Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3

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I cannot say last night was equally agreeable. There was what
they called a ridotto el fresco at Vauxhall,(1066) for which one
paid half-a-guinea, though, except some thousand more lamps and a
covered passage all round the garden, which took off from the
gardenhood, there was nothing better than on a common night. Mr.
Conway and I set out from his house at eight o'clock; the line
and torrent of coaches was so prodigious, that it was
half-an-hour after nine before we got half-way from Westminster-
bridge. We then alighted; and after scrambling under bellies of
horses, through wheels, and over posts and rails, we reached the
gardens, where were already many thousand persons. Nothing
diverted me but a man in a Turk's dress and two nymphs in
masquerade without masks, who sailed amongst the company, and,
which was surprising seemed to surprise nobody. It had been
given out that people were desired to come in fancied dresses
without masks. We walked twice round and were rejoiced to come
away, though with the same difficulties as at our entrance; for
we found three strings of coaches all along the road, who did not
move half a foot in half-an-hour. There is to be a rival mob in
the same way at Ranelagh to-morrow; for the greater the folly and
imposition the greater is the crowd. I have suspended the
vestimenta that were torn off my back to the god of repentance,
and shall stay away. Adieu! I have not a word more to say to
you. Yours ever.

P. S. I hope you will not regret paying a shilling for this
packet.

(1063) Le Marquis du Chatelet, was son to la Marquise du
Chatelet, the commentator upon Newton, and the Am`elie of
Voltaire. The scandalous chronicles of the time accord to the
philosopher the honour of his paternity.-E.

(1064) The Duc de Liancourt, of the family de la Rochefoucauld,
grand ma`itre de la garde-robe du Roi. At the commencement of
the Revolution, his conduct was much blamed by those attached to
the court. He eventually emigrated to England, and, after
residing here some time, visited America, and published an
account of his travels in that country. In 1799, after the 19th
Brumaire, he returned to France. He died in March 1827, in his
eightieth year.-E.

(1065) M. de Lille was an officer of the French cavalry, an
agreeable man in society, and author of several pretty ballads
and vers de soci`et`e.

(1066) "They went to the Ridotto-'tis a hall
Where people dance, and sup, and dance again;
Its proper name, perhaps, were a masqued ball,
But that's of no importance to my strain;
'Tis (on a smaller scale) like our Vauxhall,
Excepting that it can't be spoilt by rain:
The company is 'mix'd'--the phrase I quote is
As much as saying, they're below your notice."
Beppo, st. 58.-E.

Letter 360 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Arlington Street, May 27, 1769. (page 541)

Dear Sir,
I have not heard from you this century, nor knew where you had
fixed yourself. Mr. Gray tells me you are still at Waterbeche.
Mr. Granger has published his Catalogue of Prints and Lives down
to the Revolution;(1067) and as the work sells well, I believe,
nay, do not doubt, we shall have the rest. There are a few
copies printed but on one side of the leaf. As I know you love
scribbling in such books as well as I do, I beg you will give me
leave to make you a present of one set. I shall send it in about
a week to Mr. Gray, and have desired him, as soon as he has
turned it over, to convey it to you. I have found a few
mistakes, and you will find more. To my mortification, though I
have four thousand heads, I find, upon a rough calculation, that
I still want three or four hundred.

Pray, give me some account of yourself, how you do, and whether
you are fixed. I thought you rather inclined to Ely. Are we
never to have the history of that cathedral? I wish you would
tell me that you have any thoughts of coming this way, or that
you would make me a Visit this Summer. I shall be little from
home this summer till August, when I think of going to Paris for
six weeks. To be sure you have seen the History of British
Topography,(1068) which was published this winter, and it is a
delightful book in our way. Adieu! dear Sir. Yours ever.

(1067) A Biographical History of England, from Egbert the Great
to the Revolution. A continuation, bringing the work down from
the Revolution to the end of George I.'s reign, was published in
1806, by the Rev. Mark Noble. In a letter to Boswell, of the
30th of August 1776, Dr. Johnson says--"I have read every word of
Granger's Biographical History. It has entertained me
exceedingly, and I do not think him the Whig that you supposed.
Horace Walpole being his patron is, indeed, no good sign of his
political principles; but he denied to Lord Mansfield that he was
a Whig, and said he had been accused by both parties of
partiality. It seems he was like Pope--

'While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory.'

