Volume 2 — CHAPTER IV.

1760 TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE II. — IN LONDON, AT TONBRIDGE, AND IN NORTHUMBERLAND — CORRESPONDENCE CHIEFLY WITH LORD LYTTELTON.

1760

The year 1760 opens on January 1 with a letter to Lord Lyttelton from Mrs. Montagu, a portion of which I copy—

“Can I begin the new year more auspiciously than by dedicating the first hours of the New Year’s Day to that person from whose friendship I hope to derive so much of the honour and happiness of every year of my life? Among the wishes I form for myself, not the least earnest are those of seeing Lord Lyttelton and his son enjoy all the health, felicity and fame that can be attained in this world, with the chearing prospect of a better state.... The world much admires the Pamphlet,[258] and Lord Bath does not deny he is the author as I am told. I ordered Mr. Bower to send it to your Lordship, but it is out of print.... The Hereditary Prince[259] is gone to the King of Prussia with 18,000 gallant men. I was at Lady Hervey’s last night, she is very well.”

LORD BATH

The next letter of January 15, to the same, is as follows:—

“My eyes have at last served me to read the collection of letters which have afforded me much entertainment, those from the illustrious I consider as written in their theatrical character, for though they are written behind the scenes, which gives them an air of reality, they are made to suit the assumed character. Lord B(ath) is Patriot and Philosopher, after the manner of the Ancients, his letters bear a consular and stoical dignity, and when I expect to see them signed Marcus, Cato or Caius Cassius, he surprises me with a Christian name and modern title. Those of another eminent person appear more natural, though perhaps they are not more sincere, but the modes we are used to by their familiarity appear less constrained and artificial.... I will send Mr. Lyttelton the Gazette extraordinary from Quebec next post, it is from the Indian Savages, and expressed in hieroglyphicks; it will give him an idea of the expresses sent by the Mexicans and Montezuma. I will send him the explanation with it.... Mr. Stewart gave me this curious piece this morning.... I did not say Lord Bath own’d, but that he did not stoutly deny the pamphlett. Mr. Pitt and his party are angry at it, and I hear H. Walpole has answer’d it.”

Tom Lyttelton writes from Eton, March 8, to Mrs. Montagu, to beg her to write to him. Her eyes had been very weak lately, and writing was an effort. In this Tom says—

“I hear my cousin Pitt is gone abroad with Lord Kinnoul.... I wish his tour may afford him as much pleasure as it will improvement. But nothing can ever hinder a mind like his, active and desirous of knowledge from improving itself everywhere, but particularly in foreign countries.... I only wish the eyes of the handsome Spanish Ladies may not make a greater impression on his heart than the beautiful Vales of Arragon and Castile.”

LISBON

Thomas Pitt had gone to Lisbon with the Embassy under Lord Strathmore,[260] which England sent after the attempted assassination of the King of Portugal. In a letter to Lord Lyttelton from Lisbon on March 27, 1760, Mr. Pitt describes Lisbon—

“The Tagus is extremely noble, and the shore on the other side is covered with woods of pine and fir. The city is quite destroy’d, and though they talk of magnificent plans for the rebuilding it, there is little likelihood that it should rise out of its ruins for many years.”

He then alludes to the late attempted assassination of the king, but his account is too long to copy in extenso—

“The story of a conspiracy is universally disbelieved, the whole is attributed to the malignity of the Duke of Aveiro, and the resentment of the old Marquis and Machioness of Tavora for the dishonour[261] done to their family since the late dreadful execution, which is followed by the erection of the Bastile, into which people of the first rank are committed without any cause assigned, makes them afraid to be even seen with one another.... I hear my little friend Tom has not forgot me in my peregrinations, has apprehensions from the impressions I may receive from the Spanish ladies. Pray give my love to him, and assure him if they resemble those of Portugal I never was in less danger.”

In his next letter of April 14, to Mrs. Montagu, he says—

“I am going in about a week or ten days into the true country of Knight Errantry. I shall set out for Spain and pass through Andalousia and Granada before I go to Madrid, but instead of Rosinante and the Barber’s basin I shall provide myself with side-creeping mules and a heavy crazy old coach that has outlived the earthquake. I propose being at Madrid about the time the King makes his public entry, which is to be extremely magnificent. I shall dispute the prize at every tilt and tournament, and expect to send you a lock of hair plucked as a trophy from the forehead of a wild bull that I have laid dead at my feet. We have a very good chance of escaping the Corsairs, and sea-sickness, as the French Ambassador[262] here has had the goodness to write to his Court for a passport to enable us to get to Italy through the South of France.”

LORD CHESTERFIELD

The next letter is from Lord Chesterfield[263] to Lord Lyttelton.

“Blackheath, May 7, 1760.

“My Lord,

“I return you my sincerest and warmest thanks for your most entertaining and instructive present.[264] When I heard that you had undertaken that work, I expected no less, and now that I have it, without a compliment I could wish for no more from you. You have applied History to its best use, the advantage of morality; you have exposed vice and folly, but with so noble a hand, that both fools and knaves must feel that you would rather correct than execute them. You have even shown mercy to one who never showed nor felt it; I mean that disgrace to humanity, that sanguinary monster of the North, distinguished only by his Barbarism and his Barbarity, Charles the 12th[265] of Sweden. I would fain have homicide no longer reckoned as hitherto it has been, a title to Heroism, and the infamous but fashionable traffick of human blood, no matter for or against, who, if they pay but well, called by its true name assassination. Your Lordship has still a great field left open to you for another and yet another volume, which nobody can range in so usefully to mankind as yourself. I must take the liberty of troubling your Lordship with a petition to your brother the Governor of Jamaica,[266] whom I have not the pleasure of being acquainted with myself. It is to recommend to his protection and favour a relation of mine, one Captain Stanhope, who is now there, and, I believe, has some little employment given him by the present Deputy Governor, Mr. Moore. My kinsman was formerly an Officer of the footguards, but being a man of wit and pleasure, shared the common fate of that sort of gentleman, and was obliged to leave England and go to Jamaica, for (I doubt) more than suspicion of debt. I am assured that he is now quite reformed, and has a mind to be an honest man.

“I am with the greatest honour and esteem,

“Your Lordship’s

Most faithfull, humble servant,

“Chesterfield.”

Lord Chesterfield’s handwriting is beautiful, and the easiest possible to read.

“DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD”

Lord Lyttelton’s “Dialogues of the Dead” had just appeared. Of these Mrs. Montagu wrote three, viz. Dialogues 26, 27, 28. Writing to Mrs. Carter, she says—

“I have just received my dear Mrs. Carter’s letter, and am very happy in her approbation of ‘the Dialogues.’ With her encouragement I do not know but at last I may become an author in form. It enlarges the sphere of action and lengthens the short period of human life. To become universal and lasting is an ambition which none but great genius’s should indulge; but to be read by a few, a few years, may be aspired to.... The Dialogues, I mean the three worst, have had a more favourable reception than I expected. Lord Lyttelton’s have been admired to the greatest degree.”

EARL FERRERS’ EXECUTION

Mrs. Montagu had vainly tried to conceal her part as joint author of the “Dialogues.” Mrs. Donnellan immediately challenged her as to whether she or Mrs. Carter had written them, and Mrs. Montagu was fain to confess Mrs. Carter was not responsible for them. The fine ladies were much offended at Dialogue 27, between Mercury and “Mrs. Modish,” a modern fine lady, in which they were taken off. The authoress was disgusted at the fine ladies’ conduct in going to the trial and sentence of Lord Ferrers[267] for murdering his steward. She says to Mrs. Carter—

“I own the late instance of their going to hear Lord Ferrers’ sentence particularly provoked me. The Ladies crowded to the House of Lords to see a wretch brought, loaded with crime and shame, to the Bar, to hear sentence of a cruel and ignominious death, which, considering only this world, casts shame back on his ancestors and all his succeeding family.”

WILLIAM ROBINSON’S WEDDING

The Rev. William Robinson had become engaged to a Miss Mary Richardson, daughter of Mr. Adam Richardson; she had a portion of £10,000. The poet Gray called her “a very good-humoured, cheerful woman.” From other letters it appears she was not good-looking, but amiable. This letter, written by Mrs. Montagu to her sister Sarah, describes the wedding, which appears to have taken place at the end of June.

“Saturday night, after ten.

