Elizabeth Montagu, the queen of the bluestockings, Volumes I and II : $b Her Correspondence from 1720 to 1761

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Title: Elizabeth Montagu, the queen of the bluestockings, Volumes I and II : Her Correspondence from 1720 to 1761
Author: Climenson, Emily Jane, Montagu, Mrs. (Elizabeth)
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Elizabeth Montagu, the queen of the bluestockings, Volumes I and II : Her Correspondence from 1720 to 1761" ***
OF THE BLUESTOCKINGS, VOLUMES I AND II ***

ELIZABETH MONTAGU

THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS

HER CORRESPONDENCE FROM 1720 TO 1761

Transcribers’ Note

Words in italics are marked with _underscores_.

Words in small capitals are shown in UPPER CASE.

Volumes one and two of “Elizabeth Montagu” are also published

This combination of the two volumes consists of: Volume I, Volume II,
Index, and the Robinson Pedigree.

Please also see the note at the end of this book.

Volume I

[Illustration: _C. F. Zincke. Pinx._ _Emery Walker Ph. Sc._

_Mrs. Montagu_

_née Elizabeth Robinson_

_from a miniature in the possession of Miss Montagu_]

ELIZABETH MONTAGU

THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS

HER CORRESPONDENCE FROM 1720 TO 1761

BY HER GREAT-GREAT-NIECE

EMILY J. CLIMENSON

AUTHORESS OF “HISTORY OF SHIPLAKE,”
“HISTORICAL GUIDE TO HENLEY-ON-THAMES,”
“PASSAGES FROM THE DIARIES OF MRS. P. LYBBE POWYS,” ETC., ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

IN TWO VOLUMES--VOL. I

[Illustration: Publisher’s colophon, a coat of arms]

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1906

PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
LONDON AND BECCLES

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
TO
MY COUSINS
MAGDALEN WELLESLEY
AND
ELIZABETH MONTAGU
BY
THE AUTHORESS

PREFACE.

From my early youth I heartily desired to know more of the life of my
great-great-aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu. Every scrap of information I
could pick up respecting her I accumulated; therefore when my cousins,
Mrs. Wellesley and her sister, Miss Montagu, in October, 1899, gave me
the whole of her manuscripts contained in 68 cases, holding from 100 to
150 letters in each, my joy was unbounded!

In 1810 my grandfather, the 4th Baron Rokeby (her nephew and adopted
son), published two volumes of her letters; these were followed by
two more volumes in 1813. To enable him to perform this pleasing
task he asked all her principal friends to return her letters to
him, beginning with the Dowager Marchioness of Bath,[1] daughter of
the Duchess of Portland, who gave him back the earliest letters to
her mother, many carefully inserted in a curious grey paper book by
the duchess, who placed the date of reception on each, and evidently
valued them exceedingly. The Rev. Montagu Pennington returned her
letters to his aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, the learned translator of
Epictetus; Mrs. Freind those to her husband; and many other people
did the same. From General Pulteney, at Lord Bath’s death, she had
asked for and received her correspondence with Lord Bath, which she
carefully preserved. At the death of Lord Lyttelton, the executors,
at her request, returned her her letters; those to Gilbert West and
other correspondents were returned in the same manner. Meanwhile she
kept all letters of her special friends, as well as notabilities,
so that one may deem the collection quite unique, though doubtless
many letters have disappeared, notably those of Sir Joshua Reynolds,
many of whose letters were destroyed by an ignorant caretaker of Mrs.
Montagu’s house, Denton Hall, near Newcastle-on-Tyne. There are none of
Horace Walpole’s, from whom she must have received some; and those from
several other celebrities she knew well are missing.

[1] _Née_ Elizabeth Cavendish, born 1735, died 1825, ætat 91.

Owing to the enormous quantity of letters undated, the sorting has
been terribly difficult, and I spent one entire winter in making up
bundles and labelling each year. My grandfather made a variety of
mistakes as to the dates of the letters. I hope I have atoned for some
of his deficiencies, though a few mistakes are probably inevitable. He
nearly blinded himself by working at night, and my grandmother[2] had
constantly to copy the letters in a large round hand to enable him to
make them out. After my grandmother’s death he discontinued arranging
them, though they might have been continued till 1800, the year of Mrs.
Montagu’s death.

[2] _Née_ Elizabeth Charlton.

In the present volumes only her early life is presented, interwoven
with portions of her most intimate friends’ letters to herself. Were
the whole of this vast correspondence printed, a large bookcase could
be filled with the volumes. In order to consult the varied tastes of
the general reader, I have endeavoured to pick out the most interesting
portions of her letters, such as relate to customs, fashions in dress,
price of food, habits, but I have often groaned in spirit at having
to leave out much that was noble in sentiment, or long comments upon
contemporary books and events. If life should be spared me, I hope
to be able to continue my narrative, for, like the ring produced by
a stone thrown on the water, her circle of friends and acquaintances
increased yearly, and not only comprised her English friends and every
person of distinction in Great Britain, but also the most distinguished
foreigners of all nations, notably the French. It has been asserted
that Gilbert West was the first person to influence Mrs. Montagu on
religious points. That his amiable Christianity may have strengthened
her religious opinions I do not deny, but I hope it will be seen from
this book that from her earliest days, when at the height of her _joie
de vivre_, the religious sentiment was existent--a religion that
prompted her ever to the kindest actions to all classes, that had
nothing bitter or narrow in it, no dogmatism. Adored by men of all
opinions, and liking their society, she was the purest of the pure,
as is amply proved by the letters of Lord Lyttelton, Dr. Monsey, and
others, but she was no prude with all this. Her worthy husband adored
her, and no wife could have been more devoted and obedient than she
was. His was a noble character, and doubtless influenced her much for
good. As a wife, a friend, a _camarade_ in all things, grave or gay,
she was unequalled; as a housewife she was notable, beloved by her
servants, by the poor of her parish, and by her miners and their wives
and children. She planned feasts and dances and instituted schools for
them, and fed and clothed the destitute.

With Mr. Raikes[3] she was one of the first people to institute
Sunday-schools. She was as interested in Betty’s rheumatism as she
was in the conversation of a duke or a duchess; a discussion with
bishops and Gilbert West on religion, or with Emerson on mathematics,
or Elizabeth Carter on Epictetus, all came alike to her gifted nature.
She danced with the gay, she wept with the mourner; her sympathies
never lay idle, even to the very end of life; and in a century which
has been deemed by many to be coarse, uneducated, and irreligious,
her sweet wholesome nature shone like a star, and attracted all minor
lights. Where in the twentieth century should we find a coterie of
men and women of the highest rank and influence in the world, either
from intellect or position, so content and devoted to each other, so
free from the petty jealousies and sarcasms of the present fashionable
society, so anxious for each other’s welfare, socially and morally; so
free from cant or prudery, so devoted to each other’s interest?

[3] Robert Raikes, born 1735, died 1811. The first Sunday-school
instituted by him in 1781.

A great and terrible break in this book was caused by the death of my
beloved husband in May, 1904, after a long, lingering illness. I doubt
if I should have taken courage to resume my pen if it had not been for
my friend Mr. A. M. Broadley, whose interest in my literary work and
affectionate solicitude for myself has been a kindly spur to goad me
on to action, so as to complete the present volumes. To him I tender
my thanks for past and present encouragement, as well as many other
kindnesses.

EMILY J. CLIMENSON.

CONTENTS TO VOL. I.

PAGE

PREFACE vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv

CHAPTER I.

The Robinson, Sterne, and Morris families--Birth and
childhood of Elizabeth Montagu--Correspondence with
Duchess of Portland (_passim_)--Dr. Middleton’s second
wife--“Fidget”--A summons --Tunbridge Wells--Mrs.
Pendarves--Lady Thanet --Miss Anstey--Bevis Mount--The
Wallingfords--A suit of “cloathes”--Anne Donnellan 1–25

CHAPTER II.

Correspondence with Duchess of Portland (_passim_)--Sir Robert
Austin--The goat story--The Freinds--Country beaux--Thomas
Robinson, barrister--Lady Wallingford--Duke of Portland’s
letter--A coach adventure--Influenza--Smallpox--Cottage
life--Bath--Lord Noel Somerset--Dowager Duchess
of Norfolk--Frost Fair on the Thames--The plunge
bath--“Long” Sir Thomas Robinson--Lord Wallingford’s
death --The menagerie at Bullstrode--Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu--Princess Mary of Hesse--Monkey Island--Lydia
Botham--Mrs. Pendarves--Lord Oxford--Admiral
Vernon--Anne Donnellan--Charlemagne--Dr. Young’s _Night
Thoughts_--Duchess of Kent--Mr. Achard 26–62

CHAPTER III.

Hairdressing--Correspondence with Duchess of Portland
(_passim_) --Sarah Robinson attacked by smallpox--Hayton
Farm--A country squire--Handel--Dr. Middleton--Laurence
Sterne--Duke of Portland’s letter--A brother’s
tribute--Carthagena--The Westminster election --A South
Sea lawsuit--Lord Oxford’s death--Panacea of bleeding--A
one-horse chaise--A Windsor hatter--Lord Sandwich’s
marriage--Ducal baths--Domestic service--Cibber’s Life--Peg
Woffington--Dowager Duchess of Marlborough--Revolution in
Russia--New Year’s Day--Lord George Bentinck--Northfleet
Fair--Sir R. Walpole--Duchess of Norfolk’s masquerade--Sir
Hans Sloane--A House of Lords debate --The Opera--Garrick 63–107

CHAPTER IV.

Love triumphs--Sir George Lyttelton--Edward Montagu--Anne
Donnellan’s advice--Elizabeth’s engagement and
marriage--Correspondence with Duchess of Portland--“Delia”
Dashwood--Odd honeymoon etiquette--Mr. Robinson’s
letter--Dr. Middleton’s letter--Cally Scott--Mrs.
Freind--Père Courayer--Works of Manor --The Dales--Whig
principles--Correspondence with Edward Montagu--Hanoverian
troops--Handel’s Oratorios--Young’s _Night Thoughts_--A
country beau and roué--A bolus--The Lord Chancellor --Dr.
Sandys--A cook 108–140

CHAPTER V.

Journey to London--The floods--A faithful steward--The
Rogers’ pedigree--A curious letter--Mr. Montagu’s visit
to Newcastle --Birth of “Punch”--Inoculation--Baby
clothes--Sandleford Priory --A parson and his
wife--Countess of Granville--Correspondence with
Duchess of Portland--Courayer--Woman’s education--Lord
Orford’s letter to General Churchill--Preparation for
inoculation--Elizabeth’s letter to her husband--Army
discipline--Physicians’ fees--Pope’s grotto--A
highwayman--Dangers of a post-chaise--“Punch’s” chariot--A
Bath ball--“Mathematical inseration”--Midgham--A
footpad--The Ministry--Pope’s _Dunciad_--Mrs.
Pococke--Sugar tax--The Pretender--Sir Septimus
Robinson--“Hide” Park--Gowns and fans--The wearing
of “Punch”--A wet-nurse--Aprons--Orange trees--Lord
Anson--Clothes and table-linen--Stowe--Thoresby--Death
of “Punch”--Loss of an only child--Submission to God’s
will--Duchess of Marlborough’s death--A Raree Show--Cattle
disease--Mrs. Robinson’s illness 141–197

CHAPTER VI.

Correspondence with the Duchess of Portland--Donnington
Castle--Tunbridge Wells--Dr. Young and Colley
Cibber--Buxton--Tonbridge Castle--The 1745 rising in
Scotland--George Lewis Scott--National terrors--Wade’s
army--County meeting at York--The Northern gentry--General
Cope’s defeat at Preston Pans--Sussex privateers--Tunbridge
ware--Walnut medicine--D. Stanley’s letter to Duke of
Montagu--Cattle murrain--Fears of invasion--The Law
regiment--Romney Marsh--A footman--A brave gamekeeper 198–226

CHAPTER VII.

Correspondence with Duchess of Portland--Death of Mrs.
Robinson--Lydia Botham--The Hill Street house--“Such
a Johnny”--Courayer--Mr. Carter’s death--Denton
estate--Elixir of vitriol and tar-water--Dr. Shaw--Young
Edward Wortley Montagu--General election--Huntingdon
Election--Dr. Pococke--Mrs. Theophilus Cibber--Courayer’s
figure--A high and dry residence--Lady Fane’s grottoes--In
search of an axletree--Winchester Cathedral--Mount
Bevis--The New Forest--Wilton House--Savernake--Courayer’s
letter--Matthew Robinson, M.P. for Canterbury--Lyttelton’s
_Monody_--Thomas Robinson’s death--Coffee House,
Bath--Cambridge--Richardson’s _Clarissa_--Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle--Spa--The Hague--James Montagu’s
death--Price of tea 227–263

CHAPTER VIII.

Ranelagh masquerade--Tunbridge Wells--Duke of Montagu’s
death--Coombe Bank--The feather screen--Hinchinbrook--The
Miss Gunnings--Chinese room in Hill Street--A parson’s
children--Dowager Duchess of Chandos--Lord Pembroke’s
death--The earthquake--Death of Dr. Middleton--Anniversary
of Elizabeth’s wedding day--Mrs. Boscawen--Gilbert
West--Barry and Garrick--Embroidered flounces--“The
cousinhood”--West family--Berenger--Hildersham--Miss Maria
Naylor--The “Pollard Ashe”--Mrs. Percival’s death--Dr.
Shaw’s death--The Dauphin--Dr. Middleton’s works--Anne
Donnellan--Nathaniel Hooke 264–296

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOL. I.

MRS. MONTAGU (_née_ ELIZABETH ROBINSON) _Frontispiece_
_From a miniature by C. F. ZINCKE, in the
possession of The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu,
Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.)_

TO FACE PAGE

MOUNT MORRIS, NEAR HYTHE, KENT 8
_From an old print, 1809._

MISS MORRIS, GRANDMOTHER OF MRS. MONTAGU 16
_From a picture (artist unknown), in the possession
of the Hon. Elizabeth Montagu. (Photogravure.)_

MR. AND MRS. MATTHEW ROBINSON (MRS. MONTAGU’S FATHER AND
MOTHER) 32
_From a picture by W. HAMILTON, in the possession of
The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu, Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.)_

W. FREIND, D.D., DEAN OF CANTERBURY 64
_From the picture by T. WORLIDGE._

WILLIAM, SECOND DUKE OF PORTLAND 76
_From the picture by THOMAS HUDSON, in the possession
of the Duke of Portland. (Photogravure.)_

LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU 80
_From a miniature (artist unknown), in the possession
of Mrs. Climenson. (Photogravure.)_

SIR THOMAS ROBINSON (1ST BARON ROKEBY) 100
_From a picture (artist unknown), in the possession of
The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu, Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.)_

MORRIS ROBINSON 144
_From the picture by the REV. M. W. PETERS, R.A.,
in the possession of The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu,
Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.)_

SANDLEFORD PRIORY, NEAR NEWBURY, BERKSHIRE 152
_From a photograph._

DENTON HALL, NORTHUMBERLAND 160

MARGARET CAVENDISH HARLEY, DUCHESS OF PORTLAND 192
_From the picture by THOMAS HUDSON, in the possession
of the Duke of Portland. (Photogravure.)_

LADY LECHMERE (_née_ HOWARD), AFTERWARDS LADY (THOMAS)
ROBINSON 208
_From a picture (artist unknown), in the possession of
The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu, Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.)_

GILBERT WEST 296
_From an engraving by E. SMITH, after W. Walker._

ROBINSON PEDIGREE _In pocket at end of Vol._

ELIZABETH MONTAGU

THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS

CHAPTER I.

GIRLHOOD UP TO 1738, AND BEGINNING OF THE CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE
DUCHESS OF PORTLAND.

[Page heading: THE ROBINSON FAMILY]

Before entering on the life of Elizabeth Robinson, afterwards Mrs.
Edward Montagu, the famous _bas bleu_, the focus, as she may be called,
of all the cleverest and most intellectual society of the last half
of the eighteenth century, a few words must be said of the family she
sprang from. The Robinsons are said to have been originally Robertsons,
the name being corrupted into Robinson. They are in many Peerages[4]
said to descend from the Robertsons of Struan, or Strowan, in
Perthshire, who descended from Duncan de Atholia, Earl of Athole, hence
descendants of Duncan, King of Scotland. My grandfather, the 4th Baron
Rokeby, in an unfinished pedigree, believed this, but there have been
Robinsons bearing the same[5] coat-of-arms in Yorkshire as early as the
time of copyhold record in Edward III.’s reign. However, they may have
been related. Our narrative starts from William, said to be younger
son of the 7th Baron Robertson of Strowan, who, being deprived of his
portion of inheritance as younger son by the Earl of Athole, fled into
England, and settled at Kendal in Westmorland, in the time of Henry
VIII. He had three children, Ralph, Henry, and Ursula. Ralph married
Agnes Philip, by whom he had William, who succeeded to his father’s
estates at Kendal and Brignal, and who on June 7, 1610, bought the
estate of Rokeby in Yorkshire from Sir Thomas Rokeby, whose family had
been possessed of it before the Conquest. Rokeby continued to belong to
the Robinson family for 160 years, when “Long Sir Thomas Robinson” sold
it in 1769 to John B. Saurey Morritt, the friend of Sir Walter Scott.
The Robinsons finally assumed two lines (_vide_ Pedigree), William,
the eldest, remaining master of Rokeby, and his posthumous brother,
Leonard, becoming the direct ancestor of our heroine. Leonard Robinson
was a merchant in London; he became Chamberlain of the City of London,
and was knighted on October 26, 1692. He married, first, Lucy Layton,
of West Layton, etc., by whom he had no issue. For his second wife
he married Deborah, daughter of Sir James Collet, Knight and Sheriff
of London, by whom he had six daughters, all of whom married and had
issue, and one son, Thomas, who married a widow, Elizabeth Light. She
was daughter of William Clarke, Esq., of Merivale Abbey, Warwickshire,
and heiress of her brother, William Clarke. By her first husband,
Anthony Light, she had one daughter, Lydia. By her second marriage with
Thomas Robinson she had three sons. Matthew, the eldest, alone concerns
us as father of Mrs. Montagu. The following table will show the
connection between the Robinson and Sterne families: the Rev. Laurence
Sterne marrying their cousin, Elizabeth Lumley:--

[Page heading: PEDIGREE OF THE ROBINSONS AND STERNES]

[4] _Vide_ Debrett and Lodge’s Peerages; Collin’s Baronetage, 1741,
vol. iv.; Burke, “The New Peerage,” by W. Owen, 1785; and Longmate’s
Peerage.

[5] Coat vert, a chevron between three bucks trippant. Mrs. Laurence
Sterne and her sister, Mrs. Botham, as will be seen in the letters,
call Matthew Robinson and his wife “Uncle” and “Aunt,” they being
really their step-uncle and aunt. Thomas Robinson died at the early
age of thirty-three, in the year 1700.

[Year: 1694]

[Page heading: THE MORRIS FAMILY]

We now enter on the history of Matthew Robinson, the eldest surviving
son of Thomas, and his wife Elizabeth. He was born in 1694, therefore
was only six years old when his father died. At an early age he was
entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became a fellow-commoner.
He was a person of great intellectual parts, a conversationalist and
wit, the life of the coffee-houses, which then served, as clubs do
nowadays, as a rendezvous for men of fashion. His talent for painting
was remarkable. His great nephew states, “He acquired so great a
proficiency as to excel most of the professional artists of his day
in landscape.” At the early age of eighteen, in 1712, he married
Elizabeth Drake, daughter of Councillor Robert Drake, of Cambridge,
descended from the Drakes of Ashe in Devonshire. Elizabeth’s mother’s
name was Sarah Morris. The Morris family had been seated in Kent at
East Horton since the reign of Elizabeth. Thomas Morris, father of
Sarah, built the mansion of Mount Morris, sometimes called Monk’s
Horton, near Hythe. He had one son, Thomas, who was drowned under
London Bridge on his return from Holland in 1697, ætat 23. His sister
Sarah had two children by Councillor Drake, Morris and Elizabeth. Their
maternal grandfather lived to 1717, when he devised his estates to his
grandson, Morris Drake, with the proviso of his assuming the extra
name of Morris, and failing of his issue with remainder to Elizabeth,
his sister, then Mrs. Matthew Robinson. Her mother, Mrs. Drake, having
become a widow, had remarried the celebrated Dr. Conyers Middleton, but
had no children by him. The following table will elucidate this:--

Thomas Morris, Esq.,
of Mount Morris, _alias_ Monk’s Horton,[6] Kent,
which he built; d. 1717.
|
+-----------------------+--+
| |
Thomas, drowned Sarah, = 1st. Councillor Robert Drake,
under London d. Feb. 19, | 2nd. (1710) Dr. Conyers
Bridge, 1697, ætat 23, 1730–1. | Middleton, of Trinity College,
returning from Holland. | Cambridge.
+----------------------+-----+
| |
Morris Drake (Morris) Elizabeth, m. 1713, = Matthew Robinson, of
took name of Morris d. 1745, sister and Edgeley and of West
on becoming heir to heir of her brother, Layton Hall, Yorks.
his grandfather; died Morris Drake Born at York, 1694;
_s.p._ His property Morris. Inherited died October, 1778.
entailed on his sister, Coveney, Cambs.,
Eliz. Robinson. and Mount Morris,
Kent.

[6] Monk’s Horton, or Up Horton, alienated by Heyman Rooke in the
time of Queen Anne to Thomas Morris, who entailed it to his
daughter’s male issue.

[Year: 1712]

[Page heading: ELIZABETH ROBINSON]

To return to the Robinsons, they settled at their property of West
Layton Hall, derived from Lucy Layton, first wife of Sir Leonard
Robinson, and Edgeley in Wensleydale for the summer, and spent the
winter in York; most country families at that period repairing to
London or their nearest county town for convenience and society during
the winter. To this young couple were born twelve children, of whom
seven sons and two daughters lived to grow up--

1. Matthew, born April 6, 1713; afterwards 2nd Baron Rokeby. Educated
at Trinity Hall, Cambridge; became a Fellow. Died November 30, 1800,
ætat 87.

2. Thomas, born 1714, died in 1746–7. Barrister-at-law.

3. Morris, born 1715, died 1777; of the Six Clerks’ Office.

4. _Elizabeth, born at York, October 2, 1720, died August 25, 1800._

5. Robert, Captain, E.I.C.S. Died in China, 1756.

6. Sarah, born September 21, 1723, died 1795.

7. William, born 1726, died 1803.

8. John, of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

9. Charles, born 1733, died 1807.

[Page heading: DR. CONYERS MIDDLETON]

Elizabeth, the subject of this book, was about seven years old when,
by the death of her uncle, Morris Drake Morris, her mother inherited,
as his heir, the important property of East Horton, and Mount Morris
in Kent. The family then left Yorkshire for residence at Mount Morris.
But before and after their inheritance of the Kentish property
much time was spent with the Conyers Middletons both at Coveney,
Cambridgeshire, a property Mrs. Conyers Middleton had inherited from
her first husband, Councillor Drake; the advowson of the living being
hers, she bestowed it on her second husband, Dr. Conyers Middleton,[7]
whom she had married in 1710; also at Cambridge, where was their usual
residence, and where several of the little Robinsons were born in their
grandmother’s house, as we learn from a letter of Dr. Middleton’s.
Elizabeth Robinson was naturally much with her grandmother, with whom
and Conyers Middleton she was a great favourite. Her nephew and adopted
son, in his volumes of her letters[8] that he published in 1810,
states--

“Her uncommon sensibility and acuteness of understanding, as well
as extraordinary beauty as a child, rendered her an object of
great notice in the University, and Dr. Middleton was in the habit
of requiring from her an account of the learned conversations at
which, in his society, she was frequently present; not admitting of
the excuse of her tender age as a disqualification, but insisting
that although at the present time she could but imperfectly
understand their meaning, she would in future derive great benefit
from the habit of attention inculcated by this practice.”

[7] Conyers Middleton, D.D., born 1683, died 1750. Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge, etc., etc. Wrote the “Life of Cicero,” etc.,
etc.

[8] “The Letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu,” by her nephew, Matthew
Montagu, afterwards 4th Baron Rokeby.

Her father was proud of her vivacious wit, and encouraged her gifts of
repartee which she possessed in as large a measure as himself.

“In her youth her beauty was most admired in the peculiar animation
and expression of her blue eyes, with high arched eyebrows, and
in the contrast of her brilliant complexion with her dark brown
hair. She was of the middle stature, and stooped a little, which
gave an air of modesty to her countenance, in which the features
were otherwise so strongly marked as to express an elevation of
sentiment befitting the most exalted condition.”

[Year: 1727–28]

Her elder brothers, members of Cambridge University, were all extremely
literary, and became, early, distinguished scholars. We are told--

“Their emulation produced a corresponding zeal in their sisters,
and a diligence of application unusual in females of that time.
Their domestic circle was accustomed to struggle for the mastery
in wit, or in superiority in argument, and their mother, whose
frame of mind partook rather of the gentle sedateness of good sense
than of the eccentricities of genius, was denominated by them ‘the
Speaker,’ from the frequent mediation by which she moderated their
eagerness for victory.”

[Page heading: MOUNT MORRIS]

[Page heading: LADY MARGARET CAVENDISH HARLEY]

In Harris’s “History of Kent,” published in 1719, on p. 156, is a
picture of Mount Morris, the home of the Robinsons, a large square
house with a cupola surmounted by a ball and a weathercock, surrounded
by a number of walled gardens laid out in the formal Dutch manner, an
inner Topiary garden, leading to a steep flight of steps to the front
door. Whilst staying in Cambridgeshire, Elizabeth had several times
visited at Wimpole with her father and mother. Wimpole was the seat
of Edward,[9] second Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, who had married
Henrietta Cavendish, only daughter and heiress of John Holles, 1st Duke
of Newcastle-on-Tyne. She was a great heiress, and brought her husband
£500,000; she is said to have been a good but a very dull woman, very
proud, and a rigid worshipper of etiquette. In the “National Biography”
she is said to have “disliked most of the wits who surrounded her
husband, and hated _Pope_!”[10] The Earl spent enormous sums in
collecting books, manuscripts, pictures, medals, and articles of virtu,
spending £400,000 of his wife’s fortune. To him we are indebted for
the Harleian manuscripts, bought from his widow in 1753 for £10,000
by the nation, now in the British Museum. With the Lady Margaret
Cavendish Harley,[11] only child of the Earl and Countess of Oxford,
Elizabeth became on the most intimate terms, and her first extant
letter is addressed to her when she was only eleven years old, and the
Lady Margaret eighteen. So greatly did Lady Margaret value Elizabeth’s
letters, that for a series of years she preserved them between the
leaves of an old grey book which I possess. The first letter is
endorsed, “Received, February 24, 1731–2, at Wimpole.” It commences--

“MADAM,

“Your ladyship’s commands always give me a great deal of pleasure,
but more especially when you ordered me to do myself this honour,
without which I durst not have taken that liberty, for it would
have been as great impertinence in me to have attempted it as it is
condescension in your ladyship to order it.”

This alludes evidently to Lady Margaret having desired her to write to
her. It ends--

“My duty to my Lord and Lady Oxford, and service to Lord
Dupplin,[12] and my best respects to Miss Walton,[13] hope in a
little while it may be duty. I am in great hopes that when your
ladyship sees any impertinent people in London it will put you in
mind of, Madam,

“Your ladyship’s most obliged, humble servant,

“ELIZ. ROBINSON.”

[9] Lord Oxford sold Wimpole in 1740 to Lord Hardwick to pay off his
debts.

[10] Pope was his bosom friend, Swift and Prior also; the latter
died at Wimpole.

[11] Prior celebrated the Lady Margaret in the lines commencing “My
noble, lovely, little Peggy.”

[12] Afterwards 8th Earl of Kinnoul.

[13] Lady Margaret’s governess, about to be married.

[Illustration: MOUNT MORRIS.]

[Year: 1731–32]

The formal terms in this letter were then considered essential, even
when addressing those of lower birth, all the more so to a person of
Lady Margaret’s rank. Viscount Dupplin, whose name frequently occurs in
the letters, was a cousin of Lady Margaret’s on her father’s side, his
mother being a daughter of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford. The two
young friends now kept up a lively correspondence, but as many of the
letters have been published by my grandfather in 1810, I shall for this
early period of her life give only a _résumé_ of them, picking out such
facts as point to the manners of the time, or that strike one as of
interest. From Mount Morris in August, 1732, she writes--

“Since I came here I have been to Canterbury Races, at which there
was not much diversion, as only one horse ran for the King’s
Plate.... We had an assembly for three nights; the rooms are so
small and low that they were exceedingly hot.”

From this date one perceives that young ladies were allowed to appear
in public early, as Elizabeth was then not quite twelve years old!

[Year: 1733]

[Page heading: TUNBRIDGE WELLS]

In October, 1733, she paid, in company of her parents, her first visit
to Tunbridge Wells, ever afterwards such a favourite resort of hers.
She says--

“It is so pleasant a place I don’t wonder the physicians prescribe
it as a cure for the spleen; a great part of the company,
especially of the gentlemen, are vapoured. When the wind is not in
the east they are very good company, but they are as afraid of an
easterly wind as if it would bring caterpillars upon our land as
it did on the land of Egypt.... I am very sorry I could not get
you any verses at Tunbridge, of which, at the latter part of the
season, when the garrets grow cheap, that the poets come down,
there is commonly great plenty.”

Further on she says, “I thank your ladyship for the verses, and I wish
I had any to send you in return for them, but my poet is turned lawyer,
and has forsook the Muses for ‘Coke upon Littleton.’” This alludes to
her brother Tom, who was then studying law. The collecting of verses on
every sort of circumstance seems to have been as fashionable then as
photograph, autograph, or stamp-collecting, etc., are now.

[Page heading: “MRS.” PLACE]

In the next letter of November, 1733, she alludes to Dr. Conyers
Middleton, who, as stated before, had married Mrs. Drake, Elizabeth’s
grandmother, and who was now a widower--

“I suppose you have heard Dr. Middleton has brought his Cousin
Place[14] to keep his house. He very gravely sent us word that
his cousin had come to spend the winter with him, and it was not
impossible they might agree for a longer time; so I fancy he has
brought her with him to see if she likes to play at quadrille, and
sup on sack posset with the grave doctors, whose company to one of
her gay temper must be delightful. I suspected his designs when he
made so many complaints in London, that it was so very difficult to
find a maid who understood making jellies and sack posset, which he
and a certain doctor used to have for their suppers. He lost one
lady because she was deaf to him; but I believe that fortune, to
make amends to him, has blinded this. For though I don’t doubt he
always takes care to show her the side of his face which Mr. Doll
says is younger by ten years than the other, yet that is rather too
old to be a match for twenty-five, which I believe is the age of
Mrs.[15] Place.”

[14] Mary, daughter of the Rev. Conyers Place, of Dorchester. She
died April 26, 1745.

[15] It was the custom at this time to give spinster ladies the
complimentary title of “Mrs.”

The next letter she says--

“I have not heard from Dr. Middleton a great while. I suppose his
thoughts are taken up with business and his pretty cousin in the
West. I don’t know whether she has made a complete conquest of his
heart.”

In May, 1733--

“Dr. Middleton now owns his marriage. I wish he finds the felicity
of it answers his resigning a £100 a year. I am glad, for the sake
of any other family, he has not got another rich widow; if he had,
it would have been her turn to resign.”

This alludes to the fact that on the learned doctor’s remarriage he had
to resign his fellowship.

[Page heading: MR. ROBINSON]

Mr. Robinson, Elizabeth’s father, was not fond of the country, where
his wife’s fine estate and his nine children condemned him to reside
the greater part of the year; and when we consider how young a man he
was, then only thirty-one, and his great love of witty society, one
cannot be surprised at his having attacks of the “hyp” or “vapours,” as
the terms for ennui were then. Elizabeth writes to Lady Margaret from
Mount Morris--

“Though I am tired of the country, to my great satisfaction I
am not so much so as my Pappa; he is a little vapoured, and
last night, after two hours’ silence, he broke out with a great
exclamation against the country, and concluded in saying that
living in the country was sleeping with one’s eyes open. If he
sleeps all day, I am sure he dreams much of London. What makes
this place more dull is, my brothers are none of them here; two of
them went away about a fortnight ago, and ever since my Pappa has
ordered me to put a double quantity of saffron[16] in his tea.”

[16] Saffron, said to be good for heaviness of spirits.

[Year: 1734]

February 11, 1734, she writes--

“Dr. Middleton sends us word my Pappa’s acquaintance wonder he has
not the spleen, but they would cease their surprise if they knew he
was so much troubled with it that his physicians cannot prescribe
him any cordial strong enough to keep up his spirits. We think
London would do it effectually, and I believe he will have recourse
to it.”

[Page heading: THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND]

On July 11, 1734, Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley married William,
2nd Duke of Portland.[17] There are no letters of Elizabeth’s in my
possession on the occasion of her friend’s marriage; they recommence
October 20 in the same year. Henceforward all the duchess’s letters
were franked by the duke, and many of Elizabeth’s, often unfortunately
undated. At this period ladies prevailed on such of their friends
as were either Peers or members of Parliament, to sign sheets of
letter-paper with their names at the back, often of folio size, which
they used free of cost as they wanted them, wrapping their letters in
these outer sheets and sealing them. As a single letter from London to
Edinburgh cost 1_s._ 1½_d._, if double 2_s._ 3_d._, and if treble 3_s._
4½_d._, the smallest inclosure being treated as an additional sheet,
to send letters unfranked was a costly luxury. The practice of forging
people’s names led to such intolerable abuse of franking that an Act
was passed in 1764 making it compulsory for the whole address to be
written by the person franking the letter.

[17] William, 2nd Duke of Portland, born 1708, died 1762. Hearne, in
his Diary, says, “Is reported the handsomest man in England.”

In October, the same year, Elizabeth replies to a letter from the
duchess chiding her for not writing--

“_Oct. 3, 1734._--I am surprised that my answer to your Grace’s
letter has never reached your hands. I sent it immediately to
Canterbury by the servant of a gentleman who dined here, and
I suppose he forgot to put it in the post. I am reconciled to
the carelessness of the fellow, since it has procured to me so
particular a mark of your concern. If my letter were sensible,
what would be the mortification, that instead of having the honour
to kiss your Grace’s hands, it must lie confined in the footman’s
pocket with greasy gloves, rotten apples, a pack of dirty cards,
and the only companion of its sort, a tender epistle from his
sweetheart, ‘tru tell deth.’ Perhaps by its situation subject to be
kicked by his master every morning, till at last, by ill-usage and
rude company, worn too thin for any other use, it may make its exit
in lighting a tobacco-pipe. I believe the fellow who lost my letter
knew very well how ready I should be to supply it with another.

“I am, Madam,
“Your Grace’s most obedient servant,
“ELIZABETH ROBINSON.”

[Page heading: “FIDGET”]

The duchess’s favourite name for Elizabeth was “Fidget,” a name adopted
by all the Bullstrode[18] circle. This was due to her vivacity of mind
and body. She was never really a strong person, but her nervous energy
enabled her frail body to perform feats that a more lethargic person
could not have accomplished. “Why should a table that stands still
require so many legs when I can fidget on two?” she would exclaim. The
duchess returns an answer on October 25, portions of which I copy--

“DEAR FIDGET,

“I assure you I am very angry at the fellow’s not taking care of
your letter, for they always give me infinite pleasure, and I
esteem it as a great loss. I am very sensible of the friendship
you have for me, and hope you never shall find any reason to the
contrary. You have painted extremely well the fate of your letter
was not according to its deserts.... Pray do you hear anything of
Dr. Middleton and his fine wife?[19] I had a letter not long ago
wherein it was said she made the doctor very sensible she had a
tongue, and a very sharp one too, with the addition of a clear and
distinct voice. If you have any poetry, send it to me; you know it
will be acceptable to her who is

“Dear Fidget’s
“Very humble servant and admirer,
“M. CAVENDISH PORTLAND.”

[18] The duchess always spelt Bullstrode with the double _l_, from
the story of the place, and I choose to do the same.

[19] On Dr. Middleton’s second wife.

[Page heading: DRAWING LESSONS]

In Elizabeth’s next letter, November 3, 1734, she regrets that her
father, having recovered his spirits, had given up going to Bath as
projected, and says--

“One common objection to the country, one sees no faces but those
of one’s own family, but my Pappa thinks he has found a remedy for
that by teaching me to draw; but then he husbands these faces in
so cruel a manner that he brings me sometimes a nose, sometimes an
eye at a time: but on the King’s birthday, as it was a festival, he
brought me out a whole face with its mouth wide open. Your Grace
desired me to send you some verses; I have not heard so much as a
Rhyme lately, and I believe the Muses have all got agues in this
country, but I have enclosed you the following Summons which we
sent an old bachelor, who is very much our humble servant, and
would die but not dance for us; but being once in great necessity
for partners, we thought him better than an elbow chair, and
compelled him to come to this Summons, which pleased me extremely,
as I believe it was the first time he ever found the power of
the fair sex.... I am so far from Cambridge, and have no friend
charitable enough to send me any scandal, I have heard nothing of
either of the doctors, but as to my dear grandmother,[20] I have
before heard she was as famous as a _free speaker_ as he is for a
_free-thinker_.[21]

[20] This is Elizabeth’s fun, as her own grandmother was dead, and
the doctor was her step-grandfather.

