The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford Volume II Part 46

323 Letter 184 To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, May 27, 1756.

Your brother is determined to go to Bristol in ten days: our summer, which n.o.body but the almanack has the confidence to say is not winter, is so cold that he does not advance at all. If his temper was at all in the power of accidents, it would be affected enough just now to affect his health! What a figure we would make in a catalogue of philosophers or martyrs! His wife's aunt, Mrs. Forth, who has always promised him the half of her fortune, which is at least thirty thousand pounds, is dead, and has left him only two thousand pounds. He sent for your brother Ned this morning to talk to him upon some other business, and it was with such unaffected cheerfulness, that your eldest brother concluded he was reserving the notification of a legacy of at least ten thousand pounds for the bonne bouche; but he can bear his wife, and then what are disappointments? Pray, my dear child, be humble, and don't imagine that yours is the only best temper in the world. I pretend so little to a good one, that it is no merit in me to be out of all patience.

My uncle's ambition and dirt are crowned at last: he is a peer.(686) Lord Chief Justice Ryder, who was to have kissed hands with him on Monday, was too ill, and died on Tuesday;(687) but I believe his son will save the peerage.

We know nothing yet of Minorca, and seem to think so little of our war, that to pa.s.s away his time, Mars is turned Impresario: in short, the Duke has taken the Opera-house for the ensuing season. There has been a contest between the manager Vanneschi and the singers Mingotti and Ricciarelli;(688) the Duke patronizes the Mingotti and lists under her standard. She is a fine singer, an admirable actress; I cannot say her temper is entirely so sweet as your brother's.

May 30th, Arlington Street,

See what a country gentleman I am! One cannot stir ten miles from London without coming to believe what one hears, and without supposing that whatever should be done, will be done.

The Opera-house is still in dispute between Signor Guglielmo and Signor Vanneschi--and Mr. Ryder(689) will not get the peerage; for coronets are not forfeited by worthlessness, but by misfortune. My lord Chief Justice misses one by only dying, my uncle gets one by living!

I this moment receive your letter of the 15th. We had picked up by scrambling accounts pretty much what you tell me of Minorca; but hitherto we only live on comparing dates.

I can add nothing to what I have said in the article of your brother. I am going to send the papers to Lord Macclesfield.(690) Adieu!

P. S. It is uncertain who will be Chief Justice; Murray could have no compet.i.tor, but the Duke of Newcastle cannot part with him from the House of Commons.(691)

(686) Through the zeal of his friend Lord Hardwicke, and the influence of the Cavendish party, the repugnance of the King was overcome, and Horatio Walpole, on the 1st of June, was elevated to the peerage, by the t.i.tle of Lord Walpole of Wolterton.-E.

(687) On the 24th of May, the King signed a warrant for raising Sir Dudley Ryder to the peerage, but he died before the patent was completed.-E.

(688) "Vanneschi's difference with Mingotti occasioned as many private quarrels and public feuds as the disputed abilities of Handel and Bononcini, or the talents of Faustina and Cuzzoni, had done thirty years before. On a toujours tort in these disputes; and addressing the town is but making bad worse: for not a word which either party says is believed. These squabbles ended in Vanneschi's being a bankrupt, a prisoner in the Fleet, and afterwards a fugitive; and in Mingotti's acquiring for a while the sovereignty in the Opera kingdom, by which gratification of ambition they were soon brought to the brink of ruin, as others had been before them." Burney.-E.

(689) In 1776, Mr. Ryder was created Baron Harrowby.-E.

(690) George Parker, second Earl of Macclesfield, President of the Royal Society. He died in 1764.-D.

(691) Mr. Potter, in a letter to Mr. Pitt of the 4th of June, says, "Upon the death of the Chief Justice, all the Attorney-General's private friends thought the office, on every account, so fit for him, that it would be infatuation to decline it, and that the Attorney-General himself was of the same opinion, but the Duke of Newcastle was frightened at the thoughts of what was to become of the House of Commons."

Chatham Correspondence, v 1. i. p. 159.-E.

