Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2

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(67) Sir Hugh Smithson.

(68) The Duke of Somerset was eventually created Earl of
Northumberland with remainder to Sir Hugh Smithson, and Earl of
Egremont with remainder to Sir Charles Wyndham.-D.

40 Letter 11
To Sir Horace Mann.
Strawberry Hill, Aug. 17, 1749.

I hear of nothing but your obliging civilities to the
Barrets:(69) I don't wonder you are attentive to please; my
amazement is, when I find it well distributed: you have all
your life been making Florence agreeable to every body that
came there, who have almost all forgot it--or worse. But Mr.
and Mrs. Barret do you justice, and as they are very sensible
and agreeable, I am persuaded you will always find that they
know how to esteem such goodness as yours. Mr. Chute has, this
morning received here a letter from Mr. ]Barret, and will
answer it very soon. Mr. Montagu is here too, and happy to
hear he is so -well, and recommends several compliments to your
conveyance.

Your brother mentions your being prevented writing to me, by
the toothache: I hate you should have any pain.

You always let us draw upon you for such weight of civilities
to any body we recommend, that if I did not desire to show my
attention, and the regard I have for Count LorenZi,(70) yet it
would be burning ingratitude not to repay you. I have
accordingly been trying to be very civil to the Chevalier; I
did see him Once at Florence. To-morrow I am to fetch him
hither to dinner, from Putney, where the Mirepoix's have got a
house. I gave Madame her father's simple\ letter, of which she
took no more notice than it deserved; but Prince Beauvau(71) has
written her a very particular one about me, and
is to come over himself in the winter to make me a visit: this
has warmed their politesse. I should have known the
Ambassadress any where by the likeness to her family. He is
cold and stately, and not much tasted here. She is very
sensible; but neither of them satisfy me in one point; I wanted
to see something that was the quintessence of the newest bon
ton, that had the last bel air, and spoke the freshest jargon.
These people have scarce ever lived at Paris, are reasonable,
and little amusing with follies. They have brought a cousin
of' his, a Monsieur de Levi, who has a tantino of what I wanted
to see. You know they pique themselves much upon their Jewish
name, and call cousins with the Virgin Mary. They have a
picture in the family, where she is made to say to the founder
of the house, "Couvrez vous, Mon cousin." He replies, "Non
pas, ma tr`es sainte cousine, je scai trop bien le respect que
je vous dois."(72)

There is nothing like news: Kensington Palace was like to have
made an article the other night; it was on fire: my Lady
Yarmouth has an ague, and is forced to keep a constant fire in
her room against the damps. When my Lady Suffolk lived in that
apartment, the floor produced a constant crop of mushrooms.
Though there are so many vacant chambers, the King hoards all
he can, and has locked up half the palace since the queen's
death: so he does at St. James's, and I believe would put the
rooms out on interest, if he could get a closet a year for
them! Somebody told my Lady Yarmouth they wondered she could
live in that unwholesome apartment, when there are so many
other rooms: she replied, "Mais pas pour moy."

The scagliola tables are arrived, and only one has suffered a
little on the edge: the pattern is perfectly pretty. It would
oblige me much if you could make the Friar make a couple more
for me, and with a little more expedition.

Don't be so humble about your pedigree: there is not a pipe of
good blood in the kingdom but we will tap for you: Mr. Chute
has it now in painting; and you may depend on having it with
the most satisfactory proofs, as soon as it can possibly be
finished. He has taken great pains, and fathomed half the
genealogies in England for you.

You have been extremely misinformed about my father's writing
his own history: I often pressed it, but he never once threw a
thought that way. He neither loved reading nor writing; and at
last, the only time he had leisure, was not well enough. He
used to say, "that but few men should ever be ministers, for it
let them see too much of the badness of mankind." Your story,
I imagine, was inoculated on this speech. Adieu!

(69) Thomas Barrett-Lennard, afterwards Lord Dacre of the
South, and his wife, Anne, daughter of Lord Chief Justice
Pratt, afterwards Lord Camden.

(70) The French minister at Florence.

(71) The brother of Madame de Mirepoix, afterwards a marshal of
France.-D.

(72) There is said to have been another equally absurd picture
in the same family, in which Noah is represented going into the
ark, carrying under his arm a small trunk, on which was written
"Papiers de la maison de Levis."-D.

