(335) George Lyttelton, afterwards created Lord lyttelton.-D.

(336) Joseph Danvers, Esq. of Swithland, in the county of Leicester, at this time member for Totness. In 1746 he was created a baronet. He married Frances, the daughter of thomas babington, Esq. of Rothley Temple, Leicestershire.-E.

(337) the Right Hon. Sir William Yonge, Bart., secretary at war, to which office he had succeeded in May, 1735. Walpole, who tells us (Memoires, i. p. 20,) that " he was vain, extravagant, and trifling; simple out of the House, and too ready at assertions in it," adds, "that his vivacity and parts, whatever the cause was, made him shine, and he was always content with the lustre that accompanied fame, without thinking of what was reflected from rewarded fame-a convenient ambition to ministers, who had few such disinterested combatants. Sir Robert Walpole always said of him 'that nothing but Yonge's character could keep down his parts, and nothing but his parts support his character.'" That these parts were very great is shown by the fact, that Sir Robert Walpole often, when he did not care to enter early into the debate himself, gave Yonge his notes, as the latter came late into the House, from which be could speak admirably and fluently, though he had missed the preceding discussion. Sir William, who had a proneness to poetry, wrote the epilogue to Johnson's tragedy of "Irene." 'When I published the plan for my Dictionary," says the Doctor, "Lord'Chesterfield told me that the word great should be pronounced so as to rhyme to state; and Sir William Yonge sent me word, that it should be pronounced so as to rhyme to seat, and that none but an Irishman would pronounce it great. Now, here were two men of the highest rank, the one the best speaker in the House of Lords, the other the best speaker in the House of Commons, differing entirely." See Boswell's Johnson,vol.iii.p.191.

(338) Sir Thomas Bootle, chancellor to the Prince of Wales; a dull, heavy man, and who is, therefore, ironically called, by Sir C. H. Williams, "Bright Bootle,"-D.

(339) Francis Chute, an eminent lawyer, second brother of Anthony Chute, of the Vine, in Hampshire, had, in concert with Luke Robinson, another lawyer, disputed Mr. Pultney's borough of Heydon with him at the general elections and been returned but on a petition, and the removal of Sir R. W. they were voted out of their seats, and Mr. Chute died soon after.-E.

(340) Sarah, Dowager Duchess of Marlborough.

(341) Nor did she, Her grace survived the date of this letter nearly three years. She died on the 18th of October 1744, being then eighty-four years of age.-E.



197 Letter 46 To Sir Horace Mann. Wednesday night, eleven o'clock, Dec. 16, 1741.

Remember this day.

Nous voil'a de la Minorit'e! entens-tu cela! h'e! My dear child, since you will have these ugly words explained, they just mean that we ar— metamorphosed into the minority. This was the night of choosing a chairman of the committee of elections. Gyles Earle, (342) (as in the two last parliaments) was named by the Court; Dr. Lee, (343) a civilian, by the Opposition, a man of a fair character. (344) Earle was formerly a dependent on the Duke of Argyle,(345) is of remarkable covetousness and wit, which he has dealt out largely against the Scotch and the Patriots. It was a day of much expectation, and both sides had raked together all probabilities: I except near twenty who are in town, but stay to vote on a second question, when the majority may be decided to either party. have you not read of such in story? Men, who would not care to find themselves on the weaker side, contrary to their intent. In short, the determined sick were dragged out of their beds; zeal came in a great coat. There were two vast dinners at two taverns, for either-party; at six we met in the House. Sir William Yonge, seconded by my uncle Horace, (346) moved for Mr. Earle: Sir Paul Methuen (347) and Sir Watkyn Williams (348) proposed Dr. Lee-and carried him, by a majority of four: 242 against 238-the greatest number, I believe, that ever lost a question. You have no idea of their huzza! unless you can conceive how people must triumph after defeats of twenty years together. We had one vote shut out, by coming a moment too late; one that quitted us, for having been ill used by the Duke of Newcastle but yesterday-for which in all probability, he will use him well to-morrow-I mean, for quitting us. Sir Thomas Lowther,(349) Lord Hartington's (350) uncle, was fetched down by him and voted against us. Young Ross,(351) son to a commissioner of the customs, and saved from the dishonour of not liking to go to the West Indies when it was his turn, by Sir R.s giving him a lieutenancy, voted against us; and Tom Hervey,(352) who is always with us, but is quite mad; and being asked why he left us, replied, "Jesus knows my thoughts; one day I blaspheme, and pray the next." so, you see what accidents were against us, or we had carried our point. They cry, Sir R. miscalculated: how should he calculate, when there are men like Ross, and fifty others he could name! It was not very pleasant to be stared in the face to see how one bore it-you can guess at my bearing it, who interest myself so little about any thing. I have had a taste of what I am to meet from all sorts of people. The moment we had lost the question, I went from the heat of the house into the Speaker's chamber, and there were some fifteen others of us-an under door-keeper thought a question was new put, when it was not, and, withou@ giving us notice, clapped the door to. I asked him how he dared lock us out without calling us: he replied insolently, "It was his duty, and he would do it again:" one of the party went to him, commended him, and told him he should be punished if he acted otherwise. Sir R. is in great spirits, and still sanguine. I have so little experience, that I shall not be amazed at whatever scenes follow. My dear child, we have triumphed twenty years; is it strange that fortune should at last forsake us; or ought we not always to expect it, especially in this kingdom? They talk loudly of the year forty-one, and promise themselves all the confusions that began a hundred years ago from the same date. I hope they prognosticate wrong; but should it be so, I can be happy in other places. One reflection I shall have, very sweet, though very melancholy; that if our family is to be the sacrifice that shall first pamper discord, at least the one,' the part of it that interested all my concerns, and must have suffered from our ruin, is safe, secure, and above the rage of confusion: nothing in this world can touch her peace now!

To-morrow and Friday we go upon the Westminster election-you will not wonder, shall you, if you hear the next post that we have lost that too? Good night. Yours, ever.

(342) Giles Earle, Esq. one of the lords of the treasury and who had been chairman of the committees of the House of Commons from 1727 to the date of this letter. He had been successively groom of the bedchamber to the Prince of Wales in 1718, clerk comptroller of the King"s household in 1720, commissioner of the Irish revenue in 1728, and a lord of the treasury in 1738. Mr. Earle was a man of broad coarse wit, and a lively image of his style and sentiments has been preserved by Sir C. H. Williams, in his "Dialogue between Giles Earle and Bubb Dodington."-E.

(343) George Lee, brother to the lord-chief justice; he was appointed one of the lords of the admiralty on the following change, which post he resigned on the disgrace of his patron, Lord Granville. He was designed by the Prince of Wales for his first minister, and, immediately on the prince's death, was appointed treasurer to the princess dowager, and soon after made dean of the arches, a knight, and privy counsellor. He died in 1758.

(344) In a letter to Dodington, written from Spa, on the 8th of September, Lord Chesterfield says:-"I am for acting at the very beginning of the session. The court generally proposes some servile and shameless tool of theirs to be chairman of the committee of privileges. Why should not we, therefore, pick up some Whig of a fair character, and with personal connexions, to set up in opposition? I think we should be pretty strong upon this point."-E.

(345) John, the great Duke of Argyle and Greenwich.-D.

(346) Horace Walpole, younger brother of Sir Robert, created. in his old age, Lord Walpole of Wolterton. He was commonly called "Old Horace," to distinguish him from his nephew, the writer of these letters.-D.

(347) The son of John Methuen, Esq. the diplomatist, and author of the celebrated Methuen treaty with Portugal. Sir Paul was a knight of the Bath, and died in 1757.-D.

(348) Sir Watkyn Williams Wynn, Bart. the third baronet of the family, was long one of the leaders in the House of Commons.-D. (349) Sir Thomas Lowther, Bart. of Holker, in Lancashire. He had married Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of the second Duke of Devonshire.-D.

(350) Afterwards the fourth Duke of Devonshire.

(351) Charles Ross, killed in flannders, at the battle of Fontenoy, 1745.

(352) Thomas Hervey, second son of John, first Earl of Bristol, 'and Surveyor of the royal gardens. He was at this time writing his famous letter to Sir Thomas Hanmer. [With whose wife he had eloped. In the letter alluded to, he expresses his conviction that his conduct was natural and delicate, and that, finally, in heaven, Lady Hanmer, in the distribution of wives, would be considered to be his. Dr. Johnson (to whom he had left a legacy of fifty pounds, but -,afterwards gave it him in his life-time) characterises him as "very vicious." " Alas!" observes Mr. Croker, "it is but too probable that he was disordered in mind, and that what was called vice was. in truth, disease, and required a madhouse rather than a prison." He died in 1775. See Boswell's Johnson, Vol. iii. P. 18, ed. 1835.)

(353) His mother, Catherine Lady Walpole, who died August 20, 1737.



199 Letter 47 To Sir Horace Mann. Thursday, six o'clock. [Dec. 17, 1741.

You will hardly divine where I am writing to you-in the Speaker's chamber. The House is examining witnesses on the Westminster election, which will not be determined to-day; I am not in haste it should, for I believe we shall lose it. A great fat fellow, a constable, on their side, has just deposed, that Lord Sundon,(355) and the high constable, took him by the collar at the election, and threw him down stairs. Do you know the figure of Lord Sundon? If you do, only think of that little old creature throwing any man down stairs!

As I was coming down this morning, your brother brought me a long letter from you, in answer to mine of the 12th of November. You try to make me mistrust the designs of Spain against Tuscany, but I will hope yet: hopes are all I have for any thing I know!

As to the young man, I will see his mother the first moment I can; and by next post, hope to give you a definite answer, whether he will submit to be a servant or not; in every other respect, I am sure he will please you.

