Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1

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(291) John Frederick, Esq. afterwards Sir John Frederick,
Bart. by the death of his cousin, Sir Thomas. He was a
commissioner of customs, and member of parliament for West
Looe.-D.

(292) Francis Seymour Conway, first Earl and Marquis of
Hertford, ambassador at Paris, lord chamberlain of the
household, etc.-D.

(293) Henry Seymour Conway, afterwards secretary of state, and a
field marshal in the army.-D.

(294) Joseph Damer, Esq. created in 1753 Baron Milton, in
Ireland, and by George III. an English peer, by the same
title, and eventually Earl of Dorchester.-D.

(295) Francis Greville, eighth Lord Brooke; created in 1746 Earl
Brooke, and in 1759 Earl of Warwick.-D.

(296) Mr. Brand of the Hoo, in Hertfordshire, one of the
original members of the society of Dilettanti.--D.

(297) If this anticipation of Walpole's was ever realized, "the
pretty sum" was eventually lost on the spot where it had been
gained. Vanneschi, having in 1753 undertaken the
management of the opera-house on his own account, continued it
until 1756, when his differences with Mingotti, which excited
almost as much of the public attention as the rivalries of Handel
and Bononcini or of Faustina and Cuzzoni, completely prejudiced
the public against him, and eventually ended in making him a
bankrupt, a prisoner in the Fleet, and at last a fugitive.-E.

(298) She was kept by Lord Middlesex.

187 Letter 41
To Sir Horace Mann.
Downing Street, Nov. 12, 1741.

Nothing is equal to my uneasiness about you. I hear or think of
nothing but Spanish embarkations for Tuscany: before you receive
this, perhaps, they will be at Leghorn. Then, your brother tells
me you have received none of my letters. He knows I have never
failed writing once a week, if not twice. We have had no letters
from You this post. I shall not have the least respite from
anxiety, till I hear about you, and what you design to do. it is
immpossible but the great duke must lose Tuscany; and I suppose
it is as certain, (I speak on probabilities, for, upon honour, I
know nothing of the
matter,) that as soon as there is a peace, we shall
acknowledge Don Philip, and then you may return to Florence
again. In the mean while I will ask Sir R. if it is possible to
get your appointments continued, while you stay in
readiness at Bologna, Rome, Lucca, or where you choose. I talk
at random; but as I think so much of you, I am trying to find out
something that may be of service to you. I write in infinite
hurry, and am called away, so scarce know what I say. Lord
Conway and his family are this instant come to town, and have
sent for me.

It is Admiral Vernon's birthday, (299) and the city-shops are
full of favours, the streets of marrowbones and cleavers, and the
night will be full of mobbing, bonfires, and lights.

The opera does not succeed; Amorevoli has not sung yet; here is a
letter to his wife; mind, while he is ill, he sends to the
Chiaretta! The dances are infamous and ordinary. Lord
Chesterfield was told that the Viscontina said she was but
four-and-twenty: he answered, "I suppose she means
four-and-twenty stone!"

There is a mad parson goes about; he called to a sentinel the
other day in the Park; "Did you ever see the Leviathan?"
"No." "Well, he is as like Sir. R. W. as ever two devils were
like one another."

Never was such unwholesome weather! I have a great cold, and have
not been well this fortnight: even immortal majesty has had a
looseness.

The Duke of Ancaster (300) and Lord James Cavendish (301) are
dead.

This is all the news I know: I would I had time to write more;
but I know you will excuse me now. If I wrote more, it would be
still about the Italian expedition, I am so disturbed about it.
Yours, ever.

(299) Admiral Vernon was now in the height of his popularity, in
consequence of his successful attack upon Porto-Bello, in
November, 1739, and the great gallantry he had shown upon that
occasion. His determined and violen't opposition, as a member of
parliament, to the measures of the government, assisted in
rendering him the idol of the mob, which he continued for many
years.-D. [The admiral was actually elected for Rochester,
Ipswich, and Penryn: he'was also set up for the City of
London, where he was beaten by two thousand votes; and in
Westminster, where he was beaten by four hundred. After the
affair of Porto-Bello, he took Chagre, and continued in the
service till 1748; when several matters which had passed
between him and the lords of the admiralty being laid before the
king, be was struck off the list of flag officers. He died in
1757. A handsome monument was erected to his memory in
Westminster Abbey.]

