The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford Volume III Part 51

Howland, his maternal grandfather, from whom Howland-street is named.-C.

(649) The points in dispute between France and England at this period arose out of the non-performance of certain articles of the treaty-the payment of the Canada bills, and the expense of the prisoners of war, and certain claims for compensation for effects taken at Bellisle.-C.

(650) The house which Lord Hertford hired in Paris.-E.

Letter 219 To George Montagu, Esq.

Arlington Street, Aug. 16, 1764. (page 337)

I am not gone north, so pray write to me. I am not going south, so pray come to me. The Duke of Devons.h.i.+re's journey to Spa has prevented the first, and twenty reasons the second; whenever therefore you are disposed to make a visit to Strawberry, it will rejoice to receive you in its old ruffs and fardingales, and without rouge, blonde, and run silks.

You have not said a word to me, ingrate as you are, about Lord Herbert; does not he deserve one line? Tell me when I shall see you, that I may make no appointments to interfere with it. Mr.

Conway, Lady Ailesbury, and Lady Lyttelton, have been at Strawberry with me for four or five days, so I am come to town to have my house washed, for you know I am a very Hollander in point of cleanliness.

This town is a deplorable solitude; one meets nothing but Mrs.

Holman, like the pelican in the wilderness. Adieu!

Letter 220 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Strawberry Hill, Aug. 27, 1764. (page 338)

I hope you received safe a parcel and a very long letter that I sent you, above a fortnight ago, by Mr. Strange the engraver.

Scarce any thing has happened since worth repeating, but what you know already, the death of poor Legge, and the seizure of Turk Island:(651) the latter event very consonant to all ideas. It makes much noise here especially in the city, where the ministry grow every day more and more unpopular. Indeed, I think there is not much probability of their standing their ground, even till Christmas. Several defections are already known, and others are ripe which they do not apprehend.

Doctor Hunter, I conclude, has sent you Charles Townshend's pamphlet: it is well written, but does not sell much, as a notion prevails that it has been much altered and softened.

The Duke of Devons.h.i.+re is gone to Spa; he was stopped for a week by a rash, which those who wished it so, called a miliary fever, but was so far from it that if he does not find immediate benefit from Spa, he is to go to Aix-la-Chapelle, in hopes that the warm baths will supple his skin, and promote another eruption.

I have been this evening to Sion, which is becoming another Mount Palatine. Adam has displayed great taste, and the Earl matches it with magnificence. The gallery is converting into a museum in the style of a columbarium, according to an idea that I proposed to my Lord Northumberland. Mr. Boulby(652) and Lady Mary are there, and the Primate,(653) who looks old and broken enough to aspire to the papacy. Lord Holland, I hear, advises what Lord Bute much wishes, the removal of George Grenville, to make room for Lord Northumberland at the head of the treasury. The d.u.c.h.ess of Grafton is gone to her father. I wish you may hear no more of this journey! If you should, this time, the Complaints will come from her side.

You have got the Sposo(654) Coventry with you, have not you? And you are going to have the Duke of York. You will not want such a n.o.body as me. When I have a good opportunity, I will tell you some very sensible advice that has been given me on that head, which I am sure you will approve.

It is well for me I am not a Russian. I should certainly be knouted. The murder of the young Czar Ivan has sluiced again all my abhorrence of the czarina. What a devil in a diadem! I wonder they can spare such a princ.i.p.al performer from h.e.l.l!

September 9th.

I had left this letter unfinished, from want of common materials, if I should send it by the post; and from want of private conveyance, if I said more than was fit for the post. being Just returned from Park-place, where I have been for three days, I not only find your extremely kind letter of August 21st, but a card from Madame de Chabot, who tells me she sets out for Paris in a day or two. and offers to carry a letter to you, which gives me the opportunity I wished for.

I must begin with what you conclude-your most friendly offer,(655) if I should be distressed by the treasury. I can never thank you enough for this, nor the tender manner in which you clothe it: though, believe me, my dear lord, I could never blush to be obliged to you. In truth, though I do not doubt their disposition to hurt me, I have had prudence enough to make it much longer than their reign Can last, before it could be in their power to make me feel want. With all my extravagance, I am much beforehand, and having perfected and paid for what I wished to do here, my common expenses are trifling, and n.o.body can live more frugally than I, when I have a mind to it. What I said of fearing temptations at Paris, was barely serious: I thought it imprudent, just now, to throw away my money; but that consideration, singly, would not keep me here. I am eager to be with you, and my chief reason for delaying is, that I wish to make a longer stay than I could just now. The advice I hinted at, in the former part of this letter, was Lady Suffolk's, and I am sure you will think it very sensible. She told me, should I now go to Paris, all the world would say I went to try to persuade you to resign; that even the report would be impertinent to you, to whom she knew and saw I wished so well; and that when I should return, it would be said I had failed in MY errand.

