, the 'mild and judicious ' Lord Milton (see p. 78),
succeeded Lord Fountainhall in 1724, and died in 1766.
JOURNEY 129
f I suppose this man is a Jew.'
c Well I wat,' says John, c he 's that ; if ever I
saw a Jew, he 's one/
{ You are both mistaken,' says I, f for I see by
that man's face he is a most pious Christian.'
We had, you may be sure, before this past,
found out he did not speak English. Mr. Cal-
derwood tryed him in French, but he could not ;
he then asked him if he could speak Latin, which
he could, and upon examination, the poor man
was so far from being a Jew, that he was a young
divine.
We once intended to return by Utrecht, but by
that time had become so impatient for letters, that
we took the shortest way to Rotterdam. There
we stayed eight days, still waiting for letters, but
got none, so we set out on the i6th July for Spaw.
Every thing is dear in Holland but East India
goods and charity ; a beggar is well satisfied with
a doit, which is the fourth part of a halfpenny,
and 1 beleive our beggars judged ill in destroying
the doits, for every body gives, and doits come to
a great deall. There is two of the corners at
Rotterdam that the ramparts are not joined by
bridges, and there is a boat by which you are
ferried over for a doit, and these two-doit boats
i
130 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
bring into the town's treasury near a hundred
pound sterling per annum each.
There you may drink tea if you please, for I
never passed it at any time that the boatman had
not his tea-kettle boilling on a choffer, and his tea
equipage set out. I often had a curiosity to taste
the tea, but the water in the cannall, out of which it
was filled, looked so naisty, that I durst not venture.
When we set out from Rotterdam, it was in a
phaeton from the other side of the Maes, which
carried us to Moordyke, which is a ferry as broad
as the Queens-ferry, or more. It is that water
which in the map is called Holland's Diepe.
One man managed the scoot which sailled, and by
a ring, which run from one side of the boat to the
other on an iron rod, performed in a moment the
operation of tacking, which makes such a disturb-
ance in a Kinghorn boat. The man could speak
a little English, and showed us where the Prince
of Orange was drowned, 1 by crossing this ferry,
1 Prince John William Friso of Nassau was named sole heir of
the estates of King William in. He was a General of the States'
infantry before he was twenty, and did good service at the
battle of Malplaquet in 1 709 ; and was drowned in the manner
described, two years afterwards. See DAVIES'S History of
Holland t vol. iii. pp. 256-319.
JOURNEY 131
siting in his coach, with his horses yoked ; and
above, where the seventy-two towns and villages
were overflowed 1 in one night, and never recovered,
which is now called Druken-land.
When we came to the other side of this ferry,
we took another phaeton, and there John dis-
covered that he had lost a guide he every moment
consulted, called C A Tour through the Low
Countries.' 2 This book had jolted out of his
pocket in the last phaeton, and was not to be
recovered, at which he was almost inconsolable.
We had at that time the warmest weather ever
I felt, and all the road we had to travell was a dead
sandy desart, covered with a poor strunty heather
and a good deall of oak wood. We might either
go by Bruxells, or by Bergen-op-Zoom ; I was
strongly for the last, as I was curious to see a place
I had heard so much of. We dined at a small inn
1 In 1421 the sea broke in at Dort and overwhelmed 72
villages with 100,000 inhabitants.
2 This in all probability was the journal, so entitled, of
Principal Carstares, one of the most distinguished of the Whig
exiles in Holland. His mother, Jean Mure, of the family of
Glanderstone, was a connection of the Steuarts of Coltness.
The MS. of the 'Tour,' dated 1685, was given by Carstares to
his cousin, Mure of Caldwell ; and it is not unlikely that a copy
may have been made and used by the party as a hand-book.
See Caldwell Papers, Part i.
132 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
on the road, where our driver sat down at the same
table with us, and his hat on, and eat his brown
bread and cheese. The master of this house had
in his garden three score of bees' scapes, all set on
the ground, with the entry in the midst of the
scape. They were made very high and narrow,
and just sticked as we do ; the hole in the middle is
the best way to preserve them from the mice : the
large ones had two entries, a first and second story.
All the afternoon we travelled through the same
barren country, with neither house nor town : if
that happens to any body in Scotland, it is sure to
be recorded as an instance of the barrenness of the
country, so I shall record it of a country famous
for its fertility and populousness.
The first town of any note we came to was Wow,
which, well do I remember in the newspapers, was
Marshall Lowandall's 1 head-quarters at the seige
1 The Danish Count Lowendahl was lieutenant to Marshal
Saxe in the service of France. On the 28th July 1747, Horace
Walpole writes : ' Bergen-op-Zoom is the first place that
has not said yes the moment the French asked the question.'
(Letters, ii. 92.) The progress of the siege was followed with
intense interest in England, as shown by Walpole's correspond-
ence. He mentions also the scurrilous prints and squibs, levelled
at Count Lowendahl and Marshal Saxe, which appeared in
Holland at this time.
JOURNEY 133
of Bergen, and is within what we would call a mile,
and the French lines were extended from the left
of that, round the one-half of the town. It was
so late when we arrived at Bergen, that we had
not time to walk round the ramparts, and next
morning it was so intolerably hot, that it was
impossible. We had seen a good part of it
in coming in, as we passed three guards and as
many draw-bridges, which were all fortifications
within others.
We went only to that side where the French
came in, and I must own I think a fortified town
is nonsense; for they take an army to defend
them, which, if the enemy by stratagem or
fraud disappoint the vigilance of, then that
army is catched in a trap ; and if the enemy get
hold but of one small part of the fortification,
it becomes as usefull to him for taking the
rest, as it does to those who defended ; and if you
have an army sufficient to defend every inch,
I should think that army as able to fight in a
fair feild; and there is no courage nor conduct
tried, but whoever has the best ingeneers and
cannon gains the point.
Had I seen Bergen before I saw London, I
might have gained what money I pleased, by lay-
134 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
ing against the beseiged in St. Philips, 1 for the
English had not the least fear of its being taken.
The case with Bergen was, the French got hold of
one of the lunets y and that gained them all the rest. 2
There is no appearance of the French camp having
been there, though the feilds about are all a plain
muir ; but, as the ground is sand, the trenches soon
fill up. All that part of the town which was hurt
by the seige is now rebuilt, and all the fortifications
made up, but it is easy to see the old brick-work
from the new by the cullour : I cannot say but it
looked droll to me to see a town fortified with
brick. There are now trees planted on the ram-
parts, and every thing in very good order.
We travelled all the next day through much the
same country (very bad for subsisting an army,
1 Intelligence of the surrender of the Forts of Mahon and
St. Philip, in Minorca, by General Blakeney, did not reach
London till the I5th or 1 7th July, and was not published in
the London Gazette till the 24th, some time after the departure
of the Calderwood party.
2 'For eight weeks the besieged withstood a perpetual
bombardment, and assaults without number, . . . until by the
negligence or insufficiency of the guard at one of the breaches
the assailants were enabled to enter during the night and carry
the town by surprise on the i6th Sept. 1747.' DAVIES'S Hist,
of Holland, vol. Hi. p. 370.
JOURNEY 135
for it produces nothing), till in the evening we
came in sight of Antwerp ; then the country was
very good, and pretty and populous. The only
grain which grew on the barren ground was buck-
wheat and rye, and some barly, which was ripe,
and was cutting-down. The harvest was going on
about Antwerp likeways, that is the barly, but
every other grain was quite green ; it is a sort of
winter barly that is ripe so soon, for there was
other barly green. They had a sort of hook for
cutting, like a little sithe, but they used it above
the hand, instead of below, and took the corn by
the head with one hand, and came hash, hash down
upon it with the other, and drew it together with
the sithe, which was shaped like a hook, but not
so much hooked. They likeways sow a great deall
of rape, which they were cutting, and thrashed in
the feild. The country was very pretty all upon
the Scheld, but quite flat ; it is now inclosed, and
all the towns and villages are planted, which makes
a pretty variety.
We got to Antwerp about seven at night, after
a very hot day. Our driver did not know the
road to the inn, so that he first drove us through
most of the streets of the town, which are a great
many and very good ; but the want of sash windows
136 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
looked very odd, and then all the low stories are
railled with iron, which looked very prison-like,
and this is the case with all the finest towns in the
Low Countries. Antwerp was once what Amster-
dam is now, and the river was so crowded, that for
three leagues down, a ship could hardly get up for
others, but now there is almost none ; but still it
has the air of decayed nobility, and what they
want in trade, they make up in religion, for they
are the maddest ideots about papistry that ever was.
The barrier of every country is the strongest to
hold out the enemy ; now Antwerp is the barrier
of popery, for it is the first town of any note you
come to of that religion.
Nobody could tell me how many convents were
in it, but there are two or three in every street ;
and for Virgin Maries, I beleive there are as many
as there are virgins of flesh and blood in the town,
for, on the corner of every house, on the turn of
every street, on every well, on every shop door,
stood a Virgin under a canopy, some finely dressed,
and some very dirty, with old callicoe gowns and
cloaks about her. I was seized with that sort of
impatience Soph takes when any thing is too often
repeated, and I took such a desire to have Soph
with me, that I laughed at what she would say. I
JOURNEY 137
thought I heard her crying, f Take her out of my
sight, or I '11 go mad ; there she is again, O ! Sirs,
what will I do ! ' Well, I think I would have
given all the clothes on my back to have had Soph l
with me at Antwerp, that she might have gone
clean daft ; for there begane the bells to ring, and
if they ceased one quarter of an hour day and
night, may I be hanged ! I 'm in passion yet,
when I think upon them, for it was a vastly hot
1 This was the famed Soph. Johnstone of the now extinct
family of Hilton, a queen among the old Scotch eccentrics.
' There was an original ! ' says Lord Cockburn, who when he
was a boy saw her at Niddrie ; she was then, he says, about 60,
and adds, ' it was not till after she became a woman that she
taught herself to read and write, and then she read incessantly.'
Her father, ' an old dog/ writes Lady Anne Barnard, the special
friend of Soph., had strong views regarding ' the folly of educa-
tion,' and gave her none. ' Nature,' says Lady Anne, ' seemed
to have in jest hesitated to the last whether to make her a boy
or a girl.' She wrestled with the stable boys, worked well
at carpentry and in iron, and could shoe a horse quicker than
the smith. She played the fiddle well, and sang in the bass
voice of a man many thought she was one
' Eh ! quo' the tod, it 's a braw light night,
The wind's i' the wast and the moon shines bright.'
Soph. Johnstone came to Balcarres on a visit of a few months ;
and stayed thirteen years Lives of the Lindsays, ii. 316. In
her long great-coat and man's hat, as Lord Cockburn remembered
her, she was a striking figure. * Her talk,' he says, ' was intel-
ligent and racy ; all her opinions free, and freely expressed.'
Memorials of his Time, pp. 60-6 1.
138 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
night, and there came on thunder, and to the
bells they went with a vengence. You may only
judge what it was, when I tell you, in the principall
steeple of the town, which is a very fine peice of
workmanship, there are no less than two hundred
bells, the largest seven foot diameter, and every
church and convent numbers in proportion. To
sleep was impossible : had they rung on, it would
have been tolerable, but they would all stop for a
little, and to it again, as if the devil had possessed
them. We had been up very early ; Mr. Calder-
wood was fatigued with the heat and the journey ;
the night was so hot that we were like to die ; he
could not sleep for the bells ; so that I did pray
heartily for the Papists.
I found in the inn a girl born in Edinburgh,
called Peggie; her father had been a Picardy
weaver, and her parents being dead, her uncle sent
for her when she was twelve years old, and brought
her to Antwerp. Peggie had almost lost her
English, but her serving in the inn keept her a
little in mind of it. She was transported when she
found I had come from Edinburgh. She had
changed her religion, but did not seem to know
much about the matter ; she said she thought she
was as well with the religion of Edinburgh ; but
JOURNEY 139
her uncle was a catholick, and everybody was
catholick, and she could not think of keeping the
religion of Edinburgh, when nobody else had it.
e So,' says I, c and you leave Edinburgh, and
the first thing you do is to send all your old freinds
to the devil.'
' O ! Madam, Lord forbid ! the folks in Edin-
burgh are very good.'
c But,' says I, ( the catholicks say they will go
to hell.'
That she would not allow, and said they had
severall fashions she did not like ; she wished they
would put confession out of fashion, but O ! the
procession and the mass was fine.
Next day being Sunday, I went to mass in the
great church ; and, when I went in, saw the folks
all about the door, and in the body of the church,
sitting on their knees here and there, laying up
their lugs and mumbling, some, like Bessie's man,
at their privat devotions, looking over their
shoulders at me ; others sitting putting their
noses through the iron raills of a chapel in which
nobody was, and very few folks near, the preist
who was saying mass, looking very droll. I found
there was nothing to be seen in the church but
privat devotion, but heard fine musick going on
1 40 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
in the queir; so in I pushed to that, and there
was a fine show, for it was a high mass. There
was a fine concert of vocal and other musick, and
a fine organ. Next to the door, with their back
to it, were set two preists on the same stool, which
put me in mind of the two kings of Brentfoord ;
they were dressed in robes of gold and silver
brocade. On each side of the queir sat the monks
to which the church belonged, who were white Car-
melites, twelve on every side, and as many other
black or brown friars, who had come to assist them,
and twelve black on each side. At the altar stood
three preists, dressed in robes of brocade, and
behind them three in white musline shirts, down to
their heels, with broad old points about the taill.
The preist in the middle was performing the mass,
with many bows and kneelings. There was a
door on each side of the altar, at which the people
that served went out and in with different things ;
one brought a brocaded mantel, and put it on the
acting preist; then he performed some anticks,
and then they took it off and folded it up ;
then they brought two candles, and put them in
one of the musline preist's hands, and then the
middle preist took a book, and laid [it] on the
same preist's face, and made him a reading-dask,
JOURNEY 141
with the two candles supporting the book, and he
read. Then one went about to perfume us all
with incence, came down the one side of the queir
and up the other, and gave every one of the white
and black friars so many puffs of the incence, out
of a thing like a lamp, and they held out their
noses to receive it. I keeped my eye on a gentle-
man next me, who I saw was not over fond of
kneeling, for most of the audience were on their
knees the whole time, and when this man kneeled,
so did I, which was only in cases of necessity, that
is, when a boy who served at the altar rung a bell
at the elevation of the Hosty.
After I came out of the church, we went to see
what they call the Holy Grave. This is a place
cut out of a rock, in imitation of the holy
sepulcher. There our Saviour is cut in stone,
lying; then there is the angel sitting where he
lay, informing the two women, (who are painted
on a board, peeping in at the door,) that he was
risen from the dead. The man who showed it was
at great pains to inform us that this was not the
thing in reality, but the representation of it, which
I was very willing to beleive. Near this place
was purgatory, which was a large cavy. Now, I
i 4 2 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
will wager, you never knew before what like
purgatory was ; well, it is just like a cavy, full of
men, instead of hens, and red painted sticks, by
way of flames, standing up amongst them, and one
of them has his hand through the spokes, begging
money from the passengers, for to give the preist
to say mass for his soul ; for you must know that
you may remain in purgatory to all eternity, unless
you pay for a mass, for there is no such a thing
as a mass gratis. For the first principle of the
true catholick church is to take all and give
nothing ; and that these orders, who have devoted
their lives to prayer, never through the whole year
say one mass that is not payed for, either for the
dead by the living, or mortified * by some body,
so much money for so many masses. Indeed,
they are not dear, for you will get as many said
for you as you please for a skilling Flemish (which
is like our half merk) each.
After I came from this place, I went to call
at an English convent of nuns; I was resolved
to see a convent, and choised this rather than
another, because I could speak to them. It was
about one o'clock, and [I] was told they were
1 In Scotland a ' mortification ' is a bequest for a charitable
or similar purpose.
JOURNEY 143
laid down to sleep after their dinner, but if I
should return at night about eight I would see
them ; so I left the compliments of a country-
woman to the Lady abbess, and that I would
return in the evening, and pay my respects to
her. Her name is Howard, and all the nuns
are English, of the order of the Recolly, who
are but a degree above the Capucines for strick-
ness.
When I came in the evening, the nuns were in
a place off the chapel at vespers ; it was divided
from the chapel by a grate and curtain : the chapel
was open, and I went in ; it was very neat, and I
heard them singing, but had no reason to admire
their musick. After this was over, I was bid come
up stairs, and went into a small room [where] there
was a grate, and on the other side of that was
another room, into which two nuns came. I
addressed myself to them, supposing one to be the
abbess, but they told me she was sick, and that
they were sent by her to receive me. I told them
I was lately come from England, that I had never
seen a convent, and choised to pay my respects
to them, as, by the name of the Lady abbess, I
fancied I was acquainted with some of their friends.
One of the nuns told me she was neice to the
144 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
abbess, and sister to Mr. Howard of Corbie. I
told her I knew Mrs. Warwick, 1 her sister, and Mr.
Howard of Greystock, 2 and severall others of her
freinds ; but I found she did not seem to care
much about them, said it was near a year since she
heard from her sister, and we chated half an hour.
They were dressed in the coarsest brown cloath
ever you saw, and had a great cloth vaill over
their faces, through which they could not so much
as see daylight. Of all the days ever I felt that
was the hottest, and to see them stoving beneath
that vaill, when I was gasping for breath in the
open air, made my heart sore for them. I asked
them if they did not find their dress very hot ?
c O yes ! ' they said, { it was very bad in summer,
but very comfortable in winter.'
I asked them to take up their vaill, but they
said it was not permitted them, unless the abbess
was present to order them ; and that, unless it was
to their nearest relations, they never took it off.
They said they never wore it but when they came
to the speak-room.
1 Jane, second daughter of Thomas Howard, Esq. of Corby
Castle, co. Cumberland, married Francis Warwick, Esq. of
Warwick Hall in the same county.
2 Charles Howard, Esq. of Greystoke, father of Charles
Howard who succeeded as loth Duke of Norfolk.
JOURNEY 145
By the time I took my leave, there was still a
more curious show preparing ; this was a procession
to which the whole town was gathered. The cross
in the market-place was dressed up, and an altar
erected ; orange trees in pots were brought, carried
by two men, with musick playing before them.
When all that was prepared, there came a set of
musick, trumpets, hoiboys, and French horns.
They were followed by a cavalcat of white monks,
then black monks, and brown monks, and God
knows what. Then came the shrine of the blessed
Virgin, which is a peice of brocade fixed to the
end of a pole, in the shape of a dragon 1 the boys
let fly. Then came the Virgin herself, under a
canopy carried by four preists ; she is made of
silver, and dressed in a robe-de-chambre of scarlet
and gold ; the babe in her arms has on a cloak of
the same. She cogled terribly, and I thought
every minute she would fall ; and if she had, some-
body would have got a broken crown, for she was
very massy, and almost as tall as Bess.
After her came four men, supporting a canopy
of crimson velvet, embroidered with gold, like the
rooff of a bed, and under it was the preist, with
the chaleice in his hand, in which was the Hosty.
1 Kite.
K
i 4 6 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
You have seen a thing like a little clock-case for
putting a watch in, and nailed to the wall of a
room ; well, the chaleice is just like that, only it
stands on a stalk, and the wafer, about the large-
ness of a bisquit, with a crucifix stamped on it,
looks out at the open, like the dial-plate of the
watch ; and whenever that is held up, a bell rings,
which a little boy carries, and then everybody
down on their knees.
On every altar there is one of those things in
a fine little cabinet, which opens with two doors.
Whenever the preist opens this thing, clap they
come down, like c pass, Jack, and begone ; ' and
likeways when the preist takes this out of the
cabinet and holds it up. This case the preist held
in his hand, and marched up and set it on the
altar ; down we must all upon our knees. It was
devilish hard to me to kneel on the street, but the
papaist knees are certainly shod with iron ; I put
down first one knee, and then another, for, as ill
luck would have it, it was so warm that I had
thrown off all but one pittecoat ; but the men, who
had nothing but their stockings, will kneel as long
as you please.
The first body I observed rise, I followed their
example, but a very zelous talior (for you must
JOURNEY 147
know I am turned a great phiseognemest, and
knows every body's trade and character by their
faces) took me by the gown-taill to make me get
down again ; but some others near him boasted 1
him for it, so I stood still. After they had per-
formed certain ceremonies there, off they went in
procession again to another part of the town. A
great many substantiall burgars carried wax tapers
in their hands ; one side of the street prepares the
candles one day, and the other next.
Least I forget to tell you how to secure your
house against thunder, as there was a great deall
that day, every one had a fine carved wax candle,
which had been blessed in the church, lighted in
their house, and to that, and to the bells, was owing
that the thunder did no harm.
I could get nobody to tell me for what the pro-
cession was ; some said one thing, some another,
and Edinburgh Peggie said it was that silver
Virgin's birth-day ; but a driver, whom we got
next day, said the Virgin had run in debt, and she
was going about begging, but his religion had been
a little shaken by his being a baggage driver to
1 Boist, boast, to threaten or endeavour to frighten. Thus
of an evil-doer it is recorded that he ' boisted the said scherrif
with ane kuyfF.'
148 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S JOURNEY
the English army, for I found since, it was the
day of the patron of the town, and the first day of
the Kearmes, which every town celebrates with a
procession. However, I suppose the Virgin is
guilty of borrowing money, and she is furthcomeing
for a good deall, as her guardians will get severall
tuns of good wine upon her credit.
Here we met again with our fellow traveller
Mr. Cookson, who was staying with some freinds
he had in the place ; we desired him to dine with
us, which he could not do, but fain would he, for
the meagure days were very hard upon him. He
told us the folks he lived with, he was bred up
with when young, that he could use all freedome,
and had begged them to give him a bit of flesh,
but they said they could not be witness to his
eating ; he expostulated that it was no sin in him,
but to no purpose.
CHAPTER VI.
Preliminary Note : Antwerp to I'irlemont : Jesuits'
College at Louvaine : Roman Catholic Educa-
tion : Difficulties for Protestant boys : MR.
NEEDHAM and Young 'Townley : Liege and
Edinburgh compared : ' Trifoncias ' : Johnston
a Scotch impostor: Gordon of Cowbairdy at
Liege : 'The Jesuits' College : Father Blair :
Father Daniel and his Opinions : Mrs. Calder-
wood's views of the Papacy : Field of Rocoux :
Meeting with SIR JAMES STEUART : Coal
Mines of Liege.
[ONE of the most picturesque incidents of modern
history is that of the Queen Maria Theresa, beset
on all sides by enemies clamouring for a portion
of the kingdom left to her by her father Charles
vi., suddenly appearing in the midst of her faithful
Hungarians, her infant son in her arms, to call
upon them for help. Having brought together the
Hungarian Diet she met them, dressed in black,
the crown on her head and the sword bv her side ;
150 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
and addressed them in soul-stirring words of
Latin ; and was answered with the cry, c Vitam
et sanguinem consecravamus.' 1 The Esterhazys,
Palfys (after mentioned), and others of the nobility,
devoted themselves to her service. Charles vn.,
who had declared himself Emperor of Austria,
died in 1745, when the husband of Queen Maria
Theresa, Francis, Duke of Lorraine, was elected
Emperor as Francis i. The peace of Aix-la-
Chapelle in 1748 closed the war in which France
had been opposed to Austria in the Austrian
Netherlands ; and for a time Maria Theresa ruled in
quietness. Hitherto Great Britain had supported
her cause, but in 1755 sided with Prussia on the
Emperor declining to help the British in their
struggle with France in America. 2 In the summer
of 1756 the c Seven Years' War' began, but it was
waged chiefly in the centre of Europe.- ED.]
We left Antwerp upon Monday the I9th of
July, and came that night to Tirlemont, break-
fasted at Mechlin, and dined at St. Tron. All
these towns are full of convents and monastries ;
1 Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa by the Due de
Broglie. Lond. 1883. Vol. ii. p. 42.
2 See p. 202, ante.
JOURNEY 151
the Mechlin lace is all made in them, and I saw a
great deall very pretty and very cheap. They
talk of giving up the trade, as the English, upon
whom they depended, have all come into the
wearing the French blonds. The lace merchants
employ the workers, and all the town works lace,
though they gain but about twopence halfpenny
per day : it is a good worker will work a Flemish
yard, which is twenty-eight inches, in a fortnight.
The holydays play the sorrow with the poor
people ; there are now a great many cut off, but
the present generation are like ours with the new
stile, they cannot be brought to forbear observing
their old customes : so, as long as the church keeps
the particular service for these days, the people will
never work upon them.
We hired a coach from Antwerp with a pair
of horses, and had it for eightpence a mile ; we
travelled with that pair thirty-one miles a day.
The road is very good ; it is a causaway in the
middle, and a soft road on every side, and planted
with fine trees till you come near Tirlemont, where
the French have not left a stick. After you come
on the Prince of Liege's territories, the trees are
standing, as they did him no harm, but all the
Queen's territories bear the marks of them, where-
152 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
ever they came, by having the trees cut down. In
this day's journey we past through Louvaine, which
is likeways dismantled of the fine trees which
covered the road to every hand.
At Louvaine, all the youth of these countries
are educated, after they have passed the Latin
schools. The Jesuits' col ledge there is [for]
philosophy ; some are humanity colledges ; some
philosophy. But all the youth are educated by the
Jesuits, who are the men of best sense and best
scholars in the church, and teach for nothing ; and
in these humanity l colledges they begin them with
the rudiments, and highest and lowest of them
take their turn, and labour with the boys like any
country schoolmaster : one class will have eighty
or ninety in it. They make the boys in the low
classes act plays in French, and the higher in Latin.
All the classes enter from a square court, with
benches round it, and in the corner of it is a place
for the prefect of the studies to sit, and see them
gather and dismiss, and to see that none goes out,
and that good order is keeped.
Since I have mentioned this, I shall give you an
account of the meathod of education in all Roman
1 The study of Latin in a Scots University, under a Professor
bumaniorum literarum, is so styled.
JOURNEY 153
catholick countries, which is on a much better
footing than we at home imagine, both for boys
and girls. For the girls, they are boarded in a
convent, where they are taught every thing that
can be thought of, and keeped there till sixteen
or seventeen, or just as their parents please.
There is no such thing as girls running about
giddy at their own hand, as they are never
allowed to go to the publick places, unless under
their parents' eye, or somebody that has the
charge of them, and commonly stay in the con-
vent till they are married. That is, the people
of fashion ; and for the burghers, they take them
home, and make them assist at their busness.
As for the boys of fashion, they are first sent
to a private school to learn to read ; if they are
come from the country, they are boarded in
what they call a pension, or have a private tutor
to teach them. After that, and [when] they
begin Latin, they are put in a pension, and
either the master who keeps that pension teaches
them the Latin, or they go to a humanity col-
ledge of the Jesuits, and the master who keeps
the pension assists them in their vacant hours,
dines with them, walks with them, and never
loses sight of them. If the colledge takes in
154 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
pensioners, which in some places they do, then
every class is under a particular master, who has
the constant charge of them. Every two have
a room, and every one a bed, a chair and table,
and a place for their clothes ; and a lay brother
to attend perhaps four, to comb their hair, wash
them, and take care of their clothes. They rise
at five o'clock in summer, and six in winter, have
a morning school, then breakfast, dine at twelve,
and go to school at one, and dismiss at four,
betwixt ten and eleven go to mass, sup at six,
and to bed at eight; [have] gardens to play in,
and the masters always with them.
Then some will have another father, whom he
pays as a tutor to assist him, or perhaps an elder
scholar, to help him with his lesson against next
day ; some has a tutor of his own boarded in the
colledge with him : at the same time, they have
masters for writing, dancing, and arithmetick,
come in to them, and there must be nothing but
the best behaviour and decency to one another, as
they are always before the masters. They dine at
a publick table, where one of the fathers, besides
the one who is the master, dines with them.
This colledge brings them through the Latin,
and when they are ready for philosophy, they go
JOURNEY 155
to another colledge, perhaps in a different place,
where the same order is observed. They carry
them from class to class, as high as learning of
all kinds can go. The youth who are not for
the church go only to certain classes, and then
go to the academy. The students for the church
must study for thirteen years ; they may be
admitted, and often are, into the society of
Jesuits, long before their studies are finished, and
take the habit, and are called fathers; but till
that time they are only students, and are not
permitted to teach. When that time is out, then
they are professors in their turn of any science
as it happens, and either remain in that colledge,
or go to some other, as the superintendant of
the province pleases to order. Every colledge
has a father rector, to whom they pay intire
obedience, and the superintendant is over every
colledge of that province. In this country all
the students, as I told you, go to Louvaine ;
at present there are above three thousand
students.
The young gentlemen, again, after they have
passed the common course at both colledges, go
to an academy ; there they are confined still to
hours of dining, supping, and being at home.
156 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
They dine altogether, and pay like about
per annum for meat and lodging ; the different
masters are paid apart : for this they have only
riding. There are masters for dancing, fenc-
ing, musick, drawing, mathematicks, geography,
fortification, etc. By this time they are come to
one or two and twenty, and are their own masters.
This is a much better method and footing than
the education in Britain, where every one is left to
learn or not, to behave well or ill, as he pleases.
They are all the time of their studies under a sort
of monastic life, and under no temptation to vice
and idleness. But then one of our country must
not be catched with this, and say, c O ! we will
send our sons abroad, there is no education like
the foreign.' They must consider that in very few
circumstances protestants can reap the benefit of
this ; for, if a boy is sent either to a colledge where
he can be pensioned, or a house where he is pen-
sioned and goes to the colledge, he loses both his
English and his religion.
In a pension house, which is commonly kept by
a preist, (as no man of any other profession can
dedicate his time entirely to the boys,) they are
commonly so bigotted, or their servants are so,
that they will not take the care of them, if they
JOURNEY 157
are not catholicks. Then they must go to mass at
the hours others go ; or, if they were allowed to go
out and play at the time others go, and have no-
body to instruct them in their own religion, or keep
them in mind of it, they would have none at all.
There are no protestant houses boys can pension
in, for what they pay cannot make it worth any-
body's while, who can get bread at home, to make
that his busness. The only protection is a tutor,
or their parents in the place ; as for the first, there
are very few deserve such a trust, and for the last
that can very seldom happen. I know there are
instances of English people pensioning their boys
in a Jesuits' colledge when they are in the place.
They tell the rector
c Here is my son, I intend he shall be a pro-
testant ; give him his learning, and let him observe
your rules : I will not let him go to play while
others are at mass; carry him there, and whilst
they read their prayers, let him read his : on
Sundays and holydays, when there is no school,
I take him home to my house : ' by which means
the boy keeps both his religion and language.
This the Jesuits never refuse, for they are not
very strict, and are people of the best sense, and
therefore less bigotted than the common clergy.
158 MRS. CALDERW.OOD'S
When I came here, 1 a gentleman I knew at Spaw,
an Englishman, one Mr. Nidham, 2 who is gover-
nour to a young lad, one Townly, who has a
good estate in England, and Roman catholick ;
his uncle it was who suffered in iy46. 3 This Mr.
Nidham was not in town for some days after I
came. When he came to town, I went with him
to the Jesuits' colledge ; they here take no pen-
sioners. He told the prefect of the studies, who
1 To Brussels.
2 John Turberville Needham, a priest of the Roman Catholic
Church, was born in 1713, educated at Douay, and became
F.R.S. of London ; in 1 749 he published ' Observations on the
Generation, Composition, and Decomposition, of Vegetable and
Animal Substances? Prior to that he had produced a work on
Microscopical Discoveries, etc. London, 1745. It appears that
many of these early experiments in ' Development ' of Needham's
his ' experiences ' he terms them (see chap. viii. post] with
several of his plates, had been made use of in the second volume
of M. de Buffon's Nat. History. With a view to recovering
these and following them up, he issued his Nouvelles Observa-
tions. Paris, 1750. For the writer held the theory, hardly
admissible in the present day ' Lorsque un Auteur s'ouvre une
nouvelle route, et fait quelques decouvertes, il a le droit in-
contestable des les poursuivre lui-meme, et personne ne doit en
tirer des consequences qu'il n'ait declare qu'il les a poussees aussi
loin qu'il lui etoit possible.' (Preface.)
Father Needham became Rector of the Academy of Sciences
at Brussels, and died in 1781.
3 Colonel Francis Townley, Governor of Carlisle, a gentle-
JOURNEY 159
is the person who takes the scholars, that we had
our two boys to put to their colledge, that they
were protestants, and that when the school dis-
missed, and others went to mass, they were to
come home and then return ; to which he said
( To be sure, very well ; he never had anything
to do with the boys' religion, his only busness was
to see justice done them in their learning.'
Mr. Nidham advised that they should be pen-
sioned, in order to their getting the language the
sooner, and the prefect recommended one who
lived hard by the colledge, and had but other three.
The prefect told him he was to . have nothing to
do with their religion, that they were to go out at
mass time, and that they were to eat meat on
man of an old Roman Catholic family in Lancashire, was brought
to trial for having in Nov. 1745 w i h 3000 persons seized the
city and castle of Carlisle in the cause of the Stewarts. He was
executed on Kennington Common on 3Oth July 1746, along
with several others ; among these James Dawson, a youth of
good family, who had run away from Cambridge to join the
Chevalier's army. The circumstance of his betrothed witness-
ing the horrors of his execution forms the subject of the touch-
ing ballad of 'Jemmy Dawson ' preserved in Percy's Reliques
4 She followed him, prepared to view
The terrible behests of law ;
And the last scene of Jemmy's woes
With calm and stedfast eye she saw : '
but having seen all she sank back, and died.
160 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
meagure days. This the man scrupled at; at
which the prefect said to Mr. Nidham
c The man is a little scrupelous, but if the lady
would take them home on meagure days, it would
do as well ; '
which I agreed to, and was very well pleased
with the house, and every thing about it. But I
found that the man drew back, for he had an old
carefull body of a housekeeper, who could not
think of taking care of hereticks. So, as I by
that time had got a young lad to come in and
teach them at these hours they were from the
school, I was the more indifferent, at least till I
see further.
This is a degression, and by the time I bring
myself to this time, I will be able to give you a
fuller account of things of that nature.
But to return : we came that night to Tirlemont,
which is a dead sort of place ; a good extent, but
few and poor inhabitants. The only manufactories
of the place are prayers and linen, for there are
thirteen convents in it, and a great number of
weavers. They have in it a sort of lay channons,
who can marry ; but the Roman church is such a
hogepoge of half clergy and whole clergy, dignities
that are temporary, and can be laid down and dis-
JOURNEY 161
penced with, and others that cannot, that I cannot
[be] mistress of the subject yet.
From Tirlemont we came to Liege, which, of
all the towns ever I saw, I think the most abomin-
able. 1 It lies in the bottom of a glen, on the
meeting of severall small rivers which there run
into the Maes. There is one little haugh 2 the low
part of the town stands upon, and all the rest of it
is scambling up on the sides of the hill, and the
only plain ground about it is a strip by the water
side up and down. It is just Edinburgh reversed
in the situation, or the Cowgate made the principall
street. 1 never saw so ugly a town, and anything
so pretty as all about it ; for four miles up and down
the water, it is one continued orchard or vineyard,
with pretty situated, ill-built country houses. All
the haughs on the water side are hop-gardens, and
the bare scary 3 braes where grass will not grow, and
just like the parts of Largo Law where the rain
has washed off the soil, are all vineyards.
