The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford Volume III Part 49

(618) Sir Richard Lyttelton.-E.

(618) John Crewe, Esq. married, 17th May, 1764, to Miss Fawkener, the daughter of sir Everard Fawkener, who died in 1758, one of the postmasters-general.-E.

Letter 211 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.

Arlington Street, June 5, 1764. (page 325)

You will wonder that I have been so long without giving you any signs of life; yet, though not writing to you, I have been employed about you, as I have ever since the 21st of April; a day your enemies shall have some cause to remember. I had writ nine or ten sheets of an answer to the "Address to the Public," when I received the enclosed mandate.(620) You will see my masters order me, as a subaltern of the exchequer, to drop you and defend them--but you will see too, that, instead of obeying, I have given warning. I would not communicate any part of this transaction to you, till it was out of my hands, because I knew your affection for me would not approve of in going so far--but it was necessary. My honour required that I should declare my adherence to you in the most authentic manner. I found that some persons had dared to doubt whether I would risk every thing for you. You see by these letters that Mr. Grenville himself had presumed so. Even a change in the administration, however unlikely, might happen before I had any opportunity of declaring myself; and then those who should choose to put the worst construction, either on my actions or my silence, might say what they pleased. I was waiting for some opportunity: they have put it into my hands, and I took care not to let It slip. Indeed they have put more into my hands, which I have not let slip neither. Could I expect they would give me so absurd an account of Mr. Grenville's conduct, and give it to me in writing? They can only add to this obligation that of provocation to print my letter, which, however strong in facts, I have taken care to make very decent in terms, because it imports us to have the candid (that is,. I fear, the mercenary) on our side;--no, that we must not expect, but at least disarmed.

Lord Tavistock has flung his handkerchief to Lady Elizabeth Keppel. They all go to Woburn on Thursday, and the ceremony is to be performed as soon as her brother, the bishop, can arrive from Exeter. I am heartily glad the d.u.c.h.ess of Bedford does not set her heart on marrying me to any body; I am sure she would bring it about. She has some small intention Of coupling my niece and d.i.c.k Vernon, but I have forbidden the banns.

The birthday, I hear, was lamentably empty. We had a loo last night in the great chamber at Lady Bel Finch's: the Duke, Princess Emily, and the d.u.c.h.ess of Bedford were there. The Princess entertained her grace with the joy the Duke of Bedford will have in being a grandfather; in which reflection, I believe, the grandmotherhood was not forgotten. Adieu!

(620) The paper here alluded to does not appear.

Letter 212To The Earl Of Hertford.

Strawberry Hill, June 8, 1764. (page 326)

To be sure, you have heard the event of' this last week? Lord Tavistock has flung his handkerchief, and except a few jealous sultanas, and some sultanas valides who had marketable daughters, every body is pleased that the lot is fallen on Lady Elizabeth Keppel.(621)

The house of Bedford came to town last Friday. I supped with them that night at the Spanish Amba.s.sador's, who has made Powis- house magnificent. Lady Elizabeth was not there nor mentioned.

On the contrary, by the d.u.c.h.ess's conversation, which turned on Lady Betty Montagu,(622) there were suspicions in her favour.

The next morning Lady Elizabeth received a note from the d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough,(623) insisting on seeing her that evening. When she arrived at Marlborough-house, she found n.o.body but the d.u.c.h.ess and Lord Tavistock. The d.u.c.h.ess cried, "Lord! they have left the window open in the next room!"--went to shut it, and shut the lovers in too, where they remained for three hours. The same night all the town was at the d.u.c.h.ess of Richmond's. Lady Albemarle(624) was at tredille; the Duke of Bedford came up to the table, and told her he must speak to her as soon as the pool was over. You may guess whether she knew a card more that she played. When she had finished, the Duke told her he should wait on her the next morning, to make the demand in form. She told it directly to me and my niece Waldegrave, who was in such transport for her friend, that she promised the Duke of Bedford to kiss him, and hurried home directly to write to her sisters.(625) The Duke asked no questions about fortune, but has since slipped a bit of paper into Lady Elizabeth's hand, telling her, he hoped his son would live, but if he did not, there was something for her; it was a jointure of three thousand pounds a-year, and six hundred pounds pin-money. I dined with her the next day, at Monsieur de Guerchy's, and as I hindered the company from wis.h.i.+ng her joy, and yet joked with her myself, Madame de Guerchy said, she perceived I would let n.o.body else tease her, that I might have all the teasing to myself She has behaved in the prettiest manner, in the world, and would not appear at a vast a.s.sembly at Northumberland-house on Tuesday, nor at a great haymaking at Mrs.

Pitt's on Wednesday. Yesterday they all went to Woburn, and tomorrow the ceremony is to be performed; for the Duke has not a moment's patience till she is breeding.

