I. A. R. Wylie - "The Native Born"

Christopher Morley - "Parnassus on Wheels"

Azel Ames - "The Mayflower and Her Log, v2"

Karl May - "Mein Leben und Streben"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
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Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3

H >> Horace Walpole >> The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3




(1090) Alluding to the number of remonstrances, under the name of
petitions, which were presented this year from the livery of
London, and many other corporate bodies, on the subject of the
Middlesex election.



Letter 371 To George Montagu, Esq.
Paris, Sunday night, Sept. 17, 1769. (page 557)

I am heartily tired; but, as it is too early to go to bed, I must
tell you how agreeably I passed the day. I wished for you; the
same scenes strike us both, and the same kind of visions has
amused us both ever since we were born.

Well then: I went this morning to Versailles with my niece Mrs.
Cholmondeley, Mrs. Hart, Lady Denbigh's sister, and the Count de
Grave, one of the most amiable, humane, and obliging men alive.
Our first object was to see Madame du Barri.(1091) Being too
early for mass, we saw the Dauphin and his brothers at dinner.
The eldest is the picture of the Duke of Grafton, except that he
is more fair, and will be taller. He has a sickly air, and no
grace. The Count de Provence has a very pleasing countenance,
with an air of more sense than the Count d'Artois, the genius of
the family. They already tell as many bon-mots of the latter as
of Henri Quatre and Louis Quatorze. He is very fat, and the most
like his grandfather of all the children. You may imagine this
royal mess did not occupy us long: thence to the chapel, where a
first row in the balconies was kept for us. Madame du Barri
arrived over against us below, without rouge, without powder, and
indeed sans avoir fait sa toilette; an odd appearance, as she was
so conspicuous, close to the altar, and amidst both court and
people. She is pretty, when you consider her; yet so little
striking, that I never should have asked who she was. There is
nothing bold, assuming, or affected in her manner. Her husband's
sister was alone, with her. In the tribune above, surrounded by
prelates, was the amorous and still handsome King. One could not
help smiling at the mixture of piety, pomp, and carnality. From
chapel we went to the dinner of the elder Mesdames. We were
almost stifled in the antechamber, where their dishes were
heating over charcoal, and where we could not stir for the press.
When the doors are opened every body rushes in, princes of the
blood, cordons bleus, abb`es, housemaids, and the Lord knows who
and what. Yet, so used are their highnesses to this trade, that
they eat as comfortably and heartily as you or I could do in our
own parlours.