42 Letter 12
To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, August 26, 1749.

Dear George,
I flatter myself that you are quite recovered of your disorder,
and that your sisters will not look with an evil eye on
Strawberry Hill. Mr. Chute and I are returned from our
expedition miraculously well, considering all our distresses.
If you love good roads, conveniences, good inns, plenty of
postilions and horses, be so kind as never to go into Sussex.
We thought ourselves in the northest part of England; the whole
country has a Saxon air, and the inhabitants are savage, as if
King George the Second had been the first monarch of the East
Angles. Coaches grow there no more than balm and spices; we
were forced to drop our postchaise, that resembled nothing so
much as harlequin's calash, which was occasionally a chaise or
a baker's cart. We journeyed over Alpine mountains, drenched
in clouds, and thought of harlequin again, when he was driving
the chariot of the sun through the morning clouds, and so was
glad to hear the aqua vitae man crying a dram. At last we got
to Arundel Castle, which was visibly built for defence in an
impracticable country. It is now only a heap of ruins, with a
new indifferent apartment clapt up for the Norfolks, when they
reside there for a week or a fortnight. Their priest showed us
about. There are the walls of a round tower where the garrison
held out against Cromwell; he planted a battery on the top of
the church, and reduced them. There is a gloomy gateway and
dunccons, in one of which I conclude is kept the old woman who,
in the time of the late rebellion, offered to show Lord Robert
Sutton(73) where arms were hidden at Worksop.(74) The Duchess
complimented him into dining before his search, and in the mean
time the woman was spirited away, and adieu the arms. There
are fine monuments of the old Fitzalans, Earls of Arundel, in
the church. Mr. Chute, whom I have created Strawberry king at
arms, has had brave sport a la chasse aux armes.

We are charmed with the magnificence of the park at
Petworth,(75) which is Percy to the backbone; but the house and
garden did not please our antiquarian spirit. The house is
entirely new-fronted in the style of the Tu'lleries, and
furnished exactly like Hampton Court. There is one room
gloriously flounced all round whole-length pictures, with much
the finest carving of Gibbins that ever my eyes beheld. There
are birds absolutely feathered; and two antique vases with bas
relieves, as perfect and beautiful as if they were carved by a
Grecian master. There is a noble Claude Lorrain, a very
curious Picture of the haughty Anne Stanhope, the Protector's
wife,(76) pretty
but not giving one an idea of her character, and many old
portraits; but the housekeeper was at London, and we did not
learn half. The chapel is grand and proper. At the inn we
entertained ourselves with the landlord, whom my Lord Harvey
had cabineted when he went to woo one of the Lady Seymours.

Our greatest pleasure was in seeing Cowdry, which is repairing;
Lord Montacute(77) will at last live in it. We thought of old
Margaret of Clarence, who lived there; one of her accusations
was built on the bulls found there. It was the palace of her
great uncle, the Marquis of Montacute. I was charmed with the
front, and the court, and the fountain; but the room called
Holbein's, except the curiosity of it, is wretchedly painted,
and infinitely inferior to those delightful stories of Harry
the Eighth in the private apartment at Windsor. I was much
pleased with a whole length picture of Sir Anthony Brown in the
very dress in which he wedded Anne of Cleves by proxy. He is
in blue and white, only his right leg is entirely white, which
was certainly robed for the act of putting into bed to her; but
when the King came to marry her, he only put his leg into bed
to kick her out of it.

I have set up my staff, and finished my pilgrimages for this
year. Sussex is a great damper of curiosity. Adieu! my
compliments to your sisters.

(73) lord Robert Sutton, third son of the Duke of rutland.

(74) A seat of the Duke of Norfolk in Nottinghamshire.

(75) A seat of Sir Charles Wyndham, who succeeded to the title
of Earl of Egremont on the death of his uncle Algernon, Duke of
Somerset.

(76) Second wife of Edward, Duke of Somerset, Protector in the
reign of his nephew, Edward VI.-E.

(77) Anthony, the sixth Viscount Montagu, descended from
Anthony Brown, created Viscount Montagu in 1554, being
descended from John Neville, Marquis of Montagu.

