Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1

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Oh! I must tell you: I was here last night, and saw my Lord
Walpole,(1328) for the first time, but such a youth! I declare
to you, I was quite astonished at his sense and cleverness; it
is impossible to describe it; it was just what would have made
you as happy to observe as it did me: he is not yet seventeen,
and is to continue a year longer at Eton, upon his own desire.
Alas! how few have I seen of my countrymen half so formed even
at their return from their travels! I hope you will have him
at Florence One day or other; he will pay you amply for the
Pigwiggins, and------

Mr. Walpole is quite right in all he tells you of the miracle
worked by St. Davis, which certainly merits the credit of
deceiving far better judges of painting than I; who am no
judge of any thing but you, whom I pretend to understand
better than any body living and am, therefore, my dear sir,
etc. etc. etc. J. C.

(1323) This circumstance is thus alluded to in a letter of Sir
Horace Mann's, dated Dec. 20th, 1746. "The affairs of Genoa
are in such a horrid situation, that one is frightened out of
one's senses. The accounts of them are so confused, that one
does not know what to make of them; but it is certain that the
mob is quite master of the town and of every thing in it.
They have sacked several houses, particularly that of the
Doge, and five or six others, belonging to those who were the
principal authors of the alliance which the Republic made with
France and Spain."-D.

(1324) Andrew Stone, secretary to the Duke of Newcastle, and
afterwards sub-governor to George, Prince of Wales.

(1325) Edmund Waller, of Beaconsfield.

(1326) Meaning a change in the secretaries of state. There
were at this time two, one of whom was called the Secretary of
State for the Northern Province, and the other the Secretary
of State for the Southern Province.-D.

(1327) Of Mr. Mann's arrears.

(1328) George, only son of Robert, second Earl of Orford, whom
he succeeded in the title.

517 Letter 228
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Jan. 27, 1747.

The Prince has formally declared a new Opposition which is
never to subside till he is King (s'entendent that he does not
carry his point sooner.) He began it pretty handsomely the
other day with 143 to 184, which has frightened the ministry
like a bomb. This new party wants nothing but heads; though
not having any, to be sure the struggle is the fairer. Lord
Baltimore(1329) takes the lead; he is the best and honestest
man in the world, with a good deal of jumbled knowledge; but
not capable of conducting a party. However, the next day, the
Prince, to reward him, and to punish Lord Archibald Himllton,
who voted with the ministry, told Lord Baltimore that he would
not give him the trouble of waiting any more as Lord of the
Bedchamber. but would make him Cofferer. Lord B. thanked
him, but desired that it might not be done in a way
disagreeable to Lord Archibald, who was then Cofferer. The
Prince sent for Lord Archibald, and told him he would either
make him Comptroller, or give him a pension of twelve hundred
pounds a-year; the latter of' which the old soul accepted, and
went away content; but returned in an hour with a letter from
his wife,(1330) to say, that as his Royal Highness was angry
with her husband, it was not proper for either of them to take
their pensions. It is excellent! When she was dismissed
herself, she accepted the twelve hundred pounds, and now will
not let her husband, though he had accepted. It must mortify
the Prince wondrously to have four-and-twenty hundred pounds
a-year thrown back into an exchequer that never yet
overflowed!

I am a little piqued at Marquis Riccardi's refusing me such a,
trifle as the four rings, after all the trouble I have had
with his trumpery! I think I cannot help telling him, that
Lord Carlisle and Lord Duncannon, Who heard of his collection
from Niccolini, have seen it; and are willing, at a reasonable
price, to take it between them: if you let me know the lowest,
and in money that I understand, not his equivocal pistoles, I
will allow so much to Florence civilities, as still to help
him off with his goods, though he does not deserve it; as
selling me four rings could not have affected the general
purchase. I pity your Princess Strozzi(1331) but cannot
possibly hunt after her chattels: Riccardi has cured me of
Italian merchandise, by forcing it upon me.'

Your account of your former friend's neglect of you does not
at all surprise me: there is an inveteracy, a darkness, a
design and cunning in his character that stamp him for a very
unamiable young man: it is uncommon for a heart to be so
tainted so early My cousin's(1332) affair is entirely owing to
him;(1333) nor can I account for the pursuit of such
unprovoked revenge.

I never heard of the advertisement that you mention to have
received from Sir James Grey,(1334) nor believe it was ever in
the House of Commons; I must have heard of it. I hear as
little of Lady O. who never appears; nor do I know if she sees
Niccolini: he lives much with Lady Pomfret (who has married
her third daughter),(1335) and a good deal with the Prince.

