Letters Of Horace Walpole - free ebook by Horace Walpole

I. HORACE WALPOLE

From an engraving after a sketch by Sir THOS. LAWRENCE, P.R.A. From a picture in the National Portrait Gallery, by NATHANIEL HONE, R.A....

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I. LADY MARY WORTLEY-MONTAGU

Photographed from a drawing in the National Portrait Gallery, made by JAMES BASIRE, the engraver, from a sketch from life by Gray's friend, the Rev. WILLIAM MASON. From a mezzotint by J. SIMON, after a picture by Sir GODFREY KNELLER....

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VOLUME II. MADAME DE BOUFFLERS AT STRAWBERRY—THE FRENCH OPINION OF THE ENGLISH CHARACTER—RICHARDSON'S NOVELS—MADAME DE BEAUMONT.

ARLINGTON STREET, Dec. 20, 1764. … My journey to Paris is fixed for some time in February, where I hear I may expect to find Madame de Boufflers, Princess of Conti. Her husband is just dead; and you know the House of Bourbon have an alacrity at marrying their old mistresses. She was here last year, being extremely infected with the Anglomanie , though I believe pretty well cured by her journey. She is past forty, and does not appear ever to have been handsome, but is one of the most agreeable an

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INTRODUCTION.

It is creditable to our English nobility, and a feature in their character that distinguishes them from their fellows of most other nations, that, from the first revival of learning, the study of literature has been extensively cultivated by men of high birth, even by many who did not require literary fame to secure them a lasting remembrance; and they have not contented themselves with showing their appreciation of intellectual excellence by their patronage of humbler scholars, but have themsel

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DEBATE ON AMERICAN TAXES—PETITION OF THE PERIWIG-MAKERS—FEMALE HEAD-DRESSES—LORD BYRON'S DUEL—OPENING OF ALMACK'S—NO. 45.

ARLINGTON STREET, Feb. 12, 1765. A great many letters pass between us, my dear lord, but I think they are almost all of my writing. I have not heard from you this age. I sent you two packets together by Mr. Freeman, with an account of our chief debates. Since the long day, I have been much out of order with a cold and cough, that turned to a fever: I am now taking James's powder, not without apprehensions of the gout, which it gave me two or three years ago. There has been nothing of note in Par

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MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES—VERY LIVELY.[1]

[Footnote 1: This letter, written before he was nineteen, is worth noticing as a proof how innate was his liveliness of style, since in that respect few of the productions of his maturer age surpasses it. It also shows how strong already was his expectations that his letters would hereafter be regarded as interesting and valuable.] [Footnote 1: George Montagu, Esq., of Roel, in the county of Gloucester, son of Brigadier-General Edward Montagu, and long M.P. for Northampton. He was the grandnephe

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FONDNESS FOR OLD STORIES—REMINISCENCES OF ETON, ETC.

KING'S COLLEGE, May 6, 1736. Dear George,—I agree with you entirely in the pleasure you take in talking over old stories, but can't say but I meet every day with new circumstances, which will be still more pleasure to me to recollect. I think at our age 'tis excess of joy, to think, while we are running over past happinesses, that it is still in our power to enjoy as great. Narrations of the greatest actions of other people are tedious in comparison of the serious trifles that every man can call

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HIS "CASTLE OF OTRANTO"—BISHOP PERCY'S COLLECTION OF OLD BALLADS.

STRAWBERRY HILL, March 9, 1765. Dear Sir,—I had time to write but a short note with the "Castle of Otranto," as your messenger called on me at four o'clock, as I was going to dine abroad. Your partiality to me and Strawberry have, I hope, inclined you to excuse the wildness of the story. You will even have found some traits to put you in mind of this place. When you read of the picture quitting its panel, did not you recollect the portrait of Lord Falkland, all in white, in my Gallery? Shall I e

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ILLNESS OF THE KING—FRENCH AND ENGLISH ACTORS AND ACTRESSES: CLAIRON, GARRICK, QUIN, MRS. CLIVE.

ARLINGTON STREET, March 26, 1765. Three weeks are a great while, my dear lord, for me to have been without writing to you; but besides that I have passed many days at Strawberry, to cure my cold (which it has done), there has nothing happened worth sending across the sea. Politics have dozed, and common events been fast asleep. Of Guerchy's affair, you probably know more than I do; it is now forgotten. I told him I had absolute proof of his innocence, for I was sure, that if he had offered money

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WISH TO TRAVEL—SUPERIORITY OF FRENCH MANNERS TO ENGLISH IN THEIR MANNER TO LADIES.

KING'S COLLEGE, March 20, 1737. Dear George,—The first paragraph in my letter must be in answer to the last in yours; though I should be glad to make you the return you ask, by waiting on you myself. 'Tis not in my power, from more circumstances than one, which are needless to tell you, to accompany you and Lord Conway to Italy: you add to the pleasure it would give me, by asking it so kindly. You I am infinitely obliged to, as I was capable, my dear George, of making you forget for a minute tha

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RIOTS OF WEAVERS—MINISTERIAL CHANGES—FACTIOUS CONDUCT OF MR. PITT.

ARLINGTON STREET, May 25, 1765, sent by way of Paris . My last I think was of the 16th. Since that we have had events of almost every sort. A whole administration dismissed, taken again, suspended, confirmed; an insurrection; and we have been at the eve of a civil war. Many thousand Weavers rose, on a bill for their relief being thrown out of the House of Lords by the Duke of Bedford. For four days they were suffered to march about the town with colours displayed, petitioning the King, surroundi

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THEATRES AT PARIS—ST. DENIS—FONDNESS OF THE FRENCH FOR SHOW, AND FOR GAMBLING—SINGULAR SIGNS—THE ARMY THE ONLY PROFESSION FOR MEN OF GENTLE BIRTH—SPLENDOUR OF THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

PARIS, April 21, N.S. 1739.[1] [Footnote 1: He is here dating according to the French custom. In England the calendar was not rectified by the disuse of the "Old Style" till 1752.] Dear West,—You figure us in a set of pleasures, which, believe me, we do not find; cards and eating are so universal, that they absorb all variation of pleasures. The operas, indeed, are much frequented three times a week; but to me they would be a greater penance than eating maigre: their music resembles a gooseberry

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MAGNIFICENCE OF VERSAILLES—THE CHARTREUX RELICS.

Dear West,—I should think myself to blame not to try to divert you, when you tell me I can. From the air of your letter you seem to want amusement, that is, you want spirits. I would recommend to you certain little employments that I know of, and that belong to you, but that I imagine bodily exercise is more suitable to your complaint. If you would promise me to read them in the Temple garden, I would send you a little packet of plays and pamphlets that we have made up, and intend to dispatch to

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PROSPECTS OF OLD AGE WHEN JOINED TO GOUT.

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 28, 1765. The less one is disposed, if one has any sense, to talk of oneself to people that inquire only out of compliment, and do not listen to the answer, the more satisfaction one feels in indulging a self-complacency, by sighing to those that really sympathise with our griefs. Do not think it is pain that makes me give this low-spirited air to my letter. No, it is the prospect of what is to come, not the sensation of what is passing, that affects me. The loss of youth i

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THE CARNIVAL—THE FLORENTINES CIVIL, GOOD-NATURED, AND FOND OF THE ENGLISH—A CURIOUS CHALLENGE.

FLORENCE, February 27, 1740, N.S. Well, West, I have found a little unmasqued moment to write to you; but for this week past I have been so muffled up in my domino, that I have not had the command of my elbows. But what have you been doing all the mornings? Could you not write then?—No, then I was masqued too; I have done nothing but slip out of my domino into bed, and out of bed into my domino. The end of the Carnival is frantic, bacchanalian; all the morn one makes parties in masque to the sho

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HAS REACHED PARIS—THE FRENCH OPERA—ILLNESS OF THE DAUPHIN—POPULARITY OF MR. HUME.

PARIS, Sept. 14, 1765. I am but two days old here, Madam, and I doubt I wish I was really so, and had my life to begin, to live it here. You see how just I am, and ready to make amende honorable to your ladyship. Yet I have seen very little. My Lady Hertford has cut me to pieces, and thrown me into a caldron with tailors, periwig-makers, snuff-box-wrights, milliners, &amp;c., which really took up but little time; and I am come out quite new, with everything but youth. The journey recovered m

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IS MAKING NEW FRIENDS IN PARIS—DECAY OF THE FRENCH STAGE—LE KAIN—DUMENIL—NEW FRENCH INCLINATION FOR PHILOSOPHY AND FREE-THINKING—GENERAL ADMIRATION OF HUME'S HISTORY AND RICHARDSON'S NOVELS.

PARIS, Sept. 22, 1765. The concern I felt at not seeing you before I left England, might make me express myself warmly, but I assure you it was nothing but concern, nor was mixed with a grain of pouting. I knew some of your reasons, and guessed others. The latter grieve me heartily; but I advise you to do as I do: when I meet with ingratitude, I take a short leave both of it and its host. Formerly I used to look out for indemnification somewhere else; but having lived long enough to learn that t

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HERCULANEUM—SEARCH SHOULD BE MADE FOR OTHER SUBMERGED CITIES—QUOTATIONS FROM STATIUS.

NAPLES, June 14, 1740, N.S. Dear West,—One hates writing descriptions that are to be found in every book of travels; but we have seen something to-day that I am sure you never read of, and perhaps never heard of. Have you ever heard of a subterraneous town? a whole Roman town, with all its edifices, remaining under ground? Don't fancy the inhabitants buried it there to save it from the Goths: they were buried with it themselves; which is a caution we are not told that they ever took. You remembe

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HIS PRESENTATION AT COURT—ILLNESS OF THE DAUPHIN—DESCRIPTION OF HIS THREE SONS.

PARIS, Oct. 3, 1765. I don't know where you are, nor when I am likely to hear of you. I write at random, and, as I talk, the first thing that comes into my pen. I am, as you certainly conclude, much more amused than pleased. At a certain time of life, sights and new objects may entertain one, but new people cannot find any place in one's affection. New faces with some name or other belonging to them, catch my attention for a minute—I cannot say many preserve it. Five or six of the women that I h

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DANGER OF MALARIA—ROMAN CATHOLIC RELICS—"ADMIRAL HOSIER'S GHOST"—CONTEST FOR THE POPEDOM.

RÈ DI COFANO, vulg. RADICOFANI, July 5, 1740, N.S. You will wonder, my dear Hal, to find me on the road from Rome: why, intend I did to stay for a new popedom, but the old eminences are cross and obstinate, and will not choose one, the Holy Ghost does not know when. There is a horrid thing called the malaria, that comes to Rome every summer, and kills one, and I did not care for being killed so far from Christian burial. We have been jolted to death; my servants let us come without springs to th

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A FLORENTINE WEDDING—ADDISON'S DESCRIPTIONS ARE BORROWED FROM BOOKS—A SONG OF BONDELMONTI'S, WITH A LATIN VERSION BY GRAY, AND AN ENGLISH ONE BY THE WRITER.

FLORENCE, Oct. 2, 1740, N.S. Dear West,—T'other night as we (you know who we are) were walking on the charming bridge, just before going to a wedding assembly, we said, "Lord, I wish, just as we are got into the room, they would call us out, and say, West is arrived! We would make him dress instantly, and carry him back to the entertainment. How he would stare and wonder at a thousand things, that no longer strike us as odd!" Would not you? One agreed that you should have come directly by sea fr

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SUPPER PARTIES AT PARIS—WALPOLE WRITES A LETTER FROM LE ROI DE PRUSSE À MONSIEUR ROUSSEAU.

