The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford Volume II Part 27

I shall tell you a new instance of the Sortes Walpolianae: I lately bought an old volume of pamphlets; I found at the end a history of the Dukes of Lorrain, and with that an account of a series of their medals, of which, says the author, there are but two sets in England. It so happens that I bought a set above ten years ago at Lord Oxford's sale; and on examination I found the d.u.c.h.ess, wife of Duke Ren'e,(456) has a headdress, allowing for being modernized, as the medals are modern, which is evidently the same with that figure in my Marriage of Henry VI. which I had imagined was of her. It is said to be taken from her tomb at Angiers; and that I might not decide too quickly en connoisseur, I have sent to Angiers for a draught of the tomb.

Poor Mr. Chute was here yesterday, the first going out after a confinement of thirteen weeks; but he is pretty well. We have determined upon the plan for the library, which we find will fall in exactly with the proportions of the room, with no variations from the little door-case of St. Paul's, but widening the larger arches. I believe I shall beg your a.s.sistance again about the chimney-piece and ceiling; but I can decide nothing till I have been again at Strawberry. Adieu! my dear Sir.

(452) John Earl Granville, then secretary of state, had an estate in Jersey.

(453) The Duke of c.u.mberland.-E.

(454) Mr. Conway's speech will be found in the Parliamentary History, vol. xv. p. 282. The object of the bill was to extend the operation of the Mutiny act to the troops in the service of the East India Company. This question was strongly combated, on const.i.tutional grounds, as conferring on a trading body powers which ought to be viewed with jealousy, when vested even in the head of the state. The second reading was carried by 245 against 50.-E.

(455) Dr. Mead's pictures were chosen with so much judgment, that at the sale of them in this month, they produced 3,417 pounds, 11 shillings, nearly seven hundred pounds more than he gave for them.-E.

(456) Duke of Anjou, father of the unfortunate Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry the Sixth of England.-E.

196 Letter 92 To Richard Bentley, Esq.

Arlington Street, March 6, 1754.

My dear Sir, You will be surprised at my writing again so very soon; but unpleasant as it is to be the bearer of ill news,(457) I flattered myself that you would endure it better from me, than to be shocked with it from an indifferent hand, who would not have the same management for your tenderness and delicacy as I naturally shall, who always feel for you, and on this occasion with you! You are very unfortunate: you have not many real friends, and you lose--for I must tell it you, the chief of them! indeed, the only one who could have been of real use to you--for what can I do, but wish, and attempt, and miscarry?- -or from whom could I have hoped a.s.sistance for you, or warmth for myself and my friends, but from the friend I have this morning lost?--But it is too selfish to be talking of our losses, when Britain, Europe, the world, the King, Jack Roberts,(458) Lord Barnard, have lost their guardian angel.

What are private misfortunes to the affliction of one's country? or how inglorious is an Englishman to bewail himself, when a true patriot should be acting for the good of mankind!- -Indeed, if it is possible to feel any comfort, it is from seeing how many true Englishmen, how many true Scotchmen are zealous to replace the loss, and s.n.a.t.c.h at the rudder of the state, amidst this storm and danger! Oh! my friend, how will your heart glow with melancholy admiration, when I tell you, that even the poor Duke of Newcastle himself conquers the torrent of his grief, and has promised Mrs. Betty Spence,(459) and Mr. Griham the apothecary, that, rather than abandon England to its evil genius, he will even submit to be lord treasurer himself? My Lord Chancellor, too, is said to be willing to devote himself in the same manner for the good of his country. Lord Hartington(460) is the most inconsolable of all; and when Mrs. Molly Bodens(461) and Mrs. Garrick were entreated by some of the cabinet council to ask him whom he wished to have minister, the only answer they could draw from him was, "a Whig! a Whig!" As for Lord B. I may truly say, he is humbled and licks the dust; for his tongue, which never used to hang below the waistband of his breeches, is now dropped down to his shoe-buckles; and had not Mr. Stone a.s.sured him that if the worst came to the worst, they could but make their fortunes under another family, I don't know whether he would not have despaired of the commonwealth. But though I sincerely pity so good a citizen, I cannot help feeling most for poor Lord Holderness, who sees a scheme of glory dashed which would have added new l.u.s.tre to the British annals and have transmitted the name D'Arcy down to latest posterity. He had but just taken Mr. Mason the poet into his house to write his deserts; and he had just reason to expect that the secretary's office would have gained a superiority over that of France and Italy, which was unknown even to Walsingham.