[21] Dr. Middleton held free-thinking views on the Old Testament.

[Page heading: A SUMMONS]

“‘SUMMONS.

“‘_Kent, to J. B., Esqre._[22]

“‘WHEREAS complaint has been made to us Commissioners of Her
Majesties’ Balls, Hopps, Assemblies, &c., for the county aforesaid,
that several able and expert men, brought up and instructed in
the art or mistery of Dancing, have and daily do refuse, though
often thereunto requested, to be retained and exercised in the
aforesaid Art or Mistery, to the occasion of great scarcity of good
dancers in these parts, and contrary to the Laws of Gallantry and
good manners, in that case made and provided: AND WHEREAS we are
likewise credibly informed that you J. B., Esqre., though educated
in the said Art by that celebrated Master, Lally, Senior, are one
of the most notorious offenders in this point, these are therefore
in the name of the Fair Sex, to require you, the said J. B.,
Esqre., personally to be and appear before us, at our meeting this
day at the sign of the “Golden Ball,” in the parish of Horton, in
the county aforesaid, between the hours of twelve and one in the
forenoon to answer to such matter as shall be objected against you,
concerning the aforesaid refusal and contempt of our jurisdiction
and authority, and to bring with you your dancing shoes, laced
waistcoat and white gloves. And hereby fail not under peril of our
frowns, and being henceforth deemed and accounted an Old Bachelor.
Given under our hands and seals this eighth day of October, 1734,
to which we all set our hands.’”

[22] James Brockman, of Beachborough. The summons is still kept at
Beachborough.

[Page heading: THE “GOLDEN BALL”]

The “Golden Ball” was the ball of the weathercock on the lantern cupola
of the house at Mount Morris. In the next letter, November 20, she
says--

“Out of my filial piety I would persuade my Pappa to set out for
London. I have been preaching to him all this day, that when Saul
had the spleen, David’s musick did him a great deal of good, and
that I am satisfied Farinelli[23] would do him as much service. He
goes frequently shooting or coursing, and fancies that will prevent
its return, and to answer me with the Scripture, says, Nimrod the
mighty hunter never had the Hyp. Dr. Middleton designed to bring
his Dearee to London, but if she is so gay it may be as prudent
to keep her at Cambridge ... if it should enter her head that the
doctor is no greater than another, what a mortification it would
be to my good Grand-pappa; if he knows himself and her, I think he
would agree with Arnolfe in _L’Ecole des Femmes_[24]--

“‘Que c’est assez pour elle, a vous en bien parler,
De savoir prier Dieu, l’aimer, coudre, et filer.’”

[23] Carlo Brocchi, whose professional name was Farinelli, vocalist
and pupil of Porpora.

[24] A play of Molière’s.

[Illustration:

_Emery Walker Ph. Sc._

_Miss Sarah Morris_]

Mr. Robinson, who drew and painted in a style worthy of a professional
artist, was anxious Elizabeth should become a proficient in the same
art, but she writes to the duchess--

“If you design to make any proficiency in that art, I would
advise you not to draw _old men’s_ heads. It was the rueful head
countenance of Socrates or Seneca that first put me out of conceit
of it; had my Pappa given me the blooming faces of Adonis or
Narcissus, I might have been a more apt scholar; and when I told
him I found those great beards difficult to draw, he gave me St.
John’s head in a charger, so to avoid the speculation of dismal
faces, which by my art I dismalized ten times more than they were
before, I threw away my pencil.”

[Year: 1735]

[Page heading: TUNBRIDGE WELLS]

In October, 1735, the duchess’s first child was born, Elizabeth,
eventually wife of the 1st Marquis of Bath. Elizabeth writes to
congratulate her, and states she heard Dr. Mead (then the great ladies’
doctor) pronounced it the finest child he ever saw. Elizabeth had
just returned from her first visit to Tunbridge Wells for her health,
suffering much from headaches and weak eyes. At this period the
_Dowager_ Duchess of Portland died. The letters up to this date were
addressed to “To Her Grace, The junior Duchess of Portland.”

[Page heading: LORD STANHOPE]

Elizabeth writes a description of her five weeks at Tunbridge Wells.
After comments on an unhappy marriage recently made, she says--

“You know some of our Grub Street wits compared marriage to a
country dance, which scheme I extremely approved, but when I read
it, I thought it should have been set to the tune of ‘Love for
ever;’ but they say it never did go to that tune, nor ever would.
I danced twice a week all the time I was at Tunbridge, and once
extraordinary, for Lord Euston[25] came down to see Lord Augustus
Fitzroy,[26] and made a ball. Lord Euston danced with the Duchess
of Norfolk,[27] but her Grace went home early, and then Lord Euston
danced with Lady Delves. We all left off about one o’clock. The day
after I left the Wells, I went to the Races (Canterbury), which
began on Monday, and ended on Thursday.... Monday there was an
Assembly, Tuesday a Play, Wednesday an Assembly again, and Thursday
another play, and as soon as that was over, we had a ball where we
had ten couple. I did not go to bed after our private ball till
six o’clock, and rose again before nine.

“The person who was taken most notice of at Tunbridge as particular
is a young gentleman your Grace may be perhaps acquainted with, I
mean Lord Stanhope.[28] He is always making mathematical scratches
in his pocket-book, so that one half the people took him for a
conjurer, and the other half for a fool.”

[25] George, Earl of Euston, son of the 2nd Duke of Grafton.

[26] A brother of Lord Euston.

[27] Wife of Edward, 9th Duke of Norfolk.

[28] Philip, 2nd Earl Stanhope, born 1714.

In a letter of October 2 is the first mention of Mrs. Pendarves,[29]
afterwards Mrs. Delany. It runs--

“Your pleasures are always my satisfactions; I assure you I partake
at Mount Morris all the happiness you tell me you receive at
Bullstrode. I am sure Mrs. Pendarves cannot give you any pleasure
in her conversation that she is not repayed in enjoying yours. I
am glad you have got so agreeable a companion with you; it is a
happiness you have not always enjoyed, though deserved.”

[29] _Née_ Mary Granville, widow of Mr. W. Pendarves, born 1700,
died 1788. Daughter of John Granville.

[Page heading: LADY THANET]

Mention is made of the duchess’s desire to obtain beautiful shells,
and Elizabeth desired her sailor brother Robert, who had just returned
from Italy, and was going in his ship to the East Indies, to bring home
what he can in shells and feathers of all sorts--parrots, peacocks,
etc.--for work the duchess was doing. This feather work became a
rage of both the duchess and Elizabeth, and was the precursor of
the celebrated feather hangings, immortalized by Cowper’s verses in
Elizabeth’s later years. A humorous description of Lady Thanet,[30]
then the great lady of West Kent, an amusing character, and great-aunt
of the Duchess of Portland, is given in the same letter--

“Lord Thanet[31] said when he came to Kent this summer that Lord
Cowper[32] had brought his Countess[33] to affront all _East Kent_,
and he had brought his Countess to affront all _West Kent_. She was
a little discomposed one day at dinner and threw a pheasant and a
couple of partridges off the table in shoving them up to my Lord to
cut up.”

[30] Mary, 4th daughter and coheiress of 2nd Marquis of Halifax.

[31] 7th Earl of Thanet.

[32] William, 2nd Earl Cowper.

[33] Henrietta, daughter of Earl Grantham.

[Year: 1737]

Early in 1737, the second daughter of the duchess’s was
born--Henrietta, afterwards Countess of Stamford and Warrington.
Elizabeth writes to congratulate her on the event. She and her family
were very ill of fever that summer, thirteen persons down with it in
the house. The smallpox raged at Canterbury, and Mrs. Robinson would
not allow her daughters to attend the races. In a letter of September
mention is made of Dr. Conyers Middleton’s disappointment at not
obtaining the Mastership of the Charter House, which he most desired.
Another peep at Lady Thanet--

“Lady Thanet came into this part of the country ten days ago;
her French woman rode astride through the wilds of Kent, and the
country people having heard her Ladyship was something odd, took
Mademoiselle for Lady Thanet.”

The first letter extant between Elizabeth and Miss Anstey, sister of
Christopher Anstey, the author of the “New Bath Guide,”[34] may be
placed here, though undated, except “Mount Morris, near Hythe, July
15.” This extract shows her vivacious nature--

[34] The “New Bath Guide” was not written till 1766. The Ansteys
lived at Brinckley near Cambridge.

“Yesterday I was overturned coming from a neighbour’s. We got no
hurt at all, but were forced to borrow a coach to bring us the
rest of the way, our own being quite disabled by the fall.... I
always think one visits in the country at the hazard of one’s
bones, but fear is never so powerful with me, as to make me stay
at home, and the next thing to being retired, is to be morose:
contemplation is not made for a woman on the right side of thirty,
it suits prodigiously well with the gout or the rheumatism: rest
and an elbow chair are the comfort of age, but the pleasures of
youth are of a more lively sort. I have in winter gone eight miles
to dance to the music of a blind fiddler, and returned at two in
the morning, mightily pleased that I had been so well entertained.
I am so fond of dancing that I cannot help fancying I was at some
time bit by a tarantula,[35] and never got well cured of it. I
shall this year lose my annual dancings at Canterbury Races, for my
Papa has made a resolution (I assure you without my advice) not to
go to them.”

[35] It was believed that a tarantula’s bite was only to be cured by
dancing.

[Page heading: MERSHAM HATCH]

[Page heading: THE PLAY]

In the next letter to the duchess, October 15, 1737--

“Lady Thanet made a ball at Hothfield a few days ago to which she
did our family the honour to invite them, and as we were obeying
her commands and got into the coach with our ball airs and our
dancing shoes, at five miles of our journey we met with a brook so
swelled by the rain it looked like a river, and the water, we were
told, was up to the coach seat, and as I had never heard of any
balls in the Elysian Fields, and don’t so much as know whether the
ghosts of departed beaux wear pumps, I thought it better to reserve
ourselves for the Riddotto[36] than hazard drowning for this ball,
and so we turned back and went to Sir Wyndham Knatchbull’s,[37]
who were hindered by the same water; for my part I could think of
nothing but the ball, when any one asked me how I did I cry’d
tit for tat, and when they bid me sit down, I answered ‘Jack of
the green.’ A few days after the ball, Lady Thanet bespoke a play
at a town eight miles from us, and summoned us to it; two of my
brothers, and my sister,[38] and your humble servant went, and
after the play the gentlemen invited all the women to a supper
at a tavern, where we staid till two o’clock in the morning, and
then all set out for their respective homes. Here I suppose you
will think my diversion ended, but I must tell your Grace it
did not; for before I had gone two miles, I had the pleasure of
being overturned, at which I squalled for joy; and to complete my
felicity I was obliged to stand half an hour in the most refreshing
rain, and the coolest north breeze I ever felt; for the coach’s
braces breaking were the occasion of our overturn, and there was no
moving till they were mended. You may suppose we did not lose so
favourable an opportunity of catching cold; we all came croaking
down to breakfast the next morning, and said we had caught no cold,
as one always says when one has been scheming, but I think I have
scarce recovered my treble notes yet. We had seven coaches at the
play; there was Lord Winchilsea,[39] Lady Charlotte Finch,[40]
Lady Betty Fielding,[40] Capt. Fielding,[41] his lady, and the
Miss Palmers.[42] Mr. Fielding and Miss Molly Palmer caught such
colds they sent for a physician the next day; Lady Knatchbull and
Miss Knatchbull have kept their beds ever since: poor Lady Thanet
was overturned as she went home, and caught a terrible hoarseness,
which was the better for the poor coachman, who by that means
escaped a sharp and shrill reproof; and indeed it is enough for
any poor man to lye under the terror of her frowns, with a look
she can wound, with a frown she can kill; I think I never saw so
formidable a countenance. I think Lord Thanet’s education of his
son[43] is something particular; he encourages him in swearing and
singing nasty ballads with the servants: he is a very fine boy,
but prodigiously rude; he came down to breakfast the other day
when there was company, and his maid came with him, who, instead
of carrying a Dutch toy, or a little whirligig for his Lordship to
play with, was lugging a billet for his plaything. There was a fine
supper at the ball, 33 dishes all very neat. My elder brother got
out of the coach and put on a pair of boots, and rode on to the
ball when we turned back.”

[36] An entertainment of music first and afterwards dancing.

[37] 5th Baronet. His place called Mersham Hatch.

[38] Sarah Robinson, three years younger than Elizabeth.

[39] Daniel, 7th Earl Winchilsea.

[40] Sisters of Lord Winchilsea.

[41] Father of Henry Fielding, the novelist.

[42] Daughters of Sir Thomas Palmer of Wingham, Kent. Miss Molly
afterwards 2nd Lady Winchilsea.

[43] Sackville Tufton, 8th Earl of Thanet, born 1733.

[Page heading: LADY WALLINGFORD]

November 21, the duchess writes to condole with Elizabeth on the loss
of the ball, and mentions having been staying with the Duke at Lady
Peterborough’s[44]--

“Bevis Mount[45] is the most delightful place I ever saw, the house
bad and tumbling down, but there is a summer-house in the garden,
such a one! From thence there is a prospect of the sea, the Isle
of Wight, New Forest, the town of Southampton, the garden laid out
with an elegant taste, and in short everything that is agreeable,
but particularly the Mistress.... Lord and Lady Wallingford are
with us now; they are extremely agreeable. I fancy you must have
seen her in public places. She is extremely pretty, and in the
French dress.”

[44] _Née_ Anastasia Robinson, wife of the 3rd Lord Peterborough.

[45] Bevis Mount, in Southampton.

Lady Wallingford was the daughter of John Law, the famous financier, by
his wife Katherine Knollys, third daughter of Charles Knollys, titular
3rd Earl of Banbury. Mary Katherine Law married in 1732 her first
cousin, called Viscount Wallingford.

[Page heading: THE SUIT OF CLOATHES]

At this period, though undated, may be placed Elizabeth’s request to
her father for a handsome suit of clothes. In a letter to her mother
she thanks her “for your goodness in giving me leave to stay, and
making it convenient to answer the Duchess’s and my wishes to stay
during her confinement. When we came to town the Duchess reckoned the
end of April.” From Bullstrode, therefore, she accompanied the duchess
and her family to Whitehall, where in a portion of the old palace was
the Portlands’ town residence. Elizabeth was now in her eighteenth
year. In a letter to her father, too lengthy to insert entirely, worded
in the respectful way children addressed their parents then, with “Sir”
and “Madam,” and concluding with “your most dutiful daughter,” she
says--

“You know this year I am to be introduced by the Duchess to the
best company in the town, and when she lies in, am both to receive
in form with her all her visits as Lady Bell[46] used to do on
that occasion, all the people of quality of both sexes that are in
London, and I must be in full dress, and shall go about with her
all the winter, therefore a suit of cloathes will be necessary for
me, the value of which I submit entirely to you. I shall never so
much want a handsome suit as upon this occasion of first appearing
with my Lady Duchess; but as the first consideration is to please
you, I would by no means urge this beyond your pleasure, by duty
or inclination, I shall always be content with what you order, and
hope you will not be displeased with my requests.”

[46] Lady Isabella Bentinck, sister of the duke.

To this appeal her father sent her £20, and she returns thanks thus:--

“Whitehall, Thursday.

“SIR,

“Wit is seldom accompanied with money, but your letter came to
me with so much of both, that I can neither send you thanks, nor
an answer worthy of your present epistle. You are very good
to gratify my bosom friend, vanity, which, though it does not
abandon me in a plain gown, takes greater delight in seeing me
in a handsome one, and it has promised me that I shall appear to
advantage in my new suit of cloathes, both to myself and other
people.... The Duchess, with her advice, will help me to make the
best use of your generosity. I have been to the Mercer’s, but have
not yet pitched upon a silk.... Mr. Pope has wrote an epitaph upon
himself, which is not by far the best monument of his wit; it is
a trifling thing, and seems wrote for amusement. I would send it
you if I could, but I have not got a copy of it; as soon as I have
I will convey it to Mount Morris, where I imagine you may want
amusements, and our roads are not smooth enough for Pegasus.”

[Page heading: ROBERT ROBINSON]

This epitaph is probably the one commencing “Under this marble, or
under this sill, or under this turf, or e’en what they will.” At the
end of the letter she says of her sailor brother--

“Now Robert is secure of his commission, his life is something
hazardous, but he holds danger in contempt, the golden fruit of
gain is always guarded by some dragon which courage or vigilance
must conquer.”

He had just been made captain of the _Bedford_, a ship in the merchant
service. Evidently Mrs. Robinson wrote a letter of advice as to the
important choice of “cloathes.” The answer runs--

“MADAM,

“I have obeyed your commands as to my cloathes, and have bought a
very handsome Du Cape within the twenty pounds; a little accident
which had happened to the silk in the Lomb made it a great deal
cheaper, and, I believe, will not be at all the worse when made up;
the colour in some places is a little damaged, but that will cut
for the tail, and the rest is perfectly good. It will last longer
clean than a flowered silk, and I have already had two since I
have been in Mantuas:[47] I saw some of 25_s._ a yard that I did
not think so pretty. Pray, Madam, let my thanks be repeated to my
Pappa, to whose goodness I owe this suit of cloathes.... Pray send
me by Tom the figured Dimity that was left of my upper coat, for it
is too narrow and too short for my present hoop, which is of the
first magnitude.”

[47] The expression then used for the period when young ladies were
what we call “out.”

[Page heading: ANNE DONNELLAN]

At the end of this letter Anne Donnellan is mentioned for the first
time. She was a friend of Dean Swift’s, together with her sister,
Mrs. Clayton, and her brother, the Rev. Christopher Donnellan. Anne
Donnellan’s pet name in the Duchess of Portland’s circle was “Don,”
as Mrs. Pendarves (afterwards Mrs. Delany) was “Pen,” Miss Dashwood
“Dash,”[48] and Lady Wallingford “Wall.”

[48] The “Delia” of the poet Hammond.

CHAPTER II.

LIFE IN BATH, LONDON, AND AT BULLSTRODE, 1738–1740 BEGINNING OF
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. DONNELLAN.

[Year: 1738]

On April 16, 1738, the Duchess of Portland’s son, William Henry,
afterwards 3rd Duke, was born, after which Elizabeth returned home
with her father. On June 30 the duchess wrote to apologize for a long
silence--

“I should have answered dear Fidget’s letter before I left
London, but you are sensible what a hurry one lives in there,
and particularly after being confined some months from public
diversions, how much one is engaged in them, Operas, Park,
Assemblies, Vaux Hall--which I believe you never had the occasion
of seeing. You must get your Papa to stay next year: it is really
insufferable going out of town at the most pleasant time of the
year. I am positive the easterly winds have much greater effect
upon the spirits in the country, than it is possible they should
have in London. I dare say the chief part of the year your Papa is
in town he don’t know which way the wind is, except when he goes
into a Coffee House and meets with some poor disbanded Officer who
is quarrelling with the times and consequently with the weather,
because he is not a General in time of peace; or a valetudinarian,
that if a fly settled on his nose, would curse the Easterly wind,
and fancy it had sent it there; these are the only people that ever
thought of East wind in London.”

At the end of the letter the duchess says, “My amusements are all of
the Rural kind--Working, Spinning, Knotting, Drawing, Reading, Writing,
Walking, and picking Herbs to put into an Herbal.”

[Page heading: SIR ROBERT AUSTIN]

This little peep of her life is most characteristic, though fond
of the pleasures of high society diversions, and the varieties of
London, she took an interest in all sorts of country and domestic
pursuits, and excelled in them. She turned in wood and ivory; she
was familiar with every kind of needlework; she made shell frames,
adorned grottoes, designed feather work, collected endless objects in
the animal and vegetable kingdom; was a hearty lover of animals and
birds of all kinds. Her letters are lively and affectionate, but not
clever and witty as her friend Elizabeth Robinson’s. She complains of
her stupidity in letter-writing. Elizabeth had the witty head, and the
duchess the cunning hand, but both possessed that valuable possession,
warm hearts. To the duchess’s last letter Elizabeth replies--

“I arrived at Mount Morris rather more fond of society than
solitude. I thought it no very agreeable change of scene from
Handel[49] and Cafferelli.[50]... Sir Francis Dashwood’s sister is
going to be married to Sir Robert Austin, a baronet of our county;
if the size of his estate bore any proportion to the bulk of his
carcase, he would be one of the greatest matches in England ... a
lady may make her lover languish till he is the size she most likes
... as it is the fashion for men to die for love, the only thing
a woman can do is to bring a man into a consumption; what triumph
then must attend the lady who reduces Sir Robert Austin ... to
asses’ milk. Omphale made Hercules spin, but greater glory awaits
the lady who makes Sir Robert Austin lean.... I told my Pappa how
much he laid under your Grace’s displeasure for hurrying out of
town: but what is a fine lady’s anger, or the loss of London, to
five and forty? They are more afraid of an easterly wind than a
frown when at that age.”

[49] George Frederick Handel, born 1685, died 1759.

[50] Gaetano Majoriano Caffarelli, celebrated Italian singer, pupil
of Porpora, died 1783.

[Page heading: VARIOUS RECIPES]

[Page heading: THE GOAT]

On December 17 Elizabeth writes to the duchess in answer to a string of
queries the latter had sent her--

“I must take the liberty to advise what is to be done, and to avoid
confusion will take them in the order of the letter. Item, for the
wet-nurse[51] after the chickenpox, that she may become new milch
again, a handful of Camomile flowers, a handful of Pennyroyal,
boiled in white wine, and sweetened with treacle, to be taken at
going to rest. For my Lord Titchfield who grows prodigiously,
Daisy roots and milk. For the small foot and taper ancle of my
Lady Duchess, bruised and strained by a fall, a large shoe and oil
Opodeldock. For the horse whose Christian name I have forgotten,
Friar’s Balsam, and for the death of a dormouse take four of the
fairest Moral and Theological Virtues, with patience and fortitude,
quantum sufficit, and they will prevent immoderate grieving.... I
heard a very ridiculous story a few days ago: Mr. Page, brother to
Sir Gregory, going to visit Mr. Edward Walpole,[52] a tame goat
which was in the street followed him unperceived when he got out
of the coach into the house. Mr. Walpole’s servant, thinking the
goat came out of Mr. Page’s coach, carried it into the room to Mr.
Walpole, who thought it a little odd Mr. Page should bring such a
visitor, as Mr. Page no less admired at his choice of so savoury a
companion; but civility, a great disguiser of sentiments, prevented
their declaring their opinions, and the goat, no respecter of
persons or furniture, began to rub himself against the frame of a
chair which was carved and gilt, and the chair, which was fit for
a Christian, but unable to bear the shock of a beast, fell almost
to pieces. Mr. Walpole thought Mr. Page very indulgent to his dear
crony the goat, and wondering he took no notice of the damage,
said he fancied tame goats did a great deal of harm, to which the
other said he believed so too: after much free and easy behaviour
of the goat, to the great detriment of the furniture, they came to
an explanation, and Mr. Goat was turned downstairs with very little
ceremony or good manners.... Dr. Middleton has got two nieces whom
he is to keep entirely, for his brother left them quite destitute.
They are very fine children, and my Grannam is very fond of them.
The doctor is soon to bring forth his ‘Cicero,’ everybody says the
production will do him credit. Lady Thanet has set an assembly on
foot about eight miles from hence, where we all meet at the full
moon and dance till 12 o’clock, and then take an agreeable journey
home. Our assembly in full glory has ten coaches at it; and Lady
Thanet, to make up a number, is pleased in her humility to call
in all the parsons, apprentices, tradesmen, apothecaries, and
farmers, milliners, mantua-makers, haberdashers of small wares,
and chambermaids. It is the oddest mixture you can imagine--here
sails a reverent parson, there skips an airy apprentice, here
jumps a farmer, and then every one has an eye to their trade; the
milliner pulls you by the hand till she tears your glove; the
mantua-maker treads upon your petticoat till she unrips the seams;
the shoemaker makes you foot it till you wear out your shoes; the
mercer dirties your gown; the apothecary opens the window behind
you to make you sick. Most of our neighbours will be in town by
the next moon, so we shall have no more balls this winter. In
town the ladies talk of their stars, but here, ‘If weak women go
astray, the moon is more in fault than they.’ Will o’ Whisp never
led the bewildered traveller over hedge or ditch as a moon does us
country folk; a squeaking fiddle is an occasion, and a moonlight
night an opportunity, to go ten miles in bad roads at any time.
I must tell your Grace that my Papa forgets twenty years and nine
children, and dances as nimbly as any of the Quorum, but is now
and then mortified by hearing the ladies cry, ‘Old Mr. Robinson
hay sides, and turn your daughter:’ other ladies who have a mind
to appear young say, ‘Well, there is my poor Grandpapa; he could
no more dance so.’ Then comes an old bachelor of fifty and shakes
him by the hand, and cries, ‘Why you dance like us young fellows:’
another more injudicious than the rest, says by way of compliment,
‘Who would think you had six fine children taller than yourself? I
protest if I did not know you I should take you to be young.’ Then
says the most antiquated Virgin in the company, ‘Mr. Robinson wears
mighty well; my mother says he looks as well as ever she remembers
him; he used often to come to the house when I was a girl.’ You may
suppose he has not the ‘hyp’ at these balls; but indeed it is a
distemper so well bred as never to come but when people are at home
and at leisure.”

[51] Wet-nurse of the Marquis of Titchfield.

[52] Son of Sir Robert and brother of Horace Walpole.

[Year: 1739]

[Page heading: WILLIAM AND GRACE FREIND]

In April, 1739, Elizabeth’s cousin, Grace Robinson, sister of “Long”
Sir Thomas Robinson,[53] married the Rev. William Freind,[54] son of
the Rev. Dr. Robert Freind, Head Master of Westminster School. Soon
after the marriage, Elizabeth, who appears to have known Mr. Freind
intimately before he married her cousin, writes from “Leicester
Street, near Leicester Fields,” to Mr. and Mrs. Freind, “How rare meet
now, such pairs in love and honour joyn’d,” and addresses them as
“my inestimable cousins.” She states that her family return to Kent
shortly, whilst she is going to the Duchess of Portland in White Hall.
Elizabeth writes to the duchess on July 1, 1739, having just returned
home from her visit--

“I have thought of nothing but the company I was in on Tuesday
since I left town, though a worshipful Justice with a new leathern
belt, scarlet waistcoat and plush breeches, has been endeavouring
this whole afternoon to put you out of my head. I have been forced
to hear the most elegant encomiums upon the country, and the most
barbarous censures upon the town. First his Worship talked of
Larks and Nightingales, then enlarged upon the sweetness of bean
blossom, roses and honeysuckles, said the town stunk of cabbages
and limekilns, so that I found as to pleasures he was lead by the
nose.”

[53] Sir Thomas Robinson, eldest son of William Robinson, of Rokeby;
made a baronet in 1730. Called “Long” Sir Thomas to distinguish him
from Sir Thomas Robinson, afterwards 1st Baron Grantham.

[54] Succeeded his father as Rector of Whitney, Oxon, and afterwards
Dean of Canterbury.

[Page heading: COUNTRY BEAUX]

Further on she says, the Canterbury Races were to be on July 18, and
begs her Grace, if she knows any dancing shoes which lye idle, to bid
them trip to Canterbury, as there will be many forsaken damsels--

“Our collection of men is very antique, they stand in my list thus:
a man of sense, a little rusty, a beau a good deal the worse for
wearing, a coxcomb extremely shattered, a pretty gentleman, very
insipid, a baronet very solemn, a squire very fat, a fop much
affected, a barrister learned in ‘Coke upon Lyttelton’ but knows
nothing of ‘long ways for many as will,’ an heir-apparent, very
awkward; which of these will cast a favourable eye upon me I don’t
know.”

[Page heading: THOMAS ROBINSON]

[Page heading: A BONE-SETTER]

She was destined not to go after all, for she writes--

“Mount Morris, July 18, 1739.

“MADAM,

“The great art of life is to turn our misfortunes to our advantage,
and to make even disappointments instrumental to our pleasures. To
follow which rule I have taken the day which I should have gone
to the Races to write to your Grace. About ten days ago my Papa
took an hypochondriacal resolution not to go to the Races, for the
Vapours and Love are two things that seek solitude, but for me, who
have neither in my constitution, a crowd is not disagreeable, and
I always find myself prompted by a natural benevolence and love
of Society to go where two or three are gathered together.... The
theory of dancing is extreamly odd, tho’ the practice is agreeable;
who could by force of reasoning find out the satisfaction of
casting off right hand and left, and the Hayes; we often laugh at
a kitten turning round in pursuit of its tail, when the creature
is really turning single. I shall have an account of the Races
from my brother Robinson, who is there; as for the Barrister,[55]
he came down to the Sessions, and when he had sold all his Law,
packed up his saleable eloquence and carried it back to Lincoln’s
Inn, there to be left till called for. Would you think a person so
near akin to me as a brother could run away from a ball? I hear
some Canterbury girls who could aspire no higher than a younger
brother, are very angry, and say they shall never put their cause
into his hands, as he seems so little willing to defend it....
Next year we must certainly go to the Races for the good of the
county, and dance out of the spirit of Patriotism. The Election
year always brings company to Canterbury upon this occasion, and
as for me I will dance to either a Whig or a Tory tune, as it may
be, for in any wise I will dance. I am not like the dancing Monkies
who will only cut their capers for King George, I will dance for
any man or Monarch in Christendom, nay were it even a Mahometan
or idolatrous King; I should not make much scruple about it. I
had the misfortune to be overturned the other day coming from Sir
Wyndham Knatchbull’s,[56] the occasion of it was one of our wheels
coming off. I assure you I but just avoided the indecency of being
topsy turvey, my head was so much lower than its usual situation,
as put my ideas much out of place, and I think my head has been
in a perfect litter ever since.... I shall begin to think from
my frequent overturns a bone-setter a necessary part of equipage
for country visiting. I am sure those who visit much, love their
neighbours better than themselves; perhaps you will be as apt to
suspect me as anybody of that extream of charity, but I am so
tender of myself there are few I would hazard even a gristle or
a sinew, but civility is a debt that must be paid. I hope in all
accidents I shall preserve a finger and thumb, to write myself

“Your Grace’s most obedient and obliged
“Humble servant,
“E. ROBINSON.

“My humble service to the Duke.”

[55] Her brother Thomas.

[56] At Mersham Hatch.

[Illustration:

_Hamilton, Pinx._ _Emery Walker Ph. Sc._

_Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Robinson_]

[Page heading: DUKE OF PORTLAND]

The duchess was now expecting her confinement, and Lady Wallingford,
who was staying with her, corresponded with Elizabeth in French. Owing
to the residence of her father in France as Superintendent of Finances,
she was more French than English. Her letters are well written and
expressed, though the spelling is peculiar. At a later date she writes
to Elizabeth in broken English, and she scolds her for making her
correspond in English instead of French. Horace Walpole, in a letter
to the Earl of Buchan, states that Lady Wallingford was the image of
her father, and that her mother, Lady Katherine Law, lived during her
husband’s power in France in great state. On July 26, 1739, another
daughter, Lady Margaret, was born to the duchess. Dr. Sandys was, as
usual, the accoucheur, but it makes one horrified in these days to
think Dr. Sandys _bled_ the duchess for a feverish cold on the Monday
and Thursday after her child was born. Truly under this San Grado
treatment it was then the “survival of the fittest”! The duke now wrote
a bulletin of his wife to Elizabeth--

“Whitehall, August 9, 1739.

“MADAM,

“Tho’ J have not been overturned you’ll imagine by the scrawl you
receive yt both my thumb and forefinger have been dislocated; J own
j can’t agree with you in yt for j flatter myself j have the use of
them, but if you please j’ll agree with you that they never were in
joint, for which reason j am not so sensible of ye loss of jointed
fingers, as you might be had yours been broke by the overturn of
your coach, which accident j hope may never happen to you. The Dss.
is as well as can be expected tho’ a little weak, and is extremely
obliged to you for your letter, and also begged j would hint yt
tho’ she can’t wright letters she can read them, j need not explain
my meaning to you. She desires her kind service to Fidgett; and
should be glad if you would make her compliments acceptable to your
Mama, etc.

“j am with the uttmost respect, Madam,
“Your most obedient, humble servant,
“PORTLAND.”

The duke’s writing is very characteristic, but certainly rather
disjointed looking, and his I’s always written as long j’s.

Elizabeth had just had another coach adventure. The coachman who drove
her father and mother and her brother Matthew home after dining at a
neighbour’s, was drunk, which they did not perceive till he lashed the
four horses into a furious gallop. In vain Mr. Robinson called to him,
and swore at him; Matthew and Mrs. Robinson intreated; he persisted
in lashing the horses till he fell off the box, and two wheels ran
over him, but as Elizabeth states, “being preserved in beer, took very
little harm; both footmen were drunk, so took very little care about
us.”

In a letter to the duchess (August 15) we find Elizabeth and her sister
Sarah banished from home to Canterbury on account of a woman and three
children who lived in a farmhouse near the gate of Mount Morris having
the smallpox. That fell disease ever inspired Elizabeth with great
dread. Later in life at three different times she was inoculated,[57]
each time unsuccessfully, for this disease, then a universal scourge.
I should like the foolish fathers and mothers of the present day who
petition for non-vaccination to read the accounts given in letters
I possess of the unbridled ravages then made by smallpox, and to
consider that a usually temporary inconvenience to the child’s health
is a very trifling infliction compared with a loathsome disease, which
many people fled from nursing, and which even if it did not kill the
sufferers, probably disfigured them for life. The sisters first stayed
with Mrs. Scott,[58] and then with Mrs. Tennison, “wife to a prebend
in this church; there is very little company here, except Deans,
Prebends and Minor Canons, etc., etc.; nothing but messages and visits
from Prebends, Deacons, and the Church militant upon earth.” Later on,
speaking of her brother Matthew’s refusal to leave home on account of
the smallpox, she says, “I have seven brothers, and would not part with
one for a kingdom; and if I had but one, I should be distracted about
him; sure nobody has so many or so good brothers.”

[57] Lady Mary Wortley Montagu introduced inoculation into England
in 1721.

[58] Of Scott’s Hall.

[Page heading: INFLUENZA]

[Page heading: THE SMALLPOX]

Meanwhile the duchess had a return of fever, and was for some days
in great danger. On August 28 Lady Wallingford writes to say she was
out of danger. Influenza was rife then, and Lady Wallingford states
that she had not a single lackey fit to attend her from her house to
Whitehall, but had walked there by herself, though still suffering from
its effects. It was not then called influenza, but from the description
must have been that disease. Eight out of the nine in the farm at
Mount Morris caught the smallpox, and the duke, writing to Elizabeth on
September 15, a bulletin about his wife, adds--

“Both she and j[59] join in entreating you not to venture yourself,
and that pretty face of yours, to come within the walls of your
paternal mansion, and were j in your situation, nothing but
absolute commands should make me venture myself.”

[59] The “j” for “I,” characteristic of the duke’s writing.

After her visit to Canterbury, Elizabeth spent a month at Mersham Hatch
with the Knatchbulls. She now became seriously indisposed; her health
was always frail, and she appears to have suffered much from headaches
at this period. In a letter to the duchess she complains--

“I have swallowed the weight of an Apothecary in medicine, and what
I am the better for it, except more patient, and less credulous,
I know not. I have learnt to bear my infirmities and not to trust
to the skill of Physicians for curing them. I endeavour to drink
deeply of Philosophy, and to be wise when I cannot be merry, easy
when I cannot be glad, content with what cannot be mended, and
patient where there be no redress. The mighty can do no more, and
the wise seldom do as much.”

On October 10 she announces that she and her mother, who had been
extremely unwell too, had been advised to drink the Bath waters, and
were to be accompanied there by her father. She hopes to see the
duchess on her way to Bath, but bids her tell her porter to admit her,
as she has grown so thin--

“he will think it is my ghost and shut the door. I shall stay but
a few days in town and then proceed with my Father and Mother,
to the waters of life and recovery. My Pappa’s chimney ‘hyp’ will
never venture to attack him in a public place; it is the sweet
companion of solitude and the off-spring of meditation, the disease
of an idle imagination, not the child of hurry and diversion. I
am afraid that with the gaiety of the place, and the spirits the
waters give, I shall be perfect Sal-Volatile, and open my mouth
and evaporate.... I was a month at Hatch, where the good humour of
the family makes everything agreeable; we had great variety in the
house--children in cradles, and old women in elbow chairs. I think
the family may be looked upon as the three tenses, the present,
past and future.”