I wish you would look more into his book; and as Lord Mountstuart
wishes much to find a proper person to continue the work upon
Granger's plan, and has desired I would mention it to you, if
such a man occurs, please to let me know. His lordship will give
him generous encouragement."-E.

(1068) By Richard Gough, the well-known antiquary. The second
edition, published in 1780, is a far better one.-E.

Letter 361 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, June 14, 1769. (page 542)

Dear Sir,
Among many agreeable passages in your last, there is nothing I
like so well as the hope you give me of seeing you here in July.
I will return that visit immediately: don't be afraid; I do not
mean to incommode you at Waterbeche; but, if you will come, I
promise I will accompany you back as far as Cambridge: nay, carry
you on to Ely, for thither I am bound. The Bishop(1068) has sent
a Dr. Nichols to me, to desire I would assist him in a plan for
the east window of his cathedral, which he intends to
benefactorate with painted glass. The window is the most
untractable of all Saxon uncouthness: nor can I conceive what to
do with it, but by taking off the bottoms for arms and mosaic,
splitting the crucifixion into three compartments, and filling
the five lights at top with prophets, saints, martyrs, and such
like; after shortening the windows like the great ones. This I
shall propose. However, I choose to see the spot myself, as it
will be a proper attention to the Bishop after his civility, and
I really would give the best advice I could. The Bishop, like
Alexander VIII., feels that the clock has struck half-an-hour
past eleven, and is impatient to be let depart in peace after his
eyes shall have seen his vitrification: at least, he is impatient
to give his eyes that treat; and yet it will be a pity to
precipitate the work. If you can come to me first, I shall be
happy; if not, I must come to you: that is, will meet you at
Cambridge. Let me know your mind, for I would not press you
unseasonably. I am enough obliged to you already; though, by
mistake, you think it is you that are obliged to me. I do not
mean to plunder you of any more prints; but shall employ a little
collector to get me all that are getable. The rest, the greatest
of us all must want.

I am very sorry for the fever you have had: but, Goodman Frog, if
you will live in the fens, do not expect to be as healthy as if
you were a fat Dominican at Naples. You and your MSS. will all
grow mouldy. When our climate is subject to no sign but Aquarius
and Pisces, would one choose the dampest country under the
heavens! I do not expect to persuade you, and so I will say no
more. I wish you joy of the treasure you have discovered: six
Saxon bishops and a Duke of Northumberland!(1069) You have had
fine sport this season. Thank you much for wishing to see my
name on a plate in the history. But, seriously, I have no such
vanity. I did my utmost to dissuade Mr. Granger from the
dedication, and took especial pains to get my virtues left out of
the question; till I found he would be quite hurt if I did not
let him express his gratitude, as he called it: so, to satisfy
him, I was forced to accept of his present; for I doubt I have
few virtues but what he has presented me with; and in a
dedication, you know, One is permitted to have as many as the
author can afford to bestow. I really have another objection to
the plate: which is, the ten guineas. I have so many
draughts on my extravagance for trifles, that I like better than
vanity, that I should not care to be at that expense. But I
should think either the Duke or Duchess of
Northumberland would rejoice at such an Opportunity of buying
incense; and I will tell you what you shall do. Write to Mr.
Percy, and vaunt the discovery of Duke Brithnoth's bones, and ask
him to move their graces to contribute a plate. They Could not
be so unnatural as to refuse; especially if the Duchess knew the
size of his thigh-bone.

I was very happy to show civilities to your friends, and should
have asked them to stay and dine, but unluckily expected other
company. Dr. Ewin seems a very good sort of man, and Mr.
Rawlinson a very agreeable one. Pray do not think it
was any trouble to me to pay respect to your recommendation.