I had written thus far, and perhaps should have elegized on for a page or two further, when Harry, who has no idea of the dignity of grief, blundered in, with satisfaction in his countenance, and thrust two packets from you into my hand.- -Alas! he little knew that I was incapable of tasting any satisfaction but in the indulgence of my concern.--I was once going to commit them to the devouring flames, lest any light or vain sentence should tempt me to smile but my turn for true philosophy checked my hand, and made me determine to prove that I could at once launch into the bosom of pleasure and be insensible to it.-I have conquered; I have read your letters, and yet I think of nothing but Mr. Pelham's death! Could Lady Catherine(462) do thus @ Could she receive a love-letter from Mr. Brown, and yet think only on her breathless Lord?

Thursday,

I wrote the above last night, and have stayed as late as I could this evening, that I might be able to tell you who the person is in whom all the world is to discover the proper qualities for replacing the national loss. But, alas! the experience of two @,whole days has showed that the misfortune is irreparable; and I don't know whether the elegies on his death will not be finished before there be any occasion for congratulations to his successor. The mystery is profound.

How shocking it will be if things should go on just as they are! I mean by that, how mortifying if it is discovered, that when all the world thought Mr. Pelham did and could alone maintain the calm and carry on the government, even he was not necessary, and that it was the calm and the government that carried on themselves! However, this is not my opinion.--I believe all this will make a party.(453)

Good night! here are two more new plays: Constantine,(464) the better of them, expired the fourth night at Covent-garden.

Virginia,(465) by Garrick's acting and popularity, flourishes still: he has written a remarkably good epilogue to it. Lord Bolingbroke is come forth in five pompous quartos, two and a half new and most unorthodox.(466) Warburton is resolved to answer, and the bishops not to answer him. I have not had a moment to look into it. Good night!

(457) This is an ironic letter on the death of Henry Pelham, first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, with whom Mr. Walpole was on ill terms.

(458) John Roberts, Esq. secretary to Mr. Pelham.

(459) Companion to the d.u.c.h.ess of Newcastle. [This lady was related to the Rev. Joseph Spence, author of "Polymetis." She died in 1764, after being the friend and companion of the d.u.c.h.ess of Newcastle for more than forty-five years.]

(460) William, afterwards fourth Duke of Devonshire.

(461) Companion of Lady Burlington, Lord Hartington's mother-in-law.

(462) Lady Catherine Pelham, the widow of Mr. Pelham.-E.

(463) Mr. Walpole, when young, loved faction; and Mr. Bentley one day saying, " that he believed certain opinions would make a sect," Mr. W. said eagerly, "Will they make a party?"

(464) "Constantine," a tragedy was written by the Rev. Philip Francis, the translator of Horace and Demosthenes, and father of Sir Philip Francis, the reputed author of the Letters of Junius. He also wrote "Eugenia," a tragedy; but as a dramatic author he was not very successful.-E.

(465) "Virginia" was written by Henry Crisp, a clerk in the Custom-house. It was acted at Drury Lane with some success; owing chiefly to the excellence of the performers.-E.

(466) A splendid edition of Lord Bolingbroke's Works, in five volumes, quarto, having been published on the very day of Mr.

Pelham's death, Garrick wrote an ode on the occasion, which contains the following stanza:-

"The same sad morn, to Church and State (So for our sins 'twas fix'd by fate) A double shock was given: Black as the regions of the North, St. John's fell genius issued forth, And Pelham's fled to heaven!"

It was upon the appearance of this edition of Lord Bolingbroke's works, edited by David Mallet, that Dr. Johnson p.r.o.nounced this memorable sentence upon both author and editor:--"Sir, he was a scoundrel and a coward; a scoundrel, for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had no resolution to fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger after his death."-E.

198 Letter 93 To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, March 7, 1754.

You will little have expected, my dear Sir, the great event that happened yesterday. Mr. Pelham(467) is dead! all that calm, that supineness, of which I have lately talked to you so much, is at an end! there is no heir to such luck as his. The whole people of England can never agree a second time upon the same person for the residence of infallibility; and though so many have found their interest in making Mr. Pelham the fermier-general for their Venality, yet almost all have found too, that it lowered their prices to have but one purchaser.

