Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3

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(230) Robert Montagu, third Duke of Manchester, lord-chamberlain
to the Queen, died on the 10th of May.-E.

(231) In Essex; formerly the largest palace in England. It was
built out of the ruins of a dissolved monastery, near Saffron
Walden, by Thomas, second son of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, who
married the only daughter and heir of Lord Audley, chancellor to
King Henry VIII. This Thomas was summoned to parliament in Queen
Elizabeth's time as Lord Audley of Walden, and was afterwards
created Earl of Suffolk by James I., to whom he was lord
chancellor and lord high treasurer. It was intended for a royal
palace for that King, who, when it was finished, was invited to
see it, and lodged there one night on his way to Newmarket; when,
after having viewed it with astonishment, he was asked how he
approved of it, he answered, "Very well; but troth, man, it is
too much for a king, but it may do for a lord high treasurer;"
and so left it upon the Earl's hands. It was afterwards
purchased by Charles II.; but, as he had never been able to pay
the purchase-money, it was restored to the family by William
III.-E.

Letter 124 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
strawberry Hill, May 20, 1762. (page 183)

Dear Sir,
You have sent me the most kind and obliging letter in the world,
and I cannot sufficiently thank you for it; but I shall be very
glad to have an opportunity of acknowledging it in person, by
accepting the agreeable visit you are so good as to offer me, and
for which I have long been impatient.
I should name the earliest day possible; but besides having some
visits to make, I think it will bi more pleasant to you a few
weeks hence (I mean, any time in July,) when the works, with
which I am finishing my house, will be more advanced, and the
noisy part, as laying floors and fixing wainscots, at an end, and
which now make me a deplorable litter. As you give me leave, I
will send You notice.

I am glad my books amused you;(232) yet you, who are so much
deeper an antiquarian, must have found more faults and emissions,
I fear, than your politeness suffers you to reprehend; yet you
will, I trust, be a little more severe. We both labour, I will
not say for the public (for the public troubles its head very
little about our labours),. but for the few of posterity that
shall be curious; and therefore, for their sake, you must assist
me in making my works as complete as possible. This sounds
ungrateful, after all the trouble you have given yourself; but I
say it to prove MY gratitude, and to show you how fond I am of
being corrected.

For the faults of impression, they were owing to the knavery of a
printer, who, when I had corrected the sheets, amused me with
revised proofs, and never printed off the whole number, and then
ran away. This accounts, too, for the difference of the ink in
various sheets, and for some other blemishes; though there are
still enough of my own, which I must not charge on others.

Ubaldini's book I have not, and shall be pleased to see it; but I
cannot think of robbing your collection, and am amply obliged by
the offer. The Anecdotes of Horatio Palavacini are extremely
entertaining.

In an Itinerary of the late Mr. Smart Lethiullier, I met the very
tomb of Gainsborough this winter that you mention; and, to be
secure, sent to Lincoln for an exact draught of it. But what
vexed me then, and does still, is, that by the defect at the end
of the inscription, one cannot be certain whether he lived in
CCC. or CCCC. as another C might have been there. Have you any
corroborating circumstance, Sir, to affix his existence to 1300
more than 1400? Besides, I don't know any proof of his having
been architect of the church: his epitaph only calls him
Caementarius, which, I suppose, means mason.

I have observed, since my book was published, what you mention of
the tapestry in Laud's trial; yet as the Journals were by
authority, and certainly cannot be mistaken, I have concluded
that Hollar engraved his print after the restoration. Mr. Wight,
clerk of the House of Lords, says, that Oliver placed them in the
House of Commons. I don't know on what grounds he says so. I
am, Sir, with great gratitude, etc.

(232) Anecdotes of Painting.

Letter 125 To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, May 25, 1762. (page 184)

I am diverted with your anger at old Richard. Can you really
suppose that I think it any trouble to frank a few covers for
you? Had I been with you, I should have cured you and your whole
family in two nights with James's powder. If you have any
remains of the disorder, let me beg you to take seven or eight
grains when you go to bed: if you have none, shall I send you
some? For my own part, I am released -again, though I have been
tolerably bad, and one day had the gout for several hours in my
head. I do not like such speedy returns. I have been so much
confined that I could not wait on Mrs. Osborn, and I do not take
it unkindly that she will not let me have the prints without
fetching them. I met her, that is, passed her, t'other day as
she was going to Bushy, and was sorry to see her look much older.

