Books: Letters of Horace Walpole, V4

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(286) Miss Caroline Campbell, eldest daughter of Lord William
Campbell.

Letter 130 To Robert Jephson, Esq.(287)
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 17, 1777. (page 177)

Mr. Garrick returned but two days ago, Sir, and I did not receive
your tragedy(288) till this morning; so I could only read it once
very rapidly and without any proper attention to particular
passages though, even so, some struck me as very fine. You have
encouraged me rather to criticise than flatter you; and you are
in the right, for you have even profited of so weak a judgment as
mine, and always improved the passages I objected to. Indeed,
this is not quite a fair return, as it was inverting my method,
by flattering instead of finding fault with me; and a critic that
meets with submission, is apt to grow vain, and insolent, and
capricious. Still as I am persuaded that all criticisms, though
erroneous, before an author appeals to the public, are friendly,
I will fairly tell you what parts of your tragedy have struck me
as objectionable on so superficial a perusal.

In general, the language appears to me too metaphoric; especially
as used by all the characters. You seem to me to have imitated
Beaumont and Fletcher, though your play is superior to all
theirs. In truth, I think the diction is sometimes obscure from
being so figurative, especially in the first act. Will you allow
me to mention two instances?

"And craven Sloth, moulting his sleepless plumes,
Nods drowsy wonder at th' adventurous wing
That soars the shining azure o'er his head."

I own I do not understand why Sloth's plumes are sleepless; and I
think that nodding wonder, and soaring azure, are expressions too
Greek to be so close together, and too poetic for dialogue. The
other passage is--

"The wise should watch th' event on Fortune's wheel,"

and the seven following lines. The images are very fine, but
demand more attention than common audiences are capable of. In
Braganza every image is strikingly clear.

I am afraid I am not quite satisfied with the conduct of your
piece. Bireno's conduct on the attack on the princess seems too
precipitate, and not managed. It is still more incredible, that
Paladore should confess his passion to his rival; and not less
so, that a private man and a stranger should doubt the princess's
faith, when she had preferred him to his rival, a prince of the
blood and her destined husband; and that without the smallest
inquiry he should believe Bireno was admitted privately to her
apartment, when on her not rejecting him, he might have access to
her openly. One cannot conceive her meaning in offending her
father by refusing so proper a match, `and intriguing with the
very man she was to marry, and whom she had refused. Paladore's
credulity is not of a piece with the account given of his wisdom,
which had made him admitted to the king'S Counsels.

I think, when you bestow Sophia on Paladore, you forget that the
king had declared he was obliged to give his daughter to a prince
of his own blood; nor do I see any reason for Bireno's stabbing
Ascanio, who was sure of being put to death when their treachery
was discovered.

The character of the princess is very noble and well sustained.
When I said I did not conceive her meaning, I expressed myself
ill. I did not suppose she, did intrigue with Bireno; but I
meant that it was not natural Paladore should suspect she did,
since it is inconceivable that a princess should refuse her
cousin in marriage for the mere caprice of intriguing with him.
Had she managed her father, and, from the dread of his anger,
temporized about Bireno, Paladore would have had more reason to
doubt her. Would it not too be more natural for Bireno to
incense the king against Paladore than to endeavour to make the
latter jealous of Sophia? At least I think Bireno would have
more chance of Poisoning Paladore's mind, if he did not discover
to him that he knew of his passion. Forgive me, Sir but I cannot
reconcile to probability Paladore's believing that Sophia had
rejected Bireno for a husband, though it would please her father,
and yet chose to intrigue with him in defiance of so serious and
extraordinary a law. Either his credulity or his jealousy reduce
Paladore to a lover very unworthy of such a woman as Sophia. For
her sake I wish to see him more deserving of her.

You are so great a poet, Sir, that you have no occasion to labour
any thing but your plots. You can express any thing you please.
If the conduct is natural, you will not want words. Nay, I
rather fear your indulging your poetic vein too far, for your
language is sometimes sublime enough for odes, which admit the
height of enthusiasm, which Horace will not allow to tragic
writers. You could set up twenty of our tragic authors with
lines that you could afford to reject, though for no reason but
their being too fine, as in landscape-painting some parts must be
under-coloured to give the higher relief to the rest. Will you
not think me too difficult and squeamish, when I find the
language of "The Law of Lombardy" too rich?