PARIS, Jan. 12, 1766. I have received your letter by General Vernon, and another, to which I have writ an answer, but was disappointed of a conveyance I expected. You shall have it with additions, by the first messenger that goes; but I cannot send it by the post, as I have spoken very freely of some persons you name, in which we agree thoroughly. These few lines are only to tell you I am not idle in writing to you. I almost repent having come hither; for I like the way of life and many of the p

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DEBATE ON PULTENEY'S MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE ON PAPERS RELATING TO THE WAR—SPEECHES OF PULTENEY, PITT, SIR R. WALPOLE, SIR W. GEORGE, ETC.—SMALLNESS OF THE MINISTERIAL MAJORITY.

[Footnote 1: Sir H. Mann was an early friend of Walpole; and was Minister at Florence from 1740-1786.] [Illustration: 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.[1] He says he is younger than me, and indeed I

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A CONSTANT ROUND OF AMUSEMENTS—A GALLERY OF FEMALE PORTRAITS—MADAME GEOFFRIN—MADAME DU DEFFAND—MADAME DE MIREPOIX—MADAME DE BOUFFLERS—MADAME DE ROCHFORT—THE MARÉCHALE DE LUXEMBURG—THE DUCHESSE DE CHOISEUL—AN OLD FRENCH DANDY—M. DE MAUREPAS—POPULARITY OF HIS LETTER TO ROUSSEAU.

PARIS, Jan. 25, 1766. I am much indebted to you for your kind letter and advice; and though it is late to thank you for it, it is at least a stronger proof that I do not forget it. However, I am a little obstinate, as you know, on the chapter of health, and have persisted through this Siberian winter in not adding a grain to my clothes, and going open-breasted without an under waistcoat. In short, though I like extremely to live, it must be in my own way, as long as I can: it is not youth I cour

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SITUATION OF AFFAIRS IN ENGLAND—CARDINAL YORK—DEATH OF STANILAUS LECZINSKI, EX-KING OF POLAND.

PARIS, Feb. 29, 1766. I have received your letters very regularly, and though I have not sent you nearly so many, yet I have not been wanting to our correspondence, when I have had anything particular to say, or knew what to say. The Duke of Richmond has been gone to England this fortnight; he had a great deal of business, besides engagements here; and if he has failed writing, at least I believe he received yours. Mr. Conway, I suppose, has received them too, but not to my knowledge; for I have

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RANELAGH GARDENS OPENED—GARRICK, "A WINE-MERCHANT TURNED PLAYER"—DEFEAT OF THE INDEMNITY BILL.

DOWNING STREET, May 26, 1742. To-day calls itself May the 26th, as you perceive by the date; but I am writing to you by the fire-side, instead of going to Vauxhall. If we have one warm day in seven, "we bless our stars, and think it luxury." And yet we have as much water-works and fresco diversions, as if we lay ten degrees nearer warmth. Two nights ago Ranelagh-gardens were opened at Chelsea; the Prince, Princess, Duke, much nobility, and much mob besides, were there. There is a vast amphitheat

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SINGULAR RIOT IN MADRID—CHANGES IN THE FRENCH MINISTRY—INSURRECTIONS IN THE PROVINCES.

PARIS, April 8, 1766. I sent you a few lines by the post yesterday with the first accounts of the insurrections at Madrid.[1] I have since seen Stahremberg, the imperial minister,[2] who has had a courier from thence; and if Lord Rochford has not sent one, you will not be sorry to know more particulars. The mob disarmed the Invalids; stopped all coaches, to prevent Squillaci's[3] flight; and meeting the Duke de Medina Celi, forced him and the Duke d'Arcos to carry their demands to the King. His

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DEBATE ON DISBANDING THE HANOVERIAN TROOPS—FIRST SPEECH OF MURRAY (AFTERWARDS EARL OF MANSFIELD)—BON MOT OF LORD CHESTERFIELD.

ARLINGTON STREET, Dec. 9, 1742. I shall have quite a partiality for the post of Holland; it brought me two letters last week, and two more yesterday, of November 20th and 27th; but I find you have your perpetual headaches—how can you say that you shall tire me with talking of them? you may make me suffer by your pains, but I will hear and insist upon your always telling me of your health. Do you think I only correspond with you to know the posture of the Spaniards or the épuisements of the Princ

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THE BATH GUIDE—SWIFT'S CORRESPONDENCE.

STRAWBERRY HILL, June 20, 1766. I don't know when I shall see you, but therefore must not I write to you? yet I have as little to say as may be. I could cry through a whole page over the bad weather. I have but a lock of hay, you know, and I cannot get it dry, unless I bring it to the fire. I would give half-a-crown for a pennyworth of sun. It is abominable to be ruined in coals in the middle of June. What pleasure have you to come! there is a new thing published, that will make you burst your c

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KING THEODORE—HANDEL INTRODUCES ORATORIOS.

ARLINGTON STREET, Feb. 24, 1743. I write to you in the greatest hurry in the world, but write I will. Besides, I must wish you joy: you are warriors; nay, conquerors[1]; two things quite novel in this war, for hitherto it has been armies without fighting, and deaths without killing. We talk of this battle as of a comet; "Have you heard of the battle?" it is so strange a thing, that numbers imagine you may go and see it at Charing Cross. Indeed, our officers, who are going to Flanders, don't quit

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BATTLE OF DETTINGEN—DEATH OF LORD WILMINGTON.

HOUGHTON, July 4, 1743. I hear no particular news here, and I don't pretend to send you the common news; for as I must have it first from London, you will have it from thence sooner in the papers than in my letters. There have been great rejoicings for the victory; which I am convinced is very considerable by the pains the Jacobites take to persuade it is not. My Lord Carteret's Hanoverian articles have much offended; his express has been burlesqued a thousand ways. By all the letters that arriv

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BATH—WESLEY.

BATH, Oct. 10, 1766. I am impatient to hear that your charity to me has not ended in the gout to yourself—all my comfort is, if you have it, that you have good Lady Brown to nurse you.[1] [Footnote 1: In a letter of the preceding week he mentions having gone to Bath to drink the waters there, but "is disappointed in the city. Their new buildings, that are so admired, look like a collection of little hospitals. The rest is detestable, and all crammed together, and surrounded with perpendicular hi

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FRENCH ACTORS AT CLIFDEN—A NEW ROMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLE—LADY MARY WORTLEY.

HOUGHTON, Sept. 7, 1743. My letters are now at their ne plus ultra of nothingness; so you may hope they will grow better again. I shall certainly go to town soon, for my patience is worn out. Yesterday, the weather grew cold; I put on a new waistcoat for its being winter's birthday—the season I am forced to love; for summer has no charms for me when I pass it in the country. We are expecting another battle, and a congress at the same time. Ministers seem to be flocking to Aix la Chapelle: and, w

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MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES—RETURN OF LORD CLIVE.

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 20, 1767. You have heard enough, even in the late reign, of our interministeriums , not to be surprised that the present lasts so long. I am not writing now to tell you it is at an end; but I thought you might grow impatient. The Parliament was scarcely separated when a negotiation was begun with the Bedfords, through Lord Gower; with a view to strengthen the remains of Administration by that faction,[1] but with no intention of including George Grenville, who is more hated

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DEATH OF HIS FATHER—MATTHEWS AND LESTOCK IN THE MEDITERRANEAN—THOMSON'S "TANCRED AND SIGISMUNDA"—AKENSIDE'S ODES—CONUNDRUMS IN FASHION.

ARLINGTON STREET, March 29, 1745. I begged your brother to tell you what it was impossible for me to tell you. You share nearly in our common loss! Don't expect me to enter at all upon the subject. After the melancholy two months that I have passed, and in my situation, you will not wonder I shun a conversation which could not be bounded by a letter—a letter that would grow into a panegyric, or a piece of moral; improper for me to write upon, and too distressful for us both!—a death is only to b

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DEATH OF CHARLES TOWNSHEND AND OF THE DUKE OF YORK—WHIST THE NEW FASHION IN FRANCE.

PARIS, Sept. 27, 1767. Since you insist on my writing from hence, I will; I intended to defer it a few days longer, as I shall set out on my return this day se'nnight. Within the five weeks of my being here, there have happened three deaths, which certainly nobody expected six weeks ago. Yet, though the persons were all considerable, their loss will make little impression on the state of any affairs. Monsieur de Guerchy returned from his embassy with us about a month before my arrival. He had be

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SOME NEW POEMS OF GRAY—WALPOLE'S "HISTORIC DOUBTS"—BOSWELL'S "CORSICA."

ARLINGTON STREET, Feb. 18, 1768. You have sent me a long and very obliging letter, and yet I am extremely out of humour with you. I saw Poems by Mr. Gray advertised: I called directly at Dodsley's to know if this was to be more than a new edition? He was not at home himself, but his foreman told me he thought there were some new pieces, and notes to the whole. It was very unkind, not only to go out of town without mentioning them to me, without showing them to me, but not to say a word of them i

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BATTLE OF FONTENOY—THE BALLAD OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.

ARLINGTON STREET, May 11, 1745. I stayed till to-day, to be able to give you some account of the battle of Tournay: the outlines you will have heard already. We don't allow it to be a victory on the French side: but that is, just as a woman is not called Mrs. till she is married, though she may have had half-a-dozen natural children. In short, we remained upon the field of battle three hours; I fear, too many of us remain there still! without palliating, it is certainly a heavy stroke. We never

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WILKES IS RETURNED M.P. FOR MIDDLESEX—RIOTS IN LONDON—VIOLENCE OF THE MOB.

ARLINGTON STREET, Thursday, March 31, 1768. I have received your letter, with the extract of that from Mr. Mackenzie. I do not think any honours will be bestowed yet. The Peerages are all postponed to an indefinite time. If you are in a violent hurry, you may petition the ghosts of your neighbours—Masaniello and the Gracchi. The spirit of one of them walks here; nay, I saw it go by my window yesterday, at noon, in a hackney chair. Friday. I was interrupted yesterday. The ghost is laid for a time

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M. DE GRIGNAN—LIVY'S PATAVINITY—THE MARÉCHAL DE BELLEISLE—WHISTON PROPHECIES THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD—THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.

[ August 1, 1745.] Dear George,—I cannot help thinking you laugh at me when you say such very civil things of my letters, and yet, coming from you, I would fain not have it all flattery: So much the more, as, from a little elf, I've had a high opinion of myself, Though sickly, slender, and not large of limb. With this modest prepossession, you may be sure I like to have you commend me, whom, after I have done with myself, I admire of all men living. I only beg that you will commend m

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INVASION OF SCOTLAND BY THE YOUNG PRETENDER—FORCES ARE SAID TO BE PREPARING IN FRANCE TO JOIN HIM.

ARLINGTON STREET, Sept. 6, 1745. It would have been inexcusable in me, in our present circumstances, and after all I have promised you, not to have written to you for this last month, if I had been in London; but I have been at Mount Edgecumbe, and so constantly upon the road, that I neither received your letters, had time to write, or knew what to write. I came back last night, and found three packets from you, which I have no time to answer, and but just time to read. The confusion I have foun

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FLEETING FAME OF WITTICISMS—"THE MYSTERIOUS MOTHER."

STRAWBERRY HILL, April 15, 1768. Mr. Chute tells me that you have taken a new house in Squireland, and have given yourself up for two years more to port and parsons. I am very angry, and resign you to the works of the devil or the church, I don't care which. You will get the gout, turn Methodist, and expect to ride to heaven upon your own great toe. I was happy with your telling me how well you love me, and though I don't love loving, I could have poured out all the fulness of my heart to such a

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CASE OF WILKES.

