Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3

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I felt shocked, as you did, to think how suddenly the prospect of
joy at Osterly was dashed after our seeing it. However the young
lover(318) died handsomely. Fifty thousand pounds will dry
tears, that at most could be but two months old. His brother, I
heard, has behaved still more handsomely, and confirmed the
legacy, and added from himself the diamonds that had been
prepared for her. Here is a charming wife ready for any body
that likes a sentimental situation, a pretty woman, and a large
fortune.(319)

I have been often at Bulstrode from Chaffont, but I don't like
it. It is Dutch and triste. The pictures you mention in the
gallery would be curious if they knew one from another; but the
names are lost, and they are only sure that they have so many
pounds of ancestors in the lump. One or two of them indeed I
know, as the Earl of Southampton, that was Lord Essex's friend.

The works of Park-place go on bravely; the cottage will be very
pretty, and the bridge sublime, composed of loose rocks, that
will appear to have been tumbled together there the very wreck of
the deluge. One stone is of fourteen hundred weight. It will be
worth a hundred of Palladio's brigades, that are only fit to be
used in an opera.

I had a ridiculous adventure on my way hither. A Sir Thomas
Reeves wrote to me last year, that he had a great quantity of
heads of painters, drawn by himself from Dr. Mead's collection,
of which many were English, and offered me the use of them. This
was one of the numerous unknown correspondents which my books
have drawn upon me. I put it off then, but being to pass near
his door, for he lives but two miles from Maidenhead, I sent him
word I would call on my way to Park-place. After being carried
to three wrong houses, I was directed to a very ancient mansion,
composed of timber, and looking as unlike modern habitations, as
the picture of Penderel's house in Clarendon. The garden was
overrun with weeds, and with difficulty we found a bell. Louis
came riding back in great haste, and said, "Sir, the Gentleman is
dead suddenly." You may imagine I was surprised; however, as an
acquaintance I had never seen was an endurable misfortune, I was
preparing to depart; but happening to ask some women, that were
passing by the chaise, if they knew any circumstance of Sir
Thomas's death, I discovered that this was not Sir Thomas's
house, but belonged to a Mr. Mecke,(320) fellow of a college at
Oxford, who was actually just dead, and that the antiquity itself
had formerly been the residence of Nell Gwyn. Pray inquire after
it the next time you are at Frocmore. I went on, and after a
mistake or two more found Sir Thomas, a man about thirty in age,
and twelve in understanding; his drawings very indifferent, even
for the latter calculation. I did not know what to do or say,
but commended them and his child, and his house; said I had all
the heads, hoped I should see him at Twickenham, was afraid of
being too late for dinner, and hurried out of his house before I
had been there twenty minutes. It grieves one to receive
civilities when one feels obliged, and yet finds it impossible to
bear the people that bestow them.

I have given my assembly, to show my gallery, and it was
glorious; but happening to pitch upon the feast of tabernacles,
none of my Jews could come, though Mrs. Clive proposed to them to
change their religion; so I am forced to exhibit once more. For
the morning spectators, the crowd augments instead of
diminishing. It is really true that Lady Hertford called here
t'other morning, and I was reduced to bring her by the back gate
into the kitchen; the house was so full of company that came to
see the gallery, that I had no where else to carry her. Adieu!

P. S. I hope the least hint has never dropped from the Beaulieus
of that terrible picture of Sir Charles Williams, that put me
into such confusion the morning they breakfasted here. If they
did observe the inscription, I am sure they must have seen too
how it distressed me. Your collection of pictures is packed up,
and makes two large cases and one smaller.

My next assembly will be entertaining; there will be five
countesses, two bishops, fourteen Jews, five papists, a doctor of
physic, and an actress; not to mention Scotch, Irish, East and
West Indians.

I find that, to pack up your pictures, Louis has taken some paper
out of a hamper of waste, into which I had cast some of the
Conway papers, perhaps only as useless , however, if you find any
such in the packing, be so good as to lay them by for me.

(318) Francis Child, Esq. the banker at Temple-bar, and member
for Bishop's-Castle, who died on the @3d of September. He was to
have been married in a few days to the only daughter of the Hon.
Robert Trevor Hampden, one of the postmasters-general.-E.

(319) This young lady was married in the May following to Henri,
twelfth Earl of Suffolk.-E.

(320) The Rev. Mr. Mecke, of Pembroke College. He died on the
26th of September.-E.

