Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2

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The King of Prussia is quite idle; I think he has done nothing
this fortnight but take Breslau, and Schweidnitz, and ten or a
dozen generals, and from thirty to fifty thousand prisoners--
in this respect he contradicts the omne majus continet in se
minus. I trust he is galloping somewhere or other with only a
groom to get a victory. Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick has
galloped a little from one: when we were expecting that he
would drive the French army into the sea, and were preparing
to go to Harwich to see it, he turned back, as if he wanted to
speak with the King of Prussia. In a street very near me they
do not care to own this; but as my side of Arlington Street is
not ministerial, we plain-dealing houses speak our mind about
it. Pray, do not you about that or any thing else; remember
you are an envoy, and though you must not presume to be as
false as an ambassador, yet not a grain of truth is consistent
with your character. Truth is very well for such simple
people as me, with my Fari quae sentiat, which my father left
me, and which I value more than all he left me; but I am
errantly wicked enough to desire you should lie and prosper.
I know you don't like my doctrine, and therefore I compound
with you for holding your tongue. Adieu! my dear child--shall
we never meet! Are we always to love one another at the
discretion of a sheet of paper? I would tell you in another
manner that I am ever yours.

P. S. I will not plague you with more than a postscript on my
eyes: I write this after midnight quite at my ease; I think
the greatest benefit I have found lies between old rum and
elder-water, (three spoonfuls of the latter to one of the
former,) and dipping my head in a pail of cold water every
morning the moment I am out of bed. This I am told may affect
my hearing, but I have too constant a passion for my eyes to
throw away a thought on any rival.

(856) Third daughter of King George the Second; who died at
St. James's on the 28th of December, in the forty-fifth year
of her age.-E.

(857) Sir Benjamin Keene died at Madrid on the 15th of
December. He was the eldest son of Charles Keene, Esq. of
Lynn, in Norfolk. His remains were brought to England-, and
buried at Lynn, near those of his parents.-E.

(858) Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, in a letter to her daughter,
dated Venice, April 3, says, "Sir James Grey was universally
esteemed during his residence here: but, alas! he is gone to
Naples. I wish the maxims of Queen Elizabeth were revived,
who always chose men whose birth or behaviour would make the
nation respected, people being apt to look upon them as a
sample of their countrymen. If those now employed are so--
Lord have mercy upon us! How much the nation has suffered by
false intelligence, I believe you are very sensible of; and
how impossible it is to obtain truth either from a fool or a
knave." Works, Vol. iii. P. 155.-E.

(859) The Earl of Bristol was at this time British Minister at
the court of Turin. He was appointed ambassador extraordinary
to the court of Spain in the following June.-E.

411 Letter 253
To Dr. Ducarel.
Arlington Street, January 12, 1758.

I have the pleasure to let you know, that his grace the
Archbishop(860) has, with the greatest politeness and
goodness, sent me word, by the dean of Exeter, that he gives
me leave to have the illumination copied, on a receipt either
at your chambers, or at my own house, giving you a receipt for
it. As the former would be so inconvenient to me as to render
this favour useless, I have accepted the latter with great
joy; and will send a gentleman of the exchequer, my own
deputy, to you, Sir@ on Monday next, with my receipt, and
shall beg the favour of you to deliver the MS. to him, Mr.
Bedford. I would wait On you myself, but have caught cold at
the visit I made you yesterday, and am besides going to
Strawberry Hill, from whence I propose to bring you a little
print, which was never sold, and not to be had from any body
else; which is, the arms of the two Clubs at Arthur's;(861) a
print exceedingly in request last year. When I have more
leisure, for at this time of the year I am much hurried, I
shall be able, I believe, to pick you out some other
curiosities; and am, Sir, etc.

(860) Dr. Matthew Hutton. He died in the following April, and
was succeeded in the archbishopric by Dr. Secker.

(861) Designed by Mr. Walpole's friend, Lord Edgecumbe, and
engraved by Grinion.

412 Letter 254
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Feb. 9, 1758.

One would not have believed that I could so long have wanted
something to form a letter; but I think politics are gone into
winter-quarters: Mr. Pitt is in bed with the gout, and the
King of Prussia writing sonnets to Voltaire; but his Majesty's
lyre is not half so charming as his sword: if he does not take
care, Alexander will ride home upon his verses. All England
has kept his birthday; it has taken its place in our calendar
next to Admiral Vernon's(862) and my Lord Blakeney's; and the
people, I believe, begin to think that Prussia is some part
of' Old England. We had bonfires and processions,
illuminations and French horns playing out of windows all
night.

