1 Ih.d'Jf'i y'^m- pmm^ ^v? ^"^^^ Bli# ^rSffe"^ Pi-u Ma. ri. yy. ; 1- r V ; t 'A iwniHMji«l 1^1 :;i . ii^S Si-ifi!?s I^fe |j0littiin; Presented to The Cornell University, 1870, p.v GoLDwiN Smith, M . A. Oxon., Regius Profeflbr of Hiftory in the Univerfity of Oxford. CORNELL UNIVERSrTY LIBRARY 3 1924 087 992 230 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924087992230 J'n^/Yj.v^i/ by S S/nj f-/i. HORACE W:AI.P0I.E, AT TH.V. AG-E OF TEIT TROJ/C THE OBIlVIKAIj OIL-PIC Ti ' k f. IN THE POo ::E y ;; ti iN OE U^'^''EKJ?.F.''KX) . IotmI.ti I'ubli.slie.l "by lurliar.l BenHeyl^Sy THE LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE, 4/ hfK EAEL OF ORFOED. EDITED BY PETER aUNNINGHAM. NOW FIRST CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED. KSTBAMCE OF STRAWBERBY Hltli. IlSr EIGHT VOLUMES.yOL.— I. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, M.-D.CCC.LYTI. /CORNELL UrdVERSITY \ LIBRARY ^ LONDON : BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS. WHITKFRIAB8. CONTENTS. « PAGE IMr. Cuimingliain's Advertisement xxxv Walpole's Advertisement to Ms Letters addressed to Sir Horace Mauu . xxxvii Mr.Croker's Preface xxxix Lord Dover's Preface . . ..... xli ]\Ir. Wriglit's Preface ........... xlv Miss Mary Berry's Advertisement ..... xlvii Mr. Vernon Smith's Preface ...... . , Ivi Mr. Vernon Smith's Second Preface ....... . Iviii Mr. Bentlej's Advertisement . . ... , lix Rev. John Mitford's Preface .... . . . Ix Short Notes of my Life . . ....... Lxi Memoir respecting his Licome ..... ... Ixxviii Reminiscences ; written in 1788 for the amusement of Miss Mary and Miss Agnes Beny ............. Ixxxvii LETTEKS. 1735—1746. [The Letters now first published or collected are marked N.] LETTER 1. To "West, November 9, — Picture of a University life — Cambridge sophs — Juvenile quadruple alliance ......... 1 2. To Montagu, May 2. — Marriage of Frederick, Prince of Wales, with the Princess Augusta of Saxe Gotha ........ 2 3. To the same, ]VIay 6. — Pleasures of youth and youthful recollections . . 4 4. To the same, May 20. — Jaunt to Oxford — ^Wrest House — Easton Neston — Althorp 5 5. To the same, May 30. — Petronius Arbiter — Coventry's Dialogue between Philemon and Hydaspes on False Religion — Artemisia .... 6 6. To West, Aug. 17. — Gray, and other school -fellows — Eton recollections — Course of study at the University ...... 8 VOL. i. I XXll CONTENTS. [173940. PAOE 9 11 13 14 15 15 18 20 LETTER 7. "West to Walpole, Aug.— Encloses an ode to Mary Magdalene. 8. West to Walpole, Jan. 12.— Poetry and Poets . ... 9. West to Walpole, Feb. 27.— Sick of Novelty— Transmitting a sort of Poetry 10. To Montagu, March 20.— French and English manners contrasted . 11. To the same. — Feelings on revisiting Eton 12. To West, April 21.— Paris society— Amusements— Funeral of the Duke de Tresmes— St. Denis— Church of the Celestins— French love of show— Signs — Notions of honour ....♦••••• 13. To the same.— Description of Versailles— Convent of the Chartreux— History of St. Bruno, painted by LeSoeur — ^Relics 14. To the same, June 18.— Rheims— Brooke's ''GustavusVasa'' . . - 15. West to Walpole, June 21.— A musical supper— Crebillon's love-letters . 21 16. To West, July 20.— Rheims—Compiegne— Self-introduction . . . . 24 17. To the same, Sept. 28.— Mountains of Savoy— Grand Chartreuse— Aix— English visitors — Epigram 26 18. To the same, Nov. 11.— Passage of Mount Cenis— Cruel accident— Chamberri— Inscription— Pas de Suza— Turin— Italian comedy— "L'Anima Damnata." — Conversazione . - ......•• -^o 19. West to Walpole, Dec. 13.— Death of Mr. Pelham's two children— Glover's "Leonidas." 30 20. To West — Bologna— Letter-writing — Curl — Whitfield's Journal — Jingling epitaph — Academical exercises at the Franciscans' church — Dominicans' church — Old verses in a new light ........ 31 21. West to Walpole, January 23. — Transmitting a poetical translation — Pope's Letters ............ 33 22. To West, January 24. — Florence — Grand Duke's gallery — Effect of travel — English and Italian character contrasted — Story of the Prince and the nut . 34 23. To the same, February 27. — Florence — The Carnival — Character of the Florentines — Their prejudice about nobility — Mr. Martin — Affair of honour 36 24. To Conway, March 6. — Complaints of his not writing — Attachment to Florence 38 25. To West, March 22. — Description of Siena — Romish superstitions — Climate of Italy — Italian customs — Radicofani — Dome of Siena — Inscription — Entrance to Rome .... ..... 40 26. West to Walpole, March 29. — Transmitting portions of the first act of Pausanias, a tragedy .......... 42 27. To West, April 16. — Rome — Ruins of the temple of Minerva Medica — Ignorance and poverty of the present Romans — The Coliseum — Relics — Superstitions ............ 42 28. To Conway, April 23. — Society at Rome — The Moscovita — Roman Conver- sations — The Conclave — Lord Deskfoord ....... 45 29. To West, May 7. — The Conclave — Antiquities of Rome — State of the public pictures — Probable condition of Rome a century hence . . . . , 46 30. To the same, June 14. — Naples — Description of Herculaneum — Passage in Statins picturing out this latent city .,..., 48 1741-2.] CONTENTS. xxm LETTER PAGE 31. To Conway, July 5. — Reasoas for leaving Rome — Malaria — Radicofani described — Relics from Jerusalem — Society at Florence — Mr. Mann — Lady Pomfret — Princess Craon — Hosier's gliost — The Conclave — Lord Chancellor Hardwicke ............ 50 32. To West, July 31.— Medals and Inscriptions— Taking of Porto Bello— The Conclave — Lady Mary Montagu — Life at Florence 54 33. To Conway, Sept. 25. — Character of the Florentines — Lady Mary Wortley Montagu described — Sortes VirgUianae . .... 56 34. To "West, Oct. 2. — Effect of travel — A wedding at Florence — Addison's Italy — Dr. Cocchi — Bondelmonti — A song — Bronzes and medals — Tartini — Lady Walpole — Platoniclove . . . . . . . . . . 58 36. To West, Nov. — Disastrous Flood at Florence ... . . G2 36. To the Rev. Joseph Spence, Feb. 21. — Hopes to renew in England an acquaint- ance begun in Italy — Ovras him his master in the antique. [N.] . 64 37. To Conway, March 25. — Rejoices at George Selwyn's recovery — And at the result of Mr. Sandys' motion for the removal of Sir Robert Walpole — Middleton's Life of Cicero .......... 65 38. To West, May 10. — His opinion of the first act of West's tragedy of Pausanias — Description of Reggio during fair-time . . . . . 67 39. West to Walpole, June 22. — His aversion to the law as a profession — He has chosen the army instead . . ...... 69 40. To Mann, Sept. — Calais on his return to England — Amorevoli — The Vis- contina — Passage to Dover — Comfort and snugness of English country towns — The distinction of " meddling people " nowhere but in England — Story of Mr. Pope and the Prince of Wales . . . . . . 71 41. To the same, Oct. — Corsica — Bianca Colonna — Baron Stosch, and his Maltese cats ............. 73 42. To Conway. — On his return to England — Changes produced by travel . . 73 43. To Mann, Oct. 8. — Illness of Sir Robert Walpole — The Opera — Sir Benjamin Keene — Domenichino's Madonna and Child — Lady Dorothy Boyle — State of parties . ... . . . . 76 44. To the same, Oct. 13 ...... . . . 77 45. To the same, Oct. 19. — Unfavourable state of his father's health . 78 46. To the same, Oct. 22. — Duel between Winnington and Augustus Townshend — Long Sir Thomas Robinson — Mrs. Woffington — " Lea Cours de I'Europe" . 71) 47. To the same, Nov. 2. — Sir Thomas Robinson's ball — The Euston embroil — The Neutrality — "The Balancing Captain," a new song . . . 82 48. To the same, Nov. 5. — Opera House management ... .87 49. To the same, Nov. 12. — ^Admiral Vernon — The Opera — The Viscontina . 8U 50. To the same, Nov. 28. — Spanish design on Lombardy — Sir Edward Walpole's courtship — Lady Pomfret — ''Going to Court" — Lord Lincoln — Paul Whitehead— "Manners" 90 61. To the same, Nov. 26. — His mother's tomb — Intaglio of the Gladiator 93 h 2 xxiv CONTENTS. [1^42. PAGE LETTER 52. To the same, Dec. 3.— Admiral Haddock— Meeting of ParUament— State of parties— Colley Gibber ^^ 53. To the same, Dec. 10.— Debate on the King's speech— Westminster petition- Triumph of Opposition— "Bright Bootle" 96 54. To the same, Dec. 16.— Chairman of election committees— Ministry in a ■ -. ... 100 mmority .....••••• 55. To the same, Dec. 17.— Warm debates in Westminster Election committee- Odd suicide ^^^ 56. To the same, Dec. 24.— Anecdote of Sandys— Ministerial victory— Debates on the Westminster election— Story of the Duchess of Buckingham— Mr. Nugent — Lord Gage — Revolution in Russia . . • • • .103 57. To the same, Dec. 29.— The Domenichino— Passage of the Giogo— Bubb Dodington — Follies of the Opposition . 1^^ 58. To the same, Jan. 7.— Reasons why he is not in fashion— His father's want of partiality for him— Character of General Churchill— Vote-trafficking during the holidays— Music party— The three beauty-Fitzroys— Lord Hervey— Hammond, the poet — Death of Lady Sundon — Anecdotes . . . Ill 69. To the same, Jan. 22.— House of Commons— Merchants' petition— Leonidas Glover — Place Bill — Projected changes — King's message to the Prince — Piilteney's motion for a secret committee on Sir Robert Walpole's conduct — New opera ..... . .... 117 60. To Mann, Feb. 4. — Sir Robert's morning levees — His resignation — Created Earl of Orford 123 61. To the same, Feb. 9. — Political changes — Opposition meeting at the Fountain — Cry against Sir Robert — Instructions to members — Lord Wilmington first lord of the treasury — New ministry — Crebillon's "Sofa'' . . . , 125 62. To the same, Feb. 18. — Rumoured impeachments — Popular feeling — "The Unhappy Favourite" — "Broad Bottom" ministry — The Prince at the King's levee — Sir Robert takes his seat in the House of Lords — Grand masquerade ........... 129 63. To the same, Feb, 25. — House of Commons — Shippen — Murray — Story of Sir R. Godschall — Impeachments — Changes — "England in 1741," by Sir C. H. Williams .... 133 64. To the same, March 3. — Merchant's petition — Leonidas Glover — New story of the Lord Mayor — Speech of Dodington — Heydon election — "The Broad Bottom" — Duchess of Marlborough's Memoirs — Lord Oxford's sale — New opera — Sir Robert at Richmond . . . . . . .136 65. To the same, March 10. — The Coalition — Motion for a committee of inquiry into the conduct of the last twenty years thrown out — Duke of Argyle resigns — Old Sarah's Memoirs . . . . . . . . 141 66. To the same, March 22. — Queen of Hungary's successes —Lord Oxford's sale ............. 144 67. To the same, March 24. — Secret Committee to inquire into the conduct of the Earl of Orford appointed — Horace Walpole's speech on the occasion 146 68. To the same, April 1. — Secret Committee balloted for — Court and Opposition lists — Bill for repealing the Septennial Act rejected . . . , 149 1742-3.] CONTENTS. xxv LETTER PAGE 69. To the same, April 8. — Lady Walpole's extravagant schemes — Subsidy for the Queen of Hungary — Lord Orford's crowded levees — Rage of the mob against him. Place Bill rejected by the Lords 152 70. To the same, April 15. — Progress of the Secret Committee — Committal of Paxton . , . . . . 155 71. To the same, April 22. — Secret Committee — Examination of Sir John Rawdon — Opening of Ranelagh Gardens ..... . . 157 72. To the same, April 29. — Preparations for war in Flanders — Examinations before the Secret Committee — Scuffle at the Opera . . . , , 159 73. To West, May 4. — Anxiety for the recovery of his health and spirits — The age most unpoetical — Wit monopolised by politics — Royal reconciliation — Asheton's sermons — Death of Mr. West ...... 160 74. To Mann, May 6. — Florentine nobility — Embarkations for Germany — Doings of the Secret Committee — The Opera . . . . . . . 162 75. To the same, May 13. — First Report of the Secret Committee — Bill to indem- nify evidence against Lord Orford brought in . . . . . .164 76. To the same, May 20. —Indemnity Bill carried in the Commons — Party dinner at the Fountain — Place Bill — Mr. Nugent's attack on the bishops . , 165 77. To the same, May 26. — Ranelagh — Vauxhall — The Opera — Mrs. Clive — "Miss Lucy in Town" — Garrick at Goodman's Fields : "a very good mimic ; but nothing wonderful in his acting " — Mrs. Bracegirdle — Meeting at the Fountain — The Indemnity Bill flung out by the Lords — Epigram on Pulteney — Committee to examine the public accounts — Epitaph on the Indemnity Bill — Kent and symmetry — " The Irish Register " . . ,167 78. To Mann, June 3. — Epigram on Lord Islay's garden . , . , , X72 79. To the same, June 10. — Lady Walpole and her son — Royal reviews — Death of Hammond — Process against the Duchess of Beaufort . . . .173 80. To the same, June 14. — Peace between Austria and Prussia — Ministerial movements — Perplexities of the Secret Committee — Conduct of Mr. Scrope — Lady Vane's adventures . . . . . . . . . 175 81. To the same, June 25. — Successes of the Queen of Hungary — Mr. Pulteney created Earl of Bath 178 82. To the same, June 30. — Second Report of the Secret Committee — The Pre- tender — Intercepted letters — Lord Banymore . . . . . . 179 83. To the same. — Lines on the death of Richard West, Esq. — '*A Receipt to make a Lord" . . , . . . . . * . . . 183 84. To the same, July 7. — New Place Bill — General Guise — Monticelli . . . 184 85. To the same, July 14. — Ned and Will Finch — Lord Sidney Beauclerc — Pulte- ney takes up his patent as Earl of Bath — Ranelagh masquerade — Fire in Downing Street 187 86. To the same. — Prorogation — End of the Secret Committee — Paxton released from Newgate — Ceretesi — Shocking scene of murder — Items from his grand- father's account-book — Lord Orford at Court . . . . , . 189 87. To the same, July 29. — About to set out for Houghton — Evening at Ranelagh with his father — Lord Orford's increasing popularity — " The Wife of Bath " XXVI CONTENTS. [1743 LETTKR PAGE — Gibber's pamphlet against Pope— Dodington's "Comparison of the Old and New Ministry " 193 88. To the same. — New Ballads — Lord Orford at Houghton 194 89. To the same, Aug. 20 ... 195 90. To the same, Aug. 28.— Marshal Belleisle— Cardinal Tencin— ''Lessons for the Day" — " An honourable man " ....... 197 91. To the same, Sept. 11.— Visit to Woolterton— '' A Catalogue of New French Books'* 199 92. To the same, Sept. 25. — Admiral Matthews— The King's journey to Flanders — Siege of Prague — History of the Princess Eleonora of Guastalla — Moliere's Tartuffe 201 93. To the same, Oct. 8. — Siege of Prague raised — Grreat preparations for the King's journey to Flanders — Odes on Pulteuey — Story of the Pigwiggins — • Fracas at Kensington Palace ........ 204 94. To the same, Oct. 16. — Admiral Matthews — *' Yarmouth Eoads" ; A ballad, by Lord Hervey . . . . ..... 206 95. To the same, Oct. 23 . . 211 96. To the same, Nov. 1, — The King's levee and drawing-room described — State of Parties — A piece of absence — Due d' Aremberg ..... 212 97. To the same, Nov. 15. — Projects of Opposition — Lord Orford's reception at the levee — Revolution in the French court — The Opera — Lord Tyrawley — Dodington's marriage . . . . . . . . . .214 98. To the same, Dec. 2. — House of Commons — Motion for a new Secret Committee thrown out — Union of the Whigs ........ 216 99. To the same, Dec. 9. — Debate on disbanding the army in Flanders — "Han- over," the word for the winter ..... ... 218 100. To the same, Dec. 23. — Difficulty of writing upon nothing . . . . 219 101. To the same, Jan. 6. — Admiral Vernon — Reply of the Duchess of Queens- berry ... 221 102. To the same, Jan. 13. — House of Commons — "Case of the Hanover Forces" — Difficulty of raising the supplies — Lord Orford's popularity . . . 223 103. To Mann, Jan. 27. — Accession of the Dutch to the King's measures . . 226 104. To the same, Feb. 2. — Debate in the Lords on disbanding the Hanoverian troops 228 105. To the same, Feb. 13 . . . 229 106. To the same, Feb. 24.— Austrian victory over the Spaniards in Italy. King Theodore's declaration — Handel and the Opera . . . 230 107. To the same, March 3. — Death of the Electress— Story of Lord Hervey The Oratorios ♦••....... . 231 108. To the same, March 14. —Duel between his uncle Horace and Mr. Chetwynd — Death of the Duchess of Buckingham 232 109. To the same, March25.— Epidemic— Death of Dr. Blackbume, Archbishop of York 235 110. To the same, April 4.— Funeral of the Duchess of Buckingham . . . 237 l'^4S4.] CONTENTS. xxvii ^^^^^^ PAGE 111. To the same, April 14.— Array in Flanders— King Theodore— The Opera ruined by gentlemen-directors— Dilettanti Club— London versus the country 238 112. To the same, April 25.— Departure of the King and Duke of Cumberland for the army in Flanders— The Regency— Princess Louisa and the Prince of Denmark— Lord Stafford and Miss Cantillon— Irish fracas— SHvia and Philander . . . ......... 240 113. To the same, May 4.— King Theodore— Admiral Vernon's frantic speech — Ceretesi — Low state of the Opera — Freemasonry 243 114. To the same. May 12.— Death of the Duchess of Kendal— Story of Old Sarah — Maids of honour .......... 245 115. To the same, May 19. —Mutiny of a Highland regiment . . . . 246 116. To the same, June 4.— Marriages, deaths, and promotions— Sale of Corsica . 247 117. To the same, June 10.— Expected battle in Flanders— Alarms for Mr. Con- way — Houghton gallery — Life of Theodore 249 118. To the same, June 20.— Visit to Euston— Kent— Anecdote of Lord Euston— Lady Dorothy Doyle 252 119. To the same, June 29. — Battle of Dettingen— Conduct of the King— Anecdotes 253 120. To the same, July 4. — Further anecdotes of the battle — Public rejoicings — Lines on the victory — Lord Halifax's poem of the battle of the Boyne . 256 121. To the same, July 11. — Another battle expected 257 122. To the same, July 19. — Conduct of General Ilton— *« The Confectioner" . 258 123. To the same, July 31. — Temporising conduct of the Regency — Bon-mot of Winnington ........... 261 124. To the same, Aug. 14. — Arrival of the Dominichini — Description — Pun of Madame de Sevigne .......... 262 125. To Chute, Aug. 20. — Life at Houghton — Stupifying qualities of beef, ale, and wine — The Dominichini ......... 264 126. To Mann, Aug. 29. — Undoubted originality of the Dominichini — Mr. Pelham first lord of the treasury .......... 266 127. To the same, Sept. 7. — The marrying Princesses — French players at Cliefden — Our faith in politics — Story of the Duke of Buckingham — Extraordinary miracle ............ 267 128. To the same, Sept. 17.— The King and Lord Stair ... 269 129. To the same, Oct. 3. — Journey to town — Newmarket described — No solitude in the country — Delights of a London life — Admiral Matthews and the Pope — Story of Sir James^of the Peak — Mrs. White's brown bob — Old Sarazin at two in the morning — Lord Perceval's ''Faction Detected" — Death of the Duke of Argyll and Grreenwich ........ 270 130. To the same, Oct. 12. — Conduct of Sir Horace's father — The army in Flanders in winter quarters — Distracted state of parties — Patapaniana — Imitation of an epigram of Martial .......... 274 131. To Mann, Nov. 17. — The King's arrival and reception — His cool beha- viour to the Prince of Wales — Lord Holdemess's Dutch bride — The Prince of Denmark — The Opera ......... 277 xxviii CONTENTS. [1744-5. LETTER ^ ^ ^^^^ 132. To the same, Nov. 30.— Meeting of Parliament— Strength of Opposition- Conduct of Lord Carteret— Treasury dish-clouts— Debate on the Address . 279 133. To the same, Dec. 15.— Debates on the Hanoverian troops— Resignation of Lord Gower — Mbisterial changes— Sandys made a peer — Verses addressed to the House of Lords, on its receiving a new peer 281 134. To the same, Dec. 26 283 135. To the same .285 136. To the same, Jan. 24. — The Brest fleet at sea— Motion for continuing the Hanover troops carried by the exertions of Lord Orford . . . .285 137. To the same, Feb. 9. — Appearance of the Brest squadroa oflfthe Land's End — Pretender's son at Paris ......... 288 138. To the same, Feb. 16.— French squadron off Torbay — King's message con- cerning the young Pretender and designed invasion — Activity and zeal of Lord Orford ..... ...... 289 139. To the same, Feb. 23. — Welsh election carried against Sir "Watkyn Williams — Prospect of invasion — Preparations ....... 291 140. To the same, March 1. — The French expected every moment — Escape of the Brest squadron from Sir John Norris — Dutch troops sent for — Spirit of the nation — Addresses — Lord Barrymore and Colonel Cecil taken up — Suspen- sion of the Habeas Corpus — The young Pretender . . . • .291 141. To the same, March 5. — Great storm — French transports destroyed, and troops disembarked ...... , . 294 142. To the same, March 15. — Fears of invasion dispelled — Mediterranean en- gagement — Admiral Lestock . . . . . . . . .294 143. To the same, March 22. — French declaration of war — Affair in the Medi- terranean — Sir John Norris — Hymeneal s — Lord Carteret and Lady Sophia Fermor — Dodington and Mrs. Behan . ...... 295 144. To the same, April 2 297 145. To the same, April 15. — Nuptials of the great Quixote and the fair Sophia — Invasion from Dunkirk laid aside . . . . . . .299 146. To the same, May 8. — Debate on the Pretender's Correspondence Bill . 300 147. To the same, May 29. — Movements of the army in Flanders — Illness of his father — Death of Pope — Mr. Henry Fox's private marriage with Lady Charlotte Lenox — Bishop Berkeley and tar water . . . . . 302 148. To the same, June 11. — Successes of the French anny in Flanders — State of the combined army — And of our sea-force . . . . . .304 149. To the same, June 18. — Return of Admiral Anson — Ball at Ranelagh — Pur- chase of Dr. Middleton's Collection — Lord Orford's pension . . . 306 150. To Conway, June 29. — Eton recollections — Lines out of a new poem Opinion of the present great men — Ranelagh described [N.] . . . 307 151. To Mann, June 29. — C^luster of good news — Our army joined by the Dutch — Success of the King of Sardinia over the Spaniards — The Rhine passed by Prince Charles — Lines on the death of Pope — Epitaph on liim by RoUi . 310 152. To Conway, July 20. — Happiness at receiving a letter of confidence 1745.] CONTENTS. XXIX LETTER p^Qjj Advice on the subject of an early attachment — Arguments for breaking off the acquaintance— Offer of the immediate use of his fortune . . . 3] 3 163. To Mann, July 22.— Letter- writing one of the first duties— Difficulty of keeping up a correspondence after long absence — History writing — Carte and the City aldermen — Inscription on Lady Euston's picture — Lady Carteret — Epigram on her 315 154. To the same, Aug. 6. — Marquis de la Chetardie dismissed by the Empress of Russia — The Grifona— Lord Surrey's sonnets 317 155. To the same, Aug. 16. — Preparations for a journey to Houghton — Eule for conquering the passions— Country Life— King of Prussia's address to the people of England — A dialogue on the battle of Dettingen . . .319 156. To the same, Sept. 1. — Victory at Yelletri — Illness of the King of France- Epigram on Bishop Berkeley's tar-water 322 157. To Conway, Oct. 6 324 158. To Mann, Oct. 6.— Self-scolding— Neapolitan expedition . . . . 325 159. To the same, Oct. 19. — Defeat of the King of Sardinia — Loss of the ship Victory, with Sir John Balchen — Death of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, of the Countess Granville, and Lord Beauchamp — Marriage of Lord Lincoln — French King's dismissal of Madame de Chateauroux — Discretion of a, Scotch soldier . 326 160. To the same, November 9. — Lord Middletons wedding — ThePomfrets — Lady Granville's At Home — Old Marlborough's will — Glover'a *' Leonidas" . 329 161. To the same, Nov. 26. ^History of Lord Granville's resignation — Voilcb le monde I — Decline of his father's health — Outcry against pantomimes — Drury Lane uproar — Bear-garden bruisers — Walpole turned popular orator 330 162. To the same, Dec. 24. — Conduct of the King — Prostitution of patriots — List of ministerial changes — Mr. Pitt declines office — Opposition selling them- selves for profit — The Pretender's son owned in France .... 333 163. To the same, Jan. 4. — Dearth of news — His ink at low-water mark — Lord Sandwich's first-rate tie-wig — Lady Granville's assemblies — Marshal Belleisle a prisoner at Hanover . . . . , . . .335 164. To the same, Jan. 14. — M. de Magnan's history — Prince Lobkowitz — Doings of the Granville faction — Anecdote of Lord Baltimore — Illness of Lord Orford — Mrs. Stephens's remedy — Sir Thomas Hanmer's *' Shakspeare " — Absurd alteration therein ......... 337 165. To the same, Feb. 1. — Vanity of politics — Lord Granville characterised — ■ Progress of the coalition . . . . . . . . .340 166. To the same, Feb, 28. — Alarming illness of Lord Orford — Success of the coalition — Situation of the Pelhams — Masquerade at the Venetian ambassa- dress's — Lady Townshend's ball — Marshal BeUeisle at Nottingham — Matri- monials on the tapis .......... 342 167. To the same, March 29. — Death of Lord Orford — Inquiry into the miscarriage of the fleet in the action oflf Toulon — Matthews and Lestock — Instability of the ministry — Thomson's Tancred and Sigismunda — Glover's ''Leonidas" — *' The Seasons " — Akenside's Odes — Quarrel between the Duchesses of Queensberry and Richmond — Rage for conundrums . . . .345 XXX ^ COIsrTEJSrTS. [1745-6 LETTER PAGE 168. To the same, April 15. — Reflections on his father's death — Compliments paid to his memory — Mediterranean miscarriages ...... 349 169. To the same, April 29. — Disadvantages of a distant correspondence — Death of Mr. Francis Chute, and of poor Patapan — Prospect of a battle in Flanders — Marshal Saxe ........... 351 170. To the same, May 11. — Battle of Fontenoy — Bravery of the Duke of Cumber- land — Song, written after the news of the battle, by the Prince of Wales . 352 171. Sir Edward Walpole to Walpole, May 17. — The election for Castle Rising (a family borough) — Indignant letter. N 355 172. To Sir Edward Walpole.— Answer to the letter — The answer not sent. N. . 356 173. To the same. — This answer sent. N . 360 174. To Montagu, May 18. — Condolence on the death of Mr. Montagu's brother at Fontenoy .... 360 175. To Mann, May 24. —Popularity of the Duke of Cumberland— Lady Walpole — Story of Lord Bath's parsimony ... ... 361 176. To Montagu, May 25.— Account of the family at Englefield Green— Sir Edward Walpole — Dr. Styau Thirlby 362 177. To Conway, May 27.— Despairs of seeing his friend a perfect hero — The Why 363 178. To ALinn.— Recommendatory of Mr. Hobart, afterwards Lord Buckingham- s^i^'e • • . 365 179. To the same, June 24.— Expected aiTival from Italy of Lady Orford— Sur- render of the citadel of Tournai — Defeat of Charles of Lorrain — Revolution in the Prince of Wales's court— Miss Neville — Lady Abergavenny . .3^5 180. To Montagu, June 25.— Mistley, the seat of Mr. Rigby, described— Fashion- able At Homes— Lady Brown's Sunday parties— Lady Archibald Hamilton — Miss Grr an ville— Jemmy Lumley's assembly .... 181. To Conway, July 1.— Tournai and Fontenoy— Gaming act . 182. To Mann, July 5.— Seizure of Ghent and Bruges by the French . . . 371 183. To the same, July 12. . . . .... ^7q 184. To Montagu, July 13.— Success of the French in Flanders— Lord Baltimore -Mrs. Comyns 3^^ 185. To Mann, July 15 376 186. To the same, July 26.— Projected invasion— Disgraces in Flanders . . 378 187. To Montagu, Aug. l.-Poi-trait of M. de Grignan-Livy's Patavinity-Mar- shal Belleisle m London— Duke of Newcastle described- Duchess of Bolton's geographical resolution . 188. To Mann, Aug. 7. -Rumours of an invasion-Proclamation for apprehending the Pretender s son .... 189. To the Rev^ Thomas Birch, Aug. IS.-Eespecting a projected History oi vjreorge ii. • • • • . 190. To Mann, Sept. 6.-Landing and progress of the yomig Pretender-His manifestoes • • . . 191. To the «ame Sept. 13.-Progress of the Rel>elIion-The Duke of New«.stle'» speech to the Regency ... 368 369 380 382 384 384 386 1745-6.] CONTENTS. XXXI LETTER PAGE 192. To the same, Sept. 17.— . 888 193. To the same, Sept. 20.— Edinburgh taken by the rebels — Our strength at Sea — Plan of raising regiments— Lady Orford's reception in England . . 389 194. To the same, Sept. 27. — Successes of Prince Charles in Scotland . . . 392 195. To the same, Oct. 4. — Operations against the rebels — Spirited conduct of the Archbishop of York . . ...... 394 196. To the same, Oct. 11. — Death of Lady Granville. ..... 396 197. To the same, Oct. 21. — Excesses of the rebels at Edinburgh — Proceedings in Parliament ........... 397 198. To the same, Nov. 4. — State of the rebellion — Debates respecting the new raised regiments — Ministerial changes . . . . , . ,399 199. To the same, Nov. 15, — Disturbance about the new regiments — Advance of the rebels into England — Their desperate situation — Lord Clancarty . . 401 200. To the same, Nov. 22. — The rebels advance to Penrith — The Mayor of Carlisle's heroic letter — And surrender of the town — Proceedings in Parliament ........... 403 201. To Mann, Nov. 29. — The sham Pretender — Lord Derwentwater taken — The rebels at Preston — Marshal Wade . . . . . . . 405 202. To the same, Dec. 9. — Conduct of the rebels at Derby — Black Friday — Preparations against a French invasion — Rising spirit of the people . 409 203. To the same, Dec. 20. — Flight of the rebels from Derby — Capture of the Martinico fleet — Debate on employing the Hessian troops — Marriage of the Duchess of Bridgewater and Dick Lyttelton — A good Irish letter . . 411 204. To the same, Jan. 3. — Recapture of Carlisle — General Hawley — Preparations at Dunkirk — Ministerial movements . . . . . . .414 LIST OE ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE I. Horace Walpole at the age of Ten. From the original oil-picture in the possession of Mrs. Bedford .... Frontispiece. II. Horace Walpole when a Boy. From a ring (in Mrs. Bedford's possession), presented by Horace Walpole to his friend and Deputy in the Exchequer, Mr. Bedford 18 III. The Honourable Henry Seymour Conway, General Conway, Walpole's Cousin and Correspondent. From the original by Eckardt, formerly in the Collection at Strawberry Hill . . .38 IV. Sir Horace Mann, British Envoy at the Court of Tuscany, Walpole's Relation and Correspondent. From the original by Astley, formerly in the Collection at Strawberry Hill . . . . 71 V. Horace Walpole. From a miniature in enamel, painted by Zincke in 1745, and formerly in the Collection at Strawberry Hill ADVERTISEMENT. The leading features of tliis edition consist in the publication for tlie first time of tlie Entire Correspondence of Walpole in a chrono- logical and uniform order, and in the publication equally for the first time of many letters either now first collected or fii'st made pubKc. The unprinted letters will be found to reveal much cuiious matter illustrative of the family quarrels of Horace with his brother Sir Edward, and with his uncle, old Horace, whom he hated so heartily; while the letters first collected in this edition, and addressed to men like Hume, Eobertson, and Joseph Warton, will be found to contain the best qualities of his style on other subjects than masquerades and marriages. His correspondence with his deputies in the Exchequer, Mr. Grosvenor Bedford, and Mr. Charles Bedford, kindly placed at my service by the com-tesy of Mrs. Bedford of Kensington, runs over many years, and though often on matters of official detail, and there- fore of no pubHc moment, is not uri frequently highly characteristic of the writer. It reveals to us (as the reader will find) what Walpole revealed to no other person, his unostentatious charity and his active sympathy with persons incarcerated for debt. The same correspondence suppHes other and frequent glimpses of his working xxxvi ADVEKTISEMENT. behind tlie scenes as an anonymous correspondent of newspapers, and fully supports what indeed his own " Short Notes '^ of his life have sufficiently told us, that he was not " Junius." The notes to this edition are by the editors of previous editions, and bear the names of the writers. Some I have silently corrected, others I have enlarged with information between brackets. With respect to my own notes I have sought to make them appropriate to the text, and above all things — accui^ate. PlilTER CUNNmGHAM. Kensington, 2Qth November, 1856. WALPOLE'S ADVERTISEMENT TO THE COLLECTION OF LETTERS ADDRESSED TO SIR HORACE MANN. The following Collection of Letters, wi'itten very carelessly by a young man, had been preserved by tbe person to wbom they were addi^essed. The Author, some years after the date of the fii'st, borrowed them, on account of some anecdotes interspersed. On the perusal, among many trifling relations and stories, which were only of consequence or amusing to the two persons concerned in the correspondence, he found some facts, characters, and news, which, though below the dignity of History, might prove entertaining to many other people : and knoA\dng how much pleasure, not only himself, but many other persons have often found in a series of private and familiar Letters, he thought it worth his while to pre- serve these, as they contain something of the customs, fashions, poHtics, diversions, and private history of several years ; which, if worthy of any existence, can be properly transmitted to posterity only in this manner. The reader will find a few pieces of intelligence which did not prove true ; but which are retained here as the Author heard and related them, lest correction should spoil the simple air of the Narra- tive.^ When the Letters were written, they were never intended for public inspection ; and now they are far from bemg thought correct, or more authentic than the general turn of epistolatory cor- respondence admits. The Author would sooner have burnt them, than have taken the trouble to correct such errant tnfles, which are here presented to the E-eader, with scarce any variation or omissions, but what private friendships and private history, or the great haste ' They are marked in the notes. — Walpole. VOL. 1. c xxxviii AVALPOLE'S ADYERTISEMENT. with which the Letters were ■\\Titten, made indispensably necessary, as will plainly appear, not only by the unavoidable chasms, where the originals were worn out or torn away, but by many idle relations and injudicious remarks and prejudices of a young man ; for which the only excuse the Author can pretend to make, is, that as some future reader may possibly be as young as he was when he fii'st wi^ote, he hopes they may be amused with what graver people, (if into such hands they should fall,) will very justly despise. Who- ever has patience to peruse the series, will find, perhaps, that as the Author grew older, some of his faults became less striking. MR. CROKER'S^ PREFACE.^ No apology, it is presumed, is necessary for the following PubKca- tion. The Letters of Mr. Walpole have already attained the highest ranl^ in that department of Enghsh literature, and seem to deserve their popularity, whether they are regarded as objects of mere amusement, or as a collection of anecdotes illustrative of the poHtics, literature, and manners of an important and interesting period. The first part of the following collection is composed of his Letters to his cousin, the Earl of Hertford, while Ambassador at Paris, from 1763 to 1765, which seem, at least as much as those which have preceded them, deserving of the public attention. It appears from some circumstances connected with the Letters themselves, that Mr. Walpole wrote them in the intention and hope that they might be preserved ; and although they are enlivened by his characteristic vivacity, and are not deficient in the Hghter matters with which he was in the habit of amusing all his correspondents, they are, on the whole, written in a more careful style, and are employed on more important subjects than any others which have yet come to light. Of the former collections, anecdote and chit-chat formed the principal topics, and politics were introduced only as they happened to be the news of the day. Of the series now ofi'ered to the Public, politics are the ground-work, and the town-talk is only the accidental embroidery. Mr. Walpole's lately published " Memoires " ' have given proof of his abihty in sketching parliamentary portraits and condensing parlia- mentary debates. In the following Letters powers of the same class ^ The Right Hon. John Wilson Croker. — Cunningham. ^ To " Letters from the Hon. Horace Walpole, to the Earl of Hertford, during his lordship's embassy in Paris : to which are added Mr. Walpole's letters to the Rev. Henry Zouch." 1825, 4to. — Cunningham. ^ " Memoires of the last Ten Years of the Reign of King George II." 1 822. 2 vols. 4to. Edited by Fox, Lord Holland (died 1840), the grandson of Henry Fox, first Lord Holland (died 1774). — Cunningham. c 2 y\ MR. CHOKER'S PREFACE. will, it is thouglit, he recognised ; and as the published parliamentary debates are extremely imperfect for the whole time to which this correspondence relates, Mr. Walpole's spirited sketches are addition- ally valuable. These Letters also give a near view of the proceedings of political parties during that interesting period, and although the representa- tion of so warm a partisan must be read with due caution, a great deal of authentic infoiTaation on this subject will be found, and even the very errors of the writer will sometimes tend to elucidate the state of parties diu^ing one of the busiest periods of our domestic dis- sensions. Mr. Walpole's party feelings were, indeed, so warm, and his judgment of individuals was so often affected by the poHtical lights in which he viewed them, that the Editor has thought it due to many eminent poHtical characters to add a few notes to endeavom^ to explain the prejudices and to correct the misapprehensions under which Mr. Walpole wrote. In doing so, the Editor has, he hopes, shown (what he certainly felt) a perfect impartiahty, and he flatters himself that he has only endeavoured to perform (however imper- fectly) what Mr. Walpole himself, after the heat of party had subsided, would have been mclined to do. Some other notes have been added explanatory of allusions already by the lapse of time obscure, or likely to become so ; and some attempt has been made to save the reader the trouble of referring to magazines and peerages for information relative to the principal persons whom Mr. Walpole had occasion to mention. The second collection of Letters to the Rev. Henry Zouch, is of a different class from the former ; they are entii^ely occupied with literary subjects, and principally with to23ics connected with Mr. Walpole's very entertaining '' Catalogue of Eoyal and Noble Authors." They will be read with interest by those who have paid any critical attention to Mr. Walpole's pubhcations ; and they afford a specimen of his literary life which may be properly, it is hoped, added to the "general collection of his Works." LORD DOVER'S PREFACE^ TO THE FIRST SERIES OP LETTERS TO SIR HORACE MANN. [1833.] In the Preface to the " Memoires of the last Ten Years of the Eeign of George II., by Horace Walpolo, Earl of Orford," published in the year 1822, is the following statement. " Among the papers found at Strawberry Hill, after the death of Lord Orford, was the following memorandum, wi^apped in an envelope, on which was written, ' Not to be opened tiU after my will.' " * In my library at Strawberry HiU are two wainscot chests or boxes, the larger marked with an A, the lesser with a B : — I desire, that as soon as I am dead, my executor and executrix will cord up strongly and seal the larger box, marked A, and deliver it to the Honourable Hugh Conway Seymoui-,^ to be kept by him unopened and unsealed till the eldest son of [Laura] Lady Waldegrave, or whichever of her sons, being Earl of Waldegrave, shall attain the age of twenty- five years ; when the said chest, with whatever it con- tains, shall be delivered to him for his own. And I beg that the Honourable Hugh Conway Se}Tnour, when he shall receive the said chest, will give a promise in writing, signed by him, to Lady Walde- ^ The editing of these volumes was the last of the useful and modest services rendered to literature by a nobleman of amiable manners, of untarnished public and private character, and of cultivated mind. On this, as on other occasions, Lord Dover performed his part diligently, judiciously, and without the slightest ostenta- tion. He had two merits, both of which are rarely found together in a commentator : he was content to be merely a commentator, — to keep in the background, and to leave the foreground to the author whom he had undertaken to illustrate : yet, though willing to be an attendant, he was by no means a slave ; nor did he consider it as part of his editorial duty to see no faults in the writer to whom he faithfully and assiduously rendered the humblest literary offices. — Macaulay {Edinburgh Review, vol. Iviii.) Lord Dover died 10 July, 1833, aged 36. — Cunningham. ^ Son of Walpole's cousin, the Earl of Hertford. He married, in 1786, Anne Horatia, third daughter of James, second Earl of Waldegrave, and died in 1801. — Cunningham, xiii LOUD DOVER'S PREFACE. grave, that he or his representatives wiU deUver the said chest un- opened and unsealed, by my executor and executrix, to the hrst son of Lady Waldegrave who shaU attain the age of twenty-five years. The key of the said chest is in one of the cupboards of the green closet, within the blue breakfast-room, at Strawberry HiU ; and that key, I desire, may be dehvered to Laura, Lady Waldegrave, to be kept by her till her son shall receive the chest, ^^ March 21st, 1790. (Signed) Hoi^. Horace Walpole Earl of Orford. ''Aug. 19, 1796/' " In obedience to these directions, the box described in the pre- ceding memorandum was corded and sealed with the seals of the Honourable Mrs. Damer and the late Lord Frederick Campbell, the executrix and executor ' of Lord Orford, and by them dehvered to the late Lord Hugh Sejonour, by whose representatives it was given up, unopened and unsealed, to the present Earl of Waldegrave,' when he attained the age of twenty-five. On examining the box, it was found to contain a number of manuscript volumes and other papers, among which were the Memoires now published." The correspondence of Horace Walpole with Sir Horace Mann, now first published, was also contained in the same box. It appears that Walpole, after the death of Sii^ Horace, became again the pos- sessor of his own letters. He had them copied very carefully in three volumes, and annotated them with short notes, explanatory of the persons mentioned in them, with an evident view to their even- tual pubHcation. It is from these volumes that the present pubHcation is taken. The notes of the Author have also been printed verbatim. As, how- ever, in the period of time which has elapsed since Walpole's death, many of the personages mentioned in the Letters, whom he appears to have thought sufiiciently conspicuous not to need remark, have become almost forgotten, the Editor has deemed it necessary to add, as shortly as possible, some account of them ; and he has taken care, whenever he has done so, to distinguish his notes fi'om those of the origiaal author, by the letter D. placed at the end of them. 1 The Honourable Mrs. Damer (daughter of General Conway) died 1828, and Lord Frederick Campbell, her uncle, in 1816. — Cunningham. 2 John James, sixth Earl of Waldegrave, died 1835. He attained the age of 25 in 1810. — Cunningham. LORD DOVER'S PREFACE. xliii TMs correspondence is perhaps the most interesting one of "Walpole's that has as yet appeared ; as, in addition to his usual merit as a letter writer, and the advantage of great ease, which his extreme intimacy with Sir Horace Mann gives to his style, the letters to him are the most uninterrupted series which has thus far been offered to the public. They are also the only letters of Walpole which give an account of that very curious period when his father, Sir Robert Walpole, left oflS.ce. In his letters hitherto pubhshed, there is a great gap at this epoch ; probably in consequence of his other corre- spondents being at the time either in or near London. A single letter to Mr. Conway, dated " London, 1741 " — one to Mr. West, dated '' May 4th, 1742," — (none in 1743,) and one to Mr. Conway, dated " Houghton, Oct. 6th, 1744," are all that appear till " May 18th, 1745," when his letters to George Montagu recommence, after an interval of eight years. Whereas, in the correspondence now pub- lished, there are no less than 117 letters during that interval. The Letters of Walpole to Sir H. Mann have also another ad- vantage over those of the same author previously pubhshed — namely, that Sir Horace's constant absence from home, and the distance of his residence from the British Islands, made every occurrence that happened acceptable to him as news. In consequence, his corre- spondent relates to him every thing that takes place, both in the court and in society, — ^whether the anecdotes are of a pubHc or private nature, — and hence the collection of letters to him becomes a most exact chronicle of the events of the day, and elucidates very amusingly both the manners of the time, and the characters of the persons then aHve. In the sketches, however, of character, which Walpole has thus left us, we must always remember that, though a very quick and accurate observer, he was a man of many preju- dices ; and that, above all, his hostility was unvarying and unbounded with regard to any of his contemporaries, who had been adverse to the person or administration of Sir Eobert Walpole. This, though an amiable feeling, occasionally carries him too far in his invectives, and renders hiTn unjust in his judgments. The answers of Sir Horace Mann are also preserved at Strawberry Hill ^ — they are very voluminous, but particularly devoid of interest, as they are written in a dry heavy style, and consist almost entii'ely of trifliag details, of forgotten Florentine society, mixed with small ^ Such portions as I have seen of Mann's Letters to Walpole, fully justify Lord Dover's description of their dulness. — Cunningham. xliv LOED DOVER'S PREFACE. portions of Italian political news of the day, wHcli are even still less amusing than the former topic. They have, however, been found useful to refer to occasionally, in order to explain allusions in the letters of Walpole. Sir Horace Mann was a contemporary and early friend of Horace Walpole.' He was the second son of Robert Mann, of Linton, in the county of Kent, Esq.' He was appointed in 1740 Minister Pleni- potentiary from England to the Court of Florence — a post he con- tinued to occupy for the long period of forty-six years, till his death, at an advanced age, Nov. 6, 1786. In 1755, he was created a Baronet, with remainder to the issue of his brother Galfridus Mann, and in the reign of George the Third, a Knight of the Bath. It will be observed that Walpole calls his correspondent Mr. Mann, whereas the title-pages of these volumes, and all the notes which have been added by the Editor, designate him as Sir Horace Mann. This latter appellation is undoubtedly, in the greater part of the correspondence, an anachronism ; as Sir Horace Mann was not made a Baronet till the year 1755 ; but as he is best known to the world under that designation, it was considered better to allow him the title hy court csij, throughout the work. D. ^ The coincidence of remarkable names in the two families of Mann and Walpole, ■would lead one to imagine that there was also some connexion of relationship between them — and yet none is to be traced in the pedigree of either family. Sir Robert Walpole had two brothers named Horace and Galfridus — and Sir Horace Mann's next brother was named Galfridus Mann. If such a relationship did exist, it probably came through the Burwells, the family of Sir Robert Walpole's mother. — Dover. For Lord Dover's mistake see p. 72, of this volume. ^ Sir Horace Mann's father was Deputy-Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital, an appoint- ment which he doubtless owed to Sir Robert Walpole. He died at Linton, in Kent, March 12, 1752. — Cunningham. MR. WRIGHT'S PREFACE.^ [1840.] The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, as hitlierto published, liave consisted of, — 1. The letters contained in the quarto edition of his works, pubhshed in the year 1798. — 2. His letters to George Montagu, Esq., from 1736 to 1770, which formed one quarto volume, pubhshed in 1818. — 3. His letters to the Eev. WiUiam Cole and others, from 1745 to 1782, pubhshed in the same form and year. — i. His letters to the Earl of Hertford, during his lord- ship's embassy to Paris, and also to the Kev. Henry Zouch, which appeared in quarto, in 1825. — And, 5. His letters to Sir Horace Mann, British Envoy at the Court of Tuscany, from 1741 to 1760, first published in 1833, in three volumes octavo, from the originals in the possession of the Earl of Waldegrave ; edited by Loi^d Dover, with an original memoir of the author. To the above are now added several hundred letters, which have hitherto existed only in manuscript, or made their appearance singly and incidentally in other works. In this new collection, besides the letters to Miss Berry, are some to the Hon. H. S. Conway, and John Chute, Esq., omitted in former editions ; and many to Lady SujBfolk, his brother-in-law Charles Churchill, Esq., Captain Jephson, Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, the Earl of Buchan, the Earl of Charlemont, Mr. Gibbon, Mr. Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, George Hardinge, Esq., Mr. Pinkerton, and other distinguished characters. The letters to the Eev. WiUiam Cole have been care- ftJly examined with the originals, and many explanatory notes added, from the manuscript collections of that indefatigable antiquary, deposited in the British Museum. ^ Prefixed to the first collected edition of Walpole's Letters, published in 1840. Mr. John Wright, editor of the seventeen-volume edition of Bj'ron's "Works, of the ten-volume edition of Boswell's Johnson, &c. JMr. AVright, originally a publisher in Piccadilly, died February 25, 1854. xlvi ME. WRIGHT'S PREFACE. Besides being the only complete edition ever jDublished of tlie incomparable letters of this " prince of epistolary writers/' as he has been designated by an eminent critic, the present work possesses the further advantage of exhibiting the Letters themselves in chrono- logical order. Thus the whole series forms a lively and most interesting commentary on the events of the age, as well as a record of the most important transactions, invaluable to the historian and pohtician, from 1735 to 1797 — a period of more than sixty years. As a suitable introduction, prefixed to the whole collection of Letters are the author's admirable " Reminiscences of the Courts of George the First and Second," which were first narrated to, and, in 1788, written for the amusement of, Miss Mary and Miss Agnes Berry. To the former of these ladies the public is indebted for a curious commentary on the Eeminiscences, contained in extracts from the letters of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, to the Earl of Stair, now fii'st pubhshed from the original manuscripts. Of the Remi- niscences themselves it has been truly observed, that, both in manner and matter, they are the very perfection of anecdote writing, and make us better acquainted with the manners of George the First and Second and their Coui'ts, than we should be after perusiug a hundred heavy histoiians. It remains only to add, that the original notes of Horace Walpole are throughout retained, undistinguished by any signature ; whereas, those of the various editors are indicated by a characteristic initial, which is explained in the progress of the work. [MR. WRIGHT'S " ADYERTISEMEI^T " TO VOL. VL] The present volume will be found to contain upwards of one hundred letters introduced into no former edition of the Cor- respondence of Horace Walpole. The greater part of them were wiitten between the years 1789 and 1797, and were addressed to the Miss Berrys, duiing their residence in Italy. MISS MARY BERRY'S ADVERTISEMENT TO THE LETTEES ADDRESSED TO THE MISSES BERRY.^ [1840.] To the fii'st edition of Lord Orford's works, whicli was published the year after he died, no Memoir of his life was j^refixed: his death was too recent, his life and character too well known, his works too popular, to require it. His poHtical Memoirs, and the collections of his Letters which have been subsequently pubhshed, were edited by persons, who, though well qualified for their task in every other respect, have failed in their account of his private life, and their appreciation of his individual character, from the want of a personal acquaintance with theii' author. The life contained m Sir "Walter Scott's Biographical Sketches of the English NoveHsts laboui^s under the same disadvantages. He had never seen Lord Orford, nor even hved much with such of his intimates and contemporaries in society as survived him. Lord Dover, who has so admirably edited the first part of his correspondence with Sir Horace Mann, knew Lord Orford only by having been can-ied sometimes, when a boy, by his father Lord CHfden to Strawberry Hill." His editorial laboui^s with these Letters were the last occupation of his accompHshed mind, and were pursued while his body was fast sinking under the comphcation of disease, which so soon after deprived society of one of its most distinguished members, the arts of an enHghtened patron, and his intimates of an amiable and attaching friend. Of the meagreness and insufficiency of his memoir of Lord Orford's life prefixed to the Letters, he was himself aware,^ and expressed to the author of these pages his ^ From volume vi. of Mr. Wright's Collected Edition of Walpole's Letters.— Cunningham. 2 Lord Dover was a baby not two months old when Lord Orford died. — Cun- MINGHAM. 3 It is so slight and meagre that I have omitted it altogether. Walpole's " Short xlviii MISS BERRY'S ADVERTISEMENT. inability tlien to improve it, and his regret that circumstances had deprived him, vhile it was yet time, of the assistance of those who could have furnished him with better materials. His account of the latter part of Lord Orford's life is deficient in details, and sometimes erroneous as to dates. He aj^pears likewise to have been unac- quainted with some of his wi'itings, and the circumstances which led to and accompanied them. In the present jDublication these defi- ciencies are suj)pHed from notes, in the hands of the writer,^ left by Lord Orford, of the dates of the principal events of his own hfe, and of the wi'iting and publication of all his works. It is only to be regretted that his autobiography is so short, and so entirely confined to dates. In estimating the character of Lord Orford, and in the opinion which he gives of his talents. Lord Dover has evinced much candour and good taste. He praises with discrimination, and draws no mifair inferences from the peculiarities of a character with which he was not personally acquainted. It is by the Review^ of the Letters to Sir Horace Mann, that the severest condemnation has been passed and the most unjust impres- sions given, not only of the genius and talents, but of the heart and character, of Lord Orford. The mistaken opinions of the eloquent and accomplished author of that review are to be traced chiefly to the same causes which defeated the intentions of the two first biographers. In his case, these causes were increased, not only by no acquaintance with his subject, but by still farther removal from the fashions, the social habits, the little minute details, of the age to which Horace Walpole belongs, — an age so essentially difierent from the business, the movement, the important struggles, of that which claims the critic as one of its most distinguished ornaments. A conviction that these reasons led to his ha\dng drawn up, from the supposed evidence of Walpole's works alone, a character of their author so entirely and ofi"ensively unlike the original, has forced the pen into the feeble and failing hand of the wiiter of these pao-es, has imposed the pious duty of attempting to rescue, by incon- trovertible facts acquired in long intimacy, the memory of an old and beloved friend, from the giant grasp of an author and a critic Kotes " of his life (which Lord Dover had never seen), together with his Letters as here arranged, form an ample autobiography. — Cunningham. 1 The " Short Notes," first printed in the Second Series of the Letters to Mann and here reprinted. — Cunningham. ' 2 By Mr. Macaulay, of the First Series of Walpole's Letters to ]\rann.— See Edin- burgh Review, vol. Iviii., and Mr. Macaulay's Essays. — Cunningham. MISS BERRY'S ADVERTISE.MENT. xlix from whose judgment, when deKberately formed, few can hope to appeal with success. The candour, the good-nature of this critic, — the inexhaustible stores of his Hterary acquirements, which place him in the first ranl^ of those most distinguished for historical knowledge and critical acumen, — will allow him, I feel sure, to forgive this appeal from his hasty and general opinion, to the judgment of his better informed mind, on the pecuHarities of a character often remarkably dissimilar from that of his works. Lord Dover has justly and forcibly remarked, " that what did the most honour both to the head and the heart of Horace Walpole, was the friendship which he bore to Marshal Conway ; a man who, according to all the accounts of him that have come down to us, was so truly worthy of inspiring such a degree of affection.' '^ He then quotes the character given of him by the editor of Lord Orford's works in 1798. This character of Marshal Conway was a portrait drawn fi'om the life, and, as it proceeded from the same pen which now traces these hues, has some right to be inserted here. " It is only those who have had the opportunity of penetrating into the most secret motives of his pubhc conduct, and into the inmost recesses of his private life, who can do real justice to the unsuUied purity of his character ; — who saw and knew him in the evening of his days, retired from the honourable activity of a soldier and of a statesman, to the calm enjoyments of private life ; happy in the resources of his own mind, and in the cultivation of useful science, in the bosom of domestic peace — unenriched by pensions or places — undistinguished by titles or ribbons — unsophisticated by pubhc life, and unwearied by retirement." To this man. Lord Orford's attachment, from their boyish days at Eton school to the death of Marshal Conway in 1795, is aheady a circumstance of sufficiently rare occurrence among men of the world. Could such a man, of whom the foregoing hues are an unvarnished sketch — of whose character, simphcity was one of the distinguished ornaments — could such a man have endured the intimacy of such an individual as the reviewer describes Lord Orford to have been ? Could an intercourse of uninterrupted friendship and undiminished confidence have existed between them during a period of nearly sixty years, undisturbed by the business and bustle of middle life, so apt to cool, and often to terminate, youtlifd friendships ? Could such an intercom^se eve7^ have existed, with the supposed 1 Sketch of the Life of Horace Walpole, by Lord Dover.— Berry. 1 MISS BERRY'S ADVERTISEMENT. selfish iiKMerence, and artificial coldness and conceit of Lord Orford's character ? The last correspondence included in the present publication' will, it is presumed, famish no less convincing proof, that the warmth of his fechngs, and his capacity for sincere affection, continued unen- feeblcd by age. It is with this view, and this alone, that the corre- spondence alluded to is now, for the first time, given to the public. It can add nothing to the already established epistolary fame of Lord Orford, and the public can be as little interested in his senti- ments for the two individuals addressed. But, in forming a just estimate of his character, the reader wiU hardly fail to observe, that those sentiments were entertained at a time of life when, for the most part, the heart is too little capable of expansion to open to new attachments. The whole tone of these Letters must prove the unim- paired warmth of his feelings, and form a strildng contrast to the cold harshness of which he has been accused, in his intercourse with Madame du Deffand, at an earlier period of his Kfc. This harshness, as was noticed by the editor of Madame du Deffand's letters,^ in the preface to that pubHcation, proceeded solely from a dread of ridicule, which formed a principal feature of Mr. Walpole's character, and which, carried, as in his case, to excess, must be called a principal weakness. *' This accounts for the ungracious language in which he so often replies to the importunities of her anxious affection ; a lan- guage so foreign to his heart, and so contrary to his own habits in friendship."^ Is thiS) then, the man who is supposed to be '' the most eccentric, the most ai^tificial, the most fastidious, the most capricious of mortals — his mind a bundle of inconsistent whims and affectations — ^his features covered with mask within mask, which, when the outer dis- guise of obvious affectation was removed, you were stOl as far as ever from seeing the real man." — "■ Affectation is the essence of the man. It pervades all his thoughts, and aU his expressions. If it were taken away, nothing would be left."^ He affected nothing ; he played no part ; he was what he appeared to be. Aware that he was ill quahfied for politics, for public life, for parliamentary busiaess, or indeed for business of any sort, the 1 Walpole's Letters to Miss Berry, and her sister, Miss Agnes Berry first pub- lished by Mr. Wright in 1840. — Cunningham. ' 2 Miss Berry herself. — Cunningham, ^ See Preface to Madame du Deffand's Letters, p. xi. — Berry. ^ See Edinburgh Review, vol. Iviii. p. 233. — Bekri. MISS BERRY'S ADVERTISEMENT. U whole tenour of his life was consistent with this opinion of himself. Had he attempted to effect what belongs only to characters of another stamp — ^had he endeavoured to take a lead in the House of Commons — ^had he sought for place, dignity, or office — ^had he aimed at intrigue, or attempted to he a tool for others — then, indeed, he might have deserved the appellation of artificial, eccentric, and capricious. From the retreat of his father, which happened the year after he entered Parliament, the only real interest he took in pohtics was when their events happened immediately to concern the objects of his private friendships. He occupied himself with what really amused him. If he had affected anything, it would certainly not have been a taste for the trifling occupations with which he is reproached. Of no person can it be less truly said, that ^' affectation was the essence of the man." What man, or even what woman, ever affected to be the frivolous being he is described ? When his critic says, that he had " the soul of a gentleman-usher," he was little aware that he only repeated what Lord Orford often said of himself — that from his knowledge of old ceremonials and etiquettes, he was sure that in a former state of existence, he must have been a gentleman-usher about the time of Elizabeth.^ In politics, he was what he professed to be, a Whig, in the sense which that denomination bore in his younger days, — 7iever a Re- pubKcan. In his old and enfeebled age, the horrors of the first French revo- lution made bi-m a Tory ; while he always lamented, as one of the worst effects of its excesses, that they must necessarily retard to a distant period the progress and estabhshment of civil Hberty. But why are we to beHeve his contempt for crowned heads should have prevented his writing a memoir of " Eoyal and Noble Authors ? " Their literary labours, when aU brought together by himself, would not, it is believed, tend much to raise, or much to alter his opinion of them. In his letters from Paris, written in the years 1765, 1766, 1767, and 1771, it will be seen, that so far from being infinitely more occupied with " the fashions and gossip of Yersailles and Marli than with a great moral revolution which was taking place in his sight," 1 Mason had said as much before Mr. Macaulay was born, and to Walpole himself. Who, had he lived in the Third Richard's reign, Had been Lord Steward or Lord Chamberlain. Mason to Walpole. — Cunningham. lii MISS BERRY'S ADVERTISEMENT. he was truly aware of the state of the public mind, and foresaw all that was coining on. Of Eousseau he has proved that he knew more, and that he judged him more accui-ately, than Mr. Hume, and many others who were then duped by his mad pride and disturbed understanding. Yoltaii^e had convicted himself of the basest of vain lies in the inter- course he sought mth Mr. Walpole. The details of this transaction, and the letters which passed at the time, are already printed in the quarto edition of his Works. In the " Short Notes ^^ of his life left by himself, and from which all the dates in this notice are taken, it is thus mentioned : ^' Although Yoltaire, with whom I had never had the least acquaint- ance, had voluntarily written to me first, and asked for my book, he wi'ote a letter to the Duchesse de Choiseul, in which, without saying a syllable of his having wiitten to me first, he told her I had offi- ciously sent him my works, and declared war with him in defence * de ce bouffon de S/Kilcspeare,' whom in his reply to me he pretended so much to admii^e. The Duchesse sent me Yoltaii^e's letter ; which gave me such a contempt for his disingenuity, that I dropped all correspondence with him." Wlien he spoke A^dth contempt of d'Alembert, it was not of his abihties ; of which he never pretended to judge. Professor Saunder- son had long before, when he was a lad at Cambridge, assured him, that it would be robbing him to pretend teaching him mathematics, of which his mind was perfectly incapable, so that any comparison " of the intellectual powers of the two men " would indeed be as *' exquisitely lidiculous '' as the critic declares it. But Lord Orford, speaking of d'Alembert, complains of the overweening importance which he, and all the men of letters of those days in France, attri- buted to their squabbles and disputes. The idleness to which an absolute government necessaiily con- demns nine- tenths of its subjects, sufficiently accounts for the exag- gerated importance given to and assumed by the French writers, even before they had become, in the language of the Reviewer, " the interpreters between England and mankind :" he asserts, "that all the great discoveries in physics, in metaphysics, in political science, are ours ; but no foreign nation, except France, has received them from us by direct communication : isolated in om^ situation, isolated by our manners, we found truth, but did not impart it.''' It may ^ Ediuburgh RcvicW; vol. Iviii. p. 233.~Bkruy. MISS BERRY'S ADVERTISEMENT. liii surely be asked, whether France will subscribe to this assertion of superiority, in the whole range of science ? If she does, her cha- racter has undergone a greater change than any she has yet expe- rienced in the course of all her revolutions. Lord Orford is beheved by his critic to have " sneered *' at every- body. Sneering was not his way of shoA^dng dishke. He had very strong prejudices, sometimes adopted on very insufficient grounds, and he therefore often made great mistakes m the appreciation of cha- racter ; but when influenced by such impressions, he always expressed his opinions directly, and often too violently. The afiections of his heart were bestowed on few ; for in early life they had never been cultivated, but they were singularly warm, pure, and constant ; characterised not by the ardour of passion, but by the constant preoccupation of real affection. He had lost his mother, to whom he was fondly attached, early in life ; and with his father, a man of coarse feelings and boisterous manners, he had few sentiments in common. Always feeble in constitution, he was unequal to the sports of the field, and to the drinking which then accompanied them ; so that during his father's retreat at Houghton, however much he respected his abiHties and was devoted to his fame, he had httle sympathy in his tastes, or pleasure in his society. To the friends of his own selection his devotion was not confined to professions or words : on all occasions of difficulty, of whatever natm'c, his active affection came forward in defence of their character, or assistance in their affairs. When his friend Conway, as second in command under Sir John Mordaunt, in the expedition to St. Maloes, partook in some degree of the pubHc censure called forth by the failure of these repeated ill- judged attempts on the coast of France, Walpole's pen was imme- diately employed in rebutting the accusations of the popular pamphlet of the day on this subject, and establishing his friend's exemption from any responsibility in the failure. When, on a more important occa- sion, Mr. Conway was not only dismissed from being Equerry to the King, George III., but from the command of his Regiment, for his constitutional conduct and votes in the House of Commons, in the memorable affair of the legahty of General Warrants for the seizm^e of persons and papers, Walpole immediately stepped forward, not with cold commendations of his friend's upright and spirited conduct, but with all the confidence of long-tried affection, and aU the security of noble minds incapable of misunderstanding each other, he insisted on being allowed to share in future his fortmie with his friend, and VOL. I. ^ liv MISS BEREY'S ADYERTISEMENT. thus more than repair the pecimiaiy loss he had incurred. Mr. Conway, in a letter to his brother Lord Hertford, of this period, says, *^ Horace " Walpole has on this occasion shoAvn that warmth of friendship " that you know him capable of so strongly, that I want words to ''express my sense of it;" thus proving the justice he did to Walpole's sentiments and intentions. In the case of General Conway's near relationship and intimacy from childhood, the cause in which his fortunes were sujffering might have wanned a colder heart, and opened a closer hand, than Mr. Walpole's : but Madame du Deffand was a recent acquaintance, who had no claim on him, but the pleasm^e he received from her society, and his desire that her blind and helpless old age might not be deprived of any of the comforts and alleviations of which it was capable. When, by the financial arrangements of the French goveiTiment, under the unscrupulous administration of the Abbe Terray, the creditors of the state were considerably reduced in income, Mr. Walj)ole, in the most earnest manner, begged to prevent the unpleasantness of his old friend's exposing her necessities, and imploring aid from the minister of the day, by allowing him to make up the deficit in her revenue, as a loan, or in any manner that would be most satisfactory to her. The loss, after all, did not fall on that stock from which she derived her income, and the assistance was not accepted ; but Madame du Defi'and's confidence in, and opinion of, the ofier, we see in her letters. Durmg his after life, although no ostentatious contributor to public charities and schemes of improvement, the friends in whose opinion he knew he could confide, had always more difficulty to repress than to excite his liberahty. That he should have wished his fiiend Conway to be employed as Commander on military expeditions, which, as a soldier fond of his profession, he naturally coveted, although Mr. Walpole might dis- approve of the poHcy of the minister in sending out such expeditions, sm^ely imphes neither disguise, nor contradiction in his opinions. The dread which the Reviewer supposes him to have had, lest he should lose caste as a gentleman, by ranking as a wit and an author, he was much too fine a genthman to have believed in the possibihty of feeling. He knew he had never studied since he left colleo-e ; he knew that he was not at all a learned man : but the reputation that he had acquired by his wit and by his writings, not only among fine gentlemen but with society in general, made him nothing loath to cultivate every opportunity of increasing it. The account he gave MISS BERRY'S ADVERTISEMENT. Iv of tlie idleness of his life to Sir Horace Mann, when he disclaims the title of " the learned gentleman/^ was hterally true ; and it is not easy to imagine any reason why a man at the age of forty-three, who admits that he is idle, and who renounces being either a learned man or a poHtician, should be " ashamed " of playing loo in good company till two or three o'clock in the morning, if he neither ruins himself nor others.' He wrote his letters as rapidly as his disabled fingers would allow him to form the characters of a remarkably legible hand. No rough draughts or sketches of familiar letters were found amongst his papers at Strawberry Hill : but he was in the habit of putting down on the backs of letters or on sHps of paper, a note of facts, of news, of witticisms, or of anything he wished not to forget, for the amusement of his correspondents. After reading " The Mysterious Mother,*' who will accede to the opinion, that his works are " destitute of every charm that is derived from elevation, or from tenderness, of sentiment ? " ^ But, with opinions as to the genius, the taste, or the talents of Lord Orford, this Httle notice has nothing to do. It aims solely at rescuing his individual character from misconceptions. Of the means necessary for this purpose, its writer, by the ** painful pre- eminence " of age, remains the sole depositary, and being so, has submitted to the task of repelling such misconceptions. It is done with the reluctance which must always be experienced in difiPering from, or calling in question, the opinions of a person, for whom is felt aU the admiration and respect due to super-eminent abihties, and all the grateful pride and affection-ate regard inspired by personal friendship. m. October 1840. ^ See Edinburgh Review, vol. Iviii. page 232. — Berry. 2 Ibid, page 237. — Berry. d 2 MR. VERNON SMITH'S^ PREFACE TO ^YALPOLE•S LETTEKS TO LADY OSSORT, FEOM 1769 TO 1797. t [2 VOLS. 8vo. 1848.] Horace Walpole lias so long been a favourite in the literary world, that I need hardly offer any explanation to the Public for the pubhcation of the present Series of Letters. They comprise perhaps as complete and continuous a correspondence with one individual as any that has appeared. As they are written to a lady, they illusti^ate the tone of society of that day ; for while they preserve a formality of address which no one would now use after so long an acquaintance, they contain allusions and anecdotes scarcely permis- sible to the more refined taste of our own times. Lady Ossory was said by those who knew her best, to have been " gifted with high endowments of mmd and person, high-spiiited, and noble in her ways of thinldng, and generous in her disposition." " She was a beautiful woman, her mental faculties superior ; she possessed a Hvely imagination, quick discernment, ready wit, great vivacity both in conversation and writing. In her last illness, which was long and painful, she evinced the greatest fortitude, strength of mind, tenderness, resignation, and patience." It does not appear that Lord Orford preserved any of her letters : indeed, his correspondents generally appear to have entertained greater regard for his abilities than he did for theirs. From the specimens I have seen of Lady Ossoiy's letters they were easy and negligent, but perhaps intentionally calculated rather to ehcit answers than to convey much information, or express any vigorous opinions themselves. The few notes which I have added relate only to such circum- 1 The Right Honourable Richard Vernon Smith, M.P., President of the Board of Control. — Cunningham. MR. VERiTON SMITH'S PREFACE. Ivii stances as my relationsliip enabled me to explain of family history. I have purposely abstained from tbe repetition of accounts of persons wbicb bave been given in former editions of Walpole's letters, which are derived from registers and magazines, open to the observation of all who think it worth while to pursue such inquiries. I present the Work to the pubHc for their amusement : if they derive any from it, the obHgation is to the writer, of whose thoughts I am only the vehicle of communication. If they adopt my impres- sion of these Letters, it is that they place Lord Orford in a more amiable attitude, as to feelings and friendships, than he has hitherto stood. At any rate, having been urged by persons of whose judgment I hold a high opinion, to publish them, it seems to me not right to withhold them ; and I am not aware that there is any one now aUve who can be offended by one word in them. E. Y. S. Farming-Woods, April 26, 1848. MR. VERNON SMITH'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF WALPOLE'S LETTERS TO LADY OSSORY. [1840.] — ♦ — Much fault has been found with the absence of Notes to explain the allusions in the Letters of Walpole to Lady Ossory. In the few sentences prefixed to them, it was stated, that I was only the vehicle of their communication to the pubHc, and claimed no further merit. I am quite sensible, that if great diligence had been employed upon them, the publication might have been made more agreeable to readers. The critical writers who have complained of my negligence in this respect, may be assured that it arose from no want of respect for their art or labours, but from not having the leisure or ability to imitate them. If, being aware of this, the Public should think I ought to have abstained fi'om publication altogether, I must submit to be condemned for my intrusion upon their time.i * * * E. Y. S. Farming-Woods, October, 1848. 1 I have here omitted Mr. Smith's successful vindication of himself, from an en-or attributed to him in the "Quarterly Review;" Mr. Smith's information will, in this edition, be found in its more appropriate place, the letter to which it relates.— Cunningham. MR. BENTLEY'S '^ ADVERTISEMENT " TO THE CONCLUDING SERIES OF LETTERS TO SIR HORACE MANN. [4 VOLS. 8vo. 1843.] The following Letters, written by the celebrated Horace Walpole, complete bis Correspondence witb Sir Horace Mann, a portion of wbicb was publisbed by Lord Dover in 1833. It was believed that tbe immediate descendants of the subjects of some of Walpole's racy anecdotes might be pained by their early publication, and the wit of the dead was reserved until it could appear without pain to the living. That period having now arrived, the Earl of Euston,^ sur- viving Executor of the late Earl of Waldegrave, has placed the whole of Walpole's unpublished Manuscripts, including his Letters, Memoirs, Private Journals, &c., in the hands of Mr. Bentley. June 23, 1843. ^ The present (1856) Duke of Grafton, grandson of Laura, Countess of Waldegrave, and Duchess of Gloucester. — Cunningham. EXTRACT FROM THE REV. JOHN MITFORD'S PREFACE TO THE CORRESPONDENCE OF WALPOLE AND THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. [2 VOLS. 8vo. 1851.] The Letters of Mason, now first printed, formed part of the Collection of Manuscripts purchased of the Duke of Grafton, as executor of the late Earl of Waldegrave, and were entrusted to me for puhlication ; and while I was lamenting the imperfect manner in which they would appear, from want of the answers of the corres- pondent, my friend, , Archdeacon Burney informed me that the corresponding Letters of Walpole were carefully, and in their entire form, preserved at the Rectory House at Aston. The Introduction which I obtained from him was most kindly received by Mr. Alderson,^ the present possessor of the place, and with a hberahty for which my thanks are now to be paid, he allowed me the use of the volumes, that for more than half a century had been under the safe protection of his father and himself. I do not think that any other in the long series of Walpole's Epistolary Works exceeds them in general interest ; and in the information which relates to literature, they perhaps excel them all. ****** 2 J. M. Benhall, May 1, 1851. 1 The Rcv.Charles Alderson was Mason's intimate friend and sole executor, and succeeded him in the rectory of Aston, which was subsequently possessed by his son, the present rector. — Mifford, 1851. — Cunningham. 2 Other portions of Mr. Mitford's Preface will be found in this edition, attached to the letters they more immediately relate to. — Cunningham. SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE; [1717-1779.] I WAS born in Arlington Street, near St. James's, London, Sep- tember 24tb, 1717, O.S. My godfathers were Charles Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton,2 and my uncle Horatio Walpole ; ^ my godmother, my aunt Dorothy, Lady Viscountess Townshend." I was inoculated for the small-pox in 1724. In 1725 I went to Bexley, in Kent, with my cousins, the four younger sons ' of Lord Townshend, and with a tutor, Edward Weston,^ one of the sons of Stephen, Bishop of Exeter [1724-1743] ; and continued there some months. The next summer I had the same education at Twickenham, Middlesex ; and the intervening winters I went every day to study under Mr. Weston, at Lord Townshend's. April 26th, 1727, I went to Eton school, where Mr. Henry Bland ^ These Notes were evidently compiled for the use of Miss Berry and her father ; and were first published in 1843, in the fourth volume of the second and concluding series of the Letters to Mann. — Cunningham. 2 Charles Fitzroy, second Duke of Grafton (died 1757), son of the first Duke, whose father was Charles II., and his mother Barbara Villiers Duchess of Cleveland. — Cunningham. ^ Horatio Walpole (''old Horace,") created 1756 Baron Walpole of Wolterton, died 6th Feb. 1757 : old and young Horace did not live on very friendly terms, and throughout the correspondence of young Horace, his contempt for his uncle is very apparent, — Cunningham . ■* The only sister of Sir Robert Walpole, and second wife of Charles second Yiscount Tgwnshend ; died 1726, — Cunningham. ^ George, who died a rear-admiral in 1762, aged 54 ; Augustus, the captain of an Indiaman, who died unmarried in 1746; Horatio, who died unmarried in 1764; and Edward, who died Dean of Norwich in 1765, — Cunningham. ^ Weston, the son of the late bishop of Exeter, the present Gazetteer by profession, by inclination a Methodist, and connected with Thomas and Sherlock, is writing against my conclusion of the Dedication to the Jews concerning Naturalisation. It seems he wrote in defence of that Bill. The father was tutor to Walpole, and the son is one of his pupils. I am afraid he will be a sharer in that silent contempt with which I treat my answerers. — Warhurton to Hurd, Feb. 17, 1759. — Cunningham. Ixii SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. (since Prebendary of Durham), eldest son of Dr. Henry Bland, master of the school, and since Dean of Durham and Provost of Eton, was my tutor.^ I was entered at Lincoln's Inn, May 27th, 1731, my father intending me for the law ; but I never went thither, not carmg for the profession. I left Eton school September 23rd, 1734 ; and March 11th, 1735, went to King's CoUege, Cambridge. My public tutor was Mr. John Smith ; my private, Mr. Anstey : afterwards Mr. John Whaley was my tutor. I went to lectures in civil law to Dr. Dickens, of Trinity- hall ; to mathematical lectures, to bhnd Professor Saunderson,^ for a short time ; afterwards, Mi\ Trevigar read lectures to me in mathe- matics and philosophy. I heard Dr. Battie's anatomical lectures. I had learned French at Eton. I learnt Italian at Cambridge, of Signor Piazza. At home I learned to dance and fence ; and to draw of Bernard Lens,^ master to the Duke [of Cumberland] and [the] Princesses [Mary and Louisa]. In 1736 I wrote a copy of Latin verses, published in the Gratu- latio Acad. Cantab., on the marriage of Fredenc, Prince of Wales. My mother died August 20th, 1737. Soon after, my father gave me the place of Inspector of the Imports and Exports in the Custom-house, which I resigned on his appointing me Usher of the Exchequer, in ih.Q room of Colonel WiUiam Townshend, January 29th, 1738 — and as soon as I came of age, I took possession of two other little patent-places in the Exchequer, caUed Comptroller of the Pipe, and Clerk of the Estreats. They had been held for me by Mr. Fane. My father's second wife, Mrs. Maria Skerret, died June, 1738. 1 had continued at Cambridge, though with long intervals, till towards the end of 1738, and did not leave it in form till 1739, in which year, March 10th, I set out on my travels with my friend Mr. Thomas Gray, and went to Paris. From thence, after a stay of about two months, we went with my cousin Henry Conway, to Pheims, in ^ Dr. Henry Bland died 24tli May, 1746. His Latin version of Cato's Soliloquy -was honoured by insertion in The Spectator, No. 628; and compare Letter 29th June, 1744. — Cunningham. 2 Compare Letter to Miss Berry, 16th August, 1796. — Cunningham. ^ He [Bernard Lens, died 1741] was drawing master to the Duke of Cumberland and the Princesses Mary and Louisa, and to one whom nothing but gratitude can justify my joining with such names, the author of this work ; my chief reason for it is to bear testimony to thevirtues and integrity of so good a man, as well as excellent artist. — WaJpole, Anecdotes of Painting. — Cunningham. SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. Ixiii Ohampagne, staid there three months ; and passing by Geneva, ^ where we left Mr. Conway, Mr, Gray and I went by Lyons to Turin, over the Alps, and from thence to Genoa, Parma, Placentia, Modena, Bologna, and Florence. There we staid three months, chiefly for the sake of Mr. Horace Mann, the EngHsh Minister. Clement the Twelfth dying while we were in Italy, we went to Rome in the end of March, 1740, to see the election of the new Pope ; but the Con- clave continuing, and the heats coming on, we (after an excursion to Naples) returned in June to Florence, where we continued in the house of Mr. Horace Mann till May of the following year, 1741, when we went to the fair of Reggio. There Mr. Gray left me, goiiLg to Yenice with Mr. Francis Whithed and Mr. John Chute, for the festival of the Ascension. I fell ill at Reggio of a kind of quinzy, and was given over for five hours, escaping with great dif&culty. 1 went to Venice with Henry CHnton, Earl of Lincoln,* and Mr. Joseph Spence, Professor of Poetry,^ and after a month's stay there, returned with them by sea from Genoa, landing at Antibes, and by the way of Toulon, Marseilles, Aix, and through Languedoc to Montpellier, Toulouse, and Orleans, arrived at Paris, where I left the Earl and Mr. Spence, and landed at Dover, September 12th, 1741, O.S., having been chosen Member of Parhament for Kellington, in Cornwall, at the preceding General Election, which ParHament put a period to my father's administration, which had continued above twenty years. February 9th, 1742, my father resigned, and was created Earl of Orford. He left the house in Downing-street belonging to the Exchequer, and retired to one in Arlington-street, opposite to that in which I was born, and which stood where the additional builduig to Mr. Pelham's ' house now stands. March 23rd, 1742, I spoke in the House of Commons for the first time, against the motion for a Secret Committee on my father. This speech was pubhshed in the Magazines, but was entirely false, and had not one paragraph of my real speech in it." ^ Lord Lincoln and Mr. Walpole (youngest son to Sir Robert) left tLis place two days ago ; they visited me during their short stay ; they are gone to Marseilles and design passing some months in the south of France. — Lady M. W. Montagu to Mr. Wortley, Genoa, July 15,17 il. — Cunningham. 2 The friend of Pope, and author of the well-known " Anecdotes " which bear his name. See vol. i. p. 30 and p. 64, — Cunningham. ^ Henry Pelham, died 1754. — Cunningham. " See the speech itself in a letter from Walpole to Mann, dated 24th March, 1742. Vol. i. p. 147. — Cunningham. Ixiv SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. July 14th, I wrote the Lesson for the Day' in a letter to Mr. Mann; and Mr. Coke/ son of Lord Lovel,^ coming in while I was writing it, took a copy, and dispersed it tiU it got into print, but with many additions, and was the original of a great number of things of that sort." In the summer of 1742 I wrote a Sermon on Faulting, for the amusement of my father in his retirement. It was preached before him by his chaplain ; again, before my eldest brother at Stanno, near Houghton ; and was afterwards published [1747] in the ^des "WalpoKanse. June 18th, 1743, was priated, in a weekly paper called Old England, or the Constitutional Journal, my " Parody on some Scenes of Macbeth, called The Dear Witches." It was a ridicule of the new Ministry. The same summer, I wi'ote Patapan," or the Little White Dog, a tale, imitated from Fontaine ; it was never printed. October 22nd, 1743, was published No. 38 of the Old England Journal, written by me to ridicule Lord Bath. It was reprinted with three other particular numbers. In the summer of 1744 I wrote a Parody of a Scene in CorneiHe's Cinna ; the interlocutors, Mr. Pelham, Mr. Arundel, and Mr. Selwyn. My father died March 28th, 1745. He left me the house in Arlington-street in which he died, 5000/. in money, and 1000/. a-year fi'om the Collector's place in the Custom-house, and the surplus to be divided between my brother Edward and me. April 12th, 1746, was published, in a magazine called The Museum, my Scheme for a Tax on Message Cards and Notes ; and soon after, an Advertisement of a pretended new hook, which I had written in Florence in 1741. * The Lessons for the Day : being the First and Second Chapters of the Book of Preferment. London : Printed for W. Webb, near St. Paul's. 1742. — Cunningham. 2 Edward, Lord Yiscount Coke, only son of the Earl of Leicester. He died in 1753. His wife, Lady Mary Coke (a daughter of the great Duke of Argyll and Greenwich), survived her husband, without remarrying, fifty-eight years. Cunningham. 3 Thomas Level, afterwards, 1744, Yiscount Coke and Earl of Leicester; died 1759. Pope has introduced him into his verses to Lady Frances Shirley and Sir C. Hanbury Williams into his poem of ''Morning." — Cunningham, ^ It is reprinted in Sir C. H. Williams's Works, iii. 28, but of course in error. At the same time appeared, price sixpence, and by the same publisher, " The Evening Lessons." — Cunningham. ^ The name of a favourite dog which Walpole brought from Eome to England-. See Letter to Conway, March 27, 1741. — Cunningham. SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. Ixv In July of tlie same year, I wrote The Beauties, whicli was handed about till it got into print, very incorrectly.' In August I took a house within the precincts of the Castle at "Windsor. JSToYember 4th and 5th, Mrs. Pritchard spoke my Epilogue to " Tamerlane," on the suppression of the Eebellion, at the theatre in Covent Garden ; it was printed by Dodsley the next day. About the same time, I paraphrased some lines of the first book of Lucan ; but they have not been printed. In 1747 I printed my account of the collection at Houghton, under the title of " JEdes Walpolianse.'* It had been drawn up in the year 1743. I printed but two hundred copies, to give away. It was very incorrectly printed ; another edition, more accurate, and enlarged, was pubHshed March 10th, 1752. In May 1747 I took a small house near Twickenham, for seven years. I afterwards [1748] bought it, by Act of Parhament, it belong- ing to minors ; " and have made great additions and improvements to it. In one of the deeds I found it was called Strawberry Hill. In this year (1747) and the next, and in 1749, I wrote thirteen numbers in a weekly paper, called Old England, or the Broad-hottom Journal, but being sent to the printer without a name, they were pub- lished horribly deformed and spoiled. I was re-chosen in the new Parliament for Kellington, in Cornwall. About the same time was published a Letter to the Tories, written, as I then beHeved, by Mr. George Lyttelton, who with his family had come over to Mr. Pelham. As Mr. Lyttelton had been a great enemy of and writer against my father, and as Mr. Pelham had used my father and his friends extremely ill, and neglected the Whigs to com-t the Tories, I pubhshed an answer to that piece, and called it a Letter to the Whigs. It was a careless performance, and written in five days. At the end of the year I wrote two more Letters to the Whigs, but did not publish them till April the next year, when they went through three editions immediately.' I had intended to suppress them, but some attacks being made by the GrenviHes on Lord Chief Justice Willes, an intimate friend of my father, particularly by 1 " The Beauties," addressed to Eckhart the pai^iter. Published in September, 1746, by Cooper, price ^d. — Cunningham. 2 Minors of the name of Mortimer. He gave 1356^. 10.?. for the property, (Printed Act). — Cunningham. 3 Three Letters to the Whigs. Occasioned by the Letter to the Tories. The thii-d edition. London : Printed for M. Cooper, &c., IT 48, 8vo.— Compare note on Letter to Bentley of 18th May, 1754. Ixvi SHOKT NOTES OF MY LIFE. obtaining an Act of Parliament to transfer tlie assizes from Ailesbury to Buckingliam, I printed them and other pieces. On the same occasion I had a remarkable quarrel with the Speaker of the House of Commons, Mr. Onslow. The Bill was returned from the Lords with amendments. The friends of the Chief Justice resolved to oppose it again. Mr. Potter desired me to second him. He rose, but entering on the merits of the Bill, Mr. T. Townshend, and my uncle, Horace Walpole (to prevent me), insisted that nothing could be spoken to but the amendments. The Speaker supporting this, I said, '' I had intended to second Mr. Potter, but should submit to his oracular decision, though I would not to the complaisant peevishness of anybody else." The Speaker was in a great rage, and complained to the House. I said, " I begged his pardon, but had not thought that submitting to him was the way to offend him." During the com^se of the same bill, Sir WiUiam Stanhope ' had likewise been interrupted, in a very bitter speech against the Grenvilles. I formed part of the speech I had intended to make, into one for Sir WilHam, and pubHshed it ia his name. It made a great noise. CampbeU answered it for a bookseller. I pubHshed another, called the speech of Richard White- liver, in answer to Campbell's. All these things were only excusable by the lengths to which party had been carried against my father ; or rather, were not excusable even then. In 1748 were pubHshed, in Dodsley's CoUection of Miscellaneous Poems, thi^ee of mine ; an '' Epistle to Mr. Ashton^ from Florence," (written in 1740,) "The Beauties," and the "Epilogue to Tamerlane." I next wrote two papers of " The Remembrancer," and two more of the same in the year 1749. In the latter year, too, I wrote a copy of verses on the Fireworks for the Peace ; they were not printed. About the same time I wi'ote a pamphlet, caUed " Delenda est Oxonia." It was to assert the Hberties of that University, which the Ministry had a plan of attacking, by vesting iu the Crown the nomination of the ChanceUor. This piece (which I think one of my best) was seized at the printer's and suppressed. One night in the beginning of November, 1749, as I was returning from HoUand House by moonlight, about ten at night, I was attacked 1 Brother of the witty Earl of Chesterfield, and himself a wit ; now chiefly remem- bered for pulling down Pope's villa at Twickenham. — Cunningham. 2 Thomas Ashton, Fellow of Eton College, Rector of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, in London, and Preacher of Lincoln's Inn. See note 2, vol. i. p. 2. — Cunningham. SHORT NOTES OP MY LIFE. Ixvii by two highwaymen in Hyde Park, and the pistol of one of them going off accidentally, razed the skin under my eye, left some marks of shot on my face, and stunned me. The ball went through the top of the chariot, and if I had sat an inch nearer to the left side, must have gone through my head.^ January 11th, 1751, I moved the Address to the King, on his Speech at the opening of the Session. March 20th, 1751, died my eldest brother Eobert, Earl of Orford. About this time I began to write my " Memoirs." ^ At first, I only intended to write the history of one year. About the same time happened a great family quarrel. My friend Mr. Chute ^ had engaged Miss NicoU, a most rich heiress, to run away from her guardians, who had used her very ill ; and he pro- posed to marry her to my nephew. Lord Orford, who refused her, though she had above 150,000/. I wrote a particular account of the whole transaction.'' In this year, too, I imitated a fable of Fon- taine, called the Funeral of the Lioness. In 1752, I was appointed by Sir Hans Sloane's will one of his trustees. Feb. 8th, 1753, was pubHshed a paper I had written in a perio- dical work, called " The World," published by E. [dward] Moore. I wrote eight more numbers, besides two that were not printed then ; and one containing a character of Mr. Fox [Lord Holland], which I had written some years before. This year I pubHshed a fine edition of Six Poems of Mr. Gray, with prints from designs of Mr. H. Bentley. In November I wrote a burlesque poem, called The Judgment of Solomon. In December died Erasmus Shorter, Esq.,° the last and youngest of my mother's brothers. He, dying without a will, his fortune of 30,000/. came in equal shares between my brother Sir Edward, me, and my cousins, Francis Earl of Hertford, Col. Henry SejTnour Con- way, and Miss Anne Seymour Conway. 1 Compare Walpole's paper in "The World/' No. 103, of Dec. 19, 1754.— Cunningham. 2 That is his " Memoires of the last ten years of the reign of George 11." — Cunningham. ^ John Chute, Esq., of the Vine, in Hampshire, the last of the male line, born 1703, died 1776. — Cunningham. ^ This " particular account " is published for the first time in this edition of Walpole's Letters. — Cunningham. ^ 23rd November, 1753, Captain Shorter, brother of the first Lady of Sir Robert Walpole. (Obituary of the Gentleman's Magazine, 1753, p. 541,)— Cunningham. Ixviii SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. In 1754, I was cliosen for Castlerising, in Norfolk, in tlie new Parliament. In July of that year I wrote The Entail, a fable, in verse. About tbe same time I erected a cenotaph for my mother in Westminster Abbey, having some years before prepared a statue of her by Yalory at Eome. The pedestal was carved by Eysbrach. In March, 1755, I was very ill-used by my nephew Lord Orford, upon a contested election in the House of Commons, on which I wrote him a long letter, with an account of my own conduct in pohtics. In Feb. 1757, I vacated my seat for Castlerising in order to be chosen for Lynn ; and about the same time used my best endeavours, but in vain, to save the unfortunate Admiral Byng. May 12th of that year, I wrote in less than an hour and a half the " Letter from Xo Ho ; " it was pubhshed on the 17th, and immediately passed through five editions. June 10th, was pubhshed a Catalogue of the collection of Pictures of Charles the First, to which I had written a Kttle introduction. I afterwards wi^ote short prefaces or advertisements in the same manner to the Catalogues of the collections of James the Second and the Duke of Buckingham. June 25th, I erected a printing-press at my house at Strawberry Hill. Aug. 8th, I pubhshed two Odes by Mr. Grray, the first production of my press. In Sept. I erected a tomb in St. Anne's Churchyard, Soho, for Theodore King of Corsica. In Oct. 1757, was finished at my press an edition of Hentznerus, translated by Mr. Bentley, to which I wrote an advertisement. I dedicated it to the Society of Antiquaries, of which I am a member, as well as of the Poyal Society. In April, 1758, was finished the first impression of my '' Cata- logue of Royal and Noble Authors," which I had written the pre- ceding year in less than five months. About the same time Mrs. Porter 'published [for her benefit] Lord Hyde's play,^ to which I had wi'itten the advertisement. In the summer of 1758, 1 piinted some of my own Fugitive Pieces, and dedicated them to my cousin, General Conway. About autumn I erected at Linton, in Kent, a tomb for my friend Galfridus Mann ; ^ 1 A comedy called " The Mistakes, or the Happy Resentment." Lord Hyde was Henry Lord Cornbury, immortalised by Pope and Thomson. This "amiable and disinterested lord," as Walpole calls him, died by a fall from his horse in 1753, before his father the last Earl of Clarendon. See vol. i. p, 412. — Cunningham. 2 Brother of Sir Horace Mann. Walpole had an uncle who died early of the same name — Galfridaa Walpole. — Cunningham. SHORT NOTES OP MY LIFE. Ixix the design was by Mr. Bentley. The beginning of October I published Lord Whitworth's account of Eussia, to which I wrote the advertisement. Nov. 22nd was published a pamphlet, written by Mr. Bentley, called " Eeflections on the different Ideas of the French and English in regard to Cruelty." It was designed to promote a BiU (that I meditated) of perpetual insolvency. I wrote the dedication. [To the Most Humane Person alive, — whoever that is. J It was not printed at Strawberry HiH. [Printed for J. andE. Tonson.J Dec. 5th was pubHshed the second edition of my " Catalogue of Eoyal and Noble Authors.'* Two thousand were printed, but not at Strawberry Hill. I was much abused for it in the " Critical Ee- view,'' and more gently in the " Monthly Eeview ;" by the former for disliking the Stuarts ; by the latter for liking my father, — opinions I am not likely to change. In the " Grentleman's Magazine" of February [January] following was another railing criticism, but so foolish, that some parts of my book were printed in itahcs, to turn them into puns ; and it was called unintelligible for such reasons as my not having specified Francis the First by his title of King of France ! 1759. Feb. 2nd. I published Mr. Spence's Parallel of Maglia- becchi and Mr. Hill, a tailor of Buckingham ; calculated to raise a little sum of money for the latter poor man. Six himdred copies were sold in a fortnight, and it was reprinted in London. Feb. 10th. Some anonymous author (I could not discover who it was — ^it was said to be Dr. Hill) published a pamphlet, called " Ob- servations on the Account given of the ' Catalogue of Eoyal and Noble Authors of England, &c.,' in the 'Critical Eeview,' No. 35, for Dec. 1758, where the unwarrantable liberties taken with that work, and the honoui^able author of it, are examined and exposed." This defence of me was full of gross flattery, and displeased me so much, that I was going to advertise my disapprobation of it, and ignorance of the author, but was dissuaded by my friends. March 17. I began to distribute some copies of my " Fugitive Pieces," collected and printed together at Strawberry HiU, and dedi- cated to General Conway. May 5th was published a pamphlet, called " Eemarks on Mr. Walpole's ' Catalogue of Eoyal and Noble Authors, &c.,' in which many of his censures and arguments are examined and disproved ; his false piinciples are confuted, and true ones estabHshed ; several material facts are set in a true light ; and the characters and con- duct of several crowned heads, and others, are vindicated. Part the VOL. I. ^ Ixx SIIOET NOTES OF MY LIFE. first." And it advertised that in a few days would be publislied, " Walpolian Principles exposed and confuted." It was written by one Carter, who bad been bred a surgeon, and wbo bad married tbe daughter of Deacon of Mancbestcr, wbo was banged in tbe last EebeUion. This Carter bad lost an estate of eigbt bundred pounds a-year, wbicb bad been intended for bim, ratber tban renounce bis principles, and was turned a Non- Juring preacber, and bad lately been sent away fi-om an apotbecary's, wbere be lodged, for bis treasonable conversation, and for sending fifteen or sixteen letters every post-nigbt, wbicb tbe people of tbe bouse suspected were written for purposes not more innocent. Whatever bis designs were, be bad too little prudence to do mucb barm, and too little sense. His book was a rhapsody of Jacobitism, made still more fooHsh by tbe style and manner, and of tbe lowest scurrility. I wish I may never have wiser enemies, or tyranny abler advocates ! It is observ- able that this Carter distributed band-bills, and left them at doors, promising this answer, and begging assistance towards it. In May, too, was pubHsbed in the " Critical Eeview " a letter to the authors of it, from some anonymous person, denying the fact mentioned in tbe life of the Duke of Wharton in the same Catalogue, of Sergeant Wynne borromng and using Bishop Atterbuiy's speech : yet it was absolutely true. Mr. Morrice, the bishop's grandson, often told it to Mr. Selwyn ; Mr. Fox [Lord Holland] remembered the fact, when he was at Oxford ; and Mr. Baptist Leveson Gower says he perfectly remembers it, and that bis (then) party afi'ected to cry him up for it ; that he got three thousand pounds the fij^st j^ear on the credit of it ; but they were forced to di^op him, as be bad no parts to support bis reputation. In truth, when I wi^ote tbe passage in question, I did not know Mr. Wynne was stiU hving, am sorry to have shocked a man who had ^ given me no provocation, and therefore, to avoid adding one mortification to another, which I did not mean, I have chosen to make no reply.' In August, I wrote a copy of verses, called " The Parish Register of Twickenham." It is a Hst of aU the remarkable persons who have lived there. Sept. 1st. I began to look over Mr. Yertue's MSS., which I bought last year for one bundi-ed pounds, in order to compose the 1 If Walpolehad made a "reply," he .^rould hare saved Mr. Park, the editor of the enlarged edition of his Catalogue (5 vols. 8vo, 1806), the necessity of designating his authors satement as "a fallacious assertion." (See Park's edition of Walpole's Koyal and Noble Authors, iv. 12i.}— Cunnikgham. ^ SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. Ixxi Lives of English Painters. September 21st. I gave my Lady Townstend ^ an epitaph and design for a tomb for her youngest son, killed [25th July, 1759] at Ticonderoga ; neither were used. Oct. 28th. I finished the eighth book of my " Memoirs." Oct. 29th. I began the account of a new discovery of painting upon wax ; it was invented at Paris by the Comte de Caylus, and was improved here by Mr. Miintz. JSTov. 12th. I dismissed Mr. Miintz ; and, upon his leaving me, laid aside the intention of publishing the account of the new encaustic. 1760. Jan. 1st. I began the Lives of EngHsh Artists, from Yertue's MSS. (that is, " Anecdotes of Painting," &c.) About the same time, there hemg thoughts of erecting a monument for Sir Charles Hanbury WiOiams in Westminster Abbey, I wrote an epitaph for it. March 13th. Wrote the " Dialogue between Two Great Ladies." It was pubHshed April 23rd, being deferred till after the trials of Lord Gr. Sackville and Lord Ferrers. April. In this month wrote a poem on the " Destruction of the French Navy," as an exercise for Lord Beauchamp at Christchurch, Oxford. Aug. 14th. Finished the first volume of my ^' Anecdotes of Paint- ing in England." Sept. 5th, began the second volume. Oct. 23rd, finished the second volume. 1761. Jan. 4th, began the third volume. In March, I was appointed trustee for Mrs. Day by Richard Lord Edgcumbe, in his will. May 30th, wrote a mock sermon to dissuade Lady Mary Coke from going to the King's birthday, as she had lately been ill. June 11th, wrote an epigram on the Duchess of Grafton [Lady Ossory] going abroad. June 29th, resumed the third volume of my " Anecdotes of Paint- ing," which I had laid aside after the first day. July 16th, wrote " The Garland,"' a poem on the King, and sent it to Lady Bute, but not in my own hand, nor with my name, nor did ever own it. 1 Audrey Harrison, daughter of Edward Harrison of Balls, in the county of Hertford, Esq. The monument was erected in Westminster Abbey— with an epitaph — poor enough. She was a wit, and was parted from her husband. Walpole has preserved many of her clever sayings. — Cunningham. 2 First printed in the Quarterly Review for March, 1852. It was transcribed by Walpole's deputy, Mr. Bedford. — Cunningham. e 2 Ixxii SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. Aiig. 22iid, finislied tlie third volume of my " Anecdotes of Paint- mg. Dec. 20th, wrote a few lines to Lady Mary Coke, on her having St. Anthony's fire in her cheek. Dec. 23rd, wrote a portrait of [Carteret] Lord Granville, in verse, to serve as an epitaph for him. March 24th [1762]. I was chosen a Member of the Society of Arts and Sciences. June 12th. I was attacked in a new weekly paper, No. 2, called " The North Briton," and accused of having flattered the Scotch in my " Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors." I made no answer to it. I could not have been charged with anything of which I am less guilty than flattery. The passage was written and pubhshed five years before this period, and in the reign of the late King [George 11. ], when partiaHty to Scotland was no merit at Court; and so little was it calculated to make a friend of Lord Bute, that, having had occasion to write two or three letters to him, I constantly disclaimed any desire or intention of having a place. I have copies of these letters, and of others to the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Pitt, equally, and as fully disinterested. Before this accusation was made Lord Bute had had two levees ; I was at neither, nor ever was at the lev^e of any Minister, but my father, and once at the Duke of Newcastle's, while my father was in power.' I believe the author of " The North Briton " will ask for and have a place before I shall. Aug. 2nd, began the " Catalogue of Engravers." October 10th, finished it.^ I had been told [by Garrick] that Bishop Warburton resented something in the chapter of Architecture, in the second volume of my " Anecdotes of Painting," and that he intended to abuse me in the new edition of Mr. Pope's Works, which he proposed to have printed at Birmingham.' As I had not once thought of him in that work, it was not easy to guess at what he was offended. On looking over the chapter, I concluded he had wi4t some nonsense about the Phenicians, but having read very few of his works, it was impossible for me to know where to find it. As I would not disoblio*e even a ^ I was once, forty years ago [1742], at the late Duke of Newcastle's levge, the only minister's levee at which I ever was present except my own father's.— Tfa^wo/e, Memoir Relative to his Income (dated 1782). — Cunningham. 2 This is the date affixed by Walpole to the last page. — Cunningham. ^ By Baskerville. — Cunningham. SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. Ixxiii coxcomb ' unprovoked, and know how silly a literary controversy is, in which the world only laughs at both sides, I desired Dr. Charles Lyttelton, Bishop of CarHsle, to ask him if what I had said of the Phenicians was the rock of offence, and to assure him I had read few of his things, and had had no intention of laughing at him. I name Bishop Lyttelton, because if it had not come from one of his own order, all- arrogant and absurd as Warburton is, one should scarce believe it possible that he could have pushed vanity and folly to such a height as appeared in his answer. He rephed, " The Phenicians ! no, no. He alluded to my note in the edition of Pope, in which I have spoken of Gothic architecture ; I have exhausted the subject.'' I will only remark on this excess of impertinent self- conceit, that if he can exhaust subjects in so few lines, it was very unnecessary for him to write so many thousands. After this, I would as soon have a controversy with a peacock, or with an only daughter that her parents think handsome. The fowl, the miss, and the bishop, are alike incorrigible. The first struts naturally; the second is spoiled ; reason itself has been of no use to the last.' 1763. Beginning of September wrote the Dedication and Preface to Lord Herbert's Ijife. 1764. May 29th. Began an answer to a pamphlet against Mr. Conway, called " An Address to the PubHc on the late Dismission of a General Officer." My answer was finished June 12th, but not pubhshed till Aug. 2nd, under the title of "A Counter-Address to the PubHc," &c. [Printed for J. Almon.] ^ Odd enough, Warburton in a letter to Hurd, dated Nov. 16, 1766, calls Walpole "An insufferable coxcomb." — Cunningham. ° I have my fribbles as well as you. In the " Anecdotes of Painting," just pub- lished, the author, by the most unprovoked malice, has a fling at your friend obliquely, and puts him in company where you would not expect to find him (it is vol. i. p. 106, 107), with Tom Hearne and Browne Willis. It is about Gothic edifices, for which I shall be about his pots, as Bentley said to Lord Halifax of Rowe. But I say it better ; I mean the galley-pots and washes of his toilet. I know he has a fribble- tutor at his elbow, as sicklied over with affectation as himself. — Warburton to Garrick, Feb. 17, 1762. It was most kindly done of you to represent my complaint to Mr. Walpole. If an abuse had been intended, it was altogether unprovoked. His denying any such intention on his honour, gives me full satisfaction : though neither I nor my friends know what the passage aims at, if it had not that intention. And to confess to you, inter nos, when the new antiquarian Bishop of Carlisle mentioned this affair to me, impertinently enough, for I never had that familiarity of acquaintance with him to expect he should busy himself in my concerns, I gave him to understand, that Mr. Walpole must give me farther satisfaction than what he brought, which was that gentleman's declaring, on his honour, he had not me in his thoughts. And my reason was this : I knew Mr W. to be a wag, and such are never better pleased than when they have an opportunity of laughing at an antiquarian, — Warburton to Qarrick, April 22, 1762. — Cunningham, Ixxiv SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. June. I began "The Castle of Otranto," a gothic story, and finished it Aug. 6th. Oct. 15th. Wrote the fable of " The Magpie and her Brood '' for Miss Hotham, then near eleven years old, great niece of Henrietta Hobart, Countess Dowager of Suffolk. It was taken from Les Nouvelles Recreations de JBonaventure des Penirs, Yalet-de-Chambre to the Queen of Navarre. Dec. 24th. " The Castle of Otranto " was published ; 500 copies. 1765. April 11th. The 2nd edition of " The Castle of Otranto ; " 500 copies. Sept. 9th. Set out for Paris. End of this year wrote the " Letter from the King of Prussia to Rousseau.'' 1766. April 22nd. AiTived in London, from Paris. June 28th, 29th. Wrote an " Account of the Giants lately discovered.'' It was pubhshed Aug. 25th following. Aug. 18th. Began " Memoirs of the Peign of George the Third." 1767. Feb. 1. Began the ^' J)QieQ,\ion oi ^e Testament Politique o^ my Father," at Strawberiy Hill ; and finished it the next time I went thither, Feb. 17th. Did not print it, as no translation was made into EngHsh of that fictitious work. March 13th. Wrote to the Mayor of Lynn, that I did not intend to come into ParHament again. A bad translation of " The Castle of Otranto " into French was pubhshed at Paris this month. May 28th. My Letter to the Mayor of Lynn was first pubHshed in the St. James's Chronicle.* Aug. 20th. I went to Paris. Wrote there an account of my whole concern in the affair of Pousseau, not with intention to pubhsh it yet. In Sept. were pubhshed, in the PubHc Advertiser, two Letters I had written on Pohtical Abuse in Newspapers. They were signed, Tohy, and A Constant Corresioondent? 1768. Feb. 1. Pubhshed my ''Historic Doubts on Pichard the Third." I had begun it in the winter of 1767 ; continued it in the summer, and finished it after my return from Paris. Twelve hundred copies were printed, and sold so very fast that a new edition was ^ Reprinted in the Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1767, p. 293, and in this edition (for the first time in any edition of Walpole). " I was told that I should regret quit- ting my seat in Parliament ; but I knew myself better than those prophets did. Four years are past, and I have done nothing but applaud my resolution."— Walvole to Mann, Nov. 18, 1771. — Cunninqham. 2 Transcribed for this edition, and now first included in Walpole's works.— Cunningham* SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. Ixxv undertaken the next day of 1000 more, and published the next week. March 15. I finished a tragedy called " The Mysterious Mother," which I had begun Dec. 25, 1766 ; but I had laid it aside for several months while I went to Paris ; and while I was writing my "Historic Doubts on Richard the Thii^d." The two last acts were not now as much finished as I intended. June 20. Eeceived a letter from Yoltaii-e desiring my " Historic Doubts." I sent them, and " The Castle of Otranto," that he might see the preface, of which I told him. He did not Hke it, but returned a very civil answer, defending his opinion. I rephed with more civility, but dropping the subject, not caring to enter into a controversy ; especially on a matter of opinion, on which whether we were right or wi'ong, all France would be on his side, and aU England on mine. Nov. 18. At the desire of her son George Wilham Hervey, [second] Earl of Biistol, I wi^ote the elegy for the monument of Mary LepeHe Lady Hervey, to be erected in the Church at Ickworth, in Suffolk. I should have mentioned that on the Dissolution of the Parha- ment this year, I refused to serve again, agreeably to a letter I had written to the Mayor of Lynn, and which was pubHshed in the newspapers. 1769. April 24. Mrs, CHve spoke an Epilogue I had written for her on her quitting the stage. It aUuded to Eobertson's " History of Charles the Fifth," then lately published. May. Mr. David Hume had introduced to me one Diverdun, a Swiss in the Secretary's of&ce. This man wrote Memoires Litteraires de la Grande Bretagne ; and Mr. Hume desii^ed I would give him a copy of Lord Herbert's Life, that he might insert an extract in his Journal. I did. In April this Diverdun went to travel with a young English gentleman, and a few days afterwards a Swiss clergy- man delivered to me from him his Memoirs for the year 1768 ; he pubHshed but one before, for 1767. In this new journal I found a criticism on my " Historic Doubts," with notes by Mr. Hume, to which the critic declared he gave the preference. Mr. Hume had shown me the notes last year in manuscript, but this conduct appeared so paltry, added to Mr. Hume's total silence, that I imme- diately wrote an answer, not only to these notes, but to other things that had been written against my " Doubts." However, as I treated Mr. Hume with the severity he deserved, I resolved not to print Ixxvi SHOKT NOTES OF MY LIFE. this answer, only to show it to him in manuscript, and to leave it behind as an appendix to, and confirmation of, my "Historic Doubts." About the same time Yoltaire published in the Mercure the letter he had written to me, but I made no answer, because he had treated me more dirtily than Mr. Hume had. Though Yoltaire, with whom I had never had the least acquaintance or correspondence, had voluntaiily written to me first, and asked for my book, he wrote a letter to the Duchess of Choiseul, in which, without saying a syllable of his having written to me first, he told her I had officiously sent him my Works, and declared war with biTTi in defence de ce hoiiffon Shakspeare, whom in his reply to me he pretended so much to admire. The Duchess sent me Yoltaii-e's letter, which gave me such contempt for his disingenuity that I dropped all correspondence with him. In July and August finished two more books of my '^ Memoirs " for the years 1765, 1766. 1770. In the summer of this year wrote an answer to Dr. Milles* Hemarks on my " Richard the Third." 1771. End of September, wrote the Advertisement to the " Letters of King Edward the Sixth." 1772. Finished my " Memoirs " which conclude with the year 1771 ; intending for the future only to carry on a Journal. This year, the last, and sometime before, wrote some Hieroglyphic Tales. There are only five. I had long left off going to the Antiquarian Society. This summer I heard that they intended printing some more fooHsh notes against my " Eichard the Third ; " and though I had taken no notice of their first pubhcation, I thought they might at last provoke me to expose them. I determined, therefore, to be at Hberty by breaking with them first ; and Foote having brought them on the stage [in " The IN'abob "] for sitting in council, as they had done, on Whittington and his Cat,' I was not sorry to find them so ridiculous, or to mark their being so, and upon that nonsense, and the laughter that accompanied it, I struck my name out of their book. This was at the end of July. In July wi^ote the "Life of Sii^ Thomas Wyat," No. 11 of my edition of "Miscellaneous Antiquities." 1 There is no account in the "Arch^ologia" of this inquiry. It was Pegge who brought, in 1771, the subject of Whittington and his Cat before the meeting. (See Gough to Tyson, 27 Dec. 1771, in Nichols's " Literary Anecdotes," viii. 575.) " Pegge could make " nothing at all of the Cat." — Cunningham. SHORT NOTES OF MY LIFE. Ixxvii Sept. 16. The Duke of Gloucester notified to the King his marriage with my niece Lady Waldegrave.^ Sept. Wrote some lines to Lady Anne Fitzpatrick with a present of shells. 1773. Wrote " Nature will Prevail,'* a moral entertainment in one act, which I sent anonymously to Mr. Colman, manager of Covent Garden. He was much pleased with it, hut thinking it too short for a farce, pressed to have it enlarged, which I would not take the trouhle to do for so sHght and extempore a performance. 1774. Wrote an Introduction to, and a Parody of. Lord Chester- field's three first Letters. At the heginning of this year wrote my answer to Mr. Master's Remarks in the '' Archa3ologia." In July wrote the verses on the Three Yernons. 1775. In February wrote the Epilogue to " Braganza ;" and three Letters to the Author, Mr. Jephson, on Tragedy. 1777. In April my nephew, Lord Orford, went mad again, and was under my care, but as he had employed a lawyer, of whom I had a bad opinion, in his affairs, I refused to take care of them. 1778. Lord Orford recovering in March, I gave up the care of him. 1778. In June was acted *' Nature will Prevail," at the Httle Theatre in the Haymarket, with success.^ At the end of July^ wrote my answer to the Editor of Chatterton's Works. 1779. In the preceding autumn had written a defence of myself against the unjust aspersions in the Preface to the Miscellanies of Chatterton. Printed 200 copies at Strawberry Hill this January, and gave them away. It was much enlarged from what I had written in July. At the end of May wrote a Commentary and Notes to Mr. Mason's later poems. [Here the Manuscript terminates.] 