Letter 176 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 8, 1763. Page 239)

Dear Sir,
You are always obliging to me and always thinking Of me kindly;
yet for once you have forgotten the way of obliging me most. You
do not mention any thought of coming hither, which you had given
me cause to hope about this time, I flatter myself nothing has
intervened to deprive me of that visit. Lord Hertford goes to
France the end of next week; I shall be in town to take leave of
him; but after the 15th, that is, this day se'nnight, I shall be
quite unengaged and the sooner I see you after the 15th, the
better, for I should be sorry to drag you across the country in
the badness of November roads.

I shall treasure up your notices against my second edition for
the volume of Engravers is printed off, and has been some time; I
only wait for some of the plates. The book you mention I have
not seen, nor do you encourage me to buy it. Some time or other
however I will get you to let me turn it over.

As I will trust that you will let me know soon when I shall have
the pleasure of seeing you here, I will make this a very short
letter indeed. I know nothing new or old worth telling you.

Letter 177 To The Earl Of Hertford.(321)
Arlington Street, Oct. 18, 1763. (page 239)

My dear Lord,
I am very impatient for a letter from Paris, to hear of your
outset, and what my Lady Hertford thinks of the new world she is
got into, and whether it is better or worse than she expected.
Pray tell me all: I mean of that sort, for I have no curiosity
about the family compact, nor the harbour of Dunkirk. It is your
private history--your audiences, reception, comforts or
distresses, your way of life, your company--that interests me; in
short, I care about my cousins and friends, not, like Jack
Harris,(322) about my lord ambassador. Consider you are in my
power. You, by this time,
are longing to hear from England, and depend upon me for the news
of London. I shall not send you a tittle, if you are not very
good, and do not (one of you, at least) write to me punctually.

This letter, I confess, will not give you much encouragement, for
I can absolutely tell you nothing. I dined at Mr. Grenville's
to-day, if there had been any thing to hear, I should have heard
it; but all consisted in what you will see in the papers--some
diminutive(323) battles in America, and the death of the King of
Poland,(324) which you probably knew before we did. The town is
a desert; it is like a vast plain, which, though abandoned at
present, is in three weeks to have a great battle fought upon it.
One of the colonels, I hear, is to be in town tomorrow, the Duke
of Devonshire. I came myself but this morning, but as I shall
not return to Strawberry till the day after to-morrow, I shall
not seal my letter till then. In the mean time, it is but fair
to give you some more particular particulars of what I expect to
know. For instance, of Monsieur de Nivernois's cordiality; of
Madame Dusson's affection for England; of my Lord Holland's joy
at seeing you in France, especially without your Secretary;(325)
of all my Lady Hertford's(326) cousins at St. Germains; and I
should not dislike a little anecdote or two of the late
embassy,(327) of which I do not doubt you will hear plenty. I
must trouble you with many
compliments to Madame de Boufflers, and with still more to the
Duchesse de Mirepoix,(328) who is always so good as to remember
me. Her brother, Prince de Beauvau,(329) I doubt has forgotten
me.
In
the disagreeableness of taking leave, I omitted these messages.
Good night for to-night--OH! I forgot--pray send me some caff`e
au lait: the Duc de Picquigny(33) (who by the way is somebody's
son, as I thought) takes it for snuff; and says it is the new
fashion at
Paris; I suppose they drink rappee after dinner.

Wednesday night.

I might as well have finished last night; for I know nothing more
than I did then, but that Lady mary Coke arrived this evening.
She has behaved very honourably, and not stolen the hereditary
Prince.(331)

Mr. Bowman(332) called on me yesterday before I came, and left
word that he would come again to-day, but did not. I wished to
hear of you from him, and a little of my old acquaintance at
Rheims. Did you find Lord Beauchamp(333) much grown? Are all
your sons to be like those of the Amalekites? who were I forget
how many cubits high.

Pray remind Mr. Hume(334) Of collecting the whole history of the
expulsion of the Jesuits. It is a subject worthy of his inquiry
and pen. Adieu! my dear lord.

(321) This is the first of the series of letters which Walpole
addressed to his relation, the Earl of Hertford, during his
lordship's embassy in Paris, in the years 1763, 1764, and 1765.
The first edition of these letters appeared, in quarto, in 1825,
edited by the Right Honourable John Wilson Croker, and contained
the following introductory notice:--

"No apology, it is presumed, is necessary for the following
publication. The Letters of Mr. Walpole have already attained
the highest rank in that department of English literature, and
seem to deserve their popularity, whether they are regarded as
objects of mere amusement, or as a collection of anecdotes
illustrative of the politics, literature, and manners of an
important and interesting period.

