The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford Volume I Part 41

(684) it was written by Hanbury Williams.

(685) Sir Roger Newdigate, the fifth baronet of the family.

He was elected member for Middles.e.x, upon the vacancy occasioned by Pultney's being created Earl of Bath. He belonged to the Tory or Jacobite party.-D. [Sir Roger afterwards represented the University of Oxford in five parliaments, and died in 1806, in his eighty-seventh year.

Among other benefactions to his Alma Mater, he gave the n.o.ble candelabra in the Radcliffe library, and founded an annual prize for English verses on ancient painting, sculpture, and architecture.]

(686) Holkham. c.o.ke was the son of Lord Lovel, afterward Viscount c.o.ke, when his father was created Earl of Leicester.-D.

(687) She was the daughter of the Conte di Valvasone, of Friuli, sister of Madame Suares, and of the bedchamber to the d.u.c.h.ess of Modena.

(688) Thomas Villiers a younger son of william, second Earl of Jersey, at this time British minister at the court of Dresden, and eventually created Lord Hyde, and Earl of clarendon. Sir H. Mann had alluded in one of his letters to a speech attributed to Mr. Villiers, in which he took great credit to himself for having induced the King of Poland to become a party to the peace of Breslau, recently concluded between the Queen of Hungary and the King, of Prussia; a course of proceeding, which, in fact, his Polish Majesty had no alternative but to adopt. Villettes was an inferior diplomatic agent from England to some of the Italian courts, and was at this moment resident at the court of Turin.-D.

280 Letter 81 To Sir Horace Mann.

Houghton, Aug. 20, 1742

By the tediousness of the post, and distance of place, I am still receiving letters from you about the Secret Committee, which seems strange, for it is as much forgotten now, as if it had happened in the last reign. Thus much I must answer you about it, that it is possible to resume the inquiry upon the Report next session; but you may judge whether they will, after all the late promotions.

We are willing to believe that there are no news in town, for we hear none at all: Lord Lovel sent us word to-day, that he heard, by a messenger from the post office, that Montemar (689) is put under arrest. I don't tell you this for news, for you must know it long ago: but I expect the confirmation of it from you next post. Since we came hither I have heard no more of the king's journey to Flanders: our troops are as peaceable there as On Hounslow Heath, except some bickerings and blows about beef with butchers, and about sacraments with friars. You know the English can eat no meat, nor be civil to any G.o.d but their own.

As much as I am obliged to you for the description of your Cocchiata,(690) I don't like to hear of it. It is very unpleasant, instead of being at it, to be prisoner, in a melancholy, barren province, which would put one in mind of the deluge, only that we have no water. Do remember exactly how your last was; for I intend that you shall give me just such another Cocchiata next summer, if it pleases the kings and queens of this world to let us be at peace For "it rests that without fig-leaves," as my Lord Bacon says in one of his letters , "I do ingenuously confess and acknowledge," (691) that I like nothing so well as Italy.

I agree with you extremely about Tuscany for Prince Charles,(692) but I can only agree with you on paper; for as to knowing anything of it, I am sure Sir Robert himself knows nothing of it: the Duke of Newcastle and my Lord Carteret keep him in as great ignorance as possible, especially the latter; and even in other times, you know how little he ever thought on those things. Believe me, he will every day know less.

Your last, which I have been answering, was the. 5th of August; I this minute receive another of the 12th. How I am charmed with your spirit and usage of Richcourt! Mais ce n'est pas d'aujourdhui que je commence 'a les m'epriser! I am so glad that you have quitted your calm, to treat them as they deserve. You don't tell me if his opposition in the council hindered your intercession from taking place for the valet de chambre. I hope not! I could not bear his thwarting you!

I am now going to write to your brother, to get you the overtures; and to desire he will send them with some pamphlets and the magazines which I left in commission for you, at my leaving London. I am going to send him, too, des pleins pouvoirs, for nominating a person to represent me at his new babe's christening.