[Page heading: COTTAGE LIFE]

On a fresh scare being caused by the illness of her maid, which the
old women of the parish pronounced to be smallpox, Mrs. Robinson sent
Elizabeth and Sarah to the cottage of the carpenter hard by without
delay, though so late that Elizabeth writes--

“I arrived at my new lodging but the moment before it was time to
go to bed, where I slept pretty well, notwithstanding the goodman
and his wife snored, the little child cryed, the maid screamed, one
little boy had whooping cough, another roared with chilblains. The
furniture of our chamber is extraordinary, the ornamental parts as
follows:--on the mantelpiece four stone tea-cups, four wineglasses,
two broken, two leaden cherubims, a piece of looking-glass, with
a ‘beggerly account of empty bottles,’ as Shakespeare calls it, a
print of King Charles the Martyr, the woeful ballad of the children
in the wood, a pious copy of verses entitled ‘the believer’s
gold chain, or good councell for all men,’ with a resplendent
brass warming pan, in which my sister is dressing her head to the
disadvantage of her complexion, and not much to the rectitude of
her head-dress.”

The alarm proved to be false as to the nature of the maid’s illness,
and they returned the next day to the paternal mansion.

[Page heading: EDMUND CURLL]

On November 12 Elizabeth writes from Bath to her sister a long and
indignant letter upon some poems brought out in the name of Prior. She
says--

“I got at last this morning the poems just published under
Prior’s[60] name, brought them home under my arm, locked my
door, sat me down by my fireside, and opened the book with great
expectation, but to my disappointment found it to be the most
wretched trumpery that you can conceive, the production of the
meanest of Curl’s[61] band of scribblers.”

[60] Matthew Prior, born 1664, died 1721.

[61] Edmund Curll, born 1675, died 1747; publisher, etc., ridiculed
by Pope in the “Dunciad.”

She continues to inveigh against this forgery in eloquent terms, and
towards the end of the letter remarks “that mankind can’t support above
two dead languages at a time, so as to have any tolerable knowledge or
use of them, therefore in all probability Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden,
Prior, and Pope are but short-lived, in comparison of those Methuselahs
the Classicks.”

[Page heading: BATH]

[Page heading: GRACE FREIND]

The first letter to the duchess from Bath is dated--

“December 15, Friday, Bath.

“MADAM,

“After four days’ journey in very bad roads, I arrived here a
good deal tired: if Scarron[62] had not been very facetious, my
countenance had not received the impression of a smile since I
left Whitehall till my arrival at Bath. I read most of the way,
but was sometimes taken off ‘Le petit Ragotin’s’ disasters to fear
those that might happen to la petite Fidget.[63]... morning after
I arrived, I went to the Ladies’ Coffee House, where I heard of
nothing but the rheumatism in the shoulder, the sciatica in the
hip, and the gout in the toe. After these complaints I began to
fancy myself in the Hospitals or Infirmaries; I never saw such
an assembly of disorders. I dare say Gay[64] wrote his fable of
the ‘Court of Death’ from this place. After drinking the waters
I go to breakfast, and about 12 I drink another glass of water,
and then dress for dinner; visits employ the afternoon, and we
saunter away the evening in great stupidity. I think no place can
be less agreeable. ‘How d’ye do?’ is all one hears in the morning,
and ‘What’s trumps?’ in the afternoon. Lady Berkshire[65] did us
the honour of a visit on Wednesday, and inquired much about your
health. Lord Berkshire[66] is literally speaking laid by the leg,
which the gout has usurped, for it has ever been a distemper of
very great quality, and runs in the blood of the Howards. Mr.
Howard and Mr. Tom Howard,[67] Lord Berkshire’s youngest son, are
here, as are Mrs. Greville and her daughter; Lady Hereford,[68]
Lady F. Shirley,[69] Lady Anne Furnese,[70] Lady Anne Finch,[71]
Lady Widdrington, Miss Windsors, Miss Gage, and I should first
have said the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk,[72] and Mrs. Howard,
wife of Brigadier-General Howard; as for the men, except Lord
Noel Somerset, they are altogether abominable; however, such as
they are, I must dress for the ball, and I will add a supplement
to-morrow.

“P.S.--Madam, you know the _Spectator_ says a woman never speaks
her mind but in the postscript! Last night produced nothing but
some bad dancing, except Mr. Southwell,[73] who was overwhelmed
with congratulatory compliments; in one day he was chose Member,
made Father to a little daughter, and got a £500 prize in the
lottery; he seemed in good spirits, and bowed popularly low to all
his acquaintance.... I believe there is a great circulation of
company, for the bells are always ringing for somebody to come, or
tolling for somebody gone. There are many people I have known and
seen before, but very few whom I care to see again. One person whom
I like extremely, loves her husband so much better than me, that
I cannot persuade her to come out. I believe your Grace has often
heard me speak of Mrs. Freind,[74] who is not at all like Sir Tommy
her brother. What makes me like her still better is her contempt
of Matadors.[75] I do not think she ever dreamt of Spadille in
her life, tho’ most people here prefer its company to their best
friends.”

[62] Paul Scarron, born 1610, died 1660; French satirist. Husband of
Mademoiselle D’Aubigné, afterwards Madame de Maintenon; wrote “Le
Roman Comique,” etc.

[63] Her pet-name.

[64] John Gay, born 1685, died 1732; poet, etc.

[65] Catherine, daughter of J. Grahame, of Levens, Westmorland.

[66] 4th Earl of Berkshire.

[67] Afterwards 6th Earl of Berkshire, and 14th Earl of Suffolk.

[68] Wife of 6th Viscount.

[69] Daughter of 1st Earl Ferrers.

[70] Daughter of 1st Earl Ferrers, by second marriage.

[71] Daughter of 1st Earl Aylesford.

[72] Widow of 15th Duke, _née_ Sherburne.

[73] Son of Sir Thomas Southwell.

[74] Her cousin, _née_ Grace Robinson.

[75] Terms used in ombre and quadrille.

[Year: 1740]

In her next letter of January 4, 1740, she says--

“I should be glad to send you some news, but all the news of the
place would be like the bills of Mortality, palsy four, gout six,
fever one, and so on. We hear of nothing but ‘Mr. such-a-one is
not abroad to-day.’ ‘Oh no,’ says another poor gentleman, ‘he dyed
to-day.’ Then another cries, ‘My party was made for Quadrille[76]
to-night, but one of the gentlemen has had a second stroke of the
palsy and cannot come; there is no depending on people, nobody
minds engagements.’

“I beg the favour of your Grace to tell Mrs. Pendarves that I often
enquire after her from her friend Mrs. Donnellan. I hear there is
hope of Mrs. Pendarves coming here in March, but I know you will be
against the journey, so I dare not say how glad I should be to see
her. I assure we have none like her here.”

[76] Quadrille, a card-game for four people, played with 40 cards,
8’s, 9’s, and 10’s discarded.

[Page heading: LORD NOEL SOMERSET]

[Page heading: DOWAGER DUCHESS OF NORFOLK]

Miss Anne Donnellan, who according to the then prevailing custom in
regard to unmarried women beyond extreme youth was called Mrs., was
the daughter of Nehemiah Donnellan, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer
of Ireland, and Martha, _née_ Miss Usher. Her father was dead, and
her mother had, in 1712, remarried the Hon. Philip Percival, brother
to the 1st Lord Egmont. The Donnellans were great friends of Dean
Swift, and Anne and her brother, the Rev. Christopher Donnellan,
were correspondents of his, as can be seen in the printed letters in
“Swift’s Life.” The next letter to the duchess says--

“Lord Berkshire was wheeled into the rooms on Thursday night, where
he saluted me with much snuff and civility, in consequence of which
I sneezed and curtseyed abundantly; as a further demonstration of
his loving-kindness, he made me play at commerce with him. You
may easily guess at the charms of a place where the height of my
happiness is a pair royal at commerce, and a peer of fourscore.
Last night I took to the more youthful diversion of dancing, and am
nothing but a fan (which my partner tore), the worse for it; our
beaux here may make a rent in a woman’s fan, but they never will
make holes in her heart, for my part Lord Noel Somerset[77] has
made me a convert from toupets and pumps, to tye wigs and a gouty
shoe. Ever since my Lord Duke reprimanded me for admiring Lord
Crawford’s[78] nimble legs, I have resolved to prefer the merit of
the head to the agility of the heels; and I have made so great a
progress in my resolution as to like the good sense which limps,
better than the lively folly which dances. But to my misfortune
he likes the Queen of Spades so much more than me, that he never
looks off his cards, though, were I the Queen of Diamonds, he would
stand a fair chance for me. Lord Aylesford comes to the rooms every
night like ‘Beau Clincher’ in a blanket: he wears a nasty red rugg
great coat. The Dowager Duchess of Norfolk bathes, and being very
tall she had like to have drowned a few women in the Cross Bath,
for she ordered it to be filled till it reached to her chin, and
so all those who were below her stature, as well as rank, were
forced to come out or drown; and finding, according to the Proverb,
in vain to strive against the stream, they left the bath rather
than swallow so large a draught of water. I am sorry for the cruel
separation of your Grace and Miss Dashwood, I believe no one parts
with their friends with greater reluctance than you do.”

[77] Afterwards 4th Duke of Beaufort.

[78] John, 17th Earl of Crawford, and 7th Earl of Lindsay.

On January 25 Elizabeth says, “An unfortunate joint in my hip has been
so troublesome, I could not have believed the rheumatism would attack
so dancing a leg;” and then commenting on Lord Noel Somerset’s recent
engagement to Miss Berkeley[79]--

[79] Elizabeth Berkeley, daughter of John Symes Berkeley, of Stoke
Gifford.

“I think Lord Noel’s wife must be happy, and Miss Berkeley is
a very deserving woman, and good-natured. Everybody is content
except those who would have liked the gentleman for themselves....
A man of merit, and a younger brother is a purchase only for a
large fortune; as for those who have more merit than wealth,
they must turn the penny by disposing of their useless virtues
for riches, the exchange may sometimes be difficult, Virtues not
being sterling, nor merit the coin of the nation.... Gold is the
chief ingredient in the composition of worldly happiness. Living
in a cottage on love is certainly the worst diet and the worst
habitation one can find out. As for modern marriages they are great
infringers of the baptismal vow; for ’tis commonly the pomps and
vanities of this wicked world on one side and the simple lust of
the flesh on the other side. For my part when I marry I do not
intend to enlist entirely under the banner of Cupid or Plutus, but
take prudent consideration and decent inclination for my advisers;
I like a coach and six extremely, but a strong apprehension of
repentance would not suffer me to accept it from many who possess
it....

“I beg your Grace to make my compliments to Mrs. Pendarves, and
return my sincere thanks for saying so much in my favour as could
introduce me to so an agreeable an acquaintance as Mrs. Donnellan.
I assure you what she says gives pleasure, and what she sings
delight.”[80]

[80] Her exquisite singing is mentioned in Mrs. Delany’s Memoirs.

[Page heading: FROST FAIR]

In January, 1740, the weather was so severe, a frost fair was held on
the Thames for weeks together; booths, tents, and shows of all kinds
were the order of the day. In a letter to the duchess this is alluded
to thus:--

“What will the world come to now the Duchesses drink gin, and
frequent Fairs? I am afraid your gentlemen did not pledge you, or
they might have resisted the frost and the fatigue by the strength
of that comfortable liquor. I want much to know if your Grace got
a ride in the Flying Coach, which is part of the diversion of a
Fair.... I am much obliged to your Grace for forming schemes for
me. If any castles come to my share they must be airy ones, for
I have no material to build them on Terra Firma. I am not a good
chimerical architect, and besides I would rather dwell this summer
in a small room in a certain mansion near Gerrard’s Cross,[81]
than in the most spacious building I could get. I shall not be
troublesome to you in town, for our stay here will be so long that
our family will hardly go down till May. The time will come that we
shall meet at Philippi.”

[81] Meaning Bullstrode, which is close to Gerrard’s Cross.

[Page heading: MRS. DONNELLAN]

A letter from Mrs. Donnellan, with whom Elizabeth had struck up a
lively friendship, and entered into a correspondence, is dated from
London, April, 1740, portions of which I copy--

“Since my last I passed a most agreeable day with your friend and
mine; the Duke and Duchess of Portland proposed a jaunt into the
city to see city shows, and were so obliging as to ask me with
Mrs. Pendarves to be of the party. We were four men, four women:
our fourth woman was Lady Wallingford, whom I never saw before;
but she seems good-natured and civil; our four men, the Duke, Lord
Dupplin, Mr. Achard,[82] and Dr. Shaw,[83] all new to me. We set
out at ten in two hackney coaches, and stopped at everything that
had a name between us and the Tower, going and coming, and dined at
a city Tavern. I am extremely glad your time is fixed for coming
to us, and that we shall have you a month. You will find the rage
for whist[84] a little abated, I hope, if the weather and Vaux
Hall is in its lustre. You are right in quarrelling with the men
for letting cards take their places in the ladies’ hearts, for I
dare say they would rather hear the gentlemen say fine things,
than win a Slam, and it is a want of gallantry in the men that
runs the women into cards; for something we must have to stir our
passions, or life seems dull. Your account of Bath folks diverted
me much.... My present delight is the fine lady who admires and
hates to excess; she doats on the dear little boy that dances,
she detests Handel’s Oratorios; indeed she don’t say she admires
Mademoiselle de Chateauneuf’s kicking the tambourine, till she
shows herself naked to the waist. She owns it is indecent, but she
goes constantly to see her. I don’t know whether you have heard of
the kicking entertainment? I have not seen it, but I have heard it
very lively described; she kicks twice for the King, and once for
the audience, to the great edification of the spectators. I suppose
you have heard of the false dice at the last masquerade. I fancy
it must have been a pretty sight, a dozen Dominoes, at five in the
morning examined before Justice de Val: I think they should have
been all Devils with Horns and Hoofs. I saw the Duke and Duchess
of Portland yesterday morning at Zincke’s,[85] where she and
Mrs. Pendarves are sitting for their pictures.... Adieu; make my
compliments to all your family, and believe me, dear Madam,

“Your affectionate friend, and humble servant,
“ANNE DONNELLAN.”

[82] Mr. Achard had been tutor to the duke, and was afterwards his
secretary.

[83] Dr. Shaw, born 1692, died 1751; Regius Professor of Greek,
Oxford. Great traveller, botanist, etc.

[84] Elizabeth hated games of cards.

[85] Christian Frederick Zincke, born 1684, died 1767; eminent
miniature painter.

[Page heading: THE PLUNGE BATH]

Elizabeth suffering much still from headaches, Dr. Sandys was
consulted, and he recommended the plunge bath. This was at Marylebone,
at the then popular gardens. This was considered a hazardous exploit,
and she first wrote to ask her parents’ consent. Writing to Sarah, she
says--

“If you was to see me souse into the cold bath, you would think I
had not sense or feeling.... The Duchess went with me the first
time, and was frightened out of her wits, but I behaved much to my
honour. Mrs. Verney went to learn to go in of me. Mrs. Pendarves
went with me to-day, and was as pale as a ghost with the fear of
my being drowned, which you know is impossible. I go in every
day and have found benefit already; but there are two things I
dislike, viz. the pain of going overhead, and the expense of the
bath. The Duke and Duchess are very good in lending me the coach
every morning to Marrybone, which is two miles from here, but the
bath was better than any at Charing Cross: the Duchess says if
there is any bath, as she thinks there is in their neighbourhood at
Bullstrode, she will send me to it, a tub not being near so good.”

The whole parish of Marylebone belonged to the Duchess of Portland.
There were nine springs of water there: _vide_ “Old and New London,”
vol. iv.

[Page heading: FAIRINGS]

April, 1740, occurs a letter to her sister Sarah, written whilst
staying with the duchess in London. Elizabeth says--

“Lord Oxford went to Bath in the post chaise for a week, he brought
us all fairings. Mine were a fan, and a snuff box of Egyptian
pebbles set in Pinchbeck.[86] The Duchess a fan, and an enamel tag
for her lace.”

[86] Christopher Pinchbeck invented this sham gold. He died in 1732.

The next letter to her mother says--

“I was at Mr. Zincke’s yesterday in the morning, where I am to
sit for my picture. On Thursday we went out of town to Sir John
Stanley’s[87] at North End. There we met Mrs. Pendarves. I was
much pleased with my visit. Sir John at 80 years old has as much
politeness, good nature and cheerfulness as I ever met; his
behaviour has neither the formality of age, nor the pertness of
youth.”

[87] Sir John Stanley married Anne Granville, aunt to Mrs.
Pendarves, who had been Maid-of-Honour to Queen Mary II.

[Page heading: “LONG” SIR THOMAS ROBINSON]

In March Lord Oxford gave a ball at Marylebone--

“The Ball was very agreeable. I will give you the list of company
as they danced;--the Duchess and Lord Foley,[88] the Duke and
Mrs. Pendarves, Lord Dupplin and ‘Dash,’[89] Lord George[90] and
‘Fidget,’ Lord Howard and Miss Cesar, Mr. Granville[91] and Miss
Tatton, Mr. Howard and another Miss Cesar. The partners were chosen
by their fans, but a little supercherie in the case of one of our
dancers appointed failed, so our worthy cousin Sir Tommy[92] was
sent for, and he came, but when he had drawn Miss Cesar’s fan
he would not dance with her, but Mr. Hay,[93] who as the more
canonical diversion, chose cards, danced with the poor forsaken
damsel. The Knight bore the roast with great fortitude, and to make
amends promised his neglected Fair a ball at his house. I believe
in his economy he saves a dinner when invited to supper, for he
eat a forequarter of lamb, a chicken, with a plentiful portion of
ham, potted beef and jellies innumerable, and made a prodigious
breakfast of bread and butter and coffee, a little after two in
the morning.... I sat for my picture[94] this morning to Zincke; I
believe it will be very like. I am in Anne Boleyn’s dress. I desire
you to send me up my worked facing and robing, my point, some
lute-string, and the cambrick for my ruffles. I had the pleasure
of hearing to-day that our dear Robert had succeeded in getting a
ship. I am sorry he will go out with the first fleet. I tremble,
too, for fear he should have any engagement with the Spaniards.
Mrs. D’Ewes desires to recommend herself to you being of the party
of loving sisters.”

[88] Thomas, 2nd Baron Foley.

[89] Miss Dashwood, “Delia.”

[90] Lord George Bentinck, the duke’s brother.

[91] Brother of Mrs. Pendarves.

[92] “Long” Sir Thomas Robinson, of Rokeby.

[93] The Rev. Robert Hay, son of the 7th Earl of Kinnoul; afterwards
Archbishop of York.

[94] See portrait in this book.

Mrs. D’Ewes, _née_ Anne Granville, was the beloved sister of Mrs.
Pendarves, recently married to Mr. John D’Ewes.... In the next letter
to her mother she describes what she calls a “new head,” given to her
by the duchess. “Last Tuesday I put on my New head; it is extremely
handsome, very broad, and the lace has more thin work in it than has
been made till this year.” To this head was added ruffles and a tucker
by the same donor. Quin was acting then in London. She writes to Sarah--

“I have been to the play _As you Like it_. Quin outdid his usual
outdoings. I never heard anything spoke with such command of
voice and action as the ‘seven stages of man,’ from the rough bass
of the good Justice, ‘whose round belly with good capon lined,’
till he sunk to the childish treble; it was really prodigious, the
alteration of the voice, he spoke the slippered pantaloon just like
my Uncle Clark.[95] I saw the facetious Monsieur and Mademoiselle
Fausan dance, but Quin had so possessed himself of my thoughts
that I was not over-delighted with them, tho’ I think they dance
very well for a character dance. Wednesday I went into the cold
bath, and from thence the Duke and Duchess, Mr. Achard, Lord George
Bentinck, Lady Throckmorton, Mrs. Collingwood, and Sir Robert
Throckmorton[96] went to Mary-le-Bone gardens to breakfast; after
that they all went with me to Zincke’s to sit for my picture, and
we spent the evening at Vaux Hall. On Thursday we went, two coaches
and six, to Kew, Richmond, and Petersham, Lord Harrington’s,[97]
where I could turn Pastorella with great pleasure, such prospects,
from the most charming place I ever saw, I was ready to call out,
‘O care Selve beate.’ I would tell you more of my meditations, but
the bell for supper interrupts me.”

[95] Her great-uncle on her mother’s side.

[96] 4th Baronet and his second wife.

[97] 1st Earl of Harrington.

[Page heading: LORD WALLINGFORD’S DEATH]

Lady Wallingford was attacked by smallpox at this time, but had it very
favourably. In a letter to Mrs. Robinson, Elizabeth says--

“She never had three hundred all over her, and was at the heighth,
I believe, in seven days. Her Lord dyed very suddenly of a quinsy
before she had been downstairs, so she had not even the melancholy
consolation of a last farewell; she laid up two pairs of stairs,
and he below, so they told her he was removed, and died at
Kensington. He has left everything to her.... Lord Wallingford
certainly caught his death with attending her, a sad aggravation
of the affliction; he died with the greatest courage imaginable.
Sandys, who with several Physicians and Surgeons was called in,
begged him to settle his affairs, upon which he made his will (that
he had by him, being very deficient in points of Law), and took
leave of his friends. There was no hopes from the first, for this
convulsive Quinsy is always mortal.”

In another she says he died of “cramp in the throat,” which sounds more
likely. It has been stated that Lord Wallingford died in France, but
his death occurred at Whitehall.

The duke and family, including Elizabeth, left Whitehall in June for
Bullstrode.[98] In a letter of June 24 to Mr. Freind and his wife, she
says--

“The rural beauties of the place would persuade me I was in the
plains of Arcadia, but the magnificence of the building under whose
gilded roof I dwell, has a pomp far beyond pastoral. We go to
chapel twice a week, and have sermons on Sunday, for his Grace of
Portland values the title of Christian above that of Duke, and the
chaplain may preach against every vice in fashion without fear of
offending either his Patron or Patroness.”

[98] Bullstrode was originally in the Shobbington family before the
Conquest. Judge Jefferies bought it, and built the house here
mentioned in 1686. His son-in-law sold it to the Earl of Portland.
In 1807 it was sold to the Duke of Somerset.

[Page heading: THE MENAGERIE]

In another letter--

“We breakfast at 9, dine at 2, drink tea at 8, and sup at 10. In
the morning we work or read. In the afternoon the same, walk from
6 till tea-time, and then write till supper. I think since we
came down our despatches in numbers, tho’ not in importance, have
equalled those at the Secretary’s Office.... The Duchess and I have
been walking in the woods to-night, and feeding the pheasants in
the menagerie. The late Duke had Macaws, Parrots, and all sorts of
foreign birds flying in one of the woods; he built a house and kept
people to wait upon them; there are now some birds in the house,
and one Macaw, but most were destroyed in the Duke’s minority.”

[Page heading: FRANKS]

[Page heading: LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU]

On July 22 occurs this interesting letter to her mother--

“MADAM,

“Much visiting has of late hindered my writing to you. My Lady
Duchess does not care to spare me to write except when she is so
employed too, and the time set apart for that is in the evening,
and when we make visits at any distance, it is late before we
return, and letters go from here between 10 and 11. When we first
came down, we supped at 9, but we found so early an hour encroached
too much upon our hours of writing, so now we sup at 10, at which
time the Duke comes into the Duchess’s dressing-room,[99] where
we write together, and franks our packets. On Saturday, we were
at Windsor to visit the Miss Granvilles, daughters of the famous
Lord Lansdowne;[100] they unhappily inherit neither the wit of
their Father, nor the beauty of their Mother.[101]... The Duchess
is very civil to them, and Miss Granville was her acquaintance in
infancy, and it is very right in her to take notice of them now.
Lord Weymouth[102] supports them, but how long he will be willing
or able to do so, no one knows. On Sunday, I was at Mrs. Hare’s,
widow to the late Bishop Hare,[103] and was much entertained there
by Sir John Shadwell and his family, who are just come from abroad.
Lady Shadwell[104] saw Lady Mary Wortley at Venice, where she now
resides, and asked her what made her leave England; she told them
the reason was, people were grown so stupid she could not endure
their company, all England was infected with dullness; by-the-bye,
what she means by insupportable dullness is her husband,[105] for
it seems she never intends to come back while he lives. A husband
may be but a dull creature to one of Lady Mary’s sprightly genius,
but methinks even her vivacity might accommodate itself to living
in the Kingdom with him; she is a woman of great family merit, she
has banished her children,[106] abandoned her husband. I suppose
as she cannot reach Constantinople, she will limit her ambition to
an intrigue with the Pope or the Doge of Venice.... The Duke of
Leeds’[107] wedding was very grand. The Duke of Newcastle’s[108]
entertainment upon the occasion was 15 dishes in a course, four
courses. The Duchess of Newcastle, sister to Lady Mary Godolphin,
and Mr. Hay are gone down with the Duke and Duchess of Leeds. The
Duchess had a diamond necklace from her Mother worth £10,000,
she was very fine in cloaths and jewels. The old Duchess of
Marlborough[109] is now mightily fond of her. Her Grace is at law
with the Duke of Marlbro’; she talked two hours like the widow
Blackacre in Westminster Hall, amongst things of value she was to
surrender to the Duke[110] there was the late Duke’s fine sword,
and George, ‘Oh,’ says she, ‘as for the George, he will sell it,
but for the sword he won’t know what to do with that, so I believe
he will lay it by, or may be if he can he will pawn it, he can make
no other use of it, I am sure.’... Pray have you heard from the
dear little boys?[111] I have always forgot their direction. I
think it is Scorton, near Richmond?

“I am, Madam,
“Your most dutiful daughter,
“E. ROBINSON.”

[99] In the eighteenth century dressing-rooms represented the modern
boudoir.

[100] George Granville, Lord Lansdowne, born 1667, died 1735; great
statesman and writer. Uncle to Mrs. Delany.

[101] Lady Mary Villiers, daughter of the Earl of Jersey, widow of
J. Thynne.

[102] Their half-brother.

[103] Francis Hare, D.D., born 1665, died 1740; Bishop of St. Asaph
and Chichester.

[104] Daughter of Evelyn, Duke of Kingston, born 1690, died 1762.

[105] Edward Wortley Montagu, grandson of 1st Earl Sandwich. His
mother, Anne Wortley, a great heiress; he took her name.

[106] Her two children, the eccentric Edward Wortley Montagu,
junior, and Mary, Countess of Bute.

[107] Thomas, 4th Duke of Leeds.

[108] 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Thomas Pelham Holles. The
_bride_, Lady Harriett Godolphin, grand-daughter of the Duke of
Marlborough.

[109] The celebrated duchess.

[110] Charles Spencer, 2nd Duke of Marlborough.

[111] Her three little brothers.

[Page heading: THE REV. WILLIAM FREIND]

Mr. Freind, having written a letter to Elizabeth expressing a fear that
her head might be turned by the great company, and the splendid place
she was residing in, she replies--

“I am neither condemning greatness, nor envying it, but gratefully
and cheerfully enjoying what I am. I thank Providence for the
blessings it has given me, without either despising or wishing
for the gifts it has bestowed on others. I enjoy the present time
without regretting the past, or wishing for that to come, but still
as conducive to happiness, prefer to-day to yesterday or to-morrow.
I keep content for the present, and hope for the future, and love
this life without fearing another.”

This letter was sent to Witney, Oxon, the seat of the blanket
manufacture. The Rev. William Freind had become Rector there, since the
resignation of his father, the Rev. Dr. Robert Freind, in the previous
year. His mother was a Miss Jane de l’Angle, daughter of the Rev.
Samuel de l’Angle, once pastor of the reformed church at Charenton,
near Paris, who, on the persecution of Louis XIV., fled to England and
was made a Prebendary of Westminster. The Rev. William Freind built
the good stone rectory still existent at Witney. A medallion portrait
of him is over a door in the Hall. Mrs. Donnellan had been recommended
to drink the waters at Spa in the Ardennes, and, accompanied by her
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Cottington, set out, poor Mr. Cottington dying
soon after their arrival. Mrs. Donnellan wrote to Elizabeth on July 11
a long letter, out of which I copy the account of the water cure as
then practised--

“We are all out by six in the morning in our chaises, and go three
miles to the Geronsterre waters. We come home by nine, and take
a cup of chocolate, dine between 12 and 1, go to the Assembly at
4, where there are all countries, and all languages, half a dozen
card tables, and no crowd; from the Assembly we take a walk in the
Capucins garden; all are in before 8 to supper, and to bed at 10.”

[Page heading: PRINCESS MARY OF HESSE]

Princess Mary[112] of England had been married in May to the Prince of
Hesse.[113] The prince did not come to England, so her brother, the
Duke of Cumberland, acted proxy. The following account is of gifts
given to the princess’s suite who accompanied her to Hesse:--

“The Duchess of Dorset[114] has had fine presents upon going over
with the Princess of Hesse. The Prince presented her with a gold
teapot, tea-kettle, and lamp, and Lady Caroline Sackville[115] with
a set of Dresden china and a diamond solitaire. The Duchess had
likewise a set of Dresden teacups, and a service of Dresden China,
and the King gave her a gold snuffbox with a thousand pounds Bank
bill in it.”

[112] Princess Mary, daughter of George II.

[113] Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse Cassel.

[114] Wife of 1st Duke of Dorset, _née_ Elizabeth Colyear.

[115] Daughter of the Duchess of Dorset, afterwards Countess of
Dorchester.

In a letter to Sarah Robinson of August 11, mention is made of--

“a mask at Cliefden, on Princess Augusta’s[116] birthday; ‘The
Story of Alfred,’ wrote by Thomson[117] and Mallet,[118] Mr.
Grenville commends it and says it will be published. I own I
cannot give much credit to it, for I rather imagine he commends
it as a patriot than a judge. I never knew anything of Thomson’s
that seemed to be wrote, or could be read, without great labour of
the brain.... Lord and Lady Oxford are to come here next Monday,
(Bullstrode), and stay a month. Lord Dupplin has made a copy of
verses upon my going into the bath, which we would impute to
Sandys[119] to his great amazement. He says he does not know who
wrote them, but thinks he is very sure he did not.”

[116] Daughter of George II., born 1737.

[117] James Thomson, born 1700, died 1748; poet, wrote “The
Seasons,” etc.

[118] David Mallet, Scottish poet, patronized by Pope; died 1765.

[119] A well-known lady’s doctor.

[Page heading: MONKEY ISLAND]

August 25, Elizabeth writes to her father--

“The Duke and Duchess were so obliging as to carry me to see
Windsor Castle last week. It is so delightful a place and so fine
a palace, I am surprised his Majesty does not spend his summer
there, I should think it as well as going to Hanover. The same day
we were at Windsor, we went to see a little island[120] circled by
the Thames, which the Duke of Marlborough[121] purchased and has
beautified at the expense of £8000. There is too great an embarras
of buildings upon it, the finest of which I think something
resembling the Temple of Janus. He has a better title to build one
to war than to fame, for he has got a commission, but renown I
believe is what he will never gain. He sent out a few days ago for
four-score workmen to improve a place he never proposes to live at,
after the old Duchess dies. His Grandfather now saved a people, now
saved a groat, but such a warrior and economist as this gentleman
he will never save either.

“Lady Andover[122] told me in a letter I received from her last
post, that Mrs. Botham was grown very grave, and a great workwoman
and an excellent housewife; if that is the case, Mr. Botham
preaches to those of his household as well as those of his parish.”

[120] Monkey Island.

[121] Charles, 3rd Duke.

[122] Second daughter of Heneage, Earl of Aylesford, wife of
William, Lord Andover.

[Page heading: LYDIA BOTHAM]

[Page heading: COUNTESS OF OXFORD]

This is the first allusion to Lydia Botham, cousin of Elizabeth
Robinson; she, and her more illustrious sister Elizabeth, or Eliza
Lumley, afterwards wife of the Rev. Laurence Sterne, of “Shandean”
memory, were the children of the Rev. Robert Lumley, of the Lumley
Castle family, Rector of Bedale, Yorks, from 1721 to 1732; and of
Lydia, daughter of Anthony Light,[123] and widow in 1709 of her first
husband, Thomas Kirke, of Cockridge, near Leeds (a famous Virtuoso),
she married afterwards the Rev. Robert Lumley;[124] for the table
elucidating this pedigree the reader must turn to the end of the
introductory portion of this work. The Lumleys are said to have been
brought up in style, but little means had remained to them. Both
parents were dead; Lydia had recently married the Rev. John Botham,
Rector of Yoxall, Staffordshire. Elizabeth Lumley, her sister, was
residing alone in “Little Alice Lane,” under the shadow of York
Cathedral. In a folio-sheet letter to her sister Sarah, Elizabeth
explains that owing to the Countess of Oxford being at Bullstrode, she
had more time to herself, as the countess and she had spent alternate
mornings with the duchess. The countess was kind to Elizabeth, but she
was a rare admirer of etiquette. When she was with the duchess, she
actually wished to see all her letters, which was naturally annoying
to a married woman; she also expected them to be couched in the most
formal manner, as addressed _to a ducal person_! Hence, when Elizabeth
was away from the duchess, and Lady Oxford was with her, the letters
were often written under cover to the duchess’s two lady dressers,
so as to indulge in fewer formalities; also, as can be read in Mrs.
Delany’s Memoirs in letters from the duchess, nicknames were often set
up between the circle of friends, known only to themselves in case
of their being opened. This passage in the letter will point to the
formality of the circle when including Lady Oxford--

“While our present Guests are here we are so overcharged with
ceremony, we cannot move about, and as I am not (thanks to the
humility of my station), of the Countess’ cabinet council, I have
the morning to myself. To employ them to my edification, I have
laid in a great store of Italian, which I cannot read with the
Duchess as she has forgotten it so much. I have laid aside the
Arcadia[125] till Mrs. Pendarves comes, who is fond of it, and the
Duchess and I have agreed that she shall read it to us.... I beg
you will send me the receipt for York Curds, and also for Pancakes,
called ‘A quire of paper.’”

[123] Of Durham; his grandmother, wife of Gilbert Kirke, was one of
the coheiresses of Francis Layton of Rawdon.

[124] As stated in former pages, her mother, Mrs. Light, remarried
for second husband, Thomas Robinson, father by her of
Matthew Robinson.

[125] “The Arcadia,” written by Sir Philip Sidney.

On August 21, in a letter to Mrs. Donnellan at Spa, occurs the passage--

“Our friend Penny is under great anxiety for the change her sister
is going to make. I do not wonder at her fears; I believe both
experience, and observation, have taught her the state she is
going into is in the general, less happy than that she has left.
‘Pip’ has a good prospect, for they say the gentleman[126] has
good sense, good nature, and great sobriety; these are very good
things, and indeed what a stock of virtues and qualifications ought
to be laid in to last out the journey of life, where so much too
lies through the rugged ways of adversity, all will hardly serve to
lengthen love and patience to the end.”

[126] John D’Ewes, of Wellesbourne, Co. Warwick.

The lady to be married was Anne Granville, whose nickname was “Pip”;
she was about to be married to Mr. John D’Ewes. “Pen” was Mrs.
Pendarves’ nickname, afterwards Mrs. Delany, and those who have read
her memoirs will remember how unhappy was her _first_ experience of
married life. Much mention is made in this letter of an apron Elizabeth
is working for the duchess; she begs for patterns of flowers from her
father’s pencil, and Mr. Hateley, an artist friend. Embroidered aprons
were then the rage, but only for demi-toilette; the beautiful Duchess
of Queensberry,[127] going to Court in an apron about this time, was
forbidden to attend. The aprons were of all colours as well as white,
and the duchess, fearing a light ground would soon soil, bade Elizabeth
work hers on a black ground. Sarah Robinson at the same time was
working her sister one.

[127] Catherine Hyde, Duchess of Queensberry. Prior’s “Kitty,
beautiful and young;” wife of 3rd Duke.

[Page heading: EARL OF OXFORD]

The following passage is indicative of the times:--

“Lord Oxford drinks hard at the chaplain sometimes, but whether a
churchman’s conscience lyes deep, or a bumper to Church and King
agrees with an orthodox stomach, I don’t know, but he seems less
confounded with a bottle of claret than he is with his text, and
shows the bottom of it too, which he cannot do with the other.”

Mr. Freind having written a letter in which he rallies Elizabeth about
not choosing one of her many admirers, she replies--

“I have lately studied my own foibles, and I have found out I
should make a very silly wife, and an extremely foolish Mother,
and so have as far resolved as is consistent with deference to
reason and advice, never to trouble any man, or spoil any children.
I already love too many people in this world to enjoy a perfect
tranquility, and I don’t care to have any more strings to pull my
heart; it is very tender, and a small matter hurts it. I have been
lately a little out of spirits about my incomparable Duchess; she
has been a good deal out of order, but by bleeding and care, she is
much better, I wish I could say well.”

[Page heading: ADMIRAL VERNON]

Mention of Admiral Vernon[128] is made in a letter of September 12 to
Mr. Freind after the victory of Portobello, which had been taken by him
in 1739; he had bombarded Carthagena--

“I hope the glorious Vernon will do some great exploit by himself.
All the ladies in Suffolk give place to Mrs. Vernon, even those of
the highest rank. I wish the Admiral may be made a peer when he
returns, Baron Something and Viscount Portobello will sound very
well.”

[128] Admiral Vernon, born 1684, died 1757.