Your friend, Mr. Fane,(356) would not come for us last night, nor will vote till after the Westminster election: be is brought into parliament by the Duke of Bedford,(357) and is unwilling to disoblige him in this. We flattered ourselves with better success; for last Friday, after sitting till two in the morning we carried a Cornish election in four divisions-the first by a majority of six, then of twelve, then of fourteen, and lastly by thirty-six. You can't imagine the zeal of the young men on both sides: Lord Fitzwilliam, Lord Hartington, and my friend Coke (358) on ours, are warm as possible; Lord Quarendon (359) and Sir Francis Dashwood (360) are as violent on theirs: the former speaks often and well. But I am talking to you of nothing but parliament; why, really, all one's ideas are stuffed with it, and you yourself will not dislike to hear things so material. The Opposition who invent every method of killing Sir R., intend to make us sit on Saturdays; but how mean and dirty is it, how scandalous! when they can't ruin him by the least plausible means, to murder him by denying him air and exercise.(361) There was a strange affair happened on Saturday; it was strange, yet very English. One Nourse, an old gamester, said, in the coffee-house, that Mr. Shuttleworth, a member, only pretended to be ill. This was told to Lord Windsor,(362) his friend, who quarrelled with Nourse, and the latter challenged him. My lord replied, he would not fight him, he was too old. The other replied, he was not too old to fight with pistols. Lord Windsor still refused: Nourse, in a rage, went home and cut his own throat. This was one of the odd ways in which men are made.

I have scarce seen Lady Pomfret lately, but I am sure Lord Lincoln is not going to marry her daughter. I am not surprised at her sister being shy of receiving civilities from you-that was English too!

Say a great deal for me to the Chutes. How I envy your snug suppers! I never have such suppers! Trust me, if we fall, all the grandeur, all the envied grandeur of our house, will not cost me a sigh: it has given me no pleasure while we have it, and will give me no pain when I part with it. My liberty, my ease, and choice of my own friends and company, will sufficiently counterbalance the crowds of Downing-street. I am so sick of it all, that if we are victorious or not, I propose leaving England in the spring,. Adieu! Yours, ever and ever.

(355) William clayton, Lord Sundon, in Ireland, so created in 1735. His wife was a favourite of Queen Caroline, to whom she was mistress of the robes.

(356) Charles Fane, Only son of Lord Viscount Fane, whom he succeeded, had been minister at Florence.

(357) John Russell, fourth Duke of Bedford.-D.

(358) Edward, Lord Viscount Coke, only son of the Earl of Leicester. He died in 1753.

(359) George Henry Lee, Lord Viscount Quarendon, eldest son of the Earl of Lichfield, whom he succeeded in that title.

(360) Sir Francis Dashwood, Bart., afterwards Lord Le Despencer. Under the administration of Lord Bute he was, for a short time, chancellor of the exchequer.-D.

(361) Sir Robert always went every Saturday to Newpark, Richmond, to hunt. (From his early youth, Sir Robert was fond of the diversions of the field. He was accustomed to hunt in Richmond Park with a pack of beagles. On receiving a packet of letters, he usually opened that from his gamekeeper first.] (362) Herbert Windsor Hickman, second Viscount Windsor in Ireland, and Baron Montjoy of the Isle of Wight. [His lordship died in 1758, when all his honours, in default of male issue, became extinct.]



201 Letter 48 To Sir Horace Mann. Christmas eve, 1741.

My dearest child, if I had not heard regularly from you, what a shock it would have given me! The other night at the opera, Mr. Worseley, with his peevish face, half smiling through ill-nature, told me (only mind!) by way of news, "that he heard Mr. Mann was dead at Florence!"' How kind! To entertain one with the chitchat of the town, a man comes and tells one that one's dearest friend is dead! I am sure he would have lost his speech if he had had any thing pleasurable to tell. If ever there is a metempsychosis, his soul will pass into a vulture and prey upon carcases after a battle, and then go and bode at the windows of their relations. But I will say no more of him; I will punish him sufficiently, if sufficiently there be, by telling him you are perfectly well: you are, are you not? Send me certificate signed by Dr. Cocchi,(363) and I will choke him with it: another's health must be venomous to him.

Sir Francis Dashwood too,-as you know all ill-natured people hear all ill news,-told me he heard you was ill: I vowed you was grown as strong as the Farnese Hercules. Then he desires you will send him four of the Volterra urns, of the chimney-piece size; send them with any of my things; do, or he will think I neglected it because he is our enemy; and I would not be peevish, not to be like them. He is one of the most inveterate; they list under Sandys,(364) a parcel of them with no more brains than their general; but being malicious they pass for ingenious, as in these countries fogs are reckoned warm weather. Did you ever hear what Earle said of Sandys? "that he never laughed but once, and that was when his best friend broke his thigh."

Last Thursday I wrote you word of our losing the chairman of the committee. This winter is to be all ups and downs. The next day (Friday) we had a most complete victory. Mr. Pultney moved for all papers and letters, etc. between the King and the Queen of Hungary and their ministers. Sir R. agreed to give them all the papers relative to those transactions, only desiring to except the letters written by the two sovereigns themselves. They divided, and we carried it, 237 against 227. They moved to have those relations to France, Prussia, and Holland. Sir R. begged they would defer asking for those of Prussia till the end of January, at which time a negotiation would be at an end with that King, which now he might break off, if he knew it was to be made public. Mr. Pultney persisted; but his obstinacy, which might be so prejudicial to the public, revolted even his own partisans, and seven of them spoke against him. We carried that question by twenty-four; and another by twenty-one, against sitting on the next day (Saturday). Monday and Tuesday we went on the Westminster election. Murray (365) spoke divinely; he Was their counsel. Lloyd (366) answered him extremely well: but on summing up the evidence on both sides, and in his reply, Murray was in short, beyond what was ever heard at the bar.That day (Tuesday) we went on the merits of the cause, and at ten at night divided, and lost it. They had 220, we 216; so that the election was declared void. You see four is a fortunate number to them. We had forty-one more members in town, who would not, or could not come down. The time. is a touchstone for wavering consciences. All the arts, money, promises, threats,, all the arts of the. former year 41, are applied; and self-interest, in the shape of Scotch members-nay, and of English ones, operates to the aid of their party, and to the defeat of ours. Lord Doneraile,(367) a young Irishman, brought in by the court, was petitioned against, though his competitor had but one vote. This young man spoke as well as ever any one spoke in his own defence insisted on the petition being heard, and concluded with declaring, that, "his cause was his Defence, and Impartiality must be his support." Do you know that, after this, he went and engaged if they would withdraw the petition, to vote with them in the Westminster affair! His friends reproached him so strongly with his meanness, that he was shocked, and went to Mr. Pultney to get off; Mr. P. told him he had given him his honour, and he would not release him, though Lord Doneraile declared it was against his conscience: but he voted with them, and lost us the next question which they put (for censuring the High Bailiff) by his single vote; for in that the numbers were 217 against 215: the alteration of his vote would have made it even; and then the Speaker, I suppose, would have chosen the merciful side, and decided for us. After this, Mr. Pultney, with an affected humanity, agreed to commit the High Bailiff only to the serjeant-at-arms. Then, by a majority of six, they voted that the soldiers, who had been sent for after the poll was closed, to save Lord Sundon's (368) life, had come in a military and illegal manner, and influenced the election. In short, they determined, as Mr. Murray had dictated to them, that no civil magistrate, on any pretence whatsoever, though he may not be able to suppress even a riot by the assistance of the militia and constables, may call in the aid of the army. Is not this doing the work of the Jacobites? have they any other view than to render the riot act useless? and then they may rise for the Pretender whenever they please. Then they moved to punish Justice Blackerby for calling in the soldiers; and when it was desired that he might be heard in his own defence, they said he had already confessed his crime. Do but think on it! without being accused, without knowing, or being told it was a crime, a man gives evidence in another cause, not his own, and then they call it his-own accusation of himself, and would condemn him for it. You see what justice we may expect if they actually get the majority. But this was too strong a pill for one of their own leaders to swallow: Sir John Barnard(369 did propose and persuade them to give him a day to be heard. In short we sat till half an hour after four in the morning; the longest day that ever was known. I say nothing of myself, for I could but just speak when I came away; but Sir Robert was as well as ever, and spoke with as much spirit as ever, at four o'clock. This way they will not kill him; I Will not answer for any other. As he came out, Whitehead,(370) the author of Manners, and agent with one Carey, a surgeon, for the Opposition, said "D-n him, how well he looks!" Immediately after their success, Lord Gage (371) went forth, and begged there might be no mobbing; but last night we had bonfires all over the town, and I suppose shall have notable mobbing at the new election; though I do not believe there will be any opposition to their Mr. Edwin and Lord Perceval.(372) Thank God! we are now adjourned for three weeks. I shall go to Swallowfield (373) for a few days: so for one week you will miss hearing from me. We have escaped the Prince'S (374) affair hitherto, but we shall have it after the holidays. All depends upon the practices of both sides in securing or getting new votes during the recess. Sir Robert is very sanguine: I hope, for his sake and for his honour, and for the nation's peace, that he will get the better: but the moment he has the majority secure, I shall be very earnest with him to resign. He has a constitution to last some years, and enjoy some repose; and for my own part (and both my brothers agree with me in it), we wish most heartily to see an end of his ministry. If I can judge of them by myself, those who want to be in our situation, do not wish to see it brought about more than we do. It is fatiguing to bear so much envy and ill-will undeservedly.-Otium Divos rogo; but adieu, politics, for three weeks!

The Duchess of Buckingham, (375) who is more mad with pride than any merchant's wife in Bedlam, came the other night to the opera en princesse, literally in robes, red velvet and ermine. I must tell you a story of her: last week she sent for Cori,(376) to pay him for her opera-ticket; he was not at home, but went in an hour afterwards. She said, "Did he treat her like a tradeswoman? She would teach him to respect women of her birth; said he was in league with Mr. Sheffield (377) to abuse her, and bade him come the next morning at nine." He came, and she made him wait till eight at night, only sending him an omlet and a bottle of wine, "as it was Friday, and he a Catholic, she supposed he did not eat meat." At last she received him in all the form of a princess giving audience to an ambassador. "Now," she said, "she had punished him."