The wine is but of a poor quality, but serves
for common use to the country. I have always
heard that hops must have a very sheltered situa-
1 ' On dit que cette Ville est 1'Enfer des femmes, le Purgatoire
des hommes, et le Paradis des Pretres.' Les Delices des Pays-
Bas, 1785.
2 Low level ground by a river-side. 3 Rocky.
162 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
tion ; this is so to be sure, but there must be some
good swirls of wind come down that bottom. The
method of planting hops is, you set your plants
in rows about two feet distance, and to every
plant they give a pole, which is a tree, like the
smallest sort of what we call cabers l for country
houses, from about fourteen to twenty feet high ;
upon this the plant creeps, and where it is planted
there is a little loose earth like a mole-hill. I see
sometimes they give every two a pole ; the poles
are the sole expence, but I suppose they last a good
while, for I see them gathered together and set up
on end in stacks, when the hops are taken down.
They have in all this country prodigious tall kidney
beans, which they support with poles like the hops,
and which grow almost as high ; they feed greatly
upon them, and they salt them up for winter in
barrells.
In Liege there are about seventy convents
and monastries, and fifty thousand beggars. The
Prince and Bishop is of the house of Bavaria ; he
is chosen by what they call the trifoncias. 2 There
1 Wooden beams ; an uncommon use of the Gaelic word.
2 The Trefoncias, or Trefonciers, seem to be a local
peculiarity of Liege, and another name for the Canons. ' Get
illustre Chapitre qui fait toute la gloire de la ville de Liege, a
pour dignites, (i.) 1'Eveque et Prince; (2.) le Grand-Prevot, et
Archidiacre de la Cite; (3.) le Grand-Doyen et Chef du Chapitre,
JOURNEY 163
are sixty channons, thirty of whom are trifoncias,
and elect the bishop ; all these must be of the best
families, and who can prove their nobility by six-
teen branches. These have great livings, and
officiate in the church, or are present at high mass
in common days, in robes of purple silks, with
tufts and tassels which tuck them up in the taills
and on the sleeves ; above this, fine muslin sur-
pluses with point, which makes a very genteel
dress. On grand days they have robes vastly rich ;
I saw one of them at Spaw in a lay habit, but a
coarse like carle ; but I saw two of them in the
church at Liege, one of them was a tall genteel
man as ever I saw, and looked very elegant in his
purple habit. The great church is a very fine one,
and has silver candlesticks to the value of severall
thousand pounds.
etc. . . . Les Chanoines doivent etre nobles, ou Docteurs,
ou Licencies en Theologie ou en Droits. . . . On nomme les
Chanoines communement Trefonciers, et ils ont le droit d'elire
1'Eveque.' Les Delices des Pays-Bas, t. iv. p. 99. Paris, 1785.
There were at one period, it is recorded, in the Chapter, at
the same time, seven sons of kings, thirteen sons of dukes, and
twenty-two sons of counts; and, it is added, 'L'Empereur
Henri iv. a etc du nombre de ces Trefonciers, et il y a reside en
1107.' Ibid. pp. 99-100.
It appears from Littre that Trefoncier is a ' Proprietaire du
fond et du trefonds,' or owner of the soil and subsoil ; trefonds
or tresfonds being a technical law-term.
164 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
I forgot to tell you, that before we came into
Liege, we stopped to dine at a single house upon
the road ; and, whilst we were at dinner, a French
post-chaise arrived, and out came a fattish fair
man of middle age.
f I am sure,' says I, f that is a Briton, I know
by his face.'
He only stopped to change horses, and did not
come in, and, as I had never seen a French post-
chaise, I went out to look at it, as the machinery
is very curious. I looked at the chaise, and the
man at me, and I at him, but as he did not speak,
I began to think I was mistaken. After I was gone
in again, he says to John
'Is not that your lady, and come from
England?'
c Yes,' says John, ( and I dare say she thinks
you are not of her country, because you did not
speak to her.'
Upon inquiring further, he found I was going
to Spaw to see Sir James my brother ; upon which
he sent in his compliments, that he was a particular
friend of Sir James's, and would come and pay me
a visit : we said he would be very welcome, so in
he came. He told us he had come from Liege, is
posting to Paris ; he had not been at Spaw, but
JOURNEY 165
informed us all about Sir James, and that Jamie l
was gone for two days to see them at Spaw; was
intimate with them, and knew all about my Lady
Weems, 2 etc.
I found he was not a Scotsman, but he talked of
Scotland and England, of all the news, etc., and
chatted very agreeably for half an hour. When
he took his leave, I said I should be very glad to
know to whom I was oblidged for this visit. He
said it was no favour ; he had done himself a
pleasure.
' Ha,' thinks I, ' that won't do; I'll try you again.'
c I should be very glad to have it in my power,'
says I, c to inform Sir James to whom I have been
oblidged by this visit.'
* Madam,' says he, C I have done myself an
honour and pleasure in seeing you, who, the first
time I looked at you, I knew must be a near
relation of one who I have the greatest friendship
and value for.'
1 Sir James's son, afterwards General Sir James Steuart-
Denham of Cokness.
2 Janet, daughter and heiress of Colonel Francis Charteris of
Amisfield, East Lothian, was wife of James, 4th Earl of Wemyss.
Her eldest son, David, Lord Elcho, a chief mover in the '45,
was now in France, having fled thither after Culloden. Besides
Lady Frances Steuart, her daughter Lady Helen Dalrymple is
frequently named in these journals.
166 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
And he bowed and cringed out at the door,
and pulled it to after him, to prevent Mr.
Calderwood from seeing him to the door.
{ You and I shall not part this way,' thinks I,
f one name or another I will have. Go,' says I to
John, f give my compliments to that man, and tell
him I beg to know whose compliments I shall give
to Sir James, and who I shall inform him inquired
so kindly after him.' This message John delivered.
1 Tell your lady,' says he, f my name is Johnston,
an old acquaintance, and a great freind of her
brother's ; ' and off he drove.
When I told Sir James of this he was astonished ;
( I do not know on earth,' says he, ' one man of
that name ; ' I described his figure, told everything
he said, but to no purpose ; no part of it answered
to any person ever he had seen or been acquainted
with.
Liege is a place where foull and clean of all
nations come. Officers of every country come
there to recruit ; a fellow deserts from the French,
he runs to Liege, the officers of the Queen of
Hungary or the King of Prussia pick him up ;
whenever a rogue dare not keep his own country,
he comes there, and he is safe. A gentleman will
come in family, and live for months ; nobody
knows his name, nor thinks of asking it, and
JOURNEY 167
suppose they did, they would not be a bit the
wiser : Monsieur this or that, but who knows who
Mr. Such-a-thing is? Mr. Gordon 1 of Cowbairdy
lived six months at Liege with his family, and his
lady lay in ; all this time he was taken for the
Pretender. Some say the Pretender did live there
some months ; but he might live anywhere after
living three weeks in London, about three years
ago : 2 so much for government intelligence. This
is certainly fact, and very well known in all this
country, and nobody would beleive me when I
said I never heard it. He came over in the
1 There were three brothers of this family 1st, Sir William
Gordon of Park, co. Banff, who was forfeited for his share in
'the '45'; he died at Douai in 1751. 2d, Captain John
Gordon (half brother of Sir William), who took the Hanoverian
side and succeeded perhaps in consequence of that circumstance
in obtaining possession of the estate of Park while his elder
brother was still alive. He had alleged that Sir William had
never been properly infeft ; that he himself had advanced money
on the estate ; and that Sir William's children were aliens by
birth. 3d, James Gordon of Cowbairdy, Aberdeenshire, full
brother to John, married Mary, daughter of the I5th Lord
Forbes as mentioned at page 183. Cowbairdy was concerned in
the Rebellion, but pardoned, and died in 1773. His son Ernest
succeeded to Park on the death of his uncle John in 1781.
2 It was generally believed that the Government were aware
of the Prince's presence in London at the time referred to, but
deemed it prudent to ignore the fact; see Introduction to
Rtdgauntlet.
i68 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
pacquet ; went about publickly ; was at a card
assembly where the first people in the government
were; his bust in marble standing on the lady's
table ; went to a church ; carried witnesses with
him; solemnly renounced the Roman catholick
religion, which was recorded. What name he
took I know not, but he stayed three weeks, and
returned the way he came.
Mr. Gordon still lives at Liege, but was at Spaw
when I came there. Mrs. Gordon has an old
norland gentlewoman, who was taking care of her
bairns there. I was not long set till Margaret
came to see me, for you cannot imagine so good
a nose the Scots folk have to smell out each other,
when they come to a place. Margaret has almost
lost her own language, and has not found another
in its place. 1 A little girl about three years old
speaks French to her, and she speaks English to
the bairn, and they both understand each other,
but cannot speak in the same language.
Margaret did her best to entertain me ; she
carried us up to see the Jesuites' garden. Their
1 It almost seems from this remark that Lord Braxfield's
celebrated witticism regarding young Francis Jeffrey on his
return from Oxford, that ' the puir laddie had tint his Scotch,
but fand nae English/ may not have been altogether original.
JOURNEY 169
colledge 1 is up a strait, steep, dirty close, but after
you have got up, there is a very large building,
and a good extent of garden still higher ; for here
is a flat, laid out like a parterre, walks, seats, and
bowers, some water jets and statues, and a volary, 2
which is a little place with the face of it wire. I
asked if the birds bred there ? They said they
admitted no females. Then you go up a stair to
another flat, and that is kitchen ground ; then
another stair, and there is a bowling green ; then
another stair, and there are shaded walks for study
and contemplation ; then another, and this leads
1 The Society of Jesuits had been expelled from Holland early
in the 1 8th century. Even when they had been driven out of
France, Spain, Portugal, and Naples, they continued to be pro-
tected by Maria Theresa in the Austrian dominions. Her son,
who became Joseph n., however, used all his influence against
them. Florus Anglo-Bavaricus (Liege, 1685), the work of
Father John Keynes, S.J., treats of the foundation and early
history of the Jesuit College at Liege, the theologate of the Eng-
lish Province (CHALLONER'S Mems. of Miss. Priests. Edit. 1878.
Pref. p. xxix.) ; it flourished until the suppression of the Society
in 1773. Subsequently the Prince Bishop of Liege restored the
College to Father Howard (see p. 172, post], and it was con-
verted into an Academy for English Catholic youth.' (FOLEY'S
Records, s. xii. pp. 185-9.) After an existence of 180 years
this renowned College was abandoned, and the community in
consequence of the French Revolution emigrated to Stonyhurst,
leaving Liege I4th July 1794 (ib. vol. vii. p. xlix.).
2 ' Volary (Fr. voliere), a great bird-cage.' BAILEY'S Diet.
iyo MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
you to a very neat summer-house ; and above that
an observatory like a cupelo, out of which you
have a very fine viue, and command all the town
and the river.
The other side of Liege offers quite a new
prospect ; it stands on the entry to the Arrdens,
or what we would call the mouth of the highlands,
as all to that hand is covered with wood, (as you will
see in the map,) called the forrest of the Arrdens.
But to return : we went up and pulled the bell
at the outer door, and after some time there came
an old father, and pulled bye a bit of timber,
which covered a plate of iron in the midst of the
door, and in this plate is cut out IHS, which being
interpretate is, Jesus Hominum Sahator. Margaret
asked for Father Daniel, or Father Mackenzie,
but none of them were at hand.
'This,' says she, f is Father Blair, a very civill
man, but I am not so well acquainted with him as
with the others.'
She informed him that we were British, and he
opened the door, and received us very civilly. He
was an old little body, and lame of a leg, that is, a
short leg and a long, for which reason he had had
a dispensation to allow him to be admitted into the
church. He carried us into a parlour, and in a
JOURNEY 171
little time some other fathers came ; two Scotsmen,
one Maxwell, who goes at present by the name of
Stewart, because he had wrote something concern-
ing the disputes in France betwixt the clergy and
parliament, and was obliged to leave the country.
This man was from Nidsdale, 1 and had been out of
the country since he was ten years old, but he
spoke the language pretty well yet. He is a tall
old man with a grey head, and one of the best faces,
and most reverend figures I ever saw.
Mr. Calderwood, by discoursing Father Blair,
found he was a Scotsman too, though born in
England. His father was Sir Adam Blair of Car-
berry, 2 and left the country with King James vn.
It was a brother of his that died lately, and left his
money to Andrew Wallace; this brother he had
not heard of for thirty years, and only knew he
had been in the army ; was of another marriage,
and a protestant. I thought, when the father
1 Nithsdale, the country of the Maxwells.
2 Sir Adam Blair was in all probability one of the Ayrshire
Blairs, as in 1 669, being then a Knight and owner of Carberry,
he had a charter of Over Lochridge in the parish of Stewarton.
He was forfeited in 1695, and appears to have held Carberry,
in Mid Lothian, in the interval between its sale by the Rigg
family and its acquisition by the Dicksons of Sarabeg, referred
to in the History of Musselburgb.
172 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
heard he had left money, he was not so dead to
the world as not to wish he had got a part of it :
and, indeed, the house has not their affairs in the
best order at present, as they have suffered in the
troubles of Europe ; for their foundation is from
the Elector of Bavaria.
After the Reformation in Britain, the popish
princes having compassion on the clergy who were
turned out, then gave foundations for English
monastries, convents, and colledges, to which no
other countries are admitted. There is a Scots
colledge at Paris, an English one at St. Omers,
and this at Liege, and severall others, besides
severall nunneries all through this country. The
fathers who first received this benefit at Liege from
Bavaria refused to have the lands in property, to
save them trouble, and accepted of such an income
from the Elector : and in the last war, his country
was so distressed, that he could not pay them their
rents, and they were obliged to give up house, till a
very few. Their number ought to be about ninety,
but they are not yet able to maintain so many.
Their revenue should be about eight hundred
a-year ; but they do not draw above four or five
hundred. They have a father rector, a father
prefect of the studies, and a father minister who
JOURNEY 173
has the care of the housekeeping and providing
everything; this is one Howard, a very well
looked fellow, and by his face, I would not think
he was one who had renounced the world and the
flesh, whatever he might do the devil.
As for my friend Father Daniel, he is a good-
natured, innocent, obliging soul, and very ugly and
very merry. He is just a Scots pedantick scholar,
and was always snuffling, out of curiosity, about
every sort of religion, to see what it was, and what
this set of folks' tenets were, and upon what they
founded their differences from others upon. Had
he been bred a divine, he would at this time [have]
been a member of the presbitry of Dumfermline,
or perhaps Mr. Jamieson's pastor at Kennoway ;
but, as he was bred a smuggling merchant, or
perhaps a packman, he walked twenty miles to hear
Mr. Whitfeild, Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, &c. ; and,
after satisfying his curiosity about them, he fell to
trying what sort of cheese the papaists set their
traps with, and, as he was snuffling about that, I
suppose he found a life of study and idleness could
be had without an estate, or so much as a farthing,
none of which the others had offered him. His
being a proselite gained him an easy admittance,
and there he lives at his ease, and labours at logick
i 7 4 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
and what not, to his heart's content. I do beleive
he, poor creature, has not a wish beyond finishing
his studies and becoming a professor ; he has three
years of study yet to come.
The students are keept very strictly to hours
and rules, and are keept at an awfull distance from
the old fathers, and when they have a riged rector,
they are keept very hard ; but the rector of this
colledge is a very good man, and they are all very
fond of him. Daniel asked leave, the time we
were there, to attend us, and obtained it, to his
great joy ; he looked always when he came, like a
dog wagging his taill for gladness to get out.
I do not wonder in the least that the number of
fathers are keept up, for they have a very good
life ; but how the convents get brothers is a little
more surprising. Those folks are not bound, and
may go or not as they please, and yet they come
and serve the convents as cooks, shoemakers, and
taliors, etc., and receive nothing but their meat.
The fathers called for burgundy and bisquit, and
there we must drink and eat, and never was any
thing so kind.
Whiles Mr. Calderwood went through the
colledge (which was not permitted to me) with the
old fathers, Daniel attended me. He told me he
JOURNEY 175
was born at Inverness, and bred at the school of
Biggar, was afterwards a smuggler both in Scotland
and England ; by which I concluded he had been
a packman, but could not put that question to a
reverend father. He told me all about his con-
version, and the rules of their society. I said I
had never heard of one taking such a stride at
once, as from the top of the kirk of Scotland to
the top of the church of Rome.
< Did you not/ says I, f set your foot upon
episcopy in the way ? '
f Episcopy,' says he, < is noncence ; it is just a
bastard popery, has all the faults your church can
find to ours, and none of our advantages ; and,
look into their tenets as fixed by act of parliament,
and they are ours in the full extent, only the
moderate party of late years have explained them
away without altering them, and so has made it
noncence : There is no choice but popery or
presbitry.'
' Won't you be glad,' says I, ' to see Scotland
again ? I suppose we will have you there some
time on a mission, and you '11 have the folks coming
to you for light, as you did.'
At this he laught till he was like to die.
c O,' says he, c that does my heart good to hear
176 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
that phrase. I have not heard it since I left
Scotland ; I will not accept of a mission, if I can
help it, for that of converting is quite needless :
it is only for want of thinking that everybody is
not of our religion.'
c What do you say to our divines,' says I, f who
imploy their whole lives in the study of religion,
and yet you never saw one of them convert them-
selves ? '
f O ! ' says he, c the interest and passions of man-
kind govern them so insensibly, that that is at the
bottom, though they are not sensible of it.'
c I beg pardon,' says I, c many of them have a
very poor living and hard duty, that would change
it for the ease and affluence of the popish clergy ;
if they could convert themselves, their interest
would go alongst with them.'
He was obliged then to have recourse to c calling
grace,' and severall other unintelligent things.
I was not surprised at him in this, as he is a
meer scholar ; but it is surprizing how weakly men
of the best sense [and] the outmost freedom of
thinking in everything, and even in many things
regarding the church, talk upon certain points of
their religion. I have often heard folks say it was
dangerous for protestants to talk of religion with
JOURNEY 177
the folks of sense amongst them, but I never found
it, and realy beleived they had more to say for it
than they have. Some things, indeed, the pro-
testants beleive they carry to a greater length than
they do, and all they will gain or lose by this is,
that they are nearer us than we think, which does
not bring us nearer them than we are already.
But, in these points in which we totally differ, I
find they cannot make the story hang so well
together as that one part shall not contradick
another. Their church-government and authority
is so curiously interwoven with their faith in
religious matters, that they cannot separate them,
otherways it would be easy to determine in what
matters they differ from us in faith, and what in
church-government purely. I never dispute with
them, for that looks as if you wanted to convert
them, and besides, it is not the best way to get out
the story ; but I never stand to ask at a sensible
man, who I know can give a true account of the
thing, upon what foundation they build such a
principle ; it is cruell to ask a gentleman anything,
for they can give no account but that the church
obliges them to beleive so, and that is enough.
Since I am speaking of the papaists, I shall give
them justice on one point. God knows what is in
M
178 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
their heart, but they have all the appearance of
being religious, the highest of them, and are not
ashamed of it as we are ; I beleive it is more so
here than in France, where there are a great many
infidells. The churches are always open till after
benediction, which is six o'clock at night ; and at
no time you can go in but you see a great many
very well drest gentlemen and ladies at their privat
devotions. Some are very serious, and others will
look after you and mumell their prayers all the
time ; almost everybody goes to church to say
their prayers, for there is no closet in any room
in this country.
Father Daniel, as I told you, was allowed to
attend us, so he went through the town, and into
some shops, where I bought a handkercheif and
ruffles, of which he has great skill. Mr. Calder-
wood and he went to the Carthusian monastry,
which is a very pretty building, and stands very
well on the other side of the town, where they
have more plain ground; I sat in the coach till
they came out, as I could not be admitted. One of
the fathers came to the door, and told me I might
call for any thing I wanted, or go into the place
allotted for the brothers, which I did, and called
for a glass of small beer, which was pretty good.
JOURNEY 179
These monks are very rich, and live very well,
but eat no flesh : they do not live in comunity
like others, but every one has their own dining-
room, kitchen, bed-chamber, and little garden,
and it is only on certain days they can see one
another. They amuse themselves with different
things ; and when a stranger comes to see any of
them, or any of the other orders makes them
a visit, they are transported and quite mad after
news, or anything of that kind. This is not the
strictest order, but the next to La-Trap, where
they meet together at meals as others do, but
never look upon or speak to each other.
A gentleman told me he knew an officer who
had been very graceless, to atone for which he left
the world, and went into the order of La-Trap,
where he lived many years. When he came to
die, he told the rector he had no concern for any-
thing, but for a brother he had left in the world,
following the wicked courses he had done, and
wished he could see him before he died.
c ,Give yourself no trouble on that score,'
says the rector, f for your brother has been in
this house these four years;' and, though they
had eat at the same table, had never seen each
other.
i8o MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
Father Daniel said these fathers had a good
situation, by what they 1 had, for, before their door
was the only bit of plain ground the people who
quarelled had to fight upon ; and they were so
quarellsome a pack in Liege, that there were duel Is
fought almost every day there. This I could
easily beleive, for, when I was going up, I met
two men coming down, both bleeding, who had
been fighting.
c There now,' says Daniell, c this is very hard
upon us, for, if we see them, which we can hardly
miss to do, it is excommunication if we do not go
out to rede the quarel, and that we do not choice
to do ; for, when I came first here,' says he, f I sat
in my window one day when two were fighting,
and, when I came down to dinner, told what I had
seen, at which the fathers stared, and told me that
what I had done was no less than excommunication,
but my ignorance should excuse me. Now, my
window is just over that place, and I dare hardly
look out for fear I see them, and if I do suspect
that they are going to fight, I run and hide myself.'
We went up to see the feild of battell where
Rochow 2 was fought ; there is still the mark where
1 At the Jesuits' college.
2 Rocoux, fought 1 1 th Oct. 1 746 ; when the allies had to
JOURNEY 181
the battry was, which the Dutch abandoned, other-
ways it could never have been forced; it was a
square like a diamond, and commanded the feild
to every hand. It is the finest viue ever I saw ;
the ground lies about it, you would think, in a
circle; the one half is a fine cultivated country,
not inclosed, and full of towns and villages, all
planted, and very pretty, [with] spires in great
numbers ; and to the other hand is the Arrdens,
unequall ground rather than hills, all covered with
wood. There is in the midst of the feild which
the French occupied one single large tree, under
which Marashall Sax stood on horseback during
the battell; it commands all the feild. On the
one hand of the road to Liege the country is very
populous, and to the other not so, though the
feilds are as well cultivated.
I did not think of counting the towns till
I passed St. Tron, where we breakfasted the day
we came to Liege, but betwixt that and Liege,
retreat before Marshal Saxe. The village is situated on a
beautiful plain not far from Liege. The interest of the party in
this engagement may partly have been connected with the fact
that the Scots Greys largely recruited from Mrs. Calderwood's
native district of Clydesdale, as the old Troop rolls of the
Regiment show, figured in it, along with the Enniskillen
Dragoons and Queen's Bays.
182 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
which is about five or six hours' journey, I counted
above a hundred towns and villages, but there are
very few single houses like farms, and nothing like
a gentleman's seat ; that country being so often the
seat of war, I suppose makes the people flock
together.
We passed likewayes the feild of the battell of
Landon, 1 fought by King William ; it is a great
pity they leave no marks of these battells, for, had
it not been that Mr. Calderwood remembered by
the geography of the country, and by the name of
a little river that he likeways remembered was near
the place, we could not have known it. It is a
track of plain ground of great extent, and an old
soldier, who keeped a turnpike after we were passed
it, told Mr. Calderwood he was right as to the
place. They are at great pains to till down all the
trenches, and throw down the batteries, and leave
no vestige of the war ; of that Dutch battery they
1 Landen, a village 24 miles west of Liege, on the railway
from Tirlemont to Waremme. Near it the French under
Marshal Luxembourg defeated the Dutch and English allies
chiefly through the misconduct of the Dutch troops. On the
morning of the battle, zgth July 1693, King William HI. of
England had repulsed the French with great loss. (DAVIES'S
Hist, of Holland, iii. 233.) The Duke of Berwick, natural son
of James n., fighting on the French side, was taken prisoner.
JOURNEY 183
have only left one corner, because the King of
France dined there, they say, the day after the
battle.
There are great coal mines all about Liege, and
what adds to the uglyness of the town is the dirty
smoaky look it has, for the coals are so dirty there,
that they cannot get the floors kept clean without
a great deall of trouble ; so they wash in the dirt,
and make their floor a sort of black japan. The
coal seams are of a vast thickness, and the coals
very large ; they drive twenty miles off and more,
in great heavy waggons drawn by six or seven
horses, and yet the roads are not one bit broke,, as
it is a strong causway.
We stayed three days at Liege, and Sir James
and Mr. Gordon came from Spaw and met us.
This Mr. Gordon is brother to Sir William Gordon
of Park, a very well looked genteel man,' married
to a daughter of Lord Forbes's, a very good,
sweet-tempered woman, but not very handsome :
she was at Spaw for her health.
I need say nothing of my meeting with my
brother, as those who have no brother whom they
love, that they have been separate from for eleven
years, will not understand it ; and those who have
will without my telling them.
CHAPTER VII.
SPA and its Waters : Mr. Luck : Mr. Hay :
Dutch Jews in the Ball-room : Mr. Hay's
Farro Bank : The Spencers : Young Perry and
his Governor : Mrs. Poyntz and the Duchess
d'Aremberg: A Jesuit ruse at Liege: The
Bishop and Prince of Osburgh : Lady Betty
Worsley : Lord Dungarvan and the Hon. H.
Boyle : Madame Beaton : Madame Patine :
Baron de la Fael: M. de Marr : Madame
Hussy : Madame Cresnar : SIR JAMES STEUART
and Mons. D'Aubigny.
WE got a coach and went all to Spaw, but such
roads I never saw for a coach; by the time we
arrived, my head was like to split with perfect
fear. It is about seven hours' journey, through a
moorish and woody country ; there are iron mines
in it, for which the wood serves, and all the
country round is served with charcoal from it : in
the vales, which are pretty narrow, there is pretty
MRS. C ALDER WOOD'S JOURNEY 185
good grass, and on the banks, where it is not too
steep, some corn. Spaw lies in a very pretty
bottom, the banks are steep to the one hand, but
a graduall ascent to the other ; the meadows have
a very fine verdure, and there are walks cut upon
the high banks, which make it easy to get up, and
a very pretty prospect of a wild woody country
from it, not very populous. There are two or
three pretty good streets in it, and little burns
running through, with bridges over them to join
the streets, which keeps it clean.
The Powhon fountain is in the town, and a little
bit from it is a short walk betwixt two hedges.
This fountain and the Geronster is mostly used ;
I have made them be put upon my quadrill box,
which is better than my description. The company
goes to the other fountains in cariolls, which is
just a geeg, or rather a bad cart, covered like a
chaise, only there are two seats in it like a coach.
The houses are very bad, and very few of the
rooms have fire-places. Nobody stays there in
winter but the inhabitants, and not so many of
them as you would imagine, for all the shops are
filled in summer with folks who come from Liege
to serve the company.
There is one Irish gentleman who is described in
i86 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
the gallantry of the Spaw by the name of Mr.
Luck ; his name is Archibold, he came there
twenty-seven years ago in bad health, and has
stayed ever since. He is a quiet, silent, recluse,
good body, and thinks every year that he is going
away, and takes leave of all the folks in the place,
but if he goes the length of Liege or Aix-la-
Chapell, for a month or two, he always returns ;
he has his room from day to day, and minds only
his prayers, and is very much with some of his
country folks when there : I have him on my box,
a meagre man.
There is a Scotsman who keeps a publick room ;
he is one Mr. Hay, who was long about my Lady
Erroll, and somehow or other settled here. He
has built a very good house, and has the ball and
card room in it, and some lodging rooms. Besides
that, he has another which was let this year to Mr.
Spencer's family at a guinea a day, for which he
made twenty-one beds, and provided clean linen
twice every day for the family at table. As for
the ball, he provides the musick, the room and
lights, and every gentleman pays what in their
money is reckoned fourty pence, but in ours it is
like two merks Scots; they call it four skilling,
and each skilling is the nearest thing to our half
JOURNEY 187
merk, and counts tenpence of theirs. The skilling
was but sixpence in Holland, here it is tenpence,
and at Bruxells it is sevenpence.
The houses are all built of timber and plaster,
except Mr. Hay's, which is built of brick, and
some few others, otherways it would not be very
safe to dance in them. Mr. Hay's profit is from
the cards and farro bank, which is held every night,
and dancing but twice a week ; indeed, there are
no great incouragements to dance oftener, for they
have but two scraping fiddles and a bass, who can-
not play two parts of any tune, and then, except
it be the Scots and the English, the women of that
country cannot go through a country dance, but
hobble, hobble, and never stir a foot but as they
are pushed from one to another, till their heads
are giddy, and then they stand still and stare.
They are all madly keen to dance too, and
plague the men who can dance to dance with
them.
There was a family of Jews there, Minheir Pinto
from Amsterdam, his lady, daughter and son-in-
law, another daughter and two sons, the oddest like
animals ever was seen, with high noses, and black
round eyes set closs to them, like so many owls,
they were the keenest dancers and the worst at it
i88 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
ever was. After the company had looked with
wonder at their dancing for severall nights, and
the men had begun to shun dancing with them,
(for they always asked them,) Lady Hellen 1 and
Lord Garless 2 danced a strathspey minuet ; when-
ever the Jews saw that they fell to it, they lap,
they flaghtered so like hens with their feet tied
together, that you might have bound the whole
company with a straw, and they were delighted.
The farro bank pays Mr. Hay five ducats each
night ; it was held by a considerable number, but
only two appeared concerned ; the rest of the party
passed themselves for gentlemen of fortune. They
played very boldly, which drew in others, and every
night there was a considerable deall of money lost,
for nobody win. This, I think, with riding about
in the forenoon, and sometimes going through the
shops for japan and bead- work, which is the only
manufactories of the place, were the only amuse-
ments of Spaw : sometimes a party at cards held in
1 Lady Helen, youngest daughter of the 4th Earl of Wemyss,
and sister of Lady Frances Steuart, married in 1754 Hew
Dalrymple of Fordel, fifth son of Sir John Dalrymple of
Cranston, Bart.
2 John, Lord Garlics, succeeded his father as yth Earl of
Galloway in 1773. He was a Knight of the Thistle and a
Lord of the Bed-chamber to King George in.
JOURNEY 189
the forenoon in the ball-room ; and the gentlemen
walked and read the news.
As for the company, it is impossible to tell you
what a gathering of all nations was continually
coming and going, for the folks of this country go
to Spaw for ten or twelve days, some for less.
Their names are printed in a list, and sent about ;
the folks who are there before send the offer of a
visit, and leave a card at their door, and they return
the visit by another, and they do not speak when
they meet.
As for the English, who are the most regarded
there because they stay the longest, there was Mr.
Spencer, 1 his wife, her sister, her mother, a cousine,
her two brothers, a chaplain, and one Major Barton,
who was Spencer's governour, and such a following
of other attendants, that they had one pacquet boat
for themselves, and another for their servants and
1 John Spencer, Esq., who was born in 1734, married in
1755 the eldest daughter of the Right Hon. Stephen Poyntz of
Midgham, co. Berks, 'a once high gentleman now dim and
obsolete.' (Carlyle, Life of Fred, the Great.') Horace Walpole
records the gossip that it was expected he would marry one of
the beautiful Miss Birds. He had inherited through his father
much of the wealth of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. In
1761 he was created Viscount Althorp; and in 1765 Earl
Spencer. He was grandfather of the distinguished Chancellor
of the Exchequer of his name.
190 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
baggage : I suppose they would have three going
back, for they bought up every thing they could
lay their hands on, as did their servants. Mrs.
Points told me for one article, that she, for herself
and her daughter, bought fourteen gowns at Ant-
werp. They came to Antwerp for a jaunt when I
was there, and had three coaches and their own
post chaise to carry the jaunting party. Mrs.
Spencer is a very sweet-like girl, her sister is a
great hoyden ; Miss Collier the cousine is a well-
looked little lassie, and severall little sparkies were
in love with her. I shall mention one of them for
the sake of his governour's history.
He is called Perry, and son to a rich man at
London ; by the boy's face he should be either a
Jew or a French refugee, but he is the latter. He
was sent to France when young, and has almost
forgot his English. This, by the by, is easier
done I find than folks can imagine ; there are some
memories so very slippery, that in three years'
want of practice, after they were come a good
length, they will forget their language intirly, and
very soon come to be at a loss for words. Mr.
Gordon had two sons whom he put in a pension in
France, when the one was eight and the other ten ;
and, though they had each other to speak to, in
JOURNEY 191
two years' time they could not speak one word of
English, nor understand it.
This Mr. Perry had a governour, whom his
father had so much confidence in, that he gave
him unlimited credit at Paris, to call for what
money he pleased : they were obliged to leave
France with the other British, and came last winter
to Bruxells. He had never shown any inclination
to gaming, untill, this spring, he got into the farro
bank society, and there was so lucky as to gain a
hundred pounds. This turned his head at once ;
he followed them to Spaw, and there lost his
hundred pounds, and all the money he had besides,
which was the boy's. He drew for more, and off
he went again to Bruxells ; by this time the society
were come there. He first played away the boy's
little chaise and horses, called a cabrioll, and then
no less than 4000 ; of this he gained back two,
and gave bills on Paris for the remainder, and set
out for Italy.
The boy took care to prevent this, by writing
to Paris to stop the payment of them, and to
London to his father ; so that the gamesters, who
have gone to Paris to receive the money, will get
their labour for their pains.
But to return to the Spencers, they were very
192 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
ill-liked : the mother Points 1 commands the party,
and she is a deaf, short-sighted, loud spoken,
hackney-headed wife, and played at cards from
morning till night. Because she had been about
the court, she imagined she was the resident at
Spaw, and keept very little company with her own
country-folks, because some were Jacobites, others
in opposition ; and for the French and Flemish,
and the Queen of Hungary, she was at war with
them, except the widow of the late Duke of
Aremberg, 2 who got ^40,000 from Britain last
war, for putting the Austrian troops in motion ;
she and her daughter, a chanoness, and Madam
Points, keept close together.
These chanonesses are in severall places in this
country ; they are not nuns, but rather preistesses ;
they live in a sort of convent manner, but may go
about, and may marry. They wear a certain dress
when on duty, which is to chant at high mass ;
1 ' Anne Maria Mordaunt, wife of Stephen Poyntz, governor
of William Duke of Cumberland. She had been a great beauty :
the poem of the " Fair Circassian " was written on her. She
was maid of honour to Queen Caroline.' Walpole. See Letters,
vol. iv. p. no.
2 Leopold, Due d' Aremberg, born I4th Oct. 1690, married
the daughter of the Due de Bisaccia or Bisignano (born 4th June
1694) on the z6th March 1711. He died in 1754; his v/idow
survived till 1766.
JOURNEY 193
they wear a ribbon cross their shoulders, like our
knights, and are chosen out of the best families.