Well! tomorrow is fixed for that phenomenon, the Duke of
Newcastle's resignation.(233) He has had a parting lev`ee; and
as I suppose all bishops are prophets, they foresee that he will
never come into place again, for there was but one that had the
decency to take leave of him after crowding his rooms for forty
years together; it was Cornwallis. I hear not even Lord Lincoln
resigns. Lord Bute succeeds to the treasury, and is to have the
garter too On Thursday with Prince William. Of your cousin I hear
no more mention, but that he returns to his island. I cannot
tell you exactly even the few changes that are to be made, but I
can divert you with a bon-mot, which they give to my Lord
Chesterfield. The new peerages being mentioned, somebody said,
"I suppose there will be no duke made," he replied, "Oh yes,
there is to be one."--"Is? who?"--"Lord Talbot: he is to be
created Duke Humphrey, and there is to be no table kept at court
but his." If you don't like this, what do you think of George
Selwyn, who asked Charles Boone if it is true that he is going to
be married to the fat rich Crawley? Boone denied it. "Lord!"
said Selwyn, "I thought you were to be Patrick Fleming on the
mountain, and that gold and silver you were counting!" * * * *

P.S. I cannot help telling you how comfortable the new
disposition of the court is to me-, the King and Queen are
settled for good and all at Buckingham-house, and are stripping
the other palaces to furnish it. In short, they have already
fetched pictures from Hampton Court, which indicates their never
living there; consequently Strawberry Hill will remain in
possession of its own tranquillity, and not become a cheesecake
house to the palace. All I ask of Princes is, not to live within
five miles of me.

(233) The Duke of Newcastle, finding himself, on the subject of a
pecuniary aid to the King of Prussia, only supported in the
council by the Duke of Devonshire and Lord Hardwicke, resigned on
the 26th of May, and Lord Bute became prime minister.-E.

Letter 126 To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, Wednesday night, June 1. (page 185)

Since you left Strawberry, the town (not the King of Prussia) has
beaten Count Daun, and made the peace, but the benefits of either
have not been felt beyond Change Alley. Lord Melcomb is
dying(234) of a dropsy in his stomach,' and Lady Mary Wortley of
a cancer in her breast.(235)

Mr. Hamilton was here last night, and complained of your not
visiting him. He pumped me to know if Lord Hertford has not
thoughts of the crown of Ireland, and was more than persuaded
that I should go with him: I told him what was true, that I knew
nothing of the former; and for the latter, that I would as soon
return with the King of the Cherokees.(236) When England has
nothing that can tempt me, it would be strange if Ireland had.
The Cherokee Majesty dined here yesterday at Lord Macclesfield's,
where the Clive sang to them and the mob; don't imagine I was
there, but I heard so at my Lady Suffolk's.

We have tapped a little butt of rain to-night, but my lawn is far
from being drunk yet. Did not you find the Vine in great beauty?
My compliments to it, and to your society. I only write to
enclose the enclosed. I have consigned your button to old
Richard. Adieu!

(234) Lord Melcombe died on the 28th of July: upon which event
the title became extinct.-E.

(235) Lady Mary Wortley Montagu died on the 21st August, in the
seventy-third year of her age.-E.

(236) Three Cherokee Indian chiefs arrived this month in London,
from South Carolina, and became the lions of the day.-E.

Letter 127 To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, June 8, 1762. (page 185)

Well, you have had Mr. Chute. I did not dare to announce him to
you, for he insisted on enjoying all your ejaculations. He gives
me a good account of your health and spirits, but does not say
when you come hither. I hope the General, as well as your
brother John, know how welcome they would be, if they would
accompany you. I trust it will be before the end of this month,
for the very beginning of July I am to make a little visit to
Lord Ilchester, in Somersetshire, and I should not like not to
see you before the middle or end of next month.

Mrs. Osborn has sent me the prints; they are woful; but that is
my fault and the engraver's, not yours, to whom I am equally
obliged; you don't tell me whether Mr. Bentley's play was acted
or not, printed or not.