(300) Peregrine Bertie, second Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven,
great chamberlain of England, and chief justice in Eyre, north of
Trent. The report of his death was premature. His grace
survived till the 1st of January.-E.

(301) The second son of William, second Duke of Devonshire. He
was colonel of a regiment of foot-guards, and member for
Malton.-E.

189 Letter 42
To Sir Horace Mann.
Downing Street, Nov. 23, 1741.

Your letter has comforted me much, if it can be called comfort to
have one's uncertainty fluctuate to the better side. You make me
hope that the Spaniards design on Lombardy ; my
passion for Tuscany, and anxiety for you, make me eager to
believe it; but alas! while I am in the belief of this, they may
be in the act of conquest in Florence, and poor you
retiring politically! How delightful is Mr. Chute for
cleaving unto you like Ruth! "Whither thou goest, I will go; and
where thou lodgest, I will lodge!" As to the merchants of Leghorn
and their concerns, Sir R. thinks you are mistaken, and that if
the Spaniards come thither, they will by no means be safe. I own
I write to you under a great dilemma; I
flatter myself, all is well with you; but if not, how
disagreeable to have one's letters fall into strange hands. I
write, however.

A brother Of Mine, (302) Edward by name, has lately had a call to
matrimony: the virgins name was Howe. (303) He had agreed to take
her with no fortune, she him with his four children. The father
of him, to get rid of his importunities, at last acquiesced. The
very moment he had obtained this consent, he repented; and,
instead of flying on the wings of love to
notify it, he went to his fair One, owned his father had
mollified, but hoped she would be so good as to excuse him.
You cannot imagine what an entertaining fourth act of the
opera we had the other night. Lord Vane, (304) in the middle of
the pit, making love to my lady. The Duke of Newcastle (305) has
lately given him three-score thousand pounds, to consent to cut
off the entail of the Newcastle estate. The fool immediately
wrote to his wife, to beg she would return to him from Lord
Berkeley; that he had got so much money, and now they might live
comfortably: but she will not live
comfortably: she is at Lord Berkeley's house, whither go
divers after her. Lady Townshend told me an admirable
history; it is of our friend Lady Pomfret. Somebody that
belonged to the Prince of Wales said, they were going to
Court; it was objected that they ought to say, going to
Carlton House; that the only Court is where the king resides.
Lady P. with her paltry air of significant learning and
absurdity, said, "Oh Lord! is there no Court in England, but the
king's? sure, there are many more! There is the Court of
Chancery, the Court of Exchequer, the Court of King's Bench,
etc." Don't you love her? Lord Lincoln does her dauhter: he is
come over, and met her the other night: he turned pale, spoke to
her several times in the evening, but not long, and sighed to me
at going away. He came over all alive; and not only his
uncle-duke, but even majesty is fallen in love with him. He
talked to the king at his levee, without being spoken to. That
was always thought high treason; but I don't know how the gruff
gentleman liked it; and then he had been told that Lord Lincoln
designed to have made the campaicn, if we had gone to war; in
short, he says, Lord Lincoln (306) is the handsomest man in
England

I believe I told you that Vernon's birthday passed quietly, but
it was not designed to be pacific; for at twelve at night, eight
gentlemen, dressed like sailors, and masked, went round Covent
Garden with a drum, beating up for a volunteer mob, but it did
not take; and they retired to a great supper that was prepared
for them at the Bedford Head, and ordered by
Whitehead (307) the author of Manners. It has been written into
the country that Sir R. has had two fits of an apoplexy, and
cannot live till Christmas; but I think he is recovered to be as
well as ever. To-morrow se'nnight is the Day! (308) It is
critical. You shall hear faithfully.

The opera takes: Monticelli (309) pleases almost equal to
Farinelli: Amorevoli is much liked; but the poor, fine
Viscontina scarce at all. (310)I carry the two former to-night to
my Lady Townshend's.