I beg your pardon, but it is more difficult for you to please me,
than any body. I interest myself in your success and your glory.
You must be perfect in all parts, in nature, simplicity, and
character, as well as in the most charming poetry, or I shall not
be content. If I dared, I would beg you to trust me with your
plots, before you write a line. When a subject seizes you, your
impetuosity cannot breathe till you have executed your plan. You
must be curbed, as other poets want to be spurred. When your
sketch is made, you must study the characters and the audience.
It is not flattering you to say, that the least you have to do is
to write your play.

(287) Now first printed.

(288) "The Law of Lombardy;" see ant`e, p. 170, letter 123.-E.

Letter 131 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 19, 1777. (page 179)

Thank you much, dear sir, for the sight of the book, which I
return by Mr. Essex It is not new to me that Burnet paid his
court on the other side in the former part of his life* nor will
I insist that he changed On conviction, which might be said, and
generally is, for all converts, even those who shift their
principles the most glaringly from interest. Duke
Lauderdale,(289) indeed, was such a dog, that the least honest
man must have been driven to detest him, however connected with
him. I doubt Burnet could not be blind to his character, when he
wrote the dedication. In truth, I have given up many of my
saints, but not on the accusations of such wretches as
Dalrymple(290) and Macpherson;(291) nor can men, so much their
opposites, shake my faith in Lord Russel and Algernon Sidney. I
do not relinquish those that scaled their integrity with their
blood, but such as have taken thirty pieces of silver.

I was sorry you said we had any variance. We have differed in
sentiments, but not in friendship. Two men, however unlike in
principles, may be perfect friends, when both are sincere in
their opinions as we are. Much less shall we quarrel about those
of our separate parties, since very few on either side have been
so invariably consistent as you and I have been; and therefore we
are more sure of each other's integrity, than that of men whom we
know less and who did vary from themselves. As you and I are
only speculative persons, and no actors, it would be very idle to
squabble about those that do not exist. In short, we are, I
trust, in as perfect good humour with each other as we have been
these forty years.

Pray do not hurry yourself about the anecdotes of Mr. Baker, nor
neglect other occupations on that account. I shall certainly not
have time to do any thing this year. I expect the Duke and
Duchess of Gloucester in a very few days, must go to town as soon
as they arrive, and shall probably have not much idle leisure
before next summer.

It is not very discreet to look even so far forward, nor am I apt
any longer to lay distant plans. A little sedentary literary
amusement is indeed no very lofty castle in the air, if I do lay
the foundation in idea seven or eight months beforehand.

Whatever manuscripts you lend me, I shall be very grateful for.
They entertain me exceedingly, and I promise you we will not have
the shadow of an argument about them. I do not love disputation,
even with those most indifferent to me. Your pardon I most
sincerely beg for having contested a single point with you. I am
sure it was not with a grain of ill-humour towards you: on the
contrary, it was from wishing at that moment that you did not
approve though I disliked--but even that I give up as
unreasonable.

You are in the right, dear Sir, not to apply to Masters for any
papers he may have relating to Mr. Baker.(292) It is a trumpery
fellow', from whom one would rather receive a refusal than an
obligation.

I am sorry to hear Mr. Lort has the gout, and still more
concerned that you still suffer from it. Such patience and
temper as yours are the only palliatives. As the bootikins have
so much abridged and softened my fits, I do not expect their
return with the alarm and horror I used to do, and that is being
cured of one half the complaints. I had scarce any pain last
time, and did not keep my bed a day, and had no gout at all in
either foot. May not I ask you if this is not some merit in the
bootikins? To have cured me of my apprehensions is to me a vast
deal, for now the intervals do not connect the fits. You will
understand, that I mean to speak a word to you in favour of the
bootikins, for can one feel benefit, and not wish to impart it to
a suffering friend? Indeed I am yours most sincerely.

(289) John second Earl of Lauderdale, who, having distinguished
himself-by his zealous and active exertions in the royal cause
during the civil wars, was, after the restoration created in May
1672, Marquis Of March and Duke of Lauderdale, in Scotland.-E.

(290) Sir John Dalrymple, author of "Memoirs of Great Britain and
Ireland." Edinburgh, 1771-1773-1788; 3 vols. 4to.-E.

(291) James M'Pherson, the editor of Ossian, who had published a
"History of Great Britain from the Restoration in 1660 to the
Accession of the House of Hanover," 1775, 2 Vols. 4to - and also
"An Introduction to the History of Great Britain and Ireland."
London, 4to. 1771.-E.