Adieu! I have answered your letter, and have nothing more to
put into mine.

(1329) Charles Calvert, Lord Baltimore, had been a Lord of the
Admiralty, on the change of the ministry in 1742. He died
soon after the Prince, in 1751.

(1330) Jane, sister of the Earl of Abercorn, and wife of Lord
Archibald Hamilton, great-uncle of Duke Hamilton: she had been
mistress of the robes, etc. to the Princess of Wales, and the
supposed mistress of the Prince. She died at Paris, in
December 1752.

(1331) She had been robbed of some of the most valuable gems
of the famous Strozzi collection.

(1332) The Hon. George Townshend. See what is said of him in
a letter (221) of Oct. 14, 1746, and note 1300.-D.

(1333) It appeared afterwards that the person here mentioned,
after having behaved very bravely, gave so perplexed an
account of his own conduct, that the Admiralty thought it
necessary to have it examined; but the inquiry proved much to
his honour.

(1334) "Sir James Gray has sent me the copy of an
advertisement, the publisher of which, he says, had been
examined before the House of Commons, Lost or mislaid an ivory
table-book, containing various queries vastly strong." Letter
of Sir H. Mann, of Jan. 10th, 1747. It probably related to
the trial of the rebel Lords.-D.

(1335) Lady Henrietta Fermor, second wife of Mr. Conyers.

519 Letter 229
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Feb. 23, 1747.

Why, you do nothing but get fevers! I believe you try to dry
your Wet-brown-paperness, till you scorch it. Or do you play
off fevers against the Princess's coliques? Remember, hers
are only for the support of her dignity, and that is what I
never allowed you to have: you must(1336) have twenty unlawful
children, and then be twenty years in devotion, and have
twenty unchristian appetites and passions all the while,
before you may think of getting into a cradle with
`epuisements and have a Monsieur Forzoni(1337) to burn the
wings of boisterous gnats-pray be more robust-do you hear!

One would think you had been describing our Opera, not your
own; we have just set out with one in what they call, the
French manner, but about as like it, as my Lady Pomfret's hash
of plural persons and singular verbs or infinitive moods was
to Italian. They sing to jigs, and dance to church music -.
Phaeton is run away with by horses that go a foot's-pace, like
the Electress's(1338) coach, with such long traces, that the
postilion was in one street and the coachman in another;--then
comes Jupiter with a farthing-candle to light a squib and a
half, and that they call fire-works. Reginello, the first
man, is so old and so tall, that he seems to have been growing
ever since the invention of operas. The first woman has had
her mouth let out to show a fine set of teeth, but it lets out
too much bad voice at the same time.(1339) Lord Middlesex,
for his great prudence in having provided such very tractable
steeds to Prince Phaeton's car, is going to be Master of the
Horse to the Prince of Wales; and for his excellent economy in
never paying the performers, is likely to continue in the
treasury. The two courts grow again: and the old question of
settling the 50,000 pounds a-year talked of. The Tories don't
list kindly under this new Opposition; though last week we had
a warm day on a motion for inquiring into useless places and
quarterings. Mr. Pitt was so well advised as to acquit my
father pretty amply, in speaking Of the Secret Committee. My
uncle Horace thanked him in a speech, and my brother Ned has
been to visit him-Tant d'empressement, I think, rather shows
an eagerness to catch any opportunity of paying court to him;
for I do not see the so vast merit in owning now for his
interest, what for his honour he should have owned five years
ago. This motion was spirited up by Lord Bath, who is raving
again, upon losing the borough of Heydon: from which last week
we threw his brother-in-law Gumley, and instated Luke
Robinson, the old sufferer for my father, and the colleague of
Mr. Chute's brother; an incident that will not heighten your
indifference, any more than it did mine.

Lord Kildare is married to the charming Lady Emily Lennox, who
went the very next day to see her sister Lady Caroline Fox, to
the great mortification of the haughty Duchess-mother. They
have not given her a shilling, but the King endows her, by
making Lord Kildare a Viscount Sterling:(1340) and they talk
of giving him a Pinchbeck-dukedom too, to keep him always
first peer of Ireland.(1341) Sir Everard Falkener is married
to Miss Churchill, and my sister is brought to bed of a son.