Our second act was much more agreeable. We quitted the court and
a reigning mistress, for a dead one and a cloister. In short, I
had obtained leave from the Bishop of Chartres to enter into St.
Cyr; and, as Madame du Deffand never leaves any thing undone that
can give me satisfaction, she had written to the abbess to desire
I might see every thing that could be seen there. The Bishop's
order was to admit me, Monsieur de Grave, et les dames de ma
compagnie: I begged the abbess to give me back the order, that I
might deposit it in the archives of Strawberry, and she complied
instantly. Every door flew open to us: and the nuns vied in
attentions to please us. The first thing I desired to see was
Madame de Maintenon's apartment. It consists of' two small
rooms, a library, and a very small chamber, the same in which the
Czar saw her, and in which she died. The bed is taken away, and
the room covered now with bad pictures of the royal family, which
destroys the gravity and simplicity. It is wainscotted with oak,
with plain chairs of the same, covered with dark blue damask.
Every where else the chairs are of blue cloth. The simplicity and
extreme neatness of the whole house, which is vast, are very
remarkable. A large apartment above, (for that I have mentioned
is on the ground-floor,) consisting of five rooms, and destined
by Louis Quatorze for Madame de Maintenon, is now the infirmary,
with neat white linen beds, and decorated with every text of
Scripture by which could be insinuated that the foundress was a
Queen. The hour of vespers being come, we were conducted to the
chapel, and, as it was my curiosity that had led us thither, I
was placed in the Maintenon's own tribune; my company in the
adjoining gallery. The pensioners two and two, each band headed
by a man, March orderly to their seats, and sing the whole
service, which I confess was not a little tedious. The young
ladies to the number of two hundred and fifty are dressed in
black, with short aprons of the same, the latter and their stays
bound with blue, yellow, green or red, to distinguish the
classes; the captains and lieutenants have knots of a different
colour for distinction. Their hair is curled and powdered, their
coiffure a sort of French round-eared caps, with white tippets, a
sort of ruff and large tucker: in short, a very pretty dress.
The nuns are entirely in black, with crape veils and long trains,
deep white handkerchiefs, and forehead cloths, and a very long
train. The chapel is plain but very pretty, and in the middle of
the choir under a flat marble lies the foundress. Madame de
Cambis, one of the nuns, who are about forty, is beautiful as a
Madonna.(1092) The abbess has no distinction but a larger and
richer gold cross: her apartment consists of two very small
rooms. Of Madame de Maintenon we did not see less than twenty
pictures. The young one looking over her shoulder has a round
face, without the least resemblance to those of her latter age.
That in the roil mantle, of which you know I have a copy, is the
most repeated; but there is another with a longer and leaner
face, which has by far the most sensible look. She is in black,
with a high point head and band, a long train, and is sitting in
a chair of purple velvet. Before her knees stands her niece
Madame de Noailles, a child; at a distance a view of Versailles
or St. Cyr, I could not distinguish which. We were shown some
rich reliquaries, and the corpo santo that was sent to her by the
Pope. We were then carried into the public room of each class.
In the first, the young ladies, who were playing at chess, were
ordered to sing to us the choruses of Athaliah; in another, they
danced minuets and country-dances while a nun, not quite so able
as St. Cecilia, played on a violin. In the others, they acted
before us the proverbs or conversations written by Madame de
Maintenon for their instruction; for she was not only their
foundress but their saint, and their adoration of her memory has
quite eclipsed the Virgin Mary. We saw their dormitory, and saw
them at supper; and at last were carried to their archives. where
they produced volumes of her letters, and where one of the nuns
gave me a small piece of paper with three sentences in her
handwriting. I forgot to tell you, that this kind dame, who took
to me extremely, asked me if we had many convents and many relics
in England. I was much embarrassed for fear of destroying her
good opinion of me, and so said we had but few now. Oh! we went
to the apothecaries where they treated us with cordials, and
where one of the ladies told me inoculation was a sin, as it was
a voluntary detention from mass, and as voluntary a cause of
eating gras. Our visit concluded in the garden, now grown very
venerable, where the young ladies played at little games before
us. After a stay of four hours we took our leave. I begged the
abbess's blessing; she smiled, and said, she doubted I should not
place much faith in it. She is a comely old gentlewoman, and
very proud of having seen Madame de Maintenon. Well! was not I
in the right to wish you with me? could you have passed a day
more agreeably!

I will conclude my letter with a most charming trait of Madame de
Mailly, which cannot be misplaced in such a chapter of royal
concubines. Going to St. Sulpice, after she had lost the King's
heart, a person present desired the crowd to make way for her.
Some brutal young officers said, "Comment, pour cette catin-l`a!"
She turned to them, and, with the most charming modesty said,
"Messieurs, puisque vous me COnnoissez, priez Dieu pour moi." I
am sure it will bring tears into your eyes. Was not she the
Publican, and Maintenon the Pharisee? Good night! I hope I am
going to dream of all I have been seeing. As my impressions and
my fancy, when I am pleased, are apt to be strong. My night
perhaps, may still be more productive of ideas than the day has
been. It will be charming, indeed, if Madame de Cambis is the
ruling tint. Adieu! Yours ever.

(1091) Madame du Barry, the celebrated mistress of Louis XV., was
born in the lowest rank of society, and brought up in the most
depraved habits; being known only by the name which her beauty
had acquired for her, Mademoiselle l'Ange. She became the
mistress of the Comte du Barry, (a gentleman belonging to a
family of Toulon, of no distinction, well known as Le Grand du
Barry, or, Du Barry le Rou`e,) and eventually the mistress of the
King; and, when the influence she exercised over her royal
protector had determined him to receive her publicly at court and
a marriage was necessary to the purpose, Du Barry le Rou`e
brought forward his younger brother, the Comte Guillaume du
Barry, who readily submitted to this prostitution of his name and
family.-E.

(1092) Madame du Deffand, in her letter to Walpole of the 10th of
May 1776, enclosed the following portrait of Madame de Cambise,
by Madame de la Valli`ere:--"Non, non, Madame, je ne farai point
votre portrait: vous avez une mani`ere d'`etre si noble, si fine,
si piquante, si d`elicate, si s`eduisaitte; votre gentilesse et
vos graces changent si souvent pour n'en `etre que plus aimable,
que l'on ne peut saisir aucun de vos traits ni au physique ni au
moral." She was niece of La Marquise de Boufflers, and, having
fled to England at the breaking out of the French Revolution,
resided here until her death, which took place at Richmond in
January 1809.-E.



