Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3

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(504) Eldest son of the third Duke of Rutland, well known for his
gallant conduct at Minden, and still remembered for his
popularity with the army and the public. He was at this time
commander-in-chief and master-general of the ordnance. He died
before his father, in 1770.-C.

(505) Wonderful to Mr. Walpole only, who had a private pique
against the Yorkes; no one else could wonder that deference
should be paid to long services, high stations, great abilities,
and unimpeached integrity.-C.

(506) Mr. Pitt's frequent fits of the gout are well known: he was
even suspected of sometimes acting a fit of the gout in the House
of Commons. (A reference to the Chatham Correspondence will, it
is believed, remove the illiberal suspicion, that Mr. Pitt, on
this, or any other occasion, was in the practice of "acting a fit
of the gout." On the morning after the debate, the Duke of
Newcastle thus wrote to Mr. Pitt "I shall not be easy till I hear
you have not increased your pain and disorder, by your attendance
and the great service you did yesterday to the public. I could
not omit thanking you and congratulating you upon your great and
glorious minority, before I went to Claremont. Such a minority,
with such a leader, composed of gentlemen of the Greatest and
most independent fortunes in the kingdom, against a majority of
fourteen only, influenced by power and force, and fetched from
all corners of the kingdom, must have its weight, and produce the
most happy consequences to the public." Chatham Correspondence,
vol. ii. p. 288.-E.]

(507) Sir John Cust's nose was rather short, as his picture by
Reynolds, as well as by Walpole, testify.-C.

(508) In reference to this defeat of the ministry, Gray, in a
letter to Dr. Wharton, says, "Their crests are much fallen and
countenances lengthened by the transactions of last week; for the
ministry, on Thursday last (after sitting till near eight in the
morning), carried a small point by a majority of only forty, and
on another previous division by one of ten only; and on Friday
last, at five in the morning, there were 220 to 232; and by this
the court only obtained to adjourn the debate for four months,
and not to get a declaration in favour of their measures. If
they hold their ground many weeks after this, I shall wonder; but
the new reign has already produced many wonders." Works, vol. iv.
p. 30.-E.

(509) Not correct. See afterwards.-E.

(510) sir Richard Warwick Bampfylde, fourth baronet; member for
Devonshire.-E.

(511) Sir Charles Kemeys Tynte, fifth baronet; member for
Somersetshire.-E.

(512) He died on the 13th of the ensuing month.-E.

(513) Richard, fourth Viscount, and first Earl Howe, the hero of
the 1st of June; and his brother, Colonel, afterwards General Sir
William, who succeeded him as fifth Viscount Howe.-C.

(514) George Simon, Viscount Newnham, afterwards second Earl of
Harcourt, remarkable for a somewhat exaggerated imitation of
French fashions. His father, the first Earl, was at this time
chamberlain to the Queen.-C.

(515) See ant`e, p. 286. The meaning of this passage is, that
the Duke of Bedford (who was president of the council) wrote a
letter, which he sent to Blenheim for the Duke of Marlborough to
sign, desiring his brother, Lord Charles, to abstain from again
voting against the government. The Duke of Marlborough (who was
privy seal) signed, as Walpole intimates, the letter; and Lord
Charles, instead of attending the House, and voting, as he had
done on the former night, against ministers, went down to
Blenheim.-C.

(516) They never took place, and probably never were in
contemplation.-E.

Letter 193 To Sir David Dalrymple.(517)
Arlington Street, Feb. 23, 1764. (page 292)

Dear Sir,
I am much in your debt, but have had but too much excuse for
being so. Men who go to bed at six and seven in the morning, and
who rise but to return to the same fatigue, have little leisure
for other most necessary duties. The severe attendance we have
had lately in the House of Commons cannot be unknown to you, and
will already, I trust, have pleaded my pardon.

Mr. Bathoe has got the two volumes for you, and will send them by
the conveyance you prescribe. You will find in them much, I
fear, that will want your indulgence; and not only dryness,
trifles, and, I conclude, many mistakes, but perhaps opinions
different from your own. I can only plead my natural and
constant frankness, which always speaks indifferently, as it
thinks, on all sides and subjects. I am bigoted to none: Charles
or Cromwell, Whigs or Tories, are all alike to me, but in what I
think they deserve, applause or censure; and therefore, if' I
sometimes commend, sometimes blame them, it is not for being
inconsistent, but from considering them in the single light in
which I then speak of them: at the same time meaning to give only
my private opinion, and not at all expecting to have it adopted
by any other man. Thus much, perhaps, it was necessary for @ne
to say, and I will trouble you no further about myself.