1 They were married 6 Sept. 1766. (See Walpole to Mann, June 15, 1772.) Their eldest child, the Princess Sophia Matilda, was born 29 May, 1773. Compare Walpole to'Mann, 8 May, 1771. " The Duke of Gloucester has professed a passion for the Dowager Waldegrave. He is never from her elbow. This flatters Horey Walpole not a little, though he pretends to dislike it." — Gilly Williams to Selwyn, Dec. 1764. — Cun- ningham. 2 It was acted seven times. (See Genest's "English Stage," vi. 21.)— Cun- ningham. 3 The printed answer is dated " Strawberry Hill, May 23, 1778."— Cunningham. ACCOUNT OF MY CONDUCT RELATIVE TO THE PLACES I HOLD UNDER GOVERNMENT, AND TOWARDS MINISTERS.^ [1782.] In my youth, my fattier, Sir Eobert Walpole, tlien Prime Minister, gave me the two patent little places I still hold, of Clerk of the Estreats and Comptroller of the Pipe, which, together, produce about or near 300/. per annum. When I was about eighteen or nineteen, he gave me the place of Inspector of the Imports and Exports in the Custom-house, which I resigned in about a year, on his giving me the patent place of Usher of the Exchequer, then reckoned worth 900/. a-year. From that time I Hved on my own income, and tra- velled at my own expense, nor did I during my father's life receive from him but 250/. at different times ; which I say, not in deroga- tion of his extreme tenderness and goodness to me, but to show that I was content with what he had given to me, and that from the age of twenty I was no charge to my family. Before my father's quitting his post, he, at the instance of my eldest brother, Lord Walpole, had altered the deHvery of Exchequer bills from ten pounds to an hundi^ed pounds. My deputy, after that alteration was made, observed, that as Usher of the Exchequer, who furnishes the materials of Exchequer bills, on which, by the table of rates in the Exchequer, I had a stated profit, I should lose ten per cent., which he represented to my father, who, having altered them to obHge my brother, would not undo what he had done : but, to repair the prejudice I had suffered. Sir Robert, with his wonted equity and tenderness, determined to give me 2000/. ia lieu of what I lost, and would have added that legacy in a codicil to his will ; but this happening only two days before his death, when he was ^ From Walpole's Works (5 vols. 4to, 1798), vol. ii. pp. 363-370. MEMOIR RESPECTING HIS INCOME. Ixxix little capable of making tliat codicil, my brother, Lord Walpole, engaged, at my father's desire, to pay me 400/. a-year, which, not long after, my brother redeemed for the intended 2000/. King George the First had graciously bestowed on my father the patent-place of Collector of the Customs, for his own life, and for the lives of his two elder sons, Robert and Edward ; but my father reserved in himself a right of disposing of the income of that place as he should please, during the existence of the grant. Accordingly, having afterwards obtaiued for his eldest son Egbert the great place of Auditor of the Exchequer, and for his second son Edward that of Clerk of the Pells, he bequeathed, by an iustrument under his hand, 1000/. a-year to me, out of the patent, for the remainder of the term, and devised the remainder, about 800/. a-year, to be divided between my brother Edward and me. Having provided thus largely for my brother Edward and me, and leaving nothing but an estate in land, of nominally 8000/. a-year, and a debt of between 40,000/. and 50,000/., he gave to my brother Edward and me only 5000/. a-piece ; of which I have never received but 1000/., and none of the interest. He also gave to my brother Edward a freehold house in Pall Mall, and to me the remainder of a house in Arlington-street ; which went away from me in 1781, the term being expired. Though my portion was much inferior to my brother's, still it was a noble fortune for a third son, and much beyond what I expected or deserved. Yet, undoubtedly, so excellent a parent would not have made so very slender a provision as 5000/. for a son he loved, if he had not had the opportunity and the legal right of giving me a much ampler fortune of what he had obtained by his long and faithful and very essential services to the Kings George I. and II. I presume boldly to say that my father had a legal right of making the provision for me he did in the places I hold.^ Patent-places for life have existed from time immemorial, by law, and under all changes of Government. He who holds an ancient patent-place enjoys it as much by law as any gentleman holds his estate, and by more ancient tenure than most gentlemen hold theirs, and from the same fountain, only of ancienter date, than many of the nobility and gentry hold their estates, who possess them only by grants from the Crown, as I possess my places ; which were not wrung from the 1 In a letter to Conway, dated July 20, 1744, Walpole states his then income from his places (his father was still alive) as near two thousand pounds a-year.— Cunningham. Ixxx MEMOIR RESPECTING HIS INCOMK Churcli, and in violation of tlie intention of the donors, as a vast number of estates were : nor can I think myself as a patent-place- man a more useless or a less legal engrosser of part of the wealth of the nation than deans and prebendaries, who fatten on Christianity- like any less holy incumbent of a fee. While there are distinctions of ranks, and unequal divisions of property, not acquired by personal merit, but by birth or favours, some will be more fortunate than others. The poor are most intitled to complain ; but an archdeacon, or a country gentleman, has very little grace in complaining that any other unprofitable class is indulged by the laws in the enjoyment of more than an equal share of property with the meanest labourer or lowest mechanic. Having said this with the confidence that does not misbecome a legal possessor, I am far from pretending to any other plea, much less to any merit in myself. A tender parent lavished riches on me greatly beyond my desert, of which I am so httle conscious in my- self, that, if the distresses of the pubHc require a revocation of gifts bestowed by the Crown in its splendom*, I know no man who can plead fewer services to his country, or less merit in himself than I can. In one light only I can wipe off an aspersion, in which patent- placemen have been confounded with other placemen. 'No man who holds a place for life is dependent on the Crown, farther than his duty or his gratitude binds him. I, perhaps, by the nature of my office, which I shall explain hereafter, am more dependent than almost any patent-holder ; and yet I may presume to say that, having suJffered ^ by that dependence, because I would not violate my principles and conscience, I cannot be deemed a servile placeman. Endowed so bountifully by a fond parent, as I have allowed my- self to be, it would be ridiculous to say that I have been content. Yet, not having unfolded some peculiarities in my situation, I may venture to say that I have shown that I could be content with a considerable diminution. I have never made any merit of that moderation ; but when I am held out to the public as one whom the pubhc are called upon to reduce to an humbler lot, which I am ready to admit, if it be but allowed that all my guilt consists in holding what somebody else would have held if I did not, it may be per- mitted to me to prove, that while I assumed no claim of merit I have declined eveiy offered opportunity of enlarging or securing my 1 My conduct, T\^liile I sat in Parliament is most probably forgotten ; but no man can recollect that it looked like servility to Ministers. It is needless to obviate what never was objected to me.— Walpole. MEMOIR RESPECTING HIS INCOME. Ixxxi fortune, because I would not be bound to serve any Minister contrary to my principles, and because I chose to have no obligations but to one to whom I owed everything, and to whom it was my duty, and whom it would be my pride, to obey, if he were on earth to exact that obedience. I have said that my father left me much the larger share in the income of the patent-place in the Custom-house. I have also men- tioned that the patent was granted to my father dm-ing the lives of him and his two elder sons, — on his death there remained the hves of my two brothers, — and that my share would consequently cease entirely if I survived them. The health of my eldest brother de- clining, and my brother Edward being eleven years older than me, two or three of my best friends urged me to ask to have my life added to the patent. I refused, but own I was at last over-per- suaded to make application to Mr. Pelham ^ — ^how unwillingly will appear by my behaviour on that occasion, which did not last two minutes. I went to him and made my request. He repKed civilly, he could not ask the King to add my life to the patent ; but, if I could get my brother Edward to let my life stand in Heu of his, he would endeavour to serve me. I answered quickly, " Sir, I will never ask my brother to stand in a precarious Hght instead of me ; " and, hurrying out of his house, returned to two of my friends who waited for me, and said to them, " I have done what you desrred me to do, but, thank God, I have been refused." This was in the year 1751, and was the first and last favour I ever asked of any Minister for myself. Had I been an ambitious or an interested man, I certainly have had eminent opportunities of indulging either passion. At the be- ginning of the present reign, an overture presented itself to me, which a more selfish man would have thought flattering to his views. I may be allowed to say that I have waived more substantial and real offers. Twice I have been offered what I was over-persuaded to ask of Mr. Pelham. Twice I have been offered to have my share of the patent, which I now hold only during my brother's life, con- ferred on me for my own. Both times I positively refused to accept that offer. Having rejected a certainty of 1400/. per annum for my * ' Walpole's letter to Mr. Pelham, dated 25tli Nov., 1752, renewing his request to have his life added to the patent, will be found printed for the first time in this edition of Walpole's Letters. It will be observed that in this Account of his Conduct Walpole makes no mention of a second application— a year after the first. Mr. Pelham, gave him little encouragement. He said he would mention it to the King, but did not believe it would succeed. Walpole replied, " He knew best," and took his leave.— Cunningham. Ixxxii MEMOIR RESPECTING HIS INCOME. own life, instead of holding it during tlie life of one eleven years older, I hope I shall not be thought a very interested man. I will now explain the nature of my office of Usher of the Exche- quer, stated by the Commissioners of Accounts to render to me clear 4200/. a-year, and which I said was given to me as producing but 900/. a-year, and which, on an additional tax being laid on places, I gave in as producing 1800/. a-year, and which, had it been adverted to, would make me seem to have given in a very fraudulent estimate ; but I am so conscious of my innocence and integrity in that respect, that I chuse — perhaps out of vanity — to recollect that circumstance myself, as it certainly reflects no dishonour on me. When I was called on to give in the value of my place, I took my book of accounts and receipts for the last twelve years, and gave in the medium of those twelve years, which was 1800/. a-year. As mine has been an increasing place by thi'ee wars and other circumstances, and as for the first years of my holding that place, it was much less, the medium sum would have been less than 1800/. a-year, if I had taken my receipts farther back than twelve years ; so that I plainly exaggerated, instead of diminishing, what I had received annually from my first nomination to the office. If I have enjoyed too much, as I confess I have, at least I have not sought to increase my income by any indirect or dirty methods. The duty of my office is to shut the gates of the Exchequer, and to famish paper, pens, ink, wax, sand, tape, penknives, scissors, parchment, and a great variety of other articles, to the Exchequer, Treasury, and their offices, and to pay the bills of the workmen and tradesmen who serve those offices. Many of the articles specified are stated in a very ancient table of rates in the Exchequer (I think of the time of Edward III., so that my office is, if a grievance, no very novel one) ; and, on those, large profits are allowed to the Usher, whence my profit arises, and whence, if it is largely augmented of late years, a candid examiner will observe that that increase proceeds from the prodigious additional consumption of paper, pens, ink, wax, which the excessive increase of business at the Treasury must occasion ; and therefore, should a much less quantity of those implements be employed, my profits would decrease in proportion. When, therefore,' I am charged as receiver of 4200/. a-year, it should be remembered, that though I was so in the year 1780, (though I shall show that even that is an arbitrary statement, not calculated on any medium), yet I cannot equitably be reckoned communibus annis to receive so large a sum. I have shown that MEMOm EESPECTING HIS INCOME. Ixxxiii 1800/. a-year was tlie medium on twelve years, and tliose not of my last receipts. It is very difficult to state my case, and not seem to defend it. But I am telling the truth, and not pleading for favour ; at least, my object is to obtain a favourable opinion of my character. I am far more indifferent about my fortime. But surely any impartial man will reflect how grievous it must be to a disinterested mind to be held up to the pubhc as a blood-sucker, under the invidious name of a placeman ; to be one of those pointed at by County Associations ' as grievances that call for speedy correction and removal ; in short, to be confounded with contractors and other leeches, that have grown out of the profusions and abuses of the time ; though my office has existed from the oldest times, and has existed under the best Government. Pubhc distress demands economy and correction. Be they exercised ; I desire no exception. But being guilty of no servile, of no indirect means in obtaining, augmenting, or retaining my office, I am ready to resig-n that office ; but I will prove (and defy all mahkind to detect me in a single falsehood) that I have held my place with honour, and have nothing to paUiate or conceal in my execution of it. The place is held under many disagreeable circumstances. I advance money to the tradesmen and workmen. I contract to pay the principal merchant with whom I deal for paper, though I should never be repaid. There is no specific time appointed for my being paid ; it depends on the good pleasure of the Fii^st Lord of the Treasury ; and yet, though a mere tradesman in that respect, I beUeve no man will accuse me of having ever paid court, or even attendance, on a First Lord of the Treasury. I was once, forty years ago [1742], at the late Duke of Newcastle's lev^e,' the only Minister's lev^e at which I ever was present except my own father's. Yet with very few have I had cause not to be content in my own particular : if I have been proud, they have been just.' Yet some 1 Such as were formed in YorksMre 'about this time. The York Association in which Mason took an active part was the cause of the coolness, if indeed we may not call it quarrel, between Walpole and Mason.— Cunningham. 2 The minister Duke of Newcastle (died 1768), who was in high official power for a longer period than any other minister seems destined to be again in this country.- CUNNINGHAM. . , . .,.^ ^i i, t 3 From Lord North I always received regular justice and civility, though 1 never paid any court to him, nor disguised my disinclination to his measures. This compli- ment which now cannot be misinterpreted, is due to him, and is an unsuspicious evidence of his good humour and averseness from all malignity. When I am grateful to the living for civilities, I scorn to recollect the rancour of the dead.— Walpole. Ixxxiv MEMOIR RESPECTING HIS INCOME. of my predecessors have met with harder fates. Mr. Naylor, my imme- diate predecessor but one, lost 20,000/.- by the death of Queen Anne. Eisks by prudent men are calculated as drawbacks ; but, where advantage preponderates, even the terrors of calculation are sur- mounted. More prudent men than I am would have combated those risks, by making the most of their advantages. I have ever disdained that pitiful arithmetic. All the goods I furnish have always been purchased by me at the highest prices ; and never came a complaint from the Treasury that was not instantly remedied by my order. In more than forty years I have never received an important complaint, nor given occasion to one. Having said that there is no certain time settled for my being paid, and as I have sometimes had large arrears due, and, conse- quently, as one year frequently runs into another, and thence I may in one year receive four or five thousand pounds, because in the preceding I did not receive half so much, the Commissioners of Accounts, having examined my deputy but on a single year, were just in their report of what I received that year ; but, had they gone farther back, would certainly not have given in 4200/. as my receipt commit nihus aim is. This unhi tended misrepresentation * I bore in silence ; it having been my steadfast purpose not to interfere with the pubhc examination of places, nor take the smallest step to mitigate my own fate, which I submit implicitly to the discretion of the Legislature. What I hold, I hold by law ; if the law deprives me, I have too much reverence for the laws of my country to complain. No man ever heard me utter a syllable in my own behalf. My nearest fiiends know that I have requu^ed them not to interpose to save me. This dread of seeming to make iaterest to save my place, preponderated with me to appear migratefui for a time, lest it should look Hke a selfish compliment. I have never yet thanked Mr. Burke for the overflowing pleasure he gave my heart, when, on moving his bill, he paid that just compliment to the virtues of my honest, excellent father. This acknowledgment I hope he will accept as a proof that, though silent, I was not insensible to the 1 My deputy received my positive orders to give to the Commissionera the most particular detail of my profits, and to offer them in my name my account-books of all my receipts, which they declined accepting, and which would have shown them a very different state of the medium of my place. Had they accepted those books, I intended to send them word that they were welcome to examine my receipts, but that I hoped, as they were gentlemen, they would not look at the foolish manner in which I had flung away moat of what I had received.— Walpole. The papers of AValpole's deputy (Mr. Bedford) fully confirm the statement in the text and note.— Cunningham. MEMOIR RESPECTING HIS INCOME. Ixxxv obligation. Just praise out of his moutli is an epitaph of sterliii^ value, and, standing in his printed speech on that occasion, will enjoy an immortality which happens to few epitaphs. This apology for my conduct will, I hope, be accepted from a man who has nothing to boast but his disinterestedness, and is grievously wounded by standing in a Hght of one by whom the pubHc suffers. Were my place worth double 4000/., I could resign it cheerfully, at the demand of my country ; but having never flattered the Ministers I disapproved, nor profited to the value of a shilling by my dearest friends when in power, — which they have been twice of late years, — (and having so much reason to be proud of their friendship, why should I not name two such virtuous upright men as the Duke of Eichmond ' and General Conway ?) I cannot bear to appear in the predicament of one enriched to the detriment of the country. Tliis stab has been given to my peace ; and the loss of my place will find, not cause, the woimd, nor will the retention of the place heal it. It is this most scrupulous state of facts that alone can rehabihtate me in the eyes of the public, if anything can ; and though nothing would have drawn a vain detail from me, unprovoked, it caimot be thought arrogant to endeavour to wipe off reproach, nor impertinent to aim at negative merit with the public, instead of submitting to undeserved and invidious obloquy. Horace Walpole. March SOth, 1782. ^ Charles, third Duke of Richmond, to whom Walpole dedicated the fourth volume of his Anecdotes of Painting. He died in 1806. — Cunningham. VOL. 1. f REMINISCENCES;' WRITTEN IN 1788, FOR THE AMUSEMENT OF MISS MAHY AND MISS AGJSTES BERRY. II ne faut point d'esprit pour s'occnper des vieux ev^nemens. — Yoltatre, Yol. Iv., Lett. Ivi., p. 114. He [Lord Orford] repeatedly said to me, " You will remember that I am the son of Sir Robert Walpole, and therefore must be prejudiced in his favour : Facts I will not misrepresent or disguise, but my opinions and reflections on those facts you will receive with caution, and adopt or reject at your discretion." — Coxe's Life of Sir Robert Walpole, vol. i. p. xxiii. (3 vols. 4to, 1798.)— Cunningham. > >■ First printed in "Walpole's Works. 5 vols. 4to. 1798. /2 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Motives to the undertaking — Precedents — George I.'s reign a proem to the history of the reigning house of Brunswick — The Reminiscent introduced to that monarch — His person and dress — The duchess of Kendal — Her jealousy of Sir Robert AValpole's credit with the King, and intrigues to displace him and make Bolingbroke minister xci CHAPTER n. Marriage of George I., while Electoral Prince, to the Princess Sophia Dorothea — Assassination of Count Konigsmark — Separation from the Princess — Left-handed espousal — Piety of the Duchess of Kendal — Confinement and death of Sophia Dorothea in the Castle of Alden — French prophetess — The King's superstition — Mademoiselle Schulemberg — Royal inconstancy — Countess of Platen — Anne Brett — Sudden death of George I. - - xcix CHAPTER III. Quarrel between George I. and his son — Earl of Sunderland — Lord Stanhope — South Sea scheme — Death of Craggs — Royal reconcilement — Peerage bill defeated — Project for seizing the Prince of Wales and conveying him to America — Duke of Newcastle — Royal christening — Open rupture — Prince and Princess of Wales ordered to leave the palace cvi CHAPTER IV. Bill of pains and penalties against Bishop Atterbury— Projected assassination of Sir Robert Wal pole— Revival of the Order of the Bath— Instance of George I.'s good-humoured presence of mind cxii xc CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. PAGE Accession of George II. — Sir Spencer Compton — Expected change in administration — Continuation of Lord Townshend and Sir Robert Walpole by the intervention of Queen Caroline — Mrs. Howard, after- wards Countess of Suffolk — Her character by Swift, and by Lord Chesterfield cxvi CHAPTER YI. Destruction of George I.'s will exx CHAPTER Yll. History of Mrs. Howard, afterwards Countess of Suffolk — Miss Bellenden — Her marriage with Colonel John Campbell, afterwards fourth Duke of Argyle — Anecdotes of Queen Caroline — Her last illness and death — Anecdotes of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough — Last years of George II. — Mrs. Clayton, afterwards Lady Sundon — Lady Diana Spencer — Frederick, Prince of A\^ales— Sudden removal of the Prince and Princess from Hampton Court to St. James's — Birth of a Princess— Rupture with the King — Anecdotes of Lady Yarmouth cxxii CHAPTER YIIL George II.'s daughters — Anne, Princess of Orange — Princess Amelia— Princess Caroline— Lord Hervey—Duke of Cumberland cxxxv CHAPTER IX. Anecdotes of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough— and of Catherine, Duchess of Buckingham ' ^^^^•.. EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTERS OF SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH, TO THE EARL OP STAIR, ILLUSTRATIVE OP "THE REMINISCENCES/' CXlvil REMINISCENCES. CHAPTER I. Motives to the Undertaking — Precedents — George I.'s Reign a Proem to the History of the reigning House of Brunswick — The Eeminiscent introduced to that Monarch— his Person and Dress— The Duchess of Kendal — Her Jealousy of Sir Robert Walpole's credit with the King, and intrigues to displace him, and make Bolingbroke Minister. You were both so entertained witli the old stories I told you one evening lately, of what I recollected to have seen and heard from my childhood of the Courts of King George I., and of his son the Prince of "Wales, afterwards George II., and of the latter's princess, since Queen Caroline ; and you expressed such wishes that I would commit those passages (for they are scarce worthy of the title even of Anecdotes) to writing, that, having no greater pleasure than to please you both, nor any more important or laudable occupation, I will begin to satisfy the repetition of youi^ curiosity. But observe, I promise no more than to hegin ; for I not only cannot answer that I shall have patience to continue, but my memory is still so fi'esh, or rather so retentive of trifles which first made impression on it, that it is very possible my life (turned of seventy- one) may be ex- hausted before my stock of remembrances ; especially as I am sen- sible of the garruhty of old age, and of its eagerness of relating whatever it recollects, whether of moment or not. Thus, while I fancy I am complying with you, I may only be indulging mysebf, and consequently may wander into many digressions for which you will not care a straw, and which may intercept the completion of my design. Patience, therefore, young ladies ; and if you coin an old gentleman into narratives, you must expect a good deal of alloy. I engage for no method, no regularity, no poHsh. My XCll EEMIKISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [chap. i. Darrative will j^robably resemble siege-pieces, wbich are struck of any promiscuous metals ; and, thougb they bear the impress of some sovereign's name, only serve to quiet tbe garrison for tbe moment, and afterwards are merely hoarded by collectors and virtuosos, who think their series not complete, unless they have even the coins of base metal of every reign. As I date from my nonage, I must have laid up no state secrets. Most of the facts I am going to tell you, though new to you and to most of the present age, were known perhaps at the time to my nurse and my tutors. Thus, my stories will have nothing to do with history. Lucidly, there have appeared within these thi'ee months two pub- lications, that will serve as precedents for whatever I am going to say : I mean Les Frag mens of the Correspondence of the Duchess of Orleans,' and those of the Memoircs of the Due de St. Simon.^ ISTo- thing more dccousii than both : they tell you what they please ; or rather, what their editors have j^leased to let them tell. In one respect I shall be less satisfactory. They knew and were well acquainted, or thought they were, with the characters of their personages. I did not at ten years old penetrate characters ; and as George I. died [1727] at the period where my reminiscence begins, and was rather a good sort of man than a shining king ; and as the Duchess of Kendal ^ was no genius, I heard very little of either when he and her power were no more. In fact, the reign of George I. was little more than the proem to the history of England under the House of Brunswick. That family was estabhshed here by surmounting a rebellion ; to which settlement perhajDS the phrensy of the South Sea scheme contributed, by diverting the national attention from the game of faction to the delirium of stock-jobbing ; and even faction was split into fractions by the quarrel between the King and the heir- apparent — another interlude, which authorises 1 Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of the Elector of Bavaria. In 1671 she became the second wife (his first being poisoned) of the brother of Louis XIV. ; by whom she was the mother of the regent, Duke of Orleans. She died in 1722. A collection of her letters, addressed to Prince Ulric of Brunswick, and to the Princess of Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline, was published at Paris in 1788. — Wright. 2 These celebrated Memoires of the Court of Louis XIY. were first published, in a mutilated state, in 1788. A complete edition, in thirteen volumes, appeared in 1791.— Weight. 3 Erengard de Schulemberg, Duchess of Munster, in Ireland; created for life 30 April, 1719, Baroness Glastonbury, co. Somerset, Countess of Feversham, co. Kent, and Duchess of Kendal, co. Westmoreland. She lived at Kendal House on the Hounslow and Isleworth Eoad, and died 1743. — Cunningham. CHAP. I.] GEORGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. xciii me to call tKe reign of George I. a proem to the history of the reign- ing House of Brunswick, so successively agitated by parallel feuds. Commencons. As my first hero was going off the stage before I ought to have come upon it, it will be necessary to tell you why the said two per- sonages happened to meet just two nights before they were to part for ever ; a rencounter that barely enables me to give you a general idea of the former's person and of his mistress's — or, as has been supposed, his wife's. As I was the youngest by eleven years of Sir Eobert Walpole's children by his first wife,' and was extremely weak and delicate, as you see me still, though with no constitutional complaint till I had the gout after forty, and as my two sisters^ were consumptive, and died of consumptions, the supposed necessary care of me (and I have overheard persons saying, "That child cannot possibly live") so engrossed the attention of my mother, that compassion and tender- ness soon became extreme fondness ; and as the infinite good-nature of my father never thwarted any of his children, he suffered me to be too much indulged, and permitted her to gratify the first vehement inclination that ever I expressed, and which, as I have never since felt any enthusiasm for royal persons, I must suppose that the female attendants in the family must have put into my head, to long to see the King. This childish caprice was so strong, that my mother solicited the Duchess of Kendal to obtain for me the honom^ of kissing his Majesty's hand before he set out for Hanover. A favour so unusual to be asked for a boy of ten years old, was still too slight to be refused to the wife of the First Minister for her darling child ; yet not being proper to be made a precedent, it was settled to be in private, and at night. Accordingly, the night but one before the King began his last journey, my mother carried me at ten at night to the aj)artment of the Countess of Walsingham,^ on the ground-floor, towards the 1 Catherine Shorter, daughter of John Shorter, of Bybrook, in Kent, Esq., and grand-daughter of Sir John Shorter, Lord Mayor of London in 1688. She died 1737. — Cunningham. " Catherine Walpole and Mary Viscountess Malpas, — Walpole, ^ Melusina de Schulemberg, niece of the Duchess of Kendal, or rather as was suspected, her daughter by King George I. She was created for life, 7 April, 1722, Baroness of Aldborough, co. Suffolk, and Countess of Walsingham, co. Norfolk. She married, 5 Sept., 1733, the famous Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield (d. 1773), and died 16 Sept., 1778. — Cunninqham. xciv EEMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [chap. i. garden at St. James's, which opened into that of her aunt the Duchess of Kendal's : apartments occupied by George II. after his Queen's death, and by his successive mistresses, the Countesses of Suffolk [Mrs. Howard] and Yarmouth [Madame de Wahnoden]. Notice being given that the King was come down to supper, Lady WaLsingham took me alone into the Duchess's ante-room, where we found alone the King and her. I knelt down, and kissed his hand. He said a few words to me, and my conductress led me back to my mother.' The person of the King is as perfect in my memory as if I saw him but yesterday. It was that of an elderly man, rather pale, and exactly like his pictures and coins ; not tall ; of an aspect rather good than august ; with a dark tie-wig, a plain coat, waistcoat, and breeches of snujff- coloured cloth, with stockings of the same colour, and a blue riband over all. So entii^ely was he my object that I do not believe I once looked at the Duchess ; but as I could not avoid seeing her on entering the room, I remember that just beyond his Majesty stood a very tall, lean, ill-favoured old lady ; but I did not retain the least idea of her features, nor know what the colour of her dress was. My childish loyalty, and the condescension in gratifying it, were, I suppose, causes that contributed, very soon afterwards, to make me shed a flood of tears for that sovereign's death, when, with the other scholars at Eton College, I walked in procession to the proclamation of the successor ; and Avhich (though I think they partly fell because I imagined it became the son of a Prime Miaister to be more con- cerned than other boys) were no doubt imputed by many of the spectators who were politicians, to fears of my father's most probable fall, but of which I had not the smallest conception, nor should have met with any more concern than I did when it really arrived, in the year 1742 ; by which time I had lost all taste for Coui'ts and Princes and Power, as was natiu'al to one who never felt an ambitious thought for himself. It must not be inferred from her obtaining this grace for me, that the Duchess of Kendal was a friend to my father ; on the contrary at that moment she had been labouring to displace him, and intro- * The following is the account of this introduction given in " Walpoliana •'" " I do remember something of George I. My father took me to St. James's while I was a very little boy : after waiting some time in an ante-room, a gentleman came in all dressed in brown, even his stockings, and with a riband and star. He took me up in his arms, kissed me, and chatted some time." — Wright. CHAP. 1.] GEORGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. xcv duce Lord Bolingbroke' iuto the administration; on which I shall say more hereafter. It was an instance of Sir Eobert's singular fortune, or evidence of his talents, that he not only preserved his power under two succes- sive monarchs, but in spite of the efforts of both their mistresses "^ to remove him. It was perhaps still more remarkable, and an instance unparalleled, that Sir Eobert governed George I. in Latin, the King not speaking English,^ and his minister no German, nor even French.^ It was much talked of, that Sir Robert, detecting one of the Hanoverian ministers in some trick or falsehood before the King's face, had the fii^mness to say to the German, " Mentiris impuden- tissime ! '' The good-humoured monarch only laughed, as he often did when Sir Robert complained to him of his Hanoverians selling places, nor would be persuaded that it was not the practice of the English court ; and which an incident must have planted in his mind with no favourable impression of English disinterestedness. " This is a strange country ! " said his Majesty ; '' the first morning after my arrival at St. James's, I looked out of the window, and saw a park with walks, a canal, &c., which they told me were mine. The next day, Lord Chetwynd,* the ranger of my park, sent me a fine brace of carp out of )ny canal ; and I was told I must give five 1 The -well-known Henry St. John, Yiscount Bolingbroke, secretary of state to Queen Anne ; on whose death he fled, and was attainted. — Walpole. " We have the authority of Sir Robert Walpole himself," says Coxe, " that the restoration of Lord Bolingbroke was the work of the Duchess of Kendal. He gained the duchess by a present of eleven thousand pounds, and obtained a promise to use her influence over the King, for the purpose of forwarding his complete restoration," — Wright. Com- pare " Lord Hervey's Memoirs," Vol. i. p. 14.— Cunningham. - The Duchess of Kendal and Lady Suffolk.— Walpole. 3 " Sir Kobert was frequently heard to say, that during the reign of the first George, he governed the kingdom by means of bad Latin : it is a matter of wonder that, under such disadvantages, the King should take pleasure in transacting business with him ; a circumstance which was principally owing to the method and perspicuity of his calculations, and to the extreme facility with which he arranged and explained the most abstruse and difficult combinations of finance."— Coa:e.— Wright. ^ Prince William, (afterwards Duke of Cumberland,) then a child, being carried to his grandfather on his birthday, the King asked him at what hour he rose. The Prince replied, "when the chimney-sweepers went about." — "Yat is de chimney- sweeper ?" said the King.—" Have you been so long in England," said the boy, " and do not know what a chimney-sweeper is ? Why, they are like that man there ; " pointing to Lord Finch, afterwards Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham, of a family uncommonly swarthy and dark — " the black funereal Finches — " Sir Charles Williams's Ode to a Nurtiber of Ch^eat Men, 1742.— Walpole. 5 Walter, first Yiscount Chetwynd (died 1735). In the Suffolk Correspondence (i. 251) is a curious letter from Lady Chetwynd about her lord's retention of the Rangership at the accession of King George II.— Cunningham. XCVl KEMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [«nAP. guineas to Lord Chetwynd's servant for bringing me my oion carp out of my own, canal in my own park ! " / I have said that the Duchess of Kendal was no friend of Sir Robert, and wished to make Lord Bolingbroke minister in his room. I was too young to know anything of that reign, nor was acquamted with the political cabals of the Court, which, however, I might have learnt from my father in the three years after his retirement [1742 —1745] ; but being too thoughtless at that time, nor having your laudable curiosity, I neglected to. inform myself of many passages and cii'cimistances, of Avhich I have often since regretted my faulty Ignorance. By what I can at present recollect, the Duchess seems to have been jealous of Sii' Robert's credit with the King, which he had acquired, not by paying court, but by his superior abilities in the House of Commons, and by his knowledge in finance, of which Lord Sunderland and Craggs had betrayed their ignorance in countenanc- ing the South Sea scheme ; and who, though more agreeable to the King, had been forced to give way to Walpole, as the only man capable of repairing that mischief. The Duchess, too, might be alarmed at his attachment to the Prince of Wales ; from whom, in case of the King's death, her grace could expect no favour. Of her jealousy I do know the following instance : Queen Anne had bestowed the ranger ship of Richmond New Park on her relations the Hydes for three lives, one of which was exj)ii'ed. King George, fond of shooting, bought ' out the term of the last Earl of Clarendon, and of his son Lord Combmy, and frequently shot there ; having appointed my eldest brother. Lord "Walpole, Ranger nominally, but my father in reahty, who wished to hunt there once or twice a week. The Park hadiiinto great decay under the Hydes, nor was there any mansion^ better than the common lodges of the keepers. The King ordered a stone lodge, designed by Henry, Earl of Pembroke, to be erected for himself, but merely as a banqueting-house,^ with a large eating- ^ For 5000Z. — Cunningham, 2 The Earl of Rochester, who succeeded [1723] to the title of Clarendon on the extinction of the elder branch, had a villa close without the park ; but it had been burnt down [1721], and only one wing was left. W. Stanhope, [first] Earl of Har- rington [died 1756], purchased the ruins, and built the house, since bought by Lord Camelford. — Walpole. From whom it was bought, in 1790, by King William IV., then Duke of Clarence. — Wright. 3 It was afterwards enlarged by the Princess Amelia; to whom her father, George II., had granted the reversion of the rangership after Lord Walpole. Her Royal Highness sold it to George III. for a pension on Ireland of 1200?. a-year, and his Majesty appointed Lord Bute [died 1792] ranger for life.— Walpole. XCVll CHAP. I.] GEORGE THE FIEST AND SECOND. room, Idtchen, and necessary offices, where he might dine after his sport. Sir Eobert began another of brick, for himself and the under- ranger, which, by degrees, he much enlarged; usuaUy retiring thither from busmess, or rather, as he said himself, to do more busi- ness than he could in town, on Saturdays and Sundays. On that edifice, on the thatched house, and other improvements, he laid out fourteen thousand pounds of his own money. In the mean time, he hired a smaU house for himself on the HiU without the Park ; and in that smaU tenement the King did him the honour of dining with him more than once after shooting. His Majesty, fond of private^ joviahty, was pleased with punch after dinner, and mdulged in it fi-eely. The Duchess, alarmed at the advantage the Munster might make of the openness of the King's heart in those convivial, unguarded hours, and at a crisis when she was conscious Sir Robert was apprised of her inimical machinations in favour of Bolingbroke, enjoined the few Germans who accompanied the King at those dinners to prevent his Majesty from diinking too freely. Her spies obeyed too punctually, and without any address. The King was ofi'ended, and silenced the tools by the coarsest epithets in the Grerman language. He even, before his departure [for Han- over], ordered Sir Robert to have the stone lodge finished against his return : no symptom of a falling minister, as has since been sup- posed Sir Robert then was, and that Lord Bolingbroke was to have replaced him, had the King Hved to come back. But my presump- tion to the contrary is more strongly corroborated by what had recently passed : the Duchess had actually prevailed on the King to see Bolingbroke secretly in his closet. That intriguing Proteus, aware that he might not obtain an audience long enough to efface former prejudices, and make suffi.cient impression on the King against Sir Robert, and in his own favour, went provided with a long me- morial'^ which he left in the closet, and begged his Majesty to 1 The King [George I.] hated the parade of royalty. When he went to the opera, it was in no state ; nor did he sit in the stage box, nor forwards, but behind the Duchess of Kendal and Lady Walsingham, in the second box, now [1788] allotted to the Maids of Honour. — Walpole. - When he [Sir Robert Walpole] retired from ofB.ce, he destroyed a large quantity [of papers]. Not long before his death, he said to his son, " Horace, when I am gone, you will find many curious papers in the drawer of this table," and mentioned among others, the memorial which had been drawn up by Bolingbroke, and presented by the Duchess of Kendal to the King. When his son, some time after his death, inspected the drawer, the papers were lost, and were never afterwards recovered. In relating this anecdote, the late Earl of Orford declared his opinion that the papers had been either inadvertently destroyed by his elder brother, or stolen by xcviii KEMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OP [chap. i. peruse coolly at his leisure. TKe King kept the paper, but no longer than till he saw Sir Eobert, to whom he delivered the poisoned remonstrance.' If that communication prognosticated the Minister's fall, I am at a loss to know what a mark of confidence is. Nor was that discovery the first intimation that Walpole had received of the measm-e of Bolingbroke's gratitude. The minister, against the earnest representations of his family and most intimate fiiends, had consented to the recall of that incendiary from banish- ment,^ excepting only his re-admission to the House of Lords, that every field of annoyance might not be open to his mischievous tur- bulence. Bolingbroke, it seems, deemed an embargo laid on his tongue, would warrant his hand to launch every envenomed shaft against his benefactor, who by restricting had paid him the compli- ment of avowing that his eloquence was not totally inofiensive. Craftsmen, pamphlets, Hbjels, combinations, were showered on or employed for years against the Prime Minister, without shaking his power or ruffling his temper ; and Bolingbroke had the mortification of finding his rival had abilities to maintain his influence against the mistresses of two kings, with whom his antagonist had plotted in vain to overturn him.^ a steward. — Ooxe, Preface to Life of Sir Robert Walpole, 3 vols. 4to. 1798. — Cun- ningham. ^ All this is curiously confirmed by Lord Hervey's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 18. — Cunningham. 2 Bolingbroke at his return [1723] could not avoid waiting on Sir Robert to thank him, and was invited to dine with him at Chelsea ; but whether tortured at witnessing Walpole's serene frankness and felicity, or suffocated with indignation and confusion at being forced to be obliged to one whom he hated and envied, the first morsel he put into his mouth was near choking him, and he was reduced to rise from table and leave the room for some minutes. I never heard of their meeting more. — Walpole. For the story of Bolingbroke s pardon, see Lord Hervey's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 14 ; and the curious minute made by Mr. Etough of the conversation with Sir Robert Walpole in Coxe's Walpole, ii. 345. — Cunningham. ^ George XL parted with Lady Suffolk, on Princess Amelia informing Queen Caroline from Bath, that the mistress had interviews there with Lord Bolingbroke. Lady Suffolk, above twenty years after, protested to me that she had not once seen his lordship there ; and I should believe she did not, for she was a woman of truth : but her great intimacy and connection with Pope and Swift, the intimate friends of Bolingbroke, even before the death of George L, and her being the channel through whom that faction had flattered themselves they should gain the ear of the new King, can leave no doubt of Lady Suffolk's support of that party. Her dearest friend to her death was William, afterwards [1767 third] Lord Chetwynd [died 1770], the known and most trusted confidant of Lord Bolingbroke. Of those political intrigues I shall say more in these Reminiscences. — Walpole, CHAF. II.] GEORGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. XCIX CHAPTER II. Marriage of George I. while Electoral Prince, to the Princess Sophia Dorothea —Assassination of Count Konigsmark— Separation from the Princess— Left- handed Espousal— Piety of the Duchess of Kendal— Confinement and Death of Sophia Dorothea in the Castle of Alden— French Prophetess— The King's Superstition — Mademoiselle Schulemberg — Royal Inconstancy— Countess of Platen — Anne Brett — Sudden Death of George I. George I., while Electoral Prince, had married his cousin, the Princess Dorothea,i only child of the Duke of Zell ; a match of con- venience to re-unite the dominions of the family. Though she was very handsome, the Prince, who was extremely amourous, had several mistresses ; which provocation, and his absence in the army of the confederates, probably disposed the Princess to indulge some degree of coquetry. At that moment arrived at Hanover the famous and beautiful Count Konigsmark,^ the charms of whose person ought not to have obliterated the memory of his vile assassination of Mr. Thynne.3 His vanity, the beauty of the Electoral Princess, and the neglect under which he found her, encouraged his presumption to ^ Her names were Sophia Dorothea ; but I call her by the latter, to distinguish her from the Princess Sophia, her mother-in-law, on whom the crown of Great Britain was settl ed. — Walpole, 2 Konigsmark behaved with great intrepidity, and was wounded at a bull-feast in Spain. See " Letters from Spain of the Comtesse DAnois," vol. ii. He was brother of the beautiful Comtesse de Konigsmark, mistress of Augustus IL, King of Poland. — Walpole. ^ It was not this Count Konigsmark, but an elder brother, who was accused of having suborned Colonel Yratz, Lieutenant Stern, and one George Boroskey, to murder Mr. Thynne in Pall-Mail, on the 12th of February, 1682, and for which they were executed in that street on the 10th of March. For the particulars, see Howell's "State Trials," vol. ix. p. 1, and Sir John Reresby's '* Memoirs," p. 135. " This day," says Evelyn, in his Diary of the 10th of March, " was executed Colonel Vrats, for the execrable murder of Mr. Thynne, set on by the principal, Konigsmark : he went to execution like an undaunted hero, as one that had done a friendly office for that base coward, Count Konigsmark, who had hopes to marry his widow, the rich Lady Ogle, and was acquitted by a corrupt jury, and so got away : Vrats told a friend of mine, who accompanied him to the gallows, and gave him some advice, that he did not value dying of a rush, and hoped and believed God would deal with him like a gentleman." Mr. Thynne was buried in Westminster Abbey ; the manner of his death being represented on his monument. He was the Issachar of Absalom and c EEMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [chap. ii. make his addresses to her, not covertly ; and she, though believed not to have transgressed her duty, did receive them too indiscreetly. The old Elector flamed at the insolence of so stigmatised a pretender, and ordered him to quit his dominions the next day. The Princess, surrounded by women too closely connected with her husband, and consequently enemies of the lady they injured, was persuaded by them to suffer the Count to kiss her hand before his abrupt de- parture ; and he was actually introduced by them into her bed- chamber the next morning before she rose. From that moment he disappeared ; nor was it known what became of him, till on the death of George I. [1727], on his son the new King's first journey to Han- over, some alterations in the palace being ordered by him, the body of Konigsmark was discovered under the floor of the Electoral Princess's dressing-room — the Count having probably been strangled there the instant he left her, and his body secreted. The discovery was hushed up ; George II. entrusted the secret to his wife, Queen Caro- hne, who told it to my father : but the King was too tender of the honoui' of his mother to utter it to his mistress ; nor did Lady Suffolk ever hear of it, till I informed her of it several years afterwards. The disappearance of the Count made his murder suspected, and various reports of the discovery of his body have of late years been spread, but not with the authentic circumstances. The second George loved his mother as much as he hated his father, and pui^posed, as was said, had the former sui^vived,^ to have brought her over and declared her Queen Dowager.^ Lady Suffolk, Achitophel ; in which poem Dryden, describing the respect and fayour with which Monmouth was received upon his progress in the year 1681, says — Hospitable hearts did most commend Wise Issachar, his wealthy, western friend. Reresby states, that Lady Ogle, immediately after the marriage, " repenting herself of the match, fled from him into Holland, before they were bedded," This circum- stance, added to the fact, that Mr. Thynne had formerly seduced Miss Trevor, one of the maids of honour to Catherine of Portugal, Avife of Charles H., gave birth to the following lines : — Here lies Tom Thynne, of Longleat Hall, Who never would have miscarried, Had he married the woman he lay withal, Or lain with the worqan he married. On the 30th of May, in the same year, Lady Ogle was married to Charles Seymour, Duke of Somerset. — Wright. ^ She died 13 Nov. 1726.— Cunningham. ^ Lady Suffolk thought he rather would have made her Regent of Hanover; and she also told me, that George I. had offered to live again with his wife, but she refused, unless her pardon were asked publicly. She said, what most affected her was the dis- grace that would be brought on her children ; and if she were only pardoned, that would not remove it. Lady Suffolk thought she was then divorced, though the divorce CHAP. II.] GEOUGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. ci cr O has told me Her surprise, on going to the new Queen the mormn^ after the news arrived of the death of George I., at seeing himg up in the Queen's dressing-room a whole-length of a lady in royal robes ; and in the bed-chamber a half-length of the same person, neither of which Lady Suffolk had ever seen before. The Prince had kept them concealed, not daring to produce them duruig the life of his father. The whole-length he probably sent to Hanover ;' the half-length I have frequently and frequently seen in the library of Princess Amelia,' who told me it was the portrait of her grandmother. She bequeathed it [1786], with other pictures of her family, to her nephew, the Landgrave of Hesse. Of the circumstances that ensued on Konigsmark's disappearance I am ignorant ; nor am I acquainted with the laws of Germany relative to divorce or separation : nor do I know or suppose that despotism and pride allow the law to insist on much formality when a sovereign has reason or mind to get rid of his wife. Perhaps too much difficulty of untying the Gordian knot of matiimony thrown in the way of an absolute prince would be no kindness to the ladies, but might prompt him to use a sharper weapon, hke that butchering husband, our Hemy YIIL Sovereigns, who narrow or let out the law of God according to their prejudices and passions, mould their own laws no doubt to the standard of their convenience. Genealogic pm-ity of blood is the predominant folly of Germany ; and the code of Malta seems to have more force in the empire than the ten com- mandments. Thence was introduced that most absurd evasion of the indissolubihty of marriage, espousals with the left hand — as if the Almighty had restrained his ordinance to one half of a man's person, was never published ; and that the old Elector consented to his son's marrying the Duchess of Kendal with the left hand — but it seems strange that George I. should offer to live again with his wife, and yet be divorced from her. Perhaps George II., to vindicate his mother, supposed that offer and her spirited refusal. — Walpolb. ^ George II. was scrupulously exact in separating and keeping in each country whatever belonged to England or Hanover. Lady Suffolk told me, that on his acces- sion he could not find a knife, fork, and spoon of gold which had belonged to Queen Anne, and which he remembered to have seen here at his first arrival. He found them at Hanover on his first journey thither after he came to the crown, and brought them back to England. He could not recollect much of greater value ; for, on Queen Anne's death [1714], and in the interval before the arrival of the new family, such a clearance had been made of her Majesty's jewels, or the new King so instantly distri- buted what he found amongst his German favourites, that, as Lady S. told mc, Queen Caroline never obtained of the late Queen's jewels but one pearl necklace. — Walpole. ^ At Gunnersbury, near Brentford. The Princess Amelia, the daughter of King George II. was born in 1711, and died in 1786. She was the last survivor of the children of King George II. — Cunningham. VOL. I. {I cii REMINISCENCES OF THE COUKTS OF [ohap. ii. and allowed a greater latitude to his left side than to his right, or pronounced the former more ignoble than the latter. The con- sciences both of princely and noble persons in Germany are quieted, if the more plebeian side is married to one who would degrade the more illustrious moiety — ^but, as if the laws of matrimony had no reference to the children to be thence propagated, the children of a left-handed alliance are not entitled to inherit. — Shocking con- sequence of a senseless equivocation, that only satisfies pride, not justice ; and calculated for an acquittal at the Heralds' Office, not at the last tribunal. Separated the Princess Dorothea certainly was, and never ad- mitted even to the nominal honours of her rank, being thenceforward always styled Duchess of Halle. Whether divorced^ is problematic, at least to me ; nor can I pronounce, as, though it was generally behoved, I am not certain that George espoused the Duchess of Kendal with his left hand. As the Princess Dorothea died only some months before him,^ that lidicidous ceremony was scarcely deferred till then ; and the extreme outward devotion of the Duchess, who every Sunday went seven times to Lutheran chajDels, seemed to announce a legalised wife. As the genuine wife was always detained in her husband's power, he seems not to have wholly dissolved their union ; for, on the approach of the French army towards Hanover dulling Queen Anne's reign, the Duchess of Halle was sent home to her father and mother, who doted on their only child, and did retain her for a whole year, and did implore, though in vain, that she might continue to reside with them. As her son too, George II., had thoughts of bringing her over and declaring her Queen Dowager, one can hardly beUeve that a ceremonial divorce had passed, the existence of which process would have glared in the face of her royalty. But though German casuistry might allow her husband to take another wife with his left hand, because his legal wife had sujffered her right hand to be kissed in bed by a gallant, even West- phahan or Auhc counsellors could not have pronounced that such a momentary adieu constituted adultery ; and therefore a formal divorce I must doubt — and there I must leave that case of conscience 1 " George I.," says Coxe, " who never loved his wife, gave implicit credit to the account of her infidelity, as related by his father ; consented to her imprisonment, and obtained from the ecclesiastical consistory a divorce, which was passed on the 28th of December, 1694." — Memoirs of Walpole, vol. i. p. 268. — Wright. 2 '* The unfortunate Sophia was confined in the castle of Alden, situated on the small river AUer, in the Duchy of Zell. She terminated her miserable existence, after along captivity of thirty -two years, on the 13th of November, 1726, only seven months CHAP. II.] ' GEOKGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. ciii undecided, till future searcli into the Hanoverian chancery shall clear up a point of little real importance. I have said that the disgraced Princess died but a short time before the King. It is known that in Queen Anne's time there was much noise about French prophets. A female of that vocation (for we know from Scripture that the gift of prophecy is not limited to one gender) warned George I. to take care of his wife, as he would not survive her a year. That oracle was probably dictated to the French Deborah by the Duke and Duchess of Zell, who might be appre- hensive lest the Duchess of Kendal should be tempted to remove entirely the obstacle to her conscientious union with their son-in- law. Most Germans are superstitious, even such as have few other impressions of rehgion. George gave such credit to the denuncia- tion, that on the eve of his last departure he took leave of his son and the Princess of Wales with tears, telling them he should never see them more. It was certainly his own approaching fate that melted him, not the thought of quitting for ever two persons he hated. He did sometimes so much justice to his son as to say, " II est fougueux, mais il a de Thonneur." — For Queen Caroline, to his confidants he termed her " cette diablesse Madame la Princesse." I do not know whether it was about the same period, that in a tender mood he promised the Duchess of Kendal, that if she survived him, and it were possible for the departed to return to this world, he would make her a visit. The Duchess, on his death [1727], so much expected the accomphshment of that engagement, that a large raven, or some black fowl, flying into one of the windows of her villa at Isleworth, she was persuaded it was the soul of her departed monarch so accoutred, and received and treated it with aU the respect and tenderness of duty, till the royal bird or she took their last flight. George II. no more addicted than his father to too much religious credulity, had yet implicit faith in the German notion of vampires, and has more than once been angry with my father for speaking irreverently of those imaginary blood-suckers. The Duchess of Kendal, of whom I have said so much, was, when Mademoiselle Schulemberg, Maid of Honour to the Electress before the death of George I. ; and she was announced in the Gazette, under the title of the Electress Dowager of Hanover. During her whole confinement she behaved with no less mildness than dignity ; and, on receiving the sacrament once every week, never omitted making the most solemn asseverations, that she was not guilty of the crime laid to her charge." — Coxe, vol. i, p. 268. — Wright. 9^ civ REMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [chap. ti. Sophia, — mother of King George I. and destined by King William and the Act of Settlement to succeed Queen Anne- George fell in love with Mademoiselle Schulemberg, though by no means an inviting object — so little, that one evening when she was in waiting behind the Electress's chair at a ball, the Princess Soj)hia, who had made herself mistress of the language of her future subjects, said in Enghsh to Mrs. Howard, afterwards Countess of Suffolk, then at her court, '' Look at that mawkin, and think of her being my son^s passion ! " Mrs. Howard, who told me the story, protested she was terrified, forgetting that Mademoiselle Schulemberg did not under- stand English. The younger Mademoiselle Schulemberg, who came over with her and was created Countess of Walsingham, passed for her niece ; but was so lilie to the King, that it is not very credible that the Duchess, who had affected to pass for cruel, had waited for the left-handed marriage. The Duchess, under whatever denomination, had attained and preserved to the last her ascendant over the King : but notwith- standing that influence, he was not more constant to her than he had been to his avowed wife ; for another acknowledged mistress, whom he also brought over, was Madame Kilmansegge, Countess of Platen, who was created [1722] Countess of Darlington,^ and by whom he was indisputably father of Charlotte,^ married [1719] to Lord Viscount Howe, and mother of the present Earl [1788]. / Lady Howe was never pubHcly acknowledged as the King's daughter ; but Princess Ameha treated her daughter, Mrs. Howe,^ upon that foot, and one evening, when I was present, gave her a ring, with a small portrait of George I. with a crown of diamonds. Lady DarHngton, whom I saw at my mother's in my infancy, and whom I remember by being terrified at her enormous figure, was as corpulent and ample as the Duchess was long and emaciated. Two fierce black eyes, large and rolling beneath two lofty arched eye- brows, two acres of cheek spread with crimson, an ocean of neck that overflowed and was not distinguished from the lower part of her body, and no part restrained by stays — no wonder that a child ' Madame Kilmansegge, the Countess of Darlington, died 1730.— Cunningham. 2 Mary Sophia Charlotte, married, 1719, to Emanuel, second Viscount Howe. She died in 1782. — Cunningham. ^ Caroline, the eldest of Lady Howe's children, had married a gentleman of her own name, John Howe, Esq. of Hanslop, in the county of Bucks. — Walpole. Mrs. Howe died in 1814, in her 93rd year. Compare Walpole to Miss Berry, 14 Dec., 1793. . — Cunningham. CHAP. II.] GEORGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. cv dreaded such an ogress, and that the mob of London were highly diverted at the importation of so uncommon a seraglio ! They were food for all the venom of the Jacobites ; and, indeed, nothing could be grosser than the ribaldiy that was vomited out in lampoons, libels, and every channel of abuse, against the sovereign and the new court, and chanted even in their hearing about the pubHc streets.' On the other hand, it was not till the last year or two of his reign that their foreign sovereign paid the nation the compHment of taldng openly an EngHsh mistress. That personage was Anne Brett,, eldest daughter by her second husband'' of the repudiated wife of the Earl of Macclesfield, the unnatural mother of Savage the poet./ Miss Brett was very handsome, but dark enough by her eyes, complexion, and hair, for a Spanish beauty. Abishag was lodged in the palace under the eyes of Bathsheba, who seemed to maintain her power, as other favourite sultanas have done, by suffering partners in the sovereign's affections. When his Majesty should ^ One of the German ladies, being abused by the mob, was said to have put her head out of the coach, and cried in bad English, " Good people, why you abuse us 1 We come for all your goods." " Yes, damn ye," answered a fellow in the crowd, " and for all our chattels too." I mention this, because on the death [1786] of Princess Amelia, the newspapers revived the story and told it of her, though I had heard it three-score years before of one of her grandfather's mistresses. — Walpole. 2 Colonel Henry Brett. " Colonel Brett was a remarkably handsome man. The Countess of Rivers, looking, out of her window on a great disturbance in the street, saw him assaulted by some bailiffs, who were going to arrest him. She paid his debt, released him from their pursuit, and soon after married him. When she died, she left him more than he expected; with which he bought an estate in the country, built a very handsome house upon it, and furnished it in the highest taste ; went down to see the finishing of it, returned to London in hot weather and in too much hurry; gpt a fever by it, and died. Nobody had a better taste of what would please the town, and his opinion was much regarded by the actors and dramatic poets." — Dr. Young, in Spences Anecdotes, hy Singer, p. 355. — WRionr. "This was written in 1744. Mrs Brett (formerly Countess of Macclesfield) died Oct. 11, 1753, at her house in Old Bond Street, aged above eighty. " Colley Cibber, I am informed, had so high an opinion of her taste and judgment as to genteel life and manners, that he submitted every scene of his ' Careless Hus- band ' to Mrs. Brett's revisal and correction. Colonel Brett was reported to be free in his gallantries with his lady's maid. Mrs. Brett came into a room one day in her own house and found the Colonel and her maid both fast asleep in two chairs. She tied a white handkerchief round her husband's neck, which was a sufficient proof that she had discovered his intrigue ; but she never at any time took notice of it to him. This incident, as I am told, gave occasion to the well-wrought scene of Sir Charles and Lady Easy and YAgmg.''— Boswell, ed. Crolcer, 1847, p. 53. " Her marriage, ten years after her royal lover's death, is thus announced in the Gent.'s Mag. 1737 : — 'Sept. 17. Sir Wm. Leman, of Northall, Bart., to Miss Brett, of Bond Street, an heiress;' and again next month: * Oct. 8. Sir Wm. Leman, of Northall, Bart., to Miss Brett, half-sister to Mr. Savage, son to the late Earl Rivers.' For the difference of date I know not how to account, but the second insertion was no doubt made by Savage to countenance his own pijetensions." — CroJcer, ed, Boswell, 1847, p. 53, — Cunningham. cvi REMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [chap. hi. return to England, a Countesses coronet was to have rewarded the young lady's compliance, and marked her secondary rank. She might, however, have proved a troublesome rival, as she seemed so confident of the power of her charms, that, whatever predominant ascendant the Duchess might retain, her own authority in the palace she thought was to yield to no one else. George I. when his son the Prince of Wales and the Princess had quitted St. James's on their quarrel with him, had kept back their three eldest daughters, who Hved with him to his death, even after there had outwardly been a reconciliation between the King and Prince. Miss Brett, when the King set out, ordered a door to be broken out of her apartment into the royal garden. Anne, the eldest of the Princesses,' offended at that freedom, and not choosing such a companion in her walks, ordered the door to be walled up again. Miss Brett as imperiously reversed that command. The King died suddenly, and the empire of the new mistress and her promised coronet vanished. She after- wards [1737] married Sir William Leman, and was forgotten before her reign had transpired beyond the confines of Westminster ! CHAPTER in. Quarrel between George I. and his Son — Earl of" Sunderland — Lord Stanhope — South Sea Scheme — Death of Craggs — Royal Reconcilement — Peerage Bill defeated — Project for seizing the Prince of Wales and conveying him to America — Duke of Newcastle — Royal Christening — Open Rupture — Prince and Princess of Wales ordered to leave the Palace. One of the most remarkable occurrences in the reign of George I. was the open quarrel between him and his son the Prince of Wales. Whence the dissension originated ; whether the Prince's attachment to his mother embittered his mind against his father, or whether hatred of his father occasioned his devotion to her, I do not pretend to know. I do suspect from circumstances, that the hereditary enmity in the House of Brunswick between the parents and their eldest sons dated earlier than the divisions between the first two • Georges. The Princess Sophia was a woman of parts and great vivacity : in the earlier part of her Hfe she had professed much zeal ^ Anne, Princess Royal, born 1709, died 1759, having manied, 1734, William Charles Henry, Prince of Orange. — Cunningham. CHAP. III.] GEORGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. evil for the deposed House of Stuart, as appeared by a letter of hers in print, addi-essed, I think, to the ChevaUer de St. George. It is natural enough for all princes, who have no prospect of being benefited by the deposition of a crowned head, to choose to think royalty an indehble character. The Queen of Prussia, daughter of George I., lived and died an avowed Jacobite. The Princess Sophia, youngest child of the Queen of Bohemia, was consequently the most remote from any pretensions to the British crown ; ' but no sooner had King William procured a settlement of it, after Queen Anne, on her Electoral Highness, than nobody became a stancher Whig than the Princess Sophia, nor could be more impatient to mount the throne of the expelled Stuarts. It is certain that during the reign of Anne, the Elector George was inclined to the Tories ; though after his mother's death and his own accession he gave himself to the opposite party. But if he and his mother espoused different factions, Sophia found a ready partisan in her grandson the Electoral Prince ; ' and it is true, that the demand made by the Prince of his writ of summons to the House of Lords as Duke of Cambridge, which no wonder was so offensive to Queen Anne, was made in concert with his grandmother, without the privity of the Elector his father. Were it certain, as was believed, that Bolingbroke and the Jacobites prevailed on the Queen ^ to consent to her brother [the old Pretender] coming secretly to England, and to seeing him in her closet ; she might have been induced to that step, when provoked by an attempt to force a distant and foreign heir upon her while still alive. The Queen and her heiress being dead, the new King and his son came over in apparent harmony ; and on his Majesty's first visit to his electoral dominions, the Prince of Wales was even left Eegent ; but never being trusted afterwards with that dignity on like ^ It is remarkable, that either the weak propensity of the Stuarts to popery, or the visible connection between regal and ecclesiastic power, had such operation on many of the branches of that family, who were at a distance from the crown of England, to wear which it is necessary to be a Protestant, that two or three of the daughters of the King and Queen of Bohemia, though their parents had lost every thing in the struggle between the two religions, turned Eoman Catholics; and so did one or more of the sons of the Princess Sophia, brothers of the Protestant candidate, George I. — Walpole. ^ Afterwards George 11. — Walpolb. ^ I believe it was a fact, that the poor weak Queen, being disposed even to cede the crown to her brother, consulted Bishop Wilkins, called the Prophet, to know what would be the consequence of such a step. He replied, " Madam, you would be in the Tower in a month, and dead in three." This sentence, dictated by common sense, her Majesty took for inspiration, and dropped all thoughts of resigning the crown. — Walpole. CVlll REMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [chap. iii. occasions, it is probable tliat tlie son discovered too much fondness for acting the king, or that the father conceived a jealousy of his having done so. Sure it is, that on the Kmg's return great divisions arose in the Court ; and the "Whigs were divided— some devoting themselves to the wearer of the crown, and others to the expectant. I shaU not enter into the detail of those squabbles, of which I am but superficiaUy informed. The predominant ministers were the Earls of Sunderland and Stanhope. The brothers-in-law, the Viscount Townshend and Mr. Eobert Walpole, adhered to the Prince. Lord Sunderland is said to have too much resembled as a politician the Earl his father, who was so principal an actor in the reign of James II. and in bringing about the revolution. Between the Earl in question and the Prince of Wales grew mortal antipathy ; of which an anecdote told me by my father himself will leave no doubt. When a reconcihation had been patched up between the two courts, and my father became First Lord of the Treasury a second time, Lord Sunderland in a Ute-a-Ute with him said, '' Well, Mr. Walpole, we have settled matters for the present ; but we must think whom we \vill have next " (meaning in case of the King's demise). Walpole said, "Your lordship may think as you please, but my part is taken ; " meaning to support the estabhshed settlement. Earl Stanhope was a man of strong and violent passions, and had dedicated liimself to the army ; and was so far from thinking of any other Kne, that when Walpole, who first suggested the idea of appointing him Secretary of State, proposed it to him, he flew into a furious rage, and was on the point of a downright quarrel, looking on himself as totally unquaUfied for the post, and suspecting it for a plan of mocking him. He died [1721] in one of those tempestuous saUies, being pushed in the House of Lords on the explosion of the South Sea scheme. That iniquitous affair, which Walpole had early exposed, and to remedy the mischiefs of which he alone was deemed adequate, had replaced him at the head of affairs, and obhged Sunderland to submit to be only a coadjutor of the administration. The younger Craggs,^ a showy vapouring man, had been brought ^ James Craggs, jun., buried in Westminster Abbey, with an epitaph by Pope. — • Walpole. Craggs died on the IGth of February, 1721. His monument was executed by Guelphi, whom Lord Burlington invited into the kingdom. Walpole considered it graceful and simple, but that the artist was an indifferent sculptor. Dr. Johnson objects to Pope's inscription, that it is partly in Latin and partly in English. *' If either language," he says, " be preferable to the other, let that only be used ; for no CHAP. III.] GEORGE THE FIEST AND SECOND. cix forward by the ministers to oppose Walpole ; but was soon reduced to beg bis assistance on one ' of their ways and means. Craggs caught his death by calling at the gate of Lady March/ who was ill of the small pox ; and being told so by the porter, went home directly, fell ill of the same distemper, and died. His father, the elder Craggs,' whose very good sense Sir E. Walpole much admired, soon followed his son, and his sudden death was imputed to grief ; but haying been deeply dipped in the iniquities of the South Sea, and wishing to prevent confiscation and save his ill- acquired wealth for his daughters, there was no doubt of his having despatched himself. When his death was divulged, Sir Eobert owned that the imhappy man had in an obhque manner hinted his resolution to him. The reconciliation of the Eoyal Family was so httle cordial, that I question whether the Prince did not resent Sir Eobert Walpole's return to the King's service. Yet had Walpole defeated a plan of Sunderland that would in futurity have exceedingly hampered the successor, as it was calculated to do ; nor do I affect to ascribe Sir Eobert' s victory directly to zeal for the Prince : personal and just views prompted his opposition, and the Commoners of England were not less indebted to him than the Prince. Sunderland had devised a bill to restrain the crown from ever adding above six peers to a number Hmited.'' The actual peers were far from disliking the measure ; but Walpole, taking fire, instantly communicated his dissatisfaction to all the great Commoners, who might for ever be excluded from the peerage. He spoke, he wrote,^ he persuaded, and reason can be given why part of the information should be given in one tongue, and part in another, on a tomb more than in any other place or any other occasion : such an epitaph resembles the conversation of a foreigner, who tells part of his meaning by words, and conveys part by signs." — Wright. ^ I think it was the sixpenny tax on offices. — Walpole. 2 Sarah Cadogan, afterwards Duchess of Richmond. — Walpole. ^ " One who came out of the city, told me he believed Mr. Craggs dying, if not actually dead, and gave some circumstances in confirmation of a whisper of his having taken a dose, if so, it resembles in a great measure Lord Essex's case." — Thomas Brodrich to Lord Middleton, March 16, 1720-1. — Coxe's Sir R. Waljyole, vol. ii. p. 213. Compare Walpole to Mann, 1 Sept., 1750. — Cunningham. ^ Queen Anne's creation of twelve peers at once, to obtain a majority in the House of Lords, offered an ostensible plea for the restriction. — Walpole. ^ Sir Robert published a pamphlet against the bill, entitled, " The Thoughts of a Member of the Lower House, in relation to a project for restraining and limiting the powers of the Crown in the future creation of Peers." On the other side, Addison's pen was employed in defending the measure in a paper called The Old Whig, against Steele, who attacked it in a pamphlet entitled The Plebeiaui — AVright. ex REMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [uhap. hi. the Bill was rejected by the Commons with disdain, after it had passed the House of Lords.* But the hatred of some of the junto at Court had gone farther, horribly farther. On the death of George I. [1727] Queen Caroline found in his cabinet a proposal of the Earl of Berkeley,"" then, I think, First Lord of the Admiralty, to seize the Prince of Wales,^ and convey him to America, whence he should never be heard of more. This detestable project, copied probably from the Earl of Falmouth's offer to Charles 11. with regard to his Queen, was in the hand- writing of Charles Stanhope, elder brother of the Earl of Harrington ; * and so deep was the impression deservedly made on the mind of Greorge 11. by that abominable paper, that all the favour of Lord Harrington, when Secretary of State, could never obtain the smallest boon to his brother, though but the subordinate transcriber.' George I. was too humane to listen to such an atrocious deed. It was not very kind to the conspirators to leave such an instrument behind him ; and if virtue and conscience will not check bold bad men from paying court by detestable offers, the King's carelessness or indifference in such an instance ought to warn them of the httle gratitude that such machinations can inspire or expect. Among those who had preferred the service of the TCing to that of the Heir apparent, was the Duke of Newcastle,^ who having married his sister to Lord Townshend, both his E-oyal Hjighness and the Viscount had expected would have adhered to that connection — and neither forgave his desertion. 1 am aware of the desultory manner in which I have told my story, having mentioned the recon- ^ " The effect of Sir Robert's speech, on the House," says Coxe, " exceeded the most sanguine expectations : it fixed those who had before been wavering and irresolute, brought over many who had been tempted by the speciousness of the measure to favour its introduction, and procured its rejection, by a triumphant majority of 269 against 177." — Memoirs, vol. i, p. 125. — Wright. 2 James, third Earl of Berkeley, knight of the garter, &c.— Walpole. In March 1718 he was appointed first lord of the Admiralty, in which post he continued all the reign of George I. He died at the castle of Aubigny, in France, in 1736. — Wright. ^ See Lord Hervey's Memoirs, i. 51, and ii. 478. — Cunningham. * William Stanhope, first Earl of Harrington of that family.— Walpolb. ^ Coxe states, that such was the indignation which the perusal of this paper excited, that, when Sir Robert espoused Charles Stanhope's interest, the King rejected the application with some expressions of resentment, and declared that no con- sideration should induce him to assign to him any place of trust or honour. Wright. '^ Thomas Holies Pelbam, Duke of Newcastle, lord Chamberlain, then secretary of .qtate, and lastly first lord of the treasury under George II. ; the same king to whom he had been so obnoxious in the preceding reign. He was obliged by Georo-e III. to resign his post. — Walpole. CHAP. III.] GEORGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. cxi ciliation of the King and Prince before I liave given any account of their public rupture. Tbe cbain of my thoughts led me into the preceding details, and, if I do not flatter myself, will have let you into the motives of my dramatis personse better than if I had more exactly observed chronology: and as I am not writing a regular tragedy, and profess but to relate facts as I recollect them ; or (if you will allow me to imitate French writers of tragedy) may I not plead that I have unfolded my piece as they do, by intro- ducing two courtiers to acquaint one another, and by bricole the audience, with what had passed in the penetraHa before the tragedy commences ? The exordium thus duly prepared, you must suppose, ladies, that the second act opens with a royal christening. The Princess of Wales had been deHvered [1717] * of a second son. "Kie prince had intended his uncle, the Duke of York, Bishop of Osnaburg, should with his Majesty be godfathers. Nothing could equal the indignation of his Poyal Highness when the King named the Duke of Newcastle for second sponsor, and would hear of no other. The christening took place as usual in the Princess's bed-chamber. Lady Suffolk, then in waiting as woman of the bed-chamber, and of most accurate memory, painted the scene to me exactly. On one side of the bed stood the godfathers and godmother ; on the other the Prince and the Princess's ladies. No sooner had the Bishop closed the ceremony, than the Prince, crossing the feet of the bed in a rage, stepped up to the Duke of Newcastle, and, holding up his hand and fore-finger in a menacing attitude, said, " You are a rascal, but I shall find you ; " meaning, in broken English, " I shall find a time to be revenged." — " What was my astonishment," continued Lady Suffolk, *' when going to the Princess's apartment the next morning, the yeomen in the guard-chamber pointed their halberds at my breast, and told me I must not pass ! I urged that it was my duty to attend the Princess. They said, ' No matter ; I must not pass that way.' " In one word, the King had been so provoked at the Prince's out- rage in his presence, that it had been determined to inflict a still greater insult on his Poyal Highness. His threat to the Duke [of Newcastle] was pretended to be understood as a challenge ; and to prevent a duel he had actually been put under arrest — as if a Prince of Wales could stoop to fight with a subject. The arrest was soon taken off; but at night the Prince and Princess were ordered to ^ Prince George William, born 1717, died 1718.— Cunningham. cxii REMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [cnAr. iv. leave tlie Palace,^ and retired to the house of her Chamberlain, the Earl of Grantham, in Albemarle Street. CHAPTEE lY. Bill of Pains and Penalties against Bishop Atterbury — Projected Assassination of Sir Robert Walpole — Revival of the Order of the Bath — Instance of George I.'s good-humoured Presence of Mind. As this trifling work is a miscellany of detached recollections, I will, ere I quit the article of George L, mention two subjects of very- unequal import, which belong peculiarly to his reign. The first was the deprivation of Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester. Nothing more offensive to men of priestly principles could easily have happened : yet, as in a country of which the constitution was founded on rational and Hberal grounds, and where thinking men had so recently exerted themselves to explode the prejudices attached to the persons of kings and churchmen, it was impossible to defend the Bishop's treason, but by denying it ; or to condemn his condemnation, but by supposing illegahties in the process : both were vehemently urged by his faction, as his innocence was pleaded by himself. That punishment and expulsion from his country may stagger the virtue even of a good man, and exasj^crate him against his country, is perhaps natural, and humanity ought to pity it. But whatever were the prepossessions of his friends in his favour, charity must now believe that Atterbury was always an ambitious turbulent priest, attached to the House of Stuart, and consequently no friend to the civil and religious liberties of his country ; or it must be acknowledged, that the disappointment of his ambition by the Queen's death, and the proscription of his Ministerial associates, had driven on attempts to restore the expelled family in hopes of realising his aspiiing views. His letters published by Nichols breathe the impetuous spirit of his youth. His exclama- tion on the Queen's death [1714], when he offered to proclaim the Pretender at Charing Cross in pontificalibus, and swore^ on not beino- supported, that there was the best cause in England lost for want of spirit, is now believed also. His papers, deposited with Xing 1 " Notice vas also formally given that no persons who paid their respects to the Prince and Princess of Wales would be received at court; and they were deprived of their guard, and of all other marks of distinction."— Coxe, vol. L p. 132.— Wright. CHAP. iv,J GEORGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. cxiiL James's in tlie Scottisli College at Paris, ^ proclaimed in what sentiments he died ; and the facsimiles of his letters published by Sir David Dalrymple leave no doubt of his having in his exile entered into the service of the Pretender. Culpable as he was, who but must lament that so classic a mind had only assumed so elegant and amiable a semblance as he adopted after the disappointment of his prospects and hopes ? His letter in defence of the authenticity of Lord Clarendon's History, is one of the most beautiful and touching specimens of eloquence in our language. It was not to load the character of the Bishop, nor to affect candour by applauding his talents, that I introduced mention of him, much less to impute to him any consciousness of the intended crime that I am going to relate. The person against whom the blow was supposed to be meditated never, in the most distant manner, sus- pected the Bishop of being privy to the plot — No: animosity of parties, and malevolence to the champions of the House of Bruns- wick, no doubt suggested to some bliad zealots the perpetration of a crime which would necessarily have injured the Bishop's cause, and could by no means have prevented his disgrace. Mr. Johnstone, an ancient gentleman, who had been secretary of state for Scotland, his country, in the reign of Kiag William,^ was a zealous friend of my father. Sir E-obert, and who, in that period of assassination plots, had imbibed such a tincture of suspicion that he was continually notifying similar machinations to my father, and warning him to be on his guard against them. Sir Robert, intrepid and unsuspicious,^ used to raUy his good monitor ; and, when serious, ^ The Stuart Papers since Walpole wrote have been carefully examined by Lord Mahon for his valuable History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles. — Cunningham. 2 James Johnstone, son of Sir Archibald Johnstone, Lord Warriston, beheaded 1663. He lived in what is now Orleans House, Twickenham, where he died in 1737. His gardens were very famous. Lord Hervey makes Queen Caroline refer to them, — Cunningham. ^ At the time of the Preston rebellion, a Jacobite, who sometimes furnished Sir Kobert with intelligence, sitting alone with him one night, suddenly putting his hand into his bosom and rising, said, " Why do not I kill you now ? " Walpole, starting up, replied, " Because I am a younger man and a stronger." They sat down again, and discussed the person's information. Bat Sir Robert afterwards had reasons for thinking that the spy had no intention of assassination, but had hoped, by intimi- dating, to extort money from him. Yet if no real attempt was made on his life, it was not from want of suggestions to it; one of the weekly journals pointed out Sir Robert's frequent passing Putney-bridge late at night, attended but by one or two servants, on his way to New Park, as a proper place ; and after Sir Robert's death, the second Earl of Egmont told me, that he was once at a consultation of the Opposi- tion, in which it was proposed to have Sir Robert murdered by a mob, of which the earl had declared his abhorrence. Such an attempt was actually made in 1733, at cxiv REMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [chap. iv. told liiin, that Ms life was too constantly exposed to his enemies to make it of any use to be watchful on any particular occasion ; nor, though Johnstone often huiTied to him with intelligence of such designs, did he ever see reason, but once, to beheve in the soundness of the information. That once arrived thus : a day or two before [ ] the Bill of Pains and Penalties was to pass the House of Commons against the Bishop of Rochester, Mr. Johnstone advertised Sir Eobert to be circumspect, for three or four persons meditated to assassinate hi'-m as he should leave the House at night. Sir Eobert laughed, and forgot the notice. The morning after the debate, Johnstone came to Sir Eobert with a kind of good-natured insult, telling him, that though he had scoffed his advice, he had for once followed it, and by so doing preserved his life. Sir Eobert under- stood not what he meant, and protested he had not given more credit than usual to his warning. " Yes," said Johnstone, ''but you did ; for you did not come from the House last night in your own chariot." Walpole afcmed that he did; but his friend persisting in his asseveration, Sir Eobert called one of his footmen, who rephed, " I did call up your honour's carriage ; but Colonel Churchill ^ being with you, and his chariot driving up first, your honour stepped into that, and your own came home empty." Johnstone triumphing on his own veracity, and pusliing the examination farther. Sir Eobert's coachman recollected that, as he left Palace-yard, three men, much muffled, had looked into the empty chariot. The mystery was never farther cleared up ; and my father frequently said it was the only instance of the kind in which he had ever seen any appearance of a real design. The second subject that I promised to mention, and it shall be very briefly, was the revival [1725] of the Order of the Bath. It was the measure of Sir Eobert Walpole, and was an artful bank of thirty-six Eibands to supply a fund of favours, in lieu of places. He meant, too, to stave off the demand for Garters, and intended the time of the famous Excise Bill. As the minister descended the staii*s of the House of Commons on the night he carried the bill, he was guarded on one side by his second son Edward, and on the other by General Charles Churchill, [see vol. i. p. 83, note 9] but the crowd behind endeavoured to throw him down, as he was a bulky man, and trample him to death ; and that not succeeding, they tried to strangle him by pulling his red cloak tight — but fortunately the strings broke by the violence of the tug. — Walpole. ^ Colonel Churchill, the natural son of Lieutenant-General Charles Churchill, by Mrs. Oldfield, the actress. Colonel Churchill married Sir Robert Walpole's daughter by his second wife, Miss Skerrett. Their daughter Mary married, 1777, Charles Sloane, first Earl of Cadogan. — Cunningham. CHAP. IV.] GEORGE THE FIllST AND SECOND. cxv that the red should be a step to the blue, and accordingly took one of the former himself. He offered the new order to old Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, for her grandson the Duke, and for the Duke of Bedford, who had married one of her grand-daughters.^ She haughtily rephed, they should take nothing but the Garter. *' Madam," said Sir Robert coolly, " they who take the Bath will the sooner have the Grarter." The next year he took the latter him- self with the Duke of E/ichmond, both having been previously installed knights of the revived institution. Before I quit King George I., I will relate a story, very expressive of his good-humoured presence of mind. / On one of his journeys to Hanover his coach broke. At a distance in view was a chateau of a considerable German nobleman. The King sent to borrow assistance. The possessor came, conveyed the King to his house, and begged the honour of his Majesty's accepting a dinner while his carriage was repairing ; and, while the dinner was preparing, begged leave to amuse his Majesty with a collection of pictures which he had formed in several tours to Italy. But what did the King see in one of the rooms but an unknown portrait of a person in the robes and with the regaha of the sovereigns of Great Britaia! George asked whom it represented. The nobleman rephed, with much diffident but decent respect, that in various journeys to E,ome he had been acquainted with the Chevaher de St. George, who had done him the honour of sending him that picture. *' Upon my word," said the King instantly, "it is very like to the family." It was impossible to remove the embarrassment of the proprietor with more good breeding. 1 Wriothesly, Duke of Bedford, had married Lady Anne Egerton, only daughter of Scroop, Duke of Bridgewater, by Lady Elizabeth Churchill, daughter of John, Duke of Marlborough. — Walpole. CXVl REMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [chap CHAPTER Y. Accession of George TL— Sir Spencer Compton— Expected Change in Administra- tion — Continuation of Lord Townshend and Sir Robert Walpole by the Intervention of Queen Caroline— Mrs. Howard, afterwards Countess of Suffolk — Her Character by Swift and by Lord Chesterfield. The unexpected death of George I. on his road to Hanover was instantly notified by Lord Townshend, Secretary of State, who attended his Majesty, to his brother Sir Eobert Walpole, who as expeditiously was the first to carry the news to the successor and hail him King. The next step was, to ask who his Majesty would please should di^aw his speech to the Council. '' Sir Spencer Compton," ^ replied the new monarch. The answer was decisive, and imphed Sir Robert's dis- mission. Sir Spencer Compton was Speaker of the House of Com- mons, and treasurer, I think, at that time, to his Eoyal Highness, who by that fii'st command imphed his intention of making Sir Spencer his Prime Minister. He was a worthy man, of exceedingly grave formahty, but of no parts, as his conduct immediately proved. The poor gentleman was so Httle qualified to accommodate himself to the grandeur of the moment, and to conceive how a new sovereign should address himself to his Ministers, and he had also been so far from meditating to supplant the Premier," that, in his distress, it was to Sir Eobert himself he had recourse, and whom he besought to make the draught of the King's speech for him. The new Queen, a better judge than her husband of the capacities of the two candi- dates, and who had silently watched for a moment proper for over- ^ Sir Spencer Compton, second son of James, Earl of Northampton. He was created Earl of Wilmington, and died in 1743, Thomson dedicated his poem of " Spring " to him. " The King gave him [Walpole] no other answer than ' go to Chiswick and take your directions from Sir Spencer Compton.' " — Hervey's Memoirs, 1. 31. — Cunningham. 2 Sir Spencer Compton, afterwards Earl of Wilmington, was so far from resenting Sir Robert's superior talents, that he remained steadfastly attached to him ; and when the famous motion for removing Sir Robert was made in both Houses, Lord Wilmington, though confined to his bed, and with his head blistered, rose and went to the House of Lords, to vote against a measure that avowed its own injustice, by being grounded only on popular clamour. — Walpole. CHAP, v.] GEORGE THE FIEST AND SECOND. cxvii turning the new designations, did not lose a moment in observing to the King how prejudicial it would be to his affairs to prefer to the Minister in possession a man in whose own judgment his predecessor was the fittest person to execute his office. From that moment there was no more question of Sir Spencer Compton as Prime Minister. He was created [1730] an Earl, soon received the Garter, and became President of that Council, at the head of which he was much fitter to sit than to direct. Fourteen years afterwards, he again was nominated by the same Prince to replace Sir Eobert as First Lord of the Treasury on the latter's forced resignation, but not as Prime Minister ; the conduct of affairs being soon ravished from him by that dashing genius the Earl of Granville,' who reduced him to a cipher for the little year in which he survived, and in which his incapacity had been obvious. The Queen, impatient to destroy all hopes of change, took the earhest opportunity of declaring her own sentiments. The instance I shall cite will be a true picture of courtiers. Their Majesties had removed from Richmond to their temporary palace in Leicester- fields ' on the very evening of theii' receiving notice of their accession to the crown, and the next day all the nobiHty and gentry in town crowded to kiss their hands ; my mother amongst the rest, who (Sir Spencer Compton's designation, and not its evaporation, being known,) could not make her way between the scornful backs and elbows of her late devotees, nor could approach nearer to the Queen than the third or fourth row ; but no sooner was she descried by her Majesty than the Queen said aloud, " There, I am sure, I see a friend ! " The torrent divided and shrunk to either side ; " and as I came away," said my mother, " I might have walked over their heads if I had pleased.'* ^ The pre-occupation of the Queen in favour of "Walpole must be explained. He had early discovered that, in whatever gallantries George Prince of Wales indulged or affected, even the ^;t. James's, and was delivered of a son, which she ascribed to the Prince, Lord Hervey and Lord Harrington each told Sir Kobert Walpole, that he believed himself father of the child. — Walpole. 3 See the Ballad in a letter from Walpole to Mann, dated 16th of October, 1742. I have a copy in folio, with this title, " A New C— t Ballad, Dublin : Printed by James Stone, in High Street, 1742."— Cunningham. ■^ That is, from 1737 to 1757, a period of twenty years. Compare Walpole to Mann, January 11th, 1758. — Cunningham. fi She lived at Gunnersbury, near Brentford (since pulled down), and in Cavendish Square at the corner of Harley Street. — Cunningham. ^ The so-called hero of Culloden, the butcher Duke. He died in 1765, aged 44.— Cunningham. 7 The Duke, in his very childhood, gave a mark of his sense and firmness. He had displeased the Queen, and she sent him up to his chamber. When he appeared CHAP. VIII.] GEOEGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. cxxxvii world that had disappointed all his views. The unpopularity which the Scotch and Jacobites spread against him for his merit in sup- pressing the Rebellion, his brother's jealousy, and the contempt he himself felt for the Prince, his own ill success in his battles abroad, and his father's treacherous sacrifice of him on the convention of Closter-seven, the derehction of his two political friends, Lord Holland and Lord Sandwich, and the rebuffing spite of the Princess- dowager ; all those mortifications centring on a constitution evidently tending to dissolution, made him totally neglect himself, and ready to shake off being, as an encumbrance not worth the attention of a superior understanding. From the time the Duke first appeared on the stage of the public, all his father's ministers had been blind to his Royal Highness's capacity, or were afraid of it. Lord Granville, too giddy himself to sound a yoimg Prince, had treated hini arrogantly when the King and the Earl had projected a match for him with the Princess of Denmark.^ The Duke, accustomed by the Queen and his governor, Mr. Poyntz,'' to venerate the wisdom of Sir Robert Walpole, then on his death-bed, sent Mr. Poyntz, the day but one before Sir Robert expired [18th March, 1745], to consult him how to avoid the match. Sir Robert advised his Royal Highness to stipulate for an ample settlement. The Duke took the sage counsel, and heard no more of his intended bride. The low ambition of Lord Hardwicke, the childish passion for power of the Duke of ISTewcastle, and the peevish jealousy of Mr. Pelham, combined, on the death of the Prince of Wales [1751], to exclude the Duke of Cumberland from the Regency (in case of a minority), and to make them flatter themselves that they should gain the favour of the Princess-dowager by cheating her with the semblance of power. The Duke resented the sHght, but scorned to again, lie was sullen. " William/' said the Queen, " what have you been doing 1 " — *' Reading."—" Reading what ! "— " The Bible."— "And what did you read there ? "— "About Jesus and Mary." — "And what about themV — "Why, that Jesus said to Mary, Woman ! what hast thou to do with me ? " — Walpole. 1 That bolus, the Princess of J)enma,Yk.— Walpole to Mann, 2Sth Feb, 174:5. — Cunningham. ^ CuUoden's field, my glorious theme, My rapture, vision, and my dream. Gilds the young hero's days : Yet can there be one English heart, That does not give thee, Poyntz, thy part. And own thy share of praise ? Sir C. H. Williams's Ode to the Right Hon. Stephen Poyntz. 4to. 1746.— Cunningham. cxxxviii REMINISCENCES OF THE COrRTS OP [chap. ix. make any claim. The Princess never forgave tlie insidious homage; and, in concurrence with Lord Bute, totally estranged the affection of the young King from his uncle, nor allowed him a shadow of influence. CHAPTER IX. Anecdotes of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough— and of Catherine, Duchess of Buckingham. I HAVE done with Eoyal personages : shall I add a codicil on some remarkable characters that I remember ? As I am writing for young ladies, I have chiefly dwelt on heroines of your own sex : they, too, shall compose my last chapter : enter the Duchesses of Marl- borough and Buckingham. Those two women were considerable personages in their day. The fijst, her own beauty, the superior talents of her husband in war, and the caprice of a feeble princess [Queen Anne], raised to the highest pitch of power ; and the prodigious wealth bequeathed to her by her lord, and accumulated in concert with her, gave her weight in a free country. The other, proud of royal, though illegiti- mate biiih, was, from the vanity of that birth, so zealously attached to her expelled brother, the Pretender, that she never ceased labom^- ing to effect his restoration : and, as the opposition to the House of Brunswick was composed partly of principled Jacobites — of Tories, who either knew not what their own principles were, or dissembled them to themselves, and of "Whigs, who, from hatred of the minister, both acted in concert with the Jacobites and rejoiced in then assistance — two women of such wealth, rank, and enmity to the Court, were sure of great attention fr^om all the discontented. The beauty of the Duchess of Marlborough had always been of the scornful and imperious kind, and her features and air announced nothing that her temper did not confirm ; both together, her beauty and temper, enslaved her heroic lord. One of her principal charms was a prodigious abundance of fine fair hair. One day at her toilet, in anger to him, she cut off those commanding tresses and flmig them in his face. Nor did her insolence stop there, nor stop till it had totally estranged and worn out the patience of the poor Queen, her mistress. The Duchess was often seen to give her Majesty her OHAP. IX.] GEOEGE THE FIRST AND SECOND. 'cxxxix fan and gloves, and turn away her own head, as if the Queen had offensive smells. Incapable of due respect to superiors, it was no wonder she treated her childi-en and inferiors with supercilious contempt. Her eldest daughter ' and she were long at variance, and never reconciled. When the younger Duchess exposed herself by placing a monument and silly epitaph, of her own composition and bad speUing, to Congreve, in Westminster Abbey, her mother, quoting the words, said, ^' I know not what kapjnness'^ she might have in his company, but I am sure it was no /wnotir.^' With her youngest daughter, the Duchess of Montagu, old Sarah agreed as ill. ''I wonder," said the Duke of Marlborough to them, '* that you cannot agree, you are so alike ! " Of her grand- daughter, the Duchess of Manchester, daughter of the Duchess of Montagu, she affected to be fond. One day she said to her, " Duchess of Manchester, you are a good creature, and I love you mightily — ^but jouhcwe a mother ! " — "And she has a mother ! " answered the Duchess of Manchester, who was all spirit, justice, and honoui% and could not suppress sudden truth. One of old Marlborough's capital mortifications sprung from a grand- daughter. The most beautiful of her four charming daughters, Lady Sunderland,' left two sons," — the second Duke of Marl- borough, and John Spencer,* who became her heir, and Anne Lady ^ The Lady Henrietta^ married to Francis Earl Godolpliin, who, by act of par- liament, succeeded as Duchess of Marlborough, She died in 1733, childless; and the issue of her next sister [Anne], Lady Sunderland, succeeded to the duchy of Marlborough. — Wright. - Walpole had written pleasure, but happiness is the actual word on Congreve's monument, and I have so corrected the text. — Cunningham. ^ Lady Sunderland was a great politician ; and having, like her mother, a most beautiful head of hair, used, while combing it at her toilet, to receive men whose votes or interest she wished to influence. — Walpole. ■* She had an elder son, who died young, while only Earl of Sunderland. He had parts, and all the ambition of his parents and of his family (which his younger brothers had not) ; but George II. had conceived such an aversion to his father, that he would not employ him. The young Earl at last asked Sir Robert Walpole for an ensigney in the Guards. The minister, astonished at so humble a request from a man of such consequence, expressed his surprise. " I ask it," said the young lord, " to ascertain whether it is determined that I shall never have anything." He died soon after at Paris. — Walpole. ^ I have made a settlement of a very great estate that is in my own power, upon my grandson, John Spencer and his sons ; but they are all to forfeit it if any of them shall ever accept any employment military or civil, or any pension from any King or Queen of this realm, and the estate is to go to others in the entail. This, I think, ought to please everybody ; for it will secure my heirs in being very considerable men. None of them can put on a fool's coat, and take posts from soldiers of experience and service, who never did anything but kill pheasants and partridges. — SaraJi, Duchess of Marlborough, to Lord Stair, 1738. Compare vol. i. p. ISC- Cunningham. cxl EEMINISCENCES OF THE COURTS OF [chap. ix. Bateman; and Lady Diana Spencer, wliom I have mentioned, and who became [1731] Duchess of Bedford.' The Dioke [of Marlborough] and his brother, to humour their grand-mother, were in Opposition, though the eldest she never loved. He had good sense, infinite generosity, and not more economy than was to be expected from a young man of warm passions and such vast expectations. He was modest and dif&dent too, but could not digest total dependence on a capricious and avaricious grandmother. His sister (Lady Bateman) had the intriguing spirit of her father and grandfather, Earls of Sunderland. She was connected with Henry Fox, the first Lord Holland, and both had great influence over the [second] Duke of Marlborough. ^Yhat an object would it be to Fox to convert to the Court so great a subject as the Duke ! Nor was it much less important to his sister to give him a wife, who, with no reasons for expectation of such shining fortune, should owe the obligation to her. Lady Bateman struck the first stroke, and persuaded her brother to marry [23rd May, 1732] a handsome young lady, who, unluckily, was daughter of Lord Trevor, who had been a bitter enemy of his grand- father, the victorious Duke.^ The grandam's rage exceeded all bounds. Having a portrait of Lady Bateman, she blackened the face, and wi^ote on it, " Now her outside is as black as her inside.'^ The Duke she turned out of the Httle Lodge in Windsor Park ; and then pretending that the new Duchess and her female cousins (eight Trevors) had stripped the house and garden, she had a puppet-show made with waxen figures, representing the Trevors teaiTQg up the shi^ubs, and the Duchess carrying off the chicken-coop under her arm. Her fury did but increase when Mr. Fox prevailed on the Duke to go over to the Court. With her coarse intemperate humom% she said, "that was the Fox that had stolen her goose." Eepeated injuries at last drove the Duke to go to law with her. Fearing that 1 Wife of William, Viscount Bateman, of the kingdom of Ireland, and of Sliobdon Court in Herefordshire. She died 19th Feb. 1769, and was interred at Great Yeldham, in Essex. — Cunningham, 2 She died 27th of September, 1735, without issue.— Cunningham. 3 That great Captain, the Duke of Marlborough, when he was in the last stage of life, and very infirm, would walk from the public rooms in Bath to his lodgings in a cold dark night to save sixpence in chair-hire. If the Duke, who left at his death more than a million and a half sterling, could have foreseen that all his wealth and honours was to be inherited by a grandson of Lord Trevor's, who had been one of his enemies, would he have been so careful to save sixpence for the sake of his heir 1 Not for the sake of his heir, but he would always have saved sixpence.— Z)r. King. partly from our government : the first is changeable, and makes us queer ; the latter permits our queernesses to operate as they please. If one could avoid contracting this queerness, it must certainly be the most entertaining to live in England, where such a variety of incidents continually amuse. The incidents of a week in London would furnish all Italy with news for a twelvemonth. The only two circumstances of moment in the life of an Italian, that ever give occasion to their being mentioned, are, being married, and in a year after taking a cicisbeo. Ask the name, the husband, the wife, or the cicisbeo of any person, et voild qui est fini. Thus, child, 'tis dull deahng here ! Methinks your SjDanish war is Httle more Hvely. By the gravity of the proceedings, one would think both nations were Spaniard. Adieu ! Do you remember my maxim, that you used to laugh at ? Every body does every thing, and nothing comes onH. I am more convinced of it now than ever. I don't know whether S * * * *'s was not still better. Well, ^gad, there is fiothing in nothing. You see how I distil all my speculations and improve- ments, that they may lie in a small comj^ass. Do you remember the story of the prince, that, after travelling three years, brought home nothing but a nut ? They cracked it : in it was wrapped up a piece of silk, painted with all the kings, queens, kingdoms, and every thing in the world : after many unfoldings, out stepped a Httle dog, shook his ears, and fell to dancing a saraband. There is a fairy D 2 36 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1V40. tale for you. If I had any thing as good as your old song, I would send it too ; but I can only thank you for it, and bid you good night. Yours ever, P.S. Upon reading my letter, I perceive still plainer the sameness that reigns here ; for I find I have said the same things ten times over. I don't care ; I have made out a letter, and that was all my affair. 23. TO RICHARD WEST, ESQ. Florence, February 27, 1740, N.S. Well, West, I have found a little unmasqued moment to write to you ; but for this week past I have been so muffled up in my domino, that I have not had the command of my elbows. But what have you been doing all the mornings ? Could you not write then ? — ^No, then I was masqued too ; I have done nothing but sHp out of my domino into bed, and out of bed into my domino. The end of the Carnival is fi-antic, bacchanahan ; all the mom one makes parties in masque to the shops and coffee-houses, and all the evening to the operas and balls. Then I have danced, good gods! how have^ I danced!^ The Italians are fond to a degree of om- country dances : Cold and rate they only know by the tune ; Blowzy- hella is almost Itahan, and Buttered peas is Pizelli al hiiro. There are but three days more ; but the two last are to have balls all the morning at the fine unfijiished palace of the Strozzi ; and the Tuesday night a masquerade after supper : they sup first, to eat gras, and not encroach upon Ash- Wednesday. What makes masquerading more agreeable here than in England, is the great deference that is showed to the disguised. Here they do not catch at those little dirty opportunities of sa}dng any ill-natured thing they know of you, do not abuse you because they may, or talk gross bawdy to a woman of quahty. I found the other day, by a play of Etheridge's, that we have had a sort of Carnival even since the Eeformation ; 'tis in ' She ivoiild if She could/ ^ they talk of going a-mumming in Shi'ove-tide. After talking so much of diversions, I fear you will attribute to them the fondness I own I contract for Florence ; but it has so ^ Parody on Nat Lee's description of Alexander the Great : " Then he will talk [ Good Gods ! how he will talk." — Cunningham. ^ A comedy by Sir George Etherege. — Cunningham. 1740.] TO MR. WEST. 87 many other charms, that I shall not want excuses for my taste. The freedom of the Carnival has given me opportunities to make several acquaintances ; and if I have not found them refined, learned, pohshed, like some other cities, yet they are civil, good- natured, and fond of the Enghsh. Their Httle partiality for them- selves, opposed to the violent vanity of the French, makes them very amiable in my eyes. I can give you a comical instance of their gTeat prejudice about nobility ; it happened yesterday. While we were at dinner at Mi\ Mann's,' word was brought by his secretary, that a cavalier demanded audience of him upon an affair of honom\ Gray and I flew behind the curtain of the door. An elderly gentle- man, whose attire was not certainly correspondent to the greatness of his birth, entered, and informed the British minister, that one Martin, an Enghsh painter,^ had left a challenge for him at his house, for having said Martin was no gentleman. He would by no means have spoke of the duel before the transaction of it, but that his honour, his blood, his &c. would never permit him to fight with one who was no cavaHer ; which was what he came to inquire of his excellency. "We laughed loud laughs, but unheard : his fright or his nobihty had closed his ears. But mark the sequel: the instant he was gone, my very English curiosity hurried me out of the gate St. GaUo ; 'twas the place and hour appointed. We had not been diiving about above ten minutes, but out popped a Httle figure, pale but cross, with beard unshaved and hair uncombed, a slouched hat, and a considerable red cloak, in which was wrapped, under his arm, the fatal sword that was to revenge the highly injured ]\Ir. Martin, painter and defendant. I darted my head out of the coach, just ready to say, '' Your servant, Mr. Martin," and talk about the architecture of the triumphal arch that was building there ; but he would not know me, and walked ofi*. We left him to ^ Horace Mann, Esq., better known as Sir Horace Mann, Walpole's relation and correspondent from 1741 to 1786, a period of forty -five years, during which period they never met. He was the son of Robert Mann, Deputy Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital, — his brothers, Galfridus, James, and Edward were army clothiers. Mann was British Minister at Florence when Walpole visited Florence in 1741, and at hfs death he was still residing there as British Envoy at the Court of Tuscany. He was created a baronet in 1755. He died unmarried at Florence 16th November, 1786, and his remains were brought to England by his nephew and heir, Sir Horace Mann, and buried at Linton, in Kent, where Walpole erected a monument to Sir Horace's twin brother Galfridus, who died in 1756. His letters to Walpole have been preserved, but they are mighty dull. — Cunningham. " I presume David Martin, a Scottish portrait-painter of some note, now best known by his portraits of Pulteney Lord Bath, the great Lord Mansfield, Roubiliac, and Benjamin Franklin. — Cunningham. 88 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1^40. wait for an liom% to grow very cold and very valiant the more it grew past the hour of appointment. We were figuring all the poor creatui-e's huddle of thoughts, and confused hopes of victory or fame, of his unfinished pictures, or his situation upon bouncing into the next world. You will think us strange creatm-es ; but 'twas a pleasant sight, as we knew the poor painter was safe. I have thought of it since, and am incHned to believe that nothing but two English could have been capable of such a jaunt. I remember, 'twas reported in London, that the plague was at a house in the city, and all the town went to see it. I have this instant received your letter. Lord ! I am glad I thought of those parallel passages, since it made you translate them. 'Tis excessively near the oiiginal ; and yet, I don't know, 'tis very easy too. — It snows here a Httle to-night, but it never Hes but on the mountains. Adieu ! Yours ever. P. S. What is the history of the theatres this winter ? 24. TO THE HON. HENRY SEYMOUR CONWAY.^ Florence, March 6, 1740, N.S, Harry, my dear, one would tell you what a monster you are, if one were not sure your conscience tells you so every time you think of me. At Genoa, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundi^ed and thirty-nine, I received the last letter from you ; by your not wilting to me since, I imagine you propose to make this leap year. I should have sent many a scold after you in this long interval, had I known where to have scolded ; but you told me you should leave Geneva immediately. I have dispatched sundiy inquiries into England after you, all fruitless. At last drops in a chance letter to Lady Sophy Farmer,^ from a girl at Paris, that tells ^ Walpole's maternal cousin, the Mr. Conway and General Conway of this cor- respondence, second son of Francis Seymour Conway, first Lord Conway, by Charlotte Shorter, his third wife, sister of Lady Walpole. He was secretary in L-eland during the vice-royalty of William, fourth Duke of Devonshire ; groom of the Bed Chamber to George II. and to George HL ; Secretary of State in 1765 ; Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance in 1770; Commander-in-Chief in 1782; and a Field Marshal in 1793. He married Catherine Campbell, Dowager Countess of Aylesbury, daughter of John, Duke of Argyll, by his wife Mary Bellenden the beauty, and was the father by Lady Aylesbury of an only child, Mrs. Darner the sculptor, to whom Walpole left Strawberry Hill. Walpole was more attached to Conway than to any other of his friends. Some of Conway's letters to Walpole are printed in the Appendix to the first volume of the Rockingham Memoirs. — Cunningham. 2 Lady Sophia Fermor, daughter of the first Earl of Pomfret, married in 1744, HiS^^m' ■ • \ - 'M. r>r.3;ii>.a'cli. joijlp THE HO:N[s^'EHEIsrRT SEYMOUR COKIVAX aEIi EiiAl, C ONWAT . ;^' '->. '^t?'cl^' C/7'/.'<^.<^/^ ,:/V/A'/A' J'ROI.r A IvfLl^IATUP.E IN" El'^AMJ-.L rORMFP^TT aI STEJVWBJ-.P-RT HIIL . I on doTi , J I >'li sh e '1 "by Ri ell sard B er Uev 185 7 I'^'^l] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 71 40. TO sm HORACE MANN.i Calais, and Friday, and here I have been these two days, 1741. Is the wind laid ? Shall I never get aboard ? I came here on Wednesday night, but found a tempest that has never ceased since. At Boulogne I left Lord Shrewsbury ' and his mother, and brothers and sisters, waiting too : Bulstrode ' jDasses his winter at the court of Boulogne, and then is to travel with two young Shrewsbmys. I was overtaken by AmorevoH and Monticelli,' who are here Avith me and the Yiscontina, and Barberina, and Abbate Yanneschi' — what a coxcomb ! I would have talked to him about the opera, but he preferred poHtics. I have wearied AmorevoH with questions about you. If he was not just come from you, and could talk to me about you, I should hate him ; for, to flatter me, he told me that I tallced Itahan better than you. He did not know how little I think it a compHment to have anything preferred to you — ^besides, you know the consistence of my Itahan ! They are all frightened out of their senses about going on the sea, and are not a little afraid of the Enghsh. They went aboard the William and Mary yacht yester- day, which waits here for Lady Cardigan from Spa. The captain clapped the door, and swore in broad EngHsh that the Yiscontina should not stfr till she gave him a song, he did not care whether it was a catch or a moving baUad ; but she would not submit. I wonder he did ! When she came home and told me, I begged her not to judge of aU the English from this specimen ; but, by the way, she will find many sea-captains that grow on dry land. Sittinburn, Sept, 13, 0.8. [1741]. Saturday morning, or yesterday, we did set out, and after a ^ This is the first letter to Sir Horace then, 1741, only Mr. Mann [see p. 37]. Walpole borrowed his letters from Mann (his nephew Sir Horace conveyed them to England), had them fairly transcribed, annotated them with his own hand, and wrote a brief Preface to them, reprinted in this volume. — Cunningham. 