Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2

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I hope you begin to cast a southward look, and that my lady's
chickens and ducklings are old enough to go to a day-school,
and will not want her any longer.

My Lord Townshend and George are engaged in a paper-war
against one another, about the militia. That bill, the
suspension at Stade, and the late expedition, which has cost
millions, will find us in amusements this winter. It is
lucky, for I despair of the Opera. The Mattei has sent
certificates to prove that she is stopped by an inundation.
The certificates I suppose can swim. Adieu, my dear lord!

(837) Mr. Onslow, the Speaker.

402 Letter 244
To Sir Horace Mann.
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 12, 1757.

I shall Write you but a short letter for more reasons than
one--there are you blushing again for your country! We have
often behaved extravagantly, and often shamefully-this time we
have united both. I think I will not read a newspaper this
month, till the French have vented all their mirth. If I had
told You two months ago that this magnificent expedition was
designed against Rochfort, would you have believed me? Yet we
are strangely angry that we have not taken it! The clamour
against Sir John Mordaunt is at high-water-mark, but as I was
the dupe of clamour last year against one of the bravest of
men,(838) I shall suspend my belief till all is explained.
Explained it will be somehow or other: it seems to me that we
do nothing but expose ourselves in summer, in order to furnish
inquiries for the winter; and then those inquiries expose us
again. My great satisfaction is, that Mr. Conway is not only
returned safe, but that all the world agrees that it is not
his fault that he is SO. He is still at Portsmouth to see the
troops disembark. Hawke is come, and was graciously
received.--poor Sir John Mordaunt, who was sent for, was
received -as ill. I tell you no particulars of their
campaign, for I know it slightly, and will wait till I know it
exactly.

The Duke came last night. You will not hear much more of his
affair: he will not do himself justice, and it proves too
gross, to be possible to do him injustice.

I think all the comfort we extract from a thousand bitter
herbs, is, that the Russians are gone back, gone
precipitately, and as yet we don't know why.

I have received yours of the 17th of last month, and you may
quiet your fears about posts: we have received all that each
has written, except my last, which could not be arrived at
Florence when yours came away. Mine was of the 29th of last
month, and had many particulars; I hope not too many to stop
its journey!

To add to the ill-humour, our papers are filled with the new
loss of Fort William-Henry, which covered New York. That
opulent and proud colony between their own factions and our
folly is in imminent danger; but I will have done--nay, if we
lose another dominion. I think I will have done writing to
you, I cannot bear to chronicle so many disgraces. Adieu!

(838) Admiral Byng.

403 Letter 245
To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 13, 1757.

If you have received mine of Tuesday, which I directed to
Portsmouth, you will perceive how much I agree with you. I am
charmed with your sensible modesty. When I talked to you of
defence, it was from concluding that you had all agreed that
the attempt(839) was impracticable, nay, impossible; and from
thence I judged that the ministry intended to cast the blame
of a wild project upon the officers. That they may be a
little willing to do that, I still think-but I have the joy to
find that it cannot be thrown on you. As your friend, and
fearing, if I talked for you first, it would look like doubt
of your behaviour, at least that you had bid me defend you at
the expense of your friends, I said not a word, trusting that
your innocence would break out and make its way. I have the
satisfaction to find it has already done so. It comes from
all quarters but your own, which makes it more honourable. My
Lady Suffolk told me last night, that she heard all the seamen
said they wished the general had been as ready as Mr. Conway.
But this is not all: I left a positive commission in town to
have the truth of the general report sent me without the least
disguise: in consequence of which I am solemnly assured that
your name is never mentioned but with honour; that all the
violence, and that extreme, is against Sir John Mordaunt and
Mr. Cornwallis. I am particularly sorry for the latter, as I
firmly believe him as brave as possible.

This situation of things makes me advise, what I know and find
I need not advise, your saying as little as possible in your
own defence, nay, as much as you can with any decency for the
others. I am neither acquainted with, nor care a straw about,
Sir John Mordaunt; but as it is known that you differed with
him, it will do you the greatest honour to vindicate him,
instead of disculpating yourself. My most earnest desire
always is, to have your character continue as amiable and
respectable as possible. There is no doubt but the whole will
come out, and therefore your justification not coming from
yourself will set it in a ten times better light. I shall go
to town to-day to meet your brother; and as I know his
affection for you will make him warm in clearing you, I shall
endeavour to restrain that ardour, of which you know I have
enough on the least glimmering of a necessity: but I am sure
you will agree with me, that, on the representation I have
here made to you, it is not proper for your friends to appear
solicitous about you.