Single portraits by Vandyck I shall avoid particularizing any
farther, and also separate pieces by other masters, for a reason
I may trust you with. Many persons possess pictures which they
believe or call originals, without their being so, and have
wished to have them inserted in my lists. This I certainly do
not care to do, nor, on the other hand, to assume the
impertinence of deciding from my own judgment. I shall,
therefore, stop where I have stopped. The portraits which you
mention, of the Earl of Warwick, Sir, is very famous and
indubitable; but I believe you will assent to my prudence, which
does not trouble me too often. I have heard as much fame of the
Earl of Denbigh.

You will see in my next edition, that I have been so lucky as to
find and purchase both the drawings that were at
Buckingham-house, of the Triumphs of Riches and Poverty. They
have raised even my ideas of Holbein. Could I afford it, and we
had engravers equal to the task, the public should be acquainted
with their merit; but I am disgusted with paying great sums for
wretched performances. I am ashamed of the prints in my books,
which were extravagantly paid for, and are wretchedly executed.

Your zeal for reviving the publication of Illustrious Heads
accords, Sir, extremely with my own sentiments; but I own I
despair of that, and every work. Our artists get so much money
by hasty, slovenly performances, that they will undertake nothing
that requires labour and time. I have never been able to
persuade any one of them to engrave the beauties at Windsor,
which are daily perishing for want of fires in that palace. Most
of them entered into a plan I had undertaken, of an edition of
Grammont with portraits. I had three executed; but after the
first, which was well done, the others were so wretchedly
performed, though even the best was much too dear, that I was
forced to drop the design. Walker, who has done much the best
heads in my new volumes, told me, when I pressed him to consider
his reputation, that , "he had got fame enough!" What hopes,
Sir, can one entertain after so shameful an answer? I have had
numerous schemes, but never could bring any to bear, but what
depended solely on myself; and how little is it that a private
man, with a moderate fortune, and who has many other avocations,
can accomplish alone? I flattered myself that this reign would
have given new life and views to the artists and the curious. I
am disappointed: Politics on one hand, and want of taste in those
about his Majesty on the other, have prevented my expectations
from being answered.

The letters you tell me of, Sir, are indeed curious, both those
of Atterbury and the rest; but I cannot flatter myself that I
shall be able to contribute to publication. My press, from the
narrowness of its extent, and having but one man and a boy, goes
very slow; nor have I room or fortune to carry it farther. What
I have already in hand, or promised, will take me up a long time.
The London Booksellers play me all manner of tricks. If I do not
allow them ridiculous profit,(518) they will do nothing to
promote the sale; and when I do, they buy up the impression, and
sell it for an advanced price before my face. This is the case
of my two first volumes of Anecdotes, for which people have been
made to pay half a guinea, and more than the advertised price.
In truth, the plague I have had in every shape with my own
printers, engravers, the booksellers, besides my own trouble,
have almost discouraged me from what I took up at first as an
amusement, but which has produced very little of it.

I am sorry, upon the whole, Sir, to be forced to confess to you,
that I have met with so many discouragements in virt`u and
literature. If an independent gentleman, though a private one,
finds such obstacles, what must an ingenious man do, who is
obliged to couple views of profit with zeal for the public? Or,
do our artists and booksellers, cheat me the more because I am a
gentleman? Whatever is the cause, I am almost as sick of the
profession of editor, as of author. If I touch upon either more,
it will be more idly, though chiefly because I never can be quite
idle.

(517) Now first collected.

(518) The following just and candid vindication of the London
booksellers from the charge of rapacity on the score of
"ridiculous profit," is contained in a letter written by Dr.
Johnson, in March, 1776, to the Rev. Dr. Wetherell:--"It is,
perhaps, not considered through how many hands a book often
passes, before it comes into those of the reader; or what part of
the profit each hand must retain, as a motive for transmitting it
to the next, We will call our primary agent in London, Mr.
Cadell, who receives our books from us, gives them room in his
warehouse, and issues them on demand; by him they are sold to Mr.
Dilly, a wholesale bookseller, who sends them into the country;
and the last seller is the country bookseller. Here are three
profits to be paid between the printer and the reader, or, in the
style of commerce, between the manufacturer and the consumer; and
if any of these profits is too penuriously distributed, the
process of commerce is interrupted."-E.