2 Charles Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, died 1787. — Walpole. ^ Tutor to the young Earl of Shrewsbury. — Walpole. ^ Italian singers, — Walpole. Angelo Maria Monticelli, a celebrated singer of the same class as Veluti, was born at Milan in 1715, and first attained the celebrity which he enjoyed by singing with Mingotti at the Koyal Opera at Naples in 1746. He died in 1764. — Wright. * An Italian abbe, who directed and wrote the operas under the protection of Lord Middlesex.— Walpole. Charles Sackville, Earl of Middlesex and second Duke of Dorset. He was a poet, and dissolute like others of his family. He died 1769. — Cunningham. 72 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. good passage of foui^ lioui^s and a lialf, landed at Dover. I begin to count my comforts, for I find their contraries tMcken on my appre- hension. I have, at least, done for awhile with post-chaises. My trunks were a little opened at Calais, and they would have stopped my medals, but with much ado and much three louis's they let them pass. At Dover I found the benefit of the motions' having mis- carried last year, for they respected Sir Eobert's son even in the person of his trunks. I came over in a yacht with East India captains' widows, a Catholic girl, coming from a convent to be mar- ried, with an Irish piiest to guard her, who says he studied medicines for two years, and after that he studied learning for two years more. I have not brought over a word of French or Italian for common use ; I have so taken pains to avoid affectation in this point, that I have failed only now and then in a chi e Id to the servants, who I can scarce persuade myself yet are English. The country-town (and you will believe me, who, you know, am not prejudiced) dehghts me : the populousness, the ease, the gaiety, and well-dressed every- body amaze me. Canterbuiy, which on my setting out I thought deplorable, is a paradise to Modena, Eeggio, Parma, &c. I had before discovered that there was nowhere but in England the dis- tinction of middliiuj peoj)le ; I perceive now, that there is pecuhar to us middling houses : how snug they are ! I write to-night because I have time ; to-morrow I get to London just as the post goes. Su- Robert is at Houghton. Good night till another post. You are quite weU, I trust, but teU me so always. My loves to the Chutes^ and aU the &ca.'s. Oh ! a story of Mr. Pope and the Prince [of Wales] : — " Mr. Pope, you don't love princes." " Sir, I beg your pardon." "Well, you don't love Idngs then ! " " Sir, I own I love the lion best before his claws are groAvn."^ Was it possible to make a better answer to such simple questions ? Adieu ! my dearest child ! Yours, ten thousand times over. P. S. Patapan does not seem to regret his own country, ^ The motion [p. 6Q] in both houses of parliament, 1740, for removing Sir Robert Walpole from the king's councils. — Walpole, 2 John Chute [of the Vine, in Hampshire] and Francis Whithed, Esqrs., two great friends of Mr. W.'s, whom he had left at Florence, where he had been himself thirteen months, in the house of Mr. Mann, his relation and particular friend. — Walpole. This note is the only proof we possess of the relationship between Horace Walpole and Sir Horace Mann. Lord Dover, who was the first to print the note, entirely overlooked it Avhen he wrote his preface to the first series of Walpolc"s letters to Mann. — Cunningham, ^ This story was first told in print in RufFhead's Life of Pope, 8vo, 1769, p. 366. 1741.] TO HON. MR. CONWAY. 73 41. TO SIU HORACE MANN. [The beginning of this letter is lost.] * * * I HAD written and sealed my letter, but have since received another from yon, dated Sept. 24. I read Sir E^obert your account of Corsica ; be seems to like bearing any account sent tbis way — indeed, they seem to have more superficial relations in general than I could bave believed ! You will oblige me, too, with any farther account of Bianca Colonna : ' it is romantic, her history ! 1 am infinitely obHged to Mr. Chute for his kindness to me, and still more for his friendship to you. You cannot think bow happy I am to hear that you are to keep him longer. You do not mention his having received my letter from Paris : I directed it to him, recommended to you. I would not bave him think me capable of neglecting to answer his letter, which obliged me so much. I will deliver Amorevoli his letter the first time I see him. Lord Islay^ dined here ; I mentioned Stosch's^ IVIaltese cats. Lord Islay begged I would write to Florence to have the largest male and female that can be got. If you will speak to Stosch, you Avill obHge me : they may come by sea. You cannot imagine my amazement at yom- not being invited to Eicardi's ball ; do tell me, Avhen you know what can be the meaning of it ; it could not be inadvertence — nay, that were as bad ! Adieu ! my dear child, once more ! 42. TO THE HON. H. S. CONWAY. My Dearest Harry : London, 1741. Before I thank you for myself, I must thank you for that exces- sive good nature you showed in writing to poor Gray. I am less impatient to see you, as I find you are not the least altered, but have the same tender friendly temper you always had. I wanted much to see if you were still the same — but you are. ^ A kind of Joan of Arc, who headed the Corsican rebels against the Genoese. — Walpole. 2 Archibald Campbell, Earl of Islay, and, on his brother's death, in 1743, Duke of Argyle. — Walpole. ^ Baron Stosch, a Prussian virtuoso, and spy for the court of England on the Pretender [died 1757]. He had been driven from Ptome, though it was suspected that he was a spy on both sides : he was a man of a most infamous character in every respect. — Walpole. 74 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. Don't tliink of coming before youi' brother ; be is too good to be left for any one living : besides, if it is possible, I will see you in tbe country. Don't reproacb me, and tliink nothing could draw me into tbe country : impatience to see a few friends bas drawn me out of Italy ; and Italy, Harry, is pleasanter tban London. As I do not love living enfamille so mucb as you (but then indeed my family is not like yours), I am burried about getting myself a bouse ; for I have so long lived single, that I do not mucb take to being confined witb my own family. You won't find me mucb altered, I beHeve ; at least, outwardly. I am not grown a bit shorter, or a bit fatter, but am just the same long lean creature as usual. Then I talk no French, but to my footman ; nor Italian, but to myself. What inward alterations may have happened to me, you wiU discover best ; for you know 'tis said, one never knows that one's self. I will answer, that that part of it that belongs to you, has not suffered the least change — I took care of that. For vii'tu, I have a little to entertain you : it is my sole pleasure. ■ — I am neither young enough nor old enough to be in love. My dear Harry, will you take care and make my compHments to that charming Lady Conway,^ who I hear is so charming, and to Miss Jenny [Con way j, who I know is so ? As for Miss Anne,^ and her love as far as it is decent : tell her, decency is out of the question between us, that I love her without any restriction. I settled it yesterday with Miss Conway, that you three are brothers and sister to me, and that if you had been so, I could not love you better. I have so many cousins, and uncles and aunts, and bloods that grow in Norfolk, that if I had portioned out my affections to them, as they say I should, what a modiciun would have fallen to each ! — So, to avoid fractions, I love my family in you three, their representa- tives. Adieu, my dear Harry ! Direct to me at Downing Street. Good-b'ye ! Yom^s ever. 43. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Doivning Street, Oct. 8, 1741, O.S. 1 HAVE been very near sealing this letter mth black wax ; Sir ' Isabella Fitzroy, daughter of Charles second Duke of Grafton. She had been married in May, to [Walpole's maternal cousin] Francis Seymour Conway, afterwards Earl of Hertford. — Berry. 2 Walpole's maternal cousin, Miss Anne Conway, youngest sister of the Earl of Hertford and General Conway. — Cunnikgham. 1741-] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 75 Eobert came from Eiclimoiid on Sunday nigKt extremely ill, and on Monday was in great danger. It was an ague and looseness ; but they have stopped the latter, and converted the other into a fever, which they are curing with the bark. He came out of his chamber to-day for the first time, and is quite out of danger. One of the newspapers says, Sir E. W. is so had that there are no hopes of him. The Pomfrets ' are arrived ; I went this morning to visit my lord, but did not find him. Lady Sophia [Fermor] is ill, and my Earl ' still at Paris, not coming. There is no news, nor a soul in town. One talks of nothing but distempers, like Sii^ Eobert's. My Lady Townsend' was reckoning up the other day the several things that cured them ; such a doctor so many, such a medicine so many ; but of all, the greatest number have found rehef from the sudden deaths of their husbands. The Opera begins the day after the Eiig's birthday : the singers are not permitted to sing till on the stage, so no one has heard them, nor have I seen Amorevoli to give him the letter. The Opera is to be on the French system of dancers, scenes, and dresses. The directors have already laid out great sums. They talk of a mob to silence the operas, as they did the French players ; " but it will be more diffi.cult, for here half the young noblemen in town are engaged, and they will not be so easily persuaded to humour the taste of the mobility : in short, they have abeady retained several eminent lawyers [boxers] from the Bear Garden to plead their defence. I have had a long visit this morning fi'om Don Benjamin : " he is one of the best kind of agreeable men I ever saw — quite fat and easy, with universal knowledge : he is in the greatest esteem at my court. I am going to trouble you with some commissions. Miss Eich,*" ^ Thomas Earl of Pomfret, and Henrietta Louisa, his consortj and their two eldest daughters, Sophia and Charlotte, had been in Italy at the same time with Mr. Walpole [p. 52]. The earl had been master of the horse to Queen Caroline, and the countess lady of the bedchamber. — Walpole. ^ Henry Earl of Lincoln [p. 30] was at that time in love with Lady Sophia Fermor. — Walpole. ^ Ethelreda Harrison, wife of [Walpole's cousin] Charles Lord Yiscount Townsend, but parted from him. — Walpole. She was a wit, and said many happy things recorded by Walpole in his Letters. Lady Townshend died 5 March, 1788. — Cunningham. "* At the Haymarket Theatre in October 1738, soon after the passing of the Act for licensing the stage. — Cunningham. * Sir Benjamin Keene, ambassador at Madrid. — Walpole. ^ Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Robert Rich, since married [1749] to Sir George Lyttelton [afterwards Lord Lyttelton]. — Walpole. Miss Rich was his second wife : — they separated, and she survived till 1795.— Cunningham. 76 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. wlio is tlie finest singer, except your sister/ in tlie world, has begged me to get her some music, particularly " the office of the Yii'gin of the Seven Sorrows," by Pergolesi,' the " Serva Padrona, il Pastor se torna Aprile," and " SempKcetta Pastorella." If you can send these easily, you will much obHge me. Do, too, let me know by your brother, what you have already laid out for me, that I may pay him. I was mentioning to Sir Robert some pictm^es in Italy, which I wished him to buy ; two particularly, if they can be got, would make him delight in you beyond measure. They are, a Madonna and Child, by Domenichino,^ in the palace Zambeccari, at Bologna, or Calicmihec,' as they caU it ; Mr. Chute knows the picture. The other is by Correggio, in a convent at Parma, and reckoned the second best of that hand in the world. There are the Madonna and Child, St. Catherine, St. Matthew, and other figures : it is a most known picture, and has been engraved by Augustin Carracci. If you can emj)loy anybody privately to inquire about these pictures, be so good to let me Imow : Sii^ P. would not scruple almost any price, for he has of neither hand : the convent is poor : the Zambeccari collection is to be sold, though, when I inquii^ed after this picture, they would not set a price. Lord Euston is to be married to Lady Dorothy Boyle ^ to-morrow, after so many delays. I have received your long letter, and Mr. Chute's too, which I will answer next post. I wish I had the least j^olitics to tell you ; but all is silent. The Opposition say not a syllable, because they don't know what the Court will think of public afi'airs ; and they will not take theii' part till they are sure of contradicting. The Coui't will not be very ready to declare themselves, as theii' present situation is every way disagi^eeable. All they say, is to throw the blame entirely on the obstinacy of the Austrian Court, who would never stii^ or ^ Mary, daughter of R[obert] Mann, Esq. since married to Mr. Foote [p. 140]. — Walpole. ^ Better known to all lovera of the -works of this great composer as his " Stabat mater." — Wright, •^ We shall read more, and somewhat wearisomely, about this Domenichino. Mann at length, see letter to Chute, 20th August, 1743, succeeded in obtaining it for Sir Robert Walpole. — Cunningham. '* A corrupted pronunciation of the Bolognese. — Walpole. ^ George Earl of Euston, eldest son of Charles second Duke of Grafton, married 1741, Lady Dorothy Boyle, eldest daughter and co-heir of (the architect Earl) Richard, third and last Earl of Burlington. She died without issue the year after her marriage. Lord Euston, who died in 1747, treated her infamously. See (p. 252) her mother's affecting inscription on her portrait, and Hanbury Williams's verses ' To Lady Dorothy Boyle, enamoured of Lord Euston.' — Cunninqbam. l'J'41.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 77 soften for themselves, wliile they tliougTit any one obliged to defend them. All I know of news is, that Poland is leaning towards the acquisition side, like her neighbours, and proposes to get a lock of the Golden Fleece too. Is this any part of Gregory's ' negociation ? I delight in his Scappata — " Scappata, no ; eligi solamente ha preso la posta.'* My service to Seriston ; he is charming. How excessively obhging to go to Madame Grifoni's " festino ! but believe me, I shall be angry, if, for my sake, you do things that are out of your character : don't you know that I am infinitely fonder of that than of her ? I read your story of the Sposa Panciatici at table, to the great entertainment of the company, and Prince Craon's epitaph, which Lord Cholmley " says he has heard before, and does not think it is the Prince's own ; no more do I, it is too good : but make my com- pliments of thanks to him ; he shall have his buckles the first opportunity I find of sending them. Say a thousand things for me to dear Mr. Chute, tiR I can say them next post for myself ; till then, adieu. Yours ever. 44. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, Oct. 13, 1741. [The greatest part of this letter is wanting.] * * * The Town will come to town, and then one shall know something. Sir Robert is quite recovered. Lady Pomfret I saw last night : Lady Sophia [her daughter] has been ill with a cold ; her head is to be dressed French, and her body English, for which I am sorry ; her figure is so fine in a robe : she is full as sorry as I am. Their trunks are not arrived yet, so they have not made their appearance. My Lady told me, a Httle out of humour, that Uguccioni wrote her word, that you said her things could not be sent away yet : I understood from you, that • » very wisely, you would have nothing to do about them, so made no answer. The parliament meets the fifteenth of November. ^ * * ^ Gregorio Agdollo, an Asiatic, from being a prisoner at Leghorn, raised himself to be employed to the Great Duke by the King of Poland. — Walpole. ^ Elizabetta Capponi, wife of Signor Grifoni, a great beauty. — Walpole. ^ George, third Earl of Cholmondeley, married [1723] Mary, only legitimate daughter of Sir Robert Walpole.— Dover. Through this marriage Houghton descended to its present possessor, the Marquis of Chobmondeley. — Cunningham. 78 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. Amorevoli lias been witt me two hours tliis evening ; lie is in panics about tbe first night, which is the next after the birthday. I have taken a master, not to forget my Italian — don't it look like returning to Florence? — some time or other. Good night. Youi^s ever and ever, my dear child. 45. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, Oct. 19, 1741, 0.8. [Great part wanting,] I WRITE to you up to the head and ears in dirt, straw, and unpacking. I have been opening all my cases from the Custom- house the whole morning ; and — are not you glad ? — every indivi- dual safe and undamaged. I am fitting up an apartment in Downing Street * * * * ||g{p J^obert "Walpole]' was called in the morning, and was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow, for I have frequently known him snore ere they had drawn his curtains, now never sleeps above an hour with- out waking ; and he, who at dinner always forgot he was Minister, and was more gay and thoughtless than all his company,^ now sits j without speaking, and with his eyes fixed for an hour together. ! Judge if this is the Sir Robert you knew. The poHtics of the age are entii^ely suspended ; nothing is men- tioned ; but this bottling them up, will make them fly out with the greater violence the moment the parliament meets ; till * * * * * a word to you about this affair. I am sorry to hear the Venetian jom^ney of the Suares family ; it does not look as if the Teresina was to marry Pandolfini ; do you know, I have set my heart upon that match. You are very good to the Pucci, to give her that advice, though I don't suppose she will follow it. The Bolognese scheme * * * * In return for Amorevoli's letter, he has given me two. I fancy it will be troublesome to you ; so put his wife into some other method of correspondence with him. Do you love puns ? A pretty man of the age came into the play- house the other night, booted and spui^red : says he, "I am come to see Orpheus" — ''And Euiidice — You rid I see,'' repHed another gentleman. ******* ^ The omissions in these letters marked with stars occur in the original MS. Dover. ^ " Seen him I have, but in his happier hour Of social pleasure, ill exchanged for power."— Pope.— CuNNiNaHAM. 1T41.] TO SIR HOEACE MANN. 79 46. TO SIR HORACE MANK London, October 22, 1741, O.S. Your brother Has been with me tbis morning, and we have talked over your wbole affair. He tbinks it will be impossible to find any servant of tbe capacities you require, that will live with you under twenty, if not thirty pounds a-year, especially as be is not to bave your clotbes : tben tbe expense of tbe journey to Florence, and of back again, in case you should not like him, will be considerable. He is for your taking one from Leghorn ; but I, who know a little more of Leghorn than he does, should be apprehensive of any person from thence being in the interest of Golds worthy,' or too attached to the merchants : in short, I mean, he would be liable to prove a spy upon you. "We have agreed that I shall endeavour to find out a proper man, if such a one will go to you for twenty pounds a-year, and then you shall hear from me. I am very sensible that Palombo^ is not fit for you, and shall be extremely diligent in equipping you with such a one as you want. You know how much I wish to be of any service to you, even in trifles. I have been much diverted privately, for it is a secret that not a hundred persons know yet, and is not to be spoken of. Do but think on a duel between Winnington ^ and Augustus Townshend : " the 1 Mr, Goldsworthy, Consul at Leghorn, had married Sir Charles Wager's niece, and was endeavouring to supplant Mr. Mann at Florence. — Walpole. I suppose you know that Mrs. Goldsworthy, being detected en flagrant delit, is sent back to Eng- land with her children ; some of which, I hear, he disowns. I think her case not unlike Lady Abergavenny's [see p. 367], her loving spouse being very well content with her gallantries while he found his account in them, but raging against those that brought him no profit. — Lady Mary W. Montagu to Lady Pomfret. — Cunningham. * An Italian, secretary to Mr. Mann. — Walpole. ^ Winnington had been bred a Tory, but had left them in the height of Sir Robert Walpole's power : when that minister sunk, he had injudiciously, and, to please my Lady Townshend, who had then the greatest influence over him, declined visiting him, in a manner to offend the steady old Whiga ; and his jolly way of laughing at his own want of principles had revolted all the graver sort, who thought deficiency of honesty too sacred and profitable a commodity to be prophaned and turned into ridicule. He had infinitely more wit than any man I ever knew, and it was as ready and quick as it was constant and unmeditated. His style was a little brutal, his courage not at all so ; his good-humour inexhaustible ; it was impossible to hate or to trust him. — Walpole, Memoirs of George II. i. 15L Winnington was first made lord of the Admiralty, then of the treasury, then cofferer, and lastly paymaster of the forces; to which office, on his death in 1746, Mr. Pitt succeeded. — Wright. ^ The Hon. Augustus Townshend, was second son of the minister, Lord Townshend, by his second wife [Dorothy], the sister of Sir Robert Walpole. He was consequently half-brother to Charles, the third viscount, husband to Ethelreda [Harrison], Lady Townshend. — Dover. so HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. latter a pert boy, captain of an Indiaman ; the former declared cicisbeo to [his sister-in-law] my Lady Townshend. The quarrel was sometliing that Augustus had said of them ; for since she was parted fi'om her husband, she has broke with all liis family. Winnington challenged ; they walked into Hyde Park last Sunday morning, scratched one another's fingers, tumbled into two ditches — that is, Augustus did, — ^kissed, and walked home together. The other night, at Mrs. Boothby's * Well, I did believe I should never find time to write to you again ; I was interrupted in my letter last post, and could not finish it ; to- day I came home fi'om the king's levee, where I kissed his hand, vdthout going to the di^awing-room, on pm^pose to finish my letter, and the moment I sat down they let somebody in. That some- body is gone, and I go on. — At Mrs. Boothby's, Lady Townshend was coquetting with Lord Baltimore:'' he told her, if she meant anything vdth him, he was not for her pm^pose ; if only to make any one jealous, he would thi'ow away an hour with her with all his heart. The whole town is to be to-morrow night at Sii' Thomas Eobinson's' ball, which he gives to a little giii of the Duke of Richmond's. There are abeady two hundi^ed invited, from miss in bib and apron, to my Lord Chancellor [Hardwicke] in bib and mace. You shall hear about it next post. I vn^ote you word that Lord Euston is married : in a week more I beHeve I shall wiite you word that he is divorced. He is brutal enough ; and has forbid Lady Burling-ton'' his house, and that in very migentle terms. The whole family is in Qonfiision ; the Duke of Grafton half dead, and Lord BurKngton half mad. The latter has challenged Lord Euston, who accepted the challenge, but they were prevented. There are different stories : some say that the duel would have been no breach of consanguinity ; others, that 1 The lady celebrated in Hanbury Williams's poem of ' Isabella, or the Morning '— " To ancient Boothby's ancient Churchill's flown."— Cunninqham. 2 Charles Calvert, sixth Lord Baltimore, in Ireland, born 1699, died 1751. He was much in the confidence of Frederick Prince of Wales. — Cunningham. ^ 3 Sir Thomas Robinson, of Rokeby Park, in Yorkshire, Bart., commonly called "Long Sir Thomas," on account of his stature, and in order to distinguish him from the diplomatist. Sir Thomas Robinson, afterwards created Lord Grantham.- Dover. Chestei-field's extempore epigram upon him is well known.— Cunningham. ** Lady Dorothy Savile, eldest daughter and co-heiress of William second Marquis of Halifax, mother of Lady Euston.— Dover. The Countess of Burlington [p. 76], to whom Pope addressed a copy of verses, and the countess who protected Mrs. Garrick prior to her marriage. — Cunningham. l'i'41.] TO SIR HOEACE MANN. 81 there is a contract of marriage come out in another place, which has had more consanguinity than ceremony in it : in short, one cannot go into a room but you hear something of it. Do you not pity the poor girl ? of the softest temper, vast beauty, birth, and fortune, to be so sacrificed ! The letters from the West Indies are not the most agreeable. You have heard of the fijie river and Httle town which Yernon took, and named, the former Augusta, the latter Cumberland. Since that, they have found out that it is impracticable to take St. Jago by sea : on which Admiral Yernon and Ogle insisted that Wentworth, with the land forces shoidd march to it by land, which he, by advice of all the land officers, has refused ; for theii' march would have been of eigbty miles, through a mountainous, unknown coimtry, full of defiles, where not two men could march abreast ; and they have but four thousand Rye hundred men, and twenty-four horses. Quii^es of paper from both sides are come over to the council, who are to determine from hence what is to be done. They have taken a Spanish man-of-war and a register ship, going to Spain, immensely valuable. The parliament does not meet till the first of December, which reheves me into a little happiness, and gives me a Httle time to settle myself. I have unpacked aU my things, and have not had the least thing suffer. I am now only in a fright about my bii^thday clothes, which I bespoke at Paris : Friday is the day, and this is Monday, without any news of them ! 1 have been two or three times at the play, very unwillingly ; for nothing was ever so bad as the actors, except the company. There is much in vogue a Mrs. Woffington,' a bad actress ; but she has life. Lord Hartington^ dines here : it is said (and fi^om his father's [Duke of Devonshire's] partiahty to another person's father [Walpole's own], I don't think it impossible) that he is to marry ^ Margaret. Woffington, bora 1720, died 1760. She was a great beauty, and famous for playing Lady Townly, Sir Harry Wildair, &c. There is an admirable portrait of her by Hogarth at Bowood. She is buried at Teddington, in Twickenhamshire, as Walpole loved to call his classic neighbourhood. " So you cannot bear Mrs. Wofl&ngton; yet all the town is in love with her. To say the truth, I am glad to find somebody to keep me in countenance, for I think she is an impudent Irish-faced girl." — Mr. Conway to Walpole, Oct. 26, 1740. — Cunningham. 2 William, Marquis of Hartington, afterwards fourth Duke of Devonshire. He married Lady Charlotte Boyle, second daughter of Richard, third Earl of Burlington. — Dover. VOL. I. ** 82 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. a certain miss:' Lord Fitzwilliam' is supposed another candi- date. Here is a new thing, which has been much about town, and liked ; youi' brother Gal' gave me the copy of it : LES COURS DE L'EUROPE. L'Allemagne craint tout ; L'Autriche risque tout ; La Bavi^re esp^re tout ; La Prusse entreprend tout ; La Mayence vend tout ; Le Portugal regarde tout ; L'Angleterre veut faire tout ; L'Espagne embrouille tout ; La Savoye se defie de tout ; Le Mercure se m^le de tout ; La France achate tout ; Les Jesuites se trouvent par tout ; Rome benit tout ; Si Dieu ne pourvoye a tout, Le Diable emportera tout. Good night, my dear child : you never say a word of your own health ; are not you quite recovered ? a thousand services to Mr. Chute and Mr. Whithed, and to all my friends : do they begin to forget me ? I don't them. Yours, ever. 47. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Lonoon, ]Sfoi\ 2, 1741. You shall not hear a word but of balls and pubHc places : this one week has seen Six T. Robinson's ball, my Lord Maj^or's, the birth- day, and the opera. There were an hundred and ninety-seven persons at Sn Thomas's, and yet was it so well conducted that nobody felt a crowd. He had taken off all his doors, and so separated the old and the young, that neither were inconvenienced with the other. The ball began at eight ; each man danced one minuet with his partner, and then began country dances. There were four- and- twenty couple, ' Miss Mary Walpole [Lady Mary Cliurcliill], daughter of Sir Robert Walpole by Lis second wife, ]\Iaria Skerrett, but born before their marriage. When her father was made an earl, she had the rank of an earl's daughter given to her. — Dover. ^ See Lord Dover's note on page 84. — Cunningham. ^ Galfridus Mann. — Walpole. About autumn [1758], I erected at Linton, in Kent, a tomb for my friend Galfridus Mann ; the design was by Mr. Bentley. — Walpole, Hhort Notes. — Cunningham. 1741.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. ' 83 divided into twelve and twelve : eacli set danced two dances, and tlien retired into another room, wlnle the other set took their two ; and so alternately. Except Lady Ancram,^ no married woman danced ; so, you see, in England, we do not foot it till five-and-fiffcy. The heauties were the Duke of Richmond's two daughters' and their mother, still handsomer than they : the Duke sat hy his wife^ all night, Idssing her hand : how this must sound in the ears of Floren- tine cicishe's, cock or hen ! Then there was Lady Euston, Lady Caroline Fitzroy,^ Lady Lucy Manners,* Lady Camilla Bennet,^ and Lady Sophia [Fermor], handsomer than all, but a little out of humour at the scarcity of minuets ; however, as usual, she danced more than anybody, and, as usual too, took out what men she liked or thought the best dancers. Mem. Lord Holderness' is a little what Lord Liacoln^ will be to-morrow ; for he is expected. There was [General] Churchill's® daughter,^ who is prettyish, and dances well ; and the Parsons^ family from Paris, who are admired too ; but indeed it is a force cles muscles. Two other pretty women were Mrs. Colebroke (did you know the he-Colebroke in Italy ?) and a Lady Schaub, a foreigner, who, as Sii^ Luke says,^ would have him. Sir ^ Lady Caroline D'Arcy, daughter of Robert third Earl of Holdemesse, and wife of William Henry fourth Marquis of Lothian^ at this time^ during his father's lifetime, called Earl of Ancram. — Dovek. ^ Lady Caroline and Lady Emily Lenox. — Walpole. The former was married, in 1744, to Henry Fox, the first Lord Holland; the latter, in 1746-7, to James, twentieth Earl of Kildare, in 1766 created Duke of Leinster. — Wright. ^ Charles, second Duke of Richmond, and Lady Sarah Cadogan, his Duchess, eldest daughter of William Earl Cadogan. — Dover, ^ Eldest daughter of Charles Duke of Grafton. — Walpole, The Lady Caroline Petersham, and Countess of Harrington of Walpole's Letters. We shall hear more about her, and pleasantly enough. — Cunningham. ^ Sister to John Duke of Rutland ; married, in 1742, to the Duke of Montrose.— Walpole. ^ Only daughter of Charles second Earl of Tankerville. She married first, Gilbert Fane Fleming, Esq., and secondly, Mr. Wake, of Bath. — Dover. 7 Robert D'Arcy, fourth and last Earl of Holdernesse. [See p. 17.]— Cunningham. s That is, in love with Lady Sophia Fermor. [See note ^, p. 75.]— Cunningham. ^ Old General Churchill, a great favourite with Sir Robert Walpole, and immortal- ised by Hanbury Williams. His son, by Mrs. Oldfield the actress, married Sir Robert Walpole's natural daughter, by Moll Skerrett. We shall hear much of both, as we read on. See p. 112. — Cunningham. 1 HaiTiet, natural daughter of General Churchill; afterwards married to Sir Everard Fawkener [Secretary to the Culloden Duke of Cumberland].— Walpole. 2 The son and daughters of Alderman Parsons, a Jacobite brewer, who lived much in France, and had, somehow or other, been taken notice of by the King. — Walpole. ' Calvert's butt and Parsons' black champagne ' are immortalised by Goldsmith.— Cunningham. 3 Sir Luke Schaub, a kind of Will Chiffinch to George L, and much in the favour of George H. He had several pensions from both Kings for confidential services G 2 84 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. E. [obert] was afraid of the heat, and did not go. The supper was served at twelve ; a large table of hot for the lady-dancers ; their partners and other tables stood round. We danced (for I country- danced) till foui', then had tea and coffee, and came home. — Finis BallL * * * Friday was the bii^thday ; it was vastly full, the ball immoderately so, for there came all the second edition of my lord mayor's, but not much finery : Lord Fitzwilliam' and myself were far the most superb. I did not get mine till nine that morning. The opera will not tell so well as the two other shows, for they were obKged to omit the part of AmorevoK, who has a fever. The audience was excessive, without the least disturbance, and almost as little ajjplause ; I cannot conceive why, for Monticelli * * * * * be able to sing to-morrow. At com't I met the Shadwells ; '" Mademoiselle Misse MoUi, &c. I love them, for they asked vastly after you, and kindly. Do you know, I have had a mind to visit Pucci, the Florentine minister, but he is so black, and looks so like a murderer in a play, that I have never brought it about yet ? I know none of the foreign ministers, but Ossorio ^ a Httle ; he is still vastly in fashion, though extremely altered. Scandal, who, I believe, is not mistaken, lays a Miss Macartney to his charge ; she is a companion to the Duchess of Richmond [Lady Sarah Cadogan], as Madame Goldsworthy was ; but Ossorio will rather be Wachtendonck "* than Goldsworthy : what a lamentable story is that of the hundred sequins per month ! I have mentioned Mr. Jackson, as you desii^ed, to Sir E. [obert], who says, he has a very good opinion of him. In case of any change at Leghorn, you will let me laiow. He will not lose his patron, Lord Hervey,' so soon as I imagined ; he begins to recover. abroad and at home. He possessed a fair collection of pictures, wliich at liis death in 1758, brought good prices. The ' Sigismunda,' by Correggio, now at the Duke of Newcastle's, at Clumber, (really by Furini), which provoked Hogarth, and occasioned Ms ' Sigismunda,' was Sir Luke Schaub's. Lady Schaub is immortalised in ' The Long Story ' of Gray. She died very old in 1793. — Cunningham. ^ William third Earl Fitzwilliam, in Ireland ; created an English peer in 1742 ; and in 1746 an English earl. — Dover. ^ Sir John Shadwell, a physician, his wife and daughters, the youngest of whom was pretty, and by the foreigners generally called Mademoiselle Misse Molli, had been in Italy, when Mr. W. was there. — Walpole. Sir John was the son of Thomas Shadwell the dramatist, and antagonist of Dryden. — Cunningham. ^ The Chevalier Ossorio, minister from the King of Sardinia. — Walpole, ■* General Wachtendonck, commander of the great Duke's troops at Leghorn, was cicisbeo to the consul's wife there. — Walpole. ^ John Lord Hervey, lord privy seal [husband of Molly Lepel], and eldest son of 1741.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 85 I believe the Euston embroil is adjusted; I was with Lady Caroline Fitzroy [afterwards Lady CaroHne Petersham] on Friday evening ; there were her brother and the bride, and quite bridal together, quite honey-moonish. I forgot to tell you that the Prince [of Wales] was not at the Opera ; I believe it has been settled that he should go thither on Tuesdays, and Majesty on Saturdays, that they may not meet. The Neutrahty ' begins to break out, and threatens to be an eiccise or convention. The Newspapers are full of it, and the press teems. It has akeady produced three pieces : " The Groans of Germany," which I will send you by the first opportunity : " Bedlam, a poem on His Majesty's hapj)y escape from his German dominions, and all the wisdom of his conduct there." The title of this is all that is remarkable in it. The third piece is a Ballad, which, not for the goodness, but for the excessive abuse of it, I shall transcribe . THE LATE GALLANT EXPLOITS OF A FAMOUS BALANCING CAPTAIN.2 A NEW SONG. TO THE TUNE OF THE KING AND THE MILLER, Mene tekel. The handwriting on the wall. I. I'll tell you a story as strange as 'tis new. Which all, who're concern'd, will allow to be true, Of a Balancing Captain, well-known hereabouts, Return'd home, God save him ! a mere King of Clouts. II. This Captain he takes, in a {/oZcZ-ballast'd ship, Each summer to Terra damnosa a trip, For which he begs, borrows, scrapes all he can get. And runs his poor Owners most vilely in debt. III. The last time he set out for this blessed place, He met them, and told them a most piteous case, Of a sister of his, who, though bred up at court. Was ready to perish for want of support. John first Earl of Bristol. He was a man of considerable celebrity in his day; but is now principally known from his unfortunate rivalry with Pope, for the good graces of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. He died August 5, 1743, at the age of forty-seven, — Dover. Since Lord Dover died, the publication of Lord Hervey's delightful Memoirs has materially added to his celebrity, and to the accuracy of Walpole's Reminiscences. — Cunningham. 1 The Neutrality for the electorate of Hanover. — Walpole. 2 This song is a satire upon George II. " the balancing Captain," and upon that 86 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. IV. This Hun-gry Sister, he then did pretend, Would be to his Oioners a notable friend. If they would at that critical juncture supply her — They did— but alas ! all the fat's in the fire ! This our Captain no sooner had finger'd the cole, But he hies him abroad with his good Madam Vole — Where, like a true tinker, he managed this metal, And while he stopp'd one hole, made ten in the kettle. VI. His fSistej', whom he to his Owners had sworn, To see duly settled before his return. He gulls with bad messages sent to and fro. Whilst he underhand claps up a peace with her foe. VII. He then turns this Sister adrift, and declares Her most mortal foes were her Father's right heirs — " G — d z — ds ! " cries the world, "such a step was ne'er taken ! " 0, ho ! " says Nol Bluff, " I have saved my own bacon. VIII. " Let France damn the Germans, and undamn the Dutch, And Spain on Old England pish ever so much, Let Russia bang Sweden, or Sweden bang that, I care not, by Robert ! one kick of viy Jiat. IX. " So I by myself can noun substantive stand, Impose on my Owners, and save my own land ; You call me masculine, feminine, neuter, or block, Be what will the genders, sirs, hie, haec, or hoc. X. " Or should my chous'd Owners begin to look sour, I '11 trust to Mate Boh to exert his old power, JRegit animos dictU, or nummis, with ease, So^ spite of your growling, I '11 act as I please." XI. Yet worse in this treacherous contract, 'tis said. Such terms are agreed to, such promises made, That his Owners must soon feeble beggars become — " Hold ! " cries the Crown office, " 'twere scandal — so, mum ! " XII. This secret, however, must out on the day When he meets his poor Owners to ask for more pay ; And I fear when they come to adjust the account, A zero for balance, will prove their amount- vacillating and doubtful conduct, which his fears for the electorate of Hanover made him pursue, whenever Germany was the seat of war. His Sister, whom he is accused of deserting, was Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary. — Dover. I'J'^L] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 87 One or two of the stanzas are tolerable ; some, especially the ninth, most nonsensically bad. However, this is a specimen of what we shall have amply commented upon in parliament. I have already foimd out a person, who, I beHeve, will please you in Palombo's place : I am to see your brother about it to morrow-morning, and next post you shall hear more particularly. I am quite in concern for the poor princess,^ and her conjugal and amorous distresses : I really pity them ; were they in England, we should have all the old prudes dealing out judgments on her, and mumbKng toothless ditties, to the tune of Pride will have a fall. I am buying some fans and trifles for her, si mignons '! Good night. Yours, ever. 48. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Downing Street, Nov. 5, 1741, O.S. I JUST mentioned to you in my letter on Monday, that I had found such a person as you wanted ; I have since seen your brother, who is so satisfied with him, that he was for sending him directly away to you, without staying six weeks for an answer fi^om you ; but I chose to have your consent. He is the son of a tradesman in the City, so not yet a fine gentleman. He is between fifteen and sixteen, but very tall of his age : he was disappointed in not going to a merchant at Genoa, as was intended ; but was so far provided for it, as to have learned ItaKan three months : he speaks French very well, writes a good hand, and casts accounts ; so, you see, there will not be much trouble in forming him to your ]Durpose. He will go to you for twenty pounds a-year and his lodging. If you like this, write me word by the first post, and he shaU set out directly. We hear to-day that the Toulon squadron is arrived at Barcelona; I don't like it of all things, for it has a look towards Tuscany. If it is suffered to go thither quietly, it will be no smaU addition to the present discontents. Here is another letter, which I am entreated to send you, from poor Amorevoli ; he has a continued fever, though not a high one. ^ The Prince de Craon, and the princess his wife, who had been favourite mistress to Leopold, the last Duke of Lorrain, resided at this time at Florence, where the prince was head of the council of regency ; but they were extremely ill-treated and mortified by the Count de Richcourt, a Low Lorrainer [p. 159], who, being a creature of the great duke's favourite minister, had the chief ascendant and power there. — Walpole. 88 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. Yesterday, Monticelli was taken ill, so there will be no opera on Saturday ; nor was on Tuesday. Monticelli is infinitely admired ; next to Farinelli. The Yiscontina is admired more than liked. The music displeases everybody, and the dances. I am quite uneasy about the Opera, for Mr. Conway is one of the directors, and I fear they will lose considerably, which he cannot aflPord. There are eight. Lord Middlesex,' Lord Holderness, Mr. Frederick,^ Lord Conway, Mr. Conway, Mr. Damer,^ Lord Brook,"* and Mr. Brand.' The five last are dii^ected by the three fii^st ; they by the first, and he by the Abbe Yanneschi,*' who will make a j)retty sum. I will give you some instances ; not to mention the imjDrobabihty of eight young thoughtless men of fashion understanding economy : it is usual to give the poet fifty guineas for composing the books — Yanneschi and Holli are allowed three hundred. Thi^ee hundred more Yanneschi had for his journey to Italy to pick up dancers and performers, which was always as well transacted by bankers there. He has additionally brought over an Italian tailor — because there are none here ! They have abeady given this Taylor ini four hundi^ed pounds, and he has abeady taken a house of thii^ty pounds a-year. Monticelli and the Yisconti are to have a thousand guineas a-piece ; AmorevoH eight hundi^ed and fifty : this at the rate of the great singers, is not so extravagant ; but to the Muscovita (though the second woman never had above four hundred) they give six ; that is for secret services.' By this you may judge of their frugahty ! ^ Charles Sackville, Earl of Middlesex, and subsequently second Duke of Dorset, eldest son of Lionel first Duke of Dorset. He was made a lord of the Treasury in 1743, and Master of the Horse to Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1747. — Doyek. See note, ante, p. 71. — Cunningham. 2 John Frederick, Esq., afterwards Sir John Frederick, Bart., by the death of his cousin, Sir Thomas. He was a commissioner of customs, and member of parliament for West Looe. — Doyer. ^ Joseph Darner, Esq., created in 1753 Baron Milton, in Ireland, and by George in. an English peer, by the same title, and eventually Earl of Dorchester. — Dover, ^ Francis Greville, eighth Lord Brooke; created in 1746 Earl Brooke, and in 1759 Earl of Warwick. — Dover, ^ Thomas Brand, Esq., of the Hoo, in Hertfordshire [p. 17], one of the original members of the society of Dilettanti. — Dover, ^ If this anticipation of Walpole's was ever realised, "the pretty sum'' was eventually lost on the spot where it had been gained. Vanneschi, having in 1753 undertaken the management of the Opera-House on his own account, continued it until 1756, when his differences Avith Mingotti, which excited almost as much of the public attention as the rivalries of Handel and Bononcini or of Faustina and Cuzzoni, completely prejudiced the public against him, and eventually ended in making him a bankrupt, a prisoner in the Fleet, and at last a fugitive. — Wright. 7 She was kept by Lord Middlesex. — Walpole. She was not pretty, see p. 45. — Cunningham. I'i'il.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 89 I am quite uneasy for poor Harry [Mr. Conway], wlio -will tlius be to pay for Lord Middlesex's pleasiu^es ! Good night ! I have not time now to write more. Youi'S, ever. 49. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Downing Street, Nov. 12, 1741. Nothing is equal to my uneasiness about you. I hear or think of nothing but Spanish embarkations for Tuscany : before you receive this, perhaps, they will be at Leghorn. Then, yom- brother tells me you have received none of my letters. He knows I have never failed writing once a week, if not twice. We have had no letters from you this post. I shall not have the least respite from my anxiety, till I hear about you, and what you design to do. It is impossible but the Great Duke must lose Tuscany ; and I suppose it is as certain, (I speak on probabihties, for, upon honour, I know nothing of the matter,) that as soon as there is a peace, we shall acknowledge Don Philip, and then you may return to Florence again. In the meanwhile I will ask Sii' H. [obert] if it is possible to get your appointments continued, while you stay in readiness at Bologna, Home, Lucca, or where you choose. I talk at random ; but as I think so much of you, I am trying to find out something that may be of service to you. I wiite in infinite hurry, and am called away, so scarce know what I say. Lord Conway and his family are this instant come to town, and have sent for me. It is Admiral Yernon's birthday,^ and the city-shops are full of favours, the streets of marrowbones and cleavers, and the night will be full of mobbing, bonfires, and Kghts. The opera does not succeed ; Amorevoh has not sung yet ; here is a letter to his wife : mind, while he is iU, he sends none to the Chiaretta ! The dances are infamous and ordinary. Lord Chester- field [the witty Earl] was told that the Yiscontina said she was but fom^- and- twenty : he answered, " I suppose she means four- and- twenty stone ! " There is a mad person goes about ; he called to a sentinel the ^ Admiral Vernon was now in the height of his popularity, in consequence of his successful attack upon Porto-Bello, in November, 1739, and the great gallantry he had shown upon that occasion. His determined and violent opposition, as a member of parliament, to the measures of the government, assisted in rendering him the idol of the mob, which he continued for many years. — Dover. 90 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. other day in the Park ; " Did you ever see the Leviathan ? " — "-^0.'' — "Well, he is as like Sir E. W. as ever two devils were lil^e one another." Never was such unwholesome weather ! I have a great cold, and have not heen well this fortnight : even immortal majesty has had a looseness. The Duke of Ancaster' and Lord James Cavendish^ are dead. This is all the news I know : I would I had time to write more ; but I know you will excuse me now. If I wrote more, it would he still about the Italian expedition, I am so disturbed about it. Yours, ever. 50. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Downing Street, Nov. 23, 1741. Your letter has comforted me much, if it can be called comfort to have one's uncertainty fluctuate to the better side. You make me hope that the Spaniards design on Lombardy ; my passion for Tuscany, and anxiety for you, make me eager to believe it ; but alas ! while I am in the beHef of this, they may be in the act of conquest in Florence, and poor you retiring poHtically ! How dehghtful is Mr. Chute for cleaving unto you like Ruth ! *' Whither thou goest, I will go ; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge ! '' As to the merchants at Leghorn and their concerns, Sii' H. [obert] thinlvs you are mistaken, and that if the Spaniards come thither, they will by no means be safe. I own I wiite to you under a great dilemma ; I flatter myself, all is well with you ; but if not, how disagi^eeable to have one's letters fall into strange hands. — I wi'ite, however. A brother of mine,^ Edward by name, has lately had a caU to matrimony : the virgm's name was Howe." He had agreed to take ^ Peregrine Bertie, second Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven. The report of his death was premature. — Wright. " The second son of William, second Duke of Devonshire. He was colonel of a regiment of foot-guards, and member for Malton. — Wright. '^ Second son of Sir Robert Walpole. He was Clerk of the Pells, and afterwards Knight of the Bath.— AValpole. Sir Edward died unmarried, in 1784, leaving three natural daughters ; Laura, married to the Hon. and Rev. Frederick Keppel, afterwards Bishop of Exeter ; Maria, married, first to the Earl of Waldegrave, and, secondly, to the Duke of Gloucester ; and Charlotte, married to the Earl of Dysart. Wright. ^ [Caroline] eldest sister of the Lord Viscount Howe. She was soon after this married to a relation of her own name. — Walpole. Mrs. Howe (Widow of John Howe, Esq., of Hanslop, Bucks) died 1814. Walpole in his old age speaks indiffer- ently of her friendship, but Miss Berry defends her. — Cunningham. l^'il-] TO SIR HORACE MANN". 91 her. witli no fortune, she him with his four children. The father of him, to get rid of his importunities, at last acquiesced. The very moment he had ohtained this consent, he repented ; and, instead of flying on the wings of love to notify it, he went to his fair one, owned his father had moUified, hut hoped she would be so good as to excuse him. You cannot imagine what an entertaining fourth act of the opera we had the other night. Lord Yane,' in the middle of the pit, maldng love to my lady. The Duke of Newcastle ' has lately given him threescore thousand pounds, to consent to cut ojff the entail of the JN'ewcastle estate. The fool immediately wrote to his wife, to beg she would retm^n to him from Lord Berkeley ; ' that he had got so much money, and now they might Kve comfortably ; but she will not live. comfortaUy : she is at Lord Berkeley's house, whither go divers after her. Lady Townshend told me an admirable history ; a i^ oi our fnencl ludidiy Pomfi'et. Somebody that belonged to the Prince of Wales said, they were going to Cou7^t ; it was objected that they ought to say, goiug to Carlton House ; that the only Court is where the King resides. Lady P. with her paltry air of signi- ficant learning and absurdity, said, " Oh Lord ! is there no Court in England, but the king's ? sure, there are many more ! There is the Court of Chancery, the Court of Exchequer, the Court of King's Bench, &c." Don't you love her ? Lord Liacoln does her daughter [Lady Sophia Eermor] : he is come over, and met her the other night : he turned pale, spoke to her several times ui the evening, but not long, and sighed to me at going away. He came over all alive ; and not only his Uncle-Duke [the Duke of New- ^ William, second Viscount Vane, in Ireland, His " lady " was the too-celebrated Lady Vane, first married to Lord William Hamilton, and secondly to Lord Vane ; who has given her own extraordinary and disreputable adventures to the world, in Smollett's novel of " Peregrine Pickle," under the title of " Memoirs of a Lady of Quality," — Dover, She was the daughter of Mr, Hawes, a South Sea director, and died in 1788.. Lord Vane died in 1789, — Wright. Lady Vane is returned hither [London] in company with Lord Berkeley, and went with him in public to Cranford [near Hounslow], where they remain as happy as love and youth can make them. I am told that though she does not pique herself upon fidelity to any one man (which is but a narrow way of thinking), she boasts that she has always been true to her nation, and, notwithstanding foreign attacks, has always reserved her charms for the use of her own countrymen. — Lady Mary Wortley Montagu to Lady Pomfret, 1738, — Cunningham. " Uncle of Lord Vane, whose father. Lord Barnard, had married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Gilbert Holies, Earl of Clare, and sister and co-heir of John Duke of ITewcastle [the minister], — Walpole, 3 Augustus, fourth Earl of Berkeley, born 1716, died 1755. See p. 301.— Cunningham. 92 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. castle], but even Majesty is fallen in love with. him. He talked to the King at his levee, without being spoken to. That was always thought high treason ; but I don't know how the gruff gentleman liked it ; and then he had been told that Lord Lincoln designed to have made the campaign, if we had gone to war ; in short, he says, Lord Lincoln is the handsomest man in England. I believe I told you that Vernon's birthday passed quietly, but it was not designed to be pacific ; for at twelve at night, eight gentle- xaen, di^essed like sailors, and masked, went round Covent Garden with a drum, beating uj) for a volunteer mob ; but it did not take ; and they retired to a great supper that was prepared for them at the Bedford Head,' and ordered by [Paul] ^Yhitehead,^ the author of " Manners.^' It has been written into the countiy that Sir R.[obert] has had two fits of an apoplexy, and cannot Kve till Christmas ; but I think he is recovered to be as well as ever. To-morrow se'nnight is the Lai/f ' It is critical. You shall hear faithfully. The Opera takes : Monticelli pleases almost equal to Farinelli : Amorevoli is much liked ; but the poor, fine Yiscontina scarce at aU. I carry the two former to-night to my Lady Townshend's. Lord Coventry " has had his son thrown out by the party : he went to Carlton House ; the Prince asked him about the election : " Sii'," said he, " the Tories have betrayed me, as they wiU you, the first time you have occasion for them.^' The merchants have petitioned the King for more guard-ships. My Lord President ^ [Wilmington] referred them to the Admii-alty ; but they bluntly refused to go, and said they would have redress from the King himself. ^ A celebrated tavern in Covent Garden so called. " Let me extol a cat on oysters fed : I'll have a party at the Bedford Head/' — Pope. " When sharp with hunger, scorn you to be fed Except on pea-chicks at the Bedford Head." — Pope.— Cunningham. 2 Paul Whitehead [died 1774], an infamous, but not despicable poet. — Walpole. In politics, Whitehead was a follower of Bubb Dodington ; in private life he was the friend and companion of the profligate Sir Francis Dashwood, Wilkes, Churchill, &c., and, like them, was a member of the Hell-fire Club, which held its orgies at Medmenham Abbey, in Bucks. The estimation in which he was held, even by his friends, may be judged of by the lines in which Churchill has " damned him to everlasting fame :"— " May I (can worse disgrace on manhood fall ?) Be born a Whitehead, and baptised a Paul." — Doyer. ^ The day the parliament was to meet. — Walpole. '* William, fifth Earl of Coventry. He died in 1751. — Dover. ^ Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, a man of moderate abilities, but who had filled many great offices. He died in 1743, when his titles extinguished.— Dover. 1741.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 93 I am called down to dinner, and cannot write more now. I will thank dear Mr. Chute and the Grifona next post. I hope she and you liked your things. Good night, my dearest child ! Your brother and I sit upon your affairs every morning. Yours, ever. 51. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Nov. 26, 1741. I don't write you a very long letter, because you will see the inclosed to Mr. Chute. I forgot to thanlc you last post for the songs, and your design on the Maltese cats. It is terrible to be in this uncertainty about you ! We have not had the least news about the Spaniards, more than what you told us, of a few vessels being seen off Leghorn. I send about the post, and ask Sir E.. [obert] a thousand times a-day. I beg to know if you have never heard anything from Parker about my statue : ' it was to have been finished last June. What is the meaning he does not mention it ? If it is done, I beg it may not stir from Home till there is no more danger of Spaniards. If you get out of your hm-ry, I will trouble you with a new commission : I find I cannot Hve without Stosch's ^ intagUo of the Gladiator, with the vase, upon a granite. You know I offered him fifty pounds : I think, rather than not have it, I would give a hun- dred. ^Yhat will he do if the Spaniards should come to Florence ? Shoidd he be diiven to straits, perhaps he would part with his Meleager too. You see I am as eager about baubles as if I were going to Louis at the Palazzo Yecchio ! You can't think what a closet I have fitted up ; such a mixture of French gaiety and Poman virtu ! you would be in love with it : I have not rested till it was finished : I long to have you see it. Now I am angry that I did not buy the Hermaphrodite ; the man would have sold it for twenty- five sequins : do buy it for me ; it was a friend of Bianchi. Can you forgive me ? I wiite all this upon the hope and presumption that the Spaniards go to Lombardy. Good night. Yom^s, ever. ^ A copy of the Livia Mattel, which Mr. W. designed for a tomb of his mother : it was erected in Henry VH.'s chapel, in Westminster Abbey, in 1754. — Walpolb. ^ He gave it afterwards to Lord Duncannon, for procuring him the arrears of his pension. — Walpole. 94 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTEES. [1741. 52. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Downing Street, Dec. 2>, 1741, O.S. Here I liave two letters from you to answer. You cannot con- ceive my joy on tlie prospect of the Spaniards going to Lombardy : all advices seem to confirm it. There is no telling you what I have felt, and shall feel, till I am certain you are secui^e. You ask me about Admiral Haddock ; you must not wonder that I have told you nothing of him; they know nothing of him here. He had discretionary powers to act as he should judge proper fi^om his notices. He has been keeping in the Spanish fleet at Gales [Cadiz]. Sii' E.[obert] says, if he had let that go out, to prevent the em- barkation, the Tories would have complained, and said he had favoured the Spanish trade, under pretence of hindering an expedi- tion which was never designed. It was strongly reported last week that Haddock had shot himself ; a satire on his having been neutral, as they call it. The Parliament met the day before yesterday, and there were four hundred and eighty-seven members present. They did no business, only proceeded to choose a Speaker, which was, unani- mously, Mi\ Onslow, moved for by l^Ir. Pelham,' and seconded by Mr. Clutterbuck. But the Opposition, to flatter his pretence to populaiity and impartiahty, call him their own speaker. They intend to o]Dpose Mr. Earle's'' being chairman of the Committee, and to set up a Dr. Lee,^ a civilian. To-morrow the King makes his Speech. Well, I won't keep you any longer in suspense. The ^ The Right Hon. Henry Pelham, so long, in conjunction with his brother, the Duke of Newcastle, one of the principal rulers of this country. He was a man of some ability, and a tolerable speaker. The vacillations, the absurdity, the foolish jealousy of the Duke, greatly injured the stability and respectability of Mr. Pelham's administration. Mr. Pelham was born in 1696, and died in 1754. — Dover. 2 Giles Earle, Esq., one of the lords of the Treasury, and who had been chairman of the committees of the House of Commons from 1727 to the date of this letter. He had been successively groom of the bed-chamber to the Prince of Wales in 1718, clerk comptroller of the king's household in 1720, commissioner of the Irish revenue in 1728, and a lord of the Treasury in 1738. Mr. Earle was a man of broad coarse wit, and a lively image of his style and sentiments has been preserved by Sir C. H. Williams, in his "Dialogue between Giles Earle and Bubb Dodington."— Wright. ^ George Lee, brother to the lord chief-justice ; he was appointed one of the lords of the Admiralty on the following change, which post he resigned on the disgrace of his patron, Lord Granville. He was afterwards designed by the Prince of Wales for his first minister, and, immediately on the Prince's death, was appointed treasurer to the Princess Dowager, and soon after made Dean of the Arches, a knight, and privy counsellor. He died in 1758. — Walpole. 1741.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 95 Court will have a majority of forty — a vast number for the outset : a good majority, like a good sum of money, soon makes itself bigger. The first great point will be the Westminster election ; another, Mr. Pulteney's ' election at Heydon ; Mr. Chute's brother is one of the petitioner^. It wiU. be an ugly affair for the Court, for Pulteney has asked votes of the courtiers, and said Sir E. [obert] was indifferent about it ; but he is warmer than I almost ever saw him, and declared to Churchill,'' of whom Pulteney claims a promise, that he must take Walpole or Pulteney. The Sackville family were engaged too, by means of George Berkeley, brother to Lady Betty Germain,' whose influence with the Dorset I suppose you know ; but the King was so hot with his grace about his sons, that I beHeve they wiU not venture to foUow their inclinations * * * to vote ' for Pulteney, though he has expressed great concern about it to Sir P. [obert] , So much for PoHtics ! for I suppose you know that Prague is taken by storm, in a night's time. I forgot to tell you that Com- modore Lestock, with twelve ships, has been waiting for a wind this fortnight, to join Haddock.* I write to you in defiance of a violent headache, which I got last night at another of Sir T. Pobinson's balls. There were six hundred invited, and I believe above two hundred there. Lord Lincoln, out of prudence, danced with Lady Caroline Fitzroy [Petersham], and Mr. Conway with Lady Sophia [Fermor] ; the two couple were just mismatched, as every body soon perceived, by the attentions of each man to the woman he did 7iot dance with, and the emulation of either lady: it was an admirable scene. The baU broke up at ^ William Pulteney, afterwards Earl of Bath, whose character and history are too well known to require to be here enlarged upon. — Dover. ^ General Charles Churchill, groom of the bedchamber to the King. — Walpole. ^ Lady Betty Berkeley, married to the notorious adventurer and gambler. Sir John Germain, who had previously married the divorced Duchess of Norfolk (Lady Mary Mordaunt), by whose bequest he became possessed of the estate of Drayton, in Northamptonshire, which he left on his own death to Lady Betty, his second wife. Lady Betty left it to Lord George Sackville, third son of Lionel first Duke of Dorset. — Dover. Lady Betty was the friend and correspondent of Swift. In early life she made a mishap. (See Duchess of Marlborough to Lord Stair, at the end of Walpole's " Reminiscences," in this volume.) She survived her husband fifty-one years, 1718- 1769. — Cunningham. ^ Sic, in the manuscript. — Dover. ^ But for this circumstance, and the junction of the French squadron, Haddock would certainly have destroyed the Spanish fleet, and thereby escaped the imputation which was circulated with much industry, that his hands had been tied up by a neutrality entered into for Hanover ; than which nothing could be more false. These reports, though ostensibly directed against Haddock, were, in reality, aimed at Sir Robert Walpole, a general election being at hand, and his opponents wishing to render him as unpopular with the people as possible. — Wright. 96 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS, [1741. three ; but Lincoln, Lord Holclerness, Lord Robert Sutton/ young Churchill/ and a dozen more, grew jolly, stayed till seven in the morning, and di-ank thii'ty-two bottles. I will take great care to send the knee-buckles and pocket-book ; I have got them, and Madame Pucci's silks, and only wait to hear that Tuscany is quiet, and then I will convey them by the first ship. I would wiite to them to-night, but have not time now ; old Gibber ' plays to-night, and all the world will be there. Here is another letter from Amorevoh, who is out of his wits at not hearing from his wife. Adieu ! my dearest child. How happy shall I be when I know you are in peace. Yours, ever. 53. TO SIR HORACE MANK Somerset House, {for I write to you wherever I find myself,) Dec. 10, 1741, 1 HAVE got no letter from you yet, the post should have brought it yesterday. The Gazette says, that the Cardinal ■* has declared that they will suffer no expedition against Tuscany. I wish he had told me so 1 if they preserve this guarantee, personally, I can forgive their breaking the rest. But I long for your letter ; every letter now from each of us is material. You will be almost as impatient to hear of the parliament, as I of Florence. The lords on Friday went upon the King's speech ; Lord Chesterfield made a very fine speech against the address, all levelled at the house of Hanover. Lord Cholmley, they say, answered him well. Lord Halifax " spoke very ill, and was answered by little Lord E-ajnnond,^ who always ^ Second son of John, third Duke of Rutland. He took the name of Sutton, on inheriting the estate of his maternal grandfather, Robert Sutton, Lord Lexington. — Dover. 2 Natural son of General Charles Churchill, after^vards married to Mary, [natural] daughter of Sir Robert Walpole. [See pp. 82 and 83]. — Dover. ^ Colley Gibber, the celebrated dramatic author and actor. He had left the stage in 1731 ; but still occasionally acted, in spite of his age, for he was now seventy. — Dover. For these occasional performances he is said to have had fifty guineas per night. So late as 1745, he appeared in the character of Pandulph, the Pope's legate, in his own tragedy, called " Papal Tyranny." He died in 1757. — Wright. '* Cardinal Fleury, first minister of France. — Walpole. ^ George Montague Dunk, second Earl of Halifax [born 1739, died 1771]. Under the reign of George III. he became secretary of state, and was so unfortunate in that capacity as to be the opponent of Wilkes, on the subject of General Warrants, by which he is now principally remembered. — Dover. ^ Robert, second Lord Raymond, only son of the chief-justice of that name and title. — Dover. 1741.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 97 mil answer him. Your friend Lord Sandwicli ^ affronted kis grace of Grafton^ extremely, wlio was ill, and sat out of liis place, by calling liim to order ; it was indecent in such a boy to a man of his age and rank : tbe blood of Fitzroy will not easily pardon it. The Court bad a majority of forty- one, with some conyerts. On Tuesday we bad the Speecb ; there were great differences among the party ; the Jacobites, with Shippen ^ and Lord Noel Somerset ■* at their head, were for a division, Pulteney and the Patriots against one ; ' the ill-success in the House of Lords had frigbtened them : we had no division, but a very warm battle between Sir E. and Pulteney. The latter made a fine speech, very jDersonal, on the state of affairs. Sir P. with as much bealth, as much spirits, as much force and command as ever, answered him for an bom- ; said, ** He bad long been taxed witb all our misfortunes ; but did he raise the war in Germany ? or advise tbe war witb Spain ? did he kill tbe late Emperor or King of Prussia ? did he counsel this King ? or was be first minister to the King of Poland ? did he kindle tbe war betwixt Muscovy and Sweden ? '' For our troubles at bome, be said, " all the grievances of this nation were owing to tbe Patriots." They laugbed mucb at this ; but does he want proofs of it? He said, ''They talked much of an equilibrium in this parliament, and of what they designed against him ; if it was so, the sooner he knew it the better ; and therefore if any man would move for a day to examine the state of tbe nation, he would second it.^' Mr. Pulteney did move for it ; Sir P. did second it, and it is fixed for the twenty-first of January. Sir R. repeated some words ^ John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich [died 1792], passed through a long life of office, and left behind him an indifferent character, both in public and private life.— — Dover. 2 Charles Fitzroy, second Duke of Grafton [died 1757], and grandson of Charles II., was a person of considerable weight and influence at the court of George II,, where he long held the post of chamberlain of the household. — Walpole. 2 His [Shippen's] manner [as Walpole told Coxe] was highly energetic and spirited as to sentiment and expression ; but he generally spoke in a low tone of voice, with too great rapidity, and held his glove before his mouth. His speeches usually con- tained some pointed period, which peculiarly applied to the subject in debate, and which he uttered with great animation, Coxe — Memoirs of Sir JR. Walpole^ i. 672. 3 vols, 4to, 1798. William Shippen, a celebrated Jacobite, born 1672, died 1743. See p. 134. " I love to pour out all myself, as plain As downright Shippen, or as old Montaigne." — Pope. * Lord Charles Noel Somerset [died 1756], second son of Henry, second Duke of Beaufort. He succeeded to the family honours in 1746. — Dovee. ^ Mr. Pulteney declared against dividing ; observing, with a witticism, that " dividing was not the way to multiply.'' — Walpole. VOL. I. 2 98 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. of Lord Cliesterfield's, iii the House of Lords, that this was a time for truth, for jMii truth, for JEnglish truth, and hinted at the recep- tion ' his lordshijD had met in France. After these speeches of such consequence, and from such men, Mr. Lyttelton got up to justify, or rather to flatter Lord Chesterfield, though everybody then had forgot that he had been mentioned. Danyers/ who is a rough, rude beast, but now and then mouths out some humour, said, *^ that Mr. P. and Sii' K. were like two old bawds, debauching young members." That day was a day of triumph, but yesterday (Wednesday) the streamers of victory did not fly so gallantly. It was the day of receiving petitions ; Mr. Pulteney presented an immense piece of parchment, which he said he could but just lift ; it was the West- minster petition, and is to be heard next Tuesday, when we shall all have om- brains knocked out by the mob ; so if you don't hear from me next j)ost, you will conclude my head was a Httle out of order. After this we went upon a Cornish petition, presented by Sii' William Yonge,^ which drew on a debate and a division, when lo ! we were ^ Lord Chesterfield had been sent by the party, in the preceding September, to France, to request the Duke of Ormond (at Avignon) to obtain the Pretender's order to the Jacobites, to vote against Sir R. W. upon any question whatever ; many of them having either voted for him, or retired, on the famous motion the last year for removing him from the King's councils. — Walpole. Dr. Maty states, that the object of his lordship's visit to France was the restoration of his health. The reception he met with during his short stay at Paris, is thus noticed in a letter from Mr. Pitt, of the 10th of September ;— "I hope you liked the court of France as well as it liked you. The uncommon distinctions I hear the Cardinal (Fleury) showed you, are the best proof that, old as he is, his judgment is as good as ever. As this great minister has taken so much of his idea of the men in power here, from the person of a great negotiator who has left the stage (Lord Waldegrave), I am very glad he has had an opportunity, once before he dies, of forming an idea of those out of power from my Lord Chestei-field." See Chatham Correspondence, vol. i. p. 3. — Wright. See Walpole to Mann, 5 July, 1745.— Cunningham. - Joseph Danvers, Esq., of Swithland, in the county of Leicester, at this time member for Totness. In 1746 he was created a baronet. He married Frances the daughter of Thomas Babington, Esq., of llothley Temple, Leicestershire.— Wright The Right Hon. Sir William Yonge, Bart., secretary at war, to which office he had succeeded in May 1735. Walpole tells us (Memoires, i. p. 20,) that ''h^ was vain, extravagant, and trifling; simple out of the House, and too ready at assertions in it," and adds ; - that his vivacity and parts, whatever the cause was, made him shine, and he was always content with the lustre that accompanied fame, without thmlang of what was reflected from rewarded fame-a convenient ambition to ministers, who had few such disinterested combatants. Sir Robert AValpole always said of him 'that nothing but Yonge's character could keep down his parts, and notching but his parts support his character.' "-Wright. He is menUoned by And then for mine obligingly mistakes The first lampoon Sir Will or Bubo makes. * * * * The flowers of Bubo and the flow of Yonge. im.] TO SIR .HORACE MANN. 9S but 222 to 215 — ^how do you like a majority of seven? Tlie Opposition triumplis higlilyj and with reason ; one or two such victories, as Pyrrhus, the member for Macedon, said, will be the ruin of us. I look upon it now, that the question is, Downing Street or the Tower ; will you come and see a body, if one should happen to lodge at the latter ? There are a thousand pretty things to amuse you ; the lions, the armoury, the crown, and the axe that / beheaded Anna BuUen. I design to make interest for the room \ where the two princes were smothered; in long winter evenings, i when one wants company, (for I don^t suppose that many people will frequent me then,) one may sit and scribble verses against Crouch- back'd Eichard, and dii^ges on the sweet babes. If I die there, and have my body thrown into a wood, I am too old to be buried by • robin redbreasts, am not I ? Bootle,^ the Prince's chancellor, made a most long and stupid speech ; afterwards Sir Kobert called to him, " Brother Bootle, take care you don't get my old name." ** What's that ? " " Blunderer." You can't conceive how I was pleased with the vast and deserved applause that Mr. Chute's ^ brother, the lawyer, got : I never heard a clearer or a finer speech. When I went home, *' Dear Sir," said I to Sir P., "I hope Mr. Chute will carry his election for Hey don ; he would be a great loss to you." He rephed, " We will not lose him." I, who meddle with nothing, especially elections, and go to no committees, interest myself extremely for Mr. Chute. Old Marlborough [Sarah, Dowager Duchess] is dying — but who can tell ! last year she had lain a great while ill, without speaking ; her physicians said, " She must be bHstered, or she will die." She called out, "I won't be bHstered, and I won't die." If she takes the same resolution now, I don't behove she will.^ Adieu ! my dear child : I have but room to say, Youi's, ever. " Sir "William Yonge lias, by a fitness of tongue, singly raised himself successively td the best employments of the kingdom." Chesterfield to his Son (Mahon, ii. 359). He died 10th Aug. 1755. — Cunningham. ^ Sir Thomas Bootle, chancellor to the Prince of Wales ; a dull, heavy man, and Tvho is, therefore, ironically called, by Sir C. H. Williams, " Bright Bootle." — Dover. ^ Francis Chute, an eminent lawyer, second brother of Anthony Chute, of the Yine, in Hampshire, had, in concert with Luke Robinson, another lawyer, disputed Mr. Pulteney's borough of Heydon with him at the general election, and been returned ; but on a petition, and the removal of Sir E. W., they were voted out of their seats, and Mr. Chute died soon after. — Wright. ^ Nor did she. " Old Marlborough'* survived the date of this letter nearly three years. She died on the 18th of October^ 1744, being then eighty-four years of age. — Wright, H 2 100 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. 54. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Wednesday night, eleven o'clock, Dec. 16, 1741. Remember this day. Nous voila de la Minorite ! entens-tu gela ? lie ! My dear child, since you will liave these ugly words exi)laiiied, they just mean that we are metamorphosed into the minority. This was the night of choosing a chairman of the committee of elections. Gyles Earle (as in the two last parHaments) was named by the Court ; Dr. Lee, a civilian, by the Opposition, a man of fair character. Earle was formerly a dependent on the [great] Duke of Argyle [and Green- Avich], is of remarkable covetousness and mt, which he has dealt out largely against the Scotch and the Patriots. It was a day of much expectation, and both sides had raked together all probabilities: I expect near twenty, who are in town, but stay to vote on a second question, when the majority may be decided to either party. Have you not read of such in story ? Men, who would not care to find themselves on the weaker side, contrary to their intent. In short, the determined sick were di^aggcd out of their beds : zeal came in a great coat. There were two vast dinners at two taverns, for either party ; at six we met in the House. Sir William Yonge, seconded by my uncle Horace,' moved for Mr. Earle : Sir Paul Methuen'^ and Su' Watk}Ti WiUiams Wynne ^ proposed Dr. Lee — and carried him, by a majority of fom* : 242 against 238 — the greatest number, I beheve, that ever lost a question. You have no idea of their huzza ! unless you can conceive how people must triumph after defeats for twenty years together. We had one vote shut out, by coming a moment too late ; one that quitted us, for having been ill used by the Duke of Newcastle but yesterday — for which, in all probability, he ^Y^]1 use him Avell to-morrow — I mean, for quitting us. Sir Thomas Lowther,'' Lord Hartmgton's uncle, Avas fetched down by ^ Horace Walpole, younger brother of Sir Robert, created in his old age [and after Sir Robert's death] Lord Walpole of Wolterton. He was commonly called " Old Horace/' to distinguish him from his nephew, the writer of these letters. — Dover. Young Horace hated his uncle and godfather, Old Horace, and with sufficient reason. — Cunningham. 2 The son of John Methuen, Esq., the diplomatist, and author of the celebrated Methuen treaty with Portugal. Sir Paul was a, Knight of the Bath, and died in 1757. — DovEE. ^ Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart., the third baronet of the family, was long one of the leaders of the Jacobite party in the Plouse of Commons. — Dover. "* Sir Thomas Lowther, Bart., of Holker, in Lancasliire, He had married Lady Elizabeth Cavendish^ second daughter of the second Duke of Devonshire. Dover. 1741.] TO SIR HORACE MANK. 101 him, and voted against ns. Young Eoss,"' son to a Commissioner of the Customs, and saved from the dishonour of not liking to go to the West Indies when it was his turn, hy Sir R[obert] gi^^g him a lieutenancy, voted against us ; and Tom Hervey,^ who is always with us, but is quite mad ; and being asked why he left us, rephed, " Jesus knows my thoughts ; one day I blaspheme, and pray the next." So, you see what accidents were against us, or we had carried our point. They cry, Sir E[obert] miscalculated : how should he calculate, when there are men like Ross, and fifty others he could name I It was not very pleasant to be stared in the face, to see how one bore it — ^you can guess at my bearing it, who interest myself so httle about anything. I have had a taste of what I am to meet from aU sorts of people. The moment we had lost the question, I went from the heat of the house into the Speaker's chamber, and there were some fifteen others of us — an under door-keeper thought a question was new put, when it was not, and, without giving us notice, clapped the door to. I asked him how he dared lock us out without calling us ; he replied insolently, " It was his duty, and he would do it again :" one of the party went to him, commended him, and told him he should be punished if he acted otherwise. Sir Il[obert] is in great spirits, and still sanguine. I have so little experience, that I shall not be amazed at whatever scenes follow. My dear child, we have triumphed twenty years ; is it strange that fortune should at last forsake us ; or ought we not always to expect it, especially in this kingdom ? They talk loudly of the year forty- one, and promise themselves all the confusions that began a hundred years ago from the same date. I hope they prognosticate wrong ; but should it be so, I can be happy in other places. One reflection I shall have very sweet, though very melancholy ; that if our family is to be the sacrifice that shall first pamper discord, at least the one^ [his mother,] the part of it that interested all my concerns, and must have suffered from our ruin, is safe, secure, and above the rage of confusion : nothing in this world can touch her peace now ! ^ Charles Ross, killed in Flanders, at the battle of Fontenoy, 1745. — Walpole. Collins has a beautiful Ode on his death. — Cun>ingham. ^ Honourable Thomas Hervey (died 1775), second son of John, first Earl of Bristol [and brother of Pope's Lord Hervey]. He was at this time writing his famous Letter to, Sir Thomas Hanmer. — Walpole. Tom Hervey eloped with Hanmcr's second wife, Elizabeth, only child of Thomas Folkes, Esq., of Great Barton, in Suffolk. Dr. Johnson (to whom he had left a legacy of fifty pounds, but afterwards gave it him in his lifetime) characterises him as '^ very vicious." — Cunningham. ^ His mother, Catherine Lady Walpole, who died August 20, 1737.— Walpole. 102 HOKACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. To-morrow and Friday we go upon tlie Westminster election — you will not wonder, sliall you, if you hear next post tliat we haye lost that too ? Good night. Yours ever, 55. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Tliursday, six o'clocJc. [Dec. 17, 1741-] You will hardly divine where I am wiiting to you — ^in the Speaker's chamber. The House is examining witnesses on the Westminster election, which will not be determined to-day ; I am not in haste it should, for I beHeve we shall lose it. A great fat fellow, a constable, on theii' side, has just deposed, that Lord Sundon^ and the high constable took him by the collar at the election, and threw him down stairs. Do you know the figure of Lord Sundon ? if you do, only think of that little old creature throwing any man down stairs ! As I was coming down this morning, your brother brought me a long letter from you, in answer to mine of the 12th of November. You try to make me mistrust the designs of Spain against Tuscany, but I will hope yet : hopes are all I have for anything now ! As to the young man, I Avill sec his mother the first minute I can; and by next post, hope to give you a definitive answer whether he will submit to be a servant or not : in every other respect, I am sui^e he ^vill jilease you. Your friend, ]\ir. Fane,^ would not come for us last night, nor will vote till after the Westminster election : he is brought into parliament by the Duke of Bedford,^ and is unwilhng to disobhge him in this. We flattered ourselves with better success ; for last Friday, after sitting till two in the morning, we carried a Cornish election in four divisions — the first by a majority of six, then of twelve, then of fourteen, and lastly by thii^t}^-six. You can't imagine the zeal of the young men on both sides : Lord FitzwiUiam, Lord Hartington, and my friend Coke ' on ours, are warm as pos- ^ William Clayton, of Fuhvood, in Lancashire, originally a clerk in the Treasury, created, 1735, Lord Sundon, in Ireland, died 1756. His wife, Charlotte Dyves, was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Caroline, and in the secret of the Queen's rupture. Cunningham, 2 Charles Fane, only son of Lord Viscount Fane^ whom he succeeded, had been minister at Florence. — Walpole. ^ John Eussell, fourth Duke of Bedford [died 1771], — Dover, '^ Edward, Lord Viscount Coke, only son of the Earl of Leicester. He died in 1753,— Walpole. He married Lady Mary Campbell, daughter of the great Duke of Argyll and Greenwich and the Lady Mary Coke, whose name occurs so often in Walpole's Letters. She lived unhappily with her husband, and survived him, without remarrying, fifty-eight years. See p. 57.— Cunningham. 1741.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 103 sible ; Lord Quarendon ' and Sir Francis Dashwood are as violent on theirs : tlie former speaks often and well. But I am talking to you of nothing but parliament; why, really, all one's ideas are stuffed with it, and you yourself will not disHke to hear things so material. The Opposition, who invent every method of lolling Sir E.[obert], intend to make us sit on Saturdays ; but how mean and diiiy is it, how scandalous ! when they cannot ruin him by the least plausible means, to murder him by denying him air and exercise."^ There was a strange affair happened on Satm'day ; it was strange, yet very English. One Nom'se, an old gamester, said, in the coffee- house, that Mr. Shuttleworth, a member, only pretended to be ill. This was told to Lord Windsor,^ his friend, who quarrelled with Nourse, and the latter challenged him. My lord repHed, he would not fight him, he was too old. The other replied, he was not too old to fight with pistols. Lord Windsor still refused : Nom-se, in a rage, went home and cut his own throat. This was one of the odd ways in which men are made. I have scarce seen Lady Pomfret lately, but I am sure Lord Lincoln is not going to marry her daughter [Lady Sophia Fermor]. I am not surprised at her sister being shy at receiving civiHties from you — that was English too ! Say a great deal for me to the Chutes. How I envy youi' snug- suppers ! I never have such suj^pers ! Trust me, if we fall, all the grandeur, all the envied grandem- of our house, will not cost me a sigh : it has given me no pleasure while we have it, and -will give me no pain when I part with it. My Hberty, my ease, and choice of my own friends and company, will sufficiently counterbalance the crowds of Downing-street. I am so sick of it all, that if we are ^dctorious or not, I propose leaving England in the spring. Adieu ! Yours, ever and ever. 56. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Christmas Eve, 1741. My dearest child, if I had not heard regularly from you, what a shock it would have given me ! The other night, at the opera, Mr. ^ George Henry Lee, Lord Viscount Quarendon, eldest son of the Earl of Litchfieldj wliom he succeeded in that title. — Walpolb. 2 Sir Robert Walpole always went every Saturday to Newpark, Richmond, to hunt. — "Wa-Lpole. From his early youth, Sir Robert was fond of the diversions of the field. He was accustomed to hunt in Richmond Park with a pack of beagles. On receiving a packet of letters, he usually opened that from his gamekeeper first. — Weight. - ^ Herbert Windsor Hickman, second [and last] Viscount Windsor in Ireland, and Baron Montjoy of the Isle of Wight [died 1758]. — Walpole. 104 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. Worseley/ witK liis peevisli face, lialf smiKng tlirougli ill nature, told me (only mind!) by way of news, "that he heard Mr. Mann was dead at Florence ! '' How kind ! To entertain one with the chit-chat of the town, a man comes and tells one that one's dearest friend is dead ! I am sure he would have lost his speech if he had had an>i:hing pleasurable to tell. If ever there is a metempsychosis, his soul will pass into a vulture and prey upon carcases after a battle, and then go and bode at the windows of their relations. But I will say no more of him : I will punish him sufficiently, if sufficiently there be, by telling him you are perfectly well : you are, are you not ? Send me a certificate signed by Dr. Cocchi,' and I vnR choke him with it : another's health must be venomous to him. Sii^ Francis Dash wood too — as you know all ilL-natured people hear aU iU news — told me he heard you was iU : I vowed you was grown as strong as the Farnese Hercules. Thoi he desires you wiU send him four of the Yolterra m^ns, of the chimney-piece size ; send them with any of my things ; do, or he will thinly I neglected it because he is our enemy ; and I would not be peevish, not to be like them. He is one of the most inveterate ; they Hst under Sandys,^ a parcel of them with no more brains than their general ; but being malicious, they pass for mgenious, as in these comitries fogs are reckoned warm weather. Did you ever hear what Earle said of Sandys ? " that he never laughed but once, and that was when his best friend broke liis thigh." Last Thm-sday I wrote you word of our losing the chairman of the Committee. This winter is to be all ups and downs. The next day (Friday) we had a most complete victory. Mr. Pulteney moved for all papers and letters, &c., between the King and the Queen of Hungary and their ministers. Sir Robert agreed to give them all the papers relative to those transactions, only desiring to except 1 James Worseley, M. P. for Newton in the Isle of Wight. He died in less than three weeks from this, viz. 16th Jan. 1741-2. — Cunningham. 2 Antonio Cocchi, a learned ph^'sician and author at Florence ; a particular friend of Mr. Mann.— Walpole. See p. 60. Mr. Mann is fortunate in the friendship, skill, and care of his physician, Dr. Cocchi. He is a man of most extensive learning ; understands, reads, and speaks all the European languages ; is studious, polite, modest, humane' and instructive. He is always to be admired and beloved by all who know him! Could I live with these two gentlemen onl}', and converse with few or none others, I should scarce desire to return to England for many years. — Earl of Cork to Mr. Duncomhe. Florence, Novernber 29, 1754. — Wright. 3 Samuel Sandys, a republican, raised on the fall of Sir E. W. to be chancellor of the exchequer, then degraded to it peer and cofferer, and soon afterwards laid aside. Walpole. In 1743, he was raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Sandys Baron of Omberley, in the county of Worcester, and died in 1770. — Wright. ' 1741.] TO SIR HOEACE MANN. 105 the letters written by the two sovereigns themselves. They divided, and we carried it, 237 against 227. They moved to have those relating to France, Prussia, and Holland. Sir Eobert begged they would defer asking for those of Prussia till the end of January, at which time a negotiation would be at an end with that King, which now he might break off, if he knew it was to be made pubHc. Mr. Pulteney persisted ; but his obstinacy, which might be so pre- judicial to the pubhc, revolted even his own partisans, and seven of them spoke against him. We carried that question by twenty-four ; and another by twenty- one, against sitting on the next day (Satur- day). Monday and Tuesday we went on the Westminster election. Murray ' [Lord Mansfield] spoke divinely ; he was their counsel. Lloyd ^ answered him extremely well : but on summing up the evidence on both sides, and in his reply, Murray was — ^in short, beyond what was ever heard at the bar. That day (Tuesday) we went on the merits of the cause, and at ten at night divided, and lost it. They had 220, we 216 ; so the election was declared void. You see/6>?/r is a fortunate number to them. We had forty-one more members in town, who would not, or could not, come down. The time is a touchstone for wavering consciences. All the arts, , money, promises, threats, all the arts of the former year, 41, are i apphed; and self-interest, in the shape of Scotch members — nay, and of EngHsh ones, operates to the aid of their party, and to the defeat of ours. Lord Doneraile,^ a young Irishman, brought in by ; the Com't, was petitioned against, though his competitor had had but \ one vote. This young man spoke as well as ever any one spoke in ' his own defence ; insisted on the petition being heard, and concluded * with declaring, that " his cause was his Defence, and Lnpartiality must be his support." Do you know that, after this, he went and engaged, if they would withdraw the petition, to vote with them in the Westminster affair I His friends reproached him so strongly with his meanness, that he was shocked, and went to Mr. Pulteney 1 William Murray, brother of Lord Stormont, and of Lord Dunbar, the Pretender's first minister. He is known by his eloquence and the friendship of Mr, Pope. He was soon afterwards promoted to be solicitor-general . — Walpole. ^ Sir Richard Lloyd, advanced in 1754 to be solicitor-general, in the room of Mr. Murray, appointed attorney -general. — Walpole. And in 1759, appointed one of the barons of the exchequer. — Wright. ^ Arthur Mahon St. Leger, third Viscount Doneraile, in Ireland, of the first creation. He was at this time member for Winchelsea, In 1747 he was made a lord of the bedchamber to Frederick Prince of Wales, and died of a consumption, at Lisbon, in 1750. — Walpole' s Memoires of Qeorge II. vol, i. p. 64. 4to ed. — Cunningham, 106 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. to get off ; Mr. P. told kLm, he had given him his honoui', and he would not release him, though Lord Doneraile declared it was against his conscience : but he voted with them, and lost us the next question which they put (for censuring the High Bailiff) by his single vote ; for in that the numbers were 217 against 215 : the alteration of his vote would have made it even ; and then the Speaker, I suppose, would have chosen the merciful side, and decided for us. After this, Mr. Pulteney, with an affected humanity, agreed to commit the High Bailiff only to the serjeant-at-arms. Then, by a majority of six, they voted that the soldiers, who had been sent for, after the poll was closed, to save Lord Sundon^s * life, had come in a military and illegal manner, and influenced the election. In short, they determined, as Mr. MmTay had dictated to them, that no civil magistrate, on any pretence whatsoever, though he may not be able to suppress even a riot by the assistance of the mihtia and constables, may call in the aid of the army. Is not this doing the work of the Jacobites ? have they any other -sniew than to render the riot act useless ? and then they may rise for the Pretender whenever they please. Then they moved to punish Justice Blakerby for calling ui the soldiers ; and when it was desired that he might be heard in his own defence, they said he had abeady confessed his crime. Do but think on it ! without being accused, without knowing, or being told it was a crime, a man gives evidence in another cause, not his own, and then they call it his o-^-^ti accusation of himself, and would condemn him for it. You see what justice we may expect if they actually get the majority. But this was too strong a pill for one of their own leaders to swallow : Sir John Barnard " did propose and persuade them to give him a day to be heard. In short, we sat till half an horn- after four in the morning ; the longest day that ever was kno^vn. I say nothing of myself, for I could but just speak when I came away ; but Sir Bobert was as well as ever, and spoke with as much spirit as ever, at four o'clock. This way they will not kill him ; I will not answer for any other. As he came out, [Paul] 1 Lord Sundon and Sir Charles Wager had been the Court candidates for West- minster at the late election, against Admiral Vernon and Charles Edwin, Esq. — DOVEII. 2 A great London merchant, and one of the members for the city. His reputation for integrity and ability gave him much weight in the House of Commons. — Dover. Lord Chatham (when Mr. Pitt) frequently called him the Great Commoner. In 1749, he became father of the city ; when, much against his will, the merchants erected a statue of him in the Eoyal Exchange, He died in 1764 [and was buried at Mortlake].— Wright. He is mentioned by Pope — " Barnard, thou art a Cit with all thy -worth." — CuNNiNaHAM. 1741.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 107 "WTaiteliead, tlie autlior of Manners, and agent, with one Carey, a surgeon, for the Opposition, said, ^' D n liim, how well he loolcs ! " Immediately after their success, Lord Gage ^ went forth, and hegged there might he no mobbing ; but last night we had bonfires all over the town, and I suppose shall have notable mobbing at the new election ; though I do not beHeve there will be any opposition to their Mr. Edwin and Lord Perceval.'^ Thank God ! we are now adjoxu:ned for three weeks, I shall go to Swallowfield^ for a few days : so for one week you will miss hearing from me. We hape escaped the Prince's "* affaii- hitherto, but we shall have it after the hoHdays. All depends upon the practices of both sides in securing or getting new votes during this recess. Sir Pobert is very sanguine : I hope, for his sake and his honour, and for the nation's peace, that he will get the better ; but the moment he has the majority secure, I shall be very earnest with him to resign. He has a constitution to last some years, and enjoy some repose ; and for my own part (and both my brothers agree with me in it), we wish most heartily to see an end of his ministry. If I can judge of them by myself, those who want to be in our situation, do not wish to see it brought about more than we do. It is fatiguing to bear so much envy and ill- will undeservedly. — Otium Divos rogo ; but adieu, poUtics, for three weeks ! The Duchess of Buckingham,'* who is more mad with pride than any mercer's wife in Bedlam, came the other night to the Opera en ^mncesse, Hterally in robes, red velvet and ermine. I must tell you ^ Thomas Lord Yiscount Gage had been a Eoman Catholic, and was master of the household to the Prince. — Walpole, Lord Gage, in 1721, was elected for the borough of Tewkesbury; which he represented till within a few months of his death, in 1754. He was a zealous politician, and distinguished himself, in 1732, by detecting the fraudulent sale of the Derwentwater estates. — Weight. 2 John Perceval, second Earl of Egmont, in Ireland, created, in 1762, Lord Lovell and Holland in the peerage of Great Britain. He became, in 1747, a lord of the bedchamber to Frederick Prince of Wales, and in the early part of the reign of George IIL held successively the offices of postmaster-general and first lord of the Admiralty. He was a man of some ability and a frequent and fluent speaker, and was the author of a celebrated party pamphlet of the day, entitled "Paction Detected." His excessive love of ancestry led him, in conjunction with his father, and assisted by Anderson, the genealogist, to print two thick octavo volumes respecting his family, entitled '^ History of the House of Ivery;" a most remarkable monument of human vanity. — Dover. "At this period [1770] died the parent of the approaching war, the Earl of Egmont, a man always ambitious, almost always attached to a Court, yet, from a singularity in his fortune, scarce ever in place." — Walpole s Memoirs of George IIL, vol. iv. p. 210. — Cunningham. ^ Swallowfield, in Berkshire, the seat of John Dodd, Esq. — Walpole. ^ A scheme for obtaining a larger allowance for the Prince of Wales. — Walpole. • " Catherine, Duchess Dowager of Buckingham, natural daughter of King James II. — Walpole. See Walpole's " Reminiscences" prefixed to this volume. — Cunningham. 108 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. a story of her : last week she sent for Cori/ to pay him for her opera-ticket ; he was not at honie, hut went in an hour afterwards. She said, '' Did he treat her like a tradeswoman ? She would teach him to respect women of her birth ; said he was in league with Mr. Sheffield '^ to abuse her, and bade him come the next morning at nine.*' He came, and she made him wait till eight at night, only sending him an omlet and a bottle of wine, "As it was Friday, and he a Catholic, she supposed he did not eat meat." At last she received him in all the form of a princess giving audience to an ambassador. " Now," she said, " she had punished him." In this age we have some who pretend to impartiahty : you will scarce guess how Lord Brook ^ shows his : he gives one vote on one side, one on the other, and the third time does not vote at aU, and so on, regularly. My sister [Mary Walpole] is up to the elbows in joy and flowers that she has received from you this morning, and begs I will thank you for her. You know, or have heard of, Mrs. ITugent " (ISTewsham's mother) ; she went the other morning to Lord Chesterfield to beg '' he would encourage Mr. Nugent ' to speak in the house ; for that really he was so bashful, she was afraid his abihties would be lost to the world." I don't know who has encouraged him ; but so it is, that this modest Irish converted CathoHc does tallv a prodigious deal of nonsense in behalf of English liberty. Lord Gage ^ is another ; no man would trust liim in a wager, unless he stakes, and yet he is trusted by a whole borough with theii' privileges and liberties ! He told Mr. Winnington the other day, that he would bring his son into parhament, that he would not influence him, but leave him entirely to himself. " D it," said Winnington, " so you have all his lifetime." ^ Angelo Maria Cori, prompter to the Opera. — Walpole. ^ Mr. Sheffield, natural son of the late Duke of Buckingham [the patron of Dryden], "with whom she was at law. — 'Walpole. ^ Francis, Baron, and afterwards created Earl Brooke. — Walpole. '• Daughter of Mr. Secretary Craggs, the friend of Addison and Pope. Walpole calls her "Nugent's plump wife." — Cunningham. ^ Robert Nugent, [died 1788] a poet, a patriot, an author, a lord of the Treasury (and finally an Irish peer, by the titles of Lord Clare and Earl Nugent). He seems to have passed his long life in seeking lucrative places and courting rich widows, in both of which pursuits he was eminently successful. — Dover, He is the Lord Clare whose present of a haunch of venison Goldsmith repaid with an admirable poem. Cunningham. ^ Lord Gage was one of those persons to whom the privileges of parliament were of extreme consequence, as their own liberties were inseparable from them. Walpole. 1741.1 TO SIR HORACE MANN. 109 Your brotlier says you accuse Vn'm of not writing to you, and that his reasons are, he has not time, and next, that I tell you all that can be said. So I do, I think : tell me when I begin to tire you, or if I am too circumstantial ; but I don't believe you will think so, for I remember how we used to want such a correspondence when I was with you. I have spoke about the young man, who is well content to live with you as a servant out of Hvery. I am to settle the affair finally with his father on Monday, and then he shall set out as soon as possible. I will send the things for Prince Craon, &c. by him. I will write to Madame Grifoni the moment I hear she is returned from the country. The Princess of Hesse ' is brought to bed of a son. We are going into mom-ning for the Queen of Sweden;^ she had always been appre- hensive of the small-pox, which has been very fatal in her family. You have heard, I suppose, of the new revolution "* in Muscovy. The letters from Holland to-day say, that they have put to death the young Czar and his mother, and his father too : which, if true," is going very far, for he was of a sovereign house in another country, no subject of Russia, and after the death of his wife and son, could have no pretence or interest to raise more commotions there. "We have got a new opera, not so good as the former ; and we have got the famous Bettina to dance, but she is a most indifferent performer. The house is excessively full every Saturday, never on Tuesday : here, you know, we make everything a fashion. I am happy that my fears for Tuscany vanish every letter. There I there is a letter of twelve sides ! I am forced to page it, it is so long, and I have not time to read it over and look for the mistakes. Yours, ever. 57. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, Dec. 29, 1741. I w^RiTE to you two days before the post goes out, because to- morrow I am to go out of town ; but I would answer your letter by way of Holland, to tell you how much you have obHged both Sir ^ Mary, fourih daughter of King George II, — Walpole. ^ Ulrica, Queen of Sweden, sister of Charles XII. — Walpole. ^ This relates to the revolution by which the young Czar John M^as deposed, and the Princess Elizabeth raised to the throne. — Walpole. ^ This was not true. The Princess Anne of Mecklenburgh died in prison at Riga, a few years afterwards. Her son, the young Czar, and her husband. Prince Antony of Brunswick Wolfenbuttle, were confined for many years. — Walpole. 110 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. Robert and me about tbe Dominicliin ; ^ and to beg you to thank Mr. Cbute and Mr. "Wbitbed — ^but I cannot leave it to you. " My dear Mr. Cbute, was ever anything so kind ! I crossed the Giogo ^ with Mr. Coke [Lord Level], but it was in August, and I thought it then the greatest compHment that ever was paid to mortal ; and I went with him too ! but you to go only for a picture, and in the month of December ! What can I say to you ? You do more to obKge your friend, than I can find terms to thank you for. If I was to tell it here, it would be beHeved as Httle as the rape of poor Tory ^ by a wolf. I can only say that I know the Giogo, its snows and its inns, and consequently know the extent of the obHgation that I have to you and Mr. Whithed." Now I return to you, my dear cliild : I am reaUy so much obliged to you and to them, that I know not what to say. I read Pennee's letter to Sir E/., who was much pleased with his discretion ; he will be quite a favourite of mine. And now we are longiag for the pictm^e ; you know, of old, my impatience. Yom^ young secretary-servant is looking out for a ship, and will set out in the first that goes : I envy him. The Court has been trying, but can get nobody to stand for "Westminster. You know Mr. Dodington has lost himself ex- tremely by liis new turn, after so often changing sides : he is grown very fat and lethargic ; my brother ISTed says, '^he is grown of less consequence, but more weight." '' One hears of nothing but follies said by the Opposition, who grow mad on having the least prospect. Lady Carteret," who, you know, did not want any new fuel to her absm^dity, says, " they tall^ every day of making her lord First Minister, but he is not so easily per- suaded as they tliink for." Good night. Yours, ever. ^ A celebrated picture of a Madonna and Cliild, by Dominicbino, in the palace Zambeccari, at Bologna, now in the collection of the Earl of Orford, at Houghton, in Norfolk. — Walpole. Notv (1856) with the bulk of the Houghton collection at St. Petersburg. — Cunningham. " The Giogo is the highest part of the Apennine between Florence and Bologna. — Walpole. 3 A black spaniel of Mr. Walpole's was seized by a wolf on the Alps, as it was mnning at the head of the chaise-horses, at noon-day. — Walpole. ^ George Bubb Dodington [created Lord Melcombe in 1761 — died 1762,] had lately resigned his post of one of the lords of the Treasury, and gone again into Opposition. — Walpole. He is the " Bubo " of Pope, and the " Dodington " of Thomson's Summer. He befriended Young, and left a Diary behind him, of which Ave shall hear something from Walpole's pen. — Cdnningham. ^ Frances, daughter of Sir Robert Worseley, and first wife of John, Lord Carteret, aftei-wards [1744] Earl of Granville.— Walpole. See p. 222. She died 9 June, 1743. Walpole calls her " plump Carteret." — Cunningham. 1741.] , TO SIR HORACE MANN. Ill 58. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, Jan. 7, 1741-2, O.S. I MUST answer for your brother a paragraph tliat he showed me in one of your letters : " Mr. W.'s letters are full of wit ; don't they adore him in England ? " Not at all — and I don't wonder at them ; for if I have any Avit in my letters, which I do not at all take for granted, it is ten to one that I have none out of my letters. A thousand people can write, that cannot tall^ ; and besides, you know, (or I conclude so, from the little one hears stirring,) that numbers of the EngKsh have wit, who don't care to produce it. Then, as to adoring ; you now see only my letters, and you may be sure I take care not to write you word of any of my bad quahties, which other people must see in the gross ; and that may be a great hindrance to their adoration. Oh ! there are a thousand other reasons I could give you, why I am not the least in fashion. I came over in an ill season : it is a miUion to one that nobody thinks a declining old minister's son has wit. At any time, men in opposition have always most ; but now, it would be absm^d for a com-tier to have even common sense. There is not a Mr. Sturt, or a Mr. Stewart, whose names begin but with the first letters of Stanhope,' that has not a better chance than I, for being liked. I can assm^e you, even those of the same party would be fools, not to pretend to think me one. Sir Robert has showed no partiahty for me ; and do you think they would commend where he does not ? even sup- posing they had no envy, which, by the way, I am far from saying they have not. Then, my dear child, I am the coolest man of my party, and if I am ever warm, it is by contagion ; and where violence passes for parts, what will indifference be called ? Eut how could you think of such a question ? I don't want money, con- sequently no old women pay me or my wit ; I have a very flimsy constitution, consequently the young women won't taste my wit, and it is a long while before wit makes its own way m the world ; especially, as I never prove it, by assming people that I have it by me. Indeed, if I were disposed to brag, I could quote two or three half-pay ofB.cers, and an old aunt or two, who laugh prodigiously at every tiring I say ; but till they are allowed judges, I Avill not brag of such authorities. ^ The name of Lord Chesterfield. — Walpole. I 112 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. If you have a mind to know wlio is adored and has loit ; there is old Churchill ' lias as much God-d — n-ye wit as ever — except that he has lost two teeth. There are half a dozen Scotchmen who vote against the Court, and are cried up by the Opposition for wit, to keep them steady. They are forced to cry up their parts, for it would be too barefaced to commend their honesty. Then Mi-. I^ugent has had a great deal of wit till within this week ; but he is so busy and so witty, that even his own party grow tired of him. His plump wife, who talks of nothing else, says he entertained her all the way on the road with repeating his speeches. I did not go into the country last week, as I intended, the weather was so bad ; but I shall go on Sunday for three or four days, and perhaps shall not be able to wiite to you that week. You are in an agitation, I suppose, about politics : both sides are trafficking deeply for votes during the holidays. It is allowed, I third?:, that we shall have a majority of twenty-six : Sir E,[obert] says more ; but now, upon a pinch, he brags like any bridegroom. The Westminster election passed without any disturbance, in favour of Lord Perceive- all ^ and Mr. Perceive-nothing, as my uncle [old Horace] calls them. Lord Chesterfield was vaunting to Lord ^ General Charles Churcliill. [See p. 83.] — Walpole. " The General, one of those brave old commanders. Who served through all our glorious wars in Flanders. " Frank and good-natured, of an honest heart, Loving to act the steady friendly part ; None led through youth a gayer life than he," Cheerful in converse, smart in repartee ; But with old age, its vices come along, And in narration he's extremely long ; Exact in circumstance, and nice in dates. He each minute particular relates. If you name one of Marlbro's ten campaigns. He gives you its whole history for your pains. And Blenheim's field becomes by his reciting. As long in telling as it was in fighting I His old desire to please is still express'd. His hat's well cock'd, his perriwig's well dress'd. He rolls his stockings still, white gloves he wears, And in the boxes with the beaux appears. His eyes through wrinkled corners cast their rays, Still he looks cheerful, still soft things he says. And still remembering that he once was young, He strains his crippled knees, and struts along." — Sir C. H. Williams.— ^DoY^K. 2 Vide an account of the election of Lord Perceval and one Edwin, iu that Lord's " History of the House of Ivery." — Walpole. 1741.] TO SIR HORACE MANJST. 113 Lovel/ tliat they should have carried it, if they had set up two broomsticks. " So I see," repKed Level. But it seems we have not done with it yet : if we get the majority, this will be declared a void election too, for my Lord Chancellor [Hardwicke] has found out, that the person who made the return, had no right to make it : it was the High Bailiff's clerk, the High Bailiff himself being in custody of the Serjeant-at-arms. It makes a great noise, and they talk of making subscriptions for a petition. Lord Stafford^ is come over. He told me some good stories of the Primate.^ Last night I had a good deal of company to hear MonticelH and Amorevoli, particularly the three beauty-Fitzroys, Lady Euston, Lady Conway, and Lady Caroliae." Sir H. Hked the singers extremely : he had not heard them before. I forgot to tell you all our beauties : there was Miss Hervey,' my lord's daughter, a fine, black girl, but as masculine as her father should be;'' and Jenny * Thomas Coke, created, May 1728, Baron Lovel of Minster-Lovel, county of Oxford; and 9th May, 1744, Yiscount Coke and Earl of Leicester. He died in 1759, and the peerages expired with him. He is mentioned by Pope in his poem to Lady Fanny Shirley : — " But, friend, take heed whom you attack ; 'Twill bring a house (I mean of Peers) Red, blue, and green ; nay, white and black, Lovel and all about your ears," He figures also in Hanbury Williams' poem of ' Morning.' — Cunningham. 2 William Matthias Howard, Earl of Stafford. He died in 1751. — Walpole. ^ The Primate of Lorrain, eldest son of Prince Craon, was famous for his wit and vices of all kinds. — Walpole. ■* Lady Dorothy Boyle, eldest daughter of Lord Burlington [p. 76] ; Isabella, wife of Francis Lord Conway [p. 74], and Caroline, afterwards married to Lord Petersham, were the daughter-in-law and daughters of Charles Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, lord chamberlain. — Walpole. ^ Lepelj eldest daughter of John Lord Hervey, afterwards married to Mr. Phipps. — Walpole. Constantino Phipps, in 1767 created Lord Mulgrave. — Wright. Com- pare Lord Hervey to Lady Mary in the Biographical Notice to Lord Hervey's Memoirs, p. Ivii. — Cunningham. ^ The effeminacy of Lord Hervey formed a continual subject for the satire of his opponents. Pope's bitter lines on him are well remembered. The old Duchess of Marlborough, too^ in her ' Opinions/ describes him as having " certainly parts and wit ; but he is the most wretched profligate man that ever was born, besides ridiculous ; a painted face, and not a tooth in his head." On which the editor of that curious little book (Lord Hailes) remarks, " Lord Hervey, having felt some attacks of the epilepsy, entered upon and persisted in a very strict regimen, and thus stopped the progress- and prevented the effects of that dreadful disease. His daily food was a small quantity of asses' milk and a flour biscuit. Once a week he indulged himself with eating an apple ; he used emetics daily. Pope, knowing the abstemious regimen which Lord Hervey observed, was so ungenerous as to call him ' a mere cheese-curd of asses' milk ! ' Lord Hervey used paint to soften his ghastly appearance." — Wright. Compare Mr. Croker in Biographical Notice to Lord Hervey's Memoirs, p. xlvii. — Cunningham. vol. I. I 114 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. Conway/ handsomer still, though changed with illness, than even the Fitzroys. I made the music for my Lord Hervey, who is too ill to go to operas : yet, \vith a coffin-face, is as full of his Httle dirty politics as ever. He icill not be well enough to go to the House till the majority is certain somewhere, but hves shut up with my Lord Chesterfield and Mr. Pulteney — a triumvirate, who hate one another more than anybody they could proscribe, had they the power. I dropped in at my Lord Hervey's, the other night, knowing my Lady [Molly Lepel] had company : it was soon after our defeats. My Lord, who has always jorofessed j)articularly to me, turned his back on me, and retired for an hour into a whisper with young Hammond,^ at the end of the room. Not being at all amazed at one whose heart I knew so well, I stayed on, to see more of this behaviour ; indeed, to use myself to it. At last he came up to me, and begged this music, which I gave him, and w^ould often again, to see how many times I shall be ill and well with him within tliis month. Yesterday came news that his brother. Captain WiUiam Hervey, has taken a Caracca ship, worth full two hundred thousand pounds. He was afterwards separated from it by a storm, for two or three days, and was afraid of losing it, having but five- and- twenty men to thirty six Spaniards ; but he has brought it home safe. I forgot to tell you, that upon losing the first question, Lord Hervey kept away for a week ; on our carrpng the next great one, he wrote to Sir Robert, how much he desired to see him, " not upon any business, but Lord Hervey longs to see Sir Robert WaljDole." Lady Sundon ^ is dead, and Lady M disappointed : she, who is full as politic as my Lord Hervey, had made herself an absolute servant to Lady Sundon, but I don't hear that she has left her even her old clothes. Lord Sundon is in great grief : I am surprised, for she has had fits of madness, ever since her ambition met such a check by the death of the Queen [1737]. She had great power with her, though the Queen pretended to despise her ; but had unluckily told her, or fallen into her power by some secret." I was saying to Lady Pomfret, ''To be sure she is dead very rich ! " She replied, with . ^ Jane, only darghter of Francis, the first Lord Conway, by bis second wife, Mrs. Bodens [p. 53]. — Walpole. 2 Author of some Love Elegies, and a favourite of Lord Chesterfield. Ke died this year [1742]. — Walpolk. 3 [Charlotte Dyves,] wife of William Clayton, Lord Sundon [p. 102], woman of the bedchamber and mistress of the robes to Queen Caroline. — Walpole. " This is now known to have been a rupture, which the Queen had the weakness to wish, and the courage to conceal. — WRiGni, 1^41.] TO SIR HORACE MANN". 1]5 some warmtli, " Slie never took money." Wlien I came home, I mentioned tliis to Sir E[obert]. "No/' said lie, "but she took jewels ; Lord Pomfret's place of Master of the Horse to the Queen was bought of her for a pair of diamond ear-rings, of fourteen hundred pounds value." One day that she wore them at a visit at old Marlbro's, as soon as she was gone, the Duchess said to Lady Mary Wortley, "How can that woman have the impudence to go about in that bribe ? " — " Madam," said Lady Mary, " how would you have people know where wine is to be sold, unless there is a sign hung out ? " Sir R[obert] told me, that in the enthusiasm of her vanity. Lady Siandon had proposed to him to unite with her, and govern the kingdom together :* he bowed, begged her patronage, but said he thought nobody fit to govern the Idngdom, but the King and Queen. — Another day. Friday morning. I was forced to leave off last night, as I found it would be impos- sible to send away this letter finished in any time. It will be enormously long, but I have prepared you for it. When I consider the beginning of my letter, it looks as if I were entirely of your opinion about the agreeableness of them. I believe you will never commend them again, when you see how they increase upon your hands. I have seen letters of two or three sheets, written from merchants at Bengal and Canton to their wives : but then they contain the history •of a twelvemonth : I grow voluminous from week to week. I can plead in excuse nothing but the true reason ; you desired it ; and I remember how I used to wish for such letters, when I was in Italy. My Lady Pomfi^et carries this humanity still farther, and because people were civil to her in Italy, she makes it a rule to visit all strangers in general. She has been to visit a Spanish Count ^ and his wife, though she cannot open her hps in their language. They fled from Spain, he and his brother having offended the Queen,^ by their attachments to the Prince of Asturias ; his brother ventured back, to bring off this woman, who was engaged to him. Lord Harrington" has procured them a pension of six hundred a year. They hve chiefly with Lord Carteret and his daughter,* ' So the good Lord (I had almost said King) Sundon told me. — Lord Herveys Memoirs, ii. 404. — Cunnikgham. ^ Marquis de Sabernego : he returned to Spain after the death of Philip Y, — Walpole. " The Princess of Parma, second wife of Philip Y,, king of Spain, and consequently step-mother to the Prince of Asturias, son of that king, by his first wife, a princess of Savoy. — Dover, ^ William Stanhope, first Earl of Harrington, and Secretary of State, died 1756. — Cunningham. ^ Prances, youngest daughter of Lord Carteret, afterwards married to the Marquis I 2 116 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1741. wlio speak Spanish. But to proceed from where I left off last night, like the Piincess Dinarzade in the Ai^abian Nights, for you will want to know what happened one day. Sir Eobert was at dinner with Lady Sundon, who hated the Bishop of London [Gibson] as much as she loved the Chm^ch. " Well," said she to Sir E., " how does your pope do ?" — " Madam," rephed he, " he is my pope, and shall be my pope ; everybody has some pope or other ; don't you know that you are one ? They call you Pope Joan." She flew into a passion, and desired he would not fix any names on her ; that they were not so easily got rid of. We had a little ball the other night at Mrs. Boothby's [p. 80], and by dancing did not perceive an earthquake, which frightened all the undancing part of the town. We had a civdity from his Royal Highness [Frederick, Prince of Wales], who sent for MonticeUi the night he was engaged here, but, on hearing it, said he would send for him some other night. If I did not Hve so near St. James's, I would find out some poKtics in this — shoid-d not one ? Sir William Stanhope ' has had a hint from the same Highness, that his company is not quite agreeable : whenever he met anybody at Carlton House whom he did not know, he said, " Your humble servant, Mr. or Mrs. Hamilton." 