' It related, as we haye seen, to General Conway's rote in opposition to the govern*
menL ā Crokbb.
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iV8 HORACE WALPOLE-S LETTERS. 11704.
My long letter, which, perhaps, you will not receive till ttfter this
(you will receive it from a lady), will give you a fiill detail of the
last extraordinary week. Since that, tiiere has been an accidental
suspension of arms. Not only Mr. Pitt is laid up with the gout, but
the Speaker has it too. We have been adjourned till to-day, and,
as he is not recovered, have again adjourned till next Wednesday.
The events of the week have been, a complaint made by Lord
Lyttelton in your House, of a book called ' Droit le Roy ;" ' a tract
written in the highest strain of prerogative, and drawn from all the
old obsolete law-books on that question.* The ministers met this
complaint with much affected indignation, and even on the complaint
being communicated to us, took it up themselves ; and both Houses
have ordered the book to be burned by the hangman. To comfort
themselves for this forced zeal for liberty, the ' North Briton,' and
the 'Essay on Woman,' have both been condemned* by juries in the
King's Bench; but that triumph has been more than balanced
again, by the City giving their freedom to Lord Chief- Justice Pratt,*
ordering his picture to be placed in the King's Bench, thanking
their members for their behaviour in Parliament on the warrant,
and giving orders for instructions to be drawn for their future
conduct.
Lord Ghttnby is made lord lieutenant of Derbyshire; but the
vigour of this affront was wofully weakened by excuses to the Duke
* ' Droit le Roy, or the Rights and PrerogatiTes of the Imperial Crown of Qreat
Britain.' In the examination of Qriffin, the printer, before the Peers, he stated that
Timothy Brecknock, afterwards hanged in Ireland as an aooomplice of Qeorge Robert
Fitzgerald, had sent the pamphlet to the press, and was. Griffin beliered, the author
of it ā Cbokik.
' Qray writes to Dr. Wharton, on the 2l8t of February :ā " The House of Lords, I
hear, will soon take in hand a book lately published by some scoundrel lawyer, on
the prerogatiTe ; in which is scraped together all the flattery and blasphemy of our
old law-books in honour of kings. I presume it is understood, that the court will
support the cause of this impudent scribbler." ā Works, by Mxtfcrd, vol. iv. p. 80. ā
Wriohi.
' Mr. Wilkes was tried on the 21st of February, for republishing the ' North
Briton,' No. 45, and for printing the 'Essay on Woman,' and found guilty of both. ā
Cbokib.
* The preamble of these resolutions is worthy of observation : ā " Whereas the
independency and uprightness of judges is essential to the impartial administration
of justice, Ac, this court in manifestation of their just sense of the inflexible firmness
and integrity of the Right Honourable Sir C. Pratt, lord chief-justice, Ac, gives him
the freedom of the City, and orders his picture to be placed in Quildhall ; " as if im-
partiality could only be assailed from one side, and as if gold boxes and pictures, and
addresses from the corporation of London, were not as likely to have influence on the
human mind as the favours from the Crown. Their applause was either worth
nothing, or it was an attempt on the impartiality of the judge. ā Crokkb.
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1764.] TO THE EARL OF HEBTFOBD. l9t
of DeyoDshire, and ly its being known that the measure was deter-
mined two months ago.
All this sounds very hostile ; yet, don't be surprised if you hear
of some sudden treaty. Don't you know a little busy squadron that
had the chief hand in the n^tiation* last autumn P Well, I have
reason to think that Phraates [Bute] is n^tiating with Leonidas
[Pitt] by the same intervention. All the world sees that the pre-
sent ministers are between two fires. Would it be extraordinary if
the artillery of both should be discharged on them at once P But
this is not proper for the post : I grow prudent the less prudence is
necessary.