Added to this, which was surely very prudent and friendly advice, I will own to you fairly, that I think I shall soon have it in my power to come to you on the foot I wish,--I mean, having done with politics, which I have told you all along, and with great truth, are as much my abhorrence as yours. I think this administration cannot last till Christmas, and I believe they themselves think so. I am cautious when I say this, because I promise you faithfully, the last thing I will do shall be to give you any false lights knowingly. I am clear, I repeat it, against your resigning now; and there is no meaning in all I have taken the liberty to say to you, and which you receive with so much goodness and sense, but to put you on your guard in such ticklish times, and to pave imperceptibly to the world the way to your reunion with your friends. In your brother, I am persuaded, you will never find any alteration; and whenever you find an opportunity proper, his credit with particular persons will remove any coldness that may have happened. I admire the force and reasoning with which you have stated your own situation; and I think there are but two points in which we differ at all. I do not see how your brother could avoid the part he chose. It was the administration that made it--no inclination of his. The other is a trifle; it regards Elliot, nor is it my opinion alone that he is at Paris on business: every body believes it, and considering his abilities, and the present difficulties of Lord Bute, Elliot's absence would be very extraordinary, if merely occasioned by idleness or amus.e.m.e.nt, or even to place his children, when it lasts so long.

The affair of Turk Island, and the late promotion of Colonel Fletcher(656) over thirty-seven older officers, are the chief causes, added to the Canada bills, Logwood, and the Manilla affairs, Which have ripened our heats to such a height. Lord Mansfield's violence against the press has contributed much--but the great distress of all to the ministers, is the behaviour of the Duke of Bedford, who has twice or thrice peremptorily refused to attend council. He has been at Trentham, and crossed the country back to Woburn, without coming to town.(657) Lord Gower has been in town but one day. Many causes are a.s.signed for all this; the refusal of making Lord Waldegrave of the bedchamber; Lord Tavistocl('s inclination to the minority; and above all, a reversion, which it is believed Lord Bute has been so weak as to obtain, of Ampthill, a royal grant, in which the Duke has but sixteen years to come. You know enough of that court, to know that, in the article of Bedfords.h.i.+re, no influence has any weight with his grace. At present, indeed, I believe little is tried.

The d.u.c.h.ess and Lady Bute are as hostile as possible. Rigby's journey convinces me of what I have long suspected, that his reign is at an end. I have even heard, though I am far from trusting to the quarter from which I had my intelligence, that the Duke has been making overtures to Mr. Pitt,(658) which have not been received unfavourably; I shall know more of this soon, as I am to go to Stowe in three or four days. Mr. Pitt is exceedingly well-disposed to your brother, talks highly of him, and of the injustice done to him, and they are to meet on the first convenient opportunity. Thus much for politics, which, however, I cannot quit, without again telling you how sensible I am of all your goodness and friendly offers.

The Court, independent of politics, makes a strange figure. The recluse life led here at Richmond, which is carried to such an excess of privacy and economy, that the Queen's friseur waits on them at dinner, and that four pounds only of beef are allowed for their soup, disgusts all sorts of people. The drawing-rooms are abandoned: Lady Buckingham(659) was the only woman there on Sunday se'nnight. The Duke of York was commanded home. They stopped his remittances,(660) and then were alarmed on finding he still was somehow or other supplied with money. The two next Princes(661) are at the Pavilions at Hampton Court, in very private circ.u.mstances indeed; no household is to be established for Prince William, who accedes nearer to the malcontents every day. In short, one hears of nothing but dissatisfaction, which in the city rises almost to treason.

Mrs. Cornwallis(662) has found that her husband has been dismissed from the bedchamber this twelvemonth with no notice: his appointments were even paid; but on this discovery they are stopped.

You ask about what I had mentioned in the beginning of my letter, the dissensions in the house of Grafton. The world says they are actually parted: I do not believe that; but I will tell you exactly all I know. His grace, it seems, for many months has kept one Nancy Parsons,(663) one of the commonest creatures in London, one much liked, but out of date. He is certainly grown immoderately attached to her, so much, that it has put an end to all his decorum. She was publicly with him at Ascot races, and is now in the forest;(664) I do not know if actually in the house. At first, I concluded this was merely stratagem to pique the d.u.c.h.ess; but it certainly goes further. Before the d.u.c.h.ess laid in, she had a little house on Richmond-Hill, whither the Duke sometimes, though seldom, came to dine. During her month of confinement, he was scarcely in town at all, nor did he even come up to see the Duke of Devons.h.i.+re. The d.u.c.h.ess is certainly gone to her father. She affected to talk of the Duke familiarly, and said she would call in the forest as she went to Lord Ravensworth's. I suspect she is gone thither to recriminate and complain. She did not talk of returning till October. It was said the Duke was going to France, but I hear no more of it.

Thus the affair stands, as far as I or your brother, or the Cavendishes, know; nor have we heard one word from either Duke or d.u.c.h.ess of any rupture. I hope she will not be so weak as to part, and that her father and mother will prevent it. It is not unlucky that she has seen none of the Bedfords lately, who would be glad to blow the coals. Lady Waldegrave was with her one day, but I believe not alone.