1 have this morning sent aboard the St. Qidntin a box for you, with your secretary — not in it. Old Weston of Exeter is dead. Dr. Clarke, the Dean, Dr. Willes, the decipherer, and Dr. Gilbert of Llandaff, are candidates to succeed him."" Sir P[obert] is for Willes, who, he saj^s, knows so many secrets, that he might insist upon being archbishop. My dear Mr. Chute ! how concerned I am that he took all that trouble to no purpose. I will not write to him this post, for as you show him my letters, this here will suffi.ciently employ any one's patience — ^but I have done. I long to hear that the Dominichin is safe. Good night ! Yours, ever. of Tweedale. — Walpole. In 1748. The marquis was an extraordinary lord of session, and the last person who held a similar appointment. — Wright. ^ Brother to Lord Chesterfield. [The Sir William Stanhope who destroyed Pope's villa at Twickenham.] This hon mot was occasioned by the numbers of Hamiltons which Lady Archibald Hamilton, the Prince's mistress, had placed at that court. — Walpole, See a somewhat similar story of Lord Chesterfield and Master Louis, ia chapter vii. of Walpole's ' Reminiscences. ' — Cunningham;. 2 Nicholas Clagget, Bishop of St. David's, succeeded, on Weston's death, to the see of Exeter. — Dover. Clagget was, however, succeeded in the see of St. David's by Dr. Edward Willes, Dean of Lincoln and decipherer to the King. — Wright. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 117 59. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Friday, Jan. 22, 1742. Don't wonder that I missed writing to you yesterday, my constant day : you will pity me when you hear that I was shut up in the House of Commons till one in the morning. I came away more dead than aHve, and was forced to leave Sir E,. at supper with my brothers : he was all aHve and in spirits.' He says he is younger than me, and indeed I think so, in spite of his forty years more. My head aches to-night, but we rose early ; and if I don't wiite to-night, when shall I find a moment to spare ? Now you want to know what we did last night ; stay, I will teU you presently in its place : it was well, and of infinite consequence — so far I tell you now. Our recess finished last Monday, and never at school did I enjoy hoHdays so much — but, les voild finis jusquau 2)rintems I Tuesday (for you see I write you an absolute journal) we sat on a Scotch election, a double retui-n ; their man was Hume Campbell,'' Lord Marchmont's brother, lately made soHcitor to the Prince, for being as troublesome, as violent, and ahnost as able as his brother. They made a great point of it, and gained so many of our votes, that at ten at night we were forced to give it up without dividing. Sandys, who loves persecution, even tmto the death, moved to punish the sheriff ; and as we dared not divide, they ordered him into custody, where by this time, I suppose, Sandys has eaten him. On Wednesday Sir Robert GodschaU, the Lord Mayor, presented the Merchant's petition, signed by three hundi^ed of them, and drawn up by Leonidm Glover.^ This is to be heard next "Wednesday. This ^ Sir Robert Wilmot also, in a letter to the Duke of Devonshire, written on the 12th, says, "Sir Robert was to-day observed to be more naturally gay and full of spirits than he has been for some time past." — Wright. 2 Hume Campbell, twin brother of Hugh, third Earl of Marchmont [the friend and an executor of Pope], They were sons of Alexander, the second earl, who had quarrelled with Sir Robert Walpole at the time of the excise scheme in 1733, Sir Robert, in consequence, prevented him from being re-elected one of the sixteen representative Scotch peers in 1734; in requital for which, the old earl's two sons became the bitterest opponents of the minister. They were both men of considerable talents ; extremely similar in their characters and dispositions, and so much so in their outward appearance, that it was very difficult to know them apart. — Dover, ^ Glover, a merchant, author of 'Leonidas,' a poem, ' Boadicea,' a tragedy, (fee. [See p. 31.] — Walpole, 118 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. gold-cliain came into parliament, cried up for his parts, but proves so dull, one would tldnk lie chewed opium. Earle says, "I have heard an oyster speak as well twenty times." Well, now I come to yesterday : we met, not expecting much business. Five of our members were gone to the York election, and the three Lord Beauclercs ' to their mother's funeral at Windsor ; for that old beauty St. Alban's^ is dead at last. On this they depended for getting the majority, and towards three o'clock, when we thought of breaking up, poured in their most violent questions : one was a motion for leave to biing in the Place Bill, to hmit the number of placemen in the House. This was not opposed, because, out of decency, it is generally suifered to pass the Commons, and is thrown out by the Lords ; only Colonel Cholmondeley ^ desired to know if they designed to limit the number of those that have pro- mises of places, as well as of those that have places now. I must tell you that we are a very conclave ; they buy votes with reversions of places on the change of the Ministry. Lord Gage was giving an account in Tom's Coffee-house of the intended alterations; that Mr. Pulteney is to be Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Chesterfield and Carteret Secretaries of State. Somebody asked who was to be Paymaster ? Numps Edwin," who stood by, repHed, " We have not thought so low as that yet." Lord Gage harangues every day at Tom's, and has read there a very false account of the King's message to the Prince.^ The Court, to show their contempt of Gage, have given their copy to be read by Swinny.^ This is the authentic copy, ^ Lord Vere, Lord Henry, and Lord Sidney Beauclerc, sons of the Duehesa Dowager of St. Alban's who is painted among the beauties at Hampton Court. Walpole. See note at p. 187. — Cunningham, 2 Lady Diana Vere, daughter, and at length sole heir, of Aubrey de Yere, twentieth and last Earl of Oxford. She married in 1694, Charles, first Duke of St. Alban's, natural son of Charles II. by Nell Gwyn. She died Jan. 15th, 1742, DoYEa. ^ Colonel James Cholmondeley, only brother of the Earl. He afterwards dis- tinguished himself at the battles of Fontenoy and Falkirk, and died in 1775.— Wright. " Charles Edwin, Admiral Vernon's unsuccessful colleague at Westminster. Wright. ^ During the holidays, Sir R. W. had prevailed on the King to send to the Prince of Wales, to offer to pay his debts and double his allowance. This negotiation was intrusted to Lord Cholmondeley on the King's, and to Seeker, Bishop of Oxford, on the Prince's side ; but came to nothing. — Walpole. ^ Owen Mac Swinny, a buffoon; formerly director of the playhouse.— Walpole. He had been manager of Drury Lane Theatre, and was the author of several dra^ matic pieces. He afterwards resided in Italy for several years, and, on his return was appointed keeper of the King's Mews. He died in 1754, leaving his fortune to the celebrated Mrs. Woffington. — Wright. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANK. 119 wHcli they liave made the bishop write from the message which he carried, and as he and Lord Cholmondeley agree it was given. On this Thursday, of which I was telling you, at three o'clock, Mr. Pulteney rose up, and moved for a secret committee of twenty- one. This inquisition, this council of ten, was to sit and examine whatever persons and papers they should please, and to meet when and where they pleased. He protested much on its not being in- tended against any person^ but merely to give the King advice, and on this foot they fought it till ten at night, when Lord Perceval blundered out what they had been cloaking with so much art, and declared that he should vote for it as a committee of accusation. Sir Robert immediately rose, and protested that he should not have spoken, but for what he had heard last ; but that now, he must take it to himself. He pourtrayed the mahce of the Opposition, who, for twenty years, had not been able to touch him, and were now reduced to this infamous shift. He defied them to accuse him, and only desired that if they should, it might be in an open and fair manner ; desired no favour, but to be acquainted with his accusation. He spoke of Mr. Dodington, who had called his administration infamous, as of a person of great self-mortification, who, for sixteen years, had conde- scended to bear part of the odium. For Mr. Pulteney, who had just spoken a second time, Sir R. said, he had begun the debate with great calmness, but give him his due, he had made amends for it in the end. In short, never was innocence so triumphant ! There were several glorious speeches on both sides ; Mr. Pulteney's two, W. Pitt's [Chatham's] and George Grenville's,' Sir Robert's, Sir W. Yonge's, Harry Fox's [Lord Holland's], Mr. Chute's, and the Attorney-General's [Sir Dudley Ryder]. My friend Coke [Level], for the first time, spoke vastly well, and mentioned how great Sir Robert's character is abroad. Sir Francis Dashwood repHed that he had found quite the reverse from Mr. Coke, and that foreigners always spoke with contempt of the Chevalier de Walpole. This was going too far, and he was called to order, but got off well enough, by saying, that he knew it was contrary to rule to name any member, but that he only mentioned it as spoken by an impertinent Frenchman. But of all speeches, none ever was so full of wit as Mr. Pulteney's last. He said^ " I have heard this committee represented as a most 1 Dover. George Grenville, First Minister in the early part of the reign of George III. 120 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. dreadful spectre ; it lias been likened to all terrible things ; it bas been likened to tbe King ; to the inquisition ; it wiU be a committee of safety ; it is a committee of danger ; I don't know wbat it is to be ! One gentleman, I think, called it a cloud ! (this was the Attorney) a cloud ! I remember Hamlet takes Lord Polonius by the hand and shows him a cloud, and then asks him if he does not think it is Hke a whale/' Well, in short, at eleven at night we divided, and threw out this famous committee by 253 to 250, the greatest number that ever was in the house, and the greatest number that ever lost a question. I It was a most shocking sight to see the sick and dead brought in / on both sides ! Men on crutches, and Sir William Gordon ^ from his bed, with a bHster on his head, and flannel hanging out from under his wig. I could scarce pity him for his ingratitude. The day before the Westminster petition, Sii' Charles Wager '" gave his son a ship, and the next day the father came down and voted against him. The son has since been cast away ; but they concealed it from the father, that he might not absent himself. However, as we have om^ good-natured men too on our side, one of his own countr}Tnen went and told him of it in the House. The old man, who looked ■- like Lazarus at his resuscitation, bore it with great resolution, and i said, he knew why he was told of it, but when he thought his / comitry in danger, he would not go away. As he is so near death, that it is indifferent to him whether he died two thousand years ago 1 or to-morrow, it is unlucky for him not to have lived when such insen- sibihty would have been a Roman virtue.^ There are no arts, no menaces, which the Opposition do not practise. They have threatened one gentleman to have a reversion cut off from his son, unless he will vote with them. To Totness there came a letter to the mayor from the Prince, and signed by two of his lords, to recommend a candidate in opposition to the SoKcitor- ^ Sir Robert Wilmot, in a letter to the Duke of Devonshire, says : — ^' Sir William Gordon was brought in like a corpse. Some thought it had been an old woman in disguise, having a white cloth round his head : others, who found him out, expected him to expire every moment. Other incurables were introduced on their side. Mr. Hopton, for Hereford, Avas carried in with crutches. Sir Robert Walpole exceeded himself. Mr. Pelham, with the greatest decency, cut Pulteney into a thousand pieces. Sir Robert actually dissected him, and laid his heart open to the view of the House." — Wright. 2 Admiral Sir Charles Wager. He had been knighted by Queen Anne, for his gallantry in taking and destroying some rich Spanish galleons. He was at this time first lord of the Admiralty. He died in 1743. — Dover. ^ Sir William Gordon died in the May following. — Walpole. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MAKN. 121 General [Strange]. The mayor sent the letter to Sir Uobert. They have turned the Scotch to the best account. There is a young Oswald/ who had engaged to Sir E. but has voted against us. Sir E. sent a friend to reproach him ; the moment the gentleman who had engaged for him came into the room, Oswald said, '^ You had like to have led me into a fine error ! did you not tell me that Sir E. would have the majority ? " When the debate was over, Mr. Pulteney owned that he had never heard so fine a debate on our side ; and said to Sir Eobert, " Well, nobody can do what you can ! " '' Yes,'' rephed Sir E. " Yonge did better." Mr. Pulteney answered, "It was fine, but not of that weight with what you said." They all allow it ; and now theu- plan is to persuade Sir Eobert to retire with honour. All that evening there was a report about the town, that he and my uncle [old Horace] were to be sent to the Tower, and people hii-ed windows in the City to see them pass by — ^but for this time I beHeve we shall not exhibit so historical a parade. The night of the committee, my brother Walpole " had got two or three invahds at his house, designing to carry them into the House through his door, as they were too ill to go round by Westminster Hall ; the patriots, who have rather more contrivances than their pre- decessors of Grecian and Eoman memory, had taken the precaution of stopping the keyhole with sand. How Livy's eloquence would have been hampered, if there had been back-doors and keyholes to the Temple of Concord ! A few days ago there were lists of the officers at Port Mahon laid before the House of Lords : unfoi^:unately, it appeared that two- thirds of the regiment had been absent. The Duke of Ai^gyll said, " Such a Hst was a libel on the government ; " and of all men, the Duke of Newcastle was the man who rose up and agreed with him : remember what I told you once before of his union with Carteret. We have carried the York election by a majority of 956. The other night the Bishop of Canterbury ' [Potter] was with Sir Eobert, and on going away, said, " Sir, I have been lately reading Thuanus ; he mentions a minister, who having long been persecuted ^ James Oswald, afterwards one of the commissioners of trade and plantations. — Walpole. ^ Robert, Lord Walpole, afterwards Earl of Orford. He was auditor of the Exche- quer, and his house adjoined to the House of Commons, to which he had a door ; but it was soon afterwards locked up, by order of the House. — Walpole. ^ John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury, died 1747. — Dover. 122 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. by liis enemies, at length, vanquislied tliem : tlie reason lie gives, quia se non deseridt.^'^ Sii' Thomas Bobinson [Long] is at last named to the government of Barbadoes ; he has long prevented its being asked for, by declaring that he had the promise of it. Luckily for him, Lord Lincoln liked his house, and procured him this government on condition of hinng it. I have mentioned Lord Perceval's speeches ; he has a set who have a rostrum at his house, and harangue there. A gentleman who came thither one evening was refused, but insisting that he was engaged to come, *' Oh, Sir," said the porter, '^ what are you one of those who play at members of parliament ? '^ I must tell you something, though Mr. Chute will see my letter. Sir Robert brought home yesterday to dinner, a fat comely gentle- man, who came up to me, and said, he believed I knew his brother abroad. I asked his name; he replied, "He is with Mr. Whithed." I thought he said, " It is Whithed." After I had talked to him of Mr. AYhithed, I said, '' There is a very sensible man with Mr. Whithed, one Mr. Chute." " Sii^" said he, " my name is Chute." " My dear Mr. Chute, now I know both your brothers. You will forgive my mistake." With what little conscience I begin a third sheet ! but it shall be but half a one. I have received your vast packet of music by the messenger, for which I thank you a thousand times ; and the poli- tical sonnet, wliich is far from bad. Who translated it ? I like the translation. I am obHged to you about the Gladiator, [Stoch's Intaglio] &c. : the temptation of having them at all is great, but too enormous. If I could have the Gladiator for about a hundred pounds, I would give it. I enclose one of the bills of lading of the things that I sent you by your secretary : he sets out to-morrow. By Oswald's' folly, to whom I entrusted the putting them on board, they are consigned to Goldsworthy, but pray take care that he does not open them. The captain mortifies me by proposing to stay three weeks at Genoa. I have sent away to-night a small additional box of steel wares, which I received but to-day from AYoodstock. As they are better than the first, you will choose out some of them for Prince Craon, and give away the rest as you please. We have a new opera by Pescetti, but a very bad one ; however, 1 George Oswald, steward to Sir R. W.— Walpole. 1742.J TO SIR HORACE MANN. 123 all the town runs after it, for it ends with a charming dance. They have flung open the stage to a great length, and made a perfect view of Yenice, with the Rialto, and numhers of gondolas that row about full of masks, who land and dance. You would like it. Well, I have done. Excuse me if I don't take the trouble to read it all over again, for it is immense, as you will find. Good night ! 60. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, Feb. 4, 1741-2. I AM miserable that I have not more time to write to you, especially as you will want to know so much of what I have to tell you ; but for a week or fortnight I shall be so hurried, that I shall scarce laiow what I say. I sit here writing to you, and receiving all the town, who flock to this house ; Sir Robert has already had three levies this morning, and the rooms still over- flowing — they overflow up to me. You will think this the prelude to some victory ! On the contrary, when you receive this, there will be no longer a Sir Robert Walpole : you must know him for the future by the title of Earl of Orford. That other envied name expires next week with his Ministry ! Preparatory to this change, I should tell you, that last week we heard in the House of Commons the Chippenham election, when Jack Frederick and his brother-in-law, Mr. Hume, on our side, petitioned against Sir Edmund Thomas and Mr. Baynton Rolt. Eoth sides made it the decisive question — but our people were not all equally true ; and upon the previous question we had but 235 against 236, so lost it by one. From that time my brothers, my uncle, I, and some of his particular friends, persuaded Sir E,. to resign. He was undetermined till Sunday night. Tuesday we were to finish the election, when we lost it by 16 ; upon which, Sir Robert declared to some particular persons in the House his resolution to retire, and had that morning sent the Prince of Wales notice of it. It is understood from the heads of the party, that nothing more is to be pursued against him. Yesterday (Wednesday) the King adjourned both Houses for a fortnight, for time to settle things. Next week Sir Robert resigns and goes into the House of Lords. The only change yet fixed, is, that Lord Wilmington' is to be at ^ Sir Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, Icnight of the garter, and at this time lord president of the council [see p. 92]. — Walpole, 124 HOKACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. the head of the Treasury — ^but numberless other alterations and con- fusions must follow. The Prince will he reconciled, and the Whig- patriots will come in. There were a few bonfires last night, but they are very unfashionable, for never was fallen minister so followed. When he kissed the King's hand to take his first leave, the King fell on his neck, wept and kissed him, and begged to see him fre- quently. He will continue in town, and assist the Ministry in the Lords. Mr. Pelham has declared that he will accept nothing that was Sii' Robert's ; and this moment the Duke of Eichmond has been here fi^om Court to tell Sir R. that he had resigned the Mastership of the Horse, having received it from him, unasked, and that he would not keep it beyond his Ministry. This is the greater honour, as it was so unexpected, and as he had no personal fiiendship with the Duke. For myself, I am quite happy to be free from all the fatigue, en^y, and uncertainty of oui' late situation. I go everywhere ; indeed, to have the stare over, and to use myself to neglect, but I meet nothing but civihties. Here have been Lord Hartington, Coke, and poor FitzwiUiam,* and others crying ; here has been Lord Deskford and numbers to wish me joy ; in short, it is a most extraordinary and various scene. There are three people whom I pity much ; the King, Lord Wilmington, and my own sister ; "^ the first, for the a&ont, to be forced to part with his minister, and to be forced to forgive his son ; the second, as he is too old, and (even when he was young) unfit for the burthen ; and the poor girl, who must be created an earl's daughter, as her birth would deprive her of the rank. She must kiss hands and bear the flii^ts of imj)ertinent real quality. I am in^dted to dinner to-day by Lord Strafi'ord,' Argyll's son-in law. You sec we shall grow the fashion. My dear child, these are the most material points : I am sensible how much you must want particulars ; but you must be sensible, too, that just yet, I have not time. Don't be uneasy ; your brother Ned has been here to wish mo 1 William, Baron, and afterwards Earl Fitzwilliam ; a young lord, much attached to Sir R. W. [see p. 157.]— Walpole. 2 Maria, natural daughter of Sir R. W. by Maria Skerret, his mistress, whom he afterwards married. She had a patent to take place as an earl's daughter [see p. 821. ■ Walpole, ^ William Wentworth, second Earl of Strafford, of the second creation. Walpole's -correspondent and neighbour at Twickenham. He married Lady Anne Campbell, second daughter of John, Duke of Argyle, and died 1791. — Cunningham. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANIST. 1-25 joy : your brother Gal. has been here and cried ; your tender nature will at first make you like the latter ; but afterwards you will rejoice with your elder and me. Adieu ! Yours, ever, and the same. 61. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Feb. 9, 1741-2. You will have had my letter that told you of the great change. The scene is not quite so pleasant as it was, nor the tranquillity arrived that we expected. All is in confusion ; no overtures from the Prince, who, it must seem, proposes to be King. His party have persuaded him not to make uj), but on much greater conditions than he first demanded : in short, notwithstanding his professions to the Bishop/ he is to insist on the impeachment of Sir K[obert], saying now, that his terms not being accej)ted at first, he is not bound to stick to them. He is pushed on to this violence by Argyll, Chesterfield, Cobham,'^ Sir John Hinde Cotton,^ and Lord Marchmont. The first says, " What impudence it is in Sir E. to be driving about the streets ! " and all cry out, that he is still minister behind the curtain. They will none of them come into the ministry, till several are displaced ; but have summoned a great meeting of the faction for Friday, at the Fountain Tavern," to consult measures against Sir E,., and to-morrow the Common Council meet, to draw up instructions for their members. They have sent into Scotland and into the counties for the same purpose. Carteret and Pulteney" j)retend to ^ Seeker, Bishop of Oxford. — Walpole. 2 Richard Temple, Yiscouut Cobham, so created in 1718, with remainder to the issue male of his sister, Hester Grenville. He had served in Flanders under the Duke of Marlborough, and was, upon the overthrow of Sir Robert Walpole's administra- tion, promoted to the rank of field-marshal. He is now best remembered as the friend of Pope and the creator of the gardens of Stowe. — Dover. ^ Sir John Hinde Cotton, Bart., of Land wade, in Cambridgeshire; long a member of parliament. He died in 1752, and Walpole, in his Memoires, in noticing this event, says, "Died Sir John Cotton, the last Jacobite of any sensible activity." — Dover, The last English Jacobite, (Ritson the antiquary) was the first English Jacobin, — Cunningham, ^ In the Strand, at the corner of Fountain Court. ''Then enlarge on his cunning and wit : Say how he harangued at the Fountain ; Say how the old patriots were bit, And a mouse was produced by a mountain." Sir H. Williams, on Pulteney. — Cunningham. 5 Lord Carteret and Mr, Pulteney had really betrayed their party, and so injudi- ciously, that they lost their old friends and gained no new ones, — Walpole. 126 HORACE WALPOLB'S LETTERS. [1742. be against this violence, but own that if their party insist upon it, they cannot desert them. The cry against Sir E. has been greater this week than ever ; first, against a grant of four thousand pounds a- year, which the King gave him on his resignation, but which, to quiet them, he has given up.' Then, upon making his daughter a lady ; their wives and daughters declare against giving her place. He and she both kissed hands yesterday, and on Friday go to Richmond for a week. He seems quite secure in his innocence — but what protection is that, against the power and mahce of party ! Indeed, his friends seem as firm as ever, and frequent him as much ; but they are not now the strongest. As to an impeach- ment, I think they will not be so mad as to proceed to it : it is too solemn and too public to be attempted, without proof of crimes, of which he certainly is not guilty. For a bill of pains and penalties, they may if they will, I believe, pass it through the Commons, but will scarce get the assent of the King and Lords. In a week more I shall be able to write with less uncertainty. I hate sending you false news, as that was, of the Duke of Kich- mond's resignation. It arose from his being two houi'S below with Sir Il[obert], and from some very warm discourse of his in the House of Lords, against the present violences ; but went no farther. Zeal magnified this, as she came up stairs to me, and I wrote to you before I had seen Sir Robert. At a time when we ought to be most united, we are in the gi^eatest confusion ; such is the virtue of the patriots, though they have obtained what they professed alone to seek. They will not stir one step in foreign afi'airs, though Sir Il[obert] has offered to unite with them, with all his friends, for the common cause. It will now be seen, whether he or they are most patriot. You see I call him Sir Robert still ! after one has known him by that name for these three- score years, it is difficult to accustom one's mouth to another title. 1 Sir Robert, at the persuasion of his brother \old Horace], Mr. Selwyn, and others, desisted from pursuing this grant. Three years afterwards, when the clamour was at an end, and his affairs extremely involved, he sued for it: which Mr. Pelham, his friend and elfeve, Avas brought with the worst grace in the world to nsk, and his old obliged master the King prevailed upon, willi as ill grace, to grant.— Walpole. February 8. Sir R. Walpole was presented at Court as Earl of Orford, He >vas per- suaded to refuse a grant of four thousand a-year during the King's life and his own, but could not be dissuaded from accepting a letter of honour from the King, to grant his natural daughter, Maria, precedence as an earl's daughter ; who was also pre- sented this day. The same thing had been done for Scrope, Earl of Sunderland, who left no lawful issue, and from one of whom Lord Howe is descended. Seeker MS. — WllIGHT. 17^2.] • TO SIR HORACE MANN. 127 In tlie midst of all this, we are diyerting ourselves as cordially as if Eighteousness and Peace had just heen kissing one another. Balls, operas, and masquerades ! The Duchess of Norfolk' makes a grand masqueing next week ; and to-morrow there is one at the Opera-house. Here is a Saxe-Gothic prince, brother to her Boyal Highness [the Princess of Wales] : he sent her word from Dover that he was driven in there, in his way to Italy. The man of the inn, whom he consulted about lodgings in town, recommended him to one of very ill-fame in Suffolk-street. He has got a neutrahty for himself, and goes to both courts. Churchill^ asked Pulteney the other day, " Well, Mr. Pulteney, will you break me too ? " — " No, Charles," replied he, '^you break fast enough of yourseK ! " Don't you think it hurt him more than the other breaking would ? Good night ! Yours, ever. Thursday, Feb. 11, 1741-2. P.S. I had finished my letter, and unwillingly resolved to send you all that bad news, rather than leave you ignorant of our doings ; but I have the pleasure of mending your prospect a httle. Yesterday the Common Council met, and resolved upon instructions to their members, which, except one not very descriptive paragraph, contains nothing personal against our new earl ; and ends with resolutions " to stand by our present constitution." ]\lind what followed ! One of them proposed to insert " the King and Eoyal Family" before the words, "our present constitution;" but, on a division, it was rejected by three to one. But to-day, for good news ! Sir Hobert has resigned ; Lord Wilmington is First Lord of the Treasury, and Sandys has accepted the seals as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with Gibbons "" and Sir John Rushout," joined to him as other lords of the Treasury. ' Mary, daughter of Edward Blount, Esq., and wife of Edward, ninth Duke of Norfolk. — Dover. 2 General Charles Churchill. — Dover. See ante, pp. 95, 112, At his death, in 1745, the General w.is Colonel of a regiment of Dragoons, Governor of Plymouth, Groom of the Bedchamber, Deputy Eanger of St. James's Park, and M.P. for Castle- rising, for which he Avas returned by the Walpole interest, — Cunmngham. ^ PJiilip Gibbons, or Gybbon, a Lord of the Treasury; and called by Walpole "one of Pulteney's creatures."' — Cunningham. ■* Sir John Rushout, the fourth baronet of the family, had particularly distinguished himself as an opponent of Sir R. Walpole's excise scheme. He was made Treasurer of the Navy in 1743, and died in 1775, at the advanced age of ninety-one. His son was created Lord Northwick in 1797. — Dover. 128 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. Waller' was to have been the other, but has formally refused. So, Lord Sundon, Earle, Treby,^ and Clutterbuck^ are the first discarded, unless the latter saves himself by Waller's refusal. Lord Har- rington, who is created an Earl, is made President of the Council, and Lord Carteret has consented to be Secretary of State in his room — ^but mind ; not one of them has promised to be against the prosecution of Sir Robert, though I don't believe now that it will go on. You see Pulteney is not come in, except in his friend Sir John Rushout," but is to hold the balance between hberty and prerogative ; at least, in this, he acts with honour. They say Sir John BLinde Cotton and the Jacobites will be left out, unless they bring in Dr. Lee and Sir John Barnard to the Admii^alty, as they propose ; for I do not think it is decided what are their principles. Sii' Charles Wager has resigned this morning :' he says, " We shall not die, but be all changed ! " though he says, a parson lately reading this text in an old Bible, where the c was rubbed out, read it, not die, hut he all hanged! To-morrow our Earl goes to Richmond Park, en retir^ ; comes on Thm'sday to take his seat in the Lords, and returns thither again. Sandys is very angry at liis taldng the title of Orford, which belonged to his wife's" great uncle. You know a step of that nature cost the gi'eat Lord Strafford'' his head, at the prosecution of a less bloody-minded man than Sandys. I remain in town, and have not taken at all to withdrawing, wliich I hear has given offence, as well as my gay face in public ; but as I had so little joy in the grandeui', I am determined to take as little part in the disgrace. I am looking about for a new house. I have received two vast packets from you to-day, I believe from the bottom of the sea, for they have been so washed that I could scarce read them. I could read the terrible history of the earth- ^ Edmund Waller, a near descendant of the poet. — Cunningham. ^ George Treby, Esq. — Doyer. 3 Thomas Clutterbuck, Esq., left the Treasury in February 1742, and was made, in May 1742, Treasurer of the Na^^. He died in November 1742. See p. 153. — Cunningham. '^ Rushout was Pulteney's second in his duel with Lord Hervey. — Cunningham. ^ February 11. Lord Orford and Sir Charles Wager resigned. Mr. Sandys kissed hands as Chancellor of the Exchequer : Lord Wilmington declared first commissioner of the Treasury : offers made to the Duke of Argyle, but refused: none to Lord Chesterfield. — Seeker MS. — Wright. Lady Sandys was daughter of Lady Tipping, niece of Kussel, Earl of Orford.— Walpole. 7 Sir Thomas Wentworth, the great Earl of Strafford, took the title of Eaby from a castle of that name, which belonged to Sir Henry Vane, who, from that time, became his mortal foe. — Walpole. 1742.] TO Sm HORACE MANK 129 quakes at Leghorn : how infinitely good you was to poor Mrs. Goldsworthy ! how could you think I should not approve such vast humanity ? but you are all humanity and forgiveness. I am only concerned that they will be present when you receive all these disagreeable accounts of your friends. Their support' is removed as well as yours, I only fear the interest of the Richmonds^ with the Duke of Newcastle ; but I will try to put you well with Lord Lincoln. We must write circumspectly, for our letters now are no longer safe. I shall see AmorevoH to-night to give him the letter. Ah ! Monticelli and the Yisconti are to sing to-night at a great assembly at Lady Conway's. I have not time to write more : so, good night, my dearest child ! be in good spirits. P.S. We have at last got CrebiUon's ' Sofa : ' Lord Chesterfield received three hundred, and gave them to be sold at White's.'' It is admirable ! except the beginning of the first volume, and the last story, it is equal to an}i:hing he has written. How he has painted the most refined nature in Mazulhim! the most retired nature in Modes ! the man of fashion, that sets himself above natural sensa- tions, and the man of sense and devotion, that would skirmish himself from their influence, are equally justly reduced to the standard of their own weakness." 62. TO sm HORACE MANN. Feb. 18, 1741-2. I WRITE to you more tired, and with more headache, than any one but you could conceive ! I came home at ^yq this morning from the Duchess of Norfolk's masquerade, and was forced to rise before eleven, for my father, who came from Richmond to take his seat in the Lords, for the Houses met to-day. He is gone back to ' Sir Charles "Wager. — Walpole, Mrs. Goldsworthy was the niece of Sir Charles Wager ; see ante, p. 79. — Cunningham. 2 Mrs. Goldsworthy had been a companion of the Duchess of Richmond. — Walpole. ^ The celebrated club in St. James's Street, of which Walpole was elected a member on the 22nd April, 1744; Mr. Selwyn was elected the same day. — Cunningham, ^ Crebillon has made a convention with me, which, if he is not too lazy, will be no hd,^ persiflage. As soon as I get to Toulouse, he has agreed to write me an expostu- latory letter upon the indecencies of T, Shandy — which is to be answered by recrimina- tions upon the liberties in his own works. These are to be printed together — Cr§billon against Sterne — Sterne against Crebillon — the copy to be sold, and the money equally divided. This is good Swiss policy. — Sterne, Letters. — Cunningham. VOL. I. K 130 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. his retii-ement. Things wear a better aspect ; at the great meeting- oil Friday, at the Fountain, Lord Carteret and Lord "Winchelsea ^ refused to go, only saying that they never dined at a tavern. Pulteney and the new Chancellor of the Exchequer [Sandys] went, and were abused by his Grace of Argyll. The former said he was content with what was abeady done, and would not be active in any further proceedings, though he would not desert the party. Sandys said the King had done him the honoui^ to oJBPer him that place ; why should he not accept it ? if he had not, another would : if nobody would, the King would be obliged to employ his old minister again, which he imagined the gentlemen present would not wish to see ; and protested against screening, with the same conclusion as Pulteney. The Duke of Bedford was very warm against Sir William Yonge ; Lord Talbot ^ was so in general." Durmg the recess, they have employed Fazakerley" to draw up four impeachments ; against Sir Robert, my uncle [old Horace], Mr. Keene, and Colonel Bladen, who was only commissioner for the tariff at Antwerp. One of the articles against Sir Robert is, his having at this conjunctm^e trusted Lord AYaldegrave as ambassador, who is so near a relation^ of the Pretender : but these impeachments are likely to grow absolute manuscripts. The minds of the people grow much more candid : at fet, they made one of the actors at Drury Lane repeat some appKcable lines at the end of Harry the Fourth ; but last Monday, when his Royal Highness had purposely bespoken ^ See an account of this meeting in Lord Egmont's 'Faction Detected.' — Walpole. ^ Daniel Finch, seventh Earl of Winchilsea, and third Earl of Nottingham. He was made first lord of the Admiralty upon the breaking up of Sir R. Walpole's government, — Dover. ^ William, second Lord Talbot, eldest son of the lord chancellor of that name and title. — Dover. ^ Feb. 12. Meeting at the Fountain Tavern of above two hundred commoners and thirty-five lords. Duke of Argyle spoke warmly for prosecuting Lord Orford, with hints of reflection on those who had accepted. Mr. Pulteney replied warmly. Lord Talbot drank to cleansing the Augean stable of the dung and grooms. Mr. Sandys and Mr. Gibbon there. Lord Carteret and Lord Winchilsea not. Lord Chancellor, in the evening, in private discourse to me, strong against taking in any Tories ; owning no more than that some of them, perhaps, were not for the Pretender, or, at least, did not know they were for him ; though, when I gave him the account first of my discourse with the Prince, he said, the main body of them were of the same prin- ciples with the Tories. — Seeker MS. — Wright. ^ Nicholas Fazakerley, Esq. [died 1767.] Walpole calls him "a tiresome Jacobite lawyer." He, however, appears to have been a speaker of some weight in the House of Commons, and distinguished himself by his opposition to Lord Hardwicke's mischievous marriage bill in the year 1753. — Dover. ^ His mother was natural daughter of King James TL— Walpole. James, first Earl Wal deprave, appointed ambassador to the Court of France in 1730 : died in 1741. — Dover. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 131 ' The Unliappy Favourite/ ' for Mrs. Porter's benefit, they never once applied the most glaring passages ; as where they read the indictment against Robert, Earl of Essex, &c. The Tories declare against any farther prosecution — if Tories there are, for now one hears of nothing but the Broad Bottom : it is the reigning cant word, and means, the taking all parties and people, indifferently, into the ministry. The Whigs are the dupes of this ; and those in the Opposition affirm that Tories no longer exist. Notwithstanding this, they will not come into the new ministry, unless what were always reckoned Tories are admitted. The Treasury has gone a-begging ; I mean one of the lordships, which is at last filled up with a Major Compton, a relation of Lord Wilmington ; but now we shall see a new scene. On Tuesday night Mr. Pulteney went to the Prince, and, without the knowledge of Argyll, &c. prevailed on him to write to the King : he was so long determining, that it was eleven at night before the King received his letter. Yesterday morning the Prince, attended by two of his lords, two grooms of the bedchamber, and Lord Scarborough,' his treasurer, went to the King's levee.^ The King said, " How does the Princess do ? I hope she is well.'' The Prince kissed his hand, and this was all ! He returned to Carlton House, whither crowds went to liim. He spoke to the Duke of ISTewcastle and Mr. Pelham ; but would not to the three dukes', Richmond, Grafton, and Marlborough." At night the Royal Family were all at the Duchess of Norfolk's, and the streets were illuminated and bonfired. To-day, the Duke of Bedford, Lord Halifax, and some others, were at St. James's : the King spoke to all the lords. In a day or two, I shall go with my uncle and brothers to the Prince's levee. Yesterday there was a meeting of all the Scotch of our side, who, to a man, determined to defend Sir Robert. Lyttelton ^ is going to marry Miss Fortescue, Lord Clinton's sister. ^ Banks's tragedy of ' The Unhappy Favourite ; or. The Earl of Essex/ was first acted in 1682.— Wright. 2 Thomas Lumley, third Earl of Scarborongh, died 1752; brother of the Lord Scarborough praised by Pope and Chesterfield. — Cunningham. ' February 17. Prince of Wales went to St. James's. The agreement made at eleven the night before, and principally by Mr. Pulteney ; as Lord Wilmington told me. The King received him in the drawing-room : the Prince kissed his hand : he asked him how the Princess did : showed no other mark of regard. All the courtiers went the same day to Carlton House. The Bishop of Gloucester (Dr. Benson) and I went thither. The Prince and Princess civil to us both. — Seeker MS. — Wright. '^ Charles Spencer, third Duke of Marlborough, succeeded to that title on the death of his aunt, Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough, in 1733. — Dover. ^ Sir George Lyttelton, afterwards created Lord Lyttelton. Miss Fortescue was K 2 132 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. Wlien our Earl [Orford] went to the House of Lords to-day, he apprehended some incivilities from his Grace of Argyll, hut he was not there. The Bedford, Halifax, Berkshire,' and some more, were close hy him, hut would not bow to him. Lord Chesterfield wished him joy. This is all I know for certain ; for I will not send you the thousand lies of every new day. I must tell you how fine the Masquerade of last night was. There were five hundred persons, in the greatest variety of hand- some and rich dresses I ever saw, and all the jewels of London — and London has some ! There were dozens of ugly Queens of Scots, of which I will only name to you the eldest Miss Shadwell ! ' The Princess of Wales was one, covered with diamonds, but did not take off her mask : none of the Royalties did, but everybody else. Lady Conway •" was a charming Mary Stuart : Lord and Lady Euston, man and woman huzzars. But the two finest and most charming masks were their Graces of Richmond,'' like Harry the Eighth and Jane Seymour : excessively rich, and both so handsome ! Here is a nephew of the King of Denmark, who was in armour, and his governor, a most admirable Quixote. There were quantities of pretty Vandykes, and all kinds of old pictures walked out of their frames. It was an assemblage of all ages and nations, and would have looked like the day of judgment, if tradition did not persuade us that we are all to meet naked, and if something else did not tell us that we shall not meet then with quite so much indifference, nor thinking quite so much of the hecoming. My dress was an Aui'eng- zebe : but of all extravagant figures, commend me to our friend the Countess ! ^ She and my lord trudged in hke pilgrims, with vast staffs in their hands ; and she was so heated, that you would have his first wife, and mother of Thomas, called the wicked Lord Lyttelton. She died in childbed in 1747, and Lord Lyttelton honoured her memory with the well-known Monody, which was so unfeelingly parodied by Smollett. — Dover. 1 Henry Bowes Howard, fourth Earl of Berkshire. He succeeded, in 1745, as eleventh Earl of Suffolk, on the death, without issue, of Henry, tenth earl. He died in 1757. — Dover. 2 See ante, p. 84. Once when he [Bernard Lens] was drawing a lady's picture in the dress of the Queen of Scots, she said to him, " But, Mr. Lens, you have not made me like the Queen of Scots ! " " No, madam, if God Almighty had made your ladyship like her, I would." — Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting.— CUNNIKQHAM. ^ Lady Isabella Fitzroy, youngest daughter of the [second] Duke of Grafton, and wife of Francis Seymour, Lord Conway, afterwards Earl of Hertford. — Walpole. '^ Charles Lenox, Duke of Richmond, master of the Horse, and Sarah Cadogan, his duchess. He died in 1750, and she in the year following. — Walpole. ^ The Countess of Pomfret. — AValpole. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 133 thouglit her pilgrimage had been like Pantagruers yoyage, to the Oracle of the Bottle ! Lady Sopliia [Fermor] was in a Spanish dress — so was Lord Lincoln ; not, to be sure, by design, but so it happened. When the King came in, the Faussans ' were there, and danced an entree. At the masquerade the King sat by Mrs. Selwyn, and with tears told her, that " the Whigs should find he loved them, as he had done the poor man that was gone ! " He had sworn that he would not speak to the Prince at their meeting, but was pre- yailed on. 1 received your letter by Holland, and the paper about the Spaniards. By this time you will conceive that I can now speak of nothing to any purpose, for Sir H. does not meddle in the least with busiaess. As to the Sibyl, I have not mentioned it to him ; I still am for the other. Except that, he will not care, I beheve, to buy more pictures, having now so many more than he has room for at Houghton ; and he wiE have but a small house in town when we leave this. But you must thank the dear Chutes for their new offers ; the obhgations are too great, but I am most sensible to their goodness, and, were I not so excessively tired now, would write to them. I cannot add a word more, but to think of the Princess : ■' " Comment ! vous avez done des enfans ! ^' You see how nature sometimes breaks out, in spite of rehgion and prudery, grandeur and pride, dehcacy and epiiisements ! Good night ! Yours, ever. 63. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, Feb. 25, 1742. I AM impatient to hear that you have received my first account of the change ; as to be sure you are now for every post. This last week has not produced many new events. The Prince of Wales has got the measles,^ so there has been but Httle incense offered up to him : his brother of Saxe-Gotha has got them too. "WTien the Princess went to St. James's, she fell at the King's feet and strug- gled to kiss his hand, and burst into tears. At the Norfolk mas- querade she was vastly bejewelled ; Frankz had lent her forty thousand pounds' worth, and refused to be paid for the hire, only desiring that she would tell whose they were. All this is nothing, but ' Two celebrated comic dancers. — Walpole, 2 Princess Craon, so often mentioned in these letters. — Dover. ' February 21. Prince taken ill of the measles. The King sent no message to him in his illness. — Seeker MS. — Wright, 134 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. to introduce one of Madame de Pom fret's ingenuities, who, being dressed like a pilgrim, told the Princess, that she had taken her for the Lady of Loreto. But you will wish for poHtics now, more than for histories of masquerades, though this last has taken up people^s thoughts full as much. The House met last Thursday, and voted the army without a division : Shippen ^ alone, unchanged, opposed it. They have since been busied on elections, turning out our friends and voting in their own, almost without opposition. The chief affair has been the Denbighshire election, on the petition of Sir WatlsyTi TTiLliams. They have voted him into parhament and the high- sheriff into Xewgate. Murray " was most eloquent : Lloyd,' the counsel on the other side, and no bad one, said, (for I go constantly, though I do not stay long, but " leave the dead to hwry their dead,") that it was objected to the sheriff, that he was related to the sitting member ; but, indeed, in that country ("Wales) it would be difficult not to be related. Yesterday we had another hearing of the petition of the Merchants, when Sir Robert Godschall shone brighter than even his usual. There was a copy of a letter produced, the original being lost : he asked whether the copy had been taken before the original was lust, or after ! Xext week they commence their prosecutions, which they will introduce by voting a committee to inquire into all the offices : Sir William Yonge is to be added to the impeachments, but the chief whom they wish to punish is my uncle [old Horace.] He is the more to be pitied, because nobody will pit}' him. They are not fond of a formal message Avhich the States General have sent to Sir Pobert, ^* to compliment him on his new honour, and to condole with bim on being out of the ministry, which will be so detrimental to Europe I " The third augmentation in Holland is confirmed, and that the Prince of Hesse is chosen generalissimo, which makes it beheved that his Grace of Ai^g}'ll will not go over, but that we shall certainly have a war with France in the spiing. Ai'g}'U has got the Ordnance restored to him, and they wanted to give him back his regiment ; to which end Lord Hertford " was desired to resign it, with the offer of 1 William Shippen, a celebrated Jacobite. Sir E. "Walpole said that he was the only man whose price he did not know, [See p. 97.] — Walpole. 2 William ^turray, Mr. Pope's friend, afterwards Solicitor, and then Attorney- general. — W ALPOLE. 3 Sir Ritjhard Lloyd, who succeeded Mr. Murray, in 1754, as Solicitor-general.— Walpolb. '' Algernon Seymour, Earl of Hertford, eldest son of Charles, called the proud 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN'. 135 his old troop again. He said he had received the regiment from the King ; if his Majesty pleased to take it back, he might, but he did not know why he should resign it. Since that, he wrote a letter to the King, and sent it by his son, Lord Beauchamp, resigning his regiment, his goveimment, and his wife's pension, as Lady of the Bedchamber to the late Queen. 'No more changes are made yet. They have offered the Admiralty to Sir Charles Wager again, but he refused it : he said, he heard that he was an old woman, and that he did not know what good old women could do anywhere. A comet has appeared here for two nights, which, you know, is lucky enough at this time, and a pretty ingredient for making prophecies. These are all the news. I receive your letters regularly, and hope you receive mine so : I never miss one week. Adieu ! my dearest child ! I am perfectly weU; tell me always that you are. Are the good Chutes still at Florence ? My best love to them, and services to all. Here are some new Lines much in vogue : ' — 1741. Unhappy England, still in forty-one''' By Scotland art thou doom'd to be undone ! But Scotland now, to strike alone afraid, Calls in her worthy sister Cornwalls^ aid ; And these two common Strumpets, hand in hand, Walk forth, and preach up virtue through the land; Start at corruption, at a bribe turn pale, Shudder at pensions, and at placemen rail. Peace, peace ! ye wretched hypocrites ; or rather With Job, say to Corruption^ " Thou 'rt our Father," But how will Walpole justify his fatel He trusted Islay,"* till it was too late. , Where were those parts ! where was that piercing mind ! That judgment, and that knowledge of mankind I Duke of Somerset, whom he succeeded in that title, and was the last Duke of Somerset of that branch ; his son. Lord Beauchamp, having died before him. — Dover. ^ These Lines were written by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams. — Walpole. Williams's Works, vol i, p, 28, — Cunmngham. '^ Alluding to the Grand Rebellion against Charles the First. — Walpole, ^ The Parliament which overthrew Sir Robert Walpole was carried against him by his losing the majority of the Scotch and Cornit,h boroughs ; the latter managed by Lord Falmouth and Thomas Pitt, — Walpole. ^ Archibald Campbell, Earl of Islay, brother of John Duke of Argyll, in conjunc- tion with whom (though then openly at variance) he was supposed to have betrayed Sir R. W, and to have let the Opposition succeed in the Scotch elections, which were trusted to his management. It must be observed, that Sir Robert Walpole would never allow that he believed himself betrayed by Lord Islay. [See p. 73.] — Walpolb. 136 HOKACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. To trust a Traitor that he knew so well ! (Strange truth ! betray'd, but not deceived, he fell ! ) He knew his heart was, like his aspect, vile ; Knew him the tool, and Brother of Argyll ! Yet to his hands his power and hopes gave up ; And though he saw 'twas poison, drank the cup ! Trusted to One he never could think true. And perish'd by a villain that he knew. 64. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, March 3, 1742. I AM obliged to write to you to-day, for I am sure I shall not have a moment to-morrow ; they are to make their motion for a secret committee to examine into the late administration. We are to oppose it strongly, but to no purpose ; for since the change, they have beat us on no division mider a majority of forty. This last week has produced no new novelties ; his Royal Highness has been shut up with the measles, of which he was near dying, by eating China oranges. We are to send sixteen thousand men into Flanders in the spring, under his Grace of Argyll ; they tallc of the Duke of Marlborough and Lord Albemarle to command under him. Lord Cadogan ' is just dead, so there is another regiment vacant : they design Lord Delawar's for Westmoreland ; ' so now Sir Francis Dashwood ' will grow as fond of the King again as he used to be — or as he has hated him since. We have at last finished the Merchants' petition, under the conduct of the Lord Mayor and Mr. Leonidas ; " the greatest coxcomb and the greatest oaf that ever met in blank verse or prose. I told you the foi;jner's question about the copy of a letter taken after the original was lost. They have got a new story of him ; that hearing of a gentleman who had had the small-pox t^ace and died of it, he asked, if he died the first time or the second — if ^ Charles, Lord Cadogan, of Oakley, to which title he succeeded on the death of his elder brother, William, Earl Cadogan, who was one of the most distinguished " of Marlborough's captains." Charles, Lord Cadogan, did not die at the period when, this letter was written. On the contrary, he lived till the year 1776. — Dover. ^ John, seventh Earl of Westmoreland. He built the Palladian Yilla of Mereworth, in Kent, which is a nearly exact copy of the celebrated Villa Capra, near Vicenza. He died in 1762, Sir Francis Dashwood [p. 58] succeeded, on his decease, to the barony in fee of Le Despencer. — Dover. ^ Sir Francis Dashwood [p. 68], nephew to the Earl of "Westmoreland, had gone violently into Oppdfsition, on that lord's losing his regiment. — Dover. ^ Mr. Glover. — Walpole. Walpole always depreciates Glover [pp. 31 and 11 7] ; but his conduct, upon the occasion referred to in the text, displayed considerable ability. — Dover. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 137 tliis is made for liiiii, it is at least quite in his style. After smnming up the evidence (in doing which, Mr. Grlover literally drank several times to the Lord Mayor in a glass of water that stood by him), Sir John Barnard moved to vote, that there had been great neglect in the protection of the trade, to the great advantage of the enemy, and the dishonour of the nation. He said he did not mean to charge the Admiralty particularly, for then particular persons must have had particular days assigned to be heard in their own defence, which would take up too much time, as we are noto going to make inquiries of a much higher nature, Mr. Pelham was for leaving out the last words. Mr. Dodington rose, and in a set speech declared that the motion was levelled at a particular person, who had so usurped all authority, that all inferior offices were obliged to submit to his will, and so either hend and bow, or be broken : but that he hoped the steps we were now going to take, would make the office of first minister so dangerous a post, that nobody would care to accept it for the future. Do but think of this fellow, who has so lost all character, and made himself so odious to both King and Prince, by his alter- nate flatteries, changes, oppositions, and changes of flatteries and oppositions, that he can never expect what he has so much courted by all methods, — think of his talking of making it dangerous for any one else to accept the first ministership ! Should such a period ever arrive, he would accept it with joy — ^the only chance he can ever have for it ! But sure, never was impudence more put to shame ! The whole debate turned upon him. Lord Doneraile ' (who, by the way, has produced blossoms of Dodington — like fruit, and consequently is the fitter scourge for him) stood up and said, he did not know what that gentle- man meant ; that he himself was as wiUing to bring all ofienders to justice as any man ; but that he did not intend to confine punishment to those who had been employed only at the end of the last ministry, but proposed to extend it to all who had been engaged in it, and wished that that gentleman would speak with more lenity of an adminis- tration, in which he himself had been concerned for so many years. Winnington said, he did not know what Mr. Dodington had meant, by either bending or being broken; that he knew some who had been broken, though they had both bowed and bended. Waller defended Dodington, and said, if he was guilty, at least Mr. Winnington was so too ; on which Fox rose up, and, laying his hand on his breast, said he never wished to have such a friend, as could only excuse biTn by bringing in another for equal share of his guilt. Sir ^ See note/ p. 105. 138 HORACE WALPOLB'S LETTERS. [1742. Jolm Cotton replied ; lie did not wonder that Mr. Fox (wlio had spoken with great warmth) was angry at hearing his friend in i^lace, compared to one out of place. Do hut figure how Dodington must have looked and felt during such dialogues ! In short, it ended in Mr. Pulteney's rising, and saying, he could not be against the latter words, as he thought the former part of the motion had been proved ; and wished both parties would join in carrying on the war vigorously, or in procuring a good peace, rather than in ripping open old sores, and continuing the heats and violences of parties. We came to no division — for we should have lost it by too many. Thursday evening. 1 had written all the former part of my letter, only reserving room to tell you, that they had carried the secret committee — but it is put off till next Tuesday. To-day we had nothing but the giving up the Heydon election, when Mr. Pulteney had an opportunity (as Mr. Chute and Mr. Robinson would not take the trouble to defend a cause which they could not carry) to declaim upon cor- ruption : had it come to a trial, there were eighteen witnesses ready to swear positive bribery against Mr. Pulteney. I would write to Mr. Chute, and thank him for his letter which you sent me, but I am so out of humour at his brother's losing his seat, that I cannot speak civilly even to him to-day. It is said, that my Lord's Grace of Argyll has carried his great point of the Broad Bottom — as I suppose you will hear by rejoicings from Pome. The new Admiralty is named ; at the head is to be Lord Winchilsea, with Lord Granard,^ Mr. Cockbui-n, his Grace's friend. Dr. Lee, the chairman. Lord Yere Beauclerc ; '^ one of the old set, by the interest of the Duke of Dorset, and the connection of Lady Betty Germain, whose niece Lord Yere married ; and two Tories, Sir John Hind Cotton and Will. Chetwynd,^ an agent of BoHngbroke's — all this is not declared yet, but is beheved. ^ George Forbes, third Earl of Granard in Ireland ; an admiral, and a member of tbe House of Commons. — Dover, 2 Third son of the first Duke of St. Albans, created in 1750 Lord Vere of Hanworth in Middlesex. He was the direct ancestor of the present line of the St. Albans family. His wife was Mary, daughter and heiress of Thomas Chambers, Esq., of Hanworth, by Lady Mary Berkeley, the sister of Lady Betty Germain. — Dover. •'' William Richard Chetwynd, second brother of the first Viscount of that name, member of Parliament successively for Stafford and Plymouth, He had been envoy at Genoa, and a lord of the Admiralty ; and he finally succeeded his two elder brothers as third Vi.scount Chetwynd, in 1767. — Dover. I-Ie was familiarly called " Black Will," and sometimes " Oroonoko Chetwynd," from his dark complexion. He died in 1770. — Wright. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 139 This great Duke lias named his four aid-de-camps — Lord Charles Hay ; George Stanhope, brother of Earl Stanhope ; Dick Lyttelton, who was page ; and a Campbell. Lord Cadogan is not dead, but has been given over. We are rejoicing over the great success of the Queen of Hungary's arms, and the number of blows and thwarts which the French have received. It is a prosperous season for our new popular generals to grow glorious ! But, to have done with politics. Old Marlborough has at last published her Memoirs ; they are digested by one Hooke,^ who wrote a Roman history ; but from her materials, which are so womanish, that I am sure the man might sooner have made a gown and petticoat with them. There are some choice letters from Queen Anne, little inferior in the fulsome to those from King James to the Duke of Buckingham. Lord Oxford's "^ famous sale begins next Monday, where there is as much rubbish of another kind as in her Grace's History. Feather bonnets presented by the Americans to Queen Elizabeth ; elks' -horns converted into caudle- cups ; true copies of original pictures that never existed ; presents to himself from the Royal Society, &c., particularly forty volumes of prints of illustrious English personages ; which collection is collected from frontispieces to godly books, bibles and poems ; ^ head-pieces and tail-pieces to Waller's works ; views of King Charles's sufferings ; tops of ballads, particularly earthly crowns for heavenly ones, and streams of glory. There are few good pictures, for the miniatures are not to be sold, nor the manuscripts ; the books not tni next year. There are a few fine bronzes, and a very fine collection of Enghsh coins. We have got another opera," which is liked. There was to have ^ Nathaniel Hooke, a laborious compiler, but a very bad writer. It is said that the Duchess of Marlborough gave him £5000 for the services he rendered her in the com- position and publication of her apology. She, however, afterwards quarrelled with him, because she said he tried to convert her to Popery. Hooke himself was of that religion, and was also a Quietest, and an enthusiastic follower of Fenelon. It was Hooke who brought a Catholic priest to attend the death-bed of Pope ; a proceeding which excited such bitter indignation in the infidel Bolingbroke. Hooke died July 19th, 1763.— Walpolb. 2 Edward Harley, second Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, only son of the minister. He was a great and liberal patron of literature and learned men, and completed the valuable collection of manuscripts commenced by his father, which is now in the British Museum. He married the great Cavendish heiress, Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holies, daughter of Holies, Duke of Newcastle, and died June 16th, 1741. — Dovek. ^ Fenton's quarto edition of Waller was dedicated by Eenton in verse to the Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley. — Cunningham. ^ By Buranello, and called ' Scipione in Cartagine.' — Wright, 140 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. been a vast elephant, but tbe just directors, designing to give the audience tbe full weight of one for their money, made it so heavy, that at the prova it broke through the stage. It was to have carried twenty soldiers, with Monticelli on a throne in the middle. There is a new subscription begun for next year, thirty subscribers at two hundred pounds each. Would you beKeve that I am one ? You need not believe it quite, for I am but half an one ; Mr. Conway and I take a share between us. We keep Monticelli and AmorevoH, and to please Lord Middlesex, that odious Muscovita ; but shall discard Mr. Yaneschi. We are to have the Barberina and the two Faussans ; so, at least, the singers and dancers will be equal to anything in Europe. Our Earl [Orford] is still at Richmond : I have not been there yet ; I shall go once or twice ; for however Httle inclination I have to it, I would not be thought to grow cool just now. You know I am above such dii^tiness, and you are sensible that my coolness is of much longer standing. Your sister ^ is with mine at the Park ; they came to town last Tuesday for the opera, and returned next day. After supper, I prevailed on your sister to sing, and though I had heard her before, I thought I never heard anything beyond it ; there is a sweetness in her voice equal to Cuzzoni's, with a better manner. I was last week at the masquerade, dressed like an old woman, and passed for a good mask. I took the EngHsh Hberty of teasing whomever I pleased, particularly old [General] Churchill. I told bim I was quite ashamed of being there till I met him, but was quite comforted with finding one person in the room older than myself. The Duke,^ who had been told who I was, came up and said, " Je connois cette poitiTiie." I took him for some Templar, and rephed, *' Yous ! vous ne connoissez que des poitrines qui sont bien plus usees." It was unluckily pat. The next night, at the Drawing- room, he asked me, very good-humouredly, if I knew who was the old woman that had teased everybody at the Masquerade. We were laughing so much at this, that the King crossed the room to Lady Hervey, who was with us, and said, " What are those boys laughing at so ? " She told him, and that I had said I was so awkward at undressing myself, that I had stood for an hour in my stays and under-petticoat before my footman. My thanks to Madame Grifoni. I cannot write more now, as I must not make my letter too big, when it appears at the secretary's of&ce now. As to my sister [Mary ^ Maiy Mann, afterwards married to Mr. Foote. [See p. 76,] — Walpole. ^ Of Cumberland. — Walpole. The hero of Culloden. — Cdnninqham. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 141 Skerrett], I am sure Sir Eobert would never have accepted Prince Craon's offer, wKo now, I suppose, would not be eager to repeat it. 65. TO SIR HORACE MANN. March 10, 1742. I v^LL not work you up into a fright only to have the pleasure of putting you out of it, but will tell you at once that we have gained the greatest victory ! I don't mean in the person of Admiral Yemon, nor of Admiral Haddock ; no, nor in that of his Grace of Argyll. By we, I don't mean tee-England, but we, literally we ; not you and I, but we, the house of Orford. The certainty that the Opposition (or rather the Coalition, for that is the new name they have taken) had of carrying every point they wished, made them, in the pride of their hearts, declare that they would move for the Secret Committee yesterday (Tuesday), and next Friday would name the Kst, by which day they should have Mr. Sandys from his re-election. It was, however, expected to be put off, as Mr. Pulteney could not attend the House ; his only daughter was dying — they say she is dead.^ But an affair of consequence to them, and indeed to the nation in general, roused all their rage, and drove them to determine on the last violences. I told you in my last, that the new Admiralty was named, with a mixtm^e of Tories ; that is, it was named by my Lord of Argyll ; but the King flatly put his negative on Sir John Cotton. They said he was no Tory now, (and, in truth, he yesterday in the House professed himself, a Whig,) and that there were no Tories left in the nation. The TCi'rig repHed, " that might be ; but he was determined to stand by those who had set him and his family upon the throne." This refusal enraged them so much, that they declared they would force him, not only to turn out all the old ministry, but the new too, if he wished to save Sir R,[obert] and others of his friends ; and that, as they supposed he designed to get the great bills passed, and then prorogue the parHament, they were determined to keep back some of the chief bills, and sit aU the summer, examining into the late administration. Accordingly, yesterday, in a most full house. Lord Limerick^ (who last year, ^ 1742, March 9. The only daughter of William Pulteney, Esq., a young lady of fourteen, worthy of the tears of such a father. — Gentleman's Magazine for 1742, p. 163. — Cunningham. ^ William Hamilton, Lord Viscount Limerick. — Walpole. According to the peerages, Lord Limerick's Christian name was James, and not William, — Dover. 142 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. seconded tlie famous motion^) moved for a committee to examine into the conduct of the last twenty years, and was seconded hy Sir John St. Aubin.^ In short, (for I have not time to tell you the debate at length,) we divided, between eight and nine, when there was not a man of our party that did not expect to lose it by at least fifteen or twenty, but, to our great amazement, and their as great confusion, we threw out the motion, by a majority of 244 against 242.^ Was there ever a more surprising event ? a disgraced min- ister, by his personal interest, to have a majority to defend him even fi'om inquiry ! What was ridiculous, the very man who seconded the motion happened to be shut out at the division ; but there was one on om^ side shut out too. I don't know what violent step they will take next ; it must be by surprise, for when they could not carry this, it will be impossible for them to carry anything more personal. We trust that the danger is now past, though they had a great meeting to-day at Dodington's, and threaten still. He was to have made the motion, but was deterred by the treatment he met last week. Sir John Noriis was not pre- sent ; he has resigned all his employments, in a pique for not being named of the new Admiralty. His old Grace of Somerset " is recon- ciled to his son, Lord Hertford, on his late afi'air of having the regi- ment taken from him : he sent for him, and told him he had behaved like his son. My dearest child, I have this moment received a most unexpected and most melancholy letter from you, with an account of youi' fever and new operation. I did not in the least di^eam of your having any more trouble fi'om that disorder ! are you never to be delivered from it ? Your letter has shocked me extremely ; and then I am terrified at the Spaniards passing so near Florence. If they should, ^ For removing Sir Robert Walpole. — Walpole. 2 Sir John St. Aubyn, of Clowance, in Cornwall [died 1744], third baronet of that family. — Dover. ^ March 9. Motion in the House of Commons for a secret committee to inquire into our affairs for twenty or twenty -one years. The Speaker said Ayes had it ; one that was for trying it divided the House. The Noes carried it by 244 against 242. Mr. Sandys at Worcester, Mr. Pulteney at home— his daughter dying The Prince at Kew. Several of liis servants, and several Scotch members, not at the House ; nor Lord Winchilsea's brothers. Gibbon, Rushout, Barnard voted for the committee, but did not speak. It is said that the Prince had before this written to Lord Carteret, to desire that Lord Archibald Hamilton and Lord Baltimore might be lords of the Ad- miralty, and that this had been promised. — Seeker MS. — Wright. "^ Charles, commonly called "the proud Duke of Somerset." An absurd, vain, pompous man, who appears to have been also most harsh and unfeeling to those who depended on him. — Dover. See note 4, p. 134. — Cunningham. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 143 as I fear they will, stay here, how inconyenient and terrible it would be for you, now you are ill ! You tell me, and my good Mr. Chute tells me, that you are out of all danger, and much better ; but to what can I trust, when you have these continual relapses ! The vast time that passes between your writing and my receiving your letters, makes me flatter myself, that by now you are out of all pain : but I am miserable, with finding that you may be still subject to new torture ! not all your courage, which is amazing, can give me any about you. But how can you write to me ? I will not suffer it — and now, good Mr. Chute, will write for you. I am so angry at your writing immediately after that di-eadful operation, though I see your goodness in it, that I will not say a word more to you. All the rest is to Mr. Chute. What shall I say to you, my dearest Sir, for all your tenderness to poor Mr. Mann and me ? as you have so much friendship for him, you may conceive how much I am obliged to you. How much do I regret not having had more opportunities of showing you my esteem and love, before this new attention to Mr. Mann. You do flatter me, and tell me he is recovering — ^may I trust you ? and don't you say it, only to comfort me ? — Say a great deal for me to Mr. Whithed ; he is excessively good to me ; I don't know how to thank him. I am happy that you are so well yourself, and so constant to your fasting. To reward your virtues, I will tell you all the news I know ; not much, but very extraordinary. What would be the most extraordinary event that you think could happen ? Would not — next to his becoming a real patriot— the Duke of Argyll's resigning be the most unexpected? would anything be more sur- prising than his immediately resigning power and profit, after having felt the want of them ? Be that as it will, he literally, actually resigned all his new commissions yesterday, because the King refased to employ the Tories.' What part he will act next, is yet to come. Mrs. Boothby said, upon the occasion, '^that in one month's time he had contrived to please the whole nation — the Tories, by going to court ; the Whigs, by leaving it." They talk much of impeaching my father, since they could not committee him ; but as they could not, I think they will scarce be able to carry a more violent step. However, to show how httle Tory resentments are feared, the King has named a new Admiralty ; ^ March 10. Duke of Argyle resigned his places to the King, He gave for a reason, that a proposal had been made to him for going ambassador to Holland, which he understood to be sending him out of the way. — Seeker il//S'.— Wright, Hi HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. Lord Winchilsea, Admiral Cayendisli, Mr. Cockburn, Dr. Lee, Lord Baltimore, young Trevor/ (which is much disliked, for he is of no consequence for estate, and less for parts, hut is a relation of the Pelhams,) and Lord Archibald Hamilton "" — to please his Boyal Highness. Some of his people (not the Lytteltons and Pitts) stayed away the other night upon the Secret Committee, and they think he will at last rather take his father's part than Argyll's. Poor Mr. Pulteney has lost his girl : she was an only daughter, and sensible and handsome. He has only a son left,' and, they say, is afflicted to the greatest degree. I will say nothing about old Sarah's [the Duchess of Marl- borough's] Memoirs; for with some spirit, they are nothing but remnants of old women's frippery. Good night I I recommend my poor Mr. Mann to you, and am yours, most faithfidly. P.S. My dearest child, how unhappy I shall be, till I hear you are quite recovered ! 66. TO SIR HORACE MANK Monday, March 22, 1742. [Great part of this letter is lost.] * * * I have at last received a letter from you in answer to the first I wrote to you upon the change in the ministry. I hope you have received mine regularly since, that you may know all the con- sequent steps. I Hke the Pasquinades you sent me, and think the Emperor's * letter as mean as you do. I hope his state will grow more abject every day. It is amazing, the progress and success of the Queen of Hungary's arms ! It is said to-day, that she has defeated a great body of Prussians in Moravia. We are going to extend a helping hand to her at last. Lord Stair' has accepted ^ The Hon. John Trevor, second son of Thomas, first Lord Trevor. He succeeded his elder brother Thomas, as third Lord Trevor, in 1744. — Dover. 2 Lord Archibald Hamilton, seventh and youngest son of Anne, Duchess of Hamilton in her own right, and of William, Earl of Selkirk, her husband, created by Charles H. Duke of Hamilton for life. Lord Archibald married Lady Jane Hamilton, daughter of James, Earl of Abercorn, and by her had three sons ; of whom the youngest was Sir William Hamilton, long the British envoy at the court of Naples.— Dover. Lady Archibald had a lengthened intrigue with Frederick, Prince of Wales ; and Sir William, her son, was (finally) the husband of Lord Nelson's Lady Hamilton.— CuNNrNGHAM, ^ Who died before his father. — Cunningham. * Charles VH., the Emperor of the Bavarian family, — Dover. " John Dalrymple, second Earl of Stair, a man much distinguished both as a general and a diplomatist.— Walpole. The Earl of Stair was dismissed by Sir Robert 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 1*5 wKat my Lord Argyll resigned, and sets out ambassador to Holland in two days ; and afterwards will liave the command of the troops that are to be sent into Flanders. I am sorry I must send away this to-night, mthout being able to teU you the event of to-morrow ; but I will let you know it on Thursday, if I wte but two lines. You have no notion how I laughed at Mrs. Golds worthy's '' talldng from hand to mouth." ' How happy I am that you have Mr. Chute still with you ; you would have been distracted else with that simple woman ; for fools prey upon one, when one has no companion to laugh them off. I shaU say everything that is proper for you to the Earl [Orford], and shall take care about expressing you to him, as I know you have your gratitude far more at heart, than what I am thinking of for you, I mean your stay at Florence. I have spoken very warmly to Lord Lincoln about you, who, I am sure, will serve you to his power. Indeed, as all changes are at a stop, I am convinced there will be no thought of removing you. However, till I see the situ- ation of next winter, I cannot be easy on your account. I have made a few pui'chases at Lord Oxford's sale ; a small Vandyke, in imitation of Teniers ; "^ an old picture of the Duchess of Suffolk, mother of Lady Jane Grey, and her young husband ; " a sweet bronze vase by Fiamingo, and two or three other trifles. The things sold dear ; the antiquities and pictures for about five thousand pounds, which yet, no doubt, cost him much more, for he gave the most extravagant prices. His coins and medals are now seUing, and go still dearer. Good night ! How I wish for every letter, to hear how you mend ! Walpole, not only from the office of Vice- Admiral of Scotland, but from Lis regiment of Dragoons. Alfter Walpole's fall [1742], he was restored, and served -with credit at Dettingen ; but after that battle he resigned his military rank, indignant, as he said, at the King's unjust partiality to the Hanoverians, On the rebellion of 1745, he however nobly buried these differences in oblivion, and was made Commander-in-chief. He died in 1747. — Oroher, Suffolk Corresp. ii. 60. He is mentioned by Pope : Far other stars than George and Frederick wear, And may descend to Mordington from Stair. — Dialogue ii. Cdnningham. ^ An expression of Mr. Chute.— Walpole, See ante, p. 79 and p. 129, and letter to Mann, May 6, 1742. She was handsome, but illiterate.— Cunningham. 2 Soldiers at Cards, for which he paid 38^. 175. Sold at the Strawberry Hill sale for 23^ 25. — Cunningham. ^ Adrian Stoke, a curious picture, for which he paid 15'. 4.s. Qd. Sold at the Straw- berry Hill sale to the Honourable and Reverend Heneage Finch for 92/. 85. — Cunningham. VOL. I. L " 146 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. 67. TO Sm HORACE MANN. 3farc7i 24, 1742, 1 PROMISED you in my last letter to send you tlie event of yester- day.' It was not siich as you would msh, for on the division, at nine o'clock at night, we lost it by 242 against 245. We had three people shut out, so that a majority of three ^ is so small that it is scarce doubted, but that, on Friday, when we ballot for the twenty- one to form the committee, we shall carry a list composed of om^ people, so that then it "\\tI1 be better that we lost it yesterday, as they never can trouble my Lord Orford more, when the Secret Committee consists of his own friends. The motion was made and seconded by the same people as before : Mr. Pulteney had been desii'ed, but refused, yet spoke very warmly for it. He declared, " that if they found any proofs against the Earl, he would not engage in the prosecution ; " and especially protested against resumptions of grants to his family, of which, he said, " there had been much tallc, but they were what he would never come into, as being very illegal and unjust." The motion was quite personal against Lord Orford, singly and by name, for liis last ten years — the former question had been for twenty years, but as the rules of Parliament do not allow of repeating any indi^ddual motion in the same session of its rejection, and as every evasion is allowed in this country, half the term Avas voted by the same House of Commons ^ Marcli 23, 1742. Motion by Lord Limerick, and seconded by Sir J. St. Aubin, on the 9th instant, for a Secret Committee of twenty-one, to examine into the Earl of Orford's conduct for the last ten years of his being Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord of the Treasury. j\[r. Pulteney said, ministers should always remember the account they must make ; that he Avas against rancour in the inquiry, desired not to be nimed for the Committee, particularly because of a rash word he had used, that he would pursue Sir Robert Walpole to his destruction ; that now the minister was destroyed, he had no ill-will to the man ; that from his own knowledge and experience of many of the Tories, he believed them to be as sincerely for the King and his family as himself ; that he was sensible of the disagreeable situation he was in, and would get out of it as soon as he could. Mr. Sandys spoke for the motion, and said, he desired his own conduct might always be strictly inquired into. Lord Orford's son, Horace Walpole, and Mr. Ellis spoke well against the motion. It was carried by 252 against 245. Three or four were shut out, who would have been against it. Mr, William Finch against it. The Prince's servants for it. Then Mr. Pulteney moved for an address of duty to the King, &c., which he begged might pass without opposition ; and accordingly it did so. But Sir W. W. Wynne, and several others, went out of the House ; which was by some understood to be disapprobation, by others accident or weariness, — Seeker MS. — Wright. 2 The motion was carried by a majority of seven, the numbers being 252 against 245. — Weight. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 1^^ that had refused an inquiry into the whole ; a sort of proof that every onine majus does not continere in se minus — but Houses ol Commons can find out evasions to logical axioms, as well as to their own orders. If they carry their Hst, my lord will be obliged to return from Houghton. After the division, Mr. Pulteney' moved for an address to the Eing, to declare their resolution of standing by him, especially in assisting the Queen of Hungary— but I beHeve, after^ the loss of the question, he wiU not be in very good humour with this address, I am 'now going to tell you what you will not have expected— that a particular friend of yours opposed the motion, and it was the first time he ever spoke. To keep you not in suspense, though you must have guessed, it was 220.' As the speech was veiy favourably heard, and has done him service, I prevailed with him to give me a copy — ^here it is : — " Mr. Speaker,^— I have always tliouglit, Sir, that incapacity and ine^tperience must prejudice the cause they undertake to defend ; and it has been diffidence of myself, not distrust of the cause, that has hitherto made me so silent upon a point on which I ought to have appeared so zealous. " While the attempts for this inquiry were made in general terms, I should have thought it presumption in me to stand up and defend measures in which so many abler men have been engaged, and which, consequently, they could so much better support j but when the attack grows more personal, it grows my duty to oppose ifc more particularly, lest I be suspected of an ingratitude which my heart disdains. But I think. Sir, I cannot be suspected of that, unless my not having abilities to defend my father can be construed into a desire not to defend him. " My experience, Sir, is very small ; I have never been conversant in business and politics, and have sat a very short time in this House — with so slight a fund, I must much mistrust my power to serve him — especially as in the short time I have sat here, I have seen that not his own knowledge, innocence, and eloquence, have been able to protect him against a powerful and determined party. I have seen, since his retirement, that he has many great and noble friends, who have been able to protect him from farther violence. But, Sir, when no repulses can calm the clamour against him, no motives should sway his friends from openly undertaking his defence. When the King has conferred rewards on his services ; when the Parliament has refused its assent to any inquiries of complaint against him ; it is but maintaining the King's and our own honour, to reject this motion — for the repeating which, however, I ^ This was much mentioned in the pamphlets written against the war, which was said to have been determined " by a gentleman's fumbling in his pocket for a piece of paper at ten o'clock at night," and the House's agreeing to the motion without any consideration. — Walpole. ^ The author of these letters. — Walpolb. ^ There is a fictitious speech printed for this in several magazines of that time, but which does not contain one sentence of the true one. — Walpole. Compare Walpole's * Short Notes* of his life, under March 23, 1742. — Cunningham. L 2 148 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742, cannot think the authors to blame, as I suppose now they hare turned him out, they ate willing to inquire whether they had any reason to do so. *' I shall say no more, Sir, but leave the material part of this defence to the impar- tiality, candour, and credit of men who are no ways dependent on him. He has already found that defence. Sir, and I hope he always will ! It is to their authority I trust— and to me, it is the strongest proof of innocence, that for twenty years together, no crime could be solemnly alleged against him ; and since his dismission, he has seen a majority rise up to defend his character in that very House of Commons in which a majority had overturned his power. As therefore. Sir, I must think him innocent, I stand up to protect him from injustice — had he been accused, I should not have given the House this trouble : but I think, Sir, that the precedent of what was done upon this question a few days ago, is a sufficient reason, if I had no other, for me to give my negative now.'' William Pitt [Chatham], some time after, in the debate, said, how very comimendable it was in him to have made the above speech, which must have made an impression upon the House ; but if it was becoming in him to remember that he was the child of the accused, that the House ought to remember too that they are the childi'en of their country. — It was a great comphment fi'om him, and very artful too. I forgot to tell you in my last, that one of om' men-of-war, com- manded by Lord Banffe,' a Scotchman, has taken another register ship, of immense value. You ^^nl\ laugh at a comical thing that happened the other day to Lord Lincoln. He sent the Duke of Richmond word that he would dine with him in the country, and if he would give liim leave, would bring Lord Bury ' with him. It happens that Lord Buiy is nothing less than the Duke of Hichmond's nephew. The Duke, very properly, sent him word back, that Lord Bury might bring him, if he pleased. I have been j)lagued all this morning with that oaf of unHcked antiquity, Prideaux,' and his great boy. He talked through all ^ Alexander Ogilvy, sixth Lord Banff, commanded the Hastings man-of-war in 1742 and 1743, and captured, during that time, a valuable outward-bound Spanish register-ship, a Spanish privateer of twenty guns, a French polacca with a rich cargo, anil other vessels. He died at Lisbon in November 1746, at the early age of twenty- eight. — Dover. 2 George Lord Bury, afterwards [1754] third Earl of Albemarle. His mother was Lady Anne Lennox, sister of the Duke of Richmond. — Dover. Lord Bury served as aid-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland at the battle of Fontenoy and at Culloden, and commanded in chief at the reduction of the Havannah. He died in 1772. AVrigiit. ■^ Grandson of Dean Pridcaux ; he was just returned out of Italy, with his son.— Walpole, 1742.] TO SIR HOEACE MANN. UO" Italy, and 6verytlimg in all Italy. Upon mentioning Stosch, I asked him if lie had seen Ms collection. He replied, very few of his things, for he did not like his company ; that he never heard so much heathenish talk in his days. I inquired what it was, and found that Stosch had one day said hefore him, "that the soul was only a little glue." I laughed so much, that he walked off; I suppose, thinking that I heheved so too. By the way, tell Stosch that a gold Alectus sold at Lord Oxford's sale for above threescore pounds. Good night, my dear child 1 I am just going to the ridotto ; one hates those places, comes away out of humour, and yet one goes again ! How are you ? I long for your next letter to answer me, « 68. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Downing Street, ApHl 1, 174^. I RECEIVED your letter of March 18th, and would be as particular in the other dates which you have sent me in the end of your letter, but our affairs having been in such confusion, I have removed all my papers in general from hence, and cannot now examine them. I have, I think, received all youi's : but lately I received them two days at least after their arrival, and evidently opened ; so we must be cautious now what we write. Eemember this, for of your last the seal had been quite taken off and set on again. Last Friday we balloted for the Secret Committee. Except the vacancies, there were but thirty-one members absent : five hundred and eighteen gave in lists. At six that evening they named a com- mittee, of which Lord Hartington was chairman (as having moved for it), to examine the Hsts. This lasted from that time, all that night, till four in the afternoon of the next day ; twenty-two hours without remission. There were sixteen people, of which were Lord Hartington and Coke, who sat up the whole time, and one of them, Yelters Cornwall,' fainted with the fatigue and heat, for people of all sorts were admitted into the room, to see the Hsts drawn ; it was in the Speaker's chambers. On the conclusion, they found the majorit)^ was for a mixed Hst, but of which the Opposition had the greater number. Here are the two Hsts, which were given out by each side, but of which people altered several in their private lists. ^ Velters Cornw-all, Esq., of Moccas Court, in Herefordshire, and member for that county. — Dover. 150 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. THE COUKT LIST. AVilliam Bowles. *Lord Cornbury.* * William Finch.^ Lord Fitzwilliam. Sir Charles Gilmour. ^Charles Gore. H. Arthur Herbert.^ Sir Henry Liddel.-* John Plumptree.^ Sir John Eamsden. John Strange (Solicitor-General). Cholmley Turnor.. John Talbot.^ General Wade.^ James West.^ THE OPPOSITION LIST. Sir John Barnard. Alexander Hume Campbell.^ Sir John Cotton. George Bubb Dodington.^" Nicholas Fazakerley. Henry Furnese. Earl of Granard. Mr. Hooper." Lord Limerick.^ ^ George Lyttelton.^^ John Phillips. I'' William Pitt.^'^ Mr. Prowse. Edmund Waller.^^^ Sir Watkyn "Williams Wynn. Besides the following six, wliich were in botli lists : — ■*^George Compton . *William Noel ^^ *Lord Quarendon'^ *Slr John Rushout ^^ . *Samuel Sandys 20 . *Sir John St. Aubin . 515 These six, on casting .up the 612 numbers, had those marked 512 against their names, and were 516 consequently chosen. — Those 516 with this mark (*) were reck- 618 oned of the Opposition. ^ Son of the Earl of Clarendon. — Walpole. ^ Afterwards vice-chamberlain. — Walpole. 3 Afterwards Earl of Powis. — Walpole. ^ Afterwards Lord Ravensworth. — Walpole. " He had a place in the Ordnance. — Walpole. ^ Son of the late Lord Chancellor, and afterwards a judge. — Walpole. 7 Afterwards Field-Marshal. — Walpole. ^ Afterwards Secretary of the Treasury. — Walpole. ^ Afterwards solicitor to the Prince [of AVales]. — Walpole. '0 Had been a lord of the Treasury. — Walpole. " Had a place on the change of the ministry. — Walpole. He was a Hampshin gentleman, and member for Christchurch. — Dover. ^^ Afterwards King's remembrancer. — Walpole. ^^ Afterwards cofferer. — Walpole. ^^ Afterwards a lord of trade and baronet. — Walpole. '^ Afterwards paymaster. — Walpole. 1'' Afterwards cofferer. — Walpole. ^^ Afterwards a judge. — Walpole. ^^ Afterwards Earl of Lichfield. — Walpole. 1^ Afterwards Treasurer of the Navy. — Walpole. ^^ Afterwards Chancellor of the Exchequer, then cofferer, and then a baron. - Walpole. 1742.] TO Sm HOEACE MANK. 1^^ On casting up the numbers, the lists proved thus :— *Sir John Barnard . . 268 *Mr. Prowse . • -259 *Nicliolas Fazakerley . . 262 *Edmuiid Waller . . . 259 ♦Henry Eurnese . . .262 William Bowles . • 259 *Earl of Granard , . . 259 *Lord Cornbury . . . 262 Mr. Hooper . . 265 Solicitor-General [Strange] 259 259 Cholmley Tumor . . . 259 * ♦William Pitt This made eighteen : Mr. Pinch, Sir Harry Liddel, and Mr. Talbot, had 258 each, and Hume CampbeU 257, besides one m which his name was mis-wiitten, but aUowed ; out of these four, two were to be chosen : it was agreed that the Speaker was to choose them. He, with a resolution not supposed to be in him, as he has been the most notorious affecter of popularit)', named Sir Harr}^ Liddel and Mr. Talbot ; so that, on the whole, we haye just five that we can call our own.' These will not be suf&cient to stop their proceedings, but by being privy, may stop any iniquitous proceedings. They have chosen Lord Limerick chairman. Lord Orford returns to-moiTow from Houghton to Chelsea, from whence my uncle went in a great fright to fetch him. I was yesterday presented to the Prince and Princess [of Wales] ; but had not the honour of a word from either : he did vouchsafe to talk to Lord Walpole the day before. Yesterday the Lord Mayor [Sir Eobert Godschall] brought in their favomite bill for repeahng the Septennial Act, but we rejected it by 284 to 204.^ You shall have particular accounts of the Secret Committee and their proceedings ; but it will be at least a month before they can * March 26, 27. The House of Commons ballotted for their committee, being called over, and each opening his list at the table, and putting it into a vessel Avhich stood there. This was ended by five. Then a committee began to examine the lists, and sat from that time till four the next afternoon: for, though two lists were given out, many delivered in consisted partly of one, and partly of the other ; and many were put in different order. Sir Thomas Drury, a friend of Lord Orford's, put down four of the opposite side in his list. Lord Orford's friends hoped it would bring moderate persons over to them, if they put some on their list who were not partial to him. — March 29. The decision between Sir H. Lyddel, Mr. J, Talbot, and Mr. W. Finch, was left to the Speaker, who chose the two former. — Seeker MS. — Wright. ^ This is not correct. It appears, by the Journals, that the motion passed in the negative by 204 against 184. " March 31. Sir Robert Godschall, Lord Mayor, moved for the repeal of the Septennial Bill. Mr. PuUeney said, he thought annual parliaments would be best, but preferred septennial to triennial, and voted against the motion. In all; 204 against it, and 184 for it." — Seeker MS. — Wkight. 152 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1T42. make any progress. You did not say anything about yourself in your last ; never omit it, my dear child. 69. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, April 8, 1742, You have no notion how astonished I was, at reading your account of Sir Francis Dashwood ! — that it should be possible for private and personal pique so to sour any man's temper and honour, and so utterly to change their principles ; I o^vn I am for your naming him in your next despatch : they may at least intercept his letters, and prevent his dirty intelligence. As to Lady Walpole,' her schemes are so wild and so ill-founded, that I don't think it worth while to take notice of them. I possibly may mention this new one of changing her name, to her husband, and of her coming-over design, but I am sure he will only laugh at it. The ill-situation of the King, which you say is so much talked of at the Petraia,^ is not true ; indeed he and the Prince are not at all more reconciled for being reconciled ; but I think his resolution has borne him out. All the public questions are easily carried, even Avith the concm-rence of the Tories. Mr. Pulteney proposed to grant a large sum for assisting the Queen of Hungary, and got Su' John Barnard to move it. They have given the King five hundred thousand pounds for that pm-pose.^ The land-tax of four shillings in the pound is continued. Lord Stair is gone to Holland, and orders are given to the regiments and guards to have their camp 1 Margaret Rolle, a great Devonshire heiress, the wife [1724] of Robert, Lord Wal- pole, afterwards second Earl of Orford, the eldest son of the minister. She was a woman of bad character, as well as half mad ; Avhich last quality she communicated to her unfortunate son George, third Karl of Orford. She succeeded, in her own right, to the baronies of Clinton and Say, upon the death, in 1751, of Hugh, Earl and Baron Clinton [and died at Pisa in 1781]. — Dover, I have so good an opinion of your taste, to believe harlequin in person will never make you laugh so much as the Earl of Stair's furious passion for Lady AYalpole, aged/owrfee;i and some months. Mrs. Murray undertook to bring the business to bear, and provided the opportunitj"-, a great ingredient, you'll say ; but the young lady proved skittish. She did not only turn this heroic flame into present ridicule, but exposed all his generous sentiments, to divert her husband and father-in-law. — Lady Manj Worthy Montagu, Works, vol. ii. p. 188. — Wright. See p. 55. — Cunningham, 2 A villa belonging to the Great Duke, where Prince Craon resided in summer. — Walpole. ^ April 2. In the Commons, 500,000Z. voted for the Queen of Hungary ; I believe nem. con. Sir John Barnard moved it ; which, Mr. Sandys told me, was that day making himself the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He told me also, the King was unwilling to grant the Prince 50,000Z. a-year ; and I am told from other hands, that he saith he never promised it. The Bishop of Sarum (Sherlock) says, Sir Robert 1^^2.] TO SIR HORACE MANK. 153 equipages ready. As to tlie Spanish war and Vernon, there is no more talk of them ; one would think they had both been takenby a privateer. We talk of adjourning soon for a month or six weeks, to give the Secret Committee time to proceed, which yet they have not done. Their object is returned from Houghton in great health and greater spirits. They are extremely angry with him for laughing at their power. The concourse to him is as great as ever ; so is the rage against him. All this week the mob has been carrying about his effigies in procession, and to the Tower. The chiefs of the Opposition have been so mean as to give these mobs money for bonfires, particularly the Earls of Lichfield, Westmorland, Denbigh,' and Stanhope : ' the servants of these last got one of these figures, chalked out a place for the heart, and shot at it. You will laugh at me, who, the other day, meeting one of these mobs, drove up to it to see what was the matter : the first thing I beheld was a mawkin, in a chair, with three footmen, and a label on the breast, inscribed " Lady Mary.'^ * The Speaker, who has been much abused for naming two of our friends to the Secret Committee, to show his disinterestedness, has resigned his place of Treasurer to the Navy. Mr. Clutterbuck,^ one of the late Treasury, is to have it ; so there seems a stop put to any new persons from the Opposition. His Eoyal Highness is gone to Kew ; his di-awing-rooms will not Walpole told him, that the King would give 30,000?. but no more. Mr. Sandys appeared determined against admitting Tories, and said it was wonderful their union had held so long, and it could not be expected to hold longer ; that he could not imagine why everybody spoke against Lord Carteret, but that he had better abilities than anybody ; that as soon as foreign affairs could be settled, they would endeavour to reduce the expenses of the crown and interest of the debts. — Seeker MS. — Wright. ^ William Fielding, fifth Earl of Denbigh, died 1755.— Dover. ^ Philip, second Earl Stanhope, eldest son of the general and statesman, who founded this branch of the Stanhope family. Earl Philip was a man of retired habits, and much devoted to scientific pursuits. He died in 1786. — Dover. ^ Lady Mary Walpole, daughter of Sir K. W. — Walpole. "^ This Mr. Clutterbuck had been raised by Lord Carteret, when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, whom he betrayed to Sir R. Walpole ; the latter employed him, but never would trust him. He then ingratiated himself with Mr. Pelham, under a pretence of candour and integrity, and was continually infusing scruples into him on political questions, to distress Sir R. On the latter's quitting the ministry, he appointed a board of Treasury at his own house, in order to sign some grants ; Mr. Clutterbuck made a pretence to slip away, and never returned. He was a friend, too, of the Speaker's : when Sir R. W. was told that Mr. < )nslow had resigned his place, and that Mr. Clutterbuck was to succeed him, he said, " I remember that the Duke of Roxburgh, who was a great pretender to conscience, persuaded the Duke of Montrose to resign the seals of Secretary of State, on some scruple, and begged them himself the next day." — Walpole. See note 3, vol. i. p. 128. — Cunkingham. 154 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742.. be so crowded at his return, as lie has disobliged so many considerable people, particularly the Dukes of Montagu' and Eichmond, Lord Albemarle,' &c. The Eichmond went twice, and yet was not spoken to ; nor the others ; nay, he has vented his princely resent- ment even upon the women, for to Lady Hervey not a word. This is all the news, except that little Brook ^ is on the j)oint of matrimony with Miss Hamilton, Lady Archibald's daughter. She is excessively pretty and sensible, but as diminutive as he. I forgot to tell you, that the Place Bill has met with the same fate from the Lords as the Pension Bill * and the Triennial Act ; so that, after all their clamom' and changing of measures, they have not been able to get one of their popular bills passed, though the news- papers, for these tkree months, have swarmed with instructions for these purposes, from the constituents of all parts of Great Britain to theii^ representatives. "VYe go into mouimiug on Sunday for the old Empress Amelia.' Lord Chedworth,^ one of three new peers, is dead. We hear the King of Sardinia is at Piacenza, to open the campaign. I shall be in continual fears lest they distm^b you at Florence. My love to the Chutes, and my compHments to all my old acquaintance. I don't think I have forgot one of them. Patapan is entirely yours, and entii'ely handsome. Good night ! ^ John, second andlast Duke of Montagu, of tlie first creation [died 1749]. He was a man of some talent, and great eccentricity. Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, his mother-in-law, used to say of him, " My son-in-law Montagu is fifty, and he is still as mere a boy as if he was only fifteen." [See p. 389.] — Dover. ^ William-Anne Keppel, second Earl of Albemarle [died 1754]. An amiable pro- digal, who filled various great offices, through the favour of Lady Yarmouth, and died insolvent. — Dover. ^ Francis Greville, Lord Brooke, created Earl Brooke in 1746, and Earl of Warwick in 1749. He died in 1773. His little wife, to whom he was married 16 May, 1742, married, secondly. General Clarke, and died in 1800. See p. 108. — CDNNING^AM. ■* March 26. The Pension Bill read a second time in the Lords. Duke of Devon- shire said a few words against it. Lord Sandwich pleaded for it, that some persons now in the ministry had patronised it, and for their sakes it should be committed : Lord Komney, that some objections against it had been obviated by alterations. These three speeches lasted scarce half a quarter of an hour. The question being put for committing, not-content, 76 ; content, 46. I was one of five bishops for it ; Lord Carteret and Lord Berkeley against it. — Seeker MS. — AV right. ^ AVidow of the Emperor Joseph. She was of the house of Wolfenbuttle. — Walpole. ^ John Howe, Esq., created Baron of Chedworth, co. Gloucester, 12 May, 1741 ; died 1742. — Cunningham, l'^42.] TO SIR HORACE MAKN. 155 ro, TO SIR HORACE MANN. April 15, 1742. The great pleasure I receive from your letters is a little abated by my continually finding that they have been opened. It is a mortifi- cation, as it must resti'ain the freedom of our correspondence, and at a time when more than ever I must want to talk to you. Your brother showed me a letter, which I a2}prove extremely, yet do not think this a proper time for it ; for there is not only no present prospect of any farther alterations, but, if there were, none that will give that person any interest. He really has lost himself so much, that it will be long before he can recover credit enough to do anybody any service. His childish and troublesome behaviour, particularly lately (but I will not mention instances, because I would not have it known whom I mean), has set him in the lowest Hght imaginable. I have desired your brother to keep your letter, and when we see a necessary or convenient opportunity, which I hope will not arrive, it shall be delivered. However, if you are still of that opinion, say so, and your brother shall carry it. At present, my dear child, I am much more at repose about you, as I trust no more will happen to endanger your situation. I shall not only give you the first notice, but employ all the means in my power to pre- vent your removal. The Secret Committee, it seems, are almost aground, and, it is thought, will soon finish. They are now reduced, as I hear, to inquire into the last month, not having met with any foundation for proceeding in the rest of the time. However, they have this week given a strong instance of their arbitrariness and private resent- ments. They*sent for Paxton,^ the SoHcitor of the Treasury, and examined him about five hundred pounds which he had given seven years ago at Lord Limerick^s election. The man, as it dii^ectly tended to accuse himself, refused to answer. They complained to the House, and after a long debate he was committed to the serjeant- at-arms ; and to-day, I hear, for still refusing, will be sent to ^N^ewgate.^ We adjourn to-day for ten days, but the committee has ^ Nicholas Paxton, Solicitor to the Treasury, commemorated by Pope — 'Tis all a libel, Paxton, Sir, will say. He died 13 April, 1744. — Cunningham. '^ On a division of 180 against 128, Paxton was this day committed to Newgate ; where he remained till the end of the session, July 15. — Wright. 156 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. leave to continue sitting. But, my dear child, you may be quite at case, for tlicy themselves seem to despair of being able to effect anything. The Duke * [of Cumberland] is of age to-day, and, I hear by the guns, is just gone with the King to take his seat in the Lords. I have this morning received the jar of cedrati safe, for which I give you a milHon of thanks. I am impatient to hear of the arrival of your secretary and the things at Florence ; it is time for you to have received them. Here ! Amorevoli has sent me another letter. Would you believe that our 'svise dii-ectors for next year mil not keep the Yisconti, and have sent for the Fumagalli ? She will not be heard to the first row of the pit. I am growing miserable, for it is growing fine weather — that is, everybody is going out of town. I have but just begun to like London, and to be settled in an agreeable set of people, and now they are going to wander all over the kingdom. Because they have some chance of having a month of good weather, they will bury themselves three more in bad. The Duchess of Cleveland^ died last night of what they call a miliary fever, which is much about : she had not been ill two days. So the poor creature, her Duke, is again to be let : she paid dear for the hopes of being Duchess dowager. Lady Catherine Pelham^ has miscarried of twins ; but they are so miserable with the loss of theii' former two boys, that they seem glad now of not having any more to tremble for. There is a man who has by degrees bred himself up to walk upon stilts so high, that he now stalks about and peeps into the one pair of stairs windows. If this practice should spread, dining-rooms will be as innocent as chapels. Good night ! I rfever forget my best loves to the Chutes. P. S. I this moment hear that Edgcumbe' and Lord Fitzwilham ' William Augustus, Duke of Cambeiland, third son of George II., born 1721, died 1765, unmarried. — Cunningham. 2 Lady Henrietta Finch, sister of the Earl of Winchilsea, and wife of \Yilliam, Duke of Cleveland. — Walpole, 3 Catherine, sister of John Manners, Duke of Eutland, and wife of Henry Pelham [the minister]. They lost their two sons by an epidemic sore throat, after which she would never go to Esher, or any house where she had seen them. — AValpole. '^ Richard Edgcumbe, a great friend of Sir R. Walpole, w^as created a baron to pre- vent his being examined by the Secret Committee concerning the management of the Cornish boroughs. — Walpole. He was created Baron Edgecumbe, of Mount 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANK. 157 are created English peers : I am sure the first is, and I believe the second.' 71. TO SIR HORACE MANX. London, AjJril 22, 1742. You perceive, by the size of my paper, how Httlc I have to sa}'. The whole town is out of town for Easter, and nothing left but dust, old women, and the Secret Committee. They go on warmly, and have turned their whole thoughts to the secret-service money, after which they are inquiring by all methods. Sir John Eawdon'^ (you remember that genius in Italy) volimtarily swore before them that, at the late election at WaUiagford, he spent two thousand pounds, and that one Morley promised bim fifteen hundred more, if he would lay it out. ^'Whence was Morley to have it?" — "J don't laww ; I beheve from the First Minister." This makes an evidence. It is thought that they will ask leave to examine members, which was the reason of Edgcumbe's going into the peerage, as they supposed he had been the principal agent for the Cornish boroughs. Sir John Cotton said upon the occasion, *' Between Newgate^ and the House of Lords, the committee will not get any information." The troops for Flanders go on board Saturday se'nnight, the first enibarcation of five thousand men : the whole number is to be sixteen thousand. It is not yet known what success Earl Stah' has had at the Hague. We are in gi-eat joy upon the news of the King of Prussia's running away from the Austrians :" though his cowardice is well established, it is yet beHeved that the flight in question was determined by his head, not his heart ; in short, that it was treachery to his allies. Edgecumbe, co. Devon, 20Lh of April, 1742, and in December appointed Chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, He died 22nd Nov. 1758. His son, the second baron, died 1761, was one of Horace Walpole's constant Christmas guests at Strawberry Hill. — Cunningham. ^ Lord Fitz William was created, 19 April, 1742, four days after the date of this letter, Lord Fitzwilliam, Baron of Milton, co. Northampton. See p. 124. — Conningham. ^ He was afterwards made an Irish lord. — Walpole. Lord Eawdon in 1750, and Earl of Moira in 1761. — Dover. ^ Alluding to Paxton [p. 155], who was sent thither for refusing to give evidence, — Walpolk. ^ This must allude to the King of Prussia's abandonment of his design to penetrate through Austria to Vienna, which he gave up in consequence of the lukewarmness of his Saxon and the absence of his French allies. It is curious now, when the mist of contemporary prejudices has passed aAvay, to hear Frederick the Great accused of cowardice. — Dovku. 158 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. I forgot to tell you, that of tlie Secret Committee Sir Jolin Eush- out and Cliolmley Turnor never go to it, nor, which is more extra- ordinary, Sii' John Barnard. He says he thought their views were more general, but finding them so particular against one man, he will not engage with them. 1 have been breakfasting this morning at Eanelagh- Garden : ' they have built an immense amphitheatre, with balconies full of Httle alehouses ; it is in rivahy to Yauxhall, and costs above twelve thou- sand pounds. The building is not finished, but they get great sums by people going to see it and brealdasting in the house : there were yesterday no less than three hundred and eighty persons, at eighteen pence a-piece. You see how poor we are, when, with a tax of four shillings in the pound, we are laying out such sums for cakes and ale. We have a new opera, with your favourite song, Se cerca, se dice : ^ Monticelh sings it beyond what you can conceive. Your lEist was of April 8th. I lil^e the medal of the Csesars and Nihils' extremely ; but don't at all like the cracking of your house,^ except that it drives away your Pettegola." Wliat I hke much worse, is your recovering your strength so slowly ; but I trust to the warm weather. Miss Granville, daughter of the late Lord Lansdown,^ is named maid of honour, in the room of Miss Hamilton, who I told you is to be Lady Brook : they are both so small ! what little eggs they will lay! How does my Princess ! ' does not she deign to visit you too ? Is Sade " there still ? Is Madame Snares quite gone into devotion yet ? Tell me anything — I love anything that you vniie to me. Good night ! ^ This once celebrated place of amusement was so called from its site being that of a villa of Viscount Ranelagh, near Chelsea. The last entertainment given in it was the installation ball of the Knights of the Bath, in 1802. It has since been razed to the ground. — Wbight. The principal room, the Rotunda, was first opened 5th April, 1742.— Cunningham. 2 In the Olimpiade. — Walpole. •^ A satirical medal : on one side was the head of Francis, Duke of Lorrain (after- wards Emperor), with this motto, aut Ccesar aut nihil : on the reverse, that of the Emperor Charles VII., Elector of Bavaria, who had been driven out of his dominions, et Ccesar et nihil. — Walpole. '^ Sir H. Mann had mentioned, in one of his letters, the appearance of several cracks in the walls of his house at Florence. Mrs. Goldsworthy, the wife of the English consul, had taken refnge in it when driven from Leghorn by an earthquake. — Dover. ^ Mrs. Goldsworthy. — Walpole. ^ George Granville, Lord Lansdown, Pope's " Granville the polite,*' one of Queen Anne's twelve peers, and one of the minor poets of that time. He died in 1734. — Dover. '' Princess Craon. — Walpole. ^ The Chevalier de Sade. — Walpole. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 159 72. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, April 29, 1742. By youi's of April 17, N.S., and some of your last letters, I find my Lady Walpole is more mad than ever — why, there never was so Avild a scheme as this of setting up an interest through Lord Chester- field ! one who has no power ; and, if he had, would tln'rik of, or serve her, one of the last persons upon earth. ^Vhat connexion has he with, what interest could he have in obliging her ? and, but from views, what has he ever done, or will he ever do ? But is Eichcourt' so shallow, and so ambitious, as to put any trust in these projects ? My dear child, beheve me, if I was to mention them here, they would sound so chimerical, so womanish, that I should be laughed at for repeating them. For yom-self, be quite at rest, and laugh, as I do, at feeble, visionary malice, and assure yourself, whoever mentions such politics to you, that my Lady Walpole must have very frippery intelligence from hence, if she can raise no better views and on no better foundations. For the poem you mention, I never read it : upon inquiry, I find there was such a thing, though now quite obsolete : undoubtedly not Pope's, and only proves what I said before, how low, how paltry, how uninformed her ladysliip's cor- respondents must be. We are now aU military ! aU preparations for Flanders ! no parties but reviews ; no officers but " hope " they are to go abroad — at least, it is the fashion to say so. I am studying Hsts of regiments and names of colonels — not that " I hope I am to go abroad,'' but to talk of those who do. Three thousand men embarked yesterday and the day before, and the thirteen thousand others sail as soon as the transports can retmii. Messiem\s d'Allemagne^ roll their red eyes, stroke up their great beavers, and look fierce — ^you know one loves a review and a tattoo. We had a debate yesterday in the House on a proposal for replacing four thousand men of some that are to be sent abroad, that, in short, we might have fifteen thousand men to guard the kingdom. This was strongly opposed by the Tories, but we carried it in the committee, 214 against 123, and to-day, in the House, 280 against 169. Sii' John Barnard, Pulteney, the new ministiy, all the ^ Count Riclicourt was a Lorrainer, and chief minister of Florence; there was great connexion between him and Lady "Walpole. [See p. 87.] — Walpole. ^ The royal family. — Walpole, 160 HORACE AVALPOLES LETTERS. [1742. Prince's people, excej)t the Cohliam cousins,^ the Lord Mayor, several of the Opposition, voted with us ; so you must interpret Tories in the strongest sense of the word. The Secret Committee has desired leave to-day to examine three members, Burrel, Bristow, and lianbury Williams : '^ the two first are dii^ectors of the Bank ; and it is upon an agreement made mth them, and at which Williams was present, about remitting some money to Jamaica, and in which they pretend Sir Robert made a bad bargain, to oblige them as members of Parliament. They all three stood up, and voluntarily offered to be examined ; so no vote passed upon it. These are all the political news : there is little of any other sort ; so little gallantry is stirring, that I do not hear of so much as one Maid of Honour who has declared herself Avith child by any ofiicer, to engage him not to go abroad. I told you once or twice that Miss Hamilton is going to be married to Lord Brook : somebody wished Lord Archibald joy. He replied, " Providence has been very good to my family." We had a great scuffle the other night at the Opera, which interrupted it. Lord Lincoln was abused in the most shocking manner by a di'unken officer, upon which he kicked him, and Avas drawing his sword, but was prevented. They were 23ut imder arrest, and the next morning the man begged his pardon before the Diilce of Marlborough, Lord Albemarle, and other officers, in the most submissive terms. I saw the quarrel from the other side of the house, and rushing to get to Lord Lincoln, could not for the crowd. I climbed into the front-boxes, and stepping over the shoulders of three ladies, before I knew where I was, found I had lighted into Lord Eockingham's ^ lap. It was ridiculous ! Good night ! 73. TO RICHARD WEST, ESQ. DiiAR West : London, May i, 11 i-2. Your letter made me quite melancholy, till I came to the post- 1 Pitts, Grenvilles, Lytteltons, all related by marriage, or female descent, to Lord Cobham. — Dover. The boy patriots, or Oobham cousins, as Sir Robert Walpole used to call them. — Cunningham. " Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, the poet and wit, born 1709, died 2 Nov. 1759, it is said, by his own hand. His political squibs are some of the most lively and vigorous in our language. — Cunningham. ^ Lewis Watson, second Earl of Rockingham. He married Catharine, second 1742.] TO RICHARD WEST, ESQ. 161 script of fine weatlier. Your so suddenly finding tlie benefit of it, makes me trust you will entirely recover your health and spirits with the warm season : nobody wishes it more than I : nobody has more reason, as few have known you so long. Don't be afraid of your letters being dull. I don't deserve to be called your friend, if I were impatient at hearing your complaints. I do not desire you to suppress them till their causes cease ; nor should I expect you to write cheerfully while you are ill. I never design to write any man's life as a stoic, and consequently should not desire him to fui^nish me with opportunities of assuring posterity what pains he took not to show any pain. If you did amuse yourself with writing anjrfching in poetry, you know how pleased I should be to see it ; but for encouraging you to it, d'ye see, 'tis an age most unpoetical ! 