We are in pain for the Duchess of Bichmond, who, instead of the
jaundice, has relapsed into a fever. She was blooded twice last
night, and yet had a very bad night. I called at the door at three
o'clock, when they thought the fever rather diminished, but spoke of
her as very ill. I have not seen your brother or Lady Aylesbury
to-day, but found they had been very much alarmed yesterday
evening.* Lord Suffolk,* they say, is going to be married to Miss
Trevor Hampden.
Your broker has told me, that among Lady Hertford's things
seized at Dover, was a packet for me from you. Mr. Bowman has
undertaken to make strict inquiry for it. Adieu, my dear lord.
P.S. We had, last Monday, the prettiest ball that ever was seen,
at Mrs. Anne Pitt's,* in the compass of a silver penny. There were
one hundred and four persons, of which number fifty-five supped.
The supper-room was disposed with tables and benches back to back,
in the manner of an ale-house. The idea sounds ill ; but the fairies
had so improved upon it, had so be-garlanded, so stveetmeated, and so
desserted it, that it looked like a vision. I told her she could only
have fed and stowed so much company by a miracle, and that, when
1 The negotiation in Aagast, 1768, already alluded to, for Mr. Pitt's coming into
power. There Lb some reason to suppose that Mr. Calcraft was employed in the first
steps of this negotiation, and this may be what Mr. Walpole here refers to. ā
CaOKKB.
* The Ducheas was the sister of Lady Aylesbury's first husband.ā Croker.
* Henry, twelfth Earl of Suffolk, maxried, May, 1764, Miss Trevor, who had been on
the point of marriage with Mr. Child of Osterley, when he suddenly died in Septem-
ber, 1768. ā Crokbe.
* Sister of the great Lord Chatham, whom she resembled in some qualities of her
mind^ Mr. Walpole, when some foreigner, who could not see Mr. Pitt himself, had
asked Urn if he was like his sister, answered, in his usual happy style of giying a
portrait at a touch, " lis se ressemblent comme deux gouttes de/eu /" She was privy
parse to' the Princess Dowager [and died 9th February, 1780].ā Crokbr.
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200 HORACE WALPOLB'S LSTTEBS. [1764.
we were gone, she would take up twelve baskets-fdll of people. The
Duchess of Bedford asked me before Madame de Ghierchy, if I would
not give them a ball at Strawberry P Not for the universe ! What !
turn a ball, and dust, and dirt, and a million of candles, into my
charming new gallery! I said, I could not flatter myself that
people would give themselves the trouble of going eleven miles for a
Ja^;^(though I believe they would go fifty) ā " Well, then," says
she, "it shall be a dinner.'* ā " With all my heart, I have no objec-
tion ; but no ball shall set its foot within my doors."
900. TO GROSTENOB BEDFORD.
DiAB Sib: Fd>. 29, 1764.
I WILL get you to send one of the porters of the Exchequer, in
whom you have most confidence, with the enclosed three guineas.
Two are for the prisoners that are sick in the new jail, Southwark ;
the other for those in the common side of the Marshalsea prison.
He must not say from whom he comes, but in the name of A. B.,
and don't let him go into the prison, for the jail distemper is
there.
I want some gilt paper and a penknife. Yours ever,
H. W.
907. TO THE EEV. WILUAM COLE.
Dbab Sib : AHingUm SbrtH, March 8, 1764.
Just as I was going to the Opera, I received your manuscript. I
would not defer telling you so, that you may know it is safe. But I
have additional reason to write to you immediately ; for, on open-
ing the book, the first thing I saw was a new obligation to you, the
charming Faithome of Sir Orlando Bridgman, which according to
your constantly obliging manner you have sent me, and I almost fear
you think I begged it ; but I can disculpate myself, for I had dis-
covered that it belongs to Dugdale's ' Origines Jurididales,' and had
ordered my bookseller to try to get me that book, which when I ac-
complish, you shall command your own print again ; for it is too fine
an impression to rob you of.
I have been so entertained with your book, that I have stayed at
home on purpose, and gone through three parts of ii It makes me
wish earuestly some time or other to go through all your collections.