“My dearest Sister,

“The Bride triste, the Bridegroom tristissimo; but to the order of the nuptials, Pappa Robinson and Mr. Richardson[268] in Pappa’s postchaize, bride and bridegroom, Mrs. M(orris) Robinson and Sister Montagu in her coach and six. Brother Morris Robinson and Mr. Montagu in Brother Morris’ postchaise, so went we to Kensington Church, the neighbours gazing, the children running, the mob gathering; from Church we went to Greenwich, where the Bridegroom gave us a very elegant and splendid dinner: then we walk’d in Greenwich Park, return’d to the Inn to drink tea, after tea the Bride and Bridegroom and Mr. Richardson got into my coach, I carry’d them to Kensington, and there I left the lovely loving pair.... William smiled and looked in high beauty as we went, as we return’d he was grave, angry perhaps, that Phœbus did not gallop apace his fiery-footed steeds and hasten on the happy hour. Never was wedding so decent, so orderly, so unlike a wedding, none of your fulsome fondness, I assure you, a few fond glances, but not a syllable addressed to each other. I believe William will behave well, and she is sensible and good-natured.... I am glad the wedding is over that I may depart on Monday to Tunbridge. I have been disappointed of my lodgings, the lady who was to have left them being ill, but I have got a house for a week till I can have that I had hired.”

From Tunbridge Wells on Tuesday, June 30, Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband, then in Hill Street—

“My Dearest,

“I had a very agreeable journey hither, but found my present lodging too small to receive the maids who are to come in the postchaise, so cannot send for them till Lady Fitzwilliam is well enough to leave Dr. Morley’s. I can give but little account of Tunbridge as yet. I drank the waters at the well this morning, and have now taken leave of the walks till to-morrow, as this fine weather will be better spent in an airing than on the Pantiles.... Lord Bath was on the Walks, and General Pulteney,[269] and Mr. and Mrs. Torriano and Mr. Marriott. Many of the ladies are too lazy to come down in a morning, and those that do come to the well are an hour later than when I was here last.”

“MOUNT EPHRAIM”

Miss Botham now joined Mrs. Montagu, who was looking out for a house for Lord Lyttelton.

“I believe your Lordship must accept of a house on Mount Ephraim, which Lady Pembroke laid in last year, for I do not believe I can get you a better. Order your postillion to stop at Mr. Dowding’s on Mount Ephraim when you come, and there your Lordship shall be inform’d of the certain place of your abode.”

On July 14, Dr. Stillingfleet writes from Stratton to Mrs. Montagu to thank her for a letter, and says he was out of health and spirits;

“this has hindered me from receiving so much pleasure from the unexpected kindness of Lord Barrington[270] as might naturally have been expected.” He then comments on her disappointment “at the smallness of the favour conferred upon me, for it seems to me much superior to anything i would have expected. However favourable you, dear Madam, may judge me, i cannot rate my talents so highly as to think they are undervalued at £100 per ann., when no business is to be done for it.” This was his appointment as Master of Kensington Barracks, which took place on June 12. “I had a letter from Dr. Monsey dated Wotton, that gives me much concern, for by his account he seems to be in a bad state of health, and i should think by no means qualified to travel in the pais (sic) du tendre, but he is a thorough-paced hero, and can be romantic in the midst of pain. Should you lose your knight errant i do not think the world can furnish you with a successor, for amongst all your other admirers you will not perhaps meet with one who at seventy is capable of all the tenderness which they have at twenty....” After this he alludes to the inflammation of the eyes Mrs. Montagu was suffering from. “If you cannot see to write he and all your friends will lose one of their greatest pleasures. Has he prescribed the Vitriol Water?”

THE STANLEY FAMILY

Miss Anne Stanley, daughter of Mr. Stanley, of Paultons, Hants, and grand-daughter of Sir Hans Sloane, now joined Mrs. Montagu from “Clewar,” near Windsor.[271] Anne and Sarah Stanley lived with their mother, Sarah Stanley, and were the intimate friends of Lord Lyttelton, whom Anne mentions in a letter of July 29. “Lord Lyttelton returned to us yesterday, and has had a bad night with the pain in his back, which has made him resolve to give up Sunning Hill Waters.” Anne eventually married Welbore Ellis, afterwards Lord Mendip. Sarah married Christopher D’Oyley, M.P. Their one brother was the Right Hon. Hans Stanley,[272] Lord of the Admiralty from 1757 to 1763.

On August 2 Lord Lyttelton writes from Hill Street—

“Monsieur des Champs brought me his translation of your three Dialogues. They are as well done as the poverty of the French tongue will admit. But such eloquence as yours must lose by being transposed into any other language.... There is great mourning in the gay world for poor Lady Lincoln.[273] I have seen her so lively, so cheerfull, so happy, that it shocks me to think of her sudden dissolution, and it frights me when I think that I have very dear friends who may as suddenly die, and especially some whose spirits, like hers, exceed their strength. Monsey says he cannot tell what was the cause of her death.”

BALL AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS

In the next letter to her husband, who was going to Sandleford, Mrs. Montagu says—

“I went to the ball last Friday, it was the first time I had been to the publick rooms, and it had like to have been fatal to me, for the coachman not being acquainted with the place, the night dark, and having no flambeaux, had like to have overturned just coming out from Joy’s Rooms, down a place where the coach would have been entirely topsy-turvy; the footmen were thrown off from behind, but several people being by, the coach was held up, and I got safe out, and no hurt done to the persons or machine. My fright was such I did not get my rest till six o’clock in the morning. I had many civil messages in the morning, and Lord and Lady Feversham came up the hill to inquire after me; my nerves are still a little the worse. If the coach had fallen it would have gone down some feet, but the standers-by behaved with great humanity, bearing a very heavy load on their shoulders. I believe our new coachman is too lazy to serve us. The danger I was in when John and the postillion were drunk and had like to have overturned us on a gallop against a post when we came from Windsor, and my second peril on Friday, makes me tremble whenever I get into the machine.”

A GENTLEMAN COACHMAN

To this Mr. Montagu replies—

“My Dearest,

“I am more concerned than j can express at the peril you were in. I tremble and shudder when j consider how fatal the consequences might have been if you had been actually overturned.... I have inquired after the cause of this unhappy affair, and though Ned says he cannot say the coachman was drunk, still he had been at the Ale House, and when he came home said there was no danger, and that the boys made almost as much noise as his Mistress. I find he is a lazy, proud, and what they call a gentleman coachman, and such as j would very soon get rid of.”

Ned was the head groom, and Mrs. Montagu proposed substituting him for the coachman, as he was honest and sober. To this her husband replies, “I wish he had more experience, but j should with all that think j run no great hazard in trusting him, besides he might practise to go out with the six horses of times when you did not want him.” To turn a lumbering coach and six must have been a most intricate affair. Ned was promoted to be coachman, but only to practise with the coach and six; “a coachman to a Mr. Lambard, and afterwards to Captain Pannel’s heir,” was employed when the coach went out, being then under a job-master, one Mr. Jarret, and a chaise and pair conveyed Mrs. Montagu to the Wells.

“The gentleman here ordered the place of my danger to be mended and acquainted me he had done so, and hoped I should not be frighted away from the balls.

“Sir Roger Twisden inquired much after you and my Father. He stays but a few days here. Lord Bath was ill again yesterday, he told me he was mortified that he had never been able to wait on me, but he was so weak he could not venture to trouble any one with a visit. I think he is in a bad way, but has a great deal of witt whenever he is tolerably well. His Lordship, I know, has been prejudiced in my favour by some of his friends, who are also friends of mine and Mr. Domville in particular, which I believe has given him a desire to be acquainted with me, but I believe he will hardly be able to make a visit this season, and in London he never visits any one who does not inhabit a ground floor. He has still a fine countenance, and those piercing eyes that denote a mind extraordinarily lively and penetrating.”

CHARACTER OF LORD BATH

William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, was born in April, 1684, hence he was at this period turned seventy-six. He had lost his wife, née Anna Maria Gumley, in 1758. Mrs. Montagu must have known him in a superficial society way, as a description of a great rout given by Lady Bath some years previously is in this book. But now was to commence that tender intimacy and affectionate friendship between them that lasted to his death, and which prompted him, even in the act of dying, to stagger from his bed and write a few lines of adieu to her as his last effort—sacred lines which I possess and treasure! For his political character I must refer the reader to history, and the “Dictionary of National Biography.” As regards his private character I cannot do better than quote Elizabeth Carter’s account of him in “Memoirs of her Life.” It was probable that through Mrs. Carter, who was a great friend of his, he began to appreciate the manifold charms of Elizabeth Montagu. This is what Mrs. Carter says—

“None of his friends, I believe, will remember him longer and very few with equal affection. Indeed, there was something in his conversation and manners more engaging than can be described. With all those talents which had so long rendered him the object of popular admiration, he had not the least tincture of that vanity and importance which is too often the consequence of popular applause. He never took the lead in conversation, or even assumed that superiority to which he had a claim, as he was blessed with an exemption from many of the pains and infirmities of old age; he had none of its defects. In so many months as I was continually in his company last year (1763), I do not recollect a single instance of peevishness the whole time. His temper always appeared equal. There was a perpetual flow of vivacity and good humour in his conversation, and the most attentive politeness in his behaviour, nor was this the constrained effort of external and partial good breeding, but the natural turn of his mind, and operated so uniformly on all occasions that I never heard him use a harsh or even an uncivil expression to any of his servants.”