STRAWBERRY HILL, June 9, 1768. To send you empty paragraphs when you expect and want news is tantalising, is it not? Pray agree with me, and then you will allow that I have acted very kindly in not writing till I had something to tell you. Something , of course, means Wilkes, for everything is nothing except the theme of the day. There has appeared a violent North Briton , addressed to, and written against Lord Mansfield, threatening a rebellion if he continued to persecute Mr. Wilkes. This pape

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THIS AND THE FOLLOWING LETTERS GIVE A LIVELY ACCOUNT OF THE PROGRESS OF THE REBELLION TILL THE RETREAT FROM DERBY, AFTER WHICH NO PARTICULAR INTEREST ATTACHES TO IT.

ARLINGTON STREET, Sept. 20, 1745. One really don't know what to write to you: the accounts from Scotland vary perpetually, and at best are never very certain. I was just going to tell you that the rebels are in England; but my uncle [ old Horace] is this moment come in, and says, that an express came last night with an account of their being at Edinburgh to the number of five thousand. This sounds great, to have walked through a kingdom, and taken possession of the capital! But this capital is a

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DEFEAT OF COPE.

ARLINGTON STREET, Sept. 27, 1745. I can't doubt but the joy of the Jacobites has reached Florence before this letter. Your two or three Irish priests, I forget their names, will have set out to take possession of abbey lands here. I feel for what you will feel, and for the insulting things that will be said to you upon the battle we lost in Scotland; but all this is nothing to what it prefaces. The express came hither on Tuesday morning, but the Papists knew it on Sunday night. Cope lay in face

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THE ENGLISH CLIMATE.

STRAWBERRY HILL, June 15, 1768. No, I cannot be so false as to say I am glad you are pleased with your situation. You are so apt to take root, that it requires ten years to dig you out again when you once begin to settle. As you go pitching your tent up and down, I wish you were still more a Tartar, and shifted your quarters perpetually. Yes, I will come and see you; but tell me first, when do your Duke and Duchess [the Argylls] travel to the North? I know that he is a very amiable lad, and I do

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GENERAL WADE IS MARCHING TO SCOTLAND—VIOLENT PROCLAMATION OF THE PRETENDER.

ARLINGTON STREET, Oct. 21, 1745. I had been almost as long without any of your letters as you had without mine; but yesterday I received one, dated the 5th of this month, N.S. The rebels have not left their camp near Edinburgh, and, I suppose, will not now, unless to retreat into the Highlands. General Wade was to march yesterday from Doncaster for Scotland. By their not advancing, I conclude that either the Boy and his council could not prevail on the Highlanders to leave their own country, or

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VOLTAIRE'S CRITICISMS ON SHAKESPEARE—PARNELL'S "HERMIT."

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 27, 1768. One can never, Sir, be sorry to have been in the wrong, when one's errors are pointed out to one in so obliging and masterly a manner. Whatever opinion I may have of Shakspeare, I should think him to blame, if he could have seen the letter you have done me the honour to write to me, and yet not conform to the rules you have there laid down. When he lived, there had not been a Voltaire both to give laws to the stage, and to show on what good sense those laws were f

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ARRIVAL OF THE KING OF DENMARK—HIS POPULARITY WITH THE MOB.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Aug. 16, 1768. As you have been so good, my dear lord, as twice to take notice of my letter, I am bound in conscience and gratitude to try to amuse you with anything new. A royal visitor, quite fresh, is a real curiosity—by the reception of him, I do not think many more of the breed will come hither. He came from Dover in hackney-chaises; for somehow or other the Master of the Horse happened to be in Lincolnshire; and the King's coaches having received no orders, were too good s

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GALLANT RESISTANCE OF CARLISLE—MR. PITT ATTACKS THE MINISTRY.

ARLINGTON STREET, Nov. 22, 1745. For these two days we have been expecting news of a battle. Wade marched last Saturday from Newcastle, and must have got up with the rebels if they stayed for him, though the roads are exceedingly bad and great quantities of snow have fallen. But last night there was some notice of a body of rebels being advanced to Penryth. We were put into great spirits by an heroic letter from the Mayor of Carlisle, who had fired on the rebels and made them retire; he conclude

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THE REBEL ARMY HAS RETREATED FROM DERBY—EXPECTATION OF A FRENCH INVASION.

ARLINGTON STREET, Dec. 9, 1745. I am glad I did not write to you last post as I intended; I should have sent you an account that would have alarmed you, and the danger would have been over before the letter had crossed the sea. The Duke, from some strange want of intelligence, lay last week for four-and-twenty hours under arms at Stone, in Staffordshire, expecting the rebels every moment, while they were marching in all haste to Derby. The news of this threw the town into great consternation; bu

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WILKES'S ELECTION—THE COMTESSE DE BARRI—THE DUC DE CHOISEUL'S INDISCRETION.

ARLINGTON STREET, Jan. 31, 1769. The affair of Wilkes is rather undecided yet, than in suspense.[1] It has been a fair trial between faction and corruption; of two such common creatures, the richest will carry it. [Footnote 1: Wilkes had been elected a member of the Common Council.] The Court of Aldermen set aside the election of Wilkes on some informality, but he was immediately re-chosen. This happened on Friday last, the very day of his appearance at the House of Commons. He went thither with

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A GARDEN PARTY AT STRAWBERRY—A RIDOTTO AT VAUXHALL.

ARLINGTON STREET, May 11, 1769. You are so wayward, that I often resolve to give you up to your humours. Then something happens with which I can divert you, and my good-nature returns. Did not you say you should return to London long before this time? At least, could you not tell me you had changed your mind? why am I to pick it out from your absence and silence, as Dr. Warburton found a future state in Moses's saying nothing of the matter! I could go on with a chapter of severe interrogatories,

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BATTLE OF CULLODEN.

ARLINGTON STREET, April 25, 1746. You have bid me for some time to send you good news—well! I think I will. How good would you have it? must it be a total victory over the rebels; with not only the Boy, that is here, killed, but the other, that is not here, too; their whole army put to the sword, besides an infinite number of prisoners; all the Jacobite estates in England confiscated, and all those in Scotland—what would you have done with them?—or could you be content with something much under

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TRIAL OF THE REBEL LORDS BALMERINO AND KILMARNOCK.

ARLINGTON STREET, Aug. 1, 1746. I am this moment come from the conclusion of the greatest and most melancholy scene I ever yet saw! You will easily guess it was the Trials of the rebel Lords. As it was the most interesting sight, it was the most solemn and fine: a coronation is a puppet-show, and all the splendour of it idle; but this sight at once feasted one's eyes and engaged all one's passions. It began last Monday; three parts of Westminster Hall were inclosed with galleries, and hung with

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PAOLI—AMBASSADORIAL ETIQUETTE.

STRAWBERRY HILL, June 14, 1769. I thank you for the history of the Pope and his genealogy, or, rather, for what is to be his genealogy; for I suppose all those tailors and coachmen his relations will now found noble families. They may enrich their blood with the remaining spoils of the Jesuits, unless, which would not surprise me, his new Holiness should now veer about, and endeavour to save the order; for I think the Church full as likely to fall by sacrificing its janissaries, as by any attack

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THE BATTLE OF RANCOUX.

ARLINGTON STREET, Oct. 14, 1746. You will have been alarmed with the news of another battle lost in Flanders, where we have no Kings of Sardinia. We make light of it; do not allow it to be a battle, but call it "the action near Liege." Then we have whittled down our loss extremely, and will not allow a man more than three hundred and fifty English slain out of the four thousand. The whole of it, as it appears to me, is, that we gave up eight battalions to avoid fighting; as at Newmarket people p

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HIS RETURN TO PARIS—MADAME DEFFAND—A TRANSLATION OF "HAMLET"—MADAME DUMENIL—VOLTAIRE'S "MEROPE" AND "LES GUÈBRES."

PARIS, Aug. 30, 1769. I have been so hurried with paying and receiving visits, that I have not had a moment's worth of time to write. My passage was very tedious, and lasted near nine hours for want of wind.—But I need not talk of my journey; for Mr. Maurice, whom I met on the road, will have told you that I was safe on terra firma . Judge of my surprise at hearing four days ago, that my Lord Dacre and my lady were arrived here. They are lodged within a few doors of me. He is come to consult a D

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THE FRENCH COURT—THE YOUNG PRINCES—ST. CYR—MADAME DE MAILLY.

PARIS, Sunday night, Sept. 17, 1769. I am heartily tired; but, as it is too early to go to bed, I must tell you how agreeably I have passed the day. I wished for you; the same scenes strike us both, and the same kind of visions has amused us both ever since we were born. Well then; I went this morning to Versailles with my niece Mrs. Cholmondeley, Mrs. Hart, Lady Denbigh's sister, and the Count de Grave, one of the most amiable, humane, and obliging men alive. Our first object was to see Madame

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_ON CONWAY'S VERSES—NO SCOTCH_MAN_ IS CAPABLE OF SUCH DELICACY OF THOUGHT, THOUGH A SCOTCHWOMAN MAY BE—AKENSIDE'S, ARMSTRONG'S, AND GLOVER'S POEMS._

WINDSOR, Oct. 24, 1746. Well, Harry, Scotland is the last place on earth I should have thought of for turning anybody poet: but I begin to forgive it half its treasons in favour of your verses, for I suppose you don't think I am the dupe of the Highland story that you tell me: the only use I shall make of it is to commend the lines to you, as if they really were a Scotchman's. There is a melancholy harmony in them that is charming, and a delicacy in the thoughts that no Scotchman is capable of,

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HE HAS BOUGHT STRAWBERRY HILL.

TWICKENHAM, June 8, 1747. You perceive by my date that I am got into a new camp, and have left my tub at Windsor. It is a little plaything-house that I got out of Mrs. Chenevix's shop, and is the prettiest bauble you ever saw. It is set in enamelled meadows, with filigree hedges: A small Euphrates through the piece is told, And little finches wave their wings in gold. Two delightful roads, that you would call dusty, supply me continually with coaches and chaises: barges as solemn as Baro

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A MASQUERADE—STATE OF RUSSIA.

ARLINGTON STREET, Feb. 27, 1770. It is very lucky, seeing how much of the tiger enters into the human composition, that there should be a good dose of the monkey too. If Aesop had not lived so many centuries before the introduction of masquerades and operas, he would certainly have anticipated my observation, and worked it up into a capital fable. As we still trade upon the stock of the ancients, we seldom deal in any other manufacture; and, though nature, after new combinations, lets forth new

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WILKES—BURKE'S PAMPHLET—PREDICTION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS—EXTRAVAGANCE IN ENGLAND.

STRAWBERRY HILL, May 6, 1770. I don't know whether Wilkes is subdued by his imprisonment, or waits for the rising of Parliament, to take the field; or whether his dignity of Alderman has dulled him into prudence, and the love of feasting; but hitherto he has done nothing but go to City banquets and sermons, and sit at Guildhall as a sober magistrate. With an inversion of the proverb, "Si ex quovis Mercurio fit lignum!" What do you Italians think of Harlequin Potesta?[1] In truth, his party is cr

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HIS MODE OF LIFE—PLANTING—PROPHECIES OF NEW METHODS AND NEW DISCOVERIES IN A FUTURE GENERATION.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Aug. 29, 1748. Dear Harry,—Whatever you may think, a campaign at Twickenham furnishes as little matter for a letter as an abortive one in Flanders. I can't say indeed that my generals wear black wigs, but they have long full-bottomed hoods which cover as little entertainment to the full. [Illustration: STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE SOUTH EAST.] There's General my Lady Castlecomer, and General my Lady Dowager Ferris! Why, do you think I can extract more out of them than you can out o

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MASQUERADES IN FASHION—A LADY'S CLUB.

