Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2

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516 Letter 339
To Sir Horace Mann.
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 19, 1759.

I had no occasion to be in such a hurry to prepare your
ambassadorial countenance; if I had stayed but one day more, I
might have left its muscles to behave as they pleased. The
notification of a probable disappointment at Quebec came only
to heighten the pleasure of the conquest. You may now give
yourself what airs you please, you are master of East and West
Indies. An ambassador is the only man in the world whom
bullying becomes: I beg your pardon, but you are spies, if you
are not bragadochios. All precedents are on your side:
Persians, Greeks, Romans, always insulted their neighbours when
they conquered Quebec. Think how pert the French would have
been on such an occasion, and remember that they are Austrians
to whom you are to be saucy. You see, I write as if my name
was Belleisle and yours Contades.

It was a very singular affair, the generals on both sides
slain, and on both sides the second in command wounded; in
short, very near what battles should be, in which only the
principals ought to suffer. If their army has not ammunition
and spirit enough to fall again upon ours before Amherst comes
up, all North America is ours!

Poetic justice could not have been executed with more rigour
than it has been on the perjury, treachery, and usurpations of
the French. I hope Mr.-Pitt will not leave them at the next
treaty an opportunity of committing so many national crimes
again. How they or we can make a peace, I don't see; can we
give all back, or they give all up? No, they must come hither;
they have nothing left for @it but to conquer us.

Don't think it is from forgetting to tell you particulars, that
I tell you none; I am here, and don't know one but what you
will see in the Gazette, and by which it appears that the
victory was owing to the impracticability, as the French
thought, and to desperate resolution on our side. What a
scene! an army in the night dragging itself up a precipice by
stumps of trees to assault a town and attack an army strongly
entrenched and double in numbers!

Adieu ! I think I shall not write to you again this
twelvemonth; for, like Alexander, we have no more worlds left
to conquer.

P. S. Monsieur Thurot is said to be sailed with his tiny
squadron --but can the lords of America be afraid of half a
dozen canoes ? Mr. Chute is sitting by me, and says, nobody is
more obliged to Mr. Pitt than you are: he has raised you from a
very comfortable situation to hold your head above the Capitol.

517 Letter 340
To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 21, 1759.

Your pictures shall be sent as soon as any of us go to London,
but I think that will not be till the Parliament meets. Can we
easily leave the remains of such a year as this? It is still
all gold. I have not dined or gone to bed by a fire till the
day before yesterday. Instead of the glorious and
ever-memorable year 1759, as the newspapers call it, I call it
this ever-warm and victorious year. We have not had more
conquest than fine weather: one would think we had plundered
East and West Indies of sunshine. Our bells are worn
threadbare with ringing for victories. I believe it will
require ten votes of the House of Commons before the people
will believe it is the Duke of Newcastle that has done this,
and not Mr. Pitt. One thing is very fatiguing--all the world
is made knights or generals. Adieu I don't know a word of news
less than the conquest of America. Adieu! yours ever.

P ' S. You shall hear from me again if we take Mexico or China
before Christmas.

P. S. I had sealed my letter, but break it open again,
having forgot to tell you that Mr. Cowslade has the pictures of
Lord and Lady Cutts, and is willing to sell them.

518 Letter 341
To The Earl Of Strafford.
Strawberry Hill, October 30th, 1759.

My dear lord,
It would be very extraordinary indeed if I was not glad to see
one Whose friendship does me so much honour as your lordship's,
and who always expresses so much kindness to me. I have an
additional reason for thanking you now, when you are creating a
building after the design of the Strawberry committee. It will
look, I fear, very selfish if I pay it a visit next year; and
yet it answers so many selfish purposes that I certainly shall.

My ignorance of all the circumstances relating to Quebec is
prodigious; I have contented myself with the rays of' glory
that reached hither, without going to London to bask in them.
I have not even seen the conqueror's mother(1075) though I hear
she has covered herself with more laurel-leaves than were
heaped on the children of the wood.

Seriously it is very great; and as I am too inconsiderable to
envy Mr. Pitt, I give him all the honour he deserves.

