The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay Volume Ii Part 71

The house is very magnificent, and of in immense magnitude. It seems much out of repair, and by no means cheerful or comfortable. Gloomy grandeur seems the proper epithet for the building and its fitting-up. It had been designed for a monastery, and as such was nearly completed when Henry VIII.

dissolved those seminaries. It was finished as a- dwelling-house in the reign of his son, by one of the Thynnes, who was knighted in a field of battle by the protector Somerset.(318)

Many things in the house, and many queer old portraits, afforded me matter of Speculation, and would have filled up more time than I had to bestow. There are portraits of Jane Sh.o.r.e and Fair Rosamond, which have some marks of originality, being miserable daubs, yet from evidently beautiful subjects. Arabella Stuart is also at full length, and King Charleses and Jameses in abundance, with their queens, brethren, and cousins. There are galleries in this house of the dimensions of college halls.

The state rooms on the ground floor are very handsome but the queer antique little old corners, cells, recesses, "pa.s.sages that lead to nothing," unexpected openings, and abrupt stoppages, with the quaint devices of various old-fashioned ornaments, amused me the most.

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My bed-room was furnished with crimson velvet, bed included, yet so high, though only the second story, that it made me giddy to look into the park, and tired to wind up the flight of stairs.

It was formerly the favourite room, the housekeeper told me, of Bishop Ken, who put on his shroud in it before he died. Had I fancied I had seen his ghost, I might have screamed my voice away, unheard by any a.s.sistant to lay it; for so far was I from the rest of the habitable part of the mansion, that not the lungs of Mr. Bruce could have availed me.(319)

The park is n.o.ble and s.p.a.cious. It was filled with country folks, permitted to enter that they might see their sovereigns, and it looked as gay without as it seemed gloomy within. The people were dressed in their best, as if they came to a fair ; and such shouts and hallooings ensued, whenever the king appeared at a window, that the whole building rang again with the vibration. Nothing upon earth can be more gratifying than the sight of this dear and excellent king thus loved and received by all descriptions of his subjects.

TOTTENHAM COURT: RETURN TO WINDSOR.

Sept. 16.-We set out, amidst the acclamations of a mult.i.tude, from Longleat for Tottenham park, the seat of Lord Aylesbury.

The park is of great extent and moderate beauty. The house is very well.

We had only our own party, the three gentlemen, at dinner and breakfast. These gentlemen only dine with the king when he keeps house, and keeps it incog. himself. At Tottenham park, only my Lord Aylesbury, as master of the house, was admitted. He and his lady were both extremely desirous to make all their guests comfortable ; and Lady Aylesbury very politely offered me the use of her own collection of books. But I found, at the top of the house, a very large old library, in which there were sundry uncommon and curious old English tracts, that afforded me much entertainment. 'Tis a library of long standing.

Here are many original portraits also, that offer enough for speculation. A "b.l.o.o.d.y Mary," by Sir Anthony More, which I saw with much curiosity, and liked better than I expected. The beautiful d.u.c.h.esses of Cleveland and Portsmouth, I fancy

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by Kneller; but we had no cicerone. A very fine picture of a lady in black, that I can credit to be Vand.y.k.e, but who else can I know not. Several portraits by Sir Peter Lely, extremely soft and pleasing, and of subjects uncommonly beautiful; many by Sir G.o.dfrey Kneller, well enough; and many more by Sir Something Thornhill,(320) very thick and heavy.

The good lord of the mansion put up a new bed for the king and queen that cost him nine hundred pounds.

Two things I heard here with concern-that my G.o.dmother, Mrs.

Greville, was dead; and that poor Sir Joshua Reynolds had lost the sight of one of his eyes.(321)

Sept. 18.-We left Tottenham Court, and returned to Windsor. The royals hastened to the younger princesses, and I to Mrs.

Schwellenberg. I was civilly received, however. But deadly dead sunk my heart as I entered her apartment.

The next day I had a visit from my dear brother Charles full of business, letters, etc. I rejoiced to see him, and to confab over all his affairs, plans, and visions, more at full length than for a long time past. I was forced to introduce him to Mrs.

Schwellenberg, and he flourished away successfully enough; but it was very vexatious, as he had matters innumerable for discussion.

(305) The palace of Kew.-ED.

(306) See ante, p. 44.-ED.

(307) The Duke of Clarence, third son of George III.; afterwards William IV.-ED.

(308) The Jessamy Bride." See ante, vol. i, p. 111.-ED.

(309) "Observations and Reflections made in the course of a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany," by published in 1789.

(310) "The Midnight Hour," a comedy by Mrs. Inchbald, well known as the auth.o.r.ess of "A Simple Story," and "Nature and Art," was originally produced at Covent Garden, May 22, 1787. "The Commissary," a comedy by Samuel Foote, partly taken from "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme," was first performed at the Haymarket in June, 1765. Mr. Quick and Mrs. Wells were popular comedians of the time.-ED.

(311) In "The Provoked Husband," by Vanbrugh and Cibber.-ED.