If they never marry, then they remain, and have
a very good living. It is what one would call a
genteel foundation for poor nobility, which no
country wants more than this, for everybody loads
themselves with pompous titles, either from birth
or office, which puts me in mind of an adventure
I should have related before I left Liege.
The fathers came to me, and begged another
visit in a very formall manner : they told me there
was a countess in that town who was very civill to
them, and that she long had a desire to visit them,
but they could admitt of no ladies but British ;
but if I would come, and let this countess come as
it were with me, it would be a great favour both to
them and her. She was a very great lady in that
place, and her son was generallissimo of the Prince
of Liege's troops. This would have sounded
greatly in my ears, had I not unfortunately for his
Excellence, been in the citydale the day before,
and seen the army, consisting of seven hundred
poor-like bodies, like the town-guard of Edinburgh,
who receive four sous a day, ten of which I told
you was one of our half merk.
I agreed to attend the countess ; I took a coach,
i 9 4 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
and hers followed ; as there was no passing in the
entry, I went in first, and stood in the door to let
her pass. First passed the countess with a low
courtesy, and made me a very fine compliment for
this favour; then the daughter passed, and said
the same words ; then the neice, and said the same.
The mother was a young-like wife, the daughter
was a very fair high-featured lass, and the general-
lissimo was just her picture : he was attended by
the commandant of the citydale, who I think was
the ugliest devill ever showed a face ; I suppose he
was chosen to fright the enemy from attacking so
weak an army. The neice was a little, snod, fair
lass.
The fathers had all their curiosities displayed,
consisting of a show-box like Mr. Gray's and
some microscopes, and things of that kind, by
which it appeared that that science is but in its
infancy in this country, and I have heard since,
that even these things they had got but lately.
However, the generallissimo and his ladies were
highly pleased with them. After walking some
time in the garden, I left the company with
the fathers, and Daniel and I went to a shop
to buy Dresden ruffles. I bought a pair of
double ruffles, which are just a sheaff and a vast
JOURNEY 195
large napkin, single, of very pretty work, but not
so much open work as yours, for two guineas.
But to return to what introduced this digression;
we had a Bishop and Prince of Osburgh, who keept
a coach and twenty-five attendants and servants.
He was of the family of Hess Darmstad, and a
very civill body, just in his person like Mr. Cun-
ninghame the packman. He had been lame from
his infancy, and had always two gentlemen as finely
dressed as anybody, and very genteell men, and he
leaned on their arms. He allways sat with great
pleasure and saw the dancing, and when he went
out, he hirpled 1 round to all the company, and
wished them good-night.
The only badge of a preist about him was a
tonsall 2 on his wigg ; some has this of a bit of black
silk, some of a bit of horn or tortyshell, like the
head of a snuff-box, but his was made of the hair
of his wigg laid down smooth ; it minds me so
much of an issue, that I do not like to see it :
those who wear their hair has it shaved. They are
not all preists who have the tonsall, for that they
wear so soon as they are admitted into any order
of the church, sub-deacon, or deacon.
This Prince lived very retired, and phisically,
1 Hobbled. 2 Tonsure.
196 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
and had therefore little company at mealls with
him, which is indeed little the custom at Spaw for
anybody.
The next family of distinction we had was Sir
Thomas Worsly 1 and Lady Betty. He was new
come to his fortune by the death of his old father,
who, Lady Betty told me, was a great miser, but,
when he died, left no ready money, and that he
keept them in great straits for money. She was
obliged to travell to save money, for they could
not live at London, and when they lived in the
country, they were like to be eaten up. By what
I could understand, they were allowed a thousand
pounds a-year, and she had ten thousand pounds :
she told us the melancholly circumstances one
night, with the tear in her eye. She seemed
to be of a very frugall turn as to dress and living ;
but how the English folks' money goes is a mystery
to me, for it is neither in them nor on them, that
I could see.
Sir Thomas was a good-natured, little, black lad;
1 Sir James Worsley of Pilewell, member in nine Parliaments
for the borough of Newton, died in 1756, and was succeeded
by his son Sir Thomas, of Appuldercombe, Isle of Wight. He
married in 1749 Elizabeth, daughter of John, 5th Earl of Cork
and Orrery, who attained to much distinction in the literary
world, and is well remembered as the friend of Dean Swift.
JOURNEY 197
she was not handsome, and had a sower look. She
was Lord Orrery, now Lord Cork's, daughter, and
cousine to Lady Cathcart j 1 her mother was daugh-
ter to Lord Orkney, so she is half Scots. Both
Sir Thomas and her loves a little gaming, and lost
about 150 at farro ; she did not lose her money
pleasantly, but Sir Thomas did with great patience.
In the family with them were Lord Dungarven, 2
her eldest brother, and Mr. Hamilton Boyll, to
whom the letters 3 are wrote.
Lord Dungarven is a very genteell little man,
married to a lady of great fortune, of the name of
Howard, a great bankeir's daughter ; he is ill of
convulsion fits, not very violent, but very frequent;
they are sometimes so short that it will be off
1 Jane, daughter of Lord Arch. Hamilton, and wife of the
9th Baron Cathcart.
2 Charles, Lord Dungarvan, eldest son of the 5th Lord Orrery
and his wife Lady Henrietta Hamilton, the Earl of Orkney's
daughter, according to Burke, married a daughter of Henry
Hoare, Esq. of Stourhead ; the name ' Howard ' is obviously a
slip. He died in 1759, and was succeeded in the title of Dun-
garvan by his brother, the Hon. Hamilton Boyle, mentioned in
the text, who became 6th Earl of Cork and Orrery, but lived to
enjoy those honours only one year.
3 Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift
in a Series of Letters to bis Son, the Hon. H. Boyle; by John,
Earl of Cork and Orrery. London, 1751.
198 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
before it be perceived ; no part of his body is con-
vulsed, but one hand. He took violent exercise,
for he was seldom off horseback, but the Spaw
brought them on more frequently than before,
which they say is always the effect at first. When
I left it, he was gone to Aix-la-Chapell, to take a
cure from a phisician there, which was a secret, so
I have never heard yet if it had any effect. It was
a great pity, poor young man, it made them all
very low spirited ; his brother Hamilton was just
breaking his heart about it : there seemed to be
great love and concord in the family ; they made
no secret of it, and always, when they spoke of it,
were like to cry.
Mr. Boill is a grave, composed, sweet-tempered
like lad as ever I saw. Another member of this
family was their cousine, Lord Boill, 1 the speaker
of Ireland's son ; he was a thin-featured, red-haired
lad, not ill-looked. Folks who knew him said he
had humour ; he had a strong Irish brog. He did
not join much with others, except at the farro table,
where he had no better luck than his neighbours.
There was another family whose discord amused
the company : this consisted of Madam Beaton,
1 Henry Boyle, Esq., created Earl of Shannon, ijth April
1756.
JOURNEY 199
the collonell's 1 dowager I wrote you of. As she
was English, she could assume no title other than
dowager [of an] officer of the first rank. With
her lived Madamosell Patine, who, being daughter
to Count Patine, president of the council of
Flanders, called herself a viscountess ; she was a
little squinting beauty, very well painted. She had
a lover, a Swiss officer, who was pinned to her
sleeve, and scandalized Madam Beaton prodigiously,
because he visited at all hours. Madam Beaton,
I should have told you, lives at Bruxells, for what
reason I know not ; she says she cannot affoard to
live at London, and that she lost an only son she
was very fond of, and could not endure to see any-
thing put her in mind of him.
In this menage was likeways Baron De la Faell,
a gentleman from Ghent ; he was almost blind
with the cataracks on both his eyes, which gives
him a stupid staring look, not at all disagreable to
the nature of the man, who is an innocent good-
natured body, and put me in mind of Charles
Maitland, He learned English from the army
when in Ghent, and Scots from the highland
regiment, and is very fond of it, and speaks it very
1 Colonel, or Major Duquerry of the Earl of Stair's Regiment
of Dragoons. See post.
200 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
well ; he sings well, and is vastly fond of the Scots
songs.
f How 's a' wi' ye,' ( Good e'en to ye,' f De'il
tak ye,' was always his salutation in Scots, when he
wanted to show his knowledge in that language.
This family lived and eat together, and were
equall shares. Madam Beaton had a man, Patine
had a maid, and La Faell, to be equall, insisted
that he should have a surgeon who was there into
his share. He and his surgeon eat as much as all
the rest, and drank twice as much. Madam Beaton
told everybody how she was oppressed, and that
she had paid for a hundred bottles of wine, and
had drunk but seven of them for her share ; how-
ever, she paid and grumbled. At last she set off
her man, and the surgeon fell into a quarrell, and
run away ; and that revolution bred such a calcula-
tion of expence, which so far surpassed all their
arithmetick, that she left the menage, and fed
herself.
I am of oppinion, that when people of exactness
go into a menage together, the parties should be
weighted before and after dinner, and pay accord-
ingly ; for the odds of stomachs make great
heart-burnings, though they do not produce open
complaints.
JOURNEY 201
La Faell told me his family was very noble :
his father was married to a second wife, who had
two daughters to him ; he had two brothers, and
was the eldest. His father loved the second son,
(who, he owned, was a much better fellow than
himself, and approved of his father's partiality,)
for which reason the father was not fond of his
getting a wife ; and for the mother-in-law, when-
ever his marrying or any of his brothers' was
spoken of, she made a noise in the house, as he
expressed it. He was much in love with a fair
widow, and asked his father's leave to court her,
for she was very rich, but his father would not
allow him, as she was not noble ; but he allowed
him to court another lady, but she would not have
him, because he was blind.
c At this rate, baron,' says I, f I fear they will
nick you out of a wife altogether.'
c I am afraid of that myself,' said he, ' for I
should like very much to be married.'
He used to follow Lady Fanny 1 and I to walk
up the hill, and when it turned duskish, he saw not
a stime ; 2 so, when we came down again, and came
to a steep
1 Lady Frances Steuart.
2 Styme, a glimpse, a particle. JAMIESON.
202 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
f Sit down now, baron, and hirsle on your
hunkers,' which he did.
* Now, you may get up again ; ' and in this
manner we brought him home. I says to him one
day
You pretend a great deall of complesance for
us, and yet I am informed you think we are to go
to hell, and that you are not the least sorry.'
c To be sure,' says he, f the church obliges us to
beleive so.'
f And do you obey such an order?' says I.
He could not say he did not beleive the church,
and would not say that we would go to hdl, so
was greatly puzzled ; but next day he had taken
advice about it, and, when I put the question to
him again, he said there was but one God and one
religion, and I was of a different religion.
f Wherein do you and I differ?' says I ; f what
is your creed ? ' So he repeated it.
* Now,' says I, I will let you hear my creed ;'
and, to his great amazement, it was the same.
1 Now,' says I, f wherein do we differ?'
( You do not obey the pope,' says he.
* Why, the pope and I are perfectly agreed,'
said I ; * [I] beleive the same creed with him, and
since we have the same faith, what should send
JOURNEY 203
him to heaven and me to hell, providing we put
our faith in practice equally ?'
But this he could not answer, as I suppose he
had never thought on it before, but [said] that his
church was the true church, and he would pray for
my conversion.
There was a man making a tolerable figure when
I came there, whose credit was all overturned by
an unfortunate accident : his name was De Marr.
He had a quarrell with a man some time ago, and
this man came to Spaw to challenge him to fight :
Madam De Marr keept her husband in the house,
so that the man could not see him. At last she
ventured out with him to the publick walk, and
up came the man to speak to De Marr when
madam flew to the man, took his cane out of his
hand, and laid ten thousand on him before the
whole company. Upon this the man left the place,
and De Marr was so blown upon, that nobody
spoke either to him or her, nor did they ever
come to the publick room.
There was a most curious wife, Madam Hussy ;
her husband, the collonell, was in the Queen's
service, and a most sensible well-bred man, minded
me greatly of Sandy Mure. 1 They were both
1 Captain Alexander Mure, one of the seventeen children
204 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
Irish ; she was of the O'Neills, Kings of Ulster;
she had been married to a very old rich man, but
she said his freinds had cheated her out of the
money she should have got at his death, and she
hated the old man, and would not be at the pains
to flatter him.
f I was a very good-natured woman,' said she to
me, c till after I married Collonell Hussy, and,
ever since, I am given to violent passions and
weaknesses in my head ; sometimes it is as heavy
as lead, and sometimes as light as a feather ; and
I have violent vapours.'
She was very like a cat in her appearance, and
anybody who would joke or flatter her might say
anything to her. She was very fond of all our
party, but to others she fufFed and kindled, if they
but opened their mouth. There was a violent
enmity betwixt her and Madam Beaton, yet they
could never be separate. The attachment was the
cards, at which they never failed to squabble, and
swear they would never play together again. Hussy
could not subsist without cards, and yet she turned
of James Mure of Rhoddens, was wounded at Fontenoy. He
was then Lieutenant; he retired from the service at an early
stage of his career ' shattered with wounds,' and spent the last
twenty years of his life at Caldwell, where he died in 1 79 1 ,
aged upwards of 90 years. Caldwell Collection, vol. ii. p. 335.
JOURNEY 205
so doited 1 after the second party, that she re-
nounced, and did not know a card.
The collonell had the genteellest, softest way of
laughing, and letting others laugh at her, you can
imagine ; she was vastly fond of him, and we liked
her for his sake, but nobody else would be at the
pains, which made her very fond of us.
She gave Mr. Nidham a ducat to play at farro for
her. The collonell bid him never tell her that
he win, till the bank was gone ; he played with
caution and judgment, and win her twenty-six, but
gave her them before the bank gave up, and she
lost the half of them in one night. She never
failed to tell me of a law-sute she had, and wanted
to let me understand how much money she had ;
but though it was what I wanted much to know,
because they lived very well, yet I could never
obtain the knowledge of it, and at last I found the
reason was, she did not know herself.
She had a terrible enmity to Madam Cresnar,
the British resident's wife at Liege. One night
at a ball, Lady Betty Worsly rose to dance, and
Madam Hussy sat down in her seat.
f That is Lady Betty's chair,' said Mrs. Cresnar.
'Lady Betty!' says Hussy, * is there any seat
1 Stupified, bamboozled.
2o6 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
in this room belongs to anybody ? or is there any
Lady Betty better than me ? Impudent woman !
but I beleive the woman's in liquor/
The collonell has been in all the emperor's wars
these thirty years, has had the plague in Hungary,
has been over all Europe, and speaks all the
languages, and never got an wound.
I assure you it made my heart sore to see so
many brave men as I have seen since I came to
this country, obliged to seek a living in forreign
service on the accouut of their religion, when their
service is so much wanted at home. There is just
now Generall Brown, 1 an Irishman, and Generall
Keith, a Scotsman, commanding the armies upon
which the eyes of all Europe are turned at
present, and righting it out so fairly, that both
sides claim the victory ; and we must take up with
1 While Mrs. Calderwood was writing, Field-Marshal James
Keith, that splendid Scots soldier, in command of the Prussian
army, was confronting in the field an Irish soldier not less
distinguished, namely Ulysses Maximillian, Count Brown, who
in the cause of the Empress was resisting the Prussian invasion
of Bohemia. There never had been a time when the mother
country was in greater need or the services of such men.
Within little more than eighteen months after the date of these
journals, they had both fallen, fighting manfully for foreign
sovereigns.
JOURNEY 207
a Bing, a Blackny, or a Bland, three Bs 1 that,
though one do not know them from a bull-foot, 2
there is no great wonder.
We had a Generall Brown at Spaw, collonell of
the first regiment of horse in the service, some
great man's bastard, a good body, but old and
paralitick, and any old wife would cast him over
her shoulder. Many a French and Austrian
officer was there, that looked like men of busness,
for the cure of old wounds, for many a hash and
slash they had upon them, and withered like they
were ; and polite, well-behaved men.
There was a Prussian officer who spoke English
pretty well ; he had left the service, and did not
like the King at all. He was very fond of con-
versing with the English, and of reading English
1 Admiral the Hon.John Byngwas at this time under the charges
which resulted in his death in the spring of the following year.
Lieutenant General Sir William Blakeney, K.B., had dis-
tinguished himself by his defence of Stirling Castle in 1 746 ; and
the surrender of Fort St. Philip in 1756. He was raised to the
Peerage of Ireland as Baron Blakeney the same year, and died in
1761, aged 91, when the title became extinct.
Lieutenant General Humphry Bland was Governor of
Gibraltar in 1 749 ; and succeeded General Lord Mark Kerr as
Governor of Edinburgh Castle, 1752, holding that office till
1758.
2 In Scotland it is proverbially the acme of stupidity ' not to
know a B from a Bull's foot.'
208 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
books ; he had read Clarissa, and thought it the
finest performance ever was. All Richison's 1 books
are translated, and much admired abroad ; but for
Feilding's, the forreigners have no notion of them,
and do not understand them, as the manners are
so intirely English.
It is very surprising to see how ignorant two
neighbouring nations as France and England, who
has so much correspondence with each other, are
of each other's constitution and circumstances : we
do not understand anything of the parliament of
Paris, nor of their disputes regarding prerogative,
nor the limits of the government on either side ;
nor do they know more about ours. I was present
one day, when Sir James was discoursing with
Monsieur Doubinie, 2 the French resident at Liege,
about the odds betwixt the powers of the French
and English parliaments. I did not understand
much of their conversation, but I could observe
that Doubinie was not much instructed, and said
to Sir James, when he went away
1 1 think your minister did [not] understand the
matter you talked of.'
1 Samuel Richardson, no doubt. Sir Charles Grandison'\&&
appeared in 1753, Clarissa five years before that; Tom Jones
and Joseph Andrews before the Rebellion.
2 In Scotland the illustrious name of D'Aubigny was often so
spelt.
JOURNEY 209
'That's no wonder,' said he, 'the devil one
Frenchman ever I met with could comprehend our
constitution, nor anything about us, but that
England is a rich and a wise nation ; and, though
our folks at home think the French have conceived
designs of invading or conquering them, they
would just as soon have such upon the moon, and
think it as possible as the other.' I wish this war
do not open their eyes.
c But indeed,' said he, { the English are even
with them, for they are as totally ignorant of their
affairs, and understand their constitution as little ;
only they differ in this respect, that England thinks
France weaker than it is, and France thinks
England stronger.'
I wish they do not both see the truth before this
war is at an end.
This Monsieur Doubinie and his lady being at
war with Mrs. Cressnar, the English resident's
lady, it was impossible that they could have any
correspondence, not so much as bowing in a
publick place; and what augmented Madam
Cressnar's spleen was, that a daughter she had
jumped the window, and run away at Liege, and
turned a capucine : so French and papaistry
together were too much.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Capucines at Spa : Catholic Devotions : The
' Ten Commands ' / At the f Benediction ' : A
JACOBITE Community : Their servants' French :
Sir Richard Lyttelton : Mr. Ward: Mr.
Burrage : A Hungarian Princess : Industries of
Spa: Economies: The Ardennes : Father NEED-
HAM'S experiments : Toung Townley : Move
towards Brussels : Chaude Fount aine : Gordons
of Cowbairdy at Liege: Father Steuart : A
young monk of St. Benedict: Tirlemont to
Brussels.
THE first visit we received at Spaw was from the
capucines, to invite us to their garden, which is a
very neat little thing; I have made it be put on
my quadrill box. They have a jet of water, and
about it four shades of ewe, which is very agreeable,
as there 's always some of them shaded from the
sun. There are ten in all in this convent, man-
tained upon that poor country, and what the
MRS. C ALDER WOOD'S JOURNEY 211
strangers leave them, which is very little, taking
off the English, for the folks of that country are
not very generous to them.
There was an English gentleman who was
severall seasons at Spaw, and he used to give them
a great feast every year, and fill them all drunk,
and make them all dance like mad ; one of them
could play on the fiddle, and the Englishman and
the father-guardian always opened the ball by a
minuet : now they get only a feast from old Mr.
Hay every new-year's day. The people in that
country may affoard to mantain some of these
begging orders, for they pay very few taxes to
their governours, and indeed it would be too much,
if they paid what other countries did.
The church livings are but very small, that is,
the curates and others, only they have a good
many of them to every church, for they have
close duty, one mass after another, from five
o'clock in the morning till twelve mid-day, and
then salve and benediction at six, and all the rest
of the afternoon is employed in confession, so that
it would be too hard work for one or two in great
churches. They have a great number of clergy to
them, as there will be three or four masses going
on at one time. I used to go in sometimes to the
212 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
benediction ; they had very good musick, and a
preist went round the church with a besome, like
what we sweep below the beds with, a boy carried
after him a bucket full of holy water, and the
preist came whip, whip, to every hand with it ;
but he was very sparing. They only received it in
imagination, for I was hard by him when he passed,
and, though he intended me a double portion, as
having most need, being a heretick, yet there was
not one drop came upon me.
I cannot understand why people come to church
for their private devotion ; I thought it had only
been the common folks ; but one day coming
through the church, which I often did for a near
cut, I saw my friend Mr. Nidham in it, quite
alone, most serious at his devotion ; I declare I
thought shame ; . . . but his back was to me, and
he had his head down.
It is only those who cannot read that use the
beads, and I cannot see what great use there can be
for such repetitions of the same thing, for there are
five beads plain, and at every one of these they say,
c Haill, Mary, full of grace ! the Lord is with you.'
Then comes a carved bead, or one tipped with
silver, and that is a pater noster, and there are
about fifty of the first, and ten of the last ; at the
JOURNEY 213
same time, they do not understand a word of what
they are saying.
When the boys were put to school at Spaw, they
got a catechizem to learn upon ; in it is the Lord's
prayer, creed, and ten commands ; but when I read
it, I was surprised. Their second command is our
third, and yet there were ten, which I thought was
laying nine men in eight beds ; but, upon reading,
I found they split the tenth into two, and make a
difference between your coveting your neighbour's
wife, and his ox or ass ; and for our second, they
turn it out altogether, and say it is comprehended
in the first. Now, this I really commend them for,
as I do not like to see folks take some things in a
literall sense, and explain away others ; whatever
people find they cannot comply with, they should
deny its ever being a precept.
How foolish must a man look, to be condemned
out of his own Bible ! for which reason I am sur-
prised that it has never been thought of to print a
Bible for the polite part of the world, and leave
out everything that can in the least hamper a man
in his pleasures, and this would put an end to in-
fidelity at once, for people are obliged to deny all,
because they cannot admit some parts.
Now, as the people of Scotland have not the
214 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
least tendency to worship anything, far less images,
let them take in this long command, which the
catholick church has cast out, and divide it into
three to preserve the number, and cast out the
third and fourth ; or, if they chuse to cast out the
seventh, which indeed I see no great use for, so
long as there are so many single persons of both
sexes, they may divide the fifth into two, which
will be vastly easy obeyed by a great many, and
by those especially who have most need of com-
mands, viz. those who have neither father nor
mother; and I never saw anybody refuse to honour
their parents after they were dead.
I went into the benediction at the capucines one
night : they have no musick but their own voices,
which is horrid ; some sat, some kneeled, and I did
not know when to do either : Lady Nell and Mr.
Andrew Hay l were with me. At last in came an
old Jesuite, who was at Spaw for health, and he sat
down by me, so [I] was resolved to do as he did ;
I found he used freedom with his friends, and only
kneeled at the elevation. Mr. Hay, that he might
1 Mr. Andrew Hay of Rannes is described as an intimate
friend of Sir James Steuart's, whose society * was considered
among the most valuable consolations of his long exile.' Memoir
of Sir James and Lady Frances Steuart. Greenock, 1818,
p. 128.
JOURNEY 215
be sure he was right, kneeled all the time ; but as
he is a prodigious size, he was as tall as anybody
when on his knees, and the folks thought he was
standing, and the common folks were in such a
passion, and held such a tittle-tatling to each
other, that I could not understand what they were
about, as my back was to him. After it was over,
they made a terrible complaint to this old Jesuite,
who composed them, and said we were strangers,
and did not know the custom : Mr. Hay was like
to go mad that he had hurt all his knees to please
them, to so little purpose.
This Mr. Hay is a very good lad, was concerned
in the 1745, and stayed at home for some years
after, but was so remarquable by his hight, that
he was often pursued from place to place, and
obliged to come abroad. He is the tallest man
ever I saw that was not a show, and looks rather
taller than he is,' as he is not well made.
He, with Mr. Gordon and his wife, and Sir
James's family, we found at our arrivall, dined
together, and got their diner from a publick- house
at so much a head, their three skillens being thirty
pence, but our twenty-one pence. They com-
plained they were not well served, and as the land-
lady in our house was a working body, and could
216 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
dress meat, we resolved to provide the meat, and
let it be drest in our house, and dine all together.
Lady Fanny, as she could speak to her, ordered
and dispursed the money ; we were hardly so
cheap, but then we were better served, and had
dishes of our own country, by John Rattray's
assistance.
We often got good sport with John's French,
and the mistakes that happened betwixt him and
her. They wanted to have a haggas, but John
said we must set our hearts bye that, for he had
seen nothing like meall in that town. That day
Mr. Calderwood had bid the landlady get him
some hony, so, when she was counting with John
at night, there was an article for miel.
c Meal ! ' says John, e devil a grain have I seen
in your country ; no, no, Madam, no, no,' and
shook his head.
Upon this she came to Mr. Calderwood, who
put John right, and told the woman what he had
mistaken it for ; upon which she produced meal,
to the great joy of the company, who, by this
mistake, got a haggas.
I asked John one day how they called the maid
of the house ?
f I don't know,' says he, c how they call the
JOURNEY 217
wemen servants here, but they call us men dumb-
sticks.'
( Troth,' says I, c you 're really well named at
present'
However, John was very happy, for there were
many Scots and English dumbsticks there, with
whom he made merry. . . . Then comes Peggie
Rainy.
c O ! sir,' says she, f I was learning French with
Mr. Hair and Mr. Line, and you laught me out
of [it] ; I would have been a fine speaker, if it had
not been for you, that you said I was too old, and
now I 'm older, and will never learn.'
Indeed, she said true, for, if she was told
how to ask for a thing, she forgot or she was
at the foot of the stair. Then she thought
she would do like daft Jock, and repeat it all
the way : so, one day she was wanting to walk
to a fountain called the Tone/efj and, after being
directed the road, was desired to ask anybody
she met, if that was the road to Tonelet, and
thought she had got a fast grip of ' le chemein
a la Tonelet.'
f Chambeing toutalon? says she to every one she
met, and returned without finding the place.
( Aye,' says she, c I that came from Edinburgh
2i8 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
to Liege as if I had been led by a string, not to
find a place within a mile of Spaw ! '
After the Spencers were gone, the English
turned more sociable, and we were often together
when we were few. Sir Richard Littleton, 1 brother
to Sir George Littleton 2 one of our ministers, Mr.
Ward, son to my Lord Ward and member for I
forget the place, and Mr. Burrage, 3 resident to the
different courts of Germany, and some others, were
vastly fond of Sir James, and, after he was able to
creep out, would never want 4 him ; and, as he
could not go much back and forward, the ladies
came down, and drunk tea in Sir Richard's in the
afternoon.
1 Sir Richard Lyttelton, F.R.S., Knight of the Bath in 1753,
was appointed Treasurer of His Majesty's Jewels in 1756. His
wife was Rachel, eldest daughter of the Duke of Bedford and
widow of Scroop, 1st Duke of Bridgewater : he died in 1770.
2 Sir George Lyttelton, Bart., was Secretary to the Prince of
Wales in 1737 ; and afterwards filled the offices of Treasurer of
the Navy, Cofferer of the Household, and Privy Councillor;
and in 1755 became Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was
created Lord Lyttelton, Baron of Frankley, in 1757; and died
in 1773.
3 Mr. Burrage is described as ' British Envoy to some of the
States on the Rhine,' and as having shown much kindness to
Sir James Steuart at Frankfort in 1756-57. Mem. of Sir James
and Lady Frances Steuart, p. 1 1 6.
4 Scot., be without him.
JOURNEY 219
Sir Richard is vastly merry ; he was aid-de-camp
to Lord Stair, and knows all the Scots folks ; a
well-looked, honest-like man, hardly forty, but so
miserably afflicted with the gout and rheumatizim,
that he is quite lame.
Mr. Ward was a very good lad, and sung very
well, and had a great many Scots songs he was
very fond of.
Mr. Burrage was a glum-like carle, but they
said had a great deall of humour after he got a
glass ; he perswaded Sir James to change the place
he intended to go to, and, instead of Mayance, to
go to Francfort, where he resides.
But I forgot to tell you of a princess we had,
Princess Sinsokie. She is of the Palfies 1 of
1 The family of which this Princess seems to have been a
member was one of the most ardent in attachment to the
Empress.
The aged and infirm Count Palfy, Captain General and
Director of Hungary, in 1744 occupied the frontier of Silesia
with 30,000 men in the cause of Maria Theresa. In token of
her gratitude the Oueen sent him several valuable gifts, including
a gold hiked sword and a ring set with diamonds ; and wrote :
' Father Palfy, Receive this horse worthy of being mounted
by the most faithful of my Hungarians. Accept this sword to
defend me against my enemies ; and take this ring as a mark
of my affection for you. MARIA THERESA.' Gentleman's
Magazine, May, 1744.
220 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
Hungary, a widow, and got leave from the
empress (as she stays at Vienna) to go to Spaw for
her health ; but she, it seems, only wanted to go
to Paris, where she had stayed out her time of
leave, and came to Spaw that she might say she
was there. She desired Lady Weems to write to
Lady Fanny that she was coming to Spaw, and
brought an abbe alongst with her ; he called and
informed [her] she was come, but when Lady
Fanny called for her, she was malade with her
journy.
She came to the first ball, and danced with great
keenness, and very well. She had a very showy,
princess-like figure ; she was very tall, and very
thin, and vastly straight and upright, which makes
a better figure in this country, where everybody,
from their want of stays, goes two-fold. She
appeared at a distance, by her figure, to be very
young, but when you saw her near, she was older.
She was dressed very plain, in a stript lutstring
negligie, without a hoop, but her head was curled
and powdered, and she was strongly painted, and,
being very fair, cast a great dash, and tript it so
light, that she was like a fairy princess, but so con-
ceated a creature, and so absolutly ingrossed with
herself, that when folk spoke to her, she did not
JOURNEY 221
hear what they said, and she made up to nobody,
but danced, and then went to the glass to see that
all was in its place.
She stayed eight days, but never came out
again, nor saw nobody ; returned Lady Fanny's
visit by a card, as was the custom, and stayed close
shut up with her abbe, who came not out neither.
It was reported that she said people used too much
freedom with her at the ball, but what sort nobody
could find out, for she sat like a stick, except when
she was dancing.
I think this, with my letters from Spaw, may be
account enough of the place ; as for the manner of
living, it cannot be expensive, and things are as
reasonable there as can be expected in such a place.
The whole imployment of the inhabitants is
making and japaning toillet boxes, and things of
that kind, and working bead and bugell work, all
which they affoard very cheap. The boxes,
I wrote you what they cost, and for the beads,
a necklace, point and ear-rings, cost seventeen
pence half-penny of our money ; but mum for
that, as Peggy Rainy has a cargo coming home to
sell, which I think may sell for a crown the set,
and be cheap in Edinburgh.
222 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
These Spaw manufactories go everywhere, and
yet I never saw them in Edinburgh. There is at
least twenty, or I beleive thirty folks who work
all the year round in that japan, and in every shop
you see numbers of sets one day, and hardly any in
a day or two. No town in that country rivalls
another in its manufactors ; they are made nowhere
else but at Spaw.
There is a famous turner there, and he turns
things in ivory that would exceed beleif, if one
was not to see it ; things like oblisks, with a spire
no greater than a pin in thickness, and rings upon
[it] like horse-hair; then the grosser part like
basket-work, that, when you look through it,
there are scrolls and squares within other, till the
inmost is no bigger than a pea, and all turned out
of one peice of ivory, which exceeds what I could
imagine.
The people in the place live very poorly. Our
landlord was Mr. Peter Hurlly, burgomaster, a
fine, civil, intelligent, working body, a japaner.
Their manner of living was [this ; in] the morning,
at six o'clock, they drank tea, without milk, or
sugar, or bread, this they qualified with a dram of
genevar ; about ten they took breakfast, a sort of
bread mixed with rye, which they eat with butter ;
JOURNEY 223
dined at twelve on cabbage, potatoes, or kidney
beans, or whatever green trash was in season, or
sallad ; and, through the day, if they were hungry,
eat some bread and butter. The landlady said
she eat no flesh through the whole year ; and it was
[never] in the house but on great feast days. By
their way of living, they should turn rich, but they
are cast so often idle with holydays, that I wonder
they do not starve ; then they must wear their best
clothes ; and firing is very dear in winter. Their
houses are very thin, and must be cold ; the rooms
are large, and badly furnished. The room-rents
are cheaper than at Morrat, like about seven
shillings a week for the bed-rooms, and less for the
smaller rooms ; every house has a good low room
for dining in, which they call a salle.
As Lady Fanny was to stay after us, she wanted
a house with two fire rooms with beds, for they
have in every house one bed-chamber with a fire.
In one house I was much diverted with the man's
architecture ; he told her
' I can put a fire in this room if you please, for
there is the chimney of the one below coming up
the wall ; it is only making a hole in it, and puting
a hearth in.'
The climate of the Ardens is reckoned the worst
224 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
in all these countries, but it was tollerable weather
most of the time we were there. The weather had
been very hot before we came, and they said it was
very disagreeable, but I found no heat after ; some-
times it would rain and thunder a little for two or
three days, but when that went over, the weather
continued fair, and seldom showers, but when it
did rain, it was very heavy.
There was no good fruit to be had ; none
grew there but apples. Some geans were brought
from other places, very good ; but neither peach,
appricock, nor plumb, that were ripe. Plenty of
fine nuts, and the fillberts ready before the common
kind ; but all the fruit in that country is very
wormy, and some of the finest nuts had a great
worm in the kirnall.
I have mentioned Mr, Nidham severall times,
without any particular account of him or his pupile.
Mr. Nidham is an Englishman, and a preist ; he
was governour to Mr. Howard of Corbie : he has
travelled a good deall, and a very sensible con-
versable man, and very friendly. He is a member
of the Royall Society, and is author of a book
upon naturall philosiphy, which is much esteemed ;
it is overturning all the sistem of every thing being
JOURNEY 225
produced by generation, and nothing by corrup-
tion ; and [he] has made many curious experiments
to prove his sistem. 1 For instance, he has extracted
the juice of meat, corked it up in a bottle, set this
bottle into such a heat as must destroy any sort of
egg, or principle of life it could contain, and that
juice, after this, by corruption has produced living
creatures ; and many other proofs of his doctrine.
He is a scholar in many other sciences, but his
travelling and taking care of his puple imploy
most of his time at present.
Mr. Townly is a well-looking, sweet-like lad,
about nineteen ; he has been in France since he
was six years old, but, till Mr. Nidham came to
him four years ago, had never learned the French,
as he was in an English colledge. What way
they had taken to make him learn, Mr. Nidham
says God knows, but he had such an aversion at
all sort of learning or instruction of any kind, that
it was very hard for him to get any good at all
done to him ; but from his care and contrivance,
he has got him to know a good deall, but mostly
by the ear, and this even yet must be conveyed to
him by stealth.
