The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford Volume II Part 79

518 Letter 341 To The Earl Of Strafford.

Strawberry Hill, October 30th, 1759.

My dear lord, It would be very extraordinary indeed if I was not glad to see one Whose friends.h.i.+p does me so much honour as your lords.h.i.+p's, and who always expresses so much kindness to me. I have an additional reason for thanking you now, when you are creating a building after the design of the Strawberry committee. It will look, I fear, very selfish if I pay it a visit next year; and yet it answers so many selfish purposes that I certainly shall.

My ignorance of all the circ.u.mstances relating to Quebec is prodigious; I have contented myself with the rays of' glory that reached hither, without going to London to bask in them.

I have not even seen the conqueror's mother(1075) though I hear she has covered herself with more laurel-leaves than were heaped on the children of the wood.

Seriously it is very great; and as I am too inconsiderable to envy Mr. Pitt, I give him all the honour he deserves.

I pa.s.sed all the last week at Park-place, where one of the bravest men in the world, who is not permitted to contribute to our conquests, was indulged in being the happiest by being with one of the most deserving women--for Campbell-goodness no more wears out than Campbell-beauty--all their good qualities are huckaback.(1076) YOU See the d.u.c.h.ess(1077) has imbibed so much of' their durableness, that she is good-humoured enough to dine at a tavern at seventy-six.

Sir William Stanhope wrote to Mrs. Ellis,(1078) that he had pleased himself, having seen much of Mr. Nugent and Lady Berkeley this summer, and having been so charmed with the felicity of their menage, that he could not resist marrying again. His daughter replied, that it had always been her opinion, that people should please themselves, and that she was glad he had; but as to taking the precedent of Lady Berkeley, she hoped it would answer in nothing but in my Lady Stanhope having three children the first year. You see, my lord, Mrs.

Ellis has bottled up her words(1079) till they sparkle at last!

I long to have your approbation of my Holbein-chamber; it has a comely sobriety that I think answers very well to the tone it should have. My new printing-house is finished, in order to pull down the old one, and lay the foundations next summer of my round tower. Then follows the gallery and chapel-cabinet.

I hear your lords.h.i.+p has tapped your magnificent front too.

Well, when all your magnificences and minimificences are finished, then, we--won't sit down and drink, as Pyrrhus said,--no, I trust we shall never conclude our plans so filthily: then--I fear we shall begin others. Indeed, I don't know what the Countess may do: if she imitates her mother, she will go to a tavern at fourscore, and then she and Pyrrhus may take a bottle together---I hope she will live to try at least whether she likes it. -Adieu, both!

(1075) Lady Townshend. On the death of General Wolfe, Colonel Townshend received the surrender.

(1076) Lady Ailesbury and Lady Strafford, both preserved their beauty so long, that Mr. Walpole called them huck(iback beauties, that never wear out.

(1077) The d.u.c.h.ess of Argyle, widow of John Campbell, Duke of Argyle, and mother to Lady Strafford.

(1078) His daughter.

(1079) She was very silent.

519 Letter 342 To The Right Hon. Lady Hervey.

Sat.u.r.day, Nov. 3d, 1759.

Poor Robins' Almanack. Thick fogs, and some wet. Go not out of town. Gouts and rheumatisms are abroad. Warm clothes, good fires, and a room full of pictures, gla.s.ses, and scarlet damask are the best physic.

In short, for fear your ladys.h.i.+p should think of Strawberry on Sat.u.r.day, I can't help telling you that I am to breakfast at Petersham that day with Mr. Fox and Lady Caroline, Lord and Lady Waldegrave. How did you like the farce? George Selwyn says he wants to see High Life below Stairs (1080) as he is weary of low life above stairs.

(1080) This popular' farce was written by the Rev. James Townley, high master of Merchant Tailors' School . Dr, Johnson said of it, "Here is a farce which is really very diverting when you see it acted, and yet one may read it and not know that one has been reading any thing at all;" and of the actors, Goldsmith tells us, that "Mr. Palmer and Mr. King were entirely what they desired to represent; and Mrs. Clive (but what need I talk of her, since without exaggeration she has more true humour than any actor or actress, upon the English or any other stage, I have seen), she, I say, did the part all the justice it was capable of." In England it was very successful; but in Edinburgh the gentlemen of the party-coloured livery raised violent riots in the theatre whenever it was performed.-E.