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1764.] TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD. 201
for I have already found twenty things of great moment to me. One
is particularly satisfactory to me ; it is in Mr. Baker's MSS. at Cam-
bridge ; the title of Eglesham's book against the Duke of Bucks,*
mentioned by me in the account of Q-erbier, from Vertue, who fished
out everything, and always proves in the right. This piece I must
get transcribed by Mr. Ghra/s assistance. I fear I shall detain your
manuscript prisoner a little, for the notices I have found, but I will
take infinite care of it, as it deserves.
I have got among my new old prints a most curious one of one
Toole. It seems to be a burlesque. He lived in temp. Jac. I., and
appears to have been an adventurer, like Sir Ant. Sherley : * can you
tell me anything of him P
I must repeat how infinitely I think myself obliged to you both for
the print and the use of your manuscript, which is of the greatest use
and entertainment to me ; but you frighten me about Mr. Baker's
MSS. from the neglect of them.* I should lose all patience if yours
were to be treated so. Bind them in iron, and leave them in a chest
of cedar. They are, I am sure, most valuable, from what I have
found already.
908. TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD.
Mt Bear Load : Strawberry ffiU, Sunday, March 11, 1764.
The last was so busy a week with me, that I had not a minute's
time to tell you of Lord Hardwicke's death.* I had so many auctions,
dinners, loo-parties, so many sick acquaintance, with the addition of
a long day in the House of Commons (which, by the way, I quitted
for a sale of books), and a ball, that I left the common newspapers
to inform you of an event, which two months ago would have been
of much consequence. The Yorkes are fixed, and the contest* at
Cambridge will but make them strike deeper root in opposition. I
* This libeUous book, written by a Scotch phyBidan, and which is reprinted in the
second volnme of the Harleian Miscellany, and in the fifth Tolome of the Somers'
Collection of Tracts, was considered by Sir Henry Wotton " as one of the aUeged
incentives which hurried Felton to become an assassin." ā Wuoht.
* Sherley's various embassies will be found in the collections of Hakluyt and
Purchas. An article upon his travels, which were published in 1601, occurs likewise
in the second volume of the ' Betrospective Bevlew.' The travels of the three
brothers. Sir Thomas, Sir Anthony, and Master Bobert Sherley, were published irom
the original manuscripts in 1825. ā Wbioht.
' Cole's MSS. are safe, and accessible, in the British Museum. ā Cuhnihoham.
* Lord Hardwicke died 6th March, 1764. ā CuMHiiraHAM.
'For high steward of the University, between Lord Sandwich and the new Ix>rd
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X02 HORACE WALPOLB'S LETTERS. [1764.
nave not heard how their father has portioned out his immense
treasures. The election at Cambridge is to be on Tuesday, 24th ;
Charles Townshend is gone thither, and I suppose, by this time, haa
ranted, and romanced, and turned every one of their ideas topsy-
turvey.
Our long day was Friday, the opening of the budget. Mr Grenville
spoke for two hours and forty minutes ; much of it well, but too long,
too many repetitions, and too evident marks of being gaDed by
reports, which he answered with more art than sincerity. Hiere were
a few more speeches, till nine o'clock, but no division. Our armistice,
you see, continues. Lord Bute is, I believe, negotiating with both
sides; I know he is with the opposition, and has a prospect of
making very good terms for himself, for patriots seldom have the
gift of perseverance. It is wonderful how soon their virtue thaws !
Last Thursday, the Duchess of Queensberry * gave a ball, opened
it herself with a minuet, and danced two country dances : as she had
enjoined everybody to be with her by six, to sup at twelve, and go
away directly. Of the Campbell-sisters, all were left out but Lady
Strafford.' Lady Eockingham and Lady Sondes, who, having had
colds, deferred sending answers, received notice that their places were
filled up, and that they must not come ; but were pardoned on sub-
mission. A card was sent to invite Lord and Lady Cardigan, and
Lord JSeaulieu instead of Lord Montagu.* This, her grace protested,
was by accident. Lady Cardigan was very angry, and yet went.