LORD MANSFIELD

At the end of Mrs. Montagu’s letter she states that Lord Mansfield[274] had shown her

“great civilities the few hours he was here ... an old quaker of four-score, who was reckoned one of the greatest Chymists in Europe, and is a man of witt and learning and who was connected with all the witts of the last age, has taken a great fancy to me because he will believe, in spite of all I can say, that I wrote certain ‘Dialogues,’ and he sits by me so cordially and attends on me so much, that if he was forty and I was twenty years younger it would be scandalous.... Torriano will be kill’d by the Archbishop’s[275] sumptuous fare, who feeds more like a pig of Epicurus than the head of a Christian Church.”

WINNING A COAL MINE

Mr. Montagu had been at Sandleford, where Morris, his wife, and little boy were spending some time. The little Morris was a great favourite, and delight to poor Mr. Montagu, who loved children. He was now preparing to set off northwards to Northumberland, having two collieries which he was going to work, or, as the expression was, to “win,” viz. Leamington and “Denton.” The first would cost a £1000, the latter, now called “Montagu’s main,” £5000. He consults his wife about all this, and adds, “I think j shall not while j live get rid of the trouble my succession has brought upon me, and have only one object, who, j hope, will reap the benefit of all my labour.” This meant his wife. At Tunbridge his wife, with “all our fine ladies and gentlemen,” was attending Mr. Ferguson’s lectures on Philosophy. In a letter of Lord Lyttelton’s he mentions his brother Richard. “Sir Richard, or rather ‘Duke Lyttelton’s’[276] Royall villa at Richmond, a finer room I never saw, and he seems made to sitt in it, with all the dignity of a gouty Prince. But though I greatly admired it, I would not have his gout to have his room.”

To this letter a long answer is returned by Mrs. Montagu, and she informs Lord Lyttelton that, despite her eyes being very weak, she had been reading

“the new translation of Sophocles.... The Œdipus Coloneus affected me extreamly, and would have done so more if it had not been for the constant presence of the Chorus, but the passions are awed and checked by a crowd. I am more than ever averse to the Chorus because, though the translator tells us the Choruses of Sophocles are less alien to the subject of the Drama, than those of any other tragedian, yet here they hurt the interest of it very much.”

LADY HERVEY — HAGLEY PARK

She adds that she has “sent 4 sets of dressing boxes from hence as your Lordship desired. At the same time I took the liberty to send on a cheap set of tea-cups and coffee cups for a Tunbridge faring.” Lord Lyttelton returns answer, saying, “I dined at Dicky Bateman’s half gothick, half attick, half chinese and completely fribble house.” There he met “my old Love, Lady Hervey,[277] and my new love, Mrs. Hancock[278] not to mention Lady Primrose,[279] for whom I have a great friendship.” Lord Lyttelton was highly delighted with a favourable criticism of his first volumes of his “History of Henry II.” by the great Earl of Hardwicke,[280] too long to be inserted here. Lord Lyttelton had been rebuilding[281] Hagley House, his seat in Worcestershire, which was about to be publicly reopened. On August 18 he writes from there to say he has had to put this off till September 1.

“I have the pleasure to tell you that I find everything done incomparably well, as far as is done, and that the Beauty and Elegance of my House, upon the whole, exceeds my expectations. The bed which is adorned with your handywork is so pretty that if you were to see it I think you would own your pains were not lost. And then the prospect out of that chamber is so delightful, and in case of a rainy day the prints it is hung with are so amusing that if you were at Hagley I believe you would wish to lodge there yourself, and leave the best apartment to vulgar women of quality, who love finery better than the delicate beauties of Nature and Art. My lower print room in the Atticks is also much obliged to you for the boxes of its Toilette, which suit admirably well with the furniture of it.”

He then points out to her that “the glass lustres and the feathers for my bedroom are wanting,” and to order their despatch.

In reply to this Mrs. Montagu writes to Tom, to spare his father’s writing, to say she delivered the girandoles herself to Mr. Griffith.

“I shall be mortified if they do not make part of the glories of the first.... My imagination will attend all the ceremonies of the day, and should my spirit appear it will not come like Banquo’s ghost to frown on the banquet, and least of all to frighten and menace the noble Master of the feast to whom I wrote a long and happy enjoyment of his new palace.”

Anne Stanley now left Mrs. Montagu, and her sister Sarah, afterwards Mrs. D’Oyley, took her place.

Mr. Montagu, who was contemplating going to Northumberland, paid his wife a short visit at Tunbridge, and started back to London on September 2. On September 4 his wife, in her letter to him, says—

“You may remember to have heard Lord Bath talk of a robbery here which a gentleman was suspected to have committed, of Bank bills to the amount of £300; this person, finding he was suspected, it is supposed, threw them this morning into the musick gallery on the Walks, where one of the Fidlers found them, and is entitled to £30 reward. The person who was guilty of this theft is a gentleman, and his brother is an officer of credit in the army, so one is glad he escapes, but the circumstances almost amount to a conviction. The person robbed was so overjoy’d at finding his bills he seem’d in a fever this morning.”

DR. MONSEY’S WAYS

Dr. Monsey, seriously unwell, but anxious to see his beloved friend, paid Mrs. Montagu a short visit at Tunbridge to take farewell of her before her setting out to join her husband in Northumberland. In a letter to Lord Lyttelton of September 7 she says—

“The great Monsey came hither on Friday and stays till Thursday, he is an excellent piece of Tunbridge Ware. He is great in the Coffee house, great in the rooms, and great on the Pantiles. Bucks, Divines, Misses, and Virtuosi are all equally agreeable to him. Miss Sally Stanley leaves me on Friday. There is no abatement of Lord Bath’s[282] passion and I have had two sides of folio paper from the Bishop of London,[283] so affectionate, so polite, so badine it would surprise you. I answered his Lordship’s first letter, concerning the ‘Highland Poems,’[284] and with great deference urged the reasons which induced me to esteem them genuine. His Lordship pays great compliment to what I had said on the subject, answering other parts of my letter with spirit and gaiety, and at last concludes that, in spite of 83, without a voice, and with shaking hands, he had endeavoured to follow my train of thought, which he should always look upon as a very good direction.”

She then informs Lord Lyttelton—

“I shall take leave of Tunbridge to-morrow sennight, the 15th of September. I shall take two days’ rest in London, and propose to set out on Thursday, 18th....”

MR. ALLAN RAMSAY

Mrs. Montagu had invited Mr. and Mrs. Allan Ramsay to visit her at Tunbridge. Allan Ramsay was a portrait painter of note, son of Allan Ramsay[285] the Scotch poet, who wrote “The Gentle Shepherd” and other poems. He writes on September 11 thus—

“Madam,

“By a letter from my wife last post, I learn that you have been so good as to renew your invitation to us to be your guests at Tunbridge—an offer so advantageous that my not availing myself of it sooner must put my understanding in a suspicious light, from whence I should be glad to have it extricated and not to write so long an Apology as Colley Cibber’s for my life, thus it is. Two small daughters were inoculated; it was necessary for me and mine to perform quarantine at a distance from many of our most respectable friends, particularly from you; I had some business to settle in Scotland, and my friend Wedderburne[286] was going thither alone. Having finished my business within my fortnight of Quarantine, I have been detained from day to day in hopes of seeing his Grace of Argyll, of whose setting out we got the first certain account yesterday by a letter from Grantham. Whether this relation will give you a more favourable opinion of my sense than you would have had without it, I don’t know, but by much drinking with David Hume and his associates, I have learnt to be very historical; and am nightly confirmed in the belief that it is much easier to tell the How than the Why of any thing, and that it is, moreover, better suited to the state of man; who, we are satisfied from self-examination, is anything rather than a rational animal. I am sorry to hear that you propose to leave Tunbridge so soon as the 15th. If you happen to have such heavenly weather there as we have in this place, you will be probably tempted to stay some days longer; in which case my wife and I may still enjoy the pleasure, with which we flattered ourselves, of passing a day or two with you. I see by the newspapers that Admiral Boscawen is come safe home, and when you write to the Lady, be so good as to transmit my hearty congratulations, who am, with the greatest respect,

“Madam,

“Your most obliged

and most faithfull Servant,

“Allan Ramsay.

“Edinburgh, Sept. 11, 1760.”

LETTER TO THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND — HIGHLAND POEMS

On September 15 Mrs. Montagu returned to Hill Street. On Thursday, the 18th, she enclosed Bishop Sherlock’s[287] letter to her for the Duchess of Portland to read.

“Hill Street, Thursday.