325 Letter 185 To The Earl Of Strafford.(692) Strawberry Hill, June 6, 1756.

My dear lord, I am not sorry to be paving my way to Wentworth Castle by a letter, where I suppose you are at this time, and for which I waited: it is not that I stayed so long before I executed my emba.s.sy aupr'es de Milord Tylney. He had but one pair of gold pheasants at present, but promises my Lady Strafford the first fruits of their loves. He gave me hopes of some pied peac.o.c.ks sooner, for which I asked directly, as one must wait for the lying-in of the pheasants. If I go on negotiating so successfully, I may hope to arrive at a peerage a little sooner than my uncle has.

As your Lordship, I know, is so good as to interest yourself in the calamities of your friends, I will, as shortly as I can, describe and grieve your heart with a catastrophe that has happened to two of them. My Lady Ailesbury, Mr. Conway, and Miss Rich pa.s.sed two days last week at Strawberry Hill. We were returning from Mrs. Clive's through the long field, and had got over the high stile that comes into the road; that is, three of us. It had rained, and the stile was wet. I could not let Miss Rich straddle across so damp a palfrey, but took her in my arms to lift her over. At that instant I saw a coach and six come thundering down the hill from my house; and hurrying to set down my charge, and stepping backwards, I missed the first step, came down headlong with the nymph in my arms; but turning quite round as we rushed to the ground, the first thing that touched the earth was Miss Rich's head. You must guess in how improper a situation we fell; and you must not tell my Lady Strafford before any body that every petticoat, etc. in the world were canted high enough indeed!

The coach came on, and never stopped. The apprehension that it would run over my Chloe made me lie where I was, holding out my arm to keep off the horses, which narrowly missed trampling us to death. The ladies, who were Lady Holderness, Miss Pelham, and your sister Lady Mary c.o.ke, stared with astonishment at the theatre which they thought I had chosen to celebrate our loves; the footmen laughed; and you may imagine the astonishment of Mr. Conway and Lady Ailesbury, who did not see the fall, but turned and saw our att.i.tude. It was these spectators that amazed Miss Pelham, who described the adventure to Mrs. Pitt, and said, "What was most amazing, there were Mr. Conway and Lady Ailesbury looking on!" I shall be vexed to have told you this long story, if Lady Mary has writ it already; only tell in@ honestly if she has described it as decently as I have.

If you have not got the new Letters and Memoirs of Madame Maintenon, I beg I may recommend them for your summer reading.

As far as I have got, which is but into the fifth volume of the Letters, I think you will find them very curious, and some very entertaining. The fourth volume has persuaded me of the sincerity of' her devotion; and two or three letters at the beginning of my present tome have made me even a little jealous for my adored Madame de S'evign'e. I am quite glad to find that they do not continue equally agreeable. The extreme misery to which France was reduced at the end of Queen Anne's war, is more striking than one could conceive. I hope it is a debt that they are not going to pay, though the news that arrived on Wednesday have but a black aspect. The consternation on the behaviour of Byng,(693) and on the amazing Council of war at Gibraltar,(694) is extreme; many think both next to impossibilities. In the mean time we fear the loss of Minorca. I could not help smiling t'other day at two pa.s.sages in Madame Maintenon's Letters relating to the Duc de Richelieu, when he first came into the world: "Jamais homme n'a mieux r'eussi 'a la cour, la premi'ere fois qu'il y a paru: c'est r'eellement une tr'es-jolie cr'eature!" Again:--"C'est la plus aimable poup'ee qu'on puisse voir." How mortifying that this , jolie poup'ee should be the avenger Of the Valoises!

Adieu! my lord. I don't believe that a daughter of the Duke of Argyle(695) will think that the present I have announced in the first part of my letter balances the inglorious article in the end. I wish you would both renew the breed of heroes, which seems scarcer than that of gold pheasants!

(692) William Wentworth, second Earl of Strafford, of the second creation. He married Lady Anne Campbell, second daughter of John, second Duke of Argyle, and died in 1791.-E.

(693) Hon. John Byng, fourth son of Admiral Byng; a distinguished officer, who, for his eminent services, was created Viscount Torrington in 1721.-E.