(292) The papers which Masters possessed he himself eventually
published, in 1784, under the title of,, Memoirs of the Life and
Writings of Thomas Baker, from the Papers of Dr. Zachary Grey:
with a Catalogue of his Manuscript Collections. By R.
Masters."-E.

Letter 132 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Arlington Street, March 31, 1778. (page 181)

I did think it long, indeed, dear Sir, since I heard from you,
and am very sorry the gout was the cause. I hope after such long
persecution you will have less now than you apprehend. I should
not have been silent myself, had I had any thing to tell you that
you would have cared to hear.

Politics have been the only language, and abuse the only
expression of the winter, neither of which are, or deserve to be,
inmates of your peaceable hermitage. I wish, however, they may
not have grown so serious as to threaten every retreat with
intrusion! I will let you know when I am settled at
Strawberry-hill, and can look over your kind collections relating
to Mr. Baker. He certainly deserves his place in the Biographia,
but I am not surprised that you would not submit to his being
instituted and inducted by a Presbyterian. In troth, I, who have
not the same zeal against dissenters, do not at all desire to
peruse the History of their Apostles, which are generally very
uninteresting.

YOU must excuse the shortness of this, in which, too, I have been
interrupted: my nephew is as suddenly recovered as he did last
time; and, though I am far from thinking him perfectly in his
senses, a great deal of his disorder is removed, which, though it
will save me a great deal of trouble, hurries me at present, and
forces me to conclude.

Letter 133 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, April 23, 1778. (page 181)

I thank you, dear Sir, for the notice of William Le
Worcestre's(293) appearance, and will send for my book as soon as
I go to town, which will not be till next week. I have been here
since Friday as much a hermit as yourself. I wanted air and
quiet, having been much fatigued on my nephew's amendment, trying
to dissuade him from making the campaign with his militia; but in
vain! I now dread hearing of some eccentric freak. I am sorry
Mr. Tyson has quite dropped me, though he sometimes comes to
town. I am still more concerned at your frequent disorders-I
hope their chief seat is unwillingness to move.

Your Bakeriana will be very welcome about June: I shall not be
completely resident here till then, at least not have leisure, as
May is the month I have most visits from town. As few spare
hours as I have, I have contrived to go through Mr. Pennant's
Welsh Tour, and Warton's second Volume;(294) both which come
within the circle of your pursuits. I have far advanced, too, in
Lord Hardwicke's first volume of State Papers.(295) I have yet
found nothing that appears a new scene, or sets the old in a new
light; yet they are rather amusing, though not in proportion to
the bulk of the volumes. One likes to hear actors speak for
themselves; but, on the other hand, they use a great many more
words than are necessary: and when one knows the events from
history, it is a little tiresome to go back to the details and
the delays.

I should be glad to employ Mr. Essex on my offices, but the
impending war with France deters me. It is not a season for
expense! I could like to leave my little castle complete; but,
though I am only a spectator, I cannot be indifferent to the
aspect of the times, as the country gentleman was, who was going
out with his hounds as the two armies at Edge-hill were going to
engage. I wish for peace and tranquillity, and should be glad to
pass my remaining hours in the idle and retired amusements I
love, and without any solicitude for my country. Adieu!

(293) "Itineraria Symonis, Simeonis et Willelmi de Worcestre."
Cantab. 1778, 8vo.; edited by Dr. James Nasmith, who published
the excellent Catalogue of MSS, which Archbishop Parker left to
Corpus Christi College, at Cambridge.-E.

(294) Thomas Warton's "History Of English Poetry."-E.

(295) Miscellaneous State Papers, from 1501 to 1726, published by
the Earl of Hardwicke, in two volumes 4to.-E.

Letter 134 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Arlington Street, May 21, 1778. (page 182)

I will not flatter you: I was not in the least amused with either
Simon, Simeon, or William of Worcestre. If there was any thing
tolerable in either, it was the part omitted, or the part I did
not read, which was the Journey to Jerusalem, about which I have
not the smallest curiosity. I thank you for mentioning the
Gentleman's Magazine, which I sent for.

Mr. Essex has called upon me, and left me the drawing of a
bridge, with which I am perfectly pleased-but I was unluckily out
of town; he left no direction, and I know not where to seek him
in this overgrown bottle of hay. I still hope he will call again
before his return.

