The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2
by
Horace Walpole
Part 1 out of 16
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This etext was produced by Marjorie Fulton.
For easier searching, letters have been numbered. Only the
page numbers that appear in the table of contents have been
retained in the text of letters. Footnotes have been regrouped
as endnotes following the letter to which they relate.
THE LETTERS of HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD:
INCLUDING NUMEROUS LETTERS NOW FIRST PUBLISHED
FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS.
IN FOUR VOLUMES
VOL. 2. 1749-1759.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II
[Those Letters now first collected are marked N.]
1749.
1. To Sir Horace Mann, March 4.-Proceedings in Parliament.
Formidable minority headed by the Prince. Character'-of Lord
Egmont. Innovations in the Mutiny Bill. New Navy Bill ;13
2. To the same, March 23.-Debates on the Military Bills. Jar at
Leicester House. King Theodore of Corsica. The two black
Princes of Anamaboe. Spread of Methodism. Stories of his
brother Ned's envy-16
3. To the same, May 3.-Rejoicings for the peace. Jubilee
masquerade. Fire-works. English credulity. Subscription
masquerade. Projected chastisement of Oxford. Union between the
Prince's party and the Jacobites. Disgrace of Maurepas. Epigram
on Lord Egmont's opposition to the Mutiny Bill. Bon-mot by
Wall; and of Lady Townshend. Increase of Methodism, drinking,
and gambling.-19
4. To the same, May 17.--The Duke of Richmond's fireworks in
celebration of the peace. Second jubilee masquerade. Miss
Chudleigh. Lady Rochford. Death of Miss Jenny Conway.
Publication of Lord Bolingbroke's letters. Anecdotes of Pope
and Bolingbroke.-23
5. To George Montagu, Esq. May 18.-The Duke of Richmond's
fireworks. The Violette and Garrick. Story of the Duchess of
Queensberry. Mary Queen of Scots. Dignity of human nature.
Anecdote of Fielding. West's Pindar. Story of Charles Townshend
.-27
6. To Sir Horace Mann, June 4.-Stories of Pope, Bolingbroke,
and Atterbury.-30
7. To the same, June 25.-Cambridge installation. Installation
of six Knights of the Bath. Garrick's marriage to the Violette.
Lord Mountford's cricket-matches.-32
8. To George Montagu, Esq. July 5.-Improvements at Mistley.
Visit to the Prince of Wales. Anecdote of Lady Anson. Epigram.-
35
9. To the same, July 20.-Excursions. Layer Marney. Messing
parsonage. Death of the Duke of Montagu. His will.-36
10. To Sir Horace Mann, July 24.-Death of the Duke of Montagu.
Principles of the Methodists .-38
11. To the same, Aug. 17.-Fire at Kensington Palace.-40
12. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 26.-Expedition to Arundel
Castle. Petworth. Cowdry.-42
13. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 12.-Madame de Mirepoix. Madame
S`evign`e's Letters.-43
14. To John Chute, Esq. Sept. 22.--45
15. To George Montagu, Esq. Sept. 28.-Church at Cheneys. Tombs of
the Bedfords. Latimers. Stoke church--45
16. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 27-Dodington first minister at
Carlton House. Lady Yarmouth.-46
17. To the same, Nov. 17.-Robbery of Walpole in Hyde Park.
Riots at the new French theatre.-47
1750.
18. To Sir Horace Mann, Jan. 10.-Montesquieu's Esprit des Loix.
Hainault's Abr`eg`e de L'Histoire de la France. Westminster
election. Death of Lord Pembroke. His character. Death of
lord Crawford. Story of General Wade. Sir John Barnard's scheme
for the reduction of interest.-48
19. To the same Jan. 31.-Numerous robberies. Secession on the
mutiny-bill. Hurricane in the East Indies. Bon-mot of the
Chevalier Lorenzi.-52
20. To the same, Feb. 25.-Ministerial quarrels. Dispute of
precedence. Bon-mot of a chair-maker. Westminster election.
Extraordinary wager. Death of the Duke of Somerset. Madame
Munchausen. Horrors of the slave-trade. Montesquieu's Esprit
des Loix. Grecian architecture.-53
21. To the same, March 11.-The earthquakes. Middlesex election.
Story Of Marie Mignot.-58
22. To the same, April 2.-Terror occasioned by the earthquake.
Death of Lady Bolingbroke. Death of Lady Dalkeith. Mr. Mason's
pedigree. Epigram on Lady Caroline Petersham, and the Lady
Bingley. Madame du Boccage.-60
23. To George Montagu, Esq. May 15.-Westminster election.-65
24. To Sir Horace Mann, May 19.-Absurdities committed after the
earthquake. Westminster election. Commotion in Dublin. Bower's
History of the Popes.-66
25. To George Montagu, Esq. June 23.-Character of Mr. Bentley.
Account of a party of pleasure at Vauxhall.-68
26. To Sir Horace Mann, July 25.-The Houghton lantern. King
Theodore of Corsica in prison for debt. Mr. Ashton. Dr.
Mead.-71
27. To the same, Aug. 2.-Tuscan villas. Improvement in the
seats about London. Consequences of the excessive heat of the
weather. Death of Dr. Middleton, and of Tacitus Gordon. Account
of M'Lean, the fashionable highwayman.-73
28. To the same, Sept. 1.-Pedigrees. Young Craggs's epitaph.
Story of old Craggs. George Selwyn's passion for coffins and
executions. Death of the Duke OF Richmond. Lord Granby's
marriage. Hanoverian duel. Singular bet at White's.-76
29. To George Montagu, Esq. Sept. 10.-Death of General
Handasyde, and of Sir Gerard Vanneck. hopes conducive to
happiness.-80
30. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 20.-Dr. Mead. Sermon against Dr.
Middleton. Ecclesiastical absurdity. Project for publishing an
edition of the Bible without pointings or stops. Sir Charles
William's letters. Frequency of robberies. Visit to Spence.-81
31. To the same, Oct. 18.-Treaty of commerce with Spain.
M'Lean's condemnation and execution. Rage for visiting him in
Newgate.-83
32. To the same, Nov. 19.-Shattered state of the ministry.
State of parties.-84
33. To the same, Dec. 19.-Interministerium. Droll cause in
Westminster Hall. The Duke of Cumberland and Edward Bright. Sir
Ralph Gore. Bon-mots of Quin.-86
34. To the same, Dec. 22.-Miss Chudleigh. FOntenelle. Reply of
Lord Cornbury. Old Cibber's soliciting the laureateship for
Harry Jones. A very odd new story. Ashton's ingratitude.-88
1751.
35. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 9.-Debates in Parliament.
"Constitutional queries." Westminster petition. Proceedings
against Mr. Murray. Account of young Wortley Montagu.-91
36. To the same, March 1,3.-Further proceedings against Mr.
Murray. Lady Vane's memoirs of her own life. Fashionable
theatricals. The English "a grave nation".-94
37. To the same, March 21.-Death of Frederick, Prince of Wales.
Conduct of the King .-95
38. To the same, April 1.-Death of Mr. Whithed; his will.
Death of the Earl of Orford. Harmony between the King and
Princess of Wales. Prince George. Prince Edward.-97
39. To the same, April 22.-Dodington's project of a ministry
upset by the death of the Prince. Story of Bootle. Character of
Dr. Lee. Prince George created Prince of Wales. His household.
Bishop Hayter and Archbishop Blackburn. The young Earl of
Orford.-99
40. To the same, May 30.-Emptiness and vanity of life. Match
between Lord Orford and the rich Miss Nicholl broken off.
Debates on the Regency bill.-103
41. To George Montagu, Esq. May 30.-Lady Orford and Mr. Shirley
married.-103
42. To the Rev. Joseph Spence, June 3.-With a translation of a
couplet on Tibullus. [N.]-105
43. To George Montagu, Esq. June 13.-Change of ministry.
Bon-mot on Lord North's Wedding. Spenser, with Kent's designs.
Bentley's ray. Warburton's Pope. Edwards's Canons of
Criticism.-106
44. To Sir Horace Mann, June 18.-Resignations. New ministry.
Epigram on Lord Holderness. The two Miss Gunnings. Extravagant
dinner at White's. Bubb de Tristibus. Dodington's bombastic
eulogium on the Prince. Sale of the pictures at Houghton.-107
45. To the same, July 16.-Announcing Mr. Conway's intended
visit to Florence.-109
46. To George Montagu, Esq. July 22.-Projected edition of
Grammont. Visit to Wimbledon. Ragley. Warwick Castle.
"Capability" Brown. Easton Neston. Stowe.-110
47. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 31.-Story of the Gunnings, and of
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in durance in the Brescian. Lord
Orford and Miss Nicholl.-112
48. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 8.-Description of Woburn.-114
49. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 14.-Death of the Prince of Orange.
Lady Pembroke. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Letters. Lady
Russell's Letters.-115
50. To the same, Nov. 22.-Unanimity of Parliament. Plots in the
Duke of Burgundy's cradle. Verses stuck up on the Louvre. Young
Wortley Montagu's imprisonment at Paris. Bon-mot of Lord Coke.
Anecdote of the King.-118
51. To the same, Dec. 12.-Lord Stormont. Death of Lord
Bolingbroke. The wonderful tooth-drawer.-119
1752.