In this age we have some who pretend to impartiality: you will scarce guess how Lord Brook (378) shows his: he gives one vote on one side, one on the other, and the third time does not vote at all, and so on, regularly.

My sister is ,up to the elbows in joy and flowers that she has received from you this morning and begs I will thank you for her.

You know, or have heard of, Mrs. Nugent, Newsham's mother; she went the other morning to Lord Chesterfield to beg "he would encourage Mr. Nugent (379) to speak in the house; for that really he was so bashful, she was afraid his abilities would be lost on the world." I don't know who has encouraged him; but so it is, that this modest Irish converted Catholic does talk a prodigious deal of nonsense in behalf of English liberty.

Lord Gage (380) is another; no man would trust him in a wager, unless he stakes, and yet he is trusted by a whole borough with their privileges and liberties! He told Mr. Winnington the other day, that he would bring his son into parliament, that he would not influence him, but leave him entirely to himself. "D-n it," said Winnington, "so you have all his lifetime."

Your brother says you accuse him of not writing to you, and that his reasons are, he has not time, and next, that I tell you all that can be said. So I do, I think: tell me when I begin to tire you, or if I am too circumstantial; but I don't believe you will think so, for I remember how we used to want such a correspondent when I was with you.

I have spoke about the young man who is well content to live with you as a servant out of livery. I am to settle the affair finally with his father on Monday, and then he shall set out as soon as possible. I will send the things for Prince Craon etc. by him. I will write to Madame Grifoni the moment I hear she is returned from the country.

The Princess Hesse (381) is brought to bed of a son. We are going into mourning for the Queen of Sweden;(382) she had always been apprehensive of the small-pox, which has been very fatal in her family.

You have heard, I suppose, of the new revolution (383) in Muscovy. The letters from Holland to-day say, that they have put to death the young Czar and his mother, and his father too: which, if true,(384) is going very far, for he was of a sovereign house in another country, no subject of Russia, and after the death of his wife and son, could have no pretence or interest to raise more commotions there.

We have got a new opera, not so good as the former; and we have got the famous Bettina to dance, but she is a most indifferent performer. The house is excessively full every Saturday, never on Tuesday: here, you know, we make every thing a fashion.

I am happy that my fears for Tuscany vanish every letter. There! there is a letter of twelve sides! I am forced to page it, it is SO long, and I have not time to read it over and look for the mistakes. Yours, ever.

(363) Antonio Cocchi, a learned physician and author, at Florence; a particular friend of Mr. Mann. [The following favourable character of Dr. Cocchi is contained in a letter from the Earl of Cork to Mr. Duncombe, dated Florence, November 29, 1754. "Mr Mann's fortunate in the friendship, skill, and care of his physician, Dr. Cocchi. He is a man of most extensive learning; understands, reads, and speaks all the European languages; studious, polite, modest, humane, and instructive. He is always to be admired and beloved by all who know him. Could I live with these two gentlemen only, and converse with few or none others, I should scarce desire to return to England for many years."]

(364) Samuel Sandys, a republican, raised on the fall of Sir R.'W. to be chancellor of the exchequer, then degraded to a peer and cofferer, and soon afterwards laid aside. [In 1743, he was raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Sandys, Baron of Omberley in the county of Worcester, and died in 1770. Dr. Nash, in his history of that county, states him to have been "a very useful, diligent senator-a warm, steady friend-a good neighbor, and a most hospitable country gentleman and provincial magistrate."]

(365) William Murray, brother of Lord- Stormont, and of Lord Dunbar, the Pretender's first minister. He is known by his eloquence and the friendship of Mr. Pope. He was soon afterwards promoted to be solicitor-general. (Afterwards the celebrated chief-justice of the King's Bench, and Earl of Man's'field.-D.)

(366) Sir Richard Lloyd, advanced in 1754 to be solicitor-general, in the room of Mr. Murray, appointed attorney-general. [And in 1759, appointed one of the Barons of the exchequer.]

(367) Arthur St. Leger, Lord Doneraile, died in 1750, being lord of the bedchamber to the Prince of Wales.

(368) Lord Sundon and Sir Charles Wager had been the Court candidates for Westminster at the late election against Admiral Vernon and Charles Edwin, Esq.-D.

(369) A great London merchant, and one of the members for the City. His reputation for integrity and ability gave him much weight in the House of Commons.-D. (Lord Chatham, when mr. Pitt, frequently calls him the Great Commoner. In 1749, he became father of the City; when, much against his will, the merchants erected a statue of him in the Royal Exchange. He died in 1764.]

(370) Paul Whitehead, an infamous but not despicable poet. [See ante, p. 190, Letter 42.]

(371) Thomas Lord Viscount Gage had been a Roman Catholic, and was master of the household to the Prince. [Lord Gage, in 1721, was elected for the borough of Tewksbury; which he represented till within a few months of his death, in 1754. He was a zealous politician, and distinguished himself, in 1732, by detecting the fraudulent sale of the Derwentwater estates.]

(372) John Perceval, second Earl of Egmont, in Ireland, created, in 176@, Lord Lovel and Rolland in the peerage of Great Britain. He became, in 1747, a lord of the bedchamber to Frederick Prince of Wales, and in the early part of the reign of George III. held successively the offices of postmaster-general and first lord of the admiralty. He was a man of some ability and a frequent and fluent speaker, and was the author of a celebrated party pamphlet of' the day, entitled "Faction Detected." His excessive love of ancestry led him, in Conjunction with his father, and assisted by Anderson, the genealogist, to print two thick octavo volumes respecting his family, entitled "History of the House of Ivery;" a most remarkable monument of human vanity.-D. [Boswell was not of this opinion. "Some have affected to laugh," he says, "at the History of the House of Ivery: it would be well if many others would transmit their pedigrees to posterity, with the same accuracy and generous zeal with which the noble lord who compiled that work has honoured and perpetuated his ancestry. Family histories, like the imagines majorum of the ancients, excite to virtue." See "Life of Johnson," vol viii. p. 188.]

(373) Swallowfield, in Berkshire, the seat of John Dodd, Esq.

(374) A scheme for obtaining a larger allowance for the Prince of Wales.

(375) Catherine, Duchess Dowager of Buckingham, natural daughter of King James II. (Supposed to be really the daughter of Colonel Graham, a man of Gallantry of the time, and a lover of her mother, Lady Dorchester.-D.) [This remarkable woman was extravagantly proud of her descent from James the Second, and affected to be the head of the Jacobite party in England. She maintained a kind of royal state, and affected great devotion to the memory of her father and grandfather. On the death of her son, the second Duke of Buckingham of the Sheffield family (whose funeral was celebrated in a most extraordinary manner), she applied to the old Duchess of Marlborough, who was as high spirited as herself, for the loan of the richly-ornamented hearse which had conveyed the great duke to his grave. "Tell her," said Sarah, "it carried the Duke of Marlborough, and shall never carry any one else." "My upholsterer," rejoined Catherine of Buckingham in a fury, "tells me I can have a finer for twenty pounds."-" This last stroke," says the editor of the Suffolk Correspondence, " was aimed at the parsimony of their Graces of Marlborough, which was supposed to have been visible even in the funeral; but the sarcasm was as unjust as the original request of borrowing the hearse was mean and unfeeling."-E.]

(376) Angelo Maria Cori, prompter to the Opera.

(377) Mr. Sheffield, natural son of the late Duke of Buckingham, with whom she was at law.

(378) Francis, Baron, and afterwards created Earl Brooke.

(379) Robert Nugent, a poet, a patriot, an author, a lord of the treasury, (and finally an Irish peer by the titles of Lord Clare and Earl Nugent. He seems to have passed his long life in seeking lucrative places and courting rich widows, in both of which pursuits be was eminently successful.-D.) [He married the sister and heiress of Secretary Craggs, and his only daughter married the first Marquis of Buckingham. A volume of his ,Odes and Epistles" were published anonymously in 1733. He died in 1788.)

(380) Lord Gage was one of those persons to whom the privileges of parliament were of extreme consequence, as their own liberties were inseparable from them.

(381) Mary, fourth daughter of King George II.

(382) Ulrica, Queen of Sweden, sister of Charles XII.

(383) This relates to the revolution by which the young Czar John was deposed, and the Princess Elizabeth raised to the throne.

(384) This was not true. The Princess Anne of Mecklenburgh died in prison at Riga, a few years afterwards. Her son, the young Czar, and her husband, Prince Antony of Brunswick Wolfenbuttle, were confined for many years.



206 Letter 49 To Sir Horace Mann. London, Dec. 29, 1741.

I write to YOU two days before the post goes out, because to-morrow I am to go out of town; but I would answer your letter by way of Holland, to tell you how much you have obliged both Sir Robert and me about the Dominichini;(385) and to beg you to thank Mr. Chute and Mr. Whithed-but I cannot leave it to you.

"My dear Mr. Chute, was ever any thing so kind! I crossed the Giogo (386) with Mr. Coke,(387) but it was in August, and I thought it then the greatest compliment that ever was paid to mortal; and I went with him too! but you to go only for a picture, and in the month of December: What can I say to you? You do more to oblige your friend, than I can find terms to thank you for. If I was to tell-it here, it would be believed as little as the rape of poor Tory (388) by a wolf. I can only say that I know the Giogo, its snows and its inns, and consequently know the extent of the obligation that I have to you and Mr. Whithed."