(694) A council of war was held at Gibraltar, to decide upon a request made by Admiral Byng for a reinforcement of troops from that garrison for the defence of Minorca; where M. de la Galissoni'ere, with thirteen sail of the line and several transports, had, towards the end of April, landed a large body of land forces under the command of the Duc de Richelieu.-E.

(695) Lady Strafford was the youngest daughter of John Duke of Argyle.

327 Letter 186 To John Chute, Esq.(696) Arlington Street, June 8, 1756.

My dear sir, Pray have a thousand ma.s.ses said in your divine chapel 'a l'intention of your poor country. I believe the occasion will disturb the founder of it, and make him shudder in his shroud for the ignominy of his countrymen. By all one learns, Byng, Fowke, and all the officers at Gibraltar, were infatuated!

They figured Port Mahon lost, and Gibraltar a-going! a-going!

Lord Effingham, Cornwallis, Lord Robert Bertie, all, all signed the council of war, and are in as bad odour as possible. The King says It will be his death, and that he neither eats nor sleeps--all our trust is in Hanoverians.

The Prince has desired to be excused living at Kensington, but accepts of 40,000 pounds a year; 5,000 pounds is given to Prince Edward, and an establishment is settling; but that too will meet with difficulties. I will be more circ.u.mstantial when we Meet.(697)

My uncle has chose no motto nor supporters yet: one would think there were fees to pay for them! Mr. Fox said to him, "Why don't you take your family motto?" He replied, "Because my nephew would say I think I speak as well as my brother." I believe he means me. I like his awe. The Duke of Richmond, taking me for his son, reproached himself to Lady Caroline Fox for not wishing me joy. She is so sorry she undeceived him!

Charles Townshend has turned his artillery upon his own court: he says, "Silly fellow for silly fellow, I don't see why it is not as well to be governed by my uncle with a blue riband, as by my cousin with a green one."

I have pa.s.sed to-day one of the most agreeable days of my life; your righteous spirit will be offended with me-but I must tell you: my Lord and Lady Bath carried my Lady Hervey and me to dine with my Lady Allin at Blackheath. What added to the oddness of the company in which I found myself was her sister Mrs. Cleveland, whose bitterness against my father and uncle for turning out her husband you have heard--but she is very agreeable. I had a little private satisfaction in very naturally telling my Lord Bath how happy I have made his old printer, Franklyn. The Earl was in extreme good-humour, repeated epigrams, ballads, anecdotes, stories, which, as Madame S'evign'e says, put one in mind " "de sa d'efunte veine." The Countess was not in extreme good-humour, but in the best-humoured ill-humour in the world; contested every thing with great drollery, and combated Mrs. Cleveland on Madame Maintenon's character, with as much satire and knowledge of the world as ever I heard in my life. I told my Lord Bath General Wall's foolish vain motto, "Aut Caesar aut nihil." He replied, "He is an impudent fellow; he should have taken 'Murus aheneus.'" Doddington has translated well the motto on the caps of the Hanoverians, "Vestigia nulla retrorsum." "They never mean to go back again."

Saunders, the new admiral, told the King yesterday in a very odd phrase, that they should scren his heart out, if Byng is not now in the harbour of Mahon. The world condemns extremely the rashness of superseding admirals on no information but from our enemies. The ministry tremble for Thursday se'nnight (inter alia), when the King is to desire the Parliament to adjourn again. I believe altogether it will make a party.

Adieu!

(696) Now first printed.

(697) "June 6. I heard that a message in writing had been sent to the Prince, from the King offering him an allowance of 40,000 pounds a year, and an apartment in the palaces of Kensington and St. James's. The answer was full of high grat.i.tude for the allowance, but declining the apartment, on account of the mortification it would be to his mother; though it is well known that he does not live with her, either in town or country." Doddington, p. 345.-E.