You would have been diverted at Northumberland-house; Besides the sumptuous liveries, the illuminations in the garden, the pages, the two chaplains in waiting in their gowns and scarves, 'a l'Irlandaise,(626) and Dr. Hill and his wife, there was a most delightful Countess, who has Just imported herself from Mecklenburgh. She is an absolute princess of Monomotapa; but I fancy you have seen her. for her hideousness and frantic accoutrements are so extraordinary, that they tell us she was hissed in the Tuileries. She crossed the drawing-room on the birthday to speak to the Queen en amie, after standing with her back to Princess Amelia. The queen was so ashamed of her, that she said cleverly, "This is not the dress at Strelitz; but this woman always dressed herself as capriciously there, as your d.u.c.h.ess of Queensberry does here."

The haymaking at Wandsworth-hill(627) did not succeed from the excessive cold of the night; I proposed to bring one of the c.o.c.ks into the great room, and make a bonfire. All the beauties were disappointed, and all the macaronies afraid of getting the toothache.

The Guerchys are gone to Goodwood, and were to have been carried to Portsmouth, but Lord Egmont(628) refused to let the amba.s.sador see the place. The Duke of Richmond was in a rage, and I do not know how it has ended, for the Duke of Bedford defends the refusal, and says, they certainly would not let you see Brest.

The Comte d'Ayen is going a longer tour. he is liked here. The three great amba.s.sadors danced at court--the Prince of Ma.s.serano they say well; he is extremely in fas.h.i.+on, and is a sensible very good-humoured man, though his appearance is so deceitful. They have given me the honour of a bon-mot, which, I a.s.sure you, does not belong to me, that I never saw a man so full of orders and disorders. He and his suite, and the Guerchys and theirs, are to dine here next week. Poor little Strawberry never thought of such f'etes. I did invite them to breakfast, but they confounded it, and understood that they were asked to dinner, so I must do as well as I can. Both the amba.s.sadors are in love with my niece;(629) therefore, I trust they will not have unsentimental stomachs.

Shall I trouble you with a little commission? It is to send me a book that I cannot get here, nor am I quite sure of the exact t.i.tle, but it is called "Origine des Moeurs,"(630) or something to that import. It is in three volumes, and has not been written above two or three years. Adieu, my dear lord, from my fireside.

P. S. Do you know that Madame de Yertzin, The Mecklenburgh Countess, has had the honour of giving the King of Prussia a box of the ear?--I am sure he deserved it, if he could take liberties with such a chimpanzee. Colonel Elliot died on Thursday.

(621) the Daughter of the second Earl of Albemarle; she was born in 1739.-E.

(622) See ant'e, p. 304, letter 198.

(623) Caroline Russel, sister of the Duke of Bedford.-E.

(624) Anne, daughter of Charles, first Duke of Richmond.-E.

(625) Lady Dysart and Mrs. Keppel; the latter was married to Lady Elizabeth's brother.-E.

(626) Lord Northumberland was still lord-lieutenant of Ireland.-E.

(627) Mrs. Pitt's villa.

(628) First lord of the admiralty.

(629) Lady Waldegrave.

(630) In a subsequent letter, he calls this work "Essais les Moeurs." I find a work of the latter t.i.tle published in 1756 anonymously, and under the date of Bruxelles. It was written by a M. Soret, but it seems to have been in only one volume. Can Mr. Walpole have meant Duclos's celebrated "Considerations sur les Moeurs," published anonymously in 1750, but subsequently under his name?--C.

Letter 213 To George Montagu, Esq.

Strawberry Hill, June 18, 1764. (page 328)

I trust that you have thought I was dead, it is so long since you heard of me. In truth I had nothing to talk of but cold and hot weather, of rain and want Of rain, subjects that have been our summer conversation for these twenty years. I am pleased that you was content with your pictures, and shall be glad if you have ancestors out of them. You may tell your uncle Algernon that I go to-morrow, where he would not be ashamed to see me; as there are not many such spots at present, you and he will guess it is to Park-place.

Strawberry, whose glories perhaps verge towards their setting-, have been more sumptuous to-day than ordinary, and banquetted their representative majesties of France and Spain. I had Monsieur and Madame de Guerchy, Mademoiselle de Nangis their daughter, two other French gentlemen, the Prince of Ma.s.serano, his brother and secretary, Lord March, George Selwyn, Mrs. ADD Pitt, and my niece Waldegrave. The refectory never was so crowded; nor have any foreigners been here before that comprehended Strawberry. Indeed, every thing succeeded to a hair. A violent shower in the morning laid the dust, brightened the green, refreshed the roses, pinks, orange-flowers, and the blossoms with which the acacias are covered. A rich storm of thunder and lightning gave a dignity of colouring to the heavens; and the sun appeared enough to illuminate the landscape, without basking himself over it at his length. During dinner there were French horns and clarionets in the cloister, and after coffee I treated them with an English, and to them a very new collation, a syllabub milked Under the cows that were brought to the brow of the terrace. Thence they went to the printing-house, and saw a new fas.h.i.+onable French song printed. They drank tea in the gallery, and at eight went away to Vauxhall.