Now I return to you, my dear child: I am really so much obliged to you and to them, that I know not what to say. I read Pennee's letter to Sir. R., who was much pleased with his discretion; he will be quite a favourite of mine. And now we are longing for the picture; you know, of old, my impatience.

Your young secretary-servant is looking out for a ship, and will set out in the first that goes: I envy him.

The Court has been trying but can get nobody to stand for Westminster. You know Mr. Doddington has lost himself extremely by his new turn, after so often changing sides: he is grown very fat and lethargic; my brother Ned says, "he is grown of less consequence, but more weight."(389)

One hears of nothing but follies said by the Opposition, who grow mad on having the least prospect. Lady Carteret,(390) who, you know, did not want any new fuel to her absurdity, says, "they talk every day of making her lord first minister, but he is not so easily persuaded as they think for." Good night. Yours, ever.

(385) A celebrated picture of a Madonna and Child by Dominichino, in the palace Zembeccari, at Bologna, now in the collection of the Earl of Orford, at Houghton, in Norfolk. (Since sent to Russia with the rest of the collection.-D.)

(386) The Giogo is the highest part of the Apennine between Florence and Bologna.

(387) Son of Lord Lovel, since Earl of Leicester. [In 1744, Lord Lovel was created Viscount Coke of Holkham and Earl of Leicester. His only son Edward died before him, in 1753, without issue; having married Lady Mary, one of the co-heirs of John Duke of Argyle and Greenwich.]

(388) A black spaniel of Mr. Walpole's was seized by a wolf on the Alps, as it was running at the head of the chaise-horses, at noonday. [See ante, p. 139 letter 14.]

(389) George Bubb Dodington had lately resigned his post of one of the lords of the treasury, and gone again into opposition. [In Walpole's copy of the celebrated Diary of this versatile politician, he had written a "Brief account of George Bubb Doddington, Lord Melcombe," which the noble editor of the "Memoires" has inserted. It describes him, "as his Diary shows, vain, fickle, ambitious, and corrupt,' and very lethargic; but gives him credit for great wit and readiness." Cumberland, in his Memoirs, thus paints him:-"Dodington, lolling in his chair, in perfect apathy and self-command, dozing, and even snoring, at intervals, in his lethargic way, broke out every now and then into gleams and flashes of wit and humour." In 1761, he was created Lord Melcombe, and died in the following year.]

(390) Frances, daughter of Sir Robert Worseley, and first wife of John Lord Carteret, afterwards Earl of Granville.



207 Letter 50 To Sir Horace Mann. London, Jan. 7, 1741-2, O. S.

I must answer for your brother a paragraph that he showed me in one of your letters: "Mr. W.'s letters are full of wit; don't they adore him in England?" Not at all-and I don't wonder at them: for if I have any wit in my letters, which I do not at all take for granted, it is ten to one that I have none out of my letters. A thousand people can write, that cannot talk; and besides, you know, (or I conclude so, from the little one hears stirring,) that numbers of the English have wit, who don't care to produce it. Then, as to adoring; YOU now See Only my letters, and you may be sure I take care not to write you word of any of my bad qualities, which other people must see in the gross; and that may be a great hindrance to their adoration. Oh! there are a thousand other reasons I could give you, why I am not the least in fashion. I came over in an ill season: it is a million to one that nobody thinks a declining old minister's son has wit. At any time, men in opposition have always most; but now, it would be absurd for a courtier to have even common sense. There is not a Mr. Stuart, or a Mr. Stewart, whose names begin but with the first letters of Stanhope,(391) that has not a better chance than I, for being liked. I can assure you, even those of the same party would be fools, not to pretend to think me one. Sir Robert has showed no partiality for me;(392) and do you think they would commend where he does not? even supposing they had no envy, which by the way, I am far from saying they have not. Then. my dear child, I am the coolest man of my party, and if I am ever warm, it is by contagion; and where violence passes for parts, what will indifference be called? But how could you think of such a question '! I don't want money, consequently Do old women pay me for my wit; I have a very flimsy constitution, consequently the young women won't taste my wit, and it is a long while before wit makes its own way in the world; especially, as I never prove it, by assuring people that I have it by me. Indeed, if I were disposed to brag, I could quote two or three half-pay officers, and an old aunt or two, who laugh prodigiously at every thing I say; but till they are allowed judges, I will not brag of such authorities.

If you have a mind to know who is adored and has wit, there is old Churchill has as much God-d-n-ye wit as ever-except that he has lost two teeth. There are half a dozen Scotchmen who vote against the Court, and are cried up by the Opposition for wit, to keep them steady. They are forced to cry up their parts, for it would be too barefaced to commend their honesty. Then Mr. Nugent has had a great deal of wit till within this week; but he is so busy and so witty, that even his own party grow tired of him. His plump wife, who talks of nothing else, says he entertained her all the way on the road with repeating his speeches.

I did not go into the country, last week, as I intended, the weather was so bad; but I shall go on Sunday for three or four days, and perhaps shall not be able to write to you that week. You are in an agitation, I suppose, about politics: both sides are trafficking deeply for votes during the holidays. It is allowed, I think, that we shall have a majority of twenty-six: Sir R. says more; but now, upon a pinch, he brags like any bridegroom.

The Westminster election passed without any disturbance, in favour of Lord Perceive-all (394) and Mr. Perceive-nothing, as my uncle calls them. Lord Chesterfield was vaunting to Lord Lovel, that they should have carried it, if they had set up two broomsticks. "So I see," replied Lovel. But it seems we have not done with it yet: if we get the majority, this will be declared a void election too, for my Lord Chancellor (395) has found out, that the person who made the return, had no right to make it: it was the High Bailiff's clerk, the High Bailiff himself being in custody of the sergeant-at-arms. it makes a great noise, and they talk of making subscriptions for a Petition.

Lord Stafford (396) is come over. He told me some good stories of the Primate.(397)

Last night I had a good deal of company to hear Monticelli and Amorevoli, particularly the three beauty-Fitzroys, Lady Euston, Lady Conway, and Lady Caroline.(398) Sir R. liked the singers extremely: he had not heard them before, I forgot to tell you all our beauties there was Miss Hervey,(399) my lord's daughter, a fine, black girl, but as masculine as her father should be;(400) and jenny Conway, handsomer Still,(401) though changed with illness, than even the Fitzroys. I made the music for my Lord Hervey, who is too ill to go to operas: yet, with a coffin-face, is as full of his little dirty politics as ever. He will not be well enough to go to the House till the majority is certain somewhere, but lives shut up with my Lord Chesterfield and Mr. Pultney-a triumvirate, who hate one another more than any body they could proscribe, had they the power. I dropped in at my Lord Hervey's, the other night, knowing my lady had company: it was soon after our defeats. My lord, who has always professed particularly to me, turned his back on me, and retired for an hour into a whisper with young Hammond,(402) at the end of the room. Not being at all amazed at one whose heart I knew so well, I stayed on, to see more of this behaviour; indeed, to rise myself to it. At last he came up to me, and begged this music. which I gave him, and would often again, to see how many times I shall be ill and well with him within this month. Yesterday came news that his brother, Captain William Hervey, has taken a Caracca ship, worth full two hundred thousand pounds. He was afterwards separated from it by a storm, for two or three days, and was afraid of losing it, having but five-and-twenty men to thirty-six Spaniards; but he has brought it home safe. I forgot to tell you, that upon losing the first question, Lord Hervey kept away for a week; on our carrying the next great one, he wrote to Sir Robert, how much he desired to see him, "not upon any business, but Lord Hervey longs to see Sir Robert Walpole."

Lady Sundon(402) is dead, and Lady M- disappointed: she, who is full as politic as my Lord Hervey, had made herself an absolute servant to Lady Sundon, but I don't hear that she has left her even her old clothes. Lord Sundon is in great grief: I am surprised, for she has had fits of madness ever since her ambition met such a check by the death of the Queen.(404) She had great power with her, though the Queen pretended to despise her; but had unluckily told her, or fallen into her power by some secret.(405) I was saying to Lady Pomfret, to be sure she is dead very rich!" She replied, with some warmth, She never took money." When I came home, I mentioned this to Sir R. "No," said he, "but she took jewels; Lord Pomfret's place of master of the horse to the Queen was bought of her for a pair of diamond earrings, of fourteen hundred pounds value." One day that she wore them at a visit at old Marlboro's, as soon as she was gone, the Duchess said to Lady Mary Wortley,(406) "How can that woman have the impudence to go about in that bribe?"-,, Madam," said Lady Mary, "how would you have people know where wine is to be sold, unless there is a sign hung out!" Sir R. told me, that in the enthusiasm of her vanity, Lady Sundon had proposed to him to unite with her, and govern the kingdom together: he bowed, begged her patronage, but said he thought nobody fit to govern the kingdom, but the King and Queen.-Another day.

Friday morning. I was forced to leave off last night, as I found it would be impossible to send away this letter finished in any time. It will be enormously long, but I have prepared you for it. When I consider the beginning of my letter, it looks as if I were entirely of your opinion about the agreeableness of them. I believe you will never commend them again, when you see how they increase upon your hands. I have seen letters of two or three sheets, written from merchants at Bengal and Canton to their wives: but then they contain the history of a twelvemonth: I grow voluminous from week to week. I can plead in excuse nothing but the true reason; you desired it; and I remember how I used to wish for such letters, when I was in Italy. My Lady Pomfret carries this humanity still farther, and because people were civil to her in Italy, she makes it a rule to visit all strangers in general. She has been to visit a Spanish Count (407) and his wife, though she cannot open her lips in their language. They fled from Spain, he and his brother having offended the Queen, (408) by their attachments to the Prince of Asturias; his brother ventured back to bring off this woman, who was engaged to him. Lord Harrington (409) has procured them a pension of six hundred a-year. They live chiefly with Lord Carteret and his daughter,(410) who speak Spanish. But to proceed from where I left off last night, like the Princess Dinarzade in the Arabian Nights, for you will want to know what happened one day. Sir Robert was at dinner with Lady Sundon, who hated the Bishop of London, as much as she loved the Church. "Well," said she to Sir R., "how does your pope do!"-"Madam," replied he, "he is my pope, and shall be my Pope; every body has some pope or other; don't you know that you are one! They call you Pope Joan." She flew into a passion, and desired he would not fix any names on her; that they were not so easily got rid of.