I passed all the last week at Park-place, where one of the
bravest men in the world, who is not permitted to contribute to
our conquests, was indulged in being the happiest by being with
one of the most deserving women--for Campbell-goodness no more
wears out than Campbell-beauty--all their good qualities are
huckaback.(1076) YOU See the Duchess(1077) has imbibed so much
of' their durableness, that she is good-humoured enough to dine
at a tavern at seventy-six.

Sir William Stanhope wrote to Mrs. Ellis,(1078) that he had
pleased himself, having seen much of Mr. Nugent and Lady
Berkeley this summer, and having been so charmed with the
felicity of their menage, that he could not resist marrying
again. His daughter replied, that it had always been her
opinion, that people should please themselves, and that she was
glad he had; but as to taking the precedent of Lady Berkeley,
she hoped it would answer in nothing but in my Lady Stanhope
having three children the first year. You see, my lord, Mrs.
Ellis has bottled up her words(1079) till they sparkle at last!

I long to have your approbation of my Holbein-chamber; it has a
comely sobriety that I think answers very well to the tone it
should have. My new printing-house is finished, in order to
pull down the old one, and lay the foundations next summer of
my round tower. Then follows the gallery and chapel-cabinet.
I hear your lordship has tapped your magnificent front too.
Well, when all your magnificences and minimificences are
finished, then, we--won't sit down and drink, as Pyrrhus
said,--no, I trust we shall never conclude our plans so
filthily: then--I fear we shall begin others. Indeed, I don't
know what the Countess may do: if she imitates her mother, she
will go to a tavern at fourscore, and then she and Pyrrhus may
take a bottle together---I hope she will live to try at least
whether she likes it. -Adieu, both!

(1075) Lady Townshend. On the death of General Wolfe, Colonel
Townshend received the surrender.

(1076) Lady Ailesbury and Lady Strafford, both preserved their
beauty so long, that Mr. Walpole called them huck(iback
beauties, that never wear out.

(1077) The Duchess of Argyle, widow of John Campbell, Duke of
Argyle, and mother to Lady Strafford.

(1078) His daughter.

(1079) She was very silent.

519 Letter 342
To The Right Hon. Lady Hervey.
Saturday, Nov. 3d, 1759.

Poor Robins' Almanack. Thick fogs, and some wet. Go not out of
town. Gouts and rheumatisms are abroad. Warm clothes, good
fires, and a room full of pictures, glasses, and scarlet damask
are the best physic.

In short, for fear your ladyship should think of Strawberry on
Saturday, I can't help telling you that I am to breakfast at
Petersham that day with Mr. Fox and Lady Caroline, Lord and
Lady Waldegrave. How did you like the farce? George Selwyn
says he wants to see High Life below Stairs (1080) as he is
weary of low life above stairs.

(1080) This popular' farce was written by the Rev. James
Townley, high master of Merchant Tailors' School . Dr, Johnson
said of it, "Here is a farce which is really very diverting
when you see it acted, and yet one may read it and not know
that one has been reading any thing at all;" and of the actors,
Goldsmith tells us, that "Mr. Palmer and Mr. King were entirely
what they desired to represent; and Mrs. Clive (but what need I
talk of her, since without exaggeration she has more true
humour than any actor or actress, upon the English or any other
stage, I have seen), she, I say, did the part all the justice
it was capable of." In England it was very successful; but in
Edinburgh the gentlemen of the party-coloured livery raised
violent riots in the theatre whenever it was performed.-E.

519 Letter 343
To George Montagu, Esq.
Arlington Street, Nov. 8, 1759.

Your pictures will set out on Saturday; I give you notice that
you may inquire for them. I did not intend to be here these
three days, but my Lord Bath taking the trouble to send a man
and horse to ask me to dinner yesterday, I did not know how to
refuse; and, besides, as Mr. Bentley said to me, "you know he
was an old friend of your father."

The town is empty, but is coming to dress itself for Saturday.
My Lady Coventry showed George Selwyn her clothes; they are
blue, with spots of silver, of the size of a shilling, and a
silver trimming, and cost--my lord will know what. She asked
George how he liked them; he replied, "Why, you will be change
for a guinea."