Lord Coventry (311) has had his son thrown out by the party: he
went to Carlton House; the prince asked him about the
election. "Sir," said he, "the Tories have betrayed me, as they
will you, the first time you have occasion for them." The
merchants have petitioned the King for more guardships. My lord
president, (312) referred them to the Admiralty; but they bluntly
refused to go, and said they would have redress from the King
himself.

I am called down to dinner, and cannot write more now. I will
thank dear Mr. Chute and the Grifona next post. I hope she and
you liked your things. Good night, my dearest child! Your
brother and I sit upon your affairs every morning.
Yours ever.

(302) Second son of Sir Robert Walpole. He was clerk of the
pells, and afterwards knight of the Bath. [Sir Edward died
unmarried, in 1784, leaving three natural daughters; Laura,
married to the Hon. and
Rev. Frederick Keppel, afterwards Bishop of Exeter; maria,
married, first to the Earl of Waldegrave, and, secondly to the
Duke of Gloucester; and Charlotte, married to the
Earl of Dysart.]

(303) Eldest sister of the Lord Viscount Howe. She was soon
after this married to a relation of her own name. [John
Howe, Esq. of Hanslop, Bucks.]

(304) William, second Viscount Vane, in Ireland. His "lady" was
the too-celebrated Lady Vane, first married to
Lord William Hamilton, and secondly to Lord Vane; who has
given her own extraordinary and disreputable adventures to the
world, in Smollett's novel of "Peregrine Pickle," under the title
of "Memoirs of a Lady of Quality." She is also
immortalized in different ways, by Johnson, in his ,Vanity of
Human Wishes," and by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, in one of his
Odes.-D. [She was the daughter of Mr. Hawes, a South Sea
director, and died in 1788. Lord Vane died in 1789. Boswell
distinctly states, that the lady mnentioned in Johnson's
couplet "was not the celebrated Lady Vane, whose Memoirs were
given to the public by Dr. Smollett, but Ann Vane, who was
mistress to Frederick Prince of Wales, and died in 1736, not long
before Johnson settled in London." See Boswell's
Johnson, vol. i. p. 226, ed. 1835.]

(305) Uncle of Lord Vane, whose father, Lord Barnard, had
married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Gilbert Holles, Earl of
Clare, and sister and coheir of John Duke of Newcastle.

(306) Henry Clinton, ninth Earl of Lincoln, succeeded as
Duke of Newcastle in 1768, on the death of his uncle, the
minister.

(307) Paul Whitehead, a satirical poet of bad character, was the
son of a tailor, who lived in Castle-yard, Holborn. He wrote
several abusive poems, now forgotten, entitled "The
State Dances," "Manners," "The Gymnasiad," etc. In "Manners,"
having attacked some members of the House of Lords, that assembly
summoned Dodsley, the publisher, before them, (Whitehead having
absconded,) and subsequently imprisoned him. In politics,
Whitehead was a follower of Bubb Dodington; in private life be
was the friend and companion of the profligate Sir Francis
Dashwood, Wilkes, Churchill, etc. and, like them, was a member of
the Hell-fire Club, which held its orgies at Mednam Abbey, in
Bucks. The estimation in which he was held even by his friends
may be judged of by the lines in which Churchill has damned him
to everlasting fame:

"May I (can worse disgrace on mankind fall?)
Be born a Whitehead and baptized a Paul."

Paul Whitehead died in 1774.-D. [The proceedings in the
House of Lords against the author of "Manners" which took
place in February, 1739, was, in the opinion of Dr. Johnson,
"intended rather to intimidate Pope, than to punish
Whitehead."]

(308) The day the parliament was to meet.

(309) His voice was clear, sweet, and free from defects of every
kind. He was a chaste performer, and never hazarded any
difficulty which he was not certain of executing with the utmost
precision. He was, moreover, an excellent actor, so that nothing
but the recent remembrance of the gigantic
talents of Farinelli, and the grand and majestic style of
Senesino, could have lefl an English audience any thing to
wish.-E.