We had a little ball the other night at Mrs. Boothby's, and by dancing, did not perceive an earthquake, which frightened all the undancing part of the town.

We had a civility from his Royal Highness,(411) who sent for Monticelli the night he was engaged here, but, on hearing it, said he would send for him some other night. If I did not live so near St. James's, I would find out some politics in this-should not one?

Sir William Stanhope (412) has had a hint from the same Highness, that his company is not quite agreeable: whenever he met any body at Carlton House whom he did not know, he said, "Your humble servant, Mr. or Mrs. Hamilton."

I have this morning sent aboard the St. Quintin a box for you, with your secretary-not in it.

Old Weston of Exeter is dead. Dr. Clarke, the Dean, Dr. Willes, the decipherer, and Dr. Gilbert of Llandaff, are candidates to succeed him.(413) Sir R. is for Willes, who, he says, knows so many secrets, that he might insist upon being archbishop.

My dear Mr. Chute! how concerned I am that he took all that trouble to no purpose. I will not write to him this post, for as you show him my letters, this here will sufficiently employ any one's patience-but I have done. I long to hear that the Dominichini is safe. Good night. Yours, ever.

(391) The name of Lord Chesterfield.

(392) On the subject of Sir Robert's alleged want of partiality for his son, the following passage occurs in the anecdotes prefixed to Lord Wharncliffe's edition of the works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu:-"Those ironical lines, where Pope says that Sir Robert Had never made a friend in private life, And was, besides, a tyrant to his wife,' are well understood, as conveying a sly allusion to his good-humoured unconcern about some things which more strait-laced husbands do not take so coolly. In a word, Horace Walpole was generally supposed to be the son of Carr Lord Hervey, and Sir Robert not to be ignorant of it. One striking circumstance was visible to the naked eye; no beings in human shape could resemble each other less than the two passing for father and son; and while their reverse of personal likeness provoked a malicious whisper, Sir Robert's marked neglect of Horace in his infancy tended to confirm it. Sir Robert took scarcely any notice of him till his proficiency in Eton school, when a lad of some standing, drew his attention, and proved that, whether he had or had not a right to the name he went by, he was likely to do it Honour." Vol. i. 1). 33.-E.

(393) General Charles Churchill. (Whose character has been so inimitably sketched, at about the same period when this letter was written, by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, in his poem of', Isabella, or the Morning:"-

"The General, one of those brave old commanders, Who served through all our glorious wars in Flanders. Frank and good-natur'd, of an honest heart, Loving to act the steady friendly part; None led through youth a gayer life than he, Cheerful in converse, smart in repartee; But with old age, its Vices Come along, And in narration he's extremely long; Exact in circumstance, and nice in dates, He each minute particular relates. If you name one of marlbro's ten campaigns, He gives you its whole history for your pains, And Blenheim's field becomes by his reciting, As long in telling as it was in fighting. His old desire to please is still express'd, His hat's well cock'd, his periwig's well dress'd. He rolls his stockings still, white gloves he wears, And in the boxes with the beaux appears. His eyes through wrinkled corners cast their rays, Still he looks cheerful, still soft things he says, And still remembering that he once was young, He strains his crippled knees, and struts along."-D.)

(394) Vide an account of the erection of Lord Perceval and one Edwin, in that Lord's History of the House of Ivery.

(395) Philip Yorke, Lord, and afterwards Earl of Hardwicke, for twenty years Lord Chancellor of England.-D.

(396) William mathias Howard, Earl of Stafford.

(397) The Primate of Lorrain, eldest son of Prince Craon, was famous for his wit and vices of all kinds.

(398) Lady Dorothy Boyle, eldest daughter of Lord Burlington; Isabella, wife of Francis Lord Conway, and Caroline, afterwards married to Lord Petersham, were the daughter-in-law and daughters of Charles Fitzroy, Duke of grafton, lord chamberlain.

(399) Lepel, eldest daughter of John Lord Hervey, afterwards married to Mr. Phipps. (Constantine Phipps, in 1767 created Lord Mulgrave.]

(400) The effeminacy of Lord Hervey formed a continual subject for the satire of his opponents. Pope's bitter lines on him- are well remembered. The old Duchess of Marlborough, too, in her "Opinions," describes him as having "certainly parts and wit; but he is the most wretched profligate man that ever was born, besides ridiculous; a painted face, and not a tooth in his head." on which the editor of that curious little book, Lord Hailes, remarks, "Lord Hervey, having felt some attacks of the epilepsy, entered upon and persisted in a very strict regimen, and thus stopped the progress and prevented the effects of that dreadful disease. His daily food was a small quantity of asses' milk and a flour biscuit. Once a week he indulged himself with eating an apple; he used emetics daily. Mr. Pope and he were once friends; but they quarrelled, and persecuted each other with virulent satire. Pope, knowing the abstemious regimen which Lord Hervey observed, was so ungenerous as to call him "mere cheese-curd of asses' milk!" Lord Hervey used paint to soften his ghastly appearance. Mr. Pope must have known this also; and therefore it was unpardonable in him to introduce it into his "celebrated portrait." It ought to be remembered, that Lord Hervey is very differently described by Dr. Middleton; who, in his dedication to him of "The History of the Life of Tully," praises him for his strong good sense, patriotism, temperance, and information.-E.

(401) Jane, only daughter of Francis, the first Lord Conway, by his second wife, Mrs. Bodens. (She died unmarried, May 5, 1749.-D.)

(402) Author of some Love Elegies, and a favourite of Lord Chesterfield. He died this year. [Hammond was equerry to the Prince of Wales, and member for Truro. He died in June, 1742, at Stowe, the seat of Lord Cobham, in his thirty.second year. Miss Dashwood long survived him, and died unmarried in 1779. " The character," says Johnson, "which her lover gave her was, indeed, not likely to attract courtship."]

(402) Wife of William Clayton, Lord Sundon, woman of the bedchamber and mistress of the robes to Queen Caroline. [She had been the friend and correspondent of Sarah Duchess of' Marlborough; who, on the accession of George I , through Baron Bothmar's influence, procured for her friend the place of lady of the bedchamber to the Princess with whom she grew as great a favourite as her colleague, Mrs. Howard, with the Prince; and eventually, on the Princess becoming Queen, exercised an influence over her, of which even sir Robert Walpole was jealous.]

(404) Queen Caroline, died November 1737.-D.

(405) This is now known to have been a rupture, with which the Queen was afflicted, and which she had the weakness to wish, and the courage to be able, to conceal.-E.

(406) The celebrated Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, oldest daughter of Evelyn, first Duke of Kingston, and wife of Wortley Montagu, Esq.-D.

(407) Marquis de Sabernego: he returned to Spain after the death of Philip V.

(408) The Princess of Parma, second wife of Philip V. King of Spain, and consequently stepmother to the Prince of Asturias, son of that King, by his first wife, a princess of Savoy.-D.

(409) William Stanhope, created Lord Harrington in 1729, and Earl of the same in 1741. He held various high offices, and was, at the time this was written, secretary of state.-D.

(410) Frances, youngest daughter of Lord Carteret, afterwards married to the Marquis of Tweedale. (in 1748. The marquis was an extraordinary lord of session, and the last person who held a similar appointment.]

(411) Frederick Prince of Wales.-D.

(412) Brother to Lord Chesterfield. This bon mot was occasioned by the numbers of Hamiltons which Lady Archibald Hamilton, the Prince's mistress, had placed at that court.

(413) Nicholas Clagget, Bishop of St. David's, succeeded, on Weston's death, to the see of Exeter.-Dr. Clagget was, however, succeeded in the see of St. David's by Dr. Edward Willes, Dean of Lincoln and decipherer to the King; and, in the following year, translated to the bishopric of Bath and Wells. The art of deciphering, for which Dr. Willes was so celebrated, has been the subject of many learned and curious works by Trithemius, Baptista Porta, the Duke Augustus of Brunswick, and other more recent writers. The Gentleman's Magazine for 1742, contains a very ingenious system of deciphering: but the old modes of secret writing having been, for the most part, superseded by the modern system of cryptography, in which, according to a simple rule which may be communicated verbally, and easily retained in the memory, the signs for the letters can be changed continually; it is the chiffre quarr'e or chiffre ind'echiffrable, used, if not universally, yet by most courts. None of the old systems of deciphering are any longer available.]



212 Letter 51 To Sir Horace Mann. Friday, Jan. 22, 1742.

Don't wonder that I missed writing to you yesterday, my constant day: you will pity me when you hear that I was shut up in the House of Commons till one in the morning. I came away more dead than alive, and was forced to leave Sir R. at supper with my brothers: he was all alive and in spirits.(414) He says he is younger than me, and indeed I think so, in spite of his forty years more. My head aches to-night, but we rose early; and if I don't write to-night when shall I find a moment to spare? Now you want to know what we did last night; stay, I will tell you presently in its place: it was well, and of infinite consequence-so far I tell you now. Our recess finished last Monday, and never at school did I enjoy holidays so much-but, les voil'a finis jusqu'au printefps! Tuesday (for you see I write you an absolute journal) we sat on a Scotch election, a double return; their man was Hume Campbell,(415) Lord Marchmont's brother, lately made solicitor to the Prince, for being as troublesome, as violent, and almost as able as his brother. They made a great point of it, and gained so many of our votes, that at ten at night we were forced to give it up without dividing. Sandys, who loves persecution, even unto the death, moved to punish the sheriff; and as we dared not divide, they ordered him into custody, where by this time, I suppose, Sandys has eaten him.