Panciatici is arrived, extremely darkened in his person and
enlivened in his manner. He was much in fashion at the Hague,
but I don't know if he will succeed so well here: for in such
great cities as this, you know people affect not to think
themselves honoured by foreigners; and though we don't quite
barbarize them as the French do, they are toujours des
etrangers. Mr. Chute thinks we have to the full all the
politeness that can make a nation brutes to the rest of the
world. He had an excellent adventure the other day with Lord
Holderness, whom he met at a party it Lady Betty Germains; but
who could not possibly fatigue himself to recollect that they
had ever met before in their lives. Towards the end of dinner
Lady Betty mentioned remembering a grandmother of Mr. Chute
who was a peeress: immediately the Earl grew as fond of him as
if they had walked together at a coronation. He told me
another good story last night of Lord Hervey,(1342) who was
going with them from the Opera, and was so familiar as to beg
they would not call him my Lord and your Lordship. The
freedom proceeded; when on a sudden, he turned to Mr. Whithed,
and with a distressed friendly voice, said, "Now have you no
peerage that can come to you by any woman?"

Adieu! my dear Sir; I have no news to tell you. Here is
another letter of Niccolini that has lain in my standish this
fortnight.

(1336) All the succeeding paragraph alludes to Princess Craon.

(1337) Her gentleman usher.

(1338) The Electress Palatine Dowager, the last of the house
of Medici; she lived at Florence.

(1339) The drama of Fetonte was written by Vaneschi. "The
best apologies for the absurdities of an Italian opera, in a
country where the language is little understood, are," says
Dr. Burney, "good music and exquisite singing: unluckily,
neither the composition nor performance of Phaeton had the
siren power of enchanting men so much, as to stimulate
attention at the expense of reason." Hist. of Music, Vol. iv.
p. 456.-E.

(1340) Meaning an English viscount. He was created Viscount
Leinster, of Taplow, in Bucks, Feb. 21st, 1747.-D.

(1341) In 1761 his lordship was advanced to the Marquisate of
Kildare, and in 1766 created Duke of Leinster. By Lady Emily
Lennox the Duke had seventeen children.-E.

(1342) George, eldest son of John, Lord Hervey, and afterwards
Earl of Bristol, and minister at Turin and Madrid.

521 Letter 230
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, March 20, 1747.

I have been living at old Lovat's trial, and was willing to
have it over before I talked to you of it. It lasted seven
days: the evidence was as strong as possible; and after all he
had denounced, he made no defence. The
Solicitor-General,(1343) who was one of the managers for the
House of Commons, shone extremely; the Attorney-General
,(1344) who is a much greater lawyer, is cold and tedious.
The old creature's behaviour has been foolish, and at last,
indecent. I see little of parts in him, nor attribute much to
that cunning for which he is so famous: it might catch wild
Highlanders; but the art of dissimulation and flattery is so
refined and improved, that it is of little use where it is not
very delicate. His character seems a mixture of tyranny and
pride in his villainy. I must make you a little acquainted
with him. In his own domain he governed despotically, either
burning or plundering the lands and houses of his open
enemies, or taking off his secret ones by the assistance of
his cook, who was his poisoner in chief. He had two servants
who married without his consent; he said, "You shall have
enough of each other," and stowed them in a dungeon, that had
been a well for three weeks. When he came to the Tower, he
told them, that if he were not so old and infirm, they would
find it difficult to keep him there. They told him they had
kept much younger: "Yes," said he, "but they were
inexperienced: they had not broke so many gaols as I have." At
his own house he used to say, that for thirty years of his
life he never saw a gallows but it made his neck ache. His
last act was to shift his treason upon his eldest son, whom he
forced into the rebellion. He told Williamson, the Lieutenant
of the Tower, "We will hang my eldest son, and then my second
shall marry your niece." He has a sort of ready humour at
repartee, not very well adapted to his situation. One day
that Williamson complained that he could not sleep, he was so
haunted with rats, he replied, "What do you say, that you are
so haunted with Reitc yeq?" The first day, as he was brought
to his trial, a woman looked into the coach, and said, "You
ugly old dog, don't you think that you will have that
frightful head cut off?" He replied, You ugly old -, I believe
I shall." At his trial he affected great weakness and
infirmities, but often broke into passions; particularly at
the first witness, who was his vassal: he asked him how he
dared to come thither! The man replied, to satisfy his
conscience. Murray, the Pretender's secretary, was the chief
evidence, who, in the course of his information, mentioned
Lord Traquair's having conversed with Lord Barrymore, Sir
Watkin Williams, and Sir John Cotton, on the Pretender's
affairs, but that they were shy. He was proceeding to name
others, but was stopped by Lord Talbot, and the court
acquiesced--I think very indecently. It is imagined the
Duchess of Norfolk would have come next upon the stage. The
two Knights were present, as was Macleod, against whom a
bitter letter from Lovat was read, accusing him of breach of
faith; and afterwards Lovat summoned him to answer some
questions he had to ask; but did not. it is much expected
that Lord Traquair, who is a great coward, will give ample
information of the whole plot. When Sir Everard Falkener had
been examined(1345) against Lovat, the Lord High Steward asked
the latter if he had any thing to say to Sir Everard? he
replied, "No; but that he was his humble servant, and wished
him joy of his young wife." The two last days he behaved
ridiculously, joking, and making every body laugh even at the
sentence. He said to Lord Ilchester, who sat near the bar,
"Je meUrs pour ma patrie, et ne m'en soucie gueres." When he
withdrew, he said, "Adieu! my lords, we shall never meet again
in the same place."(1346) He says he will be hanged; for that
his neck is so short and bended, that he should be struck in
the shoulders. I did not think it possible to feel so little
as I did at so melancholy a spectacle, but tyranny and
villainy wound up by buffoonery took off all edge of concern-.
The foreigners were much struck; Niccolini seemed a great deal
shocked, but he comforts himself with the knowledge he thinks
he has gained of the English constitution.