52. To George Montagu, Esq. Jan. 9.-The St. James's Evening
Post parodied.-120
53. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 2.-Debates on the treaty with
Saxony. A black-ball at White's.-122
54. To the same, Feb. 27.-Death of Sir Horace Mann's father.
Marriage of the Miss Gunnings to Lord Coventry and the Duke of
Hamilton.-123
55. To the same, March 23.-Sir Horace Mann's portrait. The Duke
of Argyle's Job. The Duchess of Hamilton at court. Miss
Jefferies and Miss Blandy. Frequency of executions.-124
56. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, May 5.-On Mr. Conway's infant
daughter.-[N.] 126
57. To George Montagu, Esq. May 12.-Irish politics. Mother
Midnight's oratory. Captain Hotham's bon-mot.-127
58. To Sir Horace Mann, May 13.-Irish politics. Miss Blandy's
execution.-128
59. To George Montagu, Esq. June 6.-Capture of a housebreaker
at Strawberry Hill. Gray's Odes. Story of Lord Bury.-129
60. To the same.-131
61. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, June 23.-Story of Mr. Seymour and
Lady Di. Egerton. Distress and poverty of France. Profligacy of
the court. Births and marriages.-132
62. To George Montagu, Esq. July 20.-Alarm at the visit of a
King's messenger. The "M`emoires"133
63. To Sir Horace Mann,.July @7.-Fire at Lincoln's-inn.
Princess Emily and Richmond Park. Discussions concerning the
tutorhood of the Prince of Wales. Portraits of Cr`ebillon and
Marivaux, by Liotard.-134
64. To Richard Bentley. Aug. 5.-Excursion to Kent and Sussex.
Bishop's palace, Rochester. Knowle. Tunbridge. Summer Hill.
Bayham Abbey. Hurst Monceaux. Battle Abbey. Silver Hill.
Penshurst. Mereworth. Sissinghurst. Becton Malherbe. Leeds
Castle.-137
65. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 28.-Adventure at Mrs.
Boscawen's. Privilege of Parliament. Standing Army. Gray's
Odes.-145
66. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 28.-Projected trip to Florence..
Madame de Brionne. Lady Coventry at Paris. Duke Hamilton and
his Duchess. Anecdotes. Parisian indecorums. Madame Pompadour's
husband. Trait of Louis the Fifteenth. Epigram on the quarrel
of the Pretender and his second son. Astley's pictures.-146
67. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Nov. 8 [N.].-150
68. To George Montagu, Esq. Dec. 3. Lord Harcourt's removal
from the Governorship of the Prince of Wales. Bon-mot of George
Selwyn.-150
69. To Sir Horace Mann, Dec. 11.-Education of the Prince of
Wales. Resignation of Lord Harcourt and the Bishop of Norwich.
The Bishop of Gloucester the new preceptor. And Lord Waldegrave
the new governor.-151
1753.
70. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 14.-Death of Sir Hans Sloane; his
Museum.-155
71. To Mr. Gray, Feb. 20.-New edition of Gray's Odes with
Bentley's designs.-157
72. To Sir Horace Mann, March 4.-Lord Ravensworth's accusation
of Stone, Murray, and the Bishop of Gloucester, on the
information of Fawcett. Liotard. Cr`ebillon's portrait.-158
73. To the same, March 27.-Debates in the Lords on the charges
against Stone, Murray, and Bishop Johnson.-159
74. To the same, April 16.-161
75. To the same, April 27.-Progress of improvements at
Strawberry Hill. Account of the taking of Dr. Cameron. Paper in
"The World," to promote a subscription for King Theodore. Lord
Bath and the Craftsman.-161
76. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, May 5.-Madame de Mezi`eres. Sir
Charles Williams's distich on the Queen of Hungary. Lord
Bolingbroke's Works. Anecdote of Lady Harrington.-164
77. To George Montagu, Esq. May 22.-Debates on the Marriage
Bill.-165
78. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, May 24.-Debates on the Marriage
Bill.-167
79. To George Montagu, Esq. June 11.-Parliamentary
altercations. Clandestine Marriage Bill. Bon-mot of Keith's.-
169
80. To Sir Horace Mann, June 12.-Description of Strawberry
Hill. Clandestine Marriage Bill. Execution of Dr. Cameron.-170
81. To George Montagu, Esq. July 17.-Death of Miss Brown. Tom
Hervey's letter to Sir William Bunbury. Story of Dr. Suckling.
George Selwyn's bon-mot. Elopement. Marriage Bill.-173
82. To Sir Horace Mann, July 21.-Electioneering. Snuff-taking.
Death of Lord Pomfret.-174
83. To John Chute, Esq. Aug. 4.-Visit to Greatworth. Sir Harry
Danvers described. White-knights. Middleton. Wroxton. Steane
Chapel. Stowe. Temple of Friendship. Warkworth.-176
84. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 16.-Stowe. Sir Harry Danvers.-
179
85. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Sept.-New Camden's "Britannia."
Oxford. Birmingham. Hagley. Worcester. Malvern Abbey. Visit to
George Selwyn at Matson. Gloucester Cathedral. Hutchinsonians.-
180
86. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 6.-The Modenese treaty. Gothic
amusements.-186
87. To the same, Dec. 6.-Prince Heraclius. Party feuds in
Ireland. Bianca Capello.-187
88. To George Montagu, Esq. Dec. 6.-Death of his uncle Erismus
Shorter, and of Lord Burlington. The Opera. Glover's
"Boadicea." Lord Huntingdon and Stormont.-188
89. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Dec. 19.-Eulogy on his drawings.
Deaths of Lords Clarendon, Thanet, and Burlington. "Sir Charles
Grandison." Hogarth's "Analysis of Beauty." Wood's "Palmyra."
Opera. The Niccolini.-190
1754.
90. To Sir Horace Mann, January 28.-Story of Bianca Capello.
Sortes Walpolianae. Serendipity. Dissuades him from taking the
name of Guise. Sir James Gray. His father's maxim. The Opera
and Niccolini. Miss Elizabeth Pitt.-191
91. To Richard Bentley, Esq. March 2.-The Duke of Cumberland's
visit to Strawberry Hill. Proceedings in Parliament. New
Mutiny-bill. Death of Dr. Mead. Sortes Walpolianae.-194
92. To the same, March 6.-Ironical account of the death of Mr.
Pelham. Francis's tragedy of "Constantine." Crisp's "Virginia."
Lord Bolingbroke's works.-196
93. To Sir Horace Mann, March 7.-State of parties. The new
candidates for office. Particulars of the death of Mr. Pelham.-
198
94. To Richard Bentley, Esq. March 17.-The new ministry. George
Selwyn's bon-mots. Orator Henley. Beckford and Delaval at
Shaftesbury.-200
95. To George Montagu, Esq. March 19.-The Newcastle
administration.-201
96. To Sir Horace Mann, March 28.-,The new ministry.
Resignation of Lord Gower.-202
97. To the same, April 24.-The Duke of Newcastle all-powerful.
The new Parliament. Irish politics. Drummond's "Travels".-204
98. To John Chute, Esq. April 30.-Whitehead's tragedy of
"Creusa." Tragi-comedy at the Opera.-205
99. To the same, May 14.-Anecdote of Prince Poniatowski and the
Duchess of Gordon.-206
100. To Richard Bentley, Esq. May 18.-Progress of improvement
at Strawberry Hill. Trial of Betty Canning. Regency-bill.-207
101. To George Montagu, Esq. May 21.-Death of Mr. Chute's
father.-209
102. To Sir Horace Mann, May 23.-War of the Delmontis. Death of
Mr. Chutes father. Regency-bill.-210
103. To the same, June 5.-Mr. Brand of the Hoo. Lady Caroline
Pierpont. Affair of Lord Orford and Miss Nicholl. Election
petitions.-211
104. To George Montagu, Esq. June 8.-Invitation to Strawberry
Hill.-212
105. To the same, June 29.-Lady Caroline Petersham's
christening.-213
106. To Sir Horace Mann, July 5.-Effects of warm Weather in
England. Old courtiers. Separation between Lady Orford and Mr.
Shirley. Dr. Cocchi's "Greek Physicians." French encroachments
in Virginia. Revocation of the Parliament of Paris. Irish
Parliament.-213
107. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, July 6.-Notice of gold fish to
be sent to him.-215
108. To Richard Bentley, Esq. July 9.-Sir Charles Williams and
his daughter. His mother's monument in Westminster Abbey. Story
of Sampson Gideon. Nugent and the Jew-bill. An admirable
curiosity.--215
109. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Aug. 8-The Duke of Cumberland's
accident [N.].-217
110. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 29.-218
111. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 6.-Prospect of an East and West
Indian war. French encroachments. Re-establishment of the
Inquisition at Florence. The Boccaneri. Major Washington.
General Guise at Carthagena.-218
112. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 24,-Congratulation on his
being appointed groom of the bedchamber. And on his choice of a
wife.-[N.] 220
113. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Nov. 3.-Visit to Mr. Burret at
Bellhouse. Mrs. Clive. West Indian war. The Ontaouknoucs.
General Braddock.-221
114. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Nov. 11.-Ambassadorial
circumspection. Death of the Queen Dowager of Prussia. New
volumes of Madame S`evign`e's Letters.-224
115. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 16.-Parts and merit of Lord
North. Marriage of Mr. Pitt with Lady Hester Grenville. A new
fashion.-225
116. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Nov. 20.-On projectors. Advises
him to lay aside visionary projects. Parliamentary divisions.
Elections. The Prince of Hesse turned Roman Catholic. Operas.
The Mingotti. Bon-mot of Madame S`evign`e.-226
117. To Sir Horace Mann, Dec. 1.-Spring-tide of politics. Mr.
Pitt and the Duke of Newcastle. Lord Cork. Lord Bolingbroke's
works. George the First at New Park. Dissensions in Ireland.-
228
118. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Dec. 13.-Pitt and Fox
dissatisfied with the Duke of Newcastle. Ministerial changes.
Mr. Pitt turned out. Sale of Dr. Mead's library.-230
119. To the same, Dec. 24.-Madame S`evign`e's new letters. Dr.
Browne's tragedy of "Barbarossa." Walpole's papers in the
"World." Turning out of Mr. Pitt. The last new madness.
Macklin's "British Inquisition".-231
1755.
120. To George Montagu, Esq. Jan. 7.-Nuptials of Mr. Harris and
Miss Ashe. Countess Chamfelt.-233
121. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Jan. 9.-Death of Lord Albemarle.