Letter 194 To The Earl Of Hertford.
Arlington Street, Feb. 24, 1764. (page 294)

As I had an opportunity, on Tuesday last, of sending you a letter
of eleven pages, by a very safe conveyance, I shall say but a few
words to-day; indeed, I have left nothing to say, but to thank
you for the answer I received from you this morning to mine by
Monsieur Monin. I am very happy that you take so kindly the
freedom I used: the circumstances made me think it necessary; and
I flatter myself, that you are persuaded I was not to blame in
speaking so openly, when two persons so dear to me were
concerned.(519) Your 'Indulgence will not lead me to abuse it.
What you say on the caution I mentioned, convinces me that I was
right, by finding your judgment correspond with my own-but enough
of that.

My long letter, which, perhaps, you will not receive till after
this (you will receive it from a lady), will give you a full
detail of the last extraordinary week. Since that, there has
been an accidental suspension of arms. Not only Mr. Pitt is laid
up with the gout, but the Speaker has it too. We have been
adjourned till to-day, and as he is not recovered, have again
adjourned till next Wednesday. The events of the week have been,
a complaint made by Lord Lyttelton in your House, of a book
called "Droit le Roy;"(520) a tract written in the highest strain
of prerogative, and drawn from all the old obsolete law-books on
that question.(521) The ministers met this complaint with much
affected indignation, and even on the complaint being
communicated to us, took it up themselves; and both Houses have
ordered the book to be burned by the hangman. To comfort
themselves for this forced zeal for liberty, the North Briton,
and the Essay on Woman have both been condemned(522) by Juries in
the King's Bench; but that triumph has been more than balanced
again, by the city giving their freedom to Lord Chief-Justice
Pratt,(523) ordering his picture to be placed in the King's
Bench, thanking their members for their behaviour in Parliament
on the warrant, and giving orders for instructions to be drawn
for their future conduct.

Lord Granby is made lord lieutenant of Derbyshire; but the vigour
of this affront was wofully weakened by excuses to the Duke of
Devonshire, and by its being known that the measure was
determined two months ago.

All this sounds very hostile; yet, don't be surprised if you hear
of some sudden treaty. Don't you know a little busy squadron
that had the chief hand in the negotiation(524) last autumn?
Well, I have reason to think that Phraates(525 is negotiating
with Leonidas(526) by the same intervention. All the world sees
that the present ministers are between two fires. Would it be
extraordinary if the artillery of' both should be discharged on
them at once? But this is not proper for the post: I grow
prudent the less prudence is necessary.

We are in pain for the Duchess of Richmond, who, instead of the
jaundice, has relapsed into a fever. She has blooded twice last
night, and vet had a very bad night. I called at the door at
three o'clock, when they thought the fever rather diminished, but
spoke of her as very ill. I have not seen your brother or Lady
Aylesbury to-day, but found they had been very much alarmed
yesterday evening.(527) Lord Suffolk,(528) they say, is going to
be married to Miss Trevor Hampden.

Your brother has told me, that among Lady Hertford's things
seized at Dover, was a packet for me from you. Mr. Bowman has
undertaken to make strict inquiry for it. Adieu, my dear lord.

P. S. We had, last Monday, the prettiest ball that ever was seen,
at Mrs. Ann Pitt's,(529) in the compass of a silver penny. There
were one hundred and four persons, of which number fifty-five
supped. The supper-room was disposed with tables and benches
back to back in the manner of an alehouse. The idea sounds ill;
but the fairies had so improved upon it, had so be-garlanded, so
sweetmeated, and so desserted it, that it looked like a vision.
I told her she Could only have fed and stowed so much company by
a miracle, and that, when we were gone, she would take up twelve
basketsfull of people. The Duchess of Bedford asked me before
Madame de Guerchy, if I would not give them a ball at Strawberry?
Not for the universe! What! turn a ball, and dust, and dirt, and
a million of candles, into my charming new gallery! I said, I
could not flatter myself that people would give themselves the
trouble of going eleven miles for a ball--(though I believe they
would go fifty)--"Well, then," says she, "it shall be a dinner."-
-"With all my heart, I have no objection; but no ball shall set
its foot within my doors."

(519) It related, as we have seen, to General Conway's vote in
opposition to the government.-C.

(520) "Droit le Roy, or the Rights and Prerogatives of the
Imperial Crown of Great Britain." In the examination of Griffin,
the printer, before the Peers, he stated that Timothy Becknock
afterwards hanged in Ireland as an accomplice of George Robert
Fitzgerald, had sent the pamphlet to the press, and was, Griffin
believed, the author of it.-C.