Except these flights, the only extraordinary thing the Duchess did,
was to do nothing extraordinary, for I do not call it very mad that
Hardwicke. ā Orokkr. Gray, in a letter of the 2lBt of February, written from
Cambridge, aayi, " This silly dirty plaos has had aU its thoughts taken np with
ehoosing a new high steward : and had not Lord Hardwicke surprisingly, and to the
shame of the faculty, recovered by a quack medicine, I believe in my conscience the
noble Earl of Sandwich had been chosen, though (let me do them the justice to say)
not without a considerable opposition." ā Works, by Mitford, vol. iv. p. 29.ā Wright.
^ " The Duchess of Queensberry [Catherine Hyde] has been passings night here, and
endeavouring to recollect the ideas of past pleasure. She was exactly herself, ā very
clever, very whimsical, and just not mad."ā if^. Letter, Middleton Park, July 11th,
1763.ā CUKHIHOHAIC.
s The sisters omitted were Lady Dalkeith, Lady Elizabeth Mackenzie, and Lady
Mary Coke.ā Crokkr.
' John, Duke of Montagu, left two daughters ; the eldest, Isabella, married first the
Duke of Manchester, and, secondly, Mr. Hussey, an Irish gentleman, created, in con-
sequence of this union, Lord Beaulieu. Mary, the younger sister, married Lord
Cardigan, who was, in 1776, created Duke of Montagu : their eldest son having been,
in 1762, created Lord Montagu. The marriage of i^^e elder sister with Mr. Hussey
was considered, by her family and the world, as a mfscdliance ; and, therefore, the
mistake of Lord Beavlieu for Lord Montagu was likely to give offence. ā Crokor.
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:.Lrclcn Richard 3Hn'^oy& S.>n- Iflyl.
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CATHKRINE HYDE. DUCHESS OF QUEENSBERRY.
t"KC)M THh. iniH.^iAl. IS lul: l^ 'l.uK '?; .'N ^'!- .'li i-: r^1*j.. ā .ā c' ā .' ".AHh" N ;"':N .
A- '.ā ā¢.. K :ā¢ā :- ā¢\-h: IN UFivTl- >l-*l-HiHJ -
Lundon Richard Benlley v Son 18 91.
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1764.] TO THE EARL OP HERTFORD. 20$
some pique happening between her and the Duchess of BedfordL the
latter had this distich sent to her,
Come with a whistle, and come with a call.
Come with a good will, or come not at alL
I do not know whether what I am going to tell you did not border
a little upon Moorfields.* The gallery where they danced was very
cold. Lord Lorn,* George Selwyn, and I, retired into a little room,
and sat comfortably by the fire. The Duchess looked in, said
nothing, and sent a smith to take the hinges of the door off. We
understood the hint, and left the room, and so did the smith the door.
This was pretty legible.
My niece Waldegrave talks of accompanjdng me to Paris, but ten
or twelve weeks may make great alteration in a handsome young
wide Vs plan : I even think I see some * who will ā ^not forbid banns,
but propose them. Indeed, I am almost afraid of coming to you
myself. The air of Paris works such miracles, that it is not safe to
trust oneself there. I hear of nothing but my Lady Hertford's
rakery, and Mr. Wilkes's religious deportment, and constant attend-
ance at your chapel. Lady Anne,^ I conclude, chatters as fast as my
Lady Essex * and her four daughters.
Princess Amelia told me t'other night, and bade me tell you, that
she had seen Lady Massarene * at Bath, who is warm in praise of you,
and said that you had spent two thousand pounds out of friendship, to
support her son in an election. She told the Princess too, that she
had found a rent-roll of your estate in a farm-house, and that it is
fourteen thousand a-year. This I was ordered, I know not why, to
tell you. The Duchess of Bedford has not been asked to the loo-
parties at Cavendish-house ' this winter, and only once to whisk
there, and that was one Friday when she is at home herself. We
have nothing at the Princess's but silver-loo, and her Bath and
^ It is now almost necessaiy to remind the reader, that old Bedlam stood in Moor*
fields.ā Cbokkk.