There was n.o.body at Park-place but Lord and Lady William Campbell.(665) Old Sir John Barnard(666) is dead; for other news, I have none. I beg you will always say a great deal for me to my lady. As I trouble you with such long letters, it would be unreasonable to overwhelm her too. You know my attachment to every thing that is yours. My warmest wish is to see an end of the present unhappy posture of public affairs, which operate so shockingly even on our private. If I can once get quit of them, it will be no easy matter to involve me in them again, however difficult it may be, as you have found, to escape them. n.o.body is more criminal in my eyes than George Grenville, who had it in his power to prevent what has happened to your brother. Nothing could be more repugnant to all the principles he has ever most avowedly and publicly professed--but he has opened my eyes--such a mixture of vanity and meanness, of falsehood(667) and hypocrisy, is not common even in this country! It is a ridiculous embarras after all the rest, and yet you may conceive the distress I am under about Lady Blandford,(668) and the negotiations I am forced to employ to avoid meeting him there, which I am determined not to do.

I shall be able, when I see you, to divert you with some excellent stories of a princ.i.p.al figure on our side; but they are too long and too many for a letter, especially of a letter so prolix as this. Adieu, my dear lord!

(651) A small island, also called Tortuga, near St. Domingo, of which a French squadron had dispossessed some English settlers.

This proceeding was, however, immediately disavowed by the French, and orders were immediately despatched for rest.i.tution and compensation to the sufferers. We can easily gather from Mr.

Walpole's own expressions why this affair was raised into such momentary importance.-C.

(652) Thomas Bouldby, Esq. and his lady, sister of the first Duke of Montagu, of the second creation.-E.

(653) Dr. George Stone.

(654) see ant'e, p. 332, letter 218.

(655) This affair is creditable to all the parties. When General Conway was turned out, Mr Walpole placed all his fortune at his disposal, in a very generous letter (p. 316, letter 205). This induced Mr. Walpole to think of economy, and to state in a former letter (p. 332, letter 218) some apprehension as to his circ.u.mstances; in reply to which, Lord Hertford, who had already made a similar proposition to General Conway, now offers to place Mr. Walpole above the pecuniary difficulties which he apprehended.-C.

(656) Colonel Fletcher of the 35th foot.-E.

(657) Not very surprising, however, as London would have been about eighty miles round.-C.

(658) The following is a pa.s.sage from a letter written by Mr.

Pitt to the Duke of Newcastle, in October, in reply to one of these overtures:--"As for my single self, I purpose to continue acting through life upon the best convictions I am able to form, and Under the obligation of principles, not by the force of any particular bargains. I presume not to judge for those who think they see daylight to serve their country by such means: but shall continue myself, as often as I think it worth the while to go to the House of Commons, to go there free from stipulation-, about every question under consideration, as well as to come out of the House as free as I entered it. Having seen the close of last session, and the system of that great war, in which my share of the ministry was so largely arraigned, given up by silence in a full House, I have little thoughts of beginning the world again upon a new centre of union. Your grace will not, I trust, wonder if, after so recent and so strange a phenomenon in politics, I have no disposition to quit the free condition of a man standing single, and daring to appeal to his country at large, upon the soundness of his principles and the rect.i.tude of his conduct."

See Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 296.-E.

(659) Mary Anne Drury, wife Of John, second Earl of Buckinghams.h.i.+re.-E.

(660) Mr. Walpole gives an unfair turn to this circ.u.mstance. The stopping the Duke of York's remittances, and ordering him home, was a measure of prudence, not to say of necessity, for that young Prince's extravagance abroad had made a public clamour; so much so, that a popular preacher delivered, about this time, a sermon on the following text:--"The younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living." St. Luke, xv. 13. The letters and even the publications of the day allude to this extravagance, and surely it was the duty of his brother and sovereign to repress an indiscretion which occasioned such observations.-C.

(661) William, created, in November, 1764, Duke of Gloucester; and Henry created, in 1766, Duke of c.u.mberland. The injustice of mr. Walpole's insinuations will be evident, when it is remembered that, at the date of this letter, the eldest of these Princes was but twenty, and the other eighteen years of age, and that they were both created Dukes, and had households established for them as soon as they respectively came of age-C.

(662) Mary, daughter of Charles, second Viscount Townshend, wife of Edward, sixth son of the third Lord Cornwallis. I suspect that here again Mr. Walpole's accusation is not correct. General Cornwallis had been groom of the bedchamber to George II., and was continued in the same office by the successor, till he was appointed Governor of Gibraltar, when Mr. Henry Seymour was appointed in his room.-C.

(663) This scandal has been immortalized by Junius.-C.

(664) At Wakefield Lodge, in Whittlebury Forest, Northamptons.h.i.+re.-E.

(665) Lord William, brother of General Conway's lady, and third brother of the fifth Duke of Argyle; his wife was Sarah, daughter of W. Teard, Esq. of Charleston.-E.

(666) Father of the city, which he had represented in six parliaments. He had been a very leading member of the House of Commons, and was much deferred to on all matters of commerce.-C.

(667) See ant'e, p. 272, letter 188.

(668) Maria Catherine de Jonge, a Dutch Lady, widow of William G.o.dolphin, Marquis of Blandford, and sister of Isabella Countess of Denbigh; they were near neighbours and intimate acquaintances of Mr. Walpole's.@.