Don't thank Riccardi for me: I don't feel obliged for his
immoderate demand, but expect very soon to return him his
goods; for I have no notion that the two Lords, who are to see
them next week, will rise near his price. We have nothing
like news: all the world has been entirely taken up with the
trial. -Here is a letter from Mr. Whithed to Lord Hobart. Mr.
Chute would have written to-Day, if I had not; but will next
post. Adieu!

(1343) William Murray.

(1344) Sir Dudley Ryder; afterwards Lord Chief Justice.

(1345) He was secretary to the Duke, whom he had attended into
Scotland during the rebellion.

(1346) Lord Byron has put nearly the same words into the mouth
of Israel Bertuccio, in his tragedy of Marino Falicro.-E.

522 Letter 131
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, April 10, 1747.

I deferred writing to you as long as they deferred the
execution of old Lovat, because I had a mind to send you some
account of his death, as I had of his trial. He was beheaded
yesterday, and died extremely well, without passion,
affectation, buffoonery, or timidity: his behaviour was
natural and intrepid. He professed himself a Jansenist; made
no speech, but sat down a little while in a chair on the
scaffold, and talked to the people round him. He said, "he
was glad to suffer for his country, dulce est pro patria mori;
that he did not know how, but he had always loved it, nescio
qua natale solum, etc.; that he had never swerved from his
principles; that this was the character of his family, who had
been gentlemen for five hundred years." He lay down quietly,
gave the sign soon, and was despatched at a blow. I believe it
will strike some terror into the Highlands, when they hear
there is any power great enough to bring so potent a tyrant to
the block. A scaffold fell down, and killed several persons;
one, a man that had rid post from Salisbury the day before to
see the ceremony; and a woman was taken up dead with a live
child in her arms. The body(1347) is sent into Scotland: the
day was cold, and before It set out, the coachman drove the
hearse about the court, before my Lord Traquair's dungeon,
which could be no agreeable sight: it might to Lord Cromartie,
who is above the chair.(1348) Mr. Chute was at the execution
with the Italians, who were more entertained than shocked:
Panciatici told me, "It was a triste spectacle, mais qu'il ne
laissoit d'`etre beau." Niccolini has treasured it up among
his insights into the English constitution. We have some
chance of a Peer's trial that has nothing to do with the
rebellion. A servant of a college has been killed at Oxford,
and a verdict of wilful murder by persons unknown, brought in
by the coroner's inquest. These persons unknown are supposed
to be Lord Abergavenny,(1349) Lord Charles Scot,(1350) and two
more, who had played tricks with the poor fellow that night,
while he was drunk, and the next morning he was found with his
skull fractured, at the foot of the first Lord's staircase.
One pities the poor boys, who undoubtedly did not foresee the
melancholy event of their sport.

I shall not be able till the next letter to tell you about
Riccardi's gems: Lord Duncannon has been in the country; but
he and Lord Carlisle are to come to me next Sunday, and
determine.

Mr. Chute gave you some account of the Independents:(1351) the
committee have made a foolish affair of it, and cannot furnish
a report. Had it extended to three years ago, Lord Sandwich
and Grenville(1352) of the admiralty would have made an
admirable figure as dictators of some of the most Jacobite
healths that ever were invented. Lord Doneraile, who is made
comptroller to the Prince, went to the committee, (whither all
members have a right to go, though not to vote, as it is
select, not secret,) and plagued Lyttelton to death, with
pressing him to inquire into the healths of the year '43. The
ministry are now trembling at home, with fear of losing the
Scotch bills for humbling the Highland chiefs: they have
whittled them down almost to nothing, in complaisance to the
Duke of Argyll: and at last he deserts them. Abroad they are
in panics for Holland, where the French have at once besieged
two towns, that must fall into their hands, though we have
plumed ourselves so much on the Duke's being at the head of a
hundred and fifteen thousand men.