* Afterwards fifth Duke of Argyle.ā Crokeb.
' He means, as subsequently appears, the Duke of Portland.ā Crokbb.
^ Lord Hertford's eldest daughter, afterwards wife of Mr. Stewart, subsequently
created Earl and Marquis of I>ondonderry. ā Cbokkr.
^ Elizabeth Russell, daughter of the second Duke of Bedford. She had four
daughters ; but the eldest died young. ā Crokxr.
ā¢ Elisabeth, daughter of Henry Eyre, Esq., of Derbyshire, second wife of the first,
and mother of the second Earl of Massarene; the latter being at this time a minor.
The election was probably for the county of Antrim, in which both Lord Massarene
and Lord Hertford had considerable property. ā Crokbr.
^ Princess Amelia's, the comer of Harley-street ; since the residence of Mr. Hope,
and of Mr. Watson Taylor.ā Cbokib.
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204 HOEACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. 11764.
Tnnbridge acquaintance. The trade at our gold-loo is as contra-
band as eyer. I cannot help saying, that the Duchess of Bedford
would mend our silver-loo, and that I wish everybody played like
her at the gold.
Arlington Street, Tuesday,
You thank me, my dear lord, for my gazettes (in your letter of the
8th) more than they deserve. There is no trouble in sending you
news ; as you excuse the careless manner in which I write anjrthing
I hear. Don't think yourself obliged to be punctual in answering
me : it would be paying too dear for such idle and trifling despatches.
Your picture of the attention paid to Madame Pompadour's illness,
and of the ridicule attached to the mission of that homage, is very
striking. It would be still more so by comparison. Think if the
Duke of Cumberland was to set up with my Lord Bute !
The East India Company, yesterday, elected Lord Clive ā Great
Mogul ; that is, they have made him Governor-General of Bengal,
and restored his Jaghire.' I dare to say he will put it out of their
power ever to take it away again. We have had a deluge of disputes
and pamphlets on the late events in that distant province of our
empire, the Indies. The novelty of the manners divert me : our
governors there, I think, have learned more of their treachery and
injustice, than they have taught them of our discipline.
Monsieur Helvetius' arrived yesterday. I will take care to
inform the Princess, that you could not do otherwise than you did
about her trees. My compliments to all your hotel.
^ A rent^charge which had been granted him by the late Nabob, and which, on the
seizure of the territory on which it was charged by the East India Company, Lord
Clire insbted that the Company should continue to pay. It was about twenty-fire
thousand pounds per annum. ā Cbokbr.
' A French philosopher, the son of a Dutch physician, brought into France by I^ouis
XIY. He was the author of a dull book, mis-named ' De I'Esprit.' We cannot resist re-
peating a joke, made about this period, on the occasion of a requisition made by the
French ministry to the goremment of Qeneva, that it should seize copies of this book,
' De I'Esprit,* and Voltaire's ' Pucelle d'0rl6ans,' which were supposed to be collected
there, in order to be smuggled into France. The worthy magistrates were said to have
reported that, after the most diligent search, they could find in their whole town no trace
" de r Esprit, et pas une Pucelle." ā Cbokbr. The following is Gibbon's character of
Helretius, in a letter of the 12th of February, 1768 :ā** Amongst my acquaintance I
cannot help mentioning M. HeWetius, the author of the fiunous book ' De TEsprit.'
I met him at dinner at Madame Geoffrin's, where he took great notice of me ; made
me a visit next day; has ever since treated me, not in a polite, but a friendly manner.
Besides being a sensible man, an agreeable companion, and the worthiest creature in
the world, he has a very pretty wife, an hundred thousand livres a-year, and one of
the best tables in Paris." He died in 1771, at the age of fifty-six. ā Wriohz.