STRAWBERRY HILL, May 6, 1770. If you are like me, you are fretting at the weather. We have not a leaf, yet, large enough to make an apron for a Miss Eve of two years old. Flowers and fruits, if they come at all this year, must meet together as they do in a Dutch picture; our lords and ladies, however, couple as if it were the real Gioventù dell' anno . Lord Albemarle, you know, has disappointed all his brothers and my niece; and Lord Fitzwilliam is declared sposo to Lady Charlotte Ponsonby. It i

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REJOICINGS FOR THE PEACE—MASQUERADE AT RANELAGH—MEETING OF THE PRINCES PARTY AND THE JACOBITES—PREVALENCE OF DRINKING AND GAMBLING—WHITEFIELD.

STRAWBERRY HILL, May 3, 1749. I am come hither for a few days, to repose myself after a torrent of diversions, and am writing to you in my charming bow-window with a tranquillity and satisfaction which, I fear, I am grown old enough to prefer to the hurry of amusements, in which the whole world has lived for this last week. We have at last celebrated the Peace, and that as much in extremes as we generally do everything, whether we have reason to be glad or sorry, pleased or angry. Last Tuesday i

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EARTHQUAKE IN LONDON—GENERAL PANIC—MARRIAGE OF CASIMIR, KING OF POLAND.

ARLINGTON STREET, March 11, 1750. Portents and prodigies are grown so frequent, That they have lost their name. My text is not literally true; but as far as earthquakes go towards lowering the price of wonderful commodities, to be sure we are overstocked. We have had a second, much more violent than the first; and you must not be surprised if by next post you hear of a burning mountain sprung up in Smithfield. In the night between Wednesday and Thursday last (exactly a month since the fi

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THE PRINCESS OF WALES IS GONE TO GERMANY—TERRIBLE ACCIDENT IN PARIS.

ARLINGTON STREET, June 15, 1770. I have no public event to tell you, though I write again sooner than I purposed. The journey of the Princess Dowager to Germany is indeed an extraordinary circumstance, but besides its being a week old, as I do not know the motives, I have nothing to say upon it. It is much canvassed and sifted, and yet perhaps she was only in search of a little repose from the torrents of abuse that have been poured upon her for some years. Yesterday they publicly sung about the

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FALL OF THE DUC DE CHOISEUL'S MINISTRY.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Saturday evening, Dec. 29, 1770. We are alarmed, or very glad, we don't know which. The Duke de Choiseul is fallen! but we cannot tell yet whether the mood of his successors will be peaceable or martial. The news arrived yesterday morning, and the event happened but last Monday evening. He was allowed but three hours to prepare for his journey, and ordered to retire to his seat at Chanteloup; but there are letters that say, qu'il ira plus loin . The Duke de Praslin is banished t

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GENERAL PANIC—SHERLOCK'S PASTORAL LETTER—PREDICTIONS OF MORE EARTHQUAKES—A GENERAL FLIGHT FROM LONDON—EPIGRAMS BY CHUTE AND WALPOLE HIMSELF—FRENCH TRANSLATION OF MILTON.

ARLINGTON STREET, April 2, 1750. You will not wonder so much at our earthquakes as at the effects they have had. All the women in town have taken them up upon the foot of Judgments ; and the clergy, who have had no windfalls of a long season, have driven horse and foot into this opinion. There has been a shower of sermons and exhortations: Seeker, the Jesuitical Bishop of Oxford, began the mode. He heard the women were all going out of town to avoid the next shock; and so, for fear of losing his

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PEACE WITH SPAIN—BANISHMENT OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT—MRS. CORNELYS'S ESTABLISHMENT—THE QUEEN OF DENMARK.

ARLINGTON STREET, Feb. 22, 1771. Two days ago there began to be an alarm at the delay of the Spanish courier, and people were persuaded that the King of Spain had refused to ratify his ambassador's declaration; who, on the warrant of the French King, had ventured to sign it, though expecting every hour to be recalled, as he actually was two days afterwards. However, the night before last, to the great comfort of Prince Masserano and our Ministers, the ratification arrived; and, after so many del

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DEATH OF WALPOLE'S BROTHER, AND OF THE PRINCE OF WALES—SPEECH OF THE YOUNG PRINCE—SINGULAR SERMON ON HIS DEATH.

ARLINGTON STREET, April 1, 1751. How shall I begin a letter that will—that must—give you as much pain as I feel myself? I must interrupt the story of the Prince's death, to tell you of two more, much more important, God knows! to you and me! One I had prepared you for—but how will you be shocked to hear that our poor Mr. Whithed is dead as well as my brother!… I now must mention my own misfortune. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, the physicians and all the family of painful death (to a

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QUARREL OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS WITH THE CITY—DISSENSIONS IN THE FRENCH COURT AND ROYAL FAMILY—EXTRAVAGANCE IN ENGLAND.

ARLINGTON STREET, April 26, 1771. You may wonder that I have been so silent, when I had announced a war between the House of Commons and the City—nay, when hostilities were actually commenced; but many a campaign languishes that has set out very flippantly. My letters depend on events, and I am like the man in the weather-house who only comes forth on a storm. The wards in the City have complimented the prisoners,[1] and some towns; but the train has not spread much. Wilkes is your only gun-powd

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CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY AND HOUSEHOLD—THE MISS GUNNINGS—EXTRAVAGANCE IN LONDON—LORD HARCOURT, GOVERNOR OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.

ARLINGTON STREET, June 18, 1751. I send my letter as usual from the Secretary's office, but of what Secretary I don't know. Lord Sandwich last week received his dismission, on which the Duke of Bedford resigned the next day, and Lord Trentham with him, both breaking with old Gower, who is entirely in the hands of the Pelhams, and made to declare his quarrel with Lord Sandwich (who gave away his daughter to Colonel Waldegrave) the foundation of detaching himself from the Bedfords. Your friend Lor

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GREAT DISTRESS AT THE FRENCH COURT.

PARIS, July 30, 1771. I do not know where you are, nor where this will find you, nor when it will set out to seek you, as I am not certain by whom I shall send it. It is of little consequence, as I have nothing material to tell you, but what you probably may have heard. The distress here is incredible, especially at Court. The King's tradesmen are ruined, his servants starving, and even angels and archangels cannot get their pensions and salaries, but sing "Woe! woe! woe!" instead of Hosannahs.

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DESCRIPTION OF STRAWBERRY HILL—BILL TO PREVENT CLANDESTINE MARRIAGES.

STRAWBERRY HILL, June 12, 1753. I could not rest any longer with the thought of your having no idea of a place of which you hear so much, and therefore desired Mr. Bentley to draw you as much idea of it as the post would be persuaded to carry from Twickenham to Florence. The enclosed enchanted little landscape, then, is Strawberry Hill; and I will try to explain so much of it to you as will help to let you know whereabouts we are when we are talking to you; for it is uncomfortable in so intimate

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NO NEWS FROM FRANCE BUT WHAT IS SMUGGLED—THE KING'S DELIGHT AT THE VOTE FOR THE HANOVER TROOPS—BON MOT OF LORD DENBIGH.

ARLINGTON STREET, May 19, 1756. Nothing will be more agreeable to me than to see you at Strawberry Hill; the weather does not seem to be of my mind, and will not invite you. I believe the French have taken the sun. Among other captures, I hear the King has taken another English mistress, a Mrs. Pope, who took her degrees in gallantry some years ago. She went to Versailles with the famous Mrs. Quon: the King took notice of them; he was told they were not so rigid as all other English women are—mi

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ENGLISH GARDENING IN FRANCE—ANGLOMANIE—HE IS WEARY OF PARIS—DEATH OF GRAY.

Paris, August 5, 1771. It is a great satisfaction to me to find by your letter of the 30th, that you have had no return of your gout. I have been assured here, that the best remedy is to cut one's nails in hot water. It is, I fear, as certain as any other remedy! It would at least be so here, if their bodies were of a piece with their understandings; or if both were as curable as they are the contrary. Your prophecy, I doubt, is not better founded than the prescription. I may be lame; but I shal

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VICTORY OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA AT LOWOSITZ—SINGULAR RACE—QUARREL OF THE PRETENDER WITH THE POPE.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 17, 1756. Lentulus (I am going to tell you no old Roman tale; he is the King of Prussia's aid-de-camp) arrived yesterday, with ample confirmation of the victory in Bohemia.[1]—Are not you glad that we have got a victory that we can at least call Cousin ? Between six and seven thousand Austrians were killed: eight Prussian squadrons sustained the acharnement , which is said to have been extreme, of thirty-two squadrons of Austrians: the pursuit lasted from Friday noon till M

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SCANTINESS OF THE RELICS OF GRAY—GARRICK'S PROLOGUES, ETC.—WILKES'S SQUINT.

ARLINGTON STREET, Jan. 28, 1772. It is long indeed, dear Sir, since we corresponded. I should not have been silent if I had anything worth telling you in your way; but I grow such an antiquity myself, that I think I am less fond of what remains of our predecessors. I thank you for Bannerman's proposal; I mean, for taking the trouble to send it, for I am not at all disposed to subscribe. I thank you more for the note on King Edward; I mean, too, for your friendship in thinking of me. Of Dean Mill

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MARRIAGE OF THE PRETENDER—THE PRINCESS LOUISE, AND HER PROTECTION OF THE CLERGY—FOX'S ELOQUENCE.

ARLINGTON STREET, April 9, 1772. It is uncommon for me to send you news of the Pretender. He has been married in Paris by proxy, to a Princess of Stolberg. All that I can learn of her is, that she is niece to a Princess of Salm, whom I knew there, without knowing any more of her. The new Pretendress is said to be but sixteen, and a Lutheran: I doubt the latter; if the former is true, I suppose they mean to carry on the breed in the way it began, by a spurious child. A Fitz-Pretender is an excell

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MINISTERIAL NEGOTIATIONS—LOSS OF MINORCA—DISASTER IN NORTH AMERICA.

ARLINGTON STREET, Nov. 4, 1756. I desired your brother last week to tell you that it was in vain for me to write while everything was in such confusion. The chaos is just as far from being dispersed now; I only write to tell you what has been its motions. One of the Popes, I think, said soon after his accession, he did not think it had been so easy to govern. What would he have thought of such a nation as this, engaged in a formidable war, without any government at all, literally, for above a fo

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AN ANSWER TO HIS "HISTORIC DOUBTS"—HIS EDITION OF GRAMMONT.

ARLINGTON STREET, Jan. 8, 1773. In return to your very kind inquiries, dear Sir, I can let you know, that I am quite free from pain, and walk a little about my room, even without a stick: nay, have been four times to take the air in the Park. Indeed, after fourteen weeks this is not saying much; but it is a worse reflection, that when one is subject to the gout and far from young, one's worst account will probably be better than that after the next fit. I neither flatter myself on one hand, nor

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THE KING OF PRUSSIA'S VICTORIES—VOLTAIRE'S "UNIVERSAL HISTORY."

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 4, 1757. My Dear Lord,—It is well I have not obeyed you sooner, as I have often been going to do: what a heap of lies and contradictions I should have sent you! What joint ministries and sole ministries! What acceptances and resignations!—Viziers and bowstrings never succeeded one another quicker. Luckily I have stayed till we have got an administration that will last a little more than for ever. There is such content and harmony in it, that I don't know whether it is not a

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HIS OWN "ROYAL AND NOBLE AUTHORS."