On Wednesday, Sir Robert Godschall, the Lord Mayor, presented the Merchant's petition, signed by three hundred of them, and drawn up by Leonidas Glover.(416) This is to be heard next Wednesday. This gold-chain came into parliament, cried up for his parts, but proves so dull, one would think he chewed opium. Earle says, "I have heard an oyster speak as well twenty times."

Well, now I come to yesterday: we met, not expecting much business. Five of our members were gone to the York election, and the three Lord Beauclercs (417) to their mother's funeral at Windsor; for that old beauty St. Albans (418) is dead at last. On this they depended for getting the majority, and towards three o'clock, when we thought of breaking up, poured in their most violent questions: one was a motion for leave to bring in the Place Bill to limit the number of placemen in the House. This was not opposed, because, out of decency, it is generally suffered to pass the Commons, and is thrown out by the Lords; only Colonel Cholmondeley (419) desired to know if they designed to limit the number of those that have promises of places, as well as of those that have places now. I must tell you that we are a very conclave; they buy votes with reversions of places on the change of the ministry. Lord Gage was giving an account in Tom's coffeehouse of the intended alterations: that Mr. Pultney is to be chancellor of the exchequer, and Chesterfield and Carteret secretaries of state. Somebody asked who was to be paymaster? Numps Edwin,(420) who stood by, replied, "We have not thought so low as that yet." Lord Gage harangues every day at Tom's, and has read there a very false account of the King'S message to the Prince.(421) The Court, to show their contempt of Gage, have given their copy to be read by Swinny.(422) This is the authentic copy, which they have made the bishop write from the message which he carried, and as he and Lord Cholmondeley agree it was given.

On this Thursday, of which I was telling you, at three o'clock, Mr. Pultney rose up, and moved for a secret committee of twenty-one. This inquisition, this council of ten, was to sit and examine whatever persons and papers they should please, and to meet when and where they pleased. He protested much on its not being intended against any person, but merely to give the King advice, and on this foot they fought it till ten at night, when Lord Perceval blundered out what they had been cloaking with so @much art, and declared that he should vote for it as a committee of accusation. Sir Robert immediately rose, and protested that he should not have spoken, but for what he had heard last; but that now, he must take it to himself. He portrayed the malice of the Opposition, who, for twenty years, had not been able to touch him, and were now reduced to this infamous shift. He defied them to accuse him, and only desired that if they should, might be in an open and fair manner: desired no favour, but to be acquainted with his accusation. He spoke of Mr. Doddington, who had called his administration infamous, as of a person of great self-mortification, who, for sixteen years, had condescended to bear part of the odium. For Mr. Pultney, who had just spoken a second time, Sir R. said, he had begun the debate with great calmness, but give him his due, he had made amends for it in the end. In short, never was innocence so triumphant.

There were several glorious speeches on both sides: Mr. Pultney's two, W. Pitt's (423) and George Grenville's,(424) Sir Robert's, Sir W. Yonge's, Harry Fox's, (425) Mr. Chute's, and the Attorney-General's.(426) My friend Coke, for the first time, spoke vastly well, and mentioned how great Sir Robert's character is abroad. ' Sir Francis Dashwood replied, that he had found quite the reverse from Mr. Coke, and that foreigners always spoke with contempt of the Chevalier de Walpole. That was going too far, and he was called to order, but got off well enough, by saying, that he knew it was contrary to rule to name any member, but that he only mentioned it as spoken by an impertinent Frenchman.

But of all speeches, none ever was so full of wit as Mr. Pultney's last. He said, "I have heard this committee represented as a most dreadful spectre; it has been likened to all terrible things; it has been likened to the King; to the inquisition; it will be a committee of safety; it is a committee of danger; I don't know what it is to be! One gentleman, I think, called it a cloud! (this was the Attorney) a cloud! I remember Hamlet takes Lord Polonius by the hand and shows him a cloud, and then asks him if he does not think it is like a whale." Well, in short, at eleven at night we divided, and threw out this famous committee by 253 to 250, the greatest number that ever was in the house, and the greatest number that ever lost a question.

It was a most shocking sight to see the sick and dead brought in on both sides! Men on crutches, and Sir William Gordon (427) from his bed, with a blister on his head, and flannel hanging out from under his wig. I could scarce pity him for his ingratitude. The day before the Westminster petition, Sir Charles Wager (428) gave his son a ship, and the next day the father came down and voted against him. The son has since been east away; but they concealed it from the father, that he might not absent himself. However, as we have our good-natured men too on our side, one of his own countrymen went and told him of it in the House. The old man, who looked like Lazarus at his resuscitation, bore it with great resolution, and said, he knew why he was told of it, but when he thought his country in danger, he would not go away. As he is so near death, that it is indifferent to him whether he died two thousand years ago or to-morrow, it is unlucky for him not to have lived when such insensibility would have been a Roman virtue. (429)

There are no arts, no menaces, which the Opposition do not practise. They have threatened one gentleman to have a reversion cut off from his son, unless he will vote with them. To Totness there came a letter to the mayor from the Prince, and signed by two of his lords, to recommend a candidate in opposition to the solicitor-general. The mayor sent the letter to Sir Robert. They have turned the Scotch to the best account. There is a young Oswald (430) who had engaged to Sir R. but has voted against us. Sir R. sent a friend to reproach him: the moment the gentleman who had engaged for him came into the room, Oswald said, "You had liked to have led me into a fine error! did you not tell me that Sir R. would have the majority?"

When the debate was over, Mr. Pultney owned that he had never heard so fine a debate on our side; and said to Sir Robert, "Well, nobody can do what you can!" "Yes," replied Sir R., "Yonge did better." Mr. P. answered, "It was fine, but not of that weight with what you said." They all allow it- and now their plan is to persuade Sir Robert to retire with honour. All that evening there was a report about the town, that he and my uncle were to be sent to the Tower, and people hired windows in the city to see them pass by-but for this time I believe we shall not exhibit so historical a parade.

The night of the committee, my brother Walpole (431) had got two or three invalids at his house, designing to carry them into the House by his door, as they were too ill to go round by Westminster hall: the patriots, who have rather more contrivances than their predecessors of Grecian and Roman memory, had taken the precaution of stopping the keyhole with sand. How Livy's eloquence would have been hampered, if there had been back-doors and keyholes to the Temple of Concord!

A few days ago there were lists of the officers at Port Mahon laid before the House of Lords -. unfortunately, it appeared that two-thirds of the regiment had been absent. The Duke of Argyll said, "Such a list was a libel on the government;" and of all men, the Duke of Newcastle was the man who rose up and agreed with him: remember what I have told you once before of his union with Carteret. We have carried the York election by a majority of 956.

The other night the Bishop of Canterbury(432) was with Sir 'Robert, and on going away, said, "Sir, I have been lately reading Thaunus; he mentions a minister, who having long been persecuted by his enemies, at length vanquished them: the reason he gives, quia se non deseruit."

Sir Thomas Robinson is at last named to the government of Barbadoes; he has long prevented its being asked for, by declaring that he had the promise of it. Luckily for him, Lord Lincoln liked his house, and procured him this government on condition of hiring it.

I have mentioned Lord Perceval's speeches; he has a set who have a rostrum at his house, and harangue there. A gentleman who came thither one evening was refused, but insisting that he was engaged to come, "Oh, Sir," said the porter, "what, are you one of those who play at members of Parliament?"

I must tell you something, though Mr. Chute will see my letter. Sir Robert brought home yesterday to dinner, a fat comely gentleman, who came up to me, and said he believed I knew his brother abroad. I asked his name; he replied, He is with Mr. Whithed." I thought he said, It is Whithed." After I had talked to him of Mr. Whithed, I said, There is a very sensible man with Mr. Whithed, one Mr. Chute." "Sir," said he, "my name is Chute." "My dear Mr. Chute, now I know both your brothers. You will forgive my mistake."

With what little conscience I begin a third sheet! but it shall be but half a one. I have received your vast packet of music by the messenger, for which I thank you a thousand times; and the political sonnet, which is far from bad. Who translated it? I like the translation.

I am obliged to you about the gladiator, etc.: the temptation of having them at all is great, but too enormous. If I could have the gladiator for about an hundred pounds, I would give it.

I enclose one of the bills of lading of the things that I sent you by your secretary: he sets out tomorrow. By Oswald's (433) folly, to whom I entrusted the putting them on board, they are consigned to Goldsworthy, (434) but pray take care that he does not open them. The captain mortifies me by proposing to stay three weeks at Genoa. I have sent away to-night a small additional box of steel wares, which I received but to-day from Woodstock. As they are better than the first, you will choose out some of them for Prince Craon, and give away the rest as you please.

We have a new opera by Pescetti, but a very bad one; however, all the town runs after it, for it ends with a charming dance.(435) They have flung open the stage to a great length, and made a perfect view of Venice, with the Rialto, and numbers of gondolas that row about full of masks, who land and dance. You would like it.

Well, I have done. Excuse me if I don't take the trouble to read it all over again, for it is immense, as you will find. Good night!

(414) Sir Robert Wilmot also, in a letter to the Duke of Devonshire, written on the 12th, Sir Robert was today observed to be more naturally gay and full of spirits than he has been for some time past."-E.

(415) HUme Campbell was twin brother of Hugh, third Earl of Marchmont. They were sons of Alexander, the second earl, who had quarrelled with Sir Robert Walpole at the time of the excise scheme in 1733. Sir Robert, in consequence, prevented him from being reelected one of the sixteen representative Scotch peers in 1734; in requital for which, the old earl's two sons became the bitterest opponents of the Minister. They were both men of considerable talents; extremely similar in their characters and dispositions, and so much so in their outward appearance that it was very difficult to know them apart.-D. The estimation in which Lord Marchmont was held by his contemporaries, maybe judged of by the fact, that Lord Cobham gave his bust a place in the Temple of Worthies, at Stowe, and the mention of him in Pope's inscription in his grotto at Twickenham;-

"Where British siglis from dying Wyndham stole, And the bright flame was shot through Marchmont's soul."