He could not have died at a more critical time: all the elections were settled, all bargains made, and much money advanced: and by the way, though there never was so little a party, or so little to be made by a seat in Parliament, either with regard to profit or fame, there never was such established bribery, or so profuse. And as every thing was settled by his life, so every thing is thrown into confusion by his death: the difficulty Of naming, or of who should name the successor, is almost insurmountable--for you are not such a transmontane as to imagine that the, person who must sign the warrant will have the filling it up. The three apparent candidates are Fox, Pitt, and Murray; all three -with such enc.u.mbrances on their hopes as make them very desperate. The Chancellor hates Fox; the Duke of Newcastle does not (I don't say, love him, but to speak in the proper phrase, does not) pretend to love him: the Scotch abominate him, and they and the Jacobites make use of his connexion with the Duke to represent him as formidable: the Princess cannot approve him for the same reason: the law, as in duty bound to the Chancellor and to Murray, and to themselves, whom he always attacks, must dislike him. He has his parts and the Whigs, and the seeming right of succession. Pitt has no health, no party, and has, what in this case is allowed to operate, the King's negative. Murray is a Scotchman, and it has been suspected, of the worst dye: add a little of the Chancellor's jealousy--all three are obnoxious to the probability of the other two being disobliged by a preference.

There is no doubt but the Chancellor and the Duke of Newcastle will endeavour to secure their own power, by giving an exclusion to Fox: each of them has even been talked of for Lord Treasurer; I say talked of, though Mr. Pelham died but yesterday; but you can't imagine how much a million of people can talk in a day on such a subject! It was even much imagined yesterday, that Sir George Lee would be the Hulla, to wed the post, till things are ripe for divorcing him again: he is an unexceptionable man, sensible, of good character, the ostensible favourite of the Princess, and obnoxious to no set of men: for though he changed ridiculously quick on the Prince's death, yet as every body changed with him, it offended n.o.body; and what is a better reason for promoting him now, it would offend n.o.body to turn him out again.

In this buzz is all the world at present: as the plot thickens or opens, you shall hear more. In the mean time you will not dislike to know a little of the circ.u.mstances of this death.

Mr. Pelham was not sixty-one; his florid, healthy const.i.tution promised long life, and his uninterrupted good fortune as long power; yet the one hastened his end, and the other was enjoyed in its full tranquillity but three poor years! i should not say, enjoyed, for such was his peevishness and suspicions, that the lightest trifles could poison all that stream of happiness!

he was careless of his health, most intemperate in eating, and used no exercise. All this had naturally thrown him into a most s...o...b..tic habit, for which last summer he went to Scarborough, but stayed there only a month, which would not have cleansed a s...o...b..tic kitten. The sea-air increased his appet.i.te, and his flatterers pampered it at their seats on the road. He returned more distempered, and fell into a succession of boils, fevers, and St. Anthony's fire--indeed, I think, into such a carbuncular state of blood as carried off my brother.

He had recovered enough to come to the House of Commons; and last Friday walked in the Park till he put himself into an immense sweat; in that sweat he stood at a window to look at horses, ate immoderately at dinner, relapsed at six that evening, and died yesterday morning (Wednesday) a quarter before six. His will was to be opened to-day; he is certainly dead far from rich.(468) There arc great lamentations, some joy, some disappointments, and much expectation. As a person who loves to write history, better than to act in it, you will easily believe that I confine my sensations on the occasion chiefly to observation-at least, my care that posterity may know all about it prevents my indulging any immoderate (grief; consequently I am as well as can be expected, and ever yours, etc.

(467) Henry Pelham, chancellor of the exchequer, and first commissioner of the treasury; only brother of Thomas Duke of Newcastle.

(468) Walpole, almost the only author who has treated the memory of Mr. Pelham with disrespect, mentions to his honour, that he "lived without abusing his power, and died poor." See Memoires, vol. i. p. 332. By this expression, says c.o.xe, the reader will be reminded of a curious coincidence in the concluding lines of the eulogium inscribed on the base of Mr.

Pitt's statue, by his friend and pupil, the Right Honourable George Canning, "Dispensing, for more than twenty years, the favours of the crown, he lived without ostentation, and he died poor."-E.