[Footnote 1: Mr. Zouch was the squire and vicar of Sandhill, in Yorkshire.] STRAWBERRY HILL, August 3, 1758. Sir,—I have received, with much pleasure and surprise, the favour of your remarks upon my Catalogue; and whenever I have the opportunity of being better known to you, I shall endeavour to express my gratitude for the trouble you have given yourself in contributing to perfect a work, which, notwithstanding your obliging expressions, I fear you found very little worthy the attention of so m

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POPULARITY OF LOUIS XVI—DEATH OF LORD HOLLAND—BRUCE'S "TRAVELS."

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 10, 1774. The month is come round, and I have, besides, a letter of yours to answer; and yet if I were not as regular as a husband or a merchant in paying my just dues, I think I should not perform the function, for I certainly have no natural call to it at present. Nothing in yours requires a response, and I have nothing new to tell you. Yet, if one once breaks in upon punctuality, adieu to it! I will not give out, after a perseverance of three-and-thirty years; and so far

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HIS "ROYAL AND NOBLE AUTHORS"—LORD CLARENDON—SIR R. WALPOLE AND LORD BOLINGBROKE—THE DUKE OF LEEDS.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 21, 1758. Sir,—Every letter I receive from you is a new obligation, bringing me new information: but, sure, my Catalogue was not worthy of giving you so much trouble. Lord Fortescue is quite new to me; I have sent him to the press. Lord Dorset's[1] poem it will be unnecessary to mention separately, as I have already said that his works are to be found among those of the minor poets. [Footnote 1: Lord Dorset, Lord Chamberlain under Charles II., author of the celebrated balla

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DISCONTENT IN AMERICA—MR. GRENVILLE'S ACT FOR THE TRIAL OF ELECTION PETITIONS—HIGHWAY ROBBERIES.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 6, 1774. It would be unlike my attention and punctuality, to see so large an event as an irregular dissolution of Parliament, without taking any notice of it to you. It happened last Saturday, six months before its natural death, and without the design being known but the Tuesday before, and that by very few persons. The chief motive is supposed to be the ugly state of North America,[1] and the effects that a cross winter might have on the next elections. Whatever were the

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WALPOLE'S MONUMENT TO SIR HORACE'S BROTHER—ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE KING OF PORTUGAL—COURTESY OF THE DUC D'AIGUILLON TO HIS ENGLISH PRISONERS.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 24, 1758. It is a very melancholy present I send you here, my dear Sir; yet, considering the misfortune that has befallen us, perhaps the most agreeable I could send you. You will not think it the bitterest tear you have shed when you drop one over this plan of an urn inscribed with the name of your dear brother, and with the testimonial of my eternal affection to him! This little monument is at last placed over the pew of your family at Linton [in Kent], and I doubt whethe

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THE POPE'S DEATH—WILKES IS RETURNED FOR MIDDLESEX—A QUAKER AT VERSAILLES.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 22, 1774. Though I have been writing two letters, of four sides each, one of which I enclose, I must answer your two last, if my fingers will move; and talk to you on the contents of the enclosed. If the Jesuits have precipitated the Pope's death,[1] as seems more than probable, they have acted more by the spirit of their order, than by its good sense. Great crimes may raise a growing cause, but seldom retard the fall of a sinking one. This I take to be almost an infallible

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A NEW EDITION OF LUCAN—COMPARISON OF "PHARSALEA"—CRITICISM ON THE POET, WITH THE AENEID—HELVETIUS'S WORK, "DE L'ESPRIT."

ARLINGTON STREET, Dec. 9, 1758. Sir,—I have desired Mr. Whiston to convey to you the second edition of my Catalogue, not so complete as it might have been, if great part had not been printed before I received your remarks, but yet more correct than the first sketch with which I troubled you. Indeed, a thing of this slight and idle nature does not deserve to have much more pains employed upon it. I am just undertaking an edition of Lucan, my friend Mr. Bentley having in his possession his father'

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BURKE'S ELECTION AT BRISTOL—RESEMBLANCE OF ONE HOUSE OF COMMONS TO ANOTHER—COMFORT OF OLD AGE.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Nov. 7, 1774. I have written such tomes to Mr. Conway,[1] Madam, and so nothing new to write, that I might as well, methinks, begin and end like the lady to her husband; "Je vous écris parceque je n'ai rien à faire: je finis parceque je n'ai rien à vous dire." Yes, I have two complaints to make, one of your ladyship, the other of myself. You tell me nothing of Lady Harriet [Stanhope]: have you no tongue, or the French no eyes? or are her eyes employed in nothing but seeing? What

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DEATH OF LORD CLIVE—RESTORATION OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT—PREDICTION OF GREAT MEN TO ARISE IN AMERICA—THE KING'S SPEECH.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Nov. 24, 1774. … A great event happened two days ago—a political and moral event; the sudden death of that second Kouli Khan, Lord Clive.[1] There was certainly illness in the case; the world thinks more than illness. His constitution was exceedingly broken and disordered, and grown subject to violent pains and convulsions. He came unexpectedly to town last Monday, and they say, ill. On Tuesday his physician gave him a dose of laudanum, which had not the desired effect. On the r

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STATE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

ARLINGTON STREET, Jan. 19, 1759. I hope the treaty of Sluys[1] advances rapidly. Considering that your own court is as new to you as Monsieur de Bareil and his, you cannot be very well entertained: the joys of a Dutch fishing town and the incidents of a cartel will not compose a very agreeable history. In the mean time you do not lose much; though the Parliament is met, no politics are come to town; one may describe the House of Commons like the price of stocks—Debates, nothing done. Votes, unde

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RIOTS AT BOSTON—A LITERARY COTERIE AT BATH—EASTON.

ARLINGTON STREET, Jan. 15, 1775. You have made me very happy by saying your journey to Naples is laid aside. Perhaps it made too great an impression on me; but you must reflect, that all my life I have satisfied myself with your being perfect, instead of trying to be so myself. I don't ask you to return, though I wish it: in truth, there is nothing to invite you. I don't want you to come and breathe fire and sword against the Bostonians,[1] like that second Duke of Alva,[2] the inflexible Lord G

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ROBERTSON'S "HISTORY OF SCOTLAND"—COMPARISON OF RAMSAY AND REYNOLDS AS PORTRAIT-PAINTERS—SIR DAVID'S "HISTORY OF THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY."

STRAWBERRY HILL, Feb. 25, 1759. I think, Sir, I have perceived enough of the amiable benignity of your mind, to be sure that you will like to hear the praises of your friend.[1] Indeed, there is but one opinion about Mr. Robertson's "History [of Scotland]." I don't remember any other work that ever met universal approbation. Since the Romans and the Greeks, who have now an exclusive charter for being the best writers in every kind, he is the historian that pleases me best; and though what he has

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WRITERS OF HISTORY: GOODALL, HUME, ROBERTSON—QUEEN CHRISTINA.

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 11, 1759. You will repent, Sir, I fear, having drawn such a correspondent upon yourself. An author flattered and encouraged is not easily shaken off again; but if the interests of my book did not engage me to trouble you, while you are so good as to write me the most entertaining letters in the world, it is very natural for me to lay snares to inveigle more of them. However, Sir, excuse me this once, and I will be more modest for the future in trespassing on your kindness.

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OPPOSITION OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENTS TO TURGOT'S MEASURES.

[Footnote 1: Dr. Gem was an English physician who had been for some time settled in Paris. He was uncle to Canning's friend and colleague, Mr. Huskisson.] ARLINGTON STREET, April 4, 1776. It is but fair, when one quits one's party, to give notice to those one abandons—at least, modern patriots, who often imbibe their principles of honour at Newmarket, use that civility. You and I, dear Sir, have often agreed in our political notions; and you, I fear, will die without changing your opinion. For m

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HIS DECORATIONS AT "STRAWBERRY"—HIS ESTIMATE OF HIMSELF, AND HIS ADMIRATION OF CONWAY.

STRAWBERRY HILL, June 20, 1776. I was very glad to receive your letter, not only because always most glad to hear of you, but because I wished to write to you, and had absolutely nothing to say till I had something to answer. I have lain but two nights in town since I saw you; have been, else, constantly here, very much employed, though doing, hearing, knowing exactly nothing. I have had a Gothic architect [Mr. Essex] from Cambridge to design me a gallery, which will end in a mouse, that is, in

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THE BATTLE OF MINDEN—LORD G. SACKVILLE.

ARLINGTON STREET, Aug. 14, 1759. I am here in the most unpleasant way in the world, attending poor Mrs. Leneve's death-bed, a spectator of all the horrors of tedious suffering and clear sense, and with no one soul to speak to—but I will not tire you with a description of what has quite worn me out. Probably by this time you have seen the Duke of Richmond or Fitzroy—but lest you should not, I will tell you all I can learn, and a wonderful history it is. Admiral Byng was not more unpopular than Lo

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ANGLOMANIE IN PARIS—HORSE-RACING.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Dec. 1, 1776. I don't know who the Englishwoman is of whom you give so ridiculous a description; but it will suit thousands. I distrust my age continually, and impute to it half the contempt I feel for my countrymen and women. If I think the other half well-founded, it is by considering what must be said hereafter of the present age. What is to impress a great idea of us on posterity? In truth, what do our contemporaries of all other countries think of us? They stare at and cond

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ADMIRAL BOSCAWEN'S VICTORY—DEFEAT OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA—LORD G. SACKVILLE.

ARLINGTON STREET, Sept. 13, 1759. With your unathletic constitution I think you will have a greater weight of glory to represent than you can bear. You will be as épuisé as Princess Craon with all the triumphs over Niagara, Ticonderoga, Crown-point, and such a parcel of long names. You will ruin yourself in French horns, to exceed those of Marshal Botta, who has certainly found out a pleasant way of announcing victories. Besides, all the West Indies, which we have taken by a panic, there is Admi

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A YEAR OF TRIUMPHS.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 21, 1759. Your pictures shall be sent as soon as any of us go to London, but I think that will not be till the Parliament meets. Can we easily leave the remains of such a year as this? It is still all gold.[1] I have not dined or gone to bed by a fire till the day before yesterday. Instead of the glorious and ever-memorable year 1759, as the newspapers call it, I call it this ever-warm and victorious year. We have not had more conquest than fine weather: one would think we

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OSSIAN—CHATTERTON.

STRAWBERRY HILL, June 19, 1777. I thank you for your notices, dear Sir, and shall remember that on Prince William. I did see the Monthly Review , but hope one is not guilty of the death of every man who does not make one the dupe of a forgery. I believe M'Pherson's success with "Ossian"[1] was more the ruin of Chatterton[2] than I. Two years passed between my doubting the authenticity of Rowley's poems and his death. I never knew he had been in London till some time after he had undone and poiso

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AFFAIRS IN AMERICA—THE CZARINA AND THE EMPEROR OF CHINA.

ARLINGTON STREET, Oct. 26, 1777. It is past my usual period of writing to you; which would not have happened but from an uncommon, and indeed, considering the moment, an extraordinary dearth of matter. I could have done nothing but describe suspense, and every newspaper told you that. Still we know nothing certain of the state of affairs in America; the very existence where, of the Howes, is a mystery. The General is said to have beaten Washington, Clinton to have repulsed three attacks, and Bur

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FRENCH BANKRUPTCY—FRENCH EPIGRAM.