There has been an excellent civil war in the house of Finch:
our friend, Lady Charlotte,(1353( presented a daughter of John
Finch, (him who was stabbed by Sally Salisbury,(1354)) his
offspring by Mrs. Younger,(1355) whom he since married. The
King, Prince, and Princess received her: her aunt, Lady
Bel,(1356) forbad Lady Charlotte to present her to Princess
Emily, whether, however, she carried her in defiance. Lady
Bel called it publishing a bastard at court, and would not
present her--think on the poor girl! Lady Charlotte, with
spirit, presented her herself. Mr. W. Finch stepped up to his
other sister, the Marchioness of Rockingham,(1357) and
whispered her with his composed civility, that he knew it was
a plot of her and Lady Bel to make Lady Charlotte miscarry.
The sable dame (who, it is said, is the blackest of the
family, because she swept the chimney) replied, "This is not a
place to be indecent, and therefore I shall only tell you that
you are a rascal and a villain, and that if ever you dare to
put your head into my house, I will kick you down stairs
myself." Politesse Anglaise! lord Winchilsea (who, with his
brother Edward, is embroiled with both sides) came in, and
informed every body of any circumstances that tended to make
both parties in the wrong. I am impatient to hear how this
operates between my Lady Pomfret and her friend, Lady Bel.
Don't you remember how the Countess used to lug a half-length
picture of the latter behind her post-chaise all over Italy,
and have a new frame made for it in every town where she
stopped? and have you forgot their correspondence, that poor
lady Charlotte was daily and hourly employed to transcribe
into a great book, with the proper names in red ink? I have
but just room to tell you that the King is perfectly well, and
that the Pretender's son was sent from Spain as soon as he
arrived there. Thank you for the news of Mr. Townshend.
Adieu!

(1347) It was countermanded, and buried in the Tower.

(1348) Lord Cromartie had been pardoned.-D.

(1349) George Neville, fifteenth Lord and first Earl of
Abergavenny. Died 1785.-D.

(1350) Lord Charles Scott, second son of Francis, Duke of
Buccleuch
. He died at Oxford during the year 1747.-D.

(1351) An innkeeper in Piccadilly, who had been beaten by
them, gave information against them for treasonable practices,
and a committee of the House of Commons, headed by Sir W.
Yonge and Lord Coke, was appointed to inquire into the matter.
[The informant's name was Williams, keeper of the White Horse
in Piccadilly. Being observed, at the anniversary dinner of
the independent electors of Westminster, to make memorandums
with a pencil, he was severely cuffed, and kicked out of the
company. The alleged treasonable practices consisted in
certain Offensive toasts. On the King's health being drunk,
every man held a glass of water in his left hand, and waved a
glass of wine over it with the right.]

(1352) George Grenville, afterwards prime minister.-D.

(1353) Lady Charlotte Fermor, second daughter of Thomas, Earl
of Pomfret, and second wife of William Finch, vice-chamberlain
to the King; formerly ambassador in Holland, and brother of
Daniel, Earl of Winchilsea.

(1354) Sally Salisbury, alias Pridden, a woman of the town,
stabbed the Hon. John Finch, in a bagnio, in the neighbourhood
of Covent-garden; but he did not die of the wound.-D.

(1355) Elizabeth Younger. Her daughter, by the Hon. John
Finch, married John Mason, Esq. of Greenwich.-D.

(1356) Lady Isabella Finch, lady of the bedchamber to the
Princesses Emily and Caroline.

(1357) Lady mary Finch, fifth daughter of Daniel, sixth Earl
of Winchilsea; married in 1716 to the Hon. Thomas Wentworth,
afterwards created Marquis of Rockingham.-E.

525 Letter 232
To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Arlington Street, April 16, 1747.

Dear Harry,
We are all skyrockets and bonfires tonight for your last
year's victory;(1359) but if you have a mind to perpetuate
yourselves in the calendar, you must take care to refresh your
conquests. I was yesterday out of town, and the very signs as
I passed through the villages made me make very quaint
reflections on the mortality of fame and popularity. I
observed how the Duke's head had succeeded almost universally
to Admiral Vernon's, as his had left but few traces of the
Duke of Ormond's. I pondered these things in my heart, and
said unto myself, Surely all glory is but as a sign!