43 Letter 13
To Sir Horace Mann.
Strawberry Hill, Sept. 12, 1749,

I have your two letters to answer of August 15th and 26, and,
as far as I see before me, have a great deal of paper, which I
don't know how to fill. The town is notoriously empty; at
Kensington they have scarce company enough to pay for lighting
the candles. The Duke has been for a week with the Duke of
Bedford at Woburn; Princess Emily remains, saying civil things;
for example, the second time she saw Madame de Mircpoix, she
cried out, "Ah! Madame, vous n'avez pas tant de rouge
aujourd'hui: la premi`ere fois que vous `etes `a not venue ici,
vous aviez une quantit`e horrible." This the Mirepoix herself
repeated to me; you may imagine her astonishment,--I mean, as
far as your duty will give you leave. I like her extremely;
she has a great deal of quiet sense. They try much to be
English and whip into frocks without measure, and fancy they
are doing the fashion. Then she has heard so much of that
villanous custom of giving money to the servants of other
people, that there is no convincing her that women of fashion
never give; she distributes with both hands. The Chevalier
Lorenzi has dined with me here: I gave him venison, and, as he
was determined to like it, he protested it was "as good as
beef." You will be delighted with what happened to him: he was
impatient to make his brother's compliments to Mr. Chute, and
hearing somebody at Kensington call Mr. Schutz, he easily mistook
the sound, and went up to him, and asked him if he had not been
at Florence! Schutz with the utmost Hanoverian gravity, replied,
"Oui, oui, J'ai `et`e `a Florence, oui, oui:--mais o`u est-il,
ce Florence?"

The Richcourts(78) are arrived, and have brought with them a
strapping lad of your Count; sure, is it the boy my Lady O.
used to bring up by hand? he is pretty picking for her now.
The woman is handsome, but clumsy to a degree, and as much too
masculine as her lover Rice is too little so. Sir Charles
Williams too is arrived, and tells me how much he has heard in
your praise in Germany. Villettes is here, but I have had no
dealings with him. I think I talk nothing but foreign
ministers to-day, as if I were just landed from the Diet of
Ratisbon. But I shall have done on this chapter, and I think
on all others, for you say such extravagant things of my
letters, which are nothing but Gossiping gazettes, that I
cannot bear it. Then you have undone yourself with me, for you
compare them to Madame Sevign`e,'s; absolute treason! Do you
know, there is scarce a book in the world I love so much as her
letters?

How infinitely humane you are about Gibberne! Shall I amuse
you with the truth of that history, which I have discovered?
The woman, his mother, has pressed his coming for a very
private reason--only to make him one of the most considerable
men in this country!-and by what wonderful means do you think
this mighty business is to be effected? only by the beauties of
his person! As I remember, he was as little like an Adonis as
could be: you must keep this inviolably; but depend upon the
truth of it-I mean, that his mother really has this idea. She
showed his picture to--why, to the Duchess of Cleveland, to the
Duchess of Portsmouth, to Madame Pompadour; in short, to one of
them, I don't know which, I only know it was not to my Lady
Suffolk, the King's former mistress. "Mon Dieu! Madame, est-il
frai que fotrc fils est si sholi que ce bortrait? il faut que
je le garte; je feux apsolument l'afoir." The woman protested
nothing ever was so handsome as her lad, and that the nasty
picture did not do him half justice. In short, she flatters
herself that the Countess(79) will do him whole justice-. I
don't think it impossible but, out of charity, she may make him
groom of the chambers. I don't know, indeed, how the article
of beauty may answer; but if you should lose your Gibberne, it
is good to have @ a friend at court.

Lord Granby is going to be married to the eldest of the Lady
Seymours; she has above a hundred and thirty thousand pounds.
The Duke of Rutland will take none of it, but gives at present
six thousand a-year.

That I may keep my promise to myself of having nothing to tell
you I shall bid you good night; but I really do know no more.
Don't whisper my anecdote even to Gibberne, if he is not yet
set out; nor to the Barrets. I wish you a merry, merry baths
of Pisa, as the link-boys say at Vauxhall. Adieu!

(78) Count Richcourt, brother of the minister at Florence, and
envoy from the Emperor; his wife was a Piedmontese.

(79) Lady Yarmouth.

45 Letter 14
To John Chute, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, Sept. 22, 1749.

My dear sir,
I expect Sir Charles Williams to scold me excessively. He
wrote me a letter, in which he desired that I would send you
word by last Post, that he expected to meet you here by
Michaelmas, according to your promise. I was unfortunately at
London; the letter was directed hither from Lord Ilchester's,
where he is; and so I did not receive it till this morning. I
/hope, however, this will be time enough to put you in mind of
your appointment; but while I am so much afraid of Sir
Charles's anger, I seem to forget the pleasure I shall have in
seeing you myself; I hope you know that: but he is still The
more pressing, as he will stay so little time in England.
Adieu!