We are told by Coxe, that Sir Robert Walpole "used frequently to rally his sons, who were praising the speeches of Pultney, Pitt, Lyttelton, and others, by saying, "You may cry up their speeches if you please, but when I have answered Sir John Barnard and Lord Polwarth, I think I have concluded the debate."]

(416) Glover, a merchant, author of "Leonidas," a poem, "Boadicea," a tragedy, etc. [Glover's talent for public speaking, and information concerning trade and Commerce, naturally pointed him out to the merchants of London to conduct their application to parliament on the neglect of their trade.]

(417) Lord Vere, Lord Henry, and Lord Sidney Beauclerc, sons of the Duchess Dowager of St. Albans, who is painted among the beauties at Hampton Court.

(418) Lady Diana Vere, daughter, and at length sole heir, of Aubrey de Vere, twentieth and last Earl of Oxford. She married, in 1694, Charles, first Duke of St. Albans, natural son of Charles II. by Nell Gwin. She died Jan. 15, 1742.

(419) Colonel James Cholmondeley, only brother of the Earl. Afterwards distinguished himself at the battles of Fontenoy and Falkirk, and died in 1775.-E.

(420) Charles Edwin, Admiral Vernon's unsuccessful colleague at Westminster.-E.

(421) During the holidays, Sir R. W. had prevailed on the King to send to the Prince of Wales, to offer to pay his debts and double his allowance. This negotiation was intrusted to Lord Cholmondeley on the King's, and to Secker, Bishop of Oxford, on the Prince's side, but came to nothing, [The Prince, in his answer, stated, that "he could not come to court while Sir Robert Walpole presided in His Majesty's councils; that he looked on him as the sole author of our grievances at home, and of our ill success in the West Indies; and that the disadvantageous figure we at present made in all the courts of Europe was to be attributed alone to him."]

(422) Owen MacSwinny, a buffoon; formerly director of the playhouse. [He had been a manager of Drury Lane Theatre, and was the author of several dramatic pieces. He resided in Italy for several years, and, on his return, was appointed keeper of the King's Mews. He died in 1754, leaving his fortune to the celebrated Mrs. Woffington.](

423) Afterwards the great Lord Chatham.-D.

(424) First minister in the early part of the reign of George III.-D.

(425) Afterwards the first Lord Holland.-D.

(426) Sir Dudley Ryder.-D.

(427) Sir Robert Wilmot, in a letter to the Duke of Devonshire, says:-,,Sir William Gordon was brought in like a corpse. Some thought it had been an old woman in disguise, having a white cloth round his head: others,, who found him out, expected him to expire every moment. Other incurables were introduced on their side. Mr. Hopton, for Hereford, w, is carried in with crutches. Sir Robert Walpole exceeded himself; Mr. Pelham, with the greatest decency, cut Pultney into a thousand pieces. Sir Robert actually dissected him, and laid his heart open to the view of the House."-E.

(428) Admiral Sir Charles Wager. He had been knighted by Queen Anne, for his Gallantry in taking and destroying some rich Spanish galleons. He was at this time first lord of the Admiralty. He died in 1743.-D.

(429) Sir William died in the May following.

(430) James Oswald, afterwards one of the commissioners of trade and plantations.

(431) Robert, Lord Walpole, afterwards Earl of Orford. He was auditor of the Exchequer, and his house joined to the House of commons, to which he had a door: but it was soon afterwards locked up, by an order of the House.

(432) John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury, translated, in 1737, from the see of Oxford. He died in 1747.-D.

)433) George Oswald, steward to Sir R. W.

(434) Mr. Goldsworthy, consul at Leghorn, had married Sir Charles Wager's niece, and was endeavouring to supplant Mr. Mann at Florence.

(435) Vestris, the celebrated dancer, would have been delighted with it; for it is related of him, that when Gluck had finished his noble opera, "Iphigenia," Vestris was sadly disappointed on finding that it did not end with a "chaconne," and worried the composer to induce him to introduce one. At length Gluck, losing all patience, exclaimed, "Chaconne! chaconne! Had, then, the Greeks, whose manners we are to represent, chaconnes?" "Certainly not," replied Vestris, "certainly not; but so much the worse for the Greeks."-D.



218 Letter 52 To Sir Horace Mann. London, Feb. 1741-2.

I am miserable that I have not more time to write to you, especially as you will want to know so much of what I have to tell you; but for a week or fortnight I shall be so hurried, that I shall scarce know what I say. I sit here writing to you, and receiving all the town, who flock to this house; Sir Robert has already had three levees this morning, and the rooms still overflowing-they overflow up to me. You will think this the prelude to some victory! On the contrary, when you receive this, there will be no longer a Sir Robert Walpole: you must know him for the future by the title of Earl of Orford. That other envied name expires next week with his ministry! Preparatory to this change. I should tell you, that last week we heard in the House of Commons the Chippenham election, when Jack Frederick and his brother-in-law, Mr. Hume, on our side, petitioned against Sir Edmund Thomas and Mr. Baynton Holt. Both sides made it the decisive question-but our people were not all equally true: and upon the previous question we had but 235 against 236, so lost it by one. From that time my brothers, my uncle, I, and some of his particular friends, persuaded Sir R. to resign. He was undetermined till Sunday night. Tuesday we were to finish the election, when we lost it by 16; upon which Sir Robert declared to some particular persons in the House his resolution to retire,(436) and had that morning sent the Prince of Wales notice of' it. It is understood from the heads of the party, that nothing more is to be pursued against him. Yesterday (Wednesday) the King adjourned both Houses for a fortnight, for time to settle things. Next week Sir Robert resigns and goes into the House of Lords. The only change yet fixed, is, that Lord Wilmington (437) is to be at the head of the Treasury-but numberless other alterations and confusions must follow. The Prince will be reconciled, and the Whig-patriots will come in. There were a few bonfires last night, but they are very unfashionable, for never was fallen minister so followed. When he kissed the King's hand to take his first leave, the King fell on his neck, wept and kissed him, and begged to see him frequently. He will continue in town, and assist the ministry in the Lords. Mr. Pelham has declared that he will accept nothing, that was Sir Robert's; and this moment the Duke of Richmond has been here from court to tell Sir R. that he had resigned the mastership of the horse, having received it from him, unasked, and that he would not keep it beyond his ministry. This is the greater honour, as it was so unexpected, and as he had no personal friendship with the duke.

For myself, I am quite happy to be free from all the fatigue, envy, and uncertainty of our late situation. I go every where; indeed, to have the stare over, and to use myself to neglect, but I meet nothing but civilities. Here have been Lord Hartington, Coke, and poor Fitzwilliam,(438) and others crying: here has been Lord Deskford (439) and numbers to wish me joy; in short, it is a most extraordinary and various scene.(440)

There are three people whom I pity much; the King, Lord Wilmington, and my own sister; the first, for the affront, to be forced to part with his minister, and to be forced to forgive his son; the second, as he is too old, and (even when he was young,) unfit for the burthen: and the poor girl,(441) who must be created an earl's daughter, as her birth would deprive her of the rank. She must kiss hands, and bear the flirts of impertinent real quality

I am invited to dinner to-day by Lord Strafford (442) Argyll's son-in-law. You see we shall grow the fashion.

My dear child, these are the most material points: I am sensible how much you must want particulars; but you must be sensible, too, that just yet, I have not time.

Don't be uneasy; your brother Ned has been here to wish me joy: your brother Gal. has been here and cried; your tender nature will at first make you like the latter; but afterwards you will rejoice with the elder and me. Adieu! Yours, ever, and the same.

(436) "Sir Robert," says Coxe, "seemed to have anticipated this event, and met it with his usual fortitude and cheerfulness. While the tellers were performing their office, he beckoned Sir Edward Baynton, the member whose return was supported by the Opposition, to sit near him., spoke to him with great complacency, animadverted on the ingratitude of several individuals who were voting against him, on whom he had conferred great favour, and declared he would never again sit in that House."-E.

(437) Sir Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, knight of the garter, and at this time lord president of the council.

(438) william, Baron, and afterwards Earl Fitzwilliam; a young lord, much attached to Sir R. W.

(439) James Ogilvy, Lord Deskford succeeded his father, in 1764, as sixth Earl of Findlater, and third Earl of Seafield. He held some inconsiderable offices in Scotland, and died in 1770.-D.

(440) the peculiar antipathy to Lord Hardwicke manifested by Horace Walpole on all occasions is founded, no doubt, upon the opinion which he had taken up, that the resignation of Sir Robert Walpole at this moment had been rendered necessary by the treachery and intrigues of that nobleman and the Duke of Newcastle. In his "Memoires" he repeatedly charges him with such treachery; and the Edinburgh reviewer of that work (xxxvi. 1). 29) favours this view, observing, "It appears that, unless there was a secret understanding of Newcastle and Hardwicke with Pulteney and Carteret, before Sir Robert's determination to resign, the coalition was effected between the 31st of January and 2d of February; for on the 2d of February it was already settled that Lord Wilmington should be at the head of the Treasury in the new administration. So speedy an adjustment of a point of such consequence looks somewhat like previous concert." However much appearances might favour this opinion, another writer has shown most satisfactorily that no such previous concert existed. The reviewer of the "Memoires" in the Quarterly Review (xxvii. p. 191) proves, in the first place, that it was Sir Robert himself who determined the course of events, and, as he emphatically said, turned the key of the closet on Mr. Pulteney; so that, if he was betrayed, it must have been by himself; and secondly, that we have the evidence of his family and friends, that he was lost by his own inactivity and timidity; in other words, the great minister was worn out with age and business." And these views are confirmed by extracts from the "Walpoliana," written, be it remembered, by Philip, second Earl -of Hardwicke, son of the chancellor, from the information of the Walpole family, and even of Sir Robert himself; who, after his retirement, admitted his young friend into his conversation and confidence-a fact totally inconsistent with a belief in his father's treachery;-by Sir Robert's own authority, who, in a private and confidential letter to the Duke of Devonshire, dated 2d of February, 1742, giving an account of his resignation, and the efforts of his triumphant antagonists to form a new ministry, distinctly states "that he himself prevented the Duke of Newcastle's dismissal;" and lastly, by Horace Walpole's own pamphlet, "A Detection of a late Forgery," etc., in which he speaks of "the breach between the King and the Prince, as open, the known, avowed cause of the resignation, and which Sir Robert never disguised;"-and again, among the errors of the writer he notices, Sir Robert Walpole is made to complain of being abandoned by his friends. This is for once an undeserved satire on mankind: no fallen minister ever experienced such attachment from his friends as he did."-E.