I am sorry Mrs. Goldsworthy is coming to England, though I think it can be of no effect. Sir Charles (692) has no sort of interest with the new powers, and I don't think the Richmonds have enough to remove foreign ministers. However, I will consult with Sir Robert about it, and see if he thinks there is any danger for you, which I do not in the least; and whatever can be done by me, I think you know, will.

P. S. I inclose an answer to Madame Pucci's letter. Where is she in all this Modenese desolation

(689) Montemar was the General of the King of Spain, who commanded the troops of that sovereign against the Imperialists in Italy.-D.

(690) A sort of serenade. Sir H. Mann had mentioned, that he was about to give an entertainment of this kind in his garden to the society of Florence.-D.

(691) Prince Charles of Lorraine, younger brother of Francis, who was now Grand Duke of Tuscany. He was a general of some abilities; but it was his misfortune to be so often opposed to the superior talents of the King of Prussia.-D.

(692) Sir Charles Wager.

281 Letter 82 To Sir Horace Mann.

Houghton, August 28, 1742.

I did receive your letter of the 12th, as I think I mentioned in my last; and to-day another of the 19th. Had I been you, instead of saying that I would have taken my lady's(693) woman for my spy, I should have said, that I would hire Richcourt himself: I dare to say that one might buy the count's own secrets of himself.

I am sorry to hear that the Impressarii have sent for the Chiaretta; I am not one of the managers; I should have remonstrated against her, for she will not do on the same stage with the Barbarina. I don't know who will be glad of her coming, but Mr. Blighe and Amorevoli.

'Tis amazing, but we hear not a syllable of Prague taken,(694) it must be! Indeed, Carthagena, too, was certain of being taken! but it seems, Maillebois is to stop at Bavaria. I hope Belleisle (695) will be made prisoner? I am indifferent about the fate of the great Broglio-but Belleisle is able, and is our most determined enemy: we need not have more, for to-day it is confirmed that Cardinal Tencin (696) and M. d'Argenson are declared of the prime ministry. The first moment they can, Tencin will be for transporting the Pretenders into England. Your advice about Naples was quite judicious: the appearance of a bomb will have great weight in the councils of the little king.

We don't talk now of any of the Royals pa.s.sing into Flanders; though the Champion (697) this morning had an admirable quotation, on the supposition that the King would go himself: it was this line from the Rehearsal:-

"Give us our fiddle; we ourselves will play."

The lesson for the Day (698) that I sent you, I gave to Mr.

c.o.ke, who came in as I was writing it, and by his dispersing it, it has got into print, with an additional one, which I cannot say I am proud should go under my name. Since that, nothing but lessons are the fas.h.i.+on: first and second lessons, morning and evening lessons, epistles, etc. One of the Tory papers published so abusive an one last week on the new ministry, that three gentlemen called on the printer, to know how he dared to publish it. Don't you like these men who for twenty years together led the way, and published every thing that was scandalous, that they should wonder at any body's daring to publish against them! Oh! it will come home to them!

Indeed, every body's fame now is published at length: last week the Champion mentioned the Earl of Orford and his natural daughter, Lady Mary, at length (for which he had a great mind to prosecute the printer). To-day, the London Evening Post says, Mr. Pane, nephew of Mr. Scrope, is made first clerk of the treasury, as a reward for his uncle's taciturnity before the Secret Committee. He is in the room of old Tilson, who was so tormented by that Committee that it turned his brain, and he is dead.

I am excessively shocked at Mr. Fane's (699) behaviour to you; but Mr. Fane is an honourable man! he lets poor you pay him his salary for eighteen months, without thinking of returning it! But if he had lost that sum to Jansen,(700) or to any of the honourable men at White's, he would think his honour engaged to pay it. There is nothing, sure, so whimsical as modern honour! You may debauch a woman upon a promise of marriage, and not marry her; you may ruin your tailor's or your baker's family by not paying them; you may make Mr. Mann maintain you for eighteen months, as a public minister, out of his own pocket, and still be a man of honour! But, not to pay a common sharper, or not to murder a man that has trod upon your toe, is such a blot in your scutcheon, that you could never recover your honour, though you had in your veins "all the blood of all the Howards!"