May not I, should not I, wish you joy on the restoration of
popery?(296) I expect soon to see Capuchins tramping about, and
Jesuits in high places. We are relapsing fast to our pristine
state, and have nothing but our island, and our old religion.

Mr. Nasmith's publication directed me to the MSS. in Benet
Library, which I did not know was printed. I found two or three
from which I should be glad to have transcripts, and would
willingly pay for; but I left the book at Strawberry, and must
trouble you another time with that commission.

The city wants to bury Lord Chatham(297) in St. Paul's; which, as
a person said to me this morning, would literally be "robbing
Peter to pay Paul." I wish it could be so, that there might be
some decoration in that nudity, en attendant the re-establishment
of various altars. It is not my design to purchase the new
edition of the Biographia; I trust they will give the old
purchasers the additions as a supplement. I had corrected the
errata of the press, throughout my copy, but I could not take the
trouble of transcribing them, nor could lend them the originals,
as I am apt to scribble notes in the margins of all my books that
interest me at all. Pray let me know if Baker's Life is among
the additions, and whether you are satisfied with it, as there
could not be events enough in his retired life to justify two
accounts of it.

There are no new old news, and you care for nothing Within the
memory of man. I am always intending to draw up an account of my
intercourse with Chatterton, which I take very kindly you remind
me of, but some avocation or other has still prevented it. My
perfect innocence of having indirectly been an ingredient in his
dismal fate, which happened two years after our correspondence,
and after he had exhausted both his resources and his
constitution, have made it more easy to prove that I never saw
him, knew nothing of his ever being in London, and was the first
person, instead of the last, on whom he had practised his
impositions, and founded his chimeric hopes of promotion. My
very first, or at least second letter, undeceived him in those
views, and our correspondence(298) was broken off before he
quitted his aster's business at Bristol-so that his
disappointment with me was but his first ill success; and he
resented my incredulity so much, that he never condescended to
let me see him. Indeed, what I have said now to you, and which
cannot be controverted by a shadow of a doubt, would be
sufficient vindication. I could only add to the proofs, a vain
regret of never having known his distresses, which his amazing
genius would have tempted me to relieve, though I fear he had no
other claim to compassion. Mr. Warton has said enough to open
the eyes of every one who is not greatly prejudiced to his
forgeries. Dr. Milles is one who will not make a bow to Dr.
Percy for not being as wilfully blind as himself-but when he gets
a beam in his eye that he takes for an antique truth, there is no
persuading him to submit to be coached. Adieu!

(296) Walpole alludes to the bill for the Relief of the Roman
Catholics which released their priests from prosecution, and
allowed members of that religion to purchase lands and take them
by descent. It passed both houses without opposition.-E.

(297) The Earl of Chatham died on the 10th Of May 1778. His
remains were honoured with a public funeral in Westminster Abbey,
his debts were paid by the nation, and an annuity of four
thousand pounds settled upon the earldom of Chatham.-E.

(298) Walpole's correspondence with Chatterton took place in
March and April 1769. The death Of the young poet happened in
August 1770, in consequence of a dose Of arsenic, at his lodgings
in Brook-street, Holborn.-E.

Letter 135 To The Rev. William Mason.
[1778.)(299) (page 184)

The purport of Dr. Robertson's visit was to inquire where he
could find materials for the reigns of King William and Queen
Anne, which he means to write as a supplement to David Hume. I
had heard of his purpose, but did not own I knew it, that my
discouragement might seem the more natural. I do not care a
straw what he writes about the church's wet-nurse, Goody Anne;
but no Scot is worthy of being the historian of William, but Dr.
Watson.(300) When he had told me his object, I said, "Write the
reign of King William, Dr. Robertson! That is a great task! I
look on him as the greatest man of modern times since his
ancestor William Prince of Orange." I soon found the Doctor had
very little idea of him, or had taken upon trust the pitiful
partialities of Dalrymple and Macpherson. I said, "Sir, I do not
doubt but that King William came over with a view to the crown.
Nor was he called upon by patriotism, for he was not an
Englishman to assert our liberties. No; his patriotism was of a
higher rank. He aimed not at the crown of England from ambition,
but to employ its forces and wealth against Louis XIV. for the
common cause of the liberties of Europe. The Whigs did not
understand the extent of his views, and the Tories betrayed him.
He has been thought not to have understood us; but the truth was,
he took either party as it was predominant, that he might sway
the Parliament to support his general plan." The Doctor,
suspecting that I doubted his principles being enlarged enough to
do justice to so great a character, told me he himself had been
born and bred a Whig, though he owned he was not a moderate one-
-I believe, a very moderate one. I said Macpherson had done
great injustice to another hero, the Duke of Marlborough, whom he
accuses of betraying the design on Brest to Louis XIV. The truth
was, as I heard often in my youth from my father, my uncle, and
old persons who had lived in those times, that the Duke trusted
the Duchess with the secret, and she her sister the popish
Duchess of Tyrconnel, who was as poor and as bigoted as a church
mouse. A corroboration of this was the wise and sententious
answer of King William to the Duke, whom he taxed with having
betrayed the secret. "upon my honour, Sir," said the Duke, "I
told it to nobody but my wife." "I did not tell it to mine!"
said the King.