[Page heading: CHARLEMAGNE]

Mrs. Donnellan returned from Spa early in September, in company of
Mrs. Anne Pitt, a sister of Mr. William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham.
Portions of her letter I copy--

“We had a very pleasant journey together, and find ’tis possible
to travel comfortably without that lordly person--_Man!_ I have
mentioned being at Aix-la-Chapelle, which is a bad day’s journey
from Spa. I went with Mrs. Hoare, and we chose to go at the time
Charlemagne makes his procession round the town, which is an annual
ceremony, and the most solemn and ridiculous I have seen. He built
the town, and made it an imperial city, and this procession is in
memory of him. He is represented by a pasteboard figure, 12 feet
high (for they will have him a giant), he has on his head a very
fine curled and powdered full-bottomed periwig, an Imperial crown
on that; downwards, he has a yellow damask night-gown, which hides
those who carry him. He walks round the city attended by all the
Orders in their different habits (which is a pretty sight),--the
magistracy, and the Host carried under a canopy. They stopped
before the Town House where we were, and said Mass at an altar
raised on purpose, then they adored the Host, and Charlemagne
stooped and goggled his eyes, which are pulled by wires, and so the
ceremony ended. We landed at Deal on Sunday night, in a storm of
thunder, lightning and wind, wet to the skin. I have bought some
Spa necklaces. I have a blue one for you, and a green one for the
Duchess.

“My folks are quite taken up with fitting their[129] house in Bond
Street, which they design getting into at Michaelmas. I have a
cheerful dressing room in it, which I dedicate to a few friends,
none other shall come into it, and it luckily only holds a few
seats; I will reserve one for you.”

[129] Her mother, then the Hon. Mrs. Philip Perceval, and her second
husband.

[Page heading: THE REV. DR. YOUNG]

On September 23, in a letter of Elizabeth to her sister, we first
hear of Dr. Young, the author of “Night Thoughts.” At this time this
celebrated poem was not written, but various other poems, satires, and
tragedies had made him famous. Edward Young, LL.D., was born in 1684,
educated at Winchester, New College, and Corpus Christi, Oxford; in
1730 was Rector of Welwyn, Herts; in 1731 he married Lady Betty Lee,
widow of Colonel Lee, and daughter of the Earl of Lichfield. The Duke
of Wharton was his literary patron.

“Dr. Young is coming soon. We wish for his coming, for I hear he
is agreeable, and, indeed, his private character is excellent. He
sends his compliments to me when he writes to the Duchess, and says
he is perfectly acquainted with me, and all that is the vision of
a Poet, for I never saw him in my life, but he is so kind as to
commend me and all my works in all places.”

In the next letter (October 8) she says--

“MY DEAR SALLY,

“The sons of Apollo haunt this place much; the tuneful
Green[130] is gone, but the poetical Dr. Young is with us. I
am much entertained with him, he is a very sensible man, has a
lively imagination, and strikes out very pretty things in his
conversation, tho’ he has satyrized the worst of our sex, he
honours the best of them extremely, and seems delighted with those
who act and think reasonably. I think he has written a Satire
against that composition of oddity, affectation, and folly which is
called ‘a pretty sort of a woman,’--if anyone has a mind to put on
that character they need only pervert their sense, distort their
faces, disjoint their limbs, mince their phrases, and lisp their
words, and the thing is done, grimaces, trite sentences, affected
civility, forced gaiety, and an imitation of good nature completes
the character.... That sentences, systems and definitions should
give way to Cribbage, but two Duchesses command my presence! The
Duchess of Kent[131] came here yesterday; she is a very sensible
polite woman, and she wants one to play Cribbage, so my dear, dear
sister, Adieu!

“E. R.”

[130] Dr. Green, a celebrated musician.

[131] The second wife of Henry (Grey), 1st Duke of Kent, _née_
Sophia Bentinck, great-aunt of the Duke of Portland of these pages.

[Page heading: THE DUCHESS OF KENT]

In a letter to Mrs. Robinson--

“The Duchess of Kent is very agreeable, has good sense and
politeness, and those who know her well say many valuable
qualities. I look upon my Duchess as the Arch-Duchess, before whom
all lesser stars hide their diminished heads; as for Dr. Young, he
is a very sensible man, and an entertaining companion, and starts
new subjects of conversation, and there is nothing so much wanted
in the country as the art of making the same people chase new
topics without change of persons. The Duchess and Dr. Young design
to leave us to-morrow.... Dr. Sandys has given Deb quicksilver,
which has been of great service to her, and it appears that she had
worms.”

“Deb” was Elizabeth’s lady’s maid. The Pharmacopeia was then of such an
extraordinary kind, that from time to time I shall mention the remedies
used for various complaints; why more people were not killed by some of
the nostrums is marvellous.

Elizabeth writes to Sarah on November 1, telling her she is reading the
“Decameron” of Boccaccio. The duchess was also renewing her Italian
knowledge. They were reading aloud Dr. Samuel Clarke’s sermons, and she
says--

“Hay[132] is an auditor, as he cannot read himself; Mr. Achard is
a translator of pronunciation so that one would take his English
to be French when he reads aloud, then as for the Duke, he hunts
thrice a week, and has business, so that our invalid is glad of a
female lecturer.”

[132] The Hon. John Hay, son of 7th Earl of Kinnoul, a relation of
the duchess, then a great invalid.

Mr. Achard, a Frenchman mentioned previously, had been the duke’s
tutor, and was now his secretary.

From the letters, he appears to have been very tall; he was frequently
called “Brother Bonaventura,” and as his humour was variable, at times
“Monsieur du _Poivre_,” at others “Monsieur du _Miel_!”

[Page heading: DR. GREY]

The next letter to her father thanks him for a design he had made for
an apron for the duchess, with which she was delighted, and--

“if the work could be as elegant as the drawing, would be the
most finished apron for the most finished Duchess. Lord Oxford
and George Vertue[133] arrived here last night after a ramble
which the best geographer could hardly describe; they have been
haunting church-yards, and reading the history of mankind upon the
gravestones. Dr. Grey[134] is employed in a work which to make its
appearance in public you would not easily guess at. I believe ’tis
no perplexity upon Mysteries, no refutation of the doctrine of
Transubstantiation, no explanation of the Catechism, but a thing
for which his serious qualifications do not seem very fit. He is
writing upon Hudibras!”

[133] George Vertue, eminent engraver, archæologist, and author;
born 1684, died 1756.

[134] Rev. Dr. Zachary Grey, author, died 1766.

CHAPTER III.

IN LONDON, KENT, AND AT BULLSTRODE, 1741–42. BEGINNING OF
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. DELANY.

The last letter of the year 1740 is written to Mr. Freind on December
29--

“Next Sunday I quit the peaceful groves and hospitable roof of
Bullstrode for the noisy turbulent city; my books and serious
reflections are to be laid aside for the looking-glass and curling
irons, and from that time I am no more a Pastorella, but propose to
be as idle, as vain, and as impertinent, as any one; if you will
come to town Mrs. Freind and you will find me, however, as like
myself as to be your _sincere friend_.”

[Year: 1741]

[Page heading: THE DUCHESS OF QUEENSBERRY]

February 5, Elizabeth writes to her sister--

“DEAR MADAM SALLY,

“I went to Lady North’s[135] last night, to see all the fine
cloaths that were made for the Birthday. Lady Scarborough[136]
was richly dressed, the Duchess of Bedford[137] was pretty fine,
Mrs. Spencer had a white velvet which is the ugliest thing in the
world, but the Duchess of Queensberry[138] was such as should be
shown at Courts and feasts, and high solemnities, where most may
wonder at the workmanship; her cloaths were embroidered upon white
satin; Vine leaves, Convolvulus and Rosebuds shaded after Nature;
but she in herself was so far beyond the masterpiece of art, that
one could hardly look at her cloaths; allowing for her age I never
saw so beautiful a creature. Miss Pitt[139] had a fine trimming
and looked very pretty, but as for the Roses, they do not bloom
in January, for she is as pale as a ghost. Lady Mary Tufton[140]
had a pretty suit of embroidery. The men were not at all fine.
Mr. Lyttelton’s[141] cloaths were ugly, according to Polonius’
instructions, ‘Rich not gaudy, fine but not exprest in fancy.’ I
did not see any new fashions, as to the wearing stays, I think they
are as usual. I do not know what will become of your fine shape,
for there is a fashionable make that is very strange. I believe
they look in London as they did in Rome after the Rape of the
Sabines.

“I am, my dearest, your most affectionate
“E. ROBINSON.”

[135] Second wife of 7th Baron North, afterwards 1st Earl of
Guilford.

[136] Wife of 3rd Earl Scarborough.

[137] Second wife of the 4th Duke.

[138] Wife of 3rd Duke, “Kitty ever fair.”

[139] A sister of Lord Chatham, either Mary or Anne.

[140] Daughter of 7th Earl of Thanet.

[141] George, 1st Lord Lyttelton, afterwards her intimate friend.

February 25, Sarah writes--

“I should be obliged to you if you would in your next letter send
me word what sized hoops moderate people who are neither over
lavish nor covetous of whalebone, wear; because I intend to write
to my Hoop maker to have one ready for me against I come to town,
and I don’t care to leave the size of it to her discretion. I hope
our hoops will not increase much more, for we are already almost as
unreasonable as Queen Dido,[142] and don’t encircle much less with
our whalebone, than she did with her bull’s hide.”

[142] Queen Dido of Tyre bought of the Africans as much land as a
bull’s hide would cover, and by cutting it into strips encircled a
large portion.

[Illustration: _William Freind D.D._

Dean of Canterbury.

_according to Act of Parliament._

_T Worlidge del. et Sc._
]

[Page heading: HAIRDRESSING]

A light is thrown on hairdressing of the period in the following letter
to Sarah:--

“DEAR SISTER,

“I have been walking in the Park this morning, and returned only
time enough to dress, so while Deb is tiffing and tiffing till my
hair is so pure and so crisp, I am writing a line to you to the
great vexation of Mrs. Mincing, who is afraid I should be the worst
dressed for it. I don’t wonder an ‘Abigail’ that is kept only as
a Minister of the toilette should look upon dressing as the great
concern of life, but that other people should make such a point of
it I marvel greatly. Some women by endeavouring to be as handsome
as they can are not so charming as they might be. I never thought a
head agreeably dressed that had not a hair awry; such punctuality
may become a tyre woman, but cannot a belle, but however, it
becomes everybody to be dressed for dinner, which will not be
the case if I do not conclude. I am to go to the ‘Penseroso and
Allegro’ to-night. The music of the ‘Penseroso’ some say is best,
‘but Mirth with thee I choose to live.’ Adieu.”

One can, indeed, pity the unfortunate Abigail with “Fidget” writing
whilst she had her hair dressed! Once after a visit to Bullstrode, the
duchess says she had found a glass-stand left behind by Elizabeth,
should she send it? And the reply was that the stand was used for her
to rest her chin on whilst her maid dressed her hair. The ridiculously
high coiffure of the day must have taken a long time to erect.

[Page heading: “THE PEAS”]

No letter can I find till April 10, when the Rev. William Freind writes
from Bath, where he and his wife were staying, to inquire what had
become of his cousins. Sarah Robinson’s[143] pet-name was “Pea,” as she
was pronounced to resemble Elizabeth as much as one pea does another.

“Bath, April 10, 1741.

“It being now near two months since I have received any
intelligence of either of my correspondents, I must needs enclose
a letter to Pea, Senior, to enquire after her whether she be still
with the Duke to whom I direct the cover, or with the rest of the
Peas in her own Podd in Kent.

“I expected the beginning of March to hear you had quitted her
grace to join hearts and hands once more with dearly beloved Pea.
But Lady Berkshire whom I saw some days ago, tells me the Duchess
is in a very bad state of health, which I suppose will make you
both very unwilling to part with each other. I have rather fancied
therefore some disappointment has happened, and that your friend’s
illness may have taken up your time and thoughts too much to let us
hear what is become of you, for if both sisters had been together
in town, surely both would not have grudged us the pleasure of
hearing you were well and happy.... Even I, surrounded with a
set of noisy politicians on one side, and backgammon players on
t’other, can still make shift to write a line to my dear friend,
and ask only how she does, and where she is, and to assure her that
I and my Pea are

“Her and Her Peas,
“Most truly affectionate
friends and humble servants,
“W. and G. F.”[144]

[143] Sarah was born on September 21, 1723, so was three years
younger than Elizabeth.

[144] William and Grace his wife.

[Page heading: HAYTON FARM]

The reason of the unaccustomed silence was this--Sarah was suddenly
attacked by smallpox, a disease peculiarly dreaded by Elizabeth. Mrs.
Robinson quickly despatched her to Hayton Farm, a family property
leased to a yeoman farmer of the name of Smith.

April 8 occurs a letter to the duchess--

“I cannot lose the opportunity which just offers me to send a
letter to the post, though I troubled your Grace but yesterday. My
sister continues as well as it is possible to be, and has found out
her disorder with which she is perfectly content, and sends me very
merry messages upon it: they are of the seven day sort, so will
turn on Sunday, and on Monday when it is over, I shall possess my
soul in quietness. I am afraid this hurry of spirits and fatigue,
will not prove of service to my Mamma; and if the dire Hyp does
haunt a solitary chimney corner, sure it will visit my Pappa now
it is sure to find him at home and alone. For my part, I am in the
case of poor David, my friends and kinsfolk stand afar off; and
when I am to return home I don’t know. That the distemper may not
continue, my Pappa has sent away half a dozen servants who have
not had it, and says he hopes to have me back again very soon;
but indeed I hope to prevail upon him to try how the air of Mount
Morris agrees with his servants, before I return. I live here very
easy, and I have got books and all the necessaries and comforts,
though not the pomps and pleasures of life. The family are civil
and sensible people. As for the Master of the house, he is indeed,
to a tittle, Spenser’s meagre personage called Care: his chief
accomplishment as to behaviour is silence. I never see him but
at dinner and supper, and then he eats his pudding and holds his
tongue. I believe his learning amounts to knowing that four pennies
make a groat, and the sooner that groat is a sixpence he thinks
the better. To give your grace a notion of the sort of persons who
compose the Drama:--They are above Farmers considerably, have been
possessed in the family, for aught I know, since the Conqueror of
above £400 a year, they have a good old house, neatly furnished,
but there is nothing of modern structure to be seen in it.

“I am now sitting in an old crimson velvet elbow chair, I should
imagine to be elder brother to that which is shown in Westminster
Abbey as Edward the Confessor’s. There are long tables in the room
that have more feet than the caterpillar you immured at Bullstrode.
Why so many legs are needful to stand _still_, I cannot imagine,
when I can fidget on two. There is a good chest of drawers in the
figure of a Cathedral, and a looking glass which Rosamond or Jane
Shore may have dressed their heads in. Not to forget the clock,
who has indeed been a time server; it has struck the blessed
minutes of the Reformation, Restoration, Abdication, Revolution,
and Accession, and by its relation to time seems to have some to
Eternity. It is like its old Master, only good to point the hour
to industry; ... it calls his servant to yoke the oxen, get ready
the plough, wakes the dairy maid to milk and churn, the daughters
hear in it the paternal voice chiding the waste of hours, and rise
obedient to its early call; even me it governs, sends me to bed
at ten, and makes me rise, oh barbarous! at eight.... The mother
of the family, a venerable matron of grave deportment, who was
well educated, and moves in the form of antique ceremonies, but is
really a sensible woman! The daughters are good housewifes, and I
like some qualities in them, which I understand better than their
economy. I only wish they could sleep in their beds in the morning,
and wake in a chair in the evening!” ...

[Page heading: LIFE AT A FARM]

[Page heading: A COUNTRY SQUIRE]

The next letter to Mrs. Donnellan, whom Elizabeth rebukes for her
silence, is dated April 10. In this she says--

“Before this time you must have been informed by the Duchess or
Mrs. Pendarves of my distress, and also my flight from the maternal
mansion to the house in the neighbourhood. I am at present very
happy as my sister is out of all danger, and I rejoice in thinking
she will have one enemy of life and health the less. So much for
the state of my mind; the situation of my person is not so gay and
cheerful. My best friends among the living are a Colony of rooks
who have settled themselves in a grove by my window. They wake
me early in the morning.... I have not yet discovered the form
of their government, but I imagine it is democratical.... If I
continue here long I shall grow a good naturalist. I have applied
myself to nursing chickens, and have been forming the manners of a
young calf, but I find it a very dull scholar. I intend to gather
some cowslips for Mrs. Perceval[145] as soon as they appear; pray
let me know if they should be prepared in any particular manner....

“There are some squires here who would make excellent Polyphemus’s;
one of them drank tea here yesterday, and complimented me with all
the force of rural gallantry, but for some fault in the flattery or
the flatterer, I liked neither him nor myself any better for all
the fine things he said. After he was gone I did but relieve my
spleen with some laughter on the subject, when I was told by the
matron of the family, he would be a good match for a woman with
twenty thousand pounds, and indeed could one lend out one’s liking
upon land security, I think one might very well settle it upon him.
To laugh at a poor man is barbarous. He is a great friend of the
family I am with, and I fear will come often; and in spite of his
respectable manors and fee simple, and ancient mansion, both great
and good, I shall not be able to give a serious attention to his
discourse.

“I wish you could see my habitation, a right reverend and venerable
one it is; the staircase that leads to my chamber is hung with the
funeral escutcheons of my grandfathers, grandmothers, Aunts and
Uncles, that I seem to be entering the burying vault of the family
to sleep with my Fathers. It is a comfort, no doubt, to think one’s
ancestors have had Christian burial, but of what use are these
tawdry escutcheons? Sure no passion of the mind, no situation of
the human creature is without vanity, if the mourner can adorn with
pomp, and the breathless carcase be dressed in it.

“... address to me at Mr. Smith’s, Hayton, near Hythe.”

[145] Mrs. Donnellan’s mother.

[Page heading: HANDEL]

On April 9 the Duchess of Portland lay in of a daughter, Frances, who
died in 1743. Mrs. Donnellan writes on April 11 to give a good report
of the duchess’s health, and in this letter she says--

“I long to hear from you, I want to know who you have to entertain,
and keep up the spirits your sister’s safety must give you. I hope
Mr. Robinson,[146] your brother, is in banishment with you, for you
will want such a companion to sweeten a long absence from all your
other friends. I heartily wish you were in any place where I could
come to you.... The only show we have had since you left us was for
Handel, his last night, all the fashionable people were there.”

[146] Matthew, her eldest brother.

[Page heading: DR. CONYERS MIDDLETON]

Mrs. Donnellan again writes on April 15--

“I like your situation extremely, but I should wish you one
rational companion, for I do not think you were made for calves or
poultry, or greater brutes in the shape of country squires. What is
come of Pan? He used to find out a pretty female in her retirement,
but as he has been sometimes a little dangerous, I think I had
rather recommend you to the conversation of the wood nymphs. I have
often wished to be acquainted with them, I fancy they are very
innocent, and free from vanity and affectation, a little ignorant,
and indeed in the fashions and amusements of London, as dress,
cards, old china, Japan, shells, etc., but they may have notions of
friendship and honour, and such antiquated things.

“I have read no further than Cicero’s[147] consulship. By what I
have read of Atticus in other authors particularly the Abbé St.
Real,[148] who has given his character, and translated Cicero’s
letters to him, I had not so high an opinion of him as I find
Doctor Middleton has given you. I met yesterday, at Pen’s, the
Bishop of Oxford,[149] Mrs. Secker and Miss Talbot,[150] and they
seemed to think Dr. Middleton was not so much the historian as the
Panegyrist of Cicero, indeed one observation I have already made
myself, I think him too like a modern Lawyer who pleads all causes
good or bad that gets him interest which was money to them; but
when I have read the whole I will read St. Real again, and then I
will tell you more of my mind. I long till you read Horace, and
think he would be particularly proper in your present retirement,
he seems to know how to amuse himself in such a scene better than
any one I ever met with, at the same time that he was the delight
of the politest court[151] that ever was. I really think you have
much of the genius of distinguishing right from wrong, and not
being led away by the false glosses of the world, and want to know
whether you find that conformity.

“I told you in my last I wished to spend some time with you in your
banishment. I am so sincere in it, that if you were in a place
where they are not above being paid for my lodging and board, I
would come to you for one fortnight before you go home....

“My Mother desires her compliments to you, and many thanks for
remembering the cowslips. The manner of saving them is this only,
pulling them out of the Pod, and letting them dry in a north
window, and when they are dry, to put them up in a paper bag.

“I have been this morning to St. Paul’s to hear Handel’s Te Deum.”

[147] Dr. Conyers Middleton’s “Life of Cicero.”

[148] C. V. de St. Real, able French author; died 1692.

[149] Thomas Secker, born 1693, died 1768; made Archbishop of
Canterbury in 1758.

[150] Lived with the Seckers; daughter of Edward, second son of Dr.
W. Talbot, D.D., of Durham.

[151] The court of the Emperor Augustus.

[Page heading: PENURIOUS LIVING]

The cowslips Mrs. Perceval asked for were doubtless intended for making
that delicious but now seldom met with cowslip wine. Few people are
aware that a claret glass of cowslip wine before going to bed is an
innocent and generally successful soporific.

_To Mrs. Donnellan._

“Hayton, April 20, 1741.

“DEAR MADAM,

“I had the pleasure of your letter yesterday, it made me very
happy. If my friends at a distance did not keep my affections
awake, I should be lulled into a state of insensibility, divided
as I am from all I love.... What’s Cicero to me or I to Cicero?
as Hamlet would say; and for myself, though this same little,
insignificant self be very dear unto me, yet I have not used to
make it my sole object of love and delight....

“I want just such a companion as you would be, and how happy would
your kind compliance with that wish make me, if the good old folk
here would accommodate you; but they are so fearful of strangers,
I know it impossible to persuade them to it. They are not very
fine people; they have a little estate, and help it out with a
little farming: are very busy and careful, and the old man’s
cautionness has dwindled into penuriousness, so that he eats in
fear of waste and riot, sleeps with the dread of thieves, denies
himself everything for fear of wanting anything, riches give him no
plenty, increase no joy, prosperity no ease: he has the curse of
covetousness to want the property of his neighbours, while he dare
not touch his own: the Harpy Avarice drives him from his own meat,
the sum of his wisdom and his gains will be by living poor, to die
rich....

“The reason for which you wish I would read Horace does me great
honour.... Upon your recommendation I had read it before, but
depending on my brother’s having it, I did not bring it with me,
and I find he has not got it. I will desire my brothers[152] to
bring it down with them the next vacation.... As for some of our
squires they read nothing but parish law, and books of Husbandry,
or perhaps for their particular entertainment, ‘Quarle’s Emblems,’
‘The Pilgrim’s Progress,’ ‘Æsop’s Fables,’ and to furnish them with
a little ready wit, ‘Joe Miller’s Jests.’”[153]

[152] Matthew and Morris were at Cambridge.

[153] Joe Miller, born 1684, died 1738; comedian. His “Book of
Jests” was published in 1739.

[Page heading: THE REV. LAURENCE STERNE]

Matthew Robinson had gone to Bath to drink the waters, and on April 19
he writes to Elizabeth from “Colibee’s” in Hall Street, Bath--

“DEAR SISTER,

“The order of our Posts at Bath is very strange, the post comes
in three times a week, twice of which you may answer your letters
the same day you receive them, but the third not till three days
afterwards. Last Thursday brought me two letters together from you,
in which you informed me that my sister was past the heighth.... I
hope next post will tell me that Sally is out of all danger.

“Harry Goddard is here, and informs me that our cousin Betty Lumley
is married to a Parson[154] who once delighted in debauchery, who
is possessed of about £100 a year in preferment, and has a good
prospect of more. What hopes our relation may have of settling
the affections of a light and fickle man I know not, but I
imagine she will set about it not by means of the beauty but of
the arm of flesh. In other respects I see no fault in the match;
no woman ought to venture upon the state of Old Maiden without a
consciousness of an inexhaustible fund of good nature.”

The letter is signed “M. R. M.,” for Matthew Robinson Morris; as by
his uncle Morris Drake Morris’ will, Matthew was to succeed to his
mother’s[155] estate of Mount Morris, Kent, sometimes called Monk’s
Horton, etc., left her by her brother, he assumed the name of Morris
for some years, but returned to his family patronymic, Robinson,
_before_ becoming 2nd Baron Rokeby in 1794.

[154] The Rev. Laurence Sterne, married to Elizabeth Lumley, March
30, 1741, in York Cathedral, by license, by the then Dean.

[155] Mrs. M. Robinson, his mother, inherited Coveney, Cambs, from
her father, and the Kentish property as heiress of her mother,
Sarah, daughter and heiress of Thomas Morris.

[Page heading: MRS. STERNE]

On the subject of the Sterne marriage, in a note to Sarah from
Elizabeth we see further--

“DEAR MADAM SALLY,

“I am glad to hear you are well, and that your eyes are brilliant,
but pray don’t use them too soon, for you will have reason to
repent it. I never saw a more comical letter than my sweet
cousin’s,[156] with her heart and head full of matrimony, pray do
matrimonial thoughts come upon _your recovery_? for she seems to
think it a symptom.”

Then after many cautions to her sister as to her health, and
thankfulness at her being out of danger, she adds--

“Matt mentions Mrs. Sterne’s match, of which he had an account from
Harry Goddard, who is at Bath. Mr. Sterne has a hundred a year
living, with a good prospect of better preferment. He was a great
rake, but being japanned and married, has varnished his character.
I do not comprehend what my cousin means by their little desires,
if she had said little stomachs, it had been some help to their
economy, but when people have not enough for the necessaries of
life, what avails it that they can do without the superfluities and
pomps of it? Does she mean that she won’t keep a coach and six, and
four footmen? What a wonderful occupation she made of courtship
that it left her no leisure nor inclination to think of any thing
else. I wish they may live well together.”

[156] Elizabeth Lumley had been very ill just before her engagement
to Laurence Sterne: _vide_ his life by Traill.

[Page heading: “TRISTRAM”]

At this time Sterne was Vicar of Sutton-on-the-Forest,[157] some eight
miles from York, and his uncle, Jacob Sterne, gave him a prebendal
stall in York Cathedral about the same time. For two years he had
courted Elizabeth Lumley. She was much in love with him, but from
smallness of means on either side, deemed marriage imprudent. She,
however, had a desperate illness, and informed Sterne she had made
him her heir. His gratitude for this, and affection, recalled her to
life and matrimony. For details of this I must refer the reader to the
various lives written of “Tristram,” as his nickname was to be later in
the Robinson family.

[157] His great-grandfather, Richard Sterne, had been Archbishop of
York, and a friend of Laud’s.

From Hayton Elizabeth writes to Mr. Freind at Bath, to scold him for
not writing to her and her sister. In this she says--

“My sister is well again, and once more I possess my soul with
tranquillity. I believe you will guess I suffered great and
terrible anxiety when I was forced to leave her to a dreadful
distemper, whose terrors received great additions from my
particular fears of it, and tenderness to her. The want of sleep,
at first, a little damaged my constitution, I had a slight fever
with disorder for a week, which I believe was chiefly occasioned by
it. I did not mention it to my brother, for fear it should make him
uneasy, but I am now perfectly well, and from the reflection of my
sister’s good fortune, happy too, though great is the change you
will see, from London and lolling on the velvet sofa of a duchess,
to humbly sitting on a 3-legged cricket[158] in the country.”

[158] A three-legged stool.

[Page heading: CURE FOR LOVE]

At the end of the letter of an admirer of her’s she says--

“Our friend B----[159] increases in chin and misery, he came to
breakfast with my Papa one morning, and complained of the Hyp,
for which my good parent advised him to take assafœtida, the
prescription was admirable, he might as well have sent him to the
Tinker’s to have mended the hole in his heart. Oh! cruel fate that
made no cure for love, thought my friend, and sighed bitterly:
really I could not help laughing at the precious balm my Pappa was
for applying to the wound. It would have ruined a happy lover with
me.”

[159] Mr. Brockman, of Beachborough.

_Letter from the Duke of Portland._

“Whitehall, April 25, 1741.

“MADAM,

Since ye frivolous letters j trouble you with are ranked as
favours you receive, j’am sure no excuse can be made for any
neglect towards you, and it would, nay it does, make me wish ye
post went out every day, yt j might have it in my power to confer
my favours, such as they are, upon you: j’am not sure if vanity,
as well as ye desire j have of doing all yt lays in my power to
oblige you, does not have a share in this wish about ye post, for
really j have reason to be proud yt a Lady of so many perfections
as Miss Robinson, (j can’t name them singly for j should never
have done), can sett any value upon my poor insignificant letters,
tho’ your approving them might puff up any body’s vanity, yett j
have humility enough to think that j owe all the favours you are
pleased to show me, to ye subject j write about; it is a subject
yt you will be no more tired to hear off than j to write off: then
j am sure your next question will be, Pray my lord to ye subject:
well then in complyance to your commands j am to inform you yt
ye Duchess continues as well as can be, and ye Babe too. My wife
desires me to tell you yt your letter revived her exceedingly, yt
she had waited with great impatience for it, and yt she hopes to
hear often from you. She, as well as myself, rejoice at your
sister’s recovery, and desire our compliments to her. You may say
everything yt is kind to yourself from my wife, and tho’ j am sure
you have a very good genius in turning things as you like, you will
hardly outdo her sentiments concerning you. Your being got rid of
your feaver gave us great joy, for we began to be uneasy about
Fidgett; nobody can see her without admiration, and when one hears
her open her lips one is struck dumb; if one was to go on with
everything when one receives a letter from you, one’s fingers would
become numbed, and unable to answer, was it not for the desire of
receiving more letters, makes one’s fingers to write to engage
you to answer. In reading your letter j can’t help acquainting
you yt there would be great strifes to be a Chaunticleer to be
ye real possessor of such a Dame Partlett as you, whether of ye
favourite little Bantam kind, or of the ruffled friesland kind; j
should think the first more adapted to you for its gentility and
rarity and cleanliness, all qualifications, which, tho’ j am no
chanticleer j can sing off in your behalf. Nay j will do it. It is
time for me to finish my letter to you tho’ j do not conclude my
letter with such a pompous ‘humble servant’ as you do, j hope you
are thoroughly persuaded that j am not less,

“Madam,
“Your most obedient, humble servant,
“PORTLAND.”

[Illustration:

_Thomas Hudson. Pinx._ _Emery Walker Ph. Sc._

_William, second Duke of Portland_]

The letter concludes with a long postscript; the duke had put the
letter into his pocket to give the porter himself, not wishing, he
says, to trust “Mr. Puff” with it, and forgot it for some days. Despite
of all letters being sealed, they were constantly tampered with,
adroit incisions under the seals could be made, and refastened without
spoiling the impression above, and many letters were lost entirely.

[Page heading: MATTHEW ROBINSON]

[Page heading: A BROTHER’S ADMIRATION]

On April 27 occurs a most brotherly letter from Matthew from Bath. It
is too long to place here in full, but so beautiful are his words to
his sister, showing his love and admiration for her, that I give a few
extracts. He had just received a letter of her’s which pleased him, and
says--

“I should be ashamed after so long a friendship with you to be
ignorant of any of your talents, yet I do assure you there are some
of them that after so long an accquaintance with them, I have not
yet done admiring. It is never without great delight that I see in
one whom I esteem so much, that tho’ in company one would swear
your parts and spirits were contrived purposely for laughter, and
the chearful round of mirth, yet study and thought, contemplation
of the ways of men, or works of Nature, and consequently enjoyment
of yourself, and ease and happiness, the end of all good, never
desert your leisure and retirement. You never had greater reason
for this turn of mind, or better trial of your temper on that
account than lately, when driven from your friends, and almost
alone, in a manner you never were before, and probably may never be
again: you were fairly left to the food and entertainment of your
own thoughts; and though it would be impertinent now to mention
my general opinion of your letters, I don’t remember that I ever
saw your thoughts stamped upon a piece of paper with greater force
of discernment than in the letter I received from you to-day....
Bating the tribe of your lovers, you cannot have a more hearty
friend to your person, or more assured admirer of your merit and
accomplishments.”

Surely few brothers have ever paid a more graceful tribute of praise to
a sister! Matthew was born in 1713, and was consequently seven years
older than Elizabeth.

[Page heading: THE SMALLPOX]

On May 9, in a letter to Mr. Freind, we learn the two sisters had met
again--

“I had the joy of seeing my dear Pea yesterday; I cannot express
the happiness of such a meeting, but it is saying enough to own it
more than recompensed the pangs of parting. It is truly, as well
as poetically said, ‘The heart can ne’er a transport know, that
never felt a pain.’ My desire to be cheered again by that beloved
voice made me desirous of a meeting much sooner than I should be
otherwise, in my shameful fear of the distemper, have desired. We
talked about an hour in the open air, at about two yards’ distance:
she kept her hat so close I could not see her face, but as soon
as it has nothing left of the distemper, but the redness, I am to
see her. I am now within sight of our house at a farm just at the
bottom of the gates. I have a very good room, warm and comfortable.
It is so low that it flatters my pride by indulging me with an
approach to the ceiling. My Mamma had sent furniture for the room
from Mount Morris, as soon as my sister was growing better, that I
might come so near as to be accustomed to the family, and so return
to it at leisure without any apprehensions.”

Reproaching Mr. Freind for silence in this letter, he writes, May 19,
in return to plead his parochial duties, and amusingly says in defence--

“I am forced in the country, every week to make a sermon, at home
or abroad, however engaged, made it must be, and swallowed the
next Sunday, though I believe it lies but a crude morsel on the
Blanketters’[160] Stomachs, which, if they can digest, ’tis often
more than I myself can do.... An express arrived last night from
Admiral Vernon; Carthagena was not actually taken, but the captain
who brings the news imagines it might be taken in about 12 hours
after he left it. All the Spanish ships and galleons that were
in the Harbour were burnt, most of the fortifications battered
down, enough to discover there was great confusion in the town.
Not a ship of ours was hurt when he departed. But there is always
a black flag attends in the train of Victory; the general joy
overcomes indeed all private concern; but those who have friends or
relations in the midst of a fire, cannot rejoice till they hear who
has escaped it. Those we lost on the 1st of April are Lord Aubrey
Beauclerc,[161] who had both legs shot off, and died presently,
Col. Douglas of the Marines had his head shot off, Lieutenant
Sandford of Wentworth’s Regiment was shot in his tent before the
town, Col. Watson of the Artillery was killed by a shot in the
thigh, Capt. Moor was killed, Lieutenant Turvin had just taken the
Colours from his dead ensign, and was killed with them in his hand
(‘There’s honour for you,’ says Sir J. Falstaffe), 197 private men
are killed and wounded. I was glad to find my brother not mentioned
in the list.”

[160] It will be remembered Mr. Freind was Rector of Witney, the
centre of blanket-making.

[161] Son of 1st Duke of St. Albans, and grandson of Charles II.

[Page heading: ST. LAZARE]

[Page heading: A SOUTH SEA LAWSUIT]

Alas! in this he was premature, his brother-in-law, Henry Robinson,
died of the wounds he received at the attack on St. Lazare, near
Carthagena. May 12, Mrs. Donnellan writes from London--

“We are squabbling about Elections, and proving right wrong, and
wrong right, just as we think it will make for some little private
interest, without the least regard to truth, justice, or any
notion of the good of the country. The Westminster Election was
finished in a most partial manner on Friday, in favour of the Court
candidates, and Lord Sundon[162] was like to be torn to pieces by
the mob in revenge: this has been the subject of much talk, and
last night I happened to say to a clergyman (who I thought by his
gown was obliged to join with me), that I thought the dishonesty
that prevailed in Elections was terrible, and corrupted the private
honesty in all ranks of people, when my Parson to my surprise took
up the argument that bribery in a King and his Ministers was not
dishonest, but politic, and that we could not subsist without it,
and ran on to prove that we must conform to the times, and if my
neighbour bribes, I must do so too, to be on a foot with him or we
must be undone. I own this doctrine shocks me....

“Your friend[163] told me yesterday they are a little disturbed
about a law suit which is to concern the 28th. I suppose you have
heard of it. ’Tis an old South Sea affair of the Father’s,[164] and
very considerable. I am really concerned about it, and shall long
to see them out of such a terrible situation.”

[162] William Clayton, Baron Sundon.

[163] Duchess of Portland.

[164] William Henry, 1st Duke of Portland.

[Illustration: _Lady Mary Wortley Montagu_

_from a miniature in the possession of Mrs. Climenson_

_Emery Walker Ph. Sc._]

At this period Elizabeth developed a most painful weakness of the eyes,
which recurred at intervals during the rest of her life. She attributed
it to reading so much at night during her absence from home while her
sister was ill. The duchess writes to implore her not to work, or read,
and she answers, “I follow your grace’s advice, I do not work at all,
and I read by my sister’s eyes.” She had commenced dining at Mount
Morris, but they would not let her go upstairs for fear of infection,
so she still slept at the farm. Mr. Freind had in his last letter said,
“Let us know all about you; when you set sail, _i.e._ when you are to
be manned, and who is to be your Captain, for these things surely must
be settled now.” To which she answers--

“I am not going to set sail yet; the ocean of fortune is rough, the
bark of fortune light, the prosperous gale uncertain, but the Pilot
must be smooth, steady and content, patient in storms, moderate and
careful in sunshine, and easy in the turns of the wind, and changes
of the times. Guess if these things be easily found? and without
such a guide can I avoid the gulph of misfortune, the barking of
envy, the deceits of the syrens, and the hypocrisy of Proteus? So
I wait on the shore, scarce looking towards this land of promise,
so few I find with whom I would risk the voyage. I would have
wrote you a longer letter, if I had a frank, but careful of your
sixpence, though regardless of your leisure, that consideration
hinders me. I am at Mount Morris again.”