'Tis even a test of wit to dislike poetry ; and though Po^^e has half a dozen old friends that he has preserved from the taste of last centmy, yet, I assure you, the generahty of readers are more diverted with any paltry prose answer to old Marlborough's secret history of Queen Mary's robes. I do not think an author would be universally commended for any production in verse, unless it were an Ode to the Secret Committee, with rhymes of Kberty and property, nation and administration. "Wit itself is monopoHsed by politics ; no laugh but would be ridiculous if it were not on one side or t'other. Thus Sandys thmks he has spoken an epigram, when he crincles up his nose and lays a smart accent on ways and means. We may, indeed, hope a little better now to the declining arts. The reconciliation between the royalties is finished, and fifty thou- sand pounds a-year more added to the heir aj)parent's revenue. He will have money now to tune up Glover, and Thomson, and Dodsley again : Et spes et ratio studiorum in Caesare tantum. Asheton is much yours. He has preached twice at Somerset Chapel with the greatest applause. I do not mind his pleasing the generahty, for you know they ran as much after Whitfield as they could after Tillotson ; and I do not doubt but St. Jude converted as many honom^able women as St. Paul. But I am sure you would approve his compositions, and admire them still more when you daughter and co-heir of Sir George Sondes, Earl of Feversham, and died in 1745. — Wright. VOL. I. w^ 162 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. teard liiin deliver them. He will write to yon liimself next post, but is not mad enougli with his fame to write you a sermon. Adieu, dear child ! Write me the progress of your recovery,' and believe it will give me a sincere pleasure ; for I am, yours ever. 74. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Downing Street, May 6, 1742. 1 HAVE received a long letter from you of the 22nd of April. It amazes me ! that our friends of Florence should not prove our friends ! "" Is it possible ? I have always talked of their cordiality, because I was convinced they could have no shadow of interest in their professions : — of that, indeed, I am convinced still — ^but how could they fancy they had ? There is the wonder ! If they wanted common honesty, they seem to have wanted common sense more. What hope of connection could there ever be between the English ministry and the Florentine nobiHty ? The latter have no views of being, or knowledge for being envoys, &c. They are too poor and proud to think of trading with us ; too abject to hope for the restora- tion of their liberty from us — and, indeed, however we may affection our own, we have showed no regard for their liberty — they have had no reason ever to expect that from us ! In short, to me it is mystery ! But how could you not tell me some particulars ? Have I so little interested myself with Florence, that you should think I can be satisfied without knowing the least particulars ? I must know names. Who are these wi'etches that I am to scratch out of my list ? I shall give them a black blot the moment I laiow who have behaved ill to you. Is Casa Ferroni of the number ? I suspect it : — ^that was of your first attachments. Are the prince and princess dirty ? — the Suares ? — ^tell me, teU me ! Indeed, my dear Mr. Chute, I am not of your opinion, that he should shut himself up and despise them ; let him go abroad and despise them. Must he mope because the Florentines are like the rest of the world ? But that is not true, for the world in England have not declared themselves so suddenly. It has not been the fashion to desert the ^ Mr. West died in less than a month from the date of this letter, in the twenty- sixth year of his age. — Berry. See Ashton's beautiful verses on West's death, post, p. 183. — Cunningham. 2 This alludes to an account given by Sir Horace Mann, in one of his letters, of the change he had observed in the manner of many of the Florentines towards him- self since Sir Kobert Walpole's retirement from office, upon the supposition enter- tained by them that he was intimately connected with the fallen minister.— Dover. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 163 earl and his friends : he has had more concourse, more professions, and has still, than in the height of his power. So your neighbours have been too hasty ; they are new style, at least, eleven days before us. Tell them, tell Richcourt, tell his Cleopatra,' that all their hopes are vanished, all their faith in Secret Committees — the reconciliation is made, and whatever reports their secretships may produce, there will be at least above a hundred votes added to om* party. Their triumph has been but ia hope, and their hope has failed ia two months. As to your embroil with Richcourt, I condemn you excessively ; not that you was originally in fault, but by seeming to own yourself so. He is an impertiaent fellow, and will be so, if you'll let him. My dear child, act with the spiiit of your friends here ; show we have lost no credit by losing power, and that a little Italian minister must not dare to insult you. Publish the accounts I send you; which I give you my honour are authentic. If they are not, let C5rtheris, your Antony's travelling concubine, contradict them. You tell me the St. Quintin is arrived at Genoa ; I see by the prints of to-day that it is got to Leghorn : I am extremely glad, for I feared for it, for the poor boy, and for the things. Tell me how you like your secretary. I shaU be quite happy, if I have placed one with you that you like. I laughed much at the family of cats I am to receive. I believe they will be extremely welcome to Lord Islay '' now ; for he appears little, hves more darkly and more Hke a wizard than ever. These huge cats wiU figure prodigiously in his ceU : he is of the mysterious, dingy nature of Stosch. As ivords is what I have not rhetoric to find out to thank you for sending me this paragraph of Madame Goldsworthy, I can only tell you that I laughed for an hour at it. This was one of my Lady Pomfret's correspondents. There seems to be a little stop in our embarkations ; since the first, they have discovered that the horse must not go till all the hay is provided. Three thousand men will make a fine figure towards supporting the balance of power ! Our whole number was to be ^ Lady Walpole. — Walpolb. ^ Archibald Campbell^ Earl of Islay, third Duke of Argyll. He was created Earl of Islay for his services in forwarding the Scottish union. In 1743, he succeeded his brother as Duke of Argyll, and died 15th April, 1761. He was Sir Robert Walpole's manager for Scotland, and enjoyed the entire confidence of that minister. See notes, p. 73 and p. 135. — Cunningham. M 2 164 HORACE AYALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. but sixteen ; and if all these cannot be assembled before tlie end of July, what mil be said of it ? The Secret Committee go on very pitifully : they are now in- quiring about some custom-house officers that were turned out at Weymouth for voting wrong at elections. Don't you think these articles will prove to the world what they have been saying of Sir Robert for these twenty years ? The House still sits in observance to them ; which is j^leasant to me, for it keeps people in town. We have operas too ; but they are almost over, and if it were not for a daily east wind, they would give way to Yauxhall and Chelsea. The new directors have agreed with the Fumagalli for next year, but she is to be second woman : they keep the Yisconti. Did I never mention the Bettina, the first dancer. It seems she was kept by a I^eapoHtan prince, who is extremely jealous of her coming hither. About a fortnight ago she fell ill, upon which her Neapolitan footman made off immediately. She dances again, but is very weak, and thinks herself poisoned. Adieu ! my dear child ; tell me you are well, easy, and in spirits : kiss the Chutes for me, and believe me, &c. 75. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, May 13, 1742. As I am obhged to put my letter into the secretary's office by nine o'clock, and it now don't want a quarter of it, I can say but three words, and must defer till next post answering your long letter by the courier. I am this moment come from the House, where we have had the first part of the Report from the Secret Committee. It is pretty long ; but, unfortunately for them, there is not once to be found in it the name of the Earl of Orford : there is a good deal about Mr, Paxton and the borough of Wendover ; and it appears that in eleven years Mr. Paxton has received ninety-four thousand pounds unac- counted for : now, if Lady E-ichcom't can make anything of all this, you have freely my leave to communicate it to her. Pursuant to this Report, and Mr. Paxton' s contumacy, they moved for leave to bring in a bill to indemnify aU persons who should accuse themselv es of any crime, provided they do but accuse Lord Orford, and they have carried it by 251 to 228 ! but it is so absurd a bill, that there is not the least likelihood of its passing the Lords. By this bill, whoever are guilty of murder, treason, forgery, &c. have nothing to do but to add perjury, and swear Lord Orford knew of it, and they 1742.] TO Sm HORACE MANK 165 may plead their pardon. Tell Lady Riclicoiirt this. Lord Orford knew of her gallantries : she may plead her pardon. Good night ! I have not a moment to lose. 76. TO SIR HORACE MANX. May 20, 1742. 1 SENT you a sketch last post of the division on the Indemnity Bill. As they carried the question for its being brought in, they brought it in on Saturday ; but were jDrevailed on to defer the second reading till Tuesday. Then we had a long debate till eight at night, when they carried it, 228 against 217, only eleven majority ; before, they had had twenty-three. They immediately went into the com- mittee on it, and reported it that night. Yesterday it came to the last reading ; but the House, having sat so late the night before, was not so full, and they carried it, 216 to 184. But to-day it comes into the Lords, where they do not in the least expect to succeed ; yet, to show their spirit, they have appointed a great dinner at the Fountain to-morrow, to consider on methods for supporting the honour of the Commons, as they call it, against the Lords. So now all prospect of quiet seems to vanish ! The noise this bill makes is incredible ; it is so unprecedented, so violent a step ! Everything is inflamed by Pulteney, who governs both parties, only, I thnik, to exasperate both more. Three of our own people of the committee, the Solicitor,^ [Strange] Talbot, and Bowles, vote against us m. the Indemnity Bill, and the two latter have even spoke agaiast us. Sir Robert said, at the beginning, when he was congratulated on having some of his own friends ia the Committee, " The moment they are appointed, they will grow so jealous of the honour of the Committee, that they will prefer that to every other consideration." ^ Our foreign news are as bad as our domestic : there seem Httle hopes of the Dutch coming into our measures ; there are even letters, that mention strongly their resolution of not stirring — so we have Quixoted away sixteen thousand men ! On Saturday we had accounts of the Austrians having cut off two thousand Prussians, in a retreat ; but on Sunday came news of the great victory ^ which the * John Strange, Esq., made Solicitor-General in 1736, and Master of the Rolls in 1750. He died in 1754— Wright. 2 Voltaire has since made the same kind of observation in his " Life of Louis XIV." Art. of Calvinism : — " Les hommes se piquent toujours de remplir un devoir qui les distingue." — Walpole. 3 The battle of Chotusitz, or Czaslau, gained by the King of Prussia over the very 166 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. latter have gained, killing six, and taking two thousand Austrians prisoners, and that Prince Charles is retired to Vienna wounded. This will but too much confirm the Dutch in their apprehensions of Prussia. As to the long letter you wrote me, in answer to a very particular one of mine, I cannot explain myself, till I find a safer conveyance than the post, by which, I perceive, all our letters are opened. I can only tell you, that in most things you guessed right ; and that as to myself' all is quiet. I am in great concern, for you seem not satisfied with the boy we sent you. Your brother entirely agreed with me, that he was what you seemed to describe ; and as to his being on the foot of a servant, I give you my honoui' I repeated it over and over to his mother. I suppose her folly was afraid of shocking him. As to Italian, she assui-ed me he had been learning it some time. If he does not answer your purpose, let me know if you can dispose of him any other way, and I will try to accommodate you better. Your brother has this moment been here, but there was no letter for me ; at least, none that they will dehver yet. I know not in the least how to advise Mr. Jackson.'^ I do not think Mr. Pelham the proper person to apply to ; for the Duke of Newcastle is as jealous of him as of anybody. Don't say this to him. For Lord Hervey, though Mr. Jackson has interest there, I would not advise him to try it, for both hate him. The apphca- tion to the Duke of Newcastle, by the most direct means, I should think the best, or by any one that can be serviceable to the govern- ment. You will laugh at an odd accident that happened the other day to my uncle : "* they put him into the papers for Earl of Sheffield. There have been little disputes between the two Houses about coming into each other's house ; when a lord comes into the Commons, they call superior forces of the Austrians. This victory occasioned peace between the contend- ing powers, and the cession of Silesia to the Prussian monarch. — Dover. ^ This relates to some differences between Mr. Walpole and his father, to which the former had alluded in one of his letters. They never suited one another either in habits, tastes, or opinions ; in addition to which. Sir Robert appears to have been rather a harsh father to his youngest son. If such was the case, the latter nobly revenged himself, by his earnest solicitude through life for the honour of his parent's memory. — Dover. Compare the Preface to this volume by the writer of this note. Cunningham. * He had been consul at Genoa. — Walpolb. ^ Old Horace Walpole, afterwards, 1756, Baron Walpole of Woolterton.— Cunningham. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 167 out withdraw : tkat day, tlie moment my uncle came in, they all roared out, withdraw ! withdraw ! The great Mr. Nugent^ has been unfortunate, too, in parliament ; besides being very ill heard, from being a very indifferent speaker ; the other day on the Place Bill, (which, by the way, we have new modelled and softened, and to which the Lords have submitted to agree to humour Pulteney,) he rose, and said, " He would not vote, as he was not determined in his opinion ; but he would offer his sentiments ; which were, particularly, that the bishops had been the cause of this biQ being thrown out before." Winnington called biTn to order, desiring he would be tender of the Church of England. You know he was a papist. In answer to the beginning of his speech, Yelters Cornwall, who is of the same side, said, " He wondered that when that gentleman could not convince himself by his eloquence, he should expect to convince the majority." Did I tell you that Lord Eochford'' has at last married Miss Young ? ^ I say, at last, for they don't pretend to have been married this twelvemonth ; but were publicly married last week. — Adieu ! 77. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Downing Street, May 26, 1742. To-day calls itself May the 26th, as you perceive by the date ; but I am writing to you by the fire-side, instead of going to Yauxhall. If we have one warm day in seven, " we bless our stars, and think it luxury." And yet we have as much waterworks and fresco diver- sions, as if we lay ten degrees nearer warmth. Two nights ago Hanelagh-gardens were opened at Chelsea; the Prince, Princess, Duke, much nobility, and much mob besides, were there. There is a vast amphitheatre, finely gilt, painted, and illuminated, into which everybody that loves eating, drinking, staring, or crowding, is admitted for twelvepence. The building and disposition of the gardens cost sixteen thousand pounds. Twice a- week there are to ^ Robert Nugent, afterwards Baron Nugent, "Viscount Clare, and Earl Nugent, in the peerage of Ireland. He was an occasional poet, and the solitary benefactor of Goldsmith, who has made him immortal by his letter of thanks for a Haunch of Venison. He died 13th Oct., 1788. [See p. 108]. — Cunningham. 2 William Henry Zulestein Nassau, fourth Earl of Rochford. He filled many diplomatic situations, and was at different times groom of the stole and secretary of state. He died in 1781. — Dover. ^ Lucy, daughter of Edward Young, Esq. [of Dumford, Wilts]. She had been maid of honour to the Princess of Wales. — Walpole. IBS HORACE WALPOLE'g LETTERS. [1742. be Ridottos, at guinea-tickets, for whicli yon are to have a supper and music. I was there last night, hut did not find the joy of it. Vauxhall is a Kttle better ; for the garden is pleasanter, and one goes by water. Our operas are almost over ; there were but three- and- forty people last night in the pit and boxes. There is a Httle simple farce at Drury Lane, called " Miss Lucy in Town," ' in which Mrs. CHve"' mimics the Muscovita admirably, and Beard,^ Amorevoli tolerably. But all the run is now after Gariick, a wine-merchant, who is turned player, at Goodman's-fields. He plays all parts, and is a very good mimic. His acting I have seen, and may say to you, who will not tell it again here, I see nothing wonderful in it ; " but it is heresy to say so : the Duke of Argyll says, he is superior to Betterton. Now I talk of players, tell Mr. Chute, that his friend Bracegirdle ^ breakfasted with me this morning. As she went out, and wanted her clogs, she turned to me, and said, ^' I remember at the playhouse, they used to call Mrs. Oldfield's^ chair! Mrs. Barry's' clogs ! and Mrs. Bracegirdle's pattens ! " 1 did, indeed, design the letter of this post for Mr. Chute ; but I have received two such charming long ones from you of the 15th and 20th of May (IST.S.), that I must answer them, and beg liim to excuse me till another post; so must the Prince [Craon], Prmcess, the Grifona, and Comitess GaUi. For the Princess's letter, I am not sure I shall answer it so soon, for hitherto I have not been able to read above every thii^d word ; however, you may thank her as ^ Miss Lucy in Town, a, Ballad Farce, by Henry Fielding, produced at Drury Lane, 5tli !May, 1742. It was prohibited after the eighth night by order of the Lord Cham- berlain, the Duke of Grafton ; but afterwards allowed to be acted. Beard played Signor Cantileno. — Cunningham, 2 Catherine Raftor, better known as Catherine Clive, and better still as Kitty Clive, born 1711, died Dec. 7, 1785. Walpole was fond of her society, and gave her a house on his Strawberry estate, called Little Straivberry Hill. In some of his letters he calls it Cliveden. Mr. Raftor, a brother of Mrs. Clive's, lived with Kitty at Little Strawberry Hill. Mrs. Clive is buried in Twickenham churchyard, where a monu- ment to her memory is still to be seen. [See p. 18]. — Cunningham. ^ John Beard, singer, actor, and manager, died Feb. 4, 1791. We shall hear, as we read on, of his runaway marriage with Lady Henrietta Herbert.— Cunningham. '* Garrick made his first appearance in London at Goodman's Fields Theatre, Oct. 19, 1741, in the character of Richard III. Walpole does not appear to have been singular in the opinion here given. Gr&j, in a letter to Chute, says, "Did I tell you about Mr. Garrick, that the town are horn-mad after : there are a dozen dukes of a night at Goodman-fields sometimes ; and yet I am stiff in the opposition." — Wright. ^ Anne Bracegirdle, died Sept. 12, 1748, aged eighty-five, and was buried in the east >Yalk of Westminster Abbey Cloisters. — Cunningham. ^ Anne Oldfield, died Oct. 23, 1730, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Her son, by General Churchill, married the daughter of Sir Robert Walpole" by his second wife. — Cunningham. ' Elizabeth Barry, died Nov. 7, 1713, and was buried at Acton, in Middlesex. — Cunningham. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 169 mMch as if I understood it all. I am very happy that mes bagatelles (for I still insist they were so) pleased. You, my dear child, are very good to he pleased with the snuff-box. I am much ohHged to the superior lumih^es of old Sarasin ' about the Indian ink : if she meant the black, I am sorry to say I had it into the bargain with the rest of the Japan : for the coloured, it is only a curiosity, because it has seldom been brought over. I remember Sir Hans Sloane^ was the first who ever had any of it, and would on no account give my mother the least morsel of it. She afterwards got a good deal of it from China ; and since that, more has come over ; but it is even less valuable than the other, for we never could tell how to use it ; however, let it make its figure. I am sure you hate me all this time, for chatting about so many tiifles, and telling you no politics. I own to you, I am so wearied, so worn with them, that I scarce know how to turn my hand to them ; but you shall know all I know. I told you of the meeting at the Fountain tavern : Pulteney had promised to be there, but was not; nor Carteret. As the Lords had put off the debate on the Indemnity Bill, nothing material passed ; but the meeting was very Jacobite. Yesterday the bill came on, and Lord Carteret took the lead against it, and about seven in the evening it was flung out by almost two to one, 92 to 47, and 17 proxies to 10. To-day we had a motion by the new Lord Hillsborough^ (for the father is just dead), and seconded by Lord Barrington,^ to examine the Lords' votes, to see what was become of the bill : this is the form. The chancellor of the Exchequer, and aU the new ministry, were with us against it ; but they carried it, 164 to 159. It is to be reported to-morrow, and as we have notice, we may possibly throw it out ; else they will hurry on to a breach with the Lords. Pulteney was not in the House : he was riding the other day, and met the King's coach ; endeavoming to tmTi out of the way, his horse started, flung him, and fell upon him : he is much bruised ; but not at aU dangerously. ^ Madame Sarasin, a Lorrain lady, companion to Princess Craon. — Walpole. ^ Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., whose collections of every description founded the British Museum. Sir Hans nominated Horace Walpole a trustee of his collection. — Cunningham. ^ Wills Hill, the second Lord Hillsborough, afterwards created an Irish earl and made cofferer of the household. — Walpole. In the reign of George I II. he was created Earl of Hillsborough, in England, and finally Marquis of Downshire, in Ireland ; and held the office of secretary of state for the colonies. — Dover. '* William Wildman, Yiscount Barrington, made a lord of the Admiralty on the coalition, and master of the great wardrobe, in 1754. — Walpole. He afterwards held the offices of chancellor of the exchequer, secretary at war, and treasurer of the navy, and died February 1st, 1793.— Dx)Ver. 170 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. On this occasion, there was an epigram fixed to a list, which I will explain to you afterwards : it is not known who wrote it, but it was addressed to him : Thy horse does things by halves, like thee : Thou, with irresolution, Hurt'st friend and foe, thyself and me, The King and Constitution. The Kst I meant: you must know, some time ago, before the change, they had moved for a committee to examine, and state the pubhc accounts : it was passed. Finding how little success they had with their Secret Committee, they have set this on foot, and we were to ballot for seven commissioners, who are to have a thousand a-year. We ballotted yesterday : on our list were Sir Hichard Corbet,' Charles Hamilton,^ (Lady Archibald's brother,) Sir William Middleton,' Mr. West, Mr. Fonnereau, Mr. Thompson, and Mr. Ellis." On theirs, Mr. Banco, George Grenville, Mr. Hooper, Sir Charles Mordaunt,' Mr. Phillips, Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Stuart. On casting up the numbers, the four first on ours, and the three first on their list, appeared to have the majority : so no great harm will come from this, should it pass the Lords ; which it is not likely to do. I have now told you, I think, all the political news, except that the troops continue going to Flanders, though we hear no good news yet from Holland. If we can prevent any dispute between the two Houses, it is believed and much hoped by the Court, that the Secret Committee will desire to be dissolved : if it does, there is an end of all this tempest ! * Sir Richard Corbet, of Leighton, in Montgomeryshire, the fourth baronet of the family. He was member for Shrewsbury, and died in 1774. — Dover. ^ The Hon. Charles Hamilton, sixth son of James, sixth Earl of Abereorn, member for Truro, comptroller of the green cloth to the Prince of Wales, and subsequently receiver-general of the Island of Minorca. He died in 1787.^ — Dover. Better still, Mr. Hamilton was one of the restorers of landscape gardening. Pain's Hill, in Surrey, was one of the gardening glories of the eighteenth century. — Cunningham. ^ Sir William Middleton, Bart., of Belsay Castle, Northumberland, the third baronet of the family. He was member for Northumberland, and died in 1767. — Dover. ^ Welbore Ellis, member of parliament for above half a century ; during which period he held the different offices of a lord of the Admiralty, secretary at war, trea- surer of the navy, vice- treasurer of Ireland, and secretary of state. He was created Lord Mendip in 1794, with remainder to his nephew, Viscount Clifden, and died February 2, 1802, at the age of eighty-eight. — Dover. Lord Dover was the son of Welbore Ellis, Viscount Clifden. — Cunningham. * Sir Charles Mordaunt, of Massingham in Norfolk, the sixth baronet of the family. He was member for the county of Warwick, and died in 1778. — Dover. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 171 I must tell you an ingenuity of Lord Raymond/ an epitaph on the Indemnifying Bill — I believe you would guess the author : — Interr'd beneath this marble stone doth lie The Bill of Indemnity ; To show the good for which it was design'd, It died itself to save mankind. My Lady Townshend [Harrison] made me laugh the other night about your old acquaintance, Miss Edwin; who, by the way, is grown almost a Methodist. My lady says she was forced to have an issue made on one side of her head, for her eyes, and that Kent "* advised her to have another on the other side for symmetry. There has lately been published one of the most impudent things that ever was printed ; it is called " The Irish Register,"^ and is a list of all the unmarried women of any fashion in England, ranked in order, duchesses-dowager, ladies, widows, misses, &c. with their names at length, for the benefit of Irish fortune-hunters, or as it is said, for the incorporating and manufacturing of British commodi- ties. Miss Edwards "" is the only one printed with a dash, because they have placed her among the widows. I will send you this, " Miss Lucy in Town," and the magazines, by the first opportunity, as I should the other things, but your brother teUs me you have had them by another hand. I received the cedrati, for which I have abeady thanked you : but I have been so much thanked by several people to whom I gave some, that I can very well afibrd to thank you again. As to Stosch expecting any present from me, he was so extremely well paid for all I had of him, that I do not think myself at all in his debt : however, you was very good to offer to pay him. As to my Lady Walpole, I shaU say nothing now, as I have not seen either of the two persons since I received your letter to whom I design to mention her ; only that I am extremely sorry to find you still disturbed at any of the httle nonsense of that cabal. I hoped that the accounts which I have sent you, and which, except in my last letter, must have been very satisfactory, would have served * Robert, the second Lord Raymond [died 1753], son of the lord chief justice. — Walpole, ^ William Kent, the architect ; he lived with Mrs. Butler, the actress, and died 1748. — Cunningham. 3 " The Irish Register,'' was published in June, 1742, by Webb, price 1*-., and was followed the same month, also price Is., by " The English Register, or the Irish Kegister Match'd." — Cunningham. ^ Miss Edwards, an unmarried lady of great fortune, who openly kept Lord Anne Hamilton. — Walpole. 172 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. you as an antidote to tlieir legends ; and I think the great yictory in the House of Lords, and which, I assure you, is here reckoned prodigious, will raise your spirits against them. I am happy you have taken that step about Sir Francis Dashwood ; the credit it must have given you with the King wiU more than counterbalance any little hurt you might apprehend from the cabal. I am in no hurry for any of my things ; as we shall be moving from hence [Downing Sti-eet] as soon as Sir Robert has taken another house, I shall not want them till I am more settled. Adieu ! I hope to tell you soon that we are all at peace, and then I trust you will be so. A thousand loves to the Chutes. How I long to see you all ! P.S. I unseal my letter to tell you what a vast and, probably, final victory we have gained to-day. They moved, that the Lords flinging out the Bill of Indemnity was an obstruction of justice, and might prove fatal to the Hberties of this country. We have sat till this moment, seven o'clock, and have rejected this motion by 245 to 193. The call of the House, which they have kept off from fortnight to fortnight, to keep people in town, was appointed for to-day. The moment the division was over. Sir John Cotton rose and said, " As I think the inquiry is at an end, you may do what you will with the call." We have put it off for two months. There's a noble postscript ! 78. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, June 3, 1742. I HAVE sent Mr. Chute aU the news ; I shall only say to you that I have read your last letter about Lady W. to Sir E,. He was not at all surprised at her thoughts of England, but told me that last week my Lord Carteret had sent him a letter which she had written to him, to demand his protection. This you may teU pubhcly ; it will show her ladyship's credit. Here is an epigram, which I believe will divert you : it is on Lord Islay's garden' upon Hounslow Heath. Old Islay, to show his fine delicate taste^ In improving his gardens purloin'd from the waste. ^ The gardens of Lord Islay (afterwards Duke of Argyll) at Whitton near Hounslow were very celebrated. The graver of WooUett has perpetuated some of their beauties. — Cunningham. 2 These lines were written by Bramston, author of " The Art of Politics," and 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 173 Bade his gard'ner one day to open his views, By cutting a couple of grand avenues : No particular prospect his lordship intended, But left it to chance how his walks should be ended. With transport and joy he beheld his first view end In a favourite prospect — a church that was ruin'd — But alas ! what a sight did the next cut exhibit ! At the end of the walk hung a rogue on a gibbet ! He beheld it and wept, for it caused him to muse on Full many a Campbell that died with his shoes on. All amazed and aghast at the ominous scene. He order'd it quick to be closed up again With a clump of Scotch firs, that served for a Screen. Sir Robert asked me yesterday about the Domini chin, but I did not know what to answer : I said I would write to you about it. Have you bought it ? or did you quite put it off ? I had forgot to mention it again to you. If you have it not, I am still of opinioii that you should buy it for him. Adieu ! 79. TO SIR HORACE MANN. June 10, the Pretenders birthday, which, by the way, I believe lie did not expect to keep at Rome this year, 1742. Since I wrote you my last letter, I have received two from you of the 27th of May and 3rd of June, JST.S. I hope you will get my two packets ; that is, one of them was addressed to Mr. Chute, and in them was all my faggot of compliments. Is not poor Scully' vastly disappointed that we are not arrived? But reaUy, will that mad woman [Lady Walpole] never have done ? does she still find credit for her extravagant histories ? I carried her son** with me to Vauxhall last night : he is a most charming boy, but grows excessively like her in the face. I don't at all foresee how I shall make out this letter : everybody "The Man of Taste." — Walpole. The Reverend James Bramston, vicar of South Harting, Sussex, Pope took the line in the Dunciad, " Shine in the dignity of F.R.S." from his Man of Taste ; — " a satire," says Warton, ** in which the author has been guilty of the absurdity of making his hero laugh at himself and his own follies." He died in 1744. — Wright. ^ An Irish tailor at Florence, who let out ready-furnished apartments to travelling English. Lady W[alpole] had reported that [Lord Orford], her father-in-law, was flying from Kngland and would come thither, — Walpole, 2 George Walpole, afterwards, 1751, the third Earl of Orford. Mr. Pitt, in a letter, written in 1759, says, " Nothing could make a better appearance than the two Norfolk battalions ; Lord Orford, with the port of Mars himself, and really the genteelest figure under arms I ever saw, was the theme of every tongue." — Chatluun Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 4. — Wjiiqht, 174 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. is gone out of town during tlie Wliitsuntide, and many will not return, at least not these six weeks ; for so long they say it will be before the Secret Committee make their Eeport, with which they intend to finish. We are, however, entertained with pageants every day — reviews to gladden the heart of David,* and triumphs of Absolom ! He' and his wife went in great parade yesterday through the city and the dust to dine at Greenwich ; they took water at the Tower, and trumpeting away to Grace Tosier's, Like Cimon, triumph'd both on land and wave.^ I don't know whether it was my Lord of Bristol ' or some one of the Saddlers'* Company who had told him that this was the way " to steal the hearts of the people." He is in a quarrel with Lord Falmouth.' There is just dead one Hammond,' a disciple of Lord Chesterfield, and equerry to his royal highness : he had parts, and was just come into parliament, strong of the Cobham faction, or nepotism, as Sir Eobert calls it. The White Prince desired Lord Falmouth to choose Dr. Lee, who, you know, has disobliged the party by accepting a lordship of the admii^alty. Lord Falmouth has absolutely refused, and insists upon choosing one of his own brothers : his highness talks loudly of opposing him. The borough is a Cornish one. There is arrived a courier from Lord Stair, with news of Prince Lobkowitz haviQg cut cut off ^ve thousand French. We are hui'ry- ing away the rest of our troops to Flanders, and say that we are in great spirits, and intend to be m greater when we have defeated the French too. ^ George the Second. — Walpole. ^ Frederic, Prince of Wales. — Walpole. ^ Pope's Dunciad. — Cunningham. ■* Dr. Seeker, afterwards Bishop of Oxford. — Walpole. And eventually Archbishop of Canterbury. According to Walpole, he was bred a man-midwife. — Dover. Seeker had committed in Walpole's eyes the unpardonable offence of having " procured a marriage between the heiress of the Duke of Kent and the chancellor's (Hardwicke's) 80n ; " he, therefore, readily propagated the charges of his being " a presbyterian, a man-midwife, and president of a very free-thinliing club," (Memoirs, i. p. 56) when the fact is, the parents of Seeker were dissenters, and he for a time pursued the study, though not the practice, of medicine and surgery. The third charge is a mere false- hood. See also Quarterly Review, xxvii. p. 187. — Wriqht. ^ The Prince was a member of the Saddlers' company. — Walpole. ^ Hugh Boscawen, second Viscount Falmouth, a great dealer in boroughs. It is of him that Dodington tells the story, that he went to the minister to ask a favour, which the latter seemed unwilling to grant ; upon which Lord Falmouth said, " Remember, Sir, we are seven ! " — Dover. ^ Author of Love Elegies. — Walpole. See vol. i. p. 114. — Cunningham. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 175 For my own particular I cannot say I am well ; I am afraid I liave a little fever upon my spirits, or at least have nerves, which, you know, everybody has in England. I begin the cold bath to-morrow, and talk of going to Tunbridge, if the parliament rises soon. Sir Robert, who begins to talk seriously of Houghton, has desired me to go with biTn thither ; but that is not at all settled. Now I mention Houghton, you was in the right to miss a gallery there ; but there is one actually fitting up, where the green-house was, and to be furnished with the spoils of Downing- street. I am quite sorry you have had so much trouble with those odious cats of Malta : dear child, fling them into the Arno, if there is water enough at this season to drown them ; or, I'LL tell you, give them to Stosch, to pay the postage he talked of. I have no ambition to make my court with them to the old wizard. I think I have not said anything lately to you from Patapan ; he is handsomer than ever, and grows fat : his eyes are charming ;" they have that agreeable lustre which the vulgar modems call sore eyes, but the judicious ancients golden eyes, ocellos Patapanicos. The process is begun against her Grace of Beaufort,* and articles exhibited in Doctors' Commons. Lady Townshend [Harrison] has had them copied, and lent them to me. There is everything proved to your heart's content, to the birth of the child, and much delectable reading. Adieu ! my dear child ; you see I have eked out a letter : I hate missuig a post, and yet at this dead time I have almost been tempted to invent a murder or a robbery. But you are good, and will be persuaded that I have used my eyes and ears for your service ; when, if it were not for you, I should let them lie by in a drawer from week's end to week's end. Good night ! 80. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Downing Street, June 14, 1742. "We were surprised last Tuesday with the great good news of the peace between the Queen and the "King of Prussia. It was so unexpected and so welcome, that I beheve he might get an act of parliament to forbid any one thinking that he ever made a sHp in integrity. Then, the repeated accounts of the successes of Prince ^ Frances, daughter and heiress of the last Lord Scudamore, wife of Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort ; from whom she was divorced, March, 1743-4, for adultery with Lord Talbot. She was afterwards married to Colonel Fitzroy, natural son of the Duke of Grafton.— Walpole. 176 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. Charles and Lobkowitz over tlie French, have put us into the greatest spirits. Prince Charles is extremely commended for courage and conduct, and makes up a little for other flaws in the family. It is at last settled that Lords Gower/ Cobham, and Bathurst ' are to come in. The first is to be Privy-Seal, and was to have kissed hands last Friday, but Lord Hervey had carried the seal with him to Ickworth ; but he must bring it back. Lord Cobham is to be Field- Marshal, and to command all the forces in England. Bathurst was to have the Gentlemen-pensioners, but Lord Essex,^ who is now the Captain, and was to have had the Beef-eaters, will not change. Bathurst is to have the Beef-eaters ; the Duke of Bolton,^ who has them, is to have the Isle of Wight, and Lord Lymington,' who has that, is to have — nothing ! The Secret Committee are in great perplexities about Scrope : ^ he would not take the oath, but threatened the Middlesex justices who tend'ered it to him : " Gentlemen," said he, " have you any complaint against me ? if you have not, don't you fear that I will prosecute you for enforcing oaths ? " However, one of them began to read the oath — " I, John Scrope ! " — '' I, John Scrope ! " said he ; "I did not say any such thing : but come, however, let's hear the oath; " — " do promise that I will faithfully and truly answer all such questions as shall be asked me by the Committee of Secrecy, and — " they were going on, but Scrope cried out, '' Hold, hold! there is more than I can digest already." He then went before the cornmittee, and desired time to consider. Pitt asked him abruptly, if he wanted a ^ John, second Lord Gower, after a long opposition to the Whig Ministry (which was looked upon as equivalent to Jacobitism), accepted in 1742 the office of Privy Seal, and was consequently abused both by Whigs and Tories. He died in 1754. He is the Earl Gower whose name Johnson had introduced so offensively into his Dictionary under the word " Renegado." — Cunningham. ^ Allen, first Lord Bathurst, one of the twelve Tory peers created by Queen Anne, in 1711. He was the friend of Pope, Congreve, Swift, Prior, and other men of letters. He lived to see his eldest son chancellor of England, and died at the age of ninety- one, in 1775 ; having been created an earl in 1772. — Dover. He lived to be the friend of David Hume and Laurence Sterne. — Cunningham. ^ William Capel, third Earl of Essex ; ambassador at the court of Turin. He died in January 1743. The Beef-eaters are otherwise called the Yeomen of the Guard. — DOYKR. ■^ Charles Powlett, third Duke of Bolton. His second wife was Miss Lavinia Fenton, otherwise Mrs, Beswick, the actress ; who became celebrated in the character of Polly Peachem, in the Beggar's Opera. By her the Duke had three sons, born before marriage. With his first wife, the daughter and sole heiress of John Vaughan, Earl of Carberry in Ireland, he never cohabited. He died in 1754. — Dover. * John Wallop, first Viscount Lymington ; in the following April created Earl of Portsmouth. He died in 1762. — Wright. ^ John Scrope, secretary of the Treasury. He had been in Monmouth's rebellion, when very young, and carried intelligence to Holland in woman's clothes. — Walpole. 1^42.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 177 quarter of an liour ; he repHed, '^ he did not want to inform either his head or his heart, for hoth were satisfied what to do; but that he would ask the King's leave." He wants to fight Pitt. He is a most testy little old gentleman, and about eight years ago would have fought Alderman Perry. It was in the House, at the time of the excise : he said we should carry it ; Perry said he hoped to see him hanged first. '' You see me hanged, you dog, you ! " said Scrope, and pulled him by the nose. The Committee have tried all ways to soften him, and have offered to let him swear to only what part he pleased, or only with regard to money given to members of parlia- ment. Pulteney himself has tried to work on him ; but the old gentleman is inflexible, and answered, " that he was fourscore years old, and did not care whether he spent the few months he had to Hve ' in the Tower or not ; that the last thing he would do should be to betray the King, and next to him the Earl of Orford." It remains in suspense. The troops continue going to Flanders, but slowly enough. Lady Yane has taken a trip thither after a cousin " of Lord Berkeley, who is as simple about her as her own husband is, and has written to Mr. Knight at Paris to furnish her with what money she wants. He says she is vastly to blame ; for he was trying to get her a divorce from Lord Yane, and then would have married her himself. Her adventui^es ' are worthy to be bound up with those of my good sister- in-law, [Lady Walpole] the German Princess," and Moll Flanders. , Whom should I meet in the Park last night but Ceretesi ! He told me he was at a Bague. I will find out his bagnio ; for though I was not much acquainted with bim, yet the obHgations I had to Florence make me eager to show any Florentine all the civihties in my power ; though I do not love them near so well, since what you have told me of their late behaviour ; notwithstanding your letter of June 20th, which I have just received. I perceive that simple- hearted, good, unmeaning Pucellai is of the number of the false, though you do not dii^ectly say so. ^ Scrope survived this answer eleven years, dying in 1753. We shall see that the affair of Scrope "was ' sunk ' very soon. — Cunningham. ^ Henry Berkeley ; killed the next year at the battle of Dettingen. [See p. 91]. — Walpole. •'' Lady Vane's Memoirs, dictated by herself, were actually published afterwards in a book, called The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle ; and she makes mention of Lady Orford. — Walpole. [See cunte, p. 91]. Sir Walter Scott says, that " she not only furnished Smollett with the materials for recording her own infamy, but rewarded him handsomely for the insertion of her story." — Wright. "* The impostor who appeared in the reign of Charles IL, and found full employ- ment for the curiosity of Pepys. She was hanged at Tyburn.— Cunningham. VOL. 1. N 178 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. I was excessiyely diverted with yoin' pompous account of the siege of Lucca by a single Englislnnan. I do believe that you and the Chutes might put a certain city into as great a panic. Adieu ! 81. TO SIR HORACE MANK Midsummer Day, 1742. One begins every letter now with an lo Fcean ! indeed our hymns are not so tumultuous as they were some time ago, to the time of Admiral Vernon. They say there came an express last night, of the taking of Prague and the destruction of some thousand French. It is really amazing, the fortune of the Queen ! We expect every day the news of the King of Poland having made his peace ; for it is afirrmed that the Prussian left him but sixteen days to think of it. There is nothing could stop the King of Prussia, if he should march to Dresden : how long his being at peace with that king will stop him I look upon as very uncertain. They say we expect the Report from the Secret Committee next Tuesday, and then finish. I preface all my news with they say ; for I am not at all in the secret, and I had rather that they say should tell you a lie than myself. They have sunk the affair of Scrope : the Chancellor of the Exchequer [Sandys] and Sir- John Eushout spoke in the Committee against persecuting him, for he is Secretary to the Treasmy. I don't think there is so easy a language as the ministerial in the world — one learns it in a week ! There are few members in town, and most of them no friends to the Committee ; so that there is not the least apprehension of any violence following the Report. I dare say there is not ; for my uncle, who is my pohtical weather-glass, and whose quicksilver rises and falls with the least variation of parhamentary weather, is in great spirits, and has spoken three times in the House within this week ; he had not opened his lips before since the change. Mr. Pulteney has got his warrant in his pocket for Earl of Bath, and kisses hands as soon as the Parhament rises. The promotions I mentioned to you are not yet come to pass ; but a fortnight will settle things wonderfully. The Italian [Ceretesi], who I told you is here, has let me into a piece of secret history, wliich you never mentioned : perhaps it is not true; but he says the mighty mystery of the Count's [Richcom-t's] elope- ment fi'om Florence, was occasioned by a letter from Wachtendonck,' ^ General Wachtendonck, commander of the Queen of Hungary's troops at Leghorn. — Wa lpole. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANK 179 which was so impertinent as to talk of satisfaction for some affront. The great Count very wisely never answered it — ^his life, to he sure, is of too great consequence to he trusted at the end of a rash German's sword ! however, the General wrote again, and hinted at coming himself for an answer. So it happened, that when he arrived, the Count was gone to the baths of Lucca — those waters were reckoned better for his health, than steel in the abstract — ^How oddly it happened ! He just returned to Florence as the General was dead ! Now was not this heroic lover worth running after ? I wonder, as the Count must have known my lady's courage and genius for adventures, that he never thought of putting her into men's clothes, and sending her to answer the challenge. How pretty it would have been to have fought for one's lover ! and how great the obhgation, when he durst not fight for himself ! I heard the other day, that the Primate of Lorrain was dead of the small-pox. Will you make my compliments of condolence? though I dare say, they are little afflicted : he was a most worthless creature, and all his wit and parts, I believe, httle comforted them for his brutality and other vices. The fine Mr. Pitt' is arrived: I dine with him to-day at Lord Lincoln's, with the Pom frets. So now the old partie quarr^e is complete again. The Earl [Lincoln] is not quite cured,^ and a partner in sentiments may help to open the wound again. My Lady Townshend dines with us too. She flung the broadest Wortley-eye^ on Mr. Pitt, the other night, in the park ! Adieu ! my dear child ; are you quite well ? I trust the sunamer will perfectly re-estabHsh you. 82. TO SIR HORACE MANN". Downing Street, June 30, 1742. It is about six o'clock, and am I come from the House, where, at 1 George Pitt, of Strathfieldsea : he had been in love with Lady Charlotte Ferraor [p. 52], second daughter of Lord Pomfret, who was afterwards married to William Finch, vice-chamberlain.— Walpole. Mr. Pitt was created Lord Rivers in 1776. In 1761 he was British envoy at Turin ; in 1770, ambassador extraordinary to Spain. He died in 1803.— Dover. ^ Of his love for Lady Sophia Permor. — Dover. ^ Mr. Pitt [Lord Rivers] was very handsome, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had liked him extremely, when he was in Italy. — Walpole. And other beauties envy Wortley's eyes. — Pope, i And only dwells where Wortley casts her eyes.— Pci;?e. — Cunnincjham. N 2 180 HORACE WA-LPOLE'S LETTERS. [ 742. last, we have had another Eeport from the Secret Committee. They have been disputing this week among themselves, whether this should be final or not. The new ministry, thank them ! were for finishiiig; but their arguments were not so persuasive as dutiful, and we are to have yet another. This lasted two hours and a half in reading, though confined to the affair of Burrel and Bristow, the Weymouth election, and Secret- service money. They moved to print it ; but though they had fetched most of their members from Ale and the country, they were not strong enough to divide. Yelters Cornwall, whom I have mentioned to you, I beheve, for odd humour, said, " he believed the somethingness of this Report would make amends for the nothingness of the last, and that he was for printing it, if it was only from beHeving that the King would not see it, unless it is printed." Perhaps it may be printed at the conclusion ; at least it will without authority — so you will see it. 1 received yours of June 24, N. S. with one from Mr. Chute, this morning, and I will now go answer it and yoiu* last. You seem still to be uneasy about my letters, and their being retarded. I have not observed, lately, the same signs of yours being opened; and for my own, I think it may very often depend upon the packet- boat and winds. You ask me if Pulteney has lately received any new disgusts. — How can one answer for a temper so hasty, so unsettled ? — ^not that I know, unless that he finds, what he has been twenty years undoing, is not yet undone. I must interrupt the thread of my answer, to tell you that I hear news came last night that the States of Holland have voted forty- seven thousand men for the assistance of the Queen,' and that it was not doubted but the States-General would imitate this resolution. This seems to be the consequence of the King of Prussia's proceedings — but how can they trust him so easily ? I am amazed that your Leghorn ministry are so wavering ; they are very old style, above eleven days out of fashion, if they any longer fear the French : my only apprehension is, lest their successes should make Pichcourt more impertinent. You have no notion how I laughed at the man that " talks nothing but Madeira.'" I told it to my Lady Pomfret, concluding * The Queen of Hungary, Maria Theresa. — Dover. 2 The only daughter and heiress of the Marquis Accianoli at Florence, was married to one of the same name, who was born at Madeira. — Walpole. ^^^2.] TO SIE HORACE MANK 181 it would divert her too; and forgetting that she repines when she should laugh, and reasons when she should be diverted. She asked gravely what language that was ! ^' That Madeira being subject to an European prince, to be sure they talk some European cUalect !" The grave personage ! It was of a piece with her saying, '' that Swift would have written better, if he had never wiitten ludicrously." I met a friend of yours the other day at an auction, and though I knew him not the least, yet being your friend, and so hke you (for do you know, he is excessively), I had a great need to speak to him — and did. He says, " he has left off writing to you, for he never could get an answer." I said, you had never received but one from him in all the time I was with you, and that I was witness to your having answered it. He was with his mother, Lady Abercom,' a mo^t frightful gentlewoman: Mr. Winnington says, he one day overheard her and the Duchess of Devonshire' talkiiig of "hideous ugly women !" By the way, I find I have never told you that it was Lord Paisley f but that you will have perceived. AmorevoK is gone to Dresden for the summer ; our directors are in great fear that he will serve them like Farinelli, and not return for the winter. I am writing to you in one of the charming rooms towards the park : it is a dehghtful evening, and I am wilhng to enjoy this sweet comer while I may, for we are soon to quit it. Mrs. Sandys came yesterday to give us warning ; Lord Wilmington has lent it to them. Sir Eobert might have had it for his own at first, but would only take it as first lord of the Treasury/ He goes into a small house of his own in Arlington Street, opposite to where we formerly hved. Whither I shall travel is yet uncertain : he is for my Hving with him ; but then I shall be cooped — and besides, I never found that people loved one another the less for living asunder. The drowsy Lord Mayor [Sir Eobert Godschall] is dead — so the ^ Anne Plumer, Countess of Abercorn, wife of James, the seventh earl. She died in 1756. — Wright, 2 Catherine, daughter of John Hoskins, Esq, She was married to the third Duke of Devonshire in 1718, and died in 1777. — Wright, ^ James Hamilton succeeded as eighth earl of Abercom, on the death of his father in 1743. He was created Viscount Hamilton in England in 1786, and died unmarried in 1789.— Dover. '^ This is the house in Downing Street, which is still [1833] the residence of the first lord of the treasury, George the First gave it to Baron Bothmar, the Hanoverian minister, for life. On his death, George the Second oflfered to give it to Sir Robert Walpole ; who, however, refused it, and begged of the King that it might be attached to the of&ce of first lord of the treasury. — Dover. 182 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. newspapers say. I thiiLk lie is not dead, but sleepeth. Lord Gower is laid up with, the gout : this, they say, is the reason of his not having the Privy Seal yet. The town has talked of nothing lately but a plot : I will tell you the cii'cumstances. Last week the Scotch hero' sent his brother^ two papers, which he said had been left at his house by an unknown hand; that he believed it was by Colonel Cecil, agent for the Pretender — though how could that be, for he had had no conversa- tion with Colonel Cecil for these two years ? He desired Lord Islay to lay them before the Mioistry. One of the papers seemed a letter, though with no addi'ess or subscription, written in ti^ue genuine Stuart characters. It was to thank Mr. Bioiius (D. of A.) for his services, and that he hoped he would answer the assurances given of him. The other was to command the Jacobites, and to exhort the patriots to continue what they had mutually so well begun, and to say how pleased he was with their having removed Mr. Tench. Lord Islay showed these letters to Lord Orford, and then to the King, and told him he had showed them to my father. " You did well.'' — Lord Islay, "Lord Orford says one is of the Pretender's hand." — King, "He" knows it: whenever anything of this sort comes to your hand, carry it to Walpole." This private conversa- tion you must not repeat. A few days afterwards, the Duke wrote to his brother, " That upon recollection he thought it right to say, that he had received those letters from Lord Barrimore " "^ — ^who is as well known for General to the Chevaher, as Montemar is to the Queen of Spain — or as the Duke of A. [rgyll] woidd be to either of them. Lord Islay asked Sir P. [obert] if he was against publishing this story, which he thought was a justification both of his brother and Sir P. [obert]. The latter rephed, he could certainly have no objection to its being pubUc — but pray, will liis grace's sending these letters to the secretaries of state justify him from the assurancesHhat ^ The [great] Duke of Argyll. — Walpole. * Earl of Islay. — Walpole. 3 Besides intercepted letters, Sir R. Walpole had more than once received letters from the Pretender, making him the greatest offers, Avhich Sir R. always carried to the King, and got him to endorse, when he returned them to Sir R. Walpole. Walpole. ^ James Barry, fourth Earl of Barrymore, succeeded his half-brother Lawrence in the family titles in 1699, and died in IT^T, at the age of eighty. James, Lord Barry- more, was an adherent of the Pretender, whereas Lawrence had been so great a supporter of the revolution, that he was attainted, and his estates sequestered by James the Second's Irish parliament, in 1689. — Dover. ^ The [great] Duke of Argyll, in the latter part of his life, was often melancholy and disordered in his understanding. After this transaction, and it is supposed he had 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 183 had been given of him ? However, the Pretender's being of opinion that the dismission of Mr. Tench was for his service, will scarce be an argument to the new ministry for making more noise about these papers. I am sorry the boy is so uneasy at being on the foot of a servant. I will send for his mother, and ask her why she did not tell him the conditions to which we had agreed ; at the same time, I will tell her that she may send any letters for him to me. Adieu I my dear child : I am going to write to Mr. Chute, that is, to-morrow. I never was more diverted than with his letter. 83. TO SIR HORACE MANN. ON THE DEATH OP RICHARD WEST, ESQ. While surfeited with life, each hoary knave Grows, here, immortal, and eludes the grave, Thy virtues immaturely met their fate, Cramp'd in the limit of too short a date ! Thy mind, not exercised so oft in vain, In health was gentle, and composed in pain : Successive trials still refined thy soul. And plastic patience perfected the whole. A friendly aspect, not suborn'd by art ; An eye, which looked the meaning of thy heart ; A tongue, with simple truth and freedom fraught. The faithful index of thy honest thought. Thy pen disdain'd to seek the servile ways Of partial censure, and more partial praise : Through every tongue it flow'd in nervous ease. With sense to polish, and with wit to please. No lurking venom from thy pencil fell ; Thine was the kindest satire, living well : The vain, the loose, the base, might blush to see In what thou wert, what they themselves should be. Let me not charge on Providence a crime. Who snatch'd thee, blooming, to a better clime, To raise those virtues to a higher sphere : Virtues ! which only could have starved thee here. gone still farther, he could with difficulty be brought even to write his name. The marriage of his eldest daughter with the Earl of Dalkeith was deferred for some time, because the Duke could not be prevailed upon to sign the writings.— Walpolb. 184 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. A RECEIPT TO MAKE A LORD. OCCASIONED BY A. LATE REPORT OP A PROMOTION.^ Take a man, who by nature's a true son of earth, By rapine enrich'd, though a beggar by birth ; In genius the lowest, ill-bred and obscene ; ^ In morals most wicked, most nasty in mien ; By none ever trusted, yet ever employM ; In blunders quite fertile, of merit quite void ; A scold in the Senate, abroad a buflfoon, The scorn and the jest of all courts but his own : A slave to that Avealth that ne'er made him a friend, ' And proud of that cunning that ne'er gain'd an end ; A dupe in each treaty, a Swiss in each vote ; In manners and form a complete Hottentot. Such an one could you find, of all men you'd commend him ; But be sure let the curse of each Briton attend him. Thus fully prepared, add the grace of the throne, The folly of monarchs, and screen of a crown — Take a prince for his purpose, without ears or eyes. And a long parchment roll stuff'd brim-full of lies : These mingled together, a fiat shall pass. And the thing be a Peer, that before was an ass. The former copy I think you will like : it was written hy one Mr. Ashton ^ on Mr. West, two friends of mine, whom you have heard me often mention. The other copy was printed in the " Common Sense," I don^t know hy whom composed : the end of it is very bad, and there are great falsities in it, but some strokes are terribly like ! I have not a moment to thank the Grifona, nor to answer yom-s of June 17, N.S. which I have this instant read. Yours, in great haste. 84. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, July 7, 1742. Well! you may bid the Secret Committee good night. The House adjourns to-day till Tuesday, and on Thm^sday is to be pro- rogued. Yesterday we had a bill of Pulteney's, about returning ofhcers and regulating elections : the House was thin, and he carried it by 93 to 92. Mr. PeUiam was not there, and Winnington did not 1 The report, mentioned in a preceding letter, that Horace Walpole, brother to Sir Robert, was created a peer. — Walpole. These verses are, I suspect, by young Horace. — Cunningham. 2 Compare Swift's character of Sir Robert Walpole as printed in the Sufi'olk Corre- spondence, vol. ii. p. 32. This remarkable character is not in Sir Walter Scott's edition of Swift. — Cunningham . 3 Thomas Ashton, afterwards fellow of Eton College. — Walpole. See note p. 2.— Cunningham. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 185 vote, for tlie gentleman is testy still ; wlien lie saw how near lie liad been to losing it, he said loud enough to be heard, " I will make the gentlemen of that side feel me ! '^ and, rising up, he said, '^ He was astonished, that a bill so calculated for the freedom of elections was so near being thrown out ; that there was a report on the table, which showed how necessary such a bill was, and that though we had not time this year to consider what was proper to be done in consequence of it, he hoped we should next,'' — with much to the same purjoose ; but all the effect this notable speech had, was to frighten my uncle, and make him give two . or three shrugs extra- ordinary to his breeches. They now say,^ that Pulteney will not take out the patent for his earldom, but remain in the House of Commons in terror em; however, aR his friends are to have places immediately, or, as the fashion of expressing it is, " they are to go to Court in the Bath coach ! " ^ Your relation Guise " is arrived from Carthagena, madder than ever. As he was marching up to one of the forts, all his men deserted him ; his lieutenant advised him to retire ; he replied, " He never had turned his back yet, and would not now," and stood all the fire. When the peHcans were flying over his head, he cried out, '' Wliat would Chloe " give for some of these to make a pehcan pie ! " When he is brave enough to j^erform such actions as are really almost incredible, what pity it is that he should for ever persist in saying things that are totally so ! Lord Annandale ° is at last mad in all the forms : he has long been an out-pensioner of Bedlam College. Lord and Lady Talbot ^ are parted ; he gives her three thousand pounds a-year. Is it not ^ Sir E. W. to defeat Pulteney's ambition, persuaded the King to insist on his going into the House of Lords : the day he carried his patent thither, he flung it upon the floor in a passion, and could scarce be prevailed on to have it passed, — Walpole. Compare Walpole's ' Reminiscences,' Chapter IX., with the note there from Lord Hervey's Memoirs. — Cunningham. 2 His title was to be Earl of Bath.— Walpole. ^ General Guise, a very brave of&cer, but apt to romance ; and a great connoisseur in pictures. — Walpole, He bequeathed his collection of pictures, which is a very indifforent one, to Christ Church College, Oxford. — Dover, ^ The Duke of Newcastle's French cook.— Walpole. " Chloe," the Duke of New- castle's cook figures in the printed letter to the Duke of Grafton about Fielding's farce of "Miss Lucy in Town," and is mentioned by Walpole in " The World." — Cunningham. ^ George Johnstone, third Marquis of Annandale, in Scotland, He was not declared a lunatic till the year 1748. Upon his death, in 1792, his titles either became extinct or dormant, — Dover. ^ Mary, daughter of Adam de Cardonel, secretary to John the great Duke of Marlborough, married to William, second Lord Talbot, eldest son of Lord Chancellor Talbot, — Dover, 186 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. amazing, tliat in England people will not find out that they can live separate without parting ? The Duke of Beaufort says, " He pities Lord Talbot to have met with two such tempers as their two wives ! " Sir Eobert Rich ' is going to Flanders, to try to make up an affair for his son ; who, having quarrelled with a Captain Yane, as the commanding officer was trying to make it up at the head of the regiment, Rich came behind Yane, " And to show you," said he, *' that I will not make it up, take that," and gave him a box on the ear. They were immediately put in arrest ; but the learned in the laws of honour say, they must fight, for no GeiTaan officer will serve with Yane, till he has had satisfaction. Mr. Harris, '" who married Lady YTalpole's mother, is to be one of the peace-offerings on the new altar. Bootle is to be chief-justice ; but the Lord Chancellor [Hardwicke] would not consent to it, unless Lord Glenorchy,^ whose daughter is married to Mr. Yorke, had a place in heu of the Admiralty, which he has lost — he is to have Hariis's. Lord Edgcumbe's, in Ireland, they say, is destined to Harry Yane," Pulteney's toad-eater.^ Monticelli lives in a manner at our house. I tell my sister that she is in love with him, and that I am glad it was not Amorevoli. MonticeUi dines frequently with Sir Robert, which diverts me extremely : you know how low his ideas are of music and the virtuosi ; he calls them all fiddlers. I have not time now to wiite more, for I am going to a masquerade at the Ranelagh amphitheatre : the King is fond of it, and has pressed people to go ; but I don't find that it will be full. Good night ! My love to the Pope for his good thing. ^ Sir Robert Rich, Bart., of Ro.«?e Hall, Suffolk. At his death, in 1768, he was colonel of the fourth regiment of dragoons, governor of Chelsea Hospital, and field- marshal of the forces. — Wright, 2 This article did not prove true. Mr. Harris was not removed, nor Bootle made chief-justice. — Walpole. ^ John Campbell, Lord Glenorchy, and, on his father's death, in 1752, third Earl of Breadalbane. His first wife was Lady Amabel Grey, eldest daughter and co-heir of the Duke of Kent. By her he had an only davighter, Jemima, who, upon the death of her grandfather, became Baroness Lucas of Crudwell, and Marchioness de Grey. She married Philip Yorke, eldest son of the Chancellor Hardwicke, and eventually himself the second earl of that title. — Dover. "^ Henry Vane, eldest son of Gilbert, second Lord Barnard, and one of the tribe who came into office upon the breaking up of Sir Robert Walpole' s administration. He was created Earl of Darlington in 1753, and died in 1758. — Dover. ^ This is an early use of what is now a common expression. It is explained as a novelty by Sarah Fielding in her story of "David Simple" published in 1744. Cdnningham. 1742.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 187 85. TO sm HORACE MANN. Downing Street, July 14, 1742. Sir Egbert Brown ' is displaced from being paymaster of some- thing, I forget -what, for Sir Charles Gilmoui-, a friend of Lord Tweedale.^ Ned Finch^ is made groom of the bedchamber, which was vacant ; and Will Finch " vice chamberlain, which was not vacant ; but they have emptied it of Lord Sidney Beauclerc.'' Boone is made commissary-general, in Huxley's room, and Jeffries ® in Will Stuart^s. All these have been kissing hands to day, headed by the Earl of Bath. He went in to the King the other day with this long list, but was told shortly, that unless he would take up his patent and quit the House of Commons, nothing should be done — he has consented. I made some of them very angry ; for when they told me who had kissed hands, I asked, if the Pretender had kissed hands too, for being King ? I forgot to tell you, that MuiTay ' is to ^ Sir Robert Brown had been a merchant at Venice , and British resident there, for which he was created a baronet in 1732. He held the place at this time of "paymaster of his Majesty's works, concerning the repairs, new buildings, and well-keeping of any of his Majesty's houses of access, and others in time of progress/' — Dover. " John Hay, fourth Marquis of Tweeddale, In 1748, he married Frances, daughter of John [Carteret], Earl Granville, and died in 1762. — Wright. ^ The Hon. Edward Einch, fifth son of Daniel, sixth earl of Winchelsea and second Earl of j^ottingham, and the direct ancestor of the present Lord Winchelsea. He assumed the name of Hatton, in 1764, in consequence of inheriting the fortune of William Yiscount Hatton, his mother's brother. He was employed in diplomacy, and was made master of the robes in 1757. He died in 1771. — Dover. * The Hon. AYilliam Einch, second son of Daniel, sixth Earl of Winchelsea, had been envoy in Sweden and in Holland. He continued to hold the office of vice- chamberlain of the household till his death in 1766. These two brothers, and their elder brother Daniel, seventh Earl of Winchelsea, are the persons whom Sir Charles Hanbury Williams calls, on account of the blackness of their complexions, " the dark, funereal Finches." — Walpole. He married Lady Charlotte Eermor. See p. 179. — Cunningham. ^ Lord Sidney Beauclerk, fifth son of the first Duke of St. Albans ; a man of bad character. Sir Charles Hanbury Williams calls him " Worthless Sidney." He was notorious for hunting after the fortunes of the old and childless. Being very hand- some, he had almost persuaded Lady Betty Germaine, in her old age, to marry him ; but she was dissuaded from it by the Duke of Dorset and her relations. He failed also in obtaining the fortune of Sir Thomas Eeeve, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, whom he used to attend on the circuit, with a view of ingratiating himself with him. At length he induced Mr. Topham, of Windsor, to leave his estate to him. He died in 1744, leaving one son, Topham Beauclerk, Esq., known to every reader of Boswell. — Dover. Lord Sidney was the grandson of Nell Gwyn, and is the hero of a poem by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, See note, p. 117. — Cunningham. ^ John Jeffries, Secretary of the Treasury. — Dover. 7 Afterwards the great Lord Mansfield. — Cunningham. 188 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. be Solicitor- General, in Sir John Strange's place, wlio is made chief justice, or some such thing.* I don't know who it was that said it, but it was a very good answer to one who asked why Lord Gower had not kissed hands sooner — " the Dispensation was not come from Rome.'' "" I am writing to you up to the ears in j)acking : Lord W ilmi ngton has lent this house to Sandys, and he has given us instant warning ; we are moving as fast as possible to Siberia, — Sir Eobert has a house there, within a few miles of the Dulce of Courland ; in short, child, we are all going to Norfolk, till we can get a house ready in town : all the fui^nitui-e is taken down, and lying about in confusion. I look like St. John, in the Isle of Patmos, wilting revelations, and prophes5dng *' Woe ! woe ! woe ! the kingdom of desolation is at hand ! " indeed, I have prettier animals about me, than he ever dreamt of : here is the dear Patapan, and a httle Vandyke cat, with black whiskers and boots ; you would swear it was of a very ancient family, in the West of England, famous for theii^ loyalty. I told you I was going to the masquerade at Panelagh gardens, last week : it was miserable ; there were but an hundi^ed men, six women, and two shepherdesses. The Xing liked it, — and that he might not be known, they had dressed him a box with red damask ! Lady Pomfret and her daughters were there, all dressed ahke, that they might not be known. My Lady said to Lady Bel Finch,^ who I was dressed like a nun, and for coolness had cut off the nose of her mask, '^ Madam, you are the first nun that ever I saw without a nose ! " As I came home last night, they told me there was a fire in Downing Street ; when I came to Whitehall, I could not get to the end of the street in my chariot, for the crowd : when I got out, the first thing I heard was a man enjoying himself : " Well ! if it lasts two hours longer, Sii' Robert Walpole's house will be burned to the ground ! " it was a very comfortable hcarmg ! but I found the fire ^ Sir John Strange was made Master of the Rolls, but not till some years after- wards : he died in 1754. — Walpole. "^ From the Pretender, Lord Gower had been, until he was made Privy-Seal, one of the leading Jacobites ; and was even supposed to lean to that party after he had accepted the appointment. — Walpole. Seep. 176, and compare Dr. King's Anecdotes, p. 4.5. CONNINGHAM. ^ Lady Isabella Finch, died 1771, third daughter of the sixth Earl of Winchelsea, first lady of the bedchamber to the Princess Amelia. It was for her that Kent built the pretty and singular house on the western side of Berkeley Square, with a fine room in it, of which the ceiling is painted in arabesque compartments, by Zucchi ; — now [1833] the residence of C. Baring Wall, Esq. — Dover. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 189 was on tlie opposite side of tlie way, and at a good distance. I stood in tlie crowd an hour to liear their discourse : one man was relating at how many fires he had happened to be present, and did not think himself at all unlucky in passing by, just at this. What diverted me most, was a servant-maid, who was working, and carrying pails of water, with the strength of half-a-dozen troopers, and swearing the mob out of her way — the soft creature's name was PhiUis ! When I arrived at our door, I found the house full of goods, beds, women, and childi-en, and three Scotch members of parliament, who lodge in the row, and who had sent in a saddle, a flitch of bacon, and a bottle of ink. There was no wind, and the house was saved, with the loss of only its garret, and the furnitui-e. I forgot to mention the Dominichin last post, as I suppose I had before, for I always was for your buying it ; it is one of the most engaging pictui^es I ever saw. I have no qualms about its origin- ality ; and even if Sii^ Robert should not like it when it comes, which is impossible, I think I would live upon a flitch of bacon and a bottle of ink, rather than not spare the money to buy it myself : so, my dear Sir, buy it. Your brother has this moment brought me a letter : I find by it, that you are very old style with relation to the Prussian peace. Why, we have sent E-obinson ' and Lord Hyndford ^ a green ribbon for it, above a fortnight ago. Muley, (as Lord Lovel calls him,) Duke of Bedford,^ is, they say, to have a blue one, for making his own peace : you know we always mind home-peaces more than foreign ones. I am quite sony for all the trouble you have had about the Maltese cats ; but you know they were for Lord Islay, not for myself. Adieu ! I have no more time. 86. TO SIR HORACE MANN. You scolded me so much about my Kttle paper, that I dare not venture upon it even now, when I have very Httle to say to you. The long session is over, and the Secret Committee already forgotten. ^ Sir Thomas Robinson, minister at Vienna ; he was made secretary of state in 1754. — Walpole, And a peer, by the title of Lord Grantham, in 1761. [See p. 80.] — Dover. ^ John Carmichael, third Earl of Hyndford. He had been sent as envoy to the King of Prussia, during the first war of Silesia. He was afterwards sent ambassador to Petersburgh and Vienna,, and died in 1767. — Dover. ^ The Duke of Bedford [died 1771] had not the Garter till some years after this. — Walpole. 190 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. Nobody remembers it but poor Paxton, who has lost his place ' by it. I saw him the day after he came out of Newgate ; he came to Chelsea : ' Lord Fitzwilham was there, and in the height of zeal, took him about the neck and kissed him. Lord Orford had been at Court that morning, and with his usual spirits, said to the new ministers, " So ! the ParKament is up, and Paxton, Bell, and I have got our Hberty ! " The King spoke in the kindest manner to him at his levee, but did not call him into the closet, as the new Ministry feared he would, and as, perhaps, the old Ministry expected he would. The day before, when the King went to put an end to the session. Lord Quarendon asked Winnington " whether Bell would be let out time enough to hire a mob to huzza him as he went to the House of Lords." The few people that are left in town have been much diverted with an adventure that has befallen the new Ministers. Last Sunday the Duke of Newcastle gave them a dinner at Claremont, where their servants got so drunk, that when they came to the imi over agaiast the gate of Newpark,^ the coachman, who was the only remaining fragment of thcii^ suite, tumbled off the box, and there they were planted. There were Lord Bath, Lord Carteret, Lord Limerick, and Harry Furnese ' in the coach : they asked the inn- keeper if he could contrive no way to convey them to town. '* No," he said, " not he, unless it was to get Lord Orford's coachman to diive them." They demurred ; but Lord Carteret said, " Oh, I dare say. Lord Orford will willingly let us have him." So they sent, and he drove them home.' Ceretesi had a mind to see this wonderful Lord Orford, of whom he has heard so much ; I carried him to dine at Chelsea. You know the Earl don't speak a word of any language but Enghsh and ^ Solicitor to the treasury. See ante^ p. 155. — Cunningham. 2 Where, near to Chelsea Hospital, Sir Robert Walpole had a house. I have a printed catalogue of the pictures, &c., sold there after Sir Robert's death.—CuNNiNGHAii. 3 Lord Walpole Avas ranger of Newpark. — Walpole. Now called Richmond Park. Dover. "* One of the band of incapables who obtained power and place on the fall of Walpole. Horace Walpole, in his Memoires, calls him " that old rag of Lord Bath's quota to an administration, the mute Harry Furnese." — Dover. ^ This occurrence was celebrated in a ballad, which is inserted in Sir C. Hanbury Williams's works, and begins thus : " As Caleb and Carteret, two birds of a feather, Went down to a feast at Newcastle's together." Lord Bath is called " Caleb," in consequence >f the name of Caleb d'Anvers having been used in The Craftsman, of which he was the principal author. Dover. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 191 Latin/ and Ceretesi not a word of either ; yet lie assured me tliat lie was very happy to have made cosi hella conoscenza ! He whips out his pocket-hook every moment, and wi'ites descriptions in issimo of everything he sees : the grotto alone took up three pages. What volumes he will publish at his return, in usicm Serenissimi Pan- noni !^ There has lately been the most shocldng scene of murder imag- inable ; a parcel of drunken constables took it into their heads to put the laws in execution against disorderly persons, and so took up every woman they met, till they had collected five or six- and- twenty, all of whom they thrust into St. Martin's round-house, where they kept them all night, with doors and windows closed. The poor creatures, who could not stir or breathe, screamed as long as they had any breath left, begging at least for water : one poor wi'etch said she was worth eighteen-pence, and would gladly give it for a draught of water, but in vain ! So well did they keep them there, that in the morning four were found stifled to death, two died soon after, and a dozen more are in a shocking way. In short, it is horrid to think what the poor creatures suffered : several of them were beggars, who, from having no lodging, were necessarily found in the street, and others honest labouring women. One of the dead was a poor washerwoman, big with child, who was retmrdng home late from washing. One of the constables is taken, and others absconded ; but I question ^ if any of them will suffer death, though the greatest criminals in this town are the officers of justice ; there is no tyranny they do not exercise, no villany of which they do not partake. These same men, the same night, broke into a bagnio in Covent- Garden, and took up Jack Spencer,'' Mr. Stewart, and Lord Greorge Grraham,* and would have thrust them into the round-house with ^ It was very remarkable, that Lord Orford could get and keep such an ascendant with King George I., when they had no way of conversing but very imperfectly in Latin. — Walpole. ~ The coffee-house at Florence where the nobility meet. — Walpole. ^ The keeper of the round-house [William Bird] was tried, but acquitted of wilful murder. — Walpole. ■* The Honourable John Spencer, second son of Charles, third Earl of Sunderland, by Anne his wife, second daughter of the great Duke of Marlborough. He was the favourite grandson of old Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, who left him a vast fortune, having disinherited, to the utmost of her power, his eldest brother, Charles, Duke of Marlborough. The condition upon which she made this bequest was, that neither he nor his heirs should take any place or pension from any government, except the rangership of Windsor Park. He was the ancestor of the present [18 3 3] Earl Spencer, and died in 1746. — Dover. ^ Lord George Graham, youngest son of the Duke of Montrose, and a captain in the navy. He died in 1747. — Dover. 192 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742 tlie poor women, if they had not been worth more than eighteen- pence ! I have just now received yours of the 15th of July, with a married letter from both Prince and Piincess [Craon] : but sure nothing ever equalled the setting out of it ! She says, '' The generosity of youi^ fiiendship for me, Sii', leaves me nothing to desire of all that is precious in England, China, and the Indies ! " Do you know, after such a testimony under the hand of a princess, that I am determined, after the laudable example of the house of Medici, to take the title of Horace the magmficent ! I am only afraid it should be a dangerous example for my posterity, who may ruin themselves in emulating the magnificence of their ancestor. It happens comically, for the other day, in removing from Downing-street, Sir Robert found an old account-book of his father, wherein he set down all his expenses. In three months and ten days that he was in London one winter as member of parliament, he spent — what do you think ? — sixty-four pounds seven shilh'ngs and five-pence ! There are many articles for Nottingham ale, eighteen-penccs for dinners, five shillings to Bob (now Earl of Orford), and one memorandum of six shillings given in exchange to Mr. Wilkins for his wig — and yet this old man, my grandfather, had two thousand pounds a-year, Norfolk sterling ! He little thought that what maintained him for a whole session would scarce serve one of his younger grandsons to buy japan and fans for princesses at Florence ! Lord Orford has been at court again to-day : Lord Carteret came up to thank him for his coachman ; the Duke of JSTewcastle standing by. My father said, " !My lord, whenever the duke is near over- timiing you, you have nothing to do but to send to me, and I will save you.'' The Duke said to Lord Carteret, " Do you know, my lord, that the venison you eat that day came out of Newpark [Richmond] ? " Lord Orford laughed, and said, '' So, you see I am made to kill the fatted calf for the return of the prodigals !'' The Kiug passed by all the new Ministry to speak to him, and after- wards only spoke to my Lord Carteret. Should I answer the letters from the court of Petraia agaiti? there will be no end of our magnificent correspondence ! — but would it not be too haughty to let a princess wiute last ? Oh, the cats ! I can never keep them, and yet it is barbarous to send them all to Lord Islay : he will shut them up and starve them, and then bury them under the stairs with his wife.' Adieu ! 1 Daughter of Mr. Whitfield, Paymaster of Marines, died 1723.— Cunningham. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 193 87. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Chelsea, July 29, 1742. I AM quite out of humour ; tlie whole to^ATi is melted away ; you never saw such a desert. You know what Florence is in the vintage- season, at least I remember what it was : London is just as empty, nothing but half-a-dozen private gentlewomen left, who live upon the scandal that they laid up in the winter. I am going too ! this day se'nnight we set out for Houghton, for three months ; but I scarce think that I shall allow thirty days a-piece to them. Next post I shall not be able to write to you ; and when I am there, shall scarce find materials to furnish a letter above every other post. I beg, how- ever, that you A\a[l wiite constantly to me ; it will be my only enter- tainment, for I neither hunt, brew, drink, nor reap. When I return in the winter, I will make amends for this barren season of our correspondence. I carried Sir Robert the other night to Ranelagh for the first time : my uncle's prudence, or fear, would never let him go before. It was pretty full, and all its fullness flocked round us : we walked with a train at our heels, like two chairmen going to fight ; but they were extremely civil, and did not crowd him, or say the least impertinence — I think he grows popular already ! The other day he got it asked, whether he should be received if he went to Carleton House ? — ^no, truly ! — but yesterday morning Lord Baltimore ' came to soften it a little ; that his Royal Highness did not refuse to see him, but that now the Court was out of town, and he had no drawing-room, he did not see anybody. They have given Mrs. Pulteney an admirable name, and one that is likely to stick by her — ^instead of Lady Bath, they call her the wife of Bath.^ Don't you figure her squabbHng at the gate with St. Peter for a halfpenny. Gibber has published a little pamphlet against Poj)e, which has a great deal of spirit, and, from some circumstances, will notably vex him.^ I will send it to you by the first opportunity, with a new ^ Lord of the bedchamber to the Prince. — Walpole. ^ In allusion to the old ballad. — Walpole. Rather to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.— ^ Cunningham. ^ This pamphlet, which was entitled " A Letter from Mr, Cibber to Mr. Pope ; inquiring into the mot ires that might induce him, in his satirical works, to be so frequently fond of Mr. Cibber's name," so " notably vexed " the great poet, that, in a new edition of the Dunciad, he dethroned Theobald from his eminence as King of the Dunces, and enthroned Cibber in his stead. — Wright. VOL. I. 194 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETT-ERS. V-U. pamphlet, said to be Dodington's, called "A Comparison of the Old and New Ministry : " it is mucli Hked. I have not forgot your magazines, but Avill send them and these pamphlets together. Adieu ! I am at the end of my teU. P.S. Lord Edgcumbe is just made Lord-lieutenant of Cornwall, at which the Lord of Bath looks soui\ He said, yesterday, that the King would give orders for several other considerable alterations ; but he gave no orders, except for this, which was not asked by that Earl. 88. TO SIR HORACE MANK. [Houghton.] Here are three new ballads,' and you must take them as a plump part of a long letter. Consider, I am in the barren land of Norfolk, where news grow as slow as an}i;hing green ; and besides, I am ia the house of a fallen minister ! The first song ['' Labour in Yain ''] I fancy is Lord Edgcumbe's ; at least he had reason to write it. The second [''The Old Coachman^'] I do not think so good as the real story that occasioned it. The last ["The Country Gii4"] is reckoned vastly the best, and is much admired : I cannot say I see all those beauties in it, nor am charmed with the poetiy, which is cried up. I don't find that any body knows whose it is.'' Pulteney is vexy angry, especially, as he pretends, about his wife, and says, " it is too much to abuse ladies I " You see, their twenty years' satires come home thick ! He is gone to the Bath in great dudgeon : the day before he went, he went in to the King to ask him to turn out Mr. Hill of the Customs, for having opposed him at Hey don. *' Sii'," said the King, '' was it not when you was opposing me ? I won't turn him out : I wiU part Avith no more of my friends." Lord Wil min gton was waiting to receive orders accordingly, but the King gave him none. We came hither last Satm^day ; as we passed through Grosvenor- square, we met Sir Eoger Newdigate ' with a vast body of Tories, ^ As these ballads are to be found in the edition of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams's works, published in 1822, it has been deemed better to omit them here. They are called, " Labour in Vain," " The Old Coachman," and " The Country Girl."— Dover. 2 It was written by Hanbury Williams. — Walpole. 3 Sir Roger Newdigate, the fifth baronet of the family. He was elected member for Middlesex, upon the vacancy occasioned by Pulteney's being created Earl of Bath. He belonged to the Tory or Jacobite party.— Dover. Sir Koger afterwards repre- l'^42.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 196 proceeding to his election at Brentford : we might have expected some insult, but only one single fellow hissed, and was not followed. Lord Edgcumhe, Mr. ElHs, and Mr. Hervey, in their way to Coke's,* and Lord Chief Justice Willes (on the circuit) are the only com- pany here yet. My Lord invited nobody, but left it to their charity. The other night, as soon as he had gone through showing Mr. EUis the house, " Well," said he, " here I am to enjoy it, and my Lord of Bath may ." I forgot to tell you, in confirmation of what you see in the song of the wife of Bath having shares of places. Sir Robert told me, that when formerly he got a place for her own father,^ she took the salary and left him only the perquisites ! It is much thought that the King will go abroad, if he can avoid leaving the Prince in his place . Imagine all this ! I received to-day yours of July 29, and two from Mr. Chute and Madame Pucci,^ which I will answer very soon : where is she now ? I delight in Mr. YiUiers's ' modesty — ^in one place you had written it Yillettes' ; I fancy on pm-pose, for it would do for him. Good night, my dear child ! I have written myself threadbare. I know you will hate my campaign, but what can one do ! 89. TO sm HORACE MANN. Houghton, Au(j. 20, 1742. Bv the tediousness of the post, and distance of place, I am still receiving letters from you about the Secret Committee, which seems strange, for it is as much forgotten now, as if it had ha2)pened in the last reign. Thus much I must answer you about it, that it is sented the University of Oxford in five parliaments, and died in 1806, in his eighty* seventh year. Among other benefactions to his Alma Mater, he gave the noble candelabra in the Radcliffe library, and founded an annual prize for English verses on ancient painting, sculpture, and architecture. — Wright. ^ Holkham. Coke was the son of Lord Lovel, afterwards Viscount Coke, when his father was created Earl of J-,eicester. — Dover. ^ Gumley of Isle worth. — Cdnningham. ^ She was daughter of the Conte di Valvasone, of Friuli, sister of Madame Suares, and of the bedchamber to the Duchess of Modena. — Walpole. ^ Thomas Yilliers, a younger son of William, second Earl of Jersey, at this time British minister at the court of Dresden, and eventually created Lord Hyde, and Earl of Clarendon. Sir H. Mann had alluded in one of his letters to a speech attributed to Mr. Villiers, in which he took great credit to himself for having induced the King of Poland to become a party to the peace of Breslau, recently concluded between the Queen of Hungary and the King of Prussia ; a course of proceedings which, in fact, his Polish Majesty had no alternative but to adopt. Villettes was an inferior diplomatic agent from England to some of the Italian courts, and was at this moment resident at the court of Turin. — Dover. 2 -196 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1T42 possible to resume tlie inquiry upon tlie Beport next session ; but you may judge whether they will, after all the late promotions. We are willing to believe that there are no news in town, for we hear none at all : Lord Level sent us word to-day, that he heard, by a messenger from the Post-Office, that Montemar ' is put under arrest. I don't tell you this for news, for you must know it long ago ; but I expect the confirmation of it from you next post. Since we came hither I have heard no more of the King's journey to Flanders : our troops are as peaceable there as on Hounslow Heath, except some bickerings and blows about beef with butchers, and about sacraments with friars. You know the English can eat no meat, nor be civil to any God but their own. As much as I am obliged to you for the desciiption of your Cocchiata,^ I don't like to hear of it. It is very unpleasant, instead of being at it, to be prisoner in a melancholy, barren province, which Avould put one in mind of the deluge, only that Ave have no water. Do remember exactly how your last was ; for I intend that you shall give me just such another Cocchiata next summer, if it pleases the kings and queens of this world to let us be at peace ! " For it rests that Avithout fig-leaves," as my Lord Bacon says in one of his letters, ''I do ingenuously confess and acknowledge " that I like nothmg so well as Italy. I agree with you extremely about Tuscany for Prince Charles,^ but I can only agree with you on paj)er ; for as to knowing anything of it, I am sure Sir Hobert himself knows nothing of it : the Dul^e of JN^CAvcastle and my Lord Carteret keep him in as great ignorance as possible, especially the latter ; and even in other times, j^ou know how Httle he ever thought on those things. Believe me, he A\ill every day know less. Your last, which I have been answering, was of the 5th of August ; I this minute receive another of the 12th. How I am charmed with your s^^irit and usage of Richcourt ! Mais ce n^est 2)cts cV aujourdlud que je commence a les meprker ! I am so glad that you have quitted your calm, to treat them as they deserve. You don't tell me if his opposition in the council hindered your intercession ^ Montemar was the General of the King of Spain, wlio commanded the troops of that sovereign against the Imperialists in Italy. — Dover. ^ A sort of serenade. Sir H. Mann had mentioned, that he was about to give an entertainment of this kind in his garden to the society of Florence. — Dover. 3 Prince Charles of Lorraine, younger brother of Francis, who was now Grand Duke of Tuscany. He was a general of some abilities ; but it was his misfortune to be so often opposed to the superior talents of the King of Prussia.— Dover. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 197 from taking place for the vcM de chamhre. I hope not ! € could not bear his thwarting you ! I am now going to write to your brother, to get you the overtures ; and to desire he will send them with some pamphlets and the magazines, which I left him in commission for you, at my leaving London. I am going to send him, too, des pleins pouvoirSy for nominating a person to represent me at his new babe's christening. I am sorry Mrs. Goldsworthy is coming to England, though I think it can be of no eflfect. Sir Charles [Wager] has no sort of interest with the new powers, and I don't thinly the Eichmonds have enough to remove foreign ministers. However, I will consult with Sir Robert about it, and see if he thinks there is any danger for you, which I do not in the least ; and whatever can be done by me, I think you know, will. Adieu ! P.S. I inclose an answer to Madame Pucci's letter. Where is she in all this Modenese desolation ? 90. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Houghton, August 28, 1742. I DID receive youi- letter of the 12th, as I think I mentioned in my last ; and to-day another of the 19th. Had I been you, instead of saying that I would have taken my lady's ' woman for my spy, I should have said, that I would hire Pichcourt himself : I dare to say that one might buy the Count's own secrets of himself. I am sorry to hear that the Impresarii have sent for the Chiaretta; I am not one of the managers ; I should have remonstrated against her, for she will not do on the same stage with the Barbarina. I don't know who will be glad of her coming, but Mr. Blighe and AmorevoH. 'Tis amazing, but we hear not a syllable of Prague — taken,^ it must be ! Indeed, Carthagena, too, was certain of being taken ; but it seems, Maillebois is to stop at Bavaria. I hope Belleisle^ wiU be * Lady Walpole. Richcourt, the Florentine minister [see 179], was her lover, and both, as has been seen in the former part of these letters, were enemies of Sir H. Mann, — Dover. - This means retaken by the Imperialists from the French, who had obtained pos- session of it on the 25th of November, 1741. The Austrian troops drove the French out of Prague in December, 1742. — Dover. ^ This wish was gratified, though liot in this year. Marshal Belleisle was taken 198 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. made ]Misoner ? I am indifferent about the fate of the great Broglio — but Belleisle is able, and is our most determined enemy : — we need not have more, for to-day it is confirmed that Cardinal Tencin^ and M. d'Argenson are declared of the prime ministry. The first moment they can, Tencin will be for transporting the Pretenders into England. Yom^ advice about Naples was quite judicious : the appearance of a bomb vdH have great weight in the coimcils of the Httle king. We don't talk now of any of the Royals passing into Flanders ; though ''The Champion"' this morning had an admirable quotation, on the supposition that the Kmg would go himself : it was this line from the Rehearsal : — " Give us our fiddle ; we ourselves -will play." The '' Lesson for the Day '^^ that I sent you, I gave to Mr. Coke, who came in as I was writing it, and by his dispersing it, it has got into print, with an additional one, which I cannot say I am proud should go under my name. Since that, nothing but lessons are the fashion : first and second lessons, morning and evening lessons, epistles, &c. One of the Tory papers published so abusive an one last week on the new ministry, that three gentlemen called on the printer, to know how he dared to pubhsh it. Don't you like these men, who for twenty years together led the way, and published everytliing that was scandalous, that they should wonder at any body's daring to jDublish against them ! Oh ! it will come home to them ! Indeed, everybody's name now is published at length : last week " The Champion " mentioned the Earl of Orford and his natural daughter, Lady Mary, at length (for which he had a great mind to prosecute the printer). To-day, the ''London Evening Post" prisoner in 1745 by tlie Hanoverian dragoon?, was confined for some months in Windsor Castle, and exchanged after the battle of Fontenoy. — Dover. ^ A profligate ecclesiastic, who was deeply engaged in the corrupt political in- trigues of the day. In these he was assisted by his sister, Madame Tencin, an unprin- cipled woman of much ability, who had been the mistress of the still more infamous Cardinal Dubois. Yoltaire boasts in his Memoirs, of having killed the Cardinal Tencin from vexation, at a sort of political hoax, which he played off upon him. Dover. The cardinal was afterwards made Arciibishop of Lyons. In 1752, he entirely quitted the court, and retired to his diocese, where he died in 1758. Wright. 2 The Champion was an opposition journal, written by Fielding.— Walpole. Assisted by Ralph, the historian. — Wright. 3 Entitled '• The Lessons for the Day, 1742." Published in Sir Charles Hanbury Williams's works, but written by Walpole.— Dover. See Walpole's ''Short Notes" of his Life prefixed to this volume. — Cunningham. 1742.] TO Sm HOEACE MANN. 199 says, Mr. Fane, nephew of Mr, Scrope, is made first clerk of the Treasury, as a reward for his uncle's taciturnity before the Secret Committee. He is in the room of old Tilson,^ who was so tormented by that Committee, that it turned his brain, and he is dead. 1 am excessively shocked at Mr. Fane's^ behaviour to you ; but Mr. Fane is an honourable man ! he lets poor you pay him his salary for eighteen months, mthout thinking of returning it ! But if he had lost that sum to Jansen,^ or to any of the honourahle men at White's, he would think his honour engaged to pay it. There is nothing, sure, so whimsical as modern honoui- ! You may debauch a woman uj)on a promise of marriage, and not marry her ; you may ruin your tailor's or your baker's family by not paying them ; you , may make Mr. Mann maintain you for eighteen months, as a public j minister, out of his own pocket, and still be a man of honour ! But not to pay a common sharper, or not to murder a man that has trod upon your toe, is such a blot in your scutcheon, that you could never recover your honour, though you had in your veins " all the blood of all the Howards!"' My love to Mr. Chute : tell him, as he looks on the east front of Houghton, to tap under the two windows in the left-hand wing, up stairs, close to the colonnade — ^there are Patapan and I, at this instant, writing to you ; there we are almost every morning, or in the library ; the evenings, we walk tiU dark ; then Lady Mary, Miss Leneve, and I pl^y at comet ; the Earl, Mrs. Leneve,' and whoever is here, discourse ; car telle est not re vie ! Adieu ! 91. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Houghton, Sei^t. 11, 1742. I COULD not write to you last week, for I was at Woolterton,^ and ^ 1742, 25 Aug. Christopher Tilson, Esq., one of the four chief clerks of the Treasury worth above 1000?. per ann., which place he had enjoyed fifty-eight years. Ohituary of the Gentleman's Magazine for 1742. — Cunningham. 2 Charles Fane, afterwards Lord Fane, had been minister at Florence- before Mr. Mann. — Walpole. » 2 A notorious gambler. He is mentioned by Pope, in the character of the young man of fashion, in the fourth canto of the Dunciad . As much estate, and principle, and wit, As Jansen, Fleetwood, Cibber, shall think fit. — Dover. See note, post, p. 219. — Cunningham. "* A line from Popc^Cunningham. 5 After Sir Robert Walpole's death, Mrs, Leneve became an inmate of Horace Walpole's house. Portraits of the Leneves of Norwich decorated Strawberry Hill. — Cunningham. s The seat of Horatio AYalpole, brother of Sir R. Walpole, near Norwich.— Walpole. 200 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. in a course of visits, that took up my every moment. I received one from you there, of August 26th., but have had none at all this week. You know I am not prejudiced in favour of the coimtry, nor like a place because it bears tmmips' well, or because you may gallop over it without meeting a tree : but I really was charmed with Woolterton ; it is all wood and water ! My uncle and aunt may, without any expense, do what they have all their Kves avoided, wash themselves and make fires.^ Their house is more than a good one ; if they had not saved eighteen-pence in every room, it would have been a fine one. I saw several of my acquaintance,^ Yolterra vases, Grisoni landscapes, the four little bronzes, the raffle-pictm'e, &c. We have printed about the expedition to Naples : the affair at Elba, too, is in the papers, but we affect not to believe it. We are in great apprehensions of not taking Prague — the only thing that has been taken on our side lately, I think, is my Lord Stair's journey liither and back again — we don't know for what, he is such an Orlando ! The j)apers are full of tJic most defending King's jom-ney to Flanders ; our jDrivate letters say not a word of it — I say oiiVy for at present I think the Earl's intelligences and mme are pretty equal as to authority. Here is a httle thing, which I think has humour in it. A CATALOGUE OF NEW FREITCH BOOKS. 1. Jean-sans-terre, ou TEmpereur en pet-en-l'air; imprime a Frankfort. 2. La France mourante d'une suppression d'hommes et d'argent : dedie au public. 3. L'art de faire les Neutralites, invente en AUegmagne, et 6crit en cette langue, par Un des Electeurs, et nouvellement traduit en Kapolitain ; par le Chef d'Escadre Martin. 4. Voyage d'AUemagne, par Monsieur de Maupertuis : avec un telescope, invents pendant son voyage ; a I'usage des Heros, pour regarder leur victoires de loin. 5. M^thode court et facile pour faire entrer les troupes Fran9oises en Allemao-ne : mais comment faire, pour les en faire sortir '? ' For which Norfolk is famous, as Pope informs us : All Townshend's turnips. — CuNNiNGHA^r. ^ This thought was afterwards put into verse, thus : What woods, what streams around the seat ! Was ever mansion so complete ? Here happy Pug* and Horace may, (And yet not have a groat to pay,) Two things they most have shunn'd, perform ; — I mean, they may be clean and warm.— Walpole. 3 Presents from Mr. Mann to Mr. Walpole.— Walpole. The art-treasures of Woolterton were sold by auction in London in the year 1856. Cunningham. * Mr. Walpole's [Lord Walpole's] name of fondness for his wife.— Walpole. 1^42.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 201 6. Trait! trfes salutaire et trfes utile sur la Reconnoissance envers les bienfaicteurs, par le Roy de Pologne. Folio, imprim! a Dresde. 7. Obligation sacrge des Trait^s, Promesses, et Eenonciations, par le Grand Turc ; avec des Remarques retractoires, par un Jesuite. 8. Probl^me ; combien il faut d'argent Francois pour payer le sang Su6dois ; calcul6 par le Comte de Gyllembourg. 9. Nouvelle m^thode de friser les clieveux il la Frangoise ; par le Colonel Mentz et sa Confrairie. 10. Recueil de Dissertations sur la meilleure mani^re de faire la partition des suc- cessions, par le Cardinal de Fleury ; avec des notes, historiques et politiques, par la Eeine d'Espagne. 11. Nouveau Yoyage de Madrid a Antibes, par I'lnfant Dom Philippe. 12. L'Art de chercher les ennemis sans les trouver ; par le Marechal de Maillebois. 13.. La fidelity couronn6e, par le General Munich et le Comte d'Osterman. 14. Le bal de Lintz et les amusements de Donawert ; pi^ce pastorale et galante, en un acte, par le Grand Due. 15. L'Art de maitriser les Femmes, par sa Majeste Catholique. 16. Avantures Bohgmiennes, tragi-comiques, trfes curieuses, tr^s interressantes, et chargees d'incidents. Tom. i. ii. iii. N.B. Le dernier tome, qui fera le denouement, est sous presse. Adieu ! my dear cliild ; if it was not for tliis secret of transcribing, wliat should one do in the country to make out a letter ? 92. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Houghton, Sept. 25th, 1742. At last, my dear child, I have got two letters from you ! I have been in strange pain, between fear of your being ill, and apprehen- sions of your letters being stopped ; but I have received that by Crew, and another since. But you have been ill ! I am angry with Mr. Chute for not writing to let me know it. I fancied you worse than you say, or at least than you own. But I don^t wonder you have fevers ! such a busy poKtician as Yillettes,* and such a blustering negociator as il Furibondo,^ are enough to put all your little economy of health and spirits in confusion. I agree with you, that " they don't pique themselves upon understanding sense, any more than neutra- lities ! *' The grand journey to Flanders "* is a little at a stand : the expense has been computed at two thousand pounds a day ! Many dozen of embroidered portmanteaus fudl of laurels and bays have been ^ Mr. Yillettes was minister at Turin. — Walpole. ^ Admiral Matthews ; his ships having committed some outrages on the coast of Italy, the Italians called him il Furibondo. — Walpole. 2 Of George the Second. — Dover. 202 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. prepared this fortnight. The Regency has been settled and unsettled twenty times : it is now said, that the weight of it is not to be laid on the Prince. The King is to return by his birthday ; but whether he is to bring back part of French Flanders with him, or will only have time to fetch Dunkirk, is uncertain. In the mean time. Lord Carteret is gone to the Hague ; by which jaunt it seems that Lord Stair^s last journey was not conclusive. The converting of the siege of Prague into a blockade, makes no great figure in the journals on this side the water and question — but it is the fashion not to take towns that one was sure of taking ! I cannot pardon the Princess for having thought of putting off her epuisemejits and lassitudes, to take a. trip to Leghorn, "pendant qu'on ne donnoit a manger a Monsieur le Prince son ills, que de la chaii^ de chevaux ! ^' Poor Prince Beauvau ! ' I shall be glad to hear he is safe from this siege. 8ome of the French princes of the blood have been stealing away a volunteering, but took care to be missed in time. Our Duke goes with his lord and father — they say, to marry a princess of Prussia, whereof great preparations have been making in his equipage and in his breeches. Poor Prince Craon ! where did De Sade get fifty sequins ? When I was at Florence, you know all his clothes were in pawn to his landlord ; but he redeemed them, by pa\vning his Modenese hill of credit to his landlady ! I delight in the style of the neutralit}^- maker [Admiral Matthews] — ^his neutralities and his English are perfectly of a piece. You have diverted me excessively with the history of the Princess Eleonora's'^ posthumous issue — but how could the woman have spiiit enough to have five children by her footman, and yet not have enough to own them. Peally, a woman so much in the great world should have known better ! Why, no yeoman's dowager could have acted more prudishly ! It always amazes me, when I reflect on the women, who are the first to propagate scandal of one another. If they would but agree not to censure what they all agree to do, there would be no more loss of characters among them than amongst men. A woman cannot have an affair, but instantly aU her sex travel about to publish ' Afterwards a marshal of France, He was a man of some ability, and the friend and patron of St. Lambert, and of other men of letters of the time of Louis XV. Dover. He was made a marshal in 1783 by the unfortunate Louis XYl. and in 1789 a minister of state. He died in 1793, a few weeks after the murder of his royal master. — Wright. 2 Eleonora of Guastalla, widow of the last Cardinal of Medici, died at Venice.— Walpolb. — The father of the children was a French running footman. — Dover. 1^42.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 208 it and leave her off : now, if a man clieats another of his estate at play, forges a will, or marries liis ward to his own son, nobody thinks of leaving him off for such trifles ! The English parson at Stosch*s, the archbishop on the chapter of music, the Fanciulla's persisting in her mistake, and old Count Galli's distress, are all admirable stories/ But what is the meaning of Montemar's writing to the Antinora ? — I thought he had left the Galla for my Illustrissima, [Madame Grifoni,] her sister. Lord ! I am horridly tired of that romantic love and correspondence ! Must I answer her last letter ? there were but six lines — ^what can I say ? I perceive, by what you mention of the cause of his disorder, that Rucellai does not tm-n out that simple, honest man you thought him - — come, own it ? 1 just recollect a story, which perhaps will serve your Archbishop on his Don Pilogio* — the Tartuffe was meant for the then Arch- bishop of Paris, who, after the first night, forbad its being acted. Mohere came forth and told the audience, *' Messiem's, on devoit vous donner le Tartuffe, mais Monseigneur TArchev^ue ne veut pas qu^on le joiieP My Lord is very impatient for his Dominichin ; so you ^vill send it by the first safe conveyance. He is making a gallery, for the ceiHng of which I have given the design of that in the httle Ubrary of St. Mark at Yenice : Mr. Chute will remember how charming it was ; and for the fiieze, I have jDrevailed to have that of the temple at TivoK. Naylor^ came here the other day with two coaches full of relations : as his mother-in-law, who was one of the company, is Avidow of Dr. Hare, Sii' Robert's old tutor at Cambridge, he made them stay to dine : when they were gone, he said, ^' Ha, child ! what is that Mr. Nay lor, Horace ? he is the absurdest man I ever saw ! " I subscribed to his opinion ; won't you ? I must tell you a story of him. When his father married this second Avife, JSTaylor said, ^' Father, they say you are to be married to-daj^ are you ?" "Well," rephed the bishop, " and what is that to you ? '' '' Nay, nothing ; only if you had told me I would have powdered my hair." ^ These are stories in a letter of Sir H. Mann's, which are neither very decent nor very amusing. — Dover. 2 The Archbishop of Florence had forbid the acting of a burletta called Don Pilogio, a sort of imitation of Tartuffe. When the Impresario of the Theatre remonstrated upon the expense he had been put to in preparing the music for it, the jirchbishop told him he might use it for some other opera. — Dover. ^ He was son of Dr. Hare, Bishop of Chichester, and changed his name for an esta te. — Walpole. 204 HORACE AYALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. 93. TO SIR HORACE MAN^. Houghton, Oct. Sth, 1742, I KAA^E not heard from you this fortnight ; if I don't receive a letter to-morrow, I shall be quite out of humour. It is true, of late I have written to you but every other post ; but then I have been in the country, in Norfolk, in Siberia ! You were still at Florence, in the midst of Kings of Sardinia, Montemars, and Neapolitan neutraH- ties ; your letters are my only diversion. As to German news, it is all so simple that I am jpeevish : the raising of the siege of Prague,' and Prince Charles and Marechal Maillebois playing at hunt the squirrel, have disgusted me from inquii'ing about the war. The Earl laughs in his great chair, and sings a bit of an old baUad, " They both did fight, they both did beat, they both did run away, They both strive again to meet the quite contrary way." Ajjropos ! I see in the papers that a Marquis de Beauvau escaped out of Prague with the Prince de Deuxpons and the Due de Brissac ; was it our Prince Beauvau ? At last the mighty monarch does not go to Flanders, after making the greatest preparations that ever were made but by Harry the Eighth, and the authors of the Grand Cyrus and the illustiious Bassa : you may judge by the quantity of napkins, which were to the amount of nine hundred dozen — ^indeed, I don't recollect that ancient heroes were ever so j)rovident of necessaries, or thought how they were to wash their hands and face after a victory. Six hundred horses, under the care of the Duke of Richmond, were even shipped ; and the clothes and furniture of his cornet magnificent enough for a bull-fight at the conquest of Granada. Felton Hcrvey's '^ war-horse, besides having richer caparisons than any of the expedition, had a gold net to keep ofi" the flies — in winter ! Judge of the clamoiu-s this expense to no purpose will produce ! My Lord Carteret is set out from the Hague, but was not landed when the last letters came ^ The Marshal de Maillebois and the Count de Saxe had been sent with reinforce- ments from France, to deliver the Marshal de Broglio and the Marshal de Belle-Iale, who, with their army, were shut up in Prague, and surrounded by the superior forces of the Queen of Hungary, commanded by Prince Charles of Lorraine. They succeeded in facilitating the escape of the Marshal de Broglio, and of a portion of the French troops; but the Marshal de Belle-Isle continued to be blockaded in Prague with twenty-two thousand men, till December 1742, when he made his escape to Egra. Dover. 2 Felton Hervey (tenth son of John, first Earl of Bristol) died 1775. Wright, l'i^42.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 205 from London : there are no great expectations from this trip ; no more than followed from my Lord Stair's. I send you two more Odes on Pulteney,' I believe by the same hand as the former, though none are equal to the Nova Progenies, which has been more liked than almost ever anything was. It is not at all known whose they are ; I beHeve Hanbury Williams's. The note to the first was printed with it : the advice to him to be Privy Seal has its foundation ; for when the consultation was held who were to have places, and my Lord Gower was named to succeed Lord Hervey, Pulteney said with some warmth, " I designed to be Privy Seal myself ! '' We expect some company next week from !N"ewmarket : here is at present only Mr. Keene and Pigiciggin,- — you never saw so agreeable a creature ! — oh yes ! you have seen his parents ! I must tell you a new story of them : Sir Pobert had given them a Httle horse for Pigwiggin, and somebody had given them another : both which, to save the charge of keeping, they sent to grass in Newpark [Rich- mond]. After three years that they had not used them, my Lord Walpole let his own son ride them, while he was at the Park, in the holidays. Do you know, that the woman Horace sent to Sir Pobert, and made him give her five guineas for the two horses, because George had ridden them ? I give you my word this is fact. There has been a great fi^acas at Kensington : one of the Mesdames [George 11. 's daughters] pulled the chair from under Countess Deloraine ^ at cards, who, being provoked that her Monarch was diverted with her disgi^ace, with the maKce of a hobby-horse, gave hiin just such another fall. But alas ! the Monarch, like Louis XI Y., is mortal in the part that touched the ground, and was so hui^t and so angTy, that the Countess is disgraced, and her German rival [Lady Yarmouth] remains in the sole and quiet ^^ossession of her royal master's favour, ^ These are " The Capuchin," and the ode beginning " Great Earl of Bath, your reign is o'er : " as they have been frequently published, they are omitted. The ''Nova Progenies " is the well-known ode beginning, " See, a new progeny descends." — Dover. ^ Eldest son of old Horace "VValpole. — Walpole. Afterwards the second Lord "Walpole of Woolterton, and in 1806, at the age of eighty-three, created Earl of Orford. He died in 1809.— Wright. ^ Mary Howard, of the Berkshire family. Maid of Honour to the Princess of Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline, married Henry Scott, first Earl of Deloraine, son of the Duke of Monmouth, and, after his death (1730), William Wyndham, Esq., of Carsham. Lord Hervey describes her as very handsome, and the only woman who played with the King in his daughter's apartments. She was at this time governess 206- HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. Oct. 9th. Well ! I have waited till this morning, but have no letter from you ; what can be the meaning of it ? Sure, if you was ill, Mr. Chute would write to me ! Your brother jDrotests he never lets youi' letters he at the office. Sa Majeste Fatajxinique [Wal^^ole's dog] has had a di^eadful mis- fortune ! — ^not lost his first minister, nor his purse — nor had part of his camp equipage burned in the river, nor waited for his secretary of state, who is perhaps blown to Flanders — nay, nor had his chair pulled from under him — worse ! worse ! quarrelling with a great pointer last night about their Countesses, he received a terrible shake by the back and a bruise t)n the left eye — poor dear Pat ! you never saw such universal consternation ! it was at suj)per. Sir Eobert, who makes as much rout with him as I do, says, he never saw ten people show so much real concern ! Adieu ! Yours, ever and ever — but write to me. 94. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Hourjliton, Oct. 16, 1742. I HAVE received two letters from you since last post ; I suppose the mnd stopped the packet-boat. "Well ! was not I in the right to persist in buying the Dominichin? don^t you laugh at those wise comioisseurs, who pronounced it a copy ? If it is one, where is the original ? or who was that so great master that could equal Dominichin ? Your brother has received the money for it, and Lord Orford is in great impatience for it ; yet he begs, if you can find any opportunity, that it may be sent in a man- of-war. I must desire that the statue may be sent to Leghorn, to be shipped with it, and that you will get Campagni and Libri to transact the payment as they did for the picture, and I will pay your brother. Yillettes' important dispatches to you are as ridiculous as good Mr. Matthews's devotion. I fancy Mr. Matthews's own god * would make as foolish a figm-e about a monl^ey's neck, as a Roman Cathohc one. You know, Sir Francis Dashwood used to say that Lord Shrewsbury's Providence was an old angry man in a blue cloak ; another person that I knew, beHeved Providence was like a mouse, to the younger Princesses. — Herveijs Memoirs, ii. 36 and 350. She died 12th November, 1744. — Cunningham. ^ Admiral MattheWa crew having disturbed some Roman Catholic ceremonies in a little island on the coast of Italy, hung a crucifix about a monkey's neck.— Walpolb. 1742.] . TO SIR HORACE MANK 207 because lie is invisible. I dare to say Matthews believes, that Providence lives upon beef and pudding, loves prize-figliting and bull-baiting, and drinks fog to the health of Old England. I go to London in a week, and then "vsdll send you des cartloads of news : I know none now, but that we hear to-day of the arrival of Due d'Ai'emberg — I suppose to return my Lord Carteret's visit. The latter was near being lost ; he told the King, that being in a storm, he had thought it safest to ^j«^ into Yarmouth Roaclsy at which tee laughed, hoh ! hoh ! hoh ! For want of news, I Hve upon ballads to you ; here is one that has made a vast noise, and by Lord Hervey's taking great pains to disperse it, has been thought his own, — if it is," he has taken true care to disguise the niceness of his style. 