200 Letter 94 To Richard Bentley, Esq.

Arlington Street, March 14, 1754.

In the confusion of things, I last week hazarded a free letter to you by the common post. The confusion is by no means ceased. However, as some circ.u.mstances may have rendered a desire of intelligence necessary, I send this by the coach, with the last volume of Sir Charles Grandison, for its chaperon.

After all the world has been named for chancellor of the exchequer, and my Lord Chief Justice Lee, who is no part of the world, really made so pro tempore; Lord Hartington went to notify to Mr. Fox, that the cabinet council having given it as their unanimous opinion to the King, that the Duke of Newcastle should be at the head of the treasury, and he (Mr. Fox) secretary of state with the management of the House of Commons; his grace, who had submitted to so oracular a sentence, hoped Mr. Fox would not refuse to concur in so salutary a measure; and a.s.sured him, that Though the Duke would reserve the sole disposition of the secret service-money, his grace would bestow his entire confidence on Mr. Fox, and acquaint him with the most minute details of that service. Mr. Fox bowed and obeyed- -and, as a preliminary step, received the Chancellor's(469) absolution. From thence he attended his--and our new master.

But either grief for his brother's death, or joy for it, had so intoxicated the new maitre du palais, that he would not ratify any one of the conditions he had imposed: and though my Lord Hartington's virtue interposed, and remonstrated on the purport of the message he had carried, the Duke persisted in a.s.suming the whole and undivided power himself, and left Mr. Fox no choice, but of obeying or disobeying, as he might choose. This produced the next day a letter from Mr. Fox, carried by Lord Hartington, in which he refused secretary of state, and pinned down the lie with which the new ministry is to commence. It was tried to be patched up at the Chancellor's on Friday night, though ineffectually: and yesterday morning Mr. Fox in an audience desired to remain secretary at war. The Duke immediately kissed hands-declared, in the most unusual manner, universal minister. Legge was to be chancellor of the exchequer: but I can't tell whether that disposition will hold, as Lord Duplin is proclaimed the acting favourite. The German Sir Thomas Robinson was thought on for the secretary's seals; but has just sense enough to be unwilling to accept them under so ridiculous an administration. This is the first act of the comedy.

On Friday this august remnant of the Pelhams went to court for the first time. At the foot of the stairs he cried and sunk down: the yeomen of the guard were forced to drag him up under the arms. When the closet-door opened, he flung himself at his length at the King's feet, sobbed, and cried "G.o.d bless your Majesty! G.o.d preserve your Majesty," and lay there howling and embracing the King's knees, with one foot so extended, that Lord Coventry, who was luckily in waiting, and begged the standers-by to retire with "For G.o.d's sake, gentlemen, don't look at a great man in distress," endeavouring to shut the door, caught his grace's foot, and made him roar out with pain.

You can have no notion of what points of ceremony have been agitated about the ears of the family. George Selwyn was told that my Lady Catharine had not shed one tear: "And pray," said he, "don't she intend it?" It is settled that Mrs. Watson is not to cry till she is brought-to-bed.

You love George Selwyn's bon-mots: this crisis has redoubled them: here is one of his best. My Lord Chancellor is to be Earl of Clarendon--"Yes," said Selwyn, from the very summit of the whites of his demure eyes; "and I suppose he will get the t.i.tle of Rochester for his son-in-law, my Lord Anson." Do you think he will ever lose the t.i.tle of Lord Rochester?

I expected that we should have been overrun with elegies and panegyrics: indeed, I comforted myself, that one word in all of them would atone for the rest--the late Mr. Pelham. But the world seems to allow that their universal attachment and submission was universal interestedness; there has not been published a single encomium. Orator Henley alone has held forth in his praise:-yesterday it was on charming Lady Catherine. Don't you think it should have been in these words, in his usual style? Oratory-chapel,--Right reason; madness; charming Lady Catherine; h.e.l.l fire," etc.

Monday, March 18.

Almost as extraordinary news as our political, is, that it has snowed ten days successively, and most part of each day: it is living in Muscovy, amid ice and revolutions: I hope lodgings will begin to let a little dear in Siberia! Beckford and Delaval, two celebrated partisans, met lately at Shaftesbury, where they oppose one another: the latter said:

"Art thou the man whom men famed Beckford call?"