ARLINGTON STREET, Nov. 8, 1759. Your pictures will set out on Saturday; I give you notice, that you may inquire for them. I did not intend to be here these three days, but my Lord Bath taking the trouble to send a man and horse to ask me to dinner yesterday, I did not know how to refuse; and besides, as Mr. Bentley said to me, "you know he was an old friend of your father." The town is empty, but is coming to dress itself for Saturday. My Lady Coventry showed George Selwyn her clothes; they are

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DEATH OF LORD CHATHAM—THURLOW BECOMES LORD CHANCELLOR.

STRAWBERRY HILL, May 31, 1778. I am forced to look at the dates I keep of my letters, to see what events I have or have not told you; for at this crisis something happens every day; though nothing very striking since the death of Lord Chatham, with which I closed my last. No?—yes, but there has. All England, which had abandoned him, found out, the moment his eyes were closed, that nothing but Lord Chatham could have preserved them. How lucky for him that the experiment cannot be made! Grief is f

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HE LIVES AMONGST ROYALTY—COMMOTIONS IN IRELAND.

ARLINGTON STREET, Jan. 7, 1760. You must not wonder I have not written to you a long time; a person of my consequence! I am now almost ready to say, We , instead of I . In short, I live amongst royalty—considering the plenty, that is no great wonder. All the world lives with them, and they with all the world. Princes and Princesses open shops, in every corner of the town, and the whole town deals with them. As I have gone to one, I chose to frequent all, that I might not be particular, and seem

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SEVERITY OF THE WEATHER—SCARCITY IN GERMANY—A PARTY AT PRINCE EDWARD'S—CHARLES TOWNSEND'S COMMENTS ON LA FONTAINE.

ARLINGTON STREET, Jan. 14, 1760. How do you contrive to exist on your mountain in this rude season? Sure you must be become a snowball! As I was not in England in forty-one, I had no notion of such cold. The streets are abandoned; nothing appears in them: the Thames is almost as solid. Then think what a campaign must be in such a season! Our army was under arms for fourteen hours on the twenty-third, expecting the French; and several of the men were frozen when they should have dismounted. What

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EXULTATION OF FRANCE AT OUR DISASTERS IN AMERICA—FRANKLIN—NECKER—CHATTERTON.

STRAWBERRY HILL, June 3, 1778. I will not dispute with you, dear Sir, on patriots and politics. One point is past controversy, that the Ministers have ruined this country; and if the Church of England is satisfied with being reconciled to the Church of Rome, and thinks it a compensation for the loss of America and all credit in Europe, she is as silly an old woman as any granny in an almshouse. France is very glad we have grown such fools, and soon saw that the Presbyterian Dr. Franklin[1] had m

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ADMIRAL KEPPEL'S SUCCESS—THREATS OF INVASION—FUNERAL OF LORD CHATHAM.

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 7 , 1778. You tell me in yours of the 23rd of last month, which I received to-day, that my letters are necessary to your tranquillity. That is sufficient to make me write, though I have nothing very positive to tell you. I did not mention Admiral Keppel's skirmish with and capture of two frigates of the Brest squadron; not because I thought it trifling, but concluding that it would produce immediate declaration of war; and, for the fact itself, I knew both our papers and th

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CAPTURE OF CARRICKFERGUS.

ARLINGTON STREET, Feb. 28, 1760. The next time you see Marshal Botta, and are to act King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, you must abate about a hundredth thousandth part of the dignity of your crown. You are no more monarch of all Ireland, than King O'Neil, or King Macdermoch is. Louis XV. is sovereign of France, Navarre, and Carrickfergus. You will be mistaken if you think the peace is made, and that we cede this Hibernian town, in order to recover Minorca, or to keep Quebec and Louisbo

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SUGGESTION OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE—PARTITION OF POLAND.

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 8, 1778. I have had some conversation with a ministerial person, on the subject of pacification with France; and he dropped a hint, that as we should not have much of a good peace, the Opposition would make great clamour on it. I said a few words on the duty of Ministers to do what they thought right, be the consequence what it would. But as honest men do not want such lectures, and dishonest will not let them weigh, I waived that theme, to dwell on what is more likely to b

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THE BALLAD OF "HARDYKNUTE"—MR. HOME'S "SIEGE OF AQUILEIA"—"TRISTRAM SHANDY"—BISHOP WARBURTON'S PRAISE OF IT.

STRAWBERRY HILL, April 4, 1760. Sir,—As I have very little at present to trouble you with myself, I should have deferred writing till a better opportunity, if it were not to satisfy the curiosity of a friend; a friend whom you, Sir, will be glad to have made curious, as you originally pointed him out as a likely person to be charmed with the old Irish poetry you sent me. It is Mr. Gray, who is an enthusiast about those poems, and begs me to put the following queries to you; which I will do in hi

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ERSE POETRY—"THE DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD"—"THE COMPLETE ANGLER."

June 20, 1760. I am obliged to you, Sir, for the volume of Erse poetry: all of it has merit; but I am sorry not to see in it the six descriptions of night with which you favoured me before, and which I like as much as any of the pieces. I can, however, by no means agree with the publisher, that they seem to be parts of an heroic poem; nothing to me can be more unlike. I should as soon take all the epitaphs in Westminster Abbey, and say it was an epic poem on the History of England. The greatest

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UNSUCCESSFUL CRUISE OF KEPPEL—CHARACTER OF LORD CHATHAM.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 8, 1778. As you are so earnest for news, I am concerned when I have not a paragraph to send you. It looks as if distance augmented your apprehensions; for, I assure you, at home we have lost almost all curiosity. Though the two fleets have been so long at sea, and though, before their last sortie , one heard nothing but What news of the fleets? of late there has been scarcely any inquiry; and so the French one is returned to Brest, and ours is coming home. Admiral Keppel is

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CAPTURE OF PONDICHERRY—CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY—LA FAYETTE IN AMERICA.

ARLINGTON STREET, March 22, 1779. If your representative dignity is impaired westward, you may add to your eastern titles those of "Rose of India" and "Pearl of Pondicherry."[1] The latter gem is now set in one of the vacant sockets of the British diadem. [Footnote 1: The authority of the great Warren Hastings, originally limited to five years, was renewed this year; and he signalised the prolongation of his authority by more vigorous attacks than ever on the French fortresses in India. He sent

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VISITS IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES—WHICHNOVRE—SHEFFIELD—THE NEW ART OF PLATING—CHATSWORTH—HADDON HALL—HARDWICKE—APARTMENTS OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS—NEWSTEAD—ALTHORP.

ARLINGTON STREET, Sept. 1, 1760. I was disappointed at your not being at home as I returned from my expedition. My tour has been extremely agreeable. I set out with winning a good deal at Loo at Ragley; the Duke of Grafton was not so successful, and had some high words with Pam. I went from thence to Offley's at Whichnovre[1], the individual manor of the flitch of bacon, which has been growing rusty for these thirty years in his hall. I don't wonder; I have no notion that one could keep in good

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GENTLEMAN'S DRESS—INFLUENCE OF LORD BUTE—ODE BY LORD MIDDLESEX—G. SELWYN'S QUOTATION. TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ.

ARLINGTON STREET, April 16, 1761. You are a very mule; one offers you a handsome stall and manger in Berkeley Square, and you will not accept it. I have chosen your coat, a claret colour, to suit the complexion of the country you are going to visit; but I have fixed nothing about the lace. Barrett had none of gauze, but what were as broad as the Irish Channel. Your tailor found a very reputable one at another place, but I would not determine rashly; it will be two or three-and-twenty shillings t

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DIVISIONS IN THE MINISTRY—CHARACTER OF THE ITALIANS AND OF THE FRENCH.

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 7, 1779. How much larger the war will be for the addition of Spain, I do not know. Hitherto it has produced no events but the shutting of our ports against France, and the junction of nine ships from Ferrol with the French squadron. They talk of a great navy getting ready at Cadiz, and of mighty preparations in the ports of France for an embarkation. As all this must have been foreseen, I suppose we are ready to resist all attacks. The Parliament rose last Saturday, not wit

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ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS—DEATH OF LORD TEMPLE.

Sept. 16, 1779. I have received your letter by Colonel Floyd, and shall be surprised indeed if Caesar does not find his own purple a little rumpled, as well as his brother's mantle. But how astonished was I at finding that you did not mention the dreadful eruption of Vesuvius. Surely you had not heard of it! What are kings and their popguns to that wrath of Nature! How Sesostris, at the head of an army of nations, would have fallen prostrate to earth before a column of blazing embers eleven thou

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CAPTURE OF BELLEISLE—GRAY'S POEMS—HOGARTH'S VANITY.

ARLINGTON STREET, May 5, 1761. We have lost a young genius, Sir William Williams; an express from Belleisle, arrived this morning, brings nothing but his death. He was shot very unnecessarily, riding too near a battery; in sum, he is a sacrifice to his own rashness, and to ours. For what are we taking Belleisle?[1] I rejoiced at the little loss we had on landing; for the glory, I leave it the common council. I am very willing to leave London to them too, and do pass half the week at Strawberry,

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INTENDED MARRIAGE OF THE KING—BATTLES IN GERMANY—CAPTURE OF PONDICHERRY—BURKE.

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 22, 1761. For my part, I believe Mademoiselle Scudéri[1] drew the plan of this year. It is all royal marriages, coronations, and victories; they come tumbling so over one another from distant parts of the globe, that it looks just like the handywork of a lady romance writer, whom it costs nothing but a little false geography to make the Great Mogul in love with a Princess of Mecklenburgh, and defeat two marshals of France[2] as he rides post on an elephant to his nuptials.

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CHANCES OF WAR WITH HOLLAND—HIS FATHER'S POLICY—POPE—CHARACTER OF BOLINGBROKE.

BERKELEY SQUARE, Jan. 13, 1780. In consequence of my last, it is right to make you easy, and tell you that I think we shall not have a Dutch war;[1] at least, nobody seems to expect it. What excuses we have made, I do not know; but I imagine the Hollanders are glad to gain by both sides, and glad not to be forced to quarrel with either. [Footnote 1: Walpole was mistaken in his calculations. "Holland at this time was divided by two great parties—the party of the Staatholder, the Prince of Orange,

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POLITICAL EXCITEMENT—LORD G. GORDON—EXTRAORDINARY GAMBLING AFFAIRS IN INDIA.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Feb. 6, 1780. I write only when I have facts to send. Detached scenes there have been in different provinces: they will be collected soon into a drama in St. Stephen's Chapel. One or two and twenty counties, and two or three towns, have voted petitions.[1] But in Northamptonshire Lord Spencer was disappointed, and a very moderate petition was ordered. The same happened at Carlisle. At first, the Court was struck dumb, but have begun to rally. Counter-protests have been signed in

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ARRIVAL OF THE PRINCESS OF MECKLENBURGH—THE ROYAL WEDDING—THE QUEEN'S APPEARANCE AND BEHAVIOUR.

ARLINGTON STREET, Sept. 10, 1761. When we least expected the Queen, she came, after being ten days at sea, but without sickness for above half-an-hour. She was gay the whole voyage, sung to her harpsichord, and left the door of her cabin open. They made the coast of Suffolk last Saturday, and on Monday morning she landed at Harwich; so prosperously has his Majesty's chief eunuch, as they have made the Tripoline ambassador call Lord Anson, executed his commission. She lay that night at your old f

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THE CORONATION AND SUBSEQUENT GAIETIES.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Sept. 27, 1761. You are a mean, mercenary woman. If you did not want histories of weddings and coronations, and had not jobs to be executed about muslins, and a bit of china, and counterband goods, one should never hear of you. When you don't want a body, you can frisk about with greffiers and burgomasters, and be as merry in a dyke as my lady frog herself. The moment your curiosity is agog, or your cambric seized, you recollect a good cousin in England, and, as folks said two h

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RODNEY'S VICTORY—WALPOLE INCLINES TO WITHDRAW FROM AMUSEMENTS.