They really seemed quite pleased with the place and the day; but I must tell you, the treasury of the abbey will feel it, for without magnificence, all was handsomely done. I must keep maigre; at least till the interdict is taken off from my convent.

I have kings and queens, I hear, in my neighbourhood, but this is no royal foundation. Adieu; your poor beadsman, The Abbot Of Strawberry.

P. S. Mr. T***'s servile poem is rewarded with one hundred and sixty pounds a ),ear in the post-office.

Letter 214 To George Montagu, Esq.

Strawberry Hill, July 16, 1764. (page 329)

mr. chute says you are peremptory that you will not cast a look southwards. Do you know that in that case you will not set eyes on me the Lord knows when? My mind is pretty much fixed on going to Paris the beginning of September. I think I shall go, if it is only to scold my Lord and Lady Hertford for sending me their cousins, the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Berwick, who say they are come to see their relations. By their appearance, you would imagine they were come to beg money of their family. He has just the sort of capacity which you would expect in a Stuart engrafted on a Spaniard. He asked me which way he was to come to Twickenham?

I told him through Kensington, to which I supposed his geography might reach. He replied, "Oh! du cot'e de la mer." She, who is sister of the Duke of Alva, is a decent kind of a body: but they talk wicked French. I gave them a dinner here t'other day, with the Marquis of Jamaica, their only child, and a fat tutor, and the few Fitzroys I could ama.s.s at this season. They were very civil, and seemed much pleased. To-day they arc gone to Blenheim by invitation. I want to send you something from the Strawberry press; tell me how I shall convey it; it is nothing less than the most curious book that ever set its foot into the world. I expect to hear you scream hither: if you don't I shall be disappointed, for I have kept it as a most profound secret from you, till I was ready to surprise you with it: I knew your impatience, and would not let you have it piecemeal. It is the Life of the great philosopher, Lord Herbert, written by himself.(631) Now are you disappointed? Well, read it--not the first forty pages, of which you will be sick--I will not antic.i.p.ate it, but I will tell you the history. I found it a year ago at Lady Hertford's, to whom Lady Powis had lent it. I took it up, and soon threw it down again, as the dullest thing I ever saw. She persuaded me to take it home. My Lady Waldegrave was here in all her grief; Gray and I read it to amuse her. We could not get on for laughing, and screaming. I begged to have it to print: Lord Powis, sensible of the extravagance, refused--I persisted--he persisted. I told my Lady Hertford, it was no matter, I would print it, I was determined. I sat down and wrote a flattering dedication to Lord Powis, which I knew he would swallow: he did, and gave up his ancestor. But this was not enough; I was resolved the world should not think I admired it seriously, though there are really fine pa.s.sages in it, and good sense too: I drew up an equivocal preface, in which you will discover my opinion, and sent it with the dedication. The Earl gulped down the one under the palliative of the other, and here you will have all. Pray take notice Of the pedigree, of which I am exceedingly proud; observe how I have clearly arranged so involved a descent: one may boast at one's heraldry. I shall send you too Lady Temple's poems.(632) Pray keep both under lock and key, for there are but two hundred copies of Lord Herbert, and but one hundred of the poems suffered to be printed.

I am almost crying to find the glorious morsel of summer, that we have had, turned into just such a watery season as the last.

Even my excess of verdure, which used to comfort me for every thing, does not satisfy me now, as I live entirely alone. I am heartily tired of my large neighbourhood, who do not furnish me two or three rational beings at most, and the best of them have no vivacity. London, Whither I go at least once a fortnight for a night, is a perfect desert. As the court is gone into a convent at Richmond, the town is more abandoned than ever. I cannot, as you do, bring myself to be content without variety, without events; my mind is always wanting new food; summer does not suit me; but I will grow old some time or other. Adieu!

(631) Printed in quarto, This was the first edition of this celebrated piece of autobiography. It was reprinted at Edinburgh in 1807, with a prefatory notice, understood to be by Sir Walter Scott; and a third edition, which also contained his letters written during his residence at the French court, was published in 1826.-E.

(632) Poems by Anna Chambers, Countess Temple.-E.

Letter 215 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.

Strawberry Hill, July 16, 1764. (page 330)

Dear Sir, You must think me a brute to have been so long without taking any notice of your obliging offer of coming hither. The truth is, I have not been at all settled here for three days together: nay, nor do I know when I shall be. I go tomorrow into Suss.e.x; in August into Yorks.h.i.+re, and in September into France. If, in any interval of these jaunts, I Can be sure of remaining here a week, which I literally have not been this whole summer, I will certainly let you know, and will claim your promise.

Another reason for my writing now is, I want to know how I may send you Lord Herbert's Life, which I have just printed. Did I remember the favour you did me of asking for my own print? if I did not, it shall accompany this book.