Story of Lord Montford's suicide. Gamesters. Insurance office
for voluntary deaths. Ministerial changes. New nostrums and
inventions.-234
122. To Sir Horace Mann, Jan. 9.-Congratulation on his being
created a baronet. Lord Albemarle's sudden death. Lord Bury.
Lady Albemarle's dream. Lord Montford's suicide. The age of
abortions. The Chevalier Taylor.-236
123. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Feb. 8.-The Russian ambassador's
masquerade.-238
124. To the same, Feb, 23.-Oxfordshire and Colchester
elections. Sir John Bland's suicide. English Opera. "Midsummer
Night's Dream." Walpole at a fire. Lady Herbert's providence.
Fire at Fonthill.-239
125. To the same, March 6.-Prospect of a war with France. Lord
Holderness's ball. Dancing senators.-241
126. To Sir Horace Mann, March 10.-Lord Hertford's embassy to
Paris. Warlike prospects. Progress of election trials. Lord
Pomfret's collection of statues. Cerberus.-242
127. To Richard Bentley, Esq, March 27.-Hume's "History of
England." Motto for a ruby ring. Party struggles. Prospects of
war. Sale of Dr. Mead's pictures.-243
128. To the same, April 13.-Prospects of war. French
preparations for invasion. Lord Chesterfield's prophecy.-245
129. To Sir Horace Mann, April 22.-French preparations. Secret
expedition. Motto-hunting.-247
130. To Richard Bentley, Esq. April 24.-Political rumours. M.
Herault and Lady Harrington.-248
131. To George Montagu, Esq. May 4.-Prince of Nassau Welbourg.
George Selwyn and Lady Petersham.-250
132. To Richard Bentley, Esq. May 6.-Lord Poulet's motion
against the King's visiting Hanover. Mr. Legge's pun. The
Regency. Ball at Bedford House. Great breakfast at Strawberry
Hill. "Anecdotes Litt`eraires." "M@,is`eres des Scavans."
Gray's observation on learning.-250
133. To George Montagu, Esq. May 13.-Invitation to Strawberry
Hill.-252
134. To the same, MAY 19.-King of Prussia's victory near
Prague.-252
135. To Richard Bentley, Esq. June 10.-Arrival of Mr. M`untz4.
Deluge at Strawberry Hill. New gunpowder-plot. Venneschi
apprehended.-253
136. To Sir Horace Mann, June 15.-The Countess of Orford and
Mr. Shirley. Lord Orford described. Warlike preparations.
Fureur des cabriolets.-256
137. To Richard Bentley, Esq. July 5.-Expostulation on his love
of visionary projects. Mr. M`untz. Visit to Chaffont.
Bulstrode. Latimers. First visit to Greenwich Park.-257
138. To Sir Horace Mann, July 16.-War commenced. Captain
Howe's attack on the French Squadron. Chapel at the Vine.-259
139. To Richard Bentley, Esq. July 17.-Attack on the French
squadron. State of parties in Ireland. Domestic news. Lord
Bath's verses on Strawberry Hill. Wanstead House. Marquis de
St. Simon.-260
140. To George Montagu, Esq. July 17.-Farming. Lord Bath's
ballad.-263
141. To the same, July 26.-Charles Townshend's marriage.-263
142. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Aug. 4.-St. Swithin. Capture of
Beau S`ejoure. Marquis de St. Simon's translation of the "Tale
of a Tub." Intimacy with Garrick.-264
143. To the same, Aug. 15.-Compliments him on his drawings.
P`er`efixe's "Henry the Fourth." Dinner at Garrick's.
Flattery.-266
144. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 21.-West India expeditions.
Character of General Braddock. Story of Fanny Braddock. Hessian
treaty.-268
145. To the same, Aug. 28.-Defeat and death of General
Braddock. Anecdotes of him.-270
146. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Aug. 28.-General Braddock's
defeat and death. Quarrel between Lords Lincoln and Anson.
Visit to Harwich. Orford Castle. Sudborn. Secretary Naunton's
house. Ipswich and its church.-271
147. To the Rev. Henry Etough, Sept. 10.-273
148. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Sept. 18.-Jaunt to Winchester.
Its cathedral. Bevismount. Netley Abbey. Capture of Governor
Lyttelton. Gray's "Bard".-273
149. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Sept. 23.-Irish politics.
Russian and Hessian treaties.-275
150. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 29.-M. Seychelles. French
finances. Opposition to the Russian and Hessian treaties.
Ministerial bickerings and changes. Tranquillity of Ireland.-
277
151. To John Chute, Esq. Sept. 29.-Opposition in Parliament to
the Russian and Hessian treaties [N.).-279
152. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Sept. 30.-Political sermon. Mr.
Legge's opposition to the Hessian treaty. Subsidy.
Pacification of Ireland. Ministerial changes.-280
153. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 7.-On the death of Miss
Montagu.-281
154. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Oct. 19.-On the fears of
invasion. Mr. Fox's ministry. Follies of the Opera.
Impertinences of the Mingotti.-281
155. To John Chute, Esq. Oct. 20.-Expectations of an invasion.
Parliamentary politics. Subsidiary treaties [N.].-284
156. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 27.-Preparations against invasion
.-285
157. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Oct. 31.-Defeat of' the French in
America by General Johnson. Lord Chesterfield at Bath. Suicide
of Sir John Bland. Longevity of Beau Nash and Cibber.-286
158. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 8.-Progress of planting.-287
159. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Nov. 15.-Debates in Parliament
on the treaties. Single-speech Hamilton. Pitt's speech.-289
160. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Nov. 16.-Debates in the House of
Commons on the treaties. Riots at Drury-Lane. French dancers.-
291
161. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 16.-Parliamentary proceedings.
Changes and counter-changes. French inactivity.-292
162. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 25.-Earthquake at Lisbon.
Political changes.-293
163. To Sir Horace Mann, Dec. 4.-Earthquake at Lisbon. State of
the Opposition.-294
164. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Dec. 17.-Mr. Pitts speech on the
subsidiary treaties. Ministerial changes. Postponement of the
invasion.-295
165. To George Montagu, Esq. Dec. 20.-Political changes. The
new Opposition.-297
166. To Sir Horace Mann, Dec. 21.-Expectations of a peace.
Catalogue of ministerial alterations. Dodington again revolved
to the court. Case of Lord Fitzwalter.-298
167. To George Montagu, Esq. Dec. 30.-299
1756.
168. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Jan. 6.-Attack of the gout.
Overflow of the Thames. Progress of the Memoires. Mr. M`untz.-
300
169. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Jan. 22.-Parliament and
politics. French Billingsgate memorial. Guarantee with Prussia.
M. Michell. Dismissal of Sir Harry Erskine. Mr. Fox's repartee
(N.].-302
170. To the same, Jan. 24.-Beckford's accusation against
Admiral Knowles. Sir George Lyttelton's budget-speech. Lady
Petersham and her footman Richard.-303
171. To Sir Horace Mann, Jan. 25.-Health of Sir Horace's
brother. Prussian guarantee. M. Rouill`e's memorial. The new
Opposition nibbling, but not popular.-304
172. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 5.-Account of his brother's
health. War considered inevitable.-306
173. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Feb. 12.-Bickerings in
Parliament. The Pennsylvanian regiment. Story of the Duke of
Newcastle. Moral effects of the earthquake. Sir Eustace
Drawbridge-court.-307
174. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 23.-The King of France and Madame
Pompadour gone into devotion. Debates on the West Indian
regiment. Plot of the Papists against Bower. France determined
to try invasion.-309
175. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, March 4.-Debates in Parliament.
Speeches of Hamilton and Charles Townshend. The Militia-bill.
The new taxes. Embargo. Old Nugent and Lady Essex. Bons-mots.
An epigram.-312
176. To Sir Horace Mann, March 18.-Progress of the armaments.
Danger for Port-Mahon. Naivete of Lady Coventry.-314
177. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, March 25.-Mr. Pitt's gout. The
plate tax. Projected invasion signified to Parliament. The
Paddington road-bill. Lady Lincoln's assembly [N.].-315
178. To the same, April 16.-The Paddington road-bill struggle.
Militia-bill. Death of Sir William Lowther. Lord Shelburne's
speech. Folke GreVill'S "Maxims and Characters".-316
179. To Sir Horace Mann, April 18.-War of the turnpike-bill.
Death of Lady Drumlanrig, and of Sir William Lowther.-318
180. To George Montagu, Esq. April 20.-Death of Lady Essex, Sir
William Lowther's will. Lady Coventry. Billy and Bully. The new
Morocco ambassador and Lady Petersham. Coat-of-arms for the
clubs at White's.-319
181. To the same, May 12.-321
182. To Sir Horace Mann, May 16.-Defenceless state of Minorca.
The "PuCelle".-322
183. To George Montagu, Esq. May 19.-The King and the
Hanoverian troops. Lord Denbigh's bon-mot on his own marriage.-
323
184. To Sir Horace Mann, May 27.-His uncle Horatio created a
peer. Death of Chief Justice Ryder. Opera contest.-323
185. To the Earl of Strafford, June 6.-Frightful catastrophe.
Madame Maintenon's new Letters and Memoirs. Consternation on
the behaviour of Byng.-325
186. To John Chute, Esq. June 8.-Council of war at Gibraltar.
The Prince of Wales declines living at Kensington. His uncle
Horatio's motto and supporters. Visit to Lady Allen with Lord
and Lady Bath. General Wall's motto [N.].-327
187. To Sir Horace Mann, June 14.-Admiral Byng's letters.
Prince of Wales's establishment.-328
188. To George Montagu, Esq. June 18.-330
189. To Sir Horace Mann, July 11.-Public rage against Byng.-330
190. To George Montagu, Esq. July 12.-Military preparations.-
331
191. To Sir Horace Mann, July 24.-Clamour against Byng. Public
hopes in Boscawen. Lady Pomfret at Oxford University.-332
192. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 28.-334
193. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 29.-Loss of Minorca. League of
Cambray. Unpopularity of Byng.-334
194. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Aug.-Tour in the North. Bugden
Palace. Newark Castle. Wentworth Castle. Old Wortley Montagu.
