Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2

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Lord Halifax's maxims I have already marked down, as I shall
Lord Dorset's share in Pompey.

The account of the Duke of Wharton's death I had from a very
good hand--Captain Willoughby; who, in the convent where the
duke died, saw a picture of him in the habit. If it was a
Bernardine convent, the Gentleman might confound them; but,
considering that there is no life of the duke but bookseller's
trash, it is much more likely that they mistook.

I have no doubts about Lord Belhaven's speeches; but unless I
could verify their being published by himself, it were contrary
to my rule to insert them.

If you look, Sir, into Lord Clarendon's account Of Montrose's
death, you will perceive that there is no probability of the
book of his actions being composed by himself.

I will consult Sir James Ware's book on Lord Totness's and I
will mention the Earl of Cork's Memoirs.

Lord Lessington is the Earl of Monmouth, in whose article I
have taken notice of his Romulus and Tarquin.

Lord Berkeley's book I have actually got, and shall give him an
article.

There is one more passage, Sir, in your letter, which I cannot
answer, without putting you to new trouble-a liberty which all
your indulgence cannot justify me in taking; else I would beg
to know on what authority you attribute to Laurence Earl of
Rochester(927) the famous preface to his father's history,
which I have always heard ascribed to Atterbury, Smallridge,
and Aldridge. The knowledge of this would be an additional
favour; it would be a much greater, Sir, if coming this way,
you would ever let me have the honour of seeing a gentleman to
whom I am so much obliged.

(920) The Rev. Henry Zouch was the elder brother of Dr. Thomas
Zouch, better known in the literary world. Henry principally
dedicated himself to the performance of his duties as a
clergyman, a country gentleman and a magistrate; in all which
characters he was highly exemplary. He published several works
connected with these avocations, particularly on the management
of prisons, and on other points of police. He had, also,
earlier days, been a poet; and these letters show that he was
well acquainted with the literary history and antiquities of
his country. Having lived in close intimacy and friendship
with Mr. Walpole's friend and correspondent, William Earl of
Strafford, it is probable that through him he became interested
in Mr. Walpole's pursuits, and disposed to contribute that
assistance towards the perfection of the "Catalogue of Royal
and Noble authors," which is so justly acknowledged by Mr.
Walpole. Mr. Zouch died at the family seat of sandall, in
Yorkshire, of which parish he was also vicar, in June, 1795;
leaving his friend and kinsman, the Earl of lonsdale, his
executor, by whose favour these letters are now given to the
public. The exact time of his birth is not ascertained; but as
he was an A. B. of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1746, he
probably was born about 1725.-C. [Mr. Walpole's Letters to the
Rev. Henry Zouch first appeared in the year 1805, edited by the
Right Honourable John Wilson Croker; to whose notes the initial
C. is affixed.]

(921) The "Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors," originally
published by Mr. Walpole in 1758. Mr. Zouch appears to have
commenced the correspondence on the occasion of this
publication. The author of the Catalogue received much of the
same kind of assistance as was given to him by Mr. Zouch; but
as editor, Mr. Park, says, "it would seem that Lord Orford was
more thankful for communications tendered, than desirous to let
the contents of them be seen."-C.

(922) It is probable that Mr. Zouch objected to Mr. Walpole's
assertion, that the illumination prefixed to a manuscript in
Lambeth library, of Earl Rivers's translation of "The Dictes
and Sayings of the Philosophers, by Jehan de Teonville,"
represented the Earl introducing Caxton to Edward IV. Mr.
Zouch seems to have very properly doubted whether Caxton would
wear the clerical habit, as the figure referred to in that
illumination does; and Mr. Walpole replies to that doubt. Upon
the same subject, Mr. Cole says, qu. how Lord Orford came to
know the kneeling figure in a clerical habit, was Caxton the
printer? He is certainly a priest, as is evident from his
tonsure, but I do not think that Caxton was in orders. I
should rather suppose that it was designed for Jehan de
Teonville, provost of Paris."-C.

(923) Mr. Walpole did make this promised statement in the
following note: "King Richard had long been dead; I suppose it
is only meant that Lord Cobham disclaimed obedience to the
house of Lancaster, who had usurped the throne of King Richard
and his right heirs."-C.

(924) He was married on the 15th of January, 1477-8, in the
fourth year of his age.-C.