I find nothing talked of but the French bankruptcy;(1081) Sir
Robert Brown, I hear--and am glad to hear--will be a great
sufferer. They put gravely into the article of bankrupts in
the newspapers, "Louis le Petit, of the city of Paris,
peace-breaker, dealer, and chapman;" it would have been still
better if they had said, "Louis Bourbon of petty France." We
don't know what is become of their Monsieur Thurot,(1082) of
whom we had still a little mind to be afraid. I should think
he would do like Sir Thomas Hanmer, make a faint effort, beg
pardon of the Scotch for their disappointment, and retire.
Here are some pretty verses just arrived.

Pourquoi le baton `a Soubise,
Puisque Chevert est le vainqueur?
C'est de la cour une m`eprise,
Ou bien le but de la faveur.

Je ne vois rien l`a qui m'`etonne,
Repond aussitot un railleur;
C'est `a l'aveugle qu'on le donne,
Et non pas au COnducteur.

Lady Meadows has left nine thousand pounds in reversion after
her husband to Lord Sandwich's daughter. Apropos to my Lady
Meadow's maiden name,(1083) a name I believe you have sometimes
heard: I was diverted t'other day with a story of a lady of
that name,(1084) and a lord, whose initial is no farther from
hers than he himself is sometimes supposed to be. Her
postillion, a lad of sixteen, said, "I am not such a child but
I can guess something: whenever my Lord Lyttelton comes to my
lady, she orders the porter to let in nobody else, and then
they call for a pen and ink, and say they are going to Write
history." Is not this finesse so like him? 'Do you know that I
am persuaded, now he is parted, that he will forget- he is
married, and propose himself in form to some woman or other.

When do you come? if it is not soon, you will find a new town.
I stared to-day at Piccadilly like a country squire; there are
twenty new stone houses; at first I concluded that all the
grooms, that used to live there, had got estates to build
palaces. One young gentleman, who was getting an estate, but
was so indiscreet as to step out of his way to rob a comrade,
is convicted, and to be transported; in short, one of the
waiters at Arthur's. George Selwyn says, "What a horrid idea
he will give of us to the people
in Newgate!"

I was still more surprised t'other day, than at seeing
Piccadilly, by receiving a letter from the north of Ireland
from a clergyman, with violent encomiums on my Catalogue of
Noble Authors--and this when I thought it quite forgot. It put
me in mind of the queen that sunk at Charing-cross and rose at
Queenhithe.

Mr. Chute has got his commission to inquire about your Cutts,
but he thinks the lady is not your grandmother. You are very
ungenerous to hoard tales from me of your ancestry: what
relation have I spared? If your grandfathers were knaves, will
your bottling up their bad blood amend it? Do you only take a
cup of it now and then by yourself, and then come down to your
parson, and boast of it, as if it was pure old metheglin? I
sat last night with the Mater Gracchorum--oh! 'tis a mater
Jagorum; if her descendants taste any of her black blood, they
surely will make as wry faces at it as the servant in Don John
does when the ghost decants a corpse. Good night! I am just
returning to Strawberry, to husband my two last days and to
avoid all the pomp of the birthday. Oh! I had forgot, there is
a Miss Wynne coming forth, that is to be handsomer than my Lady
Coventry; but I have known one threatened with such every
summer for these seven years, and they are always addled by
winter!

(1081) The public credit in France, had, at this time, suffered
a very severe blow, the court having stopped the payment of
several of the public bills and funds to a vast amount.-E.

(1082) The captain of a privateer, who had commanded the French
squadron off Dunkirk, destined for an attack on Scotland.-E.

(1083) Montagu.

(1084) Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew Robinson, Esq. of the
Rokeby family, widow of Edward Montagu, grandson of the first
Earl of Sandwich, and founder of the Blue-stocking Club. She
wrote "Three Dialogues of the Dead," printed with those of Lord
Lyttelton; and in 1769 published her "Essay on the Genius and
Writings of Shakspeare." She died in 1800.-E.