Pomfret. Ledstone. Kippax Park. Kirkstall Abbey. Chapel on
Wakefield bridge. Worksop. Kiveton. Welbeck.-335
195. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 19.-Byng's quarrels with the
admiralty and ministry. Rage of addresses .-339
196. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 14.-Mode of passing his time.
Magna Charta. Garrick's temple to Shakspeare.-341
197. To the same, Oct.-342
198. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 17.-Successes of the King of
Prussia. Battle of Lowositz. Peace between Kensington and
Kew. Lord Bute groom of the stole to the Prince. Lords
Rockingham and Orford's match. The Irish Speaker at Newmarket.-
342
199. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 28.-Mutability of the world.
The Duke of Newcastle's resignation.-344
200. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 4.-The Duke of Newcastle's
resignation. Un-successful attempts to form a new ministry.-345
201. TO George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 6.-Mr. Pitt made secretary of
state. New ministry. The three factions.-347
202. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 13.-Mr. Pitt appointed secretary
of state. State of parties.-348
203. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 25.-The new ministry and
opposition.-350
204. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 29.-Mr. Pitt's gout. The new
ministry. List of the changes. The Duke of Newcastle's
disinterestedness. Benedict the Fourteenth.-350
205. To the same, Dec. 8.-Proceedings in Parliament.
Voltaire's epigram.-352
206. To the same, Dec. 16.-Illness of Sir Horace's brother. The
Hessian troops. Breach between Fox and Pitt.-354
207. To the same, Dec. 23.-Death of Sir Horace's brother.-356
1757.
208. To Sir Horace Mann, Jan. 8.-Party squabbles. The "Test"
and "Contest." Dr. Shebbeare's "Monitor." Death of King
Theodore.-356
209. To the same, Jan. 17.-The King and Mr. Pitt. Damien's
attempt on the King of France. King Theodore's death. Byng's
trial. Miss Elizabeth Villiers Pitt.-358
210. To the same, Jan. 30.-Admiral Byng's trial. Voltaire's
letter on his behalf. Death of Fontenelle. Brumoy's
"Aristophanes." Lady Essex and Prince Edward.-360
211. To the same, Feb. 13.-Progress of Admiral Byng's trial.
Death of his uncle Horatio Lord Walpole. Prince Edward and
Lady Essex at Lady Rochford's ball.-363
212. To John Chute, Esq. Feb. 27.-Admiral Byng's court-martial.
[N.].-364
213. To Sir Horace Mann, March 3.-Admiral Byng's sentence.
Applications of the court-martial for mercy. German subsidy.
French symptoms.-365
214. To the same, March 17.-Completion of Admiral Byng's
tragedy. Mr. Pitt's health. Fears for Hanover.-367
215. To the same, April 7.-Dismissal of the ministry. Inter-
ministerium. Court changes.-368
216. To the same, April 20.-Inquiries into the naval
miscarriages. Freedoms in gold boxes to Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge.
Damien's execution.-370
217. To the same, May 5.-Result of the naval inquiries.
Epigrams 372
218. To the same, May 19.-Inter-ministerium. King of Prussia's
victory. Battle of Prague.-374
219. To George Montagu, Esq. May 27.-375
220. To Sir Horace Mann, June 1.-Ministerial negotiations. King
of Prussia's victories.-376
221. To George Montagu, Esq. June 2.-Projected ministry.-377
222. To Sir Horace Mann, June 9.-Ministerial arrangements. Lord
Waldegrave first lord of the treasury.-378
223. To the same, June 14.-New ministerial revolution. The
three factions. Scramble for power.-379
224. To the same, June 20.-Mr. Pitt accepts the seals. The new
ministry. Inscription for a bas-relief in wax of Benedict the
Fourteenth.-380
225. To the same, July 3. -Settlement of the ministry.-382
226. To the Earl of Strafford, July 4.-New volumes of
Voltaire's "Universal history".-383
227. To John Chute, Esq. July 12.-Gray's "Odes" to be printed
at the Strawberry Hill press.-385
228. To George Montagu, Esq. July 16.-386
229. To the same, July 17.-386
230. To Sir Horace Mann, July 25.-Secret expedition.-387
231. To John Chute, Esq. July 26.-Picture of Ninon de l'Enclos.
Mrs. Clive's legacy.-387
232. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 4.-Disasters in Flanders. Gray's
"Odes." His printer's letter to a friend in Ireland.-388
233. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 4.-Defeat of the Duke of
Cumberland at Hastenbeck.-390
234. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Aug. 14.-Cause of the defeat at
Hastenbeck.-391
235. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 25.-His opinion of Gray's
"Odes." His printing-office.-392
236. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Sept. 2.-Charles Townshend. Lord
Chesterfield and Lord Bath [N.].-393
237. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 3.-Visit to Linton. Urn to the
memory of Sir Horace's brother. Lord Loudon abandons the design
on Louisbourg.-393
238. To George Montagu, Esq. Sept. 8.-395
239. To the Right Hon. Lady Hervey, Sept. 13.-Ninon de
l'Enclos's picture.-396
240. To George Montagu, Esq. Sept. 20.-Death of' Sir John
Bland.-396
241. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 29.-Convention of
Closter-Severn. Disturbances occasioned by the Militia-bill.
Inscription to the memory of King Theodore.-397
242. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 8.-Expedition to Rochfort
(N].-400
243. To the Earl of Strafford, Oct. 11.-Return of the
expedition to Rochfort. Militia-bill.-401
244. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct 12.-Rochfort expedition. Return of
the Duke of Cumberland.-402
245. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 13.-Inquiry into the
failure of the Rochfort expedition.-403
246. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 18.-Resignation of the Duke
of Cumberland.-404
247. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 24.-The Duke of Cumberland's
resignation. Failure at Rochfort.-404
248. To the same, Nov. 20.-King of Prussia's victory at
Rosbach. General dissatisfaction. Troubles in Ireland. Inquiry
into the failure at Rochfort. Characteristic traits of' Mr.
Conway. Richard the First's poetry. Bon-mot of Lord Tyrawley.-
405
249. To George Montagu, Esq.---408
250. To the same, Dec. 23.-Death of Mr. Mann.-408
251. To Dr. Ducarel, Dec. 25.-"Dictes and sayings of the
Philosophers".-409
1758.
252. To Sir Horace Mann, Jan. 11.-Court-martial on Sir John
Mordaunt. Death of Princess Caroline. And of Sir Benjamin
Keene.-409
253. To Dr. Ducarel, Jan. 12.-411
254. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 9.-Politics gone into winter
quarters. Duke of Richelieu's banishment. Rage of expense in
our pleasures.-412
255. To the same, Feb. 10.-Opening of the campaign. Fame.
Saying of one of the Duke of Marlborough's generals. New secret
expedition. Debate on the Habeas Corpus extension bill. Sir
Luke Schaub's pictures. Swift's "Four last Years of Queen
Anne." Dr. Lucas.-413
256.To the same, Feb. 23.-Acquittal of General Mordaunt. Death
of Dr. Cocchi. Richard the First's poems.-415
257. To the same, March 21.-The East Indian here, Clive.
Hanover retaken. George Grenville's Navy-bill. Sir Charles
Williams's return from Russia, and mental indisposition.
Frantic conduct of Lord Ferrers. Swift's "Four last Years".-416
258. To the same, April 14.-Convention with Prussia. Sir
Charles Williams. Lord Bristol appointed ambassador to Spain.-
418
259. To the Rev. Dr. Birch, May 4.-Soliciting observations on
his "Royal and Noble Authors".-419
260. To George Montagu, Esq. May 4.-Flattering reception of his
"Royal and Noble Authors." Story of Dr. Browne and Sir Charles
Williams.-420
261. To Sir Horace Mann, May 31.-Expedition to St. Maloes.
Extension of the Habeas Corpus act.-422
262. To the Hon. H. S, Conway, June 4.-Debates on the Habeas
Corpus extension bill. Expedition to St. Maloes. Ninon de
l'Enclos's portrait.-423
263. To Dr. Ducarel, June.-Thanks for his remarks on the "Noble
Authors".-424
264. To Sir Horace Mann, June 11.-Departure of the expedition
to St. Maloes. Prince Ferdinand's passage of the Rhine.-425
265. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, June 16.-Return of the
expedition to St. Maloes.-426
266. To the Earl of Strafford, June 16.-Failure of the
expedition against St. Maloes.-427
267. To Sir Horace Mann, June 18.-Expedition to St. Maloes.-428
268. To Sir David Dalrymple, June 29.-Thanks for his
approbation of the "Noble Authors." queen Elizabeth's fondness
for praise. Pope's "Bufo" and "Bubb." Lord Orrery's
"Parthenissa" [N.).-430
69. To John Chute, Esq. June 29.-Prince Ferdinand's victory.-
431
270. To George Montagu, Esq. July 6.-431
271. To the Rev. Dr. Birch, July 8.-432
272. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, July 8.-Dedication to him of the
"Fugitive Pieces." Fate of our expeditions [N.].-432
273. To Sir Horace Mann, July 8.-Prince Ferdinand's victory at
Crevelt. Return of our armada from St. Maloes.-433
274. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, July 21.-Appointment of General
Blighe. Fate of the expeditions. [N.].-434
275. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Aug. 3.-Thanks for his remarks on
the Royal and noble Authors," and for his information.-436
276. To the same, Aug. 12.-439
277. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 12.-Expedition against
Cherbourg.-440
278. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 20.-Visit to the Grange.
Ragley. The Conway papers.-441
279. To John Chute, Esq. Aug. 22.-Account of the Conway papers
[N.).-443
280. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 24.-Expedition against Cherbourg.
Taking of Cape Breton. Failure of the attack on Crown-point.