328 Letter 187 To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, June 14, 1756.

Our affairs have taken a strange turn, my dear Sir, since I wrote to you last at the end of May; we have been all confusion, consternation, and resentment! At this moment we are all perplexity! When we were expecting every instant that Byng would send home Marshal Richelieu's head to be placed upon Temple-bar, we were exceedingly astonished to hear that the governor and garrison of Gibraltar had taken a panic for themselves, had called a council of war, and in direct disobedience to a positive command, had refused Byng a battalion from thence. This council was attended, and their resolution signed, by all the chief officers there, among whom are some particular favourites, and some men of the first quality. Instead of being shocked at this disappointment, Byng accompanied it with some wonderful placid letters, in which he notified his intention of retiring under the cannon of Gibraltar, in case he found it dangerous to attempt the relief of Minorca! These letters had scarce struck their damp before D'Abreu, the Spanish minister, received an account from France, that Galissoni'ere had sent word that the English fleet had been peeping about him, with exceeding caution, for two or three days; that on the 20th of May they had scuffled for about three hours, that night had separated them, and that to his great astonishment, the English fleet, of which he had not taken one vessel. had disappeared in the morning. If the world was scandalized at this history, it was nothing to the exasperation of the court, who, on no other foundation than an enemy's report, immediately ordered Admiral Hawke and Saunders [created an admiral on Purpose] to bridle and saddle the first ship at hand, and post away to Gibraltar, and to hang and drown Byng and West, and then to send them home to be tried for their lives: and not to be too partial to the land, and to be as severe upon good grounds as they were upon scarce any, they despatched Lord Tyrawley and Lord Panmure upon the like errand over the Generals Fowke and Stuart. This expedition had so far a good effect, that the mob itself could i)ot accuse the ministry of want of rashness; and luckily for the latter, in three days more the same ca.n.a.l confirmed the disappearance of the English fleet for four days after the engagement--but behold! we had scarce had time to jumble together our sorrow for our situation, and our satisfaction for the despatch we had used to repair it, when yesterday threw us into a new puzzle.

Our spies, the French, have sent us intelligence that Galissoni'ere is disgraced, recalled, and La Motte sent to replace him, and that Byng has reinforced the garrison of St.

Philip's(698) with--150 men! You, who are nearer the spot, may be able, perhaps, to unriddle or unravel all this confusion; but you have no notion how it has put all your politics aground!

This is not our only quandary! A message of 40,000 pounds a-year, with an intention of an establishment for a court, and an invitation of coming to live at Kensington, has been sent to Leicester-fields. The money was very kindly received--the proposal of leaving our lady-mother refused in most submissive terms. It is not easy to enforce obedience; yet it is not pleasant to part with our money for nothing--and yet it is thought that will be the consequence of this ill-judged step of authority. My dear child, I pity you who are to represent and to palliate all the follies of your country!

My uncle has got his peerage: but just when the patent was ready my Lord Privy Seal Gower went out of town, on which the old baby wrote him quite an abusive letter, which my Lord Gower answered with a great deal of wit and severity. Lord Ilchester(699) and Lord Falconberg(700) are created earls.

General Isemberg of the Hessians has already diverted us: he never saw the tide till he came to Southampton; he was alarmed, and seeing the vessel leaning on the sh.o.r.e, he sent for his master of the horse, and swore at him for overturning the ship in landing the horses. Another of them has challenged a Hampshire justice, for committing one of his soldiers; but hitherto both Hessians and Hanoverians are rather popular.

Your brother, whom, if any thing, I think better, is set out this morning for Bristol. You cannot pray more for its restoring his health than I do. I have just received yours of May 28th, to which I make no answer, as all the events I have mentioned are posterior to your accounts. Adieu! my dear Sir.

(698) In the month of June 1756, the Marshal de Richelieu, at the head of sixteen thousand men, landed in Minorca, and almost immediately obtained possession of the whole island, as well as of the fortress of St. Philip and Port Mahon, the population joining him; and the garrison, commanded by General Blakeney, being very weak, and not having received the expected succours from Admiral Byng.-D.

(699) Stephen first Earl of Ilchester, eldest surviving son of Sir Stephen Fox. His t.i.tles were given him, with remainder, in failure of issue male of himself, to his younger brother, Henry Fox.,-D.