"The following collection is composed of his letters to his
cousin, the Earl of Hertford, while ambassador at Paris, from
1763 to 1765;
which seem, at least as much as those which have preceded them,
deserving of the public attention.

"It appears from some circumstances connected with the letters
themselves, that Mr. Walpole wrote them in the intention and hope
that they might be preserved; and although they are enlivened by
his characteristic vivacity, and are not deficient in the lighter
matters with which he was in the habit of amusing all his
correspondents, they are, on the whole, written in a more careful
style, and are employed on more important subjects than any
others which have yet come to light.

"Of the former collections, anecdote and chit-chat formed the
principal topics, and politics were introduced Only as they
happened to be the news of the day. Of the series now offered to
the public, politics are the groundwork, and the town-talk is
only the accidental embroidery.

"Mr. Walpole's lately published Memoires have given proof of his
ability in sketching parliamentary portraits and condensing
parliamentary debates. In the following letters, powers of the
same class will, it is thought, be recognised; and as the
published parliamentary debates are extremely imperfect for the
whole time to which this correspondence relates, Mr. Walpole's
sketches are additionally valuable.

"These letters also give a near view of the proceedings of
political parties during that interesting period; and although
the representation of so warm a partisan must be read with due
caution, a great deal of authentic information on this subject
will be found, and even the very errors of the writer will
sometimes tend to elucidate the state of parties during one of
the busiest periods of our domestic dissensions.

"Mr. Walpole's party feelings were, indeed, so warm, and his
judgment of individuals was so often affected by the political
lights in which he viewed them, that the Editor has thought it
due to many eminent political characters to add a few notes, to
endeavour to explain the prejudices and to correct the
misapprehensions under which Mr. Walpole wrote. In doing so, the
Editor has, he hopes, shown (what he certainly felt) a perfect
impartiality; and he flatters himself that he has only
endeavoured to perform, (however imperfectly) what Mr. Walpole
himself, after the heat of party had subsided, would have been
inclined to do."--
To the notes here spoken of, the letter C. is affixed.

(322) John Harris, Esq. of Hayne, in Devonshire, who married
Anne, Lord Hertford's eldest sister.-E.

(323) The actions at Detroit and Edge Hill, on the 31st of July
and 5th and 6th of August, between the British and the Indians.
In the former the British were defeated, and their leader,
Captain Ditlyell, killed; in the latter engagements, under
Colonel Bouguet, they defeated the Indians.-C.

(324) Stanislaus Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.
He died at Dresden, on the 5th of October.-E.

(325) Mr. Fox, so long a political leader in the House of
Commons, had been lately created Lord Holland, and was now in
Paris. Mr. Walpole insinuates, in his letter to Mr. Montagu of
the 14th of April, that Lord Holland's visit to France arose from
apprehension of personal danger to himself, in consequence of his
share in Lord Bute's administration--an absurd insinuation! What
is meant by his joy at seeing Lord Hertford in France is not
clear; but the allusion to the secretary probably refers to the
absence of Sir Charles, then Mr. Bunbury, who was nominated
secretary to the embassy, but who had not accompanied Lord
Hertford to Paris: as Mr.
Bunbury had married Lady Holland's niece, there may have been
family reason for this allusion.-C.

(326) Lady Hertford was a granddaughter of Charles II., and
therefore cousin to the pretender, who, however, was at this
period in Italy; and the cousins alluded to were probably the
family of Fitz-James.-C.

(327) John, fourth Duke of Bedford, was Lord Hertford's
predecessor. Mr. Walpole had been on terms of personal and
political intimacy at Bedford-house; but political and private
differences had occurred to sharpen his resentment against the
Duke, and even occasionally against the Duchess of Bedford.-C.

(328) The Mar`eschale de Mirepoix was a clever woman, who was at
the head of one class of French society. She, however,
quarrelled with her family, and lost the respect of the public by
the meanness of countenancing Madame du Barri.-C.

(329) Son of the Prince de Craon: he was born in 1720; served
with great distinction from the earliest age, and was created, in
1782, marshal of France. His conduct in discountenancing the
favouritism of the last years of Louis XV. was very honourable,
as was his devotion to Louis XVI. in the first years of the
revolution. The marshal survived his unfortunate sovereign but
three months.-C.

(330) Son of the Duke de Chaulnes.-E.

(331) The Hereditary Prince of Brunswick was at this time
betrothed to the King's eldest sister; and Mr. Walpole, a
constant friend and admirer of Lady Mary, affects to think that
her beauty and vivacity might have seduced his Serene Highness
from his royal bride. Lady Mary lived till 1810.-C.

