The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford Volume I Part 36

(589) William Henry Zulestein Na.s.sau, fourth Earl of Rochford.

He filled many diplomatic situations, and was also at different times, groom of the stole and secretary of state.

He died in 1781.-D.

(590) Daughter of Edward Young, Esq. She had been maid of honour to the Princess of Wales.

256 Letter 69 To Sir Horace Mann Downing Street, May 26, 1742.

To-day calls itself May the 26th, as you perceive by the date; but I am writing to you by the fireside, instead of going to Vauxhall. if we have one warm day in seven, "we bless our stars, and think it luxury." And yet we have as much waterworks and fresco diversions, as if we lay ten degrees nearer warmth. Two nights ago Ranelagh-gardens were opened at Chelsea; the Prince, Princess, Duke, much n.o.bility, and much mob besides, were there. There is a vast amphitheatre, finely gilt, painted, and illuminated, into which every body that loves eating, drinking, staring, or crowding, is admitted for twelvepence. The building and disposition of the gardens cost sixteen thousand pounds. Twice a-week there are to be ridottos, at guinea tickets, for which you are to have a supper and music. I was there last night, but did not find the joy of it. Vauxhall is a little better; for the garden is pleasanter, and one goes by water. Our operas are almost over; there were but three-and-forty people last night in the pit and boxes. There is a little simple farce at Drury Lane, called "Miss Lucy in Town,"(591) in which Mrs. Clive (592) mimes the Muscovita admirably, and Beard, Amorevoli tolerably. But all the run is now after Garrick, a wine-merchant, who is turned player, at Goodman's-fields. He plays all parts, and is a very good mimic. His acting I have seen, and may say to you, who will not tell it again here, I see nothing wonderful in it.(593) but it is heresy to say so: the Duke of Argyll says, he is superior to Betterton. Now I talk of players, tell Mr. Chute that his friend Bracegirdle breakfasted with me this morning. As she went out, and wanted her clogs, she turned to me, and said, "I remember at the playhouse, they used to call Mrs. Oldfield's chair! Mrs. Barry's clogs! and Mrs.

Bracegirdle's pattens!"

I did, indeed, design the letter of this post for Mr. Chute; but I have received two such charming long ones from you of the 15th and 20th of May (N. S.), that I must answer them, and beg him to excuse me till another post; so must the Prince,(594) Princess, the Grifona, and Countess Galli. For the Princess's letter, I am not sure I shall answer it so soon, for hitherto I have not been able to read above every third word; however, you may thank her as much as if I understood it all. I am very happy that mes bagatelles (for I still insist they were so) pleased. You, my dear child, are very good to be pleased with the snuff-box.. I am much obliged to the superior lumi'eres of old Sarasin (595) about the Indian ink: if' she meant the black, I am sorry to say I had it into the bargain with the rest of the j.a.pan: for the coloured, it is only a curiosity, because it has seldom been brought over. I remember Sir Hans Sloane was the first who ever had any of it, and would on no account give my mother the least morsel of it. since that, She afterwards got a good deal of it from China; and more has come over; but it is even less valuable than the other, for we never could tell how to use it; however, let it make its figure.

I am sure you blame me all this time, for chatting about so many trifles, and telling you no politics. I own to you, I am so wearied, so worn with them, that I scarce know how to turn my hand to them; but you shall know all I know. I told you of the meeting at the Fountain tavern: Pultney had promised to be there, but was-not; nor Carteret. As the Lords had put off the debate on the Indemnity Bill, nothing material pa.s.sed; but the meeting was very Jacobite. Yesterday the bill came on, and Lord Carteret took the lead against it, and about seven in the evening it was flung out by almost two to one, 92 to 47, and 17 proxies to 10.

To-day we had a motion by the new Lord Hillsborough,(596) (for the father is Just dead,) and seconded by Lord Barrington,(597) to examine the Lords' votes, to see what has become of the bill: this is the form. The chancellor of the exchequer, and all the new ministry, were with us against it; but they carried it, 164 to 159. It is to be reported to-morrow, and as we have notice, we may possibly throw it out; else they will hurry on to a breach with the Lords.

Pultney was not in the House: he was riding the other day, and met the King's coach; endeavouring to turn out of the way, his horse started, flung him, and fell upon him: he is much bruised but not at all dangerously. On this occasion, there was an epigram fixed to a list, which I will explain to you afterwards it is not known who wrote it, but it was addressed to him:

"Thy horse does things by halves, like thee: Thou, with irresolution, Hurt'st friend and foe, thyself and me, The King and Const.i.tution."