519 Letter 343 To George Montagu, Esq.

Arlington Street, Nov. 8, 1759.

Your pictures will set out on Sat.u.r.day; I give you notice that you may inquire for them. I did not intend to be here these three days, but my Lord Bath taking the trouble to send a man and horse to ask me to dinner yesterday, I did not know how to refuse; and, besides, as Mr. Bentley said to me, "you know he was an old friend of your father."

The town is empty, but is coming to dress itself for Sat.u.r.day.

My Lady Coventry showed George Selwyn her clothes; they are blue, with spots of silver, of the size of a s.h.i.+lling, and a silver tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, and cost--my lord will know what. She asked George how he liked them; he replied, "Why, you will be change for a guinea."

I find nothing talked of but the French bankruptcy;(1081) Sir Robert Brown, I hear--and am glad to hear--will be a great sufferer. They put gravely into the article of bankrupts in the newspapers, "Louis le Pet.i.t, of the city of Paris, peace-breaker, dealer, and chapman;" it would have been still better if they had said, "Louis Bourbon of petty France." We don't know what is become of their Monsieur Thurot,(1082) of whom we had still a little mind to be afraid. I should think he would do like Sir Thomas Hanmer, make a faint effort, beg pardon of the Scotch for their disappointment, and retire.

Here are some pretty verses just arrived.

Pourquoi le baton 'a Soubise, Puisque Chevert est le vainqueur?

C'est de la cour une m'eprise, Ou bien le but de la faveur.

Je ne vois rien l'a qui m''etonne, Repond aussitot un railleur; C'est 'a l'aveugle qu'on le donne, Et non pas au COnducteur.

Lady Meadows has left nine thousand pounds in reversion after her husband to Lord Sandwich's daughter. Apropos to my Lady Meadow's maiden name,(1083) a name I believe you have sometimes heard: I was diverted t'other day with a story of a lady of that name,(1084) and a lord, whose initial is no farther from hers than he himself is sometimes supposed to be. Her postillion, a lad of sixteen, said, "I am not such a child but I can guess something: whenever my Lord Lyttelton comes to my lady, she orders the porter to let in n.o.body else, and then they call for a pen and ink, and say they are going to Write history." Is not this finesse so like him? 'Do you know that I am persuaded, now he is parted, that he will forget- he is married, and propose himself in form to some woman or other.

When do you come? if it is not soon, you will find a new town.

I stared to-day at Piccadilly like a country squire; there are twenty new stone houses; at first I concluded that all the grooms, that used to live there, had got estates to build palaces. One young gentleman, who was getting an estate, but was so indiscreet as to step out of his way to rob a comrade, is convicted, and to be transported; in short, one of the waiters at Arthur's. George Selwyn says, "What a horrid idea he will give of us to the people in Newgate!"

I was still more surprised t'other day, than at seeing Piccadilly, by receiving a letter from the north of Ireland from a clergyman, with violent encomiums on my Catalogue of n.o.ble Authors--and this when I thought it quite forgot. It put me in mind of the queen that sunk at Charing-cross and rose at Queenhithe.

Mr. Chute has got his commission to inquire about your Cutts, but he thinks the lady is not your grandmother. You are very ungenerous to h.o.a.rd tales from me of your ancestry: what relation have I spared? If your grandfathers were knaves, will your bottling up their bad blood amend it? Do you only take a cup of it now and then by yourself, and then come down to your parson, and boast of it, as if it was pure old metheglin? I sat last night with the Mater Gracchorum--oh! 'tis a mater Jagorum; if her descendants taste any of her black blood, they surely will make as wry faces at it as the servant in Don John does when the ghost decants a corpse. Good night! I am just returning to Strawberry, to husband my two last days and to avoid all the pomp of the birthday. Oh! I had forgot, there is a Miss Wynne coming forth, that is to be handsomer than my Lady Coventry; but I have known one threatened with such every summer for these seven years, and they are always addled by winter!

(1081) The public credit in France, had, at this time, suffered a very severe blow, the court having stopped the payment of several of the public bills and funds to a vast amount.-E.

(1082) The captain of a privateer, who had commanded the French squadron off Dunkirk, destined for an attack on Scotland.-E.

(1083) Montagu.