521 Letter 344
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Nov. 16, 1759.

Now the Parliament is met, you will expect some new news; you
will be disappointed: no battles are fought in Parliament now--
the House of Commons is a mere war-office, and only sits for
the despatch of military business. As I am one of the few men
in England who am neither in the army nor militia, I never go
thither. By the King's speech, and Mr. Pitt's t'other speech,
it looks as if we intended to finish the conquest of the world
the next campaign. The King did not go to the House; his last
eye is so bad that he could scarce read his answer to the
address, though the letters were as long and as black as Ned
Finch. He complains that every body's face seems to have a
crape over it. A person much more expected and much more
missed, was not at the House neither; Lord George Sackville.
He came to town the night before the opening, but did not
appear--it looks as if he gave every thing up. Did you hear
that M. de Contades saluted Prince Ferdinand on his
installation with twenty-one cannons? The French could
distinguish the outside of the ceremony, and the Prince sent
word to the marshal, that if he observed any bustle that day,
he must not expect to be attacked-it would only be a chapter of
the Garter.

A very extraordinary event happened the day after the meeting:
Lord Temple resigned the privy-seal. The account he gives
himself is, that he continued to be so ill used by the King,
that it was notorious to all the world; that in hopes of taking
off that reproach, he had asked for the Garter.(1085) Being
refused, he had determined to resign, at the same time
beseeching Mr. Pitt not to resent any thing for him, and
insisting with his two brothers that they should keep their
places, and act as warm as ever with the administration, That
in an audience of twenty-five minutes he hoped he had removed
his Majesty's prejudices, and should now go out of town as well
satisfied as any man in England. The town says, that it was
concerted that he should not quit till Mr. Pitt made his speech
on the first day, declaring that nothing should make him break
union with the rest of the ministers, no, not for the nearest
friend he had. All this is mighty fine; but the affair is,
nevertheless, very impertinent. If Lord Temple hoped to
involve Mr. Pitt in his quarrel, it was very wicked at such a
crisis as this--and if he could, I am apt to believe he would--
if he could not, it was very silly. To the garter nobody can
have slenderer pretensions; his family is scarce older than his
earldom, which is of the youngest. His person is ridiculously,
awkward; and if chivalry were in vogue, he has given proofs of
having no passion for tilt and tournament. Here end@ the
history of King George the Second, and Earl Temple the First.

We are still advised to believe in the invasion, though it
seems as slow in coming as the millennium. M. Thurot and his
pigmy navy have scrambled to Gottenburg, where it is thought
they will freight themselves with half a dozen pounds of
Swedes. We continue to militiate, and to raise light troops,
and when we have armed every apprentice in England, I suppose
we shall translate our fears to Germany. In the mean time the
King is overwhelmed with addresses on our victories he will
have enough to paper his palace. ITe told the City of London,
that all was owing to unanimity, but I think he should have
said, to unmanimity, for it were shameful to ascribe our
brilliancy to any thing but Mr. Pitt. The new King of Spain
seems to think that our fleet is the best judge of the
incapacity of his eldest son, and of the fitness of his
disposition of Naples, for he has expressed the highest
confidence of Wall, and the strongest assurances of neutrality.
I am a little sorry that Richcourt is not in Florence; it would
be pleasant to dress yourself up in mural crowns and American
plumes in his face. Adieu!

(1085) By the following passage of a letter from Lord Temple
himself to Mr. Pitt, of the 13th of October, in the Chatham
Correspondence, it will be seen that it was not his lordship
who solicited the garter, but Mr. Pitt:--"You have been so good
as to ask of his Majesty the garter for me, as a reward to
yourself, and the only one you desire for all the great and
eminent services you have done to, the King, to the nation, and
to the electorate; to which request you have, it seems,
hitherto met with a refusal. At the same time that I thank
you, and am proud to receive any testimony of your kind regard,
permit me to add, that I am not so mean-spirited as to
condescend to receive, in my own person, the reward of another
man's services, however dear to me you so deservedly are on
every account. Let the King continue to enjoy in peace the
pleasure and Honour of this refusal; for if he should happen to
be disposed, for other reasons than those of gratitude to you,
which will have no weight with him, to give me that mark of
distinction, I will not accept it on such terms." Vol. i. p.
438.-E.