(310) Amorevoli was an admirable tenor. "I have heard,"
says Dr. Burney, "better voices of his pitch, but
never, on the stage, more taste and expression. The
Visconti had a shrill flexible voice, and pleased more in
rapid songs than those that required high colouring and
pathos."-E.

(311) William, fifth Earl of Coventry. He died in 1751.-D.

(312) Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, a man of moderate
abilities, but who had filled many great offices. He died in
1743, when his titles extinguished.-D.

191 Letter 43
To Sir Horace Mann.
Nov. 26, 1741.

I don't write you a very long letter, because you will see the
inclosed to Mr. Chute. I forgot to thank you last post for the
songs, and your design on the Maltese cats.

It is terrible to be in this uncertainty about you! We have not
the least news about the Spaniards, more than what you told us,
of a few vessels being seen off Leghorn. I send
about the post, and ask Sir R. a thousand times a-day.

I beg to know if you have never heard any thing from Parker about
my statue: (313) it was to have been finished last june. What is
the meaning he does not mention it? If it is done, I beg it may
not stir from Rome till there is no more danger of Spaniards.

If you get out of your hurry, I will trouble you with a new
commission: I find I cannot live without Stosch's (314)
intaglio of the Gladiator, with the vase, upon a granite. You
know I offered him fifty pounds: I think, rather than not have
it, I would give a hundred. What will he do if the Spaniards
should come to Florence? Should he be driven to straits,
perhaps he would part with his Meleager too. You see I am as
eager about baubles as if I were going to Louis at the Palazzo
Vecchio! You can't think what a closet I have fitted up; such a
mixture of French gaiety and Roman virtu! you would be in love
with it: I have not rested till it was finished: I long to have
you see it. Now I am angry that I did not buy the
Hermaphrodite; the man would have sold it for twenty-five
sequins: do buy it for me; it was a friend of Bianchi. Can you
forgive me'! I write all this upon the hope and
presumption that the Spaniards go to Lombardy. Good night.
Yours, ever.

(313) A copy of the Livia Mattei, which Mr. W. designed for a
tomb of his mother: it was erected in Henry VII.'s Chapel, in
Westminster Abbey, in 1754.

(314) He gave it afterwards to Lord Duncannon, for procuring him
the arrears of his pension.

192 Letter 44
To Sir Horace Mann.
Downing Street, Dec. 3, 1741, O. S.

Here I have two letters from you to answer. You cannot
conceive my joy on the prospect of the Spaniards going to
Lombardy: all advices seem to confirm it. There is no telling
you what I have felt, and shall feel, till I am certain you are
secure. You ask me about Admiral Haddock; you must not wonder
that I have told you nothing of him: they know nothing of him
here. He had discretionary powers to act as he should judge
proper from his notices. He has been keeping in the Spanish
fleet at Cales. (315) Sir R. says, if he had let that go out, to
prevent the embarkation, the Tories would have
complained, and said he had favoured the Spanish trade, under pre
tence of hindering an expedition which was never designed. It
was strongly reported last week that Haddock had shot
himself; a satire on his having been neutral, as they call it.
The parliament met the day before yesterday, and there were four
hundred and eighty-seven members present. They did no business,
only proceeded to choose a speaker, which was,
unanimously, Mr. Onslow, moved for by Mr. Pelham, (316) and
seconded by Mr. Clutterbuck. But the Opposition, to flatter his
pretence to popularity and impartiality, call him their own
speaker. They intend to oppose Mr. Earle's being chairman of the
committee, and to set up a Dr. Lee, a civilian. To- morrow the
King makes his speech. Well, I won't keep you any longer in
suspense. The Court will have a majority of forty-a vast number
for the outset: a good majority, like a good sum of money, soon
makes itself bigger. The first great point will be the
Westminster election; another, Mr. Pultney's (317) election at
Heydon; Mr. Chute's brother is one of the
petitioners. It will be an ugly affair for the Court, for
Pultney has asked votes of the courtiers, and said Sir R. was
indifferent about it; but he is warmer than I almost ever saw
him, and declared to Churchill, (318) of whom Pultney claims a
promise, that he must take Walpole or Pultney. The Sackville
finally were engaged too, by means of George Berkeley, brother to
Lady Betty Germain, (319) whose influence with the Dorset I
suppose you know; but the King was so hot with his grace about
his sons, that I believe they will not venture to follow their
inclinations **** to vote (320) for Pultney, though he has
expressed great concern about it to Sir R.