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1764.1 TO SIB HOBAOE MANN. 205
909. TO SIR HORACE MANN.
Strawberry ffiU, March 18, 1764.
Ab I mean; my dear sir, that my letters should amtLse or inform
you, I ought not, at least in the first intention, to write them here,
whither I generally come to tranquillise myself from folly and bustle,
or to compose my mind under any misfortune ; my situation at this
moment. I have just lost my nephew. Lord Malpas;* a worthy
amiable man, whom I have loved from his childhood. But my
grief is light compared to that of poor Lady Malpas. He married
her sixteen years ago, with no considerable portion of beauty, and
less fortune, though of an exceedingly good family. As his father's^
profusion called for his restoring the estate, we lamented this match;
but it proved a blessing : there never was a more prudent, estimable
woman. They lived in the happiest union. Above two months
ago he went to his regiment in belaud, and came away ill. He
arrived in town last Monday, grew immediately worse ; it turned
to an inflammation in his bowels, and carried him off in five days.
This has been a fatal month. Lord Hardwicke,* Lord Townshend,*
and Lord Macclesfield,^ are all dead. The first immensely rich, and,
I at least think, no loss. The second has given everything he could
to a housemaid, by whom he had three children ; but a great deal
reverts to my lady,* who cannot enjoy that, or her widowhood, as
she would have done a few years ago. She is paralytic ; and it
affects all that pleased one in her ā her speech and spirits. Lord
Macclesfield had married his mistress, or at least other people's ā
but she was a gentlewoman, and has behaved extremely well. His
Tellership of the Exchequer comes by reversion to Mr. Grenville's
son.*
Don't you wonder what has become of our politics ? Did not
1 George Cholmondeley, eldest son of Qeorge, third Earl of Cholmondeley, by
Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Walpole. Lord Malpas married [1747] Hester, only
iaughter of Sir Francis Edwards. ā ^Walpolb. The fourth Earl of Cholmondeley, who
died in 1827, was this Lord Malpas's son. ā CuninirGHAM.
* Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke, had been Lord Chancellor.ā Walpolb.
' Charles, V isconnt Townshend, son of the Secretary of State.ā Walpolb.
* George Parker, second Earl of Macclesfield, one of the Tellers of the Ezcheqner
and President of the Royal Society.ā Cukhuioham.
* Audrey, or Ethelreda, only chUd of Goremor Harrison, a lady of celebrated wit.ā
Walpolb. See toI. i. p. 75. ā Cuhioboham.
* Eldest son of George Grenrille, and afterwards Earl Temple. ā Walpolb.
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200 HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS. [1764.
you expect to hear that the opposition were pushing their almost
triumphant arms into every quarter P No such thing ; yet Hannibal
[Pitt] is not enervating himself at Capua, A gouty bed is his bed
of roses. Mr. Yorke has been confined with his father, and by his
death ; and Lord Townshend's death has secluded Charles Towns-
hend. This confinement of the generals might account to the world
for the suspension of arms; but I beUeve is not the true cause.
Both sides are treating with the abdicated favourite [Bute] ; and
the balance he cannot hold, he can incline as he pleases. When the
Parliament rises, I shall expect he will decide.
Lord Clive has been suddenly nominated, by the East India
Company, to the empire of Bengal, where Dupleix has taught all
our merchants to affect to be Eang-maMng Earls of Warwick, and
where the chief things they have made are blunders and confusion.
It is amazing that our usurpations have not taught the Indians
union, discipline, and courage. We are governing nations to which
it takes a year to send our orders.
I am sorry for what you tell me in your letter of the 18th, that
Lord B.' does not please in Russia ; for his own particular I am
very indifferent, but I have great regard for his aunt. Lady Suffolk
[Henrietta Hobart], and know how much it will hurt her if she
hears it. That he should be pert tnal h prqpos, does not surprise