The list I meant: you must know, some time ago, before the change, they had moved for a committee to examine, and state the public accounts: It was pa.s.sed. Finding how little success they had with their Secret Committee, they have set this on foot, and we were to ballot for seven commissioners, who are to have a thousand a-year; We balloted yesterday: on our lists were Sir Richard Corbet,(598) Charles Hamilton (599) Lady Archibald's brother,) Sir William Middleton,(600) Mr. West, Mr.

Fonnereau, Mr. Thompson, and Mr. Ellis.(601) On theirs Mr. Bance, George Grenville, Mr. Hooper, Sir Charles Mordaunt,(602) Mr, Phillips, Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Stuart. On casting up the numbers, the four first on ours, and the three first on their list, appeared to have the majority,: so no great harm will come from this, should it pa.s.s the Lords; which it is not likely to do. I have now told you, I think, all the political news, except that the troops continue going to Flanders, though we hear no good news yet from Holland.

If we can prevent any dispute between the two Houses, it is believed and much hoped by the Court, that the Secret Committee will desire to be dissolved: if it does, there is an end of all this tempest!

I must tell you an ingenuity of Lord Raymond,(603) an epitaph on the Indemnifying Bill-I believe you would guess the author:-

"Interr'd beneath this marble stone doth lie The Bill of Indemnity; To show the good for which it was designed, It died itself to save mankind."

My Lady Townshend made me laugh the other night about your old acquaintance, Miss Edwin; who, by the way, is grown almost a Methodist. My lady says she was forced to have an issue made on one side of her head, for her eyes, and that Kent(604) advised her to have another on the other side for symmetry.

There has lately been published one of the most impudent things that ever was printed; it is called "The Irish Recister," and is a list of all the unmarried women of any fashion in England, ranked in order, d.u.c.h.esses-dowager, ladies, widows, misses, etc. with their names at length, for the benefit of Irish fortune-hunters, or as it is said, for the incorporating and manufacturing of British commodities. Miss Edwards(605) is the only one printed with a dash, because they have placed her among the widows. I will send you this, "Miss Lucy in Town," and the magazines, by the first opportunity, as I should the other things, but your brother tells me you have had then) by another hand. I received the cedarati, for which I have already thanked you: but I have been so much thanked by several people to whom I gave some, that I can very well afford to thank you again.

As to Stosch expecting any present from me, he was so extremely well paid for all I had of' him, that I do not think myself at all in his debt: however, you was very good to offer to pay him.

As to my Lady Walpole, I shall say nothing now, as I have not seen either of the two persons since I received your letter to whom I design to mention her; only that I am extremely sorry to find you still disturbed at any of the little nonsense of' that cibal. I hoped that the accounts which I have sent you, and which, except in my last letter, must have been very satisfactory, would have served you as an antidote to their legends; and I think the great victory in the House of Lords, and which, I a.s.sure you, is here reckoned prodigious, Will raise your spirits against them. I am happy you have taken that step about Sir Francis Dashwood; the credit it must have given you with the King will more than counterbalance any little hurt you might apprehend from the cabal.

I am in no hurry for any of my things; as we shall be moving from hence as soon as Sir Robert has taken another house, I shall not want them till I am more settled.

Adieu! I hope to tell you soon that we are all at peace, and then I trust you will be so. A thousand loves to the Chutes. How I long to see you all!

P. S. I unseal my letter to tell you what a vast and, probably, final victory we have gained to-day. They moved, that the lords flinging out the Bill of Indemnity was an obstruction of justice, and might prove fatal to the liberties of' this country. We have sat till this moment, seven o'clock, and have rejected this motion by 245 to 193. The call of the House, which they have kept off from fortnight to fortnight, to keep people in town, was appointed for to-day. The moment the division was over, Sir John Cotton rose and said, "As I think the inquiry is at an end, you may do what you will with the call." We have put it off for two months. There's a n.o.ble postscript!

(591) This farce, the production of Fielding, was acted several nights with success; but it being hinted, that one of the characters was written in ridicule of a man of quality, the Lord Chamberlain sent an order to forbid its being performed any more.-E.

(592) catherine Clive, an excellent actress in low comedy.

Churchill says of her, in the Rosciad,

In spite of outward blemishes she shone, For humour famed, and humour all her own.

Easy, as if at home, the stage she trod, Nor sought the critic's praise, nor fear'd his rod Original in spirit and in ease, She pleased by hiding all attempts to please.