There is another of the Queen's brothers come over. Lady
Northumberland made a pompous festino for him t'other night; not
only the whole house, but the garden, was illuminated, and was
quite a fairy scene. Arches and pyramids of lights alternately
surrounded the enclosure; a diamond necklace of lamps edged the
rails and descent, with a spiral obelisk of candles on each hand;
and dispersed over the lawn were little bands of kettle-drums,
clarionets, flutes, etc., and the lovely moon, who came without a
card. The birthday was far from being such a show; empty and
unfine as possible. In truth, popularity does not make great
promises to the new administration, and for fear it should
hereafter be taxed with changing sides, it lets Lord Bute be
abused every day, though he has not had time to do the least
wrong. His first levee was crowded. Bothmer, the Danish
minister, said, "La chaleur est excessive!" George Selwyn
replied, "Pour se mettre au froid, il faut aller chez Monsieur le
Duc de Newcastle!" There was another George not quite SO tender.
George Brudenel was passing by; somebody in the mob said, "What
is the matter here?" Brudenel answered, "Why, there is a
Scotchman got into the treasury, and they can't get him out."
The Archbishop, conscious of not having been at Newcastle's last
levee, and ashamed of appearing at Lord Bute's, first pretended
he had been going by in his way from Lambeth, and, Upon inquiry,
found it was Lord Bute's levee, and so had thought he might as
well go in-I am glad he thought he might as well tell it.

The mob call Buckingham-house, Holyrood-house; in short, every
thing promises to be like times I can remember. Lord Anson is
dead; poor Mrs. Osborn will not break her heart; I should think
Lord Melcomb will succeed to the admiralty. Adieu!

Letter 128 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, July 29, 1762. (page 186)

Sir,
I fear you will have thought me neglectful of the visit you was
so good as to offer me for a day or two at this place; the truth
is, I have been in Somersetshire on a visit, which was protracted
much longer than I intended. I am now returned, and shall be
glad to see you as soon as you please, Sunday or Monday next, if
you like either, or any other day you will name. I cannot defer
the pleasure of seeing you any longer, though to my mortification
you will find Strawberry Hill with its worst looks-not a blade of
grass! My workmen too have disappointed me; they have been in the
association for forcing their masters to raise their wages, and
but two are yet returned--so you must excuse litter and shavings.

Letter 129 To The Countess Of Ailesbury.
Strawberry Hill, July 31, 1762 (page 187)

Madam,
Magnanimous as the fair soul of your ladyship is, and plaited
with superabundanCe of Spartan fortitude, I felicitate my own
good fortune who can circle this epistle with branches of the
gentle olive, as well as crown it with victorious laurel. This
pompous paragraph, Madam, which in compliment to my Lady
Lyttelton I have penned in the style of her lord, means no more,
them that I wish you joy of the castle of Waldeck,(237) and more
joy on the peace,
which I find every body thinks is concluded. In truth, I have
still my doubts; and yesterday came news, which, if my Lord Bute
does not make haste, may throw a little rub in the way. In
short, the Czar is dethroned. Some give the honour to his wife;
others, who add the little circumstance of his being murdered
too, ascribe the revolution to the Archbishop of Novogorod, who,
like other priests, thinks assassination a less affront to Heaven
than three Lutheran churches. I hope the latter is the truth;
because, in the honeymoonhood of Lady Cecilia's tenderness, I
don't know but she might miscarry at the thought of a wife
preferring a crown, and scandal says a regiment of grenadiers, to
her husband.

I have a little meaning in naming Lady Lyttelton and Lady
Cecilia, who I think are at Park-place. Was not there a promise
that you all three would meet Mr. Churchill and Lady Mary here in
the beginning of August! Yes, indeed was there, and I put in my
claim. Not confining your heroic and musical ladyships to a day
or a week; my time is at your command: and I wish the rain was at
mine; for, if you or it do not come soon, I shall not have a leaf
left. Strawberry is browner than Lady Bell Finch.

I was grieved, Madam, to miss seeing you in town on Monday,
particularly as I wished to settle this party. If you will let
me know when it will be your pleasure, I will write to my sister.

(237) At the taking of which Mr. Conway had assisted.

Letter 130 To The Earl Of Strafford.
Strawberry Hill, August 5, 1762. (page 187)

My dear lord,
As you have correspondents of better authority in town, I don't
pretend to send you great events, and I know no small ones.
Nobody talks of any thing under a revolution. That in Russia
alarms me,.lest Lady Mary should fall in love with the Czarina,
who has deposed her Lord Coke, and set out for Petersburgh. We
throw away a whole summer in writing Britons and North Britons;
the Russians change sovereigns faster than Mr. Wilkes can choose
a motto for a paper. What years were spent here in controversy
on the abdication of King James, and the legitimacy of the
Pretender! Commend me to the Czarina. They doubted, that is,
her husband did, whether her children were of genuine
blood-royal. She appealed to the Preobazinski guards, excellent
casuists; and, to prove Duke Paul heir to the crown, assumed it
herself. The proof was compendious and unanswerable.