(521) Gray writes to Dr. Wharton, on the 21st of February:--"The
House of Lords, I hear, will soon take in hand a book lately
published, by some scoundrel lawyer, on the prerogative; in which
is scraped together all the flattery and blasphemy of our old
law-books in honour of kings. I presume it is understood, that
the court will support the cause of this impudent scribbler."
Works, vol. iv. p. 30.-E.

(522) Mr. Wilkes was tried on the 21st of February, for
republishing the North Briton, No. 45, and for printing the Essay
on Woman, and found guilty of both.-E.

(523) The preamble of these resolutions is worthy of
observation:--"Whereas the independency and uprightness of judges
is essential to the impartial administration of justice, etc.
this court, in manifestation of their just sense of the
inflexible firmness and integrity of the Right Honourable Sir C.
Pratt, lord chief justice, etc. gives him the freedom of the
city, and orders his picture to be placed in Guildhall;" as if
impartiality could only be assailed from one side, and as if gold
boxes and pictures, and addresses from the corporation of London,
were not as likely to have influence on the human mind as the
favours from the crown. Their applause was either worth nothing,
or it was an attempt on the impartiality of the judge.-C.

(524) The negotiation in August, 1763, already alluded to, for
Mr. Pitt's coming into power. There is some reason to suppose
that Mr. Calcraft was employed in the first steps of this
negotiation, and this may be what Mr. Walpole here refers to.-C.

(525) Lord Bute.

(526) Mr. Pitt.

(527) The Duchess was the sister of Lady Aylesbury's first
husband.-E.

(528) Henry, twelfth Earl of Suffolk, married, May 1764, Miss
Trevor, who had been on the point of marriage with Mr. Child of
Osterley, where he suddenly died in September, 1763. See ant`e,
p. 237, letter 175.-E.

(529) Sister of the great Lord Chatham, whom she resembled in
some qualities of her mind. See ant`e, p. 220, letter 157. Mr.
Walpole, when some foreigner, who could not see Pitt himself, had
asked him if he was like his sister, answered, in his usual happy
style of giving a portrait at a touch, "Ils se ressemblent comme
deux gouttes de feu!" She was privy purse to the Princess
Dowager.-C.

Letter 195 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Arlington Street, March 3, 1764. (page 296)

Dear Sir,
Just as I was going to the Opera, I received your manuscript. I
would not defer telling you so, that you may know it is safe.
But I have additional reason to write to you immediately; for on
opening the book, the first thing I saw was a new obligation to
You, the charming Faithorne of Sir Orlando Bridgman, which
according to your constantly obliging manner you have sent me,
and I almost fear you think I begged it; but I can disculpate
myself, for I had discovered that it belongs to Dugdale's
Origines -Judiciales, and had ordered my bookseller to try to get
me that book, which when I accomplish, you shall command your own
print again; for it is too fine an impression to rob you of.

I have been so entertained with your book, that I have stayed at
home on purpose, and gone through three parts of it. It makes me
wish earnestly some time or other to go through all your
collections, for I have already found twenty things of great
moment to me. One Is particularly satisfactory to me; it is in
Mr. Baker's MSS. at Cambridge; the title of Eglesham's book
against the Duke of Bucks,(530) mentioned by me in the account of
Gerbier, from Vertue, who fished out every thing, and always
proves in the right. This piece I must get transcribed by Mr.
Gray's assistance. I fear I shall detain your manuscript
prisoner a little, for the notices I have found, but I will take
infinite care of it, as it deserves. I have got among my new old
prints a most curious one of one Toole. It seems to be a
burlesque. He lived in temp. Jac. I. and appears to have been an
adventurer, like Sir Ant. Sherley:(531) can you tell me any thing
of him?

I must repeat how infinitely I think myself obliged to you both
for the print and the use of your manuscript, which is of the
greatest use and entertainment to me; but you frighten me about
Mr. Baker's MSS. from the neglect of them. I should lose all
patience if yours were to be treated so. Bind them in iron, and
leave them in a chest of cedar. They are, I am sure, most
valuable, from what I have found already.

(530) This libellous book, written by a Scotch physician, and
which is reprinted in the second volume of the Harleian
Miscellany, and in the fifth volume of the Somers' Collection of
Tracts, was considered by Sir Henry Wotton "as one of the alleged
incentives which hurried Felton to become an assassin."-E.

(531) Sherley's various embassies will be found in the
collections of Hakluyt and Purchas. An article upon his travels,
which were published in 1601, occurs likewise in the second
volume of the Retrospective Review. The travels of the three
brothers, Sir Thomas, Sir Anthony, and Master Robert Sherley,
were published from the original manuscripts in 1825.-E.