(441) Maria, natural daughter of Sir R. W. by Maria Skerret, his mistress, whom he afterwards married. She had a patent to take place as an earl's daughter.

(442) William Wentworth, second Earl of Strafford, of the second creation. He married Anne Campbell, second daughter of John, Duke of Argyle.-D.



220 Letter 53 To Sir Horace Mann. Feb. 9, 1741-2.

You will have had my letter that told you of the great change. The scene is not quite so pleasant as it was, nor the tranquility arrived that we expected. All is in confusion; no overtures from the Prince, who, it must seem, proposes to be King. His party have persuaded him not to make up, but on much greater conditions than he first demanded: in short, notwithstanding his professions to the Bishop,(443)-he is to insist on the impeachment of Sir R., saying now, that his terms not being accepted at first, he is not bound to stick to them. He is pushed on to this violence by Argyll, Chesterfield, Cobham,(444) Sir John Hind Cotton,(445) and Lord Marchmont. The first says, "What impudence it is in Sir R. to be driving about the streets!" and all cry out, that he is still minister behind the curtain. They will none of them come into the ministry, till several are displaced but have summoned a great meeting of the faction for Friday, at the Fountain Tavern, to consult measures against Sir R., and to-morrow the Common Council meet, to draw up instructions for their members. They have sent into Scotland and into the counties for the same purpose. Carteret ind Pulteney@ pretend to be against this violence, but own that if their party insist upon it, they cannot desert them. The cry against Sir R. has been greater this week than ever; first, against a grant of four thousand pounds a-year, which the King gave him on his resignation, but which, to quiet them, he has given Up.(446) Then, upon making his daughter a lady; their wives and daughters declare against giving her place. He and she both kissed hands yesterday, and on Friday go to Richmond for a week. He seems quite secure in his innocence-but what protection is that, against the power and malice of' party! Indeed, his friends seem as firm is ever, and frequent him as much; but they are not now the strongest. As to an impeachment, I think they will not be so mad as to proceed to it: it is too solemn and too public to be attempted, without proof of crimes, of which he certainly is not guilty. For a bill of' pains and penalties, they may, if they will, I believe, pass it through the Commons, but will scarce get the assent of the King and Lords. In a week more I shall be able to write with less uncertainty.

I hate sending you false news, as that was, of the Duke of Richmond's resignation. It arose from his being two hours below with Sir R., and from some very warm discourse of his in the House of Lords, against the present violences; but went no further. Zeal magnified this, as she came up stairs to me, and I wrote to you before I had seen Sir Robert.

At a time when we ought to be most united, we are in the greatest confusion; such is the virtue of the patriots, though they have obtained what they professed alone to seek. They will not stir one step in foreign affairs, though Sir R. has offered to unite with them, with all his friends, for the common cause. It will now be seen whether he or they are most patriot. You see I call him Sir Robert still! after one has known him by that name for these threescore years, it is difficult to accustom one's mouth to another title.

In the midst of all this, we are diverting ourselves as cordially as if Righteousness and Peace had just been kissing one another. Balls, operas, and masquerades! The Duchess of Norfolk (447) makes a grand masquing next week; and to-morrow there is one at the Opera-house.

Here is a Saxe-Gothic prince, brother to her Royal Highness:(448) he sent her word from Dover that he was driven in there, in his way to Italy. The man of the inn, Whom he consulted about lodgings in town, recommended him to one of very ill-fame in Suffolk-street. He has got a neutrality for himself, and goes to both courts.

Churchill (449) asked Pultney the other day, "Well, Mr. Pultney, will you break me too?"-"No, Charles," replied he, "you break fast enough of yourself!" Don't you think it hurt him more than the other breaking would? Good night! Yours, ever.

Thursday, Feb. 11, 1741-2.

P. S. I had finished my letter, and unwillingly resolved to send you all that bad news, rather than leave you ignorant of our doings; but I have the pleasure of mending your prospect a little. Yesterday the Common Council met, and resolved upon instructions to their members, which, except one not very descriptive paragraph, contains nothing personal -,against our new earl; and ends with resolutions "to stand by our present constitution." Mind what followed! One of them proposed to insert "the King and Royal Family" before the words, "our present constitution;" but, on a division, it was rejected by three to one.

But to-day, for good news! Sir Robert has resigned; Lord Wilmington is first lord of the treasury, and Sandys has accepted the seals as chancellor of the exchequer, with Gibbon (450) and Sir John Rushout,(451) joined to him as other lords of the treasury. Waller was to have been the other, but has formally refused. So, Lord Sundon, Earle, Treby,(452) and Clutterbuck (453) are the first discarded, unless the latter saves himself by Waller's refusal. Lord Harrington, who is created an earl, is made president of the council, and Lord Carteret has consented to be secretary of state in his room-but mind; not one of them has promised to be against the prosecution of Sir Robert, though I don't believe now that it will go on. You see Pultney is not come in, except in his friend Sir John Rushout, but is to hold the balance between liberty and prerogative; at least, in this, he acts with honour. They say Sir John Hind Cotton and the Jacobites will be left out,,unless they bring in Dr. Lee and Sir John Barnard to the admiralty, as they propose; for I do not think it is decided what are their principles. Sir Charles Wager has resigned this morning:(454) he says, "We shall not die, but be all changed!" though he says, a parson lately reading this text in an old Bible, where the c was rubbed out, read it, not die, but be all hanged!

To-morrow our earl goes to Richmond Park, en retir'e; comes on Thursday to take his seat in the Lords, and returns thither again. Sandys is very angry at his taking the title of Orford, which belonged to his wife's (455) great uncle. You know a step of that nature cost the great Lord Strafford (456) his head, at the prosecution of a less bloody-minded man than Sandys.

I remain in town, and have not taken at all to withdrawing, which I hear has given offence,(457) as well as my gay face in public; but as I had so little joy in the grandeur, I am determined to take as little part in the disgrace. I am looking about for a new house.

I have received two vast packets from you to-day, I believe from the bottom of the sea, for they have been so washed that I could scarce read them. I could read the terrible history of the earthquakes at Leghorn: how infinitely good you was to poor Mrs. Goldsworthy! How could you think I should not approve such vast humanity? but you are all humanity and forgiveness. I am only concerned that they will be present when you receive all these disagreeable accounts of your friends. Their support" is removed as well as yours. I only fear the interest of the Richmonds (458) with the Duke of Newcastle; but I will try to put you well with Lord Lincoln. We must write circumspectly, for our letters now are no longer safe.

I shall see Amorevoli to-night to give him the letter. Ah! Monticelli and the Visconti are to sing to-night at a great assembly at Lady Conway's. I have not time to write more: so, good night, my dearest child! be in good spirits. Yours, most faithfully.

P. S. We have at last got Cr'ebillon's "Sofa:" Lord Chesterfield received three hundred, and gave them to be sold at White's. It is admirable! except the beginning of the first volume, and the last story, it is equal to any thing he has written. How he has painted the most refined nature in Mazulhim! the most retired nature in Mocles! the man of fashion, that sets himself above natural sensations, and the man of sense and devotion, that would skirmish himself from their influence, are equally justly reduced to the standard of their own weakness.(459)

(443) Secker, Bishop of Oxford.

(444) Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham, so created in 1717, with remainder to the issue male of his sister, Hester Grenville. He had served in Flanders under the Duke of Marlborough, and was upon the overthrow of Sir Robert Walpole's administration promoted to the military rank of field marshal. He is now best remembered as the friend of pope and the creator of the gardens at Stowe.-D.

(445) Sir John Hinde Cotton, Bart. of Landwade, in Cambridgeshire; long a member of parliament, and one of the leaders of the Jacobite party. He died in 1752, and Horace Walpole, in his Memoires, in noticing this event, says, "Died Sir John Cotton, the last Jacobite of any sensible activity."-D.

Lord Carteret and Mr. Pulteney had really betrayed their party, and so injudiciously, that they lost their old friends and gained no new ones.

(446) Sir Robert, at the persuasion of his brother, Mr. Selwyn, and others, desisted from this grant. Three years afterwards, when the clamour was at an end, and his affairs extremely involved, he sued for it; which Mr. Pelham, his friend and 'el'eve, was brought with the worst grace in the world to ask, and his old obliged master the King prevailed upon, with as ill grace, to grant. ["February 6. Sir R. Walpole was presented at Court as Earl of Orford. He was persuaded to refuse a grant of four thousand pounds a-year during the King's life and his own, but could not be dissuaded from accepting a letter of honour from the King, to grant his natural daughter Maria, precedence as an earl's daughter; who was also presented this day. The same thing had been done for Scrope, Earl of Sunderland, who left no lawful issue, and from one of whom Lord Howe is descended."-Secker MS.]