[Page heading: “LIFE OF CICERO”]

The duchess having commenced reading Dr. Conyers Middleton’s “Life
of Cicero,” Elizabeth recommends a pamphlet called “Observations on
Cicero,” written by Mr. Lyttelton,[165] but without his name being
prefixed to it. She states, “Dr. Middleton compliments it in his
preface slightly; it is as much a criticism as the Doctor’s is a
panegyric of Tully’s action: it is a very little book, but I think
wrote with great spirit and elegance.”

[165] George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton.

The following letter is from the Duchess of Portland early in June, but
undated:--

“Monday morning.

“MY DEAREST FIDGET,

“You will be much surprised to receive so melancholy a letter from
me after that strange medley you had last post, but yesterday
morning I was told the Doctor had no hopes of my Papa; he hurt his
leg some time ago, and Sergeant Dickens has had it in hand, and
declared to Dr. Mead[166] he would go on no longer without another
surgeon was called in, upon which Skipton was sent for, and what
will be the result of their consultations to-day I dread to know;
he has besides a jaundice and dropsy. He was out Friday night, and
pretty well of Saturday night, and grew so much worse yesterday
morning that he is not able to move. The Doctor was surprised to
find such an alteration in a few hours. Oh! my dear Fidget, ’tis
not possible to flatter oneself, God only knows what is best for
us, therefore I am sensible I ought to be contented with what He is
pleased to inflict upon us, but I cannot help my natural weakness.
I can’t see to add any more, my heart and eyes are too full.”

[166] Famous physician, writer on medicine, and antiquarian.

[Page heading: DEATH OF THE EARL OF OXFORD]

Here Mrs. Donnellan adds, “I have but one sad moment to tell my dear
Fidget that my Lord Oxford[167] died to-day.”

[167] He died in Dover Street, June 16, 1741.

The next letter from the duchess is dated June 25--

“MY DEAREST FIDGET,

“I owe you a thousand thanks for your kind letters, and if words
were the only acknowledgement I could make, I should ever be
bankrupt, but my affection is warm, and my fidelity will last as
long as my life....

“He was sensible almost to the last, nor did not show the least
regret at leaving this troublesome world, except when he took leave
of me, and that was too moving a scene for me even to tell now.” ...

At the end she begs Elizabeth not to write to her, as her eyes were
so bad, but to get Sarah to do so instead, and in all her trouble
remembers to send two bottles of arquebusade to Matthew Robinson’s
chambers which he wanted, the price being 4_s._ 6_d._ a bottle.

Edward, 2nd Earl of Oxford, was the son of Robert, 1st Earl, by his
first marriage with Elizabeth Foley, sister of Thomas, 1st Lord Foley;
he continued to collect the Harleian MSS.,[168] begun by his father,
now in the British Museum, also innumerable books, pictures, medals,
etc.; and took great interest in all archæological studies, as did his
countess.

[168] Lady Oxford sold the Harleian collection of manuscripts in
1753 to the British Museum.

Elizabeth wrote to condole heartily with the duchess on her sad loss,
but imploring her, for the sake of the duke and her dear little
children, to endeavour to bear up under this sad blow, for father and
daughter were tenderly attached to each other.

[Page heading: A ONE-HORSE CHAISE]

The universal panacea of bleeding--for one can only judge by the manner
in which doctors applied to it for every case--had been endured by
Elizabeth for the sake of her eyes, and she says “my eyes are worse
for the bleeding.” She had a narrow escape at this time: her brother
Matthew driving her for her health along the seashore on a high bank
raised to keep off the incursion of the sea, the horse bolted, but
fortunately their servant outrider was able to stop it without its
bolting down either side of the bank. It is characteristic of the times
that she calls a one-horse chaise, “of all things the most ridiculous!”

Mrs. Donnellan had been ill, and was ordered to Tunbridge Wells, to
drink the waters. There was hope of Dr. Young being there. “I believe
you will find his thoughts little confined to the place; he will
entertain you with conversation much above what one generally finds
there, where they talk of little but water, bread, butter, and scandal.”

On July 5 the duchess writes to say they had carried their cause in
the law suit. She also expresses her joy at hearing Matthew Robinson
intended to be inoculated that autumn. Elizabeth said if her eyes and
general health were better, she would be inoculated too. She had just
been given, “by a wise son of Æsculapius, a diabolical bolus that half
killed me. I fainted away about three hours after I swallowed the
notable composition, and was above an hour in such agony that if I had
not waited for your letter I had certainly gone to the Elysian fields.”

A letter of Mrs. Botham’s from Elford, of which place, as well as of
Yoxall, Staffordshire, her husband was Vicar, mentions a legacy left to
her and her sister, Mrs. Laurence Sterne--

“My husband is in the North; his journey thither happened very
opportunely, for an ancient woman whose very name I am a stranger
to, has lately dyed intestate, and my Sister and self are heirs at
law of her real estate, which consists of some houses at Leeds, the
yearly value of them about £60. It would be well for us if we could
make out a title to her personal estate, which is upwards of £5000,
but that I have no hopes of.”

[Page heading: A WINDSOR HATTER]

The duke and duchess were now at Bullstrode, and anxious for Elizabeth
to come to them. The duchess gives an amusing account of a hatter’s
funeral--

“A hatter of Windsor left £100 to a man on condition he would
bury him according to his desire under a mulberry tree in his own
garden, 10 feet deep. The assistants to drink 12 bottles of wine
over his grave, and French Horns playing during the whole ceremony,
and this was accordingly performed yesterday, to the great offence
of Mr. Grosmith,[169] who says he was not a Christian....

“To dissect leaves[170] put ’em into water, and change the water
every day, but you must take care the leaf is not blighted.”

[169] The clergyman.

[170] To skeletonize leaves.

Mrs. Donnellan writes on September 1 to say she has returned from
Tunbridge Wells after a six weeks’ visit; staying with her married
sister, Mrs. Clayton, and her husband, Robert Clayton, Bishop of
Killala, and afterwards of Clogher. The bishop very nobly gave his
wife’s paternal fortune to her sister, Anne Donnellan. Dr. Young was at
Tunbridge, and Mrs. Donnellan states--

“I conversed much with Doctor Young, but I had not enough to
satisfy me. We ran through many subjects, and I think his
conversation much to my taste. He enters into human nature, and
both his thoughts and expressions are new.”

[Page heading: THE SCOTTS OF SCOTT’S HALL]

She also mentions that Lady Thanet, accompanied by Mrs. Scott, was at
Tunbridge. Mrs. Scott,[171] of Scott’s Hall, Kent, was a friend of the
Robinsons. She had a large family, seven sons and seven daughters; one
was lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Orange, and married a Monsieur
Saumaize, a member of the suite. Her sister Caroline, or “Cally Scott”
(her pet-name), was the bosom friend of Sarah Robinson, and eventually
married a Mr. Best. Another, Cecilia, who died unmarried, was a friend
to the Robinson family for life. To Mrs. Donnellan Elizabeth writes on
September 13, and in a long letter she says--

[171] The Scotts of Scott’s Hall were one of the most ancient
Kentish families, originally Balliols of Scotland.

“The time for my brother’s inoculation draws near, and though I
have a very good opinion of that method of having the smallpox, yet
I cannot enjoy a perfect tranquillity of mind till it is over. I
would fain persuade him to have it done while I am in the country,
but he will not grant my request; for my Pappa, I believe, will not
let me go to Bullstrode at all, if I don’t go before that is over;
and my brother therefore waits for my departure, that I may not be
banished for six weeks or two months, which he imagines would be
melancholy for me these long evenings, as I should have no friend
with me, and am not able to divert myself with books now my eyes
are bad.”

The duchess was waiting for Lady Oxford’s departure from Bullstrode.
Lady Oxford is often alluded to as “the Speaker” by the duchess, the
same name, as has been mentioned, was bestowed on Mrs. Robinson by her
children. Elizabeth’s health being so indifferent, her parents wished
her to consult Dr. Mead, and early in October she proceeded to London
with her brother Tom, where she stayed a few days with Mrs. Donnellan
in Bond Street, and on October 13 joined her beloved friends at
Bullstrode, the duchess sending her coach to London to fetch her.

Matthew was to be inoculated as soon as the coach returned to Mount
Morris from taking Elizabeth to town, as, till the smallpox appeared,
he was to take the air daily in it; but the inoculation did not take,
and Elizabeth’s tender fears for her brother were allayed.

[Page heading: MARRIAGE OF LORD SANDWICH]

The next letter of interest is on October 20, to her mother--

“I return you many thanks for your directions for the apron, which
I will carefully follow; as to the silver thread I do not approve
the use of it, as all great artists work for immortality, and my
sister will find a little time will tarnish her work if there is
a mixture of silver in it.... I honour Lord Sandwich[172] for his
wise and generous contempt of money in a point in which there are
other things superior to it; he bears an excellent character,
there is much prudence in knowing how to separate one’s particular
happiness from that which is reckoned so in the world’s opinion:
if Lord Sandwich takes greater pleasure in the conversation of a
fine woman than in viewing a collection of medals and pictures,
he is right to prefer Miss Dolly Fane with £5000 to Miss Spinckes
with £50,000.... He has a good estate sufficient for the becoming
state of a nobleman.... Miss Fane is a happy woman to have a lover
so great, so generous, and so good. Love has a good right over the
marriages of men, but not of women; for men raise their wives to
their ranks, women stoop to their husbands, if they choose below
themselves. I think all our neighbours are in a marrying humour. I
wish some of them had married two and twenty years ago, we should
have had now a gallant young neighbourhood.”

[172] John, 4th Earl Sandwich, whose nickname later was “Jemmy
Twitcher,” just engaged to Dorothy, daughter of Charles, 1st
Viscount Fane.

Dr. Mead had prescribed for Elizabeth for her eyes and for a swelled
lip, which annoyed her much. What should we think of a blister applied
to the back to reduce a swelled lip in these days? Yet it was ordered!
Writing to Sarah, she says--

“I am better than I was, but my mouth not being yet perfectly
reduced, I have got a fresh blister upon my back, well may it bend
with such a weight of calamities.... I have sent for my bathing
Cloaths, and on Sunday night shall take a souze. I think it a
pleasant remedy. I am to sit a quarter of an hour in the bath, and
then go to bed and lye warm; it is to be repeated three times a
week.”

[Page heading: DUCAL BATHS!]

The next letter to her mother throws a curious light on the personal
cleanliness of the day, and the want of baths in a ducal house--

“November 6, 1741.

“MADAM,

“I should write to you much oftener, if I was able, but really I am
so taken up with the pursuit of health I have little time for other
employments. My lip is not entirely reduced, though I have been
blistered twice, once blooded, and have five times taken physick,
have lived upon chicken and white meats, and drank nothing but
water; however, I am now vastly better than I was, and have hardly
any pimples in my face, and no complaint in my eyes or nose, only
this abominable lip is still rather bigger than it used to be. I
intend to keep the blister going till it is well, for Mr. Clarke
has put me in a way of doing it, so that I do not suffer much. I
have suffered great disappointment about the warm bath, which I am
advised to try, for the bathing tubs are so out of order we have
not yet been able to make them hold water, but I hope next week
they will serve the purpose.” ...

At the end of the letter is this: “Mary brings me word my bathing
tub[173] is ready for use; so to-morrow I shall go in. Pray look for my
bathing dress, till then I must go in in chemise and jupon!” Evidently
from this it was not considered proper to go into a bath, even in a
bedroom, _au naturel_!

[173] Before tin baths came into use, I remember my father bathing
in a wooden tub, which resembled a wheelbarrow without legs or
wheels, but with two handles at each end. It took two maids to
empty it.

[Page heading: THE NEW LADY’S-MAID]

[Page heading: A MICROSCOPE]

Another light on domestic service of the day is given in the next
letter to Sarah. For some reason Elizabeth had a new lady’s-maid, and
it appears from this and other letters that a superior class of persons
officiated in that capacity. Many a clergyman’s daughter was glad to be
lady’s-maid or housekeeper in those days--

“I like my maid extreamly; she is very humble, sensible, quick and
diligent, and though her Father and Mother are above the common
rate, she has never presumed to hint she was a person of fashion,
which the French generally brag of. Mrs. Hog[174] (ye ladies’
French woman), tells me Mr. Dufour was a scarlet Dyer, worth once
five or six thousand pounds, and Mrs. Dufour had about £1600 for
her fortune, but by the knavery of a partner in their trade, they
were reduced. I think Mary works pretty quick, and washes well, and
is very handy, and she talks much better French than Dulac.

“I am reading Dr. Swift’s and Mr. Pope’s letters. I like them much,
and find great marks of friendship, goodness and affection between
these people whom the world is apt to think too wise to be honest,
and too witty to be affectionate, but vice is the child of folly,
rather than of wisdom; and for insensibility of heart, like that
of the head, it belongeth unto fools. Lord Bolingbroke’s letters
shine much in the collection. We are reading Dr. Middleton’s new
edition[175] of his letter from Rome, but have not yet come to the
postscript to Warburton;[176] the answer to the Roman Catholic is
full, and I doubt not the Protestant will be as happily silenced.
Truth will maintain its ground against all opposition.

“We expect Mr.[177] and Mrs. West, and then we shall have the house
full. We are in hopes of Dr. Young; he is now at Welling sowing
spiritual things in his parish, I hope to the increase of grace.

“The sun will not shine for our microscope,[178] which is a great
vexation to the curious. Last night by the candle I saw a fringe
upon a leaf, that would have done excellently well for your apron,
and I dare say you are so excellently skilled in the imitation of
Nature that you could work just like it if you had the materials.”

[174] French maid to the duchess’s little girls.

[175] “Letters on the Use and Study of History.”

[176] William Warburton, D.D., Bishop of Gloucester, friend of
Pope; able controversial writer; born 1698, died 1779.

[177] Gilbert T. West, LL.D., born 1706, died 1756; poet and
writer; translated “Pindar.”

[178] Mr. Achard’s microscope.

In the next letter to Sarah she says--

“The Muses, fair ladies and Mr. Lyttelton,[179] a fine gentleman,
will entertain you in my absence _d’esprit_: the verses were wrote
at Lord Westmorland’s. I think the verses are pretty; either I am
very partial to the writer, or Mr. Lyttelton has always something
of an elegance and agreeableness in all his verses, let the subject
be ever so trifling.... Does the world want odd people, or do we
want strange cousins that the Sternes must increase and multiply?
No folly ever becomes extinct, fools do so establish posterity!”

[179] George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton.

As the Sternes’ eldest child, the first Lydia, was not born till 1745,
there must have been a disappointment; but though undated, this letter
is of 1741, as allusion is made to Matthew Robinson’s inoculation,
which had just taken place.

[Page heading: “CIBBER’S LIFE”]

“We are reading ‘Cibber’s Life.’[180] Was there ever so exquisite a
coxcomb!”

[180] Cibber’s “Apology for his Life,” published this year; he did
not die till 1757, but published his “Apology” in 1740.

November 11, a letter contains--

“Last night being the birthday of the noble Admiral Vernon, we
drank his health at noon, and celebrated the same with a ball
at night. The ‘Gun Fleet’ was danced in honour of him, and all
celebrated with extream joy, and a splendid distribution of Crowns
to the fiddler, who was not the son of Orpheus, but however he made
such a difference between tit-for-tat and a minouet, that one might
understand which he meant. Mademoiselle Dufour[181] had the honour
of standing up instead of a flower-pot or an elbow-chair; she
danced like the daughter of Herodias.”

[181] Her French attendant; see _ante_.

To Mrs. Donnellan, who had been ill, but was recovering, this
description of Dr. Young[182] is addressed--

“We have lost our divines, whose company we regret; there is
great pleasure in conversing with people of such a turn as Dr.
Young and Dr. Clarke;[183] for the first there is nothing of
speculation, either in the Terra Firma of Reason, or the Visionary
province of fancy, into which he does not lead the imagination.
In his conversation he examines everything, determines hardly
anything, but leaves one’s judgment at liberty. The other goes far
into a subject, and seldom leaves the conclusion of an argument
unfinished; he seems to me to have a very accurate judgment, and
a very attentive observation of everything that comes within his
view, and thus with the assistance of a happy memory, he has laid
up a great stock of knowledge and experience.”

[182] Dr. Young lost his wife this year, 1741.

[183] Dr. W. Clarke, died 1771; divine and writer.

[Page heading: MECHANICAL CHAIR]

Mrs. Donnellan mentions on November 15 a mechanical chair she is to
have for exercise--

“An artist is to bring me home a machine[184] for galloping and
trotting this day; if I could get him to make me one that could
move me from one place to another, with how much pleasure could
I mount my chariot to make you a visit.... London is as full now
as it used to be in January. Plays are much frequented, both to
see Barbarini dance, and a new actress from Ireland, her name is
Woffington,[185] ... she excels in men’s parts, and is to act
‘Sir Harry Wildair’ next Monday, by the King’s commands, and all
the world goes. We poor Irish run the gauntlet about her; we hear
in many companys, ‘She has a great deal of _Irish assurance_.’ I
desired it should be called _Stage assurance_.

“Handel[186] next week has a new opera, which those who have heard
the rehearsal say is very pretty. Tell Pen the ‘Lion Song’ is in
it....

“I hear the Duke of Portland is to have a Blue Garter, which I am
extremely glad of, as I think ’tis fit and proper.”

[184] Called a “Merlin Chair,” from the inventor, for mechanical
exercise.

[185] Margaret Woffington, born 1718, died 1760; celebrated actress
and friend of Garrick.

[186] Does she mean “The Messiah,” which he produced this year, but
which at first was not appreciated?

To this letter Elizabeth replies--

“The date of your letter from London is the strongest temptation to
me to wish myself there, that you could lay before me: as for Plays
and the Beau monde, I hardly wear vanity enough in the country, to
wishing myself once more in--

“‘The dull farce, the empty show
Of Powder, pocket glass and Beau.’

“I know your town is the Kingdom of Cards, and the Reign of
Mattadores I am disaffected to; here I enjoy all the pleasures of
friendship, and the satisfaction of tranquillity....

“I hope you will find great benefit by your machine; if you will
appoint a time for your imagination to take a flight, I will mount
the Marquis of Lichfield’s Hobby Horse, and give you a meeting.
Imagination gives Pegasus wings, and he often flies into the
undiscovered country of fancy.”

[Page heading: MRS. WOFFINGTON]

Mrs. Donnellan writes again on December 1 to say she and her sister,
Mrs. Clayton, had been to two plays in one week--

“One of our plays was to see Mrs. Woffington perform the part of
‘Sir Harry Wild-air,’[187] and indeed I never saw anything done
with more life and spirit; but at the same time she looked too
young, too handsome, and her voice seemed more proper for Opera
than the play; so that we see when things are out of nature, though
they may have many beauties, in the whole they will not please, and
a beard and a deep voice are as proper to make a man agreeable, as
a soft voice and smooth face to a woman.”

[187] From the play of _The Constant Couple_.

[Page heading: THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH]

The next letter of interest is of December 12, to Mrs. Robinson, from
Elizabeth--

“MADAM,

“It is long since I have had the pleasure of writing to you, for
though I have much inclination to do so, I have little leisure. I
am now coming on you with a great deal of news from the city of our
Great King. The Parliament is all in a flame, the Court have had
but a majority of seven. There is a great struggle between Giles,
Earle, and Dr. Lee, which shall be for the Committees. The city is
in great alarm that they are going to lose six hundred thousand
pounds out of Leghorn, which it is expected will be taken, and the
Port lost to our merchants.

“Now as to private affairs, it is reported the Dowager Duchess of
Marlborough[188] is dead, that she departed last night, and no one
weeps for her to-day. Extravagance will lavish away those treasures
her avarice accumulated.... I am not sure the report is true,
though private letters and public papers do affirm that the spirit
of pride, avarice, and ambition have stolen from her as quietly as
the common breath of the nostrils....”

[188] Sarah Jennings, born 1660, died 1744.

The duchess did not die then, as will be seen by the next letter to the
same person. This was the illness when the doctor told her, unless she
was blistered, she would die, when she cried, “I _won’t_ be blistered,
and I _won’t_ die!” And she did not, for she lived till 1744!

“December 19, 1741.

“MADAM,

“I believe the wars abroad, and tumults at home, will make the
publick papers worth reading. Dr. Lee has carried his Election
by four, the Court is concerned at it. The King[189] suspended
even his dinner (an action of as great importance as any done in
the reigns of some Monarchs) till this affair between Dr. Lee and
Earle was determined. The Westminster Election will now be carried
against the Court. It is thought Lord Percival will undoubtedly be
chosen at the new Election. The friends of Sir R----[190] lament
that now he will not be able to carry any of the petitions, but
where the right is on his side, and which, too, is looked upon by
them as an unfortunate thing for the Kingdom in general.

“The Duchess of Marlborough is not dead yet, but in great danger;
she has St. Anthony’s fire to a terrible degree, and will have no
advice but such as her apothecary gives her. To Mr. Spencer[191]
she has bequeathed in her will £30,000 a year, in addition to what
he has already. The Duchess of Manchester[192] she has struck out.
How the rest of her enormous fortune is disposed of people do not
know.

“We lost two of our Divines to-day, Dr. Young and the Dean
of Exeter, men of very different genius, but both agreeable
companions.”

[189] George II.

[190] Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister, born 1676, died 1745.

[191] Her grandson.

[192] Her eldest granddaughter.

[Page heading: CZARINA ELIZABETH]

The next is to Sarah, December 22, and in it is--

“I don’t know whether you have heard of the Revolutions in Russia,
that the Princess Eliza[193] is made Czarina; the Czar, his Mother,
Munich and Lacy imprisoned, and all by the power of France, and
the machinations of General Keith.[194] This is bad news for poor
England. The members of Parliament of the country party are gone
to their firesides to roast chestnuts, while the Court get the
uppermost again. The Prince’s affair is to come before the House
very soon: it is a shame that he[195] has no settlement.”

[193] Elizabeth Petrowna, born 1709, died 1761; daughter of Peter
the Great.

[194] Field-Marshal Keith, born 1696, died 1758.

[195] Frederick, Prince of Wales, born 1707, died 1751.

[Page heading: THE REV. JOHN BOTHAM]

Two letters of December 26 and December 31 to Sarah wind up the year.
In the first she mentions that the move from Bullstrode to London was
to take place on January 3, and she was to return to Mount Morris on
the 5th. In passing through London she should visit Mrs. Cotes,[196]
who was a bosom friend of hers and Sarah. A little paragraph occurs
about Mrs. Botham, Mrs. Sterne’s sister--

“Mrs. Botham is at Elford with Lady Andover, which I am glad of,
for poor Lydia has a taste for conversation above the hum-drum
mediocrity of her husband’s understanding. He has a very good
pulpit drone, and gives the whole parish an excellent nap every
Sunday with his sermonical lullaby.”

[196] Wife of Dr. Cotes, of Wimbledon, sister of Henry, Viscount
Irvine, born 1691, died 1761.

“December 31, 1741.

“MY DEAR SISTER,

“This day did not begin with the auspicious appearance of a letter
from you; I am glad it is not the first day of the New Year, for I
might have been superstitious upon it. I hope you kept your letter
back a day on purpose to welcome in the coming year. I wish it may
be our lot ever to find the next bring us what the last wanted. But
alas! time steals the most precious pleasures from us. Our life
is like a show that has passed by, leaves but a track that makes
remembrance and reflection rugged, a mark is worn for ever where
the gay train of pleasures pass’d swiftly by, and observation is
much longer displeased than ever it was delighted. I am loth to
part with an old year as with an old acquaintance, not that I have
to it the gratitude one has to a Benefactor, or the affection one
bears to a friend. I am, I fear, neither better nor richer than it
found me, but we lived easy together, and not knowing whether I
shall have the acquaintance of many years, I could be willing to
stop this. I have one obligation to it that I rate highly, that
it has ensured you from the danger of smallpox. This year too has
allowed us many happy months together. I hope all that are behind
for me design the same, else they will come unwelcome, and depart
unregretted.... This day sennight I shall be with you and the good
family at Horton, telling a ‘Winter’s tale’ by the fireside! Oh
that we were all to meet then, that once graced that fireside, even
the goodly nine,[197] and thanking my Father and Mother for all
the life they imparted to us, and have since supported! I hope the
flock is safe and our meeting reserved for some of the golden days
of fate.”

Thomas Robinson, the second brother, had this year brought out his
celebrated legal book, entitled “Common Law of Kent, or the Customs of
Gavel Kind, with an appendix concerning Borough English,” to this day
a well-referred-to book. In 1822 a third edition was published, and
another in 1858, revised by J. D. Norwood. Thomas was of Lincoln’s Inn,
was admitted April 14, 1730. The “National Biography” states he was
never called to the Bar, which must be a mistake, as there is frequent
mention of his pleading cases at Canterbury and elsewhere in the
manuscripts.

[197] The nine Robinsons, brothers and sisters.

[Year: 1742]

[Page heading: NEW YEAR’S DAY]

This year opens with a letter to Mrs. Donnellan, a portion of which I
copy--

“Bullstrode, January 1, 1742.

“DEAR MRS. DONNELLAN,

“Though there is no day of the year in which one does not wish all
happiness to one’s friends, this is the particular day in which
the heart goes forth in particular vows and wishes for the welfare
of those it loves. It is the birth of a new year, whose entrance
we would salute, and hope auspicious; nor is this particular mark
of time of little use: it teaches us to number our days, which a
wise man thought an incitement to the well spending them; and,
indeed, did we consider how much the pleasure and profit of our
lives depends upon an economy of our time, we should not waste it
as we do, in idle repentance, or reflection on the past, or a vain
unuseful regard for the future. In youth we defer being prudent
till we are old, and look forward to a promise of wisdom as the
portion of latter years: when we are old we seek not to improve,
and scarce employ ourselves; looking backward to our youth as to
the day of our diligence, and take a pride in laziness, saying we
rest as after the accomplishment of our undertakings; but we ought
to ask for our daily merit, as for our daily bread. The mind, no
more than the body, can be sustained by the food taken yesterday,
or promised for to-morrow. Every day ought to be considered as
a period apart, some virtue should be exercised, some knowledge
improved, and the value of happiness well understood, some pleasure
comprehended in it; some duty to ourselves or others must be
infringed if any of these things are neglected....

“I beg of you to reserve Monday morning for me, and I will spend it
all with you; on Tuesday I set out for Mount Morris, and on Sunday
night Pen[198] desires you to be at her house. I hope to return to
you in the beginning of March for between two and three months.
Our happy society is just breaking up, but I will think of it with
gratitude, and not with regret, and thank Fate for the joyful hours
she lent me....

“This year does not promise me much pleasure as the last has
afforded me here, but the fairest gifts of fate come often
unexpected.”

[198] Mrs. Pendarves.

[Page heading: LORD GEORGE BENTINCK]

This sentence was, had she known it, prophetic, for this very year
was to furnish her with an excellent and loving husband, a position
of importance, and a plentiful fortune. In a letter to Sarah at this
period mention is made by Elizabeth of Lord George Bentinck (the duke’s
uncle) having been ill, and the means taken for his recovery!--

“Lord George is much better than he was, and Drs. Mead and Sandys
have not determined whether it _is_ gout. I hope it is not; he has
been _blooded forty ounces_ within this week, and they say looks as
florid as ever!”

[Page heading: NORTHFLEET FAIR]

Elizabeth now left the duchess, joining her sister, who was in town
with her friend, Mrs. Cotes, and writes to her beloved duchess from
Sittingbourne, their halting-place _en route_ home. In this letter she
says--

“When I arrived at Northfleet, where we dined, every Phillis and
Corydon were at a fair in the town, and to enter into the humours
of the place, I walked through it. In one booth were nymphs and
swains buying garters, with amorous posies, some only with the
humble request, ‘When these you see, remember me’; others with a
poetical and more familiar ‘Be true to me, as I’m to thee.’ Under
another booth, for the pleasure of bold British youths, was Admiral
Vernon in gingerbread; indeed he appeared in many shapes there,
and the curate of the parish carried him home in a brass tobacco
stopper. I was a little concerned to see him lying in passive
gingerbread, upon a stall with Spanish nuts; but the politicians
of our age are wonderful in reconciling the interest of nations.
I assure you there was a great deal of company; many hearts did
I see exchanged for fairings of cherry-coloured ribbon; and one
Cymon more polished than the rest, presented his damsel with a fan,
with the intent, I presume, not to give ‘coolness to the matchless
Dame.’”

Of politics and the opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, we now gain a
glimpse in a letter of Mrs. Donnellan’s of January 14 to Elizabeth--

“It is certainly believed that the King has sent an offer of a
reconciliation, and that tempter gold, to the Prince[199] by the
Bishop of Oxford,[200] whose answer was that while Sir Robert, who
he apprehended had raised his Majesty’s resentment against him, was
at Court, he could not appear there, but that if he was removed, he
would fly without any other conditions but to have the happiness of
throwing himself at his Majesty’s feet.”

[199] Frederick, Prince of Wales, then on very bad terms with his
father.

[200] Thomas Secker, born 1693, died 1768; afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury.

[Page heading: SIR ROBERT WALPOLE]

The duchess, writing on January 23, says, “Sir Robert carried the
question by three votes.”

In the same letter she says, “I am just come from Court, where I saw
your incomparable cousin kiss hands for the government of Barbadoes;
now he certainly goes, I will pay my civilities to him in hopes of
getting some shells!” This was Sir Thomas Robinson,[201] who, having
almost ruined himself with his improvements at Rokeby, and his enormous
and frequent entertainments, applied for the governorship on economic
reasons, and continued governor till 1747.

[201] “Long” Sir Thomas Robinson, as he was called to distinguish
him from another baronet of the same name. See note at end of book
on him.

On February 4 the duchess writes in bad spirits to “Fidget”; the duke
was ill with the gout, and her little girl, Lady Fanny, had had a
convulsion fit, for which “she was blistered and blooded within 12
hours:” drastic treatment for an unfortunate infant not a year old! In
this letter we read--

“The King sent Sir Robert word that he had no more orders for him,
and that he must resign, but that he made him Earl of Orford.
Others report that upon his losing the election of Bainton,
Rolt, and Sir Edmund Thomas, he went to the King and told him
the current ran so strongly against him he could no longer be of
service to him, but that he would come into the House of Lords.
Lord Wilmington[202] is to act as first Lord of the Treasury till
affairs are settled. It is said the Duke of Richmond[203] has given
up, that Sir William Young and Winnington are to be turned out,
Harry Pelham to be the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and there is
a patent drawing for Miss Walpole[204] to take the place of Lord
Orford’s daughter.”

[202] Earl of Wilmington, died 1743.

[203] Charles, 2nd Duke.

[204] Miss Skerrit, illegitimate daughter of Sir Robert.

[Illustration:

_Emery Walker Ph. Sc._

_Sir Thomas Robinson (1st. Baron Rokeby)_]

[Page heading: LORD ORFORD]

On February 9 Mrs. Pendarves writes the following:--

“Clarges Street, February 9, 1742.

“My dear Miss Robinson will think me very dilatory in obeying her
commands, but the uneasy situation I have been in, surrounded by
sick friends[205] and servants, must make an excuse for me.

“Burnet,[206] I hope is safe on your table, and has by this time
given you some entertainment.

“As for the fringe it should have been sent to you sooner, could I
have found it, but it was buried under such a variety of rubbish
it was like digging in a mine to find it. Don’t let these delays
discourage you from making use of me again, for no one can take
more pleasure in being your humble servant than I do. This is
asserting a bold truth, and would draw on me numbers of challenges,
if I published it. I should not be afraid of accepting the combat
where my cause was so good. Our letters crost on the road. Your
observation on retirement is very just, and all your thoughts show
the good use you make of Retirement; but I wish for my own sake to
draw you out of it. I am not so unreasonable as to expect to hear
often from you. I can’t justly make that demand, but if you were
in town I should endeavour to have a great deal of your company;
let me know when I may hope to see you. At present I can give you
no very inviting reason for coming; as to the entertainments of
the place, all parties are out of humour; everybody conjectures
something; nobody knows anything, but that Sir R(obert) W(alpole)
kissed hands yesterday as Lord Orford, and his daughter as Lady
Mary, that he resigned yesterday, and goes to Houghton in a few
days. His faithful services to his King are well rewarded. I have
been interrupted by two favourites of yours, Lord Cornbury and Mrs.
Donnellan, and to recommend them still stronger to your favour,
they have prevented your having a dull long letter. I send the
fringe enclosed; if I wait till my spirit is more alert you may
want your apron, and think I have quite neglected your orders. I
will run any hazard rather than give you just cause to complain of
me, and am with great sincerity,

“My dear Fidget,
“Yours most faithfully,
“M. P.

“P.S.--My sister desires her best compliments, mine attends yours,
and all your family.”

[205] Mrs. D’Ewes, her sister, and Sir John Stanley, her uncle, had
been ill.

[206] Bishop Burnet’s “History of the Reformation.”

[Page heading: THE DUCHESS OF NORFOLK’S MASQUERADE]

On February 11 the duchess writes--

“Great changes have been wrought to-day, Mr. Sandys has kissed
hands as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Carteret,[207] is to
be Secretary of State,[208] Lord Harrington, President of the
Council, Mr. Pulteney[209] and Lord Winchelsea[210] are to go to
Court to-morrow; and all affairs are to be transacted by the advice
of Pulteney and Pelham. Lord Cobham[211] has hindered the Prince
coming to Court, but it is to be hoped he will be persuaded to
the contrary. The Duchess of Norfolk is to have a masquerade next
Wednesday, so that I am in the greatest of hurrys to get ready. I
am to be ‘Night.’”

[207] Afterwards Earl Granville, born 1690, died 1763.

[208] William, 1st Earl, born 1690, died 1756.

[209] Afterwards Earl of Bath, born 1684, died July 8, 1764.

[210] Daniel, 8th Earl, born 1689, died 1769.

[211] Sir Richard Temple, made Baron Cobham, born 1669, died 1749.

On the same day Mrs. Donnellan writes that--

“The Duchess of Norfolk’s[212] masquerade employs the gay world
as much at present as the Court places does the ambitious. The
Duchess, Lady Andover, and Pen have their tickets, poor Dash[213]
fears she will not have one. The Duchess is to represent ‘Night,’
and you know she has stars to adorn it, and make it bright as day.
Lady Andover and Pen are to be dressed after Holler’s Prints. I
have desired they make this house their place of meeting, and shall
desire the same of all my acquaintance, which will give me all I
care for of a masquerade.”

[212] Wife of 9th Duke, _née_ Mary Blount.

[213] “Delia” Dashwood.

Another peep at the masquerade is gained by a letter from “Cally” Scott
to the two Robinson sisters--

“The Princess of Wales[214] was the finest figure that ever was
seen; she had a vast number of jewels, and was in Queen Elizabeth’s
dress: the Duchess of Portland’s was very odd and pretty, her upper
part was night, and the lower moonshine.”

[214] Augusta of Saxe Gotha, wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales.

[Page heading: SIR HANS SLOANE]

The duchess writes early in February--

“MY DEAREST FIDGET,

“Though I shall have the pleasure of seeing you soon, yet I can’t
help conversing with you as often as it is in my power. I am but
just come from Sir Hans Sloane’s,[215] where I have beheld many
odder things than himself, though none so inconsistent: however, I
will not rail, for he has given me some of his trumpery to add to
my collection, and till I get better they shall remain there....

“The Duchess of Marlborough’s Memoirs[216] are come out. I long
to read ’em, and hear she has given my grandfather a character,
entirely worthy of herself, to show posterity how very different
they were in all circumstances of life. If she makes her character
to answer his, she has given him a great foil which his virtue
did not require. Swift’s ‘Four last years of Queen Anne’[217] are
coming out. I don’t hear they are yet printed.”

[215] Eminent physician and naturalist, born 1660, died 1753; then
living at Bushington House, Chelsea.

[216] Her “Account of her Conduct.” Mr. N. Hooke helped her to
write it this year.

[217] Was not printed till 1758.

[Page heading: HOUSE OF LORDS]

Elizabeth now went to London, and in February writes this interesting
letter to her father in Kent--

“SIR,

“I thought it would be agreeable to you to have an account of the
mighty and important proceedings of both houses yesterday, so I
have sent you the question, which was debated in both Houses with a
good deal of warmth. It was brought into the House of Lords by Lord
Carteret,[218] who spoke two hours in opening. Lord Carlisle and
Lord Westmorland spoke with great warmth, and Lord Carlisle[219]
was very bitter. Lord Halifax[220] seconded Lord Carteret. Lord
Talbot said in answer to the Duke of Marlborough’s motion (that it
might be voted that an attempt to inflict any kind of punishment,
etc., etc.) that he would not say that all persons were interested
that spoke in favour of Sir Robert, that they appeared to be so,
and upon being called to order, he said with heat that he was used
to speak truth, and he did believe (by the most sacred oath) that
they were so, and that he was ready to give any man satisfaction
that would require it. All moderate men voted with the majority in
both Houses. Lord Cornbury and Mr. Harley spoke in favour of Sir
R.: the latter said that though Sir R. had pursued a relation[221]
of his without evidence, and caused his imprisonment, and thereby
the shortening of his life, he could not, as he had differed from
him in all his measures, copy him in that, and so withdrew with
his brother and many others who had great disobligations to the
Member. Mr. Skipper would not vote against the great man, for it
seems there was no proof nor evidence of the accusations. I think
the majority was 290 against 190 in the House of Commons. Many of
the Country interest did not vote at all; they did not break up
till three. The House of Lords at one o’clock in the morning. Mr.
Sandys[222] opened very well, and Mr. ‘Ste’-Fox[223] spoke on the
other side extremely well. I may by the next post, be able to give
you a further account of the matter, but this is all I have yet
heard, for the Members of Parliament are half asleep to-day.