45 Letter 15
To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, Sept. 28, 1749.

I am much obliged to you, dear sir, and agree with your opinion
about the painting of Prince Edward, that it cannot be original
and authentic, and consequently not worth copying. Lord
Cholmondeley is, indeed, an original; but who are the wise
people that build for him? Sir Philip Harvey seems to be the
only person likely to be benefited by this new extravagance. I
have just seen a collection of tombs like those you describe--
the house of Russel robed in alabaster and painted. There are
seven monuments in all; one is immense, in marble, cherubim'd
and seraphim'd, crusted with bas-reliefs and titles, for the
first Duke of Bedford and his Duchess.(80) All these are in a
chapel of the church at Cheneys, the seat of the first Earls.
There are but piteous fragments of the house remaining, now a
farm, built round three sides of a court. It is dropping down,
in several places without a roof, but in half the windows are
beautiful arms in painted glass. As these are so totally
neglected, I propose making a push, and begging them of the
Duke of Bedford. They would be magnificent for
Strawberry-castle. Did I tell you that I have found a text in
Deuteronomy to authorize my future battlements? "When thou
buildest a new house, then shalt thou make a battlement for thy
roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any man fall
from thence."

I saw Cheneys at a visit I have been making to Harry Conway at
Latimers. This house, which they have hired, is large, and
bad, and old, but of a bad age; finely situated on a hill in a
beech wood, with a river at the bottom, and a range of hills
and woods on the opposite side belonging to the Duke of
Bedford. They are fond of it; the view is melancholy. In the
church at Cheneys Mr. Conway put on an old helmet we found
there: you cannot imagine how it suited him, how antique and
handsome he looked; you would have taken him for Rinaldo. Now
I have dipped you so deep in heraldry and genealogies, I shall
beg you to step into the church of Stoke; I know it is not
asking you to do, a disagreeable thing to call there; I want an
account of the tomb of the first Earl of Huntingdon, an
ancestor of mine, who lies there. I asked Gray, but he could
tell me little about it. You know how out of humour Gray has
been about our diverting ourselves with pedigrees, which is at
least as wise as making a serious point of haranguing against
the study. I believe neither Mr. Chute nor I ever contracted a
moment's vanity from any of our discoveries,
or ever preferred them to any thing but brag and whist. Well,
Gray has set himself to compute, and has found out that there
must go a million of ancestors in twenty generations to every
body's composition.

I dig and plant till it is dark; all my works are revived and
proceeding. When will you come and assist? You know I have an
absolute promise, and shall now every day expect you. My
compliments to your sisters.

(80) Anne, daughter of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset.

46 Letter 16
To Sir Horace Mann.
Strawberry Hill, October 27, 1749.

You never was more conveniently in fault in your life: I have
been going to make you excuses these ten days for not writing;
and while I was inventing them, your humble letter of Oct. 10th
arrives. I am so glad to find it is you that are to blame, not
I. Well, well, I am all good nature, I forgive you; I can
overlook such little negligences.

Mr. Chute is indefatigable in your service, but Anstis(81) has
been very troublesome; he makes as many difficulties in signing
a certificate about folks that are dead as if they were
claiming an estate. I am sorry you are so pressed, for poor
Mr. Chute is taken off from this pursuit: he was fetched from
hence this day se'nnight to his infernal brother's, where a
Mrs. Mildmay, whom you must have heard him mention, is dead
suddenly: this may turn out a very great misfortune to our
friend.

Your friend, Mr. Doddington, has not quite stuck to the letter
of the declaration he sent you: he is first minister at
Carlton-house, and is to lead the Opposition; but the misfortune
is, nobody will be led by him. That whole court is in disorder
by this event: every body else laughs.

I am glad the Barrets please you, and that I have pleased Count
Lorenzi. I must tell a speech of the Chevalier, which you will
reconnoitre for Florentine; one would think he had seen no more
of the world than his brother.(82) He was visiting Lady
Yarmouth with Mirepoix: he drew a person into a window, and
whispered him; Dites moi un peu en ami, je vous en prie; qu'est
ce que c'est que Miledi Yarmouth."--"Eh! bien, vous ne savez
pas?"--"Non, ma foi: nous savons ce que c'est que Miledi
Middlesex.,"

Gibberne is arrived. I don't tell you this apropos to the
foregoing paragraph: he has wanted to come hither, but I have
waived his visit till I am in town.

I announce to you the old absurd Countess--not of Orford, but
Pomfret. Bistino will have enough to do: there is Lady
Juliana,(83) who is very like, but not so handsome as Lady
Granville; 'and Lady Granville's little child. They are
actually in France; I don't doubt but you will have them. I
shall pity you under a second edition of her follies. Adieu!
Pray ask my pardon for my writing you so short a letter.