1. England, attend, -wliile tliy fate I deplore, Rehearsing the schemes and the conduct of power; And since only of those who have power I sing, 1 am sure none can think that I hint at the King. II. From the time his son made him old Robin depose, All the power of a King he was well-known to lose; But of all but the name and the badges bereft. Like old women, his paraphernalia are left. III. To tell how he shook in St. James's for fear. When first these new ministers bullied him there. Makes my blood boil with rage, to think what a thing They have made of a man we obey as a King. IV. "Whom they pleased they put in, whom they pleased they put out. And just like a top they all lash'd him about. Whilst he like a top with a murmuring noise, Seem'd to grumble, but turn'd to these rude lashing boys. V. At last Carteret amving, spoke thus to his grief, "If you'll make me your Doctor, I'll bring you relief; You see to your closet familiar I come, And seem like my wife in the circle — at home.'' ^ Harwich was the King's embarking and disembarking port to and from his Hanoverian dominions. Yarmouth Roads were always dangerous. The Countess of Yarmouth was the King's German mistress. — Cunningham. 2 It was certainly written by Lord Hervey. — Walpole. Compare Walpole in his ' Reminiscences,' chapter viii. — Cunningham. 208 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. D'i'^2. VI. Quotli the King, " My good Lord, perhaps, you Ve been told, That I used to abuse you a little of old ; But now bring whom you will, and eke turn away. Let but me and my money, and Walmoden ^ stay." YII. " For you and Walmoden, I freely consent. But as for your money , I must have it spent ; I have promised your son (nay, no frowns,) shall have some, Nor think 'tis for nothing we patriots are come. VIII. " But, however, little King, since I find you so good, Thus stooping below your high courage and blood, Put yourself in my hands, and I'll do what I can To make you look yet like a King and a man. IX. " At your Admiralty and your Treasury-board, To save one single man you shan't say a word. For, by God ! all your rubbish from both you shall shoot, Walpole's ciphers and Gasherry's^ vassals to boot. X. " And to guard Prince's ears, as all Statesmen take care, So, long as yours are — not one man shall come near ; For of all your Court-crew we'll leave only those Who we know never dare to say boh ! to a goose. XI. " So your friend booby Grafton I '11 e'en let you keep. Awake he can't hurt, and is still half-asleep ; Nor ever was dangerous, but to womankind. And his body's as impotent now as his mind. XII. " There 's another Court-booby, at once hot and dull, Your pious pimp, Schutz, a mean, Hanover tool ; For your card-play at night he too shall remain, With virtuous and sober, and wise Deloraine.^ XIII. " And for all your Court-nobles who can't write or read, As of such titled ciphers all courts stand in need. Who, like parliament-Swiss, vote and fight for their pay, They're as good as a new set to cry yea and nay. * Lady Yarmouth. — Walpole. 2 Sir Charles Wager's nephew, and Secretary to the Admiralty. — Walpole. ^ Countess Dowager of Dcloraine, governess to the young Princesses [see p. 18-1]. — Walpole, 1742.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 209 XIV. " Though Newcastle's as false, as he's silly, I know, By betraying old Robin to me long ago, As well as all those who employ'd him before. Yet I leave him in place, but I leave him no power. XV. " For granting his heart is as black as his hat, With no more truth in this, than there 's sense beneath that ; Yet as he's a coward, he'll shake when I frown : You call'd him a rascal, I'll use him like one. XVI. '* And since his estate at elections he'll spend, A nd beggar himself, without making a friend ; So whilst the extravagant fool has a sous. As his brains I can't fear, so his fortune I'll use. xvir. " And as miser Hardwicke, with all courts will draw, He too may remain, but shall stick to his law ; For of foreign affairs, when he talks like a fool, I'll laugh in his face, and will cry, ' Go to school ! ' XVIII. " The Countess of Wilmington, excellent nurse, I'll trust with the Treasury, not with its purse ; For nothing by her I've resolv'd shall be done. She shall sit at that board, as you sit on the throne. XIX. " Perhaps now, you expect that I should begin To tell you the men I design to bring in ; But we're not yet determined on all their demands ; — And you'll know soon enough, when they come to kiss hands. XX. " All that weathercock Pulteney shall ask, we must grant, For to make him a great noble nothing, I want ; And to cheat Buch a man, demands all my arts, For though he's a fool, he 's a fool with great parts.' XXI. " And as popular Clodius, the Pulteney of Rome, From a noble, for power did plebeian become. So this Clodius to be a Patrician shall choose^ Till what one got by changing, the other shall lose. XXII. " Thus flatter'd, and courted, and gaz'd at by all. Like Phaeton, rais'd for a day, he shall fall, ^ This is the best line in the Ballad.— Cunningham. VOL. I. 210 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. Put the world in a flame, and show he did strive To get reins in his hand, though 'tis plain he can't drive. XXIII. " For your foreign affairs, howe'er they turn out. At least I '11 take care you shall make a great rout : Then cock your great hat, strut, bounce, and look bluff, Por though kick'd and cuff 'd here, you shall there kick and cuff. XXIV. " That Walpole did nothing they all us'd to say, So I'll do enough, but I'll make the dogs pay ; Great fleets I'll provide, and great armies engage, "Whate'er debts we make, or whate'er wars we wage." XXV. With cordials like these the Monarch's new guest Reviv'd his sunk spirits and gladden'd his breast ; Till in raptures he cried, " My dear Lord, you shall do Whatever you will, give me troops to review. XXVI. " But oh ! my dear England, since this is thy state. Who is there that loves thee but weeps at thy fate 1 Since in changing thy masters, thou art just like old Rome, Whilst Faction, Oppression, and Slavery's thy doom ! XXVII, " For though you have made that rogue Walpole retire. You are out of the frying-pan into the fire ! But since to the Protestant line I'm a friend, I tremble to think where these changes jna,y end ! " This has not been printed.^ You see the burthen of all the songs is the 7vgue Walpole, which he has observed himself, but I beheve is content, as long as they pay off his arrears to those that began the tune. Adieu ! 95. TO SIR HORACE MAKN. Houghton, October 23, 1742. At last I see an end of my pilgrimage : the day after to-morrow I do go to London. I am affirming it to you as earnestly as if you had been doubting of it like myself ; but both my brothers are here, and Sir Eobert will let me go. He must follow himself soon : the ParUament meets the 16th of November, that the King may go abroad the first of March ; but if all threats prove true prophecies, ' I have a printed folio copy (very corrupt) dated 1743.— Cunningham. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 211 he will scarce enter upon heroism so soon, for we are promised a winter just like the last : new Secret Committees to be tried for, and impeachments actually put into execution. It is horrid to have a prospect of a session like the last ! In the meantime, my Lord of Bath and Lord Hervey, who seem deserted by everybody else, are grown the greatest friends in the world at Bath ; and to make a complete triumvirate, my Lord Gower is always of their party : how they must love one another, the late, the present, and the would-be Privy Seal ! Lord Hyndford has had great honours in Prussia : that King bespoke for him a service of plate to the value of three thousand pounds. He asked leave for his Majesty's arms to be put upon it : the King rephed, " they should, with the arms of Silesia added to his paternal coat for ever." I will tell you Sir E-obert's remark on this : " He is rewarded thus for having obtained Silesia for the King of Prussia, which he was sent to preserve to the Queen of Hungary ! " Her affairs begin to take a little better turn again ; BrogKo is prevented from joining Maillebois, who, they affirm, can never bring his army off, as the King of Poland is guarding all the avenues of Saxony, to prevent his passing through that country. I wrote to you in my last to desire that the Dominichin and my statue might come by a man-of-war. Now, Sir Robert, who is impatient for his picture, would have it sent in a Dutch ship, as he says he can easily get it from Holland. If you think this convey- ance quite safe, I beg my statua may bear it company. Tell me if you are tired of ballads on my Lord Bath ; if you are not, here is another admirable one,' I beheve by the same hand as the others ; but by the conclusion certainly ought not to be Williams's. I only send you the good odes, for the newspapers are every day fall of bad ones on this famous Earl. My compliments to the Princess [Craon] ; I dreamed last night that she was come to Houghton, and not at all ^puis^e with her journey. Adieu ! P. S. I must add a postscript, to mention a thing I have often designed to ask you to do for me. Since I came to England, I have been buying drawings, (the time is well chosen, when I had neglected it in Italy !) I saw at Florence two books that I should now be 1 Sir Charles Hanbury Williams's ode, beginning " What Statesman, what Hero, what King—." It is to be found in all editions of his poems.— Dover. 212 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. very glad to have, if you could get tliem tolerably reasonable; one was at an Englisli painter^s ; I think his name was Huckford, over against your house in via Bardi ; they were of Holbein : the other was of Guercino, and brought to me to see by the Abbe Bonducci ; my dear child, you will oblige me much if you can get them. 6. TO SIR HORACE MAISTN. Arlington Street, Nov. \, 1742. I HAVE not felt so pleasantly these thi^ee months as I do at present, though I have a great cold with coming into an unaired house, and have been forced to carry that cold to the King's levee and the draw- ing-room. There were so many new faces that I scarce knew where I was ; I should have taken it for Carlton House,' or my Lady Mayoress's visiting-day, only the peojDle did not seem enough at home, but rather as admitted to see the King dine in pubhc. 'Tis quite ridiculous to see the numbers of old ladies, who, from having been wives of patriots, have not been dressed these twenty years ; out they come in all the accoutrements that were in use in Queen Anne's days. Then the joy and awkward jollit}" of them is inex- pressible ! They titter, and wherever you meet them, are always going to court, and looking at their watches an hour before the time. I met several on the birth-day, (for I did not arrive time enough to make clothes,) and they were dressed in all the colours of the rain- bow : they seem to have said to themselves twenty-years ago, ** Well, if ever I do go to court again, I will have a pink and silver, or a blue and silver," and they keep their resolutions. But here's a letter from you, sent to me back fi'om Houghton ; I must stop to read it. Well, I have read it, and am diverted with Madame Grifoni's being with child ; I hope she was too. I hope she was too. I don't wonder that she hates the country ; I dare to say her child does not owe its existence to the Yilleggiatui-a. When you wrote, it seems you had not heard what a speedy determination was put to Don Phihp's reign in Savoy. I suppose he will retain the title : you know great pnnces are fond of titles, which prove that they are not half so great as they once were. I find a very different face of things from what we had conceived in the country. There are, indeed, thoughts of renewing attacks on Lord Orford, and of stopping the Supphes ; but the new ministry 1 Tlien (1742) the residence of Frederick Prince of AVales.— Cunningham. 1742. J TO SIR HOE ACE MANN. 213 laugh at these threats, having secured a vast majority in the House : the Opposition themselves own that the Court will have upwards of a hundred majority : I don't, indeed, conceive how ; but they are con- fident of carrying every thing. They talk of Lord Gower's not keeping the Privy Seal ; that he will either resign it, or have it taken away : Lord Bath, who is entering into all the court measures, is most likely to succeed him. The late Lord Privy Seal [Lord Hervey] has had a most ridiculous accident at Bath : he used to play in a Httle inner room ; but one night some ladies had got it, and he was reduced to the pubhc room ; but being extremely absent and deep in politics, he walked through the little room to a convenience behind the curtain, from whence (still absent) he produced himself in a situation extremely diverting to the women : imagine his deHcacy, and the passion he was in at their laughing ! I laughed at myself prodigiously the other day for a piece of absence ; I was writing on the King's birth- day, and being disturbed with the mob in the street, I rang for the porter, and, with an air of grandeur, as if I was still at Downing Street, cried, " Pray send away those marrowbones and cleavers ! " The poor feUow, with the most mortified air in the world, rephed, " Sir, they are not at our door, but over the way at my Lord Carteret's." " Oh," said I, "then let them alone ; may be, he does not dislike the noise ! " I pity the poor porter, who sees all his old customers going over the way too. Our operas begin to-morrow with a pasticcio, full of most of my favourite songs : the FumagaUi has disappointed us ; she had received an hundi-ed ducats, and then wrote word that she had spent them, and was afraid of coming through the Spanish quarters ; but if they would send her a hundred more, she would come next year. Yillettes has been written to in the strongest manner to have her forced hither, (for she is at Turin). I tell you this by way of key, in case you should receive a mysterious letter in cipher from him about this important business. I have not seen Due d'Aremberg ; but I hear that aU the enter- tainments for him are suppers, for he will Wme at his own hour, eleven in the morning. He proposed it to the Duchess of Richmond when she invited him, but she said she did not know where to find company to dine with him at that hour. I must advise you to be cautious how you refuse humouring our captains^ in any of their foolish schemes, for they are popular, and I 1 The captains of ships in the English fleet at Leghorn.— Walpole, 214 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. should be yery sorry to have them out of humour with you when they come home, lest it should give any handle to your enemies. Think of it, my dear child ! The officers in Flanders, that are members of parhament, have had intimations, that if they ask leave to come on their private affairs, and drop in, not all together, they will be very well received ; this is decorum. Little Brook's little wife is a Httle with child. Adieu ! 97. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, Nov. 15, 1742. I HAVE not wiitten to you lately, expecting letters from you ; at last I have received two. I still send mine through France, as I am afraid they would get to you with still more difficulty through Holland. Our army is just now ordered to march to Mayence, at the repeated instances of the Queen of Hungary ; Lord Staii* goes mth them, but almost all the officers that are in ParHament are come over, for the troops are only to be in garrison till March, when, it is said, the king will take the field with them. This step makes a great noise, for the old remains of the Opposition are detennined to persist, and have termed this a Hanoverian measure. They begin to-morrow, with opposing the addi^ess on the King's Speech : Pitt is to be the leading man ; there are none but he and Lyttelton of the Prince's Court, who do not join with the Ministry : the Prince has told them, that he will follow the advice they long ago gave him, " of turning out all his people who do not vote as he would have them." Lord Orford is come to town, and was at the King's levee to-day; the joy the latter showed to see him was very visible : all the new Ministry came and spoke to him ; and he had a long, laughing conversation with my Lord Chesterfield, who is still in Oppo- sition. You have heard, I suppose, of the revolution in the French Court ; Madame de Mailly is disgraced, and her handsome sister De la Tournehe ' succeeds : the latter insisted on three conditions ; first, ^ Afterwards created Duchess of Chateauroux. — Walpole. Mary Anne de Mailly, widow of the Marquis de la Tournelle. She succeeded her sister Madame de Mailly' as mistress of Louis XY., as the latter had succeeded the other sister, Madame de Vintimille, in the same situation. Madame de Chateauroux was sent away from the court during the illness of Louis at Metz ; but on his recovery he recalled her. Shortly after which she died, December 10, 1744, and on her death-bed accused M. de 1742.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 215 that the Mailly should quit the palace before she entered it ; next, that she should he declared mistress, to which post, they pretend, there is a large salary annexed, (but that is not probable,) and lastly, that she may always have her own parties at supper : the last article would very well explain what she proposes to do with her salary. There are admirable instructions come up from Worcester to Sandys and Winnington ; ^ they tell the latter how Httle hopes they always had of him. " But for you, Mr. Sandys, who have always, &c. you to snatch at the first place you could get, &c." In short, they charge him, who is in the Treasury and Exchequer, not to vote for any supphes." I write to you in a vast hurry, for I am going to the meeting at the Cockpit, to hear the King's Speech read to the members : Mr. Pelham presides there. They talk of a majority of fourscore : we shall see to-morrow. The Pomfrets stay in the country most part of the winter : Lord Lincoln and Mr. [George] Pitt have declared off in form.* So much for the schemes of my lady ! The Duke of Grafton used to say that they put him in mind of a troop of ItaHan comedians ; Lord Lincoln was Yalere, Lady Sophia, Columbine, and my lady the old mother behind the scenes. Our operas go on ai(, 2^lus miserable : all our hopes He in a new dancer, Sodi, who has performed but once, but seems to please as much as the Fausan. Did I tell you how well they had chosen the plot of the first opera ? " There was a piince who rebels against his father, who had before rebelled against his.'^ * The Duke of Montagu says, there is to be an opera of dancing, with singing between the acts. My Lord Tyrawley* is come from Portugal, and has brought three Maurepas, the minister, of having poisoned her. The intrigue, by means of which she supplanted her sister, was conducted principally by the Marshal de Richelieu. — Dover. 1 Members for Worcester. — Cunningham. 2 " We earnestly entreat, insist, and require, that you will postpone the supplies until you have renewed the secret committee of enquiry." — Wright. ^ Lord Lincoln and Mr. George Pitt were admirers of Lady Sophia Fermor and Lady Charlotte Fermor, the beautiful daughters of Lady Pomfret. A}ite pp. 38 and 1 79. — Cunningham. '^ This was a pasticcio, called " Mandane," another name for Metastasio's drama of " Artaserse." — Wright. * Lord Tyrawley was many years ambassador at Lisbon. Pope has mentioned his and another ambassador's seraglios in one of his imitations of Horace, " Kinnoul's lewd cargo, or Tyrawley's crew." — Walpole. James O'Hara, second and last Lord 216 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742 wives and fourteen children ; one of the former is a Portuguese, with long hlack hair plaited down to the bottom of her back. He was asked the other night at supper what he thought of England ; whether he found much alteration from fifteen years ago ? " No," he said, "not at all: why, there is my Lord Bath, I don't see the least alteration in him ; he is just what he was : and then I found my Lord Grantham' walking on tiptoe, as if he was still afraid of waking the Queen/' Hanbury Williams is very ill at Bath, and his wife ^ in the same way in private lodgings in the city. Mr. Dodington has at last owned his match with his old mistress.^ I suppose he wants a new one. I commend your prudence about Leghorn ; but, my dear child, what pain I am in about you ! Is it possible to be easy while the Spaniards are at your gates ! write me word every minute as your apprehensions vanish or increase. I ask every moment what jdcojdIc think ; but how can they tell here ? You say nothing of Mr. Chute : sure he is with you still ! When I am in such uneasiness about you, I want you every post to mention your friends being with you : I am sure you have none so good or sensible as he is. I am vastly obHged to you for the thought of the book of shells, and shall like it much ; and thank you too about my Scagliola table ; but I am distressed about your expenses. Is there any way one could get your allowance increased ? You know how low my interest is now ; but you know too what a push I would make to be of any service to you — tell me, and adieu ! 98. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street^ Dec. 2, 1742. You will wonder that it is above a fortnight since I wrote to you ; but I have had an inflammation in one of my eyes, and durst not meddle with a pen. I have had two letters from you of November Tyrawley of that family. He died in 1773, and was buried at his own request among the soldiers of Chelsea Hospital. — Cunningham. ^ Henry Nassau d' Auverquerque, second Earl of Grantham. He had been cham- berlain to Queen Caroline. He died in 1754, when his titles became extinct. — Walpole. 2 Frances, youngest daughter and coheir of Thomas, Earl Coningsby. — Cunningham. ^ Mrs, Beghan. — Walpole. Dodington was married to Mrs. Behan whom he was supposed to keep. Though secretly married he could not own her, as he then did, till the death of Mrs. Strawbridge, to whom he had given a promise of marriage under the penalty of ten thousand pounds. — WaJjmle'e MS. Note in Dodington's Diary. — Cunningham. 1742.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 217 Gth and 13th, but I am in tlie utmost impatience for another, to hear you are quite recovered of your Trinculos and Furibondos. You tell me you was in a fever ; I cannot be easy till I hear from you again. I hope this will come much too late for a medicine, but it wiU always serve for sal volatile to give you spirits. Yesterday was appointed for considering the Army ; but Mr. Lyttelton stood up and moved for another Secret Coramittee, in the very words of last year ; but the whole debate ran, not upon Eobert Earl of Orford, but Robert Earl of Sandys : ^ he is the constant butt of the party ; indeed he bears it notably. After five hours' haranguing, we came to a division, and threw out the motion by a majority of sixty-seven, 253 against 186. The Prince had declared so openly for union and agreement in all measures, that, except the Nepotism, '^ all his servants but one were with us. I don't know whether they will attempt anything else, but with these majorities we must have an easy winter. The union of the Whigs has saved this parHament. It is expected that Pitt and Lyttelton will be dismissed by the Prince. That faction and Waller are the only Whigs of any note that do not join with the Court. I do not count Dodington, who. must now be always with the minority, for no majority will accept him. It is beHeved that Lord Gower will retire, or be desired to do so. I suppose you have heard from E,ome,^ that Murray [Lord Mansfield] is made SoHcitor-general, in the room of Sir John Strange, who has resigned for his health. This is the sum of politics ; we can't expect any winter (I hope no winter will be) like the last. By the crowds that come hither, one should not know that Sir Hobert is out of place, only that now he is scarce abused. Be reste, the town is wondrous dull ; operas unfrequented, plays not in fashion, amours as old as marriages — in short, nothing but whist ! I have not yet learned to play, but I find that I wait in vain for its being left off. I agree with you about not sending home the Dominichin in an English vessel ; but what I mentioned to you of its coming in a Dutch vessel, if you find an opportunity, I think will be very safe, if you approve it ; but manage that as you Hke. I shall hope for my statue at the same time ; but tiU the conveyance is absolutely ^ Samuel Sandys, chancellor of the exchequer, in the room of Sir R, Walpole. — Walpole, 2 The Cobham Cousins. — Cunningham. 3 This alludes to the supposed Jacobite principles of Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield. — Dover. , 218 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. safe, I know you will not venture them. Now I mention my statue, I must beg you will send me a full bill of all my debts to you, which I am sure by this time must be infinite ; I beg to know the particulars, that I may pay your brother. Adieu, my dear Sir ; take care of yourself, and submit to popery and slavery rather than get colds with sea-heroes.* 99. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Dec. 9, 1742. I SHALL have quite a partiality for the post of Holland ; it brought me two letters last week, and two more yesterday, of November 20th and 27th ; but I find you have your perpetual head- aches — how can you say that you shall tire me with talking of them ? you may make me suffer by your pains, but I will hear and insist upon your always telling me of your health. Do you think I only correspond with you to know the posture of the Spaniards or the epuiscments of the Princess ! I am anxious, too, to know how poor Mr. Whithed does, and Mr. Chute's gout. I shall look upon our sea-captains with as much horror as the King of Naples can, if they bring gouts, fits, and headaches. You will have had a letter from me by this time, to give up send- ing the Domini chin by a man-of-war, and to propose its coming in a Dutch ship. I believe that will be safe. We have had another great day in the House on the army in Flanders, which the Opposition were for disbanding ; but we carried it by an hundred and twenty."* Murray spoke for the first time, with the greatest applause ; Pitt answered him with all his force and art of language, but on an ill-founded argument. In all appearances, they will be great rivals. Shippen was in great rage at Murray's apostacy ; " if anything can really change his principles, possibly this competition may. To-morrow we shall have a tougher battle on the sixteen thousand Hanoverians. Hanoiw is the word given out for this winter : there is a most bold pamphlet come out, said to ^ Sir H, Mann had complained, in one of his letters, of the labours he had gone through in doing the honours of Florence to some of Admiral Matthews's {II Furihondo) officers. The English fleet was now at Leghorn, upon the plea of defend- ing the Tuscan territories, in case of their being attacked by the Spaniards.— Dover. 2 Upon a motion, made by Sir William Yonge, that 534,763^. be granted for defraying the charge of 16,359 men, to be employed in Flanders. The numbers on the division were 280 against 160. — Walpole. ^ From Toryism. — Dover. 1742.] TO SIR PIORACE MANN. 219 be Lord Marcliinont's,' wliicli affirms tliat in every treaty made since tlie accession of this family, England has been sacrificed to the interests of Hanover, and consequently insinuates the incompatibility of the two. Lord Chesterfield says, "that if we have a mind effectually to prevent the Pretender from ever obtaining this crown, we should make him Elector of Hanover, for the people of England will never fetch another king from thence." Adieu! my dear child. I am sensible that I write you short letters, but I write you all I know. I don't know how it is, but the wonderful seems worn out. In this our day, we have no rabbit- women — ^no elopements — ^no epic poems,^ finer than Milton's — no contest about Harlequins and Polly Peachems. Jansen ' has won no more estates, and the Duchess of Queensberry " is grown as tam.e as her neighbours. Whist has spread an universal opium over the whole nation ; it makes com^tiers and patriots sit down to the same pack of cards. The only thing extraordinary,, and which yet did not seem to surprise anybody, was the Barberina's ' being attacked by four men masqued, the other night, as she came out of the Opera House, who would have forced her away ; but she screamed, and the guard came. Nobody knows who set them on, and I beheve nobody inquired. The Austrians in Elanders have separated from our troops a Httle out of humour, because it was impracticable for them to march with- out any preparatory provision for their reception. They will probably march in two months, if no peace prevents it. Adieu ! 100. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Dec. 23, 1742. I HAVE had no letter from you this fortnight, and I have heard nothing this month : judge how fit I am to write. I hope it ^ Hugh Hume, third Earl of Marchmont — the friend (and one of the executors) of Pope. — Cunningham. 2 This alludes to the extravagant encomiums bestowed on Glover's Leonidas by the young patriots. — Walpole. 2 H. Jansen, a celebrated gamester, who cheated the late Duke of Bedford [died 1732] of an immense sum : Pope hints at that affair in this line, "Or when a duke to Jansen punts at White's." — Walpole. See note p. 199. — Cunningham. 4 Catherine Hyde, great granddaughter of Lord Chancellor Clarendon : — Prior's Kitty, and the friend of Gay. She was eccentric both in speech and dress. — Cunningham, 5 A famous dancer, — Walpole. 220 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1742. is not another mark of growing old ; but, I do assui^e you, my writing begins to leave me. Don't be frigbtened ! I don't mean this as an introduction towards having done with you — I will write to you to the very stump of my pen, and, as Pope says, *' Squeeze out the last dull droppings of my sense." But I declare, it is hard to sit sj)inning out one's brains by the fire- side without having heard the least thing to set one's hand a-going. I am so put to it for something to say, that I would make a memorandum of the most improbable lie that could be invented by a viscountess- dowager ; as the old Duchess of Rutland * does when she is told of some strange casualty, " Lucy, child, step into the next room and set that down." — " Lord, Madam ! " says Lady Lucy,^ " it can't be true ! '^ " Oh, no matter, child ; it will do for news into the country next post." But do you conceive that the kingdom of the Dull is come upon earth — ^not with the forerunners and prognostics of other to-come kingdoms ? l^o, no ; the sun and the moon go on just as they used to do, without giving us any hints : we see no knights come prancing upon pale horses, or red horses ; no stars, called wormwood, fall into the Thames, and turn a tliird part into wormwood ; no locusts, like horses, with their hair as the hair of women — in short, no thousand things, each of which destroys a third part of mankind : the only token of this new kingdom is a woman riding on a beast, which is the mother of abominations, and the name in the forehead is whist : and the four- and- twenty elders, and the women, and the whole town, do nothing but play with this beast. Scandal itself is dead, or confined to a pack of cards ; for the only mahcious whisper I have heard this fortnight, is of an intrigue between the Queen of hearts and the Knave of clubs. Your friend Lady Sandwich ^ has got a son ; if one may believe the belly she wore, it is a brave one. Lord Holderness has lately given a magnificent repas to fifteen persons ; there were three courses of ten, fifteen, and fifteen, and a sumptuous dessert : a great saloon illuminated, odours, and vioHns — and who do you think were the invited? — the Yisconti, Guiletta, the Galli, Amorevoli, MonticeUi, Yanneschi and his wife, Weedemans the hautboy, the prompter, &c. The bouquet was given to the Guiletta, who is ^ Lady Lucinda Sherard, widow of John Manners, second Duke of Rutland. She died in 1751. — Wright. 2 Lady Lucy Manners, married, in 1742, to William, second Duke of Montrose. She died in 1788.— Wright. ■■* Judith, sister of Viscount Fane, wife of Montagu, fifth Earl of Sandwich. — Wright. 1743.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 221 barely handsome. How can one love magnificence and low company at the same instant ! We are making great parties for the Barberina and the Auretti, a charming French giii ; and our schemes succeed so well that the Opera begins to fill surprisingly ; for all those who don't love music, love noise and party, and will any night give half-a-guinea for the Kberty of hissing — such is Enghsh harmony ! I have been in a round of dinners with Lord Stafibrd, and Bussv the French minister, who tells one stories of Capuchins, confessions, Henri Quatre, Louis XIY., Gascons, and the stiing which all Frenchmen go through, without any connection or relation to the discourse. These very stories, which I have already heard four times, are only interrupted by English puns, which old Churchill ti'anslates out of jest books into the mouth of my Lord Chesterfield, and into most execrable French. Adieu ! I have scribbled, and blotted, and made nothing out, and, in short, have nothing to say, so good night ! 101. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Jan. 6, 1743. You mil wonder that you have not heard from me, but I have been too ill to vmte. I have been confined these ten days with a most violent cough, and they suspected an inflammation on my lungs ; but I am come off" with the loss of my eyes and my voice, both of which I am recovering, and would write to j^ou to-day. I have received your long letter of December 11th, and return you a thousand thanks for giving me up so much of your time ; I wish I could make as long a letter for you, but we are in a neutrahty of news. The Elector Palatine ' is dead ; but I have not heard what alterations that will make. Lord Wilmington's death, which is reckoned hard upon, is likely to make more conversation here. He is going to the Bath, but that is only to pass away the time till he dies.'^ ^ Charles Philip of Neubourg, Elector Palatine : — died December 31, 1742. He was succeeded by Charles Theodore, Prince of Sulzbach, descended from a younger branch of the house of Neubourg, and who, in his old age, became Elector of Bavaria. — Dover. 2 I neither rejoice at my Lord Wilmington's death, nor lament it ; for he was neither my friend, nor, I believe, my enemy. I am as indiflferent about the succession to his immense wealth. But the succession to his post is of more importance, and admits of less indiiference. — Bolinghrohe to Marchmont, July 26, 1743. — Cunnikgham. 222 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. The great Yemon is landed, but we have not been alarmed with any bonfires or illuminations ; he has outlived all his popularity. There is nothing new but the separation of a Mr. and Mrs. French, whom it is impossible you should know. She has been fashionable these two winters ; her husband has commenced a suit in Doctors' Commons against her cat, and will, they say, recover considerable damages : but the law}^ers are of opinion that the kittens must inherit Mr. French's estate, as they were born in lawful wedlock. The Parliament meets again on Monday, but I don't hear of any fatigue that we are likely to have ; in a little time, I suppose, we shall hear what campaigning we are to make. I must tell you of an admii-able reply of your acquaintance the Duchess of Queensbcrry: old Lady Granville/ Lord Carteret's mother, whom they call the Queen'Mother , from taking upon her to do the honours of her son's power, was pressing the Duchess to ask her for some place for herself or friends, and assured her that she would procure it, be it what it would. Could she have picked out a fitter person to be gracious to ? The Duchess made her a most grave curtsey, and said, *' Indeed, there was one thing she had set her heart on." — " Dear child, how you oblige me by asking anything ! "V^Hiat is it ? tell me." — " Only that you would speak to my Lord Carteret to get me made Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen of Hungary." I come now to your letter, and am not at all pleased to find that the Princess absolutely intends to murder you with her cold rooms. I wish you could come on those cold nights and sit by my fireside ; I have the prettiest warm little apartment, with all my baubles, and Patapans and cats ! Patapan and I go to-morrow to New Park, [Richmond] to my Lord, for the air, and come back with him on Monday. What an infamous story that affair of Nomis is ! and how different the ideas of honour among officers in youi' world and ours ! Yom* history of cicisbeism is more entertaining : I figui-e the distress of a parcel of lovers who have so many things to dread — the govern- ment in this world ! purgatory in the next ! inquisitions, viUeggia- turas, convents, &c. Lord Essex ^ is extremely bad, and has not strength enough to go 1 Of this old lady and her daughter-in-law (see p. 110), there is an admirable description by the lady herself in a letter by Mrs. Montagu, of Shakespeareshire (I use Walpole's own designation). — Mrs. MontagiCs Letters, Vol. ii. p. 254, See note at p. 299 of this volume. — Cunningham. 2 William Capel, third Earl of Essex, died 1743. — Cu^ninqham. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 223 throTigli tlie remedies that are necessary to his recovery. He now fancies that he does not exist, and will not be persuaded to walk or talk, because, as he sometimes says, " How should he do anything? he is not." You say, " How came I not to see Due d^Aremberg ? " I did once at the Opera ; but he went away soon after ; and here it is not the way to visit foreigners, unless you are of the Court, or are par- ticularly in a way of having them at your house : consequently Sir Robert never saw him neither — ^we are not of the Court ! Next, as to Arlington-street : Sir Robert is in a middling kind of house, which has long been his, and was let ; he has taken a small one next to it for me, and they are laid together. I come now to speak to you of the affair of the Duke of New- castle ; but absolutely, on considering it much myself, and on talking of it with your brother, we both are against your attemptiag any such thing. In the first place, I never heard a suspicion of the Duke's taking presents, and should think he would rather be aJ0&:onted : in the next place, my dear child, though you are fond of that coffee-pot, it would be thought nothing among such wardi^obes as he has, of the finest- wrought plate : why, he has a set of gold plates that would make a figure on any sideboard in the Arabian Tales; and as to Benvenuto CeUini, if the Duke could take it for his, people in England understand aU work too well to be deceived. Lastly, as there has been no talk of alterations in the foreign ministers, and as aU changes seem at an end, why should you be apprehensive ? As to Stone,' if anything was done, to be sure it should be to him ; though I really can't advise even that. These are my sentiments sincerely : by no means think of the Duke. Adieu! 102. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Jan. 13, 1743. Your brother brought me two letters together this morning, and at the same time showed me yours to your father. How should I be ashamed, were I he, to receive such a letter ! so dutiful, so humble, and yet so expressive of the straits to which he has let you be 1 Andrew Stone, Esq. secretary to the Duke of Newcastle. — Walpole. He subse- quently filled the offices of under-secretary of state, sub-governor to Prince George, keeper of the State-paper Office, and, on the marriage of George the Third, treasurer to the Queen. He died in 1773. — WRiaHT. 22i HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. reduced ! My dear cMd, it looks too much like the son of a minister, when I am no longer so ; hut I can't help repeating to you offers of any kind of service that you think I can do for you in any way. I am quite happy at your thinking Tuscany so secure from Spain, unless the wise head of Richcourt works against the season ; hut how can I ever be easy while a provincial Frenchman, something half French, half German, instigated by a mad Englishwoman, is to 'govern an Italian dominion ! I laughed much at the magnificent presents made by one of the first families in Florence to the young accoiicMe. Do but think if a Duke or Duchess of Somerset were to give a Lady Hertford fifty- pounds and twenty yards of velvet for bringing an heir to the blood of Seymour ! It grieves me that my letters drop in so slowly to you : I have never missed writing, but when I have been absolutely too much out of order, or once or twice when I had no earthly thing to teU you. This winter is so quiet, that one must inquii'e much to know any- thing. The parhament is met again, but we do not hear of any intended opposition to anything. The Tories have dropped the affair of the Hanoverians in the House of Lords, in compHment to my Lord Gowor. There is a second pamphlet pubHshed on that subject, which makes a great noise.' The ministry are much distressed on the ways and means for raising the money for this year : there is to be a lottery, but that will not supply a quarter of what they want. They have talked of a new duty on tea, to be paid by every house- keeper for all the persons in their famihes ; but it will scarce be pro- posed. Tea is so universal, that it would make a greater clamour than a duty on wine. Nothing is determined ; the new folks do not shine at expedients. Sir Eobert's health is now drunk at all the clubs in the city ; they are for having him made a duke, and placed again at the head of the Treasury ; but I believe nothing could prevail on him to retui-n thither. He says he will keep the 12th of February, — the day he resigned, — with his family as long as he lives. They talk of Sandys being raised to the peerage, by way of getting rid of him ; he is so dull they can scarce drag him on.^ 1 Entitled "The Case of the Hanover Forces in the Pay of Great Britain examined." It was written by Lord Chesterfield, and excited much attention.— Wright. 2 In December he was created a peer, by the title of Lord Sandys, Baron of Ombersley, and made cofferer of the household. — Wrioht. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 225 Tke Englisli troops in Flanders march, to-day, wHtlier we don't know, but probably to Liege : from whence they imagine the Hanoverians are going into Juliers and Bergue.' The ministry have been greatly alarmed with the King of Sardinia's retreat, and sus- pected that it was a total one from the Queen's interest ; but it seems he sent for Yillettes and the Hungarian minister, and had their previous approbations of his deserting Chamberry, &c. Yemon is not yet got to town ; we are impatient for what will follow the arrival of this mad hero. Wentworth will certainly chal- lenge him, but Yernon does not profess personal valom* : he was once knocked down by a merchant, who then offered him satisfaction — but he was satisfied. Lord Essex is dead : Lord Lincobi will have the bedchamber ; Lord Berkeley of Stratton^ (a disciple of Carteret's) the Pensioners ; and Lord Carteret himself probably the riband [of the Garter]. As to my Lady Walpole's dormant title,^ it was in her family ; but being in the King's power to give to which sister in equal claim he pleased, it was bestowed on Lord Clinton, who descended from the younger sister of Lady W.'s grandmother or great grand-some- thing. My Lady Clifford'' (Coke's mother), got her barony so, in preference to Lady SaHsbury and Lady Sondes, her elder sisters, who had already titles for their children. It is called a title in abeyance. Sir Robert has just bid me teU you to send the Dominichia by the first safe conveyance to Matthews, who has had orders from Lord Winchelsea " to send it by the first man-of-war to England ; or, if ^ The British troops began their march from Flanders at the end of February, under the command of the Earl of Stair, but were so tardy in their movements, that it was the middle of May before they crossed the Rhine, and fixed their station at Hochst, between Mayence and Frankfort. — Wright. 2 John, fifth and last Lord Berkeley of Stratton. He died in 1773. — Dover. ^ The barony of Clinton in fee descended to the daughters of Theophilus, Earl of Huntingdon, who died without male issue. One of those ladies died without children, by which means the title lay between the families of Rolle and Fortescue. King George I. gave it to Hugh Fortescue, afterwards created an Earl ; on whose death [1751] it descended to his only sister, a maiden lady, after whom, without issue, it devolved on Lady Orford [See pp. 55 and 152].— Walpole. ^ Lady Margaret Tuffcon, third daughter of Thomas, sixth Earl of Thanet. The barony of De CliflFbrd had descended to Lord Thanet from his mother. Lady Margaret Sackville, daughter of Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery. Upon Lord Thanet's death, the barony of De Clifford fell into abeyance between his five daughters. These were Lady Catherine, married to Edward Watson, Viscount Sondes ; Lady Anne, married to James Cecil, Earl of Salisbury ; Lady Margaret, before mentioned ; Lady Mary, married first to Anthony Gray, Earl of Harold, and secondly to John Earl Govver; and Lady Isabella, marrie.l to Lord Nassau Powlett. — Dover. 5 First lord of the Admiralty. — Dover. VOL. 1. ^ 22G HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. you meet with a ship going to Portmahon, then you must send it thither to Anstruther, and wi'ite to him that Lord Orford desires he will take care of it, and send it by the first ship that comes directly home. He is so impatient for it that he will have it thus ; but I own I should not like having my things jumbled out of one ship into another, and rather beg mine may stay till they can come at once. Adieu ! 103. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Jan. 27, 1743. I COULD not write to you last Thursday, I was so much out of order with a cold ; your brother came and found me in bed. To-night, that I can write, I have nothing to tell you ; except that yesterday the welcome news (to the Ministry) came of the accession of the Dutch to the King's measures. They are in great triumph ; but till it is clear what part his Prussian Uprightness is acting, other people take the Hberty to be still in suspense. So they are about all our domestic matters too. It is a general stare ! the alteration that must soon happen in the Treasury will put some end to the uncer- tainties of this winter. Mr. Pelham is universally named to the head of it ; but Messrs. Prince [of Wales], Carteret, Pulteney, and Companies must be a Httle considered how they will like it : the latter the least. You will wonder, perhaps be peevish, when I protest I have not another paragraph by me in the world. I want even common con- versation ; for I cannot persist, like the Poyal Family, in asking people the same questions, "Do you love walldng?" "Do you love music ? " " Was you at the opera ? " " When do you go into the country?" I have nothing else to say: nothing hajDpens ; scarce the common episodes of a newspaper, of a man falling off a ladder and breaking his leg ; or of a countryman cheated out of his leather pouch, with fifty shiUings in it. We are in such a state of sameness, that I shall begin to wonder at the change of seasons, and talk of the spring as a strange incident. Lord Tyrawley, who has been fifteen years in Portugal, is of my opinion ; he says he finds nothing but a fog, whist, and the House of Commons. In this lamentable state, when I know not what to write even to you, what can I do about my serene Princess Grifoni ? Alas ! I owe her two letters, and where to find a beau sentiment, I cannot 1748.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 227 tell ! I believe I may have some by me in an old chest of drawers, with some exploded red-heel shoes and full-bottom wigs ; but they would come out so yellow and moth-eaten ! Do vow to her, in every superlative degree in the language, that my eyes have been so bad, that as I wrote you word, over and over, I have not been able to write a line. That will move her, when she hears what melancholy descriptions I write, of my not being able to write — ^nay, indeed it will not be so ridiculous as you think ; for it is ten times worse for the eyes to write in a language one don't much practise ! I remember a tutor at Cambridge, who had been examining some lads in Latin, but in a little while excused himself, and said he must speak EngHsh, for his mouth was very sore. I had a letter from you yesterday of Januaiy 7th, N.S. which has wonderfully excited my compassion for the necessities of the princely family [Prince and Princess Craon], and the shifts of the old Lady [Madame Sarasin] is put to for quadrille. I triumph much on my penetration about the honest Pucellai' — we little people, who have no honesty, virtue, nor shame, do so exult when a good neighboui-, who was a pattern, turns out as bad as oneseK ! We are like the good woman in the Gospel, who chuckled so much on finding her lost bit ; we have more joy on a saint's fall, than in ninety-nine devils, who were always de nous xtutres ! I am a little pleased too, that Marquis Bagnesi,' whom you know I always liked much, has behaved so well ; and am more pleased to hear what a Beffana^ the Electress" is Pho ! here am I, sending you back your own paragraphs, cut and turned ! it is so silly to think that you won't know them again ! I will not spin myself any longer ; it is better to make a short letter. I am going to the masquerade, and will fancy myself in via della PergolaJ' Adieu ! " Do you know me ?" — " That man there with you, in the black domino, is Mr. Chute." Good night ! * Sir H. Mann says, in his letter of January 7, 1743, "1 must be so just as to tell you, my friend, the Senator Rucellai is, as you always thought, a sad fellow. He has quite abandoned me for fear of offending." — Dover. ^ " Apropos of duels, two of our young nobles. Marquis Bagnesi and Strozzi, have fought about a debt of fifteen shillings ; the latter, the creditor and occasion of the fight, behaved ill. "—Xe^^er/rom Sir H. Mann, dated Jan. 7, 1743. — Dover. ^ A Beffana was a puppet, which was carried about the town on the evening of the Epiphany. The word is derived from Epifania. It also means an ugly woman. The Electress happened to go out for the first time after an illness on the Epiphany, and .said in joke to Prince Craon, that "the Beffane all went abroad on that day." — Dover. ^ The Electress Palatine Dowager, the last of the House of Medici. — Walpole. ^ A street at Florence, in which the Opera-house stands. — Walpole, Q 2 228 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. 104. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street^ Feb. 2, 1743. Last iiight at the Duchess of Richmond's, I saw Madame Golds- worthy : what a pert, little, unbred thing it is ! The duchess presented us to one another ; but I cannot say that either of us stepped a foot beyond the first civilities. The good duchess was for harbouring her and all her brood : how it happened to her I don't conceive, but the thing had decency enough to refuse it. She is going to live with her father at Pljrmouth — tant mieux ! The day before yesterday the Lords had a great day : Earl Stanhope * moved for an address to his Britannic Majesty, in con- sideration of the heavy wars, taxes, &c. far exceeding all that ever were knoAvn, to exonerate his people of foreign troops, (Hanoverians,) which are so expensive, and can in no hght answer the ends for which they were hired. Lord Sandwich seconded ; extremely well, I hear, for I was not there. Lord Carteret answered, but was under great concena. Lord Bath spoke too, and would fain have persuaded that this mea^ui^e was not solely of one minister, but that himself and all the council were equally concerned in it. The late Privy Seal [Hervey] spoke for an hour and a half, with the greatest applause, against the Hanoverians ; and my Lord Chancellor [Hardwicke] extremely well for them. The division was, 90 for the Court, 35 against it. The present Privy Seal [Gower] voted with the Opposition : so there will soon be another. Lord Halifax, the Prince's new Lord, was with the minority too ; the other, Lord Darnley,'' with the Court. After the division, Lord Scarborough, his Poyal Highness's Treasurer, moved an address of approbation of the measure, which was carried by 78 to the former 35. Lord Orford was ill, and could not be there, but sent his proxy : he has got a great cold and slow fever, but does not keep his room. If Lord Gower loses the Piivy Seal, (as it is taken for granted he does ^ Philip, second Earl Stanhope. He succeeded his father when he was only seven years old, and died in 1786. Bishop Seeker says, that Lord Stanhope "spoke a precomposed speech, which he held in his hand, with great tremblings and agitations, and hesitated frequently in the midst of great vehemence." [Seep. 153.] — Wright. 2 Edward Bligh, second Earl of Darnley, in Ireland, and lord of the bedchamber to Frederick Prince of Wales [died 1747]. — Dover. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MAKN. 229 not design to keep it,) and Lqrd Batli refuses it. Lord CLolmondeley stands the fairest for it. I will conclude abruptly, for you will be tired of my telling you that I have nothing to tell you — but so it is literally — oh ! yes, you will want to know what the Duke of Argyle did — ^he was not there ; he is every thing but superannuated. Adieu ! 105. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Feb. 13, 1743. Ceretesi tells me that Madame GalH is dead : I have had two letters from you this week ; but the last mentions only the death of old Strozzi. I am quite sorry for Madame GaUi, because I proposed seeing her again, on my return to Florence, which I have jSrmly in my intention : I hope it will be a httle before Ceretesi's, for he seems to be planted here. I don't conceive who waters him ! Here are two noble Venetians that have carried him about lately to Oxford and Blenheim : I am Hterally waiting for him now, to intro- duce him to Lady Brown's ^ Sunday night ; it is the great mart for all travelling and travelled calves — ^pho ! here he is. Monday morning. — Here is your brother : he tells me you never hear from me ; how can that be ? I receive yours, and you gene- rally mention having got one of mine, though long after the time you should. I never miss above one post, and that but very seldom. I am longer receiving yours, though you have never missed ; but then I frequently receive two at once. I am deHghted with Golds- worthy's mystery about King Theodore ! ^ If you will promise me not to tell him, I will tell you a secret, which is, that if that person is not King Theodore, I assure you it is not Sir Eobert Walpole. I have nothing to tell you but that Lord Efiingham Howard ^ is dead, and Lord Litchfield " at the point of death ; he was struck with a palsy last Thursday. Adieu ! * Margaret Cecil, granddaughter of the third Earl of Salisbury, and wife of Sir Robert Brown, Bart., a merchant at Venice. — Cunningham. ^ Theodore, King of Corsica, to whom Walpole erected a monument in St. Ann's, Soho, in London. " The Baron de NeuhoflT, a German gentleman and adventurer, was elected King of Corsica, was driven out by the Genoese, became a prisoner for debt in England, and recovered his liberty by giving up his effects t) his creditors according to the Act of Insolvency ; and all the effects he had to give up were his right to the kingdom of Corsica, which was registered accordingly for the benefit of his creditors." — Walpole. Strange Occurrences. Works, iv. 365. — Cunningham. ^ Francis, first Earl of Efiingham, and seventh Lord Howard of Effingham. He died February 12, 1743.— Dover. "^ George Henry Lee, second Earl of Lichfield. Died Feb. 1.5, 1743.— Dover. 230 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. 106. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Feb. 24, 1743. I WRITE to you in the greatest hurry in the world, but write I will. Besides, I must wish you joy : you are warnors ; nay, conquerors ; ' two things quite novel in this war, for hitherto it has been armies without fighting, and deaths without killing. We talk of this battle as of a comet ; '' Have you heard of the battle ? " it is so strange a thing, that numbers imagine you may go and see it at Charing Cross. Indeed, our officers, who are going to Flanders, don't quite like it ; they are afraid it should grow the fashion to fight, and that a pair of colours should no longer be a sinecure. I am quite unhappy about poor Mr. Chute : besides, it is cruel to find that abstinence is not a drug. If mortification ever ceases to be a medicine, or virtue to be a passport to carnivals in the other world, who ^vill be a self-tormentor any longer — ^not, my child, that I am one ; but, tell me, is he quite recovered ? 1 thank you for King Theodore's declaration,^ and wish lum success with all my soul. I hate the Genoese ; they make a com- monwealth the most devilish of all tyrannies ! We have every now and then motions for disbanding Hessians and Hanoverians, alias mercenaries ; but they come to nothing. To- day the party have declared that they have done for this session ; so you will hear Httle more but of fine equipages for Flanders : our troops are actually marched, and the officers begin to follow them — I hope they know whither ! You know in the last war in SpaiQ, Lord Peterborough^ rode galloping about to inquii^e for his army. But to come to more real contests ; Handel has set up an Oratorio against the Operas, and succeeds. He has hired all the goddesses from farces and the singers of Roast Beef^ from between the acts at both theatres, with a man with one note in his voice, and a girl without ever an one ; and so they sing, and make brave hallelujahs; ^ This alludes to an engagement, which took place on the 8th of February, near Bologna, between the Spaniards under M. de Gages, and the Austrians under General Traun, in which the latter were successful. — Dover. 2 With regard to Corsica, of which he had declared himself king. By this declara- tion, which was dated January 30, Theodore recalled, under pain of confiscation of their estates, all the Corsicans in foreign service, except that of the Queen of Hungary, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany. — Wright. ^ The great Lord Peterborough. Died 1735. — Cunningham, ** It was customary at this time for the galleries to call for a ballad called " The Eoast Beef of Old England " between the acts, or before or after the play. — Walpole. 1V43.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 231 and the good company encore the recitative, if it happens to have any cadence like what they call a tune. I was much diverted the other night at the opera ; two gentlewomen sat before my sister, and not knowing her, discoursed at their ease. Says one, '' Lord ! how fine Mr. W. is ! " " Yes," repHed the other, with a tone of saying sentences, " some men love to be particularly so, your petit-maitres — but they are not always the brightest of theii^ sex." — Do thank me for this period ! I am sure you will enjoy it as much as we did. I shall be very glad of my things, and approve entirely of your precautions ; Sir R. will be quite happy, for there is no teUing you how impatient he is for his Dominichin. Adieu ! 107. TO SIR HORACE MANN. March 3, 1743. So, she is dead at last, the old Electress ! ' — ^well, I have nothing more to say about her and the Medici ; they had outlived all their acquaintance : indeed, her death makes the battle very considerable — ^makes us call a victory what before we did not look upon as very decided laurels. Lord Hervey has entertained the town with another piece of wisdom : on Sunday it was declared that he had married his eldest daughter the night before to a Mr. Phipps,^ grandson of the Duchess of Buckingham. They sent for the boy but the day before from Oxford, and bedded them at a day's notice. But after all this mystery, it does not turn out that there is any thing great in this match, but the greatness of the secret. Poor Hervey,^ the brother, is in fear and trembhng, for he aj)prehends being ravished to bed to some fortune or other with as little ceremony. The Oratorios thrive abundantly — ^for my part, they give me an idea of heaven, where everybody is to sing whether they have voices or not. The Board (the Jacobite Club) have chosen his Majesty's Lord Privy Seal [Gower] for their President, in the room of Lord ^ Anna Maria of Medicis, daughter of Cosmo III., widow of John William, Elector Palatine. After her husband's death she returned to Florence, where she died Feb. 7, 1743, aged seventy-five, being the last of that family. — Walpole. 2 Constantine Phipps, in 1767, created Lord Mulgrave, in Ireland. He married, on the 26th of February, Lepel, eldest daughter of Lord Hervey, and died in 1775. Her ladyship was found dead in her bed, 9th March, 1780, at her son's house in the Admiralty. — Wright. ^ George William Hervey, afterwards second Earl of Bristol. He died unmarried, in 1775 — Wright. 232 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. Cl743. LitcMeld. Don't you like the harmony of parties ? We expect the parliament will rise this month : I shall be sorry, for if I am not hurried out of town, at least everybody else will — and who can look forward from April to IN^ovember ? Adieu ! though I wiite in defiance of having nothing to say, yet you see I can't go a great way in this obstinacy ; but you will bear a short letter rather than none. 108. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, March 14, 1743. I don't at all know how to advise you about mourning ; I always think that the custom of the country, and what other foreign ministers do, should be your rule. But I had a private scruple rose with me : that was, whether you should show so much respect to the late woman' as other ministers do, since she left that legacy to Quello a Roma.^ I mentioned this to my lord, but he thinks that the tender manner of her wording it, takes off that exception ; however, he thinks it better that you should wi^ite for advice to your commanding officer. That will be very late, and you will probably have determined before. You see what a casuist I am in ceremony ; I leave the question more perplexed than I found it. Pray, Sir, congratulate me upon the new acquisition of glory to my family ! "We have long been eminent statesmen ; now that we are out of employment we have betaken ourselves to war — and we have made great proficiency in a short season. We don't run, like my Lord Stair, into Berg and Juliers, to seek battles where we are sure of not finding them — ^we make shorter marches ; a step across the Court of Ptequests brings us to engagement. But not to detain you any longer with flourishes, which will probably be inserted in my uncle Horace's patent when he is made a field-marshal ; you must know that he has fought a duel, and has scratched a scratch three inches long on the side of his enemy — lo Pcean I The circumstances of this memorable engagement were, in short, that on some witness being to be examined the other day in the House upon remittances to the army, my uncle said, '' He hoped they would indemnify him, if he told anything that affected himself." Soon after he was * The Electress Palatine Dowager. — Walpole. ^ She left a legacy to the Pretender, describing him only by these words, To 1dm at Rome. — Walpole. 1T43.] TO SIR HOKA.CE MAKN. 233 standing behind tlie Speaker^s chair, and Will. Chetwynd/ an intimate of Bolingbroke, came up to liim, and said, " What, Mr. Walpole, are you for rubbing up old sores ? " He replied, ** I think I said very Kttle, considering that you and your friends would last year have hanged up me and my brother at the lobby door without a trial.'' Chetwynd answered, " I would still have you both have your deserts." The other said, "If you and I had, probably I should be here and you would be somewhere else." This drew more words, and Chetwynd took him by the arm and led him out. In the lobby, Horace said, " We shall be observed, we had better put it off till to-morrow." " No, no, now ! now ! " When they came to the bottom of the stairs, Horace said, " I am out of breath, let us draw here." They drew ; Chetwynd hit him on the breast, but was not near enough to pierce his coat. Horace made a pass, whicb. the other put by with his hand, but it glanced along his side — a clerk, who had observed them go out together so arm-in- armly, could not believe it amicable, but followed them, and came up just time enough to beat down their swords, as Horace had driven him against a post, and would probably have run him through at the next thrust. Chetwynd went away to a surgeon's, and kept his bed the next day ; he has not reappeared yet, but is in no danger. My uncle returned to the House, and was so Httle moved as to speak immediately upon the Camhrick Bill, which made Swinny" say, " That it was a sign he was not ruffled.''^ ^ Don't you dehght in this duel ? I expect to see it daubed up by some circuit-painter on the ceiling of the saloon at Woolterton. 1 have no news to tell you, but that we hear King Theodore has sent over proposals of his person and crown to Lady Lucy Stanhope," with whom he fell in love the last time he was in England. ^ William Chetwynd, brother of the Lord Yiscount Chetwynd. On the coalition he was made Master of the Mint. — Walpole. He was one of Bolingbroke's executors see p. 170. — Cunningham. 2 Owen M'Swinny, the manager of Drury Lane Theatre. See p. 118, — Cunningham. ^ Coxe, in his Memoirs of Lord Walpole, vol. ii., p. 68, gives the following account of this duel : — ''A motion being made in the House of Commons, which Mr. Walpole supported, he said to Mr. Chetwynd, ' I hope we shall carry this question.' Mr. Chetwynd replied, ' I hope to see you hanged first ! ' ' You see me hanged first ! ' rejoined Mr. Walpole, and instantly seized him by the nose. They went out and fought. The account being conveyed t-o Lord Orford, he sent his son to make inquiries ; who, on coming into the House of Commons, found his uncle speaking with the same composure as if nothing had happened to ruffle his temper or endanger his life. Mr. Chetwynd was wounded." — Wright. ** Sister of Philip, second Earl of Stanhope. — Walpole. 234 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. Princess Buckingliam' is dead or dying : slie has sent for Mr. Anstis/ and settled the ceremonial of her burial. On Saturday she was so ill that she feared dying before all the pomp was come home : she said, '< "Why won't they send the canopy for me to see ? let them send it, though all the tassels are not finished." But yesterday was the greatest sti'oke of all ! She made her ladies vow to her, that if she should lie senseless, they would not sit down in the room before she was dead. She has a great mind to be buried by her father [King James II.] at Paris. Mrs. Selwyn says, " She need not be carried out of England, and yet be buried by her father." You know that Lady Dorchester always told her, that old Graham^ was her father. I am much obhged to you for the trouble you have taken about the statue ; do draw upon me for it immediately, and for all my other debts to you : I am sure they must be numerous ; pray don^t fail. A thousand loves to the Chutes : a thousand compHments to the Princess ; and a thousand — what ? to the Grifona. Alas ! what can one do ? I have forgot aU my ItaHan. Adieu ! ' Catherine, Duchess of Buckingham, natural daughter of King James II. by the Countess of Dorchester [Catherine Sedley]. She was so proud of her birth, that she would never go to Versailles, because they would not give her the rank of Princess of the Blood. At Rome, whither she went two or three times to see her brother, and to carry on negotiations with him for his interest, she had a box at the Opera distin- guished like those of crowned heads. She not only regulated the ceremony of her own burial, and dressed up the waxen figure of herself for Westminster Abbey, but had shown the same insensible pride on the death of her onl}' son, dressing his figure, and sending messages to her friends, that if the}-^ had a mind to see him lie in state, she would carry them in conveniently by a back-door. She sent to the old Duchess of Marlborough to borrow the triumphal car that had carried the duke's body. Old Sarah, as mad and proud as herself, sent her word, " that it had carried my Lord Marlborough, and should never be profaned by any other corpse." The Buckingham returned, that " she had spoken to the undertaker, and he had engaged to make a finer for twenty pounds." — Walpole. Compare chapter ix. of ' Walpole's Reminis- cences,' prefixed to this volume. — Cunningham. 2 John Anstis, Garter King at Arms, died 1754. — Cunningham. ^ Colonel Graham. When the Duchess was young, and as insolent as afterwards, her mother used to say, " You need not be so proud, for you are not the King's but only Graham's daughter." It is certain that his legitimate daughter, the Countess of Berkshire and Suffolk, was extremely like the Duchess, and that he often said with a sneer, " Well, well, kings are great men, they make free with whom they please ! All I can say is, that I am sure the same man begot those two women." The Duchess often went to weep over her father's body at Paris : one of the monks seeing her tenderness, thought it a proper opportunity to make her observe how ragged the pall is that lies over the body, (which is kept unburied, to be some time or other interred in England,) — but she would not buy a new one ! — Walpole. 1V43.J TO SIR HOEACE MANK. 235 109. TO SIR HORACE MANiT. Arlington Street, March 25, 1743. Well ! my dear Sir, the Genii, or whoever are to look after th e seasons, seem to me to change turns, and to wait instead of one another, like lords of the bedchamber. We have had loads of sun- shine all the winter ; and within these ten days nothing but snows , north-east winds, and blue plagues. The last ships have brought over all your epidemic distempers : not a family in London has escaped under five or six ill : many j)eople have been forced to hire new labourers. Guernier, the apothecary, took two new apothecaries, and yet could not drug all his patients. It is a cold and fever. I had one of the worst, and was blooded on Saturday and Sunday, but it is quite gone : my father was blooded last night : his is but sHght. The physicians say that there has been nothing like it since the year Thirty-three, and then not so bad : in short, our army abroad would shudder to see what streams of blood have been let out ! Nobody has died of it, but old Mr. Eyres, of Chelsea, through obstinacy of not bleeding ; and his ancient Grace of York:' Wilcox of Rochester'^ succeeds him, who is fit for nothing in the world, but to die of this cold too. They now talk of the King's not going abroad : I hke to talk on that side ; because though it may not be true, one may at least be able to give some sort of reason why he should not. We go into mourning for your Electress on Sunday ; I suppose they will tack the Elector of Mentz to her, for he is just dead. I dehght in Rich- court's calculation : I don't doubt but it is the method he often uses in accounting with the Great Duke. I have had two letters from you of the 5th and 12th, with a note of things coming by sea ; but my dear child, you are either run Roman Catholicly devout, or take me to be so ; for nothing but a rehgious fit of zeal could make you think of sending me so many presents. Why, there are Madonnas enough in one case to furnish a more than conmion cathedral — I absolutely will diive to Demetrius, the silversmith's, and bespeak myself a pompous shrine ! But, ^ Dr. Lancelot Blackburne. — Walpole. Walpole, in his Memoires, vol. i., p. 74, calls him " the jolly old Archbishop of York, who had all the manners of a man of quality, though he had been a buccaneer, and was a clergyman," — Wright. 2 He was not succeeded by Dr. Wilcox, but by Dr. Herring, since [1747] promoted to the Archbishopric of Canterbury. — Walpole. 236 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. indeed, seriously, how can I, who have a conscience, and am no saint, take all these things ? You must either let me pay for them, or I will demand my unfortunate coffee-pot again, which has put you upon ruining yourself. By the way, do let me have it again, for I cannot trust it any longer in your hands at this rate ; and since I have found out its virtue, I will present it to somebody, whom I shall have no scruple of letting send me bales and cargoes, and ship-loads of Madonnas, perfumes, prints, frankincense, &c. You have not even di^awn upon me for my statue, my hermaphrodite, my gallery, and twenty other things, for which I am lawfully your debtor. I must tell you one thing, that I will not say a word to my lord of this' Argosie, as Shakspeare calls his costly ships, till it is arrived, for he will tremble for his Dominichin, and think it wiU not come safe in all this company — by the way, will a captain of a man-of-war care to take all ? We were talking over Italy last night : my lord protests, that if he thought he had strength, he would see Florence, Bologna, and Rome, by way of Marseilles, to Leghorn. You may imagine how I gave in to such a jaunt. I don^t set my heart upon it, because I think he cannot do it ; but if he does, I promise you, you shall be his Cicerone. I delight in the gallantry of my Princess's brother.' I will tell you what, if the Itahans don't take care, they will grow as brave and as wrong-headed as their neighbours. Oh ! how shall I do about writing to her ? Well, if I can, I will be bold, and write to her to-night. I have no idea what the two minerals are that you mention, but I will inquire, and if there are such, you shall have them ; and gold and silver, if they grow in this land ; for I am sure I am deep enough in yom^ debt. Adieu ! P. S. It won't do ! I have tried to write, but you would bless your- self to see what stuff I have been forging for half an hour, and have not waded thi^ough three Knes of paper. I have totally forgot my ItaUan, and if she will but have prudence enough to support the loss of a correspondence, which was long since worn threadbare, we will come to as decent a silence as may be. ^ Signor Capponi, brother of Madame Grifoai. — Walpole, 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 237 no. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Monday, April 4, 1743. 1 HAD my pen in my hand all last Tliursday morning, to write to you, but my pen liad nothing to say. I would make it do something to-day, though what will come of it, I don't conceive. They say, the King does not go abroad : we know nothing about our army. I suppose it is gone to blockade Egra, and to not take Prague, as it has been the fashion for everybody to send their army to do these three years. The officers in parhament are not gone yet. We have nothing to do, but I beHeve the ministry have something for us to do, for we are continually adjourned, but not prorogued. They talk of marrying Princess Caroline and Louisa to the future Kings of Sweden and Denmark ; but if the latter' is King of both, I don't apprehend that he is to marry both the Princesses in his double capacity. Herring, of Bangor, the youngest bishop, is named to the see of York. It looks as if the bench thought the church going out of fashion ; for two or three^ of them have refused this mitre. Next Thursday we are to be entertained with a pompous parade for the burial of old Princess Buckingham. They have invited ten peeresses to walk ; all somehow or other dashed with blood-royal, and rather than not have King James's daughter attended by princesses, they have fished out two or three countesses descended from his competitor Monmouth. There, I am at the end of my tell ! If I write on, it must be to ask questions. I would ask why Mr. Chute has left me off ? but when he sees what a frippery correspondent I am, he will scarce be in haste to renew with me again. I really don't know why I am so dry ; mine used to be the pen of a ready writer, but whist seems to have stretched its leaden wand over me, too, who have nothing to do with it. I am trying to set up the noble game of bilboquet against it, and composing a grammar in opposition to Mr. Hoyle's. You will some day or other see an advertisement in the papers, to teU you where it may be bought, and that ladies may be waited upon by the author at their houses, to receive any further directions. I am ^ There was a party at tliis time in Sweden, who tried to choose the Prince Royal of Denmark for successor to King Frederick of Sweden. — Walpole. 2 Dr. Wilcox, Bishop of Rochester, and Dr. Sherlock, Bishop of Salisbury : the atter afterwards accepted the See of London.— Walpole. 238 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. really ashamed to send tliis scantling of paper by the post, over so many seas and mountains : it seems as impertinent as the commission which Prior gave to the winds, Lybs must fly south, and Eurus east, For jewels for her neck and breast. Indeed, one would take you for my Chloe, when one looks on this modicum of gilt paper, which resembles a hillet-doux more than a letter to a minister. But you must take it as the widow's mite, and since the death of my spouse, poor Mr. ISTews, I cannot afford such large doles as formerly. Adieu ! my dear child, I am yours ever, from a quire of the largest foolscap to a vessel of the smallest gilt. 111. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, April li, 1743. This has been a noble week ; I have received three letters at once from you. I am ashamed when I reflect on the poverty of my own ! but what can one do ? I don't sell you my news, and therefore should not be excusable to invent. I wish we don't grow to have more news ! Our politics, which have not always been the most in earnest, now begin to take a very serious turn. Our anny is wading over the Rhine, up to theii^ middles in snow. I hope they will be thawed before their return : but they have gone through excessive hardships. The King sends six thousand more of his Hanoverians at his own expense : this will be popular — and the six thousand Hessians march too. All this will compose an army considerable enough to be a gi^eat loss if they miscarry. The King certainly goes abroad in less than a fortnight. He takes the Duke [of Cumberland] with him to Hanover, who from thence goes directly to the army. The Court will not be great : the King takes only Lord Carteret, the Duke of Richmond, Master of the Horse, and Lord Holdemess and Lord Harcoui^t,^ for the bedchamber. The Duchesses of Richmond and Marlborough,^ and plump Carteret,^ go to the Hague. His Royal Highness is not Regent : there are to be fourteen. The ^ Simon, second Viscount Harcourt, created an earl in 1749 ; in 1768 appointed ambassador at Paris, and in 1769 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was accidentally drowned in a well in his park at Nuneham in 1777. — Wright. 2 Elizabeth Trevor, daughter of Thomas Lord Trevor, wife of Charles Spencer, Duke of Marlborough. She died in 1761. — Wright. ^ Frances, only daughter of Sir Robert Worseley, first wife of Lord Carteret [see p. 110]. — Walpole. 1743.] TO SIK HORACE MANN. 239 Earl of Bath and Mr. Pelliam, neither of them in regency-posts, are to be of the number. I have read your letters about Mystery to Sir Eobert. He denies absolutely having ever had transactions with King Theodore, and is amazed Lord Carteret can ; which he can't help thinking but he must, by the intelligence about Lady Walpole. Now I can conceive all that affected friendship for Richcourt ! She must have meant to return to England by Richcoui't's interest with Touissant' — and then where was her friendship ? You are quite in the right not to have engaged with Kiag Theodore : your character is not Furibondo. Sir R. entirely disapproves all Mysterious dealings ; he thinks Furibondo most bad and most improper, and always did. You mistook me about Lady "Walpole's Lord — I meant Quarendon, who is now Earl of Litchfield, by his father's death, which I mentioned. I think her lucky in Sturge's death, and him lucky in dying. He had outHved resentment ; I think had almost Hved to be pitied. I forgot to thank you about the model, which I should have been sorry to have missed. I long for all the things, and my Lord more. Am I not to have a bill of lading, or how ? I never say anything of the Pomfrets, because in the great city of London the Countess's foUies do not make the same figure as they did in httle Florence. Besides, there are such numbers here who have such equal pretensions to be absurd, that one is scarce aware of particular ridicules. I really don't know whether Yanneschi be dead ; he married some low Enghsh woman, who is kept by Amorevoh ; so the Abbate turned the opera every way to his profit. As to Bonducci,^ I don't think I could serve him ; for I have no interest with the Lords Middlesex and Holderness, the two sole managers. Nor if I had, would I employ it, to bring over more ruin to the Operas. Gentlemen directors, with favourite abb^s and favourite mistresses, have almost overturned the thing in England. You will plead my want of interest to Mr. Smith ^ too : besides, we had Bufos here once, and from not understanding the language, people thought it a dull kind of dumb show. We are next Tuesday to have the Miserere of Rome. ^ First minister of the Great Duke. — Walpole. ^ Bonducci was a Florentine Abbe, who translated some of Pope's works into Italian. — Walpole. •^ The English Consul at Venice. — Walpole. Joseph Smith, Esq., when Consul at Venice, collected and imported many specimens of Canalefcti's pencil into England. The Library of Consul Smith was the foundation of King George Ill's Library now in the British Museum. See p. 307. — Cunningham. 240 HOKACB WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [174?. It must be curious ! the finest piece of vocal music in the world, to be performed by three good voices, and forty bad ones, from Oxford, Canterbury, and the farces ! There is a new subscription formed for an Opera next year, to be carried on by the Dilettanti, a club,' for which the nominal quaHfication is having been in Italy, and the real one, being drunk : the two chiefs are Lord Middlesex and Sir Francis Dashwood, who were seldom sober the whole time they were in Italy, The ParHament rises next week : everybody is going out of town. My Lord goes the first week in May ; but I shall reprieve myself till towards August. Dull as London is in summer, there is always more company in it than in any one place in the country. I hate the countiy : I am past the shepherdly age of groves and streams, and am not arrived at that of hating everything but what I do myself, as building and planting. Adieu ! 112. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, April 25, 1743. Nay, but it is seiious ! the King is gone, and the Duke with him. The latter actually to the army. They must sow laurels, if they design to reap any ; for there are no conquests forward enough for them to come just in time and finish. The French have reHeved Egra and cut to pieces two of the best Austrian regiments, the cuirassiers. This is ugly ! We are sure, you know, of beating the French always in France and Flanders ; but I don't hear that the heralds have produced any precedents for our conqueiing them on the other side the Rhine." We at home may be excused for trembling at the arrival of every post : I am sure I shall. If I were a woman, I should support my fears with more dignity ; for if one did lose a husband or a lover, there are those becoming comforts, weeds and cypresses, jointm^es and weeping cupids ; but I have only a friend or two to lose, and there are no ornamental substitutes settled, to be one's proxy for that sort of grief. One has not the satisfaction of fixing a day for receiving visits of consolation from a thousand people 1 The Dilettanti Club still exists under the name of the Dilettanti Society : but the qualifications for election are no longer what Walpole describes them to have been. The great room of the society at the Thatched House Tavern, in St. James's Street, contains two fine conversation portrait pieces by Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted in the manner of Paul Veronese. — Cunningham. ^ Walpole seems to have forgotten the battle of Blenheim. — Dover. 1<'43.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 241 whom one don't love, because one lias lost the only person one did love. This is a new situation, and I don't like it. You will see the Regency in the newspapers. I think the Prince might have been of it when my Lord Gower is. I don't think the latter more Jacobite than his Eoyal Highness. The Prince is to come to town every Sunday fortnight to hold drawing-rooms ; the Princesses stay all the summer at St. James's — would I did ! but I go in three weeks to Norfolk ; the only place that could make me wish to live at St. James's. My Lord has pressed me so much, that I could not with decency refuse : he is going to furnish and hang his picture-gallery, and wants me, I can't help wishing that I had never known a Guido from a Teniers : but who could ever suspect any connexion between painting and the wilds of Norfolk ? Princess Louisa's contract with the Prince of Denmark was signed the morning before the Eong went ; but I don't hear when she goes. Poor Caroline misses her man of Lubeck,^ by his missing the crown of Sweden. I must tell you an odd thing that happened yesterday at Leicester- House. The Prince's children were in the circle : Lady Augusta '^ heard somebody call Sir Eobert Rich by his name. She concluded there was but one Sir Robert in the world, and taking him for Lord Orford, the child went staring up to him, and said, *' Pray, where is your blue string ? and pray what has become of your fat belly ? " ^ Did one ever hear of a more royal education, than to have rung this mob cant in the child's ears till it had made this impression on her ! Lord Stafford'' is come over to marry Miss Cantillon, a vast fortune, of his own rehgion. She is daughter of the Cantillon who was robbed and murdered, and had his house burned by his cook ^ a few ^ Adolphus Frederick of Holstein, Bishop of Lubeck, was elected successor, and did succeed to the crown of Sweden. He married the Princess Louisa Ulrica of Prussia. — Walpole. ^ Afterwards Duchess of Brunswick. — Dover. ^ The palace allusions to the corpulency of Sir Robert were numerous enough — and here Lord Hervey's Memoirs (i, 476, and elsewhere) curiously confirm the accuracy of Walpole. Sir Robert was a Knight of the Garter, and in the Ballads and Pasquin- ades of the time is commonly called Sir Blue String. — Cunningham. 4 William Matthias Stafford Howard, third Earl of Stafford, died 175L — Cunningham. ^ Cantillon was a Paris wine-merchant and banker, who had been engaged with Law in the Mississippi scheme. He afterwards brought his riches to England and settled in this country. In May, 1734, some of his servants, headed by his cook, con- spired to murder him, knowing that he kept large sums of money in his house. They VOL. 1. R 2-i2 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. years ago [1734]. She is as ugly as he ; but when she comes to Paris, and wears a good deal of rouge, and a separate apartment, who knows but she may be a beauty ! There is no telling what a woman is, while she is as she is. There is a great fracas in Ireland in a noble family or two, height- ened by a pretty strong circumstance of Iricism. A Lord Belfield* married a very handsome daughter of a Lord Molesworth.'^ A certain Arthui^ E^ochfort, who happened to be acquainted in the family, by being Lord Belfield's own brother, looked on this woman, and saw she was fair. These ingenious people, that their history might not be discovered, corresponded under feigned names — ^And what names do you think they chose ? — Silvia and Philander ! Only the very same that Lord Grey* and his sister-in-law took upon a parallel occasion, and which are printed in theii' letters ! Patapan sits to Wootton" to-morrow for his picture. He is to have a triumphal arch at a distance, to signify his Poman birth, and his having barked at thousands of Frenchmen in the very heart of Paris. If you can think of a good Italian motto applicable to any part of his history send it me. If not, he shall have this antique one — ^for I reckon him a senator of Pome, while Pome survived, — " O, et Prsesidium et dulce decus meum ! " He is writing an Ode on the future campaign of this summer ; it is dated from his villa, where he never was, and begins truly in the classic style, " While you, great Sii^"' &c. Adieu ! killed him, and then set fire to the house; but the fire was extinguished, and the body, with the wounds upon it, found. The cook fled beyond sea; but, in December, three of his associates were tried at the Old Bailey for the murder^ and acquitted. — Wright. 1 Robert Rochfort, created Lord Belfield, in Ireland, 1737, Viscount Belfield in 1751, and Earl of Belvedere in 1756. His second wife, whom he married in 1736, was the Hon. Mary Molesworth, — Dover. 2 Richard, third Viscount Molesworth, in Ireland. He had been aide-de-camp to the Great Duke of Marlborough, and in that capacity distinguished himself greatly at the battle of Ramilies. He became afterwards master-general of the ordnance in Ireland, and commander of the forces in that kingdom, and a field-marshal. He died in 1758, — Dover. 3 Forde, the infamous Lord Grey of Werke, and his sister-in-law, Lady Henrietta Berkeley, whose " Love Letters," under these romantic names, were published in three small volumes. They are supposed to have been compiled by Mrs. Behn.— Dover. "^ John Wootton, the Sir Edward Landseerof England between 1740 and 1760. He died in 1765. Wootton's picture of Patapan sold at the Strawberry HiU sale for il. — 'CUNNIKGHAM. • ''While you great patron of mankind, sustain."— Pojpe to Augustus. Cunningham. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 243 113. TO SIE HORACE MANN. May 4, 1743. The King was detained four or five days at Sheerness; but yesterday we heard that lie was got to Helvoetsluys. They talk of an interview between him and his nephew of Prussia — I never laiew any advantage result from such conferences. We expect to hear of the French attacking our army, though there are accounts of their retiring, which would necessarily produce a peace — I hope so ! I don't like to be at the eve, even of an Agincourt ; that, you know, every EngHshman is bound in faith to expect ; besides, they say my Lord Stair has in his pocket, from the records of the Tower, the original patent, empowering us always to conquer. I am told that Marshal Noailles is as mad as Marshal Stair. Heavens ! twice fifty thousand men trusted to two mad captains, without one Dr. Monro' over them ! I am sorry I could give you so little information about Xing Theodore ; but my lord knew nothing of him, and as httle of any connexion between Lord Carteret and him. I am sorry jom have him on your hands. He quite mistakes his province : an adventurer should come hither ; 2 this is the soil for mobs and patriots ; it is the country of the world to make one's fortune : with parts never so scanty, one's dulness is not discovered, nor one's dishonesty, till one obtaius the post one wanted — and then, if they do come to hght — why, one slinks into one's green velvet bag,' and lies so snug ! I don't approve of your hinting at the falsehoods' of Stosch's inteUigence; nobody regards it but the King ; it pleases him — e hasta. ^ Dr. James Monro, Senior Physician to Bridewell and Bethlehem Hospitals. He died Nov. 3, 1752— " Those walls where Folly holds her throne, And laughs to think Monroe would take her down." — Pope. Cunningham. ^ He afterwards came to England, where he suffered much from poverty and desti- tution, and was finally arrested by his creditors and confined in the King's Bench prison. He was released from thence under the Insolvent Act, having registered the kingdom of Corsica for the use of his creditors. Shortly after this event he died, December 11, 1756, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Anne's, Soho, where Horace Walpole erected a marble slab to his memory. He was an adventurer,^ whose name was Theodore Anthony, Baron Newhoff, and was born at Metz in 169U. Walpole, who had seen him, describes him as " a comely, middle-sized man, very reserved, and affecting much dignity." — Dover. 3 The Secretaries of State and Lord Treasurer carry their papers in a green velvet bag. — Walpole. "* Stosch [see p. 73] used to pretend to send over an exact journal ot the lite 01 lae R ^ 244 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. I was not in tKe House at Ternon's frantic speecli ; ' but I know he made it, and have heard him pronounce several such : but he has worn out even laughter, and did not make impression enough on me to remember till the next post that he had spoken. I gave your brother the translated paper ; he will take care of it. Ceretesi is gone to Flanders With Lord Holdemess. Poor creature^ ! he was reduced, before he went, to borrow ^ve guineas of Sir Francis Dash wood. How will he ever scramble back to Florence? "We are likely at last to have no Opera next year : Handel has had a palsy, and can't compose ; and the Duke of Dorset has set himself strenuously to oppose it, as Lord Middlesex is the impresario, and must ruin the house of Sackville by a course of these follies. Besides what he will lose this year, he has not paid his share to the losses of the last ; and yet is singly imdertaking another for next season, with the almost certainty of losing between four or five thousand pounds, to which the deficiencies of the Opera generally amount now. The Duke of Dorset has desired the Xing not to subscribe ; but Lord Middlesex is so obstinate, that this will probably only make him lose a thousand pounds more. The Freemasons are in so low repute now in England, that one has scarce heard the proceedings at Vienna against them mentioned. I beHeve nothing but a persecution could bring them into vogue again here. You know, as great as oui' follies are, we even grow tired of them, and are always changing. 114. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, May 12, 1743. It is a fortnight since I got any of your letters, but I will expect two at once. I don't tell you by way of news, because you will have had expresses, but I must talk of the great Austrian victory ! " We have not heard the exact particulars yet, nor whether it was Keven- huller or Lobkowitz who beat the Bavarians ; but their general. Pretender and his sons, though he had been sent out of Rome at the Pretender's request, and must have had very bad, or no intelligence, of what passed in that family. — Walpole. ^ Admiral Vernon had recently said, in the House of Commons, that " there was not, on this side hell, a nation so burthened with taxes as England." — Wright. 2 There was no great victory this year till the battle of Dettingen, which took place in June ; but the Austrians obtained many advantages during the spring over the Bavarians and the French, and obliged the latter to re-cross the Ehine. — Dover. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 245 Minncci, is prisoner. At first, they said SeckendorflPe was too ; I am glad he is not : poor man, he has suffered enough by the house of Austria ! But my joy is beyond the common, for I flatter myself this victory will save us one : we talk of nothing but its producing a peace, and then one's friends will return. The Duchess of Kendal ' is dead — eighty-five years old ; she was a year older than her late King. Her riches were immense ; but I believe my Lord Chesterfield will get nothing by her death — but his wife : ^ she Hved in the house with the duchess, where he had played away all his credit. Hough,^ the good old Bishop of Worcester, is dead too. I have been looking at the " Fathers in God '' that have been flocking over the way this morning to Mr. Pelham, who is just come to his new house. This is absolutely the ministerial street : Carteret has a house here too ; and Lord Bath seems to have lost his chance by quitting this street. Old Marlborough has made a good story of the latter ; she says, that when he found he could not get the Privy Seal, he begged that at least they would offer it to him, and upon his honour he would not accept it, but would plead his vow of never taking a place ; in which she says they humoui'ed him. The truth is, Lord Carteret did hint an offer to him, upon which he went with a nolo episcopari to the King — ^he bounced, and said, " Why I never offered it to you : " upon which he recommended my Lord CarHsle, with equal success. Just before the King went, he asked my Lord Carteret, " Well, when am I to get rid of those fellows in the Treasury ? " They are on so low a foot, that somebody said Sandys had hired a stand of hackney-coaches, to look Hke a levee. Lord Conway has begged me to send you a commission, which you will obhge me much by executing. It is to send him three Pistoia barrels for guns : two of them, of two feet and a half in, the barrel in length ; the smallest of the inclosed buttons to be the size of the bore, hole, or calibre, of the two guns. The third barrel to be three ' Erengard de Schulemberg, the German mistress of George I.— Cunningham. 2 Melusina de Schulemberg, Countess of Walsingham [died 1778], niece of the Duchess of Kendal, and her heiress. — Walpole. She was the daughter, it is sus- pected, of George I. — Cunningham. 3 Hough distinguished himself early in his life by his resistance to the arbitrary proceedings of James 11. against Magdalen College, Oxford, of which he was the pre- sident. Pope, with much justice, speaks of " Hough's unsullied mitre."— Dover. There is a fine monument to his memory, by Roubiliac, in Worcester Cathedral.— Cunningham. 246 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743 feet and an incli in length ; ttie largest of tliese buttons to be the bore of it : tliese feet are English measure. You will be so good to let me know the price of them. There has happened a comical circumstance at Leicester House : one of the Prince's coachmen, who used to drive the Maids of Honour, was so sick of them, that he has left his son three hundred pounds, upon condition that he never quarries a Maid of Honour ! Our journey to Houghton is fixed to Satui'day se'nnight; 'tis unpleasant, but I flatter myself that I shall get away in the begin- ning of August. Adieu ! 115, TO SIR HORACE MANN. May 19, 1743. I AM just come tired from a family dinner at the Master of the Eolls ; ^ but I have received two letters from you since my last, and will wiite to you, though my head aches with maiden sisters' healths, forms, and Devonshii-e and Norfolk. With yours I received one from Mr. Chute, for which I thank him a thousand times, and will answer as soon as I get to Houghton. Monday is fixed peremp- torily, though we have had no rain this month ; but we travel by the day of the week, not by the day of the sky. We are in more confusion than we care to own. There lately came up a Highland regiment from Scotland, to be sent abroad. One heard of nothing but their good discipline and quiet disposition. When the day came for theii' going to the water-side, an hundred and nine of them mutinied, and marched away in a body. They did not care to go where it would not be equivocal for what King they fought. Three companies of dragoons are sent after them. If you happen to hear of any rising, don't be surprised — I shall not, I assm-e you. Sir Eobert Monroe, their lieutenant- colonel, before their leaving Scotland, asked some of the Ministry, " But suppose there should be any rebellion in Scotland, what should we do for these eight hundred men ? " It was answered, " Why, there would be eight hundi^ed fewer rebels there." « Utor permisso, caudceque pilos ut eqiiinee Paulatim vello ; demo unum, demo etiam unum, Dum— " ^ William Portescue, a relation of Margaret Lady Walpolc.— Walpole. Better known as the friend of Pope, the " counsel learned in the law," of Pope's " Imitations of Horace." He died in 1749. — Cunningham. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 247 My dear child, I am surprised to find you enter so seriously into earnest ideas of my Lord's passing into Italy ! Could you tliink (however he, you, or I might wish it) that there could he any pro- hability of it ? Can you thinlc his age could endure it, or him so indifferent, so totally disministered, as to leave all thoughts of what he has been, and ramble, like a boy, after pictures and statues ? Don't expect it. We had heard of the Duke of Modena's command before I had your letter. I am glad, for the sake of the Duchess, as she is to return to France. I never saw anybody wish anything more ! and indeed, how can one figure any particle of pleasure haj^pening to a daughter of the Regent,' and a favourite daughter too, full of wit and joy, buried in a dirty, dull ItaHan duchy, with an ugly, formal object for a husband, and two uncouth sister-princesses for eternal companions ? I am so near the eve of going into Norfolk, that I imagine myself something in her situation, and married to some Hammond or Hoste," who is Duke of "Wootton or Darsingham. I remember in the faiiy tales where a yellow dwarf steals a princess, and shows her his duchy, of which he is very proud : among the blessings of grandeur, of which he makes her mistress, there is a most beautiful ass for her palfrey, a blooming meadow of nettles and thistles to walk in, and a fine troubled ditch to slake her thirst, after either of the above-mentioned exercises. Adieu ! My next will be dated from some of the doleful castles in the principality of your forlorn friend, the duchy of Beepham. 116. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Houghton, June 4, 1743. I WROTE this week to Mr. Chute, addressed to you ; I could not afford two letters in one post from the countiy, and in the dead of summer. I have received one from you of May 21st, since I came down. I must tell you a smart dialogue between your father and me the morning we left London : he came to wish my Lord a good ^ Mademoiselle de Yalois, who had made herself notorious during the regency of her father, by her intrigue with the Duke of Richelieu. She consented to marry the Duke of Modena, in order to obtain the liberty of her lover, who was confined in the Bastille for conspiring against the Regent. The Duke of Richelieu, in return, fol- lowed her afterwards secretly to Modena. — Dover. 2 The Hammonds and Hostes are two Norfolk families, nearly allied to the Walpoles, — Walpolb. 248 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. journey : I found him in the parlour. " Sir," said he, "I may ask you how my son does ; I think you hear from him frequently : I never do." I replied, '' Sir, I write him kind answers ; pray do you do so ? " He coloured, and said with a half mutter, " Perhaps I have lived too long for him ! " I answered shortly, " Perhaps you have." My dear child, I heg your pardon, hut I could not help this. When one loves anyhody, one can't help being warm for them at a fair opportunity. Dr. Bland and Mr. Legge were present — your father could have stabbed me. I told your brother Gal, who was glad. We are as private here as if we were in devotion : there is nobody with us now but Lord Edgecumbe and his son. The Duke of Grafton and Mr. Pelham come next week, and I hope Lord Lincoln with them. Poor Lady Sophia [Fermor] is at the gasp of her hopes ; all is concluded for his match with JVIiss Pelham. It is not to be till the winter. He is to have all Mr. Pelham and the Duke of Newcastle can give or settle ; unless Lady Catherine [Pelham] should produce a son, or the Duchess should die, and the Duke marry again. Earl Poulett ^ is dead, and makes vacant another riband. I imagine Lord Carteret will have one : Lord Bath will ask it. I think they should give Prince Charles ' one of the two, for all the trouble he saves us. The papers talk of nothing but a suspension of arms : it seems toward, for at least we hear of no battle, though there are so many armies looking at one another. Old Sir Charles Wager ^ is dead at last, and has left the fairest character. I can't help having a little private comfort, to think that Goldsworthy — but there is no danger. Madox of St. Asaph has wriggled himself into the see of Worcester. He makes haste ; I remember him only domestic chaplain to the late Bishop of Chichester [ Waddington] . Durham is not dead, as I believe I told you from a false report. You tell me of dining with Madame de Modene,'' but you don't tell me of being charmed with her. I like her excessively — I don't mean her person, for she is as plump as the late Queen [Caroline] ; ^ John, first Earl Poulett, knight of the garter. He died, aged upwards of eighty, on the 28th May, 1743.— Dover. 2 Prince Charles of Lorraine, the Queen of Hungary's general against the French. — Dover. 3 Admiral Sir Charles Wager, died 24th May, 1743. There is a monument to him in Westminster Abbey by Scheeraakers. — Cunningham. "* It was not the Duchess of Modena, but the Duke's second sister, who went to Florence. — Walpole. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 249 but sure her face is fine ; her eyes vastly fine ! and then she is as agreeable as one should expect the Eegent's daughter to be. The Princess and she must have been an admirable contrast : one has all the good breeding of a French court, and the latter all the ease of it. I have almost a mind to go to Paris to see her. She was so excessively civil to me. You don't tell me if the Pucci goes into France with her. I like the Genoese selling Corsica ! I think we should follow their example and sell France ; we have about as good a title, and very near as much possession. At how much may they value Corsica ? at the rate of islands, it can't go for much. .Charles the Second sold Great Britain and Ireland to Louis XIY. for 300,000^. a-year, and that was reckoned extravagantly dear. Lord Bolingbroke took a single hundred thousand for them, when they were in much better repair. We hear to-day that the King goes to the army on the 15th, N.S. that is, to-day ; but I don't tell it you for certain. There has been much said against his commanding it, as it is only an army of succour, and not acting as principal in the cause. In my opinion, his com- manding will depend upon the more or less probability of its acting at all. Adieu ! 117. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Houghton, June 10, 1743. You must not expect me to write you a very composed, careless letter ; my spirits are all in agitation ! I am at the eve of a post that may bring me the most dreadful news ! we expect to-morrow the news of a decisive battle. Oh ; if you have any friend there, think what apprehensions I ^ must have of such a post ! By yester- day's letters our army was within eight miles of the French, who have had repeated orders to attack them. Lord Stair and Marshal ]N"oailles both think themselves superior, and have pressed for leave to fight. The latter caU themselves fourscore thousand ; ours sixty. Mr. Pelham and Lord Lincoln come to Houghton to-day, so we are sure of hearing as soon as possible, if anything has happened. By this time the King must be with them. My fears for one or two ^ Mr. Conway, the most intimate friend of Horace Walpole, wa8 now serving in Lord Stair's army. — Dover. 250 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. friends have spoiled me for any Englisli hopes — I cannot dwindle away the French army — every man in it appears to my imagination as big as the sons of Anak ! I am conjuring up the ghosts of all who have perished by French ambition, and am dealing out com- missions to these spectres, " To sit heavy on their souls to-morrow ! " Alas ! perhaps that glonous to-morrow was a dismal yesterday 1 at least, perhaj)S it was to me ! The genius of England might be a mere mercenaiy man of this world, and employed all his attention to tm^n aside cannon-balls from my Lord Stair, to give new edge to his new Marlborough's sword : was plotting glory for my Lord Carteret, or was thinking of fuiTQshing his own apartment in Westminster Hall wdth a new set of trophies — who would then take care of Mr. Conway ? You, who are a minister, will see all this in still another light, will fear our defeat, and will foresee the train of consequences. — ^Vliy, they may be wondrous ugly ; but till I know what I have to think about my own friends, I cannot be wise in my generation. I shall now only answer your letter ; for till I have read to-morrow's post, I have no thoughts but of a battle. I am angry at your thinldng that I can dislike to receive two or three of your letters at once. Do you take me for a child, and imagine, that though I like one j^lum-tart, two may make me sick ? I now get them regularly ; so I do but receive them, I am easy. You are mistaken about the gallery ; so far from unfuniishing any part of the house, there are several pictures undisposed of, besides numbers at Lord Walpole's, at the Exchequer, at Chelsea, and at New Park [Eichmond]. Lord Walpole has taken a dozen to Stanno, a small house, about four miles from hence, where he lives with my Lady Walpole's vicegerent.' You may imagine that her deputies are no fitter than she is to come where there is a modest, immarricd girl.'^ I will wiite to London for the Life of Theodore, though you may depend upon its being a Grub Street joiece, without one true fact. Don't let it prevent your undertaking his Memoirs. Yet I should ^ Miss Norsa ; she was a Jewess^ and had been a singer. — "WiVLPOLE. There is a print of her " from a scarce etching in the collection of Sir William Musgrave." Lord Walpole took her off the stage, with the concurrence of her parents, to whom he gave a bond, by which he engaged to marry her on the demise of his wife. His wife outlived him. — Cunningham. 2 Lady Maria Walpole.— Walpole. Afterwards Lady Mary Churchill.— Cunningham. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 251 imagine Mrs. Heywood ' or Mrs. Belin'' were fitter to" write his history. How slightly you talk of Prince Charles's victory at Brunau ! We thought it of vast consequence ; so it was. He took three posts afterwards, and has since beaten the Prince of Conti, and killed two thousand men. Prince Charles civilly returned him his baggage. The French in Bavaria are quite dispirited — poor wretches ; how one hates to wish so ill as one does to fourscore thousand men ! There is yet no news of the Pembroke. The Dominichin has a post of honoui' reserved in the gallery. My Lord says, as to that Dalton^s Paphael, he can say nothing without some particular description of the picture and the size, and some hint at the price, which you have promised to get. I leave the residue of my paper for to-morrow : I tremble, lest I be forced to finish it abruptly ! I forgot to tell you that I left a particular commission with my brother Ned, who is at Chelsea, to get some tea-seed from the Physic Garden ; and he promised me too to go to Lord Islay, to Ivuow what cobolt and zingho^ are, and where they are to be got. Saturday morning. The post is come : no battle ! Just as they were marching against the French, they received orders from Hanover not to engage, for the Queen's generals thought they were inferior, and were positive against fighting. Lord Stair, with only the English, proceeded, and drew out in order ; but though the French were then so vastly superior, they did not attack him. The King is now at the army, and, they say, will endeavour to make the Austrians fight. It will make great confusion here if they do not. The French are evacuating Bavaria as fast as possible, and seem to intend to join all their force together. I shall still di'ead aU the events of this campaign. Adieu ! 1 Eliza Haywood, a voluminous writer of indiflferent novels ; of which the best known is one called " Betsy Thoughtless." She was also authoress of a work entitled "The Female Spectator." Mrs. Heywood was born in 1693, and died in 1756. — Dover. She figures indecently enough in the "Dunciad," B. ii. — Cunningham. 2 Mrs. Afra Behn [died 1689], a woman whose character and writings were equally incorrect. Of her plays, which were seventeen in number. Pope says, " The stage how loosely does Astrea tread. Who fairly puts all characters to bed." Her novels and other productions were also marked with similar characteristics.— Dover. 3 Cobalt and zinc, two metallic substances ; the former composed of silver, copper, and arsenic, the latter of tin and iron.— Dover, 252 HORACE WALPOLB'S LETTERS. [1743. 118. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Houghton, June 20, 1743. I HAVE painted the E/aphael to my lord almost as fine as Raphael himself could ; but he Avill not think of it : he will not give a thousand guineas for what he never saw.^ I wish I could persuade him. For the other hands, he has already fine ones of every one of them. There are yet no news of the '' Pembroke : '' we grow impatient. I have made a short tour to Euston [in Suffolk] this week with the Duke of Grafton, who came over from thence with Lord Lincoln and Mr. Pelham. Lord Lovel and Mr. Coke earned me and brought me back. It is one of the most admired seats in England — in my opinion, because Kent has a most absolute disposition of it. Kent is now so fashionable, that, like Addison's Liberty, he " Can make bleak rocks and barren mountains smile." I believe the Duke wishes he could make them green too. The house is large and bad ; it was built by Lord Arlington,^ and stands, as all old houses do for convenience of water and shelter, in a hole ; so it neither sees, nor is seen : he has no money to build another. The park is fine, the old woods excessively so : they are much grander than Mr. Kent's passion, clumps — that is, sticking a dozen trees here and there, till a lawn looks like the ten of spades. Clumps have their beauty ; but in a great extent of country, how tiifling to scatter arbours, where you should spread forests ! He is so unhappy in his heir apparent,^ that he checks his hand in almost every thing ^ The highest price Sir Robert Walpole gave for one picture was 630Z. for the Guido — the Doctors of the Church. — Cunningham. ^ Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, a famous minister in the reign of Charles XL — Cunningham. ^ George, Earl of Euston, who died in the lifetime of his father. He has been already mentioned [p. 76] in the course of these letters, upon the occasion of his marriage with Lady Dorothy Boyle, who died from his ill-treatment of her. Upon a picture of Lady Dorothy at the Duke of Devonshire's at Chiswick, is the following touching inscription, written by her mother : — " Lady Dorothy Boyle, " Born May the 14th, 1724. She was the comfort and joy of her parents, the delight of all who knew her angelick temper, and the admiration of all who saw her beauty. ''She was marry'd October the 10th, 1741, and delivered (by death) from misery, "May the 2nd, 1742. 1743.] " TO SIR HORACE MANN. 253 lie undertakes. Last week he heard a new exploit of his barbarity. A tenant of Lord Euston, in Northamptonshire, brought him his rent ; the Lord said it wanted three and sixpence : the tenant begged he would examine the account, that it would prove exact — ^however, to content him, he would willingly pay him the three and sixpence. Lord E. flew into a rage, and vowed he would write to the Duke to have him turned out of a httle place he has in the post-office of thirty pounds a-year. The poor man, who has six children, and knew nothing of my Lord's being upon no terms of power with his father, went home and shot himself ! I know no syllable of news, but that my Lady Carteret is dead at Hanover, and Lord Wilmington dying. So there will be to let a first minister's ladyship and a first lordship of the Treasury. We have nothing from the army, though the King has now been there some time. As new a thing as it is, we don't talk much of it. Adieu ! the family are gone a-fishing : I thought I stayed at home to write to you, but I have so little to say that I don't believe you will think so. 119. TO SIR HORACE MANK Friday noon, June 29, 1743. I don't know what I write — I am all a hurry of thoughts — a battle — a victory ! [Battle of Dettingen] I dare not yet be glad — I know no particulars of my friends. This instant my Lord has had a messenger from the Duke of Newcastle, who has sent him a copy of Lord Carteret's letter from the field of battle. The King was in all the heat of the fire, and safe — the Duke [of Cumberland] is wounded in the calf of the leg, but sHghtly ; Due d'Aremberg in the breast ; Greneral Clayton and Colonel Piers are the only officers of note said to be killed — ^here is all my trust ! The French passed the Mayne that morning with twenty-five thousand men, and are driven back. We have lost two thousand, and they four — several of their general officers, and of the Maison du Roi, are taken prisoners : the battle lasted from ten in the morning till four. The Hanoverians behaved admirably. The ImperiaHsts' were the aggressors ; in "This picture w^as drawn seven weeks after her death (from memory) by her most affectionate mother, " Dorothy Burlington." — Dover. Compare Walpole to Mann, July 22, 1744, p. 316.— Cunningham. ^ The Bavarians. — Walpole. 254 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. short, in all pubKc views, it is all tliat could be wished — the King in the action, and his son wounded — the Hanoverians behaving well — the French beaten : what obloquy will not all this wipe off? Triumph, and write it to Eome ! I don't know what our numbers were ; I beheve about thii^ty thousand, for there were twelve thousand Hes- sians and Hanoverians who had not joined them. ! in my hurry, I had forgot the place — you must talk of the battle of Dettingen ! After dinner. My child, I am caUing together all my thoughts, and rejoice in this victory as much as I dare ; for in the raptures of conquest, how dare I think that my Lord Carteret, or the rest of those who have written, thought just of whom I thought ? The post comes in to-morrow morning, but it is not sure that we shall learn any particular certainties so soon as that. Well ! how happy it is that the King has had such an oj^portunity of distinguishing himself ! ' what a figure he will make ! They talked of its being below his dignity to command an auxiliary army : my Lord says it ^vill not be thought below his dignity to have sought danger. These were the flower of the French troops : I flatter myself they will tempt no more battles. Another such, and we might march from one end of France to the other. So we are in a French war, at least well begun ! My Lord has been drinking the healths of Lord Stair and Lord Carteret : he says, " since it is well done, he does not care by whom it was done." He thinks differently from the rest of the world : he thought from the first, that France never missed such an opportunity as when they undertook the Gennan war, instead of joining with Spain against us. If I hear any more to-morrow before the post goes out, I vdll let you know. Tell me if tliis is the first you hear of the victory : I would fain be the fii^st to give you so much pleasure. Saturday morning. "Well, my dear child, all is safe ! I have not so much as an acquaintance hurt. The more we hear, the greater it turns out. Lord Cholmondeley wi^ites my Lord from London, that we gained ^ Frederick the Great, in his " Histoire de mon Temps," gives the following' account of George II. at the battle of Dettingen. " The King was on horseback, and rode forward to reconnoitre the enemy : his horse, frightened at the cannonading, ran aAvay with his Majesty, and nearly carried him into the midst of the French lines : fortunately, one of his attendants succeeded in stopping him. George then aban- doned his horse, and fought on foot, at the head of his Hanoverian battalions. With his sword drawn, and his body placed in the attitude of a fencing-master who is about to make a lounge in carte, he continued to expose himself, without flinching, to the enemy's fire." — Dover. 1743.] TO MR. CHUTE. 255 the victory with only fifteen regiments, not eleven thousand men, and so not half in number to the French. I fancy their soldiery behaved ill, by the gallantry of their officers ; for Ranby,^ the King's private surgeon, writes, that he alone has 150 officers of distinction desperately wounded under his care. Marquis Fenelon's son is among the prisoners, and says Marshal Noailles is dangerously wounded : so is Due d'Ai^emberg. Honejrwood's regiment sustained the attack, and are almost all killed : his natural son has five wounds, and cannot Hve. The horse were pursuing when the letters came away, so there is no certain account of the slaughter. Lord Albemarle had his horse shot under him. In short, the victory is comjDlete. There is no describing what one hears of the spirits and bravery of our men. One of them di^essed himself up in the belts of three officers, and swore he would wear them as long as he lived. Another ran up to Lord Carteret, who was ia a coach near the action the whole time, and said, " Here, my Lord, do hold this watch for me ; I have just killed a French officer and taken it, and I will go take another." Adieu ! my dear Sii^ : may the rest of the war be as glorious as the beginning ! TO MR. CHUTE. My dear Sir, I wish you joy, and you wish me joy, and Mr. AVhithed, and Mr. Mann, and Mrs. Bosville, &c. Don't get drunk and get the gout. I exited to be diamk with hogsheads of the Mayne- water, and with odes to his Majesty and the Duke, and Te Deums. Patapan begs you will get him a dispensation from Rome to go and hear the thanksgiving" at St. Paul's. We are aU mad — drums, trumpets, bumpers, bonfires ! The mob are wild, and cry, " Long hve King George and the Duke of Cumberland, and Lord Stair and Lord Carteret, and General Clayton that's dead ! " My Lord Level says, " Thanks to the Gods that John^ has done his duty ! " Adieu ! my dear Dukes of Marlborough ! I am ever yom- John Duke of Marlborough. ' John Eanby, principal serjeant surgeon to the King. He attended Sir Robert Walpole in his last illness, and published an account of his case. He died in 1773, and was buried in Chelsea Hospital. — Cunningham. ^ John Bull. — Dover. 