“I am, Sir,
“Your most dutiful, etc.”

[218] John, 2nd Baron Carteret, afterwards Earl Granville.

[219] 7th Earl of Carlisle.

[220] 5th Earl of Halifax.

[221] Alluding to the impeachment and imprisonment of Robert
Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford.

[222] Afterwards 1st Lord Sandys of Ombersley.

[223] Father of 1st Baron Holland.

[Page heading: THE HOUSE’S ADDRESS]

On the other side of this folio letter, in _another handwriting_, is
_the Question_--

“The House was moved that an humble Address be presented to his
Majesty, most humbly to advise and beseech his Majesty that he
will be most graciously pleased to Remove the Right Honble. Sir
Robert Walpole, Kt. of the most noble order of the Garter, first
Commissioner of his Majesty’s Treasury, and Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and one of his Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council,
from his Majesty’s Presence and Councils for ever,

“And a question being stated thereupon after long Debate,

“The Question was put, whether such an address shall be presented
to his Majesty.

“It was resolved in the Negative. Contents 47, Proxies 12: 59. Not
Contents 89, Proxies 19: 108.

“Then it was likewise moved that an attempt to inflict any kind
of Punishment on any Person without allowing him an opportunity
to make his defence, or without proof of any crime or misdemeanor
committed by him, is contrary to natural Justice, the fundamental
Laws of this Realm, and by ancient established usage of Parliament,
and is a high infringement of the Liberties of the Subject. After
further debate, The Previous Question being put, whether that
Question shall now be put?

“It was resolved in the Affirmative.

“Then the Main Question was put, and it was resolved in ye
Affirmative. Contents 81, Not Contents 54.”

[Page heading: THE OPERA]

[Page heading: GARRICK]

Elizabeth, in a letter to the Rev. William Freind, gives us an insight
into the Opera of that period--

“I was at the Opera on Saturday night, where was all the world. I
was very well diverted between the Opera and the Audience, or I
ought rather to say the Spectators, for they came to see and not to
hear. I heard the Elephant was the finest thing in the Opera, but
that was contradicted, and the burning of the Temple was preferred
to it. To accommodate everything to the absurdity of the Town, the
dancing is rendered more ridiculous and grotesque than ever. I was
thinking if the Court of Augustus could have seen the polite part
of our nation, admiring a wooden Elephant, with two lamps stuck for
eyes, and poor Scipio and Asdrubal could have risen to have seen
themselves covered with silver spangles, and quavering an Italian
Air, what an honest indignation and scorn would they have conceived
at us....

“My Sister Pea is abroad; I am confined again by a little
feverishness. I thought as it was a London fever it might be
polite, so I carried it to the Ridotto, Court, and Opera, but it
grew so perverse and stubborn, so I put it into a White Hood and
double handkerchief, and kept it by the fire these three days, and
it is better; indeed I hope it is worn out. On Saturday I intend to
go to Goodman’s Fields to see Garrick[224] act Richard III.: that
I may get one cold from a regard to sense, I have sacrificed enough
to folly in catching colds at the Great Puppet Shows in town.

* * * * *

“I must tell you advice is to me this morning, that Anson[225] had
taken three Ships laden with silver, and is going to Chagre, and
from thence to Panama; Vernon and Wentworth are to go with him, and
Trelawney is to accompany them to reconcile their resolutions.”

[224] David Garrick, born 1716, died 1779. Made his first
appearance on the stage in 1741.

[225] Admiral Lord Anson, born 1697, died 1762. Eminent naval
commander.

At this period Morris Robinson lost his beloved college friend, a Mr.
Carter, a most promising youth, from smallpox. Morris attended him
until his death, and was almost inconsolable for his loss.

CHAPTER IV.

ENGAGEMENT AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE.

I have made but few allusions to Elizabeth’s love triumphs, but as
the time approaches when she was to make her final choice, I must now
allude to them. There was a certain “Mr. B.,” from what I can gather
a Mr. Brockman, of Beechborough, a fine place near Mount Morris, who
had been desperately in love with her for some time; he is frequently
alluded to in the family letters. In one to Sarah at this period
Elizabeth says--

“Poor Mr. B. really takes his misfortunes so to heart that he is
literally dying, indeed I hear he is very ill, which I am sorry
for, but I have no balsam of heartsease for him, if he should die
I will have him buried in Westminster Abbey next the woman that
died of a prick of a finger, for it is quite as extraordinary, and
he shall have his figure languishing in wax, with ‘Miss Robinson,
fecit,’ wrote over his head; upon my word I compassionate his
pains, and pity him, but as I am as compassionate, I am as cold too
as Charity. He pours out his soul in lamentations to his friends,
and ‘all but the nymph that should redress his wrong, attend his
passion and approve his song,’ for the Rhyme will have it so. I am
glad he has such a stock of flesh to waste upon. Waller says that--

“‘Sleep from careful Lovers flies
To bathe himself in Sacharissa’s eyes.’”

[Page heading: LOVERS]

A certain captain, name unknown, also inveigled the Rev. William Freind
to a coffee-house to talk two hours by the clock of Miss Elizabeth
Robinson’s perfections. About this Elizabeth writes to Mr. Freind--

“I am very sorry if the poor man is really what you think, unhappy;
if his case is uneasy I am sure it is desperate; complaint I
hope, is more the language, than misery the condition, of lovers.
To speak ingenuously you men use us oddly enough, you adore the
pride, flatter the vanity, gratify the ill-nature, and obey the
tyranny that insults you; then slight the love, despise the
affection, and enslave the obedience that would make you happy:
when frowning mistresses all are awful goddesses, when submissive
wives, despicable mortals. There are two excellent lines which have
made me ever deaf to the voice of the charmer, charm’d he ever so
sweetly--

“‘The humblest Lover when he lowest lies,
Submits to conquer, and but kneels to rise.’

“Flattery has ever been the ladder to power, and I have detested
its inverted effects of worshipping one into slavery, while it
has pretended to adore one to Deification. If ever I commit
my happiness to the hands of any person, it must be one whose
indulgence I can trust, for flattery I cannot believe. I am sure I
have faults, and am convinced a husband will find them, but wish
he may forgive them; but vanity is apt to seek the admirer, rather
than the friend, not considering that the passion of love may, but
the effect of esteem can never, degenerate to dislike. I do not
mean to exclude Love, but I mean to guard against the fondness that
arises from personal advantages.... I have known many men see all
the cardinal virtues in a good complexion, and every ornament of
a character in a pair of fine eyes, and they have married these
perfections, which might perhaps shine and bloom a twelvemonth, and
then alas! it appeared these fine characters were only written in
white and red.

“A long and intimate acquaintance is the best presage of future
agreement. I have strengthened this argument to myself by the
example of you and Mrs. Freind. I hope in my long and tedious
dissertation I have said nothing disrespectful of Love. As for your
particular inducement to it I cannot tell whether it was beauty or
good qualities, they being united in her in a degree of perfection
not to be excelled.”

After wishing the rejected lover “Riches and alliance to help his
laudable ambition,” she concludes with, “I wish the same advantages for
myself, with one of established fortune and character, so established,
that one piece of generosity should not hurt his fortune, nor one act
of indiscretion prejudice his character.”

[Page heading: SIR GEORGE LYTTELTON]

Who this particular individual was is not now known, but that Elizabeth
was the cynosure of all eyes from her wit, beauty, and vivacity is
shown by her brothers’ letters of this period, which constantly allude
to her troop of admirers. Mr. Lyttelton, now Sir George Lyttelton, the
only single man whom she had ever mentioned with uniform admiration,
married this year, on June 15, Lucy, daughter of Hugh Fortescue, Esq.,
of Filleigh, Devonshire, a marriage of the purest affection on both
sides.

In a letter at the end of 1741 she states that her father’s steward
in Yorkshire had been guilty of peccadilloes, and that she was to
accompany her parents to Yorkshire in early spring, where her father
promised her attendance at the York races, in lieu of the Canterbury
ones, which then appeared to her a poor substitute. Whilst in Yorkshire
she either met for the first time, or more probably renewed her
acquaintance with, Mr. Edward Montagu, her future husband, of whom some
account must now be given.

[Page heading: MR. EDWARD MONTAGU]

Edward Montagu was the son of Charles Montagu, fifth son of the great
Earl of Sandwich,[226] Lord High Admiral of the Fleet to Charles II.,
and who had acted as his proxy at his marriage with Catherine of
Braganza. Charles Montagu married twice. By his first wife, Elizabeth
Foster, he had one son, James; he married for second wife Sarah Rogers,
daughter of John Rogers and his wife, _née_ Margaret Cock. The Rogers
owned large estates at Newcastle-on-Tyne[227] and in its neighbourhood.
Charles Montagu, by his second marriage, had three sons, Edward, Crewe,
and John, and a daughter, Jemima, who was married at the time I am
writing of to Mr. Sydney Medows, afterwards Sir Sydney Medows. Mr.
Edward Montagu was born in 1691, hence he was twenty-nine years older
than Elizabeth. At the time he courted Elizabeth, another admirer, a
young nobleman, whose name I know not, is stated to have been in love
with her, but constant to her former protestation of choosing a “formed
character” that she could look up to, she chose the older man. It is
odd not a sentence is met with about him before, except that one of
her brothers chaffs her about “converting a Mr. M---- to dancing,”
which may have referred to him. He was a profound mathematician, the
friend of Emerson and other learned men of that day. His character
was amiable, equable, just, and of the highest integrity, as is shown
by his letters, and his political conduct as a Member of Parliament
in what was a corrupt age. Mrs. Carter[228] mentions him “as a man of
sense, a scholar, and a mathematician” in her letters. He owned a good
estate at Allerthorpe, Yorkshire, and another near Rokeby (the fine
estate belonging to Elizabeth’s cousin, “Long” Sir Thomas Robinson),
also a house in Dover Street, London.

[226] For other particulars as to the Montagu family the reader is
referred to the pedigree.

[227] In 1689 Mr. Rogers bought the estate of East Denton,
Northumberland, with its collieries, for £10,900.

[228] Elizabeth Carter, born 1716, died 1806. The learned Greek
scholar.

[Page heading: MRS. DONNELLAN’S ADVICE]

[Page heading: SWIFT’S YAHOOS]

Evidently the letter here inserted in Mrs. Anne Donnellan’s
handwriting, but unsigned, was an answer to an appeal of Elizabeth’s
for advice as to this courtship. Though long, I consider it so
perfectly suitable in its advice to any persons contemplating
matrimony, I give it _in extenso_--

“I can’t enough express to you, my dear Friend, how much your
confidence in me obliges me, as it shows me the place I hold in
your heart. The latter part of your letter, which is what I write
to now, is a difficulty I know how to pity, as I have experienced
it, and yet I do not find I am at all the more capable of advising
how to avoid it; there is a medium between encouragement and
ill humour that is certainly right to avoid being thought to
desire to raise a passion that one does not design to gratifie,
or to be too apt to think one has raised a passion that must be
discouraged, for as I think nothing is more unjust than to wish to
make another unhappy, merely to gratifie a vanity of being known
to be admired, so nothing is more ridiculous than to be too apt to
fancy one has raised such a passion, and I should always choose
to be the last that perceived it, rather than the first. I have
seen so many appearances of liking that has proved neither uneasy
to one side or t’other, that I am not apt to fear great hurt from
them, and I fancy the longer you live the more you will be of my
mind; indeed when a man gives way to a passion on a prospect of
success, and finds a disappointment to it, has often, I believe,
given a melancholy turn to his whole life: but for what I call
occasional likings they can run from one to another with great
ease and dexterity. Now what I think the most difficult in these
affairs is to satisfie others in our conduct, for there is as you
observe, in the heart of male and female a principle of vanity and
self-love that makes us unwillingly give way to a preference in
any thing, and we are very apt to comfort ourselves with thinking,
and sometimes saying, that the preference given is not from greater
perfections, but from greater encouragement, ‘some people set
themselves out, and pay a court I cannot,’ when we are all doing
our best to gain this descried admiration, and vexed, even to make
us unjust when we fail. In short, and when I view human nature in
some lights, I can almost forgive Swift’s Yahoos. But to the point.
I should think the behaviour on these occasions should be as easy
as we can, and we should be pretty sure there is a passion growing
in the heart before we make an alteration that can be perceived
by the person concerned, and as for the by-slanderers, I should
endeavour to convince them I did not desire such a conquest, but
at the same time, I would not let them think they could easily
persuade me I had made it. I would converse as usual in public, but
I would avoid private conversations, lest others should think I
sought them, but these are things I am sure you can think of better
than I can, and must be practised as circumstances suit. The person
said nothing here but what was extremely proper, we talked of you
all, and you and another were commended with great elegance, and
for the third they said they did not know them enough to give an
opinion.

“Now my dear Friend a word about the desire that is natural in most
females to make lovers, if you meet with a person who you think
would be proper to make you happy in the married state, and they
show a desire to please you, and a solidity in their liking, give
it the proper encouragement that the decency of our sex will allow
of, for it is the settlement in the world we should aim at, and
the only way we females have of making ourselves of use to Society
and raising ourselves in this world; but for lovers merely for
being courted and admired they are of no real use, and often prove
a great detriment both by their own malice of disappointment and
their jealousy of others, and for a friendship of any tenderness
between disengaged persons of different sexes I am afraid there
is no such thing, so do not be caught by that deceitful bait.
Esteem and regard may be without passion, but tenderness and
confidence, and what we call friendship among ourselves, will, with
opportunity, turn to desire in the different sexes. We desire to
possess a friend to know their heart, to be in their thoughts, this
must turn to passion between the sexes, I think ’tis impossible to
be otherwise, and I could express it more philosophically but you
will do it for me. Now pardon me this impertinent letter, there
are not those in the world to whom I would write so freely, for I
do not know those who I think have sense and goodness of heart, to
bear advice: the only merit of mine is its sincerity and affection,
and having seen more years has given me many opportunities of
seeing the world of love, with all its mischiefs. Adieu, burn this,
and love me as I do you most sincerely.

“P.S.--I will say no more of Books till we meet, though I must
wonder at the want of discernment in those who can read an Author
who is all fiction, and take it for certain truth.”

[Page heading: MRS. MONTAGU’S MARRIAGE]

Anyhow, Mr. Montagu and Elizabeth entered into an engagement, and
in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for August, 1742, is the following
announcement:--“August 5th. Edward Montagu, Esqr., Member for
Huntingdon, to the eldest daughter of Matthew Robinson, of Horton in
Kent, Esqr.”

The Rev. William Freind tied the nuptial knot.

The day after her marriage Mrs. Montagu writes to the Duchess of
Portland--

“Friday, August 6, 1742.

“DEAR MADAM,

“I return your Grace a thousand thanks for your letter; the good
wishes of a friend are of themselves a happiness, and believe me I
have always thought myself the nearer being happy because I knew
you wished me so. If your affection to me will last as long as
my love and gratitude towards you, I think it will stay with me
till the latest moment I shall have in this world; no alteration
of circumstances or length of time can wear out my grateful
remembrance of your favours to me; you have a station in my heart,
from whence you cannot be driven while any one virtue lives in it:
truth, constancy, gratitude, and every honest affection guard you
there!

“Mr. Montagu desires me to make his compliments to my Lord Duke
and your Grace, with many thanks for the favour his Grace designs
him of a visit which he is not willing to put off so long as our
return from Yorkshire, but will be glad of the honour of seeing the
Duke on Monday, at seven o’clock in Dover Street; and I hope at
that most happy hour to have the pleasure of seeing you. We shall
spend that evening in Town. If you will be at home to-morrow at two
o’clock, I will pass an hour with you; but pray send me word to
Jermyn Street at eleven, whether I can come to you without meeting
any person at Whitehall but the Duke; to every one else pray deny
your dressing room. Mr. Freind will tell your Grace I behaved
magnanimously, and not one cowardly tear, I assure you, did I shed
at the solemn Altar, my mind was in no mirthful mood indeed. I have
a great hope of happiness; the world, as you say, speaks well of
Mr. Montagu, and I have many obligations to him, which must gain my
particular esteem; but such a change of life must furnish me with a
thousand anxious thoughts.

“Adieu, my dear Lady Duchess: whatever I am, I must still be with
gratitude, affection, and fidelity,

“Yours,
“ELIZA MONTAGU.”

[Page heading: LADY ANDOVER]

Amongst the numerous congratulations received on her marriage may
be mentioned letters from Lady Andover, staying at Levens with the
Berkshires, and Mrs. Pendarves, who writes from Calwich. The following
paragraph shows the general esteem of Mr. Montagu’s character--

“I think you cannot be disappointed in the choice you have made;
you know the essentials of happiness, and have made your choice
accordingly, and Mr. Montagu must be much envied now, as he has
always been esteemed: nobody’s character answers more to your
merit. You must give me leave to trouble you with my compliments
to him, and to add that I wish to be acquainted with him. I cannot
help having a very favourable opinion of the person whom you have
preferred to all others.”

[Page heading: “DELIA”]

“Delia” (Miss Dashwood) writes--

“My heart in plain sincerity wishes you joy and lasting happiness,
and sure you have the best security for both, as all allow Mr.
Montagu has an uncommon good understanding, and as large a share of
good nature, both which are conspicuous in yourself, that they must
undoubtedly when joined produce a lasting harmony.”

[Page heading: HONEYMOON TOUR]

Mr. Montagu appears to have been only known by popular report to
the Bullstrode circle, till his marriage, but his immense circle of
relations and friends opened a fresh vista of delightful and extended
social engagements for his wife. This first letter of Elizabeth’s to
her mother after marriage is interesting--

“Dover Street, August 10.

“HOND. MADAM,

“I had the pleasure of meeting your letter here last night at my
arrival. The Duke and Duchess of Portland spent the evening and
supped with us. This morning I have been looking over the house,
and seeing many things much better than I deserve, in which I am
to have a share: but what gives me infinitely more pleasure than
these favours of fortune, is observing the willingness and gladness
with which Mr. Montagu bestows them upon me. I find the house very
good and convenient, and I hope I shall spend many happy days in
it. Happy I am sure they will be to me, if I can make them so to
the person who has thus obliged me. I must write but a very short
letter, for Mrs. Medows[229] who favours us with her company to
dinner is waiting for me in the next room.

“My sister is just returned from some business she has been doing
for me, she would desire her duty if she was here, but there are
two pair of stairs between us. I hope you got well home from
Canterbury. We propose going away on Thursday. This day we shall
spend in Town, to-morrow we return to our Box in Kentish Town, and
then away to Yorkshire, where if you have any commands, pray let me
have the pleasure of executing them. Madam Sally and I will write
our travels as we go. Mr. Montagu desires his best respects to you,
my Father and my brothers. My duty and love attends them as proper.
I will in all good say as far and as much for my sister as myself,
so accept the same compliment from her, and believe me, dear Madam,
with a grateful sense of all your and my Father’s goodness and care,

“Your dutiful, affectionate and
obliged Daughter,
“ELIZA MONTAGU.

“P.S.--I design to write to my Father next post. The Duke of
Argyll[230] is said to be relenting upon the subject of places of
which several are spoken of for him, and that he goes to Flanders.
Some report that his eldest daughter[231] is to be Duchess of
Greenwich at his death.”

[229] Mr. Montagu’s sister.

[230] 2nd Duke of Argyll and Duke of Greenwich. Military commander,
statesman, and orator; born 1680, died 1743.

[231] Caroline, made Baroness Greenwich.

It will be seen by this letter that Sarah Robinson was acting
chaperone, which the odd etiquette of those days exacted, it being then
not thought _bon ton_ for a newly married couple to be alone on their
honeymoon!

[Page heading: MR. ROBINSON]

The following letter from Mr. Robinson to his new son-in-law shows the
happiness of the newly married couple:--

“DEAR SIR,

“Don’t be apprehensive upon seeing this, that added to the
impertinence you have already received from my hands, you are to
have that of a troublesome correspondent; I can assure you it is
the way I am the least troublesome to my friends; the truth of the
matter is that I know I should never forgive myself if I should be
wanting to you in any respect, even though it should amount to no
more than a point of ceremony. As I think that no letters that come
from your wife ought to be a secret to you, I cannot help telling
you I saw one from her last week to her Mother, and another to her
brother Tom, so full of the happiness of her present condition,
and the prospect of her future, that I begin to be suspicious that
they are designed as a reproof to me for the deplorable state under
which she passed twenty-three years. I shall not forgive her till
I know she uses all her endeavours to give to you an equal share,
which I think you have at least a right to. We hope you enjoy the
benefit of this fine weather upon the road, and will arrive safe
and well at Allerthorpe before this to the satisfaction of my good
friend Mr. Carter.[232] Our compliments attend your family and his.

“I am your most obedient Servant,
“MATT. ROBINSON.

“Horton, August ye 15, 1742.”

This was addressed--

“To Edward Montagu, Esqr.,
“at Allerthorpe Hall,[233]
“near Burrough Bridge,
“Yorkshire.

“Member of Parliament.”

[232] Mr. Carter was steward and agent to Mr. Montagu; a most
worthy man.

[233] Allerthorpe, being close to Burneston, the Robinsons were
well acquainted with the neighbourhood.

[Page heading: DR. CONYERS MIDDLETON]

The following letter of Dr. Conyers Middleton to Elizabeth on her
marriage is of interest:--

“Hildersham,[234] near Linton, August 17, 1742.

“MADAM,

“I should have paid my compliments earlier on the joyful occasion
of your marriage if I had known whither to address them; for your
brother’s letter which informed me, happened to lie several days at
Cambridge, before it came to my hands. My congratulation, however,
though late, wants nothing of the warmth with which the earliest
was accompanied; for I must beg leave to assure you that I take a
real part in the present joy of your family, and feel a kind of
paternal[235] pleasure, from the good fortune of one whose amiable
qualities I have been a witness of from her tenderest years, and
to whom I have ever been wishing and ominating everything that
is good. I have always expected from your singular merit and
accomplishments that they would recommend you in proper time to
an advantageous and honourable match; and was assured from your
prudence that it would never suffer you to accept any which was
not worthy of you; so that it gives me not only the greatest
pleasure on your account, but a sort of pride also on my own,
to see my expectations so fully answered, and my predictions of
you so literally fulfilled. As all conjugal happiness is founded
on mutual affection, cherished by good sense, so you have the
fairest prospect of it now open before you, by your marriage with a
gentleman, not only of figure and fortune, but of great knowledge
and understanding, who values you, not so much for the charms of
your person, as the beauties of your mind, which will always give
you the surest hold of him, as they will every day be gathering
strength, whilst the others are daily losing it. But I should make
a sad compliment to a blooming bride if I meant to exclude her
person from contributing any part to her nuptial happiness; that is
far from my meaning; and yours Madam, I am sure, could not fail of
having its full share in acquiring your husband’s affection. What
I would inculcate therefore, is only this: that though beauty has
the greatest force to conciliate affection, yet it cannot preserve
it without the help of the mind; and whatever the perfection of
the one may be, the accomplishments of the other will always be
the more amiable; and in the married state especially, will be
found after all, the most solid and lasting basis of domestic
comfort. But I am using the privilege of my years, and instead
of compliments, giving lessons to one who does not want them. I
shall only add, therefore, my repeated wishes for all the joy that
matrimony can give you and Mr. Montagu, to whose worthy character I
am no stranger, though I have not the honour to be known to him in
person, and am with sincere respect,

“Madam,
“Your faithful friend,
and obedient servant,
“CONYERS MIDDLETON.

“P.S.--My wife charges me with her compliments and best wishes of
all happiness and prosperity in your new state of life.”

[234] Hildersham, near Cambridge, built by Dr. Middleton. The poet
Gray was a constant visitor there.

[235] It will be remembered Dr. Middleton’s first wife was Mrs.
Drake, _née_ Morris, Elizabeth’s maternal grandmother.

[Page heading: ALLERTHORPE]

Here I make some extracts from Mrs. Montagu’s second letter to her
beloved Duchess of Portland, dated August 21, 1742, from Allerthorpe,
Mr. Montagu’s Yorkshire seat--

“On Tuesday I arrived at this place, not tired with my journey,
but satisfied therewith. As far as Nottingham you will travel
very soon, and then as far as Doncaster, therefore it will be
but impertinent to give you an account of the road or anything
concerning it. I will only tell your Grace I saw Nottingham
Castle,[236] where there is beauty and magnificence worthy the
wisdom and the riches of your ancestors. As we came nearer to this
place, the country grew more wild, but not less beautiful; we came
through some rivers that charmed me beyond all things.... We have
at present very fine weather, the sun gilds every object, and I
assure you it is the only fine thing we have here, for the house
is old and not handsome: it is very convenient, and the situation
extremely pleasant. We found the finest peaches, nectarines and
apricots, that I have ever eat: your Grace will think I mean
turnips, carrots and parsnips; but really and truly they are
apricots, peaches and nectarines. To-morrow, I believe will be one
of the happiest days I ever spent, I am to go to fetch my brothers
from school. How delightful will be such a meeting after so many
years’ separation.”

[236] Belonged to the Dukes of Newcastle, the duchess’s ancestors.
Destroyed by mob in Reform riots, 1835.

[Page heading: LITTLE BROTHERS]

These were her three youngest brothers, William, John, and Charles,
who had been five years at school at Scorton, without coming home. Mr.
Montagu, eager to gratify his bride’s love of her family, had allowed
her to have them to stay, and ever afterwards he was their constant
friend and benefactor. Further on in the letter she states that it took
them “six days with very easy stages” to reach Allerthorpe from London!
In the next letter she states that her little brothers being “sensible,
good-natured, and sober, the most affectionate towards each other of
any children of their age I ever saw: they have very good characters at
school, both as to their learning and behaviour; but the quintessence
of perfection is my brother Jack.”

At the end of this letter she mentions her old friend, Miss Cally
Scott, of Scott’s Hall, was going to be married to Mr. Best, a man of
fortune.

[Page heading: THE REV. MATTHEW ROBINSON]

On August 25 she writes to her cousin, Mrs. Freind--

“Dear Cousin, I am ashamed I have not before answered your
kind letter and returned thanks for those good wishes of whose
accomplishments I hope there is the fairest prospect: I think we
increase in esteem without decaying in complaisance, and I hope
we shall always remember Mr. Freind and the fifth of August with
thankfulness. I am infinitely obliged to Mr. Freind for not letting
the knot be tied by the hands of an ordinary bungler; he was very
good in coming to London on purpose, but he did not give his last
benediction, but stole away before my sister or any of us were come
downstairs.

“We arrived at this place after a journey of six days through fine
countries, where the riches of Harvest promised luxury to the
Landlord, plenty to the farmer and food to the labourer. Here we
are situated in a fine country, and Mr. Montagu has the pleasure
of calling many hundred pounds a year about his house his own,
without any person’s property interfering with it: I think it is
the prettiest estate, and in the best order I ever saw; large
and beautiful meadows for riding or walking in, with a pretty
river[237] winding about them, upon which we shall sometimes go out
in boats.

“In this parish Dr. Robinson,[238] our general Uncle, has founded a
school and an Alms House where the young are taught industry, the
old, content: I propose to visit the Alms House very soon. I saw
the old women with the Bucks upon their sleeves at Church, and it
gave me pleasure. Heraldry[239] does not always descend with such
honour, as when Charity leads her by the hand. Our uncle did this
good while he was _alive_; it was not that Soul thrift that would
save itself with another’s money.

“I hope you will forgive my not having written to you before, but a
new family, and a new place must take up one’s time. Our house here
is tolerably convenient, and that is all that can be said for it.
We have a better which I hope you will often see in Berkshire.[240]
Pray when you and Mr. Freind have a leisure hour, dispose of it in
writing to me. Mr. Montagu has an estate near Rokeby, from whence
I intend to visit Sir Thomas Robinson’s[241] fine park of which I
hear great praising.

“I am, dear Madam,
“Your most affectionate cousin,
and obedient, humble servant,
“ELIZABETH MONTAGU.”

[237] The Swale.

[238] The Rev. Matthew Robinson founded these charities at
Burneston, York, where he was Vicar for forty years.

[239] The Hospitallers wear a purple gown with a gold buck on the
shoulder, the Robinson crest.

[240] Sandleford Priory, Berks.

[241] Mrs. Freind’s brother. See note on Rokeby at the end of this
book.

[Page heading: FIRST LETTER TO MR. MONTAGU]

Mr. Montagu having left Elizabeth for a few days for business at
Newcastle, she writes to him--

“How very fortunate are those few who in the Person they love, meet
with the principles of Honour and Virtue to guide them through
the World, but this, my fortune, so happy and so rare, shall not
breed in me that insolence of opinion that I deserve it, but I
will still look up to Heaven and you with gratitude and continual
acknowledgments.”

This sufficiently indicates the happiness and mutual confidence
reigning between the newly wedded pair.

On October 2 Dr. Conyers Middleton wrote Mrs. Montagu a long letter,
mainly a dissertation on marriage and its duties. He alludes to his
pleasure at her having her three youngest brothers with her, calling
them “_enfans trouvés_ by a sister unknown to them,” and he adds--

“I shall always think myself particularly interested in their
success, for they were all born under my roof, which may, one day
perhaps, derive an accession of fame from that circumstance. If I
should live to see any of them in the University, it would be a
pleasure to me to do everything in my power that might be of use to
their improvement.”

This shows that Mrs. Robinson had been accustomed to stay with her
mother, the first Mrs. Middleton, for her latter frequent confinements,
though Elizabeth and some of the elder sons were born at York. Dr.
Middleton begs Mr. and Mrs. Montagu to pay him a visit at Cambridge on
their return to London, and states, “This university had the honour of
Mr. Montagu’s education, and claims some share in yours.”

[Page heading: PÈRE LE COURAYER]

[Page heading: WORKSOP]

Being detained by business in the north, Mrs. Montagu wrote to Mrs.
Donnellan to send her a winter mantle and muff, and as prices of those
times may interest my readers, I will mention the blue velvet mantle
cost £5, the ermine muff one guinea. In Mrs. Donnellan’s letter the
Père Courayer sends his compliments and good wishes to Mrs. Montagu.
As he figures much in later letters, I give a short sketch of his
biography. Peter Francis le Courayer was born in 1681, and was a
Normandy ecclesiastic; although a Roman Catholic, he had the courage
to defend the ordinances of the English Church, for which the Pope
censured him severely. He left France for England, and went to Oxford,
where he lodged with Mrs. Chenevix, the famous toy-woman. He was made
LL.D., and translated Father Paul’s “History of the Council of Trent,”
also Sleidan’s “History of the Reformation.” He was well known to
Horace Walpole. He died in 1776. His pet-name was “the little Père.”
In a letter of the duchess’s of October 9 from Welbeck, where she was
visiting her mother, Lady Oxford, she says--

“Mamma was so obliging last week as to carry us to Worksop
Manor,[242] the Duke of Norfolk’s.[243] The Designs are noble
and grand, they have made great plantations. The gardener told
me he had planted last year 300,000 Forest trees, besides sowing
three score bushels of seeds. The approach to the house is fine.
I don’t like the house though it was built by Bess of Harwicke,
whose wisdom I have in great reverence: the best apartment is
up two pair of stairs, the additional offices lately built are
exceedingly good, the Dairy much prettier than that we saw at
Richmond. The servant told us the Duchess gave the chief direction
for the building, had planted those woods, had drawn the plan
for that piece of water of 120 acres. The Duke’s time is chiefly
occupied with drawing plans for Bee hives! With difficulty I kept
my countenance....

[242] Worksop was burnt down in 1761. The duke here mentioned built
500 rooms to it.

[243] Edward Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk.

[Page heading: FRENCH ECONOMY]

“We were on Monday at Kiveton, which is by much the finest house I
ever saw, and the best furnished. The Park and views from it are very
beautiful.”

From Allerthorpe the Montagus visited Mr. Buckley[244] at Bishop’s
Dale, near which place Mr. Robinson in former days had lived in the
shooting season. Elizabeth had not been there for fifteen years. She
describes to the Duchess of Portland the country--

[244] Mr. Buckley had been a second father to the three little
Robinson boys, who spent their holidays with him.

“I had been three days upon an expedition to a wild part of the
country called the Dales, where Nature’s works are not delicate,
pretty and mignonne, but grand, sublime and magnificent. Vast
mountains, rocks and cascades, and rapid rivers make the country
beautiful and surprising. We went to a farm abounding in wonders, a
high hill with some hanging wood before it, behind it a large and
rapid river with the prospect of a huge cascade, an old Castle and
a Church. Some houses in view take from it the honour of absolute
solitude: a range of rocks appears like the ruins of an old town on
the other side of the river. In a cottage built in this charming
place, lives an old woman, who has attained to an hundred and
four years, and for this long lease of life, has not exchanged
the best comfort. She enjoys good health, tolerable strength, has
her hearing perfect, and her sight very well: is cheerful and has
not lost her reason, but answers with sense and spirit, her hair
is of a fine black: she was knitting when we went to her, and has
promised to knit me a pair of stockings in a month.

“My Father had a house in this part of the world for the summer
sports of shooting and fishing, so that the old woman and I had
been well acquainted 15 years ago, and she told me laughing she
imagined I did not expect to see her alive at this time....

“Tell Père Courayer[245] my head is as much troubled with chimeras
and giddiness as ever. I fear he is too fond of variety in life to
be a friend to Matrimony. The merriest man I have seen in Yorkshire
is a Frenchman, who came here for religion, and has had the needful
of life added unto him; he has a little estate, and lives with
the mountain nymphs, Liberty and Health, in the Dales; he amuses
himself with singing to his grandchildren, mending his clothes,
and making soup: his grandson eats soup with him, and his next
darling, _le petit chat_, helps him off with the Bouillie. He can
not only make a fine dish of the cabbage, but of the snails and
caterpillars, and what we call the unprofitable vermin that live
upon it! There was not a creature in Noah’s Ark that would not be
received into his larder, for a Frenchman is seldom so proud of
stomach as to term anything unclean....

“Mr. Montagu desires his compliments to your grace, and my Lord
Duke; we talk of you and drink your health as often as you can
expect from sober people. Had I married a Tory fox-hunter he might
have toasted you in a longer draught; but for temperate Whigs we do
you reason.

“I am, my dear Lady Duchess’s
most grateful, and most affectionate,
“E. MONTAGU.”

[245] He had expressed a fear that matrimony would spoil her
philosophy.

[Page heading: WHIG PRINCIPLES]

Mr. Montagu was a Whig, but, as his wife states, a moderate one. His
political conduct as Member for Huntingdon was irreproachably upright
in a most venal age. What respect his wife already had for his judgment
is shown in a letter from her to him in London, whither he had gone for
the meeting of Parliament on October 16, enclosing her reply to Dr.
Conyers Middleton’s letter, desiring him, if he did not approve of it,
to burn it, and she would write another. The following passage speaks
volumes for Mrs. Montagu’s humility (though she was so universally
praised):--

“The letter directed to Dr. Middleton, if you approve, I would beg
the favour of you to frank, and send to the post, but I should
be glad if you would first take the trouble to read it, for it
is with some uneasiness I correspond with the very wise. I think
an understanding of a middle size has a great deal of trouble in
conversation between reaching to those above it, and stooping to
those below it.” She signs--

“My Dearest, your very affectionate
and faithful wife.”

His letters to her begin generally “My Dearest Angel,” or “My Dearest
Life.” His writing is most characteristic, a clear, firm hand, easily
read, much information compressed into a few words, and filled with
most affectionate expressions.

Elizabeth was now in an interesting condition, and as Dr. Sandys
forbade her travelling for a time, she and Sarah remained at
Allerthorpe. The joy of Mr. Montagu was extreme at the idea of an heir,
which was shared by his sister, Mrs. Medows, and all his relations.
Elizabeth, though pleased at the prospect, was very _souffrante_, and
bored by an inactive life, yet submitted to it with a good grace.

At this period her brother Robert was made captain of an East India
vessel travelling to China, to his family’s satisfaction.

[Page heading: DR. MEAD]

The Duchess of Portland writes from London and says--

“I was extremely well entertained the other day with seeing
Dr. Mead’s[246] curiosities. They are much finer than Sir Hans
Sloane’s. In particular he has a mummy much finer preserved. It
is the custom to gild their faces, so that all the features are
painted over the gold.... Of all the things, except the pictures,
which are exquisitely fine, none pleases me more than a mask in
bronze, which is exceeding fine workmanship, and has upon it the
symbols of all the gods. The crown of vine for Bacchus, a circle
of iron for Pluto, the ears of Pan, and the beard of waves for
Neptune.”