{ For instance,' says he, f when we are alone, I
1 See Note, p. 158.
P
226 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
dare not come upon any instructive subject, other-
ways he thinks it is a lesson, and he dislikes it ;
but the way I do [is,] if I can get a third hand, I
converse with them upon any subject I would
chuse to inculcate into Mr. Townly, and then,'
says he, c he listens to it, and takes it up, and
makes it his own, and I have often the pleasure of
hearing him bring it out in conversation, or some-
times he will inform me of things I have told him
in this way.'
Mr. Townly is very bashful and grave, and has
no liking to anything in particular, and I think
seems to be one of little good or ill. His mother
told Mr. Nidham that, when he was young, instead
of play with his brothers, he used to sit by her
and cut paper, or any such thing as that. I have
often observed that the mind and body of folks
are mismarrowed, 1 and some men should have been
women, and he, I think, is one.
Mr. Nidham left Spaw before us, and advised
Sir James to come to Bruxells, where he could get
his son very good education ; but he was so bent
on learning him the German, that he would not
do it. We thought ourselves too great a body to
venture into the empire, when kings were coming
1 111 assorted.
JOURNEY 227
into towns when the folks knew nothing of the
matter; and being so long used to live in an
island, [we liked no] such neighbours. It is ill
enough in Scotland, where the fashion is not to
send word you are coming to dine, but worse yet,
not to send word that they are coming to turn you
out of your house ; so, as Mr. Nidham had com-
mended Bruxells, we thought it best to come here,
as France (who is the only person disturbs this
place) was in league with it. But when folks are
in health, and can speak to every one they meet,
they may do many things we could not venture
upon.
However, my heart was long upon following Sir
James ; but our Jamie happened to catch cold at
Spaw, and took one of his short feverish fitts : the
small-pox were in the town, and I sent for the
doctor of the place, and there Sir James, Mr.
Calderwood, and Lady Fanny, must all interpret
the consultation.
* God help me/ thinks I, f what a work is this !
if we get a German doctor, not one of us will can
speak to him, and the misinterpretation of a word
may cost a body's life.'
Besides, they have little commerce with the
English and their constitution, and this put such a
228 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
fear to my heart, I resolved on Bruxells, where
there was two English doctors ; and, as the small-
pox was in Spaw, we made all haste to leave it.
We set out the 2oth September on two cariolls,
and came to a place called Chode-Fountain, within
three miles of Liege : we intended to take the boat
from thence, and go down the river to Liege, but
as the night was cold we stayed still there. The
place is named from the warm baths, which are
much run upon ; the water is pumped up in leaden
pumps, so hot that it must be mixed with cold
water before it can be used. There is a range of
baths, all in little closets, very well contrived, with
pipes of hot or cold water as you please, and you
have the bath for a skillen, and a fire to dress at.
This place is the prettiest, most romantick thing
I ever saw ; all up and down the river, for a good
way, the banks are so close, that there is but a road
below them on the one side ; but where this place
stands, they cast out on every side like a cemi-
circle, the bounds of a haugh of an aiker of ground,
on each side the river. On the one side a large
good house with the baths, and other houses, such
as stables, etc. ; on the other, which forms a court,
a garden behind the house, and the little haugh on
JOURNEY 229
the other side before the banks, rising very steep
round it, covered with wood.
This place belongs to some man about Liege,
who lets it, and it is used as a tavern, and the best
I ever saw. The folks from Liege occupy it close
by dining there, or stay some time for the baths.
I took the benefit of a bath, and found it very
pleasant. It is near here that all the guns are
made, and there are severall iron milns for bating
iron for them. There are some walks cut in the
wood, and I thought one might pass two or three
weeks there very agreeably. The woods are very
pretty, nothing scraggy, and there was not a dis-
colloured leaf at that time.
We had travelled through a cold moorish country,
and very slow, where our driver walked a- foot, and
we were very hungry. It was four o'clock, and
we went straight to the kitchen, where every one
was set at their tea, a number of odd-like bodies,
like boatmen and carriers, for every mortall drinks
tea. Meat of all kinds was ready to dress, and we
had our dinner so soon, as it had been done by the
virtue of hocus pocus. We had, next day, a coach
from Liege, and the road, as I wrote you, was one
continued orchard or hop-garden, and bleach-
fields.
230 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
When we came to Liege, I went to see Mrs.
Gordon, and she is lodged in a very bad house,
which threw a damp on my spirits, as I was to pass
the winter in this country ; I was affraid we would
get no better at Bruxells. She had a low parlour
entered off a small open place, to that adjoined a
kitchen ; from that you must go out, and up a
stair, part of which was open to the air, and then
were two rooms, one within another; the inmost
was her bed-chamber, with a brick floor. I told
her we were going to Bruxells ; she said they
stayed at Liege for the benefit of coals, that
wood was the fire at Bruxells, and that all the
houses smoaked most terribly : I cannot say I
was pleased with that. She paid for that house,
and the smallest quantity of such furniture as you
never saw, nothing but wooden chairs, 19 sterling
a-year.
We sent to enquire after Father Daniel, but
was informed that he and all the students were in
their retreat : this retreat was shutting themselves
up in their own rooms for a week, which they do
once a-year, to examine their consciences, during
which time their meat is brought them, and they
see nobody, not one another. I went up to the
colledge and called for the rector, to enquire at
JOURNEY 231
him the footing of the colledge at Bruxells. He
was very civill, and told me that Daniel could not
appear. I suppose he would commit a new sin by
grudging his retreat at that time. Father Steuart
came down and saw us.
We intended to stay but one night, but Mr.
and Mrs. Gordon pressed us so much to pass a
day with them, that we staid two nights. Mrs.
Gordon gave me that flower straw, which I hope
is come to your hand ; she got it from a lady, who
took it from a nun. Just as I had got it, a gentle-
man alighted at the inn, who I had left at Spaw,
intending to pass some time there. This was one
Mr. Hatton, consul at Ostend, who had got a
sudden call to England. I had only seen him
once, and he asked me if I had any commands for
England ?
4 Sir,' says I, c there has nobody paid me that
compliment, but whom I have taken at their word.
I have just got a flower here I intend to send
home ; if you will carry it I will be very much
obliged to you, and if it is any trouble to you, I
hope you will as freely tell me.'
He said it would be no trouble, so I got a box
in all haste, and gave it him ; but I thought he
looked as if he did not expect I would give him
232 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
any commands. He said he was sorry it was
not prettier.
f It is going/ says I, f where it will be accepted,
and I shall send a prettier next time.'
We took the diligence, which held six : it is like
a very clumsy, long- bodied coach, with a good
seat behind, and four little seats like arm-chairs
down on every side, and open to where the horses
are yoked, which makes it pleasant, as you see
before you, and everybody is drawn forward. We
were five, and we got in a grave-looking man in a
lay habit ; Mr. Calderwood took his nap, and the
man took out his book, and mumbled close at his
prayers.
'What can this man be?' thinks I; f it is so
common for the clergy to travell in their dress,
that it cannot be one of them, and yet he is so
handless-like, that he cannot be a body of any sort
of busness.'
But when Mr. Calderwood had taken his sleep,
and fallen to the man, he soon found he was a
channon of Tirlemont. These bodies look very
foolish-like in common clothes.
We dined at St. Tron, and the bairns and I
walked about a little, and went into a shop.
Whiles the woman was showing me something,
JOURNEY 233
she started, and clapped her hands with joy, and
when I looked behind me, there stood a young-like
lad, who did not appear to be above eighteen, in a
monk's habit ; this was her son, who that day had
got on the habit of St. Benedict, for his clothes
were quite new, and [he] had just come in to let
his mother see him. The wife turned him round
and round, and severall lasses run out of other
rooms into the shop, and they all laughed and
fidged for gladness. I asked the woman if she
had any more children ; she said she had one other
son.
1 God help you,' thinks I, c what effect has
custom !'
But the woman, I suppose, thought her son's
bread was baked, for the Benedictines in that town
are very rich.
We slept that night at Tirlemont, and next day
dined at Louvaine. After we past Louvaine,
we turned off the road we came from Antwerp,
and left it upon the right, and came to a
height, from whence we had a prospect of this
country, which is vastly pretty, full of towns
and villages, and finely cultivated. The French
has not left a tree betwixt this and Louvaine,
on the road. It was a fine day, and there you
234 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S JOURNEY
would have thought that all the Capucines had
broke loose, for they were marching in sixes
and sevens with their gowns tucked up, great fat
carles, with faces as red as scarlet. Peg Rainy, it
seems, at first called these vermine, so the bairns
cried out
c O ! see Mrs. Rainy, there is more vermine ; I
suppose Bruxells will be so troubled with vermine
that you will not can live in it.' There was every
little bit a chapell, set up like a sentry-box upon
the road. . . . c They 's chapells !' say they, c and a
fine dressed-up Virgin in every one of them, and
a tirless l door to let her be seen !' But every one
passed by, and we saw nobody praying at them.
When we came near Bruxells, the trees were left
standing, which made the road very pretty; the
town had ransomed them and their park from the
French, in which there is some very fine timber.
1 Tirless, a lattice or grating. JAMIESON.
CHAPTER IX.
Arrival at BRUSSELS: House-hunting: A friendly
Irishman : Mr. Davies : Educational : Veto of
the Priest's housekeeper : Soys sent to School :
Household matters : Prices of Labour : A Jewess
married for love: Difficulties with a Flemish
Contract : Currency : f A Ready-reckoner'
WE arrived here 1 the 24th of September, and were
recommended by Sir James to go to the oberge, called
Le Main D'or ; it is keept by two girls who speak
a little English. We were very well lodged, but
our dining room had no fire, and the house was
distant one part from another, and would be very
cold in winter. We had four rooms for three
guineas a month, and we made an agreement, that
whiles we staid, we were to pay twenty skillens a
day for breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper, including
lodging, and we were to provide fire and candle,
wine, etc.
1 At Brussels.
236 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
Mr. Calderwood declared himself for a private
house, and everybody advised us to stay there, for
there were no furnished houses to let, and the ser-
vants were so bad that we would have great trouble
keeping house. My sentiments were, that if we
were to put up in a publick house, we could not
be better nor cheaper, and that, as we were well,
it was best not to be in a hurry, for then folks took
up with what they could get, and folks saw they
were in necessity, but that we should settle as if
we were to stay still, and look about us at leisure ;
so every time I went out to take a stroll through
the town, I looked for lodgings, but found none
tollerable.
I one day saw a ticket on a house, and went in ;
I was met at the door by a well-looked little
woman. She showed me one of the worst houses
ever I saw, and a dark, neck-break stair : at last
she carried me into a room, where was a young
man in his night-gown and cape ; he looked as if
he thought shame, and the lady always bid him
partly. At last he spoke English, and told me he
was an Irishman, and that he would be glad to
know in what he could serve me ? I told him I
was looking for a furnished house ; he said that
was what could not be got at Bruxells, he beleived,
JOURNEY 237
but he would make it his busness to enquire.
Accordingly, he came next day to wait on me, in
very good dress. I told Mr. Calderwood my ad-
venture.
{ I '11 lay my life,' says he, f he is little worth,
for I remember, when I was here long ago, I met
with a man, who, I think, was [of] the same name,
and who, I suppose, was his father, and was warned
to have nothing to do with him.'
( Oh,' says I, f you 're ill-minded ; this is a silly,
flea-lugged-like l lad, and I 'm easy whether he is
good or ill, if he can find me what I want.'
When he came to see me, he told me he could
show me some houses, but not furnished.
c Would you,' says he, c take one a little bit from
the town ?' I told him I had boys to put to school.
* O ! then,' says he, c this will fit you exactly, for
it is in a vastly pretty village, about an hour from
the town, in which there is a gentleman keeps
a school, and takes in pensioners, and there is a
vastly pretty house just by it : it is on the side of a
canall, and the boat goes twice every day to town.'
I had no mind for a house in the country, but
1 Unsettled, hare-brained; Jamieson (see Dictionary] thinks
the allusion is to the start or uneasiness caused when the ear is
bitten by a flea.
238 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
had a curiosity to see it, as I had often heard Lady
Fanny say she never found any place answer the
description given of it ; so I said I would take a
coach next day, and take the air that length, and
asked him to go with me and show it me : so,
accordingly, we went, and the road was one of the
prettiest ever I saw ; we had, the whole way, the
canall on the one hand, and trees on the other.
At last we came to two houses, prettily situated
on the canall, with fine gardens and water-works,
but these were taverns for the folks of the town to
go out and dine in, and there was a road turned
up, which led to the village. The coachman said
he could not go up there for dirtying his coach,
so we came out and walked. We first passed a
very good-like house, which he said was possessed
by an English family ; after that we went through
the church-yard, after that through severall little
kaill-yards, and over stiles, till we came to the
house, which was prettily situated on an eminence,
from whence you saw about you, but hardly, it
was so smothered with trees. It was a little thing
like a summer-house, two rooms below and two
above, but so thin and slight, that it could not be
inhabited in winter. The village was a few scat-
tered houses on the side of a height, and no street
JOURNEY 239
but the road through it, some throwfare for car-
nages, very deep and dirty.
I went to see the school, and there were a
parcel! of boys that looked like the poorer sort ;
they had, up stairs, two unplaistered rooms for
them to sleep in, with ten beds in a room ; the
boys' beds were, some of them, all blooded with
their fighting. I told him that would not answer
my purpose : however, I did not grudge my
travell.
As we returned, the meadows all about were
smoaking at a great rate, which showed me I must
choise my habitation in the high part of the town,
as the low part near the canall must be very damp.
He then carried me to a house that was to let, in
a pretty good part of the town, but it stood in
great need of repair, and had a bad dark stair and
bad windows ; so I still delayed being in a hurry.
Next day, as I was going about, I asked for
something in a shop, and they said there was in
that house just by a woman who spoke English ;
I went into the house, and this was a tavern,
keeped by another Irishman, called Davies. The
woman asked me to come in, and we conversed a
little ; I told her I wanted a house furnished ; she
said such a thing was hard to be got, but that she
240 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
would enquire : I asked her if she knew my Irish-
man, his name was O'lelly ?
' Yes,' she said, c and his father before him, who
was a very little worth spark.'
She feared the son was not much better : so
I found Mr. Calderwood had been right as to
the man. He had married one of the principall
burgois of the town's daughter, and lived in good
enough credit, but I suppose was idle and ex-
travagant. This woman like ways offered me the
assistance of herself and her husband; and,
accordingly, the husband came next day, and told
me of a fine house, etc., for an absolute trifle, as a
man who had it was going to the country. I sent
Peg Rainy next day alongst with him to see it.
It was far down, in the low part of the town, near
the canall, which is not reckoned healthy ; and, as
Peggie was going up the stair, Mr. Davies took
her ... on which she flew in such a passion, that
she had almost thrown him over the stair, and
home she came in as great a feugh.
'I saw,' says I, 'he was a ree-brained 1 divell,
but thought nothing of it, as all the British are so
when they come abroad.'
1 Ree means exhilarated by drink ; not, as Jamieson has ir,
' half-drunk, or tipsy.'
JOURNEY 241
This house was well enough furnished, and the
meer trifle was ^36 sterling a-year.
By this time Mr. Nidham, who was not in town
when we came, arrived ; so the first thing was to
fix the boys. He went and asked the Jesuites if
they would take them into their colledge, which
they said they would do ; which we looked upon
as a favour, as they teach for nothing, and strangers
have no title to their labours, as they pay no part
of their establishment. By this time Mr. Calder-
wood had got the first of his cold, so could not go
out, and I went with Mr. Nidham to the colledge,
to see the prefect of the studies, who was extreamly
civill, and said he would order that particular care
should be taken of them, as they did not understand
the language, till which time they could not make
so great progress ; and, in order to obtain that the
sooner, advised me to board them out in a pension
which was hard by, and keeped by a preist, who
made it his whole busness to attend his boarders,
and assist them in their lessons : but, as it was
proper to have one who understood their own
language, a lad I had got to come in to them was
to go to them at that house.
He sent for the preist, who came and carried me
to his house, and, indeed, a neater tickled up little
Q
242 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
thing I never saw; I beleive it was all in the
compass of a good room, in which he had kitchen,
parlour, two bed-chambers, one above another, and
two little ones for his boarders, which were other
three. The one was to be for us, with two tent-
beds, and all hung with pictures, as was all the
house, and carved, painted and gilded at a good
rate, and canary birds in fine cages hung all
through it. I thought they would be very well
with this orderly, nackety body ; I saw nobody in
the house, but a carefull-like body, like old Cristy,
who minded them : the board was but 1 6 per
annum. I told him they were not to go to masfe
when the school went at ten o'clock, but to go out
to his house, and, as the eldest was of a delicate
stomach, he was not to eat meagre ; if he did not
incline to give him meat, he should dine with us
on meagre days : to all which the man consented.
Next day I went again to see what beding they
were to have, and found the preist abroad, and
another woman than the one I had seen the day
before (who was the housekeeper) at home. I told
her the same thing, and she asked if they were not
catholick? I told her, no; at which she cast up
her eyes and crossed herself.
' Ho, ho/ thinks I, < this will not do.'
JOURNEY 243
I bid my interpreter, who was the lad that was
to come in to them, to tell her they were not
catholicks yet, but they were young, and she would
make [them] good catholicks ; as, by the time that
would be in her power, by their understanding her
instructions, my intentions would be fulfilled in
putting them there.
But, in short, as I guessed, the next day the
preist came, and told me he could not take them.
I found we had lost no time, for the colledge
was just to meet next day, so we made all haste
to get them the badge of students, like Gil Bias,
only, instead of a long black cloak, they got red
ones down to their heels, with gold embroidered
button-holes, which is the badge of gentlemen.
So to school they went, and were put into the
first class, as the want of the French keeped
them from going higher. As the fathers had not
examined them, but probably beleived they were
to begin the Latin, I desired the prefect and the
rudement father to come and see us, that they might
know the exact length they were come in the Latin.
That day Jamie had thought fit to make a
quarrell with Peggie Rainy, and in the scuffle had
broke his forehead. Willie came in, and answered
what questions were asked at him, but for James,
244 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
he was not quite composed ; I told him, if he did
not appear, as he was little, they would certainly
begin him at the ABC. This had some weight,
and after getting his face washed, and a bit of
paper battered on his forehead, he appeared, and
read and answered with as much assurance as if
nothing had happened.
The fathers made great lament for his fall, which
he let pass. I called for a glass of wine, but when
it was brought in, the carles started as if they had
seen the divell, and told they could not taste it,
as it was against their rules to eat or drink in a
publick house.
After this point was fixed, and the pension
misgiven, we knew whereabouts we must have a
house, viz., as near the colledge as possible. I
had such a sufficient insight as to my country folks,
that I intended to give them no more trouble ;
and, impossible as it seemed to take a house and
furnish it, without the assistance of any one who
knew the town, or understood me, yet I resolved
to attempt it : for I found a furnished house in
Bruxells was exactly like the commission old Lady
Minto got from old Jerviswood, 1 viz., to get him
1 Baillie of Jerviswood, the early patron of the poet Thomson.
See The Bee, (1791,) vol. v. p. 201.
JOURNEY 245
a fine house at the Cross of Edinburgh, with a
large garden behind it, that he might both have
the pleasure of seeing the street and walking in
his own garden ; and a house we must have, as
the coldness of the inn had given Mr. Calderwood a
severe cold, and twenty coaches past under our bed
every night, besides, as many more as were in the
town past by our windows.
The lad who attends the bairns is called Staple-
ton ; him I took with me, and first came to the
colledge, and from that struck up to the airth * I
would choise to live in, which was high, upon
what is called a mountain here, and the mountain
de quater vents, equall to what we call with us
' where wind and weather shears : ' this great
mountain is, I think, as high above the low part
of the town as the Cross is above the Canongate ;
a good part of the town [is] still beyond it, and
from the colledge it enters up a very good street,
the steepest part of which is like the steep at the
Nether-Bow. 2
1 Direction.
2 At the head of the Canongate of Edinburgh stood the
Nether-Bow Port, where St. Mary's Wynd (now St. Mary's
Street) enters from the south. It was a handsome gateway,
surmounted by a lofty tower terminating in a graceful spire.
It was removed in 1764.
246 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
Up that street I went, (for the Scots folks as
naturally climb up as the goats do,) and looked
on every hand for a house to let. When I was
just dispairing, near the head of the street I saw a
billet, and rung the bell. Nobody answered ; at
last a well-dressed officer looked out of a window,
and told us to call at the house over against, who
had the key : which we got, and I found a house
I had no notion was to be had in Bruxells. For
the large houses are all inns with open courts and
galleries, and every room a stair; and the small
houses are like those in the Cowgate, where you
see the hair-pickers sitting, with leaded windows ;
and neither great nor small will vent, which obliges
them to use stoves : nay, these stoves will not vent
at the chimney, but are often let out in a hole in
the outer wall, at the cheek of the window. This
is such a calamity in this town, that even the
Prince in his house is smoaked to death, and he
got a doctor over from London, who declared
the disease incureable, from the situation of the
town, which I think is as good an one as can
possibly be.
To my great joy I found that every room in this
house would vent, as they were concaved like ours,
and would burn with coall grates. I have drawn
JOURNEY 247
a plan of the house, which is much better than
description, and you will see that, whereas we show
our knowledge of mathematicks, by casting all our
buildings into exact squares, they choise to show
theirs by variety of angles ; not one corner is of
the same angle with another. Whenever a street
makes a turn, sweep go about the houses built
upon it, as if it had been turned after they were all
set ; but, however foolish-like it looks on paper,
it does not appear so ill to the eye.
The rent of this house, I was informed, was one
hundred and ninety-one gilders, which, in our
money, is little more than ^15 sterling, and that
the house belonged to two girls, one of which was
in a convent. What started me most was the bare
plaister wall, which, by the bye, are not plenty
here, neither are plaistered roofs, which it by good
luck had.
Before I could determine about taking it, I
must enquire the price of furniture, and, first, if I
could get anything reasonable to cover the walls.
All the folks here use either arras, gilt leather, or
flowered waxcloth, all which are both dear, and not
worth carrying to any other place. However, I
soon found I could get English paper, though the
lowest price was a crown the peice, but by great
248 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
mercy the rooms were neither large nor high in
the roof, and I found I could get a rush matt, five
English quarters broad, for about fourpence the
yard, which would be chair-back hight, and would
both save paper, and save it from being rubbed
and dirtied. As for timber things and kitchen
things in sort, smith and wright work were all to
sell ready made, of the simplest nature, and cheap,
and everything of furniture kind very reasonable,
as these trades who make furniture are in their
greatest infancy you can imagine ; but, as nobody
has better, it has no mean look, and is neat and
simple.
There is a mystery to me yet in this : in no
place labour (if you hire it by the day) is dearer
than here ; a gilder, which is their 2od. and about
our i yd., is the least any tradesman takes to do
anything by the day, and this is a stated rule here.
And yet every peice of work that man makes is
cheap ; for instance, a chair, with one carved bar
close to the bottom behind, eight other turned
bars, the stoops and four cross bars in the back, a
rush bottom, and stained red or yellow as you
please ; these you buy for nineteenpence [of] their
money.
As I found things in generall cheap, especially
JOURNEY 249
these I could not carry when I left the place, (I
was indifferent what portable goods cost, as I could
send them home by sea,) I resolved to take the
house, so must find out where the landlady was ;
so got [to] the convent, and went to her. She
was a girl about fifteen, a pensioner ; however, she
must come to the grate; she was a snack 1 little
lassie, and told us her sister was come to town, and
I must speak to her.
No sooner was it reported that we were to take
a house, than I had offers of assistance from
severall British, who told me I would be ruined to
buy furniture ; I must hire, and they knew honest
people who would hire the furniture of a house by
the day, week, month, or year. To them I went,
and found what they had was old, and that they
hired by the peice, that bed and that, such and
such a thing, for so much the month.
' Will you sell me these things ?' says I.
c O yes.' Well I will buy this and that ; what
is the price ?'
' It is so much.' So after priging it down to
the lowest
'Now, what will you hire me this for?'
I found that these honest people demanded only
1 Snack, quick of apprehension. JAMIESON'S Dictionary.
2 5 o MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
eighty per cent. ; so I thanked my advisers, and
told them I would buy, and, if I gave it in a
present at my departure, I would be a gainer.
The only thing I wanted was a woman
interpreter, who had no interest in what I did ;
though the girls in the house where I lodged
could speak a little English, yet they were in-
terested in my staying with them, so I would
not trust them.
As I was going alongst the great market-place,
where there are severall shops, out comes a little
odd-like woman, and runs to me.
c God bless your soul,' says she, c my dear lady,
I see you are English, and so am I ; for as poor-
like as I look, my father is very rich, but he has
turned me out of doors for marrying a second
husband ; indeed, / have pleased my eye and vexed
my heart ! I was a Jew, and (I beg pardon, my
dear lady) I am turned Christian, and for that
my dady will not see me.'
c Madam,' says I, c as you took me for English,
you might beg my pardon for being Christian ;
but, as I am a Scotswoman, and a Christian too,
there is no occasion.'
'I see,' says she, 'you are a stranger, and are
looking for something ; I have been but six weeks
JOURNEY 251
in this place, and know but few : but whatever you
want, I am ready to serve you.'
f Madam,' says I, f can you speak French or
Flemish ?'
* God bless me,' says she, ' was not I bred in
Holland, and have resided long in these countries,
and can speak it as well as English, as does my
husband there. Poor little fellow ! I wish to God
anybody would take him for a vallet; nobody
need be ashamed to work, but he looks so simple
and foolish, that, when I reprove him for anything,
he looks like a fooll. He overturned, the other
day, a panfujl of grease in the fire, and had almost
brunt the house. " You brute," says I, " get you
out of my sight, or I will throw you in the midst
of it ! " But I vow to God, madam, I was never
so much ashamed in my life, for the landlady
where I stay was sick, and her doctor was by, who
I did not think understood English. Cf Fye," says
he, " madam ! is that a stile to talk to your hus-
band?" " Come here, my honey !'" says she.
I looked about to see this man that had pleased
the eye so much, and, behold ! a little, silly, dad-
ling, naisty body, with a coat which had belonged
to a man of six foot high upon him, by all the world
in person and dress just Loan Stain, that drove an ass
252 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
with heather brushes. All this passed in a breath
in the market-place. I told my Christian what I
wanted, and that I would be glad of her assistance ;
she showed me a shop who sold beds, matresses,
and blankets, and told me, on the road to it, that
her father was banquier to the King of Prussia, and
worth a mint of money.
f He says I robbed him, but I took nothing but
my own ; what ! was he to keep my money ? I
broke up his closet, and took out the rights of
lands in this country, to the value of twenty thou-
sand gilders, and now he is at law with me for my
own. I made my complaints to the Elector of
Cologne, and now I have made it to Prince
Charles, who has promised me justice, and gave
me six ducats. I cannot work, and my affair will
be long in dependance, and my husband can do
nothing to assist me : I wish to God anybody
would take him for a vallet.'
I went to the shop she showed me, where I made
agreement for beds, or rather matresses, blankets,
etc., and, finding I could furnish at a reasonable
rate, I resolved to take the house, and to buy
everything new, with no other assistance than my
Christian interpreter, who, though she was not
legally sworn, took care to confirm everything with
JOURNEY 253
f as I hope to be saved.' She espoused my
interest with so much violence, that, if I had any
dispute, she was ready to pluck out the eyes of
my antagonist.
We must now seek out the sister who let the
house, and ordered, according to custom, a con-
tract to be drawn, which both parties was to sign,
and next day was appointed for its being finished.
We went back and there was a lawyer with a con-
tract in Flemish ; the lawyer said the lady must
hear the contract read, and make any objections to
it she had. He was told the lady did not under-
stand one word of it. He was a scatter-brained-
like fellow, and when he heard I did not under-
stand it, he gaped and stared like a mad body,
and said he could not let the house to one who
did not understand the bargain they were mak-
ing ; he was acting for the orphans, and we were
strangers whom he did not know.
The Jew understood him that my want of
Flemish was his objection, and that he doubted
his payment, at which she flew into such a passion,
cursed and railled at the lawyer, and there insued
such a dispute, that I hoped it would come to
blows. I beleive the lawyer and she both thought
I was mad, for, instead of being concerned for my
254 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
honour, I laught till I thought I should have died.
After she had abused the lawyer, she turned to me:
* He is a damned impertinat rascall,' says she ;
{ I am ashamed to repeat what he says ; he says
you are a stranger, madam, and severall people in
this place are not what they appear to be ; and, if
there be a house to be had, madam, I would not
have you to take it.*
' Madam,' says I, f tell the gentleman he says
nothing but [what] is just and reasonable, and that
I have a good opinion of his honesty from his not
trusting me ; I desire no security but my money,
and I will pay him just now the whole or any part
of the rent he pleases ; but, as there are some things
to be performed on his side, I desire, for both our
security, that the upholstrer sign the contract in
my stead, and I [will] take the house from him.'
For you must know at this time Mr. Calder-
wood was laid up with his swelled face and blister,
but it would have been the same, for I found that
neither my upholstrer nor lawyer understood
French. This overture composed all differences,
and we paid a half-year's rent in to the upholstrer.
This was the 4th of October, and I went about,
or Peggie, and attended Mr. Calderwood by turns,
and, against the I4th, we were settled in it, and
JOURNEY 255
everything ready for us. The folks I found were
honest in some things, and not in others, but that
this was not cheatry, but allowed advantages, such
as taking as much as they could in bargain, and
where a conditionall bargain was made, to take any
advantage they could get ; for instance, whatever
I saw and bargained for I had at a just price, and
whatever was bespoke I was imposed on, but this
was only in the bedsteads and chimney-grates.
The first were ordered otherways than the fashion
here, and the grates were a thing they had never
made before ; but I found where they could best
impose on me, they were very honest.
Till then I had never dispursed any money, but
left it all to John ; here the money altered, and
such a power of variety of coins, that nothing but
custom can make one know it. They count all
by gilders or florins, yet have no such peice of
money ; it must be made out of farthings, called
Hares, or orchies ; peices of twopence-halfpenny ;
of threepence-halfpenny ; of fivepence ; of seven-
pence (called a skillen) ; of tenpence-halfpenny ; of
fourteenpence (called two skillens); of two and a
half; of five and a half; of ten skillen and one
penny, three of which, when put together, makes
thirty skillens, which is a pistoll ; and a placket,
256 MRS. CALDER WOOD'S JOURNEY
which is threepence-halfpenny. Then for gold
they have ducats, which are five florins, eighteen-
pence ; soverings of eight florins, sixteenpence-
halfpenny ; and double soverings of seventeen
florins and seventeenpence.
In all this variety of money I found I could
trust them intirely, and severall times I paid more
than I should, and they came back and told me
they had got too much ; this I thought was honest,
from folks who had me to hunt out to pay me
back. The people here cannot count by pen and
ink, it is all in their head, or by a book which is
very usefull ; it tells you how much one peice of
anything is from one yard to a thousand, at any
price from the lowest, which you know by turning
up the price it is. I shall send you the inventory
of the furniture, I cannot specify now the price of
everything, but such things as I remember.
CHAPTER X.
BRUSSELS' Streets and Fair : The Manneken Foun-
tain : Water Supply : Church of St. Gudule :
The Beguinage : Flemish Charity: Work of
the Sisters : Festival of St. Michael: Proces-
sions : Taxes and Provisions : Fuel and Stoves :
Beauties of Charcoal: MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
Secret of the Pen : Fruits of Travel : Contin-
ental breadth of vision and politeness.
Now, as for this town, it is not what you would
call pretty when compared to the Dutch towns,
but, compared with some others in this country, it
is. The streets are all good, well paved and open,
and severall very airy squares in it. The great
market is like four times the bigness of the Parlia-
ment close, including the ground which the new
kirk 1 takes up ; the one side of it is almost taken
1 In Edgar's map of Edinburgh, 1765, St. Giles', or the High
Church, is shown divided into three sections ; the Choir being
called the ' New Church Isle.' To the east a narrow passage
connected the High Street with the Parliament Close, or Square.
R
258 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
up by the town-house, which is a large square build-
ing, and an open court within it. This is a very
fine ornamented building, and either has been, or
has been intended to be more so, as there are places
for statues which are not occupied. St. Michael, the
patron of the town, is above the door, gilded, over-
coming the great dragon ; the roof is very steep,
and three rows of garet windows within the roof.
The great fair, which was since I came here,
holds in it, and in the market-place ; there was a
terrible crowd, and all this building was employed
by the shops, but I saw nothing very curious, nor
very cheap, except carved work, looking-glass
frames, and small picture frames, crucifixes, etc. :
but what I would fain have bought (could I have
got them easily sent you) were breckets for candles
or flower-pots, very well carved, unpainted, for
tenpence-halfpenny the pair. From this great
square a street goes off at every corner, and all
round it are shops ; and, indeed, for shops, this
town surpasses any one I have seen : it is a mart
for Dutch and English goods, for Germany and
the country round about, as it is impossible that
the town can find them busness.
All the streets everywhere are lined with shops,
except the doors which enter to private houses ;
JOURNEY 259
smiths, wrights, shoemakers, and every trade have
their shops and work-houses to the street, and
there are very few little lanes which lead from one
street to another. It covers a great deall of
ground for its inhabitants ; there are not above
57,000 people in it; but it is uncompactly built,
and the houses have a good deall of waste ground
within their entries, like courts, and passages
besides : the churches and convents take up a
great deall of ground for few inhabitants.
It is vastly well supplied with water, and the
fountains are, some of them, very pretty : the
oldest, and what is greatly valued by the town, is
one called Manicky. This is a little gilded statue,
about the size of your Jamie ; round this is a rail
of iron, and a place for one to put in a thing to
take the water. When the French took the town,
they imagined that Manicky was certainly made of
gold, and they stoll him ; upon which the town was
in an uproar, and complained to Marishall Saxe, who
ordered him to be replaced ; and, to make up for
this outrage, gave him a compleat suit of clothes,
with a hat and feather, in which he is drest on St.
Michael's day, and the day of the Holy Trinity. 1
1 ' The oldest inhabitant of Brussels ' has still a wardrobe of his
own, and a valet to dress him of special occasions. BAEDEKER.
260 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
In a square called the Sablong, where the soldiers
are reveiwed, and where a guard is kept, there is a
very fine fountain, built by the town very lately,
from a thousand pounds the old Earl of Elsburgy
(who resided many years, and died here) left for
that purpose.
It is still a sort of mistry to me from whence
the water in the high part of the town comes, as
it seems to be much higher than any ground about
it ; and besides, the outsides of the rampards, and
the fortifications and fossies are cut so deep, that
I should think they would cut off any springs. I
do not see any reservoirs of water, which a town
that is fortified should not be without, if their
fountain heads be not guarded from the enemy ;
but this, and many things else, I may come to the
knowledge of, if my own countryfolks, of whom
there are a good number here, employ their time
in making any observations.