The city talk very treason, and, connecting the suspension at
Stade with this disappointment,(840) cry out, that the general
had positive orders to do nothing, in order to obtain gentler
treatment of Hanover. They intend in a violent manner to
demand redress, and are too enraged to let any part of this
affair remain a mystery.

I think, by your directions, this will reach you before you
leave Bevismount: I would gladly meet you at Park-place, if i
was not sure of seeing you in town a day or two afterwards at
farthest; which I will certainly do, if you let me know.
Adieu!

(839) On Rochfort.

(840) "In all these complicated machines," writes Lord
Chesterfield to his son, on the 4th of this month, "there are
so many wheels within wheels, that it is always difficult and
sometimes impossible, to guess which of them gives direction
to the whole. Mr. Pitt is convinced that the principal wheel,
or if you will, spoke in the wheel, came from Stade."-E.

404 Letter 246
To George Montagu, Esq.
Arlington Street, Oct 18, 1757.

You never begged news at a worse time; for though I should
tell you much, I have neither time nor inclination, This
sounds brusque, but I will explain it. With regard to the
expedition, I am so far easy about Mr. Conway that he will
appear with great honour, but it is not pleasant to hear him
complicated with others in the mean time. He cannot speak
till forced. In short, there are twenty delicacies not for a
letter. The big event is, the Duke's resignation. He is not
so patient as Mr. Conway under unmerited reproach, and has
thrown up every thing, regiment and all. You and I wish for a
Fronde, but I don't expect one. At worst it will produce
M`emoires de la Fronde. I rejoice that all your family is
well, and beg my compliments to them. For this time you must
excuse a very short letter; I am only in town for this evening
to meet Mr. Conway, and I snatch a moment, that you might not
think me neglectful of you, which I certainly never will be.
Adieu!

404 Letter 247
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Oct. 24, 1757.

It is impossible not to write to you upon the great event(841)
that has happened, and yet it is difficult to know how to
write upon it. Considering your situation, it is improper to
make harsh comments: Europe, I suppose, will not be so
delicate. Our ministers have kept the article out of our own
papers; but they have as little power over foreign gazettes,
as weight with foreign powers. In short, the Duke is arrived,
was very ill received, and without that, would have done, what
he did immediately, resign all his commissions. He does not,
like his brother,(842) go into opposition. He is even to make
his Usual appearances. He treated Munchausen,(843) who had
taken great liberties with his name, with proper severity--I
measure my words extremely, not for my own sake, but yours.

General Mordaunt has demanded an inquiry. The form is not
settled yet; nor can it be soon, as Sir Edward Hawke is gone
upon a cruise with the fleet. I put a quick end to this
letter; I have no more facts to tell you; reflections you will
make yourself. In the uncertainty of this reaching you, it is
better to say no more. Adieu!

(841) The Duke of Cumberland's resignation of the command of
the army.

(842) Frederick Prince of wales.

(843) The minister for Hanover.