BERKELEY SQUARE, March 3, 1780. As my last letter probably alarmed you, I write again to tell you that nothing decisive has happened. The troops of the Palace even rallied a little yesterday on Mr. Burke's Bill of Reformation, or Reduction, yet with evident symptoms of caution ; for Lord North, who wished to defer the second reading, ventured to put it only to next Wednesday, instead of to-day; and would have carried a longer adjournment with still greater difficulty, for his majority was but of

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THE GORDON RIOTS.

STRAWBERRY HILL, June 5, 1780. Not a syllable yet from General Clinton. There has been a battle at sea in the West Indies, which we might have gained; know we did not, but not why: and all this is forgotten already in a fresher event. I have said for some time that the field is so extensive, and the occurrences so numerous, and so much pains are taken to involve them in falsehoods and mystery, and opinions are so divided, that all evidences will be dead before a single part can be cleared up; bu

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A COURT BALL—PAMPHLETS ON MR. PITT—A SONG BY GRAY.

ARLINGTON STREET, Nov. 28, 1761. Dear Madam,—You are so bad and so good, that I don't know how to treat you. You give me every mark of kindness but letting me hear from you. You send me charming drawings the moment I trouble you with a commission, and you give Lady Cecilia [Johnston] commissions for trifles of my writing, in the most obliging manner. I have taken the latter off her hands. The Fugitive Pieces, and the "Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors" shall be conveyed to you directly. Lady

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HOGARTH—COLONEL CHARTERIS—ARCHBISHOP BLACKBURNE—JERVAS—RICHARDSON'S POETRY.

Dec. 11, 1780. I should have been shamefully ungrateful, Sir, if I could ever forget all the favours I have received from you, and had omitted any mark of respect to you that it was in my power to show. Indeed, what you are so good as to thank me for was a poor trifle, but it was all I had or shall have of the kind. It was imperfect too, as some painters of name have died since it was printed, which was nine years ago. They will be added with your kind notices, should I live, which is not probab

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DEATH OF THE CZARINA ELIZABETH—THE COCK-LANE GHOST—RETURN TO ENGLAND OF LADY MARY WORTLEY.

ARLINGTON STREET, Jan. 29, 1762. I wish you joy, sir minister; the Czarina [Elizabeth] is dead. As we conquered America in Germany ,[1] I hope we shall overrun Spain by this burial at Petersburg. Yet, don't let us plume ourselves too fast; nothing is so like a Queen as a King, nothing so like a predecessor as a successor. The favourites of the Prince Royal of Prussia, who had suffered so much for him, were wofully disappointed, when he became the present glorious Monarch; they found the English

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THE PRINCE OF WALES—HURRICANE AT BARBADOES—A "VOICE FROM ST. HELENA."

BERKELEY SQUARE, Dec. 31, 1780. I have received, and thank you much for the curious history of the Count and Countess of Albany; what a wretched conclusion of a wretched family! Surely no royal race was ever so drawn to the dregs! The other Countess [Orford] you mention seems to approach still nearer to dissolution. Her death a year or two ago might have prevented the sale of the pictures,—not that I know it would. Who can say what madness in the hands of villany would or would not have done? No

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HIS OWN "ANECDOTES OF PAINTING"—HIS PICTURE OF THE WEDDING OF HENRY VII.—BURNET'S COMPARISON OF TIBERIUS AND CHARLES II.—ADDISON'S "TRAVELS."

ARLINGTON STREET, March 20, 1762. I am glad you are pleased, Sir, with my "Anecdotes of Painting;" but I doubt you praise me too much: it was an easy task when I had the materials collected, and I would not have the labours of forty years, which was Vertue's case, depreciated in compliment to the work of four months, which is almost my whole merit. Style is become, in a manner, a mechanical affair, and if to much ancient lore our antiquaries would add a little modern reading, to polish their lan

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NAVAL MOVEMENTS—SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR—FEMALE FASHIONS.

BERKELEY SQUARE, Sept. 7, 1781. The combined fleets, to the amount of forty-seven or forty-nine sail, brought news of their own arrival at the mouth of the Channel a day or two before your letter, of August the 18th, brought an account of that probability, and of the detachment for Minorca. Admiral Darby, on a false alarm, or perhaps, a true one, had returned to Torbay a week ago, where he is waiting for reinforcements. This is the fourth or fifth day since the appearance of the enemy off Scilly

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BIRTH OF THE PRINCE OF WALES—THE CZARINA—VOLTAIRE'S HISTORICAL CRITICISMS—IMMENSE VALUE OF THE TREASURES BROUGHT OVER IN THE "HERMIONE."

ARLINGTON STREET, Aug. 12, 1762. A Prince of Wales [George IV.] was born this morning; the prospect of your old neighbour [the Pretender] at Rome does not improve; the House of Hanover will have numbers in its own family sufficient to defend their crown—unless they marry a Princess of Anhalt Zerbst. What a shocking tragedy that has proved already! There is a manifesto arrived to-day that makes one shudder! This northern Athaliah, who has the modesty not to name her murdered husband in that light

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NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE—CHRISTENING OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Sept. 9, 1762. Nondum laurus erat, longoque decentia crine Tempora cingebat de quâlibet arbore Phoebus.[1] [Footnote 1: The quotation is from Ovid, Met. i. 450.] This is a hint to you, that as Phoebus, who was certainly your superior, could take up with a chestnut garland, or any crown he found, you must have the humility to be content without laurels, when none are to be had: you have hunted far and near for them, and taken true pains to the last in that old nursery-gar

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CAPITULATION OF LORD CORNWALLIS—PITT AND FOX.

Nov. 29, 1781. Your nephew is arrived, as he has told you himself; the sight of him, for he called on me the next morning, was more than ordinarily welcome, though your letter of the 10th, which I received the night before, had dispelled many of my fears. I will now unfold them to you. A packet-boat from Ostend was lost last week, and your nephew was named for one of the passengers. As Mrs. Noel had expected him for a fortnight, I own my apprehensions were strengthened; but I will say no more on

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THE LANGUAGE PROPER FOR INSCRIPTIONS IN ENGLAND—FALL OF LORD NORTH'S MINISTRY—BRYANT.

April 13, 1782. Your partiality to me, my good Sir, is much overseen, if you think me fit to correct your Latin. Alas! I have not skimmed ten pages of Latin these dozen years. I have dealt in nothing but English, French, and a little Italian; and do not think, if my life depended on it, I could write four lines of pure Latin. I have had occasion once or twice to speak that language, and soon found that all my verbs were Italian with Roman terminations. I would not on any account draw you into a

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TREASURES FROM THE HAVANNAH—THE ROYAL VISIT TO ETON—DEATH OF LADY MARY—CONCEALMENT OF HER WORKS—VOLTAIRE'S "UNIVERSAL HISTORY."

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 3, 1762. I am now only the peace in your debt, for here is the Havannah. Here it is, following despair and accompanied by glory, riches, and twelve ships-of-the-line; not all in person, for four are destroyed. The booty—that is an undignified term—I should say, the plunder, or the spoils, which is a more classic word for such heroes as we are, amounts to at least a million and a half. Lord Albemarle's share will be about £140,000. I wish I knew how much that makes in talent

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RESIGNATION OF LORD BUTE—FRENCH VISITORS—WALPOLE AND NO. 45.

STRAWBERRY HILL, April 30, 1763. The papers have told you all the formal changes; the real one consists solely in Lord Bute being out of office, for, having recovered his fright, he is still as much Minister as ever, and consequently does not find his unpopularity decrease. On the contrary, I think his situation more dangerous than ever: he has done enough to terrify his friends, and encourage his enemies, and has acquired no new strength; rather has lost strength, by the disappearance of Mr. Fo

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HIGHWAYMEN AND FOOTPADS.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Sept. 8, 1782. … I am perfectly ignorant of the state of the war abroad; they say we are in no pain for Gibraltar: but I know that we are in a state of war at home that is shocking. I mean, from the enormous profusion of housebreakers, highwaymen, and footpads; and, what is worse, from the savage barbarities of the two latter, who commit the most wanton cruelties. This evil is another fruit of the American war. Having no vent for the convicts that used to be transported to our l

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A PARTY AT "STRABERRI"—WORK OF HIS PRINTING PRESS—EPIGRAMS—A GARDEN PARTY AT ESHER.

STRAWBERRY HILL, May 17, 1763. "On vient de nous donner une très jolie fête au château de Straberri: tout étoit tapissé de narcisses, de tulipes, et de lilacs; des cors de chasse, des clarionettes; des petits vers galants faits par des fées, et qui se trouvoient sous la presse; des fruits à la glace, du thé, du caffé, des biscuits, et force hot-rolls."—This is not the beginning of a letter to you, but of one that I might suppose sets out to-night for Paris, or rather, which I do not suppose will

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FOX'S INDIA BILL—BALLOONS.

BERKELEY SQUARE, Dec. 2, 1783. … Your nephew is in town, but confined by the gout. I called on him, but did not see him; yet you may be very easy, for he expects to be abroad in a day or two. I can make you as easy about another point, too; but, if you have not learnt it from him, do not take notice to him that you know it. Mrs. Noel has informed me that his daughter's treaty of marriage is broken off, and in a fortunate way. The peer, father of the lover, obliged him to declare off; and Mrs. No

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GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE FRENCH—FESTIVITIES ON THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY.

ARLINGTON STREET, May 21, 1763. You have now seen the celebrated Madame de Boufflers. I dare say you could in that short time perceive that she is agreeable, but I dare say too that you will agree with me that vivacity[1] is by no means the partage of the French—bating the étourderie of the mousquetaires and of a high-dried petit-maítre or two, they appear to me more lifeless than Germans. I cannot comprehend how they came by the character of a lively people. Charles Townshend has more sal volat

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BALLOONS.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 15, 1784. As I have heard nothing from you, I flatter myself Lady Aylesbury mends, or I think you would have brought her again to the physicians: you will, I conclude, next week, as towards the end of it the ten days they named will be expired. I must be in town myself about Thursday on some little business of my own. As I was writing this, my servants called me away to see a balloon; I suppose Blanchard's, that was to be let off from Chelsea this morning. I saw it from the

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THE ORDINARY WAY OF LIFE IN ENGLAND—WILKES—C. TOWNSHEND—COUNT LALLY—LORD CLIVE—LORD NORTHINGTON—LOUIS LE BIEN AIMÉ—THE DRAMA IN FRANCE.

ARLINGTON STREET, Dec. 29, 1763 You are sensible, my dear lord, that any amusement from my letters must depend upon times and seasons. We are a very absurd nation (though the French are so good at present as to think us a very wise one, only because they, themselves, are now a very weak one); but then that absurdity depends upon the almanac. Posterity, who will know nothing of our intervals, will conclude that this age was a succession of events. I could tell them that we know as well when an ev

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HIS LETTERS ON LITERATURE—DISADVANTAGE OF MODERN WRITERS—COMPARISON OF LADY MARY WORTLEY WITH MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ.

June 22, 1785. Since I received your book,[1] Sir, I scarce ceased from reading till I had finished it; so admirable I found it, and so full of good sense, brightly delivered. Nay, I am pleased with myself, too, for having formed the same opinions with you on several points, in which we do not agree with the generality of men. On some topics, I confess frankly, I do not concur with you: considering how many you have touched, it would be wonderful if we agreed on all, or I should not be sincere i

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CRITICISM ON VARIOUS AUTHORS: GREEK, LATIN, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH—HUMOUR OF ADDISON, AND OF FIELDING—WALLER—MILTON—BOILEAU'S "LUTRIN"—"THE RAPE OF THE LOCK"—MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ.