So much for politics! for I suppose you know that Prague is taken
by storm, in a night's time. I forgot to tell you that Commodore
Lestock, with twelve ships, has been waiting for a wind this
fortnight, to join Haddock. (321)

I write to you in defiance of a violent headache, which I got
last night at another of Sir T. Robinson's balls. There were six
hundred invited, and I believe above two hundred there. Lord
Lincoln, out of prudence, danced with Lady Caroline
Fitzroy, and Mr. Conway, with Lady Sophia; the two couple were
just mismatched, as every body soon perceived, by the
attentions of each man to the woman he did not dance with, and
the emulation of either lady: it was an admirable scene. The
ball broke up at three; but Lincoln, Lord Holderness, Lord Robert
Sutton, (322) Young Churchill (323) and a dozen more grew 'oily,'
stayed till seven in the morning, and drank
thirty-two bottles.

I will take great care to send the knee-buckles and
pocket-book; I have got them, and Madame Pucci's silks, and only
wait to hear that Tuscany is quiet, and then I will
convey them by the first ship. I would write to them
to-night, but have not time now; old Cibber, (324) plays
to-night, and all the world will be there.

Here is another letter from Amorevoli, who is out of his wits at
not hearing from his wife. Adieu! my dearest child. How happy
shall I be when I know you are in peace;
Yours, ever.

(315) Cadiz.

(316) The Right Hon. Henry Pelham, so long in conjunction with
his brother, the Duke of Newcastle, one of the principal
rulers of this country. He was a man of some ability, and a
tolerable speaker. The vacillations, the absurdity, the
foolish jealousy of the duke, greatly injured the stability and
respectability of Mr. Pelham's administration. Mr. Pelham was
born in 1696, and died in 1754.-D.

(317) William Pulteney, afterwards Earl of Bath, whose
character and history are too well known to require to be here
enlarged upon.-D.

(318) General Charles Churchill, groom of the bedchamber to the
King.

(319) Lady Betty Berkeley, married to the notorious adventurer
and gambler, Sir John Germain, who had previously married the
divorced Duchess of Norfolk, (Lady Mary Mordaunt,) by whose
bequest he became possessed of the estate of Drayton, in
Northamptonshire, which he left on his own death to Lady
Betty, his second @wife. Lady Betty left it to Lord George
Sackville, third son of Lionel first Duke of Dorset. Sir John
Germain was so ignorant, that he is said to have left a legacy to
Fair Matthew Decker, as the author of St. Matthew's
Gospel.-D.

(320) sic, in the manuscript.-D.

(321) But for this circumstance, and the junction of the
French squadron, Haddock would certainly have destroyed the
Spanish fleet, and thereby escaped the imputation which was
circulated with much industry, that his hands had been tied up by
a neutrality entered into for Hanover; than which nothing could
be more false. These reports, though ostensibly
directed against Haddock, were, in reality, aimed at Sir
Robert Walpole, a general election being at hand, and his
opponents wishing to render him as unpopular with the people as
possible.-E.

(322) Second son of John, third Duke of Rutland. He took the
name of Sutton, on inheriting the estate of his maternal
grandfather, Robert Sutton, Lord Lexington.-D.

(323) Natural son of General Charles Churchill, afterwards
married to Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Walpole.-D.

(324) Colley Cibber, the celebrated dramatic author and actor.
He had left the stage in 1731; but still occasionally acted, in
spite of his age, for he was now seventy.-D. [For those
occasional performances he is said to have had fifty guineas per
night. So late as 1745, he appeared in the character of
Pandulph, the pope's legate, in his own tragedy, called "Papal
Tyranny." He died in 1757.]