(81) Garter King at Arms. (It was to him Lord Chesterfield
said, "You foolish man, you do not know your own foolish
business."-D.)

(82) Who had never been out of Tuscany.

(83) In 1751 married to Thomas Penn, Esq. of Stoke Pogies. See
ant`e, p. 13, letter 1.-E.

47 Letter 17
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Nov. 17, 1749.

At last I have seen le beau Gibberne: I was extremely glad to
see him, after I had done contemplating his person, which
surely was never designed to figure in a romance. I never saw
a creature so grateful! It is impossible not to be touched
with the attachment he has for you. He talks of returning;
and, indeed, I would advise it for his sake: he is quite
spoiled for living in England, and had entirely forgot what
Visigoths his countrymen are. But I must drop him to thank you
for the charming intaglio which you have stolen for me by his
means: it is admired as much as it deserves; but with me it has
all the additional merit of coming from you. Gibberne says you
will be frightened at a lamentable history(84 that you will
read of me in the newspapers; but pray don't be frightened:
-the danger, great as it was, was over before I had any notion
of it; and the hurt did not deserve mentioning. The relation
is so near the truth, that I need not repeat it; and, indeed,
the frequent repetition has 'Been much worse than the robbery.
I have at last been relieved by the riots(85) at the new French
theatre, and by Lord Coke's lawsuit.(86) The first has been
opened twice; the latter to-day. The young men of fashion, who
espouse the French players, have hitherto triumphed: the old
ladies, who countenance Lady Mary Coke, are likely to have their
gray beards brought with sorrow to the grave. It will ,be a new
aera, (or, as my Lord Baltimore calls it, a new area,) in
English history, to have the mob and the Scotch beat out of two
points that they have endeavoured to make national. I dare say
the Chevalier Lorenzi will write ample accounts to Florence of
these and all our English phenomena. I think, if possible, we
brutalize more and more: the only difference is, that though
every thing is anarchy, there seems to be less general party
than ever. The humours abound, but there wants some notable
physician to bring them to a head.

The Parliament met yesterday: we had opposition, but no
division on the address.

Now the Barrets have left you, Mr. Chute and I will venture to
open our minds to you a little; that is, to comfort you for the
loss of your friends - we will abuse them--that is enough in
the way of the world. Mr. Chute had no kind of acquaintance
with Mr. Barret till just before he set out: I, who have known
him all my life, must tell you that all those nerves are
imaginary, and that as long as there are distempers in the
world, he will have one or two constantly upon his list. I
don't know her; I never heard much of her understanding, but I
had rather take your opinion; or at least, if I am not
absolutely so complaisant, I will believe that you was
determined to like them on Mr. Chute's account. I would not
speak so plainly to you (and have not I been very severe?) if I
were not sure that your good nature would not relax any offices
of friendship to them. You will scold me black and blue; but
you know I always tell you when the goodness of your heart
makes you borrow a little from that of other people to lend to
their heads. Good night!

(84) Mr. Walpole had been robbed the week before in Hyde Park,
and narrowly escaped being killed by the accidental going off
of the highwayman's pistol, which did stun him, and took off
the skin of his cheekbone.

(85) The mob was determined not to suffer French Players; and
Lord Trentham's engaging in their defence was made great use,
of against him at the ensuing election for Westminster; where
he was to be rechosen, on being appointed a lord of the
admiralty.

(86) Lady Mary Coke swore the peace against her husband.

48 letter 18
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Jan. 10, 1750.

I don't at all know what to say to you, for not having writ to
you since the middle of November: I only know that nothing has
happened, and so I have omitted telling you nothing. I have
had two from you in the interim, one of Nov. @8th, and one
without a date, in which you are extremely kind about my
robbery, of which in my last I assured you there were no
consequences: thank you a thousand times for having felt so
much on my account. Gibberne has been with me again to-day, as
his mother was a fortnight ago: she talked me to death, and three
times after telling me her whole history, she said, "Well then,
Sir, upon the whole," and began it all again. Upon the whole, I
think she has a mind to keep her son in England; (-ind he has a
mind to be kept, though in my opinion he is very unfit for living
in England--he is too polished! For trade, she says, he is in a
cold sweat if she mentions it; and so they propose, by the
acquaintance, he says,. his mother has among the quality, to get
him that nothing called something. I assured them, you had too
much friendship for him to desire his return, if it would be a
prejudice to his interest--did not I say right? He seems a
good creature; too good to make his way here.