Letter 372 To George Montagu, Esq.
Arlington Street, Oct. 13, 1769. (page 560

I arrived last night at eleven o'clock, and found a letter from
you, which gave me so much pleasure, that I must write you a
line, though I am hurried to death. You cannot imagine how
rejoiced I am that Lord North(1093) drags you to light again; it
is a satisfaction I little expected. When do you come? I am
impatient. I long to know your projects.

I had a dreadful passage of eight hours, was drowned, though not
shipwrecked, and was sick to death. I have been six times at sea
before, and never suffered the least, which makes the
mortification the greater: but as Hercules was not more robust
than I, though with an air so little Herculean, I have not so
much as caught cold, though I was wet to the skin with the rain,
had my lap full of waves, was washed from head to foot in the
boat at ten o'clock at night, and stepped into the sea up to my
knees. Q'avois-je `a faire dans cette gal`ere?(1094) In truth,
it is a little late to be seeking adventures. Adieu! I must
finish, but I am excessively happy with what you have told me.
Yours ever.

(1093) Lord North had appointed Mr. Montagu his private
secretary.

(1094) Walpole left Paris on the 5th of October. Early on the
morning of the 6th, Madame du Deffand thus wrote to him:-
-"N'exigez point de gaiet`e, contentez-vous de ne pas trouver de
tristesse: je n'envoyai point chez vous hier matin; j'ignore `a
quelle heure vous partites; tout ce que je sais c'est que vous
n'`etes plus ici." And again, on the 9th:--"Je ne respirerai `a
mon aise qu'apr`es une lettre de Douvres. Ah! je me ha`is bien
de tout le mal que je vous cause; trois journ`ees de route,
autant de nuits d`etestables, une embarquement, un passage, le
risque de mille accidens, voil`a le bien que je vous procure.
Ah! c'est bien vous qui pouvez dire en pensant de moi,
'Qu'allais-je faire dans cette gal`ere?'"-E.



Letter 373 To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 16, 1769. (page 560)

I arrived at my own Louvre last Wednesday night, and am now at my
Versailles. Your last letter reached me but two days before I
left Paris, for I have been an age at Calais and upon the sea. I
could execute no commission for you, and, in truth, you gave me
no explicit one; but I have brought you a bit of china, and beg
you will be content with a little present, instead of a bargain.
Said china is, or will be soon, in the custom-house; but I shall
have it, I fear, long before you come to London.

I am sorry those boys got at my tragedy. I beg you would keep it
under lock and key; it is not at all food for the public; at
least not till I am "food for worms, good Percy." Nay, it is not
an age to encourage any body, that has the least vanity, to step
forth. There is a total extinction of all taste: our authors are
vulgar, gross, illiberal: the theatre swarms with wretched
translations, and ballad operas, and we have nothing new but
improving abuse. I have blushed at Paris, when the papers came
over crammed with ribaldry, or with Garrick's insufferable
nonsense about Shakspeare. As that man's writings will be
preserved by his name, who will believe that he was a tolerable
actor? Cibber wrote as bad odes, but then Cibber wrote The
Careless Husband and his own Life, which both deserve
immortality. Garrick's prologues and epilogues are as bad as his
Pindarics and pantomimes.(1095)

I feel myself here like a swan, that, after living six weeks in a
nasty pool upon a common, is got back into its own Thames. I do
nothing but plume and clean myself, and enjoy the verdure and
silent waves. Neatness and greenth are so essential in my
opinion to the country, that in France, where I see nothing but
chalk and dirty peasants, I seem in a terrestrial purgatory that
is neither town nor country. The face of England is so
beautiful, that I do not believe Tempe or Arcadia were half so
rural; for both lying in hot climates, must have wanted the turf
of our lawns. It IS unfortunate to have so pastoral a taste,
when I want a cane more than a crook. We are absurd creatures;
at twenty, I loved nothing but London.

Tell me when you shall be in town. I think of passing Most Of my
time here till after Christmas. Adieu!

(1095) Mr. J. Sharp, in a letter to Garrick, of the 29th of March
in this year, says--"I met Mr. Gray at dinner last Sunday: he
spoke handsomely of your happy knack of epilogues; but he calls
the Stratford Jubilee, Vanity Fair." See Garrick Correspondence,
vol. i. p. 337.-E.



Letter 374 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.