“Madam,

“I have enclosed the Bishop of London’s letter, which I beg of your Grace to keep till you have a leisure hour in which I may receive it from your hands, either here or at Whitehall; in the mean time I am perfectly satisfied as to the letter being safe, and shall not wish to have it return’d till it is most convenient to your Grace to pay me for any pleasure it may have given you, by that I shall have in its procuring me an hour of your company. I think indeed the letter will afford you a good deal of pleasure, it must be a great comfort to every good mind to see how religion can impart not only patience but even cheerfulness under the greatest bodily infirmities. I find it will be necessary to trouble your Grace with some explanation of the Bishop’s letter. Before I went to Tunbridge, I sent his Lordship the ‘Highland Poems,’[288] by the Dean of York, and the day before I went to Tunbridge my Lord sent them back with a very obliging note to thank me for them, but express’d his opinion that they were not genuine. I was a little distress’d by this favour, as I had not an opportunity to wait on the Bishop before my journey. I thought to write to him and assume the air of being his correspondent would have too much appearance of presumption, and not to thank him for his note might look like neglect, so I waited till the season allow’d me to send him some wheatears and to assure him I wrote only as his poulterer. As it was natural to take notice of what his Lordship had said concerning the poems, I ventured with the utmost deference to give the reasons why I should have believed them to be genuine and original, and then return’d back to my character of Poulterer and desir’d his Lordship to forgive my presumption and order my letter to be put on the wheatears when roasting to preserve them from being burnt. I ask pardon for this long story, but it was necessary as a key to the Bishop’s letter. Your Grace will find some mistakes made by his Secretary.

“I was misinform’d the other night when I told your Grace Mr. Wortley Montague was gone abroad, he is in England, but where is a secret even to his lawyer, and those who are imploy’d on his affairs. I thought it right to let your Grace know this, as it appears to me very singular, as he is now under the protection of privilege. I know you will be so good as not to mention I told your Grace this unless it be to Lady Bute, who I should think had better know this circumstance. I beg my best respects to my Lord Duke, and Lady Harriet Bentinck.

“With the greatest regard,

“I am, Madam,

“Your Grace’s

most obliged most obedᵗ

and faithful humble Servᵗ,

“E. Montagu.”

BISHOP SHERLOCK’S LETTER — “MORE LAST WORDS”

This is the Bishop’s letter—

“Fulham, ye 1st Septembʳ, 1760.

“Madam,

“When I was a boy at Eton school, I remember it was a Principle of the Law Marshall (practised there): that he who gave the second blow was the beginner of the Fray; and there is something in it, if you consider it; however at this time, it will help to excuse me from the Presumption and folly of inviting you to a Combat, in which I can have no hopes of success. When I read on, and observe with what accuracy and finesse you trace the motions of the Heart, and call Nature from the inmost recess’s to discover plainly what arts is usually employ’d to conceal; I am confounded.

“It is true indeed that you have named the Passions and Qualifications of the person to be Described, but what Work will a man make, who should think that he had got all the Secrets; tho’ he was unacquainted or incapable to understand it, to such a man. Alexander the Great and Diogines (sic) are Characters alike, for they were both Actuated by the Spirit of Ambition, one who wanted a new World to display himself in, the other valued nothing beyond the Tub he lived in. In the midst of this Philosophical enquirey about the Passions, you very artfully turn to your Family Affairs and give (I doubt not) excellent directions to the Cook wᶜʰ shows you to be as great in the Kitchin as in the Closet, which indeed is the only way of being great in either.

“Nothing, I think, is more disagreeable than Learning in a Female, when the Mistress studys Newton, which perhaps she neither does nor ever will understand, to the absolute neglect of her Children and Servants. You conclude by putting in your claim for the Lady’s Privilege, which is a very extensive one; give me leave to tell you a short story.

“There was a poor Printer who had got a little sum of Money, by publishing the last words of a dying Criminal, and he grew so fond of last words, that after the Man had been long dead, he published another paper called MORE last words. Thus you see, Madam, that I have in spite of eighty-three, without a Voice, and with shaking Hands, endeavoured to follow your Strain of thought, which I shall always look upon to be a very good direction. My time of Life calls upon me to think of other Subjects, and the greatest of all to Justifie the ways of God to men. This theme can never wear out, it takes in the whole of God’s Dispensation, with respect to the Religion of the World, and shows by the connection in the several parts that the whole is the work of perfect Wisdom.

“But I am going to preach instead of Answering a short letter, you will pardon me for looking back upon my old profession, and believe me to be, with the greatest Sincerity,

“Madam,

“Your most obedient Humble Servᵗ,

“Tho: London.

“P.S.—Mrs. Sherlock and Mrs. Chester desire their respectfull compliments.”

The Bishop’s amanuensis’ spelling and capital letters are singular. The letter is signed in trembling characters, “Tho: London.”

DR. YOUNG

On September 19 Mrs. Montagu set out from Hill Street on her journey to Northumberland, starting in a postchaise and picking up Ned and her own horses at Baldock, and so reached Buckden on the same day. She writes to Mr. Montagu—

“I call’d on Dr. Young at Welling and staid about two hours with him, he received me with great cordiality, and I think appears in better health than ever I saw him. His house is happily opposite to a church yard, which is to him a fine prospect; he has taught his imagination to sport with skulls like the grave-digger in Hamlet. He invited me to stay all night, and if my impatience to see you had not impell’d me on, I had been tempted to it. His conversation has always something in it very delightful; in the first place it is animated by the warmest benevolence, then his imagination soars above the material world, some people would say his conversation is not natural. I say it is natural of him to be unnatural, that is out of the ordinary course of things. It would be easier for him to give you a catalogue of the Stars than an inventory of the Household furniture he uses every day. The busy world may say what it pleases, but some men were made for speculation, metaphysical men, like jars and flower pots, make good furniture for a cabinet tho’ useless in the kitchen, the pantry and the Dairy.”

In a fragment of a letter to Lord Lyttelton, Mrs. Montagu describes her visit to Dr. Young. She had heard “the Dialogues of the Dead praised to the highest degree, and with taste and judgment in a most delicate sense of their moral merits.”

Through Mrs. Montagu, Dr. Monsey sends to Dr. Young a powder for his rheumatism. From “Hog Magog” on September 26, Dr. Monsey writes a long letter to Lord Lyttelton, describing his visit to Tunbridge to see “dear Amadissa,” meaning Mrs. Montagu. In it he says—

“It may be new to your Lordship tho’ not strange, that the Earl of Bath is fall’n desperately in love with one who seems not insensible of his passion, and I think ’tis time for you and I to look about us, for an Earl is better than a Baron or a quack Doctor ... it is impossible for me to tell your Lordship with what warmth he talk’d to me about her, and so now there are 3 fools of us. ‘She is the most extraordinary woman in the world’ with a nod of the head and a grave face, ‘she beats a french Duchess with an hard name all to pieces, upon my word, Doctor, she is——’ ‘Ay, so she is, my Lord, but neither I nor you know what.’ ‘Suppose we say angel.’ ‘No,’ says I, ‘Devil, for she leads us all into temptation.’”

On receipt of this, Lord Lyttelton wrote to Mrs. Montagu, and says—

“I wish Lady Hervey[289] mayn’t poison you for stealing Lord Bath from her, as for myself, I will not plead against him as my Rival that I am a younger man (for that plea you will not regard) but that I am an older friend. Adieu, inconstant woman, I feel horribly jealous, but if you won’t love me better, pray love me next to Lord Bath.”

He also chaffs her for spoiling Miss Stanley’s chance of marrying Lord Bath.

MR. BOWES’ FUNERAL — SIR JAMES COLEBROOKE

From Newcastle, on September 26, Mrs. Montagu writes to her father—

“Sir,

“I arrived here last night and had the pleasure of finding Mr. Montagu very well. He went this morning to Gibside to attend Mr. Bowes’[290] funeral obsequies, which according to the custom of this county are to be very pompous. Lord Ravensworth, Sir Walter Blacket and all the gentlemen of Northumberland and the county of Durham are to be at it, and I fear it will be late at night before it is over, tho’ they are to set out about 4 from Gibside to go to the church. My cousin Rogers’ funeral we had order’d to be as private as decency would permit, as he had been so long dead to Society, but even that was attended by 38 gentlemen’s coaches, so I suppose a publick funeral must be three or four hundred. In the South people live with more pomp and dye with less. I hope not to outlive all my vanity, for I have seldom seen a good and never an agreeable character without it, but I think it should not survive one, and I should desire not to go to the grave with all this bustle, not that I should be afraid any one should say of my funeral, as Pope does of Sir John Cutler’s—

I love a blaze of wax lights and my friends about my living person very well, but the torches and the crowd about my dead body would give me neither light nor amusement. Sir Walter Blacket call’d here this morning, and said he hoped to ride in Hyde Park with you about the 15th of November. I had a very pleasant journey, for fine weather, like a good-humoured companion, makes ordinary scenes appear chearfull and pleasant, but from the time I left Hertfordshire till I got to Doncaster, the counties I pass’d through were dreary and barren, but if these prospects in the other counties were brown, these in Northumberland are bleak, the people in them a parcel of dirty Savages, so that I cannot say with the Psalmist that my lot is fallen in a fair ground, it is some comfort it is in a rich one, as I shall see its produce at Sir James Colebrooke’s in Threadneedle Street with great pleasure.... I met Sir Thomas Clavering just before I got to Darlington; he desired me to present his best respects to you and beg your vote and interest, he sets up for the county of Durham in the room of Mr. Bowes. Mr. Montagu gives him all his interest. If the Bishop of Durham should declare for Mr. Shaftoe (a very young man whose Father formerly served for Durham), Sir Thomas will be hard press’d. Lord Darlington will support Mr. Shaftoe, and most people imagine the Bishop of Durham will do so too. When applied to for Sir Thomas Clavering, he answered he should act as he found most agreeable to the majority of the county gentlemen. Now I imagine Bishops as well as women (both wear petticoats and a character of gentleness) command while seeming to submit, ‘and win their way by yielding to the tyde,’ and that my Lord Bishop in a mild way of suggestion will bring the gentlemen to that side he likes best, while he persuades them he follows their inclination. I must say his Lordship is much beloved from his liberality and affability, which are fine moral qualities, as to Xian graces, no doubt but he has them in a higher degree, so that as Prince Palatine or Bishop he must influence many. The Dean of Durham is strongly engaged to Sir Thomas, and there will be a sort of schism in the church.”

