The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford Volume II Part 76

I am dying in a hot street, with my eyes full of dust, and my table full of letters to be answered--yet I must write you a line. I am sorry your first of Augustness is disordered; I'll tell you why. I go to Ragley on the twelfth. There is to be a great party at loo for the d.u.c.h.ess of Grafton, and thence they adjourn to the Warwick races. I have been engaged so long to this, that I cannot put it off; besides, I am under appointments at George Selwyn's, etc. afterwards. If you cannot come before all this to let me have enough of your company, I should wish you to postpone it to the first of September, when I shall be at leisure for ten or twelve days, and could go with you from Strawberry to the Vine; but I could like to know certainly, for as I never make any of my visits while Strawberry is in bloom, I am a little crowded with them at the end of the season.

I came this morning in all this torrent of heat from Lord Waldegrave's at Navestock. It is a dull place, though it does not want prospect backwards. The garden is small, consisting of two French all'ees of old limes, that are comfortable, two groves that are not so, and a green ca.n.a.l; there is besides a paddock. The house was built by his father, and ill finished, but an air seigneurial in the furniture; French gla.s.ses in quant.i.ties, handsome commodes, tables, screens, etc. goodish pictures in rich frames, and a deal of n.o.blesse 'a la St.

Germain--James the Second, Charles the Second, the Duke of Berwick, her Grace of Buckingham, the Queen Dowager in the dress she visited Madame Maintenon, her daughter the Princess Louisa, a Lady Gerard that died at Joppa, returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and above all La Goqfrey, and not at all ugly, Though she does not show her thighs. All this is leavened with the late King, the present King, and Queen Caroline. I shall take care to sprinkle a little unholy water from our well.

I am very sorry you have been so ill; take care of yourself.

there are wicked sore-throats in vogue; poor Lady Ess.e.x and Mrs. Charles Yorke died of them in an instant.

Do let me have a line, and do fix a day; for instead of keeping me at home one by fixing it, you will keep me there five or six days by not fixing it. Adieu!

501 letter 326 To Sir Horace Mann.

Strawberry Hill, August 1, 1759.

I have received your two letters about the watch, the first came with surprising celerity. I wish, when the watch is finished, I may be able to convey it to you with equal expedition.

Nothing is talked of here, as you may imagine, but the invasion--yet I don't grow more credulous. Their ridiculous lists of fifty thousand men don't contribute to frighten me-- nay, though they specify the numbers of apothecaries and chaplains that are to attend. Fifty thousand men cannot easily steal a march over the sea. Sir Edward Hawke will take care of them till winter, and by that time we shall have a great force at land. The very militia is considerable: the spirit, or at least the fas.h.i.+on of it, catches every day. We are growing such ancient Britons, that I don't know whether I must not mount some popguns upon the battlements of my castle, lest I should not be thought hero enough in these West-Saxon times.

Lord Pulteney has done handsomely, and what is more surprising, so has his father. The former has offered to raise a regiment, and to be only lieutenant-colonel, provided the command is given to a Colonel Crawford, an old soldier, long postponed-- Lord Bath is at the expense, which will be five thousand pounds. All the country squires are in regimentals --a pedestal is making for little Lord Mountford, that he may be placed at the head of the Cambridges.h.i.+re militia. In short, we have two sorts of armies, and I hope neither will be necessary--what the consequences of this militia may be hereafter, I don't know. Indifferent I think it cannot be. A great force upon an old plan, exploded since modern improvements, must make some confusion. If they do not become ridiculous, which the real officers are disposed to make them, the crown or the disaffected will draw considerable consequences, I think, from an establishment popular by being const.i.tutional, and of great weight from the property it will contain.

If the French pursue their vivacity in Germany, they will send us more defenders; our eight thousand men there seem of very little use. Both sides seem in all parts weary of the war; at least are grown so cautious, that a battle will be as great a curiosity in a campaign as in the midst of peace. For the Russians, they quite make one smile; they hover every summer over the north of Germany, get cut to pieces by September, disappear, have a general disgraced, and in winter out comes a memorial of the Czarina's steadiness to her engagements, and of the mighty things she will do in spring. The Swedes follow them like Sancho Panza, and are rejoiced at not being bound by the laws of chivalry to be thrashed too.

We have an evil that threatens us more nearly than the French.

The heat of the weather has produced a contagious sore-throat in London. Mr. Yorke, the solicitor-general, has lost his wife, his daughter, and a servant. The young Lady Ess.e.x(1047) died of it in two days. Two servants are dead in Newcastle-house, and the Duke has left it; any body else would be pitied, but his terrors are sure of being a joke.(1048) My niece, Lady Waldegrave, has done her part for repairing this calamity, and is breeding.