(1084) Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew Robinson, Esq. of the Rokeby family, widow of Edward Montagu, grandson of the first Earl of Sandwich, and founder of the Blue-stocking Club. She wrote "Three Dialogues of the Dead," printed with those of Lord Lyttelton; and in 1769 published her "Essay on the Genius and Writings of Shakspeare." She died in 1800.-E.

521 Letter 344 To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, Nov. 16, 1759.

Now the Parliament is met, you will expect some new news; you will be disappointed: no battles are fought in Parliament now-- the House of Commons is a mere war-office, and only sits for the despatch of military business. As I am one of the few men in England who am neither in the army nor militia, I never go thither. By the King's speech, and Mr. Pitt's t'other speech, it looks as if we intended to finish the conquest of the world the next campaign. The King did not go to the House; his last eye is so bad that he could scarce read his answer to the address, though the letters were as long and as black as Ned Finch. He complains that every body's face seems to have a c.r.a.pe over it. A person much more expected and much more missed, was not at the House neither; Lord George Sackville.

He came to town the night before the opening, but did not appear--it looks as if he gave every thing up. Did you hear that M. de Contades saluted Prince Ferdinand on his installation with twenty-one cannons? The French could distinguish the outside of the ceremony, and the Prince sent word to the marshal, that if he observed any bustle that day, he must not expect to be attacked-it would only be a chapter of the Garter.

A very extraordinary event happened the day after the meeting: Lord Temple resigned the privy-seal. The account he gives himself is, that he continued to be so ill used by the King, that it was notorious to all the world; that in hopes of taking off that reproach, he had asked for the Garter.(1085) Being refused, he had determined to resign, at the same time beseeching Mr. Pitt not to resent any thing for him, and insisting with his two brothers that they should keep their places, and act as warm as ever with the administration, That in an audience of twenty-five minutes he hoped he had removed his Majesty's prejudices, and should now go out of town as well satisfied as any man in England. The town says, that it was concerted that he should not quit till Mr. Pitt made his speech on the first day, declaring that nothing should make him break union with the rest of the ministers, no, not for the nearest friend he had. All this is mighty fine; but the affair is, nevertheless, very impertinent. If Lord Temple hoped to involve Mr. Pitt in his quarrel, it was very wicked at such a crisis as this--and if he could, I am apt to believe he would-- if he could not, it was very silly. To the garter n.o.body can have slenderer pretensions; his family is scarce older than his earldom, which is of the youngest. His person is ridiculously, awkward; and if chivalry were in vogue, he has given proofs of having no pa.s.sion for tilt and tournament. Here end@ the history of King George the Second, and Earl Temple the First.

We are still advised to believe in the invasion, though it seems as slow in coming as the millennium. M. Thurot and his pigmy navy have scrambled to Gottenburg, where it is thought they will freight themselves with half a dozen pounds of Swedes. We continue to militiate, and to raise light troops, and when we have armed every apprentice in England, I suppose we shall translate our fears to Germany. In the mean time the King is overwhelmed with addresses on our victories he will have enough to paper his palace. ITe told the City of London, that all was owing to unanimity, but I think he should have said, to unmanimity, for it were shameful to ascribe our brilliancy to any thing but Mr. Pitt. The new King of Spain seems to think that our fleet is the best judge of the incapacity of his eldest son, and of the fitness of his disposition of Naples, for he has expressed the highest confidence of Wall, and the strongest a.s.surances of neutrality.

I am a little sorry that Richcourt is not in Florence; it would be pleasant to dress yourself up in mural crowns and American plumes in his face. Adieu!

(1085) By the following pa.s.sage of a letter from Lord Temple himself to Mr. Pitt, of the 13th of October, in the Chatham Correspondence, it will be seen that it was not his lords.h.i.+p who solicited the garter, but Mr. Pitt:--"You have been so good as to ask of his Majesty the garter for me, as a reward to yourself, and the only one you desire for all the great and eminent services you have done to, the King, to the nation, and to the electorate; to which request you have, it seems, hitherto met with a refusal. At the same time that I thank you, and am proud to receive any testimony of your kind regard, permit me to add, that I am not so mean-spirited as to condescend to receive, in my own person, the reward of another man's services, however dear to me you so deservedly are on every account. Let the King continue to enjoy in peace the pleasure and Honour of this refusal; for if he should happen to be disposed, for other reasons than those of grat.i.tude to you, which will have no weight with him, to give me that mark of distinction, I will not accept it on such terms." Vol. i. p.

438.-E.

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