In the mean time there have been some distant grumblings of a
war with Spain, which seem blown over: a new Russian army in
March has taken its place. The Duke of Richelieu is said to
be banished for appropriating some contributions(863) to his
own use: if he does not take care to prove that he meant to
make as extravagant a use of them as ever Marquis Catiline
did, it will be a very bourgeoise termination of such a
gallant life! By the rage of expense in our pleasures, in the
midst of such dearness and distress, one would think we had
opportunities of contributions too! The simple Duke of St.
Albans,(864) who is retired to Brussels for debt, has made a
most sumptuous funeral in public for a dab of five months old
that he had by his cookmaid. But our glaring extravagance is
the CONSTANT high price given for pictures: the other day at
Mr. Furnese's(865) auction a very small Gaspar sold for
seventy-six guineas; and a Carlo Maratti, which too I am
persuaded was a Giuseppe Chiari, lord Egremont bought at the
rate of two hundred and sixty pounds. Mr. Spencer(866) gave
no less than two thousand two hundred pounds for the Andrea
Sacchi and the Guido from the same collection. The latter is
of very dubious originality: my father, I think, preferred the
Andrea Sacchi to his own Guido, and once offered seven hundred
pounds for it, but Furnese said, "Damn him, it is for him; he
shall pay a thousand." There is a pewterer, one Cleeve, who
some time ago gave one thousand pounds for four very small
Dutch pictures. I know- but one dear picture not sold,
Cooper's head of Oliver Cromwell, an unfinished miniature;
they asked me four hundred pounds for it! But pictures do not
monopolize extravagance; I have seen a little ugly shell
called a Ventle-trap sold for twenty-seven guineas. However,
to do us justice, we have magnificence too that is well
judged. The Palmyra and Balbec are noble works to be
undertaken and executed by private men.(867) There is now
established a Society for the encouragement of Arts, Sciences,
and Commerce, that is likely to be very serviceable;(868) and
I was pleased yesterday with a very grand seigneurial design of
the Duke of Richmond,(869) who has collected a great many fine
casts of the best antique statues, has placed them in a large
room in his garden, and designs to throw it open to encourage
drawing. I have offered him to let my eagle be cast.

Adieu! If any thing happens, I will not, nor ever do wait for
a regular interval Of Writing to you.

(862) On Admiral Vernon's taking Porto Bello in 1740, the
populace of London celebrated his birthday; and some doubts
arising on the specific day, they celebrated it again, and I
think continued to do so for two or three subsequent years.

(863) He plundered the Electorate so indecently, that on his
return to Paris having built a pavilion in his garden, it was
nicknamed le Pavillon d'Hanovre.

(864) The third Duke of that title.

(865) Henry Furness had been a lord of the treasury. He was a
friend of Lord Bath, and personally an enemy to Sir Robert
Walpole.

(866) John first Earl Spencer.

(867) Robert Wood, Esq. under secretary of state, Mr. Dawkins,
and Mr. Bouverie. For a notice of these splendid works, see
ant`e, p. 191, letter 89.-E.

(868) Mr. William Shipley, of Northampton, being persuaded
that a society to give premiums, in the manner of one in
Ireland, would be highly beneficial to the country, came to
London several times in the year 1752 and 1753, and talked
about it to Mr. Henry Baker, who was of the same opinion, but
doubted the possibility of bringing it into effect. However,
in 1753, a general recommendation of such a society was drawn
up, printed, and dispersed; and indefatigable pains taken by
Mr. Shipley to put it into the hands of persons of quality and
fortune, this scheme was carried into execution. See
Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, vol. v. p. 275.-E.

(869) Charles Lenox, third Duke of Richmond. His grace had
recently ordered a room to be opened at his house in
Whitehall, containing a large collection of original plaster
casts from the best antique busts and statues at Rome -and
Florence, to which all artists, and youths above twelve years
of age, had access. For the encouragement of genius, he also
bestowed two medals annually on those who executed the two
best models.-E.