The grand church is a very large building,
dedicated to Saint Gudel ; I cannot say I ever
heard of him before, unless it is an old beddel at
Liberton kirk, who has been canonized. 1 I do not
1 The house of Goodtrees, or Moredun, then the property
of Sir James Steuart, Mrs. Calderwood's brother, is close to
Liberton. We may perhaps infer that the name of the Beadle
of Liberton Church in the year 1756 was Goodall.
JOURNEY 261
know exactly how many convents are in the town,
but I imagine not so many in proportion as in
some other towns of less note.
I went one Sunday evening to the Begines 1
church, and through the Beginage ; this foundation,
if it be right imployed, is the only one I would
adopt of all the church catholick. In this a
woman may go and live, if she can maritain her-
self either from her funds or work ; every one of
them has a house and a small garden, and it is a
little town within itself, narrow little streets, and
cross lanes, and vastly clean. They have liberty
to go about, are under no vows, and they may
marry ; only are to keep regular hours, as a gate
shuts at a certain hour, which keeps them all in.
I went to see them in church, where every one
had a white vaill, which is just a peice of holland,
about the size of a small table-cloth. I beleive
there might be about three hundred of them ; a
1 Beguines, an ancient foundation in Flanders dating from
1 1 84, named after the founder, Lambert le Beghe, a priest of the
diocese of Liege ; for widows and single women who desired to
consecrate their lives to God's service. The name Beguinage
was given to the abode, or group of houses, in which the com-
munity lived. They do not take perpetual vows nor renounce
private property. At the present day the institution is still in a
flourishing state in Belgium.
262 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
preist was giving the benediction, and there was no
other man in the whole church. There was one
came about gathering charity in the midst of the
service, but she came very ill speed, for severalls
gave her a nod to go on.
I have observed before the cheapness of charity
in all these countries, but I did not reflect upon it.
I thought an English shilling would be the least I
would have given in a stranger church at home,
and regrated I had not a two skillen peice to give,
so gave one skillen : after I had given it, she came
to the girl in the house I then lodged in, and
whispered something.
c What does she want ? ' says I ; c would she
have more ? '
c No,' says she ; * she wants to know if you will
have your change.'
' No,' says I, c she may keep it all.'
But she could not beleive but it was a mistake
in language, and came back again : in short, she, I
suppose, had never seen silver in her ladle before.
I walked through the Bigenage after the musick was
over, and waited till they came out, that I might see
their faces ; and such a parcell of old, ugly, squint-
ing, crooked, limping creatures I think I never saw.
'God be thanked,' thinks I, 'that here is a
JOURNEY 263
cavy 1 for you, for I'm sure no other country
could affoard such a collection. Marry ! indeed
you may marry, if anybody has a mind for you !
there is no need of locking you up.'
And they make good use of their liberty, for,
wherever you go, they are there. ... I went into
one of their houses, where two sisters and a neice
lived together. Their house was just like a ship-
cabbin ; three little rooms below, one of which
served for a kitchin, and they had rooms to sleep
[in] above ; it was very neat, and they showed me
severall sorts of works they imployed themselves
in, such as gum-flowers, purses, and such things,
but none very elegant. I asked them if they
made the religious orders : 2 they showed me only a
Capucine, which was very well execute as to the
figure, but I did not think the dress exact, (for you
must know that severall orders differ widely from
others by perhaps the cut of the cowll, whether it
has a narrow point or a round;) besides his clothes
were made of silk, which would never do. She
said she could make them all for me, but I had
found I must not bespeak anything in this place,
for, had they been never so ill, she would have
made a sad complaint, if I had not taken them.
1 A hen-house. 2 Models of costume.
264 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
A great part of their work is grounding lace.
The manufactory of the lace is very curious ; one
person works the flowers, and they are all sold
separate, and you will see a very pretty sprig,
which the worker gets but twelvepence for working.
The merchants have all these people imployed,
gives them the thread to make them, then they
lay them according to a pattern, and give them out
to be grounded; after this they give them to a
third hand, who hearts all the flowers with the
open work : this is what makes that lace so much
dearer than the Mechline, which is wrought all at
once.
On Michaelmass day there was a grand proces-
sion through every street of this town, and all the
windows were covered with green boughs. The
town obliges all the begging orders to march at
the procession. First came the officers of the
town, drest in old crimson velvet robes, trimmed
with silver, down to their heels, and at the bottom
a girth, which held them out like a hoop. They
carried St. Michael their patron, and the arms and
ensigns of the town. Then came the trades, and
each trade had its ensign carried before it. Then
came the friers ; and first the Capucines ; secondly,
the Minums, who are in black like Capucines, but
JOURNEY 265
a different cut of clothes ; thirdly the Dominicans ;
then the Carmelites, who have Besse's white capu-
cine over their black gowns, and amongst them
there was the fattest swelled carles ever I saw ;
fifthly, the Franciscans, who are drest like the
Capucines, but have no bairds, and they were a
set of poor whinsing-like 1 bodies ; they were not so
numerous as I imagined, for, in every order, one
with another, there are forty a-peice, lay brothers
included, which made two hundred : next came
the clergy, that is, the seculars, who were not so
numerous neither, if they were all there ; they had
on their robes in which they officiate, excepting a
particular robe which is put on when they are to
touch the host; these robes were surpluses of
stripped musline : then came the magistrates of the
town ; and, last of all, came the high preist, carry-
ing the host under a canopy ; every now and then
once in every street, he came from under the
canopy, and held up the host, at which everybody
kneeled.
This procession, on every side of the street, was
lined with the principal burghers of the town, who
carried wax candles : but I was told that this show
was not so fine as St. Christopher, who is the
1 Whinge, to complain. JAMIESON.
266 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
tallest man they can get, and he walks upon stilts,
such as the country folks wade the water with, and
carries a boy on his back ; and the prince makes
St. Christopher a present of about ^10 for his
trouble.
Mr. Nidham carried me with the boys up to a
window to see the procession. He laughed at it
very easily :
f Well/ says he to the boys, f what do you
think of this?'
They thought shame to answer, as they durst
not laugh at it.
' You won't see the like of that in Edinburgh.'
c No, truely,' says I, * they would expect the
devil was to drive up the rear there.'
We pay a great many taxes to the church in
this house, but they are all very small, and they
tell what they must have. They will come, c One
Hard for a man who is to be hanged to-morrow ; '
this is to pay for his getting out of purgatory.
Every Sunday, f Deux Hards for the passion of the
Eon Dieu,' c Un sous for the Capucines,' etc. All
the tax common inhabitants pay to the government
or town is one pistole from the landlord, and
another from the tennant in the year to the queen.
As for living here, it is very reasonable : all
JOURNEY 267
sorts of meat is very good, and is threepence-half-
penny the pound ; the fowls sixpence and eight-
pence, according to the goodness ; partridges are
fivepence or sixpence the peice; the pidgeons
fourpence, sometimes less, but they are the largest
I ever saw, and as much meat upon them as on an
ordinary chicken ; the fish just as they are plenty
or scarce ; oysters twentypence the hundred, and
mussles very cheap ; and the red herrings are very
good and fat, not so dry as with us, nor so salt ;
all sorts of garden things very good and cheap;
butter the finest can be eat. There is a kind
called prince's butter, which sells at fivepence
the pound ; this butter was famous when King
Charles was in exile, and, as he was fond of
it, it got the priviledge of a particular stamp,
with an imperiall crown upon it, which it still
keeps. The other butter, some of which is as
good, sells for fourpence and fourpence-halfpenny
the pound.
The candle is but our four shilling the stone ;
great and small have cotton wicks, they are all
dipped, none moulded ; but, as people are always
so contentious, that they cannot enjoy anything
that is cheap, to prevent themselves from the
benefit of it, nobody burns anything but wax when
268 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
they have company. The wax-candles, the best is
twenty-eight pence the pound, others twenty-five,
but not good.
Fireing of all kinds is the dearest thing here ;
coals are six florins the thousand, they come from
Namur : there are two kinds, called fat and lean
coalls ; they burn best together, for the fat burns
so slow, that, if you do not take care, it will die
out, and the lean burns like a tar barrell. The
wood is likeways dearer, at least it would be to us,
who must have at least four constant fires, but we
burn wood in the kitchin : the use of it, and [what]
makes the folks here use it is, that when they want
a fire, they have it imediatly, and it goes out when
they are done with it ; whereas when you once lay
on a coal fire, you must burn it out. Everybody
comes in to us is like to be brunt to death, but I
find they like it very well. In all the shops and
in most of the houses, they use stoves, which, as
we are coal-masters, 1 I will say nothing of; and,
least anybody grudge not being let into this secret
for their comfort, they do best with wood, but our
1 The allusion is no doubt to the fact of the chief wealth of
Coltness lying in its coal mines. Indeed the name of the place
is said to be derived from the circumstance of the coal in that
locality 'jutting out in points' Coltness Collections, p. 57.
JOURNEY 269
stoves in Edinburgh, last winter, were all out in
their contrivance, which may be set down to the
account of want of observation ; so, since they
have not profited by their own travells, they shall
no profit by mine.
I have often heard it said, that, when one saw
an usefull contrivance, they are apt to think, f I
wonder how I have done all this time without
that;' but the only thing has struck me in that
way has been the charcoall, and I do wonder it
has never made its way to Scotland, where we
have so much wood that no use can be made of.
I sent John and the bairns to see a charcoall kiln
when at Spaw ; it is a very simple operation ; it
was such a road I could not go in a machine, which
I regrated. I do think it is the most usefull thing
I have met with, and it is certainly with great
labour that our cooks can dress so many dishes
without it, as you know we cannot have in any
kitchin above two stoves, because they must vent
up the chimney ; but with it you may have twenty
in the midst of the floor, and unless it is to boill a
large pot or roast meat, there is no use for a fire
in the kitchin grate. They have not the least
smoak, and in your new house, any place you
would have keept warm in winter, and wanted to
270 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
dry, without bestowing a great deall of fire upon,
only set a choffer with it into the room, and it will
keep it in a constant gentle heat. I do not know
how far the Newcastle cinders may answer in place
of it, but it is worth the while to try. All the
women here use stoves for their feet, and it is only
for want of charcoall that the kaill wives in Edin-
burgh have suffered so much cold.
All my volumes end abruptly, and so must this,
as Lady Nelly goes to-morrow, and is to carry
it, so [I] must haste to my inventor 1 and plan I
promised you. I have not time to look over nor
correct the last pages, which you will do before
anybody else see [them]. I have only one thing
in my works which any great author has had before
me, that, like Shakspear, I write without a blot,
that is, without correction or second thought ; for,
as an author I have heard quoted by Mrs. Murray
says,
First in my head, then to my hand,
Then to my pen, when I
Am upon paper dribled out
Most dentely.
Now, my dear, I must finish my journall for
this period, as Lady Nelly goes to-morrow morn-
1 Inventory of furniture.
JOURNEY 271
ing, and this with her. All I shall say by way of
conclusion is, that travelling may be an advantage
to wise men, and a loss to fools, and the weight of
anybody's brain is well known, when they are seen
out of their own country. The proper use of it is
to learn to set a just value upon every country,
or the things they possess; and I beleive, when
accompts are ballanced, the favours of Providence
are more equally distributed than we rashly imagine
what one country wants another can supply, which
links men into one common society ; and it is
curious to observe the contrivances they fall on to
supply those wants either cannot be purchased, or
are too expensive for the generality.
The people on the continent have their minds
more at large with regard to the rest of the world
than those in an island ; they have opportunity of
converse with all nations, which takes off prejudice,
except when it is politicall, and even then it does
not extend to individuals. Their behaviour is
politer, because they are often amongst strangers,
and it makes just the same difference betwixt them
and us, as it does on the same man when he is in
company and at home ; he is the same man in head
and heart, when he is intertaining a great visitor,
as he is when lolling at his own fireside.
272 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S JOURNEY
After setting a just value upon others, I must
next set it on myself. I think I have done
wonders, that, in the midst of all my hurry, I
have found time to write so many pages, as all
this is wrote since I came to Bruxells ; and I have
gone so much through this town that I know it as
well as Edinburgh.
CHAPTER XI.
Preface to the ' FOURTH VOLUME ' : Brussels, its in-
habitants' characteristics : Spanish pride of the
Nobility : An Irish Lady and her daughter :
Madame Beaton : Major Ducary of Lord Stair's
Regiment : Wanderings of Madame Beaton :
Her French : Her card-playing : Madame Jolly:
Her provisional Baptism: Controversial talk:
GOSSIP : An unfortunate Prince : Dutch Rapa-
city : Frost and the c English Key.'
FINDING in myself neither genius, nor capacity,
nor application to acquire the French by book,
and, like other authors, having got the scribling
itch, I suppose ; or perhaps seldom geting out my
breath in good Scots ; or from what other reason
I know not, but I find an impulse to return to my
journall. Had I acquired the French, I might
likeways have acquired the art of making com-
pliments, and, instead of saying I wrote for my
own pleasure, I would have said I wrote for yours ;
274 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
so I would, if a compliment of that kind could be
genteely turned in so barbarous a language as the
English. This I think preface enough to my
fourth volume.
This city of Bruxells, then, makes a great figure
upon ground, but, by the number of the inhabi-
tants, it is not much more populous than Edin-
burgh, 53,000 being the common computation.
It has a great many streets, but, betwixt them,
there must be waste ground of some kind, for you
see no small lanes which carry you from one to
another, and everybody lives to the street, so that
it is like Glasgow in this respect : the churches,
monastries, and such places, take up a great deall
of room for few inhabitants. The people are in
generall but poor, though they cannot be said to
be oppressed with poverty, but, compared with
other places, (at least in Britain,) they are, so far
as they live very poorly, and do not, by so doing,
acquire much money. They are a mixture of the
Spanish and Dutch, but the worst of both charac-
ters, for they have the Spanish pride and the Dutch
phlem, and have neither the honesty of the first
nor the industry of the last.
The people of fashion are the most remarkable
JOURNEY 275
in this respect, for the burghers are a grave dull
set, and some of them rich, and the commons
much like as in other countries ; but the nobility
are all broken, their estates drowned in debt : the
younger branches are as noble as the head to all
generations, so that, as they have no money, and
will not follow any sort of busness, they either take
to the more noble occupation of begging, or fill
the monastries both with men and women.
An English woman who lives in this town, and
keeps a coffee-house, told me the other day, that a
lady of high quality came to her, asking releif, for
she had two daughters, grown women, who were
sitting at home without a shift. The English
woman, though she has been in this country since
ten years of age, had so much of the vulgarity of
her country in her, that she said she was surprised
she had let her distress come to such a hight, and
had not taught her daughters to do something, or
go to service ; upon which the noblewoman said,
she was the first ever had the impudence to even
her daughters to serve anybody.
t Since it is below your daughters to serve,' says
she, * madam, it is much more below you to beg
from me, who have eight children, and nothing to
mantain them but my industry !'
276 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
But this, I suppose, you will think a rare instance,
but it is not, for even those of our own country who
have been long in this imbibes the same prejudices,
in particular the Irish. I am acquainted with a
very sensible woman, whose husband was a collonell
in the Queen's service ; they have little or nothing
(she and one daughter) of their own. The Queen 1
gives the mother about 16 per annum, and the
daughter about 4, by way of pension. The
daughter is a fine mettal-like lassie, and might
have made a shift both for her mother and herself,
had she been bred not to think it dishonourable.
They live in a poor room, and when I go to see
them, I find them within the very chimney, cowr-
ing over a poor wood fire, their heads drest and
powdered, a dish of tea perhaps on one end of
the table, and a pack of cards on the other, that
they had been playing at, and I dare say they had
old clothes enough to mend.
I talked to Madam Beaton of them, and said it
was a pity they were so poor, and so many of the
British here, who, if they were spoke to, would
contribute something for them ; she said, if such a
thing was offered, they would go mad. She had
once mentioned at a distance, that it was not dis-
1 The Empress Maria Theresa.
JOURNEY 277
honourable for a young lady, such as Miss, to do
any little thing, such as washing lace, or plating
caps, etc. ; but it was all that she escaped without
a quarrell.
The lady said she was much afraid, when she
applied to the Queen for a pension, that her
majesty would have offered Miss the post of one
of the chambermaids of her private apartment;
some daughters of inferior rank had accepted, but,
as Miss was a collonell's daughter, she could not
do it without disgracing herself; and, after much
argument on this, and other heads of the same
nature, Miss declared she would rather starve in a
garret.
This lady has been over all the world, France,
Italy, all Germany, Hungary, and Bohemia, and a
good deall of England, and speaks all languages,
and so does the girl. The woman herself is in-
dolent, peevish, low-spirited, and discontented,
and plagues the poor girl to be a nun, which she
has no taste for. She was bred in a convent in
Hungary, where she would have her to go again,
but she will not hear of it.
The day I was there last was on the 3Oth
November, St. Andrew's day, which was observed
by the British and Irish here by wearing a cross,
278 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
and our lads were not a bit more interested in hav-
ing their crosses made, than was the oldest in the
town about the same affair. I had severall mes-
sages the night before, that the crosses had come
home without the thistle, as the person employed
could not make it ; but it was too late for me to
give the pattern, so they must go without it, which
was sad.
The Lady and Miss said they were very melan-
cholly that day, as it remembered them how often
they had been merry upon it. Her husband had
been governour of Ostend, and that being near the
Dutch garrisons, the Scots officers had them always
at that day's entertainment, which was very
splendid. These officers' wives lead an idle, game-
some sort of life abroad ; all the British, when
abroad, are very fond of their countryfolks, and are
always together ; so, when they come to be left in
a way that cannot support that, it makes them
very miserable.
Madam Beaton I have often mentioned, but
never had time to give her a chapter. Madam
Beaton is by birth Irish, and was a squire's daughter
near Cork ; that being a plentifull country, and
cheap, she learned good living early, and speaks
yet with a relish of Irish turkies, capons, and fish.
JOURNEY 279
She came to England when about seventeen, has
been well-lookt, and was married to one Major
Ducary, 1 in Lord Stair's regiment. He brought
her to Scotland, where she stayed some years, I
beleive, and where she was acquented with every
mortall, and remembers them all most exactly.
Whilst she was at Glasgow, her husband died, and
she says the civility and kindness shown her from
1 There is a passage in Wbdrow's Analecta, dated 1725, which
has sometimes been cited as showing that Colonel Gardiner, the
Christian hero of Prestonpans, had served at one time in the
' Scots Greys ' (or zd North British Dragoons), and that he
joined that very distinguished regiment in succession to the
officer named by Mrs. Calderwood ; the sentence is : * I have
a very pleasant account of Major Gardiner, formerly Master of
Horses to the Earl of Stair, and now lately, on the death of
Major du Curry, made Major of Stair's Gray Horse.' (Vol. iii.
p. 198.) From information furnished to me, with the utmost
courtesy, from the War Office, it is now possible to set this
question at rest. The records show that Major James Gardiner
received his commission in that rank ' in Earl of Stair's Dragoons
(now 6th Dragoons) vice Major Duquerry deceased, 2Oth July
1724.'
The mistake in supposing him to have served in ' Stair's Gray
Horse ' probably arose from the fact that Lord Stair was Colonel
of the 2d N. B. Dragoons from 24th April 1 706 to 2Oth April
1714, and again from 28th May 1745 to 27th May 1747. In
Dr. Doddridge's Remarkable passages in the Life of Colonel
Gardiner, written two years after his death, there is a curious
passage which, by inference, seems to show that the reverend
biographer had fallen into the same error.
MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
all ranks on that occasion was what no country is
capable of but Scotland. She was left with one son.
She married again one Collonell Beaton, who was
an Englishman ; he was an old batchelor. I don't
think she speaks with so much gout of him as she
does of Major Ducary. She had no children to
him, and, whether he left her with mony or not,
I know not, but she has, with her pension, about
200 per annum. She had lived likeways a merry
sort of life, was much at London, and in a sort of
circle of her own, and in use, as the phraze is, to
keep good company. This was a little too expen-
sive for her, as supper-giving was in fashion
amongst them, and whist was beginning to rise
considerably in its price : she could not think of a
smaller town in England, where there was no court,
and only those whom she had considered as the
second rank of people to converse with : my lord
and lady had been so long used to shine out and
furnish conversation, that she could not be inter-
ested in the affairs of meaner people.
About this time, when she was just ready for a
disgust, her only son, who had gone abroad with
Lord Cathcart, 1 died in the expedition ; this afflicted
1 Charles, 8th Lord Cathcart, a distinguished military officer,
was appointed in 1 740 Commander-in-Chief of all the British
JOURNEY 281
her so that she could neither keep company nor be
alone. An English lady who had been a freind of
hers, was in Holland since the Princess 1 went over,
and she thought she would go to the Hague.
There was a court and company whose names
sounded great, and she could go to court at little
expence. She lived there for some years; her
freind died, and this was a new affliction ; then war
came on, and severall of her old crony officers
killed, and this was a new heart-break.
She then set out, and tried different places, first
at Ghent, and then here, where there were some
folks she knew ; and here was a court, and she got
herself introduced, upon the footing of going there
on what they call common days ; but for what is
called galla days, there are none admitted but the
nobility of the country, who wear a court habit, and
are called department ladies. This dress is like what
you have seen in old pictures, or on the stage, in
tragedy ; it is a black silk gown, made like a girl's
robe, coat laced behind, and puffed in the sleeves,
and to it is wore a very rich pittecoat. A countess
Forces in America, with a view to operations against the Spanish
possessions in that country : he embarked at Spithead, but died
at sea in December of that year.
1 The marriage of Anne, Princess Royal of England (see
p. 62) took place in 1734.
282 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
I am acquented with is one of those ladies, and
goes to court on great days in her dress, though
she lives in a pension for 16 per annum.
This pension, I beleive, I mentioned before, but
you must exques repetitions, as I observe no order
of time exactly, though I give my works the name
of a. journal!. But, least it has been in some letter
to another, I shall tell you, (as I will have occasion
to speak of it by the name of the pension,} that it
is originally a foundation for a charity school for
girls. The woman who undertakes this gets a
large old mansion, which she lets out to folks who
take a room, furnish it, and board with her, and
provide everything but dinner and supper. There
is eighteen of them, only one of which I can speak
to, but I am acquented with severalls. This is
called a retreat ; and these retreats and monastries
are reckoned genteel here, and they often make a
good figure in romance, but in reality and practice,
they are very poor dirty holes : but hunger and
cold are in no disgrace in these countries.
But to return to Madam Beaton : she has lived
severall years here. She speaks the French most
fluently, but they tell me it is the sadest language
she makes it ever was, regarding neither noun nor
verb, mood nor tence, masculine nor feminine ;
JOURNEY 283
these she says she can never remember, and. with-
out that the French is no language. She said,
at Spaw, there was no matter for the rain, she
would cover herself with her navell, meaning her
umbrella. She has a little neat house, has a maid
of this town, and a boy who sowes point in the
forenoon, and waits on her in the afternoon.
There are two houses where assemblies are keept
for cards, viz., CoubensalPs, 1 the minister from
Vienna, and a Count Colenberg's; 2 but there they
play high, and Madam by that is excluded, as the
devil has hanged a dog before her door, for she
never holds a card, which is a very considerable
affliction, as it in a manner prevents her from
enjoying her favourite amusement, as she cannot
affoard to lose every night.
1 Count Cobenzl, minister at Brussels of the government of
the Austrian Netherlands, had it in his power to be of consider-
able service to Sir James Steuart and Lady Frances, some time
after the date of these letters (see post}. Count Cobenzl is
repeatedly mentioned in the documents quoted by Carlyle in his
Life of Friedricb II. of Prussia as minister at Berlin between
the years 1777 and 1779.
2 Count Callenberg, ' the Bishop, General, and Count,' as
Mrs. Calderwood describes him further on, belonged to an
Austrian family originally from Westphalia, advanced to the
dignity of Counts in 1 654. See RIETSTAP'S Armorial General.
Gouda, 1861.
284 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
But what I think is most surprising in her chus-
ing to stay here is, that she is the bitterest and
most inveterate Irish protestant and whigg ever
was, and her religion and politicks, especially at
present, are so opposite to the folks she lives
amongst, that she dare not open her mouth upon
that head ; everything which is joy to them is
sorrow to her, so that a woman who loves cards
and politicks, to be debarred both, is certainly a
hevy dispensation : if it was not the want of a
court, no place would make her so happy as Edin-
burgh. I have often said to her, I wondered when
she was in search of a residence, it never came in
her head to go there, where she knew so many
folks ; she says she wondered often at it herself,
but busness first carried her to Holland, and she
came by degrees to be used to these countries.
Another acquentance of mine is a Madam Jolly,
English by birth ; her father, an officer in the
Dutch [service], married a woman of this country.
He dying, the mother bred the children popish,
and lived here ; she married an officer of this
service, who was very extravagant, and left her
very little. A brother she had in this service and
she lived together after her husband's death, till
the brother died ; and now she lives in the pensions.
JOURNEY 285
She is a very fine, sensible, merry body, and loves
the cards dearly, and has great luck. She is a very
moderate papaist. She had forgot her English,
but has got it so well again as to speak it pretty
well. She told me, when she came over here she
was nine years old, and her mother's friends would
have her baptised again; that the preist was
against it, and said she was well enough baptised,
but they insisted, and he baptised provisionally,
that, f if she was not baptised before,' etc.
( I remember,' says she, f he put salt l in my
mouth, and I spit it out ; so, to make me keep it,
he gave me sugar.'
Though baptism is as much a sacrement with
them as with us, yet the church allows it to be
administrated by anybody, the father, mother, or
midwife, in a case of necessity, otherways, it being
administrated by a preist who had no ordination,
1 The writer seems to be exact as regards Catholic doctrine
and practice in such a case : ' . . . The minister puttis salt in
y e barins mouth quhilk betakins y at his wordis suld evir be
seasonit with spiritual salt of wisdome and discretioun and that
he suld keip him fra the corruptioun and stink of dedlie syn.
. . . And quhensaever the tyme of neid chancis that the barne
can nocht be brocht conveniently to a preist, and the barne be
ferit to be in peril of dede, than all men and wemen may be
ministers of Baptyme.' See Archbishop Hamilton's Catecbisme,
(St. Andrews 1552,) folio cxxxi.-ii.
286 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
such as they call [that of] the church of England,
would be no baptism at all. The church of Eng-
land, with their ordination, which they think so
much of, and will not allow to us, 1 is all pulled
down by the papaists ; which always puts me in
mind of Mr. Logan, and somebody else, who
advertised against each other about the true
Anderson's pills.
I found that Madam Jolly was very ill versed
in controversy, for she said that we and they
differed in very few things ; the most materiall
was, that we beleived Jesus Christ to be the son
of Joseph and Mary. I told her she was mistaken
there, for our faith in that particular was the very
same ; and when I told her the beleif and discipline
of the protestant churches, she said she thought
our way was a very good way. She did not much
admire, she said, the way of praying to saints, and
that she often said to a young lady in her pension,
who, says she, has a great deall of piety and very
little sense.
c Why do you go to St. Peter and St. Paul ? is
not there the Bon Dteu in the sacrement shown you
every day, and many times carried past your win-
dows in the street ? why don't you pray to him ? '
1 That is, to the Church of Scotland.
JOURNEY 287
c Can you not,' says I, ' pray to the Bon Dieu,
though you do not see him in the sacrement ?
you are very sure he hears you, but are not sure
the others do ; and I am sure/ says I, c if there
were no more petitions offered to St. Peter and
St. Paul than what comes from Bruxells, (which
is every hour of the day and night almost,) these
poor saints would have little enjoyment of heaven,
if they were obliged to hear them all.'
She said that was very true, and therefore she
gave them very little trouble.
I asked her if she had any curiosity to read the
Scriptures ? She said, no ; for there might be
things in them she did not understand, and that it
would trouble her if it was so. She told me the
confessors never visit here, except when folks are
sick, and cannot go abroad to them ; that hers was
an old Jesuite whom she had confessed to many
years, but she was not acquented with him ; that
when her brother was dying, his confessor came to
him, and she said
f Oh ! Father, take care of my brother, for he
has lived much in the world, though he has never
been a bad man.'
' No fear of your brother,' says he, ( these are
the people I like best to confess ; it 's your nuns
288 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
and your files devots,' says he, ( that we are plagued
with, [and] all their triffeling nonsense.'
' Dear,' says I, f what can the poor nuns have to
confess ? '
( Oh !' says she, f a great deall ; if an evil or an
idle thought come in their head, they have nothing
to divert it, and there is nobody so ambitious of
finery and dress, and, after they see one drest body
that comes to visit them, they think upon it, and
upon the fashion, and then they will confess that
such a gown, and such a cap, and such a ribbon
imployed their thoughts.'
All the British in this town (that is, the women)
are mostly what I call adventuresses. There is a
Mrs. Child, a divorced wife, married to one Child
a man of fortune in England. The Duke of St.
Albans lives here. . . . There is a Mrs. Pope
whose husband is an officer at Gibraltar, and she
in the mean time travelled for her amusement, and
has found a gallant here, one Sir Lambert Black-
well, 1 a man of fortune, who, as his family is
increased, is furnishing a large house ; then Miss
Townsend, who run away with an officer who has
1 This was the 3d Baronet of that name : he died unmarried
in 1 80 1. The Baronetcy is now extinct.
JOURNEY 289
a wife, was here for some time, but is now, I
beleive, living at Antwerp.
I have no great ambition to be acquainted with
Madam Beaton's princes, nor with my own
countryfolks ; the first I cannot speak to ; the
last I will not speak to. There are three girles
in this town, I regreate, from their charracter,
that I cannot speak to, as they are Scots ;
these are daughters of one Generall Gibson,
near relations of Dury's, 1 being neices to Clerk
Gibson, whose father was governour of Courtray
the last war ; and when the town was taken he was
blamed, they say unjustly, and lost his command.
He had, it seems, married a woman of no rank ;
her father was steward to the Duke d'Aremberg,
and had a very good income, but by this marriage
the girls lost their rank of gentlewomen, and can-
not be admitted in fashionable company. They
stay with their uncle, who has the same office, and
has each of them a pension of ^25 per annum from
the Queen. They can speak no English : every-
1 Gibson of Durie, a very respectable family in Fife, where
they possessed lands from the time of James iv. till the estate of
Durie was sold in 1785. Several members of this family have
held the office of Principal Clerk of the Court of Session see
East Neuk of Fife, by the Rev. W. WOOD, p. 290.
T
290 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
body commends them for very fine girls. They
wrote home to their uncle upon their father's mis-
fortune, but he, it seems, would do nothing for
them, till they should change their religion.
The folks here are quite mad upon gentry : if
an English peer comes here, who has married a
low woman, which is often the case, he is received
at court, but she cannot ; and there is a poor
unfortunate prince in this town, whom I pity from
my heart. This youth was unhappily led in to
marry a servant girl ; he had an office about the
court here, which he immediatly lost ; he was
degraded from his rank and put in prison, in order
to make him disown the marriage, but he would
not. He was at last set at liberty, and allowed to
live with her, but banished this town. He has
since got leave to reside here, but is no more a
prince, and no more a gentleman ; and she is only
called Madamoiselle Caterine, and his children have
no rank. All the coaches pass his door every day
to the court, where he dare not go, and though
this, to be sure, gives him often a sore heart, yet he
lives very well with his wife. He has never con-
descended to keep low company, and therefore keeps
but few; but Madamoiselle Caterine cronys with the
burghers. Perhaps it may be the best thing ever
JOURNEY 291
could happen to his children, for they are now
in a capacity to make a fortune by honest industry.
It is very odd that the nobility has never found
out and defeated this politick of their princes, to
keep them poor and dependent, and, if they had
anything to depend upon, I would think the less
of it, but here they have nothing to look for, as
all the revenue the Queen gets from this country
is no more than mantains the troops she keeps in
it, (which is about 18,000 or 20,000 men, at ten
farthings a-day the common men, and, I suppose,
the officers in proportion,) and the officers and
expenses of the court here, which cannot be very
great. The Prince loves company, and is very
agreeable, but it is pretty much in the stile of a
private man.
Of this ten farthings a-day, the soldier pays four
to those who bake and bring them their bread, and
to a barber to dress their hair, and order their
mustaches, so that but six remains to live upon.
Very few of them marry, and, considering by this
and the church, how few people propagate, it is
surprising how populous this country is. I do not
see how it can bear more taxes than it has, for they
have no trade by sea, and severall hardships put
upon everything goes either out or comes in.
1 9 2 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
There is a fine cannall, which carries goods down
to Antwerp, but then they are to take out of one
boat into another severall times from Antwerp ;
they will sometimes be ten days of going down to
Holland, where they must be shipped. They
must be taken to a fort at Antwerp, called St.
Phillip's, and there they must be examined, unless
they have first been shown, and inventured and
valued at the custom-house here. When anything
is to come up from Holland, the person it is com-
ing to here must send a note of the goods to St.
Phillip's, and, if there is anything but made clothes
or things used, they must there pay a duty. All
these hardships are imposed by the Dutch, who sit
like a salmond-cruve at the bottom of the Scheld,
and let nothing pass.
To encourage this country to trade, there was
a tariff of fixed duties to have been settled at the
treaty of Utrecht, but, as they could not agree, it
was referred to commissaries ; of this number was
Blair's uncle, John Drummond, who tarriffed all
his days. Then the war came on, and, at the
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, it was again referred to
new commissaries, of whom Andrew Mitchell 1 was
1 Margaret Cunningham, widow of James Steuart, second son
of ' Gospel Coltness/ married after 1704 Mr. W. Mitchell, a
JOURNEY 293
one, who tarriffed at Bruxells for some years to as
little purpose; the Dutch 1 triffeled, and so, I
suppose, did the commissioners, so that the thing
stands as it did forty years ago.
All that this country sends out is corn, linnen,
some tapistry and lace. There are some silks
manufactored at Antwerp, but for everything else,
they bring here all the manufactors of other
countries, which are alone for home consumption.
All sorts of silver and gold dress, and silks, and
women's dresses, are all from Paris, all West India
goods either from France or Holland, all East
India from Holland, and all but a few woollen
goods from England,
The ground about this town is very dear, like
fifty shillings the aiker, but it is very rich, and all
sorts of vegetables are cheap, and the poor live
minister of the Canongate Church of Edinburgh. Their son,
Andrew Mitchell, was a Scotch advocate, a Councillor at Law in
England, M.P., and Under Secretary of State. Afterwards Sir
Andrew Mitchell was named a Commissioner for adjusting our
commerce with the Austrian Netherlands ; and for some years
was Envoy at the Court of Frederick the Great. 'James's
money he left his widow was the foundation of all this.' See Sir
Arch. Steuart's Memorials : Coftness Collections.
1 ' In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch
Is giving too little and asking too much.'
(George Canning's cipher despatch to Sir Ch. Bagot.)
294 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
much upon them, and their fast days use them to
it. They make no use of oat-meall, but a brown
sort of wheat bread ; the oat-meall is only sold for
water-gruell, and is keept by the apothecaries, or
some shops who sell things not a-kin to it. I pay
fourpence for every pound of it for the boys' pot-
tage ; the folks with you would think we were all
starving if they heard [of] thirty-two pence the
peck of meall.