I have been eagerly reading Mr. Shenstone's Letters, which,
though containing nothing but trifles, amused me extremely, as
they mention so many persons I know; particularly myself. I
found there, what I did not know, and what, I believe, Mr.
Gray,(1070) himself never knew, that his ode on my cat was
written to ridicule Lord Lyttelton's monody. It is just as true
as that the latter will survive, and the former be forgotten.
There is another anecdote equally vulgar, and
void of truth:
that my father, sitting in George's coffee-house, (I suppose Mr.
Shenstone thought that, after he quitted his place, he went to
the coffee-houses to learn news,) was asked to contribute to a
figure of himself that was to be beheaded by the mob. I do
remember something like it, but it happened to myself. I met a
mob, just after my father was out, in Hanover-square, and drove
up to it to know what was the matter. They were carrying about a
figure of my sister.(1071) This probably gave rise to the other
story. That on my uncle I never heard; but it Is a good story,
and not at all improbable. I felt great pity on reading these
letters for the narrow circumstances of the author, and the
passion for fame that he was tormented with; and yet he had much
more fame than his talents entitled him to. Poor man! he wanted
to have all the world talk of him for the pretty place he had
made; and which he seems to have made only that it might be
talked of.(1072) The first time a company came to see my house,
I felt this joy. I am now so tired of it, that I shudder when
the bell rings at the gate. It is as bad as keeping an
inn, and I am often tempted to deny its being shown, if it would
not be ill-natured to those that come, and to my housekeeper. I
own, I was one day too cross, I had
been plagued all the week with staring crowds. At
last, it rained a deluge. Well, said
I, at last, nobody will come to-day. The words were scarce
uttered, when the bell rang. I replied, "Tell them they cannot
possibly see the house, but they are very welcome to walk in the
garden."(1073) Observe; nothing above alludes to Dr. Ewin and
Mr. Rawlinson: I was not only much pleased with them, but quite
glad to show them how entirely you may command my house, and your
most sincere friend and servant.

(1068) Dr. Matthias Mawson, translated from Llandaff to the see
of Ely in 1754. He died in November 1770, in his eighty-seventh
year. His character was thus drawn, in 1749, by the Rev. W.
Clarke:--"Our Bishop is a better sort of man than most of the
mitred order. He is, indeed, awkward, absent, etc.; but then, he
has no ambition, no desire to please, and is privately munificent
when the world thinks him parsimonious. He has given more to the
Church than all the bishops put together for almost a
century."-E.

(1069) The following is an extract from a previous letter of Mr.
Cole's, and to this Mr. Walpole alludes:--"An old wall being to
be taken down behind the choir (at Ely], on which were painted
seven figures of six Saxon bishops, and a Duke, as he is called,
of Northumberland, one Brithnoth; which painting I take to be as
old as any we have in England--I guessed by seven arches in the
wall, below the figures, that the bones of these seven
benefactors to the old Saxon conventual church were reposited in
the wall under them: accordingly, we found seven separate holes,
each with the remains of the Said persons," etc. etc. Mr. Cole
proposed that Mr. Walpole should contribute an Engraving from
this painting to the history of Ely Cathedral, a work about to be
published, or to use his interest to induce the Duke of
Northumberland to do so.

(1070) "I have read," says Gray, in a letter to Mr. Nicholls, "an
octavo volume of Shenstone's Letters. Poor man! he was always
wishing for money, for fame, and other distinctions; and his
whole philosophy consisted in living against his will in
retirement, and in a place which his taste had adorned; but which
he only enjoyed when people of note came to see and commend it:
his correspondence is about nothing else but this place and his
own writings, with two or three neighbouring clergy, who wrote
verses too." Works, vol. iv. p. 135-E.

(1071) See vol. i. p. 244, letter 61.-E.

(1072) "In the infancy of modern gardening, a false taste was
introduced by Shenstone, in his ferme orn`ee at the Leasowes;
where, instead of surrounding his house with such a quantity of
ornamental lawn or park Only, as might be consistent with the
size of the mansion or the extent of the property, his taste,
rather than his ambition, led him to ornament the whole of his
estate; and in the vain attempt to combine the profits of a farm
with the scenery of a park, he lived under the continual
mortification of disappointed hope; and with a mind exquisitely
sensible, he felt equally the sneer of the great man at the
magnificence of his attempts and the ridicule of the farmer at
the misapplication of his paternal acres." Repton.-E.

(1073) Walpole having complained of these intrusions on his
privacy to Madame du Deffand, the lady replied: "Oh! vous n'`etes
point f`ach`e qu'on vienne voir votre chateau; vous ne l'avez pas
fait singulier; vous ne l'avez pas rempli de choses precieuses,
de raret`es; vous ne b`atissez pas un cabinet rond, dans lequel
le lit est un trone, et o`u il n'y a que des tabourets, pour y
rester seul oou ne recevoir que vos amis. Tout le monde a les
m`emes passions, les m`emes vertus, les m`emes vices; il n'y a
que les modifications qui en fond la diff`erence; amour propre,
vanit`e, crainte de l'ennui," etc.-E.