My love to Mr. Chute: tell him, as he looks on the east front of Houghton, to tap under the two windows in the left-hand wing, up stairs, close to the colonnade-there are Patapan and I, at this instant, writing to you; there we are almost every morning, or in the library; the evenings, we walk till dark; then Lady Mary, Miss Leneve, and I play at comet; the Earl, Mrs. Leneve, and whosoever is here, discourse; car telle est notre vie! Adieu!

(693) Lady Walpole. Richcourt, the Florentine minister, was her lover, and both, as has been seen in the former part of these letters, were enemies of Sir . H. Mann.-D.

(694) This means retaken by the Imperialists from the French, who had obtained possession of it on the 25th of November, 1741. The Austrian troops drove the French out of Prague, in December, 1742.-D.

(695) This wish was gratified, though not in this year.

Marshal Belleisle was taken prisoner in 1745, by the Hanoverian dragoons, was confined for some months in Windsor Castle, and exchanged after the battle of Fontenoy.-D.

(696) A profligate ecclesiastic, who was deeply engaged in the corrupt political intrigues of the day. In these he was a.s.sisted by his sister Madame Tencin, an unprincipled woman of much ability, who had been the mistress of the still more infamous Cardinal Dubois. Voltaire boasts in his Memoirs, of having killed the Cardinal Tencin from vexation, at a sort of political hoax, which he played off upon him.-D. [The cardinal was afterwards, made Archbishop of Lyons. In 1752, he entirely quitted the court, and retired to his diocese, where he died in 1758, ,greatly esteemed," says the Biog. Univ. for his extensive charities." His sister died in 1749. She was mother of the celebrated D'Alembert by Destouches Canon, and auth.o.r.ess of "Le Comte de Comminges," "Les Malheurs de l'Amour," and other romances.]

(697) 'The Champion was an opposition Journal, written by Fielding. [a.s.sisted by Ralph, the historian.)

(698) Ent.i.tled " The Lessons for the Day, 1742." Published in Sir Charles Hanbury Williams's works, but written by Walpole.-D.

(699) Charles Fane, afterwards Lord Fane, had been minister at Florence before Mr. Mann.

(700) A notorious gambler. He is mentioned by Pope, in the character of the young man of fas.h.i.+on, in the fourth canto of the Dunciad,

"As much estate, and principle, and wit, As Jansen, Fleetwood, Cibber, shall think fit."-D.

284 Letter 83 To Sir Horace Mann.

Houghton, Sept. 11, 1742.

I could not write to you last week, for I was at Woolterton,(701) and in a course of visits, that took up my every moment. I received one from you there, of August 26th, but have had none at all this week.

You know I am not prejudiced in favour of the country, nor like a place because it bears turnips well, or because you may gallop over it without meeting a tree: but I really was charmed with Woolterton; it is all wood and water! My uncle and aunt may, without any expense, do what they have all their lives avoided, wash themselves and make fires.(702) Their house is more than a good one; if they had not saved eighteen pence in every room, it would have been a fine one.

I saw several of my acquaintance,(703) Volterra vases, Grisoni landscapes, the four little bronzes, the raffle-picture, etc.

We have printed about the expedition to Naples: the affair at Elba, too, is in the papers, but we affect not to believe it.

We are in great apprehensions of not taking Prague--the only thing that has been taken on our side lately, I think, is my Lord Stair's journey hither and back again-we don't know for what-he is such an Orlando! The papers are full of the most defending King'S Journey to Flanders;our private letters say not a word of it-I say our, for at present I think the earl's intelligences and mine are pretty equal as to authority.