No comic actress ever yet could raise On humour's base, more merit or more praise."

In after life she lived at Twickenham, in the house now called Little Strawberry Hill, and became an intimate friend of Horace [email protected]

(593) Garrick made his first appearance, October 19, 1741, in the character of Richard the Third. Walpole does not appear to have been singular in the opinion here given. Gray in a letter to Chute, says, "Did I tell you about Mr. Garrick, that the town are horn-mad after: there are a dozen dukes of a night at Goodman-fields sometimes; and vet I am stiff in the opposition."-E.

(594) prince Craon.

(595) Madame Sarasin, a Lorrain lady, companion to Princess Craon.

(596) Wills Hill, the second Lord Hillsborough, afterwards created an Irish earl and made cofferer of the household. (In the reign of George III. he was created Earl of Hillsborough, in England, and finally Marquis of Downshire, in Ireland; and held the office of secretary of state for the colonies.-D.)

(597) William Wildman, Viscount Barrington, made a lord of the admiralty on the coalition, and master of the great wardrobe, in 1754. He afterwards held the offices of chancellor of the exchequer, secretary at war, and treasurer of the navy, and died February 1st, 1793.-D.)

(598) Sir Richard Corbett, of Leighton, in Montgomeryshire, the fourth baronet of that family. He was member for Shrewsbury, and died in 1774.-D.

(599) The Hon. Charles Hamilton, sixth son of James, sixth Earl of Abercorn. Member for Truro, comptroller of the green cloth to the Prince of Wales, and subsequently receiver-general of the Island of Minorca. He died in 1787.-D.

(600) Sir William Middleton, Bart. of Belsay Castle, Northumberland, the third baronet of the family. He was member for Northumberland, and died in 1767.-D.''

(601) Welbore Ellis, member of parliament for above half a century; during which period he held the different offices of a lord of the admiralty, secretary at war, treasurer of the navy, vice-treasurer of Ireland, and secretary of state. He was created Lord Mendip in 1794, with remainder to his nephew, Viscount Clifden, and died February 2, 1802, at the age of eighty-eight.-D.

(602) Sir Charles Mordaunt, of Ma.s.singham, in Norfolk, the sixth baronet of the family. He was member for the county of Warwick, and died in 1778.-D.

(603) Robert, the second Lord Raymond, son of the lord chief justice. [On whose death, in 1753, without issue, the t.i.tle expired.]

(604) William Kent, of whom Walpole himself drew the following just character:-"He was a painter, an architect, and the father of modern gardening. In the first character he was below mediocrity; in the second, he was a restorer of the science; in the last, an original, and the inventor of an art that realizes painting and improves nature. Mahomet imagined an elysium, Kent created many."-The misfortune of Kent was, that his fame and popularity in his own age were so great, that he was employed to give designs for all things, even for those which he could know nothing about-such as ladies'

birthday dresses, which he decorated with the five orders of architecture. These absurdities drew upon him the satire of Hogarth.-D. [Walpole further states of Kent, that Pope undoubtedly contributed to form his taste.]

(605) Miss Edwards, an unmarried lady of great fortune, who openly kept Lord Anne Hamilton.

260 Letter 70 To Sir Horace Mann.

London, June 3, 1742.

I have sent Mr. Chute all the news; I shall only say to you that I have read your last letter about Lady W. to Sir R. He was not at all surprised at her thoughts of England, but told me that last week my Lord Carteret had sent him a letter which she had written to him, to demand his protection. This you may tell publicly; it will show her ladyship's credit.

Here is an epigram, which I believe will divert you: it is on Lord Islay's garden upon Hounslow Heath.

"Old Islay, to show his fine delicate taste,(606) In improving his gardens purloined from the waste, Bade his gard'ner one day to open his views, By cutting a couple of grand avenues: No particular prospect his lordship intended, But left it to chance how his walks should be ended.

With transport and joy he beheld his first view end In a favourite prospects church that was ruin'd- But alas! what a sight did the next cut exhibit!

At the end of the walk hung a rogue on a gibbet!

He beheld it and wept, for it caused him to muse on Full many a Campbell that died with his shoes on.

All amazed and aghast at the ominous scene, He order'd it quick to be closed up again With a clump of Scotch firs that served for a Screen."

Sir Robert asked me yesterday about the Dominichini, but I did not know what to answer: I said I would write to you about it.

Have you bought it? or did you quite put it off? I had forgot to mention it again to you. If you have not, I am still of opinion that you should buy it for him. Adieu!