(925) In a subsequent edition Mr. Walpole recites the title of
this letter, "Epistola exhortatoria missa ad Nobilitatem ac
Plebem universumque Populum Regni Scotiae," printed in 4to. at
London, 1548; and he adds, this might possibly be composed by
some dependant. We do not exactly see the grounds of Walpole's
assertion, that the Lord Protector Somerset "could not write
any thing like classic Latin;": although we admit that his
having been chancellor of Cambridge is not conclusive evidence
upon this subject; and that it is probable that the letter was
written by his secretary.-C.

(926) "The Art of Metals, in which is declared the manner of
their generation." Albara Alonzo Barba was curate of St.
Bernard's in Potosi. This work, which contains a great deal of
practical information on mining, has also been translated into
German and French. The English editions are very scarce, and a
republication might be desirable in this age of mining
adventure.-C.

(927) Second son of the great Lord Clarendon. Mr. Walpole
makes no mention of this preface, but Mr. Park seems to have
entertained the same idea as Mr. Zouch, as he says, "His
lordship merits honourable notice in the present work, as the
conceived author of a preface to the first edition of his noble
father's history, which abounds with dignified sentiment and
filial reverence."-C.

439 Letter 276
To The Rev. Henry Zouch.
Strawberry Hill, August 12, 1758.

Sir,
It were a disrespect to your order, of which I hope you think
me incapable, not to return an immediate answer to the favour
of your last, the engaging modesty of which would raise my
esteem if I had not felt it before for you. I certainly do not
retract my desire of being better acquainted with you, Sir,
from the knowledge you are pleased to give me of yourself.
Your profession is an introduction any where; but, before I
learned that, you will do me the justice to observe, that your
good sense and learning were to me sufficient recommendation;
and though, in the common intercourse of the world, rank and
birth have their proper distinctions, there is certainly no
occasion for them between men whose studies and inclinations
are the same. Indeed, I know nothing that gives me any
pretence to think any gentlemen my inferior. I am a very
private person myself, and if I have any thing to boast from my
birth, it is from the good understanding, not from the nobility
of my father. I must beg, therefore, that, in the future
correspondence, which I hope we shall have, you will neither
show me, nor think I expect, a respect to which I have no
manner of title, and which I wish not for, unless it would
enable me to be of service to gentlemen of merit, like
yourself. I will say no more on this head, but to repeat, that
if any occasion should draw you to this part of England, (as I
shall be sorry if it is ill health that has carried you from
home,) I flatter myself you will let me have the satisfaction
and, for the last time of using so formal a word, the honour of
seeing you.

In the mean time, you will oblige me by letting me know how I
can convey my Catalogue to you. I ought, I know, to stay till
I can send you a more correct edition; but, though the first
volume is far advanced, the second may profit by your remarks.
If you could send me the passage and the page in Vardus,
relating to the Earl of Totness, it would much oblige ne; for I
have only the English edition; and as I am going a little
journey for a week, cannot just now get the Latin.

You mention, Sir, Mr. Thoresby's museum: is it still preserved
entire?

I would fain ask you another question, very foreign to any
thing I have been saying, but from your searches into
antiquity, you may possibly, Sir, be able to explain what
nobody whom I have consulted hitherto can unravel. At the end
of the second part of the p. 105, in the folio edition, is a
letter from Henry VIII. to the Cardinal Cibo, dated from our
palace, Mindas, 10th July, 1527. In no map, topographical
account, or book of antiquity, can I possibly find such house
or place as Mindas.(928)

(928) See this corrected as a typographical mistake, post, p.
455.-C.

440 Letter 277
To Sir Horace Mann.
Strawberry Hill, Aug. 12, 1758.

It is not a thousand years since I wrote to you, is it?--nay,
if it is, blame the King of Prussia, who has been firing away
his time at Olmutz; blame Admiral Howe, who never said a word
of having taken Cherbourg till yesterday.--Taken Cherbourg!--
yes, he has--he landed within six miles of it on the 6th, saw
some force, who only stayed to run away; attacked a fort, a
magazine blew up, the Guards marched against a body of French,
who again made fools of them, pretending to stand, and then ran
away--and then, and then, why, then we took Cherbourg. We
pretended to destroy the works. and a basin that has just cost
two millions. We have not lost twenty men. The City of
London, I suppose, is drinking brave Admiral Howe's and brave
Cherbourg's health; but I miss all these festivities by going
into Warwickshire tomorrow to Lord Hertford. In short,
Cherbourg comes very opportunely: we had begun to grow peevish
at Louisbourg not being arrived, and there are some(929) people
at least as peevish that Prince de Soubize has again walked
into Hanover after having demolished the Hessians. Prince
Ferdinand, who a fortnight ago was as great a hero as if he had
been born in Thames Street, is kept in check by Monsieur de
Contades, and there are some little apprehensions that our
Blues, etc., will not be able to join him. Cherbourg will set
all to rights; the King of Prussia may fumble as much as he
pleases, and though the French should not be frightened out of
their senses at the loss of this town, we shall be fully
persuaded they are, and not a gallon less of punch will be
drunk from Westminster to Wapping.