I began to think vegetables a more holesome
diet than I did, and the folks in this place would
make one beleive that eating was but a custom ;
for they are very fat and honest-like, and twice a
day is the most any of them eats, and on meagre
days even that is very slim. They take nothing
but some tea, without milk or sugar, to their
breakfast, dine at twelve upon some boiled turnips
and sallad or potatoes, and take a bit of cheese and
bread, with a drink of beer at supper, but eat none
with their tea in the afternoon. This is those who
cannot affoard fish on fast days ; the poor are
allowed to eat the inwards of the cattle on fast days.
When we came first to this house, we got an old
woman, till we were provided in a servant, and
Peg Rannie thought she would be very kind to
her, and gave her plenty of milk and sugar to her
JOURNEY 295
tea., but she complained to Mr. Calderwood that
they spoilt her tea by the milk and sugar.
The monastries give away all the fragments of
their tables to the poor, which makes many of them
depend upon it, and not work. Severall of the
orders, who are very fat, never taste flesh. The
begging of the monks makes begging here not
dishonourable, for you would be surprised to see
such well-drest beggars ; besides that, I beleive the
commons send out all their children a-begging.
There are many very able to work, has no other
imployment ; you will see them standing at a door
and touting a Pater noster through the key-hole.
I was coming up a little street one day, when a
very decent, well-drest man took off" his hat, and
made me a bow, and said something softly ; I
imagined he had some prohibit goods to sell, and
made him a curtisy, and asked him what he said,
and he asked charity for two children he had : I
thought as much shame as if it had been me that
was begging, but, having learned the way of the
place, I gave him a farthing, for which he was very
thankfull. I very often surprise a poor old body,
whom I see working a stocking, or doing anything
of work kind, by giving them a placket, which is
threepence-halfpenny, at which they clap down on
296 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
their knees, and pray in Latin till you are out of
hearing.
The Latin prayers have cost me severall pence,
for the bairns were so fond of making them pray,
that all the copper money was lawfull prise when-
ever they got their hands over it, so that they
never set out without half a dozen at their taill. I
asked somebody who knew, why there were folks
in such good dress begging? They said it was
the fashion over all this country for people to
travell for nothing, and anybody who could not
affbard to go in a carriage, if they had busness
from one country to another, never thought of
money to bear their charges, but begged every-
thing they got ; and the folks on the road had
learned to think themselves obliged to feed and
lodge them for nothing, just as the lasses at
Moffat think themselves obliged to carry the
men over the waters. 1
The value of money is not diminished here by
paper credit, nothing but specie goes for anything ;
the silver is of a very bad quality, and the old
1 Captain Burt, an Engineer officer, whose Letters from
the Highlands, written about 1726, were edited by Sir Walter
Scott, mentions this custom, and gives a quaint engraving
illustrative of it.
JOURNEY 297
gold is better than the new. Money going out of
the country for so many things, and coming in for
so few, makes money of more value here, in some
respects, than it appears to be by the prices of
most things ; but these things are brought from
countries where it is more plenty than here, so
cannot be sold so cheap as the produce of the
country, so that the value of money can hardly be
perceived in anything, so much as in what you
give for nothing, which is certainly as little here
as anywhere.
Labour is not cheap, because those who labour
most have wherewithall to purchase foreign com-
modities, but to give away a skilling here for
nothing is as much as giving half a crown with us,
which is the only way I can judge of the value of
money here, when it has no connection with other
places.
Our house stands upon a street which has a
considerable slope ; the first snow that fell, the
boys made a slide upon it, and hurled one another
down on boards and little stools, as it is almost
the only place of the town they could have that
diversion. There gathered a good number of
genteel-like lads with muffs and ruffles, like about
fifteen or sixteen years of age ; they made a
298 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S JOURNEY
prodigious noise, and I sent out the maid, who
could speak to them, and begged the favour they
would go away ; they cursed and bullied, and still
held on. All means being tried, I was quite in
despair, as the snow seemed to lie with a strong
frost, and this would be a sad life ; at last I
thought I would try, be their rank what it pleased,
my English key, as I call it, which had opened
everything for me yet, and sent out the maid
again to tell them, if they would leave their slide,
I would give a skilling : at which they fled as the
devil had been at their taill, and returned, some
with hammers, some with shufles and padles, and
to the slide they fell, and picked every bit of it
off the street, the skilling being first depositate in
a neutrall person's hand.
CHAPTER XII.
An unsuccessful Candidate : His menage : A simple
Ice-house: 'The Sun and Smoke : Mr. Whitnor
and the Nuns : Visit to a Convent : English
desire of Ease : Unknown to the Scotch :
Ceremony of a NUN'S PROFESSION : 'The Sermon
and Farewell.
THERE lives in this town one Mr. Hope, an
Englishman, and near relation to Mr. Fox, 1 our
late prime minister. This man, at the age of
twenty-one, came to be master of his fortune,
which was ^1500 'per annum. He set out in the
common course of young men of fortune, and, in
a short time, impaired it greatly by keeping the
best company, and, to repair it again, he set up
1 In the Newcastle Administration, formed in April 1754,
Henry Fox (afterwards Lord Holland) succeeded Sir Thomas
Robinson, who became Earl of Grantham ' Thomas, King of
England,' Walpole calls him, as Secretary of State.
The occasion of this change of Ministers was the general
upturn which ensued on the refusal of Mr. Legge, Chancellor of
the Exchequer, to acquiesce in the proposed ' German Subsidies,'
300 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
for member of parliament, which finished him very
soon. 1 You will think it little wonder if upon
this he took low spirits, and, after his freinds had
settled all his affairs, and got him, out of the
wrecks of his estate, betwixt ^30 or ^40 per
annum. He came abroad, travelled about from
place to place till he had forgot his misfortunes,
and, some years ago, he settled here. He has a
room which he furnished for himself, and this room
is his whole house ; he mantains himself in every-
thing without boarding, dresses his own meat,
buys everything for himself, and requires no assist-
ance from anybody. In the forenoon he puts on
his frock, and goes to market, and is Mr. Hope's
man ; in the afternoon he is very genteely drest,
with a sword, (which nobody can stir over the
door without here,) and is Mr. Hope himself.
when places went a begging. Walpole writes, 3Oth Sept.
1755: 'At last we are forced to strike sail to Mr. Fox: he
is named for Secretary of State with not only the lead, but the
power of the House of Commons.' (Letters, vol. ii. p. 471.)
It may be in this sense that Mrs. Calderwood speaks of him
as the ' late prime Minister.' The Administration resigned in
Nov. 1756.
1 This was a common incident in those days :
' Parliamenteering is a sort of itch
That will too oft unwary Knights bewitch,
Two good estates Sir Harry Clodpole spent,
Stood thrice, but spoke not once in Parliament.' Art of Politia.
JOURNEY 301
His acquaintances say, that sometimes they see
him pretty often, and other times not in six
months; that I suppose is just as he is in the
humour, for he lives intirely to his own taste, and
subjects himself to nothing that is not agreeable to
him. It seems he was in a visiting humour when
Sir James was here last winter, for he came to him
often, and I got a letter to him from Sir James,
but it was severall weeks before I could find him.
At last I got the letter conveyed to his hand, and
have had two very short visits of him ; he is one
you must not press or invite, because he says he
has a great deall to do, and cannot give up his
time to others. His house is at the one end of
the town, and he has a garden at the other, to
which he goes severall times a-day, and works it
himself, and is, they say, very curious in this
particular.
He keeps the hours of this country, and dines
at twelve o'clock : however, as I suppose he took
a fondness for Sir James, he dined with him often ;
but then he must show he was so much on a foot-
ing, that he must dine again with him, so invited
him, and severall others, to a very genteel dinner,
which he had drest himself; notwithstanding of
which, there was he, drest out, and the dinner
302 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
upon the table, ready to receive them at the time
appointed. He keeps a close correspondence with
England, and is still much interested in the
politicks, and gets over severall of the new books,
and all the magazines.
The thing which will look most wonderfull to
you is Mr. Hope's cookery, as it conveys the idea
of a well-drest gentleman broilling over a fire, but
you must know that the dearness of fireing here
has made the folks very ingenious to save that
article, and by a stove either for wood or coall,
they can dress, in the best room in the house,
upon this stove, a roast, a boill, a fry, a stew and
a bake. But I told you before, that I would not
publish that secret ; l neither am I affraid that any
of our travelling gentlemen will bring it home,
except your brothers, who, by their youth and
insignificance, have an opportunity of making
minute observations, which are overlooked by
those who are only received in every house in a
drawing-room, and there imployed at cards;
whereas the others get leave to stroll about, and
look into every corner.
Since I have mentioned them, you must allow
me to notice to you an observation of Willie's,
1 See ante, page 268.
JOURNEY 303
which I did not think unjust, though it was a
reflection on ourselves at home. I had often
observed in the park here, a kind of hut, round,
and thatched down to the ground, just like a great
bees' scape. As it was always shut, I could never
see what was in it, till this day, that he and I went
to take a walk in the park, and it was open, and a
man working in it ; I asked what it was, and was
told it was the Prince's icehouse. I said to Willie
that I wanted to see it, as I had heard of a gentle-
man in Scotland, who had laid out a great deall of
money in building one ; so we examined it, and
found it was a pit, dug ten foot deep in the earth,
upon a situation which sloped behind, I suppose
to carry off any water that might gather from the
ice melting ; and that, in this pit, the thickest ice
they could get was put in great lumps, a row of it
and a row of wheat-straw, till it was full, and then
covered over with the straw, and this hut was
built above to cover it ; and, instead of being cold,
it was hot when you put your head into it.
f That is a very simple contrivance,' says Willie ;
' but I suppose the man who built one in Scotland
would be a curious man, and these very curious
people with us are like the man in Guliver, who
built a miln at the foot of a hill, and brought the
304 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
water from the hill top in leaden pipes to make it
go, for, if you were to ask Mr. Grey how to make
an icehouse, he would say, it must be first hewen
stone, then covered with lead, and for the roof
a marble arch, all for coolness, and would never
think of a common hole houked 1 in the ground,
and a straw cap on the head of it.'
I could not but laugh at this, as it was really
true, in our imitations of things in other countries,
rendered useless by being made so much better
than they ought to be. If a man has a mind to
make a thing he has no exact pattern of, but that
he hears is practised abroad, the true way to hit
the thing is to make it at the very least expence
possible.
I have seen none of their hot-houses here, but,
if they are as simple (as I suppose they are) as
their cold-houses, they may be made and man-
tained at very little expence, and pine apples may
become as plenty as onions, by the use of a coall
stove or a peat one.
I am now a good deall reconciled to that sort of
heat a stove gives ; it makes a large room much
warmer than the greatest fire can do ; but [they]
are not in the shape of urns, as if they contained
1 Dug out.
JOURNEY 305
the ashes of their dead friends; neither are they
put in the place for the chimney, but in another
part of the room, and have a communication with
the vent ; and there they stand, either like a sort
of obelisk, or like a pedestall with a statue upon
them.
I have before mentioned the bad contrived vents
in this town, but there is one thing I think very
odd, and that is, that there are many rooms which
never smoak but at twelve o'clock, when the sun is
at the highest, and shines down upon the chimney :
there is one room in this house which does so ;
the way I found it out, I asked the Flemish maid
we have, why she had not lighted the fire ? She
said she had not done it before twelve, so that it
might be well kindled when the sun came about,
and she let it stand till it was past the chimney
head. I thought that had been a fancy of her
own, but, going that day to pay a visit to Madam
Jolly, she told me she was glad I did not come
sooner, as she had been obliged to let her stove
go out till the sun was past, and that it was a
common observation here.
There was a gentleman paid us a visit on our
first coming here, one Mr. Whitnor, an English
Roman catholick, who has an estate of about
306 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
,700 per annum. This man was married and had
a daughter, and his wife being dead, in order to
educate his daughter, as all these people are, he
brought her over here, and put her into the Eng-
lish nunry, where his sister was, and severall others
of his friends. He has a brother, confessor at the
English nunry at Ghent, within a day's journey.
To be as near his daughter as possible, he boarded
himself with the convent ; that is to say, the con-
fessor has a table, and some of the secular officers
dine with him, and it is common for people to
pension and eat with them, and lodge in detached
places about the convent.
Here Mr. Whitnor lived some years, and only
saw his daughter at the grate, which was oftener
than he saw his sister, who is a nun ; as the
pensioners have more liberty, but not to come out,
but to come when they are called for to the grate.
His daughter, it seems, died, and then all his
connection and attachment to the world was at an
end, and he resolved to settle there for life, and,
as he was but ill lodged before, he pulled down
his apartment and built it anew.
He invited me to come and see the nuns, which
I never did till lately. A day and hour was
appointed, and Madam Beaton, Madam Jolly and
JOURNEY 307
I, went there. Mr. Whitnor received us in a very
good warm parlour, with a good coall fire. The
grate into the speak-room is part of that parlour
wall ; a curtain was pulled aside, and Miss Whitnor,
with two other nuns, came to the grate. Mrs.
Whitnor is a very decent, sensible woman, about
fifty, and is the prioress, the next office to the
lady abbess, and it is supposed will succeed her,
who is now eighty-seven years old, and confined
in winter to her appartment.
The other two nuns were young, the one a
grave-looking, modest-like lass, the other a very
canty, merry quean 1 as ever I saw, but none of
them handsome ; they had no vaills on their faces,
like the Antwerp ones. They are Benedictines,
and I think their dress very becoming ; they had
upon their heads a thing first like a night-mutch,
without a border, which covered their hair, and
seemed to pin close below their chin ; above that
was a thing like a hood, a little looser, but still
very strait to their cheeks ; above that they had
a brow-band, which came piquing down before,
betwixt their eye-brows, and up on every side, so
that it stood hollow above, like a large French
plaite ; above that was a vaill, like a cambrick
1 Young woman.
3 o8 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
napkin, of black thick crape; and within that, a
white peice of cambrick, and this was pined on
their heads. They had a collar which came round,
like what you have seen coming down from their
shoulder to their breast, but, instead of being
plaited like the ruffs of old pictures, up and down,
it was plaited across or round, according to its
shape, as nicely plaited as ever you saw the sleeve
of a man's shirt. Their gowns were black and
long, and wide in the sleeves, and they had a thing
called a scapulair, which most of the religious
orders, both men and women, have, which is a
thing of the same cloth with their clothes, like a
slavering bibb, which comes down to their feet, is
girt in with their belt, and into which they put
their hands, and serves for a muff, as the muff is
so necessary a peice of furniture in this country,
that there is not a beggar but what has a muff.
And, by the bye, it is very droll to see the
gentlemen walking with a great muff in hard frost,
and at the same time not a hat upon their heads,
and a lady walking with a furr capucine, her hair
curled and powdered, with a little cap, or perhaps
but a point, and nothing more on their heads.
But to return to the nuns : they opened the
grate, and conversed very cheerfully with us.
JOURNEY 309
The heartsome lass (I have forgot her name, but
she is a gentleman of London's daughter, who is
rich) has two sisters in the same convent, and had
once two aunts; I should have said three aunts,
for she has two there yet. She seemed to be very
well pleased with her manner of life, though she
thought it was strict.
They told us they rise at three o'clock in the
morning, and have first an hour of private medita-
tion; then are called to prayers till six; then
another hour of meditation and private devotion ;
then breakfast ; then to the work-room for two
hours, where they must not speak but on recrea-
tion days, which are according to the time of the
year, seldomer or oftener as it is a feast or fasting
season. Then they dine about eleven, and go to
the work-room again. The time of dinner they
dare not speak, but have some one of them read-
ing the lives of the saints to them, which is done
likeways whilst they work. On certain days, they
may come from four till six to the grate, if any
freind want to see them, and go to bed at seven
o'clock at night. As for their diet, they have four
meagre days a- week, besides three weeks of Advent,
which is just now before Christmas, and nine
weeks instead of six in Lent.
3 io MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
In summer they are allowed to walk in the
garden on recreation days, and to speak at their
work, which this young one spoke of with great
relish ; then they have some jublee days, when
they are allowed to be merry, and to play them-
selves, and dance, I suppose to any musick they
can make amongst themselves. They are never
allowed to see one another in private, and can have
no discourse but in the work-room ; they have a
porteress who sees every one to her own cell at
night ; and when they are sick, they are brought
to an infirmary room, where they are attended by
physicians. None of the pensioners are allowed
to go into the nuns' wards, nor anybody whatever.
They wear no linnen, nor sleep in it, but in sheets
of sarge, and have no fire but in the work-room.
The lady abbess orders all in common matters,
but the Bishop of Mechlen is over her in extra-
ordinaries. He is very strict, and they told us
that an English lady, who came over here and
turned catholick, and pensioned in their house,
begged of the abbess that she would allow her to
see the cells of the nuns. The lady abbess wrote
to the bishop for his leave to grant that, but he
said he would willingly give her two pounds of his
blood, but could not grant that.
JOURNEY 311
Poor old creature,' says the nun, { if he had
had two pound of blood to give, he would not
have denied that.'
They told us of another English catholick lady,
who came over to try how she would like to be a
nun ; she was about forty, and a widow, but she
could comply with everything but the silence, and
speak she often would, and was reproved. The
lady abbess, in a grave lecture upon that subject,
told her
'Our founder St. Benedict says, that women
should be silent.'
f Your founder St. Benedict,' says she, c was
an old fool for saying so ; what did he think a
woman's tongue was made for?'
So she tired of them, and they of her ; so they
parted.
We drank tea, and they chatted very merrily,
and all the time Mr. Whitnor was just delighted.
He looks upon them all as his children, and jokes,
and is very merry with them, and always, when he
speaks of the nuns, he says, c we,' and the lady
abbess, 'our reverend mother.' He is a well-bred,
precise sort of man, and an intelligent, bookish
man, but he has that sort of want of apprehension,
that I told you I found in many of the English, I
3 i2 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
should rather say comprehension. For he was tell-
ing me the state of the convent, as to offices in it,
and how they were filled up when vacant ; that the
lady abbess was chosen by the nuns by ballot ;
that every one put in any name she pleased, and
the two who had the most votes were put in again,
and she who had the most was chosen ; and, if they
could not agree, the bishop named one for them.
I asked him if the office of lady abbess was of
that nature, that a nun might say she was ambitious
of it, or was it supposed that, out of modesty, she
was to decline it, like the bishops of England, or
the Speaker of the House of Commons ? But let
me put that question in what light I could, the
devil a bit he could understand what I meant ; and
all that I learned was, that if she was chosen, she
could neither decline the office, nor demit it, nor
could be turned out for any naturall inability ; but,
whether it was an honour to be aspired to, or too
great an one for a modest person to think them-
selves worthy of, it is not my fault if I cannot tell
you.
There is, below the abbess, many offices, which
are all filled up the same way. The prioress has
the affairs in all seculars, to order the money and
outgivings of all kinds ; then under her are pro-
JOURNEY 313
visors of meat and drink, pantry and cellar-keepers,
etc., and under them lay sisters, to go to market
and cook : over the kitchen is a nun officer, and
they have five or six tables to dress for, every day.
There is the reverend mother's, the nuns' profest,
the novices', the pensioners', the confessor's, and
the lay sisters'. They have about twenty-nine nuns,
fourteen pensioners, and twelve lay sisters. Their
revenue is about 500 per annum y whither it is in
lands or money, I know not ; but I suppose it is
in money, as every nun gives in a portion of about
j4OO or ^500. Madam Beaton told me she saw
a girl professed there who had 1500, which they
got, and she died in about a month after, and was
laid in her coffin in the chapel, with her vows in
her hand, the same day month she was professed.
Mr. Whitnor carried us to his apartment, which
he has built adjoining to the convent, and there he
has a very pretty room, most finely ornamented
with pictures and mirrour, and a great deall of
curious fine china. Off that room, on the one
hand, is a small bedchamber, very neat, and off
the other is a closet or dressing [room], all round
with books, fidles, and flutes, as he is a great musi-
cian. He has a pretty garden at a little distance
from his house, which he has full of fruit and
314 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
flowers. I saw an everlasting flower in his house,
which is very pretty ; it is the female piony, with
a scarlet flower and a black berry, which keeps the
coulour all the year after it is pulled. His servant
has a room near him, and his companion, the con-
fessor, ha"s his house adjoining. He keeps the
convent hours, has severall cronies with whom he
meets at a millener's shop near, which he calls his
coffee-house. The woman gives him coffee every day
at three o'clock ; from that he walks or pays a visit ;
and in this way has Mr. Whitnor lived now these
one and twenty years. He seems to be very happy,
and if the want of care can make him so, he may.
That giving up of the world so much amongst
the Roman catholicks, makes them divest them-
selves of care much easier than we can do ; and
there is a certain desire of ease, and what I may
call a selfishness, that the English has, which is un-
known to us, that makes so many of them give up
their country and freinds with greater ease than we
can do, either to wander about amongst strangers,
quite alone, or to sit down amongst them, and care
for nobody. Whereas the Scots folks are continu-
ally labouring and fighting for somebody whose
interest they espouse, so as to make it trouble
them as much as it was their own. When our
JOURNEY 315
children are off our hand, we take up our grand-
children ; when we have none of these, then there
is brothers, nephews, and cousines, whom we love
and they care not for us, with whom we vex our-
selves. However, if our intentions are good, I
must give this humour the preferance, as I think
there can no life be agreeable to God which is not
usefull to man.
And if I was Mr. Whitnor, I would rather
bring up some young family for the world, than
clok 1 over a parcell of barren nuns, and take
sometimes pleasure and sometimes trouble.
Since this is the chapter of the nuns, I must tell
you that I saw one professed soon after I came
here. It was in the convent I wrote you I had
gone to speak to the girl about this house ; it was
not her, but another, who was daughter to some of
the principle people in this town that is not the
nobility, but in the town's people are included
the law, and all other professions which bring in
money. What made a great crowd run to this
profession was, that Madam Coubinsall, the
minister's lady, was to attend her, and give her
away, as they call it.
The parrade came : and first, she was preceeded
1 A ' clocking hen ' is one sitting on eggs.
3i6 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
by severall little girls, one of whom carried a
basket with something in it, I suppose a crown of
gum-flowers, which was afterwards put on her ;
then came Madam Coubinsall, finely dressed,
leading her in. The bride was dressed in a white
silver tiusia, 1 a suit of blonds, and a large bouchee. 2
The altar is railed in, and a space about it for the
company who attend; it was guarded by two
hussars, to keep out the crowd. The high preist,
who was to profess her, was an old reverend-like
man, and, when dressed in all his robes of gold
and silver, was as like old Aaron as ever I saw
anything in my life. At the end of the arrea
about the altar was the grate of the convent,
within which were all the nuns and pensioners.
I never heard of a nun to be professed, but
what was a vastly pretty girl, about seventeen,
who was going in against all her friends' will : this
one did not answer this character, for she was
about thirty, not handsome, being black, with a
very low forehead, and, in short, one who might
1 Tysche, or Tusche ? a girdle or belt
' Richt costlie grein
Her tusche" was with silver well besene.'
MaitlantTf Poems ; quoted by JAMIESON.
2 Bochee, Buckasie ? (Fr. boccasin} a kind of fine buckram.
JAMIESON.
JOURNEY 317
be spared. Her parents, they said, was against
it, but I imagine they always say so to make the
nun's merit the greater. Her nun's clothes were
laid upon the table behind which she sat ; it was
the white vaill she was to take, that is, she was to
enter her noviscet, for there is here no public cere-
mony in takeing the black vaill, and last vows,
for that is done within the convent, after a year's
wearing the white, in which time they can repent.
First, we had musick and anthems, then we had
prayers and mass : Aaron was supported by two
preists, as they appeared by their robes, but the
one was only a deacon, and the other a sub-deacon.
The sub-deacon was a young fellow, who had a
merry side of a face and a sad ; that which was
next the preist was very grave, but I thought he
smiled with the other : I suppose these youths
soon learn to look more ways than one at a time.
After the mass, a Capucine, with a red beard, went
up to the pulpit and preached. The Capucines are
commonly imployed to preach, but the method
here is not to stress themselves by saying too
much at once; and this, I think, your minister
may addope, though it is done by the papaists.
He first made an introduction to his discourse,
then sat down and took a snuff; in the meantime,
3i8 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
we got a tune on the organ, but, since you have
no organ but Miss Thomas's, you must use what
you have. Then he got up, and made a discourse,
upon the subject, I suppose, of the vanity of this
world, then sat down ; and, after another tune and
another snuff, he got up again, with an address to
the bride, on the wisdom of her choice, and in-
couraging her to keep to her threap. 1 He had
a good deall of action, but stiff; he clinched his
fist all but his little finger, and what with his
demonstration with that, and the gaging of his
beard, I would certainly have inclined to laugh,
had I not been like to be pressed to death by the
crowd. After the sermon, the bride received the
sacrament, kneeling at the altar.
I must not here omit to remarque the sincerity
of the catholic ladies' devotions ; they had books
in their hands, and their mouths were going very
fast, at the same time they were smilling and
curtesying to one another. The poor bride was
very serious, and never looked up.
After all the service was over, Madam Coubin-
sall took her by the hand, and led her out at a little
door by the side of the altar, into the convent,
1 A pertinacious affirmation. JAMIESON. The expression
' to threap ' is more common.
JOURNEY 319
where she was undressed, and she returned in a
black plaid, which they call here a voill, and is
what everybody who is not drest, or the common
people, walks the streets in. When she returned,
it was not into the chapell, but to the room the
nuns were in, within the grate ; she came forward
to the grate, in which a small door opened, and
she put out her head, and the preist put on her
cap and her brow-band, and then on her gown, and
then pined on her white vaill upon her head, and
the crown with the gum-flowers on the one side of
her head, as neatly as if he had been bred a milliner.
After she was dressed, I thought she looked
better than before, as the brow-band hid the low-
ness of her forehead. She kneeled down at a
table, and prayed ; then they put a lighted wax-
candle in her hand, and with this she walked round
and kissed all the nuns, who welcomed her to the
society ; and, after this, she kissed all her freinds,
and bid them farewell ; then she came to the grate,
and kissed all those who had not gone in with her,
and shaked others by the hand through the grate,
and curtsied to all the company : and this she did
with the greatest face of joy, laughing and smilling
to every one. After this, the curtain within the
grate was drawn, which closed the ceremony.
CHAPTER XIII.
Concerts and Masked Balls : Theatrical : Passage
of Arms with Captain Hew : Eccentricities of
Captain Hew and Lady Nell : Lord Bellew :
Mr. Butler and Mr. O'Farle: At COUNT
CALLENBERG'S : Economy in High places: The
Jesuits outwitted: A Scotch Tailor and a
Franciscan Friar from the Wars: German and
French Politics: Despatch of the MS.
WHEN Lady Helen Dairy mple was here we
went to the comedy, of which the people here are
very fond, for what reason I know not, for they
say they are very bad actors ; but there is no other
diversion, except sometimes a concert, upon the
footing of ours in Edinburgh. 1 All their dancing
1 At this period the St. Cecilia Musical Society of Edinburgh,
of which Handel entertained a high opinion, was in the full
vigour of its existence. The concerts were held in St. Cecilia
Hall, a little off the Cowgate, the performers being for the most
part gentlemen.
MRS. C ALDER WOOD'S JOURNEY 321
meetings are in masque ; there are some given
gratis on court days. The method is, they go,
after paying their court, home to undress, and put
on their masque habits, at eleven o'clock at night ;
at twelve they meet at the house where the plays
are held, but it is floored over the pitt. There the
whole riff-raff of the town comes, and dances away,
and makes a prodigious crowd. They take off
their masques when it turns hot, and what
diversion that must be, to be mobbed by taliors
and mantua-makers, I cannot understand. My
mantua-maker, who is far from being in such a
genteel stile as many of her trade in Edinburgh,
asked me if I was at the ball at court last ? I said
no.
c But I was there,' says she, ' and my two
daughters, and danced till five in the morning.'
* And with whom did you dance ?' says I.
c With all the great counts,' says she, and the
Prince, and all the great ladies.'
The plays here are seldom one play to an end,
but bits of medley acts of different kinds. The
play I saw was of that nature: first, we had a
thing of one act called The Mistakes, which con-
sisted in nothing (by what I could understand and
was explained) but what happens very often, the
322 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
mistakes of messages, and wrong delivery of
letters.
Next came such another in the Chinese taste, in
the fancy of our oracle ; and at the last was per-
formed what they call a Chinese masque, which was
a very pretty show. At the far end of the stage
were so many benches, raised one above another,
and people dressed in Chinese habits set on them,
which looked so like the great china shop I saw at
Amsterdam, that I daresay it has been coppied
from it, or some such ; at the sound of the musick
they began to move, first their hands, then their
heads, and then got up, and jumped down from
bench to bench, till they came to the stage, and
then they danced in all the various shapes you can
imagine. They had amongst them a set of
tumblers, and danced on their hands, and their feet
up, then they all danced what the bairns call
co-cuddy? and then on their hands and feet, like
so many frogs.
Then came a procession of the emperor and
empress, carried in chairs on men's shoulders, and
so many candles carried before them ; and this was
1 ' Cur-cuddy,' a game in which children dance in a circle
'on their hunkers;' the same as that called 'Harry Hurcheon '
in the north of Scotland.
JOURNEY 323
so like St. Michaell, that I declare I thought
shame to look about to Mr. Nidham, who was
sitting next me, till he said
4 Here now is a Chinese procession.'
Then came the emperor's children, in a car
drawn by a little horse, and in short, the oddest
sort of variety one can imagine. I admired the
ingenuity of the contrivance, and laughed at the
oddness of the thing, till I was like to die : we
had carried the boys there, who were highly
diverted.
The Prince was there, and his sister Madam
Roiall, as they call her ; she is the head of the
channonesses at Mons, and comes here upon any
great court days. She is a good, grave-looking
woman, and sat and knoted all the time, like my
Lady Ross. The Prince's box is, as it were, where
Lady Bredalban's is, but goes back behind like a
closet, and has a table with candles upon it. All
the other boxes are fitted up like the Dutchess of
Hamilton's, with red English paper, and the
pillars betwixt them painted. There are three
stories of boxes, which makes it high in the roof,
and looks neat, but it makes it look larger than
it is.
I said, when I went in, that it was a very
MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
neat house, but small, at which Captain Hew
[Dalrymple] took me up with a very great sneer.
c Small/ says he, c madam, do you know it is as
big as the playhouse at Drury Lane ?'
f For that I shall not say,' answered I ; f but it
is very little bigger than the one at Edinburgh;'
at which he gave, a prodigious laugh.
f The Scots folk,' says he, f are so nationall, that
they expose themselves by it when they come
abroad.'
c I have seen nothing, since you will have it, to
make me otherways yet,' says I ; f I think it shall
not be to the city of Bruxells that our country
need to yeild in building ; and in stone and lime,
and good will to use it, it need to yeild to none ;
and I will lay you any wadger that it is not six
foot every way larger than what I say ; but, if
anybody here is to be imposed upon by ornament
and novelty, it should be these children,' says I,
'and not the like of you, and I referr to them,
who has seen the other.'
They both declared, that when they looked up,
it appeared larger, but when they looked down to
the arrea of the pit, it was no larger.
c Does not that show you,' says I, * that the eye
is deceived by the hight of the roof, for, when that
JOURNEY 325
is not seen, the true dimensions appear : but how
much do you think then it is larger?'
' Oh !' says he, f forty foot.'
f Forty foot !' says I, f you are well qualified to
build a house indeed ! Neither of the two is any-
thing like forty foot.'
I was so inraged to hear an old idiot speak such
nonsense, that I was resolved to have the dimen-
sions of both taken to confute him ; for which
reason you will get me that of Edinburgh, 1 from
my Lady Bredalban's box to the Dutchess of
Hamilton's, and from the front of the stage to the
front box, that I may compare them ; and likeways
the distance from one door of the stage to another,
as I have made a guess of this by the curtain ; it
is made of a red stamped English stuff, which is
1 The Edinburgh theatre of those days was situated in a
space a little off the Canongate, on the south side, called the
Playhouse Close. Here figured Mrs. Ward, the beautiful Mrs.
Bellamy, and the elegant Mr. Digges. At the moment of Mrs.
Calderwood's writing, that is, on the I4th Dec. 1756, was taking
place the most momentous incident in the annals of the Scottish
stage, namely, the production in this theatre of Douglas, a tragedy
from the pen of a Scots minister, the Rev. John Home.
It is noticeable that the writer's sister, Lady Buchan, seems
also to have taken an interest in things theatrical. A few
years later she was in the habit of entertaining Mr. Garrick at
her house at Walcot, near Bath.
326 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
scrimp three quarters wide, and there are ten
breadths in it, which makes about nineteen foot.
If the folks in Edinburgh ever build a play-
house, I think the dimensions of this, and the
fitting up, will answer them as well as they could
wish ; it is warm and compact, and good for hear-
ing, and cheap ; for if they take their own ideas of
such a thing, they will spoill it by making it too
good.
The Prince is very fond of the comedy, and
stood on his feet the whole night, and laughed
most heartily. I did not think any of the
ladies here very handsome ; they are all big-faced
and flaby, nor much of any of the gentlemen
I saw.
Captain Hew and Lady Nell made a good figure
here ; she told everybody she was to winter at
London or Bath, he said he would go to Scotland
before the end of winter, and Anne [the chamber-
maid] told everybody that they were going straight
to Edinburgh. Mr. Ferguson called there one day,
and they were denied, for sometimes they were
visible, sometimes not, and Anne came to the door
to him. Says he
c Well, you '11 be a travelled lady when you have
wintered at Bath and London.'
JOURNEY 327
' Dinna beleive that,' says she ; ' deil a bit we '11
halt or we be in Auld Reeky.'
Lady Nell bought a gown, and quarled with the
talior that made it ; the captain bought some era-
vates, and quarled with the woman that made them,
and she scolded him like a tinkler ; he bespoke a
sute of blonds in a shop, and went off without
taking them. In short, he went upon the supposi-
tion that, as he was an Englishman, he was sup-
posed to have so much money, that he was to be
imposed upon in everything; whereas, the people
of this country have as much deallings with the
English as with anybody whatever, and deall very
much in the English way, at a word, that is, the
folks of any busness. But there are some folks
who gather so much wisdom and experience more
than they have use for, by being abroad, that they
cannot carry it all, and therefore part often with
the usefull to keep the superflous, or else the
superflous renders the rest useless, which I am
afraid was the case with the captain.
They lodged in the house we had when we
came first, but all the complaints of hunger, cold,
and ill service, and imposition, were made to me
upon that house. I told them just what I paid,
and they thought it very [unreasonable ; that I
328 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
had never travelled before, and therefore just
trusted to providence, and gave folks what they
asked ; and I had been very lucky, it seemed.
And when they cast up to the girls, that they had
served us better than them, they denied the fact,
but said they would rather keep us for nothing,
than them for never so much.
c Ay,' says Lady Nelly, f Mrs. Calderwood is
a good-natured woman, and does not give herself
much trouble upon those heads.'
'Well,' says they, f madam, and she was well
served, you own ; and where is the occasion to
give yourself trouble to be ill served ?'