(332) This gentleman was travelling tutor to Lord Hertford's
eldest son, and had been lately residing with him at Rheims.-C.

(333) Francis, afterwards second Marquis of Hertford, who died in
the year 1822.-E.

(334) David Hume, the historian. He was at first private
secretary to Lord Hertford, and afterwards secretary of
embassy.-E.

Letter 178 To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, Nov. 12, 1763. (page 242)

I send you the catalogue as you desired; and as I told you, you
will, I think, find nothing to your purpose: the present lord
bought all the furniture at Navestock;(335) the few now to be
sold are the very fine ones of the best masters, and likely to go
at vast prices, for there are several people determined to have
some one thing that belonged to Lord Waldegrave. I did not get
the catalogue till the night before last, too late to send by the
post, for I had dined with Sir Richard Lyttelton at Richmond, and
was forced to return by Kew-bridge, for the Thames was swelled so
violently that the ferry could not work. I am here quite alone
in the midst of a deluge, without Mrs. Noah, but with half as
many animals. The waters are as much out as they were last year,
when her vice-majesty of Ireland,(336) that now is sailed to
Newmarket with both legs out at the fore glass, was here.
Apropos, the Irish court goes on ill; they lost a question by
forty the very first day
on the address. The Irish, not being so absurd or so
complimental as Mr. Allen, they would not suffer the word
"adequate" to pass.(337) The prime minister is so unpopular that
they think he must be sent back. His patent and Rigby's are
called in question.
You see the age is not favourable to prime ministers: well! I am
going amidst it all, very unwillingly; I had rather stay here,
for I am sick of the storms, that once loved them so cordially:
over and above, I am not well; this is the third winter my
nightly fever
has returned; it comes like the bellman before Christmas, to put
me in mind of my mortality.

Sir Michael Foster(338) is dead, a Whig of the old rock: he is a
greater loss to his country than the prim attorney-general,(339)
who has resigned, or than the attorney's father, who is dying,
will be.

My gallery is still in such request, that, though the middle of
November, I give out a ticket to-day for seeing it. I see little
of it myself, for I cannot sit alone in such state; I should
think myself like the mad Duchess of Albemarle,(340) who fancied
herself Empress of China. Adieu!

(335) In Essex, the seat of the Waldegraves.-E.

(336) The Countess of Northumberland.-E.

(337) To prevent the presentation of a more objectionable address
from the corporation of Bath, in favour of the peace, Mr. Allen
had secured the introduction of the word adequate, into the one
agreed to; which gave such offence to Mr. Pitt that he refused to
present it.-E.

(338) One of the judges in the court of King's Bench.-E.

(339) The Hon. Charles Yorke.

(340) Widow of Christopher Duke of Albemarle, and daughter of the
Duke of Newcastle.

Letter 179 To The Earl Of Hertford.
Arlington Street, Nov. 17, 1763. (page 243)

If the winter keeps up to the vivacity of its d`ebut, you will
have no reason to complain of the sterility of my letters. I do
not say
this from the spirit of the House of Commons on the first
day,(341) which was the most fatiguing and dull debate I ever
heard, dull as
I have heard many; and yet for the first quarter of an hour it
looked as if we were met to choose a King of Poland,(342) and
that all our names ended in zsky. Wilkes, the night before, had
presented himself at the Cockpit: as he was listening to the
Speech,(343) George Selwyn said to him, in the words of the
Dunciad, "May Heaven preserve the ears you lend!"(344) We lost
four hours debating whether or not it was necessary to open the
session with reading a bill. The opposite sides, at the same
time, pushing to get the start, between the King's message, which
Mr. Grenville stood at the bar to present, which was to acquaint
us with the arrest of Wilkes and all that affair, and the
complaint which Wilkes himself stood up to make. At six we
divided on the question of reading a bill.(345) Young Thomas
Townshend(346) divided the House injudiciously, as the question
was so idle; yet the whole argument of the day had been so
complicated with this question, that in effect it became the
material question for trying
forces. This will be an interesting part to you, when you hear
that your brother(347) and I were in the minority. You know him,
and therefore know he did what he thought right; and for me, my
dear lord, you must know that I would die in the House for its
privileges, and the liberty of the press. But come, don't be
alarmed: this will have no Consequences. I don't think your
brother is going into opposition; and for me, if I may name
myself to your affection after him, nothing but a question of
such magnitude can carry me to the House at all. I am sick of
parties and factions, and leave them to buy and sell one another.
Bless me! I had forgot the numbers; they were 300, we 111. We
then went upon the King's message; heard the North Briton read;
and Lord North,(348) who took the prosecution upon him and did it
very well, moved to vote a scandalous libel, etc. tending to
foment treasonable insurrections. Mr. Pitt gave up the paper,
but fought against the last words of the censure. I say Mr.
Pitt, for indeed,
like Almanzor, he fought almost singly, and spoke forty times:
the first time in the day with much wit, afterwards with little
energy. He had a tough enemy too; I don't mean in parts or
argument, but one that makes an excellent bulldog, the
solicitor-general Norton.
Legge was, as usual, concise; and Charles Townshend, what is not
usual, silent. We sat till within a few minutes of two, after
dividing again; we, our exact former number, 111; they, 273; and
then we adjourned to go on the point of privilege the next day;
but now