256 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. 120. TO SIR HORACE MANK Houghton, July 4, 1743. I HEAR no particular news here, and I don't pretend to send you the common news ; for as I must have it first from London, you will have it from thence sooner in the papers than in my letters. There have been great rejoicings for the victory ; which I am con- vinced is very considerable by the pains the Jacobites take to persuade it is not. My Lord Carteret's Hanoverian articles have much offended ; his express has been burlesqued a thousand ways. By all the letters that arrive, the loss of the French turns out more considerable than by the first accounts : they have dressed up the battle into a victory for themselves — I hope they will always have such ! By their not having declared war with us, one should think they intended a peace. It is allowed that our fine horse did us no honour : the victory was gained by the foot. Two of their princes of the blood, the Prince de Dombes, and the Count d'Eu ' his brother, were wounded, and several of their first nobility. Our prisoners turn out but seventy-two of&cers, besides the private men ; and by the printed catalogue, I don't think many of great family. Marshal JSFoailles' mortal wound is quite vanished, and Due d'Aremberg's shrunk to a very sHght one. The King's glory remains in its fijrst bloom. Lord Wilmington is dead. I believe the civil battle for his post ' will be tough. Now we shall see what service Lord Carteret's Hanoverians will do him. You don't think the crisis unlucky for him, do you ? If you wanted a Treasury, should you choose to have been in ArHngton Street,^ or driving by the battle of Dettingen ? You may imagine our Coui^t wishes for Mr. Pelham. I don't know any one who wishes for Lord Bath but himself — I believe that is a pretty substantial wish. 1 have got the Life of King Theodore, but I don't know how to convey it — I will inquire for some way. We are quite alone. You never saw anything so unlike as being here five months out of place, to the congresses of a fortnight in * The two sons of the Duke du Maine, a natural son, but legitimated, of Louis XIV. by Madame de Montespan. — Wright. 2 Wilmington was First Lord of the Treasury, Pelham succeeded to the post. — Cunningham. ^ Where Mr. Pelham lived. — Walpole. 1''43.] TO SIE HORACE MANN. 257 place ; but you know the " Justum et tenacem propositi virum " can amuse Mmself without the " Civiurn ardor ! " As I have not so much dignity of character to fill up my time, I could Hke a little more company. With all this leisure, you may imagine that I might as well be wiitiag an ode or so upon the victory ; but as I cannot build upon the Laureates place till I know whether Lord Carteret or Mr. Pelham will carry the Treasuiy, I have bounded my compliments to a slender collection of quotations against I should have any occasion for them. Here are some fine lines from Lord Halifax's ^ poem on the battle of the Bojme — " The King leads orij the King does all inflame, The King ; — and carries millions in the name." Then follows a simile about a deluge, which you may imaguie ; but the next lines are very good : " So on the foe the firm battalions prest. And he, like the tenth wave, drove on the rest. Fierce, gallant, young, he shot through ev'ry place. Urging their flight, and hurrying on the chase. He hung upon their rear, or lighten'd in their face." The next are a mag-nificent compliment, and, as far as verse goes, to be sure very apphcable. (C Stop, stop ! brave Prince, allay that generous flame ; Enough is given to England and to Fame. Eemember, Sir, you in the centre stand ; Europe's divided interests you command. All their designs uniting in your hand. Down from your throne descends the golden chain Which does the fabric of our world sustain, That once dissolved by any fatal stroke. The scheme of all our happiness is broke.'' Adieu ! my dear Sir : pray for peace T 121. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Hougliton, July 11, 1743. The Pembroke is arrived ! Yom- brother sHpped a sHce of paper into a letter which he sent me from you the other day, with those pleasant words, " The Pembroke is arrived.'^ I am goiog to receive it. I shall be in town the end of this week, only stay there about ten days, and wait on the Dominichin hither. Now I tremble ! If it 1 Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax, the "Bufo" of Pope. — Wright. VOL. I. s 258 HORACE \YALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. should not stand the trial among the numher of capital pictures here ! But it must : it will. O, sweet lady ! ' What shall I do about her letter ? I must answer it — and where to find a penful of ItaHan in the world, I know not. "Well, she must take what she can get : gold and silver I have not, but what I have I give unto her. Do you say a vast deal of my concern for her illness, and that I could not find decom- pounds and superlatives enough to express myself. You never tell me a syllable fi'om my sovereign lady the Princess : has she forgot me ? What is become of Prince Beauvau ? ^ is he warring against us ? Shall I write to Mr. Conway to be very civil to him for my sake, if he is taken prisoner ? We expect another battle every day. Brogho has joined Noailles, and Prince Charles is on the Neckar. Noailles says, " Qu'il a fait une folic, mais qu'il est pret at la reparer.'' There is great blame thrown on Baron Ilton, the Hanoverian General, for having hindered the Guards from engaging. If they had, and the horse, who behaved wretchedly, had done their duty, it is agreed that there would be no second engagement. The poor Duke of Cumberland is in a much worse way than was at first aj)prehended : his wound proves a bad one ; he is gross, and has had a shivering fit, which is often the forerunner of a mortification. There has been much thought of making knights-banneret, but I beheve the scheme is laid aside ; for, in the first place, they are never made but on the field of battle, and now it was not thought on till some days after ; and, besides, the King intended to make some who were not actually in the battle. Adieu ! Possibly I may hear something in town worth telling you. 122. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, July 19, [1743.] Here am I come a-Dominichining ! and the first thing I hear is, that the Pembroke must perform quarantine fourteen days for coming from the Mediterranean, and a week airing. It is forty days, if they bring the plague from Sicily. I will bear this misfortune as heroically as I can ; and considering I have London to bear it in, may possibly support it well enough. The private letters from the army all talk of the King's going to ' Madame Grifoni. — Walpole. ^ Son of Prince Craon. — AValpole. 1T43.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 259 Hanover, 2nd of August, N. S. If he should not, one shall he no longer in pain for him ; for the French have repassed the Ehine, and think only of preparing against Prince Charles, who is marching sixty-two thousand men, full of conquest and revenge, to regain his own country. I most cordially wish him success, and that his bravery may recover what his abject brother gave up so tamely, and which he takes as Httle personal pains to regain. It is not at all determined whether we are to carry the war into France. It is ridiculous enough ! we have the name of war with Spain, without the thing ; and war with France without the name ! The maiden heroes of the Guards are in great wrath with General Ilton, who kept them out of harm's way. They call him " the Confectioner," because he says he preserved them. The week before I left Houghton my father had a most dreadful accident : it had near been fatal ; but he escaped miraculously. He dined abroad, and went up to sleep. As he was coming down agaiu, not quite awakened, he was surprised at seeing the company through a glass-door which he had not observed : his foot sHpped, and he, who is now entirely unwieldy and helpless, fell at once down the stairs against the door, which, had it not been there, he had dashed himself to pieces, into a stone hall. He cut his forehead two inches long to the pericranium, and another gash upon his temple ; but, most luckily^ did himself no other hurt, and was quite weU again before I came away. I find Lord Stafford married to Miss Cantillon ; they are to live half the year in London, half in Paris. Lord Lincoln is soon to marry his cousin Miss Pelham : it will be great joy to the whole house of Newcastle. There is no determination yet come about the Treasury. Most people wish for Mr. Pelham ; few for Lord Carteret ; none for Lord Bath. My Lady Townshend [Harrison] said an admirable thing the other day to this last : he was complaining much of a pain in his side — " Oh !" said she, " that can't be ; you have no side.^' I have a new Cabinet ' for my enamels and miniatures just come home, which I am sure you would like : it is of rose-wood ; the doors inlaid with carvings in ivory. I wish you could see it 1 Are you to be for ever ministerial sans reldche ? Are you never to have ^ A cabinet of rosewood, designed by Walpole himself. It is seen in the view of " The Cabinet " in " The Tribune," and sold at the Strawberry Hill sale for 127^.— Cunningham. s 2 260 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. leave to come and " settle your private affairs/' as tlie newspapers call it ? A thousand loves to the Chutes. Does my sovereign lady yet remember me, or has she lost with her eyes all thought of me ? Adieu ! P.S. Princess Louisa goes soon to her young Denmark ; and Princess Emily, it is now said, will have the man of Lubeck. If he had missed the crown of Sweden, he was to have taken Princess Caroline ; because, in his private capacity, he was not a competent match for the now-first daughter of England. He is extremely handsome ; it is fifteen years since Princess Emily was so. 123. TO SIR HORACE MANK Arlington Street, July 31, 1743. If I went by my last week's reason for not wiiting to you, I should miss this post too, for I have no more to tell you than I had then ; but at that rate, there would be great vacuums in our cor- respondence. I am still here, waiting for the Dominichin and the rest of the things. I have incredible trouble about them, for they arrived just as the quarantime was established. Then they found out that " the Pembroke " had left the fleet so long before the infec- tion in Sicily began, and had not touched at any port there, that the Admiralty absolved it. Then the things were brought up ; then they were sent back to be aired ; and still I am not to have them in a week. I tremble for the pictures ; for they are to be aired at the rough discretion of a master of a hoy, for nobody I could send would be suffered to go aboard. The city is outrageous ; for you know, to merchants there is no plague so dreadful as a stoppage of theii' trade. The Pegency are so temporising and timid, especially in this inter-m i n i sterium, that I am in great apprehensions of our having the plague : an island, so many ports, no power absolute or active enough to establish the necessary precautions, and all are necessary ! it is terrible ! And now it is on the continent too ! While confined to Sicily, there were hopes : but I scarce conceive that it "will stop in two or three villages in Calabria. My dear child. Heaven preserve you from it ! I am in the utmost pain on its being so near you. What will you do I whither will you go, if it reaches Tuscany ? Never thinlv of stapng in Florence : shall I get 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 261 you permission to retire out of tliat State, in case of danger ? but sure you would not hesitate on such a crisis ! We have no news from tlie army : the minister there communi- cates nothing to those here. JN'o answer comes about the Treasury. All is suspense : and clouds of breaches ready to burst. How strange is all this jimible ! France with an unsettled Ministry ; England with an unsettled one ; a victory just gained over them, yet no war ensuing, or declared from either side ; our minister still at Paris, as if to settle an amicable intelligence of the losses on both sides ! I think there was only wanting for Mr. Thompson to notify to them in form our victory over them, and for Bussy * to have civil letters of congratulation — 'tis so well-bred an age ! I must teU you a 'bon-mot of Winnington. I was at dinner with him and Lord Lincoln and Lord Stafford last week, and it happened to be a maigre-day, of which Stafford was taUdng, though, you may beheve, without any scniples : "Why," said Winnington, "what a rehgion is yours ! they let you eat nothing, and yet make you swallow everjrthing ! " My dear child, you will think, when I am going to give you a new commission, that I ought to remember those you give me. Indeed I have not forgot one, though I know not how to execute them. The Life of King Theodore is too big to send but by a messenger ; by the first that goes you shall have it. For cobolt and zingho, your brother and I have made all inquiiies, but almost in vain, except that one person has told him that there is some such thing in Lancashire : I have written thither to inquire. For the tea-trees, it is my brother's [Edward's] fault, whom I desired, as he is at Chelsea, to get some from the Physic- Garden : he forgot it ; but now I am in town myself, if possible, you shall have some seed. After this, I still know not how to give you a commission, for you over-execute ; but upon conditions uninfringeable, I will give you one. I have begun to collect drawings : now, if you will at any time buy me any that you meet with at reasonable rates, for I will not give great prices, I' shall be much obHged to you. I would not have above one, to be sure, of any of the Florentine school, nor above one of any master after the immediate scholars of Carlo Maratti. For the Bolognese school, I care not how many ; though I fear they wiU be too dear. But Mr. Chute understands them. One condition is, that ^ Mr. Thompson and the Abbe de Bussy were the English and French residents. — Vv'"alpole, 262 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. if lie collects drawings as well as prints, there is an end of the com- mission ; for you shall not buy me any, when he perhaps would like to pm^chase them. The other condition is, that you regularly set down the pnces you pay ; otherwise, if you send me any without the price, I instantly return them unopened to your brother : this, upon my honour, I will most strictly perform. Adieu! write me minutely the history of the plague. If it makes any progress towards you, I shall be a most unhappy man : I am far from easy on our own account here. 124. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Aug. 14, 1743. I SHOULD write to Mr. Chute to-day, but I won't till next post : I will tell you why presently. Last week I did not write at aU ; because I was every day waitiag for the Domioichin, 8^c. which I at last got last night — But oh ! that 8^c. ! It makes me write to you, but I must leave it 8^c. for I can't undertake to develope it. I can find no words to thank you from my own fund ; but must apply an expression of the Priacess Craon's to myself, which the number of charming things you have sent me absolutely melts down fi^om the bombast, of which it consisted when she sent it me. " Monsieui% votre generosity," (I am not sure it was not "votre magnificence,") " ne me laisse rien a d^su^er de tout ce qui se trouve de pr^cieux en Angleterre, dans la Chine, et aux Indes." But stiLl this don't express 8^c. The charming Madame Sevign^, who was still handsomer than Madame de Craon, and had infinite wit, conde- scended to pun on sending her daughter an excessively fine pearl necklace : '' Yoila, ma fille, un present passant tons les presents passes et presents ! " Do you know that these words reduced to serious meaning, are not sufiicient for what you have sent me ? If I were not afraid of giving you all the trouble of airing and quaran- tine which I have had mth them, I would send them to you back again ! It is well our virtue is out of the Ministry ! What reproach it would undergo ! Why, my dear child, here would be bribery in folio I How would mortals stare at such a present as this to the son of a fallen minister ! I beheve half of it would reinstate us again ; though the vast box of essences would not half sweeten the Treasury after the dirty wretches that have fouled it since. The Dominichin is safe ; so is everything. I cannot think it of 1743.] TO SIE HORACE MANN. 263 the same hand with the Sasso Ferrati you sent me. This last is not so mani^re as the Dominichin ; for the more I look at it, the more I am convinced it is of him. It goes down with me to-morrow to Houghton. The Andrea del Sarto is particularly fine ! the Sasso Ferrati particularly graceful — oh ! I should have kept that word for the Magdalen's head, which is beautiful beyond measm-e.' Indeed, my dear Sir, I am glad, after my confusion is a Kttle abated, that your part of the things is so deHghtful ; for I am very Kttle satisfied with my own purchases. Donate Cretins ^ copy is a wretched, raw daub ; the beautiful Virgin of the original he has made horrible. Then for the statue, the face is not so broad as my nail, and has not the turn of the antique. Indeed, La YaU^e has done the di^apery well, but I can't pardon him the head. My table I Hke ; though he has stuck in among the ornaments two vile china jars, that look like the modern japanning by ladies. The Hermaphrodite, on my seeing it again, is too sharp and hard — ^in short, yom' present has put me out of humour with everything of my own. You shall hear next week how my Lord is satisfied with his Dominichin. I have received the letter and drawings by Crewe. By the way, my drawings of the gallery are as bad as anything of my own ordering. They gave Crewe the letter for you at the office, I beheve ; for I knew nothing of his going, or had sent you the Life of King Theodore. I was interrupted ia my letter this morning by the Duke of Devonshire, who called to see the Dominichin. Nobody knows pictures better : he was charmed with it, and did not doubt its Dominichinahty. I fijid another letter from you to-night of August 6th, and thank you a thousand times for your goodness about Mr. Conway ; but I beheve I told you, that as he is in the Guards, he was not engaged. We hear nothing but that we are goiug to cross the Ehine. All we know is from private letters : the Mioistry hear nothing. When the Hussars went to Kevenhuller for orders, he said, " Messieurs, 1' Alsace est a vous ; je n'ai point d'autres ordres el vous donner." They have accordingly taken up their residence iu a fine chateau belonging to the Cardinal de Eohan, as Bishop of Strasbom^g. We expect nothing but war ; and that war expects nothing but conquest. 1 These pictures are now at St. Petersburg. — Cunninqham. 2 A copy of a celebrated picture by Guido at Bologna, of the Patron Saints of that city. — Walpolj!, 26-1 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. Your account of our officers was very false ; for, instead of the soldiers going on without commanders, some of them were ready to go without their soldiers. I am sorry you have such plague with youi^ Neptune ' and the Sardinian — ^we know not of them scarce. I really forget an}^hing of an Itahan gi^eyhound for the Tesi. I promised her, I remember, a black spaniel — ^but how to send it ! I did promise one of the former to Marquis Mari at Genoa, which I absolutely have not been able to get yet, though I have often tried ; but since the last Lord Halifax died, there is no meeting with any of the breed. If I can, I will get her one. I am sorry you are engaged in the Opera. I have found it a most dear undertaking ! I was not in the management: Lord Middlesex was chief. We were thirty subscribers, at two hundi^ed pounds each, which was to last four years, and no other demands ever to be made. Instead of that, we have been made to pay JGifty-six pounds over and above the subscription in one winter. I told the secretary in a passion, that it was the last money I would ever pay for the follies of directors. 1 tremble at heaiing that the plague is not over, as we thought, but still spreading. You will see in the papers that Lord Hervey is dead — ^luckily, I think, for himself ; for he had outlived his last inch of character. Adieu ! 125. TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ.2 Houghton, August 20, 1743. Indeed, my dear Sir, you certainly did not use to be stupid, and till you give me more substantial j)roof that you are so, I shall not beHeve it. As for your temperate diet and milk bringing about such a metamorphosis, I hold it impossible. I have such lamentable proofs every day before my eyes of the stupif}dng quaUties of beef, ale, and wine, that I have contracted a most rehgious veneration for your spiritual nouiiture. Only imagine that I here every day see men, who are mountains of roast beef, and only seem just roughly he^vn out into the outhnes of human form, like the giant-rock at ^ Admiral Matthews. — Dover. 2 This very lively letter is the first of the series, hitherto unpublished, addressed by Mr. Walpole to John Chute, Esq., of the Vine, in the county of Hants [see p. 72]. Mr. Chute was the grandson of Chaloner Chute, Esq., Speaker of the House of Commons to Richard Cromwell's parliament. On the death of his brother Anthony, in 1754, he succeeded to the family estates, and died in 1776. — Wright. Walpole's letters to Chute were returned to him by Chute's executors. — Cunningham. 1743.] TO MR. CHUTE. 265 Pratolino ! I shudder wlien I see them brandish their knives in act to carye, and look on them as savages that devour one another. I should not stare at all more than I do, if yonder Alderman at the lower end of the table was to stick his fork into his neighbour's jolly cheek, and cut a brave slice of brown and fat. Why, I'll swear I see no difference between a country gentleman and a sirloin ; whenever the first laughs, or the latter is cut, there run out just the same streams of gravy ! Indeed, the sirloin does not ask quite so many questions. I have an Aunt here,' a family piece of goods, an old remnant of inquisitive hospitahty and economy, who, to all intents and purposes, is as beefy as her neighbours. She wore me so down yesterday with interrogatories, that I di^eamt all night she was at my ear with * who's ' and ^ why's,' and ' when's ' and ' where's,' till at last in my very sleep I cried out, '^ For God in heaven's sake, Madam, ask me no more questions ! " Oh ! my dear Sir, don't you find that nine parts in ten of the world are of no use but to make you wish yourself with that tenth part ? I am so far from growing used to mankind by hving amongst them, that my natural ferocity and wildness does but every day grow worse. They tire me, they fatigue me ; I don't know what to do with them ; I don't know what to say to them ; I fling open the windows, and fancy I want air ; and when I get by myself, I undress myself, and seem to have had people in my pockets, in my plaits, and on my shoulders ! I indeed find this fatigue worse in the country than in town, because one can avoid it there and has more resources ; but it is there too. I fear 'tis growing old ; but I Kterally seem to have murdered a man whose name was Ennui, for his ghost is ever before me. They say there is no EngHsh word for ennui i"^ I think you may translate it most HteraUy by what is called " entertaining people," and " doing the honours : " that is, you sit an hour with somebody you don't know and don't care for, talk about the wind and the weather, and ask a thousand foolish questions, which all begin with, " I think you Hve a good deal in the country," or, "I think you don't love this thing or that." Oh ! 'tis di'eadfiil ! I'll tell you what is deHghfiil — the Dominichin ! ^ My dear Sir, ^ Either Lady Turner or Mrs. Hammond. — Cunningham. 2 '' — Ennui is a growth of English root, Though nameless in our language : we retort The fact for words^ and let the French translate That awful yawn, which sleep cannot abate."— jBt/ro72. — Wright. 3 Thus described by Walpole in his description of the pictures at Houghton ;— 266 HOUACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [17-13. if ever there was a Dominicliin, if there was ever an original picture, this is one. I am quite hapjDy ; for my father is as much trans- ported with it as I am. It is hung in the gallery, where are all his most cajDital pictures, and he himself thinks it heats all hut the two Guide's. That of the Doctors and the Octagon — I don't know if you ever saw them ? What a chain of thought this leads, me into ! but why should I not indulge it ? I will flatter myself with your, some time or other, passing a few days here with me. Why must I never expect to see anything but Beefs in a gallery which would not yield even to the Colonna ! If I do not most unlimitedly wish to see you and Mr. Whithed in it this very moment, it is only because I would not take you from our dear Miny. Adieu ! you charming people all. Is not Madam Bosville a Beef? Yours, most sincerely. 12(3. TO SIR HORACE MANK Houghton, August 29, 1743. You frighten me about the Spaniards entering Tuscany : it is so probable, that I have no hopes against it but in their weakness. If all the accounts of their weakness and desertion are true, it must be easy to repel them. If their march to Florence is to keep pace with Prince Charles's entering Lorrain, it is not yet near : hitherto, he has not found the passage of the Rhine practicable. The French have assembled greater armies to oppose it than was expected. We are marching to assist him : the King goes on with the army. I am extremely sorry for the ChevaHer de Beauvau's^ accident ; as sorry, perhaj^s, as the Prince or Princess ; for you know he was no favourite. The release of the French prisoners prevents the civilities which I would have taken care to have had shown him. You may tell the Princess, that though it will be so much honour to us to have any of her family in our power, yet I shall always be extremely concerned to have such an opportunity of showing my attention to them. There's a period in her own style — ^* Corn m en t ! Monsieur, des attentions ! qu'il est poli ! qu'il scait tourner uno civiHt^ ! " Ha ! ^ la brave Angloisc ! e viva ! " What would I have given a ** The Virgin and Child, a most beautiful, bright, and capital picture, by Domini- chino : bought out of the Zambeccari Palace at Bologna by Horace Walpole, junior." — Wright. ^ Third son of Prince Craon, and Knight of Malta — Walpole. 2 This relates to an intrigue which was observed in a church bet\7een an Bno-lish 1743.] TO SIE HORACE MANN. 267 to have oyerlieard you breaking it to tlie gallant ! But of all, com- mend me to tlie good man Nyldn ! Why, Mamie ' himself could not have cuddled up an affair for his sovereign lady better. I have a commission from my Lord to send you ten thousand thanks for his bronze : he admires it beyond measure. It came down last Friday, on his birthday [August 26], and was placed at the upper end of the gallery, which was illuminated on the occasion : indeed, it is incredible what a magnificent appearance it made. There were sixty-four candles, which showed all the pictures to great advantage. The Dominichin did itself and us honour. There is not the least question of its being original : one might as well doubt the originality of Eong Patapan ! His patapanic majesty is not one of the least curiosities of Houghton. The crowds that come to see the house stare at him, and ask what creature it is. As he does not speak one word of Norfolk, there are strange conjectures made about him. Some think that he is a foreign prince come to marry Lady Mary. The disaffected say he is a Hanoverian : but the common people, who observe my Lord's vast fondness for him, take him for his good genius, which they call his familiar. You will have seen in the papers that Mr. Pelham is at last first Lord of the Treasury. Lord Bath had sent over Sir John Push- out's valet de chambre to Hanau to ask it. It is a great question now what side he will take ; or rather, if any side will take him. It is not yet known what the good folks in the Treasury will do — I beheve, what they can. Nothing farther will be determined till the Eong's return. 127. TO Sm HORACE MANN. Houghton, 8ept. 7, 1743. My letters are now at their ne plus ultra of nothingness ; so you may hope they will grow better again. I shall certainly go to town gentleman and a lady who was at Florence ■with her husband. Mr. Mann was desired to speak to the lover to choose more proper places, — Walpolb. 1 Prince Craon's name for the Princess. She was mistress of Leopold^ the last Duke of Lorrain, who married her to M. de Beauvau^ and prevailed on the Emperor to make him a prince of the empire. Leopold had twenty children by her, who all resembled him ; and he got his death by a cold which he contracted in standing to see a new house, which he had built for her, furnished. The Duchess was extremely jealous, and once retired to Paris, to complain to her brother the Regent; but he was not a man to quarrel with his brother-in-law for things of that nature, and sent his sister back. Madame de Craon gave into devotion after the Duke's death. — Walpole. 268 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. soon, for my patience is worn out. Yesterday, the weather grew cold ; I put on a neio waistcoat for its being winter's birthday — the season I am forced to love ; for summer has no charms for me when I pass it in the country. We are expecting another battle, and a congress at the same time. Ministers seem to be flocking to Aix la Chapelle : and,, what will much surprise you, unless you have hved long enough not to be surprised, is, that Lord Bolingbroke has hobbled the same way too — you will suppose, as a minister for France ; I tell you, no. My uncle [old Horace], who is here, was yesterday stumping along the gallery with a very poHtical march : my Lord asked him whither he was going. Oh, said I, to Aix la Chapelle. You ask me about the marrying Princesses. I know not a tittle. Princess Louisa ^ seems to be going, her clothes are bought ; but marrying our daughters makes no conversation. For either of the other two, all thoughts seem to be dropped of it. The senate of Sweden design themselves to choose a wife for theii^ man of Lubeck. The City, and our supreme governors, the mob, are very angry that there is a troop of French players at Cliefden.^ One of them was lately impertinent to a countiyman, who thrashed him. His Poyal Highness sent angrily to know the cause. The fellow repHed, " he thought to have pleased his Highness in beating one of them, who had tned to kill his father and had woimded his brother.'' This was not easy to answer. I deKght in Prince Craon's exact intelligence ! For his satisfac- tion, I can teU him that numbers, even here, would believe any story full as absurd as that of the King and my Lord Stair ; or that very one, if anybody wiU write it over. Our faith in politics will match any Neapolitan's in religion. A pohtical missionary will make more converts in a count}^ progress than a Jesuit in the whole empire of China, and wiU produce more preposterous miracles. Sir Watkin Williams, at the last Welsh races, convinced the whole principaHty (by reading a letter that affij^med it), that the King was not within two miles of the battle of Dettingen. We are not good at hitting off anti- miracles, the only way of defending one's ownrehgion. I have read an admirable story of the Duke of Buckingham, who, ^ Youngest daughter of George II. She was married in the following October, and died in 1751, at the age of twenty-seven. — Wright. 2 Cliefden, in Buckinghamshire, the residence of the Prince of AVales. This noble building was burnt to the ground in 1795, and nothing of its furniture preserved but the tapestry that represented the Duke of Marlborough's victories. — AV right. 1743.] TO SIK HORACE MANN. 209 when James II. sent a priest to him to persuade Lim to turn Papist, and was plied by liim with miracles, told the doctor, that if miracles were proofs of a religion, the Protestant cause was as well supplied as theirs. We have lately had a very extraordinary one near my estate in the country. A very holy man, as you might be, Doctor, was travelling on foot, and was benighted. He came to the cottage of a poor dowager, who had nothing in the house for herself and daughter but a couple of eggs and a sHce of bacon. However, as she was a pious widow, she made the good man welcome. In the moi-ning, at taking leave, the saint made her over to God for payment, and prayed that whatever she should do as soon as he was gone she might continue to do all day. This was a very unlimited request, and, unless the saint was a prophet too, might not have been very pleasant retribution. The good woman, who minded her affairs, and was not to be put out of her way, went about her business. She had a piece of coarse cloth to make a couple of shifts for herself and child. She no sooner began to measure it but the yard fell a measuring, and there was no stopping it. It was sunset before the good woman had time to take breath. She was almost stifled, for she was up to her ears in ten thousand yards of cloth. She could have afforded to have sold Lady Mary Wortley a clean shift, ^ of the usual coarseness she wears, for a groat halfpenny. I wish you would tell the Princess this story. Madame Piccardi, or the little Countess d'Elbenino, will doat on it. I don't think it will be out of PandoLfini's way, if you tell it to the Httle Albizzi. You see I have not forgot the tone of my Florentine acquaintance. I know I should have translated it to them : you remember what admirable work I used to make of such stories in broken ItaUan. I have heard old Churchill teU Bussy EngHsh puns out of jest-books: particularly a reply about eating hare, which he translated, "j'ai mon ventre plein de poil.'' Adieu ! 128. TO Sm HORACE MANN. Houghton, Sept. 17, 1743. As much as we laughed at Prince Craon's history of the King and Lord Stair, you see it was not absolutely without foundation. I 1 Lady Mary Wortley's linen — " linen worthy Lady Mary " and her " dirty smock " — are commemorated in verse by Pope.— Cunmngham. 270 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS, [1743. don't just believe that tie tkreatened liis master with the Parliament. They say he gives for reason of his quitting, their not having accepted one plan of operation that he has offered. There is a long memorial that he presented to the King, with which I don't doubt but his Lordship will obHge the pubhc' He has ordered all his equipages to be sold by public auction in the camp. This is all I can tell you of this event, and this is more than has been written to the Ministry here. They talk of great uneasiness among the EngHsh officers, all of which I don't believe. The army is put into com- mission. PiTQce Charles has not passed the Ehine, nor we anything but our time. The papers of to-day tell us of a definitive treaty signed by us and the Queen of Hungaiy with the Ej[ng of Sardinia, which I will flatter myself will tend to your defence. I am not in much less trepidation about Tuscany than Eichcoui't is, though I scarce think my fears reasonable ; but while you are concerned, I fear everything. My Lord does not admire the account of the Lanfranc ; thanks you, and will let it alone. I am going to town in ten days, not a little tired of the country, and in the utmost impatience for the winter ; which I am sure, from all political prospects, must be entertaining to one who only intends to see them at the length of a telescope. I was lately diverted with an article in the Abecedario Pittorico, in the article of "WiUiam Dobson : it says, *' Nacque nel quartiere d'Holbrons in Inghilterra."^ Did the author take Holbom for a city, or Inghilterra for the capital of the island of London ? Adieu ! 129. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Neivmarhet, Oct. 3, 1743. 1 AM Wilting to you in an inn on the road to London. What a paradise should I have thought this when I was in the Italian inns ! in a wide bam with four ample windows, which had nothing more like glass than shutters and iron bars ! no tester to the bed, and the saddles and portmanteaus heaped on me to keep off the cold. What ^ In this memorial Lord Stair complained that bis advice had been slighted, hinted at Hanoverian partialities, and asked permission to retire, as he expressed it, to his plough. His resignation was accepted, with marks of the King's displeasure at the language in which it was tendered.^ — Wright. 2 William Dobson, whom King Charles called the English Tintoret, was born in 1610, in St. Andrew's parish, in Holborn. — Walpole's Anecdotes. — Cunningham. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 271 a paradise did I think tlie inn at Dover wlien I came back ! and what magnificence were twopenny prints, salt-sellers, and boxes to bold the knives ; but the sinmmim bonum was small-beer and the newspaper. " I bless'd my stars, and call'd it luxury ! " Who was the Neapolitan ambassadress* that could not live at Paris, because there was no maccaroni ? Now am I relapsed into all the dissatisfied repinement of a true English grumbling volup- tuary. I could find in my heart to write a Craftsman against the Government, because I am not quite so much at my ease as on my own sofa. I could persuade myself that it is my Lord Carteret's fault that I am only sitting id. a common arm-chair, when I would be lolling in a ^:>/r^^6/. How dismal, how solitary, how scrub does this town look ; and yet it has actually a street of houses better than Parma or Modena. Nay, the houses of the people of fashion, who come hither for the races, are palaces to what houses in London itself were fifteen years ago. People do begin to live again now, and I suppose in a term we shall revert to York Houses, Clarendon Houses, &c. But from that grandeur all the nobility had contracted themselves to live in coops of a dining-room, a dark back-room, with one eye in a comer, and a closet. Think what London would be, if the chief houses were in it, as in the cities in other countries, and not dispersed like great rarity-plums in a vast pudding of country. Well, it is a tolerable place as it is ! Were I a physician, I would prescribe nothing but reci]De, ccclxv drachm. Londin. Would you know why I like London so much ? Why, if the world must consist of so many fools as it does, I choose to take them in the gross, and not made into separate pills, as they are prepared in the country. Besides, there is no being alone but in a metropoHs : the worst place in the world to find solitude is the country : questions grow there, and that unpleasant Christian commodity, neighbours. Oh! they are all good Samaritans, and do so pour balms and nostrums upon one, if one has but the toothache, or a jom-ney to take, that they break one's head. A journey to take — ay ! they talk over the miles to you, and tell you, you will be late in. My Lord Lovel says, John always goes two houi^s in the dark in the morning, to avoid being one hour in the dark m the evening. I was pressed to set out to-day before seven : I did before nine ; and here am I arrived at a quarter past five, for the rest of the night. ' The Princess of Campoflorido. 272 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. I am more convinced every day, that there is not only no know- ledge of the world out of a great city, hut no decency, no practicahle society — I had almost said, not a viiiue. I will only instance in modesty, which all old Englishmen are persuaded cannot exist within the atmosphere of Middlesex. Lady Mary has a remarkahle taste and knowledge of music, and can sing ; I don't say, hke your sister, hut I am sui-e she would he ready to die if obHged to sing before three peoj^le, or before one with whom she is not intimate. The other day there came to see her a Norfolk heiress ; the young gentle- woman had not been three houi's in the house, and that for the fost time of her life, before she notified her talent for singing, and invited herself up-staii'S, to Lady Mary's harpsichord ; where, with a voice like thunder, and with as Httle harmony, she sang to nine or ten people for an hour. "Was ever nymph like Rossymonde ?" — no, cVhonneur. We told her she had a very strong voice. " Lord, Sir ! my master says it is nothing to what it was." My dear child, she brags abominably ; if it had been a thousandth degree louder, you must have heard it at Florence. I did not wiite to you last post, being overwhelmed with this sort of people : I will be more punctual in London. Patapan is in my lap ; I had him wormed lately, which he took heinously ; I made it uj) with him by t}dng a collar of rainbow riband about his neck, for a token that he is never to be wormed any more. I had your long letter of two sheets of Sept. 17th, and wonder at your perseverance in telling me so much as you always do, when I, dull creatui^e, find so Httle for you. I can only tell you that the more you write, the happier you make me ; and I assui-e you, the more details the better : I so often lay schemes for returning to you, that I am persuaded I shall, and would keep up my stock of Florentine ideas. I honour Matthews's punctilious observance of liis Soliness's dignity. How incomprehensible EngHshmen are ! I should have sworn that he would have piqued himself on calling the Pope the w of Babylon, and have begun his remonstrance, with "you old d — d ." What extremes of absui^dities ! to flounder from Pope Joan to his Holuiess ! I like your reflection, " that every body can bully the Pope." There was a humouiist called Sir James of the Peak, who had been beat by a fellow, who afterwards under- went the same operation from a third hand. " Zounds," said Sir James, " that I did not know this fellow would take a beating ! " Nay, my dear child, I don't know that Matthews would ! 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 273 You know I always thoiiglit tlie Testi comique, pendant qve ga devroit etre tragiqiie. I am liappy that my sovereign Lady expressed my opinion so well — by the way, is De Sade still with you ? Is he still in pawn by the proxy of his clothes ? Has the Princess as constant retii'ements to her bedchamber with the colique and Antenori ! Oh ! I was struck the other day with a resemblance of mine hostess at Brandon to old Sarazin. You must know, the ladies of Norfolk universally wear periwigs, and affirm that it is the fashion at London. "Lord, Mrs. White, have you been ill, that you have shaved your head? " Mrs. White, in all the days of my acquaintance with her, had a professed head of red hair : to-day, she had no hair at all before, and at a distance above her ears, I descried a smart brown bob, from beneath which had escaped some long strings of original scarlet — so Hke old Sarazin at two in the morning, when she has been losing at Pharaoh, and clawed her wig aside, and her old trunk is shaded with the venerable white ivy of her own locks. I agree with you, that it would be too troublesome to send me the things now the quarantine exists, except the gun-barrels for Lord Conway, the length of which I know nothing about, being, as you conceive, no sportsman. I must send you, with the Life of Theodore, a vast pamphlet [" Faction Detected "] in defence of the new admi- nistration, which makes the greatest noise. It is written, as supposed, by Dr. Pearse,^ of St. Martin's, whom Lord Bath lately made a dean ; the matter furnished by him. There is a good deal of useful knowledge of the famous change to be found in it, and much more impudence. Some parts are extremely fine ; in particular, the answer to the Hanoverian pamphlets, where he has collected the flower of all that was said in defence of that measure. Had you those pamphlets ? I will make up a parcel : tell me what other books you would have : I will send you nothing else, for if I give you the least bauble, it puts you to infinite expense, which I can't forgive, and indeed will never bear again : you would ruin youi^self, and there is nothing I wish so much as the contrary. Here is a good Ode, written on the supposition of that new book being Lord Bath's ; I beheve by the same hand as those chaiming ones which I sent you last year : the author is not yet known. ^ 1 Zachariah Pearse, afterwards Bishop of Bangor [afterwards of Rochester]. He was not the author, but Lord Perceval, afterwards Earl of Egmont. — Walpole. 2 The Ode by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, beginning, " Your sheets I've per- used," — Dover. VOL. I. ^ 27i HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. The Duke of Argyle ' is dead — a deatli of how little moment, and of how much it would have heen a year or two ago ! It is provoking, if one must die, that one can't even die a propos ! How does your friend Dr. Cocchi ? You never mention him : do only knaves and fools deserve to be spoken of ? Adieu ! 130. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Oct. 12, 1743. They had sent your letter of Sept. 24th to Houghton the very night I came to town. I did not receive it back till yesterday, and soon after another with Mr. Chute's inclosed, for which I will thank him presently. But, my dear child, I can, like you, think of nothing but your bitter father's letter. ! and that I should have contributed to it ! how I detest myself ! ^ My dearest Sir, you know all I ever said to him : indeed, I never do see liim, and I assure you that now I would worship him as the Indians do the devil, for fear — he should hurt you : tempt you I find he will not. He is so avaricious, that I believe, if you asked him for a fish, he would think it even extravagance to give you a stone : in these bad times, stones may come to be dear, and if he loses his place and his lawsuit, who knows but he may be reduced to tm^n pavior ? Oh ! the brute ! and how shocking, that, for your sake, one can't literally wish to see him want bread ! But how can you feel the least tender- ness, when the wretch talks of his bad health, and of not denying himself comforts ! It is weakness in you : whose health is worse, yours or his ? or when did he ever deny himself a comfort to please any mortal ? My dear child, what is it possible to do for you ? is there anything in my power ? What would I not do for you ? and, indeed, what ought I not, if I have done you any disservice ? I don't think there is any danger of your father's losing his place,' for who- ^ John, Duke of Argyll and Greenwich, commonly called the Great Duke, died 4th Oct. 1743. — Cunningham. 2 Sir Horace Mann, in a letter to Walpole, dated Sept. 24th, 1743, gives an account of his father's refusal to give him any money ; and then quotes the following passage from his father's letter:— "He tells me he has been baited by you and your uncle on my account, which was very disagreeable, and believes he may charge it to me." — Dover. 3 Mr. Robert Mann, father of Sir Horace Mann, had a place in Chelsea College, under the Paymaster of the Forces. — Walpole. He was Deputy Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital. — CUNNINOHAM. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 275 ever succeeds Mr. Pelham is likely to be a friend to this house, and would not turn out one so connected with it. I should be very glad to show my Lord an account of those statues you mention: they are much wanted in his hall, where, except the Laocoon, he has nothing but busts. For Gaburri's drawings, I am extremely pleased with what you propose to me. I should be well content with two of each master. I can't well fix on any price ; but would not the rate of a sequin a-piece be sufficient ? to be sure he never gave anj^tHng like that : when one buys the quantity you mention to me, I can't but think that full enough for one with another. At least, if I bought so many as two hundred, I would not venture to go beyond that. I am not at all easy from what you tell me of the Spaniards. I have now no hopes but in the winter, and what it may produce. I fear ours will be most ugly : the disgusts about Hanover swarm and increase every day. The King and Duke [of Cumberland] have left the army, which is marching to winter- quarters in Flanders. He will not be here by his birth- day, but it will be kept when he comes. The Parliament meets the 22nd of November. All is distraction ! no union in the Court : no certainty about the House of Commons : Lord Carteret making no friends, the King making enemies : Mr. Pelham in vain courting Pitt, &c. Pulteney unresolved. How will it end ? No joy but in the Jacobites. I know nothing more, so turn to Mr. Chute. My dear Sir, how I am obHged to you for your poem ! Patapan is so vain with it, that he will read nothing else ; I only offered him a Martial to compare it with the original, and the little coxcomb threw it into the fii'e, and told me, " He never heard of a lapdog's reading Latin ; that it was very well for house-dogs and pointers that live in the country, and have several hours upon their hands : for my part," said he, " I am so nice, who ever saw A Latin book on my sofa 1 You'll find as soon a primer there Or recipes for pastry ware. Why do ye think I ever read But Crebillon or Calpren^de 1 This very thing of Mr. Chute's Scarce with my taste and fancy suits. Oh ! had it but in French been writ, 'Twere the genteelest, sweetest bit ! One hates a vulgar English poet : I vow t'ye, I should blush to show it, T 2 276 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. To "women de ma connoissance, Did not that agreahle stance, Cher double entend're ! furnish means Of making sweet Patapanins ! " ^ My dear Sir, your translation shall stand foremost in tlie Pata- paniana : I liope in time to have poems upon him, and sayings of his own, enough to make a notable hook. En attendant, I have sent you some pamphlets to amuse your soHtude ; for, do you see, as tramontane as I am, and as much as I love Florence, and hate the country, while we make such a figm-e in the world, or at least such a noise in it, one must consider you other Florentines as country gentlemen. Tell our dear Miny, that when he unfolds the enchanted carpet, which his brother the wise Galfridus sends him, he will find all the kingdoms of the earth portrayed in it. In short, as much history as was described on the ever-memorable and wonderful piece ^ Mr. Chute had sent Mr. Walpole the following imitation of an epigram of Martial : — " Issa est passere nequior Catulli, Issa est purior osculo columbae." — Martial, Lib. I. Ep. 110. ** Pata is frolicsome and smart, As Geoffry once was — (Oh my heart !) He's purer than a turtle's kiss, And gentler than a little miss ; A jewel for a lady's ear, And Mr. Walpole's pretty dear. He laughs and cries with mirth or spleen ; He does not speak, but thinks, 'tis plain. One knows his little Guai's as well As if he'd little words to tell. Coil'd in a heap, a plumy wreathe, He sleeps, you hardly hear him breathe. Then he 's so nice, who ever saw A drop that sullied his sofa? His bended leg ! — what 's this but sense ? — Points out his little exigence. He looks and points, and whisks about. And says, pray dear Sir, let me out. Where shall we find a little wife. To be the comfort of his life. To frisk and skip, and furnish means Of making sweet Patapanins 1 England, alas ! can boast no she. Fit only for his cicisbee. Must greedy Fate then have him all? — No ; Wootton to our aid we'll call— The immortality's the same. Built on a shadow, or a name. He shall have one by Wootton's means, The other Wootton for his pains." — Walpole. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 277 of silk, which the puissant White Cat' inclosed in a nut-shell, and presented to her paramour Prince. In short, in this carpet, which (filberts being out of season) I was reduced to pack up in a walnut, he will find the following immense hbrary of pohtical lore : Maga- zines for October, November, December ; with an Appendix for the year 1741 ; aU the Magazines for 1742, bound in one volume ; and nine Magazines for 1743. The Life of King Theodore, a certain fairy monarch ; with the Adventures of this Prince and the fair E/Cpubhc of Genoa. The '' Miscellaneous Thoughts^' of the fairy Hervey. The Question Stated. Case of the Hanover Troops ; and the Yindication of the Case. " Faction Detected.^' Congratulatory Letter to Lord Bath. The Mysterious Congress ; and four Old England Journals. Tell Mr. Mann, or Mr. Mann tell himself, that I would send him nothing but this enchanted carpet, which he can't pretend to return. I will accept nothing under enchantment. Adieu all ! Continue to love the two Patapans. 131. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, JSfov. 17, 1743. I WOULD not write on Monday till I could tell you the King was come. He arrived at St. James's between five and six on Tuesday. We were in great fears of his coming through the city, after the ti'eason that has been pubHshing for these two months ; but it is incredible how weU his reception was beyond what it had ever been before : in short, you would have thought that it had not been a week after the victory at Dettingen. They almost carried him into the palace on their shoulders ; and at night the whole town was illuminated and bonfired. He looks much better than he has for these five years, and is in great spirits. The Duke Hmps a little. The King's reception of the Prince, who was come to St. James's to wait for him, and who met him on the stairs with his two sisters and the privy councillors, was not so gracious — -pas un mot — though the Princess was brought to bed the day before,^ and Prince George [George III.] is ill of the small pox. It is very unpopular ! You will possibly, by next week, hear great things : hitherto, aU is silence, expectation, struggle, and ignorance. The birth-day is kept on ^ See the story of the White Cat in the fairy tales. — Walpole. 2 Of a son, afterwards Duke of Gloucester, and married to Walpole's niece, the Dowager Lady Waldegrave. — Cunningham, 278 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. Tuesday, when the Parliament was to have met; but that can't be yet. Lord Holdemess has brought home a Dutch bride : ' I have not seen her. The Duke of Eichmond had a letter yesterday from Lady Albemarle/ at Altona. She says the Prince of Denmark is not so tall as his bride, but far from a bad figure : he is thin, and not ugly, except having too wide a mouth. AYhen she returns, as I know her particularly, I will tell you more ; for the present, I think I have very handsomely despatched the chapter of royalties. My Lord comes to town the day after to-morrow.^ The Opera is begun, but is not so well as last year. The Eosa Mancini, who is second woman, and whom I suppose you have heard, is now old. In the room of AmorevoH, they have got a dreadful bass, who, the Duke of Montagu says he beHeves, was organist at Aschaffenbui^gh.^ Do you remember a tall Mr. Yernon,^ who travelled with Mr. Cotton ? He is going to be married to a sister of Lord Strafford. I have exhausted my news, and you shall excuse my being short to-day. For the future, I shall overflow with preferments, alterations, and parhaments. Your brother brought me yesterday two of yours together, of Oct. 22 and 27, and I find you still overwhelmed with Eichcourt's folly and the Admiral's explanatory ignorance. It is unpleasant to have old Pucci' added to your emharras. Chevaher Ossorio" was with me the other morning, and we were ^ Her name ivas Mademoiselle Doublette, and she is called in the Peerages " the niece of M, Van Haaren, of the province of Holland." — Dover, ^ Lady Anne Lenox, sister of the Duke of Richmond, and wife of William Anne van Keppel, Earl of Albemarle : she had been lady of the bedchamber to the Queen ; and this year conducted Princess Louisa to Altona^ to be married to the Prince Royal of Denmark. — Walpole. \ " The' rough Selingenstadt The harmony defeat, Tho' Kleen Ostein The verse confound ; Yet in the joyful strain Aschaffenburg or Dettingen Shall charm the ear they seem to wound." Colley Gibber's Ode for the King's Birthday, 1743. — Cunningham. ^ Henry Yernon, Esq., a nephew of Admiral Yernon, married to Lady Henrietta Wentworth, daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Straflford, of the second creation. — Dover. ^ Signor Pucci was resident from Tuscany at the Court of England. — Walpole. *» Chevalier Ossorio was several years minister in England from the King of Sardinia, to whom he afterwards became first minister. — Walpole. 1T43.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 279 talking over tlie Hanoverians, as everybody does. I complimented him very sincerely on his master's great bravery and success : he answered very modestly and sensibly, that he was glad, amidst all the clamom^s, that there had been no cavil to be found with the subsidy paid to his King. Prince Lobkowitz makes a great figure, and has all my wishes and blessings for having put Tuscany out of the question. There is no end of my giving you trouble with packing me up cases : I shall pay the money to your brother. Adieu ! Embrace the Chutes, who are heavenly good to you, and must have been of great use in all your illness and disputes. 132. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Nov. 30, 1743. I JiAY^ had two letters from you since I wrote myself. This I begin against to-morrow, for I should have little time to wiite. The Parliament opens, and we are threatened with a tight Opposition, though it must be vain, if the numbers turn out as they are cal- culated ; three hundred for the Court, two hundred and five opponents ; that is, in town ; for, you know, the whole amoxmts to ^Ye hundred and fifty-eight. The division in the Ministry has been more violent than between parties ; though now, they tell you, it is all adjusted. The Secretary [Lord Carteret], since his return, has carried all with a high hand, and treated the rest as ciphers ; but he has been so beaten in the cabinet council, that in appearance he submits, though the favour is most evidently with him. All the old ministers have flown hither as zealously as in former days ; and of the three levees' in this street, the greatest is in this house, as my Lord Carteret told them the other day ; "I know you all go to Lord Orford : he has more company than any of us — do you think I can't go to hi'-m too ?'* He is never sober ; his rants are amazing ; so are his parts and spirits. He has now made up with the Pelhams, though after naming to two vacancies in the Admiralty without their knowledge ; Sir Charles Hardy and Mr. Philipson. The other alterations are at last fi:sed. "Winnington is to be Paymaster ; Sandys, cofferer, on resigning the Exchequer to Mr. Pelham ; Sir John Rushout, Treasurer of the Navy ; and Harry Fox, Lord of the 1 Lord Carteret's, Mr. Pelham's, and Lord Orford's. — Walpole. 280 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743, Treasury. Mr. Compton' and Gybbons remain at tbat board. Wat. Plumber, a known man, said, the other day, " Zounds, Mr. Pulteney took those old dishclouts to wipe out the Treasury, and now they are going to lace them and lay them up ! '' It is a most just idea : to be sure, Sandys and Eushout, and their fellows, are dish- clouts, if dishclouts there are in the world : and now to lace them ! The Duke of Marlborough has resigned eveiything, to reinstate himself in the old Duchess's will. She said the other day, " It is very natural : he Hsted as soldiers do when they are drunk, and repented when he was sober.'' So much for news : now for your letters. All joy to Mr. Whithed on the increase of his family ! and joy to you ; for now he is established in so comfortable a way, I trust you will not lose him soon — and la Dame a^appelle ? If my Lady Walpole has a mind once in her Hfe to speak truth, or to foretell, — the latter of which has as seldom anything to do with truth as her ladyship has, — why she may now about the Tesi's dog, for I shall certainly forget what it would be in vain to remember. My dear Sii-, how should one convey a dog to Florence ! There are no travelling Princes of Saxe Gotha or Modena here at present, who would carry a little dog in a nutshell. The poor Maltese cats, to the tune of how many ! never arrived here ; and how should one little dog ever find its way to Florence ! But tell me, and, if it is possible, I will send it. Was it to be a greyhound, or of King Charles's breed ? It was to have been the latter ; but I think you told me that she rather had a mind to the other sort, which, by the way, I don't think I could get for her. Thursday, eight o'clock at night. I am just come from the House, and dined. Mr. Coke ■'moved the address, seconded by Mr. Yorke, the lord chancellor's son.^ The Opposition divided 149 against 278 ; which gives a better prospect of carrpng on the winter easily. In the Lords' house there was no division. Mr. Pitt called Lord Carteret the execrable author of our measures, and sole minister." Mr. Winnington replied, that he did ^ The Hon. George Compton, second son of George, fourth Earl of ITorthampton. He succeeded his elder brother James, the fifth earl, in the famil^^ titles and estates in 1754, and died in 1758. — Dover. "^ Edward Coke, only son of Lord Lovel. [See p. 57.] — Cunningham. 3 Philip Yorke, eldest son of Lord Hardwicke ; and afterwards the second earl of that title. — Dover. '* In Mr. Yorke's MS. Parliamentary Journal, the words are " an execrable, a sole 1743.] TO SIR HOEACE MANN". 281 not know of any sole minister ; but if my Lord Carteret was so, the gentlemen of tlie other side had contributed more to make him so than he had. I am much pleased with the prospect you show me of the Correggio. My Lord is so satisfied with the Dominichin, that he will go as far as a thousand pounds for the Correggio. Do you really think we shall get it, and for that price ? You talk of the new couple, and of giving the sposa a mantilla : what new couple ? you don't say. I suppose, some Suares, by the rafile. Adieu ! 133. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Dec. 15, 1743. I WRITE in a great fright, lest this letter should come too late. My Lord has been told by a Dr. Bragge, a virtuoso, that, some years ago, the monks asked ten thousand pounds for our Correggio,^ and that there were two copies then made of it : that afterwards, he is persuaded, the King of Portugal bought the original ; he does not know at what price. Now, I think it very possible that this doctor, hearing the picture was to be come at, may have invented this Portuguese history ; but as there is a possibihty, too, that it may be true, you must take all imaginable precautions to be sm'e it is the very original — a copy would do neither you nor me great honour. We have entered upon the Hanoverian campaign. Last Wed- nesday, Waller moved in our House an address to the King, to continue them no longer in our pay than to Christmas- day, the term for which they were granted. The debate lasted till half an hour after eight at night. Two young of&cers '' told some very trifling stories against the Hanoverians, which did not at all add any weight to the arguments of the Opposition ; but we divided 231 to 181. On Friday, Lord Sandwich and Lord Halifax, in good speeches, brought the same motion into the Lords. I was there, and heard Lord Chesterfield make the finest oration I ever did hear.^ My father minister, "who had renounced the British nation, and seemed to have drunk of the potion described in poetic fictions." — Wkight. ^ One of the most celebrated pictures of Correggio, with the Madonna and Child, saints, and angels, in a convent at Parma. — Walpolb. - Captain Ross and Lord Charles Hay. — Wright. ^ " Lord Chesterfield's performance was much cried up ; but few of his admirers could distinguish the faults of his eloquence from its beauties." — Yorke, MS. Pari. Journal. — Wright. 282 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. did not speak, nor Lord Bath. They threw ont the motion by 71 to 36. These motions will determine the bringing on the demand for the Hanoverians for another year in form ; which was a doubtful point, the old part of the ministry being against it, though very contrary to my lord's advice. Lord Gower, finding no more Tories were to be admitted, resigned on Thursday ; and Lord Cobham in the afternoon. The Privy-Seal was the next day given to Lord Chobnondeley. Lord Gower's resignation is one of the few points in which I am content the prophecy in the old Jacobite ballad should be fulfilled — '^The King shall have his own again." ' The changes are begun, but will not be completed till the recess, as the preferments will occasion more re-elections than they can spare just now in the House of Commons. Sandys has resigned the Exchequer to Mr. Pelham ; Sir John Pushout is to be Treasurer of the ISTavy ; Winnington, Paymaster ; Harry Fox, Lord of the Treasury ; Lord Edgcumbe, I beheve, Lord of the Treasury,^ and Sandys, Cofferer and a peer. I am so scandalised at this, that I will fill up my letter (having told you all the news) with the fii'st fi^uits of my indignation. VERSES ADDRESSED TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS ON ITS RECEIVING A. NEW PEER.^ Thou senseless Hall, whose injudicious space, Like Death, confounds a various mismatch'd race, Where kings and clowns, th' ambitious and the mean, Compose th' inactive soporific scene, Unfold thy doors ! — and a promotion see, That must amaze ev'n prostituted thee ! Shall not thy sons, incurious as they are. Raise their dull lids, and meditate a stare 1 Thy sons, who sleep in monumental state. To show the spot where their great fathers sate. Ambition first, and specious warlike worth, Call'd our old peers and brave patricians forth ; And subject provinces produced to fame Their lords with scarce a less than regal name. ^ In one of his ballads he [the Duke of Wharton] has bantered his own want of heroism ; it was in a song he made on being seized by the guard in St. James's Park, for singing the Jacobite air " The King shall have his own again." — Walpole, Roy. and N. Authors. Gower had been a Jacobite, ante, p. 176. — Cunningham. 2 This did not happen, — Walpole. 3 Samuel Sandys, created Lord Sandys, Baron of Ombersley, co. Worcester, Dec. 20, 1743 ; died April 21, 1.770. — Cunningham. 1743.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 283 Then blinded monarchs, flattery's fondled race, Their fav'rite minions stamp'd with titled grace, And bade the tools of power succeed to Virtue's place. Hence Spencers, Gavestons, by crimes grown great, Vaulted into degraded Honour's seat : Hence dainty Villiers sits in high debate Where manly Beauchamps, Talbots, Cecils sate : Hence Wentworth,^ perjured patriot, burst each tie. Profaned each oath, and gave his life the lie ; Renounced whate'er he sacred held and dear, Renounced his country's cause, and sank into a Peer. Some have bought ermine, venal Honour's veil, When set by bankrupt Majesty to sale ; Or drew Nobility's coarse ductile thread From some distinguish'd harlot's titled bed. Not thus ennobled Samuel ! — no worth Call'd from his mud the sluggish reptile forth ; No parts to flatter, and no grace to please. With scarce an insect's impotence to tease, He struts a Peer — though proved too dull to stay. Whence^ ev'n poor Gybbons is not brush'd away. Adieu ! I am just going to Leicester House, wliere tlie Princess sees company to-day and to-morrow, from seven to nine, on her lying-in. I mention this per amor del Signer Marchese Cosimo Riccardi.^ 134. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Dec. 26, 1743. I SHALL complain of inflammations in my eyes, till you think it is an excuse for not writing ; but your brother is my witness that I have been shut up in a dark room for this week. I get frequent colds, which fall upon my eyes ; and then I have bottles of sovereign eye-waters from aR my acquaintance ; but as they are only acciden- tal colds, I never use anything but sage, which braces my eye-fibres again in a few days. I have had two letters since my last to you ; one complaining of my silence, and the other acknowledging one from me after a month's intermission : indeed, I never have been so long without writing to you : I do sometimes miss two weeks on any great dearth of news, which is all I have to fill a letter ; for living as I do among people, whom, from your long absence, you cannot ^ Earl of Strafford ; but it alludes to Lord Bath. — Walpole. 2 The Treasury. — Walpolb. ^ A gossiping old Florentine nobleman, whose whole employment was to inform himself of the state of marriages, pregnancies, lyings-in, and such like histories. — Walpole. 284 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1743. know, I sliould talk Hebrew to mention them to you. Those, that from eminent birth, folly, or parts, are to be found in the chronicles of the times, I tell you of, whenever necessity or the King puts them into new lights. The latter, for I cannot think the former had any hand in it, has made Sandys, as I told you, a lord and Cofferer ! Lord Middlesex is one of the new Treasury, not ambassador as you heard. So the Opera-house and White's have contributed a Com- missioner and a Secretary to the Treasury,' as theii' quota to the government. It is a period to make a figure in history. There is a recess of both Houses for a fortnight ; and we are to meet again, with all the quotations and flowers that the young orators can collect and forcibly apply to the Hanoverians ; with all the maUce which the disappointed Old have hoarded against Carteret, and with all the impudence his defenders can sell him : and when all that is vented — what then ?- — why then, things will be just where they were. General Wade ^ is made Field-Marshal, and is to have the com- mand of the army, as it is supposed, on the King's not going abroad ; but that is not declared. The French preparations go on with much more vigour than ours ; they not having a House of Commons to combat all the winter ; a campaign that necessarily engages all the attention of ministers, who have no great variety of apartments in their understandings. I have paid your brother the bill I received from you, and give you a thousand thanks for all the trouble you have had ; most particularly from the plague of hams,' from which you have saved me. Heavens ! how blank I should have looked at unpacking a great case of bacon and Avine ! My dear child, be my friend, and preserve me fi^om heroic presents. I cannot jDossibly at this distance begin a new courtship of regaH ; for I suppose all those hams were to be converted into watches and toys. ISTow it would suit Sir Paul Methuen'' very well, who is a knight-errant at seventy-three, to carry on an amour between Mrs. Chenevix's "* shop and a noble cellar in ^ John Jeffries. — Walpole. General George Wade, afterwards commander of the forces in Scotland. He died in 1748. A fine monument, by Roubiliac, was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. — Wright. 3 Madame Grifoni was going to send Mr. W. a present of hams and Florence wine. — Walpole. '* Sir Paul Methuen, of Corsham, in the co. of Wilts, died 1757. See p. 100. Cdkningham. ^ The noted toy-woman, formerly an inhabitant of Strawberry Hill— Cunningham. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 285 Florence ; but alas 1 I am neitlier old enough, nor young enough to be gallant, and should ill become the writing of beroic epistles to a fair mistress in Italy — No, no : " ne sono uscito con onote, mi pare, e non voglio riprendere quel impegno piu." You see bow rustic I am grown again ! I knew your new brother-in-law [Mr. Foote] at school, but have not seen bim since. But your sister was in love, and must conse- quently be bappy to bave bim. Yet I own, I cannot mucb febcitate anybody tbat marries for love. It is bad enough to marry ; but to marry wbere one loves, ten times worse. It is so cbarming at first, tbat the decay of inclination renders it infinitely more disagreeable afterwards. Your sister bas a thousand merits ; but they don't count : but tben sbe bas good sense enougb to make ber bappy, if ber merit cannot make him so. Adieu ! I rejoice for your sake tbat Madame Hoyale ' is recovered, as I saw in tbe papers. 135. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Dear Sir : I HAVE been mucb desired by a very particular friend, to recom- mend to you Sir William Maynard,^ who is going to Florence. You will obbge me extremely by any civiHties you sbow him while he stays there ; in particular, by introducing bim to the Prince and Princess de Craon, Madame Suares, and the rest of my acquaintance there, who, I dare say, will continue their goodness to me, by receiving bim witb tbe same politeness that they received me. I am, &c. 136. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Jan. 24, 1744. Don't think me guilty of forgetting you a moment, tbougb I bave missed two or three posts. If you knew the incessant burry and fatigue in wbicb I live, and bow few moments I bave to myself, 1 The Duchess of Lorrain, mother of the Great Duke : her death would have occa- sioned a long mourning at Florence. — Walpole, Elizabeth of Orleans, only- daughter of Philip, Duke of Orleans (Monsieur), by his second wife, the Princess Palatine. — Dover. 2 Sir William Maynard, the fourth baronet of the family, and a younger branch of the Lords Maynard. — Dover. 286 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. you would not suspect me. You know, I am naturally indolent, and without application to any kind of business ; yet it is impossible, in this country, to Kve in the world, and be in parliament, and not find oneself every day more hooked into politics and company, especially inhabiting a house that is again become the centre of affairs. My Lord becomes the last resom^ce, to which they are all forced to apply One part of the Ministry, you may be sure, do ; and for the other, they affect to give themselves the honour of it too. Last Thursday I would certainly have written to give you a full answer to your letter of grief,' but I was shut up in the House till past ten at night ; and the night before till twelve. But I must speak to you in private first. I don't in the least doubt but my Lady Walpole and Richcourt would vnllingly be as mischievous as they are mahcious, if they could : but, my dear child, it is impos- sible. Don't fear from Lord Carteret's silence to you ; he never writes : if that were a symptom of disgrace, the Duke of Newcastle would have been out long ere this : and when the Regency were not thought worthy of his notice, you could not expect it. As to your being attached to Lord Orford, that is your safety. Carteret told him the other day, " My Lord, I appeal to the Duke of Newcastle, if I did not tell the King, that it was you who had carried the Hanover troops." That, too, disproves the accusation of Sir Robert's being no friend to the Queen of Hungary. That is now too stale and old. However, I will speak to my Lord and Mr. Pelham — would I had no more cause to tremble for you, than from little cabals ! But, my dear child, when we hear every day of the Toulon fleet sailing, can I be easy for you? or can I not foresee where that must break, unless Matthews and the wonderful fortune of England can interpose effectually ? We are not without our own fears ; the Brest fleet of twenty- two sail is out at sea ; they talk, for Barbadocs. . I beheve we wish it may be thither destined ? Judge what I think ; I cannot, nor may Avrite : but I am in the utmost anxiety for your situation. The whole world, nay the Prince himself allows, that if Lord Orford had not come to town, the Hanover troops had been lost.'^ ^ Sir Horace Mann had written in great uneasiness, in consequence of his having heard that Count Richcourt, the Great Duke's minister, was using all his influence with the English government, in conjunction with Lady Walpole, to have Sir Horace removed from his situation at Florence. — Dover. 2 " Lord Orford's personal credit with his friends was the main reason that the question was so well disposed of : he never laboured any point during his own admi- 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 287 They were in effect given up hy all but Carteret. We carried our own army in Flanders by a majority of 112.^ Last "Wednesday was tbe great day of expectation : we sat in the committee on the Hanover troops till twelve at night : the mmibers were 271 to 226. The next day on the report we sat again till past ten, the Oppo- sition having moved to adjourn till Monday, on which we divided, 265 to 177. Then the Tories all went away in a body, and the troops were voted. We have still tough work to do : there are the estimates on the extraordinaries of the campaign, and the treaty of Worms '^ to come — I know who ^ thinks this last more difficult to fight than the Hanover troops. It is likely. to turn out as laborious a session as ever was. All the comfort is, all the abuse don't He at your door nor mine ; Lord Carteret has the full perquisites of the ministry. The other day, after Pitt had called him ''the Hanover troop- minister, a flagitious task-master,'' and said, ''that the sixteen thousand Hanoverians were all the party he had, and were his placemen ; " in short, after he had exhausted invectives, he added, " But I have done : if he were present, I would say ten times more." * Murray shines as bright as ever he did at the bar ; which he seems to decline, to push his fortune in the House of Commons under Mr. Pelham. This is the present state of our poHtics, which is our present state ; for nothing else is thought of. We fear the King will again go abroad. 9 nistration with more zeal, and at a dinner at Hanbury Williams's had a meeting with such of the old court party as were thought most averse to concurring in this measure; where he took great pains to convince them of the necessity there was for repeating it." — Mr. P. Yorlce's MS. Journal. — Wright. ^ It appears from Mr, Philip Yorke's Parliamentary Journal, that the letter-writer took a part in the debate — " Young Mr. Walpole's speech," he says, " met with deserved applause from every body : it was judicious and elegant : he applied the verse which Lucan puts in Curio's mouth to Caesar, to the King : — * Livor edax tibi cuncta negat, Gallasque subactos, Vix impune feres.'— Wright. ^ Between the King of England, the Queen of Hungary, and the King of Sardinia, to whom were afterwards added Holland and Saxony. It is sometimes called " the triple alliance." — Dover. ^ Lord Orford. — Walpole. ^ " Pitt as usual," says Mr. Yorke, in his MS, Parliamentary Journal, '' fell foul of Lord Carteret, called him a Hanover troop-minister ; that they were his party, his placemen ; that he had conquered the cabinet by their means, and after being very lavish of his abuse, wished he was in the House, that he might give him more of it." To the uncommon accuracy of Mr. Walpole's reports of the proceedings in Parliament, the above-quoted journal bears strong evidence. — Wright, 288 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. Lord Hartington has desired me to wiite to you for some melon- seeds, whicli you will be so good to get the best, and send to me for him. I can't conclude without mentioning again the Toulon squadron : we vapour and say, by this time Matthews has beaten them, while I see them in the poi-t of Leghorn ! My dear Mr. Chute, I trust to your friendship to comfort our poor Ulny : for my part I am all apprehension ! My dearest child, if it turns out so, trust to my fiiendship for working every engine to restore you to as good a situation as you will lose, if my fears prove prophetic ! The first jDeace would reinstate you in your favourite Florence, whoever were sovereign of it. I wish you may be able to smile at the vanity of my fears, as I did at yours about Richcourt. Adieu ! adieu ! 137. 10 SIR HORACE MAiNN. Feb. 9, 1744. I HAVE scarce time to write, or to know what I write. I live in the House of Commons. We sat on Tuesday till ten at night, on a Welsh election ; and shall probably stay as long to-day on the same. I have received all your letters by the couriers and the post : I am persuaded the Duke of Newcastle is much pleased with your despatch ; but I dare not enquire, for fear he should dislike your having written the same to me. I beHeve we should have heard more of the Brest squadron, if their appearance off the Land's End on Friday was se'n-night, steering towards Ireland, had occasioned greater consternation. It is incredible how little impression it made : the stocks hardly fell : though it was then generally believed that the Pretender's son was on board. We expected some invasion ; but as they were probably disappointed on finding no rising in their favour, it is now believed that they are gone to the Mediterranean. They narrowly missed taking the Jamaica fleet, which was gone out convoyed by two men- of-war. The French pursued them, outsailed them, and missed them by their own inexpertness. Sii' John Norris is at Portsmouth, ready to sail with nineteen men-of-war, and is to be joined by two more from Plymouth. We hope to hear that Matthews has beat the Toulon squadron before they can be joined by the Brest. This is the state of our situation. They have stopped the embarkation of the six thousand men for Flanders ; and I hope the King's journey I'J^^M TO SIR HORACE MANN. 289 thitlier. The Opposition figlit every measure of supply, but very unsuccessfully. When this "Welsh election is over, they will probably go out of town, and leave the rest of the session at ease. I think you have nothing to apprehend from the new mine that is preparing against you. My Lord is convinced it is an idle attempt ; and it Avill always be in his power to prevent any such thing from taking effect. I am very unhappy for Mr. Chute's gout, or for any- thing that disturbs the peace of people I love so much, and that I have such vast reason to love. You know my fears for you : pray Heaven they end well ! It is universally believed that the Pretender's son, who is at Paris, will make the campaign in one of their armies. I suppose this will soon produce a declaration of war ; and then France, perhaps, will not find her account in having brought him as near to England as ever he is Hke to be. Adieu ! My Lord is hurrying me down to the House. I must go ! 138. TO SIR HORiCB MANN. House of Commons, Feb. 16, 1744. We are come nearer to a crisis than indeed I expected ! After the various reports about the Brest squadron, it has proved that they are sixteen ships of the Hne off Torbay ; in all probability to draw our fleet from Dunkirk, where they have two men-of-war and sixteen large India-men to transport eight thousand foot and two thousand horse which are there in the town. There has been some difficulty to persuade people of the imminence of our danger ; but yesterday the King sent a message to both Houses to acquaint us that he has certain infonnation of the young Pretender being in France, and of the designed invasion from thence, in concert with the disaffected here.' Immediately the Duke of Marlborough, who most handsomely and seasonably was come to town on purpose, moved for an Addi-ess ^ "1744, February 13. Talking upon this subject with Horace Walpole, he told me confidentially that Admiral Matthews intercepted, last summer, a felucca in her passage from Toulon to Genoa, on board of which were found several papers of great consequence relating to a French invasion in concert with the Jacobites ; one of them particularly was in the style of an invitation from several of the nobility and gentry of England to the Pretender. These papers, he thought, had not been sufficiently looked into, and were not laid before the cabinet council until the night before the message was sent to both Houses." —ilfr. P. Yorhes Parliamentary Journal, — Wright. VOL. I. ^ 290 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. to assm-e the King of standing by liim with, lives and fortunes. Lord Hartington, seconded by Sir Charles Windham/ the convert son of Sir William, moved the same in our House. To our amazement, and little sure to their own honour, Waller and Dodington, supported in the most indecent manner by Pitt, moved to add, that we would immediately inquire into the state of the Navy, the causes of our danger by negligence, and the sailing of the Brest fleet. They insisted on this amendment, and debated it till seven at night, not one (professed) Jacobite spealdng. The division was 287 against 123. In the Lords, Chesterfield moved the same amendment, seconded by old dull Westmoreland ; but they did not di\dde. All the troops have been sent for in the greatest haste to London ; but we shall not have above eight thousand men together at most. An express is gone to Holland, and General Wentworth followed it last night, to demand six thousand men, who will probably be here • by the end of next week. Lord Stair'' has offered the Eong his service, and is to-day named Commander-in-Chief. This is very generous, and will be of great use. He is extremely beloved in the army, and most firm to this family. I cannot say our situation is the most agreeable ; we know not whether Norris is gone after the Brest fieet or not. We have three ships in the DoT\ais, but they cannot prevent a landing, which will probably be in Essex or Suffolk. Don't be surprised if you hear that this crown is fought for on land. As yet there is no rising ; but we must expect it on the first descent. Don't be uneasy for me, when the whole is at stake. I don't feel as if my fiiends would have any reason to be concerned for mc : my warmth will carry me as far as any man ; and I think I can bear as I should the worst that can happen : though the delays of the French, I don't know from what cause, have not made that likely to happen. The King keeps his bed with the rheumatism. He is not less obhged to Lord Orford for the defence of his crown, now he is out of place, than when he was in the administration. His zeal, his coiorage, his attention, are indefatigable and inconceivable. He regards his own life no more than when it was most his duty to expose it, and fears for everything but that. 1 Afterwards Earl of Egremont.— Walpole : and Secretary of State, died Ailg. 21, 1763. — Cunningham. 2 The Duke of Marlboroug-li and Lord Stair had quitted the army ia disgust, after 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANK 291 I flatter myself that next post I shall write you a more comfort- able letter. I -would not have written this, if it were a time to admit deceit. Hope the best, and fear as Httle as you would do if you were here in the danger. My best love to the Chutes ; tell them I never knew how little I was a Jacobite tiU it was almost my interest to be one. Adieu ! 139. TO SIR HORACE MANN» Thursday, Feb. 23, lUL 1 WHITE to you in the greatest hurry, at eight o'clock at nightj while they are all at dinner round me. I am this moment come fi'om the House, where we have carried a great Welsh electiorl against Sir Watkyn WilHams by 26. I fear you have not had my last, for the packet-boat has been stopped on the French stopping our messenger at Calais. There is no doubt of the invasion : the young Pretender is at Calais, and the Count de Saxe is to command the embarkation, ffitherto the spirit of the nation is with us. Sir John ISTorris was to sail yesterday to Dunkii^k, to try to bm^n their transports ; we are in the utmost expectation of the news. The Brest squadron was yesterday on the coast of Sussex^ W"e have got two thousand men from Ireland, and have sent for two more. The Dutch are coming : Lord Stair is general. Nobody is yet taken up — God knows why not ! We have repeated news of Matthews having beaten and sunk eight of the Toulon ships ; but the French have so stopped all communication that we don't yet know it certainly ; I hope you do. Three hundred anns have been seized in a French merchant's house at Plymouth. Attempts have been made to raise the clans in Scotland, but unsuccessfully. My dear child, I write short, but it is much ; and I could not say more in ten thousand words. AU is at stake ; we have great hopes, but they are but hopes ! I have no more time : I wait with patience for the event, though to me it must and shall be decisive* 140. TO SIR HORACE MANK*. 3farch 1st, 1744. I v^SH I could put you out of the pain my last letters must have last dampaign, on the King's showing such linmeasurable preference id the Hano^ verians. — Walpole. 292. HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744; given you. I don't know wkether your situation, to be at sucB. a distance on so great a crisis, is not more disagreeable tban ours, who are expecting every moment to bear tbe Frencb are landed. We bad great ill-luck last week : Sir Jobn Norris, witb fom-- and- twenty sail, came witbin a league of tbe Brest squadi^on, wbicb bad but fourteen. Tbe coasts were covered witb people to see tbe engagement ; but at seven in tbe evening tbe wind cbanged, and tbey escaped. Tbere bave been terrible winds tbese four or five days : our fleet bas not suffered materially, but tbeii's less. Oiu-s lies in tbe Downs ; five of tbeirs at Torbay — tbe rest at La Hogue. We bope to bear tbat tbese storms, wbicb blew dii'ectly on Dunkii-k, bave done great damage to tbeir transports. By tbe fortune of tbe winds, wbicb bave detained tbem in poii;, we bave bad time to make ^^reparations ; if tbey bad been ready tbree weeks ago, wben tbe Brest squadron sailed, it bad all been decided. We expect tbe Dutcb in four or five days. Ten battalions, wbicb make seven tbousand men, are sent for from our army in Flanders, and four tbousand from Ireland, tsvo of wbicb are arrived. If tbey still attempt tbe invasion, it must be a bloody war ! Tbe spiiit of tbe nation bas appeared extraordinarily in oui- favoui'. I wisb I coidd say as mucb for tbat of tbe Ministrj^ Addresses are come from all parts, but you know bow bttle tbey are to be depended on — King James bad tbem. Tbe mercbants of London are most zealous : tbe Frencb name will do more barm to tbeir cause tban tbe Pretender's ser\T[ce. One remarkable circumstance bajjjoened to Colonel Cbolmondeley's regiment on tbeii' marcb to London : tbe jDubHc-bouses on all tbe road would not let tbem pay anytbing, but treated tbem, and said, "You are going to defend us against tbe Frencb." Tbere are no sig-ns of any rising. Lord Barrimore,^ tbe Pretender's general, and Colonel Cecil, bis secretary of state, are at last taken up ; tbe latter, wbo ba^dng removed bis papers, bad sent for tbem back, tbinldng tbe danger over, is com- mitted to tbe Tower, on discoveries fi'om tbem ; but, alas ! tbese discoveries go on but lamely.^ One may perceive wbo is not minister, ratber tban wbo is. Tbe Opposition tried to put off tbe \ James Barry, fourth Earl of Barry more. He died ia 1747. See ante, p. 187.— AVright. 2 " Some treasonable papers of consequence ^ere found in Cecirs pockets, ivliicli gave occasion to the apprehending of Lord Barrymore. They were both concerned in the affair of transmitting the Pretender's letter to the late Duke of Argyle ; which it was now lamented had not then undergone a stricter examination. I observed the Tories much struck with the news of his being secured," — Mr. P. YorJcca Pari. JournaJ. — Wright. 1744.] TO SIR HOEACE MANK. 293 suf^pension of tlie Habeas Corpus — ^feebly. Vernon [tlic Admiral] and the Grenvilles are tbe warmest : Pitt and Lyttelton went away witbout voting.* My father has exerted himself most amazingly : the other day, on the King's la.jring some information before the House, when the Ministry had determined to make no address on it, he rose up in the greatest agitation, and made a long and fine speech on the present situation.'' The Prince was so pleased with it, that he has given him leave to go to his court, which he never would before. He went yesterday, and was most graciously received. Lord Stair is at last appointed general. General Oglethorpe' k to have a commission for raising a regiment of Hussars, to defend the coasts. The Swiss servants in London have offered to forpi them- selves into a regiment ; six hundred are already clothed and armed, but no colonel or officers appointed. We flatter ourselves that the divisions in the French ministry will repair what the divisions in our own undo. The answer from the Com-t of France to Mr. Thomson on the subject of the boy " is most arrogant : " that when we have given them satisfaction for the many complaints which they have made on our infraction of treaties, then they will think of giving us des eclair- cissemetits.'^ We have no authentic news yet from Matthews : the most credited is a letter from Marseilles to a Jew, which says it was the most bloody battle ever fought ; that it lasted three days ; that the two first we had the worst, and the third, by a lucky gale, totally defeated ^ "Lord Barrington's motion for deferring the suspension was thrown out by 181 against 83. Pitt and Lyttelton walked down the House whilst Lord Barrington was speaking, and went away ; so did Mr. Browne, though a Tory ; but most of that party voted with the Ayes. Lord Chesterfield told the Chancellor there was no opposition to this bill intended amongst the Lords ; not even a disposition to it in anybody ; and greatly approved the limiting it to so short a time," — Mr. P. Yorke's Pari. Journal. — Wright. ^ " Lord Orford, though he had never spoken in the House of Lords, having remarked to his brother Horatio that he had left his tongue in the House of Commons, yet on this occasion his eloquent voice was once more raised, beseeching their lord- ships to forget their cavils and divisions, and unite in affection round the throne. It was solely owing to him that the torrent of public opposition was braved and over- come." — Lord Malion, Hist. vol. iii. p. 273. — Wright. ^ General James Oglethorpe, born 1698, died 1785. He is immortalised by Pope: — " One, driven by strong benevolence of soul. Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole." He was the friend of Dr. Johnson, and in his old age visited Walpole, who has in his letters a brief account of him. — Cunningham. •* Charles Edward, the young Pretender. — Cunningham. 294 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. tliem. Sir diaries Wager always said, " that if a sea-fight lasted three days, he was sure the Enghsh suffered the most for the two first, for no other nation would stand beating for two days to- gether." Adieu ! my dear child. I have told you every circumstance I know : I hope you receive my letters ; I hope their accounts will grow more favourable, I never found my spiiits so high, for they never were so provoked. Hope the best, and beHeve that, as long as I am, I shall always be yours sincerely. P. S. My dear Chutes, I hope you will still return to your own England. 141. TO SIR HORACE MANK. I March 5th, 1744, eight o'clock at night. I HA^TE but time to wiite you a minute-line, but it will be a com- fortable one. There is just come advice, that the great storm on the 25th of last month, the very day the embarkation was to have sailed from Dunkirk, destroyed twelve of their transports, and obHged the whole number of troops, which were fifteen thousand, to debark. You may look upon the invasion as at an end, at least for the present ; though, as everything is to come to a crisis, one shall not be surpnsed to hear of the attempt renewed. We know nothing yet certain fi'om Matthews ; his victory grows a great doubt. As this must go away this instant, I cannot write more — but what could be more ? Adieu ! I wish you all joy. 142. TO SIR HORACE MANN. March 15th, 1744. I HAVE nothing new to tell you : that great storm certainly saved us from the invasion — then.^ Whether it has put an end to the design is uncertain. They say the embargo at Dunlvii^k and Calais is taken off, but not a vessel of oui^s is come in from thence. They ^ " The pious motto," says Mr. P. Yorke, "upon the medal struck by Queen Elizabeth after the defeat of the Armada, may, -Nvith as much propriety, be applied to this eve"nt — * Flavit vento, et dissipati sunt ;' for, as Bishop Burnet somewhere ob- serves, 'our preservation at this juncture was one of those providential events for which we have much to answer.' " — MS. Pari. Journal. — Wright. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 295 have, indeed, opened again tlie communication with Ypres and Meuport, &c., but we don^t yet hear whether they have renewed their embarkation. However, we take it for granted it is all over — from which, I suppose, it will not be over. We expect the Dutch troops every hour. That reinforcement, and fom- thousand men from Ireland, will be all the advantage we shall have made of gaining time. At last we have got some light into our Mediterranean affair, for there is no calling it a victory. Yillettes has sent a courier, by which it seems we sunk one great Spanish ship ; the rest escaped, and the French fled shamefLilly ; that was, I suppose, designedly and artfully. "We can't account for Lestock's not coming up with his seventeen ships, and we have no mind to Hke it, which will not amaze you. We flatter ourselves that, as this was only the first day, we shall get some more creditable history of some succeeding day. The French are going to besiege Mons : I wish all the war may take that turn ; I don't desire to see England the theatre of it. We talk no more of its becoming so, nor of the plot, than of the gun- powder treason. Party is very silent ; I believe, because the Jacobites have better hopes than from parliamentary divisions, — those in the ministry run very high, and, I think, near some crisis. I have enclosed a proposal from my bookseller to the undertaker of the " Museum Florentinum," or the concerners of it, as the paper called them ; but it was expressed in such wonderfully-battered English, that it was impossible for Dodsley ' or me to be sure of the meaning of it. He is a fashionable author, and though that is no sign of perspicuity, I hope more intelligible. Adieu ! 143. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, March 22, 1744. I AM sorry tliis letter must date the era of a new correspondence, the topic of which must be blood ! Yesterday, came advice from Mr. Thompson,^ that Monsieur Amelot had sent for him and given him notice to be gone, for a declaration of war mth England was to be published in two days. Politically, I don't think it so bad ; ^ Robert Dodsley, the celebrated bookseller, originally a footman; died 1764. — Cunningham. 2 Chaplain to the late Lord Waldegrave ; after whose death he acted as minister at Paris, till the war, when he returned, and was made a dean in Ireland. — Walpolr. 296 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744, for the very name of war, tlLongli in effect, on foot before, must make our governors take more precautions ; and tke French, declaring it will range the people more on our side than on the Jacobite : besides, the latter will have their communication with France cut off. But, j my dear child, what lives, what misfortunes, must and may follow ' all this ! As a man, I feel my humanity more touched than my spirit — I feel myself more an universal man than an Englishman! i« We have abeady lost seven milhons of money and thirty thousand ■\ men in the Spanish war — and all the fruit of all this blood and \ treasure is the glory of having Admiral Yernon's head on alehouse i signs ! ' for my part, I would not purchase another Duke of Marl- f borough at the expense of one life. How I should be shocked, were I a hero, when I looked on my own laui-elled head on a medal, the reverse of which would be mdows and orphans." How many such ^ wall our patriots have made ! The embarkation at Dunkirk does not seem to go on, though, to be sure, not laid aside. We received yesterday the particulars of the Mediterranean engagement from Matthews. We conclude the French squadron retired designedly, to come up to Brest, where we every day expect to hear of them. If Matthews does not follow them, adieu our triumphs in the Channel — and then ! Sir John Norris has desired leave to come back, as little satisfied with the world as the world is with him. He is certainly very unfoi-tunate ; ^ but I can't say I think he has tried to correct his fortune. If Eng- land is ever more to be England, this sure is the crisis to exert all her vigour. We have all the disadvantage of Queen EHzabeth's prospect, without one of her ministers. Foui' thousand Dutch are landed, and we hope to get eight or twelve ships from them. Can we now say, ^' Quatuor maiia vindico ? " * I will not talk any more pohtically, but turn to hjnneneals, with as much indifference as if I were a first minister. Who do you think is going to marry Lady Sophia Fermor? — only my Lord Carteret ! — this very week ! — a drawing-room conquest. Do but imagine how many passions will be gratified in that family ! her own ambition, vanity, and resentment — love she never had any; the politics, management, and pedantry of the mother, who will think to govern her son-in-law out of Froissart.' Figure the instructions she • Admiral Vernon is still (1856) a public-bouse sign in London.— Cunningham. " Copied from Swift. — Cunningham. ^ He was called by the seamen " Foul-weather Jack." — Walpole. * Motto of a medal of Charles II. — Walpole. ^ Lady Pomfret had translated Froissart. — Walpole. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 29^ will give her daughter! Lincoln is quite indifferent and laughs: My Lord Chesterfield says, '' it is only another of Carteret's vigorous measures/' I am really glad of it ; for her beauty and cleverness did deserve a better fate than she was on the point of haA^g deter- mined for her for ever. How graceful, how charming, and how haughtily condescending she ^^t11 be ! how, if Lincoln should ever hint past history, she will " Stare upon the strange man's face. As one slie ne'er had known ! " ^ I wonder I forgot ^ to tell you that Dodington had o^vned a match of seventeen years' standing with Mrs. Behan, to whom the one you mention is sister. I have this moment received yours of March 10th, and thank you much for the silver medal, which has abeady taken its place in my museum. I feel almost out of pain for your situation, as by the motion of the fleets this way, I should think the expedition to Italy abandoned. We and you have had great escapes, but we have still occasion for all providence ! I am very sorry for the young Sposa Panciatici, and wish all the other parents joy of the increase of their' families. Mr. Whithed is oi bon train ; but the recruits he is raising will scarce thrive fast enough to be of service this war. My best loves to him and Mr. Chute. I except you three out of my want of pubhc spirit. The other day, when the Jacobites and patriots were carrying eveiything to ruin, and had made me warmer than I love to be, one of them said to me, " Why don't you love your country ? " I repHed, " I should love my country exceedingly, if it were not for my country- men." Adieu ! 144. TO SIR HORACE MANN. April % 1744. I AM afraid our correspondence will be extremely disjointed, and the length of time before you get my letters ^^ill make you very impatient, when all the world will be full of events ; but I flatter myself that you will hear everything sooner than by my letters ; I ^ Yerses in Congreve's " Doris." — Walpole. ^ He had not forgotten^ ante, p. 216. — CuNNiNaHAM, 298 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS, [1744. mean, that whatever happens will be on the Continent; for the danger from Dunkirk seems blown over. We declared war on Saturday : that is all I know, for everybody has been out of town for the Easter holidays. To-morrow the Houses meet again : the King goes, and is to make a speech. The Dutch seem extremely in earnest, and I think we seem to put aU our strength in their preparations. The town is persuaded that Lord Clinton ' is gone to Paris to make peace : he is certainly gone thither, nobody knows why. He has gone thither every year aU his life, when he was in the Opposition ; but, to be sure, this is a very strange time to take that joui-ney. Lord Stafford, who came hither just before the intended invasion, (no doubt for the defence of the Protestant religion, especially as his father-in-law, Bulkeley,' was colonel of one of the embarked regiments), is gomg to carry his sister to be married to a Count de Eohan,^ and then returns, having a sign manual for leaving his wife there. We shall not be surprised to hear that the Electorate [of Hanover] has got a new master ; shall you ? Our dear nephew of Prussia mil probably take it, to keep it safe for us. I had written thus far on Monday, and then my Lord came from New Park [Richmond] : and I had not time the rest of the day to finish it. Wo have made very loyal addresses to the King on Ms speech, which I suppose they send you. There is not the least news, but that my Lord Carteret's wedding has been deferred on Lady Sophia's [Fermor's] falling dangerously ill of a scarlet fever ; but they say it is to be next Saturday. She is to have sixteen hundred pounds a-year jointure, fom- hundi'ed pounds pin-money, and two thousand of jewels. Carteret says, he does not intend to marry the mother [Lady Pomfret] and the whole family. What do you think my lady intends ? Adieu ! my dear Sir ! Pray for peace. ^ Hugh Fortescue, afterwards Earl of Clinton and Knight of the Bath. Not long after he received that order he went into Opposition, and left off his ribbon and star for one day, but thought better of it, and put them on the next. — Walpole. He was created Lord Fortescue and Earl of Clinton in 1746, and died in 1751. — Wright. "^ Mr. Bulkeley, an Irish Roman Catholic, married the widow Cantillon, mother of the Countess of Stafford. He rose high in the French army, and had the cordon bleu : his sister was second wife of the first Duke of Berwick. — Walpole. ^ Afterwards Duke of Rohan Chabot. — Doykr. 1744.] 70 Sill HORAOD MANN, 399 145. TO SIR HORACE MANN, Jjondon, April 15, 1744. I COULD tell you a great deal of news, but it would not be what you would expect. It is not of battles, sieges, and declarations of war ; nor of invasions, insurrections, aud addi'esses, It is the god of love, not he of war, who reigns in the newspapers. The town has made up a list of six- and^ thirty weddings, which I shall not catalogue to you ; for you would know them no more than you do Antilochum, fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum. But the chief entertainment has been the nuptials of our great Quixote [Carteret] and the fair Sophia. On the point of matrimony, she fell ill of a scarlet fever, and was given over, while he had the gout, but heroically sent her word, that if she was well, he ivoiild bo so. They corresponded every day, and he used to plague the Cabinet Council with reading her letters to them. Last night they were married ; and as all he does must have a particular aii' in it, they supped at Lord Pomfret's: at twelve. Lady GranviUe,' (his mother), and aU his family went to bed, but the porter : then my Lord went home, and waited for her in the lodge : she came alone in a hackney-chair, met him in the hall, and was led up the back-stairs to bed. What is ridiculously lucky is, that Lord Lincoln goes into waiting to-day, and will be to present her ! On Tuesday she stands godmother with the King to Lady Dysart*s '' child, her new grand- daughter. I am impatient to see the whole menage; it will be admii^able. There is a wild young Venetian ambassadress ^ come, who is reckoned very pretty. I don't think so ; she is fooHsh and childish to a degree. She said, " Lord ! the old Secretary is going to be married ! " They told her he was but fifty-four. *'But fifty- four! why,'^ said she, "my husband is but two-and-forty, and I thinlc him the oldest man in the world." Did I tell you that Lord ^ Grace Granville, aunt and co-heir of William Henry Granville, third Earl of Bath, and daughter of John Granville, first Earl of Bath, married George, first Baron Carteret. She was created January 1, 1714, Viscountess Carteret and Countess Granville, and died in 1744, shortly after her son's marriage to Lady Sophia Fermor. [See p. 222.] — Cunningham. 2 Lady Grace Carteret (eldest daughter of Lord Carteret), married in 1729 to Lionel Tollemache, fourth Earl of Dysart. — WfiiaHT. ^ Wife of Signor Capello. — Walpole. 300 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. Holderness ' goes to Yenice with the compliments of accommodation, and leaves Sir James Grey resident there ? The invasion from Dunkirk seems laid aside. We talk Httle of our fleets : Sir John Norns has resigned : Lestock is coming home, and has sent before him great complaints of Matthews ; so that affair must he cleared up. The King talks much of going abroad, which a^tU not bo very prudent. The campaign is not opened yet, but I suppose will disclose at once with great eclat in several quarters. I this instant receive your letter of March 31st, with the simple Demetrius, for which, however, I thank you. I hope by this time you have received all my letters, and are at peace about the invasion ; which we think so much over, that the Opposition are now breaking out about the Dutch troops, and call it the worst measure ever taken. Those terms so generally dealt to every measure successively, will at least soften the Hanoverian history. Adieu ! I have nothing more to teU you : I flatter myself you content yourself Tvith news ; I cannot write sentences nor sentiments. My best love to the Chutes, and now and then let my friends the Prince and Piincess and the Florentines know that I shah never forget their goodness to me. "V^Hiat is become of Prince Beauvau ? 146. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, May 8^ 1744. I BEGIN to breathe a Httle at ease ; we have done with the Parlia- ment for this year : it rises on Saturday. We have had but one material day lately, last Thursday. The Opposition had brought ii\ a bill to make it treason to correspond with the young Pretenders :^ the Lords added a clause, after a long debate, to make it forfeiture of estates, as it is for dealing with the father. We sat till one in the morning, and then carried it by 285 to 106. It was the best debate I ever heard.^ The King goes to Kensington to-morrow, and not ^ Robert Darcy, Earl of Holderness^ ambassador at Yenice and the Hague, and afterwards Secretary of State. [See p. 17.] — Walpole, ' Charles Edward, and Henry, his brother, afterwards the Cardinal of York. Dover, ^ "It was a warm and long debate, in which I think as much violence and dislike to the proposition was shown by the opposers, as in any which had arisen during the whole winter. I thought neither Mr. Pelham's nor Pitt's performances equal on this occasion to what they are on most others. Many of the Prince's friends were absent- for what reason I cannot learn. This was the parting blow of the session • for the 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. , .301 abroad. We hear of great quarrels between Marshal Wade and Duo d'Ai^emberg. The French King is at Valenciennes with Mon- sieui' de Noailles, who is now looked upon as first minister. He is the least dangerous for us of all. It is affii-med that Cardinal Tencin is disgraced, who was the very worst for us. If he is, we shall at least have no invasion this summer. Successors of ministers seldom take up the schemes of their predecessors ; especially such as by faihng caused their ruin, which, I beUeve, was Tencin's case at Dimkirk. For a week we heard of the affair at YiUafranca in a worse Hght than was true : it certainly tm-ns out iH for both sides. Though the French have had such bloody loss, I cannot but think they will carry their point, and force theu^ passage into Italy. We have no domestic news, but Lord LoveFs being created Earl of Leicester, on an old promise which my father had obtained for him. Earl Berkeley' is married to Miss Drax, a very pretty maid of honour to the Princess ; and the Viscount Fitzwilham^ to Sir Matthew Decker's eldest daughter ; but these are people I am sure you don't know. There is to be a great ball to-morrow at the Duchess of Rich- mond's for my Lady Carteret : the Prince [of Wales] is to be there. Carteret's court pay her the highest honours, which she receives with the highest state. I have seen her but once, and found her just what I expected, tres grancle dame ; full of herself, and yet not with an air of happiness. She looks ill and is grown lean, but is stiLl the finest figure in the world. The mother [Lady Pomfret] is not so exalted as I expected ; I fancy Carteret has kept his resolution, and does not marry her too. My Lord does not talk of going out of town yet ; I don't propose to be at Houghton till August. Adieu ! King came and dismissed us on the 12th, and the Parliament broke up with a good deal of ill-humour and discontent on the part of the Opposition, and little expectation in those who knew the interior of the court, and the unconnected state of the alliance abroad, that much would be done in the ensuing campaign to allay it, or infuse a better temper into the nation." — Mr. Yorke's MS. Parliamentary Journal. — Wkight. ^ Augustus, fourth Earl Berkeley, K.T. [See p. 91.] He married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Drax, Esq. of Charborough, in Dorsetshire; and died in 1755. — Dover. ^ Richard, sixth Viscount Fitzwilliam, in Ireland, married Catherine, daughter and heiress of Sir Matthew Decker, Bart., and died in 1776. — A7kigiit. 302 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. 147, TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, May 29, 1744. Since I wi'ote I liave received two from you of May Gth and 19tli. I am extremely sorry you get mine so late. I have desired your brother to complain to Mr. Preverau : I get yours pretty regularly, I have this morning had a letter from Mr. Conway at the army ; he says he hears just then that the French have declared war against the Dutch: they had in effect before by besieging Menin, which siege oui' army is in full march to raise. They have laid bridges over the Scheldt, and intend to force the French to a battle. The latter are almost double our number, but their desertion is prodigious, and their troops extremely bad. Fourteen thousand more Dutch are ordered, and their six thousand are going from hence with fom* more of ours ; so we seem to have no more apprehensions of an invasion. All thoughts of it arc over ! no inquiry made into it ! The present muiistry fear the detection of conspiracies more than the thing itself : that is, they fear everything that they are to do themselves. My father has been extremely ill, from a cold he caught last week at New-park [Richmond]. Princess Emily came thither to fish, and he, who is grown quite indolent, and has not been out of a hot room this twelvemonth, sat an houi^ and a half by the water side. He was in great danger one day, and more low-spirited than ever I knew him, though I think that grows upon him with his infinnities. My sister was at his bed-side ; I came into the room, — ^he burst into tears and could not speak to me : but he is quite well now ; though I cannot say I thinly he will preserve his life long, as he has laid aside all exercise, wliich has been of such vast service to him. He talked the other day of shutting himself up in the farthest wing at Houghton ; I said, ^'Dear, my Lord, you will be at a distance from all the family there ! '' He replied, " So much the better I ^' Pope is given over with a di^opsy,' which is mounted into his head: in an evening he is not in his senses ; the other day at Chiswick, he said to my Lady BurKngton, " Look at oui' Saviour there ! how ill they have crucified him ! " There is a Prince of Ost-Frize ' dead, which is likely to occasion ^ Pope died at Tmckenham, Hay 30, 1744.— Cxtkningham. 2 The Prince of East Friesland. — Walpole, 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANK. 303 most unlucky broils : Holland, Prussia, and Denmark have all pre- tensions to his succession; but Prussia is detennined to make his good. If the Dutch don't dispute it, he wiUbe too near a neighboui-; if they do, we lose his neutrahty, which is now so material The town has been in a great bustle about a private match ; but which, by the ingenuity of the Ministry, has been made pohtics. Mr. Fox [Lord Holland] feU in love with Lady Carohne Lenox ; ^ asked her, was refused, and stole her. His father [Sir Stephen Fox] was a footman ; her great grandfather [Charles 11. ] a long : June nice lachrymce ! aU the blood royal have been up in arms. The Duke of Marlborough, who was a friend of the Hichmonds, gave her away. If his Majesty's Princess CaroHne had been stolen, there could not have been more noise made. The Pelhams, who are much attached to the Pichmonds, but who have tried to make Fox and all that set theirs, wisely entered into the quarrel, and now don't know how to get out of it. They were for hindering [Hanbmy] Wilhams, who is Fox's great fiiend, and at whose house they were married, from having the red ribbon ; but he has got it with four others, the Yiscount FitzwiUiam, Calthorpe, Whitmore, and Harbord. Dash- wood (Lady Carteret's quondam lover), has stolen a great fortune, a Miss Bateman; the marriage had been proposed, but the fathers could not agree on the terms. I am much obHged to you for all your Sardinian and Neapolitan journals. I am impatient for the conquest of JSTaples, and have no notion of neglecting sure things, which may serve by way of cUdommagement. I am very sorry I recommended such a troublesome booby to you. Indeed, dear Mr. Chute, I never saw him, but was pressed by Mr. Selwyn, whose brother's friend he is, to give him that letter to you. I now hear that he is a warm Jacobite ; I suj)pose you somehow disobliged him pohtically. We are now mad about tar- water, on the pubHcation of a book that I will send you, written by Dr. Berkeley, Bishoj^ of Clo5mLe.'^ The book contains every subject from tar- water to the Trinity ; how- ever, all the women read, and understand it no more than they would if it were intelligible. A man came into an apothecaiy's shop the other day, " Do you sell tar- water ? " '' Tar- water ! " rephed the apothecary, " why, I sell nothing else ! '^ Adieu ! ^ Eldest daughter of Charles Buke of Riclimond, grandson of King Charles ll.— Walpole. 2 " I then happened to recollect, upon a hint given me by the inimitable author of 304 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. 148. TO SIR HORACE MANN. June 11, 1744. Perhaps you expect to liear of great triumplis and victories ; of General Wade grown into a Duke of Marlborougli ; or of tlie Ejing being in Flanders, with the second part of the Battle of Dettingen — ^why, ay ; you are bound in conscience, as a good Englishman, to expect all this — ^but what if all these lo Pceans should be played to the Dunkirk tune ? I must prepare you for some such thing ; for unless the French are as much their own foes as we are our otvti, I don't see what should hinder the festival of to-day ^ being kept next year a day sooner. But I will draw no consequences : only sketch you out our present situation: and if Cardinal Tencin can miss making his use of it, we may burn our books and live hereafter upon good fortune. The French King's army is at least ninety thousand strong ; has taken Mcnin aheady, and Ypres almost. Bemains then only Ostcnd ; wliich you will look in the map and see does not lie in the liigh road to the conquest of the Austrian Netherlands. Ostend may be laid under water, and the taking it an affair of time. But there Hes all our train of artillery, wliich cost two hundred thousand pounds ; and what becomes of our communication with our army ? A^Hiy, they may go round by Williamstadt, and be in England just time enough to be some other body's army ! It turns out that the whole combined army, English, Dutch, Austrians, and Hanoverians, does not amount to above thii'ty-six thousand fighting men ! and yet forty thousand more French, under the Due d'Harcourt are coming into Flanders. When their army is abeady so supeiior to ours, for what can that reinforcement be intended, but to let them spare a triumph to Dunldrk ? Now you will naturally ask me three questions : where is Prince Charles ? where are the Dutch ? what force have you to defend England? Prince Charles is hovering about the Bhine to take Lorrain, which they seem not to care whether he does or not, and leaves you to defend the Netherlands. The Dutch seem indifferent whether their barrier is in the hands of the ' Female Quixote ' [Mrs. Lennox] that I had many years before, from curiosity only, taken a cursory view of Bishop Berkeley's treatise on the virtues of tar-water." — Fielding, Voyage to Lisbon. — Cunningham, 1 The 10th of June was the Pretender's birthday, and the 11th the accession of George II. — AYalpole. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 305 the Queen or the Emperor ; and while you are so mad, think it prudent not to be so themselves. For our own force, it is too melancholy to mention : six regiments go away to-morrow to Ostend, with the six thousand Dutch. Carteret and Botzlaer, (the Dutch envoy extra- ordinary,) would have hurried them away without orders; hut General Smitsart, their commander, said, he was too old to be hanged. This reply was told to my father yesterday : " Ay," said he, " so I thought I was ; but I may live to be mistaken ! " When these troops are gone, we shall not have in the whole island above six thousand men, even when the regiments are complete ; and half of those pressed and new-Hsted men. For our sea-force, I wish it may be greater in proportion ! Sir Charles Hardy, whose name ^ at least is ill-favoured, is removed, and old Balchen,'^ a firm Whig, put at the head of the fleet. Fifteen ships are sent for from Matthews ; but they may come as opportunely as the army from Williamstadt — in short — ^but I won't enter into reasonings — the Eong is not gone. The Dutch have sent word, that they can let ujs have but six of the twenty ships we expected. My father is going into Norfolk, quite shocked at living to see how terribly his own conduct is justified. In the city the word is, " Old Sunderland's ' game is acting over again." Tell me if you receive this letter: I believe you will scarce give it about in memorials. Here are arrived two Florentines, not recommended to me, but I have been very civil to them. Marquis Salviati and Conte Delci ; the latter remembers to have seen me at Madame Giifoni's. The Venetian ambassador met my father yesterday at my Lady Brown's : you would have laughed to have seen how he stared and eccellenza^d him. At last they fell into a broken Latin chat, and there was no getting the ambassador away from him. If you have the least interest in any one Madonna in Florence, pay her well for all the service she can do us. If she can work miracles, now is her time. If she can't, I believe we shall all be forced to adore her. Adieu ! Tell Mr. Chute I fear we shall not be quite so well received at the conversazioni^ at Madame de Craon's, and the Casino,* when we are but refugee heretics. Well, we must hope ! Yours I am, and we will bear our wayward fate together. ^ He was of a Jacobite family. — Walpole. 