413 Letter 255
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Feb. 10, 1758.

This campaign does not open with the vivacity of the last; the
hero of the age has only taken Schweidnitz yet--he had fought
a battle Or two by this time last year. But this is the case
of Fame. A man that astonishes at first, soon makes people
impatient if he does not continue in the same andante key. I
have heard a good answer of one of the Duke of Marlborough's
generals, who dining with him at a city feast, and being
teased by a stupid alderman, who said to him, "Sir, yours must
be a very laborious employment!" replied, "Oh, no; we fight
about four hours in a morning, and two or three after dinner,
and then we have all the rest of the day to ourselves." I
shall not be quite so impatient about our own campaign as I
was last year, though we have another secret expedition on
foot--they say, to conquer France, but I believe we must
compound for taking the Isle of Wight, whither we are sending
fourteen thousand men. The Hero's uncle(870 reviewed them
yesterday in Hyde Park on their setting out. The Duke of
Marlborough commands, and is, in reality, commanded by Lord
George Sackville. We shall now see how much greater generals
we have than Mr. Conway, who has pressed to go in any
capacity, and is not suffered!

Mr. Pitt is again laid up with the gout, as the Duke of
Bedford is confined in Ireland by it. - His grace, like other
Kings I have known, is grown wonderfully popular there since
he was taken prisoner and tied hand and foot. To do faction
justice, it is of no cowardly nature; it abuses while it
attacks, and loads with panegyric those it defeats. We have
nothing in Parliament but a quiet straggle for an extension of
the Habeas Corpus.(871) It passed our House swimmingly, but
will be drowned with the same ease in the House of Lords. On
the new taxes we had an entertaining piece of pomp from the
Speaker: Lord Strange (it was in a committee) said, "I will
bring him down from the gallery." and proposed that the
Speaker should be exempt from the place tax. He came down,
and besought not to be excepted--lord Strange persisted-so did
the Speaker. After the debate, Lord Strange going out said,
"Well, did I not show my dromedary well?" I should tell you
that one of the fashionable sights of the winter has been a
dromedary and camel, the proprietor of which has entertained
the town with a droll variety of advertisements.

You would have been amazed, had you been here at Sir luke
Schaub's auction of pictures. He had picked up some good old
copies cheap when he was in Spain during the contentions there
between the houses of Austria and Bourbon, and when many
grandees being confiscated, the rest piqued themselves on not
profiting of their spoils. With these Sir Luke had some fine
small ones, and a parcel of Flemish, good in their way. The
late Prince offered him twelve thousand pounds for the whole,
leaving him the enjoyment for his life. As he knew the twelve
thousand would not be forthcoming, he artfully excused himself
by saying he loved pictures so much that he knew he should
fling away the money. Indeed, could he have touched it, it
had been well; the collection was indubitably not worth four
thousand pounds. It has sold for near eight!(872) A
Copy(873) of the King of France's Raphael went for seven
hundred pounds. A Segismonda, called by Corregio, but
certainly by Furoni his scholar, was bought in at upwards of
four hundred pounds. In short, there is Sir James Lowther,
Mr. Spencer, Sir Richard Grosvenor, boys with twenty and
thirty thousand a-year, and the Duchess of Portland,(874) Lord
Ashburnham, Lord Egremont, and others with near as much, who
care not what they give. I want to paint my coat and sell it
off my back--there never Was such a season. I am mad to have
the Houghton pictures sold now; what injury to the creditors
to have them postponed, till half of these vast estates are
spent, and the other half grown ten years older!

Lord Corke Is not the editor of Swift's History;(875) but one
Dr. Lucas, a physicianed apothecary, who some years ago made
such factious noise in Ireland(876)--the book is already
fallen into the lowest contempt. I wish you joy of the success
of the Cocchi family; but how three hundred crowns a year
sound after Sir Luke Schaub's auction! Adieu! my dear Sir.

(870) George II. uncle of the King of Prussia.

(871) Lord Chesterfield, in a letter to his son of the 8th,
says, "Every thing goes smoothly in Parliament: the King of
Prussia has united all our parties in his support, and the
Tories have declared that they will give Mr. Pitt unlimited
credit for this session: there has not been one single
division yet upon public points, and I believe will not."-E.

(872) The three days' sale produced seven thousand seven
hundred and eighty-four pounds five shillings.-E.

(873) It was purchased by the Duchess Dowager of Portland, for
seven hundred and three pounds ten shillings.-E.

(874) Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, only daughter of Edward
Harley, second Earl of Oxford, and heiress of the vast
possessions of the Newcastle branch of the Cavendishes. She
married William Bentinck, second Duke of Portland.-D.

(875) Swift's "History of the Four last Years of Queen Anne,"
was first published in this year.-E.