Letter 196 To The Earl Of Hertford.
Strawberry Hill, March 11, 1764. (page 297)

My dear lord,
the last was so busy a week with me, that I had not a minute's
time to tell you of Lord Hardwicke's(532) death. I had so many
auctions, dinners, loo-parties, so many sick acquaintance, with
the addition of a long day in the House of Commons, (which, by
the way, I quitted for a sale of books,) and a ball, that I left
the common newspapers to inform you of an event, which two months
ago would have been of much consequence. The Yorkes are fixed,
and the contest(533) at Cambridge will but make them strike
deeper root in opposition. I have not heard how their father has
portioned out his immense treasures. The election at Cambridge
is to be on Tuesday, 24th; Charles Townshend is gone thither, and
I suppose, by this time, has ranted, and romanced, and turned
every one of their ideas topsyturvy.

Our long day was Friday, the opening of the budget. mr.
Grenville spoke for two hours and forty minutes; much of it well,
but too long, too many repetitions, and too evident marks of
being galled by reports, which he answered with more art than
sincerity. There were a few more speeches, till nine o'clock,
but no division. Our armistice, you see, continues. Lord Bute
is, I believe, negotiating with both sides; I know he is with the
opposition, and has a prospect of making very good terms for
himself, for patriots seldom have the gift of perseverance. It
is wonderful how soon their virtue thaws!

Last Thursday, the Duchess of Queensbury(534) gave a ball, opened
it herself with a minuet, and danced two country dances; as she
had enjoined every body to be with her by six, to sup at twelve,
and go away directly. Of the Campbell-sisters, all were left out
but, Lady Strafford,(535) Lady Rockingham and Lady Sondes, who,
having had colds, deferred sending answers, received notice that
their places were filled up, and that they must not come; but
were pardoned on submission. A card was sent to invite Lord and
Lady Cardigan, and Lord Beaulieu instead of Lord Montagu.(536)
This, her grace protested, was by accident. Lady Cardigan was
very angry, and yet went. Except these flights, the only
extraordinary thing the Duchess did, was to do nothing
extraordinary, for I do not call it very mad that some pique
happening between her and the Duchess of Bedford, the latter had
this distich sent to her--

Come with a whistle, and come with a call,
Come with a good will, or come not at all.

I do not know whether what I am going to tell you did not border
a little upon Moorfields.(537) The gallery where they danced was
very cold. Lord Lorn,(538) George Selwyn, and I, retired into a
little room, and sat (Comfortably by the fire. The Duchess
looked in, said nothing, and sent a smith to take the hinges of
the door off We understood the hint, and left the room, and so
did the smith the door. This was pretty legible.

My niece Waldegrave talks of accompanying me to Paris, but ten or
twelve weeks may make great alteration in a handsome young
widow's plan: I even think I see Some(539) who will--not forbid
banns, but propose them. Indeed, I am almost afraid of coming to
you myself. The air of Paris works such miracles, that it is not
safe to trust oneself there. I hear of nothing but my Lady
Hertford's rakery, and Mr. Wilkes's religious deportment, and
constant attendance at your chapel. Lady Anne,(540) I conclude,
chatters as fast as my Lady Essex(541) and her four daughters.

Princess Amelia told me t'other night, and bade me tell you, that
she has seen Lady Massarene(542) at Bath, who is warm in praise
of you, and said that you had spent two thousand pounds out of
friendship, to support her son in an election. She told the
Princess too, that she had found a rent-roll of your estate in a
farmhouse, and that it is fourteen thousand a-year. This I was
ordered, I know not why, to tell you. The Duchess of Bedford has
not been asked to the loo-parties at Cavendish-house(543) this
winter, and only once to whisk there, and that was one Friday
when she is at home herself. We have nothing at the Princess's
but silver-loo, and her Bath and Tunbridge acquaintance. The
trade at our gold-loo is as contraband as ever. I cannot help
saying, that the Duchess of Bedford would mend our silver-loo,
and that I wish every body played like her at the gold.

Arlington Street, Tuesday.

You thank me, my dear lord, for my gazettes (in your letter of
the 8th) more than they deserve. There is no trouble in sending
you news; as you excuse the careless manner in which I write any
thing I hear. Don't think yourself obliged to be punctual in
answering me: it would be paying too dear for such idle and
trifling despatches. Your picture of the attention paid to
Madame Pompadour's illness, and of the ridicule attached to the
mission of that homage, is very striking. It would be still more
so by comparison. Think if the Duke of Cumberland was to set up
with my Lord Bute!