There was a poor lame officer who lodged above
them, and he limped on the floor, and they got no
sleep with this. The captain told me he had sent
up a most bullying mesage to him, telling him
that he did not understand the noise he made, and
that, if he continued, he would be under a necessity
of making him explane the meaning of it: I
suppose this, if it was delivered, was in English,
as I never heard the answer.
When they left this, they took commissions to
England, as they were to be there soon, but at
the same time left word with the banker to send
all letters to Ostend which should come before
JOURNEY 329
the 1 6th of December, when they left this, the loth
of November. But Anne, who was the secretary,
told (as I afterwards heard) that they were to wait
for my Lady Weems from France, who was to go
to Scotland with them, as she had a great deall of
money ; but it seems her ladyship has disappointed
them, for I do not hear she is at London with
them.
One of my acquaintances in this town is my
Lord Bellue, 1 an Irish peer : he was first married
to my Lord Nithsdale's sister, by whom he has a
daughter; he has since that been twice married,
and has one daughter by one of these wives, and
is now a widower. He was bred a papaist, but his
mother, it seems, set on the protestant heir to
pursue for his estate, 2 and he was obliged to
change his religion. This, to be sure, was a great
shock upon him, and gave him low spirits, but it
1 John, 4th Lord Bellew in the Irish peerage, married at
Rome in 1731 the Lady Anne Maxwell, daughter of William,
the 1 5th (and attainted) Earl of Nithsdale and of his wife Lady
Winifred Herbert, the story of whose devotion in effecting the
escape of her husband from imprisonment is well known. Her
narrative forms the most interesting portion of Mr. W. Eraser's
Book of Caerlaverock. The Barony of Bellew is. now extinct.
2 Amongst the penalties imposed on Roman Catholics in
1700 was that of the forfeiture of estates by heirs belonging to
that Church who had been educated abroad, in favour of the
330 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
is lucky that he is very easy as to the point of
religion, otherways it might have had a very bad
effect. He has been travelling these three years
for his health ; he does not like to live in England
or Ireland, and it is such an oppression upon his
spirits, that there is so much ill management in
the publick affairs, that he cannot bear to see it.
He is a great Jacobite, and he dares not speak
out, and the Pretender is in such distress, that in
short he is miserable. I tell him I wish I may
never have the toothack till I be troubled about
the publick. At the same time, I can speak as
muchjacobitism as he pleases, and he is very fond
of me, because I tell him fine stories about the
Highlanders and the Pretender in the time of the
rebellion, and all the ill prats 1 of the Duke of
Cumberland. I tell him to come to Scotland, and
he will get as many Jacobites as he can set his face
to; and he laughs and is so merry, and then
comes a deep sigh.
nearest Protestant heir. It was in consequence of an attempt to
remedy this and similar injustices as regarded Scotland that the
'Gordon Riots' occurred in 1780. It was not till 1792 and
1793 that these disabilities were removed in Ireland and England
respectively. See SIR ERSKINE MAY'S Constit. Hut., vol. iii.
p. 96 et seq.
1 Gossip.
JOURNEY 331
c Oh ! this is a foolish world, a mighty foolish
world!'
There is a young Irish gentleman, and his
governour, who has been with him all this last
summer ; his name is Butler, 1 and he has a very
good estate in Ireland, and they say is to be
married to my Lord [Bellew's] second daughter.
He is a very good French sort of lad, and very
well cut out for diverting himself, which I always
thought a much more usefull talent than many
others which are more esteemed. The young
ladies, by their mothers' contracts, my lord is
obliged to educate Roman catholicks, which is no
hardship on him ; for which purpose he has them
both in a convent at Louvain, within a few leagues
of this, and he comes and goes as he likes to see
them.
Mr. Butler's governour is one Mr. O'Farle, a
very canty, merry body ; I knew he was a preist,
and asked a lady lately in this town, what sort of
preist he was ? She told me he was a Recollet?
1 Mr. Butler married Anne, second daughter of Lord Bellew
by his second wife, Mary, a daughter of Justin, 5th Earl of
Fingall.
2 Recollects: a branch of the Franciscan order bears this
name, derived from the detachment from creatures, and recollec-
tion of God, which the founders aimed at. At present [1884],
33* MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
1 A Recolly,' says I, f what the mischeif put
that in the body's head ? '
You must know this is a sort of Capucine, a
reform, as they call it, upon that order, by some
she-saint who shaved their beards [and] paired
their coull round in the point, which is all the
difference. Ever since, I have been always like
to laugh every time I looked at him, and always
when he comes to see me, I think I see him sit-
ting with his bare shaven head, and his capucine ;
but I suppose he is now spoilt for that purpose,
by living well, and travelling about these twenty
years : . but the papaists are such odd bodies, that
ten to one he will creep into that shell at the end.
At first I thought it impossible that the men of
sense could really be papaists in the full extent,
but I find that those I could have wagered upon
are as bigotted in every point as any old wife of
what religion soever : and it is very just what
Mr. Dempster 1 said, that they were just Don
Quixots ; whenever you touch that, their brain,
you would think, gives way.
it seems, there are three Recollect houses in Great Britain
at Stratford-le-Bow, West Gorton, and Glasgow. ADDIS and
ARNOLD'S Catholic Diet.
1 George Dempster of Dunnichen, a Fife laird.
JOURNEY 333
The carnvell is now approaching, and I suppose
we will have a strange mixture of religion and
madness ; but I hear it is not to be held by the
court in the common form, as there are so few
men here.
It seems almost every man of fashion is a
soldier, for, since the army marched out, there is
not a man, they tell me, to be seen, but the
British, at any of the card assemblies. I have
been twice at Count Calimberg's, where indeed
there were very few folks, either men or women.
This man is an old bishop, and an old generall, so
that you may say, as the bairns' guess says, c the
bishop, the generall, and the count, each pulled a
pear.' I do not know which of these characters
he possessed first, but he was a Lutheran bishop
in Saxony, where his estate lies (now at the mercy
of the King of Prussia), and he lives here, and
has the rank of a generall in the imperiall service,
for Madam Beaton calls him c your excellence.'
He has a very fine large old-world house here,
very indifferently furnished in everything but
mirrors, and some pictures; there are some of
the first that exceed any I have seen, and to which
Generall Anstruther's, 1 which he cannot get fitted
1 General Philip Anstruther of Airdrie, in Fife, M.P., son
334 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
for largeness, is but a keeking-glass.' 1 And, to
give you a notion of the taste in furniture here, in
the room the assembly holds in, there are window-
curtains of English stuff, originally a sort of gray,
about the substance of a timen 2 or crape, both
dirty and moth-eaten, cain chairs, and no cover at
all upon the floor.
I heard this family often spoken of, and the
ladies called the old countess and the young ; the
count has a son in the army, and, when I went to
see them, I supposed the eldest was the old man's
wife, and the youngest his daughter-in-law. All
the time I sat and played at cards, I thought it
must be so, for the old countess was too young-
like for the other to be her daughter, and what
could tempt the lass to marry such an old man,
and watched to hear if I could learn anything
about the husband of the other, and wondered if
of Sir James Anstruther. General Anstruther, it is said, laid out
large sums in adorning the house of Airdrie, to little purpose, for
he died without an heir. A fine chimney-piece of white marble,
executed by workmen brought from Italy, was removed to
Cambo House when Airdrie was sold to Erskine, the Laird of
Cambo. See East Neuk of Fife, p. 209.
1 A looking-glass ; it is so called in the old ballad, ' My joe
Janet.'
2 Timen, or Tamin (Fr. etamini), a sort of camlet for
women's gowns. JAMIESON.
JOURNEY 335
they had any children amongst them ; but behold,
it turned out that both the countesses were the
old man's daughters, and he had no wife, 1 nor they
any husbands.
f What a foolish fashion is this,' says I, { to call
a poor lass hardly thirty, an old countess ; if I
were her, I would make you all startle ! '
c Oh !' say they, c if they were twenty daughters,
they are all countesses, and the sons are all counts.'
f But can't you say Countess Mary and Countess
Anne, etc. ? '
f Yes,' say they, { if there were a great many,
but as they are but two, we say the old and the
young.'
The ladies in this place are the greatest workers
1 Readers of the Life of Friedricb may remember the sen-
sational story told by Carlyle, in his quaintest manner, of the
burnt Schloss at Steinau and the Grafin von Callenberg, its
owner ; ' a dreadful old Dowager of the Medea-Messalina type,
who always wore pistols about her ; pistols, and latterly, with
more and more constancy, a brandy bottle.' Under date, April
1741, it is recorded how the Grafin * was by the Austrian
Commandant at Neisse summoned out of the Schloss as in
correspondence with Prussian officers. Peasants breaking in
tied her with ropes to the bed where she was, put bed and her
into a farm cart ; by which adventure, and its rages, and un-
speakabilities, the poor old Callenberg died.' (Vol. iii. p. 295.)
It seems probable that the old Grafin, if not the mother of the
ladies mentioned in the text, was a near relative of theirs.
336 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
ever was ; the Countess Coubensall works at her
tent, after her assembly is gathered, till they sit
down to cards, and the daughters at a stocking, or
embroidering ruffles. But what is a great work,
and what the Countess Calimbergs were doing, is
pulling the gold and silver threads out of old
silks, lace, or ribbons, and striping out the silk
thread out of the gold or silver ; and when they
have none of this to do, they take their old silk
gowns, and cut them down, and pick them asunder,
thread by thread ; and silk, this way done, is sent
to Paris, and sells for so much the pound, and is
wrought up again in a sort of wadd, for lining
clothes with.
There is a lesson of thrift to you !
Madam Beaton, who is very carefull of the
honour of the nobility here, informed me that these
countesses were not doing it for themselves, but
for their women. Madam is doubly carefull of
this, ever since I told her I had met in a shop with
a prince buying callico.
c O ! ' says she, f he has been wanting some fine
chinzes, for they all use that for their camp
furniture.'
' No, truly,' says I, c I saw him price none
above sixteen pence the yard.'
JOURNEY 337
This was very true; two very well-looked
officers came into a shop where I was, and looked
at callicoes about that price : they bought none,
and, after they were gone, the people told me they
were the Prince De something, and the Count De
another thing, but I never remember the folks'
names here, let me hear them never so often.
The old Dutchess of Aremberg is a-dying,
which I am very sorry for, because on such
occasions the bells ring so that you cannot hear
what you are saying. The day of the year the
Archdutchess l died, the bells began at twelve at
night, and rung twenty-four hours compleatly ;
the Prince went out of the town that day, but I
alledged it was to be free of the bells. There is a
baron died the other day, and has left an heiress
of ^3000 a-year ; she says she will never marry,
because she is not pretty. The old man died as it
were to-night, and he was buried next morning,
which is the custom here.
There has been a great stir at Ghent lately : a
young man from England, who, they say, had run
1 The Archduchess Marie Amalie, widow of Charles, Elector
of Bavaria, and Emperor as Charles vn., died iith December
1756. She was the daughter of the Emperor Joseph i. by
Wilhelmina of Brunswick, first cousin of King George i.
Y
338 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
away with money from a merchant at London,
whose clerk he was, came over to Ghent, and gave
it out that his freinds had cast him out, because
he had turned a catholick. This, you may be
sure, gained him great favour at Ghent, and the
Jesuites of the English colledge there admitted him
into their number, where he behaved very well.
It is a rule in all religious houses, that there must
be no reparation made upon them when they
threaten to fall, but the part deficient is deserted
till it tumble down, and, so long as it is building
up again, the house is open to all comers. This
happened to be the case with the English nunnery
there. Part of it fell down, and at that time many
folks took the opportunity of coming farther
ben 1 than they could ever do before. Whilst
the masons were imployed in building, they were
under the direction of a nun, who was the prioress,
and this Jesuite pretended that he had great skill
in archetecture, so offered his advice, and came
often to see how the building went on. During
this time the prioress and he draws up, and how
he brought it about is not known, but he gets a
lay habit for her, and another for himself, and one
morning they both walk off. They were very
1 Further into the interior.
JOURNEY 339
soon in the Dutch territory, so out of danger, and
there they were married, which made both nuns
and Jesuites look very foolish.
We had here lately two deserters from the King
of Prussia ; the one was a Scots tallior, the other
a London tradesman. The Scots folks have an
excellent nose to smell out their countryfolks, and
they came to this house. The tallior was a tall,
clever-like fellow, and stood so upright, and held
out his toes and up his head so well, that I asked
him if he had been at the dancing school ?
f Truly, madam,' said he, c I was never at the
dancing school, but a good rung laid alongst my
shoulders when I held down my head, made me
soon learn to hold it up.'
The English lad looked very humble, and
regarded the other as much his superior in wisdom
and good behaviour, so the tallior was spokesman.
He told us he had gone to London, to work at his
trade, and a gentleman offered him 10 if he
would go over a trip to Holland as his servant ;
to which he consented, and, instead of Holland, he
carried him to Hamburgh, and gave him over to
the Prussian officers recruiting there. He had
served these two years, and was so lucky as to
340 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
come off safe from the battle ; eight days after
which, he, with a party of fifty men, and a Serjeant,
were sent out a foraging, and all but the Serjeant
deserted. They were of all different nations, and
had been trepanned in that way. These two had
come together, without a farthing in their pockets ;
but they did not go pennyless from this, for the
Scots gave for their countryman, the English for
theirs, the folks here because they had deserted
from the King of Prussia ; and they were intro-
duced to the Prince, who gave them each a ducat,
which is the premium given by the Empress to
every Prussian deserter.
There came lately to Vienna another deserter,
who demanded an audience of the Queen. He
told her he was a Franciscan friar, and, as he was
travelling, he met two gentlemen, who were very
civill to him on the road for a day, but the next
day they told him he must unrobe, and take a
musket. The poor friar offered every argument
he could use, and told he could be of no use, but
they told him they would soon make him learn the
trade : so he was obliged to comply. For four years
he had not an opportunity to desert, till after the
battle; they did not beleive him, and made him
do his exercises, which he performed so well, that
JOURNEY 341
then they thought he was a soldier, and no friar,
and, to prove him one, they made him say mass,
which he performed with equal dexterity : and
many such, they say, the King of Prussia has in
his service, and, if he would kidnap only them, he
is to be exqused.
The politicks here is, that the King of Prussia
has accused the Empress of designs to destroy him
and the protestant religion, that she had made an
alliance for that purpose with France, and that he,
upon that handel, which he himself contrived, had
done what he has done, as he accused the King of
Poland of being in the plot ; all which they say is
false, and that he behaved very cruelly to the
Saxons. And many a story of that kind is firmly
beleived, one of which I shall mention, to give you
a swatch 1 of the rest : viz. that he killed the whole
cats in Saxony, and made the Saxons buy mouse-
traps of him at an extravagant price. If they were
good mouse-traps I should not grudge him double
the common price for them, for we are like to be
devoured with mice, and can neither get a cat nor a
trap worth a farthing. They tell me that it is not
a common complaint here, for there are but very
few mice in the town : I tell them that the mice
1 A small cutting of cloth, as a sample.
342 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
must be protestant, by their being so plenty in
Saxony and in this house, where they know there
are no fast days.
Pardon this degression, and my speaking of cats
and kings in the same page ; but when kings turn
mice-catchers, it must diminish their dignity.
The King of Prussia says, on the other hand,
that the Queen made a defensive alliance with
France, and that she was getting herself ready for
next year, and, in the meantime, was sowing suspi-
cions privately from court to court, so that they
might come to his ears, and give him the alarm,
that he might be the first aggressor, and then
France was obliged to join her : and that the Queen
of Poland and the Empress, being both great bigots,
had contrived to fall upon him and destroy him ;
that then the Saxons being under a popish king,
and no protestant power able to defend them, the
protestant religion would be suppressed, not only
there, but in the whole empire. 1
My oppinion of this story is, that the Queen,
though a great bigot, had other motives than
1 In consequence of these intrigues the Seven Years' War
began in July 1756. At the outbreak of hostilities the Austrian
army was under the command of Prince Charles of Lorraine,
mentioned frequently in these pages.
JOURNEY 343
religion to attack the King of Prussia; that she
certainly intended to fall upon him as soon as she
was ready, and that the King of Poland was to
assist her ; and that Prussia, by being first ready,
has prevented her ; and that he has cried out
religion, as folks do fire when they want assistance ;
and that this has not been a sudden impulse of his,
but that he has laid his scheme some time before, to
make religion a handle to exequte what he intends.
Some say, it is that a protestant emperor should
be chosen time about with a popish ; but I think
this is too distant a prospect for him, who is no
younger than the present Emperor, 1 and it must
be [necessary], in the first place, to make himselr
able to effect such a law being made. Whatever
he intends to effect by it, it appears to me to be
no new scheme, for, when did we see kings make
such a work about their faith, when nobody was
asking them any questions about it ? It is severall
years since our newspapers were full of the King
of Prussia's confession of faith; in this point
he was Calvinist, in that he was Lutheran, in
another he agreed with neither. He tolerated all
religions, and built a fine chapell for the papaists,
1 Francis, Duke of Lorraine, who had married Queen Maria
Theresa in 1736, was elected Emperor in 1745.
344 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
ordered all his soldiers to go to their respective
churches, when, at the same time, I suspect he was
much of Coully Kan's mind, who made first the
Alcoran, and then the New Testament be read to
him, and, after hearing both, declared he would
make a religion better than any of them.
I hear he is adored in Scotland for being the
head of the protestant religion, but I wish he may
not be like many an honest man's head which has
led his body a gray gate ; l not but his intentions
are good, but who can depend upon executing
their projects ?
The world is not as it was long ago, when one
man could raise his fortune, and pursue and execute
his schemes in a few years. The states of Europe
are now so fixed, that it takes more than the life
that any single person can promise, to plan and
execute anything out of the common road ; and,
if he should arm the protestants, and bring them
over to his party, his death, or the failling of any
scheme, will leave them in a very bad state. We
will not find it in Britain, but it will be found
most surely elsewhere.
1 A bad way ; used metaphorically as ' It 's a sair pity to
behold youthfu' blood gaun agate sae gray.' Blackwood's Mag.,
June 1820, p. 281.
JOURNEY 345
Many towns in Germany are half and half, who
live very peaceably together at present, but if set
by the ears, must fall heavy on the protestants,
who are the weakest party. I wish the protestants
very well, and therefore beg the King of Prussia
(unless he can promise upon at least thirty years'
life, success to all his undertakings, and that his
heir shall follow his plans exactly) not to meddle
with them, at least those who are subjects of
another prince, and whom he has no hopes of
becoming master of.
Now, I will tell you what I think he might
exequte: the Saxons are protestants, and have a
popish king who is otherways provided for ; he
has shown he is not able to protect them,
so that, if the King of Prussia could make
them beleive he has abdicated the crown, they
may call a convention of the states, and call
a king of their own religion, and let him be
head of his own protestant subjects, but not of
any body else's.
So much for the German politicks ; as for the
English, we have that only on hearsay. But
there is a gentleman come here from Hanover,
and says that the people there are inraged
to the outmost degree at the English for treat-
346 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
ing their troops so ill, and think it very odd
the King did not pay for quarters to them out of
his own pocket. 1
1 The devil or the French take them all by the
back,' say they, c since that is the way they treat
their freinds !'
The King of France and his parliament have
fallen out most terribly ; he finds now that he
must exert his authority, as he finds, since they
are not satisfied with the Pope's decision : it is not
religion that is the motive with them, but that
they intend to extend their civill powers a little
farther, and only made use of religion at first to
increase their party. I never understood this
French dispute till I came from home, so I
suppose you may stand in need of the same
information ; it is extremely simple, and what
may have happened, and I beleive has happened,
in our own Generall Assembly.
The Jansenists, some years ago, wrote some
books, in which they drove some points of divinity
farther than the church approved; for instance,
the point of predestination, so far as to take away
1 The reference here is probably to the question of the
' German Subsidies ' which had unsettled the Duke of New-
castle's Administration in the preceding year (see note, p. 299).
JOURNEY 347
all human liberty, just like my Lord Kaims. 1 The
Pope and Councill took this into consideration,
and they condemned these points as hereticall, and
the act that was passed against them was called the
bull unigenitus.
The Jansenists stood to those points in spite of
that bull, the crime of which was, not in the points
in dispute, but in not submitting to the church ;
upon which the other party denied them the
sacrament, and, of consequence, absolution, whilst
they were refractory to this bull, and, of con-
sequence, rebels to the church. This refusall of
the sacrament, you know, made a great disturbance,
and, at last, it was referred to the Pope, whose
decision, I suppose, you saw lately in the news-
papers ; that, if any man, after admonition and
being told his danger, would take his hazzard to
himself, be it said, c let him receive his own
damnation, and his blood be on his own head.'
This everybody thought would end the dispute,
but it has not ; and now the King is resolved to
1 Lord Kames, described by Voltaire as ' Lord Makames, a
justice of peace in Scotland,' produced in 1751 Essays on
Morality and Natural Religion, in which he dealt with ' moral
freedom of action,' and ' liberty and necessity,' maintaining
that ' necessity and liberty meet in the same agent, yet inter-
fere not.'
348 MRS. CALDERWOOD'S
exert his authority, and it is thought he will have
the best of it.
The people here expect they are to have a
French and an English army in Cleves, this spring
or summer ; it will be a great pity if I should be
in the Low Countries in time of war, and not see
an army, and, if they be within a hundred miles,
I shall see them. The troops who marched out
here have suffered greatly from the cold ; severall
poor boys, about fourteen and fifteen, were sent
off with them, and they write that the frost made
their eyes water, and that it froze upon their
cheeks : I suppose the poor soldiers were greeting
for cold.
The folks here are very easy about their
children ; so soon as they are able to learn any-
thing, the boys are put out to pension, and the
girls to a convent, and they never ask after them
more. When the boys are able to carry a musket,
away they go to the army, or are put into a
colledge for the church, and the girls wait on in
the convent till some men marry them, and if not,
they remain and take the veill. If married, they
turn out (if at the court) whatever anybody is at
the pains to make them. If they die before they
come to any of these periods, the parents bury
JOURNEY 349
them the next day, and, to divert their greif, their
freinds carry them to the plays and all other
diversions ; at no time a parent puts on mourning
for a child, because they gain nothing by their
death.
It is a brave school a forreign service for
datted [petted] youths ! When I came here, there
was a prince lying in irons, which I beleive I
wrote you ; not a callico prince, but really a great
German one.
I have got an opportunity of sending this by
Billy Gordon [see p. 167] who goes over ; it comes
alongst with your robes, which are very genteely
made.
I wish you all a happy new-year.
BRUXELLS, z%tb December 1756.
L' EN VOI
' Here 's to your good health ; and may you never put
your neck in such a venture again.'
f Humph ! I do not know I am not like to be tempted
with another opportunity. ... I have little to lose they that
took my land the last time may take my life this ; that is all I
care about it.'
Redgauntlet.
L'ENVOI
Mr s. Calderwood's writings and style : Her essay in
novel-writing: 'Adventures of Fanny Roberts:'
Novel-writing, ancient and modern : MRS.
CALDERWOOD TO MRS. DURHAM of Largo :
' The Secret Expedition:' Further wanderings
of Sir James Steuart : LADY MARY WORTLEY
MONTAGU : Arrest and imprisonment of Sir
James : ( Aunt Betty : ' Pardon and Return :
' Journal of Factor ship : ' Mrs. Calderwood's
sons : Subsequent Family History.
'OPPORTUNITY creates a sinner,' it has been
alleged it also creates a writer. Though Mrs.
Calderwood had the 'quick eye for the world's
outward manifestations ' which makes the realist in
literature, she had not found fitting scope for her
pen till she undertook this personally conducted
tour. It may readily be imagined that such letters
as these would be read with avidity by relatives at
home, and handed about to friends interested in
the wanderers. In country houses from which
354 MRS. CALDERWOOD
came constantly the cry for f news ' and c pam-
phlets,' which formed such a source of entertain-
ment in those days a pitiful appeal of this kind
fromBalgownie inAberdeenshire is nowbefore me
these MS. volumes, of which unhappily no more have
been found, would be nothing short of a blessing.
With regard to certain passages of Mrs.
Calderwood's letters, as in the case of Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu, a charge of want of
delicacy has been brought. It should be remem-
bered that they were written without any idea of
their being printed, and in the first instance with
the intention of conveying to her daughter clearly
what was the daily life of the party. This was in
an age, when (as has been said elsewhere) Field-
ing's novels were the reading of the young, and
the stories of Mrs. Aphra Behn that f arch
hussy ' the amusement of the old. In reference
to that time, Miss Mure of Caldwell remarks,
c The women were undelicate in their conversation,
and vulgar in their manners ; even after '45 these
did not change much, and were undelicate in the
married ones.' With the one exception already
mentioned, when any excisions have been made,
they have been, for the most part, no more than
a word or two of homely Scotch, which, while
L'ENVOI 355
they conveyed the writer's meaning distinctly to
her daughter, could do harm to no mortal ; would
that so much could be said of all the ladies who
handle the pen in the present day !
{ My dear/ said Miss Jewsbury, { how is it that
women who don't write books, write always so
much nicer letters than those who do ? ' x The
answer is, that good letter-writing is a gift apart
from the knack of skilfully contriving a novel.
The reputation these letters had gained for Mrs.
Calderwood was perhaps, in some measure, a cause
of her allowing herself to be persuaded to attempt
a flight in another region of literature. After her
return, Mrs. Calderwood essayed to produce a
story whose leading idea seems to be an endeavour
to connect many of the most striking incidents that
she had met with in her travels, or picked up in
the course of her experimental dealings with many
conditions of men and women. The MS. remains
of this essay in fiction ; it is entitled, c The Adven-
tures of Fanny Roberts ; wrot to a friend, by
herself;' in the recital of which she, in the or-
thodox and somewhat self-conscious style, hopes
that her example while in her greatest distresses,
now happily overcome, may prevent others from
1 MRS. CARLYLE'S Letters, vol. ii. p. 307.
356 MRS. CALDERWOOD
repining under afflictions. Judged by present
standards, it can hardly be pronounced a success.
If it be true that a novel should be c a criticism of
life/ it is possible that Mrs. Calderwood's practical
mind, endowed though it was with the power of
t observation ' and c reception,' was not of the de-
scription the best fitted for a task where much of
sympathy, minute analysis of character, and a
measure of introspection are required. Be this as
it may, f Fanny Roberts ' scarcely fulfilled expecta-
tions. In effect, in the one case she c had a story
to tell,' in the other she f had to tell a story ; ' and
the result, we have been assured^ is never satisfac-
tory. Her novel never was printed.
It is curious reading this same old story. Its
method evidently is formed upon that of some of
the most popular novelists of her time ; Fielding's,
for example. And it seems that the theory which
guides certain ladies who write in the present day
that, to insure a story f going off,' it must possess
more or less of an element inadequately styled
c questionable,' leading them to introduce incidents
and ideas which do achieve but one-half of the
comedian's object as defined by Johnson in the
Rehearsal, namely, to c surprise and elevate '
was then in force. These shifts, it may well be
L'ENVOI 357
conceived, never could have occurred to the writers
but for pressure put upon a fertile imagination ;
and we are not unwilling to believe the process
must go against the grain. c But, what the
plague ! a novel is not to show occurrences that
happen every day,' such has ever been the cry.
Accordingly, Mrs. Calderwood, influenced, as it
appears, by such notions as these, has occasionally
drawn upon her fancy for incidents of a complexion
rivalling that of anything Fielding or Smollett has
ventured to give us. There is the English squire,
with his attendant sycophant, very forcibly drawn,
who in talk and manners out- Westerns the squire
in Tom jfones ; and the young debutante who falls
into rough company at Bath ; all cleverly drawn
in a style that we know to be faithful.
It was as a writer'of letters that Mrs. Calderwood
shone ; one or two of these, hitherto unprinted,
remain among the family papers at Arniston. The
following are specimens of her correspondence at
home ; characterised as before by strong common
sense and close observation :
(Mrs. CALDERWOOD to Mrs. DURHAM of Largo.)
LOND., Feb. 19, 1757.
f MY DEAR ANNE, I wrot you by last post
about your brothers having the small-pox. Now
358 MRS. CALDERWOOD
I have the pleasure of telling you I have letters
this day that they are both very well : Jamie writes
with his own hand, and Willie by a clerk. So soon
as they are fit for traveling they will be over, but
as they will not be taken into any scooll till the
blanes be off them, I am in hopes of geting a neat
country house, a littel way from London, furnished,
and a pleasant situation, which I think we will take
in the first place, as your papa likes much better
to be in the country, especiall as the sumer is
coming in ; and if we were to take a house at
London we would perhaps have nine months' rent
to pay for a sumer house.
( Aiton 1 Scooll is greatly comended, and I think
we will put Willie to it ; and for Jamie, one they
call the Charterhouse, in the Citty, where all the rich
merchants puts their sons, as he is just cut out for
a prentice that will marie his master's daughter, and
get all his mony. He is lost nothing of his bueaty
by the small pox ; I cannot say for Willie yet, as he
dos not mention that particular I supose they are
not off his face yet. You do not say wither you
are to inoculat Jamie. 2 As for Tom's eyes, since
he gleyed 3 they may be wake, but there is nothing
1 Eton.
2 Mrs. Durham's eldest son, born in 1754. 3 Squinted.
L'ENVOI 359
in that, for his uncle James gleyed so till six months
old that I consulted Docter Clerk about it ; but I
should think that since an issiue did so well with
Jamie that you might try it with him : it will both
do his eyes good and help out his teeth. You do
not write me if he is a serious man, or as Halicat
a thieffe^ as my ladie was at his age. ... I think
you will be very well with Betty Gibb. I never
saw her, but she was a vastly carfull attendant on
Mrs. Gib : I think they said she lost her health
with her attendance, and if she has no consumptive
complaints about her she will do very well. Your
sons will certainly " ride on the riggin of the kirk."
c I was in a shope the other day, and there I saw
variety of French-plate candelsticks from twelve
shill. to two guineas ; the fasion is now to
have them very high and fluted like pillers, and
they look very well to those who have lived
amongst Protestants ; but they look a littel Papaist-
like, and looks as they had tempted some body to
sacrelige by stealing them from an alter ; and it may
be thought it was me that did it ; but if you like
to have them I will run the risque of being
suspected, tho' I have been so much obliged by
1 ' Murrain on the gear ! let us but get Grace out o' that auld
Hellicafs clutches.' Tales of My Landlord, vol. i. p. 179.
360 MRS. CALDERWOOD
two priests who has taken such care of the bairns
that I dout if any of our Presbeterian Minesters
could have been more friendly.
f This puts me in mind of a letter I wrot from St.
And[rews] when last there to Peg Ramie, where
from seeing Mr. Grant I told her that the next
governour I had for the lads should be a Papaist
priste who she would like better than Mr. .
Many a treu word has been spoke in jist : but to go
from preist to candlestick, which is not so great a
transition as you will think, the first being as
materiall in religion as the last ; the low priced ones
was of a very genteell patern, but not so large as the
fasion. There was a tea kettel chassed like my littel
one, but larger, for 45 shill., which I thought very
cheap ; mine cost 50 long ago, and thought a great
pennyworth then. I saw a pair of earings as pretty
as any that would cost 1 20 ; no body would know
the difference ; they were vastly prettely set ;
three drops, and quite the fasion. They were
^14. I would, if you think so, change yours, the
dimonds of which is good, but makes no show for
there vallue, and that you will be much braver
for less mony ; and tell no body whatever ; and if
you think of this send them up to me by a safe
hand ; but first see what they offer you for them
L'ENVOI 361
at Edr. that I may know . . . but they are always
at the tope of the fasion in Edr. Since Jamie
reads letters from me it is a reproof to me for not
writing to him in return for his many letters to me.
I desire you will clerk one from him to tell me.' 1
(Mrs. CALDERWOOD to Mrs. DURHAM of 'Largo, ,) 2
LONDON, Oct. 8, 1757.
c MY DEAR ANNE, I received yours this day
with great pleasure, for I thought you had been
all dead. Four weeks on Tuesday since I left you,
and not to hear but one line from you and not a
scrape from any body elles. I have wrot you two
letters which you will have got by this time.
We have been amused for a week past with our
Expedition ; and I wrot you last that it was
going to the West Indias, then we heard it was
gone to the Island of Lee ; at which Bess said,
c O they will get excellent pears.' I was realy
begining to think they had some sort of policy
with them when they had cheated so many folks
away to the West Indias who would have beg'd
to be off from such a voiage ; but to our great
shame and discomforten they are this day returned
after landing on the Island of Aix and taken some
1 Polton MSS. 2 Ibid.
362 MRS. CALDERWOOD
prisenars and old cannon. 1 Our invasion of the
Island of May I fear was a prognostick of this
expedition ; our kitty-wakes was almost as great a
conquest as theirs ; and the fleas more trouble-
some enemies than they had to incounter ; and I
am sure, for my part, I brought as many prisoners
home ; and we in all incountered more danger
then they. The boasts that were made of the
secreacy, and what not, makes the return such a
disappointment that I supose this toun will go
crazy. I declare I blush at the bone for them ;
and if I was concernd in it, London should never
see my face. I congratulated Gen. St. Clair 2
1 This was the ' Secret Expedition ' for the capture of Roche-
fort and the Island of Aix between the isles of Rhe and Oleron,
which sailed on the 8th Sept. under command of Admiral Sir Ed.
Hawke and Lt.-Gen. Sir John Mordaunt. For his alleged mis-
management the latter was tried by a Court Martial which sat
from Dec. I4th to 2Oth, 1758; and ultimately acquitted the
prisoner. Public opinion expressed itself with severity :
' The genius of Britons had for fighting a passion,
' More civilised now, 'tis grown quite out of fashion ;
'Fine cloathes, and smock looks, and the care of the ladies,
' Their heads and their hearts more for these than their trade is
'Tho' Britons, 'tis said, were not mollies of old.
' The women, 'tis said, intend to petition
'That they may go out on the next Expedition. '
The Mock Expedition ; or the French Fright.
- Lieut.-General Sir Henry St. Clair Erskine, Colonel of the
L'ENVOI 363
upon this event, but it is nothing unless one had
heard the puffs : it was Mr. intirly. He
would show the nation had some speret. He
never was at freedom to act before ; this might
have been done three months before had it not
been for the unsetteld ministry. We lose every-
thing by our desercions ; and what not.
c The Parlement I fear will not meet in good
humer, and we here there are to be a new crop of
Patriots this winter : our ministry still holds to the
character of the flock of Turkeys. I always liken
them to sixteen of whom atempted one after an-
other to sit upon a chemny head that^was smoaking.
The Duke is expected hourly ; they will keep each
other in countenance. The K. denyes and totaly
disouns any hand in the convention, and is very
angry at it ; they say the K. of Pr. wrot such a
letter to the K. as made him cry : but the best
story of a letter ever I heard was Ld. Loudon's, 1
Royal Scots, married Janet, daughter of Peter Wedderburn, Esq.,
of Chesterhal], a Lord of Session ; and was father of the 2d
Earl of Rosslyn. He died in 1765.
1 John, 4th Earl of Loudon, F.R.S., at the time specified
was in command of the Forces in North America ; where he
planned an elaborate scheme for the attack of Louisbourg and
Cape Breton; not carried out, however, till 1758. He was a
representative peer of Scotland for 48 years, and died in 1782,
aged 77.