Death of Lord Howe. Defeat at Ticonderoga.-444
281. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Sept. 2.-Defeat of the Russians
at Zorndorf. Repulse of General Abercrombie at Ticonderoga.-445
282. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 8.-Battle of Zorndorf. Marriage
of his niece Laura to Dr. Frederick Keppel.-446
283. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Sept. 14,-Soliciting information
for a new edition of his "Noble Authors".-448
284. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Sept. 19.-On the failure of the
late expeditions to the coast of France [N.].-449
285. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 22. Failure of the expedition
against Cherbourg.-451
286. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 3.-Disappointment and loss at
St. Cas.-453
287. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Oct. 5.-Progress of the new
edition of "Noble Authors." Discovery of the Conway papers.-454
288. To the Right Hon. Lady Hervey, Oct. 17.-Rumoured
assassination of the King of Portugal. Epigram on the Chevalier
Taylor.-456
289. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 17.-On the general's not
being employed by Mr. Pitt [N.].-457
290. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Oct. 21.-Thanks for further
information. Lord Clarendon and Polybius. Dr. Jortin's
"Erasmus." Reasons for not writing the life of his father.-459
291. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 24.-Reasons for leaving off
authorship.-462
292. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 24.-On sending a drawing Of his
monument to the memory of Sir Horace
s brother. Reported assassination of the King of Portugal. The
Duc d'Aiguillon's amiable behaviour to our prisoners.-463
293. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 26.-465
294. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 27.-Illness of the king. Harmony
in parliament. Death of the Duke of Marlborough.-465
295. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Dec. 9.-On sending the second
edition of "Noble Authors." Lucan and Virgil. Helvetius de
l'Esprit.-467
296. To Sir Horace Mann, Dec. 25.-Prospects of a Dutch war.
Enormous supplies. Unanimity of Parliament. Fall of Cardinal de
Bernis.-468
297. To George Montagu, Esq. Dec. 26.-Intended marriage of
Colonel York.-470
1759.
298. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Jan. 12.-Lord Lonsdale's treatise
on Economics. Lucan. Vertua's MS. collections.-471
299. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Jan. 19.-State of the House of
Commons.-473
300. To the same, Jan. 28.-Match between Colonel Campbell and
the Duchess of Hamilton. Prussian and Hessian treaties.-473
301. To John Chute, Esq. Feb. 1.-The Opera. Prussian cantata.
Gothic antiquities (N.].-477
302. To the same, Feb. 2.-Spence's Comparison of Magliabechi
and Bill. Story of Carr's Cousin.-475
303. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 9.-Quebec expedition.-478
304. To Mr. Gray, Feb. 15.-Literary queries. Critical Review.-
478
305. To the Right Hon. Lady Hervey, Feb. 20.-479
306. To Sir David Dalrymple, Feb. 25.-Robertson's History of
Scotland. Ramsay the painter.-479
307. To Sir Horace Mann, march 4.-Projects a History of the
House of Medici.-480
308. To John Chute, Esq. March 13.-Fears for his health.
Recommends him to leave the Vine, lest he should die of
mildew.-481
309. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, March 15.-Vertue's MSS. Hume's
History.-482
310. To Sir David Dalrymple, March 25.-House of Medici. leo the
Tenth [N.].-482
311. To Sir Horace Mann, April 11.-Marriage of his niece Maria
to Lord Waldegrave. Prince Ferdinand's victory over the
Austrians.-484
312. To George Montagu, Esq. April 26.-His niece's marriage to
Lord Waldegrave. Ball at Bedford House.-485
313. To Sir Horace Mann, May 10,-General Hobson. Canada. House
of Medici.-487
314. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, May 14.-Vertue's MSS. Hume and
Smollett's Histories.-488
315. To George Montagu, Esq. May 16.-His niece's marriage.
Judges' salaries. Charles Townshend's bon-mot.-490
316. To Sir Horace Mann, June 1.-The comet. King of Prussia's
victories. Fame.-491
317. To George Montagu, Esq. June 1.-The invasion. Mason's
"Caractacus".-492
318. To Sir Horace Mann, June 8.-493
319. To the Earl of' Strafford, June 12.-494
320. To Sir Horace Mann, June 22.-Invasion. Militia. Quebec.
Death of Lady Murray.-495
321. To George Montagu, Esq. June 23.-496
322. To Sir Horace Mann, July 8.-Rumours of invasion.-497
323. To Sir David Dalrymple, July 11.-Mary Queen of Scots.
Hume's History. Christina of Sweden [N.].-498
324.. To George Montagu, Esq. July 19.-Review of the Militia.
Butler's "Remains".-499
325. To the same, July 26.-Visit to Navestock.-500
326. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 1.-Invasion. Militia.-501
327. To the same, Aug. 8.-Battle of Minden.-502
328. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 9.-Battle of Minden.-504
329. To the Earl of Strafford, Aug. 9.-Battle of Minden.-505
330. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Aug. 14.-Battle of Minden.
Prince Ferdinand and Lord George Sackville [N.).-506
331. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 29.-Minden. Illuminations. Lord
George Sackville.-507
332. To the same, Sept. 13.-Death of the Princess Elizabeth.
Lord George Sackville.-508
333. To the Earl of Strafford, Sept. 13.-Our victories.-510
334. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Sept. 13.-Lord George Sackville
[N.].-511
335. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 11.-512
336. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 14.-The invasion getting
out of fashion. Lord George Sackville (N.].-513
337. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 16.-Quebec. East India
conquests.-514
338. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 18.-Quebec. Death of
General Wolfe.-514
339. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 19.-Conquest of Quebec.-516
340. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 21.-Public rejoicings for the
conquest of Quebec.-517
341. To the Earl of Strafford, Oct. 30.-Quebec.-518
342. To the Right Hon. Lady Hervey, Nov. 3.-Poor Robin's
Almanac. High Life below Stairs.-519
343. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 8.-French bankruptcy. Mrs.
Montagu and Lord Lyttelton.-519
344. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 16.-Lord George Sackville. Lord
Temple's resignation of the privy-seal on being refused the
Garter.-521
Correspondence of the Honourable Horace Walpole
1749
13 Letter 1
To Sir Horace Mann.
Strawberry Hill, March 4, 1749.
I have been so shut up in the House of Commons for this last
fortnight or three weeks, that I have not had time to write you
a line: we have not had such a session since the famous
beginning of last Parliament. I am come hither for a day or
two of rest and air, and find the additional pleasure of great
beauty in my improvements: I could talk to you through the
whole sheet, and with much more satisfaction, upon this head;
but I shall postpone my own amusement to yours, for I am sure
you want much more to know what has been doing in Parliament
than at Strawberry Hill. You will conclude that we have been
fighting over the peace; but we have not. It is laid before
Parliament, but will not be taken up; the Opposition foresee
that a vote of approbation would pass, and therefore will not
begin upon it, as they wish to reserve it for censure in the
next reign--or perhaps the next reign does not care to censure
now what he must hereafter maintain--and the ministry do not
seem to think their treaty so perfect as not to be liable to
blame, should it come to be canvassed. We have been then upon
several other matters: but first I should tell you, that from
the utmost tranquillity and impotence of a minority, there is
at once started up so formidable an Opposition as to divide 137
against 203.(1) The minority is headed by the Prince, who has
continued opposing, though very unsuccessfully, ever since the
removal of Lord Granville, and the desertion of the patriots.
He stayed till the Pelhams had brought off every man of parts
in his train, and then began to form his party. Lord Granville
has never come into it., for fear of breaking with the King; and
seems now to be patching up again with his old enemies. If Lord
Bath has dealt with the Prince, it has been underhand. His
ministry has had at the head of it poor Lord Baltimore, a very
good-natured, weak, honest man; and Dr. Lee, a civilian, who was
of Lord Granville's admiralty, and is still much attached to him.
He is a grave man, and a good speaker, but of no very bright
parts, and, from his way of life and profession, much ignorant
of, and unfit for, a ministry. You will wonder what new
resources the Prince has discovered-why, he has found them all
in Lord Egmont, whom you have heard of under the name of Lord
Perceval; but his father, an Irish Earl, is lately dead. As he
is likely to make a very considerable figure in our history, I
shall give you a more particular account of him. He has always
earnestly studied our history and constitution and antiquities,
with very ambitious views; and practised speaking early in the
Irish Parliament. Indeed, this turn is his whole fund, for
though he is between thirty and forty, he knows nothing of the
world, and is always unpleasantly dragging the conversation to
political dissertations. When very young, as he has told me
himself, he dabbled in writing Craftsmen and penny-papers; but
the first event that made him known, was his carrying the
Westminster election at the end of my father's ministry,-which
he amply described in the history of his own family, a
genealogical work called "The History of the House of
Yvery,"(2) a work which cost him three thousand pounds, as the
heralds informed Mr. Chute and me, when we went to their office
on your business; and which was so ridiculous, that he has
since tried to suppress all the copies. It concluded with the
description of the Westminster election, in these or some such
words, "And here let us leave this young nobleman struggling
for the dying liberties of his country!" When the change in
the ministry happened, and Lord Bath was so abused by the
remnant of the patriots, Lord Egmont published his celebrated
pamphlet, called "Faction Detected," a work which the Pitts and
Lytteltons have never forgiven him; and which, though he
continued voting and sometimes speaking with the Pelhams, made
him quite unpopular during all the last Parliament. When the
new elections approached, he stood on his own bottom at Weobly
in Herefordshire; but his election being contested, be applied
for Mr. Pelham's support, who carried it for him in the House
of Commons. This will always be a material blot in his life;
for he had no sooner secured his seat, than he openly attached
himself to the Prince, and has since been made a lord of his
bedchamber. At the opening of this session, he published an
extreme good pamphlet, which has made infinite noise, called
"An Examination of the Principles and Conduct of the two
Brothers," (the Pelhams,) and as Dr. Lee has been laid up with
the gout, Egmont has taken the lead in the Opposition, and has
made as great a figure as perhaps was ever made in so short a
time. He is very bold and resolved, master of vast knowledge,
and speaks at once with fire and method. His words are not
picked and chosen like Pitt's, but his language is useful, clear,
and strong. He has already by his parts and resolution mastered
his great unpopularity, so far as to be heard with the utmost
attention, though I believe nobody had ever more various
difficulties to combat. All the old corps hate him on my father
and Mr. Pelham's account; the new part of the ministry on their
own. The Tories have not quite forgiven his having left them in
the last Parliament: besides that, they are now governed by one
Prowse, a cold, plausible fellow. and a great well-wisher to
Mr. Pelham. Lord Strange,(3) a busy Lord of a party by
himself, yet voting generally with the Tories, continually
clashes with Lord Egmont; and besides all this, there is a
faction in the Prince's family, headed by Nugent, who are for
moderate measures.