I trust you know that Mr. Conway has made a figure by taking the
castle of Waldeck. There has been another action to Prince
Ferdinand's advantage, but no English were engaged.

You tantalize me by talking of the verdure of Yorkshire; we have
not had a teacupfull of rain till to-day for these six weeks.
Corn has been reaped that never wet its lips; not a blade of
grass; the leaves yellow and falling as in the end of October.
In short, Twickenham is rueful; I don't believe Westphalia looks
more barren. Nay, we are forced to fortify ourselves too.
Hanworth was broken open last night, though the family was all
there. Lord Vere lost a silver standish, an old watch, and his
writing-box with fifty pounds in it. They broke it open in the
park, but missed a diamond ring which was found, and the
telescope, which by the weight of the case they had fancied full
of money. Another house in the middle of Sunbury has had the
same fate. I am mounting cannon on my
battlements.

Your chateau, I hope, proceeds faster than mine. The carpenters
are all associated for increase of wages; I have had but two men
at work these five weeks. You know, to be sure, that Lady Mary
Wortley cannot live. Adieu, my dear Lord!

Letter 131 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, August 5, 1762. (page 188)

Sir,
As I had been dilatory in accepting your kind offer of coming
hither, I proposed it as soon as I returned. As we are so burnt,
and as my workmen have disappointed me, I am not quite sorry that
I had not the pleasure of seeing you this week. Next week I am
obliged to be in town on business. If you please, therefore, we
will postpone our meeting till the first of September; by which
time, I flatter myself we shall be green, and I shall be able to
show you my additional apartment to more advantage. Unless you
forbid me, I shall expect you, Sir, the very beginning of next
month. In the mean time, I will only thank you for the obliging
and curious notes you have sent me, which will make a great
figure in my second edition.

Letter 132 To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, August 10, 1762. (page 189)

I have received your letter from Greatworth since your return,
but I do not find that you have got one, which I sent you to the
Vine, enclosing one directed for you: Mr. Chute says you did
mention hearing from me there. I left your button too in town
with old Richard to be transmitted to you. Our drought
continues, though we have had one handsome storm. I have been
reading the story of Phaeton in the Metamorphoses; it is a
picture of Twickenham. Ardet
Athos, taurusque Cilix, etc.; Mount Richmond burns, parched is
Petersham: Parnassusque biceps, dry is Pope's grot, the nymphs of
Clievden are burning to blackmoors, their faces are already as
glowing as a cinder, Cycnus is changed into a swan: quodque suo
Tagus amne vehit, fluit ignibus aurum; my gold fishes are almost
molten. Yet this conflagration is nothing to that in Russia;
what do you say to a czarina mounting her horse, and marching at
the head of fourteen thousand men, with a large train of
artillery, to dethrone her husband? Yet she is not the only
virago in that country; the conspiracy was conducted by the
sister of the Czar's mistress, a heroine under twenty! They have
no fewer than two czars now in coops-that is, supposing these
gentle damsels have murdered neither of them. Turkey Will become
a moderate government; one must travel to frozen climates if one
chooses to see revolutions in perfection. Here's room for
meditation even to madness:" the deposed Emperor possessed
Muscovy, was heir to Sweden, and the true heir of Denmark; all
the northern crowns centered in his person; one hopes he is in a
dungeon, that is, one hopes he is not assassinated. You cannot
crowd more matter into a lecture of morality, than is
comprehended in those few words. This is the fourth czarina that
you and I have seen: to be sure, as historians, we have not
passed our time ill. Mrs. Anne Pitt, who, I suspect, envies the
heroine of twenty a little, says, "The Czarina has only robbed
Peter to pay Paul;" and I do not believe that her brother, Mr.
William Pitt, feels very happy, that he cannot immediately
despatch a squadron to the Baltic to reinstate the friend of' the
King of Prussia. I cannot afford to live less than fifty years
more; for so long, I suppose, at least, it will be before the
court of Petersburgh will cease to produce amusing scenes. Think
of old Count Biren, former master of that empire, returning to
Siberia, and bowing to Bestucheff, whom he may meet on the road
from thence. I interest myself now about nothing but Russia;
Lord Bute must be sent to the Orcades before I shall ask a
question in English politics; at least I shall expect that Mr.
Pitt, at the head of the Preobazinski guards, will seize the
person of the prime minister for giving up our conquests to the
chief enemy of this nation.

My pen is in such a sublime humour, that it can scarce condescend
to tell you that Sir Edward Deering is going to marry Polly Hart,
Danvers's old mistress; and three more baronets, whose names
nobody knows, but Collins, are treading in the same steps.