I have received your two letters of July 1st and 7th, with the
prices of Stosch's medals, and the history of the new
pontificate. I will not meddle with the former, content with
and thanking you much for those you send me; and for the case
of liqueurs, which I don't intend to present myself with, but
to pay you for.

You must, I think, take up with this scrap of a letter;
consider it contains a conquest. If I wrote any longer, before
I could finish my letter, perhaps I should hear that our fleet
was come back again, and, though I should be glad they were
returned safely, it diminishes the lustre of a victory to have
a tame conclusion to it-without that, you are left at liberty
to indulge vision--Cherbourg is in France, Havre and St. Maloes
may catch the panic, Calais my be surprised, that may be
followed by a battle which we may gain; it is but a march of a
few days to Paris, the King flies to his good allies the Dutch
for safety, Prince Edward takes possession of the Bastile in
his brother's name, to whom the King, content with England and
Hanover--alas! I had forgot that he has just lost the
latter.-Good night!

Sunday morning.

Mr. Conway, who is just come in to carry me away, brings an
account of an important advantage gained by a detachment of six
battalions of Hanoverians, who have demolished fourteen of the
French, and thereby secured the magazines and a junction with
the English.

(929) The King.

441 Letter 278
To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, Aug. 20, 1758.

After some silence, one might take the opportunity of
Cherbourg(930) and Louisbourg(931) to revive a little
correspondence with popular topics; but I think you are no
violent politician, and I am full as little so; I will
therefore tell you of what I of course care more, and I am
willing to presume you do too; that is, myself. I have been
journeying much since I heard from you; first to the Vine,
where I was greatly pleased with the alterations; the garden is
quite beautified and the house dignified. We went over to the
Grange, that sweet house of my Lord Keeper's(932) that you saw
too. The pictures are very good, and I was particularly
pleased with the procession, which you were told was by Rubens,
but is certainly Vandyke's sketch for part of that great work,
that he was to have executed in the Banqueting-house. You did
not tell me of a very fine Holbein, a woman, who was evidently
some princess of the White Rose.

I am just now returned from Ragley, which has had a great deal
done to it since I was there last. Browne(933) has improved
both the ground and the water, though not quite to perfection.
This is the case of the house: where there are no striking
faults, but it wants a few Chute or Bentley touches. I have
recommended some dignifying of the saloon with Seymours and
Fitzroys, Henry the Eighths and Charles the Seconds. They will
correspond well to the proudest situation imaginable. I have
already dragged some ancestors out of the dust there, written
their names on their portraits; besides which, I have found and
brought up to have repaired an incomparable picture of Van
Helmont by Sir Peter Lely.--But now for recoveries---think what
I have in part recovered! Only the state papers, private
letters, etc., etc., of the two Lords Conway,(934) secretaries
of state. How you will rejoice and how you will grieve! They
seem to have laid up every scrap of paper they ever had. from
the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign to the middle of Charles
the Second's. By the accounts of the family there were whole
rooms full; all which, during the absence of the last and the
minority of the present lord, were by the ignorance of a
steward consigned to the oven and the uses of the house. What
remained, except one box that was kept till almost rotten in a
cupboard, were thrown loose into the lumber room; where, spread
on the pavement, they supported old marbles and screens and
boxes. From thence I have dragged all I could, and, have
literally, taking all together, brought away a chest near five
feet long, three wide, and two deep, brim full. Half are
bills, another part rotten, another gnawed by rats; yet I have
already found enough to repay my trouble and curiosity, not
enough to satisfy it. I will only tell you of three letters of
the great Strafford and three long ones of news of Mr. Gerrard,
master of the Charter-house; all six written on paper edged
with green, like modern French paper. There are handwritings
of every body, all their seals perfect, and the ribands with
which they tied their letters. The original proclamations of
Charles the First, signed by the privy council; a letter to
King James from his son-in-law of Bohemia, with his seal; and
many, very many letters of negotiation from the Earl of Bristol
in Spain, Sir Dudley Carleton, Lord Chichester, and Sir Thomas
Roe.--What say you? will not here be food for the press?