405 Letter 248
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Nov. 20, 1757.

I do not like to find that our correspondence is certainly
deranged. I have received but one letter from you for a great
while; it is of October 8th, and complaining on your side too.
You say my last was Sept. 3d. Since that I wrote on the 29th,
on the 13th, and 24th of last month. I have omitted a month,
waiting to see if you got my letters, and to have something
decisive to tell you. Neither has happened, and yet I know
you will be unhappy not to hear from me, which makes me write
now. Our Parliament was suddenly put off to the first of next
month), on news that the King Of Prussia had made a separate
peace with France;- as the Speech was prepared to ask money
for him, it was necessary to set it to a new tune; but we have
been agreeably surprised with his gaining a great victory over
the Prince de Soubize;(844) but of this we have only the first
imperfect account, the wind detaining his courier or
aide-de-camp on the other side still. It is prodigious how we
want all the good news we can amass together! Our fleet
dispersed by a tempest in America, where, into the bargain, we
had done nothing, the uneasiness on the convention at Stade,
which, by this time, I believe we have broken, and on the
disappointment about Rochfort, added to the wretched state of
our internal affairs; all this has reduced us to a most
contemptible figure. The people are dissatisfied, mutinous,
and ripe for insurrections, which indeed have already appeared
on the militia and on the dearness of corn, which is believed
to be owing to much villany in the dealers. But the other day
I saw a strange sight, a man crying corn, "Do you want any
corn?" as they cry knives and scissors. To add to the
confusion, the troubles in Ireland, which Mr. Conway had
pacified, are broke out afresh, by the imprudence of the Duke
of Bedford and the ambition of the primate.(845) The latter
had offered himself to the former, who rejected him, meaning
to balance the parties, but was insensibly hurried into Lord
Kildare's,(846) to please mr. Fox. The primate's faction have
passed eleven resolutions on pensions and grievances, equal to
any in 1641, and the Duke of Bedford's friends dared not say a
word against them.(847) The day before yesterday a messenger
arrived from him for help; the council will try to mollify;
but Ireland is no tractable country. About what you will be
more inquisitive, is the disappointment at Rochfort, and its
consequences. Sir John Mordaunt demanded an inquiry which the
city was going to demand. The Duke of Marlborough, Lord
George Sackville, and General Waldegrave have held a public
inquest, with the fairness of which people are satisfied; the
report is not to be made to the King till to-morrow, for which
I shall reserve my letter. You may easily imagine, that with
all my satisfaction in Mr. Conway's behaviour, I am very
unhappy about him: he is more so; having guarded and gained
the most perfect character in the world by the severest
attention to it, you may guess what he feels under any thing
that looks like a trial. You will see him more like himself,
in a story his aide-de-camp, Captain Hamilton,(848) tells of
him. While they were on the isle of Aix, Mr. Conway was so
careless and so fearless as to be trying a burning-glass on a
bomb--yes, a bomb, the match of which had been cut short to
prevent its being fired by any accidental sparks of tobacco.
Hamilton snatched the glass out of Mr. Conway's hand before he
had at all thought what he was about. I can tell you another
story of him, that describes all his thought for others, while
so indifferent about himself. Being with my Lady Ailesbury in
his absence, I missed a favourite groom they used to have; she
told me this story. The fellow refused to accompany Mr.
Conway on the expedition, unless he would provide for his
widow in case of accidents. Mr. C., who had just made his
will and settled his affairs, replied coolly, "I have provided
for her." The man, instead of being struck, had the command
of himself to ask how? He was told, she would have two
hundred pounds. Still uncharmed, he said it was too little!
Mr. Conway replied he was sorry he was not content; he could
do no more; but would only desire him to go to Portsmouth and
see his horses embarked. He refused. If such goodness would
make one adore human nature, such ingratitude would soon cure
one!

Mr. Fox was going to write to you, but I took all the
compliments upon myself, as I think it is better for you to be
on easy than ceremonious terms. To promote this, I have
established a correspondence between you; he will be glad if
you will send him two chests of the best Florence wine every
year. The perpetuity destroys all possibility of your making
him presents Of it. I have compounded for the vases, but he
would not hear, nor must you think of giving him the wine,
which you must transact with your brother and me. The best of
Florence which puzzled James and me so much, proves to be Lord
Hertford's drams. We have got something else from Florence,
not your brother James and I, but the public: here is arrived
a Countess Rena, of whom my Lord Pembroke bought such
quantities of Florence, etc. I shall wonder if he deals with
her any more, as he has the sweetest wife(849) in the world,
and it seems to be some time since La Comtessa was so. Tell
me more of her history; antique as she is, she is since my
time.. Alas! every thing makes me think myself old since I
have worn out my eyes, which, notwithstanding the cure I
thought Mr. Chute had made upon them, are of very little use
to me. You have no notion how it mortifies me: when I am
wishing to withdraw more and more from a world of which I have
had satiety, and which I suppose is as tired of me, how
vexatious not to be able to indulge a happiness that depends
only on oneself, and consequently the only happiness proper
for people past their youth! I have often deluded you with
promises of returning to Florence for pleasure, I now threaten
you with it for your plague; for if I am to become a tiresome
old fool, at least it shall not be in my own country. In the
mean time, I must give you a commission for my press. I have
printed one book, (of which two copies are ready for you and
Dr. Cocchi,) and I have written another - it is a Catalogue of
the Royal and Noble Authors of England. Richard 1. it seems
was, or had a mind to pass for, a Proven`cal poet; nay, some
of those compositions are extant, and you must procure them
for me: Crescimbeni says there are some in the library of San
Lorenza at Florence, in uno de' Codici Provenzali, and others
nel 3204 della Vaticana.(850) YOU Will oblige and serve me
highly if you can get me copies. Dr. Cocchi certainly knows
Crescimbeni's Commentary on the Lives of the Proven`cal
Poets.(851)

I shall wind up this letter, Which is pretty long for a blind
man without spectacles, with an admirable bon-mot. Somebody
asked me at the play the other night what was become of Mrs.
Woffington; I replied, she is taken off by Colonel Caesar.
Lord Tyrawley said, "I suppose she was reduced to aut Caesar
aut Nullus."