Nugent is most affectedly an humble servant of Mr. Pell)afn,
and seems only to have attached himself to the Prince, in order
to make the better bargain with the ministry; he has great
parts, but they never know how to disentangle themselves from
bombast and absurdities. Besides those, there are two young
men who make some figure in the rising Opposition, Bathurst(4)
attorney to the Prince; and Potter, whom I believe you have had
mentioned in my letters of last year; but he has a bad
constitution, and is seldom able to be in town. Neither of
these are in the scale of moderation.
The Opposition set out this winter with trying to call for
several negotiations during the war; but the great storm which
has so much employed us of late, was stirred up by Colonel
Lyttelton;(5) who, having been ill-treated by the Duke, has
been dealing with the Prince. He discovered to the House some
innovations in the Mutiny-bill, of which, though he could not
make much, the Opposition have, and fought the bill for a whole
fortnight; during the course of which the world has got much
light into many very arbitrary proceedings of the
Commander-in-chief,(6) which have been the more believed too by
the defection of my Lord Townshend's(7) eldest son, who is one of
his aide-de-camps. Though the ministry, by the weight of
numbers, have carried their point in a great measure, yet you may
be sure great heats have been raised; and those have been still
more inflamed by a correspondent practice in a new Navy-bill,
brought in by the direction of Lord Sandwich and Lord Anson,
but vehemently opposed by half the fleet, headed by Sir Peter
Warren, the conqueror of Cape Breton, richer than Anson, and
absurd as Vernon. The bill has even been petitioned against,
and the mutinous were likely to go great lengths, if' the
admiralty had not bought off some by money, and others by
relaxing in the material points.- We began upon it yesterday,
and are still likely to have a long affair of it-so much for
politics: and as for any thing else, I scarce know any thing
else. My Lady Huntingdon,(8) the Queen of the Methodists, has
got her daughter named for lady of the bedchamber to the
Princesses; but it is all off again. as she will not let her
play at cards on Sundays. It is equally absurd on both sides,
to refuse it, or to insist upon it.
Pray tell Dr. Cocchi that I shall be extremely ready to do him
any service in his intended edition of the old Physicians,(9)
but that I fear it is a kind of work that will lie very little
within my sphere to promote. Learning is confined to very
narrow bounds at present, and those seldom within the circle in
which I necessarily live; but my regard for him and for you
would make me take any pains. You see, I believe, that I do
take pains for you--I have not writ such a letter to any body
these three years. Adieu!
P. S. I am very sorry for your sake that the Prince and
Princess(10) are leaving Florence; if ever I return thither, as
I always flatter myself I shall, I should miss them extremely.
Lord Albemarle goes ambassador to Paris.
(1) Upon the last clause of the Mutiny-bill, an amendment to
render half pay officers subject to the act, only in case of
actual war, insurrection, rebellion, or invasion, was rejected
by 203 to 137.-E.
(2) Compiled principally for Lord Egmont by Anderson, the
genealogist. It was printed, but not published, in 1742. "
Some," says Boswell, in his Life of Johnson, "have affected to
laugh at the History of the House of Very: it would be well if
many others would transmit their pedigrees to posterity, with
the same accuracy and generous zeal with which the noble Lord
who compiled that work has honoured and perpetuated his
ancestry. Family histories, likv, the imagines majorum of the
ancients, excite to virtue." Vol. viii. p. 188.-E.
(3) James, Lord Strange, eldest son of Edward Stanley, eleventh
Earl of Derby. In 1762 he was made Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster, and died during his father's life-time, in 1771. He
always called himself Lord Strange; though the title, which was
a barony in fee, had in fact descended to the Duke of Atholl,
as heir general of James, seventh Earl of Derby.-]).
(4) The Hon. Henry Bathurst, second heir of Allen, first Lord
Bathurst, He became heir to the title upon the death, without
issue, of his elder brother, the Hon. Benjamin Bathurst, in
1761. In 1746 he was appointed Attorney-General to Frederick,
Prince of Wales; in 1754, one of the puisne judges of the Court
of Common Pleas, and in 1771, Lord Chancellor. He was, upon
this occasion, created a peer, by the title of Lord Apsley. He
succeeded his father as second Earl Bathurst in 1775, and died
in 1794.-D.
(5) Richard, third son of Sir Thomas, and brother of Sir George
Lyttelton: he married the Duchess-dowager of Bridgewater, and
was afterwards made a knight of the Bath.
(6) William Duke of Cumberland. He was "Captain-general of the
Forces," having been so created in 1745.-D.
(7) George Townshend, afterwards the first Marquis of that name
and title.-D.
(8) Selina, daughter of Washington, Earl Ferrers, and widow of
Theophilus, Earl of Huntingdon.
(9) In 1754, Dr. Cocchi published his "Chirurgici Veteres," a
very curious work, containing numerous valuable extracts from
the Greek physicians.-E.
(10) Craon.
16 Letter 2
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, March 23, 1749.
Our debates on the two military bills, the naval one of which
is not yet finished, have been so tedious, that they have
rather whittled down the Opposition than increased it. In the
Lords, the Mutiny-bill passed pretty easily, there happening no
quarrel between Lord Bathurst and Lord Bath on the method of
their measures; so there never divided above sixteen in the
minority, and those scarce any of the Prince's Lords. Duke
William was there and voted, which was too indecent in a rigorous
bill calculated for his own power. There is a
great disunion among the ministers on the Naval bill: Mr.
Pelham and Pitt (the latter out of hatred and jealousy of Lord
Sandwich) gave up the admiralty in a material point, but the
paramount little Duke of Bedford has sworn that they shall
recant on the report-what a figure they will make! This bill
was chiefly of Anson's projecting, who grows every day into new
unpopularity.(11) He has lately had a sea-piece drawn of the
victory for which he was lorded, in which his own ship in a
cloud of cannon was boarding the French Admiral. This
circumstance, which was as true as if Mademoiselle Scudery had
written his life (for he was scarce in sight when the Frenchman
struck to Boscawen)(12) has been so ridiculed by the whole
tar-hood, that the romantic part has been forced to be
cancelled, and one only gun remains firing at Anson's ship.
The two Secretaries of State(13) grow every day nearer to a
breach; the King's going abroad is to decide the contest.
Newcastle, who Hanoverizes more and more every day, pushes on
the journey, as he is to be the attendant minister: his
lamentable brother is the constant sacrifice of all these
embroils.
At the Leicester-house the jars are as great: Doddington, who
has just resigned the treasuryship of the navy, in hopes of
once more governing that court (and there is no court where he
has not once or twice tried the same scheme!) does not succeed:
Sir Francis Dashwood and Lord Talbot are strongly for him-could
one conceive that he could still find a dupe? Mr. Fox had a
mind to succeed him, but both King and Duke have so earnestly
pressed him to remain secretary at war, that he could not
refuse. The King would not hear of any of the newer court; and
Legge, who of the old was next oars, has managed in the
Prussian business so clumsily, that the King would not bear him
in his closet: but he has got the navy-office, which Lyttelton
would have had, but could not be rechosen at his borough, which
he had stolen by surprise from his old friend and brother Tom
Pitt. The treasury is to be filled up with that toad-eater and
spy to all parties, Harry Vane:(14) there is no enumerating all
the circumstances that make his nomination scandalous and
ridiculous!-but such is our world! General Charles Howard and a
Mr. Saville are named to the red riband.
My friend the Duke of Modena is again coming hither, which
astonishes me, considering how little reason he had to be
satisfied with his first visit; and sure he will have less now!
I believe I told you that King Theodore(15) is here: I am to
drink coffee with him to-morrow at Lady Schaub's. I have
curiosity to see him, though I am not commonly fond of sights,
but content myself with the oil-cloth picture of them that is
hung out, and to which they seldom come up. There are two
black Princes of Anamaboe here, who are in fashion at all the
assemblies, of whom I scarce know any particulars, though their
story(16) is very like Oroonoko's: all the women know it-and
ten times more than belongs to it. Apropos to Indian
historians, half our thoughts are taken up--that is, my Lord
Halifax's are--with colonizing in Nova Scotia: my friend
Colonel Cornwallis is going thither commander-in-chief. The
Methodists will scarce follow him as they did Oglethorpe; since
the period of his expedition,(17) their lot is fallen in a
better land. Methodism is more fashionable than any thing but
brag; the women play very deep at both--as deep, it is much
suspected, as the matrons of Rome did at the mysteries of the
Bona Dea. If gracious Anne was alive, she would make an
admirable defendress of the new faith, and build fifty more
churches for female proselytes.
If I had more paper or time, I could tell you an excellent long
history of my brother Ned'S(18) envy, which was always up at
highwater-mark, but since the publication of my book of
Houghton (one should have thought a very harmless performance),
has overflowed on a thousand ridiculous occasions. Another
great object of his jealousy is my friendship with Mr. Fox: my
brother made him a formal visit at nine o'clock the other
morning, and in a set speech of three quarters of an hour,
begged his pardon for not attending the last day of the Mutiny
bill, which, he said was so particularly brought in by him,
though Mr. Fox assured him that he had no farther hand in it
than from his office. Another instance: when my brother went
to live at Frogmore, Mr. Fox desired him to employ his
tradesmen at Windsor, by way of supporting his interest in that
borough. My brother immediately went to the Duke of St. Albans,
to whom he had never spoke, (nor indeed was his acquaintance with
Mr. Fox much greater), and notified to him, that if seven years
hence his grace should have any contest with Mr. Fox about that
borough, he should certainly espouse the latter. Guess how the
Duke stared at so strange and unnecessary a declaration!