364 MRS. CALDERWOOD
which occationed all the story of his being recaled
and desiring to be recaled. My Ld. Loudon it
seems is not a man of the pen, but his situation
makes it improper for him to use a clerk ; so he
must write a letter to the K. with his oun hand,
which is very bad: the K. gets the letter and
neither the writing nor the matter could he make
top, taill or mane of: f there is a letter,' says he to
Mr. Pit, c that I cannot read, neither do I under-
stand it.' Mr. Pit takes the letter, and he could '
make as littel of it, and what they could [make]
out of it they did not understand. The K. told
this at Court, and all the Scots folks was in a
feaver that their Generall had wrot such a non-
cencicall letter to the K., for it was concluded that
since the letter was not understood, it must be
noncence. ( Let me see the letter,' says my Ld.
Mansfield ; and he read it ; c the letter,' says he,
f has many Scotiscisems in it, and it is ill to read,
but I will explain it ; and your Majesty will see
that there are few of your subjects cappable of
writing so distint, so sensible, and so judicious a
letter.' So after the frase was explained the letter
appeared to be all that Ld. Mansfield had said.
' Mr. Keith sets out on Teusday for Prussia. He
has great appointments, 8 per day, ,300 for his
L'ENVOI 365
traveling charges, and 1000 for his equpage. I
saw a lady this day who had seen him, and says he
looks very well, and she saw littel or no change
upon him. Your papa continues very well, and
the lads are very happy at being together. Jamie
is placed very littel below Willie ; and Willie can
play a tune on the fiddel ; and the dancing and
fencing gos on very well. I shall not conclude till
to-morrow, lest some news come out either true or
fauls : this day the news is a peace for certain ; and
in short the only thing they can do is to take a
pint and gree. Jamie's and Willie's tickets are
come up blanks. Peg Rainie's was in this day 7
night : the 1 0,000 is drawn. I will here against
Monday the fait of all. I supose Bess has got a
blank that day she came here. All here offers
compts. My blissing to all yours. Adiue,
3 ' MARGT. CALDERWOOD.'
c Remember me to all at Balcarass ; in particular
to Soph.' 1
For several years Sir James Steuart, whose suffer-
ings were the fountain and origin of the foregoing
narrative, continued to wander where health, or the
education of his son directed ; making many
1 Sophia Johnstone of Hilton. Seep. 137.
366 MRS. CALDERWOOD
friends. In the winter of 1756 they were detained
by the severity of the season at Frankfort, where
they received much kindness at the hands of Mr.
Burrage, the British Envoy before mentioned.
He spared no pains in his endeavours to interest
all the English he came in contact with in the case
of the exiles. 1 Thence they sought retirement at
Tubingen, in the Duchy of Wiirtemberg, where
they were warmly received at the Courts of Baden,
Dourlach, and Hohenzollern, as well as that of
Wiirtemberg. In 1758 Sir James was recom-
mended to proceed to the Tyrol and Venice, on
account of an attack of gout. Here commenced
a romantic friendship between Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu and the wanderers, which ended only with
the life of that warm-hearted, brilliant, and en-
thusiastic woman. f Quitting all other company,'
1 During the whole of Sir James Steuart's period of exile, his
friends at home never relaxed their efforts to obtain his pardon.
In Lord Chatham's Correspondence, Lond., 1838, there is a letter
dated I3th January 1757 from Sir Gilbert Elliot to Mr. Pitt,
pointing out, with much circumspection, the loss to the country
which the deprivation of Sir James's services entailed. (Vol. i.
p. 214.) Again, on ipthjune 1766, his nephew, David Stewart
Erskine, Lord Cardross (afterwards nth Earl of Buchan), writes
to the Prime Minister, his father's friend, mentioning the case of
his uncle, ' an unfortunate person, by one false step taken against
his true principles in very early life.' (Vol. ii. p. 428.)
L'ENVOI 367
it is said, f she made it her sole study to contribute
to their consolation and entertainment.' Sir
James Steuart used to say of her that ' when she
was in spirits he experienced more enjoyment
from her conversation than he could derive from
the most interesting book that ever was written.'
The climate of Venice was found not quite
suitable for the invalid, so they took a house
at Padua, and a pathetic leave of Lady Mary.
Their astonishment was great when they dis-
covered, on their settling themselves there, that
Lady Mary was also installed in a house at Padua
in their near neighbourhood, where she continued
her kind ministrations. The letters written by
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu to the Steuarts at
this time were preserved by Lady Frances in an
envelope on which she had written f 27 Letters
from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, which are
decisive of the short acquaintance necessary to the
adhesion which generally takes place when supe-
rior minds are brought together.' 1 She did not
1 These letters were printed in 1818 at Greenock by their
son, Sir James Steuart-Denham, in a neat volume, accompanied
by a short memoir, which has been quoted more than once in
this book. The most interesting of these letters were after-
wards incorporated in Lord Wharncliffe's edition of Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu's correspondence.
3 68 MRS. CALDERWOOD
live to see the success of her unceasing efforts on
behalf of her friends. On her deathbed Lady
Mary, though in grievous suffering, sent for the
young James Steuart, and took a tender leave of
him, as she could not have the comfort of his
parents' presence.
The exiles were again at Tubingen in 1760;
when news of the death of King George u. arrived,
at a most unfortunate moment for them. The
constant exertions of the Earl of Holderness and
Lord Barrington had been successful in procuring
a pardon for their friend : it only needed signa-
ture ; but the king's death upset all these arrange-
ments.
In 1762, war having broken out, the Steuarts
were at Antwerp, and in May of that year pro-
ceeded to Spa, accompanied by their sister Eliza-
beth, and Mr. Andrew Hay of Rannes, already
mentioned. Here, it seems, Sir James was some-
what incautious in expressing his sympathy with
the successes of the British arms. At all events
he was, in defiance of all rule, seized by a party
of 200 French soldiers under a lettre de cachet
from Louis xiv., and conveyed a prisoner to the
fortress of Givet in Charlemont. He was at-
tended by his sister, Elizabeth Steuart of Coltness,
L'ENVOI 369
commonly called c Aunt Betty,' an excellent
maiden lady, strong minded and eccentric, 1 the
delight of all who knew her. She shared the
rigours of her brother's prison, and ministered to
him in his sickness, so as to admit of Lady
Frances' return to England to represent the hard-
ships of her husband's case.
M. Cobenzl, the Austrian minister at Brussels,
when complaint was made to him of their house at
Antwerp having been broken into and its contents
rifled, acknowledged with regret the over com-
plaisance shown to the demands of the French
Government, and did his utmost to assist Lady
Frances in her extremity of trouble.
All the efforts of the Due de Nivernois, the
French Ambassador at St. James's, availed nothing.
On the jd November 1762, however, peace
was concluded; and on the i3th December the
1 In Henry Erskine and bis Kinsfolk, etc.; Edin. 1882, a
chapter is devoted to a sketch of the ' heavenly-minded but
plain-spoken Aunt Betty,' as she was styled by Lady Frances
Steuart ; and an attempt to define her quaint views of religion,
as shown in the volume published by her direction after her
death entitled Narrative of Four Conferences between the Ghost
of Mr. Maxwell of Coul t and the Rev. Mr. Ogilvie, Minister
of Innerwick, Lond. 1808. Mrs. Elizabeth Steuart died in
1803, and was buried at Cambusnethan.
2 A
370 MRS. CALDERWOOD
Due de Choiseul wrote to Sir James with his own
hand intimating that he was no longer a prisoner
of France. The mistake that had been made was
fully acknowledged, and it was significantly ad-
mitted, with profusion of compliments, that the
Chevalier Steuart, who knew French affairs de
fond en comble, would have been a dangerous
person for their interests had he been at liberty
while the terms of peace were under discussion.
Shortly after his release from the fortress of
Givet Sir James Steuart was tacitly the result
of the exertions of Lord Harrington and Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu allowed to return to
Britain. Ultimately a pardon was granted.
Though he had done little to blow up the coals
of rebellion, it was felt that in the interests of
his son, 1 now an officer in the i2th Regiment of
Dragoons, it was better to admit, without reserve,
all that was alleged against him, in the way of
1 Sir James Steuart Denham, G.C.H. lived to be the senior
general, and the oldest soldier in the British army. He was a
very excellent cavalry officer, and was, at the time of his death
in 1839, Colonel of the Scots Greys. He represented the
county of Lanark in Parliament for many years. As he left no
issue, his two baronetcies devolved on Sir John Steuart of Allan-
bank, the sole remaining male of this once widely-spreading
family.
L'ENVOI 371
treason, in the formal document in which his case
was detailed, and pardon granted for his misdeeds. 1
His great work, An Inquiry into the Principles of
Political Economy , perhaps the earliest treatise on
the subject produced in this country, was published
in 1767, reprinted in 1770, and translated into
French. In 1772, at the request of the Honour-
able East India Company, Sir James compiled his
Essay on the Coinage of Bengal, in acknowledgment
of which they presented him with a magnificent
diamond ring. But it was not till 1773 that
Sir James and his wife returned to their estate
of Coltness, where he lived in much retirement,
and devoted himself to study. He died in i 780 ;
Lady Frances Steuart, c the flower of Wemyss
family,' on the 3Oth June 1789.
A collective edition of the works of Sir James
Steuart, embracing several branches of learning,
was published, by desire of his son, at London in
1805 ; it extends to six large volumes.
On her return from abroad, Mrs. Calderwood
applied herself to the improvement of her hus-
band's estates, the extension of political influence,
1 The document is printed in the Coltness Co/lections, p. 381,
and is tolerably comprehensive.
372 MRS. CALDERWOOD
and the education of her sons. With a view to
the first of these objects she compiled a Journal
of her f Factorship ' during eight years of her
management, which treatise, characterised by her
usual plain common sense, 1 and said to be valuable
at the present day, she presented to the farmers of
her husband's estates in the hope of inspiring them
with new ideas. Her own success in this direction
was great ; in the time specified she had laid out
6000, and raised the rental from 827 to
For William Calderwood of Polton, spoken of
in the narrative of travel, the eldest son, his
mother procured a cornetcy in the First Horse
Guards; he became lieutenant-colonel in that
regiment, and held the office of Silver Stick ; he
1 Some of the writer's remarks were characterised by a
shrewdness of such depth, that they were thought to partake
somewhat of the wisdom of prophecy. In view of the ex-
periences of the county of Mid-Lothian in the course of the last
century, the reader may be able to judge of the sagacity of the
following dictum of Mrs. Calderwood : 'Any man whose esteat
lies in the county of Edinburgh, and who is related and con-
nected with it, and who has engadged in the business of the
law, either at the bar or on the Bench, must have a very con-
siderable failling in his character not to acquire a superior regard
to himself and family, to any other person of equall or superior
fortune.'
L'ENVOI 373
married in 1780 Anne, daughter of Colonel John
Balneaves of Cairnbadie, and died in 1787 at
Lausanne, where a monument is erected to his
memory.
Regarding James, the second son, Mrs. Calder-
wood writes in her own quaint manner, that,
having asked Professor Hamilton of Edinburgh
his opinion of her son, his answer was c That he
was the finest boy that he ever had under his care,
and fit for any business that he should be put to,
but that he did not seem to point to anything
in particular. That, as for his learning, he did
not seem fond of applying to the Latin ; he was
making little progress in the French ; and did not
seem at all to relish the arithmetick ; and for his
writing, he was sorry to say that I was a judge of
that by his letters. Here is my son says I
the finest boy ever Professor Hamilton had under
his care ; a second brother, and his fortoune to
make ; near fourteen years of age, and has been
educate in London, and has had opportunity of
seeing every different employment by which
people make their fortoune ; knows it is not the
milk and meal of a farm can support him ; so
wise as to be superior to his years, and yet not
pointing nor thinking of any employment ; and no
374 MRS. CALDERWOOD
application given to the very fundamentalls of the
lawyer, the physician, nor the merchant, and can-
not be got out of bed in the morning! This
youth must follow an employment where he can
be a very pretty fellow ; the most agreeable, the
finest lad in the world, without either solidity or
application, and who will get money as fast while
he is asleep as when he is awake ; and surely, for
the benefit of all such was a standing army first
established in Great Britain.' James Calderwood
died, unmarried, at New York in 1770, a captain
in the 26th Cameronian Regiment.
Mrs. Calderwood's active and useful life came
to an end in 1774, eight months after the death
of her husband. There is a portrait of her, by
Chambers, at Polton, displaying much of the
shrewd intelligence to be found in her writings.
In few words the subsequent history of this
family may be sketched.
On the death of Lieutenant-Colonel William
Calderwood in 1787, his sister Anne, Mrs. Dur-
ham of Largo, succeeded to his estates in Mid-
Lothian. Of her five children, 1 James Durham
1 Mrs. Calderwood's only granddaughter, Margaret (daughter
of Anne Calderwood Durham of Largo), married, in 1783, James
L'ENVOI 375
of Largo, born in 1754, and repeatedly mentioned
in his grandmother's letters, entered the army at
the age of fifteen, was appointed, in 1794, colonel
of the Fifeshire Regiment of Fencibles, which he
had raised. He served in the Irish Rebellion, and
held for some years the command of the Eastern
district of Scotland. He succeeded to the Largo
estate on his father's death in 1808; became
general in 1830: till the end of his life he was
Convener of his native county.
Strange, of the H.E.I.C. Service, son of Sir Robert Strange, the
celebrated engraver, and adherent to the Jacobite cause. Their
daughter, Isabella, the delight of Sir Robert's old age, became the
wife of James Wolfe Murray, Lord Cringletie, a judge of the
Court of Session.
It may be conceived with what feelings a passage in one of her
daughter's letters regarding Sir R. Strange would be read by the
thrifty and careful Mrs. Calderwood. Mrs. Durham writes :
' His works are amazing, and he has made the engrav-
ing a source of wealth to the nation, as they now export prints
to all parts of the world to the value of 100,000. He in-
tended to destroy his plates that none might print off inferior
copys. Romney, the painter, who is his great admirer, bid me
ask him not to do it, for they were still worth 10,000, and
that as he said he was to do so, he would need a reason to give
to the public. So I wrote to him a letter at Romney's instance.
... He assured me he would do nothing rashly that any one
thought might be of hurt to his son.' Polton MSS. This
letter is quoted in the Life of Sir R. Strange, by Mr. James
Dennistoun of Dennistoun : London, 1855.
376 MRS. CALDERWOOD
General Durham married, first, Elizabeth,
daughter of Colonel Sheldon ; and secondly, Mar-
garet, eldest daughter of Colonel John Anstruther
Thomson of Charlton ; and died in 1840.
Having no children, General Durham was suc-
ceeded in the Largo property by his nephew,
Thomas, son of Thomas Durham Calderwood.
This last-named gentleman, Thomas Durham
Calderwood of Polton (second son of Anne Dur-
ham), on whom his mother had entailed that
estate and her family name, was Lieut-Colonel
of the Fifeshire Fencibles. His wife was Eliza-
beth, daughter of James Young of Netherfield,
in the county of Lanark. He died in 1815,
leaving three children, James, Thomas, and Lilias.
Of these, James Steuart Calderwood of Polton,
a lieutenant of the i2th Lancers, inherited his
father's estate on his death. He died, unmarried,
in 1818, at Lausanne, where there is, in the
cathedral, a monument to his memory.
Thomas Calderwood of Polton succeeded on his
brother's death. He left the naval service on his
marriage with Anna, eldest daughter of William
Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore. He likewise
succeeded General Durham, in 1840, as heir-male
of that family, and so became Durham of Largo.
L'ENVOI 377
He was heir-general of the Calderwoods of Polton,
and of the several branches of the Steuart family
mentioned in the earlier part of this narrative,
namely, of Kirkfield, Coltness, and of Goodtrees.
But the estate of Polton, in accordance with the
terms of its destination, devolved on his uncle,
Admiral Sir Philip Charles Henderson Calderwood
Durham, G.C.B. (third son of Anne Durham), a
highly distinguished officer. 1 He married in 1799
the Lady Charlotte Bruce, daughter of the fifth
Earl of Elgin; secondly, in 1817, Anne, daughter
and heiress of Sir John Henderson of Fordel, and
died without issue in 1845, a g e< ^ eighty-two.
Sir Philip Durham was succeeded in the family
estate in Mid-Lothian by his niece, Lilias Calder-
1 Sir Philip Durham was a midshipman on board the Royal
George, and one of the few who survived the sinking of that
vessel. His career as a naval officer was one of singular
brilliancy. The first tricolour ed flag that was struck to the
British ensign was taken by him on the I3th February 1793,
and the last captured in the long war fell to him on the loth
August 1815. See Mem. of the Naval Life and Services of
Ad. Sir P. C. H. C. Durham, G.C.B., by his nephew, Capt.
A. Murray, R. Irish Fusiliers. Lond., 1846, p. 98. Sir Philip
fought at Trafalgar, and was the friend of Nelson and of Colling-
wood : he received, with other honours, the military Order of
Merit from Louis XVHI., a rare distinction ; and the Grand Cross
of the Bath.
378 MRS. CALDERWOOD
wood Durham (only daughter of Lieutenant-
Colonel Thomas Durham Calderwood of Polton),
married in 1822 to Robert Dundas of Arniston,
who died in 1838. She had already acquired the
estate of Largo on her brother's death in 1842.
Large in judgment and instinct, true as woman
and wife, this lady had inherited besides the re-
presentation of two ancient families many of those
excellent gifts for which they had been long dis-
tinguished.
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a
INDEX
AIX-LA-CHAPELI.E, TREATY OF,
150, 292.
Aldenburgh, Countess of, 98.
Alexander, Provost, 3.
Altare Damascenum, xlv.
Amsterdam, 10, 106, 108, 109, in.
Anne, 'Princess Governess,' 62,
94-5, 97, 281.
Anstruther, General Philip, 333.
Anstruther-Thomson,Margaret,376.
Antwerp, 135, 136, 138, 140, 142,
145-6.
Ardennes, 181, 223.
Argyle, Archibald, Marquis of, xxx.
BAILLIE OF JERVISWOOD, 244.
Baltimore, Frederick, Seventh
Lord, 28.
Balneaves, Anne, 373.
Barnard, Lady Anne, 137.
Barrington, Lord, 368.
Beaton, Colonel, 280.
Madame, 199 et seq., 278
etseq,, 283-4, 306, 336.
Beguines, 261 et seq.
Bellamy, Mrs., actress, 325.
Bellew, John, Fourth Lord, 329
et seq.
Bentinck, William, Count, 98.
Bergen-op-Zoom, 132, 134.
Beverley, Dr., of Cambridge, 95.
Bishop, Sir Cecil, of Parkham, 29.
Miss, 29.
Blackwood, Miss, 30.
Blackwell, Sir Lambert, Bart., 288.
Blair, Sir Adam, of Carbery, 171.
Father, 170-1.
Blakeney, Lieut. -General Lord,
Iviii, 134, 207.
Bland, General Humphrey, 207.
Bowles, Mr., 47, 57, 117.
Boyle, Henry, Earl of Shannon,
198.
Hon. Hamilton (Sixth Earl
of Cork and Orrery), 197-8.
Braxfield, Lord, 168.
Brown, Professor Rev. William, 48.
Count Ulysses, 206.
General, 207.
Bruce, Lady Charlotte, 377.
Brussels, 235-6, et seq. 258, et
M?. 264-7, 274-7, 297, 307-13,
324.
Buchan, Agnes Countess of, xlv,
Hi, 42, 325.
Henry David, Tenth Earl of,
xlv, xlix.
David, Eleventh Earl of, xlv,
42, 127, 366.
Buller, John, of Morval (misprinted
Butler), 9.
Miss, 30.
Burrage, Mr. (Envoy), 218, 366.
Butler, Mr., 331.
Byng, Admiral Hon. John, Ivii-viii,
24, 207.
CALDERWOOD, ANNE (see Durham,
Mrs., of Largo).
Mrs., ix marriage, xliv
Jacobite sympathy, liv her
daughter, Ivi journey, i Lon-
don, 21 etseq. English stupidity,
27,41,311-12 voyage,45-54 at
Rotterdam, 62 etseq. the Hague,
92 et seq. an apology, 1 19-20
on the siege of Bergen, 1 32-34
Antwerp, 135 etseq. on Catholic
education, 152 et seq. with the
Jesuits, 169 et seq. Spa, 184
3 82
INDEX
on the 'ten commands,' 213
Brussels, 235 et sey. controver-
sial, 285-88 on English selfish-
ness, 314-15 on Captain Hew,
324-29 foreign politics, 341
MS. Novel, 355-57 to her
daughter, 357-65 Factorship,
372 her sons, 372-73 descend-
ants, 372-78.
Calderwood, Rev. David, xlv.
Captain James, Ivi, 227, 243,
358, 373, 374-
James Steuart, 376.
Thomas, of Polton, xliv-v, Ivi,
50, 93, 101, 106, in, 128-29,
171, 178, 182, 216, 237, 240,
374-
Lieut. -Colonel Thomas D.,
376.
Lieut. -Colonel William, Ivi,
303, 358, 372, 374-
Sir William, Lord Polton,
xliv.
Callenberg, Count, 283, 333-34.
Grafin von, 335.
Countesses, 335.
Capucines, 210, 234, 266.
Cardross, Henry, Third Lord,
xxxiv.
Caroline, Princess, 94.
Carstares, Principal, xxxvi, 131.
Caterine, Madlle., 290.
Cathcart, Lady, 197.
Charles, Eighth Lord, 280.
Charles-Edward, Prince ( Chevalier),
xlvii, lii-liii, 167.
Charles vi., Emperor, 149.
Charles vir., Emperor, 150.
Chaude Fontaine, 228.
Cholmondeley, George, Third Earl
of, 28.
Choiseul, Due de, 370.
Clark, Mrs., 46.
Cobenzl, Count, 283, 369.
Madame, 315, 318.
Coinage of Bengal, 371.
Collier, Miss, 190.
Coltness, xli, 268, 371.
Cookson, Mr. ,47, 56, 117, 148.
Cork and Orrery, John, Fifth Earl
of, 196.
Coventry, Marie Gunning, Countess
of, 27, 29.
Crawfurd, Mr., of Rotterdam, 74-
76.
Cresner, Madame, 205, 209.
Cringletie, Lord, xlvi, 375.
Cumberland, H.R.H. Duke of, liv,
3, 33-
Cunningham, Margaret, 292.
Cromwell, Oliver, 30.
DALRYMPLE, SIR HEW, Lord
President, xl, xliii, xlvi.
Hew, Lord Drummore, li.
Sir John, Baron of Exch., xl.
Captain Hew, of Fordel, 1 88,
324, 326.
Sir John, of Cranston, Bart,
188.
Anne, of North Berwick, xliii.
Lady Helen, 165, 1 88, 214,
270, 320, 326 et seq.
Janet, 'The Bride,' xliii.
Daniel, Father, 170-73 et seq., 230.
D'Aremberg, Duchesse, 192, 337.
Leopold Due, 192.
D'Aubigny, M., of Liege, 208-9.
Davies, an Irishman, 239.
Dawson, 'Jemmy,' 159.
Delft, 90.
Dempster of Dunnichen, 332.
Denham, Sir Arch. Stewart, of
Westshield, xxxi.
Digges, Mr., actor, 46, 325.
Doddridge, Dr., 279.
Dondie, Peter, 46, 57.
Miss, 46.
Dundas of Arniston, xlvii.
Robert, of Arniston, 378.
Dungarvan, Lord, 197.
Duquerry, Major, 199, 279,
INDEX
383
Durham, 4.
Durham, Mrs., of Largo, Iv, Ivi,
374, 375-
Margaret (see Strange, Mrs.).
James, of Largo, Iv. 375.
General James, 358, 374-76.
Sir Philip Calderwood, G.C.B.,
377-78.
Lilias Calderwood, 376, 378.
EDGCUMBE, RICHARD, First Lord,
28.
Richard, Second Lord, 28.
Commodore (see Mount-Edg-
cumbe, Earl of).
Edmonston of Newton, xxxix.
Egerton, Lady Diana, 28.
Eglinton, Alexander, Sixth Earl
of, xxx.
Elcho, David, Lord, xlvi-vii, 165.
Elliot, Sir Gilbert, of Minto, Third
Baronet, Iviii, 366.
John, of Stobbs, xxxii.
Erskine, Lady Anne Agnes, 4.
Sir David, Kt, xliv, xlv.
Hon. Henry, x, xlv, 42, 95.
Thomas, Lord Chancellor,
x, xlv, 42.
Gen. Sir Henry St. Clair, 362.
Esterhazy Family, 150.
FAEL, BARON DEL A, 102, 199 et seq.
Fanny Roberts, Adventures of,
355-57-
Ferguson, Mr., 326.
Fielding, Henry, 208, 356, 357.
Fingall, Justin, Fifth Earl of, 331.
Fletcher, Andrew, of Saltoun,
xxxiv, 126, 127.
Andrew, Lord Milton, 78,
128.
Forbes, Fifteenth Lord, 167.
Fox, Henry (Lord Holland), 299.
Francis I., Emperor, 150.
Frederick the Great, 62, 114-16,
341 etseq.
GARDINER, COLONEL JAMES, 279.
Garlics, John, Lord, 188.
George n., King, 24, 31, 32, 62.
Gibson of Durie, 289.
Goodtrees, xxxii, xli, 260.
Gordon, James, of Cowbairdy, 167,
168, 183, 215, 231.
Mrs., of Cowbairdy, 167, 168,
183, 230-31.
Captain John, of Park, 167.
Sir William, of Park, 167.
Billy, 349.
Graham, Anna Cunningham, of
Gartmore, 376.
HAARLEM, 108, 109.
Haggerston, Sir Carnaby, Bart., II
Hague, The, 92, 97.
Harwich, 43, 44.
Hatton, Mr., Consul, 231.
Hay, Andrew, of Rannes, 214-15,
368.
Hay, Mr., of Spa, 186 et seq., 21 1.
Helvoetsluys, 54.
Henderson, Anne, of Fordel, 377.
Herbert, Lady Winifred (see Niths-
dale, Countess of).
History of the Church of Scotland,
xlv.
Hoare, Henry, of Stourhead, 197.
Holdernesse, Earl of, 368.
Home, Henry, Lord Kames, 347.
Hope, Anna, xxxi.
Sir Thomas, xxxi.
Mr. , 299 et seq.
Howard, Lady Abbess, 143.
Charles, of Greystoke, 144.
Thomas, of Corby, 144.
Hume, Sir Patrick, of Polwarth,
xxxv.
Hurlly, Peter, Burgomaster, 222.
Hussy, Madame, 203 et seq.
Hyde Park, 26, 30.
JANSENISTS, 346 et seq.
Jeffrey, Francis, 168.
INDEX
Jesuits, 152, 157, 169 et seq., 193,
338.
Jews, 104, 250 a seq.
Johnstone, Soph., of Hilton, 137,
365.
Jolly, Madame, 284-85, 286 et seq.,
306.
Joseph II., Emperor, 169.
Journal of Factor ship, 372.
Jus Populi vindicatutn, xxxiii.
KEITH, FIELD-MARSHAL JAMES,
206.
Mr., 364.
Kensington Palace, 31, 32.
LANDEN, FIELD OF, 181.
Legge, Mr., Chan, of Exchequer,
299.
Leighton, Bishop, 37.
Liege, 161, 162-63, l6 9-7, 178,
180, 181, 182, 193-94.
Lisbon, 49.
London, 21-34, 357-58, 361 et
seq.
Lorraine, Prince Charles of, 323,
342.
Francis, Dnke of, 343.
Loudoun, John, Fourth Earl of,
363-64.
Louvaine, 152.
Lowendahl, Count, 132.
Luck, Mr., 186.
Lundin, Laird of, 24, 44.
Lyttelton, Sir George, Bart., 218.
Sir Richard, K.B., 218.
MACDONALD, SIR ALEXANDER,
93-
Mackenzie, Sir George, Lord
Advocate, xxxiv, xxxvii.
M'Culloch, Marion, xxxi, xxxii.
M'Kaill, Rev. Hugh, 120.
Mansfield, Lord, 364.
March, Lord (see Queensberry,
Duke of).
Marie Amalie, Archduchess, 337.
Maria Theresa, Empress, 149-50,
341, et seq.
Marinasa, opera-dancer, 49, 57.
Marischal, Earl, xlvi.
Marlborough, Charles Spencer,
Second Duke of, 27.
Sarah, Duchess of, 189.
Marr, M. de, 203.
Maxwell, Lady Winifred, of Niths-
dale, ii.
Father, 171.
Lady Anne, 329.
Melville, George, First Earl of,
xxxiv.
Mhnoires de la Maison Brande-
bourgh, 115.
Minto, Lady, 244.
Mitchell, Sir Andrew, 292-93.
Rev. W., 292.
Monro, Prof. Alexander, 93.
Dr., 49, 57,93.
Montague, Mrs. Elizabeth, 25.
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 354,
366 et seq.
Moredun, xxxii.
Mount-Edgcumbe, George, First
Earl, 29.
Mure, Mr., of Caldwell, li.
Mrs., of Caldwell, xxv, xlviii.
Captain Alexander, 203.
Elizabeth, of Caldwell, xxv,
xlvi, 354.
Jean, of Glanderstone, 131.
Murray, Lady Elliot, xxvi.
Mrs., of Cringletie, xlvi.
Naphtali, or the Wrestlings of the
Church, xxxiii.
Nassau- Weilbergh, Prince of, 94.
Nassau, John William Friso, Prince
of, 130.
Needham, John T., F.R.S., 158-59,
224 et seq., 241, 266, 323.
Nether- Bow Port, 245.
INDEX
385
Newcastle, Thomas, First Duke of,
24, 299.
Nithsdale, William, Fifteenth Earl
of, 329.
Winifred, Countess of, 329.
Nivernois, Due de, 369.
Norfolk, Charles, Tenth Duke of,
144.
O'FARREL, Mr., 331.
O'Lelly, 240.
Ormond, Duke of, xlvi.
Osburgh, Bishop of, 195.
PALFY FAMILY, 150.
Palfy, Count, 219.
Patine, Mdlle., 199 et seq.
Peggie from Edinburgh, 138.
Pelham, Henry, Chancellor of
Exchequer, 29.
Miss, 29.
Penn, William, xxxv.
Perry, Young, 190.
Pitt, Mr. (Lord Chatham), 364, 366.
Polton, xliv, i, 372, 376-7.
Portland, First Duke of, 98.
Poyntz, Right Hon. Stephen, 189,
192.
Mrs., 190, 192.
Principles of Political Economy,
371-
QUEENSBERRY, DUKE OF (' Old
Q.'), 29.
RACHEL, Chambermaid, 6.
Rainy, Peggie, Ivi, 217, 221, 234,
240, 243, 360.
Ranelagh, Iviii, 27.
Rattray, John, Ivi, 5, 50, 51, 52,
216.
' Recollects,' Order of, 143, 331-32.
Richardson, Samuel, 208.
Robinson, Sarah, 25.
Sir Thomas (Earl of Gran-
tham), 299.
2
Rocoux, Field of, 180.
Romney, George, painter, Ivi, 375.
Rotterdam, 58, 62-64, 65, 66, 69,
70, 71.
Royale, Madame, 323.
Rutherford Peerage, Iv.
SAARDAM, 116-17.
St. Alban's, Duke of, 288.
St. Cecilia Society, 320.
St. Philip, fort of, Iviii, 134, 207.
Saltfoot Controversy, xxix.
Saxe, Marshall, 132, 180.
Scheveling, 98.
Scotland's Grievances, xxxiii.
Scott, George Lewis, 25.
Seton of Touch, xxxix.
Sevigne, Madame de, Ivi.
Sharpe, Charles Kirkpatrick, xliv.
Sheldon, Elizabeth, 376.
Sinsokie, Princess, 219-21.
Somerville, James, Eleventh Lord,
xxviii, xxxi.
Spa, Iv, 184^^., 187-89, 210-15,
221-23.
Spencer, John (First Earl Spencer),
189.
Mrs., 190.
Stadtholder (see William iv. and
William v.).
Stair, James, First Viscount, xxxiv,
xliii.
' Stair's Grey Horse, ' 279.
Stamper, actor, 46.
Steuart, Agnes, of Goodtrees (see
Buchan, Countess of).
Elizabeth, xlvi, 30, 368-69.
Margaret, of Coltness (see
Calderwood, Mrs.).
Sir James, of Goodtrees, Lord
Advocate, xxxi-xli.
Sir James, of Coltness, Solici-
tor General, xlii-iii.
Sir James, ' Political Econo-
mist,' xlvi et seq,, liv et seq., 183,
365 etseq., 368, 370-71.
B
3 86
INDEX.
Steuart, Denham, Sir James, of
Coltness, 165, 368, 370.
Sir David, of Coltness, xli.
Sir John, of Allanbank, 370.
Marianne (see Murray, Mrs. ,
of Cringletie).
Marion, of Coltness, 25.
Lady Frances, xvii et seq., n,
2OI, 2l6, 220, 223, 371.
Stewarts of Allanton, xxix.
Stewart, Sir James, of Kirkfield,
Provost, xxix-xxxii, 379.
Archibald, of Mitcham, 40.
Sir Thomas, ' Gospel Colt-
ness,' xxxv, xxxvii.
Stirling of Garden, xxxix.
of Keir, xxxix.
of Kippendavie, xxxix.
Strange, James, 374.
-Mrs., 374.
Isabella (see Wolfe-Murray,
Mrs.).
Sir Robert, 375.
Sutherland, Countess of, xlvii.
Swarkstone Bridge, 9.
TARGOW, 127.
Tirlemont, 150, 160.
Tour through the Low Countries, A,
131.
Townley, Col. Francis, 158-59.
Mr., 158, 225-26.
Townsend, Miss, 288
Traill, Agnes, 34.
Mr., of Jamaica, 34, 35.
Mrs., of Jamaica, 34, 35.
' Tr&bnciers ' of Liege, 162-63.
Trelawny, Sir John, M.P., 9.
Lady, 9, 34.
Tron, St., 181, 232.
Tubingen, 366, 368.
VAUXHALL, Iviii, 27.
Vindication of Newton's Chronology,
liv.
WALES, GEORGE, PRINCE OF, 24,
25-
Walpole, Horace, Ivii-viii, 300.
Ward, Mr., 218.
Mrs., actress, 46, 325.
Warwick, Mrs., 144.
Webb, Mr., 47, 56, 117.
Wemyss, Lady Frances (see_ Steuart,
Lady Frances).
Janet, Countess of, 165, 220.
Whitnor, Mr., 305, et seq.
Miss, 307.
William iv., Stadtholder, 62.
William v., Stadtholder, 62, 94-95.
Wodrow, Rev. Robert, xxxvi,
xxxvii i, xlii.
Wolfe-Murray, James (see Cringle-
tie, Lord).
Mrs., of Cringletie, 375.
Worsley, Sir Thomas, Bart., 196.
Lady Betty, 196, 205.
YORK AND ALBANY, H.R.H. Ed-
ward Augustus, Duke of, 26.
Young, Elizabeth, of Netherfield,
376.
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