[246] Dr. Richard Mead, born 1673, died 1754. Celebrated physician
and antiquarian.

We gain a peep at French fashions of the day in this paragraph, in a
letter of Mrs. Donnellan’s--

“Mrs. Rook, an acquaintance of mine, is just come from Paris, and
is come without a hoop, and tells me, except in their high dress,
nobody wears one. Their sacks are made proportionably narrow and
short, opened before with a petticoat and trimmed, and with a stiff
quilted petticoat under: the only reasonable thing I have heard
from France a great while, and the only fashion I should wish to
follow.”

[Page heading: THE MUFF]

[Page heading: THE HANOVER TROOPS]

It would be impossible to include in this work all the letters between
Mr. Montagu and his wife, but the following shall be given in its
entirety to show his style:--

“November, 1742.

“MY DEAREST LIFE,

“Yesterday as soon as it came to hand, j[247] sent yours to my
sister. I have not seen her but am sure she thinks herself much
obliged, as all must do who have the happiness of a correspondence
with you, whose letters not only please by their wit and vivacity,
but are full of sincerity and friendship, of virtue and goodness,
which you set in so true and amiable a light, that if those that
read them grow not wiser and better, it is none of your fault.

“I rejoice at the good account you give of your health, that
you suffer less and less every day. I wish j could prevent your
suffering at all. The prudent care you take obliges me in the
highest degree, and j hope with the assistance of your happy and
chearful disposition of mind, preserve you from any misfortune.
Though j most eagerly long to see you, j would have you run no
hazard, and will content myself till we break up, when j hope
neither bad roads nor bad weather shall hinder me coming to you:
till then j desire you to spend your time as agreeably as you can,
and am glad Mrs. Yorke and Mrs. Clayton are to make you a visit.

“I waited on Mrs. Donnellan this morning, yesterday was not
convenient for her, and could not do it before. I paid her the bill
which j send enclos’d and a guinea more for your muffe, so that out
of ye six guineas j shall owe you five shillings. She expressed
herself much obliged, and desired her compliments to you, and both
to you and Miss Salley.

“Your Father went out of Town last Friday. The evening before j
spent with him, Dr. Audley and your three brothers,[248] who were
all well. I suppose you will soon have your instructions about
your children[249] at Scorton. You do well in letting them take
leave of those they are so much obliged to, and when they come from
Burton, if they spend the rest of their time with you, there will
be no harm in it, nor will it hinder them in their learning, as
they are designed for another school.

“My good friend at Theakstone[250] sent me his brother’s letter,
and j received another this afternoon from the Admiralty Office,
which j will send you in a post or two, that you may communicate it
to his relations. I shall do all j can to serve him, and after j
have made inquiry about the manner of doing it, will write to his
Father.

“On Thursday last a motion was made for a secret Committee, and the
next day for the place Bill, both which succeeded as was expected,
the first was flung out by a majority of 66, the latter by a
majority of 25! The Debates were very warm, and the Chancellor of
the Exchequer[251] was terribly roasted, but all to no purpose,
for after what has happened, he and such as he, who have acted so
perfidious a part, will be sure to go all lengths. On Monday we
expect to have the consideration of the 16,000 Hanover troops[252]
come before us, and to be carried through, a worse thing than any
that was ever attempted in the time of Sir R(obert) W(alpole).

“I hope this will find dear Miss Salley recovered, pray present her
with my best compliments, and believe me to be,

“With the most tender regard,

“My Dearest’s most obliged and
affectionate Husband,
“EDW. MONTAGU.”

[247] Mr. Montagu, like the Duke of Portland, for years used “j”
for “I,” presumably an old custom.

[248] Matthew, Thomas, and Morris.

[249] Her three youngest brothers, John, William, and Charles.

[250] Young Mr. Edward Carter, son of Mr. Montagu’s head agent.
He was petitioning for his brother, Mr. William Carter, to have a
company of Marines, he being in that service through Mr. Montagu’s
influence.

[251] Mr. Sandys.

[252] These men to receive British pay.

[Page heading: ORATORIOS]

Mrs. Montagu writes to the Duchess of Portland--

“I am now in the highest content: my little brothers are to go to
Westminster, as soon as the holidays are over, and what adds still
to my pleasure in this, is that Jacky’s going is owing to Mr.
Montagu’s intercession for him with my Father, who did not design
his going to Westminster till next year: our youngest,[253] I
believe, is to go out with our new Captain....

“I am pretty well, but I do not like to sit still like Puss in the
corner all the winter to watch what may prove a mouse, though I am
no mountain. I cannot boast of the numbers that adorn our fireside,
my sister and I are the principal figures; besides there is a
round table, a square screen, some books and a work basket, with a
smelling bottle, when morality grows musty, or a maxim smells too
strong, as sometimes they will in ancient books.

“I had a letter to-day from Mr. Montagu, in which he flatters me
with the hopes of seeing him at Christmas.”

[253] Charles to accompany his brother Robert.

In a letter of Mrs. Pendarves of December 9 from Clarges Street,
where she was living, she tells Mrs. Montagu, “Handel is to have six
oratorios in Lent. The operas are dull, the plays for one part well
acted, ten are wretched, but Garrick is excellent.”

[Page heading: HER HUSBAND’S CHARACTER]

About this time Elizabeth writes a long letter to the Rev. William
Freind, her cousin, portions of which I give. She says--

“The last and best good office you did me, I believe, will claim
my thanks to the longest day of my life.... I know it will please
you to hear that I have, every day since you made me a wife, had
more reason to thank you for the alteration. I have the honour
and happiness to be made the guest of a heart furnished with the
best and greatest virtues, honesty, integrity and universal
benevolence, with the most engaging affection to every one who
particularly belongs to him. No desire of power, but to do good,
no use of it but to make happy. I cannot be so unjustly diffident
as to doubt of the duration of my happiness, when I see the author
of it dispensing content to all his dependants, and should he ever
cease to use me with more care and generosity and affection than I
deserve, I should be the first person he has ever treated in this
manner. Since I married I have never heard him say an ill-natured
word to any one, or have I received one matrimonial frown. His
generous affection in loving all my friends, and desiring every
opportunity for my conversing with them, is very obliging to me.
We have often pleased ourselves with the hopes of seeing you
frequently in Dover Street this winter; but alas, I am a prisoner
at Allerthorpe, and the worst of prisoners confined by infirmities
and ill health.

“Mr. Montagu went to Parliament ten days ago to my mortification,
but with my approbation. I desired him to go, and half wished
him to stay! I knew his righteous star would rule his destiny,
so I helped him on with honour’s boots, and let him go without
murmuring. He left me my sister, and where she is there will
happiness be also.... We have not been troubled with any visitor
since Mr. M. went away, and could you see how ignorant, how
awkward, how absurd, and how uncouth the generality of people
are in this country, you would look upon this as a piece of good
fortune....

“I am very happy in one thing, that drinking is not within our
walls; we have not had one person disordered by liquor since we
came down, though most of the poor ladies have had more Hogs in
their dining rooms than ever they had in their hog stye....

“I imagine you will have seen Dr. Middleton’s translations of the
Epistle by this time; pray tell me what you think of them.”

[Page heading: “NIGHT THOUGHTS”]

The Duchess of Portland, on December 4, writes in great annoyance at
some of her letters being lost. She was much worried about the health
of her mother, who suffered severely from cramp in the stomach. She
desires Elizabeth to write a _visible_[254] letter to cheer Lady
Oxford, and adds, “I rejoice you are better. I hope you have left off
footing it and tumbling downstairs. Have you read ‘Night Thoughts’? If
you have, I beg you will give me your opinion of it.”

[254] Often the familiar letters were enclosed to Mrs. Elstob, a
learned lady and authoress, who was now governess to the Portland
children. Lady Oxford was then at Bullstrode.

Dr. Young had lost his beloved wife, his step-son and step-daughter
the year before. The step-daughter died of consumption, brought on by
grief at her mother’s loss. Her step-father had taken her abroad for
her health. She died at Montpellier, and was refused Christian burial
by the bigoted French of those days. The poor doctor, assisted by his
servant, dug her grave in a field, unaided by any one. Can any one
wonder at the gloom pervading the poem?

Whilst the duchess is writing to Mrs. Montagu, the latter writes on
December 5--

“Madam, after being sunk into stupidity by the company of a strange
kind of animal called a country Beau and wit, how unfit am I for
conversation of the Duchess of Portland!”

[Page heading: A ROUÉ OF THE PERIOD]

She then proceeds to draw this curious picture of a country beau,--

“who cannot attain the perfection of a monkey, even the art of
mimicry.... Had you seen the pains this animal has been taking to
imitate the cringe of a beau, the smartness of a wit, till he was
hideous to behold, and horrible to hear, you would have pitied
him! He walks like a tortoise, and chatters like a magpye: by
the indulgence of a kind mother, and the advantage of a country
education, he was first a clown, then he was sent to the Inns
of Court, where he first fell into a red waistcoat and velvet
breeches; then into vanity. This light companion led him to the
play house, where he ostentiously coquetted with the orange
wenches, who cured him of the bel-air of taking snuff by abridging
him of his nostrils, grown even in his own eyes no very lovely
figure; he thought Bacchus, no critic in faces, would prove in
the end a better friend than Cupid: accordingly he fell into the
company of the jovial, till want of money and want of taste led
this prodigal son, if not to eat, to drink with swine. He visited
the prisons, not as a comforter, but as a companion to criminals;
shook hands with the gold finder, and walked in the ways of the
scavenger; so singular his humility, none were his contempt. At
last, having lost his money, ruined his constitution, and lost all
the sense nature gave him, he returned to the country where all the
youths of inferior rank, admiring his experience, and emulating his
qualities, and copying his manners, grew, some fit for jail, others
for transportation.... Notwithstanding all these vices and the most
nauseous effect of them, all people treat him civilly!”

Mr. Montagu writes to his wife on December 9,[255] and in it he says--

“Tomorrow the affair of the Hanover troops[256] comes on, and will
be carried, which is the worst that ever came before the House,
of which j shall give you an account in my next letter, and send
you several pamphlets well worth your reading about that, and the
present state of affairs.”

Writing again from his house in Dover Street, London, on December 20,
he says--

“On Tuesday we met at Westminster, where his Majesty opened the
session with a most gracious speech from the throne, which j hope
you have got, as you shall have the addresses of both Houses sent
by this post. You will easily perceive what was aimed at by the
speech, and that by the addresses both the Lords and Commons have
most dutifully consented to take 16,000 Hanover troops into our
pay. This was openly avowed by Lord Carteret[257] in the Upper
House, and by those who made the motion in the Lower. After a
debate which lasted till between 10 and 11 at night our address
was carried by a majority of 109, the numbers being 150 and 259.
By that stroke England is become a province to Hanover, the charge
of the military part of its government already being flung upon
us (for who shall tell when we shall get rid of this burthen?)
or how soon we shall feel the additional part of the same? The
late ministry never attempted anything like it, and it shows that
the new one will stick at nothing to recommend themselves to the
King, the Devil in Milton, ‘_with one bound, high overleapt all
bound_.’... The number of those that love their country truly,
always was and ever will be but small, and the Saints never yet
governed the Earth, and I believe never will, but true patriotism
is not the less a virtue for that, nor must its votaries leave off
their endeavours or be discouraged at whatever happens.”

[255] Remember this is “Old Style” date.

[256] This was the proposal to pay Hanoverian troops with English
money to assist in the war.

[257] Afterwards Lord Granville, born 1690, died 1763. Secretary of
State.

It will hardly be credited that the country apothecary bled Mrs.
Montagu for a headache in her delicate condition; but so he did, and as
a fever was then raging, she submitted, though saying she heard “he had
let the life out of the veins of eleven people,” as this disease would
not stand “blooding!”

[Page heading: A BOLUS!]

A Mr. Twycross, who was in love with Sarah Robinson, suffered from sore
throat, and she accordingly herself made up a bolus for him from a
recipe of an old maid friend, the size of which alarmed Mrs. Montagu.
Fortunately, his throat getting better, he did not use it, to Mrs.
Montagu’s relief, who says--

“Had he swallowed it I should have thought there was love powder
in it, for he said a thousand pretty things to her, with an air of
great tenderness, and indeed had he taken the bolus I believe no
man could have been nearer dying for a lady. The recipe had been
given her by an ancient maiden, who having said in her sorrow all
men were liars, thought the best way to cure them of the vice of
telling lyes was to choak them.”

[Page heading: A WHITSTABLE HOY]

Some details as to the conveyance of goods are given in a letter of Mr.
Robinson, Senior, to Mr. Montagu on December 12, saying, “Dear Sir, I
sent on Saturday by the Whitstable Hoy[258] ‘_Talbot_’ two brace of
woodcocks and a pheasant, which I hope you have received.”

[258] A coasting vessel.

In a letter to Mr. Montagu, December 17, his wife desires him,

“pray order Griffith to send me down ‘The Complaint, or Thoughts
on Time, Death and Friendship.’[259]... I have been desired by a
friend to read it....

“Our boys[260] are to be put on board the York stage this day
sennight, this will be their first launching into the world, I wish
the bounteous Lady Fortune would take ’em in hand. Jacky is vastly
pleased that you entreated his Father to send him to Westminster.
They desire their best respects.”

[259] By the Rev. James Hervey, born 1714, died 1758.

[260] Her three little brothers.

[Page heading: THE LORD CHANCELLOR]

Mr. Montagu was still detained in London, not only by his parliamentary
duties, but for a Chancery suit. He writes on December 21, lamenting
the long separation “from the ardent object of his desires,” but
pleased to think that the doctor will soon give her permission to join
him in London. This passage throws light on law suits of that day--

“Our petition, as we were made to expect, was to have been heard
this day, but the Lord Chancellor who has, j think, much more
business than any one man can go through as he ought to do, had
so many petitions that it is thought impossible it should come
on sooner than tomorrow, and may not be till near the beginning
of next term. Part of his Lordship’s time is this day taken up
by his attendance on the King, who comes to the House of Lords
to pass some money bills, in all his royal pageantry and show.
Things of this nature add a great deal to the plague, expense
and delay of Law, especially in the Court of Chancery. If we are
not heard tomorrow in the forenoon j shall be deprived of your
brother’s[261] assistance, who was so good as to come post from
Canterbury on Sunday last on purpose, and must set out again for
the same place at noon tomorrow.... This day the House of Commons
are to be adjourned till after the hollydays, and it is talked
that the Session will be at an end by the beginning of March. The
opposition has been carried on with a great deal of Spirit and
will be continued to be so after Xmas, as it is given out. They
intend to make a new ministry wade through more mire, though they
have gone through so much already. They have got themselves more
enemies in the short time they have been in, than Lord Orford in
his long reign, for they are ruining their country faster than
ever he did, and this infamous job of the Hanoverian Troops, it’s
thought was what he never would give way to. Several of our young
Members have greatly distinguished themselves by their opposition,
and made it appear that there is no want of the parts and capacity
of those who have so perfidiously deserted them and the cause of
liberty. But none has done it so eminently as Mr. Pit(t),[262] who
in the opinion of several, as well as me, is a greater man than
ever j have sat with, and if he preserves his integrity, will be
transmitted to posterity in the most illustrious of characters. He
is at least equal, if not superior to Mr. Murray,[263] who has been
brought into the House on purpose to contend with him, and who did
the first day of his entrance by saying everything the cause would
bear in so good a manner, that he gave nobody offence, which makes
me believe he will not serve the ministry in the slavish, dirty
manner other attorneys and solicitor generals are wont to do, but
with more dignity to himself, if not with more advantage to their
cause....

“I hope you will, along with this, receive Mr. Hervey’s
lucubration. If Lord Shaftesbury’s ‘Characteristics’ are among my
books, Wear shall bring them down....

“It is with much pleasure j acquaint you Lady Sandwich[264] was on
Saturday morning at 4 o’clock safely brought to bed of a Son.”[265]

[261] Thomas Robinson.

[262] William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, born 1708, died 1778; “the
great commoner.”

[263] William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, born 1705, died 1793.

[264] Wife of the 4th Earl of Sandwich, cousin of Mr. Montagu’s.

[265] John, afterwards 5th Earl of Sandwich.

In writing to the Duchess of Portland on December 28 to wish her a
happy new year, Mrs. Montagu informs her she has permission from Dr.
Sandys to move towards London in a fortnight’s time. She says--

“I shall move as slowly as a fat corpse in a herse. Your grace asks
me if I have left off footing and tumbling down stairs; as to the
first, my fidgetations are much spoiled, sometimes I have cut a
thoughtless caper which has gone to the heart of an old Steward of
Mr. Montagu’s, who is as honest as ‘Trusty’ in the play of _Grief à
la Mode_. I am told he has never heard a hop that he has not echoed
with a groan. I have taken such heed to my goings I have not gone
down stairs more than by gradual degrees.”

The following passage from a letter of Mrs. Donnellan’s to Mrs. Montagu
shows the price paid for embroidery of flowers which was much used at
this time on dresses. She says--

“I have spoken to Jenny Clegg about your sack. She always works
according to the price, the slightest trimming down to the bottom,
of natural flowers she says will be £8, and the handsomest £12, and
between in proportion. I gave her 4 guineas for my apron, and she
has always three and a half or four for the robings and facings of
a night dress.”

A “night dress” was what we should call an _evening dress_ now.

[Page heading: A COOK]

In a letter to Mrs. Donnellan a light is thrown on that ever-important
functionary, a cook. That individual being required, Mrs. Donnellan had
mentioned a cook who had been with Lady Selina Bathurst. Mrs. Montagu
writes--

“As to the Cook being an Irish woman, I think it can be no
objection to me who prefer a lady[266] of that country to almost
any one of our own; she being a good catholick is not much, but I
think it will not be right to take her unless Lady Selina Bathurst
says she is a good cook, for had she all the cardinal virtues,
and could not fricasy (_sic_) and make good soop (_sic_) I should
not know what to do with her. I would give £15 a year to a very
good cook, but if she is not above being improved, and I could
get her to go into the King’s kitchen, or to any famous Tavern to
learn cookery, I would give a guinea or two for her teaching, and
I heard that in the places I mention they will take in a person
upon such terms. I suppose she will dress meat on fast days? I like
the character of the woman provided she has had the smallpox, as I
would not have any person in the house who might run me into the
hazard.”

[266] Mrs. Donnellan was _Irish_.

The three Robinson boys were taken by young Mr. Edward Carter to York,
placed in the coach to London, and were met by Griffith, a valet of
Mr. Montagu’s in London, Mr. Montagu taking them in in Dover Street,
and despatching them with a servant to Canterbury, _en route_ for Mount
Morris.

[Page heading: CHANCERY SUIT]

On December 28 Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband she trusts to set
out for London on January 9, and hopes to accomplish the journey in
ten or eleven days! The Chancery suit had been deferred till January
13. A letter of Thomas Robinson’s regretting his inability to leave
the Kentish Sessions held at Maidstone contains this passage, “I have
already two or three retainers for that day, and have generally the
good fortune to be employed in every cause, which makes the gains of
the day considerable.”... He winds up with saying he has delivered his
brief of the Montagu case to Mr. Fawcet, who, he is sure, will make
better use of it than he should.

And so ends the year 1742.

CHAPTER V.

1743–4--JOURNEY TO LONDON--LETTERS CHIEFLY FROM SANDLEFORD PRIORY,
FROM BATH, AND FROM LONDON--THE DEATH OF HER CHILD.

[Year: 1743]

At last the longed-for day arrived for Mrs. Montagu and her sister to
set out southwards. Mr. Carter, the faithful old steward, insisted on
travelling with them instead of his son Edward, and the description
of his excitement and anxiety shown by his expressions are very
characteristic. Arrived at Doncaster on January 8, Mrs. Montagu writes
to her husband and mother, stating that she could not do so before, as
this was the first south post she had met.

[Page heading: THE FLOODS]

The letter to her mother is dated--

“Doncaster, Saturday the 8,
“(January).

“DEAR MADAM,

“I arrived here this evening, without having suffer’d any
inconvenience or fatigue in my whole progress. We were met on
Thursday in Leeming Lane[267] by a Messenger from Capt. Twycross to
tell us the waters were out at Burroughbridge, and that we could
not pass them, so I apply’d to my guide, Mr. Carter, and a wise man
is certainly never out of his element. He told me I might go to
Kirby Hill and there get a warm lodging, though not an elegant one;
which he thought would be as well as turning back. For my part I
assured him I had rather have my bed stuffed with flocks than my
pillow with care and disappointment, and agreed to go on to the
place he mentioned, and then send a messenger to see if the waters
were fallen. The Dove returned with an olive branch, and we went on
to the Waterside[268] there to prevent fear (for danger there was
none), we got into a boat and navigated through Mr. Williamson’s
gardens, his melancholy yews just shew’d their formal heads above
the water. Himself a melancholy shade too, was almost in as bad
a way, for the water was quite to his door, so he could get no
amusement from the rest of the world, but what he saw from the
windows. We were safely landed at the door of the Inn. The coach
came through the water without getting any wet inside of it, and we
all rejoiced that we had been more afraid than hurt. Mr. Carter,
in his care, often bid me be of good courage; as there was not
occasion for any, I could not be disgraced for want of it: from our
first setting out I have not been less entertain’d than guarded by
him, he has really acted the part of Sir Roger de Coverley all the
way; his benevolent heart breaks into such honest and affectionate
expressions, you would think he was talking to his family wherever
he is; at the ‘Oak-tree’ he was, I saw, shaking hands with every
creature. I stopp’d to speak to a servant of Mrs. Yorke’s who met
us with her compliments, and could hear Mr. Carter praising the
strong beer, thanking the Landlord, wishing many good things to
a boy who was stuffing a luncheon of bread and butter, thanking
Heaven for good weather, and commending the road, all in a breath.
At Lord Castlecomer’s Inn he would stop for the horses to eat, he
said a sort of grace to it, praying it might strengthen them to the
end of their journey, then he extolled the Inn, the Landlord and
his wife, not forgetting a ‘lile lass’ that stood at the gate: all
the way we went in the boat he commended the boatmen more than an
envious person would have done Christopher Columbus, for exploring
leas and lands unknown; at Borough Bridge he made the funeral Elogy
of Mr. Mann, but not to wrong the living for the sake of the dead,
he said the handsomest things to mine Hostess, the civilest things
to her daughters, the most honourable things of her son, and the
most affable things to the chambermaid, that ever I heard in my
life. At Aberforth he was not less kind to every creature, nor less
indulgent to every thing, and he is the same still, and I doubt not
but will be Sir Roger de Coverley to the end of the journey. I am
really pleased by reflection, and though I don’t see everything in
his point of view, I am delighted at his happiness, like the bee he
gathers honey from every flower, nay, weed, which to common taste
have no perfection. I wish I could think as well of all mankind
as he does; but he deserves to think better of it. Benevolence is
built so much on faith, that those who think very ill of people in
general, will never do them much good, for service often arises
from trust, and we cannot trust those whom we dare not believe.”

[267] Leeming Lane, a stage 218 miles from London.

[268] Boroughbridge is on the river Ure.

[Page heading: A FAITHFUL STEWARD]

The end of this letter is lost. Mr. Montagu being unable, from the
Chancery cause coming on, to meet his wife, despatched a servant
named Griffith, but he, falling ill at an early stage of the road,
deputed another person to meet her. A most dutiful and affectionate
letter occurs here to Mr. Montagu, but too long for inclusion. Mr.
Carter having seen them safe to Leicester, left them there, where
Sarah Robinson had an attack of illness which delayed them a day. When
well enough, they proceeded by way of Harborough, Newport Pagnell,
Dunstable, etc., to Dover Street, London.

Mrs. Freind and Mrs. Botham (Mrs. Sterne’s sister, Lydia), both
expecting their confinements, entreated Mrs. Montagu to stand godmother
to their future babes, to which she consented. Mr. Botham was then
Rector of Yoxall, Staffordshire, and Chaplain to Lord Aylesford,[269]
whose daughter Mary, Lady Andover,[270] was Mrs. Botham’s most intimate
friend and patroness. She was also a friend of Mrs. Montagu’s, to whom
she constantly wrote tidings of Lydia Botham’s frequent illnesses and
pecuniary troubles.

[269] Heneage, 2nd Earl of Aylesford.

[270] Wife to William, Viscount Andover, son of 11th Earl of
Suffolk.

[Page heading: MR. ROGERS’ PEDIGREE]

The Chancery suit Mr. Montagu had been engaged in was occasioned by
his claiming the guardianship of his unfortunate first cousin, Mr.
John Rogers, who, owning large estates at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and East
and West Denton near there, besides much other property, had now been
a lunatic[271] for some years. It will be seen in the pedigree that
Mr. Montagu’s mother was a Sarah Rogers. This table will elucidate the
relationship--

[271] Evidently he was a lunatic forty years, and bed-ridden ten.

[Illustration:

_The Rev. M.W. Peters, R.A.Pinx._ _Emery Walker Ph. Sc._

_Morris Robinson_]

[Page heading: A CURIOUS LETTER]

Old Mr. Rogers had bought East Denton land and collieries for £10,900
from the Erringtons in 1689, who had long had the property. In
December, 1705, Mr. Rogers bought of Sir James Clavering his share of
the West Denton property. The history of Denton Hall will be given
further on. Young John Rogers appears to have had fits as early as
1718. He married in 1713, Anne Delaval, who died in 1723 at Seaton
Delaval, and he seems to have become deranged soon after her death. As
long as his mother lived he was well cared for, but she died in 1733,
and the last nine years he had been gradually getting worse, and a set
of designing people surrounded him. I have a letter of his written to
his parents, apparently on going to Oxford in 1705, which is so curious
that I insert it here. It is addressed--

“To
“John Rogers, Esqr., att
“The House in Newcastle upon Tyne,
“These--”

“DEAR FATHER,

“I hope since that I am fallen into the hands of a gentleman, who
is not only a stranger to you, but to all my relations, that you
will do me the favour to write to my tutor, which I am sure he
can’t but take exceeding well, having never heard from any of my
friends since I removed heather. I had notice by my Mother yt you
had ordered me £40, and wonder that as yett I have not heard from
John Nicholson, that, I fancy Mr. Atkinson’s letter has miscarried.
I see Mr. Fremantel here on Sunday night who sett forward for
Newcastle on Monday morning, that I fancy you will see him before
you receive this. We had one man executed here on Saturday morning
who was taken here just a little before our assizes by two Smiths,
he had been twice put in the Gazett for a highwayman, and those
fellows took him, hoped to receive the reward. The fellow knowing
himself to be a great rogue, and that if he escaped here, they
would have had a Habeas Corpus to remove him, sent for the man
whose horse it was he had stolen, to come to challenge his horse,
and was indited for it and pleaded guilty, hoping I suppose to be
transported. There was a great interest made at Court for to save
his life, but all would not doo, but by this he has baulked the
fellows yt took him of their £40.

“So with my duty to my Mother and yourself,

“I am, dear Father,
“Your dutiful Son,
“JOHN ROGERS.

“Oxon, August 18, 1705.”

[Page heading: MR. MONTAGU’S JOURNEY]

Mr. Montagu was made guardian and manager to Mr. Rogers and his estate.
Uneasy as he was at leaving his wife in her present situation, he was
obliged to go to Newcastle to see into affairs. Sarah Robinson, who
had gone home, was quickly summoned to return to her sister, to which
her parents rather unwillingly gave their consent. Mr. Montagu writes
each post, as often as he could, most affectionate letters to his wife;
as he rode all the way, disliking a carriage, we see by his letters
the time the journey took. March 19, he writes from Nottingham, having
been four days reaching there. He says, “If j was mounted as j ought to
be j could without much difficulty reach Allerthorpe on Monday night,
whereas j must now be content if j get there some time on Tuesday.” He
bids her divert herself with her friends and acquaintances, and to send
him good accounts of her health, “as there is nothing under Heaven that
is so dear to me.”

But no sooner had Mr. Montagu set out than the Duchess of Portland lost
her youngest daughter Frances, just two years old, from convulsions
after whooping cough. She forbade Mrs. Montagu coming to see her at
first, for fear of her grief affecting her in her present condition.
Mrs. Donnellan and Mrs. Pendarves were with the duchess, and did all
they could to solace her grief, which was intense. After a few days,
however, the two friends met, and had a sad meeting.

To return to Mr. Montagu’s travels, he got to Allerthorpe, where Mr.
Carter joined him, and they proceeded to Newcastle, to Mr. Rogers’
house, where

“three attorneys attended to take inventorys of the goods,
schedules of the writings and bonds, and whatsoever we found in
the Secretoires etc. of the unhappy gentleman, but more is owing
to the dexterity and unintermitting diligence of Mr. Carter in the
despatch we have made than to everything else put together. We have
found Bonds amounting to near £10,000 value.”

A general oversight was arranged to be taken by Mr. Carter of the
estates and tenants, many of the latter being heavily in arrears in
rents. It is characteristic of Mr. Montagu’s uprightness in business
that, though not obliged to do so, he rendered to Sir James Clavering,
Mr. Rogers’ uncle, a complete account of his estate, of which Sir James
greatly approved, and regretted these steps were not taken ten years
before. A Mr. Grey was put in charge of Mr. Rogers.

[Page heading: DARNTON FAIR]

Mr. Montagu and Mr. Carter commenced their journey home, the latter
going to Darnton Fair _en route_. People rose early for business then.
Mr. Montagu states Mr. Carter “sat up late last night and rose this
morning at 3, and set out at 6 for Bedale, where he will be occupied
all day.” He adds, “He is unwearied, j never knew his fellow. He has
lived three times as much as any other man no older than he, and has
done three times as much business and benefited many and hurt none. I
wish j could say as much of those who are in a rank of life infinitely
superior to him.” Truly this is a fine picture of a righteous steward.

[Page heading: THE BIRTH OF A SON]

By May 1, when Elizabeth writes to her mother, Mr. Montagu had returned
to her, she and her sister meeting him at Highgate. Mention is made in
this letter of Miss Brockman having become temporarily speechless from
inoculation. Sarah returns to Mount Morris, and the last letter before
Mrs. Montagu’s confinement tells of the purchase of a “magnifique
Berceau” just in time, as on May 11 Mrs. Montagu gave birth, at their
house in Dover Street, to a fine boy, to the infinite joy of Mr.
Montagu and his sister, Mrs. Medows. A young farmer’s wife, a Mrs.
Kennet, living near Mount Morris, had been engaged as a wet-nurse to
the child.

On May 30 the Rev. William Freind, to whom Mr. Montagu had written to
announce the birth of his child, writes to congratulate him, and to say
Mrs. Freind had presented him with a daughter that morning. Mr. Montagu
had promised to stand godfather if it was a boy,[272] but if a daughter
Mrs. Montagu was to be godmother. To this letter, on June 4, Mr.
Montagu replied that his wife and child are doing well, and he says--

“The latter end of next week we intend for the baptism of our
infant, and if you were here should be prouder to have the ceremony
performed by you than anybody else, for if j may judge from what
has happened to the Father, j imagine it would be auspicious to the
Son. I am sure j ought never to forget the share you had in putting
me in the possession of the Mother,[273] in whom j find my every
wish more than compleated. In less than a fortnight we intend going
to Sandleford,[274] and after that to go on the inoculation, which
j hope will have an happy event, which, if so, j cannot be too
thankful to Providence.”

[272] This child was christened Elizabeth. She died young.

[273] Mr. Freind had married them.

[274] Mr. Montagu’s seat near Newbury.

He adds his desire for Mr. Freind and his family to visit them at
Sandleford _en route_ home from Bath.

[Page heading: INOCULATION]

The reader will remember that Mrs. Montagu was peculiarly afraid
of smallpox, but she had determined, if once a mother, she would be
inoculated, so that she should be able to attend to her child if it
ever had the disease, and to prevent separation from or infection to it
if she herself took the disease in the natural manner. When her dread
of it is recollected, it will appear a heroic deed on her part. Her
mother, Mrs. Robinson, was far from easy at the idea of the inoculation
taking place in the summer heat.

Meanwhile the little boy was christened John, though he soon acquired
the nickname of “Punch,” their own familiar peep-show, as the fond
parents deemed him, and is only twice mentioned in the letters I have
as my little “Jack.”

In a letter of June 21, from the Duchess of Portland, who was at
Welbeck with Lady Oxford, she mentions--

“The Duke of Kingston[275] has been in the utmost danger, so great
Doctor Hickman has refrained sleeping part of a night, not without
the assistance of Barbecued Hog, Tokay, etc., etc., etc. to keep
up his spirits, to enable him to go through the immense fatigue
of waking a few hours with his patron.” She adds, “Thank God the
children are all well. I hope your little man is so, my best wishes
must ever attend the dear boy.”

[275] He died in 1773, when the title became extinct.

Mrs. Montagu went to recruit at Sandleford with Mr. Montagu,
preparatory to removing the child and establishment there, as she
writes to her sister Sarah, who, with Mrs. Medows, is left in Dover
Street in charge of the son and heir--

[Page heading: BABY CLOTHES]

“I really long to have you here. I think I may say you never saw
anything so pretty as the view these gardens command, for my part I
would not change the situation for any I ever saw; there is nothing
in Nature pretty that they have not. The prospect is allegro, and
as ‘Mirth with thee I chose to live,’ I am glad it is of that kind,
‘the loathed melancholy of Cerberus and blackest midnight, born in
Stygeian cave forlorn,’ dare not appear in this little paradise.
There is a charming grove where your reveries may wander at
pleasure, you may allegorize like Spenser, or pastoralize like the
lesser poets, there are roses and honeysuckles hourly dropping to
put you in mind ‘how small a part of time they share, that are so
wondrous sweet and fair,’ and this will whisper to you ‘de coglier
d’amor la rosa,’ indeed, my dear Sall, these pretty things are mere
toys, as are all things in this world, but a true friend. I am
thankful for the benefits of fortune, and pleased with them, but
really attached only to the person who bestows them. My benefactor
bestows favours with more pleasure and more complaisance too, than
most people receive them with, and this gives the relish to favour,
for as Ophelia says, ‘Gifts grow cheap when givers are unkind.’

“I hope the young plant thrives under your care. Pray write every
post, and say all you can about the boy, for as insignificant as
he seems in his swaddling cloaths, it is more interesting to his
parents to hear of where he went, than to hear of all the feats of
Hercules girded in his Lion’s skin.”

Then she orders a dozen bibs to be made for the babe, of “fine
damask, the pattern of Lady Betty Bentinck’s pinned to my
embroidered quilted petticoat.”

[Page heading: SANDLEFORD PRIORY]

Sandleford Priory is two miles south of Newbury, Berks. It was
originally founded by Geoffry, 4th Earl of La Perche, and his wife
Matilda of Saxony, between the years 1193 and 1202, dedicated to St.
Mary and St. John the Baptist, and placed under the Austin Canons;
but Mr. Money, in his “History of Newbury,” states “the recluses of
Sandleford” are mentioned in the Pipe Roll of the 26th of Henry II.,
1180, so that a body of religious had existed there or near before the
date of the building by the Earl de la Perche.[276] In the reign of
Edward IV., _circ._ 1480, a dispute arose between the Prior and the
Bishop of Salisbury, in whose diocese Sandleford lay; in consequence of
this dispute the monastery was forsaken, and the King, at the instance
of the Bishop (Richard Beauchamp), gave it to the Dean and Chapter
of Windsor. In the 26th of Henry VIII. it was stated to be in their
possession, valued at £10.

[276] His ancestor accompanied the Conqueror to England.

In the time of James I., 1615, Sandleford was declared to be a separate
parish, and unratable from Newbury, but the chapel being dismantled
and unfit for use, £8 a year was ordered to be paid to the Rector of
Newbury, which entitled the occupants of the Priory to a seat in the
Newbury parish church, which has been continued ever since.

The lessees from the Dean and Canons of Windsor appear, from a paper of
my uncle, Lord Rokeby’s, to have been, early in the eighteenth century,
the Pitt Rivers of Stratfieldsaye, by whom the lease was sold in 1717
to William Cradock, Esq., after an intermediate alienation. The lease
was purchased in 1730 by Mr. Edward Montagu, grandson of the 1st Earl
of Sandwich. A letter of April, 1733, of Mr. John Rogers to his aunt,
the Hon. Mrs. Sarah Montagu, at Sandleford, about the death of his
mother, Mrs. Rogers, and her leaving her sister £10, and each of her
three children a ring, is in my possession, and shows she was then
living or staying with her son Edward.

The chapel is erroneously stated in several works (_vide_ Tanner, etc.,
etc.) to be destroyed. It was disused, not destroyed, though the bells,
seats, and the tomb of the crusading knight[277] had disappeared. As
we proceed further into the manuscripts we shall see it was used as a
bedroom or rooms!

[277] Probably Count Thomas de la Perche, son of the founder, as
his father was buried at St. Denis Nogent. Thomas died in 1217. For
a description of the tomb, etc., see note at the end of this book.