Pigwiggin's Princess has mis-pigged, to the great joy, I
believe, of that family, for you know a child must have eaten.
Adieu!
(11) It was entitled, A bill for amending, explaining, and
reducing into one act, the laws relating to the Navy. "it was,"
says Sir John Barrow, "a most desirable and highly useful
measure. The principal and , indeed, the only novelties
attempted to be introduced, were, first, that of subjecting
half pay officers to courts-martial, which after much
opposition was thrown out; the second was the administration of
an oath of secrecy to the members, which was carried, and
continues to the present time." See Life of Lord Anson, p.
218.--E.
(12) The Hon. Edward Boscawen, third son of Hugh, first
Viscount Falmouth. He was a distinguished naval commander, and
had a large share in the success of Lord Anson's engagement
with the French fleet off Cape Finisterre in 1747. He died in
1761.-D.
(13) The Dukes of Bedford and Newcastle.-D.
(14) Eldest son of Lord Barnard, and afterwards first Earl of
Darlington. he died in 1758.-E.
(15) Theodore, King of Corsica.-D.
(16) Their story is briefly this: A Moorish king, who had
entertained with great hospitality a British captain
trafficking on the coast of Africa, reposed such confidence in
him, as to intrust him with his son, about eighteen years of
age, and another sprightly youth, to be brought to England and
educated in the European manners. The captain received them,
and basely sold them for slaves. He shortly after died; and,
the ship coming to England, the officers related the whole
affair: upon which the government sent to pay their ransom, and
they were brought to England and put under the care of the Earl
of Halifax, then at the head of the board of trade, who had
them clothed and educated in a suitable manner. They were
afterwards received in the higher circles, and introduced to
the King. On the first of February in this year, they appeared
at the Covent-Garden theatre, to see the tragedy of Oroonok;
where they were received with a loud clap of applause, which
they returned with a genteel bow. The tender interview between
Imoinda and Oroonoko so affected the Prince, that he was
obliged to retire at the end of the fourth act. His companion
remained, but wept all the time so bitterly that it affected
the audience more than the play.-E.
(17) General Oglethorpe was the great promoter of the colony of
Georgia. See vol. i.-E.
(18) Sir Edward Walpole, K. B.-D.
19 Letter 3
To Sir Horace Mann.
Strawberry Hill, May 3, 1749.
I am come hither for a few days, to repose myself after a
torrent of diversions, and am writing to you in my charming
bow-window with a tranquillity and satisfaction which, I fear,
I am grown old enough to prefer to the hurry of amusements, in
which the whole world has lived for this last week. We have at
last celebrated the peace, and that as much in extremes as we
generally do everything, whether we have reason to be glad or
sorry, pleased or angry. Last Tuesday it was proclaimed: the
King did not go to St. Paul's, but at night the whole town was
illuminated. The next day was what was called "a
jubilee-masquerade in the Venetian manner" at Ranelagh: it had
nothing Venetian in it, but was by far the best understood and
the prettiest spectacle I ever saw: nothing in a fairy tale
ever surpassed it. One of the proprietors, who is a German, and
belongs to court, had got my Lady Yarmouth to persuade the King
to order it. It began at three o'clock, and, about five,
people of fashion began to go. When you entered, you found the
whole garden filled with masks and spread with tents, which
remained all night very commodely. In one quarter was a
May-pole dressed with garlands, and people dancing round it to
a tabor and pipe and rustic music, all masqued,'as were all the
various bands of music that were disposed in different parts of
the garden; some like huntsmen with French-horns, some like
peasants, with a troop of harlequins and scaramouches in the
little open temple on the mount. On the canal was a sort of
gondola, adorned with flags and streamers, and filled with
music, rowing about. All round the outside of the amphitheatre
were shops, filled with Dresden china, Japan, etc. and all the
shop-keepers in mask. The amphitheatre was illuminated; and in
the middle was a circular bower, composed of all kinds of firs
in tubs from twenty to thirty feet high: under them
orange-trees, with small lamps in each orange, and below them
all sorts of the finest auriculas in pots; and festoons of
natural flowers hanging from tree to tree. Between the arches
too were firs, and smaller ones in the balconies above. There
were booths for tea and wine, gaming-tables and dancing, and
about two thousand persons. In short, it pleased me more than
any thing I ever saw. It is to be once more, and probably
finer as to dresses, as there has since been a
subscription-masquerade, and people will go in their rich habits.
The next day were the fire-works, which by no means answered the
expense, the length of preparation, and the expectation that
had been raised; indeed, for a week before, the town was like a
country fair, the streets filled from morning to night,
scaffolds building wherever you could or could not see, and
coaches arriving from every corner of the kingdom. This hurry
and lively scene, with the sight of the immense crowd in the
Park and on every house, the guards, and the machine itself,
which was very beautiful, was all that was worth seeing. The
rockets, and whatever was thrown up into the air, succeeded
mighty well; but the wheels, and all that was to compose the
principal part, were pitiful and ill-conducted, with no changes
of coloured fires and shapes: the illumination was mean, and
lighted so slowly that scarce any body had patience to wait the
finishing; and then, -what contributed to the awkwardness of
the whole, was the right pavilion catching fire, and being
burnt down in the middle of the show. The King, the Duke, and
Princess Emily saw it from the library,(19) with their courts:
the Prince and Princess, with their children, from Lady
Middlesex's; no place being provided for them, nor any
invitation given to the library. The lords and Commons had
galleries built for them and the chief citizens along the rails
of the mall: the lords had four tickets a-piece, and each
Commoner, at first, but two, till the Speaker bounced and
obtained a third. Very little mischief was done, and but two
persons killed: at Paris, there were forty killed and near
three hundred wounded, by a dispute between the French and
Italians in the management, who, quarrelling for precedence in
lighting the fires, both lighted at once and blew up the whole.
Our mob was extremely tranquil, and very unlike those I
remember in my father's time, when it was a measure in the
Opposition to work up every thing to mischief, the excise and
the French players, the convention and the gin-act. We are as
much now in the opposite extreme, and in general so pleased
with the peace, that I could not help being struck with a
passage I read lately in Pasquier an old French author, who
says, "that in the time of Francis 1. the French used to call
their creditors 'Des Anglois,' from the facility with which the
English gave credit to them in all treaties, though they had
broken so many." On Saturday we had a serenata at the
Opera-house, called Peace in Europe, but it was a wretched
performance. On Monday there was a subscription-masquerade,
much fuller than that of last year, but not so agreeable or so
various in dresses. The King was well disguised in an
old-fashioned English habit, and much pleased with somebody who
desired him to hold their cup as they were drinking tea. The
Duke had a dress of the same kind, but was so immensely
corpulent that he looked like Cacofogo, the drunken captain, in
Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. The Duchess of Richmond was a
lady mayoress in the time of James I.; and Lord Delawarr,(20)
Queen Elizabeth's porter, from a picture in the guard-chamber at
Kensington; they were admirable masks. Lady Rochford, Miss
Evelyn, Miss Bishop, Lady Stafford,(21) and
Mrs. Pitt,(22) were in vast beauty; particularly the last, who
had a red veil, which made her look gloriously handsome. I
forgot Lady Kildare. Mr. Conway was the Duke in Don Quixote,
and the finest figure I ever saw. Miss Chudleigh(23) was
Iphigenia, but so naked that you would have taken her for
Andromeda; and Lady Betty Smithson had such a pyramid of
baubles upon her head, that she was exactly the Princess of
Babylon in Grammont.
You will conclude that, after all these diversions, people
begin to think of going out of town--no such matter: the
Parliament continues sitting, and will till the middle Of June;
Lord Egmont told us we should sit till Michaelmas. There are
many private bills, no public ones of any fame. We were to
have had some chastisement for Oxford, where, besides the late
riots, the famous Dr. King,(24) the Pretender's great agent,
made a most violent speech at the opening of the Ratcliffe
library. The ministry denounced judgment, but, in their old
style, have grown frightened, and dropped it. However, this
menace gave occasion to a meeting and union between the
Prince's party and the Jacobites, which Lord Egmont has been
labouring all the winter. They met at the St. Alban's tavern,
near Pall-mall, last Monday morning, an hundred and twelve
Lords and Commoners. The Duke of Beaufort(25) opened the
assembly with a panegyric on the stand that had been made this
winter against so corrupt an administration, and hoped it would
continue, and desired harmony. Lord Egmont seconded this
strongly, and begged they would come up to Parliament early
next winter. Lord Oxford(26) spoke next; and then Potter, with
great humour, and to the great Abashment of the Jacobites, said
he was very glad to see this union, and from thence hoped, that
if another attack like the last rebellion should be made on the
Royal Family, they would all stand by them. No reply was made
to this. Then Sir Watkyn Williams spoke, Sir Francis Dashwood,
and Tom Pitt,(27) and the meeting broke up. I don't know what
his coalition may produce; it will require time with no better
heads than compose it at present, though great Mr. Doddington
had carried to the conference the assistance of his. In France a
very favourable event has happened for us, the disgrace of
Maurepas,(28) one of our bitterest enemies, and the promoter of
their marine. Just at the beginning of the war, in a very
critical period, he had obtained a very large sum for that
service, but which one of the other factions, lest he should gain
glory and credit by it, got to be Suddenly given away to the King
of Prussia.
Sir Charles Williams is appointed envoy to this last King: here
is an epigram which he has just sent over on Lord Egmont's
opposition to the Mutiny-bill;
"Why has lord Egmont 'gainst this bill
So much declamatory skill
So tediously exerted?