(876) Dr. Johnson, in a review of Dr. Lucas's Essay on Waters,
which appeared in the Literary Magazine for 1756, thus speaks
of him: "The Irish ministers drove him from his native country
by a proclamation, in which they charge him with crimes of which
they never intended to be called to the proof, and
oppressed him by methods equally irresistible by guilt and
innocence: let the man thus driven into exile, for having been
the friend of his country, be received in every other place as
a confessor of liberty; and let the tools of power be taught
in time, that they may rob, but cannot impoverish." In 1761,
Dr. Lucas was elected representative for Dublin. He died in
1771, and a statue to his honour is erected in the Royal
Exchange of Dublin.-E.'

415 Letter 256
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Feb. 23, 1758.

Though the inactivity of our parliamentary winter has let me
be correspondent, I am far from having been so remiss as the
posts have made me seem. I remember to have thought that I
had no letter on board the packet that was taken; but since
the 20th of November I have writ to you on December 14,
January 11, February 9. The acquittal of General Mordaunt
would, I thought, make you entirely easy about Mr. Conway.
The paper war on their subject is still kept up; but all
inquiries are at an end. When Mr. Pitt, who is laid up with
the gout, is a little cool again, I think he has too much
eagerness to perform something of `eclatt, to let the public
have to reproach him with not employing so brave a man and so
able as Mr. Conway. Though your brothers do not satisfy your
impatience to know, you must a little excuse them; the eldest
lives out of the world, and James not in that world from
whence he can learn or inform you. Besides our dear Gal.'s
warmth of friendship, he had innumerable opportunities of
intelligence. He, who lent all the world money for nothing,
had at least a right to know something.

I shall be sorry on my account if one particular(877) letter
has miscarried, in which I mentioned some trifles that I
wished to purchase from Stosch's collection. As you do not
mention any approaching sale, I will stay to repeat them till
you tell me that you have received no such letter.

Thank you for the `eloge on your friend poor Cocchi; you had
not told me of his death, but I was prepared for it, and heard
it from Lord Huntingdon. I am still more obliged to you for
the trouble you have given yourself about King Richard. You
have convinced me of Crescimbeni's blunder as to Rome. For
Florence, I must intreat you to send me 'another copy, for
your copyist or his original have made undecipherable
mistakes; particularly in the last line; La Mere Louis is
impossible to be sense: I should wish, as I am to print it, to
have every letter of the whole sonnet more distinct and
certain than most of them are. I don't know how to repay you
for all the fatigue I give you. Mr. Fox's urns are arrived,
but not yet delivered from the Custom-house. You tell me no
more of Botta;(878) is he invisible in dignity, like
Richcourt; or sunk to nothing, like our Poor old friend the
Prince?(879) Here is a good epigram on the Prince de Soubize,
with which I must conclude, writing without any thing to tell
you, and merely to show you that I do by no means neglect you;

Soubize, apr`es ses grands exploits,
Peut b`atir un palais qui ne lui co`ute gu`ere;
Sa Femme lui fournit le bois,
Et chacun lui jette la pierre.

(877) The letter of Dec. 17th, which was lost.

(878) Marshal Botta, commander at Florence for the Emperor
Francis.

(879) The Prince de Craon, chief of the council, superseded by
the Comte de Richcourt.

416 Letter 257
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, March 21, 1758.

Between my letters of Nov. 20th and Jan. 11th, which you say
you have received, was one of Dec. 11th lost, I suppose in
the packet: what it contained, it is impossible for me to
recollect; but I conclude the very notices about the
expedition, the want of which troubled you so much. I have
nothing now to tell you of any moment; writing only to keep up
the chain of our 'correspondence, and to satisfy you that
there is nothing particular.

I forgot in my last to say a word of our East Indian hero,
Clive, and his victories; but we are growing accustomed to
success again! There is Hanover retaken!--if to have Hanover
again is to have success! We have no news but what is
military; Parliaments are grown idle things, or busy like
quarter-sessions. Mr. Pitt has been in the House of Commons
but twice this winter, yet we have some grumblings: a
Navy-bill of Mr. George Grenville, rejected last year by the
Lords, and passed again by us, has by Mr. Fox's underhand
management been made an affair by the Lords; yet it will pass.
An extension of the Habeas corpus, of forty times the
consequence, is impeded by the same dealings, and IS not
likely to have so prosperous an issue. Yet these things
scarce make a heat within doors, and scarce conversation
without.

Our new Archbishop(880) died yesterday; but the church loses
its head with as little noise as a question is now carried or
lost in Parliament.