Letter 362 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, Monday, June 26, 1769. (page 545)

Dear Sir,
Oh! yes, yes, I shall like Thursday or Friday, 6th or 7th,
exceedingly; I shall like your staying with me two days
exceedinglier; and longer exceedingliest; and I will carry you
back to Cambridge on our pilgrirnage to Ely. But I should not at
all like to be catched in the glories
of an installation, and find myself a doctor, before I knew where
I was. It will be much more agreeable to find the whole caput
asleep, digesting turtle, dreaming of bishoprics, and humming old
catches of Anacreon, and scraps of Corelli. I wish Mr. Gray
may not be set out for the north ; which is
rather the case than setting out for
the summer. We have no summers, I think, but what we raise, like
pineapples, by fire. My bay is an absolute water-soochy, and
teaches me how to feel for you. You are quite in the right to
sell your fief in Marshland. I should be glad if you would take
one step more, and quit Marshland. We live, at least, on terra
firma in this part of the world, and
can saunter out without stilts. Item,
we do not wade into pools, and call
it going upon the water, and get sore throats. I trust yours
is better ; but I recollect this is not the first you have
complained of. Pray be not incorrigible, but come to shore.

Be so good as to thank Mr. Smith, my old tutor, for his
corrections, If ever the Anecdotes are reprinted, I will
certainly profit of them.

I joked, it is true, about Joscelin de Louvain(1074) and his
Duchess; but not at all in advising you to make Mr. Percy pimp
for the plate. On the contrary, I wish you success , and think
this an infallible method of obtaining the benefaction. It is
right to lay vanity under contribution; for then both sides are
pleased.

It will not be easy for you to dine with Mr. Granger from hence,
and return at night. It cannot be less than six or
seven-and-twenty miles to Shiplake. But I go to
Park-place to-morrow, which is within two miles of him, and I
will try if I can tempt him to meet you here. Adieu!

(1074) The Duke of Northumberland. His grace having been
originally a baronet, Sir Hugh
Smithson, and having married the daughter of Algernon Seymour,
Duke of Somerset and Earl of Northumberland, in 1750 assumed the
surname and arms of Percy, and was created Duke of Northumberland
in 1766. Walpole's allusion is to his becoming a Percy by
marriage, as Joscelin had done before him: Agnes de Percy,
daughter of William de Percy the third baron, having only
consented to marry Joscelin of Louvain, brother of Queen
Adelicia, second wife of Henry I., and son of Godfrey Barbatus,
Duke of Lower Lorraine and Count of Brabant, who was descended
from the Emperor Charlemagne, upon his agreeing to adopt either
the surname or arms of Percy.-E.

Letter 363 To The Earl Of Strafford.
Arlington Street, July 3, 1769. (page 546)

When you have been so constantly good to me, my dear lord,
without changing, do you wonder that our friendship has lasted so
long? Can I be so insensible to the honour or pleasure of your
acquaintance When the advantage lies much on my side, am I likely
to alter the first? Oh, but it will last now! We have seen
friendships without number born and die. Ours was not formed on
interest, nor alliance; and politics, the poison of all English
connexions, never entered into ours. You have given me a new
proof by remembering the chapel of Luton. I hear it is to be
preserved; and am glad of it, though I might have been the better
for its ruins.

I should have answered your lordship's last post, but was at
Park-place. I think Lady Ailesbury quite recovered; though her
illness has made such an impression that she does not yet believe
it.

It is so settled that we are never to have tolerable weather in
June, that the first hot day was on Saturday-hot by comparison:
for I think it is three years since we have really felt the feel
of summer. I was, however, concerned to be forced to come to
town yesterday on some business; for, however the country feels,
it looks divine, and the verdure we buy so dear is delicious. I
shall not be able, I fear, to profit of it this summer in the
loveliest of all places, as I am to go to Paris in August. But
next year I trust I shall accompany Mr. Conway and Lady Ailesbury
to Wentworth Castle. I shall be glad to visit Castle Howard and
Beverley; but neither would carry me so far, if Wentworth Castle
was not in the way.

The Chatelets are gone, without any more battles with the
Russians.(1075) The papers say the latter have been beaten by
the Turks;(1076) which rejoices me, though against all rules of
politics: but I detest that murderess, and like to have her
humbled. I don't know that this Piece Of news is true: it is
enough to me that it is agreeable. I had rather take it for
granted, than be at the trouble of inquiring about what I have so
little to do with. I am just the same about the City and Surrey
petitions. Since I have dismembered(1077) myself, it is
incredible how cool I am to all politics.