The reason's plain: but t'other day
He mutinied himself for pay,
And he has twice descried."
I must tell you a bon-mot that was made the other night at the
serenata of "Peace in Europe" by Wall,(29) who is Much in
fashion, and a kind of Gondomar. Grossatesta, the Modenese
minister, a very low fellow, with all the jackpuddinghood of an
Italian, asked, "Mais qui est ce qui repres`ente mon maitre>"
Wall replied, "Mais, mon Die, l'abb`e, ne scavez vous pas que
ce n'est pas un op`era boufon!" And here is another bon-mot of
my Lady Townshend: We were talking of the Methodists: somebody
said, "Nay, Madam, is it true that Whitfield has recanted?"
"No, Sir, he has only canted."
If you ever think of returning to England, as I hope it will be
long first, you must prepare yourself with Methodism. I really
believe that by that time it will be necessary; this sect
increases as fast as almost ever any religious nonsense did.
Lady Fanny Shirley has chosen this way of bestowing the dregs
of her beauty; and Mr. Lyttelton is very near making the same
sacrifice of the dregs of all those various characters that he
has worn. The Methodists love your big sinners as proper
subjects to work upon--and indeed they have a plentiful
harvest--I think what you call flagrancy was never more in
fashion. Drinking is at the highest wine-mark; and gaming
joined with it so violent, that at the last Newmarket meeting,
in the rapidity of both, a bank-bill was thrown down, and
nobody immediately claiming it, they agreed to give it to a man
that was standing by.
I must tell you of Stosch's letter, which he had the
impertinence to give you without telling the contents. It was
to solicit the arrears of his pension, which I beg you will
Tell him I have no manner of interest to procure; and to tell
me of a Galla Placidia, a gold medal lately found. It is not for
myself, but I wish you would ask him the price for a friend of
mine who would like to buy it. Adieu! my dear child; I have been
long in arrears to you, but I trust you will take this huge
letter as an acquittal. You see my villa makes me a good
correspondent; how happy I should be to show it you, if I could,
with no mixture of disagreeable circumstances to you. I have
made a vast plantation! Lord Leicester told me the other day that
he heard I would not buy some old china, because I was laying out
all my money in trees; "Yes," said I, my Lord, I used to love
blue trees, but Now I like green ones."
(19) Probably the old brick building near the bottom of the
Green Park, which was called the Queen's Library," and which
was pulled down by the late Duke of York when he built his new
house in the Stable-yard, St. James's.-D.
(20) John West, seventh Lord Delawarr, created Earl Delawarr,
in 1761-D.
(21) Henrietta Cantillon, wife of Matthias Howard, third Earl
of Stafford.-D.
(22) Penelope Atkyns a celebrated beauty, wife of George Pitt,
Esq. of Strathfieldsaye, in Hants, created in 1776 Lord
Rivers.-D.
(23) Afterwards Duchess of Kingston.-D.
(24) last conspicuous Jacobite at Oxford. He was public orator
of that University and principal of St. Mary Hall.-D.
(25) Lord Noel Somerset,- who, in 1746 succeeded his brother in
the dukedom.
(26) Edward Harley, of Eywood, in the county of Hereford, to
whom, pursuant to the limitations of the patent, the earldoms
of Oxford and Mortimer descended, upon the death, without male
issue, of the Lord Treasurer's only son, Edward, the second
Earl. Lord Oxford was of the Jacobite party. He died in
1755.--D.
(27) Thomas Pitt, Esq. of Boconnock, in Cornwall, warden of the
Stannaries. He married the sister of George, Lord Lyttelton,
and was the father of the first Lord Camelford.-D.
(28) Phelypeaux, Count de Maurepas, son of the Chancellor de
Pontchartrain. He was disgraced in consequence of some quarrel
with the King's mistress. He returned to office, unhappily for
France, in the commencement of the reign of louis the
Sixteenth.-D.
(29) General Wall, the Spanish ambassador. Gondomar was the
able Spanish ambassador in England in the reign of james the
First.-D.
23 Letter 4
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, May 17, 1749.
We have not yet done diverting ourselves: the night before last
the Duke of Richmond gave a firework; a codicil to the peace.
He bought the rockets and wheels that remained in the pavilion
which miscarried, and took the pretence of the Duke of Modena
being here to give a charming entertainment. The garden(30)
lies with a slope down to the Thames, on which were lighters,
from whence were thrown up, after a concert of water-music, a
great number of rockets. Then from boats on every side were
discharged water-rockets and fires of that kind; and then the
wheels Which were ranged along the rails of the terrace were
played off; and the whole concluded with the illumination of a
pavilion on the top of the slope, of two pyramids on each side,
and of the whole length of the balustrade to the water. You
can't conceive a prettier sight; the garden filled with every
body of fashion, the Duke, the Duke of Modena, and the two
black Princes. The King and Princess Emily were in their barge
under the terrace; the river was covered with boats, and the
shores and adjacent houses with crowds. The Duke of Modena
played afterwards at brag, and there was a fine supper for him
and the foreigners, of whom there are numbers here; it is grown
as much the fashion to travel hither as to France or Italy.
Last week there was a vast assembly and music at Bedford-house
for this Modenese; and to-day he is set out to receive his
doctor's degree at the two Universities. His appearance is
rather better than it used to be, for, instead of wearing his
wig down to his nose to hide the humour in his face, he has
taken to paint his forehead white, which, however, with the
large quantity of red that he always wears on the rest of his
face, makes him ridiculous enough. I cannot say his manner is
more polished; Princess Emily asked him if he did not find the
Duke much fatter than when he was here before? He replied, "En
verit`e il n'est pas si effroiable qu'on m'avoit dit." She
commended his diamonds; he said, "Les v`otres sont bien
petits." As I had been graciously received at his court, I
went into his box the first night at the Opera: the first thing
he did was to fall asleep; but as I did not choose to sit waiting
his reveil in the face of the whole theatre, I waked him, and
would discourse him: but here I was very unlucky, for of the only
two persons I could recollect at his court to inquire after, one
has been dead these four years, and the other, he could not
remember any such man. However, Sabbatini, his secretary of
state, flattered me extremely: told me he found me beaucoup
mieux, and that I was grown very fat-I fear, I fear it was
flattery! Eight years don't improve one,-and for my corpulence,
if I am grown fat, what must I have been in my Modenese days!
I told you we were to have another jubilee masquerade: there
was one by the King's command for Miss Chudleigh, tire maid of
honour, with whom our gracious monarch has a mind to believe
himself in love,--so much in love, that at one of the booths he
gave her a fairing for her watch, which cost him
five-and-thirty guineas,--actually disbursed out of his privy
purse, and not charged on the civil list. Whatever you may
think of it, this is a more magnificent present than the
cabinet which the late King of Poland sent to the fair Countess
Konismark, replete with all kinds of baubles and ornaments, and
ten thousand ducats in one of the drawers. I hope some future
Hollinshed or Stowe will acquaint posterity "that
five-and-thirty guineas were an immense sum in those days!"
You are going to see one of our court-beauties in Italy, my
Lady Rochford:(31) they are setting Out on their embassy to
Turin. She is large, but very handsome, with great delicacy
and address. All the Royals have been in love with her; but
the Duke was so in all the forms, till she was a little too
much pleased with her conquest of his brother-in-law the Prince
of Hesse. You will not find much in the correspondence of her
husband: his person is good, and he will figure well enough as
an ambassador; better as a husband where cicisb`es don't expect
to be molested. The Duke is not likely to be so happy with his
new passion, Mrs. Pitt,(32) who, besides being in love with her
husband, whom you remember (,lady Mary Wortley's George Pitt),
is going to Italy with him, I think you will find her one of
the most glorious beauties you ever saw. You are to have
another pair of our beauties, the Princess Borghese's, Mr
Greville(33) and his wife, who was the pretty Fanny M'Cartney.
Now I am talking scandal to you, and court-scandal, I must tell
you that Lord Conway's sister, Miss Jenny, is dead suddenly
with eating lemonade at the last subscription masquerade.,(34)
It is not quite unlucky for her: she had outlived the Prince's
love and her own face, and nothing remained but her love and her
person, which was exceedingly bad.
The graver part of the world, who have not been given up to
rockets and masquing, are amused with a book of Lord
Bolinbroke's, just published, but written long ago. It is
composed of three letters, the first to Lord Cornbury on the
Spirit of Patriotism; and two others to Mr. lyttelton, (but
with neither of their names,) on the Idea of a patriot King,
and the State of Parties on the late King's accession. Mr.
Lyttelton had sent him word, that he begged nothing might be
inscribed to him that was to reflect on Lord Orford, for that
he was now leagued with all Lord Orford's friends: a message as
abandoned as the book itself: but indeed there is no describing
the impudence with which that set of people unsay what they
have been saying all their lives,-I beg their pardons, I mean
the honesty with which they recant! Pitt told me coolly, that
he had read this book formerly, when he admired Lord Bolinbroke
more than he does now. The book by no means answered my
expectation: the style, which is his fort, is very fine: the
deduction and impossibility of drawing a consequence from what
he is saying, as bad and obscure as in his famous Dissertation
on Parties: Von must know the man, to guess his meaning. Not
to mention the absurdity and impracticability of this kind of
system, there is a long speculative dissertation on the origin
of government, and even that greatly stolen from other writers,
and that all on a sudden dropped, while he hurries into his own
times, and then preaches (he of all men!) on the duty of
preserving decency! The last treatise would not impose upon an
historian of five years old: he tells Mr. Lyttelton, that he
may take it from him, that there was no settled scheme at the
end of the Queen's reign to introduce the Pretender; and he
gives this excellent reason: because, if there had been, he
must have known it; and another reason as ridiculous, that no
traces of such a scheme have since come to light. What, no
traces in all cases of himself, Atterbury, the Duke of Ormond,
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