The monument about which you ask you shall see in a drawing,
when finished; it is a simple Gothic arch, something in the
manner of the columbaria: a Gothic columbarium is a new
thought of my own, of which I am fond, and going(852) to
execute one at Strawberry. That at Linton is to have a
beautiful urn, designed by Mr. Bentley, as the whole is, with
this plain, very true inscription, "Galfrido Mann, amicissimo,
optimo, qui obiit--H. W. P."

Thank you for the King of Prussia's letter, though I had seen
it before. It is lively and odd. He seems to write as well
with Voltaire as he fights as well without the French--or
without us.

Monday night.

The report is made, but I have not yet seen it, and this
letter must go away this minute. I hear it names no names,
says no reason appears why they did not land on the 25th, and
gives no merit to all Mr. Conway's subsequent proposals for
landing. Adieu!

(844) The battle of Rosbach.

(845) Dr. Stone, Archbishop of Armagh.

(846) Lady Kildare was sister of Lady Caroline Fox.

(847)) Walpole, in his Memoires of George II., states that
"the Duke of Bedford, on the death of the King's sister, the
Queen Dowager of Prussia, who had privately received a pension
of eight Hundred pounds a-year out of the Irish establishment,
had obtained it for his wife's sister, Lady Waldegrave."-E.

(848) Afterwards Sir William Hamilton, appointed, in 1764,
envoy to the court of Naples, where he resided during the long
period of thirty-six years; and where, "wisely diverting," in
the language of Gibbon, "his correspondence from the secretary
of state to the Royal Society and British Museum, he passed
his time in elucidating a country of inestimable value to the
naturalist and antiquarian." He returned to England in 1800,
and died in 1803.-E.

(849) Elizabeth, sister of the Duke of Marlborough.

(850) Walpole, in his Royal Authors, says, "I have had both
repositories carefully searched. The reference to the Vatican
proves a new inaccuracy of the author; there is no work of
King Richard. In the Laurentine library is a sonnet written
by the King, and sent to the Princess Stephanetta, wife of
Hugh de Daux, which I have had transcribed with the greatest
exactness." Works, vol. i. p. 252.-E.

(851) "Commentarii intorno alla sua Istoria della Volgar
Poesia." In 1803, Mr. Matthias, the author of the Pursuits of
Literature, published an edition of the commentaries, detached
from the historical part, in three volumes, 12mo.-E.

(852) It was not executed.

408 Letter 249
To George Montagu, Esq.
Sunday evening.

I leave Mr. M`untz in commission to do the honours of
Strawberry to you: if he succeeds well, will you be troubled
with him in your chaise to london on Wednesday?

He will tell you the history of' Queen Mab being attacked-not
in her virtue, but in her very palace: if all this does not
fill up the evening, and you shall have no engagement to your
aunt Cosby, or to your grandmother, you know how welcome you
will be at Clivden. Adieu!

408 Letter 250
To George Montagu, Esq.
Dec. 23, 1757.

You, who have always cultivated rather than stifled tender
sensations, well know how to feel for me, who have at last
lost my dear friend, Mr. Mann, not unexpectedly certainly; but
I never could find that one grew indifferent to what pains, as
one does to what pleases one. With all my consciousness of
having been more obliged to your brother than I could possibly
deserve, I think I should have trespassed on his kindness, and
have asked him to continue his favours to Mr. Mann's son and
brother, if I had not known that he was good beyond doubt: it
is just necessary for me, as transferring my friendship to the
family, to tell you, that if the contrary should be
insinuated, they do continue the business.

Had I any thing to tell you, it would be unpardonable in me to
communicate my grief to you and neglect your entertainment,
but Mr. Pitt's gout has laid up the nation; we adjourn
to-morrow for the holidays, and have not had a single
division. Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, France, and the King of Prussia
will not leave us idle much longer. Adieu! I am most
unaffectedly grieved, and most unfeignedly yours.

409 Letter 251
To Dr. Ducarel.(853)
Arlington Street, Dec. 25, 1757.

Sir,
The Dean of Exeter(854) having showed me a letter in which you
desire the name of the MS. which contains the illumination I
wished to see, I take the liberty of troubling you with this.
The book is called "The Dictes and Sayings of the
Philosophers: translated out of Latyn into Frenshe, by Messire
Jehan de Jeonville; and from thence rendered into English, by
Earl Rivers."(855)--I am perfectly ashamed, Sir, of giving you
so much trouble, but your extreme civility and good-nature,
and your great disposition to assist in any thing that relates
to literature, encouraged me to make my application to you;
and the politeness with which you received it I shall always
acknowledge with the greatest gratitude. The Dean desired me
to make his excuses to you for not writing himself; and my
Lord Lyttelton returns you a thousand thanks for your kind
offers of communication, and proposes to wait on you himself
and talk those matters over with you. I shall not fail of
paying my respects to you on Friday next, at one o'clock; and
am, Sir, yours, etc.

