The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay Volume Ii Part 70

The s.h.i.+p is the Bombay Castle, of seventy-four guns. It had the Admiralty flag hoisted, as Lord Chatham had held a board there in the morning. It is a very fine s.h.i.+p, and I was truly edified by the sight of all its accommodations, ingenuity, utility, cleanliness, and contrivances. A man-of-war, fitted out and manned,- is a glorious and a fearful sight!

In going over the s.h.i.+p we came to the mids.h.i.+pmen's mess, and those young officers were at dinner, but we were taken in: they were lighted by a few candles fastened to the wall in sockets.

Involuntarily I exclaimed, "Dining by candle-light at noon-day!"

A mids.h.i.+pman, starting forward, said, "Yes', ma'am, and Admiral Lord Hood did the same for seven years following!"

I liked his spirit so much that I turned to him, and said I was very glad they looked forward to such an example, for I had a brother in the service, which gave me a warm interest in its prosperity. This made the mids.h.i.+pman so much my friend, that we entered into a detailed discourse upon the accommodations of their cabin, mess, etc., and various other matters. I liked him much, though I know not his name; but my constant Captain Duckworth kept me again wholly to his own cicerone-ing, when I turned out of the cabin.

A little, however, he was mortified to find me a coward upon the water. I a.s.sured him he should cure me if he could convince me there was no reason for fear. He would not allow of any, but could not disprove it.

"Tell me," I said, "and honestly,--should we be overturned in the boat while out at sea, what would prevent our being drowned?" He would not suppose such an accident possible.

I pressed him, however, upon the possibility it might happen once in a century, and he could not help laughing, and answered, "O, we should pick you all up!" --I desired to know by what means.

"Instruments," he said. I forced him, after a long and comic resistance, to show me them. Good heaven! they were three-p.r.o.nged iron forks,--very tridents of Neptune!

I exclaimed with great horror, "These!---why, they would tear the body to pieces!"

"O," answered he calmly, "one must not think of legs and arms when life is in danger."

I would not, however, under such protection, refuse sailing round Mount-Edgec.u.mbe, which we did in Captain Molloy's boat, and just at the time when the royals, in sundry garden-

Page 327 chairs, were driving about the place. It was a beautiful view the situation is delightful. But Captain Molloy was not in the best harmony with its owners, as they had disappointed his expectations of an Invitation to dinner.

A DAY AT MOUNT-EDGEc.u.mBE.

Aug. 24.-To-day the royals went to Marystow, Colonel Heywood's, and Miss Planta and myself to Mount-Edgec.u.mbe. The queen had desired me to take Miss Planta, and I had written to prepare Lady Mount-Edgec.u.mbe for a companion.

We went in a chaise to the ferry, and thence in a boat. I did not like this part of the business, for we had no pilot we knew, nor any one to direct us. They would hardly believe, at Mount-Edgec.u.mbe, we had adventured in so unguarded a manner: but our superior is too high to discover difficulties, or know common precautions ; and we fare, therefore, considerably worse in all these excursions, from belonging to crowned heads, than we should do in our own private stations, if visiting at any part of the kingdom.

Safe, however, though not pleasantly, we arrived on the opposite sh.o.r.e ; when we found a gardener and a very commodious garden-chair waiting for us. We drove through a sweet park to the house, at the gate of which stood Lord and Lady Mount-Edgec.u.mbe, who told us that they had just heard an intention of their majesties to sail the next day up the River Tamer, and therefore they thought it their duty to hasten off to a seat they have near its banks, Coteil, with refreshments and accommodations, in case they should be honoured with a visit to see the place, which was very ancient and curious. They should leave Lord Valletort to do the honours, and expressed much civil regret in the circ.u.mstance: but the distance was too great to admit of the journey, over bad roads, if they deferred it till after dinner.

We then proceeded, in the chair, to see the place: it is truly n.o.ble; but I shall enter into no description from want of time: take a list simply of its particular points. The sea, in some places, shows itself in its whole vast and unlimited expanse; at others, the jutting land renders it merely a beautiful basin or ca.n.a.l: the borders down to the sea are in some parts flouris.h.i.+ng with the finest evergreens and most vivid verdure, and in others are barren, rocky, and perilous. In one moment you might suppose yourself cast on a desert island,

Page 328

and the next find yourself in the most fertile and luxurious country. In different views we were shown Cawsand bay, the Hamoaze, the rocks called "the Maker," etc.,--Dartmoor hills, Plymouth, the dockyard, Saltram, and St. George's channel.

Several n.o.ble s.h.i.+ps, manned and commissioned -were in the Hamoaze amongst them our Weymouth friends' the Magnificent and Southampton.

A very beautiful flower-garden is enclosed in one part of the grounds ; and huts, seats, and ornaments in general, were well adapted to the scenery of the place. A seat is consecrated to Mrs. Damer,(316) with an acrostic on her name by Lord Valletort.

It is surprising to see the state of vegetation at this place, so close to the main. Myrtles, pomegranates, everg.reens, and flowering shrubs, all thrive, and stand the cold blast, when planted in a southern aspect, as safely as in an inland country.

As it is a peninsula, it has all aspects, and the plantations and dispositions of the ground are admirably and skilfully a.s.sorted to them.