"Listen, lordings, and hold you still;
Of doughty deeds tell you I will."

Martin,(349) in the debate, mentioned the North Briton, in which
he himself had been so heavily abused; and he said, "whoever
stabs a reputation in the dark, without setting his name, is a
cowardly, malignant, and scandalous scoundrel." This, looking at
Wilkes, he
repeated twice, with such rage and violence, that he owned his
passion obliged him to sit down. Wilkes bore this with the same
indifference as he did all that passed in the day. The -House,
too, who from Martin's choosing to take a public opportunity of
resentment, when he had so long declined any private notice, and
after Wilkes's courage was become so problematic, seemed to think
there was no danger of such champions going further; but the next
day, when we came into the House, the first thing we heard was
that Martin had shot Wilkes: so he had; but Wilkes has six lives
still good. It seems Wilkes had writ, to avow the paper, to
Martin, on which the latter challenged him. They went into
Hyde-park about noon; Humphrey Coates, the wine-merchant, waiting
in a postchaise to convey Wilkes away if triumphant. They fired
at the distance of
fourteen yards: both missed. then Martin fired and lodged a ball
in the side of Wilkes; who was going to return it, but dropped
his pistol. He desired Martin to take care of securing himself,
and assured him he would never say a word against him, and he
allows that Martin behaved well. The wound yesterday was thought
little more than a flesh-wound, and he was in his old spirits.
To-day the account is worse, and he has been delirious: so you
will think when
you hear what is to come. I think, from the agitation his mind
must be in, from his spirits, and from drinking, as I Suppose he
will, that he probably will end here. He puts me in mind of two
lines of Hudibras,(350) which, by the arrangement of the words
combined with Wilkes's story, are stronger than Butler intended
them:--

"But he, that fights and runs away,
May live to fight another day."

His adventures with Lord Talbot,(351) Forbes,(352) and Martin,
make these lines history.

Now for part the second. On the first day, in your House, where
the address was moved by Lord Hilsborough and Lord Suffolk, after
some wrangling between Lord Temple, Lord Halifax, the Duke of
Bedford, and Lord Gower; Lord Sandwich(353) laid before the House
the most blasphemous and indecent poem that ever was composed,
called "An Essay on Woman, With notes, by Dr. Warburton."', I
will tell you none of the particulars: they were so exceedingly
bad, that Lord Lyttelton begged the reading might be stopped.
The House
was amazed; nobody ventured even to ask a question: so it was
easily voted every thing you please, and a breach of privilege
into the bargain. Lord Sandwich then informed your Lordships,
that Mr.
Wilkes was the author. Fourteen copies alone were printed, one
of which the ministry had bribed the printer to give up. Lord
Temple then objected to the manner of obtaining it; and Bishop
Warburton, as much shocked at infidelity as Lord Sandwich had
been at obscenity, said, "the blackest fiends in hell would not
keep company with Wilkes when he should arrive there." Lord
Sandwich moved to vote Wilkes the author; but this Lord Mansfield
stopped, advertising the House that it was necessary first to
hear what Wilkes could say in his defence. To-day, therefore,
Was appointed
for that purpose; but it has been put off by Martin's lodging a
caveat.(354) This bomb was certainly well conducted, and the
secret, though known to many, well kept. The management is
worthy of Lord Sandwich, and like him. It may sound odd for me,
with my principles, to admire Lord Sandwich; but besides that he
has in several instances been very obliging to me, there is a
good humour and an industry about him that are very uncommon. I
do not admire politicians; but when they are excellent in their
way, one cannot help allowing them their due. Nobody but he
could have struck a stroke like this.