Strawberry Hill, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 1769. (page 561)

I am here quite alone, and did not think of going to town till
Friday for the opera, which I have not yet seen. In compliment
to you and your Countess, I will make an effort, and be there on
Thursday; and will either dine with you at your own house, or at
your brother's; which you choose. This is a great favour, and
beyond my Lord Temple's journey to dine with my Lord Mayor.(1096)
I am so sick of the follies of all sides, that I am happy to be
at quiet here, and to know no more of them than what I am forced
to see in the newspapers; and those I skip over as fast as I can.

The account you give me of Lady *** was just the same as I
received from Paris. I will show you a very particular letter I
received by a private hand from France; which convinces me that I
guessed right, contrary to all the wise, that the journey to
Fontainbleau would overset Monsieur de Choiseul. I think he
holds but by a thread, which will snap soon.(1097) I am
labouring hard with the Duchess(1098) to procure the Duke of
Richmond satisfaction in the favour he has asked about his
duchy;' but he shall not know it till it is completed, if I can
be so lucky as to succeed. I think I shall, if they do not fall
immediately.

You perceive how barren I am, and why I have not written to you.
I pass my time in clipping and pasting prints; and do not think I
have read forty pages since I came to England. I bought a poem
called Trinculo's Trip to the Jubilee; having been struck with
two lines in an extract in the papers,

"There the ear-piercing fife,
And the ear-piercing wife--"

Alas! all the rest, and it is very long, is a heap of
unintelligible nonsense, about Shakspeare, politics, and the Lord
knows what. I am grieved that, with our admiration of
Shakspeare, we can do nothing but write worse than ever he did.
One would think the age studied nothing but his Love's Labour
Lost, and Titus Andronicus. Politics and abuse have totally
corrupted our taste. Nobody thinks of writing a line that is to
last beyond the next fortnight. We might as well be given up to
a controversial divinity, The times put me in mind of the
Constantinopolitan empire; where, in an age of learning, the
subtlest wits of Greece contrived to leave nothing behind them,
but the memory of their follies and acrimony. Milton did not
write his Paradise Lost till he had Outlived his politics. With
all his parts, and noble sentiments of liberty, who would
remember him for his barbarous prose? Nothing is more true than
that extremes meet. The licentiousness of the press makes us as
savage as our Saxon ancestors, who could only set their marks;
and an outrageous pursuit of individual independence, grounded on
selfish views, extinguishes genius as much as despotism does.
The public good of our country is never thought of by men that
hate half their country. Heroes confine their ambition to be
leaders of the mob. Orators seek applause from their faction,
not from posterity; and ministers forget foreign enemies, to
defend themselves against a majority in Parliament. When any
Caesar has conquered Gaul, I will excuse him for aiming at the
perpetual dictature. If he has only jockeyed somebody out of the
borough of Veii or Falernum, it is too impudent to call himself a
patriot or a statesman. Adieu!

(1096) At Guildhall, on the 9th of November, in the second
mayoralty of Alderman Beckford.-E.

(1097) Walpole had received a letter, of the 2d, from Madame du
Deffand, describing the growing influence of Madame du Barry, and
her increasing enmity to the Duc de Choiseul.-E.

(1098) The Duchess of Aubign`e.



Letter 375 To George Montagu, Esq.
Arlington Street, Dec. 14, 1769. (page 562)

I cannot be silent, when I feel for you. I doubt not but the
loss of Mrs. Trevor is very sensible to you, and I am heartily
sorry for you. One cannot live any time, and not perceive the
world slip away, as it were, from under one's feet: one's
friends, one's connexions drop off, and indeed reconcile one to
the same passage; but why repeat these things? I do not mean to
write a fine consolation; all I intended was to tell you, that I
cannot be indifferent to what concerns you.

I know as little how to amuse you: news there are none but
politics, and politics there will be as long as we have a
shilling left. They are no amusement to me, except in seeing two
or three sets of people worry one another, for none of whom I
care a straw.

Mr. Cumberland has produced a comedy called The Brothers. It
acts well, but reads ill; though I can distinguish strokes of Mr.
Bentley in it. Very few of the characters are marked, and the
serious ones have little nature, and the comic ones are rather
too much marked; however, the three middle acts diverted me very
well.(1099)

I saw the Bishop of Durham(1100) at Carlton House, who told me he
had given you a complete suit of armour. I hope you will have no
occasion to lock yourself in it, though, between the fools and
the knaves of the present time, I don't know but we may be
reduced to defend our castles. If you retain any connexions with
Northampton, I should be much obliged to you if you could procure
from thence a print of an Alderman Backwell.(1101) It is
valuable for nothing but its rarity, and it is not to be met with
but there. I would give eight or ten shillings rather than not
have it. When shall you look towards us?, how does your brother
John? make my compliments to him. I need not say how much I am
yours ever.