Poor Sir Charles Williams is returned from Russia, having lost
his Senses upon the road. This is imputed to a lady at
Hamburgh, who gave him, or for whom he took some assistance to
his passion; but we hope he will soon recover.

The most particular thing I know is what happened the other
day: a frantic Earl of Ferrars(881) has for this twelvemonth
supplied conversation by attempting to murder his wife, a
pretty, harmless young woman, and every body that took her
part. having broken the peace, to which the House of Lords
tied him last year, the cause was trying again there on Friday
last. Instead of attending it, he went to the assizes at
Hertford to appear against a highwayman, one Page, of
extraordinary parts and escapes. The Earl had pulled out a
pistol, but trembled so that the robber turned, took it out of
his hand quietly, and said, "My lord, I know you always carry
more pistols about you; give me the rest." At the trial, Page
pleaded that my lord was excommunicated, consequently could
not give evidence, and got acquitted.(882)

There is just published Swift's History of the Four last Years
of Queen Anne: Pope and Lord Bolingbroke always told him it
would disgrace him, and persuaded him to burn it. Disgrace
him indeed it does, being a weak libel, ill-written for style,
uninformed, and adopting the most errant mob-stories.(883) He
makes the Duke of Marlborough a coward, Prince Eugene an
assassin, my father remarkable for nothing but impudence, and
would make my Lord Somers any thing but the most amiable
character in the world, if unfortunately he did not praise him
while he tries to abuse.

Trevor(884) of Durham is likely to go to Canterbury. Adieu!

(880) Archbishop Hutton. He was succeeded by Secker.

(881) Laurence Shirley, fourth Earl of Ferrars, who, in
January 1760, shot his land-steward, for which he was tried in
Westminster-hall, by his peers, in the following April, and
executed at Tyburn.-E.

(882) At the ensuing Rochester assizes he was tried for
robbing a Mr. Farrington, and executed.-E.

(883) Swift himself, in his Journal to Stella, calls it "his
grand business," and pronounced it "the best work he had ever
written."-E.

(884) Dr. Richard Trevor. This did not happen.

418 Letter 258
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, April 14, 1758.

As you was disappointed of any intelligence that might be in it
(I don't know what was), I am sorry my letter of December 14th
miscarried; but with regard to my commissions in Stosch's
collection, it did not signify, since they propose to sell it
in such great morsels. If they are forced to relent, and
separate it, what I wish to have, and had mentioned to you,
were, "his sculptured gems that have vases on them, of which he
had a large ring box:" the following modern medals, "Anglia
resurges," I think, of Julius III.; "the Capitol; the
Hugonotorum Strages; the Ganymede, a reverse of a Pope's medal,
by Michael Angelo; the first medal of Julius III.;" all these
were in silver, and very fine; then the little Florentine coin
in silver, with Jesus Rex noster on the reverse: he had,
besides, a fine collection of drawings after nudities and
prints in the same style, but you may believe I am not old
enough to give much for these. I am not very anxious about
any, consequently am not tempted to purchase wholesale.

Thank you for the second copy of King Richard; my book is
finished; I shall send it you by the first opportunity. I did
receive the bill of lading for Mr. Fox's wine; and my reason
for not telling you how he liked his vases was, because I did
not, nor do yet know, nor does he; they are at Holland House,
and will not be unpacked till he settles there: I own I have a
little more impatience about new things.

My letters will grow more interesting to you, I suppose, as the
summer opens: we have had no Winter campaign, I mean, no
parliamentary war. You have been much misinformed about the
King's health--and had he been ill, do you think that the
recovery of Hanover would not cure him? Yesterday the new
convention with the King of Prussia was laid before the houses,
and is to be considered next week: I have not yet read it, and
only know that he is to receive from us two millions in three
years, and to make no peace without us. I hope he will make
one for us before these three years are expired. A great camp
is forming in the Isle of Wight, reckoned the best spot for
defence or attack. I suppose both will be tried reciprocally;

Sir Charles Williams's disorder appears to have been
lightheadedness from a fever; he goes about again; but the
world, especially a world of enemies, never care to give up
their title to a man's madness, and will consequently not
believe that he is yet in his senses.(885)

Lord Bristol certainly goes to Spain; no successor is named for
Turin. You know how much I love a prescriptive situation for
you, and how I should fear a more eminent one--and yet you see
I notify Turin being open, if you should care to push for it.
It is not to recommend it to you that I tell you of it, but I
think it my duty as your friend not to take upon me to decide
for you without acquainting you.