2 Sir John Balchen, afterwards Governor of Greenwich Hospital.— Cunningham. ^ Lord Sunderland, who betrayed James U. — Walpole. "* The Florentine coffee-house. — Walpole. vol. 1. ^ 306 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. 149. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, June 18, 1744. I HAVE not any immediate bad news to tell you in consequence of my last. The siege of Ypres does not advance so expeditiously as was expected ; a little time gained in sieges goes a great way in a campaign. The Brest squadron is making just as great a figure in our channel as Matthews does before Toulon and Marseilles. I should be glad to be told by some nice computors of national glory, how much the balance is on our side. Anson ' is returned with vast fortune, substantial and lucky. He has brought the Acapulca ship into Portsmouth, and its treasure is at least computed at five hundred thousand pounds. He escaped the Brest squadron by a mist. You will have all the particulars in a gazette. I will not fail to make your compHments to the Pomfrets and Carter ets. I see them seldom, but I am in favour ; so I conclude, for my Lady Pomfret told me the other night, that I said better things than anybody. I was with them aU at a subscription-baU at Ranelagh last week, which my Lady Carteret thought proper to look upon as given to her, and thanked the gentlemen, who were not quite so well pleased at her condescending to take it to herself. My Lord stayed with her there till four in the morning. They are all fondness — walk together, and stop every five steps to kiss. Madame de Craon is a cipher to her for grandeur. The ball was on an excessively hot night ; yet she was dressed in a magnificent brocade, because it was new that morning for the inauguration- day. I did the honours of aU her dress : " How charming your ladyship's cross is! I am sure the design was your own." — ^'No, indeed; my lord sent it me just as it is." — •" How fine your ear-rings are ! " — " Oh ! but they are very heavy." Then as much to the mother [Lady Pomfret]. Do you wonder I say better things than anybody? I send you by a ship going to Leghorn the only new books at all worth reading. The Abuse ^ of ParHaments is by Dodington and WaUer, circumstantially scurrilous. The dedication of the Essay,^ 1 The celebrated circumnavigator, afterwards a peer, and first lord of the Admiralty. — Dover. " " Detection of the Use and Abuse of Parliaments," by Ralph, under the direction of Dodington and Waller.— Walpole. ^ Essay on Wit, Humour, and Ridicule, by Corby n Morris. — Walpule. 1744.] TO THE HON. H. S. CONWAY. 307 to my father is fine ; pray mind the quotation from Milton. There is Dr. Berkeley's mad book on tar- water, which has made everybody as mad as himself. I have lately made a great antique purchase of all Dr. Middleton's collection which he brought from Italy, and which he is now publishing. I will send you the book as soon as it comes out. I would not buy the things till the book was half printed, for fear of an e Miiseo Walpoliano. Those honours are mighty well for such known and learned men as Mr. Smith, ^ the merchant of Yenice. My dear Mr. Chute, how we used to enjoy the title-page ^ of his understanding ! Do you remember how angry he was when showing us a Guido, after pompous rooms full of Sebastian Eicci's, which he had a mind to estabHsh for capital pictures, you told him he had now made amends for all the rubbish he had showed us before ? My father has asked, and with some difB.culty got, his pension of four thousand pounds a-year, which the King gave him on his resignation, and which he dropped, by the wise fears of my uncle and the Selw3ms. He has no reason to be satisfied with the manner of obtaining it now, or with the manner of the man [Mr. Pelham] whom he employed to ask it : yet it was not a point that required capacity — merely gratitude. Adieu ! 150. TO THE HON. H. S. CONWAY. My Deaeest Harbt : Arlington Street, June 29, 1744. I don't know what made my last letter so long on the road : yours got hither as soon as it could. I don't attribute it to any examination at the post-office. God forbid I should suspect any branch of the present administration of attempting to know any one kind of thing ! I remember when I was at Eton, and Mr. Bland ^ had set me an extraordinary task, I used sometimes to pique myself upon not getting it, because it was not immediately my school business. What ! learn more than I was absolutely forced to learn ! I felt the weight of learning that ; for I was a blockhead, and pushed up above my parts. ^ Mr. Smith, consul at Venice, had a fine library, of which he knew nothing at all but the title-pages. [See p. 239.] — Walpole. 2 Expression of Mr. Chute. — Walpole. 3 Dr. Henry Bland. See Walpole's " Short Notes of hia Life," prefixed to this volume. — Cunningham. X 2 308 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. Lest you maliciously tliiiik I mean any application of this last sentence anywhere in the world, I shall go and transcribe some lines out of a new poem, that pretends to great impartiality, but is evidently wi^ote by some secret friend of the ministry. It is called Pope's, but has no good lines but the following. The plan supposes him complaining of being put to death by the blundering discord of his two physicians, Burton and Thompson; ' and from thence makes a transition, to show that all the present misfortunes of the world flow from a parallel disagreement ; for instance, in poKtics : " Ask you what cause this conduct can create 1 The doctors differ that direct the state. Cratenis, wild as Thompson, rules and raves, A slave himself, yet proud of making slaves ; Fondly believing that his mighty parts Can guide all councils and command all hearts ; Give shape and colour to discordant things, Hide fraud in ministers and fear in kings. Presuming on his power, such schemes he draws Por bribing Iron,^ and giving Europe laws. That camps, and fleets, and treaties fill the news, And succors unobtain'd and unaccomplish'd views, " Like solemn Burton grave Plumbosus acts ; He thinks in method, argues all from facts ; Warm in his temper, yet affecting ice. Protests his candour ere he gives advice ; Hints he dislikes the schemes he recommends, And courts his foes — and hardly courts his friends ; Is fond of power, and yet concern'd for fame — From different parties would dependents claim ; Declares for war, but in an awkward way. Loves peace at heart, which he's afraid to say ; His head perplex'd, altho' his hands are pure — An honest man, — but not a hero sure ! " I beg you will never tell me any news till it has past every impression of the Dutch gazette ; for one is apt to mention what is wrote to one : that gets about, comes at last to the ears of the ministry, puts them in a fright, and perhaps they send to beg to see your letter. ]^ow, you know one should hate to have one's private correspondence made grounds for a measure, — especially for an absurd one, which is just possible. * Dr. Thompson, a man who had, by large promises, and free censures of the com- mon practice of physic, forced himself up into a sudden reputation. — Johnson's Life of Pope. He was one of the physicians who attended Frederick Prince of Wales in his last illness, and differed from the other physicians that were with him. Paul Whitehead addressed an epistle in verse to this Dr. Thompson. — Cunningham. 2 This is nonsense. — H. W. — Walpole. 1744.] TO THE HON. H. S. CONWAY. 309 If I was writing to anybody but you, who know me so well, I sbould be afrpd this would be taken for pique and pride, and be construed into my thinking all ministers inferior to my father ; but, my dear Harry, you know it was never my foible to think over- abundantly well of him. Why I think as I do of the present great geniuses, answer for me, Admiral Matthews, great British Neptune, bouncLDLg in the Mediterranean, while the Brest squadron is riding in the English Channel, and an iuvasion from Dunkirk every moment threatening your coasts ; against which you send for six thousand Dutch troops, while you have twenty thousand of your own m. Flanders, which not being of any use, you send these very six thousand Dutch to them, with above half of the few of your own remaining in England ; a thii^d part of which half of which few you countermand, because you are agaiu alarmed with the invasion, and yet let the six Dutch go, who came for no other end but to protect you. And that our naval discretion may go hand-iu-hand with om* military, we find we have no force at home ; we send for fifteen ships from the Mediterranean to guard our coasts, and demand twenty from the Dutch. The first fifteen will be here, perhaps, in three months. Of the twenty Dutch, they excuse all but six, of which six they send all but fom- ; and your own small domestic fleet, five are going to the West Indies and twenty a hunting for some Spanish ships that are coming fi^om the Indies. Don't it put you in mind of a trick that is done by calculation ? Think of a number : halve it — double it — add ten — subtract twenty — add half the first number — take away all you added : now, what remains ? That you may not think I employ my time as idly as the great men I have been talking of, you must be informed, that every night constantly I go to Hanelagh ; which has totally beat YauxhaU. IsTobody goes anjr^here else — everybody goes there. My Lord Chesterfield is so fond of it, that he says he has ordered all his letters to be directed thither. If you had never seen it, I would make you a most pompous desciiption of it, and tell you how the floor is aU of beaten princes — that you can't set your foot without treading on a Pnnce of Wales or Duke of Cumberland. The company is universal : there is from his Grace of Grafton down to childi^en out of the Foundhng Hospital — from my Lady Townshend to the kitten — from my Lord Sandys to your humble cousin and sincere friend. 310 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744, 151. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, June 29, 1744. Well, at last tliis is not to be the year of our captivity ! There is a cluster of good packets come at once. The Dutch have marched twelve thousand men to join our army ; the King of Sardinia (but this is only a report) has beaten the Spaniards back over the Yaro, and I this moment hear from the Secretary's office, that Prince Charles has undoubtedly passed the E-hine at the head of four-score thousand men — where, and with what circumstances, I don't know a word; 7na hasta cosi. It is said, too, that the Marquis de la Chetardie ' is sent away from Russia ; but this one has no occasion to believe. False good news are always produced by true good, like the watergall by the rainbow. But why do I take upon me to tell you all this ? — ^you, who are the centre of ministers and business I the actuating genius in the conquest of Naples ! You cannot imagine how fonmdable you appear to me. My poor little, quiet Miny, with his headache and ejyitmfnens, and Cocchio, and coverlid of cygnet's down, that had no dealings but with a little spy-abbe at Rome, a civil whisper with Count Loren2rL,^ or an explanation on some of Goldsworthy's absm-dities, or with Richcourt about some sbirri,^ that had insolently passed through the street m which the King of Great Britain's arms condescended to hang ! Bless me ! how he is changed ! become a trafficking pleni23otentiary with Prince Lobkowitz, Cardinal Albani," and Admiral Matthews ! Why, my dear child, I should not know you agaiu ; I should not dare to roll you up between a finger and thumb like wet brown-paper. Well, heaven prosper your arms ! But I hate you, for I now look upon you as ten times fatter than I am. I don't think it would be quite unadvisable for Bistino ' to take a ^ Frencli ambassador at the court of St. Petersburg, and for some time a favourite of the Empress Elizabeth. The report of his disgrace was correct. He died in 1758. — Wright. - A Florentine, but employed as minister by France. — Walpole. ^ The officers of justice, who are reckoned so infamous in Italy, that the foreign ministers have always pretended to hinder them from passing through the streets where they reside. — Walpolk. '^ Cardinal Alexander Albani, nephew of Clement XL, was minister of the Queen of Hungary at Rome. — Walpole. ^ Giovanni Battista Uguccioni, a Florentine nobleman, and great friend of the Pomfrets, — Wa-lpole, X7ii.] TO SIR HOKACE MANN. 311 journey hither. My Lady Carteret would take violently to any thing that came so far to adore her grandeur. I believe even my Lady Pomfret would be persuaded he had seen the star of their glory travelling westward to direct him. For my part, I expect soon to make a figure too in the poUtical magazine, for all our Florence set is coming to grandeur ; but you and my Lady Carteret have out- stripped me. I remain with the Duke of Courland in Siberia — my father has actually gone thither for a long season. I met my Lady Carteret the other day at Knapton's,' and desired leave to stay while she sat for her picture. She is drawn crowned with com, Hke the Goddess of Plenty, and a mild dove in her arms, hke Mrs. Yenus. We had much of m^ lord and my lord. The countess-mother [Lady Pomfret] was glad my lord was not there — ^he was never satisfied with the eyes ; she was afraid he would have had them drawn bigger than the cheeks. I made your compliments abundantly, and cried down the charms of the picture as pohticaUy as if you yourseK had been there in ministerial person. To fiU up this sheet, I shaU transcribe some very good lines pubhshed to-day in one of the papers, by I don't know whom, on Pope's death. " Here lies, who died, as most folks die, in hope. The mould' ring, more ignoble part of Pope ; The bard, whose sprightly genius dared to wage Poetic war with an immoral age ; Made every vice and private folly known In friend and foe — a stranger to his own ; Set virtue in its loveliest form to view, And still profess'd to be the sketch he drcAv, As humour or as interest served, his verse Could praise or flatter, libel or asperse : XJnharming innocence with guilt could load, Or lift the rebel patriot to a god : Give the censorious critic standing laws — The first to violate them with applause ; The just translator and the solid wit. Like whom the passions few so truly hit : The scourge of dunces whom his malice made — The impious plague of the defenceless dead : To real knaves and real fools a sore — Beloved by many, but abhorr'd by more. If here his merits are not full exprest. His never-dying strains shall tell the rest." Sure the greatest part was his true character. Here is another ^ George Knapton was a scholar of Eichardson, but chiefly painted in crayons. Ho died at Kensington in 1778, and was there buried. — Cunningham. 312 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. epitaph by Eolli ; * wliicli for tlie profound fall in some of tlie verses, especially in the last, will divert you. " Spento h il Pope : de' poeti Britanni IJno de' lumi che sorge in mille anni : Pur si vuol che la macchia d'lngrato N'abbia reso il fulgor men sereno : Stato fora e piii giusto e piil grato. Men lodando e biasmando ancor mono. Ma cbi fe reo per native prurito ? Lode biasmo, qui tutto h partito. Nasce, scorre, si legge, si sente ; Dopo un Di, tutto h per niente/' Adieu! 152. TO THE HON. H. S. CONWAY. My Deajlest Harry : Arlington Street, July 20, 1744. I FEEL that I have so much to say to you, that I foresee there will be but little method in my letter ; but if, upon the whole, you see my meaning, and the depth of my friendship for you, I am content. It was most agreeable to me to receive a letter of confidence from you, at the time I expected a very different one from you ; though, by the date of your last, I perceive you had not then received some letters, which, though I did not see, I must call simple, as they could only tend to make you uneasy for some months. I should not have thought of communicating a quarrel to you at this distance, and I don't conceive the sort of friendship of those that thought it necessaiy. When I heard it had been wrote to you, I thought it right to myself to give you my account of it, but, by your brother's desire, supj)ressed my letter, and left it to be explained by him, who wrote to you so sensibly on it, that I shall say no more but that I think myself so ill-used that it will prevent my giving you thoroughly the advice you ask of me ; for how can I be sure that my resent- ment might not make me see in a stronger light the reasons for your breaking off an affaii^^ which you laiow before I never approved ? ' Paolo Antonio Rolli, composer of the operas, translated and published several things. Thus hitched into the Dunciad — " Rolli the feather to his ear conveys ; Then his nice taste directs our operas." Warburton says, " he taught Italian to some fine gentlemen, who affected to direct the operas.*' — Wright. 2 This was an early attachment of Mr. Conway's. By his having complied with 1744.] TO THE HOK H. S. CONWAY. 313 You know my temper is so open to anybody I love that I must be bappy at seeing you lay aside a reserve with me, which is the only point that ever made me dissatisfied with you. That silence of yours has, perhaps, been one of the chief reasons that has always prevented my saying much to you on a topic which I saw was so near your heart. Indeed, its being so near was another reason ; for how could I expect you would take my advice, even if you bore it ? But, my dearest Harry, how can I advise you now ? Is it not gone too far for me to expect you should keep any resolution about it, especially in absence, which must be destroyed tbe moment you meet again ? And if ever you should marry and be happy, won't you reproach me with having tried to hinder it ? I think you as just and honest as I think any man Hving ; but any man living in that circumstance would think I had been prompted by private reasons. I see as strongly as you can all the arguments for your breaking off; but, indeed, the alteration of your fortune adds very little strength to what they had before. You never had fortune enough to make such a step at all prudent: she loved you enough to be content with that ; I can't believe this change will alter her sentiments, for I must do her the justice to say that it is plain she preferred you with nothing to all the world. I could talk upon this head, but I will only leave you to consider, without advising you on either side, these two things — whether you think it honester to break off with her after such engagements as yours (how strong I don't know), after her refusing very good matches for you, and show her that she must think of making her fortune ; or whether you will wait with her till some amendment in your fortune can put it in your power to marry her. My dearest Harry, you must see why I don't care to say more on this head. My wishing it could be right for you to break off with her (for, without it is right, I would not have you on any account take such a step) makes it impossible for me to advise it ; and, therefore, I am sure you will forgive my dechning an act of friend- ship which your having put in my power gives me the greatest the wishes and advice of his friend on this subject, and got the better of his passion, he probably felt that he, in some measure, owed to Mr, Walpole the subsequent happiness of his life, in his marriage Avith another person. — Walpole. The lady alluded to was Lady Caroline Fitzroy, afterwards [1746] Countess of Harrington, whose sister, Lady Isabella, had, three years before, married Mr. Conway's elder brother, afterwards Earl and Marquis of Hertford— Wright. Have not you felt a little twinge in a remote corner of your heart on Lady Harrington's death. Walpole to Conway, June 30, 1784.— Cunningham. 314 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. satisfaction. But it does put something else in my power, wliich I am sure nothing can make me decline, and for which I have long wanted an opportunity. Nothing could prevent my being unhappy at the smallness of your fortune, but its throwiQg it into my way to offer you to share mine. As mine is so precarious, by depending on so bad a constitution, I can only offer you the immediate use of it. I do that most sincerely. My places still (though my Lord Walpole has cut off three hundred pounds a-year to save himself the trouble of signing his name ten times for once) brings me in near two thousand pounds a-year. I have no debts, no connections indeed; no way to dispose of it particularly. By living with my father, I have little real use for a quarter of it. I have always flung it away all in the most idle manner ; but, my dear Harry, idle as I am, and thoughtless, I have sense enough to have real pleasure in denying myself baubles, and in saving a very good income to make a man happy, for whom I have a just esteem and most siucere friendship. I know the difficulties any gentleman and man of spirit must struggle with, even iu having such an offer made him, much more in accepting it. I hope you will allow there are some in making it. But hear me : if there is any such thing as friendship in the world, these are the opportunities of exerting it, and it can't be exerted without it is accepted. I must talk of myself to prove to you that it will be right for you to accept it. I am sensible of having more follies and weaknesses, and fewer real good quahties, than most men. I sometimes reflect on this, though I own too seldom. I always want to begin acting like a man, and a sensible one, which I think I might be if I would. Can I begia better, than by taking care of my fortune for one I love ? You have seen (I have seen you have) that I am fickle, and foolishly fond of twenty new people ; but I don't really love them — I have always loved you constantly : I am willing to convince you and the world, what I have always told you, that I loved you better than anybody. If I ever felt much for any thing, (which I know may be questioned,) it was certainly for my mother. I look on you as my nearest relation ' by her, and I think I can never do enough to show my gratitude and affection to her. For these reasons, don't deny me what I have set my heart on — the making your fortune easy to jou. * * * [The rest of this letter is wanting.] ' Walpole and Conway were maternal cousins, — Cunningham. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 316 153. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Aiiington Street, July 22, 1744. I HAVE not written to you, my dear ckild, a good while, I know ; but, indeed, it was from having nothing to tell you. You know I love you too well for it to be necessary to be punctually proving it to you ; so, when I have nothing worth your knowing, I repose myself upon the persuasion that you must have of my friendship. But I will never let that grow into any negligence, I should say, idleness, which is always mighty ready to argue me out of everything I ought to do ; and letter- writing is one of the first duties that the very best people let perish out of their rubric. Indeed, I pride myself extremely in having been so good a correspondent ; for, besides that every day grows to make one hate writing more, it is difB.cult, you must own, to keep up a correspondence of this sort with any spirit, when long absence makes one entirely out of all the Httle circumstances of each other's society, and which are the soul of letters. We are forced to deal only in great events, like historians ; and, instead of being Horace Mann and Horace Walpole, seem to correspond as Guicciardin and Clarendon would : Discedo Alcseus puncto Illius ; ille meo quis ! Quis nisi Callimachus ] Apropos to writing histories and Guicciardin ; I wish to God, Boccalini was living ! never was such an opportunity for Apollo's playing off a set of fools, as there is now ! The good City of London, who, from long dictating to the government, are now come to preside over taste and letters, having giving one Carte,' a Jacobite parson, fifty pounds a-year for seven years, to write the history of England ; and four aldermen and six common- councilmen are to inspect his materials and the progress of the work. Surveyors of common sewers turned supervisors of Kterature I To be sure, they think a history of England is no more than Stowe's Survey of the Parishes ! Instead of having books published with the imprimatur of an university, they will be printed, as churches are whitewashed, John Smith and Thomas Johnson, Churchwardens. But, brother historian, you will wonder, I should have nothing to ' Thomas Carte, a laborious \rriter of history. His principal works are, his Life of the Duke of Ormonde, in three volumes, folio, and his History of England, in four. He died in 1754. — Dover. 316 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. communicate, wlien all Eui'ope is bursting with events, and every- day " big with the fate of Cato and of Eome." But so it is ; I know nothing; Prince Charleses great passage of the Rhine has hitherto produced nothing more : indeed, the French armies are moving towards him from Flanders ; and they tell us, ours is crossing the Scheldt to attack the Count de Saxe, now that we are equal to him, from om* reinforcement and his diminutions. In the meantime, as I am at least one of the principal heroes of my own poHtics, being secure of any invasion, I am going to leave all my lares, that is, all my antiquities, household gods and pagods, and take a journey into Siberia for six weeks, where my father's grace of Courland has been for some time. Lord Middlesex is going to be married to Miss Boyle,' Lady Shannon's daughter ; she has thirty thousand pounds, and may have as much more, if her mother, who is a plump widow, don't happen to Nugentize.'^ The gii4 is low and ugly, but a vast scholar. Young Churchill^ has got a daughter by the Frasi;" Mr. Winnington calls it the opera-comiqiie ; the mother is an opera giii ; the grandmother was Mrs. Oldfield. I must tell you of a very extraordinary print, which my Lady BurHngton gives away, of her daughter Euston, with this inscription : * Lady Dorothy Boyle, Once the pride, the joy, the comfort of her parents. The admiration of all that saw her, The delight of all that knew her. Born May 14, 1724, married, alas ! Oct. 10, 1741, and delivered from extremest misery May 2, 1742. This print was taken from a picture drawn by memory seven weeks after her death, by her most afflicted mother; Dorothy Burlington. I am forced to begin a new sheet, lest you should think my letter came from my Lady Burlington, as it ends so partly with her name. ^ Grace Boyle, daughter and sole heiress of Richard, Viscount Shannon. She became afterwards a favourite of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and died in Arlington Street, 10 May, 1763. — Dover. Lady Middlesex was very short, very plain and very yellow, a vain girl, full of Greek and Latin, and music and painting, but neither mischievous nor political. — WaljJole, Memoires of George II. See also p. 367. — Cunningham. 2 That is pick up an Irish adventurer like Hussey or Nugent, — as the Duchess of Montague did, in Mr. Hussey, — and Mrs. Newsham, Craggs' daughter, did in Mr. Kugent (Goldsmith's Lord Clare). — Cunningham. •^ General Churchill's son by Mrs. Oldfield, afterwards married to the natural daughter of Sir Kobert AValpole. — Cunningham. ' Prima Dontia at the Opera. — Walpolk. ' Sec a more correct copy of the inscription, ante^ p. 252. — Cunningham, 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANK. 317 But is it not a most melanclioly way of venting oneself ? She has drawn numbers of these pictures : I don't approve her having them engraved ; but sure the inscription' is pretty. I was accosted the other night by a little, pert j^e^/V-m^zi^r^ figure, that claimed me for acquaintance. Do you remember to have seen at Florence an Abbe Durazzo, of Genoa ? well, this was he : it is mighty dapper and French : however, I will be civil to it : I never lose opportunities of paving myself an agTceable passage back to Florence. My dear Chutes, stay for me : I think the first gale of peace will carry me to you. Are you as fond of Florence as ever ? of me you are not, I am sure, for you never write me a line. You would be diverted with the grandeur of our old Florence beauty, Lady Carteret. She di^esses more extravagantly, and grows more short-sighted every day : she can't walk a step without leaning on one of her ancient daughters-in-law. Lord Tweedale and Lord Bathurst are her constant gentlenien-ushers. She has not quite digested her resentment to Lincoln yet. He was walking with her at Kanelagh the other night, and a Spanish refugee marquis,^ who is of the Carteret court, but who, not being quite perfect in the carte du pais J told my lady, that Lord Lincoln had promised him to make a very good husband to Miss Pelham. Lady Carteret, with an accent of energy, rephed, " J'espere qu'il tiendra sa promesse 1 " Here is a good epigram that has been made on her : " Her beaut}^ like the Scripture feast. To which the invited never came, Deprived of its intended guest, Was given to the old and lame." Adieu ! here is company ; I think I may be excused leaving off at the sixth side. 154. TO SIR HORACE MAKN. Arlington Street, Aug. 6, 1744. I don't tell you any thing about Prince Charles, for you must hear all his history as soon as we do ; at least much sooner than it can come to the very north, and be despatched back to Italy. There is nothing from Flanders : we advance and they retire — just as two ^ It is said to be Pope's. — Walpole. ■■^ The Marquis Tabemego. — Walpole. Carteret was an accomplished Spanish scholar. —Cunningham. 318 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. montlis ago we retired and they advanced : but it is good to be leading up tbis part of tlie tune. Lord Stair is going into Scotland : tlie King is grown wonderfully fond of bim, since be bas taken tbe resolution of tbat journey. He said tbe other day, " I wish my Lord Staii' was in Flanders ! General Wade is a very able officer, but he is not alert." I, in my private Ktany, am beseeching the Lord, that he may contract none of my Lord Stair's alertness. AYhen I fost wrote you word of La Chetardie's disgrace, I did not believe it ; but you see it is now pubHc. What I Hke is, her Russian Majesty's making her amour keep exact pace with her public indignation. She sent to demand her picture and other presents. "Other presents," to be sure, were hilkt-doux, bracelets woven of her own bristles — for I look upon the hair of a Muscovite Majesty in the hght of the chaii's which GulHver made out of the combings of the Empress of Brobdingnag's tresses ; the stumps he made into very good large tooth-combs. You know the present is a very Amazon ; she has grappled with all her own grenadiers. I should Hke to see their loves woven into a French opera : La Ch^tardie's character is quite adapted to the civil discord of their stage : and then a northern heroine to reproach him in their outrageous quavers, would make a most delightful crash of sentiment, impertinence, gal- lantry, contempt, and screaming. The first opera that I saw at Paris, I could not beKeve was in earnest, but thought they had carried me to the opera-coniique. The three acts of the piece ' were three several interludes, of the Loves of Antony and Cleopatra, of Alcibiades and the Queen of Sparta, and of Tibullus with a niece of Maecenas ; besides something of Circe, who was screamed by a Mademoiselle Hermans, seven feet high. She was in black, with a nosegay of black flotvers (for on the French stage they pique them- selves on propriety), and without powder : whenever you are a widow, are in distress, or are a witch, you are to leave oJBP powder. I have no news for you, and am going to have less, for I am going into Norfolk. I have stayed till I have not one acquaintance left : the next billow washes me last off the plank. I have not cared to stir, for fear of news from Flanders ; but I have convinced myself that there will be none. Our army is much superior to the Count de Saxe ; besides, they have ten large towns to garrison, which will reduce their army to nothing ; or they must leave us the towns to walk into coolly. ^ I think it was the ballet de la paix. — Walpole. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MAKN. 319 ■ I have received yours of July 21. Did neither I nor your brother tell you, that we had received the Neapohtan snufF-box?' it is above a month ago : how could I be so forgetful ; but I have never heard one word of the cases, nor of Lord Conway's guns, nor Lord Hartington's melon-seeds, all which you mention to have sent. Lestock has long been arrived, so to be sure the cases never came with him : I hope Matthews will discover them. Pray thank Dr. Cocchi very particularly for his book. I am very sorry too for your father's removal [from Chelsea Hospital] ; it was not done in the most obliging manner by Mr. Winnington ; there was something exactly like a breach of promise in it to my father, which was tried to be softened by a civil alternative, that was no alternative at all. He was forced to it by my Lady Townshend [Harrison], who has an implacable aversion to all my father's people ; and not having less to Mr. Pelham's, she has been as brusque with Winnington about them. He has no principles himself, and those no priuciples of his are governed absolutely by hers, which are no-issimes. I don't know any of your EngHsh. I should delight in your Yaux-hall-ets : what a figure my Grrifona must make in such a romantic scene ! I have lately been reading the poems of the Earl of Surrey, in Henry the Eighth's time ; he was in love with the fair Greraldine of Florence ; I have a mind to write under the Grifona's picture these two Knes from one of his sonnets : " From Tuscane came my lady's worthy race. Fair Florence was some time her auncient seat." And then these : " Her beauty of kinde, her vertue from above ; Happy is he that can obtaine her love ! " I don't know what of kinde means, but to be sure it was some- thing prodigiously expressive and gallant in those days, by its being unintelligible now. Adieu ! Do the Chutes cicisbe it ? 155. TO SIR HORACE MANN. London, Aug. 16, 1744. I AM writing to you two or three days before-hand, by way of ^ It was for a present to Mr, Stone [p. 223], the Duke of Newcastle's secretary.— Walpolb. Q 20 HORACE WALPOLE-S LETTERS. [1744. settling my affairs : not tliat I am going to be married or to die ; but something as bad as either if it were to last as long. You will guess that it can only be going to Houghton ; but I make as much an affair of that, as other people would of going to Jamaica. Indeed I don't lay in store of cake and band-boxes, and citron- water, and cards, and cold meat, as country-gentlewomen do after the session. My packing-up and travelling concerns lie in very small compass ; nothing but myself and Patapan, my footman, a cloak-bag, and a couple of books. My old Tom is even reduced upon the article of my jom^ney ; he is at the Bath, j)atching together some very bad remains of a worn-out constitution. I always travel without company ; for then I take my own hours and my own humom's, which I don't tliink the most tractable to be shut up in a coach with any body else. You know, St. Evremont's rule for conquering the passions, was to indulge them ; mine for keeping my temper in order, is never to leave it too long with another person. I have found out that it will have its way, but I make it take its way by itself. It is such sort of reflection as this, that makes me hate the country : it is impossible in one house with one set of company, to be always enough upon one's guard to make one's self agreeable, wliich one ought to do, as one always expects it from others. If I had a house of my own in the country, and could live there now and then alone, or frequently changing my company, I am persuaded I should like it ; at least, I fancy I should ; for when ona begins to reflect why one don't like the country, I believe one grows near liking to reflect in it. I feel very often that I grow to correct twenty things in myself, as thinking them ridiculous at my age ; and then with my spiiit of whim and folly, I make myself believe that this is all prudence, and that I wish I were young enough to be as thoughtless and extravagant as I used to be. But if I know any thing of the matter, this is all flattering myself : I grow older, and love my follies less — if I did not, alas ! poor prudence and reflection ! I think I have pretty well exhausted the chapter of myself. I will now go talk to you of another fellow, who makes me look upon myself as a very perfect character ; for as I have httle merit naturally, and only pound a stray virtue now and then by chance, the other gentleman seems to have no vice, rather no villainy, but what he nurses in himself and methodises with as much pains as a stoic would patience. Indeed his pains arc not thrown away. This pains-taking person's name is Frederic, king of Prussia. Pray 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 321 remember for tlie future never to speak of him and H. W. without giving the latter the preference. Last week we were all alarm ! He was before Prague with fifty thousand men, and not a man in Bohemia to ask him, "What dost thou?" This week we have raised a hundred thousand Hungarians, besides vast militias and loyal nobilities. The King of Poland is to attack him on his march, and the Russians to fall on Prussia.' In the mean time, his letter or address to the people of England ^ has been pubHshed here : it is a poor performance ! His Yoltaires and his litterati should correct his works before they are printed. A careless song, with a little nonsense in it -now and then, does not misbecome a monarch ; but to pen manifestos worse than the lowest conimis that is kept jointly by two or three margraves, is insufferable ! We are very strong in Flanders, but still expect to do nothing this campaign. The French are so intrenched, that it is impossible to attack them. There is talk of besieging Maubeuge ; I don't know how certainly. Lord Middlesex's match is determined, and the writings signed. She proves an immense fortune ; they pretend a hundred and thirty thousand pounds — ^what a fund for making operas ! My Lady Carteret is going to Tunbridge — there is a hurry for a son : his only one is gone mad : about a fortnight ago he was at the Duke of Bedford's, and as much in his few senses as ever. At five o'clock in the morning he waked the duke and duchess all bloody, and with the lappet of his coat held up fall of ears : he had been in the stable and cropped all the horses ! He is shut up.^ My lady is in the honey-moon of her grandeur : she Hves in public places, whither she is escorted by the old beaux of her husband's court ; fair white-wigged old gallants, the Duke of Bolton, [Polly Peachem's Duke] Lord Tweedale, Lord Bathurst [Pope's friend] and Charles Fielding ; " and she all over knots, and small hoods, and ribbons. Her brother told me the other night, "Indeed I think my ^ This alludes to the King of Prussia's retreat from Prague, on the approach of the Austrian army commanded by Prince Charles of Lorraine. — Dover, 2 In speaking of this address of the King of Prussia, Lady Hervey, in a letter of the 17th, says, " I think it very well and very artfully drawn for his purpose, and very impertinently embarrassing to our King. He is certainly a very artful prince, and I cannot but think his projects and his ambition still more extensive, than people at present imagine them." — Wright. ^ On the death of his father [1763], this son succeeded to the earldom. He died in 1776, when the title became extinct. — Weight. ^ The Hon. Charles Fielding, third son of William, third earl of Denbigh ; a lieu- tenant-colonel in the guards, and gentleman-usher to Queen Caroline. He died in, 1765. — Wright. VOL. I. T 322 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. thister doestli countenantli Eanelagh. too mutcli/' Tliey call my Lord Pomfret, King Stanislaus, the queen's father. I heard an admirable dialogue, which has been written at the army on the battle of Dettingen, but one can't get a copy ; I must tell you two or three strokes in it that I have heard. Pierot asks Harlequin, " Que donne-t'on aux g^n^raux qui ne se sont pas' trouv^s a la bataille ? '' Harl. " On leur donne le cordon rouge." Pier. "Et que donne-t'on au g^n^ral en chef,' qui a gagn^ la victoire ! " Harl. " Son cong^/' Pier. " Qui a soin des blesses ? " Harl. *' L'ennemi." Adieu ! 156. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Hougldon, Sept. 1, 1744. I AvisH you joy of your victory at Yelletri ! ^ I call it yours, for you are the great spring of all that war. I intend to publish your life, with an Appendix, that shall contain all the letters to you from piinces, cardinals, and great men of the time. In speaking of Prince Lobkowitz's attempt to seize the King of Naples at YeUetri, I shall say, " for the share our hero had in this great action, vide the Appendix, Card. Albani's letter, p. 14." You shall no longer be the dear Miny, but Manone, the Great Man ; you shall figure with the Great Pan, and the Great Patajmn. I wish you and your laurels and your operations were on the Rhine, in Piedmont, or in Bohemia ; and then Prince Charles would not have repassed the first, nor the Prince of Conti advanced within three days of Tui^in, and the King of Prussia would already have been teriified from entering the last — all this lumping bad news came to counterbalance your NeapoHtan triumphs. Here is all the war to begin again ! and perhaps next winter a second edition of Dunkirk. We could not even have the King of France [Louis XY.] die, though he was so near it. He was in a woful fright, and promised the Bishop of Soissons, that if he lived, he would have done with his women.^ A man with aU those crowns on his head, and attack- ^ Lord Stair. — Dover. ^ The Austrians had formed a scheme to surprise the Neapolitan King and general at Yelletri, and their first column penetrated into the place, but reinforcements coming up, they were repulsed with considerable slaughter. — Wright. ^ On the 8th of August, Louis XV. was seized at Metz, on his march to Alsace with a malignant putrid fever, which increased so rapidly, that, in a few days, his life was despaired of. In his illness, he dismissed his reigning mistress, Madame de Chateauroux.— "Wright. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 323 ing and disturbing all those on the heads of other princes, who is the sonl of all the havoc and ruin that has been and is to be spread through Europe in this war, haggling thus for his bloody life, and cheapening it at the price of a mistress or two ! and this was the fellow that they fetched to the army, to drive the brave Prince Charles beyond the Ehine again ! It is just such another paltry mortal ^ that has fetched him back into Bohemia — I forget which of his battles" it was, that when his army had got the victory, they could not find the King : he had run away for a whole day without looking behind him. I thank you for the particulars of the action, and the Hst of the prisoners : among them is one Don Theodore Diamato Amor, a cavalier of so romantic a name, that my sister and Miss Leneve quite interest themselves in his captivity ; and make their addresses to you, who, they hear, have such power with Prince Lobkowitz, to obtain his hberty. If he has Spanish gallantry in any proportion to his name, he will immediately come to England, and vow himself their knight. Those verses I sent you on Mr. Pope, I assure you, were not mine ; I transcribed them from the newspapers ; from whence I must send you a very good epigram on Bishop Berkeley's tar- water : " Who dare deride what pious Cloyne has done? The Church shall rise and vindicate her son ; She tells us, all her Bishops shepherds are — And shepherds heal their rotten sheep with tar.'' I am not at aU sui-prised at my Lady Walpole's ill-humour to you about the messenger. If the resentments of women did not draw them into Httle dirty spite, their hatred would be very dangerous ; but they vent the leisure they have to do mischief in a thousand meannesses, which only serve to expose themselves. Adieu ! I know nothing here but pubHc politics, of which I have already talked to you, and which you hear as soon as I do. Thank dear Mr. Chute for his letter ; I will answer it veiy soon ; but in the country I am forced to let my pen lie fallow between letter and letter. ^ The King of Prussia. — Walpole. ^ The battle of Molwitz. — Walpole, T 2 824 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. 157. TO THE HON. H. S. CONWAY. My Dearest Harry, Houghton, Oct. 6, 1744. My lord bids me tell you how mucli he is obliged to you for your letter, and hopes you will accept my answer for his. I'll tell you what, we shall both be obliged to you if you will inclose a magnify- ing glass in your next letters ; for your two last were in so diminutive a character, that we were forced to employ all Mrs. Leneve's spec- tacles, besides an ancient family reading-glass, with which my grandfather used to begin the psalm, to discover what you said to us. Besides this, I have a piece of news for you : Sir Robert Walpole, when he was made Earl of Orford, left the ministry, and with it the palace in Downing-street ; as numbers of people found out three years ago, who, not having your integrity, were quick in perceiving the change of his situation. Your letter was full as honest as you ; for, though dii^ected to Downing-street, it would not, as other letters would have done, addi^ess itself to the present pos- sessor. Do but think if it had ! The smallness of the hand would have immediately struck my Lord Sandys ' with the idea of a plot ; for what he could not read at first sight, he would certainly have concluded must be cypher. I march next week towards London, and have already begun to send my heavy artillery before me, consisting of half-a-dozen books and part of my linen : my light-horse, commanded by Patapan, follows this day se'nnight, A detachment of hussars surprised an old bitch fox yesterday morning, who had lost a leg in a former engagement; and then, having received advice of another litter beiQg advanced as far as Darsingham, Lord Walpole commanded Captain Rdey's horse, with a strong party of fox-hounds, to overtake them ; but on the approach of our troops the enemy stole off, and are now encamped at Sechford common, whither we every hour expect orders to pursue them. My dear Harry, this is all I have to tell you, and, to my great joy, which you must forgive me, is full as memorable as any part of the Flanders campaign. I do not desii^e to have you engaged in the least more glory than you have been. I should not love the remainder of you the least better for your having lost an arm or a ^ Lord Orford's successor as Chancellor of the Exchequer, of whom we have already heard so much. Horace Walpole hated him. — Cunningham. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 325 leg, and liave as full persuasion of your coui-age as if you had con- tributed to the sHcing off twenty pair from French officers. Thank God, you have sense enough to content yourself without being a hero ! though I don't quite forget your expedition a huzzar-hunting the beginning of this campaign. Pray, no more of those jaunts. I don't know anybody you would obKge with a present of such game : for my part, a fragment of the oldest hussar on earth should never have a place in my museum — they are not antique enough ; and for a hve one, I must tell you, I like my racoon infinitely better. Adieu ! my dear Harry. I long to see you. You will easily beHeve the thought I have of being particularly well with you is a vast addition to my impatience, though you know it is nothing new to me to be overjoyed at your return. Yours ever. 168. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Houghton, Oct. 6, 1744. Does Decency insist upon one's writing within certain periods, when one has nothing to say ? because, if she does, she is the most formal, ceremonious personage I know. I shall not enter into a dispute with her, as my Lady Hervey did with the goddess of Indolence, or with the goddess of letter- writing, I forget which, in a long letter that she sent to the Duke of Bourbon ; because I had rather write than have a dispute about it. Besides, I am not at all used to converse with hierogljrpliic ladies. But, I do assure you, it is merely to avoid scolding that I set about this letter : I don't mean your scolding, for you are all goodness to me ; but my own scolding of myself — a correction I stand in great awe of, and which I am sure never to escape as often as I am to blame. One can scold other people again, or smile and jog one's foot, and affect not to mind it ; but those airs won't do with oneself ; one always comes by the worst in a dispute with one's own conviction. Admiral Matthews sent me down hither your great packet : I am charmed with your prudence, and with the good sense of your orders for the NeapoHtan expedition ; I wont say your good-nature, which is excessive ; for I think your tenderness of the little Queen ^ a little ^ The Queen of Naples — Maria of Saxony, wife of Charles III. King of Naples, and subsequently, on the death of his elder brother, King of Spain. This alludes to the Austrian campaign in the Neapolitan territories ; the attack on the town of Velletri, &c. — Wright. 326 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. outree, especially as tlieir apprehensions might have added great weight to your menaces. I would threaten like a corsair, though I would conquer with all the good-breeding of a Scipio. I most devoutly wish you success ; you are sure of having me most happy with any honour you acquire. You have quite soared above all fear of Goldsworthy, and, I think, must appear of consequence to any ministry. I am much obHged to you for the medal, and Hke the design : I shall preserve it as part of your works. I can't forgive what you say to me about the cojffee-pot: one would really think that you looked upon me as an old woman that had left a legacy to be kept for her sake, and a curse to attend the parting with it. My dear child, is it treating me justly to enter into the detail of your reasons ? was it even necessary to say, *' I have changed your cojffee-pot for some other plate ? " I have nothing to tell you, but that I go to town next week, and will then write you all I hear. Adieu ! 169. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Oct. 19, 1744. 1 HAVE received two or three letters from you since I wi^ote to you last, and all contribute to give me fears for your situation at Florence. How absurdly all the Queen's haughtinesses are dictated to her by her ministers, or by her own Austriacity ! She lost all Silesia because she would not lose a small piece of it, and she is going to lose Tuscany for want of a neutrahty, because she would not accept one for Naples, even after all prospect of conquering it was vanished. Every thing goes ill ! the King of Sardinia beaten ; and to-day we hear of Coni lost ! You will see in the papers too, that the Victory, our finest ship, is lost, with Sii' John Balchen and nine hundred men.^ The expense alone of the ship is computed at above two hundred thousand pounds. We have nothing good but a flying report of a victory of Prince Charles over the Prussian, who, it is said, has lost ten thousand men, and both his legs by a cannon- ball. I have no notion of his losing them, but by breaking them in over-hurry to run away. However, it comes from a Jew, who had the first news of the passage of the Rhine.^ But, my dear child, ^ The Yictory, of a hundred and ten brass guns, was lost, between the 4th and 5th of October, near Alderney, — Wright. 2 This report proved to be without foundation. — Walpole. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 327 how will tins comfort me, if yon are not to remain in peace at Florence ! I tremble as I write I Yesterday morning carried off those two old beldams, Sarah of Marlborough and the Countess Granville ; ^ so now TJguccioni's '^ epithalamium must be new-tricked out in titles, for my Lady Carteret is Countess! Poor Bistino ! I wish my Lady Pomfret may leave off her translation of Froissart to EngHsh the eight hundred and forty heroics ! When I know the particulars of old Marlborough's will, you shall. My Lord Walpole has promised me a letter for young Gardiner ; who, by the way, has pushed his fortune en vrai hdtard, without being so, for it never was pretended that he was my brother's : he protests he is not ; but the youth has profited of his mother's gallantries. 1 have not seen Admiral Matthews yet, but I take him to be very mad. He walks in the Park with a cockade of three colours : the Duke [of Cumberland] desired a gentleman to ask him the meaning, and all the answer he would give was, " The Treaty of Worms I the Treaty of Worms ! " I design to see him, thank him for my packet, and inquire after the cases. It is a most terrible loss for his parents, Lord Beauchamp's^ death : if they were out of the question, one could not be sorry for such a mortification to the pride of old Somerset. He has written the most shocking letter imagiaable to poor Lord Hertford, telling biTn that it is a judgment upon him for all his undutifulness, and that he must always look upon himself as the cause of his son's death. Lord Hertford is as good a man as lives, and has always been most unreasonably ill-used by that old tyrant. The title of Somerset will revert to Sir Edward Seymour, whose line has been most unjustly deprived of it from the first creation. The Protector, when only Earl of Hertford, married a great heiress, and had a Lord Beauchamp, who was about twenty when his mother died. His father then married an Ann Stanhope, with whom he was in love, ^ Mother of John, Lord Carteret, who succeeded her in the title. — "Walpole. 2 A Florentine [p. 310], who had employed an abbe of his acquaintance to write an epithalamium on Lord Carteret's marriage, consisting of eight hundred and forty Latin lines. Sir H. Mann had given an account of the composition of this piece of literary flattery in one of his letters to Walpole. — Dover. ^ Only son of Algernon Seymour, Earl of Hertford, (afterwards the last Duke of Somerset of that branch,) and the grandson of the proud Duke of Somerset. — Wal- pole. Lord Beauchamp was seized with the small-pox at Bologna, and, after an illness of four days, died on the 11th of September; on which day he had completed his nineteenth year.— Wriohx. 323 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. and not only procured an act of parliament to deprive Lord Beau- champ of his honours, and to settle the title of Somerset, which he was goiag to have, on the children of this second match, but took from him even his mother's fortune. From him descended Sir Edward SejTnoiu^, the Speaker,' who, on King William's landing, when he said to him, " Sir Edward, I think you are of the Duke of Somerset's family?" rephed, "No, Sir: he is of mine." Lord Lincoln was married last Tuesday, and Lord Middlesex will be very soon. Have you heard the gentle manner of the French King's dismissing Madame de Chateauroux ? In the very cii'cle, the Bishop of Soissons ^ told her, that, as the scandal the King had given with her was public, his Majesty thought his repentance ought to be so too, and that he therefore forbad her the court ; and then tui-ning to the monarch, asked him if that was not his pleasure, who repHed, Yes. They have taken away her pension too, and tui^ned out even laundresses that she had recommended for the future Dauphiness. Aprojws to the Chateauroux : there is a Hanoverian come over, who was so ingenuous as to tell Master Louis ^ how Hke he is to M. Wal- moden. You conceive that " nous autres souvereins nous n'aimons pas qu'on se m^prenne aux gens : " we don't love that our Fitzroys should be scandalised with any mortal resemblance. I must tell you a good piece of discretion of a Scotch soldier, whom Mr. Selwyn met on Bexley Heath walking back to the army. He had met with a single glove at Hiagham, which had been left there last year in an inn by an officer now in Flanders : this the fellow was carrying in hopes of a Httle money; but, for fear he should lose the glove, wore it all the way. Thank you for Greneral Braitwitz's deux potences." I hope that one of them at least will rid us of the Prussian. Adieu ! my dear child ; all my wishes are employed about Florence. ^ Sir Edward Seymour, the Speaker, was the grandfather of Walpole's cousins. Lord Conway and Mr, Conway. — Cunningham. * Son of Fitzjames, Duke of Berwick. This Bishop of Soissons, on the King being given over at Metz, prevailed on him to part with his mistress, the Duchesse de Cha- teauroux ; but the King soon recalled her, and confined the bishop to his diocese. — Walpole. ^ Son of King George IT. by Madame Walmoden, created Countess of Yarmouth. — Walpole. See a good story of Lord Chesterfield and Master Louis in Walpole's " Reminiscences," chapter vii., and compare vol. i. p. 116.— Cunningham. '• General Braitwitz, commander of the Queen of Hungarj'^'s troops in Tuscany, speaking of the two powers, his mistress and the King of Sardinia, instead of saying "ccs deux pouvoirs," said, "ces deux potences." — AValpole. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 329 160. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Nov. 9, 1744. I FIND I must not wait any longer for news, if I intend to keep lip our correspondence. Nothing happens ; nothing has since I wrote last, hut Lord Middlesex's wedding ; which was over ahove a week before it was known. I believe the bride told it then ; for he and all his family are so silent, that they would never have mentioned it : she might have popped out a child, before a single Sackville would have been at the expense of a syllable to justify her. Our old acquaintance, the Pomfrets, are not so reserved about their great matrimony : the new Lady Granville was at home the other night for the first time of her being mistress of the house. I was invited, for I am in much favour with them all, but found myself extremely deplace : there was nothing but the Winchelseas and Baths, and the gleanings of a party stuffed out into a faction, some foreign ministers, and the whole blood of Fermor. My Lady Pomfret asked me if I corresponded still with the Grifona : ^* No," I said, '* since I had been threatened with a regale of hams and Florence wine, I had dropped it." My Lady Granville said, " You was afraid of being thought interested." — " Yes," said the Queen- mother [Lady Pomfret], with all the importance with which she is used to blunder out pieces of heathen mythology, " I think it was very ministeriaV^ Don't you think that word came in as awkwardly as I did into their room ? The Minister [Carteret] is most gracious to me ; he has returned my visit, which, you know, is never practised by that rank : I put it all down to my father's account, who is not likely to keep up the civility. You will see the particulars of old Marlborough's will in the Evening Posts of this week: it is as extravagant as one should have expected ; but I delight in her beggiug that no part of the Duke of Marlborough's life may be written in verse by Glover and Mallet, to whom she gives five hundred pounds a-piece for writing it in prose.' There is a great deal of humour in the thought : to be sure the spirit of the dowager Leonidas" inspired her with it. ^ Glover in his Memoirs (p. 57) regrets that the " capricious restrictions of the will compelled him to reject the undertaking." He alludes to the power vested in Lord Chesterfield of revising his labours. Mallet accepted his own and Glover's legacies, but left not, when he died in 1765, any historical labours behind him. — Cunningham. ^ Glover wrote a dull heroic poem on the action of Leonidas at Thermopylse. — Walfole. 330 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. All public affairs in agitation at present go well for us : Prince Charles in Bohemia, the raising of the siege of Coni, and probably of that of Fribourg, are very good circumstances. I shall be very tranquil this winter, if Tuscany does not come into play, or another scene of an invasion. In a fortnight meets the ParKament ; nobody guesses what the turn of the Opposition will be. Adieu I My love to the Chutes. I hope you now and then make my other comph- ments : I never forget the Princess, nor (ware hams !) the Gnfona. 161. TO SIR HORACE MANN". Arlington Street, Nov. 2Q, 1744. 1 HAVE not prepared you for a great event, because it was really so unlikely to happen, that I was afraid of being the author of a mere political report ; but, to keep you no longer in suspense. Lord Gran- ville has resigned : that is the term, 'Thonnete facon de parler ; ^' but, in a few words, the truth of the history is, that the Duke of Newcastle (by the way, mind that the words I am going to use are not mine, but his Majesty's) " being grown as jealous of Lord Granville ' as he had been of Lord Orford, and wanting to be first minister himself, which, a pnppy ! how should he be ? " {autre phrase royale^) and his brother [Mr. Pelham] being as susceptible of the noble passion of jealousy as he is, have long been conspiring to overturn the great lord. Eesolution and capacity were all they wanted to bring it about ; for the imperiousness and universal con- tempt which their rival had for them, and for the rest of the ministry, and for the rest of the nation, had made almost all men his enemies ; and, indeed, he took no pains to make fiiends : his maxim was, " Give any man the crown on his side, and he can defy every- thing." Winnington asked him, if that were true, how he came to be minister ? About a fortnight ago, the whole cabinet- council, except Lord Bath, Lord Winchelsea, Lord Tweedale, the Dulve of Bolton, and my good brother-in-law,^ (the two last severally bribed with the promise of Ireland,) did venture to let the King know, that he must part with them or with Lord Granville. The monarch does not love to be forced, and his son is full as angry. ^ By the death of his mother [18 Nov. 1744], Baron Carteret had become Earl Gran- ville. — Wright. 2 See in Lord Hervey's Memoirs, i, 197, a curious confirmation of the royal names which the King would frequently employ towards some of his subjects — Cunningham. ^ George, Earl of Cholmondeley.— Walpole. 1744.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 331 Botli tried to avoid the rupture. My father was sent for, but excused himself from coming till last Thursday, and even then would not go to the King ; and at last gave his opinion very unwillingly. But on Saturday it was finally determined : Lord Granville resigned the seals, which are given back to my Lord President Harrington. Lord Winchelsea quits too ; but for all the rest of that connection, they have agreed not to quit, but to be forced out : so Mr. Pelham must have a new struggle to remove every one. He can't let them stay in ; because, to secure his power, he must bring in Lord Chesterfield, Pitt, the chief patriots, and perhaps some Tones. The King has declared that my Lord Granville has his opinion and affection — the Prince warmly and openly espouses him. Judge how agreeably the two brothers will enjoy their ministry ! To-mon'ow the Parhament meets : all in suspense ! everybody will be staring at each other ! I beheve the war will still go on, but a little more Anglici^^ed. For my part, I behold all with great tranquillity ; I cannot be sorry for Lord Granville, for he certainly saciificed everything to please the King ; I cannot be glad for the Pelhams, for they sacrifice everything to their own jealousy and ambition. Who are mortified are the fair Sophia and Queen Stanislaus.* However, the daughter carries it off heroically ; the very night of her faU she went to the Oratorio. I talked to her much, and recol- lected aU that had been said to me upon the like occasion three years ago ; I succeeded, and am invited to her assembly next Tues- day. Tell Uguccioni that she still keeps conversazioni, or he will hang himself. She had no court, but an ugly sister and the fair old- fashioned Duke of Bolton. It put me in mind of a scene in Harry YIIL, where Queen Catherine appears after her divorce, with Patience her waiting-maid, and Griffith her gentleman-usher. My dear child, voild le monde ! are you as great a philosopher about it as I am ? You cannot imagine how I entertain myself, especially as aU the ignorant flock hither, and conclude that my lord must be minister again. Yesterday, three bishops came to do him homage ; and who should be one of them but Dr. Thomas,^ the only man mitred by Lord Granville ! As I was not at aU mortified with our faU, I am only diverted with this imaginary restoration. They Httle think how incapable my lord is of business again. He has this ^ Lady Granville and her mother, the Countess of Pomfret. — Cuxningham. " Bishop of Lincoln. — Walpole. Successively translated to Salisbury and Win- chester. He died in 1781.— Wright. 332 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1744. whole summer been troubled witb bloody water upon the least motion ; and to-day Ranby assured me, that he has a stone in his bladder, which he himself believed before ; so now he must never use the least exercise, never go into a chariot again ; and if ever to Houghton, in a litter. Though this account will grieve you, I tell it you, that you may know what to expect ; yet it is common for people to Hve many years in his situation. If you are not as detached from everjrthing as I am, you will wonder at my tranquiUity, to be able to write such variety in the midst of hui^ricanes. It costs me nothing ! so I shall write on, and tell you an adventui-e of my own. The town has been tiying all this winter to beat Pantomimes off the stage, very boisterously ; for it is the way here to make even an affaii' of taste and sense a matter of riot and arms. Fleetwood,' the master of Drury-Lane, has omitted nothing to support them, as they supported his house. About ten days ago, he let into the pit great numbers of Bear-garden brumrs (that is the term), to knock down everybody that hissed. The pit rallied their forces, and di'ove them out : I was sitting very quietly in the side-boxes, contemplating all this. On a sudden the curtain flew up, and discovered the whole stage filled with blackguards, armed with bludgeons and clubs, to menace the audience. This raised the greatest uproar ; and among the rest, who flew into a passion, but your friend the philosopher? In short, one of the actors, advancing to the front of the stage to make an apology for the manager, he had scarce begun to say, " Mr. Fleetwood — " when your fi'iend, with a most audible voice and dignity of anger, called out, '' He is an impudent rascal ! '^ The whole pit huzzaed, and repeated the words. Only think of my being a popular orator ! But what was still better, while my shadow of a person was dilating to the consistence of a hero, one of the chief ringleaders of the riot, coming under the box where I sat, and pulling off his hat, said, *' Mr. Walpole, what would you please to have us do next ?'' It is impossible to describe to you the confusion into which this apostrophe threw me. I sank down into the box, and have never since ventured to set my foot into the playhouse. The next night, the uproar was repeated with greater violence, and nothing was heard but voices caUing out, " Where's Mr. W. ? where's Mr. W. ? '' In short, the whole town has been entertained with my prowess, and Mr. Conway has given me the name of Wat Tyler ; which, I believe, would have ' Charles Fleetwood, the worst manager that old Dniry, so often ill-managed, ever had.— Cunningham. 1744.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 333 stuck by me, if this new episode of Lord Granville had not luckily interfered. We every minute expect news of the Mediterranean engagement ; for, besides your account, Birtles has written the same from Genoa. We expect good news, too, from Prince Charles, who is driving the King of Prussia before him. In the mean time, his wife the Ai^chduchess is dead, which may be a signal loss to him. I forgot to teU you that, on Friday, Lord Charles Hay,' who has more of the parts of an Irishman than of a Scot, told my Lady Granville at the drawing-room, on her seeing so full a court, *' that people were come out of curiosity." The Speaker [Onslow] is the happiest of any man in these bustles : he says, " this Parliament has torn two favourite ministers fi'om the throne." His conclusion is, that the power of the ParUament wiU in the end be so great, that nobody can be minister but their own Speaker. Winnington says my Lord Chesterfield and Pitt will have places before old Marlborough's legacy to them for being patriots is paid. My compliments to the family of Suares on the Yittorina's marriage. Adieu! 162. TO sm HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Dec. 24, 1744. You will wonder what has become of me : nothing has. I know it is above three weeks since I wrote to you ; but I will teU you the reason. I have kept a parhamentary silence, which I must explain to you. Ever since Lord Granville went out, all has been m suspense. The leaders of the Opposition immediately imposed silence upon their party : every thing passed without the least debate — ^ia short, all were making their bargains. One has heard of the corruption of courtiers ; but .beheve me, the impudent prostitution of patriots, going to market with their honesty, beats it to nothing. Do but think of two hundred men of the most consummate virtue, setting themselves to sale for three weeks ! I have been reprimanded by the wise for saying that they all stood Hke servants at a country statute fair to be hired. All this while nothing was certain : one day the coahtion was settled ; the next, the treaty broke off : I hated to write to you what I might contradict next post. Besides, in my last letter I remember telling you that the Archduchess was dead ; she did not die till a fortnight afterwards. ^ Brother of Lord Twceddale. — Walpole. 334 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTEES. [1744. The result of the whole is this : the King, instigated by Lord GranviUe, has used all his ministry as ill as possible, and has with the greatest difficulty been brought to consent to the necessary changes. Mr. PeUiam has had as much difficulty to regulate the disposition of places. Numbers of Hsts of the hungry have been given in by their centurions ; of those, several Tories have refused to accept the proffered posts : some, from an impossibility of being re-chosen for their Jacobite counties. But upon the whole, it appears that theii' leaders have had very httle influence with them ; for not above four or five are come into place. The rest will stick to Opposition. Here is a list of the changes, as made last Saturday : Duke of Devonshire, Lord Steward, in the room of the Duke of Dorset. Duke of Dorset, Lord President, in Lord Harrington's room. Lord Chesterfieldjt Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in the Duke of Devonshire's, Duke of Bedford,+ Lord Sandwich,+ George Grenville,t Lord Yere Beauclerc,^ and Admiral Anson, Lords of the Admiralty, in the room of Lord Winchelsea,* Dr. Lee,* Cockburn,* Sir Charles Hardy,* and Philipson.* Mr. Arundel and George Lyttelton,t Lords of the Treasury, in the room of Compton* and Gybbon.* Lord Gowerf again Privy Seal in Lord Cholmondeley's* room, who is made Yice- Treasurer of Ireland in Harry Vane's.* Mr. Dodington,"!- Treasurer of the Navy, in Sir John Rushout's.* Mr. Waller, t Cofferer, in Lord Sandys'.* Lord Hobart, Captain of the Pensioners, in Lord Bathurst's,* Sir John Cotton,f2 Treasurer of the Chambers, in Lord Hobart's.^ Mr. Keene, Paymaster of the Pensions, in Mr. Hooper's.* Sir John Philippsf and John Pitt,t Commissioners of Trade, in Mr. Keene's and Sir Charles Gilmour's.* William Chetwyndji- Master of the Mint, in Mr. Arundel's. Lord Halifax,^ Master of the Buck-hounds, in Mr. Jennison's, who has a pension. All those with a cross are from the Opposition ; those with a star, the turned out, and are all of the Granville and Bath squadron, except Lord Chohnondeley, (who, too, had connected with the former,) and Mr. Philipson. The King parted with great regret with Lord Chohnondeley, and complains loudly of the force put upon him. ^ Lord Yere Beauclerk, third son of the first Duke of St. Albans, afterwards created Lord Yere of Han worth. He entered early into a maritime life, and distinguished himself in several commands. He died in 1781. — Wright. 2 The King was much displeased that an adherent of the exiled family should be forced into the service of his own. In consequence of this appointment a caricature was circulated, representing ministers thrusting Sir John, who was extremely corpulent, down the King's throat. — Wright. ^ John, first Lord Hobart, so created in 1728, by the interest of his sister, Lady Suffolk, the mistress of George II. In 1746 he was created Earl of Buckinghamshire, and died in 1756. — Dover. 1745.] TO Sm HOUACE MANN. 336 The Prince, wlio is full as warai as liis father for Lord Granville, has already turned out Lyttelton, who was his secretary, and Lord Halifax ; and has named Mr. Drax and Lord Inchiquin ' in their places. You perceive the great Mr. WiUiam Pitt is not in the Hst, though he conies thoroughly into the measures. To preserve his character and authority in the Parliament, he was unwilling to accept any thing yet : the ministry very rightly insisted that he should ; he asked for Secretary at War, knowiQg it would be refused — and it was.^ By this short sketch, and it is impossible to be more explanatory, you will perceive that all is confusion : all parties broken to pieces, and the whole Opposition by tens and by twenties selling themselves for profit — ^power they get none ! It is not easy to say where power resides at present : it is plain that it resides not in the Kiug ; and yet he has enough to hinder any body else from having it. His new governors have no interest with him — scarce any converse with hioi. The Pretender's son is owned in France as Prince of Wales ; the princes of the blood have been to visit him in form. The Duchess of Chateauroux is poisoned there ; so their monarch is as ill-used as our most graciou^s Eng ! ^ How go your Tuscan afPairs ? I am al"^ays trembling for you, though I am laughing at every thing else. My father is pretty well : he is taking a preparation of Mrs. Stephens's " medicine ; but I think all" his physicians begin to agree that he has no large stone. Adieu ! my dear child : I think the present comedy cannot be of long duration. The Parliament is adjommed for the hoHdays : I am impatient to see the first division. 163. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Jan. 4, 1745. Whei^ I receive your long letters, I am ashamed : miae are notes ^ William O'Brien, fourth Earl of Inchiquin, in Ireland. He died in 1777. "Wright. 2 I ordered Mr. Stone to acquaint you that we had prevailed with the King to make Mr. Pitt Paymaster. His Majesty was determined not to give him the War Office. — D. of Newcastle to D. of Bedford, April 28, 1746.— Cunningham. ^ The Duchess died on the 8th of December. The Biog. Univ. says, that the rumour of her having been poisoned was altogether without foundation. — Wright. ^ It was Dr. Jurin's preparation. — Walpolb. A nostrum for the stone, prepared by Mrs. Joanna Stephens, for which the government gave her 5000L Her method of preparation was published in the London Gazette of June 19, 1739. She died in 1774. ClTNNINGHAlI. 336 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1745, in comparison. How do you contrive to roll out your patience into two sheets ? You certainly don't love me better than I do you ; and yet if our loves were to be sold by the quii^e, you would have by far the more magnificent stock to dispose of. I can only say, that age has already an effect on the vigour of my pen ; none on yours : it is not, I assure you, for you alone, but my ink is at low water- mark for all my acquaintance. My present shame arises from a letter of eight sides, of December 8th, which I received from you last post ; but before I say a word to that, I must tell you that I have at last received the cases ; three with gesse figures, and one with Lord Conway's gun-barrels : I thought there were to be four, besides the guns ; but I quite forget, and did not even remember what they were to contain. Am not I in your debt again ? Tell me, for you know how careless I am. Look over your list, and see whether I have received all. There were four barrels, the Ganymede, the Sleeping Cupid, the model of my statue, the Musaeum Florentinum, and some seeds for your brother. But alas ! though I received them in gross, I did not at all in detail ; the model was broken into ten thousand bits, and the Ganymede short in two ; besides some of the fingers quite reduced to powder. Hysbrach ^ has undertaken to mend him. The little MorphQus arrived quite whole, and is charmingly pretty ; I like it better in plaster than in the onginal black marble. It is not being an upnght senator to promise one's vote before- hand, especially in a money-matter ; but I believe so many excel- lent patriots have just done the same thing, that I shall venture readily to engage my promise to you, to get you any sum for the defence of Tuscany — ^why, it is to defend you and my own country ! my own palace in via dl santo spirito,' my own Princess q)Uhsec, and all my family ! I shall quite make interest for you : nay, I would speak to our new ally, and your old acquaintance. Lord Sandwich, to assist in it ; but I could have no hope of getting at his ear, for he has put on such a first-rate tie-wig, on his admission to the admiralty -board, that nothing without the lungs of a boatswain can ever think to penetrate the thickness of the curls. I think, however, it does honoui' to the dignity of ministers : when he was but a patriot, his wig was not of half its present gravity. There are no more changes made : all is quiet yet ; but next Thursday the Parliament meets to decide the complexion of the session. My ^ John Michael Rysbrach, the sculptor; died 1770.— Cunnixgham. 2 The street in Florence where Mr. Mann lived. — Walpole. 1745.] TO SIR HOEACE MANN. 337 Lord Cliesterfield goes next week to Holland, and tlien returns for Ireland. The great present disturbance in poKtics is my Lady Granville's assembly ; wbicli I do assure you distresses the Pelhams infinitely more than a mysterious meeting of the States would, and far more than the abrupt breaking up of the Diet at Grodno. She had begun to keep Tuesdays before her lord resigned, which now she continues with great zeal. Her hoUse is very fine, she veiy handsome, her lord very agTeeable and extraordinary ; and yet the Duke of New- castle wonders that people will go thither. He mentioned to my father my going there, who laughed at him ; Cato^s a propey^ ])erson to trust with such a childish jealousy ! Harry Fox says, " Let the Duke of Newcastle open his own house, and see if all that come thither are his fr'iends." The fashion now is to send cards to the women, and to declare that all men are welcome without being asked. This is a piece of ease that shocks the prudes of the last age. You can't imagine how my Lady Granville shines in doing honours ; you know she is made for it. My lord has new furnished his mother's apartment for her, and has given her a magnificent set of dressing-plate : he is very fond of her, and she as fond of his being so. You will have heard of Marshal Belleisle's being made a prisoner at Hanover : the world will beHeve it was not by accident. He is sent for over hither : the first thought was to confine hi'-m to the Tower, but that is contrary to the 'politesm of modem war : they talk of sending him to Nottingham, where Tallard was. I am sure, if he is prisoner at large any where, We could not have a worse inmate ! so ambitious and intriguing a man, who was author of this whole war, will be no bad general to be ready to head the Jacobites on any insurrection.^ I can say nothing more about young Gardiner, but that I don't think my father at all inclined now to have any letter written for him. Adieu ! 164. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Jan. 14, 1745. I HAVE given my uncle the letter from M. de Magnan ; he had just received another from him at Venice, to desire his recommenda- ^ Belleisle and his brother, who had been sent by the King of France on a mission to the King of Prussia, were detained, while changing horses, at Elbengerode, and TOL. 1. „. 338 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1745. tion to you. His history is, first, — the Hegent picked Imn up, (I don't know from whence, but lie is of the Greek church,) to teach the present Duke of Orleans the Russ tongue, when they had a scheme for marrying him into Muscovy. At Paris Lord Walde- grave * met with him, and sent him over hither, where they pensioned him, and he was to be a spy, but made nothing out ; till the King was weary of giving him money, and then they dispatched him to Vienna, with a recommendation to Count d'Uhlefeldt, who, I sup- j)ose, has tacked him upon the Great Duke. My uncle says, he knows no ill of him ; that you may be civil to him, but not enter into correspondence with him : you need not ; he is of no use. Apropos to you ; I have been in a fright about you ; we were told that Prince Lobkowitz was landed at Harwich ; I did not Like the name ; and as he has been troublesome to you, I did not know but he might fancy he had some complaints against you. I wondered you had never mentioned his being set out ; but it is his son, a travelling boy of twenty ; he is sent under the care of an apothecary and surgeon. The Parliament is met : one hears of the Tory opposition con- tinuing, but nothing has appeared yet ; all is quiet. Lord Chester- field is set out for the Hague : I don't know what ear the States will lend to his embassy, when they hear with what difficulty the Eong was brought to give him a parting audience ; and which, by a watch, did not last five-and-forty seconds. The Granville faction are still the constant and only countenanced people at Court. Lord Win- chelsea, one of the disgraced, played at Court on Twelfth-night, and won : the King asked him next morning, how much he had for his own share ? ^ He repHed, '^ Sir, about a quarter's salary." I liked the spirit, and was talking to him of it the next night at Lord Granville's : " Wliy, yes," said he, " I think it showed familiarity at least : tell it your father ; I don't think he will dislike it." My Lady Granville gives a ball this week, but in a manner a private one, to the two families of Carteret and Fermor and theii^ intimacies : there is a fourth sister. Lady Juliana,^ who is very handsome, but I tliink not so well as Sophia : the latter thinks herself breeding. from thence conveyed to England ; where, refusing to give their parole in the mode it was required, they were confined in Windsor Castle. — Walpole. ^ James, first Earl of Waldegrave, ambassador at Paris, E.G. He died in 1741. — Dover. 2 Those who play at court on Twelfth-night, make a bank with several people. — Walpolb. ^ Lady Juliana Fermor, married in 1751 to Thomas Penn, Esq., (son of William Penn, the great legislator of the Quakers) one of the proprietors of Pennsylvania. He died in 1775, and Lady Juliana in 1781. — Wright. 1745.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 339 I will tell you a very good thing : Lord Baltimore will not come into the Admiralty, because in the new commission they give Lord Yere Beauclerc the precedence to him, and he has dispersed printed papers with precedents in his favour. A gentleman, I don't know who, the other night at Tom's coffee-house,^ said, " It put him in mind of Penkethman's^ petition in ' The Spectator,' where he com- plains, that formerly he used to act second chair in Dioclesian, hut now was reduced to dance fifth flower-pot." The Duke of Montagu^ has found out an old penny-history-book, called the Old "Woman's Will of Eatcliffe-Highway, which he has bound up with his mother-in-law's, Old Marlborough,'' only tearing away the title-page of the latter. My father has been extremely ill this week with his disorder ; I think the physicians are more and more persuaded that it is the stone in his bladder. He is taking a preparation of Mrs. Stephens's medicine, a receipt of one Dr. Jurin, which we began to fear was too violent for him : I made his doctor angry with me by arguing on this medicine, which I never could comprehend. It is of so great violence, that it is to split a stone when it arrives at it, and yet it is to do no damage to all the tender intestines thi'ough which it must first pass. I told him I thought it was like an admiral going on a secret expedition of war, with instructions, which are not to be opened till he arrives in such a latitude. George Townshend,' my lord's eldest son, who is at the Hague on his travels, has had an offer to raise a regiment for their service, of which he is to be colonel, with power of naming all his own of6.cers. It was proposed that it should consist of Irish Roman CathoHcs, but the regency of Ireland have represented against that, * I suppose Tom's Coffee House in Great Eussell Street, Covent Garden. — Cunningham, 2 William Penkethman (familiarly known as Pinkey) : died 20tli September, 1725. — Cunningham. 3 John, Duke of Montagu (1709-1749), eccentric in Ms humour, as well as in his benevolence, was the contriver (16 January, 1748-9) of the notable hoax at the Hay- mai'ket Theatre, of a man squeezing himself into a quart bottle. " All his [the Duke of Montagu's] talents lie in things only natural in boys of fifteen years old, and he is about two and fifty ; to get people into his garden and wet them with squirts, and to invite people to his coun^^ry houses, and put things into their beds to make them itch, and twenty such pretty fancies like these." — Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough {his mother'4n-law),to Lord Stair. {Dalrymple's Opinions, p. 68.) See another instance of this practised on Dr. Misaubin, in the " Richardsoniana," p, 160. — Cunningham. ^ The Duchess of Marlborough's will was published in a thin octavo volume. — Dover. ^ Afterwards first Marquis Townshend, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Master General of the Ordnance, &c. — Walpole. ■L 2 340 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1745. because they think they will all desert to the French. He is now to try it of Scotch, which Avill scarce succeed, unless he will let aU the officers be of the same nation. An affaii' of this kind first raised the late Duke of Argyll [and Greenwich] ; and was the cause of his fii^st quarrel with the Duke of Marlborough, who was against his coming into oui^ army in the same rank. Sir Thomas Hanmer has at last pubHshed his Shakspeare : he has made several alterations, but they will be the less talked of, as he has not marked in the text, margin, or notes, where or why he has made any change ; but every body must be obHged to collate it with other editions. One most cuiiously absurd alteration I have been told. In Othello, it is said of Cassio, "a Florentine, one almost damned in a fair u'lfer It happens that there is no other mention in the play of Cassio's wife. Sir Thomas has altered it — how do you think ? — no, I should be sorry if you could think how — *' almost damned in a fair ijIuz /" — what a tragic word! and what sense ! Adieu ! I sec advertised a translation of Dr. Cocchi's book on living on vegetables : * does he know any thing of it ? My service to him and every body. 165. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Feb. 1, 1745. 1 AM glad my letters, obscui^e as they of course must be, give you any hght into England ; but don't mind them too much ; they may be j^artial ; must be imperfect ; don^t negotiate ujion this authority, but have Capello's^ example before your eyes ! How I laugh when I see him important, and see my Lady Pomfi^et's letters at the bottom of his instructions ! how it would make a philosopher smile at the vanity of pohtics ! How it diverts me, who can entertain myself at the expense of philosophy, politics, or any thing else ! Mr. Conway says I laugh at all serious characters — so I do — and at myself too, who am far from being of the number. Who would not laugh at a world, where so ridiculous a creature as the Duke of Newcastle can overturn ministries ! Don't take me for a partisan of Lord Gran\aQe's because I despise his rivals ; I am not for adopting his ^ The Doctor's treatise " Di Yitto Pytliagorieo," appeared this year in England, under the title of " The Pythagorean Diet ; or, Vegetables only conducive to the Preservation of Health and the Cure of Diseases." — Wiught. 2 The Venetian ambassador. — Walpole. 1745.] TO SIE HORACE MANN. 341 measures ; tliey were wild and dangerous : in his single capacity, I think him a great genius ; ' and without having recourse to the Countess's [Pomfret's] tramlatahle periods, am pleased with his company. His frankness charms one when it is not necessary to depend upon it ; and his contempt of fools is very flatteiing to any one who happens to know the present ministry. Their coahtion goes on as one should expect ; they have the name of having effected it ; and the Opposition is no longer mentioned : yet there is not a half-witted prater in the House hut can divide with every new minister on his side, except L}4telton, whenever he pleases. They actually do every day hring in popular hills, and on the fii'st tinkling of the hrass, all the new bees swarm back to the Tory side of the House. The other day, on the Flanders army, Mr. Pitt came down to prevent this : he was very ill, but made a very strong and much admired speech for coalition,^ which for that day succeeded, and the army was voted with but one negative. But now the Emperor ' is dead, and every thing must wear a new face. If it produces a peace, Mr. Pelliam is a fortunate man ! He will do extremely weU at the beghining of peace, like the man in Madame de la Fayette's Me- moii's, '^ Qui exercoit exti^emement bien sa charge, quand il n'avoit rien a faire." However, do you keep weU with them, and be sm-e don't write me back any treason, in answer to all I write to you : you are to please them ; I thinlv of them as they are. The new Elector " seems to set out well for us, though there are accounts of his having taken the stj'le of Archduke, as claiming the Austrian succession : if he has, it will be like the childi^en's game of heat hiaves out of doors, where you play the pack twenty times over ; one gets pam, the other gets pam, but there is no conclusion of the game, till one side has never a card left. After my ill success with the baronet,^ to whom I gave a letter for ^ Swift, in speaking of Lord Granville, says, that " he carried away from college more Greek, Latin, and philosophy than properly became a person of his rank ;" and Walpole, in his Memoires, describes him as "an extensive scholar, master of all classic criticism, and of all modern politics."— Wright. 2 " Mr. Pitt, who had been laid up with the gout, came down with the mien and apparatus of an invalid, on purpose to make a full declaration of his sentiments on our present circumstances. What he said was enforced with much grace both of action and elocution. He commended the ministry for pursuing moderate and healing measures, and such as tended to set the King at the head of all his people." — See Mr. P. Yorkes MS. Parliamentary Journal. — "Wright. ^ Charles YIL Elector of Bavaria. — Walpole. "* Maximilian Joseph. He died in 1777. — Wright. ^ Sir William Maynard. — Walpole. He married the daughter of Sir Cecil Bisshopp, and died in 1772. — Wright. 342 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1745. you, I sliall always be very cautious how I recommend barbarians to your protection. I bave this morning been solicited for some cre- dentials for a Mr. Oxenden.^ I could not help laugbing : be is son of Sir George, my Lady W[alpole]'s famous lover ! ^ Can be want recommendations to Florence ? However, I must give bim a letter ; but beg you will not give yourself any particular trouble about bim, for I do not know bim enougb to bow to. His person is good : tbat and bis name, I suppose, will bespeak my lady's attentions, and save you tbe fatigue of doing bim many honours. Tbank Mr. Chute for his letter ; I will answer it very soon. I dehght in the article of the Mantua Gazette. Adieu ! 166. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, Feb. 28, 1745. You have heard from your brother the reason of my not having written to you so long. I have been out but twice since my father fell into this illness, which is now near a month ; and all that time either continually in his room, or obhged to see multitudes of people ; for it is most wonderfid how everybody of all kinds has affected to express their concern for him ! He has been out of danger above this week ; but I can't say he mended at all perceptibly, till these last three days. His S23irits are amazing, and his constitution more ; for Dr. Hulse "* said honestly from the first, that if he recovered, it would be from his own strength, not from their art. After the four or five fii^st days, in which they gave him the bark, they resigned him to the struggles of his own good temperament — and it has sur- mounted ! surmounted an explosion and discharge of thirty-two pieces of stone, a constant and vast effusion of blood for five days, a fever of thi^ee weeks, a perpetual flux of water, and sixty-nine years, abeady (one should think) worn down with his vast fatigues ! How much more he will ever recover, one scarce dare boj^e about : for us, he is greatly recovered ; for himself — ^ Afterwards Sir Henry Oxenden, the sixth baronet of the family, and eldest son of Sir George Oxenden, for many years a lord of the Treasury during the reign of George H. He died in 1803. — Wright. ^ Sir George Oxenden (died 1775) was thought to be the father of Lady Walpole's son, afterwards third Earl of Orford. (See Lord Hervey's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 347.) Lord Hervey has drawn an odious picture of Sir George Oxenden, " my Lady W.'s famous lover." — Cunningham. ^ Dr. Hulse, father of Sir Edward Hulse, Bart. He was called in to Mr. Winning- ton when too late. — Cunningham. 1745.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 343 March itli. I had written thus far last week, without being able to find a moment to finish. In the midst of all my attendance on my lord and receiving visits, I am forced to go out and thank those that have come and sent ; for his recovery is now at such a pause, that I fear it is in vain to expect much farther amendment. How dismal a pro- spect for him, with the possession of the greatest understanding in the world, not the least impaired, to Hq without any use of it I for to keep him from pains and restlessness, he takes so much opiate, that he is scarce awake four houi^s of the four-and-twenty ; but I will say no more of this. Our coalition goes on thrivingly ; but at the expense of the old Court, who are all discontented, and are likely soon to show their resentment. The brothers have seen the best days of their ministry. The Hanover troops dismissed to please the Opposition, and taken again with their consent, under the cloak of an additional subsidy to the Queen of Hungary, who is to pay them. This has set the patriots in so villainous a hght, that they will be ill able to support a minister who has thrown such an odium on the Whigs, after they had so stoutly supported that measure last year, and which, after aU the clamour, is now universally adopted, as you see. If my Lord Granville had any resentment, as he seems to have nothing but thirst, sm-e there is no vengeance he might not take ! So far fi'om contracting any prudence from his fall, he laughs it ofi" every night over two or three bottles. The countess is with child. I beHeve she and the countess-mother [Pom fret] have got it ; for there is nothing ridiculous which they have not done and said about it. There was a private masquerade lately at the Venetian ambassadress's for the Prince of Wales, who named the company, and expressly excepted my Lady Lincoln [Miss Pelham] and others of the Pelham faction. My Lady Granville came late, dressed like Imoinda, and handsomer than one of the houris : the Prince asked her why she would not dance ? " Indeed, Sir, I was afraid I could not have come at all, for I had a fainting fit after dinner.'' The other night my Lady Townshend made a great ball on her son's coming of age : I went for a Httle while, Httle thinking of dancing. I asked my Lord Granville, why my lady did not dance ? '' Oh, Lord I I wish you would ask her ; she will with you." I was caught, and did walk down one country dance with her ; but the prudent Signora- madre would not let her expose the young Carteret any farther. 344 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1746. You say, you expect mucli information about Belleisle, but there has not (in the style of the newspapers) the least particular transpired. He was at first kept magnificently close at Windsor ; but the ex- 2:)cnse proving above one hundred j)ounds per day, they have taken his parole, and sent him to Nottingham, a la Tallarde. Pray, is De Sede with you still ? his brother has been taken too by the Austrians. My Lord Coke is going to be married to a Miss Shawe,' of forty- thousand pounds. Lord Hartington " is contracted to Lady Charlotte Boyle, the heii-ess of Bm-lington, and sister of the unhappy Lady Euston ; but she is not yet old enough. Earl 8tanhoj)e,^ too, has at last hfted up his eyes from Euclid, and directed them to matiimony. He has chosen the eldest sister of your acquaintance Lord Had- dington. I revive about you and Tuscany. I will tell you what is thought to have reprieved you : it is much suspected that the King of Spain'' is dead. I hope those superstitious people will pinch the Queen, as they do witches, to make her loosen the charm that has kept the Prince of Asturias from having chikben. At least this must tm^n out better than the death of the Emperor has. The Duke [of Cumberland], you hear, is named generalissimo, with Count Koningseg, Lord Dunmore,^ and Ligonier ** under him. Poor boy ! he is most Brunswickly happy with his drums and trumpets. Do but t hink that this sugar-plum was to tempt him to swallow that bolus the Princess of Denmark ! '' What will they do if they have children ? The late Queen never forgave the Duke of Pichmond, for telling her that his childi'en would take place before the Duke's grandchildi-en. ^ This marriage did not take place. Lord Coke afterwards married Lady Mary- Campbell [of whom we shall read so much] ; and Miss Shawe, William, fifth Lord Byron, the immediate predecessor of the great poet. — Wriqht. ^ His marriage with Lady Charlotte Boyle took place in March, 1748. In 1755, he succeeded his father as fourth Duke of Devonshire. — Wright. ^ Philip, second Earl Stanhope. He married, in July following, Lady Grizel Hamilton, daughter of Charles, Lord Binning. — Wright. ■* The imbecile and insane Philip V. He did not die till 174(5. The Prince of Asturias was Ferdinand VL, who succeeded him, and died childless in 1759. — Dover. •'' John Murray, second Earl of Dunmore : colonel of the third regiment of Scotch Foot Guards. He died in 1752. — Wright. ^ Sir John Ligonier, created Lord Ligonier, in Ireland, in 1757, an English peer by the same title in 1763, and Earl Ligonier in 1706. He died at the age of ninety- one, in 1770.— Dover. 7 Compare Walpole's '^ Keminiscences," chap. viii. — Cunningham. 1745.] TO Sm HOEACE MANN". 345 I inclose yon a pattern for a chair, wliich your brother desired me to send you. I thank you extremely for the views of Florence ; you can't imagine what wishes they have awakened. My best thanks to Dr. Cocchi for his book : I have delivered all the copies as directed. Mr. Chute will excuse me yet ; the first moment I have time, I will write. I have just received your letter of Feb. 16, and giieve for your disorder : you know how much concern your ill-health gives me. Adieu ! my dear child : I write with twenty people in the room. 167. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, March 29, 1745. I BEGGED your brother to tell you what it was impossible for me to tell you.' You share nearly in our common loss ! Don't expect me to enter at all upon the subject. After the melancholy two months that I have passed, and in my situation, you will not wonder I shun a conversation which could not be bounded by a letter — a letter that would grow into a panegyric, or a piece of moral ; improper for me to wiite upon, and too distressful for us both ! — a death is only to be felt, never to be talked over by those it touches ! I had yesterday your letter of three sheets : I began to flatter myself that the storm was blown over, but I tremble to think of the danger you are in ! a danger, in which even the protection of the great friend you have lost could have been of no seiwice to you. How ridiculous it seems for me to renew protestations of my friend- ship for you, at an instant when my father is just dead, and the Spaniards just bursting into Tuscany ! How empty a charm would my name have, when all my interest and significance are buried in my father's grave ! All hopes of present peace, the only thing that could save you, seem vanished. We expect every day to hear of the French declaration of war against Holland. The new Elector of Bavaria is French, Hke his father ; and the King of Spaia is not dead. I don^t know how to talk to you. I have not even a behef that the Spaniards will spare Tuscany. My dear child, what will become of you ? whither will you retire till a peace restores you to your ministry ? for upon that distant view alone I repose ! ^ The death of his father. Lord Orford died at his house in Arlington Street, 18 March, 1745, and was buried at Houghton. — Cunningham. 346 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1745. "We are every day nearer confusion. The King is in as bad humour as a monarch can be ; he wants to go abroad, and is detained by the Mediterranean affair ; the inquiry into which was moved by a Major Selwyn, a dirty pensioner, half- turned patriot, by the Court being overstocked with votes.' This inquiry takes up the whole time of the House of Commons, but I don't see what conclu- sion it can have. My confinement has kept me fi'om being there, except the first day ; and all I know of what is yet come out is, as it was stated by a Scotch member the other day, " that there had been one (Matthews) with a bad head, another (Lestock) with a worse heart, and fom^ (the captains of the inactive ships) with na heart at all." Among the numerous visits of form that I have received, one was from my Lord Sandys : as we two could only converse upon general topics, we fell upon this of the Mediterranean, and I made him allow, " that, to be sm-e, there is not so bad a court of justice in the world as the House of Commons ; and how hard it is upon any man to have his cause tiied there ! '* Sir Everard Falkner*'' is made secretary to the Duke, who is not yet gone : I have got Mr. Conway to be one of his aid- de-camps. Sir Everard has since been offered the joint-postmastership, vacant by Sir John Eyles's ^ death ; but he would not quit the Dul^e. It was then proposed to the King to give it to the brother : it happened to be a cloudy day, and he only answered, " I know who Sir Everard is, but I don't know who Mr. Falkner is." The world expects some change when the Parliament rises. My Lord Granville's physicians have ordered liim to go to the Spa, as, you know, they often send ladies to the Bath who are very ill of a want of diversion. It will scarce be possible for the present ministry to endm^e this jaunt. Then they are losing many of their new allies : the new Duke of Beaufort,* a most determined and unwavering Jacobite, has openly set himself at the head of that party, and forced them to vote against the Court, and to renounce ^ "1745, February 26. We had an unexpected motion from a very contemptible fellow, ]\[ajor Selwyn, for an inquiry into the cause of the miscarriage of the fleet in the action oflT Toulon. Mr. Pelham, perceiving that the inclination of the House was for an inquirj'^, acceded to themotion ; but forwarned it of the temper, patience, and caution with which it should be pursued." — Mr. Yorhe's MS. Journal. — Wright. 2 He had been ambassador at Constantinople. — Walpole. ^ Sir John Eyles, Bart., an alderman of the city of London, and at one time member of parliament for the same. He died March 11, 1745. — Dover. '* Charles Noel Somerset, fourth Duke of Beaufort, succeeded his elder brother Henry in the dukedom, February 14, 1745. — Dover. 1745.] TO Sm HORACE MANN. 347 my Lord Gower. My wise cousin, Sir John Phillipps, has resigned his place ; and it is believed that Sir John Cotton will soon resign : but the Bedford, Pitt, Lyttelton, and that squadron, stick close to their places. Pitt has lately resigned his bedchamber to the Prince, which, in friendship to Lyttelton, it was expected he would have done long ago. They have chosen for this resignation a very apposite passage out of Cato : " He toss'd his arm aloft, and proudly told me He would not stay, and perish like SemproniuB." This was Williams's. My Lord Coke's match is broken off, upon some coquetry of the lady [Miss Shawe] with Mr. Mackenzie ' at the Hidotto. My Lord Leicester says, ** there shall not be a third lady in Norfolk of the species of the two fortunes^ that matched at Rainham and Houghton.'' Pray, will the new Countess of Orford come to England ? The town flocks to a new play of Thomson's called " Tancred and Sigismunda : " it is very dull ; I have read it. I cannot bear modem poetry ; these refiners of the purity of the stage, and of the incorrectness of Enghsh verse, are most woftdly insipid. I had rather have written the most absm^d lines in Lee, than " Leonidas " or " The Seasons ; " as I had rather be put into the round-house for a wi^ong-headed quarrel, than sup quietly at eight o'clock with my grandmother. There is another of these tame genius's, a Mr. Akenside, who writes Odes : in one he has lately pubhshed, he says, " Light the tapers, m-ge the fire." ^ Had not you rather make gods "jostle in the dark,'"* than light the candles for fear they should break their heads? One Russel, a mimic, has a puppet- show to ridicule Operas ; I hear, very dull, not to mention its being twenty years too late : it consists of three acts, with foolish Italian songs burlesqued in ItaHan. ^ The Hon, James Stuart Mackenzie, second son of James, second Earl of Bute, and brother of John, Earl of Bute, the minister. He married Lady Elizabeth Campbell, one of the daughters of John, the great Duke of Argyll, and died in 1800. — Dover. ^ Margaret Eolle, Countess of Orford, and Ethelreda Harrison, Viscountess Towns- hend. — Walpole. Both were loose livers! The Holkham match, notwithstanding Lord Leicester's determination, proved anything but happy. — Cunningham. 3 " Urge the warm bowl and ruddy fire," is Akenside's line in the first edition of his " Odes,'' 4to, 1745 — the copy Walpole professes to quote. — Cunningham. ^ As Kat Lee does in a passage which Warburton admired so extravagantly. — Cunningham. 348 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTEBS. [1745. There is a very good quarrel on foot between two ducliessses : slie of Queensberry sent to invite Lady Emily Lenox ' to a ball : her Grace of Richmond, who is wonderfully cautious since Lady Caroline's elopement [with Mr. Fox], sent word, "she could not determine." The other sent again the same night: the same answer. The Queensberry then sent word, that she had made up her comjDany, and desired to be excused from having Lady Emily's ; but at the bottom of the card wrote, " Too great a trust." You know how mad she is, and how capable of such a stroke. There is no declaration of war come out from the other Duchess ; but, I beheve it will be made a national quarrel of the whole illegitimate royal family.' It is the present fashion to make conundrums : there are books of them printed, and produced at all assemblies : they are full silly enough to be made a fashion. I will tell you the most renowned : *' Why is my uncle Horace like two people conversing ? — Because he is both teller and auditor." This was Winnington's. Well, I had almost forgot to tell you a most extraordinary imper- tinence of your Florentine Marquis Riccardi. About three weeks ago, I received a letter by Monsieur Wasner's footman fi'om the marquis. He tells me most cavalierly, that he has sent me seventy- seven antique gems to sell for him, by the way of Paris, not caring it should be known in Florence. He will have them sold altogether, and the lowest price two thousand pistoles. You know what no- acquaintance I had with him. I shall be as frank as he, and not receive them. If I did, they might be lost in sending back, and then I must pay his two thousand doppie cli Spagna. The refusing to receive them is jDOsitively aU the notice I shall take of it. I inclose what I think a fine piece on my father : "^ it was written by Mr. Ashton," whom you have often heard me mention as a particular friend. You see how I try to make out a long letter, in ^ Second daughter of Charles, Duke of Kichmond. — Walpole. Afterwards married to James Fitzgerald, first Duke of Leinster, in Ireland. — Doter. ^' " I had like to have forgot to tell you, that the Duchess of Queensberry, wanting a man to make up her ball last night, condescended so far as to send for him, and he danced with hsidy Emily Lenox, and every body that was there says, it was the prettiest sight upon earth to see the two Lady Emilys dance together. The Duchess never gives meat suppers, and Hobart told me himself, that he had nothing but half an apple puff and a little wine and water. If you had been there yourself you could have ordered nothing properer. . . . Mr. Walpole sits by me while I write this." — Sir C. H. Williams to Selwyn, 30 March, 1745. — Cunningham. ^ It was printed in the public papers. — Walpole. "* Horace Walpole's early friend, see note, p. 2. — Cunningham. 1745.] TO SIR HORACE MANK. 349 return for your kind one, wbicli yet gave me great pain by telling . me of your fever. My dearest Sir, it is terrible to bave illness added to your otber distresses ! I will take tbe first opportimity to send Dr. Cocclii bis translated book ; I bave not yet seen it myself. Adieu ! my dearest cbild ! I write witb a bouse full of relations, and must conclude. Heaven preserve you and Tuscany. 168. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlmgton Street, April 15, 1745. By tbis time you bave beard of my Lord's deatb : I fear it will bave been a very great sbock to you. I bope your brotber will write you all tbe particulars ; for my part, you can't expect I sboidd enter into tbe details of it. His enemies pay bim tbe compliment of sajring, " tbey do believe now tbat be did not plunder tbe public, as be was accused (as the?/ accused bim) of doing, be baving died in sucb. circumstances," If be bad no proofs of bis bonesty but tbis, I don't tbink tbis would be sucb indisputable" autbority : not leaving immense ricbes would be scanty evidence of bis not baving acquired tbem, tbere bappening to be sucb a tbing as spending tbem. It is certain, be is dead very poor : bis debts, witb bis legacies, wbicb are trifling, amount to fifty tbousand pounds. His estate, a nominal eigbt tbousand a-year, mucb mortgaged. In sbort, bis fondness for Hougbton bas endangered Hougbton. If be bad not so overdone it, be migbt bave left sucb an estate to bis family as migbt bave secured tbe glory of tbe place for many years : anotber sucb debt must expose it to sale. H be bad lived, bis unbounded generosity and contempt of money would bave nm bim into vast difficulties. However irreparable bis personal loss may be to bis friends, be cer- tainly died critically well for bim self : be bad lived to stand tbe rudest trials witb bonour, to see bis cbaracter universally cleared, bis enemies brougbt to infamy for tbeir ignorance or viUany, and tbe world allowing bim to be tbe only man m England fit to be wbat be bad been ; and be died at a time wben bis age and infirmities prevented bis again undertaking tbe support of a government, wbicb. engrossed bis wbole care, and wbicb be foresaw was falling into tbe last confusion. In tbis I bope bis judgment failed ! His fortune attended bim to tbe last ; for be died of tbe most painful of all distempers, witb little or no pain. 350 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. i:i745; The House of Commons have at last finished their great affair, their inquiry into the Mediterranean miscarriage. It was carried on with more decency and impartiality than ever was known ui so tumultuous, popular, and partial a court. I can't say it ended so ; for the Tories, all hut one single man, voted against Matthews, whom they have not forgiven for lately opposing one of their friends in Monmouthshii'e, and for carrying his election. The greater part of the Whigs were for Lestock. This last is a very great man : his cause, most unfriended, came before the House with all the odium that could he laid on a man standing in the light of having betrayed his country. His merit, I mean his parts, prevailed, and have set him in a very advantageous point of view. Harry Fox has gained the greatest honour by his assiduity and capacity in this affair. Matthews remains in the light of a hot, brave, imperious, dull, con- fused fellow. The question was to address the King to appoint a trial, by court-martial, of the two admirals and the four coward captains. Matthews's friends were for leaving out his name, but, after a very long debate, were only 76 to 218. It is generally supposed, that the two admirals will be acquitted and the captains hanged. By what I can make out, (for you know I have been confined, and could not attend the examination,) Lestock preferred his own safety to the glory of his country ; I don't mean cowardly, for he is most unquestionably brave, but selfishly. Having to do with a man who, he knew, would take the slightest opportunity to ruin him, if he in the least transgressed his orders, and knowing that man too dull to give right orders, he chose to stick to the letter, when, by neglecting it, he might have done the greatest service. We hear of great news from Bavaria, of that Elector being forced into a neutrality ; but it is not confirmed. Mr. Legge is made Lord of the Admiralty, and Mr. Philipson fSurveyor of the Roads in his room. This is all I know. I look with anxiety every day into the Gazettes about Tuscany, but hitherto I find all is quiet. My dear Sir, I tremble for you ! I have been much desired to get you to send five gesse figures ; the Yenus, the Faun, the Mercury, the Cupid and Psyche, and the little Bacchus ; you know the original is modern : if this is not to be had, then the Ganymede. My dear child, I am sorry to give you this trouble ; order anybody to buy them, and to send them from Leghorn by the first ship. Let me have the bill, and bill of lading. Adieu! 1745.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 361 169. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, April 29, 1745. When you wrote your last of the 6th of this month, you was still in hopes about my father. I msh I had received your letters on his death, for it is most shocking to have all the thoughts opened agaia upon such a subject ! — ^it is the great disadvantage of a distant correspondence. There was a report here a fortnight ago, of the new Countess [of Orford] coming over. She could not then have heard it. Can she be so mad ? Why should she suppose all her shame buried in my lord's grave ? or does not she know, has she seen so little of the world, as not to be sensible that she will now retmn iu a worse light than ever ? A few malicious, who would have countenanced her to vex him, would now treat her like the rest of the world. It is a private family affair ; a husband, a mother, and a son, all party against her, all wounded by her conduct, would be too much to get over ! My dear child, you have nothing but misfortunes of your friends to lament. You have new subject by the loss of poor Mr. Chute's brother.' It really is a great loss ! he was a most rising man, and one of the best-natm-ed and most honest that ever lived. If it would not sound ridiculously, though, I assure you, I am far from feeling it Hghtly, I would tell you of poor Patapan's death : he died about ten days ago. This peace with the Elector of Bavaria may produce a general one. You have given great respite to my uneasiness, by telling me that Tuscany seems out of danger. We have for these last thi^ee days been in great expectation of a battle. The French have invested Toumay ; our army came up with them last Wednesday, and is certainly Httle inferior, and determined to attack them ; but it is believed they are retired : we don't know who commands them ; it is said, the Due d'Harcourt. Our good friend, the Coimt de Saxe, is dying ^ — by Yenus,, not by Mars. The King goes on Friday ;. this ^ Francis Chute, a very eminent lawyer. [See p. 99,] — Walpolb. - The Marshal de Saxe did not die till 1750. He was, however, exceedingly ill at the time of the battle of Fontenoy. Yoltaire, in his " Si^cle de Louis XV." mentions having met him at Paris just as he was setting off for the campaign. Observing how unwell he seemed to be, he asked him whether he thought he had strength enough to go through the fatigues which awaited him. To this the Marshal's reply was, " II ne s'agit pas de vivre, mais de partir." — Dover. 352 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1745. may make the young Duke more impatient to give battle, to have all the honour his own. There is no kind of news ; the Parliament rises on Thursday, and every body is going out of town. I shall only make short excursions in visits ; you know I am not fond of the country, and have no call into it now ! My brother will not be at Houghton this year ; he shuts it up, to enter on new, and there very unknown, economy : he has much occasion for it ! Commend me to poor Mr. Chute ! Adieu! 170. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Arlington Street, May 11, 1745. I STAYED till to-day, to be able to give you some account of the battle of Tournay : ^ the outlines you will have heard abeady. We don't allow it to be a victory on the French side : but that is, just as a woman is not called Mrs. till she is married, though she may have had half-a-dozen natural childi^en. In short, we remained upon the field of battle thi^ee hours ; I fear, too many of us remain there still ! without palliating, it is cei^tainly a heavy stroke. We never lost near so many officers. I pity the Duke [of Cumberland], for it is almost the fii^st battle of consequence that we ever lost. By the letters ariived to-day, we find that Tom-nay still holds out. There are certainly killed Sir James Camj)bell,^ General Ponsonby,^ Colonel Carpenter,"* Colonel Douglas, young Boss,' Colonel Montagu, Gee, Berkeley," and Kellet. Mr. Yanbrugh' is since dead. Most of the yoimg men of quality in the Guards are wounded. I have had the vast fortune to have nobody hui^t, for whom I was in the least inte- rested. Mr. Conway, in particular, has highly distinguished himself ; he and Lord Petersham," who is shghtly wounded, are most com- ^ Since called the battle of Fontenoy. — Walpole. The Marshal de Saxe com- manded the French army, and both Louis XV. and his son the Dauphin were pre- sent in the action. The Duke of Cumberland commanded the British forces. — Dover. "^ K.B., Lieutenant-General and Colonel of the Scotch Greys. — Cunningham. ^ Brother to the Earl of Besborough. ^ Nearly related to Lord Carpenter. He left a wife and. seven children. Cunningham. ^ M.P. for Ross-shire, and the same on whom Collins wrote his " Ode." Cunningham. ^ Nephew to Lady Betty Germain and cousin to Earl Berkeley. — Cunningham. 7 The poet's only son, Ensign in the 2nd regiment of Foot Guards. — Cunningham. ^ William, Lord Petersham, eldest son of the Earl of Harrington — Walpole. 1745.] TO SIR HORACE MANN. 353 mended ; tliougli none beliaved ill but the Dutcli horse. There has been but very Kttle consternation here : the King minded it so little, that being set out for Hanover, and blown back into Harwich-roads since the news came, he could not be persuaded to return, but sailed yesterday with the fair wind. I believe you will have the Gazette sent to-night ; but lest it should not be printed time enough, here is a list of the numbers, as it came over this morning : British foot .... 1237 killed. Ditto horse . . .90 ditto. Ditto foot . . . . 1968 wounded. Ditto horse . ... 232 ditto. Ditto foot ... . 457 missing. Ditto horse . . . .18 ditto. Hanoverian foot . . 432 killed. Ditto horse .... 78 ditto. Ditto foot . . . . 950 wounded. Ditto horse . . .192 ditto. Ditto horse and foot . . 53 missing. Dutch . . .625 killed and wounded. Ditto . . . . . .1019 missing. So the whole hors cle comhat is above seven thousand three hundred. The French own the loss of three thousand ; I don't beHeve many more, for it was a most rash and desperate perseverance on om* side. The Duke behaved very bravely and humanely ;' but this will not have advanced the peace. However coolly the Duke may have behaved, and coldly his father, at least his brother [the Prince of Wales] has outdone both. He not only went to the play the night the news came, but in two days made a ballad. It is in imitation of the Regent's style, and has miscariied in nothing but the language, the thoughts, and the poetry. Did not I tell you in my last that he was going to act Pans in Con- greve's Masque ? The song^ is addressed to the goddesses. Venez, mes ch&res Deesses, Venez calmer mon chagrin ; Aidez, mes belles Princesses, A le noyer dans le vin. ^ The Hon. Philip Yorke^ in a letter to Horace Walpole, the elder, of the following day, says, "the Duke's behaviour was, by all accounts, the most heroic and gallant imaginable : he was the whole day in the thickest of the fire. His Royal Highness drew out a pistol upon an officer whom he saw running away." — Wright, 2 " Frederic Prince of Wales wrote French songs, in imitation of the Regent [Duke of Orleans], and did not miscarry solely by writing in a language not his own." — Wal-pole, Wv^- ^i^^l m " ;silr m: vVrt^rf Mm. f'li"!;' iir'>>;ii!f!5€i«.' ■i-IT^ t^tr i!"^ '\h,«iw ■■%17 ;^!? fS s>