(853) Dr. Andrew Coltee Ducarel. This eminent arcaeologist
was born at Caen in Normandy, but educated at Eton and at
Oxford. He had recently been appointed librarian at Lambeth
palace.-E.

(854) Dr.Jeremiah Milles. In 1765 he was appointed president
of the Society of Antiquaries. The Doctor was a strenuous
advocate for the authenticity of Rowley's Poems; "thereby
proving himself," says the author of the Pursuits of
Literature, "a pleasant subject for that chef-d'oeuvre of wit
and poetry, the 'Archaeological Epistle,' written by Mr.
Mason."-E.

(855) Antony Widville, Earl Rivers, Lord Scales and Newsells.
The dismal catastrophe of this accomplished lord, in his
forty-first year, is well known--

"--Rivers, Vaughan, and Grey
Ere this lie shorter by the head at Pomfret."

The book is supposed to be the second ever printed in England
by Caxton: it contains an illumination representing the Earl
introducing Caxton to Edward the Fourth, his Queen, and the
Prince. "The most remarkable circumstance attending it," says
Walpole, in his Noble Authors, "is the gallantry of the Earl,
who omitted to translate part of it, because it contained
sarcasms of Socrates against the fair sex."-E.

410 Letter 252
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Jan, 11, 1758.

You express so much concern and tenderness for Mr. Conway and
me in your letter of Dec. 17th, which I received two days ago,
that I am impatient and happy to tell you, that after keeping
the report of the court-martial a week, the King yesterday
approved the sentence, which is a full acquittal of Sir John
Mordaunt, and was unanimous. If the commander-in-chief is so
fully cleared, what must the subordinate generals be? There
are still flying whispers of its being brought into Parliament
in some shape or other, but every public and private reason, I
say reason, forbid it. Sure this is not a season to relume
heats, when tranquility is so essential and so established!
In a private light who can wish to raise such a cloud of
enemies as the whole army, who murmur grievously at hearing
that an acquittal is not an acquittal; who hold it tyranny, if
they are not to be as safe by their juries as the rest of
their fellow-subjects; and who think a judgment of twenty-one
general officers not to be trifled with. I tremble if any
rashness drives the army to distinguish or think themselves
distinguished from the civil government.

You are by this time, I suppose, in weepers for princess
Caroline;(856) though her state of health has been so
dangerous for years, and her absolute confinement for many of
them, her disorder was in a manner new and sudden, and her
death unexpected by herself, though earnestly her wish. her
goodness was constant and uniform, her generosity immense, her
charities most extensive--in short I, no royalist, could be
lavish in her praise. What will divert you is, that the Duke
of Norfolk's and Lord Northumberland's upper servants have
asked leave to put themselves in mourning, not out of regard
for this admirable Princess, but to be more sur le bon ton. I
told the Duchess I supposed they would expect her to mourn
hereafter for their relations.

Well, it seems I guessed better about Sir James Grey than he
knew about himself. Sir Benjamin Keene is dead;(857) I dined
to-day where Colonel Grey did; he told me it is a year and a
half since the King named his brother for Spain, and that he
himself was told but yesterday that Sir James was too well at
Naples to be removed,(858) and that reasons of state called
for somebody else. Would they called for you! and why not?
You are attached to nobody; your dear brother had as much
reason to flatter himself with Mr. Pitt's favour, as he was
marked by not having Mr. Fox's. Your not having the least
connexion with the latter cannot hurt you. Such a change, for
so great an object, would overrule all my prudence: but I do
not know whether it were safe, to hint it'. especially as by
this time, at least before your application could come, it
must be disposed of. Lord Rochfort wishes it, Lord Huntingdon
has asked it; Lord Tyrawley and Lord Bristol(859) are talked
of. I am so afraid of ticklish situations for you, that in
case of the latter's removal, I should scarce wish you Turin.
I cannot quit this chapter without lamenting Keene! my father
had the highest opinion of his abilities, and indeed his late
Negotiations have been crowned with proportionate success. He
had great wit, agreeableness, and an indolent good-humour that
was very pleasing: he loved our dearest Gal.!