I added, that Macpherson's and Dalrymple's invidious scandals
really serve but to heighten the amazing greatness of the King's
genius; for, if they
say true, he maintained the crown on his head though the
nobility, the churchmen, the country gentlemen, the people were
against him; and though almost all his own ministers betrayed
him--"But," said I, "nothing is so silly as to suppose that the
Duke -of Marlborough and Lord Godolphin ever meant seriously to
restore King James. Both had offended him too much to
expect forgiveness, especially from so remorseless a nature. Yet
a re-revolution was so probable, that it is no wonder they kept
up a correspondence with him, at least to break their fall if he
returned. But as they never did effectuate the least service in
his favour, when they had the fullest power, nothing can be
inferred but King James's folly in continuing to lean on them.
To imagine they meant to sacrifice his weak daughter, whom they
governed absolutely, to a man who was sure of being governed-by
others, one must have as little sense as James himself had."

The precise truth I take to have been this. Marlborough and
Godolphin both knew the meanness and credulity of James's
character. They knew that he must be ever dealing for partisans;
and they might be sure, that if he could hope for support from
the General and the Lord-treasurer he must be less solicitous for
more impotent supporters. "Is it impossible," said I to the
Doctor, "but they might correspond with the King even by Anne's
own consent? Do not be surprised, Sir," said I: "such things have
happened. My own father often received letters from the
Pretender, which he always carried to George II and had them
endorsed by his Majesty- I myself have seen them countersigned by
the King's own hand."

In short,. I endeavoured to impress him with Proper ideas of his
subject, and painted to him the difficulties., and the want of
materials. But- the booksellers will out-argue me, and the
Doctor will forget his education--Panem et Circenses, if you will
allow me to use the latter for those that are captivated by
favour in the circle, will decide his writing and give the
colour. I once wished he should write the History of King
William; but his Charles V. and his America have opened my eyes,
and the times have shut his.(301) Adieu!

(299) This letter, which is without date, was most probably
written in April or May 1778; at which time Dr. Robertson was in
London.-E.

(300) Dr. Watson's History of the Reign of philip II. of Spain
was published, in two quarto volumes, in 1777.-E.

(301) By the life of Dr. Robertson, in Chamvers's Scottish
Biography, it will be seen, that several persons suggested to him
a History of Great Britain from the Revolution to the
accession of the House of Hanover; and it appears, from a letter
to Dr. Waddilour, Dean of Rippon, written in July of this year,
that he had made up his mind to encounter the responsibility of
the task, but abandoned it, in consequence of a correspondence
with his friend, Mr. James Macpherson, had, three years
before, published a history of the same reigns.-E.

Letter 136 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, June 3, 1778. (page 186)

I will not dispute with you, dear Sir, on patriots and politics.
One point is Past controversy, that the ministers have ruined
this country; and if the church of England is satisfied with
being reconciled with the church of Rome, and thinks it a
compensation for the loss of America and all credit in Europe,
she is as silly an old woman as any granny in an almshouse.
France is very glad we are grown such fools, and soon saw that
the Presbyterian Dr. Franklin(302) had more sense than our
ministers together. She has got over all her prejudices, has
expelled the Jesuits, and made the Protestant Swiss, Necker, her
comptroller-general. It is a little woful, that we are relapsing
into the nonsense the rest of Europe is shaking off! and it is
more deplorable, as we know by repeated experience, that this
country has always been disgraced by Tory administrations. The
rubric is the only gainer by them in a few martyrs.