(1099) "The Brothers," Cumberland's first comedy, came out at
Covent-Garden theatre on the 2d of December, and met with no
inconsiderable success.-E.

(1100) The Hon. Dr. Richard Trevor, consecrated Bishop of St.
David's in 1744, and translated to the see of Durham in 1762. He
died in June 1771.-E.

(1101) Edward Backwell, alderman of London, of whom Granger gives
the following character:--"He was a banker of great ability,
industry, integrity, and very extensive credit. With such
qualifications, he, in a trading nation, would, in the natural
event of things, have made a fortune, except in such an age as
that of charles the Second, when the laws were overborne by
perfidy, violence, and rapacity; or in an age when bankers become
gamesters, instead of merchant-adventurers; when they affect to
live like princes, and are, with their miserable creditors, drawn
into the prevailing vortex of luxury. Backwell carried on his
business in the same shop which was afterwards occupied by Child.
He, to avoid a prison, retired into Holland, where he died. His
body was brought for sepulture to Tyringham church, near Newport
Pagnel." Frequent mention of the Alderman is made by Pepys, in
whose Diary is the following entry:--"April 12, 1669. This
evening, coming home, we overtook Alderman Backwell's coach and
his lady, and followed them to their house, and there made them
the, first visit, where they received us with extraordinary
civility, and owning the obligation But I do, contrary to my
expectation, find her something a proud and vainglorious woman,
in telling the number of her servants and family, and expenses;.
He is also so, but he was ever of that strain. But here he
showed me the model of his houses that he is going to build in
Cornhill and Lombard-street; but he has purchased so much there
that it looks like a little town, and must have cost him a great
deal of money."-E.



Letter 376 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.(1102)
Arlington Street, Dec. 21, 1769. (page 563)

Dear sir,
I am very grateful for all your communications, and for the
trouble you are so good as to take for me. I am glad you have
paid Jackson, Though he is not only dear, (for the prints he has
got for me are very common,) but they are not what I wanted, and
I do not believe were mentioned in my list. However, as paying
him dear for what I do not want, may encourage him to hunt for
what I do want, I am very well content he should cheat me a
little. I take the liberty of troubling you with a list I have
printed (to avoid copying it several times), and beg you will be
so good as to give it to him, telling him these are exactly what
I do want, and no others. I will pay him well for any of these,
and especially those marked thus x; and still more for those with
double or treble marks. The print I want most is the Jacob Hall.
I do not know whether it is not one of the London Cries, but he
must be very sure it is the right. I will let you know certainly
when Mr. West comes to town, who has one.

I shall be very happy to contribute to your garden: and if you
will let me have exact notice in February how to send the shrubs,
they shall not fail you; nor any thing else by which I can pay
you any part of my debts. I am much pleased with the Wolsey and
Cromwell, and beg to thank you and the gentleman from whom they
came. Mr. Tyson's etchings will be particulary acceptable. I
did hope to have seen or heard of him in October. Pray tell him
he is a visit in my debt, and that I will trust him no longer
than to next summer. Mr. Bentham, I find, one must trust and
trust without end. It is pity so good a sort of man should be so
faithless. Make my best compliments, however, to him and to my
kind host and hostess.

I found my dear old blind friend at Paris perfectly well, and am
returned so myself. London is very sickly, and full of bilious
fevers, that have proved fatal to several persons, and in my Lord
Gower's family have even seemed contagious. The weather is
uncommonly hot, and we want frost to purify the air.

I need not say, I suppose, that the names scratched out in my
list are of such prints as I have got since I printed it, and
therefore what I no longer want. If Mr. Jackson only stays at
Cambridge till the prints drop into his mouth, I shall never have
them. If he would take the trouble of going to Bury, Norwich,
Ely, Huntingdon, and such great towns, nay, look about in inns, I
do not doubt but he would find at least some of them. He should
be no loser by taking pains for me; but I doubt he chooses to be
a great gainer without taking any. I shall not pay for any that
are not in my list; but I ought not to trouble you, dear Sir,
with these particulars. It is a little your own fault, for you
have spoiled me.

Mr. Essex distresses me by his civility. I certainly would not
have given him that trouble, if I had thought he would not let me
pay him. Be so good as to thank him for me, and to let me know
if there is any other way I could return the obligation. I hope,
at least, he will make me a visit at Strawberry Hill, whenever he
comes westward. I shall be very impatient to see you, dear Sir,
both there and at Milton. Your faithful humble servant.