The Montagus were residing in Pilgrim Street, at the town house of the late Mr. Rogers; “an exceeding good house” it is called. In conclusion Mrs. Montagu says, “I shall send you some fatted moor game by the first opportunity.”

MISS BOWES

On October 11 Lord Lyttelton writes a long letter to “Madonna” from Hagley, commenting on Mr. Bowes’ death.

“As his vanity descends with his estate to his daughter, I don’t wish to see her my daughter-in-law, though she would make my son one of the richest and consequently, in our present ideas of greatness, one of the great peers of the Realm. But she will probably be the prize of some needy Duke, who will want her estate to repair the disasters of Newmarket and Arthur’s, or if she marries for love, of some ensign of the Guards, or smart Militia captain.”

LINDRIDGE

Lord Lyttelton had just lost his clerical friend, Mr. Meadowcourt, of Lindridge, to whom he pays a high tribute.

“His house was the abode of Philosophical quiet and disinterested friendship. The scene about it was elegant, mild and beautifull Nature. The Hills on each side and the vale underneath it were covered with orchards, with Hop yards, with corn or fine grazing grounds thro’ which wound a river.... Now the Master is dead it is fall’n to the dullest of all dull Divines, one Stillingfleet, cousin to him you know, who has not taste enough to live there himself, but leaves it to a curate. He desires his compliments to Dr. Gregory, who was staying with the Montagus, and adds, ‘I am glad the Scotch like my Dialogues.’ He also desires if the Bishop of Ossory (Richard Pococke) is with them to send him on to Hagley, and assures Mrs. Montagu he is very well and grown quite plump. His thinness was a constant joke with his friends, who called him nothing but bones, and he contends if weighed in the balance with Lord Bath, he would be found ‘very wanting.’ The Devil take him for having so much witt with so much flesh. He commends his new house and his daughter, now living with him.”

Dr. Monsey writes to Mrs. Montagu from St. James’s on October 12, beginning the letter at 10 a.m., continued at 9 p.m., and finished the next day at Claremont. At the end of this letter he says that he has been very unwell and reported dead; he had made his will.

“While I am writing I have your letter come in, which gives an account of my death, which is true, but save yourself the trouble of an epitaph for me or your funeral sermon, for I have really given my body away by will to a Surgeon at Cambridge, who is to make a skeleton of my bones for the use of students in Physic, so if you have begun your epitaph with ‘Here he’s interr’d, etc.,’ change it to ‘Here hang the bones, etc.,’ and convert your sermon into an Osteological Lecture.”

THE GREEK PLAYS AND SHAKESPEARE

Mrs. Montagu, in a long letter to Lord Lyttelton upon Euripides’ and Sophocles’ plays contrasted with Shakespeare’s, says—

“I am actually an inhabitant of Newcastle, and am taking out my freedom, not out of a gold box, but by entering into all the diversions of the place. I was at a musical entertainment yesterday morning, at a concert last night, at a musical entertainment this morning. I have bespoken a play for to-morrow night, and shall go to a ball on choosing a Mayor on Monday night.”

MR. RUST

To this Lord Lyttelton replies from Hagley on October 18—

“You tell me, good Madonna, that you are grown as robust as a milkmaid. If you are so, I have no objection to your going to Balls, Plays or Poppet Shows if you please every night; but you have sometimes the spirits of a milkmaid without the strength. However, I believe Diversions are better for you than too much reading, and therefore I am not sorry you have no time to committ excess with your books. If I were to live with you, I would not trust you in a Library or alone in your Room but at stated hours with proper Intervals of exercise and conversation.... I am glad to hear we shall have another volume of Highland Poems. To stay your stomach (for, as I know, your appetite is eager towards them), I send you a copy of four of a later date than the others now printed, and not much inferior to them in the Natural Beauty and Force of Description, tho’ not, I think, so bold and sublime. Being purely descriptive, they could have nothing dramatic or passionate in them as most of the others have. But at the end of these you will find some objections I have as a Chronologist and Historian to the authenticity of the printed ones which it will be hard to get over. Yet I am not persuaded myself they are not genuine, for who can write so now? Mr. Rust[291] was so struck with them, he read them every morning and evening aloud to the Family as a Chaplain does Prayers. And the more I consider them, the more I admire them. I have seen some specimens in a Latin translation of the Poetry of the two most admired Welsh Bards, but they don’t in any degree approach to the greatness and the Beauty of these. I am charmed with your comparison between the Greek Plays and Shakespear. He is indeed unequalled in the power of painting Nature as she is and giving you sometimes the utmost energy of a Character of a Passion in short Stroke and Dash of his Pen. I also agree with you that the moral Reflexions in Shakespear’s Plays are much more affecting by coming warm from the Heart of the interested persons, than putt into the mouth of a chorus, as in the Greek Plays. I am glad you like my favourite Philoctetes. The faults you find with the Ajax are perfectly just, yet I feel the grief of that hero when he returns to his Reason, and especially in the scene between him and Termessa. Suppose Belisarius had gone mad with the unjust Disgrace he had suffer’d, and in his Distraction had done actions which dishonoured and exposed him to the Ridicule of his enemies, what a fine subject would it be for a play if he had killed himself upon recovering the Use of Reason. Setting aside the poetical Fiction, Ajax is Belisarius, and Sophocles has painted the horrors of a great mind so overwhelmed and confounded with shame in a very masterly manner.... I am glad your three Dialogues are well liked in Scotland, where the Author is not known. Those who know you and believe they are yours are hardly fair judges. Your form and manners would seduce Apollo himself in his throne of criticism on Parnassus itself....”

Alluding to her visit to Tunbridge and the society there, he says—

“There is Envy and Malice enough against Beauty alone, but Beauty, Wit, Wisdom, Learning and Virtue united (to say nothing about Wealth) are sure to excite a Legion of Devils against the Possessor. It is amazing to me that with all these dangerous things about you you have not been driven out of Society a great while ago.”

In a fragment of a letter Lord Lyttelton writes, “I presume Lady Hervey really likes them (the Dialogues), Lord Chesterfield’s warmth in their Praise has secured her vote in their favour, in spite of Horace Walpole and of Lord Bath.”

GREEN TEA AND SNUFF

From Newcastle, on October 24, Mrs. Montagu writes to Mrs. Carter, telling her she had been suffering from toothache. She mentions a sonnet sent to her by Mrs. Carter, “which would have given me a pleasing melancholy if it had not represented your state and condition as it did; it cost me some tears and obliged me to go from table where I received your letter. Teach me to love you less or imitate you better. I admire the resignation with which you submit to your pain.” Mrs. Carter suffered from excruciating headaches at this period. Lord Bath said that if she would drink less green tea, take less snuff, and not study so much, they would disappear.

Mrs. Montagu says the house at Newcastle was very comfortable, and instead of an equipage, she could pay visits to her neighbours in a Sedan chair.

“That I might not offend here I enter’d into all the diversions of this town, visits, concerts, plays, and balls. The desire of pleasure and love of dissipation rages here as much as in London. Diversions here are less elegant and conversation less polite, but no one imagines retirement has any comforts, so that in a little while if one would enjoy retired leisure one must dwell amidst inaccessible mountains and unnavigable rivers.”

Dr. and Mrs. Delany had just paid a visit to Hagley, which pleased them much. Dean Lyttelton, writing on October 25 from Hagley, regrets that Bishop Pococke (of Ossory) had not visited Hagley on his return from Northumberland, where he had been staying with the Montagus. Evidently old Mrs. Pococke, the Bishop’s wife, was dead, as the Dean says it is fortunate for the Bishop his sister has made up her mind to remain at Newtown.[292]

“Such a low-bred, narrow-spirited woman would disgrace an episcopal house.... Mr. Palgrave spent two days here last week, and brought us some new Erse poems which Lord Lyttelton sent you a few days since. His strange figure and awkward silent behaviour did not recommend him greatly to the inhabitants of Hagley, or do much honour to my nephew’s taste in his friendships.”