I have picked up a little painted glass too, and have got a
promise of some old statues, lately dug up, which formerly
adorned the cathedral of Litchfield. You see I continue to
labour in my vocation, of which I can give you a comical
instance:--I remembered a rose in painted glass in a little
village going to Ragley, which I remarked passing by five years
ago; told Mr. Conway on which hand it would b, and found it in
the very spot. I saw a very good and perfect tomb at Alcester
of Sir Fulke Greville's father and mother, and a wretched old
house with a very handsome gateway of stone at Colton,
belonging to Sir Robert Throckmorton. There is nothing else
tolerable but twenty-two coats of the matches of the family in
painted glass.--You cannot imagine how astonished a Mr.
Seward,(935) a learned clergyman, was, who came to Ragley while
I was there. Strolling about the house, he saw me first
sitting on the pavement of the lumber room with Louis, all over
cobwebs and dust and mortar; then found me in his own room on a
ladder writing on a picture; and half an hour afterwards lying
on the grass in the court with the dogs and the children, in my
slippers and without my hat. He had had some doubt whether I
was the painter or the factotum of the family; but you would
have died at his surprise when he saw me walk into dinner
dressed and sit by Lady Hertford. Lord Lyttelton was there,
and the conversation turned on literature: finding me not quite
ignorant added to the parson's wonder; but he could not contain
himself any longer, when after dinner he saw me go to romps and
jumping with the two boys; he broke out to my Lady Hertford,
and begged to know who and what sort of man I really was, for
he had never met with any thing of the kind. Adieu!

(930) About the middle of this month General Blighe had landed
with an army on the coast of France, near Cherbourg, destroyed
the basin, harbour, and forts of that place, and re-embarked
his troops without loss.

(931) Alluding to the surrender of Louisbourg and the whole
island of Cape Breton on the coast of North America to General
Amherst and Admiral Boscawen.

(932) Lord Keeper Henley, in 1761 made lord chancellor, and in
1764 created Lord Northington.-E.

(933) Capability Browne. See vol. ii. p. 112, letter 46.-E.

(934) Sir Edward Conway, secretary of state to James the First,
created Baron Conway in 1624; and Edward Conway, his grandson,
secretary of state in the reign of Charles the Second, 1679,
created Earl of Conway.-E.

(935) The Rev. Thomas Seward, canon residentiary of Lichfield,
and father of Ann Seward the poetess.-E.

443 Letter 279
To John Chute, Esq.(936)
Arlington Street, August 22, 1758.

By my ramble into Warwickshire I am so behindhand in politics,
that I don't know where to begin to tell you any news, and
which by this time would not be news to you. My table is
covered with gazettes, victories and defeats which have come in
such a lump, that I am not quite sure whether it is Prince
Ferdinand or Prince Boscawen that has taken Louisbourg, nor
whether it is the late Lord Howe or the present that is killed
at Cherbourg. I am returning to Strawberry, and shall make Mr.
M`untz's German and military sang-froid set the map in my head
to rights.

I saw my Lord Lyttelton and Miller at Ragley; the latter put me
out of all patience. As he has heard me talked of lately, he
thought it not below him to consult me on ornaments for my
lord's house. I, who know nothing but what I have purloined
from Mr. Bentley and you, and who have not forgotten how little
they tasted your real taste and charming plan, was rather
lost.--To my comfort, I have seen the plan of their hall; it is
stolen from Houghton, and mangled frightfully: and both their
eating-room and salon are to be stucco, with pictures.

I have not time or paper to give you a full account of' a vast
treasure that I have discovered at Lord Hertford's, and brought
away with me. If I were but so lucky as to be thirty years
older, i might have been much luckier. In short, I have got
the remains of vast quantities of letters and state papers of
the two Lords Conway, secretaries of state--forty times as many
have been using for the oven and the house, by sentence of a
steward during my lord's minority. Most of what I have got are
gnawed by rats, rotten, or not worth a straw: and yet I shall
save some volumes of what is very curious and valuable--three
letters of Mr. Gerrard, of the Charter-house, some of Lord
Strafford, and two of old Lennox, the Duchess, etc., etc. In
short, if I can but continue to live thirty years
extraordinary, in lieu of those I have missed, I shall be able
to give to the world some treasures from the press at
Strawberry. Do tell me a little of your motions, and good
night.

(936) Now first printed.