The great open view, however, disappointed me : the towns it shows have no prominent features, the country is as flat as it is extensive, and the various branches of the sea which run into it give, upon their retreat, a marshy, muddy, unpleasant appearance.

There is, besides, a want of some one striking object to arrest the eye, and fix the attention, which wearies from the general glare. Points, however, there are, both of the sublime and beautiful, that merit all the fame which this n.o.ble place has acquired.

In our tour around it we met Lord Stopford, Mr. Townshend, and Captain Douglas ; and heard a tremendous account of the rage of the sea-captains, on being disappointed of a dinner at the royal visit to Mount-Edgec.u.mbe.

We did not quit these fine grounds till near dinner-time. The housekeeper then showed us the house, and a set of apartments newly fitted up for the royals, had they chosen to sleep at Mount-Edgec.u.mbe. The house is old, and seems pleasant and convenient.

Page 329

In a very pretty circular parlour, which had the appearance of being the chief living room, I saw amongst a small collection of books, "Cecilia." I immediately laid a wager with myself the first volume would open upon Pacchierotti; and I won it very honestly, though I never expect to be paid it. The chapter, "An Opera Rehearsal," was so well read, the leaves always flew apart to display it.

The library is an exceeding good room, and seems charmingly furnished. Here Lord Valletort received us. His lady was confined to her room by indisposition. He is a most neat little beau, and his face has the roses and lilies as finely blended as that of his pretty young wife. He was extremely civil and attentive, and appears to be really amiable in his disposition.

Mr. Brett, a plain, sensible, conversible man, who has an estate in the neighbourhood, dined with us; and a young Frenchman. The dinner was very cheerful: my lord, at the head of the table, looked only like his lady in a riding-dress. However, he received one mortifying trial of his temper - he had sent to request sailing up the Tamer next day with Sir Richard Bickerton; and he had a blunt refusal, in a note, during our repast. Not an officer in the fleet would accommodate him; their resentment of the dinner slight is quite vehement.

We returned home the same way we came; the good-natured little lord, and Mr. Brett also, quite shocked we had no better guard or care taken of us.

MR. FAIRLY ON A COURT LIFE.

Weymouth, Sunday, Sept. 6.-This evening, the royals and their train all went again to the rooms to drink their tea. Miss Planta and myself were taking ours quietly together, and I was finis.h.i.+ng a charming sermon of Blair while she was running over some old newspapers, when, suddenly, but very gently, the room-door was opened, and then I heard, "Will Miss Burney permit me to come in, and give me a dish of tea?" 'Twas Mr. Fairly.

He said we were to go on Monday se'nnight to Lord Bath's, on Wednesday to Lord Aylesbury's, and on Friday to return to Windsor. He was himself to be discharged some days sooner, as he should not be wanted on the road. He said many things relative - to Court lives and situations: with respect, deference, and regard invariable, mentioned the leading individuals ; but said nothing could be so weak as to

Page 330

look there, in such stations, for such impossibilities as sympathy, friends.h.i.+p, or cordiality ! And he finished with saying, "People forget themselves who look for them!"

Such, however, is not my feeling ; and I am satisfied he has met with some unexpected coldness. Miss Planta being present, he explained only in generals.

A BRIEF SOJOURN AT LONGLEAT.

Monday, Sept. 14.-We all left Weymouth. All possible honours were paid the king on his departure; lords, ladies, and sea- officers, lined the way that he pa.s.sed, the guns of the Magnificent and Southampton fired the parting salute, and the s.h.i.+ps were under sail.

We all set out as before, but parted on the road. The royals went to breakfast at Redlinch, the seat of Lord Ilchester, where Mr, Fairly(317) was in waiting for them, and thence proceeded to a collation at Sherborne Castle, whither he was to accompany them, and then resign his present attendance, which has been long and troublesome and irksome, I am sure.

Miss Planta and myself proceeded to Longleat, the seat of the Marquis of Bath, late Lord Weymouth; where we were all to dine, sleep, and spend the following day and night. Longleat was formerly the dwelling of the Earl of Lansdowne, uncle to Mrs.

Delany; and here, at this seat, that heartless uncle, to promote some political views, sacrificed his incomparable niece, at the age of seventeen, marrying her to an unwieldly, uncultivated, country esquire, near sixty years of age, and scarce ever sober-- his name Pendarves.

With how sad an awe, in recollecting her submissive unhappiness, did I enter these doors!--and with what indignant hatred did I look at the portrait of the unfeeling earl, to whom her gentle repugnance, shown by almost incessant tears, was thrown away, as if she, her person, and her existence were nothing in the scale, where the disposition of a few boroughs opposed them! Yet was this the famous Granville--the poet, the fine gentleman, the statesman, the friend and patron of Pope, of whom he wrote--

"What Muse for Granville can refuse to sing?"

Mine, I am sure, for one.

Page 331

Lady Bath showed us our rooms, to which we repaired immediately, to dress before the arrival of the royals.

We dined with the gentlemen, all but the marquis, who was admitted, in his own house, to dine with the king and queen, as were all the ladies of his family. Lord Weymouth, the eldest son, was our president; and two of his brothers, Lords George and John, with Lord Courtown and the two colonels, made the party.

The Weymouths, Thynnes rather, are silent, and we had but little talk or entertainment.