London is the abomination of desolation; and I rejoice to leave
it again this evening. Even Pam has not a lev`ee above once or
twice a week. Next winter, I suppose, it will be a fashion to
remove into the city: for, since it is the mode to choose
aldermen at this end of the town, the maccaronis will certainly
adjourn to Bishopsgate-street, for fear of being fined for
sheriffs. Mr. James and Mr. Boothby will die of the thought of
being aldermen of Grosvenor-ward and Berkeley-square-ward. Adam
and Eve in their paradise laugh at all these tumults, and have
not tasted of the tree that forfeits paradise; which I take to
have been the tree of politics, not of knowledge. How happy you
are not to have your son Abel knocked on the head by his brother
Cain at the Brentford election! You do not hunt the poor deer
and hares that gambol around you. If Eve has a sin, I doubt it
is angling;(1078) but as she makes all other creatures happy, I
beg she would not Impale worms nor whisk carp out of one element
into another. If she repents of that guilt, I hope she will live
as long as her grandson Methuselah. There is a commentator that
says his life was protracted for never having boiled a lobster
alive. Adieu, dear couple, that I honour as much as I could
honour my first grandfather and grandmother! Your most dutiful
Hor. Japhet.

(1075) The Duc de Chatelet, the French ambassador, had affronted
Comte Czernicheff, the Russian ambassador, at a ball at court, on
a point of precedence, and a challenge ensued, but their meeting
was prevented.

(1076) Before Choczim. The Russians were at first victorious;
but, like the King of Prussia at the battle of Zorndorff, they
despatched the messenger with the news too soon; for the Turks
having recovered their surprise, returned to the charge, and
repulsed the Russians with great slaughter.-E.

(1077) Mr. Walpole means, since he quitted Parliament.

(1078) Walpole's abhorrence of the pastime of angling has been
already noticed. See vol. iii. p. 70, letter 29.-E.

Letter 364 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Strawberry Hill, Friday, July 7, 1769. (page 547)

You desired me to write, if I knew any thing particular. How
particular will content you? Don't imagine I would send you such
hash as the livery's petition.(1079) Come; would the apparition
of my Lord Chatham satisfy you? Don't be frightened; it was not
his ghost. He, he himself in propria persona, and not in a strait
waistcoat, came into the King's lev`ee this morning, and was in
the closet twenty minutes after the lev`ee; and was to go out of
town to-night again.(1080) The deuce is in it if this is not
news. Whether he is to be king, minister, lord mayor, or
alderman, I do not know; nor a word more than I have told you.
Whether he was sent for to guard St. James's gate, or whether he
came alone, like Almanzor, to storm it, I cannot tell: by
Beckford's violence I should think the latter. I am so
indifferent what he came for, that I shall wait till Sunday to
learn: when I lie in town on my way to Ely. You will probably
hear more from your brother before I can write again. I send
this by my friend Mr. Granger, who will leave it at your
park-gate as he goes through Henley home. Good-night! it is past
twelve, and I am going to bed. Yours ever.

(1079) The petition of the livery of London, complaining of the
unconstitutional conduct of the King's ministers, and the undue
return of Mr. Luttrell, when he Opposed Mr. Wilkes at the
election for Middlesex.

(1080) In a letter to the Earl of Chatham, of the 11th, Lord
Temple says:--"Your reception at St. James's where I am glad you
have been, turns out exactly such as I should have expected--full
of the highest marks of regard to your lordship: full of
condescension, and of all those sentiments of grace and goodness
which his Majesty can so well express. I think that you cannot
but be happy at the result of this experiment." Chatham
Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 361.-E.

Letter 365 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, July 15, 1769. (page 548)

Dear Sir,
Your fellow-travellers, Rosette(1081) and I, got home safe and
perfectly contented with our expedition, and wonderfully obliged
to you. Pray receive our thanks and barking; and pray say, and
bark a great deal for us to Mr. and Mrs. Bentham, and all that
good family.

After gratitude, you know, always comes a little self-interest;
for who would be at the trouble of being grateful, if he had no
further expectations? Imprimis, then, here are the directions
for Mr. Essex for the piers of my gates. Bishop Luda must not be
offended at my converting his tomb into a gateway. Many a saint
and confessor, I doubt, will be glad soon to be passed through,
as it will, at least, secure his being passed over. When I was
directing the east window at Ely, I recollected the lines of
Prior:--