DEATH OF KING GEORGE II. — GEORGE III. KING

On October 25 King George II. died suddenly. Dr. Monsey wrote to inform Mrs. Montagu of this event, from St. James’s, and that—

“The suddenness of his Death made people call it an apoplexy, but I conclude otherwise from it. An apoplexy, except when a vessel breaks in the brain, is not so very rapid. People live four or six days or more, that is, they breathe and have a pulse. The King died in an instant, and from some strange odd faintnesses and oppressions upon his breath, I was almost sure ’twas in his heart or the great vessels near. And upon opening him, the Aorta, the canal which receives the Blood directly, was found burst (a very uncommon case), the Duke of Leeds says. I have known and seen it thickened, cartilaginous (crusty), and ossified, but I never met with a broken one; however, ’tis a species of Death he wished for, sudden, and nothing could be more so than this, for the instant that vessel breaks, the heart stops for ever and for ever....

“The King[293] had a levee to-day at one o’clock at Leicester House, and the Duke of Leeds, who with Mr. Godolphin dined with us to-day, says he so designs every day. No women are to appear at Court yet, so you may finish your affairs without being in a hurry. The Court goes into mourning on Sunday next ’tis said, and about a month hence the King is to be buried.”

From Hagley, on October 26, Lord Lyttelton writes—

“Madonna,

“The sudden death of the King will make me leave this place to-morrow, a week sooner than I had intended, and I propose to be in town on Tuesday or Wednesday. This is only to notify you, as I have not a moment to spare. I suppose all things will go on as they did for some time in the Court and the Nation. Certainly it is no season for any great changes. As to my own situation, I doubt not it will be as it is. The Dean received an admirable letter from you last Post. I have read it over and over with infinite pleasure. Come well to London, and let all the world go as it will. Adieu, you shall hear from me again as soon as I have seen my friends in Town, and can tell you any news. I am perfectly well, and am, Madam,

“Your most faithfull

and obedient humble Servᵗ,

“Lyttelton.

“My respectfull compliments to Mr. Montagu.”

ON THE DEATH OF GEORGE II. — MR. MACPHERSON

To this Mrs. Montagu replies—

“Newcastle, ye 31st October, 1760.

“My Lord,

“It would be perfect sacrilege and robbing the mighty dead of his due rites, if one began one’s letter with any subject but the loss of our sovereign; on which I condole with your Lordship, in whom the virtue of Patriotism, and the antequated one of Loyalty still remain. I know you had that veneration for our late King which the justice and prudence of his government so well deserved. With him our laws and liberties were safe; he possessed in a great degree the confidence of his people and the respect of foreign governments; and a certain steadiness of character made him of great consequence in these unsettled times. During his long reign we never were subject to the insolence and rapaciousness of favourites, a grievance of all others most intolerable when persons born only one’s equals shall by the basest means perhaps possess themselves of all the strength of sovereign power, and keep their fellow subjects in a dependance on illegal authority, which insults while it subjects, and is more grievous to the spirits than even to the fortunes of free-born men. If we consider only the evils we have avoided during his late Majesty’s reign, we shall find abundant matter of gratitude towards him and respect for his memory. His character would not afford subject for Epic poetry, but will look well in the sober page of history. Conscious, perhaps, of this, he was too little regardful of sciences and the fine arts; he considered common sense as his best panegyrist. The monarch whose qualities are brilliant enough to entitle him to glory, cultivates the love of the Muses, and their handmaid arts, painting, sculpture, etc., sensible that they will blazon and adorn his fame. I hope our young Monarch will copy his predecessor’s solid virtues, and if he endeavours to make them more brilliant by the help of poetry, eloquence, etc., etc., the happiness and glory of Britain will be great. His present Majesty’s religious disposition, and decent moral conduct, give us hope we shall not be plunged into riot, and lost in debauchery and libertinism, which, if it were to take place at Court, would soon affect a rich and luxurious nation, and the profaneness and immorality of Charles the Second’s days would, from the more prosperous state of our nation at present, be outdone....

“I will now thank your Lordship for your letter and the Highland compositions. Your remarks go far in staggering my faith as to their authenticity. I think they convince me the poems cannot be as ancient as pretended. It seems to me possible, that some great bard might from uncertain and broken tradition, and from the scattered songs of former bards, form an epic poem, which might not agree with history. The pillars in the hall of Fingal struck me at first reading; but I imagined they might not refer to polished marble pillars, but to smooth lime or beech trees which one may suppose to have been used as supporters in very rude buildings, and which would look smooth and shapely to one not used to polished marble; and I imagine convenience taught the use of such supporters long before they were introduced as ornaments.... I hear Lord Marchmont says our old Highland bard is a modern gentleman of his acquaintance; if it is so, we have a living Poet who may dispute the pas on Parnassus with Pindar and the greatest of the ancients, and I honour him for carrying the Muses into the country and letting them step majestic over hills, mountains and rivers instead of tamely walking in the Park or Piccadilly.... The Bishop of Ossory tells me Mr. Macpherson receives an £100 per annum subscription while he stays in the Highlands to translate the poems; if he is writing them, he should have a thousand at least....

“Dr. Gregory, in talking of Mr. Hume, said he had a great respect for your Lordship. The Dialogue of Bayle and Locke could not be agreeable to him.... Dr. Gregory says Mr. Hume told him he spent an evening with me at Mr. Ramsay’s, and he had received very favourable impressions of me, and, I find, said much more of me than I deserve. The Doctor told him I was not of his freethinking system, but Mr. Hume thinks that no fault in a woman.... Dr. Monsey is revenging my coquetry with Lord Bath by an assiduous courtship of Miss Talbot, but he can no more be untrue to me than the needle to the pole!”

“GAZETTE EXTRA­ORDINARY”

The same day, October 31, Lord Lyttelton writes from his house in Hill Street—

“Madonna,

“According to my promise, I now write to tell you the news of the town; and it is with great pleasure that I can assure you all parties unite in the strongest expressions of zeal and affection for our young King, and approbation of his behaviour. Since his accession he has shown the most obliging kindness to all the royal family, and done everything that was necessary to give his government quiet and unanimity in this difficult crisis.... There will be no changes in the ministry, and I believe few at Court. The Duke of Newcastle hesitated some time whether he should undertake his arduous office in a new reign, but has yielded at last to the earnest Desires of the King himself, of the Duke of Cumberland, and of the heads of all Parties and Factions, even those who were formerly most hostile to him. His friend and mine, Lord Hardwicke, has been most graciously talked to by the King in two or three audiences, and will, I doubt not, continue in the Cabinet Council with the weight and influence he ought to have there.... Lord George Sackville has been admitted to kiss the king’s hand, and thus ends my gazette extraordinary. As for myself, I got well to town on Wednesday night, was at Court on Thursday morning, was spoken graciously to by the King, and am told by everybody that I grow fat.” He then urges Mrs. Montagu to return from Northumberland at once. “I have often told you that you are a mere hot-house plant, fine and rare, but incapable of enduring the cold of our climate, if you are not housed the first day that the white frosts come in.

“I found Mrs. Pitt in pretty good health and spirits; she is well-housed, though she has left your palace in Hill Street.”

GEORGE II. — WILL

This was Anne Pitt,[294] late maid of honour, who had been staying in Mrs. Montagu’s house till her own was furnished. Further on in the same letter he says—

“The King has opened his grandfather’s Will in presence of all the royal family, and it is said the Duke of Cumberland is heir to the much greater part of what his Majesty had to dispose of, but that is much less than was supposed. The next best share is the Princess Emilia’s.[295] The sums are not mentioned. Mr. Pitt has just had a new and very extraordinary mark of the affection of the city, in an inscription they have put upon the first stone of the new bridge. I would have sent it you with to-day’s paper in which it is printed, but somebody has stolen it out of my room. You will see it in the next Chronicle. It speaks of a certain contagion by which Generals, Admirals, Armies and Fleets catch valour and prudence from him, to the great benefit of our affairs.”

From Hill Street, on November 5, Lord Lyttelton again writes to Mrs. Montagu—

“If I were to write the History of my own Times, I would transcribe into it your character of the late King, and should thereby pay my Debt of gratitude to his memory. I would only add to it that it appears from several Wills he has left, that he never had been such a Hoarder of Treasure as was generally supposed. And of what he had saved this war has consumed so much that he was able to leave no more to his three children than thirty thousand pounds in equal proportions, and I have heard that the Duke has given up his to his sisters. Princess Emily is come to live in my brother’s House like a private woman. It is said the Princess of Wales will not come to St. James’s. The great court offices are not yet settled, but I believe it is certain that Lord Bute[296] will be continued Groom of the Stole, and Lord Huntingdon[297] Master of the Horse.”

In a later part of the letter he assures her that Emin, who had been reported murdered by the Turks, had got back safely to his father in Calcutta.