My compliments to the House of' Montagu-upon my word I
congratulate the General and you, and your viceroy, that you
escaped being deposed by the primate of Novogorod.

Letter 133 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, August 19, 1762. (page 190)

Sir,
I am very sensible of the obligations I have to you and Mr.
Masters, and ought to make separate acknowledgments to both; but,
not knowing how to direct to him, I must hope that you will
kindly be once more the channel of our correspondence; and that
you will be so good as to convey to him an answer to what you
communicated from him to me, and in particular my thanks for the
most obliging offer he has made me of a picture of Henry VII.; of
which I will by no means rob him. My view in publishing the
Anecdotes was, to assist gentlemen in discovering the hands of
pictures they possess: and I am sufficiently rewarded when that
purpose is answered. If there is another edition, the mistake in
the calculation of the tapestry shall be rectified, and any
others, which any gentleman will be so good as to point out.
With regard to the monument of Sir Nathaniel Bacon, Vertue
certainly describes it as at Culford; and in looking Into the
place to which I am referred, in Mr. Master's History of Corpus
Christi College, I think he himself allows in the note, that
there is such a monument at Culford. Of Sir Balthazar Gerber
there are several different prints. Nich. Lanicre purchasing
pictures at the King's sale, is undoubtedly a mistake for one of
his brothers--I cannot tell now whether Vertue's mistake or my
own. At Longleafe is a whole-length of Frances Duchess of
Richmond, exactly such as Mr. Masters describes, but in
oil. I have another whole-length of the same duchess, I believe
by Mytins, but younger than that at Longleafe. But the best
picture of her is in Wilson's life of King James, and very
diverting indeed. I Will not trouble you, Sir, or Mr. Masters,
with any more at present; but, repeating my thanks to both, will
assure you that I am, etc.

Letter 134 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Strawberry Hill, Sept. 9, 1762. (page 191)

Nondurn laurus erat, longoque decentia crine
Tempera cingebat de qualibet arbore Phoebus.(238)

This is a hint to you, that Phoebus, who was certainly your
superior, could take up with a chestnut garland, or any crown he
found, you must have the humility to be content without laurels,
when none are to be had: you have hurried far and near for them,
and taken true pains to the last in that old nursery-garden
Germany, and by the way have made me shudder with your last
journal: but you must be easy with qu`alibet other arbore; you
must come home to your own plantations. The Duke of Bedford is
gone in a fury to make peace, for he cannot be even pacific with
temper; and by this time I suppose the Duke de Nivernois is
unpacking his portion of olive dans la rue de Suffolk-street. I
say, I suppose- -for I do not, like my friends at Arthur's, whip
into my postchaise to see every novelty. My two sovereigns, the
Duchess of Grafton and Lady Mary Coke, are arrived, and yet I
have seen neither Polly nor Lucy. The former, I hear, is
entirely French; the latter as absolutely English.

Well! but if you insist on not doffing your cuirass, you may find
an opportunity of wearing it. The storm thickens. The city of
London are ready to hoist their standard; treason is the bon-ton
at that end of the town; seditious papers pasted up at every
corner: nay, my neighbourhood is not unfashionable; we have had
them at Brentford and Kingston. The Peace is the cry; but to
make weight, they throw in all the abusive ingredients they can
collect. They talk of your friend the Duke of Devonshire's
resigning; and, for the Duke of Newcastle, it puts him so much in
mind of the end of Queen Anne's time, that I believe he hopes to
be minister again for another forty years.

In the mean time. there are but dark news from the Havannah; the
Gazette, who would not fib for the world, says, we have lost but
four officers; the World, who is not quite so scrupulous, says,
our loss is heavy. But whit shocking notice to those who have
Harry Conways there! The Gazette breaks off with saying, that
they were to storm the next day! Upon the whole, it is regarded
as a preparative to worse news.

Our next monarch was christened last night, George Augustus
Frederick; the Princess, the Duke of Cumberland, and the Duke of
Mecklenburgh, sponsors,; the ceremony performed by the Bishop of
London. The Queen's bed, magnificent, and they say in taste, was
placed in the great drawing-room: though she is not to see
company in form, yet it looks as if they had intended people
should have been there, as all who presented themselves were
admitted, which were very few, for it had not been notified; I
suppose to prevent too great a crowd: all I have heard named,
besides those in waiting, were the Duchess of Queensbury, Lady
Dalkeith, Mrs. Grenville, and about four more ladies.