Your Lord Northampton has not acted a much more gallant part by his new mistress than by his fair one at Florence. When it was all agreed, he refused to marry unless she had eighteen thousand pounds. Eight were wanting. It looked as if he was more attached to his old flame than to his new one; but her uncle, Norborne Berkeley,(1049) has n.o.bly made up the deficiency.

I told Mr. Fox of the wine that is coming, and he told me what I had totally forgot, that he has left off Florence, and chooses to have no more. He will take this parcel, but you need not trouble yourself again. Adieu! my dear Sir, don't let Marshal Botta terrify you: when the French dare not stir out of any port they have, it will be extraordinary if they venture to come into the heart of us.

(1047) Frances, eldest daughter of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams. See ant'e, p. 216, letter 108.-E.

(1048) "I have heard the Duke of Newcastle is much broke ever since his sister Castlecorner died; not that he cared for her, or saw her above once a year: but she was the last of the brood that was left; and he now goes regularly to church, which he never did before." Gray, Works, vol. iii. p. 218.-E.

(1049) Brother of the d.u.c.h.ess of Beaufort, mother of Lady Anne Somerset, whom Lord Northampton did marry. (Norborne Berkeley afterwards established his claim to the ancient barony of Botetourt.-D.)

502 Letter 327 To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, Aug. 8, 1759.

If any body admires expedition, they should address themselves to you and me, who order watches, negotiate about them by couriers, and have them finished, with as little trouble as if we had nothing to do, but, like the men of business in the Arabian tales, rub a dark lantern, a genie appears, one bespeaks a bauble worth two or three Indies, and finds it upon one's table the next morning at breakfast. The watch was actually finished, and delivered to your brother yesterday. I trust to our good luck for finding quick conveyance. I did send to the [email protected] cellar here in Piccadilly, whence all the stage-coaches set out, but there was never a genie booted and spurred, and going to Florence on a sunbeam. If you are not charmed with the watch, never deal with us devils any more.

If any thing a quarter so pretty was found in Herculaneum, One should admire Roman enamellers more than their Scipios and Caesars. The device of the second seal I stole; it is old, but uncommon; a Cupid standing on two joined hands over the sea; si la foy manque, l'amour perira--I hope for the honour of the device. it will arrive before half the honeymoon is over!--But, alack! I forget the material point; Mr. Deard, who has forty times more virtue than if he had been taken from the plough to be colonel of the militia, instead of one hundred and sixteen pounds to which I pinned him down, to avoid guineas, will positively take but one hundred and ten pounds. I did all I could to corrupt him with six more, but he is immaculate--and when our posterity is abominably bad, as all posterity always is till it grows one's ancestors, I hope Mr. Deard's integrity will be quoted to them as an instance of the virtues that adorned the simple and barbarous age of George the Second. Oh!

I can tell you the age of George the Second is likely to be celebrated for more primitivity than the disinterestedness of Mr. Deard-here is such a victory come over that--it can't get over. Mr. Yorke has sent word that a Captain Ligonier is coming from Prince Ferdinand to tell us that his Serene Highness has beaten Monsieur Contades to such a degree, that every house in London is illuminated, every street has two bonfires, every bonfire has two hundred squibs, and the poor charming moon yonder, that never looked so well in her life, is not at all minded, but seems only staring out of a garret window at the frantic doings all over the town.(1050) We don't know a single particular, but we conclude that Prince Ferdinand received all his directions from my Lord Granby, who is the mob's hero. We are a little afraid, if we could fear any thing to-night, that the defeat of the Russians by General Weidel was a mistake for this victory of Prince Ferdinand. Pray Heaven!

neither of these glories be turned sour, by staying so long at sea! You said in your last, what slaughter must be committed by the end of August! Alas! my dear Sir, so there is by the beginning of it; and we, wretched creatures, are forced to be glad of it, because the greatest part falls on our enemies.

Fifteen hundred men have stolen from Dunkirk, and are said to be sailed northward--some think, to Embden--too poor a pittance surely where they thought themselves so superior, unless they meaned to hinder our receiving our own troops from thence--as paltry, too, if this is their invasion--but if to Scotland, not quite a joke. However, Prince Ferdinand seems to have found employment for the rest of their troops, and Monsieur de Botta will not talk to you in so high a style.

D'Aubreu, the pert Spanish minister, said the other day at court to poor Alt, the Hessian, "Monsieur, je vous f'elicite; Munster est pris." Mr. Pitt, who overheard this cruel apostrophe, called out, "Et moi, Monsieur Alt, Je vous f'elicite; les Russes sont battus."

I am here in town almost every day; Mrs. Leneve, who has long lived with my father, and with me, is at the point of death; she is seventy-three, and has pa.s.sed twenty-four of them in continual ill health; so I can but wish her released. Her long friends.h.i.+p with our family makes this attention a duty; otherwise I should certainly not be in town this most gorgeous of all summers! I should like to know in how many letters this wonderful summer has been talked of.