“I presume he will go to some Indian Nabob or Rajah, and then you may have the pleasure of tracing his marches on the banks of the Ganges, and over many regions where the Gorgeous East showers on her Kings Barbaric Pearls and Gold; and if he is successful, large tribute of those pearls and gold will come to you.”

MR. AND MRS. VESEY

Mention is made of Mr. Vesey visiting Hagley, his wife too indisposed to accompany him. “Alas! in all that prospect I have not one glimpse of you. When will you come and dance on my lawns or sport on my hills with the Muses, or meditate in my woods with the pensive Goddess of Wisdom.”

Mrs. Montagu started on her return to London on November 10. From Weatherby she answers the above letter on November 11, having journeyed “48 miles through the roughest roads in the gloomiest day in the dreariest month of the year.” Mention is made of the King’s funeral. “I approve much of your Lordship’s prudence in not going to the King’s funeral,[298] it is a ceremony for those who wish to catch a cold rather than for one who wants to get rid of one.”

FLOODS

From Ferrybridge, on the 15th, Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband that the rain had been so heavy that the waters of Newark were said to be impassable.

Arrived at Grantham on Sunday the 17th, she writes—

“My Dearest,

“I got here very safe to-night, but the journey from Ferrybridge has been very unpleasant, from the great depth of the waters. Our coach is fortunately hung very high, all the people who passed Newark to-day got a great deal of water into their carriage, but I had very little. The waters were impassable till this morning, and it is now raining hard, so I had good fortune to get thro’ in the short interval; some of the water near Barnby Moor was as deep as at Newark, and tho’ this is only a long day’s journey, I have got out every day as soon as it was light; the horses perform admirably. I shall get to Stilton to-morrow, and, I hope, get you some cheese.”

Writing the same evening to Lord Lyttelton, she says—

“Do not figure to yourself that I sit like Aurora in her car drawn by the rosy-bosom’d hours, les jeux et les ris, but imagine Dobbin and Whitenose and their 4 companions all mire and dirt, dragging me through deep water, over huge stones, the winds blowing, the clouds low’ring and rain darkening the windows of the coach.”

A GREAT LADY’S AVARICE

In a letter to Mr. Montagu, from Stilton, is this amusing passage—

“Lord Panmure pass’d me on the road yesterday, and I hear all the Scotch are gone to town from Peers to Pedlars, and I suppose all with the same intention to sell something and to get money. I found that a Scotch countess had bought all the black cloth, crapes and bombazeen, black ribbons, and fans at Darlington before the poor shopkeepers knew of the King’s death. She bought a great many suits of broad cloth and crape, which must be with an intention to sell them at a higher price in town, but surely nothing could be more mean than to enter into such a traffick and take advantage of the Shopkeepers’ ignorance, and it seems to me not honest. This lady is wife to Lord C——t; I believe I mistook when I called her a countess. The town was soon inform’d of the reason she had bought such a quantity of mourning, and I wonder she was not mobbed. The ladies at Darlington and in the neighbourhood are very angry, for she left but two yards of crape in the whole town.”

Lady Frances Williams, writing on November 19 to Mrs. Montagu from Bath, where she was drinking the waters, says—

“I no sooner heard of the loss of our good old King than I thought with regret of our friend Mrs. Pitt. I believe it has prevented her coming to this place, where I proposed much pleasure in meeting her. I hear the G—t minister’s friends, the mob, have posted upon all the Palaces—

‘A Pittical administration,—no Sc—tch influence;’

and on the Royal Exchange—

‘No petticoat administration, no Lord G. S—k—lle[299] at Court.’”

THE KING’S FIRST SPEECH — GOING TO COURT

Writing on November 20 to her husband, Mrs. Montagu says—

“The young King spoke his speech[300] with great grace; his voice, they say, is very fine, and his delivery most remarkably good. The Princess Dowager is not to be at St. James’s, and people think she looks chagrin’d; no doubt she had visions of power and authority which will probably not be answered; all people seem glad that she is not likely to have influence. Dr. Wilson made a very flattering sermon at Court, upon which the King express’d great displeasure, and order’d all the Chaplains should be told he did not come to Church to hear himself praised. Lord Egremont[301] made a fine speech in the House of Lords for the address. Lord Royston is to move for the address in the House of Commons to-day, and Sir Richard Grosvenor,[302] who is to be made a peer, it is said, seconds him. Mr. Pratt[303] is to be made Lord Chief Justice in room of Willes, whose son is to be Solicitor-General, and Mr. York attorney. Some say Pratt is to be made a Peer. There seems a very strong union between Pitt and the Duke of Newcastle, but as yet no one knows how things will combine. The whole Cocoa Tree[304] and every human creature has been at Court, and this being said one day in a large company, I was ask’d when I should go. I said not till you came to town, but when you did you intended I should be presented. Mrs. Boscawen said she suppos’d I should be introduced by Lady Bute, as we were relations, and visited; I answered no, for I should not go as a courtier....

“I should ask Lady Cardigan to carry me, who was the head of the Montagu family, and a person who went as a great independant lady to pay her duty to her sovereign without being a courtier. It seems if I am to go to Court, I must not appear anywhere till I have kiss’d hands, which makes it necessary, if done, to be done soon, but I shall wait your orders, and I beg you to speak freely.”

To this letter Mr. Montagu replies—

“The distance j am now at from you, unhappily hinders me from discussing an affair of this moment with you and consulting with myne or your friends. At present j can only say that if you mean nothing more than paying your duty to our new sovereign j see no harm in it, and j think Lady Cardigan of all others the properest person to introduce you; but if you go further, before you give your attendance at a Court, j wish you would take the consequences into your most serious thoughts. The principal reason of my absenting myself ever since j was Member of Parliament was that j did not concur in the measures that were then taking, and the Principal members in the opposition thought they had no business at St. James, and j believe neither the wifes of the Peers nor of the Members of the House of Commons were found there. If j should be still so unhappy as out of dislike for the present measures not to alter my way of acting, and not to appear at Court, would it be proper for you to be attendant? Indeed, it seems to me that it would not, but if you can make out the contrary upon any sound Principles of reason j will readily submit. I have for many years liv’d in a state of Independancy though j may truly call it of Proscription, so far as those could make it to those who thought not, and acted not with them where politics they thought endanger’d the Liberties and good of their country, am j to alter now, or maintain the same conduct j hitherto have done? Whilst j flatter’d myself that we were in the same way of thinking, and that my conduct met with your approbation, j did hardly suffer anything. I then thought and still reflect with the utmost sense of gratitude on the sacrifice you made me in your early bloom, by giving up all the pleasures and gaieties of a Court, and it was the greater because you had all the advantages of beauty and sense to shine and make a figure there. I think that capacity is not so far gone as you in your modesty are pleas’d to say, and j may add in some sense perhaps improv’d, either at a Court or anywhere else j wish you every thing that is good that you may long enjoy that good will and esteem which your merit has acquir’d you, and leave the rest to your own candid and impartial consideration.”

To this his wife replies—

“I had yesterday your most kind and judicious letter, and my own way of thinking coincides so much with yours I have no merit in acquiescence. Your wonted independancy I hope in God you will ever preserve.... If you should be in opposition, I shall drop going at all; as to Peers, all who were not profess’d Jacobites, and also their wives, always went to St. James’, even the most protesting Lords, till the Division between the late King and late Prince of Wales.”

KISSING HANDS

At the end of the letter Lord Bath is mentioned as urging her to kiss hands, and she declares she will only attend two drawing-rooms a year, and not those, if Mr. Montagu disapproves.

MR. PITT AND THE SECRET

On November 22, from Hill Street, Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband that her toothache having been very agonizing, she had sent to Mr. Lodomie to examine her teeth. As he is often mentioned, he must have been the fashionable dentist of that period. In the same letter we read that—

“there has been a quarrel between General Townshend[305] and Lord Albemarle,[306] which had ended in a duel if Mr. Stanley[307] had not carried the Captain of the Guards to take them into custody. The story is too long for a letter. Mr. Townshend appears to have been too hasty: Lord Albemarle behaved very well, and all is now made up. Mr. Beckford in the House of Commons the day before yesterday call’d our German campaign this year a languid campaign, for which Mr. Pitt gave him a notable threshing, repeating languid and languor several times, and once how rash must that gentleman be, how inconsiderate, if he calls this languid, after repeating what had been done, and after enlarging on everything, again, again, and again, retorting the languid upon Beckford, who himself made a languid campaign, not returning to the charge. I heard of a good piece of witt of Mr. Pitt on my Lord Mayor of London’s absurdly asking him in the Drawing-room, where the secret expedition was destined. He ask’d his Lordship if he could keep a secret, which the grave Magistrate assured him he could upon his honour, and expected to be inform’d, on which Mr. Pitt only made a low bow and said, so can I, Sir, a very proper reproof for his impertinent question.”