(312) Sir Ashton Lever was noted for his extensive and valuable collection of objects of natural history. In 1775 he opened a museum in Leicester Square, in which his collection was shown to the public; but ten years later he was compelled to dispose of it. The new proprietor exhibited the collection for some years, but it was finally sold and dispersed.-ED.

(312) Maria Anne Smythe was born in 1756, and married, in 1775, Edward Weld of Lulworth Castle. He died within a year, and she married, in 1778, Thomas Fitzherbert of Swinnerton, Staffordshire, who died in 1781. In December, 1785, Mrs.

Fitzherbert was privately married to the Prince of Wales. The marriage was never publicly recognised, and its legality was perhaps disputable: for by the Act of 1772 the marriage of any member of the Royal family under the age of twenty-five without the king's consent, was declared invalid, and at the date of his marriage with the beautiful Mrs Fitzherbert, the Prince was but twenty-three years of age. he always treated her as his wife, however, and she was received in society. She continued to live with him even after his marriage with the Princess Caroline, and finally parted from him in 1803, retiring with an allowance of 6,000 pounds a year to Brighton, where she died in 1837.-ED.

(313) A character in Colman's comedy of "The Jealous Wife."-ED.

(314) Sisters--the Italian word.-ED.

(315) Dock is now called Devonport.-ED.

(316) The lady-sculptor, the Hon. Mrs. Damer, daughter of General Conway and kinswoman of Horace Walpole, who bequeathed to her, for the term of her life, his villa at Strawberry Hill. Her performances in sculpture were of no great merit, but were prodigiously admired by Horace Walpole, who had a notorious weakness for the works of persons of quality. Mrs. Damer was a staunch whig, and canva.s.sed Westminster on behalf of Charles Fox at the election of 1784, in company with the d.u.c.h.ess of Devonshire and Mrs. Crewe.-ED.

(317) His late wife, it will be remembered, was a daughter of Lord Ilchester.-ED.

(318) Longleat, in Wiltshire, was never intended for a monastery, but Was built from a design, it is said, by John of Padua, for Sir John Thynne, who was knighted by Somerset on the field, after the battle of Pinkie. Sir John's descendant, Thomas Thynne, Esq., of Longleat, the wealthy friend of Monmouth, and the "wise Issachar" of Dryden's "Absalom and Achitophel," was murdered in his coach in Pall-Mall (February 12, 1682), by the contrivance of Count Koenigsmark, who was tried for the murder and acquitted, although his confederates, the actual perpetrators of the crime, were hanged for it. Thomas Thynne was succeeded in his estates by his cousin, Sir Thomas Thynne, who was the same year created Baron Thynne and Viscount Weymouth, t.i.tles which have descended in the family, and to which that of Marquis of Bath has since been added." (See "Count Koenigsmark and Tom of Ten Thousand," by H. Vizetelly, London, 1890.)-ED.

(319) James Bruce, the famous African traveller, made the acquaintance of the Burney family in 1775. He was about seven feet in height. In her early letters to Mr. Crisp, f.a.n.n.y calls him the "man-mountain."-ED.

(320) Sir James Thornhill, the father-in-law of Hogarth.-ED.

(321) "One day, in the month of July, 1789, while finishing the portrait of the Marchioness of Hereford, he felt a sudden decay of sight in his left eye. He laid down the pencil, sat a little while in mute consideration, and never lifted it more. His sight gradually darkened, and within ten weeks of the first attack his left eye was wholly blind." (Allan Cunningham.) For some time after this he attended to his duties as President of the Royal Academy, and he delivered his last address to the students in 1790. Sir Joshua died in his sixty-ninth year, February 23, 1792-ED.

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(1789-90.)

MR. FAIRLY'S'MARRIAGE: THE HASTINGS TRIAL,

RUMOURS OF MR. FAIRLY'S IMPENDING MARRIAGE.

Colonel Gwynn told us, at tea-time, of the wonderful recovery of Colonel Goldsworthy, who has had an almost desperate illness; and then added that he had dined the preceding day with him, and met Mr. Fairly, who was coming to Windsor, and all prepared, when he was suddenly stopped, on the very preceding evening, by a fresh attack of the gout.

I heard this with much concern, and made many inquiries, which were presently interrupted by an exclamation of Major Garth, who was now in waiting: "The gout?" he cried: "nay, then, it is time he should get a nurse; and, indeed, I hear he has one in view."

Colonel Gwynn instantly turned short, with a very significant smile of triumph, towards me, that seemed to confirm this a.s.sertion, while it exulted in his own prediction at Cheltenham.

The following morning, while I was alone with my royal mistress, she mentioned Mr. Fairly for the first time since we left Weymouth. It was to express much displeasure against him: e had misled Lord Aylesbury about the ensuing Drawing-room, by affirming there would be none this month. After saying how wrong this was, and hearing me venture to answer I could not doubt but he must have had some reason, which, if known, might account for his mistake, she suddenly, and with some severity of accent, said, "He will not come

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here! For some reason or other he does not choose it! He cannot bear to come!"

How was I amazed! and silenced pretty effectually