June 26, 1785. I have sent your book to Mr. Colman, Sir, and must desire you in return to offer my grateful thanks to Mr. Knight, who has done me an honour, to which I do not know how I am entitled, by the present of his poetry, which is very classic, and beautiful, and tender, and of chaste simplicity. To your book, Sir, I am much obliged on many accounts; particularly for having recalled my mind to subjects of delight, to which it was grown dulled by age and indolence. In consequence of your r

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A NEW YEAR'S PARTY AT LADY SUFFOLK'S—LADY TEMPLE POETESS LAUREATE TO THE MUSES

ARLINGTON STREET, Jan. 11, 1764. It is an age, I own, since I wrote to you: but except politics, what was there to send you? and for politics, the present are too contemptible to be recorded by anybody but journalists, gazetteers, and such historians! The ordinary of Newgate, or Mr. ——, who write for their monthly half-crown, and who are indifferent whether Lord Bute, Lord Melcombe, or Maclean [the highwayman], is their hero, may swear they find diamonds on dunghills; but you will excuse me , if

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MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES—THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE IN PARIS—FLUCTUATING UNPOPULARITY OF STATESMEN—FALLACIES OF HISTORY.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Aug. 26, 1785. Though I am delighted to see your handwriting, I beg you will indulge me no more with it. It fatigues you, and that gives me more pain than your letters can give me satisfaction. Dictate a few words on your health to your secretary; it will suffice. I don't care a straw about the King and Queen of Naples, nor whether they visit your little Great Duke and Duchess. I am glad when monarchs are playing with one another, instead of scratching: it is better they should

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MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF BRUNSWICK: HIS POPULARITY.

ARLINGTON STREET, Jan. 18, 1764. Shall I tell you of all our crowds, and balls, and embroideries? Don't I grow too old to describe drawing-rooms? Surely I do, when I find myself too old to go into them. I forswore puppet-shows at the last coronation, and have kept my word to myself. However, being bound by a prior vow, to keep up the acquaintance between you and your own country, I will show you, what by the way I have not seen myself, the Prince of Brunswick. He arrived at Somerset House last F

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GAMBLING QUARRELS—MR. CONWAY'S SPEECH.

ARLINGTON STREET, Feb. 6, 1764. You have, I hope, long before this, my dear lord, received the immense letter that I sent you by old Monin. It explained much, and announced most part of which has already happened; for you will observe that when I tell you anything very positively, it is on good intelligence. I have another much bigger secret for you, but that will be delivered to you by word of mouth. I am not a little impatient for the long letter you promised me. In the mean time thank you for

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BREVITY OF MODERN ADDRESSES—THE OLD DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 4, 1785. I don't love to transgress my monthly regularity; yet, as you must prefer facts to words, why should I write when I have nothing to tell you? The newspapers themselves in a peaceable autumn coin wonders from Ireland, or live on the accidents of the Equinox. They, the newspapers, have been in high spirits on the prospect of a campaign in Holland; but the Dutch, without pity for the gazetteers of Europe, are said to have submitted to the Emperor's terms: however, the

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LADY CRAVEN—MADAME PIOZZI—"THE ROLLIAD"—HERSCHEL'S ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERY.

BERKELEY SQUARE, Oct. 30, 1785. I am a contradiction, yet very naturally so; I wish you not to write yourself, and yet am delighted when I receive a letter in your own hand: however, I don't desire it should be of four pages, like this last of the 11th. When I have had the gout, I have always written by proxy. You will make me ashamed, if you don't use the precedent. Your account of yourself is quite to my satisfaction. I approve, too, of your not dining with your company. Since I must be old an

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ACCOUNT OF THE DEBATE ON THE GENERAL WARRANT.

ARLINGTON STREET, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1764. My dear Lord,—You ought to be witness to the fatigue I am suffering, before you can estimate the merit I have in being writing to you at this moment. Cast up eleven hours in the House of Commons on Monday, and above seventeen hours yesterday,—ay, seventeen at length,—and then you may guess if I am tired! nay, you must add seventeen hours that I may possibly be there on Friday, and then calculate if I am weary. In short, yesterday was the longest day ev

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LORD CLIVE—MR. HAMILTON, AMBASSADOR TO NAPLES—SPEECH OF LOUIS XV.

STRAWBERRY HILL, June 8, 1764. Your Red Riband is certainly postponed. There was but one vacant, which was promised to General Draper, who, when he thought he felt the sword dubbing his shoulder, was told that my Lord Clive could not conquer the Indies a second time without being a Knight of the Bath. This, however, I think will be but a short parenthesis, for I expect that heaven-born hero [1] to return from whence he came, instead of bringing hither all the Mogul's pearls and rubies. Yet, befo

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MRS. YEARSLEY—MADAME PIOZZI—GIBBON—"LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO."

[Footnote 1: Miss H. More was a remarkable woman. She was the daughter of the village schoolmaster of Stapleton, near Bristol. But though she had no higher education than he could give her, she soon began to show a considerable literary talent. Her first compositions were dramas, one of which, "Percy," Garrick accepted for the stage, where for a season it had fair success. But she soon quitted that line for works of morality, intended to promote the religious improvement of society in her day. T

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THE KING OF POLAND—CATHERINE OF RUSSIA.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Aug. 13, 1764. I am afraid it is some thousands of days since I wrote to you; but woe is me! how could I help it? Summer will be summer, and peace peace. It is not the fashion to be married, or die in the former, nor to kill or be killed in the latter; and pray recollect if those are not the sources of correspondence. You may perhaps put in a caveat against my plea of peace, and quote Turks Island[1] upon me; why, to be sure the parenthesis is a little hostile, but we are like a

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GENTLEMEN WRITERS—HIS OWN REASONS FOR WRITING WHEN YOUNG—VOLTAIRE—"EVELINA"—MISS SEWARD—HAYLEY.

Strawberry Hill, July 12, 1788. Won't you repent having opened the correspondence, my dear Madam, when you find my letters come so thick upon you? In this instance, however, I am only to blame in part, for being too ready to take advice, for the sole reason for which advice ever is taken,—because it fell in with my inclination. You said in your last that you feared you took up time of mine to the prejudice of the public; implying, I imagine, that I might employ it in composing. Waving both your

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MADAME DE BOUFFLERS' WRITINGS—KING JAMES'S JOURNAL.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 5, 1764. My dear Lord,—Though I wrote to you but a few days ago, I must trouble you with another line now. Dr. Blanchard, a Cambridge divine, and who has a good paternal estate in Yorkshire, is on his travels, which he performs as a gentleman; and, therefore, wishes not to have his profession noticed. He is very desirous of paying his respects to you, and of being countenanced by you while he stays at Paris. It will much oblige a particular friend of mine, and consequently

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DIVISIONS IN THE ROYAL FAMILY—THE REGENCY—THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.

BERKELEY SQUARE, Feb. 12, 1789. I now do believe that the King is coming to _him_self: not in the language of the courtiers, to his senses—but from their proof, viz., that he is returned to his what! what! what! which he used to prefix to every sentence, and which is coming to his nonsense. I am corroborated in this opinion by his having said much more sensible things in his lunacy than he did when he was reckoned sane, which I do not believe he has been for some years. Well! now, how will this

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"THE ARABIAN NIGHTS"—THE AENEID—BOCCALINI—ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE.

[Footnote 1: The lady to whom this letter is addressed was the elder of two sisters who in 1787 came to reside with their father in Walpole's neighbourhood. Both the sisters, according to his description of them, were very accomplished and sufficiently good-looking. He gradually became so enthusiastic in his regard for her, that he proposed to marry her, old as he was, in order that he might have an excuse for leaving her all his fortune; and he wrote the "Reminiscences of the Courts of George I

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DISMISSAL OF NECKER—BARON DE BRETEUIL—THE DUC D'ORLÉANS—MIRABEAU.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Wednesday night, July 15, 1789. I write a few lines only to confirm the truth of much of what you will read in the papers from Paris. Worse may already be come, or is expected every hour. Mr. Mackenzie and Lady Betty called on me before dinner, after the post was gone out; and he showed me a letter from Dutens, who said two couriers arrived yesterday from the Duke of Dorset and the Duchess of Devonshire, the latter of whom was leaving Paris directly. Necker had been dismissed, a

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BRUCE'S "TRAVELS"—VIOLENCE OF THE FRENCH JACOBINS—NECKER.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Wednesday night, July 1, 1790. It is certainly not from having anything to tell you, that I reply so soon, but as the most agreeable thing I can do in my confinement. The gout came into my heel the night before last, perhaps from the deluge and damp. I increased it yesterday by limping about the house with a party I had to breakfast. To-day I am lying on the settee, unable to walk alone, or even to put on a slipper. However, as I am much easier this evening, I trust it will go o

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THE PRINCE OF WALES—GROWTH OF LONDON AND OTHER TOWNS.

BERKELEY SQUARE, June 8, 1791. Your No. 34, that was interrupted, and of which the last date was of May 24th, I received on the 6th, and if I could find fault, it would be in the length; for I do not approve of your writing so much in hot weather, for, be it known to you ladies, that from the first of the month, June is not more June at Florence. My hay is crumbling away; and I have ordered it to be cut, as a sure way of bringing rain. I have a selfish reason, too, for remonstrating against long

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SIR W. AND LADY HAMILTON—A BOAT-RACE—THE MARGRAVINE OF ANSPACH.

BERKELEY SQUARE, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 1791. I am come to town to meet Mr. Conway and Lady Aylesbury; and, as I have no letter from you yet to answer, I will tell you how agreeably I have passed the last three days; though they might have been improved had you shared them, as I wished, and as I sometimes do wish. On Saturday evening I was at the Duke of Queensberry's (at Richmond, s'entend ) with a small company: and there were Sir William Hamilton and Mrs. Harte[1]; who, on the 3rd of next month, p

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ARREST OF THE DUCHESSE DE BIRON—THE QUEEN OF FRANCE—PYTHAGORAS.

STRAWBERRY HILL, Tuesday evening, eight o'clock, Oct. 15, 1793. Though I do not know when it will have its whole lading, I must begin my letter this very moment, to tell you what I have just heard. I called on the Princesse d'Hennin, who has been in town a week. I found her quite alone, and I thought she did not answer quite clearly about her two knights: the Prince de Poix has taken a lodging in town, and she talks of letting her house here, if she can. In short, I thought she had a little of a

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EXPECTATIONS OF A VISIT TO STRAWBERRY BY THE QUEEN.

STRAWBERRY HILL, July 2, 1795. I will write a word to you, though scarce time to write one, to thank you for your great kindness about the soldier, who shall get a substitute if he can. As you are, or have been in town, your daughter will have told you in what a bustle I am, preparing—not to resist, but to receive an invasion of royalties to-morrow; and cannot even escape them like Admiral Cornwallis, though seeming to make a semblance; for I am to wear a sword, and have appointed two aides-de-c

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REPORT OF THE VISIT.

July 7, 1795. I am not dead of fatigue with my Royal visitors, as I expected to be, though I was on my poor lame feet three whole hours. Your daughter [Mrs. Damer], who kindly assisted me in doing the honours, will tell you the particulars, and how prosperously I succeeded. The Queen was uncommonly condescending and gracious, and deigned to drink my health when I presented her with the last glass, and to thank me for all my attentions.[1] Indeed my memory de la vieille cour was but once in defau

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