December 2. Mrs. Montagu writes to Lord Bath—

“Mrs. Montagu presents her compliments to my Lord Bath, and has the pleasure to send him the Bishop of London’s letter to the King, which she had never been able to get till yesterday; she begs of his Lordship not to give any copy of the letter. If the Bishop should have any human vanity still subsisting, it must be of such a kind as will be gratified by the approbation of Lord Bath, but would disdain common and ordinary applause. Mrs. Montagu hopes my Lord Bath remembers he was so good as to promise her the honour and pleasure of his company at dinner on Sunday next.

“Hill Street, Tuesday ye 2nd of Decber.”

BISHOP OF LONDON’S LETTER

The Bishop’s letter is dated Novr. 1, 1760—

“Sire,

“Amidst the Congratulations that surround the Throne, permit me to lay before your Majesty the Sentiments of a Heart, which tho’ oppressed with Age and Infirmity, is no Stranger to the Joys of my Country. When the melancholy news of the Late King’s Demise reached us, it Naturally Led us to Consider the Loss we had sustained, and upon what our Hopes of futurity Depended: the first Part excited grief and put all the tender Passions into motion, but the Second Brought Life and Spirit with it, and wiped away the tear from every face.

“O how graciously Did the Providence of God provide a Successor able to bear the weight of government in that unexpected Event.

“You, Sir, are the Person whom the people ardently Desire, which Affection of theirs is happily returned by your Majesty’s Declared Concern for their prosperity; and Let Nothing Disturb this Mutual Consent. Let there never be but one Contest between them, whether the King Loves the people best, or the people him, and may it be a Long, very Long, Contest between them, may it never be decided, but Let it remain doubtful, and may the paternal affection on one side, and the filial Obedience on the other, be had in perpetual Remembrance. As this will probably be the Last time I shall ever trouble your Majesty, I beg leave to express my warmest wishes and prayers on your behalf: may the God of heaven and earth have you always under his protection, and Direct you to Seek his honour and Glory in all you Do, and may you reap the Benefit by an increase of Happiness in this world and in the next.”

BILLETS DOUX

Lord Bath’s answer was—

“Madam,

“I suppose you intended that I should return you the Bishop’s letter, which I promise you nobody has taken a copy of, nor have I done it myself, and I have shown it but to two persons.

“What a charming thing it is to be able to write with such vivacity and spirit, at past four score; and oppress’d as he says with age and infirmitys. But strange as that may be, I know a more extraordinary thing, and that is of a Person near the same age (but without infirmitys indeed) that is at this Instant over head and ears in Love. How does he wish he could write with as much Spirit and Love to his Mistress, as the Bishop does with Loyalty to his Master, with this difference only, the one wishes this contention of Love may never be decided, the other hopes it may be brought to an issue as soon as possible, by the only proper means of Determination, and let the Posterity arising from thence be a proof to future Generations of the ardency of the Affection of her

“Most passionate Adorer.

“Wednesday, 10 a clock, Decr., 1760.”

To this Mrs. Montagu replies—

“My Lord,

“I have sent your Lordship back the Bishop of London’s letters, which cannot be more honourably placed than in your Cabinet. From an apprehension that this letter may be degraded by appearing in a magazine or Chronicle I was desirous to communicate it to my friends, under such restraints as would secure me from blame in case of accident. As I do not expect a billet-doux every morning, I was unluckily asleep (observe that I do not say not dreaming of Lord Bath) when your letter arrived. I cannot express how much I admire your Lordship’s parody of a Bishop’s pastoral letter. As I have got but halfway towards the ardours of four score, your Lordship will not expect I should immediately comply with your proposal; but if you will be content with a sentimental love till I arrive at the tender age of eighty, a person and a passion so ripened by time must be very yielding. And according to the latest reckoning of the learned and ingenious Mr. Whiston, the Millenium will then commence, so that we may have a proper period in which to prove our constancy and love; and at a moderate computation, may produce a thousand of those proofs of it which your Lordship seems to think the best testimony.

“I am now very much, but at the commencement of the next century hope to be entirely,

“Yours.

“I hope your Lordship will not forget your engagement on Sunday, for I have been interrupted in my letter by a visit from a very pretty man of five and twenty, whose conversation is so far from the spirit of your Lordship’s letter that I cannot but be tired of the insipidity of these young people.”

LORD CHESTERFIELD’S BON MOT

Writing to her husband on December 2, Mrs. Montagu says—

“I dined with Lord Bath on Sunday; he was in high spirits. At his table I heard an admirable bon mot of Lord Chesterfield’s; he said the King was in doubt whether he should burn Scotch coal, Pitt coal, or Newcastle coal!... Our young King had a fall from his horse this morning, but no mischief, except a little bruise on his shoulder. His attendants seemed much frightened, at which he smiled and told them they forgot he had four brothers.”

Mr. Montagu writes on December 7 from Newcastle to say that he is going to the Election at Durham to vote for Sir Thomas Clavering. He says, “I shall set off with Sir Thomas’ cavalcade to-morrow, and to dine and lye at Newton, where Mr. Liddell has invited me to take a bed during the whole time of the Poll.” On December 12 he writes to say the Poll was not over and cost each candidate £1000 a day.

THE MILLENNIUM

Lord Bath writes to Mrs. Montagu in return for her last letter—

“Madam,

“I have sent you some game, which I hope to partake with you to-morrow. Indeed, Madam, you are too cruel to desire to postpone my happiness till the beginning of the next century. I can die for the lady I love any day she pleases to command me, but to live 40 years for her is more than I can promise; besides, Madam, I would have you consider that in all the conquests Love makes, there is on the male side, constantly a little pride and vanity; do you think that I have not something of that kind, in the pleasure I propose to myself of making Mr. Montagu jealous, and of triumphing and insulting over Dr. Monsey; and can you yourself promise me either of these forty years hence? In conscience therefore reduce the horrid period of forty years to twenty at most, and tell me in your next, come twenty years hence and be happy. But all you promise in your letter is, that the beginning of next century, perhaps, you may begin to listen. This cold proceeding, with an impetuous Lover of fourscore, who is impatient to convince you how much he loves you and how passionately he is yours for the remainder of the millenium, whenever it begins,

“Bath.”

From St. James’s on December 14, Dr. Monsey writes a folio letter to Mrs. Montagu, beginning—

“Serenissima Principessa!

“There are no bounds to Pride, because an Earl is fallen in love with you, you must kiss a King, and just as he is on the brink of matrimony. How dare you do so audacious a thing, whilst your Hubby is alive too? Had he broke his neck down a coal pit the matter had been nothing, but to inflame the heart of a young monarch when he can reap no benefit from it without breaking the laws of his Kingdom, or your breaking the Laws of God. Let me tell you, Madam (if I now may presume to tell you anything), it is a very imprudent step. Emin has miscarried in Persia, and so now you will let yourself down to the deluding hopes of being Queen of England. Can you sleep this night while Majesty lies tumbling and tossing, and starts at Montagu peeping thro’ his curtains;—My Kingdom for this Woman, or this Woman for my Kingdom. Have you chosen your ladies of the bedchamber, pitched upon your coronation, and made me your chief Physician....”

DR. MONSEY’S DOGGEREL VERSE

After a long rhodomontade, he falls into doggerel verse, a frequent habit of his in his letters. As I have not hitherto recorded any verses of his in this work, I will give this specimen—

Lord Bath had been most anxious about his son, Lord Pulteney, who had been appointed to the secret expedition which Mr. Pitt designed to send to France. This scheme was given up, and Mrs. Montagu wrote to congratulate Lord Bath upon this.

BERENGER MADE MASTER OF THE HORSE

In a letter to Mr. Montagu his wife informs him that “Lord Bute has given Mr. R. Berenger[310] a place of £300 per annum, with a house in the Meuse: it came à propos, for a few weeks ago he was in danger of a perpetual lodging at the Fleet.”

It will be remembered Berenger was nephew to Mr. Gilbert West, his mother being a Temple.

Lady Forbes, mother of Mrs. Gregory, wrote on December 20 to Mr. Montagu to ask his influence in procuring for Doctor Gregory the Professorship of Botany at the University of Edinburgh.

GEORGE COLMAN, THE ELDER

In a letter dated 1760, presumably in February, Lord Bath writes to Mrs. Montagu—

“Madam,

“There is more easy natural witt in any two of your most careless lines than there is in all Colman’s Play,[311] and as for his dedication you may be sure the Rogue meant to abuse me for pretending to chide him for his neglect of Lord Cooke;[312] however, I have this day, to amend his manners, constituted him a Judge in Shropshire, on condition that he never makes another Rhime, unless it be an Epithalamium twenty years hence, when the Millenium begins.

“I return you many thanks for the kind present you sent me, and will keep them till you do me the honour to dine with me, which I hope will be Wednesday or Thursday, as you chuse, but on Tuesday evening I cannot be sure of being free, since Sir Phil Boteler, Miss Desbouveries, and some other company are to dine with me, and stay the evening at cards.”

George Colman was nephew, by marriage, to Lord Bath, his mother being a Miss Gumley, sister of Lady Bath.