194 letter 45
To Sir Horace Mann.
Somerset House, (for I write to you wherever I find myself,) Dec.
10, 1741.

I have got no letter from you yet, the post should have
brought it yesterday. The Gazette says, that the cardinal (325)
has declared that they will suffer no expedition against Tuscany.
I wish he had told me so! if they preserve this
guarantee, personally, I can forgive their breaking the rest.
But I long for your letter; every letter now from each of us is
material. You will be almost as impatient to hear of the
parliament, as I of Florence. The lords on Friday went upon the
King's speech; Lord Chesterfield made a very fine speech against
the address, all levelled at the House of Hanover. Lord
Cholmley, they say, answered him well. Lord Halifax
(326) spoke Very ill, and was answered by little Lord Raymond,
(327) who always will answer him. Your friend Lord Sandwich
(328) affronted his grace of Grafton, (329) extremely, who was
ill, and sat out of his place, by calling him to order; it was
indecent in such a boy to a man of his age and rank: the
blood of Fitzroy will not easily pardon it. The court had a
majority of forty-one, with some converts.

On Tuesday we had the Speech; there were great differences among
the party; the Jacobites, with Shippen (330) and Lord Noel
Somerset at their head, were for a division, Pultney and the
Patriots against one; (332) the ill success in the House of lords
had frightened them; we had no division, but a very warm battle
between Sir. R. and Poltney. The latter made a fine speech,
very personal, on the state of affairs. Sir R. with as much
health, as much spirits, as much force and
command as ever, answered him for an hour; said, He hadbeen taxed
with all our misfortunes; but did he raise the war in Germany? or
advise the war with Spain? did he kill the late Emperor or King
of Prussia?' did he counsel this King? or was he first minister
to the King of Poland? did he kindle the war betwixt Muscovy and
Sweden?" For our troubles at home, he said, "all the grievances
of this nation were owing to the Patriots." They laughed much at
this; but does he want proofs of it? he said, They talked much
of an equilibrium in this parliament, (333) and of what they
designed against him; if it was so, the sooner he knew it the
better; and there-fore if any man would move for a day to examine
the state of the
nation, he would second it." Mr. Pultney did move for it; Sir R.
did second it, and it is fixed for the twenty-first of
January. Sir R. repeated some words of Lord Chesterfield's in
the House of Lords, that this was a time for truth, for plain
truth for English truth, and hinted at the reception (334) his
lordship had met in France. After these speeches of such
consequence, and from such men, Mr. Lyttelton (335) got up to
justify, or rather to flatter Lord Chesterfield, though every
body then had forgot that he had been mentioned. Danvers
(336) who is a rough, rude beast, but now and then mouths out
some humour, said, "that Mr. P. and Sir R. were like two old
bawds, debauching young members."

That day was a day of triumph, but yesterday (Wednesday) the
streamers of victory did not fly so gallantly. It was the day of
receiving petitions; Mr. Pultney presented an immense
piece of parchment, which he said he could but just lift; it was
the Westminster petition, and is to be heard next Tuesday, when
we shall all have our brains knocked out by the mob; so if you
don't hear from me next post, you will conclude my head was a
little out of order. After this we went upon a cornish petition,
presented by Sir William Yonge, (337) which drew on a debate and
a division, when lo! we were but 222 to 215-how do you like a
majority of seven? The Opposition triumphs
highly, and with reason; one or two such victories, as
Pyrrhus, the member for Macedon, said, will be the ruin of us. I
look upon it now, that the question is, Downing Street or the
Tower; will you come and see a body, if one should happen to
lodge at the latter? There are a thousand pretty things to amuse
you; the lions, the Armoury, the crown, and the axe that beheaded
Anna Bullon. I design to make interest for the room where the
two princes were smothered; in long winter evenings, when one
wants company, (for I don't suppose that many people will
frequent me then,) one may sit and scribble verses
against Crouch-back'd Richard, and dirges on the sweet babes. If
I die there, and have my body thrown into a wood, I am too old to
be buried by robin redbreasts, am not I?