It is above two years, I think, since you sent home any of my letters--will you by any convenient opportunity?

Adieu! There is great impatience, as you may believe, to learn the welfare of our young lords and heroes--there are the Duke of Richmond, Lord Granby, Lord George Sackville, Lord Downe, Fitzroy, General Waldegrave, and others of rank.

(1050) "I have the joy to tell you," writes Mr. Pitt, on the 6th, to Lady Hester, "that our happy victory ne fait que croitre et embellir: by letters come this day, the hereditary Prince, with his troops, had pa.s.sed the Weser, and attacked, with part of them, a body of six thousand French, defeated it, took many prisoners, some trophies and cannon: M. de Contades's baggage, coaches, mules, letters, and correspondences have fallen into our hands. Words in letters say, 'qu'on se la.s.se de prendre des prisoniers.'" Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 8.-E.

504 Letter 328 To George Montagu, Esq.

Strawberry Hill, Aug. 9, 1759.

Unless your Colonel Johnson is a man of no note, he is well.

for we have not lost one officer of any note--now will you conclude that we are beaten, and will be crying and roaring all night for Hanover. Lord! where do you live? If you had any ears, as I have none left with the noise, you would have heard the racket that was made from morning till night yesterday on the news of the victory(1051) gained by Prince Ferdinand over the French. He has not left so many alive as there are at any periwig-maker's in London. This is all we know, the particulars are to come at their leisure, and with all the gravity due to their importance. If the King's heart were not entirely English, I believe he would be complimented with the t.i.tle of Germanicus from the name of the country where this great event happened; for we don't at all know the precise spot, nor has the battle yet been christened--all that is certain is, that the poor Duke(1052) is neither father nor G.o.dfather.

I was sent for to town yesterday, as Mrs. Leneve was at the point of death: but she has had a surprising change, and may linger on still. I found the town distracted, and at night it was beautiful beyond description. As the weather was so hot, every window was open, and all the rails illuminated; every street had one or two bonfires, the moon was in all its glory, the very middle of the streets crowded with officers and people of fas.h.i.+on talking of the news. Every squib in town got drunk, and rioted about the streets till morning. Two of our regiments are said to have suffered much, of which Napier's most. Adieu! If you should be over-English with this, there is a party of one thousand five hundred men stolen out of Dunkirk, that some weeks hence may bring you to your senses again, provided they are properly planted and watered in Scotland.

(1051) At the battle of Minden.

(1052) Duke of c.u.mberland.

505 Letter 329 To The Earl Of Strafford.

Strawberry Hill, Thursday, 3 o'clock, August 9, 1759.

My dear lord, Lord Granby has entirely defeated the French!--The foreign gazettes, I suppose, will give this victory to Prince Ferdinand: but the mob of London, whom I have this minute left, and who must know best, a.s.sure me that it is all their own Marquis's doing. Mr. Yorke(1053) was the first to send this news, "to be laid with himself and all humility at his Majesty's feet",(1054) about eleven o'clock yesterday morning.

At five this morning came Captain Ligonier, who was despatched in such a hurry that he had not time to pack up any particulars in his portmanteau: those we are expecting with our own army, who we conclude are now at Paris, and will be tomorrow night at Amiens. All we know is, that not one Englishman is killed, nor one Frenchman left alive. If you should chance to meet a b.l.o.o.d.y wagon-load of heads, you will be sure that it is the part of the spoils that came to Downe's share, and going to be hung up in the great hall at Cowick.(1055)

We have a vast deal of other good news; but as not one word of it is true, I thought you would be content with this victory.

His Majesty is in high spirits, and is to make -,a triumphal entry into Hanover on Tuesday fortnight. I envy you the illuminations and rejoicings that will be made at Worksop on this occasion.

Four days ago we had a great victory over the Russians; but in the hurry of this triumph it has somehow or other been mislaid, and n.o.body can tell where to find it:--however, it is not given over for lost.

Adieu, my dear lord! As I have been so circ.u.mstantial in the account of this battle, I will not tire you with any thing else. My compliments to the lady of the menagerie. I see your new offices rise(1056) every day in a very respectable manner.

(1053) Afterwards Lord Dover,, then Minister at the Hague.

(1054) The words of his despatch.

(1055) Lord Downe's seat in Yorks.h.i.+re.

(1056) At Lord Strafford's house at Twickenham.

506 Letter 330 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(1057) Arlington Street, Aug. 14, 1759.

I am here in the most unpleasant way in the world, attending poor Mrs. Leneve's deathbed, a spectator of all the horrors of tedious suffering and clear sense, and with no one soul to speak to-but I will not tire you with a description of what has quite worn me out.