444 Letter 280
To Sir Horace Mann.
Strawberry Hill, Aug. 24, 1758.

You must go into laurels, you must go into mourning. our
expedition has taken Cherbourg shamefully--I mean the French
lost it shamefully--and then stood looking on while we
destroyed all their works, particularly a basin that had cost
vast sums. But, to balance their awkwardness with ours, it
proved to be an open place, which we might have taken when we
were before it a month ago. The fleet is now off Portland,
expecting orders for landing or proceeding. Prince Edward gave
the ladies a ball, and told them he was too young to know what
was good-breeding in France, he would therefore behave as he
should if meaning to please in England--and kissed them all.
Our next and greatest triumph is the taking of Cape Breton, the
account of which came on Friday. The French have not improved
like their wines by crossing the sea; but lost their spirit at
Louisbourg as much as on their own coast. The success,
especially, in the destruction of their fleet, is very great:
the triumphs not at all disproportioned to the conquest, of
which you will see all the particulars in the Gazette. Now for
the chapter of cypresses. The attempt on Crown-point has
failed; Lord Howe(937) was killed in a skirmish; and two days
afterwards by blunders, rashness, and bad intelligence, we
received a great blow at Ticonderoga. There is a Gazette, too,
with all the history of this. My hope is that Cape Breton may
buy us Minorca and a peace, I have great satisfaction in
Captain Hervey's gallantry; not only he is my friend, but I
have the greatest regard for and obligations to my Lady Hervey;
he is her favourite son and she is particularly happy.

Mr. Wills is arrived and has sent me the medals, for which I
give you a million of thanks; the scarce ones are not only
valuable for the curiosity of them, but for their preservation.
I laughed heartily at the Duke of Argyll, and am particularly
pleased with the Jesus Rex noster.(938)

Chevert, the best and most sensible of the French officers, has
been beat by a much smaller number under the command of Imhoff,
who, I am told, would be very stupid, if a German could be so.
I think they hope a little still for Hanover, from this
success. Of the King of Prussia--not a word.

My lady Bath has had a paralytic stroke, which drew her mouth
aside and took away her speech. I never heard a greater
instance of cool sense; she made sign for a pen and ink, and
wrote Palsy. They got immediate assistance, and she is
recovered.

As I wrote to you but a minute ago, I boldly conclude this
already. Adieu!

(937) General George Augustus, third Viscount Howe. He was
succeeded in the title by his brother Richard, the celebrated
admiral. Mr. George Grenville, in a letter to Mr. Pitt, of the
28th, pays the following tribute to his memory:-"I admired his
virtuous, gallant character, and lament his loss accordingly: I
cannot help thinking it peculiarly unfortunate for his country
and his friends, that he should fall in the first action of
this war, before his spirit and his example, and the success
and glory which, in all human probability, would have attended
them, had produced their full effect on our troops, and those
of the enemy." Chatham Correspondence, vol. i. p. 339.-E.

(938) Inscription on a silver coin of the republic of Florence,
who declared Jesus Christ their King, to prevent the usurpation
of Pope Clement VII.

445 Letter 281
To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Strawberry Hill, Sept. 2, 1758.

It is well I have got something to pay you for the best letter
that ever was! A vast victory, I own, does not entertain me so
much as a good letter; but you are bound to like any thing
military better than your own wit, and therefore I hope you
will think a defeat of the Russians a better bon-mot than any
you sent me. Should you think it clever if the King of Prussia
has beaten them? How much cleverer if he has taken three
lieutenant-generals and an hundred pieces of cannon? How much
cleverer still, if he has left fifteen thousand Muscovites dead
on the Spot?(939) Does the loss of only three thousand of his
own men take off from or sharpen the sting of this joke? In
short, all this is fact, as a courier arrived at Sion Hill this
morning affirms. The city, I suppose, expect that his Majesty
will now be"at leisure to step to Ticonderoga and repair our
mishaps.(940) But I shall talk no more politics; if this finds
you at Chatworth, as I suppose it will, you will be better
informed than from me.

lady Mary Coke arrived at Ragley between two and three in the
morning; how unlucky that I was not there to offer her part of
an aired bed! But how could you think of the proposal you have
made me? Am not I already in love with "the youngest,
handsomest, and wittiest widow in England?" As Herculean a
labourer as I am, as Tom Hervey says, I don't choose another.
I am still in the height of my impatience for the chest of old
papers from Ragley, which, either by the fault of their
servants, or of the wagoner, is not yet arrived. I shall go to
London again on Monday in quest of it; and in truth think so
much of it, that, when I first heard of the victory this
morning, I rejoiced, as we were likely now to recover the
Palatinate. Good night!