The situation of the Priory is charming, the principal rooms fronting
south on a slight eminence, sloping to the river Alebourne, now called
Enborne, which crosses the high-road just below the lower lodge, and
skirts the south side of the park. On the east the ground slopes to a
wooded valley, down which are many ponds, dating from the monks’ time,
some of which were joined together by Mr. Montagu, afterwards more by
his widow, to form lakes. Many fine trees surround it in these days,
and at the time of Mr. Montagu’s first living there, seem to have been
exceedingly numerous; also walled gardens, which are now removed.
Beyond the valley to the east the ground rises in a wooded ridge. The
village here mentioned must have been a few cottages near the mill on
the west, which existed where Sandleford Lodge is now built: these have
all long ago disappeared.

[Illustration: SANDLEFORD PRIORY.]

[Page heading: A PARSON AND HIS WIFE]

To the duchess Mrs. Montagu wrote in raptures of the beauties of
Sandleford, but in the middle of her description states, “Here was I
interrupted by a Parson, his wife and daughter, and I shall not be
reconciled to ‘Prunello and grogram’ again a great while, they robbed
me of those hours I could have dedicated to your grace.” Prunello was
the woollen stuff then used for clerical gowns, grogram a coarse kind
of taffety, a mixture of silk and mohair, applicable to feminine attire.

Mrs. Botham writes on July 8, that as Mrs. Montagu was unable, when her
baby was born, to be applied to, she had given him his father’s name,
John. Lydia Botham had two, if not three, daughters, but this was her
first son.

[Page heading: THE COUNTESS OF GRANVILLE]

From Sandleford Mrs. Montagu returned to London, intending to be
inoculated, but in a letter of July 12 she informs the duchess that Dr.
Mead considered she had better defer the operation till the heat of the
summer was over--in September. In the same letter she states that Mrs.
Medows and herself had called on the old Countess of Granville,[278]
who appears to have been a most garrulous old lady, and Mrs. Montagu
says--

“She fell with all her violence on my complexion, and behold, she
certainly by her description takes my forehead to be tortoishell,
my cheeks to be gold, my eyes to be onyx, and my teeth amber: all
these are precious things, but Mr. Montagu not having so rich
a fancy as King Midas, I know not whether he would like such a
wife. Your Grace may believe I was extremely mortified. The good
woman says Mrs. Medows looks better and younger for being married;
but for me I am pale and green, and describes me as worse than
the apothecary that lives about the rendezvous of death in Caius
Marius. She is of opinion that lying in has spoiled my face; true
it is I have furnished a noble pair of chops to the little boy, and
if mine are a little the lanker for it, I scarce grudge it....”

[278] Grace, Viscountess Carteret, and Countess Granville in her
own right.

Further on she says, “Thank you for your kind inquiry after the young
‘Fidget,’ who loves laughing and dancing, and is worthy of the Mother
he sprang from. As for Mrs. Donnellan, she is well. Mrs. Delany is
better than well.”

Mrs. Pendarves had been married on June 9 this same year to the Rev.
Dr. Patrick Delany,[279] afterwards Dean of Down, and an intimate
friend of Swift’s.

[279] Dr. Delany, born 1686, died 1768; made Dean 1744.

[Page heading: MONKEY ISLAND]

The Montagus, accompanied by Sarah Robinson, now moved with the child
to Sandleford. A letter to the Duchess of Portland of July 26 says--

“Sandleford, near Newbury.

“MADAM,

“If I was as good a poet as Boileau[280] I would complain of
l’Embarras de Londres, and also of l’Embarras de la Campagne,
and of the still greater embarras of travelling from one place
to another. When I had the happiness of your letter, I was so
encompassed with boxes, trunks and portmanteaus, and even that
lesser plague of band-boxes, that I could not give myself the
pleasure of writing to your Grace. Bag and baggage we arrived here
on Thursday night: first marched the child crying, nurse singing,
and the Abigails talking; Mr. Montagu, my sister and myself brought
up the rear. We had fine weather and a pleasant journey. We took a
boat from the Inn of Maidenhead Bridge, and rowed round his Grace
of Marlborough’s Island.[281] I had the pleasure of reflecting on
the agreeable morning I had spent there with you.”

[280] Nicholas Despreaux Boileau, born 1636, died 1711. French poet
of note.

[281] Monkey Island. See _ante_.

Further in the letter she states the duke[282] had planted some cannon
on the borders.

“Mrs. Medows has promised to take the child while I am sick,[283]
and I am best satisfied that it will be with her, for I am sure she
will take care of it, and thank God! it is a very strong healthy
child; indeed were he otherwise I should not leave him, for I think
when they are sickly, no one can be tender enough for them but a
parent.”

[282] Then the 3rd Duke of Marlborough.

[283] Meaning when she was to be inoculated.

She says--

“Dr. Courayer dined with us the day before we left town: he was
more elated with having a letter from you, than he had been
dejected with the overthrow of the French;[284] he looks well, and
his mind is the seat of tranquillity. Donnellan promises to come
down here soon. I hope she will stay till I go to London to be
inoculated.”

[284] Alluding to the battle of Dettingen, fought in June, 1743.

[Page heading: WOMAN’S EDUCATION]

In alluding to a lady who had “excellent sense and wit, but a want of
softness in her manners,” she adds--

“This is of great consequence to a woman to keep off disagreeable
manners, for the world does not mind our intrinsic worth so much as
the fashion of us, and will not easily forgive our not pleasing.
The men suffer for their levity in this case, for in a woman’s
education little but outward accomplishment is regarded. Some of
our sex have an affectation of goodness, others a contempt of
it from their education; but the many good women there are in
the world are merely so from nature, and I think it is much to
the credit and honour of untaught human nature that women are so
valuable for their merit and sense. Sure the men are very imprudent
to endeavour to make fools of those to whom they so much trust
their honour and happiness and fortune, but it is in the nature of
mankind to hazard their peace to secure power, and they know fools
make the best slaves.”

A letter early in August to the duchess, who had now returned to
Bullstrode from Welbeck after visiting Matlock, says--

“I was in hopes to have heard when you would come to town. I wish
you may come up to us soon after the 24th (August) of this month,
which is the time I propose for going to London for inoculation.
I think there is no danger of hot weather after the middle of
September. Dr. Mead says it is the best time for me....

“Matlock must be well worth seeing, we have nothing here of the
wild and uncultivated sort. I intend to go and indulge Reveries
at an old Castle[285] where Chaucer made his fairies gambol,
with as much grace and prettiness as the Muses of old on the
hill of Parnassus. The Castle is on a rising just above Newbury,
and commands a pretty view of the country. The prospect is of
sufficient extent to let the poetick fancy soar at pleasure
among the beauties of Nature. Pray where is ‘Pen,’[286] will she
produce a sprig of bays? it must be a little Master Apollo or a
Miss Minerva from parents of such art and science. I have sent
your Grace a copy of a letter Lord Orford[287] sent to General
Churchill,[288] if ever he was to be envy’d it was when he wrote
that letter: it seems to come from a mind pleased with everything
about it, and easy in itself, amidst the refinement of luxury and
expense, without the madness of intemperance, or inconveniences of
prodigality.”

[285] Donnington Castle.

[286] Mrs. Delany’s old pet-name.

[287] _Alias_ the great Sir Robert Walpole.

[288] General Charles Churchill, commonly called “old Charles
Churchill,” to distinguish him from his son, who afterwards married
Mr. Edward Walpole’s daughter; he was the illegitimate son of James
II. and Arabella Churchill.

[Page heading: LORD ORFORD’S LETTER]

The end of this letter is missing. Lord Orford’s letter, written in an
unknown hand, is thus:--

“Houghton, June 24, 1743.

“DEAR CHARLES,

“(_Lord Orford’s letter to General Churchill._)

“This place affords no news, no subject of entertainment for fine
men. Men of Wit and Pleasure about Town understand not the charms
of the inanimate world: my Flatterers here are Mutes: the Oaks,
the Brookes, the Chestnuts seem to contend which shall best please
the Lord of the Mannour; they cannot deceive, they will not Lye.
I in sincerity admire them and have as many Beauties about me as
fill up all my hours of dangling, and no disgrace attends me from
67 years of age. Within doors we come a little nearer to real
Life, and admire upon the almost speaking canvass all the airs and
graces which the proudest of Town ladies can boast, with these I
am satisfied, because they gratifie me with all I wish, and all
I want, and expect nothing in return, which I cannot give. If
these, Dear Charles, are any Temptation, I heartily invite you to
come and partake of them. Shifting the scene sometimes has its
recommendation, and from Country Fare you may possibly return with
a keener appetite to the more delicate Entertainments of a refined
life.

“I am, dear Charles, etc.,
“ORFORD.

“P.S.--Since I wrote the above we have been surprised with good
news from abroad. Too much cannot be said about it, for it is truly
matter of infinite Joy, as it is of Infinite Consequence.”

Lord Orford is here alluding to the battle of Dettingen.

[Page heading: THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH]

The duchess, in a letter of August 26 from Bullstrode, says, “Thanks
for Sir Robert’s letter, I had never seen it.” In alluding to the
tiresome etiquette and interference she suffered from at Welbeck under
Lady Oxford’s despotic rule, she says--

“I please myself that my children will love me better, as my
covetousness will not be obliged ’em to pay me court, and as I
shall have no suspicion of their duty, but be convinced that their
motives proceed from disinterested love, and by that means we shall
each of us be happy. Was the Duchess of Marlborough[289] possessed
by one good quality? I should think she deserved pity more than
the poorest creature in the street, not to have one child, but
what wishes her dead, nor capable of knowing the enjoyments of
friendship.... We propose being in London Monday sennight.”

[289] Sarah, the celebrated Duchess of Marlborough.

On Thursday, August 25, Mrs. Montagu took a sad leave of her little
boy, and started on her journey to London, sleeping at Windsor, at the
house of her sister-in-law, Mrs. Medows. Mr. Montagu remained with the
child till the time his wife should be inoculated, when he was to join
her in London, and Mrs. Medows was to take charge of him. Sarah joined
her sister in London; it will be remembered she had had the disorder.

[Page heading: PREPARATION FOR INOCULATION]

As inoculation is now out of date, I shall extract from the various
letters the mode of procedure. Arrived in Dover Street, Mrs. Montagu
is told by Elias, the duchess’s porter (then a most important domestic
magnate), his mistress was coming to London on Monday. She therefore
writes to beg the duchess, the duke, and Mr. Achard to dine with
her that day “at 4 or 5 according to their convenience.” Business,
however, prevented the duchess leaving Bullstrode for a week, but she
is reinvited, as Dr. Mead says Mrs. Montagu will not be infectious
till the disease appears. Meanwhile, in preparation for the dreaded
operation, she was “dosed, then blooded, another dose or two of physick
is all I shall want, and then proceed to meet that distemper I have
been running from these four and twenty years: it is at present my
misfortune the smallpox is so little stirring they cannot find a
subject.” She writes to the duchess also in another letter, “Though
Dr. Mead, Dr. Cotes, Mr. Hawkins, and the subaltern of the Physical
faculty, the Apothecary, have been smallpox-hunting this week, they
have not procured a subject for me.” She urges the duchess to dine, “as
I shall be as well till 7 or 9 days after the operation as ever I was
in my life.”

The duchess had been out of order with hysterical fits, and states she
was ordered to drive in a chaise. Of this vehicle we gain a glimpse
from this allusion of Mrs. Montagu’s in answer to the duchess, “A
chaise is health, spirits and speed, a lady must lay aside her hoop,
her laziness and pride, before she is diminutive enough for a chaise.”
A portion of a very beautiful letter, written by Mrs. Montagu to her
husband before he joins her, I copy--

“Dover Street, Tuesday, August 30.

“MY DEAREST,

“The happiest moments I have spent since I parted from you, were
those I employed in reading your letter: accept the sincerest
thanks a grateful and tender heart can make to the most kind and
generous love. While Heaven shall lend me life, I will dedicate
it to your service, and I hope our tender engagements shall not
be broke by the cruel hand of fate. Notwithstanding the distemper
I am going into, I have great hopes of my life, and a certainty
of my love to you as long as that life shall last. Your kind
behaviour and conversation has made my Being of such value to me
that I am taking the best means to preserve and secure it from
hazards, but let not the experiment cost you an anxious thought.
It would be a reproach to the laws of Nature, if one as virtuous
as you are, should not be sure to be happy. I trust you shall ever
be so independent of a weak woman, who can serve you in nothing
but wishes: could I reflect back the happiness I receive from you,
I should tremble at my own importance to think of sinking from
happiness to insensibility, and nothing might overcome my little
courage, but to imagine I left you a portion of sorrow and regret
as a burthen on all your years to come, would not only afflict but
even distract me.”

[Page heading: THE REV. CHRISTOPHER DONNELLAN]

The same day that she wrote this letter to her husband, she writes
a note to Mrs. Donnellan, who had joined her brother, the Rev.
Christopher Donnellan, at Tunbridge Wells. He, having been ordered to
drink the waters, and having crossed from Ireland for that purpose,
Mrs. Montagu says, “Does not your brother think he is in Babel? How
does he like English women with French dresses and French manners? In
short, what does grave good sense think of Tunbridge?”

By Mr. Montagu’s desire, Dr. Sandys was added to the previous M.D.’s. A
day or two after this Mr. Montagu joined her, and she was inoculated on
September 3.

[Page heading: WHEATEARS]

[Page heading: ARMY DISCIPLINE]

On September 7 Mrs. Montagu writes to Mrs. Donnellan--

“MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,

“As the time that passes between the expectation of a matter of
importance and its happening is not a time of the greatest pleasure
and tranquillity, you will be glad to hear it is four days since
I was inoculated. I am still well and in perfect good spirits:
it would be a sign of levity as I should be sorry and ashamed to
find in myself to be disturbed at the approach of a distemper I
have been seeking. The Duchess of Portland spent the day with me
on Monday, and was here again with Lady Wallingford yesterday, and
I expect her Grace this afternoon. In the meantime I hope to hear
from you, and my sister will give you intelligence of me. Dr. Mead
and Dr. Cotes attend me; I have given them on their prescribing two
guineas apiece, but I am told when Dr. Mead attends constantly,
one guinea a day will be enough, if he comes only once a day, but
I wish you would be so kind as to enquire and let me know when you
write to me; and I will beg you to order your maid to buy 2 Dozen
Wheatears[290] and send them by the Haye Coach. Mr. Montagu never
saw any, so if you please to tell your servant to send them with
the feathers on.

“I am extremely glad to hear Mr. Donnellan finds benefit by the
waters. Your family in Town flourishes much,[291] Mr. Percival is
a young beau, Mrs. Percival has grown almost a toast, and for Mrs.
Shuttleworth,[292] she is a perfect beauty, she has a bloom like
fifteen; I never saw anyone look so fresh and jolly.

“The town is full of reports of the discontent of the Army, it
is almost feared the English and H(anoverian)s should fall upon
each other. A gun going off while the Captain was at dinner, he
bade General Honeywood go and see what was the matter; the General
brought word it was nothing, upon which the great Captain sent
a H(anoveria)n officer, who brought word it was the musket of a
soldier upon guard; the Captain then cry’d he could have no truth
from the E(nglis)h and that the E(nglis)h had no discipline: the
D(uk)e of M(arlboroug)h said they had as much discipline as the
H(anoverian)s, for that coming by their quarters, a ball went under
his horse’s legs.

“Mr. Hawkins[293] comes every day to dress my arms, though the
wounds given for the inoculation are very trifling, he does not
think from the appearance of them I shall be ill yet. I shall be
glad when the proper period for it arrives, but must wait with
patience; it is said people do not know themselves, but by the
little anxiety I have about myself, one would imagine I knew myself
to be of as small consequence as I really am.... My dear little
Babe is perfectly well....”

[290] Wheatears are delicious eating. They are migratory, and only
frequent certain counties. They appear to have been more plentiful
formerly. Sussex and Surrey are favourite localities.

[291] These are Mrs. Donnellan’s stepfather and her mother.

[292] Mrs. Shuttleworth was evidently a relation.

[293] The surgeon.

[Illustration DENTON HALL.]

[Page heading: PHYSICIANS’ FEES]

To this I subjoin a portion of Mrs. Donnellan’s answer from Tunbridge
Wells--

“I received your comfortable letter, writ with the spirit of a
Christian, a Philosopher and a woman of true fortitude. Since you
don’t expect any appearance yet, I may venture to write, or if
you should not be quite well, my letter is of no consequence, and
may be thrown by. I will allow all your reasoning for yourself to
be very good, and will not dispute with you now, whether you are
of consequence to the world or not, I will only beg you to act as
if you were, and take care of yourself for the sake of the few,
and let the world come in for its share of you by an by. I am of
opinion one guinea a day is sufficient from a private gentle woman
to any Physician in England, if he makes but one visit. I know all
our family, and greater than us never gave more either to Hollins
or Willmot; indeed if they prescribe twice they must be paid
twice, but that I hope and believe will not be your case. I am not
acquainted with anyone who makes use of Dr. Mead, but I suppose he
is fee’d like other Physicians of note, and I think raising these
sort of things on one another when they are already high enough by
conscience is wrong....

“Our company quits us apace, but as there is not one body but Lady
Sunderland[294] and Miss Sutton and Lady Catherine Hanmer that I
care particularly for, and they stay, I am quite easy about the
matter. I generally take a rural walk with my maid and man, and
I am just returned from the Rocks, whose natural beauties strike
me more agreeably than the laboured work of a palace. My brother
rides every day, but walking does not agree with him.... No one
here cares for a walk that carries them further than Tod’s Room or
Chenevix’s Shop.[295] In the evening I conform with the world, and
play at Whisk, Roli Poli, or what they will, and make them wonder
that a person who has a guinea in their pockets and can perform at
such entertainments, should prefer wandering in fields and woods
with company little better than the creatures that inhabit them.”

[294] _Née_ Judith Tichborne, third wife of Charles, Earl of
Sunderland; remarried Right Hon. Sir Robert Sutton.

[295] A famous fancy-shop.

On September 12 Mrs. Montagu writes to the duchess, who had returned
to Bullstrode, to say Mr. Hawkins did not believe, from the appearance
of her arms, she would have the smallpox. Dr. Mead and Dr. Cotes had
attended the day before, expecting to find inflammation, but the wounds
appeared healed. From this it appears the surgeon attended the wounds
daily, and doctors occasionally. The very next day (September 13) Mr.
Hawkins pronounced there was no longer a chance of the smallpox.

Mrs. Montagu writes to the duchess, “As Anacreon who swallowed many a
hogshead of the juice of the grape was at last killed with a little
grape stone, I who have missed the dire disease, am grumbling with the
toothache.”

[Page heading: POPE’S GROTTO]

The duchess writes to Mrs. Montagu to beg her to think that though
the smallpox has _not_ appeared, she is as much secured as if it had.
On September 15, as a wind-up to the inoculation, Mrs. Montagu “was
blooded.”

“On Saturday we went to see Mr. Pope’s[296] garden and grotto, to
Hampton Court and Bushey Park,” she writes to the duchess; and on
Wednesday she was intending to pay a visit to her parents at Mount
Morris, Kent, before returning to her child, for whom, she says, “her
heart sickens.” On October 8 she proceeded to Sandleford, leaving Mr.
Montagu, who had business, to follow in a few days; and she writes
to the duchess from the inn at Maidenhead Bridge. In this letter she
says she has great difficulty in “squeezing the cotton in the ink
bottle which I am forced to do before each word, and as my pen is as
prodigal of ink, as the bottle is sparing of it, after I have been
half an hour replenishing my pen, one inconsiderate blot squanders it
away.” This alludes to the strange habit of having cotton placed in
the inn inkstand, under the delusion that it made it last longer. The
whole writing of the letter is thick and blotted. She also mentions,
“My sister set out for Bath this morning, with Mrs. Cotes. Poor madam
Sally’s stomach is greatly out of order, and her nerves are often
affected, but I hope the waters will do her good.”

[296] Pope’s villa and grotto at Twickenham.

[Page heading: A HIGHWAYMAN]

Mrs. Cotes was the doctor’s wife, and a sister of Lord Irwin, a great
friend of Sally’s, very small in stature and pretty, familiarly called
“the _little_ Madam.” The two ladies, accompanied by Mrs. Cotes’
footman, set out for Bath, diverging from Newbury for a night at
Sandleford to see “Punch.” A passage from a letter of Sarah’s will show
the perils of the road. They travelled in a post-chaise--

“A man set out with us from London, and kept us company about seven
miles. He often asked the footman who we were, and whether we were
going over Hounslow Heath; to the last he made no answer, but after
being tired with his curiosity told him we were only ladies’ maids,
upon which he forsook us, either being too proud to accompany
abigails, or supposing we had not money enough to make it worth his
while to go on to Hounslow Heath with us. We had one post-boy that
pleased us extremely, he sung all the way, our pleasure did not
arise from any music in his voice, but from seeing him so happy,
and admiring the power of a contented spirit, that could make a
person so joyful, that was at the caprice of any one, without any
greater advantage than a shilling’s reward, and who is always to be
jolted almost to death, by the only creatures that are beneath him.”

Almost shaken to pieces, they arrived at their lodgings at Mrs.
Elliot’s, in the Orange Grove, Bath. Sarah describes the rooms as
small, but comfortable, “looking down Wade’s Passage and into the
coffee-house, which is a guard to the windows, and very often prevents
their approach.” She grumbles at the expense of their journey, but says
provisions are cheap, fowls one shilling each.

Jenny, her maid, had travelled by coach, a post-chaise of that time
only holding two people. Here is a passage worthy of Fielding, “Jenny
travelled down unspotted and pure with the old parson, who gave her
no comfort, but one spiritual kiss upon getting to the end of their
journey.”

[Page heading: DANGERS OF A POST-CHAISE]

Both Mrs. Cotes and Sarah suffered from the hardness of the
post-chaise, and Sarah also hints that other _visible_ effects had been
incurred which would last for days; hence fleas, if not worse, must
have existed in it! Mrs. Montagu, in writing to condole with them,
says, “It is a daring mind that ventures in a post-chaise. I wonder
the partizans of these vehicles do not establish a broad bottom, and
a competent share of cushion.” The vehicle was, from what I make out,
a two-wheeled chaise. Mrs. Cotes’ footman had been directed to call,
on his way back to London, on Mrs. Montagu. The style of speech of a
servant of this period is shown in this passage--

“Mrs. Cotes’ man called very civilly, and brought me your last
letter. ‘Pray, Mr. Thomas,’ says I, ‘did you leave the ladies
well?’ ‘Yes, and very merry, Madam.’ ‘They had a good journey, I
hope?’ ‘Yes, a very merry, Madam.’ ‘They were not at all afraid?’
‘No, nothing but very merry, Madam.’ ‘Were they not tired when
they came to their inns?’ ‘No, always very merry, Madam!’ At last
Thomas’s account made me ‘so merry, Madam,’ I was forced to retire
to laugh.

“Your nephew gets his share of sunshine every day, his teeth tease
him and produce the dew of sorrow on his little cheeks sometimes,
but in a moment it is forgotten, and he is always lively, and in
continual health: he is thought to grow like his mother, so I think
I may cease to be handsome with a good grace, as I have transferred
it to my offspring.... Your nephew is in his birthday suit,
laughing so I can hear him through the doors; the usurpation and
authority of those bandages called garments he is too full of Whig
principles to approve of!”

[Page heading: “PUNCH’S” CHARIOT]

There were no babies’ carriages in those days, so little Punch drove
out daily in the _chariot_, not to be confounded with the _coach_, a
much larger vehicle.

In the same letter it appears that the good old Yorkshire steward, Mr.
Carter, had had a bad fall, and the house in Dover Street not being
large enough, Morris Robinson was trying to secure them one in Bruton
Street. Mrs. Montagu, having suffered from weakness and hysterical
fits, was recommended to ride daily--a pastime which was agreeably
varied by the cutting of new walks through the Sandleford woods,
and the continual amusement afforded to her and Mr. Montagu by the
contemplation of their child’s too precocious ways.

A few details of life at Bath may prove amusing. Sarah writes to her
sister that the waters agree very well with her, but that people are
amazed at her walking between each glass. She had found a companion in
Mrs. Wadman, Lord Windsor’s sister, whom she had met at the pump-room,
as they drank the waters about the same time, and both were fond of
walking.

The Rev. W. Freind and his wife were at Bath, and Sarah goes to hear
him preach a charity sermon,

“the best I ever heard. I am going to dress to the best of my
skill and power for the sake of his Majesty, this is kept as his
birthday, and there is to be a ball and supper to-night, the men
have subscribed on purpose. Mr. Simon Adolphus Sloper[297] is
to be my partner, and has sent me his tickets, which will carry
in Mrs. Freind also. Mrs. Cotes’ cold is too bad to go.... The
Archbishop[298] is much censured for going away so soon, he has not
tried the waters long enough to know whether they would be of any
use to such an extream case as his.... Mrs. Potter would let her
husband see nobody but herself, and took his duty of preaching upon
herself; she tempered it with a comfortable compliance, and when he
used to say ‘I am sure I shall dye, I wish it might be at home,’
‘To be sure, my dear,’ answers the good wife, ‘it is proper you
should dye where you like, if you chuse it you shall go and dye at
Lambeth.’ ...”

[297] Mr. Sloper lived at West Woodhay, near Newbury.

[298] John Potter, born 1674, died 1747. Archbishop of Canterbury.

[Page heading: A BATH BALL]

At one of the balls Sarah did not dance, but she said she did not
regret it, “having no inclination to dance with any man but Mr.
Pitt,[299] and that I have not acquaintance enough with him to expect,
I can only cherish my hopes of future good fortune.” At another
ball she dances with Mr. Vanburgh, “a very pretty sort of man, but
our affections to him are quite Platonic, as he is in love with the
youngest Miss Nash.” This must have been the sister or daughter of Mr.
Richard Nash[300] (“Beau Nash”), the despotic Master of the Ceremonies
at Bath. He was not well at this time, and Mrs. Montagu sends her kind
regards and condolences on his health. Amongst other people mentioned
at Bath by Sarah were the Duke of Hamilton, Lord Berkeley, Mr. Powlett,
and Mr. Bathurst, son of Lady Selina, the two Offleys, Mr. Greville,
and Lord Robert Carr, said to be very handsome.

“Last night in the middle of the dancing we drank tea with a
gentleman who had invited about twenty of us some days before. They
give tea now almost as much of common days as they used to do on
Sundays.”

[299] Afterwards Earl of Chatham.

[300] Richard Nash, for fifty years Master of the Ceremonies, Bath.

Sarah says she is going to play shuttlecock with a Mr. Amiens,[301] at
the end of this letter; and in the next she states--

“I played at Shuttlecock about half an hour, there were five couple
of us: in truth I played so much better than any in the room, I put
them all in amazement, but it was rather owing to their bad play,
and to my being matched with the two men that played the best,
than my superior skill.... In my last I mentioned I was going to
the ball: there was a table of sweetmeats, jellies, wine, Biskets,
cold Ham and Turkey set behind two Screens, which at 9 o’clock were
taken away, and the table discovered.... Above stairs there was a
hot supper for all that would take the trouble to go up.”

[301] I think this was Mr. Amyand?

[Page heading: “MATHEMATICAL INSTERATION!”]

The ignorance of some ladies of this period is shown by Sarah in the
following extract:--

“A lady told us last night that Miss Molyneux is so great a
_Mathematician_ that she can _inster_ Greek, and that often a dozen
of the most learned men of the Kingdom had puzzled their wise heads
about a piece of Greek, and could make nothing of it; they proposed
to send it to Miss Molyneux, and she _instered_ it (_alias_
construed it), and returned them her _insteration_!”

Whilst Sarah was at Bath, Mrs. Montagu wrote frequently to her mother
at Mount Morris, much, naturally enough, about her child, about whom
the fond grandmother was never tired of hearing. A little sentence
gives a clue to his looks, “If my Father has drawn a blue-eyed
simpering Cherubim, you may fancy him not unlike your grandchild; the
child’s eyelashes are black and long, and he has a laughing look in his
eyes, blue, like my Father.” He was still toothless, and suffered much
with his gums, which made his mother already uneasy. Mr. Montagu had
just taken some prodigious sized carp from a fish-pond at Sandleford,
and was throwing three of the old monks’ ponds, or fish stews, into one
large one.

Mrs. Donnellan writes from Bullstrode on October 21, and says her
brother is now going to Bath, where he will stay with their relations
the Mountraths,[302] and that Sarah Robinson, “if she meets him she
must make the advances, all the young ladies do, as he is a grave,
stiff Parson.” Dr. Young and Lady Peterborough[303] were at Bullstrode
when she wrote.

[302] 6th Earl of Mountrath and his wife.

[303] _Née_ Anastasia Robinson.

[Page heading: MIDGHAM]

In a letter to the duchess of October 25, Mrs. Montagu describes the
gardens at Midgham, the seat of Mr. Poyntz,[304] near Aldermaston,

“to which Mr. Montagu carried me last week, I had no small
expectations of them, both from report and the known sense and
genius of the owner.... Over the door of a little grotto he
declares for retirement in open fields, caves and dens, with living
waters and woods. Statues of the Muses adorn his walls, their
Arts adorn his mind and inspire him with the elegant ingenious
gratitude that gives this public demonstration of honour to them.
Every venerable oak has a seat under it from whence he takes the
sacred oracles of meditation.... The gardens are of uneven ground,
prettily diversified with hills and valleys. There is a fine bason
before the house, that is always well supplied with water, and
inhabited by fish.... I did not see Mr. Poyntz’s house, as it is
not anything extraordinary, it would have been an impertinent
curiosity to desire it, as they visit here when in the country.”

[304] Right Hon. Stephen Poyntz, Lord Treasurer.

Mrs. Donnellan writes for the duchess as well as herself in reply, Lady
Oxford being there, and all the usual writing-hours given up to playing
Pope Joan with her. In this letter, alluding to “Punch” watching with
pleasure the colour of his bed-curtains, she says, “Master Wesley,[305]
who is the most extraordinary child for sense I ever knew, at three
months old, used to be put in a good humour with a suit of tawdry
Tapestry hangings.”

[305] This was Garrett Wesley, afterwards Earl of Mornington. He
was Mrs. Donnellan’s godson, born 1735, died 1781.

The Duke of Portland had the misfortune to break his arm at the end of
November, just as the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Delany had arrived for their
first visit since their marriage on June 9.

[Page heading: A FOOTPAD]

In writing to condole with the duchess, a typical story of a footpad
is given by Mrs. Montagu. The duchess had just set up keeping bees at
Bullstrode, and Mrs. Montagu intended to do the same, but laments she
cannot

“have anything of a menagerie[306] here, there is no trusting
anything out of doors. The town of Newbury is a melancholy example
of the decay of trade, there is misery and poverty and lawless
necessity in an unhappy abundance. We have robbing upon the commons
here very frequently: a poor labourer who has been digging in our
garden last week was very oddly preserved from a wound by a Buckler
made of Cheese, like Sardella in ‘The Rehearsal.’ The poor man had
five shillings in his pocket, when he was stopped by a footpad.
He did not care to surrender his wealth, and so resisted; another
robber came to his comrade’s assistance, and stuck a knife several
inches deep into some cheese and bread he had over his bosom, in a
wallet betwixt his coat and waistcoat. We had a highwayman taken by
a French dancing master a little while ago. When the dancing master
carried him before the Justice of Peace, the Justice asked what day
of the month he was robbed? ‘Ah,’ says the dancing master, ‘me can
no tell dat,’ but turns to the highwayman, ‘but you do know, I pray
tell Monsieur, for you must know what day you did rob, and I pray
you now be so civil as tell de gentleman,’ which, as the highwayman
denied the fact of the robbery, was as good a blunder as one could
desire. The highwayman has since cut his throat, but is likely to
recover, only to try the hempen collar.”

[306] Menagerie was the name given to a collection of birds, from
rare fowl to pheasants, etc.

Mr. Montagu had started that morning (December 1) for the meeting of
Parliament, Mrs. Montagu accompanying him “halfway to Reading.”

[Page heading: THE MINISTRY]

A letter of December 3 of Mr. Montagu’s shows the state of politics in
the House--

“I have been making what enquiry j could about the state of public
affairs, and can learn nothing that is agreeable to one who loves
Great Britain, and is more concerned for his country than the
fatal E(lecto)r of H(anove)r. For though the ministry have been at
variance about some of the treaties mentioned in the Speech and in
the Privy Council, they came to Division, where Lord Carteret and
his friends were only four, and the opposers, j, amongst whom were
Mr. Pelham and Lord Chancellor and others, still matters have since
been so far made up amongst them that it is said they all agreed
(by the mediation of Lord Orford) in the speech and address, which
is reckoned to be Lord Carteret’s, and after a division in our
House, the address was carried by a considerable majority, the yeas
being 278 against 149 noes. Mr. Pitt exerted himself against the
address with his usual eloquence and with great acrimony against a
Minister whom j need not name, after j shall tell you that in his
invective he said what he meant was not against the Ministry, but
against one who was a Minister, and had renounced Great Britain,
who had eat of a certain tree that the Poet tells us makes People
forget everything, even their country, but he hoped the people
would never taste of the fruit of the same tree, nor after his
example forget their country.... Mr. Pelham is to be Chancellor
of the Exchequer, Sandys Pay Master of the Army. The Duke of
Marlborough[307] has resigned.”

[307] He resigned his commission in disgust.

[Page heading: POPE’S “DUNCIAD”]

A letter of December 4 of Mrs. Montagu to the duchess makes the
following comments on the new edition of Pope’s “Dunciad,”[308] to
which he had just added a fourth book:--

“We got Mr. Pope’s new Dunciad printed, but I think it differs
little from the old one: the new Hero[309] is certainly worthy to
have the precedency over all foolish Poets. I like the last Dunciad
for exposing more sorts of follies than the first did, which was
merely upon bad poets and bad criticks. I am always glad when I
see those fops who have translated their manners and language into
French foppery well ridiculed for the absurd metamorphosis, to
ridicule wrong placed pride is of great service, for if it was not
done this land would be over-run with conceit, for here people are
proud of their vices and follies and iniquity, and as long as Pride
arises from such Stocks, we shall never want an increase of it.
Milton says, ‘_Nought profits more than self-esteem right placed_,’
and surely it is true of that pride that makes us disdain vice, but
that which makes people glory in it is as pernicious. The British
vice of gluttony is openly professed so much, one can hardly dine
at a fashionable table where eating is not the discourse the whole
time, and treated of as an affair of the utmost consequence.”

[308] A satire by Alexander Pope.

[309] Colley Cibber.

[Page heading: MRS. POCOCK]

In a letter of December 8, after congratulating the duchess on the
duke’s recovery from his broken arm, Mrs. Montagu adds this description
of the learned Mrs. Pocock;[310] it is interesting, in contrast with
that of the lady who _insters_ Greek!--

“I have been petrifying my brain over a most solid and ponderous
performance of a woman in this neighbourhood; having always a
love to see Phœbus in petticoats, I borrowed a book written by
an ancient gentlewoman skilled in Latin, dipped in Greek and
absorbed in Hebrew, besides a modern gift of tongues. By this
learned person’s instruction was Dr. Pococke[311] (her son)
skilled in antique lore while other people are learning to spell
monosyllables, but Hebrew being the mother tongue, you know it
is no wonder he learnt it. His gingerbread was marked with Greek
characters, and his bread and butter instead of glass windows
was printed with Arabick, he had a mummy for his jointed baby,
and a little pyramid for his playhouse. Mrs. Pocock lives in a
village[312] very near us, but has not visited here, so I have
not had an opportunity to observe her conversation, but really I
believe she is a good woman, though but an indifferent Author. She
amuses herself in the country so as to be cheerful and sociable at
three score, is always employed either reading, working or walking,
and I don’t hear she is pedantic.... She always carries a Greek or
Hebrew Bible to Church.... I desire your Grace to make ten thousand
apologies for me to Mrs. Delany if it is true I have robbed her of
a good name, but I hope you only said this to put me in terrors. I
desire my best compliments to her, Dr. Delany, to whom I wish very
well, though I have offered the shadow of a great injury in seeming
to deprive them of each other.”

[310] Daughter of the Rev. Isaac Milles, Rector of Highclere, a
very learned man.

[311] Rev. Dr. Richard Pococke, eminent Orientalist, Bishop of
Meath, born 1704, died 1765. Dr. Pococke added the “e” to his name.

[312] Newtown.

This was caused by Mrs. Montagu, in a fit of absence, having addressed
a congratulatory letter to Mrs. Delany as Mrs. Pendarves, her former
name, which caused much mirth in the Bullstrode circle.

Mr. Montagu writes on December 8--

“We had yesterday a motion of consequence in the House, which was
to have an humble address presented to his Majesty to forthwith
dismiss the Hanoverians in the British pay, which occasioned a
fine debate, and was carried in the negative by a majority of 50,
the numbers being 181 against 131. The same is to come on tomorrow
before the House of Lords, and Lord Sandwich is to begin, which j
doubt not he will do in the best manner.”

Dr. Freind, who, with his wife, was invited to spend Christmas at
Sandleford, playfully bids Mrs. Montagu to write him a sermon to preach
before the King, as he will have to do in a few weeks.

The year ends with Sarah and Morris Robinson and the Freinds staying at
Sandleford.

[Year: 1744]

The first letter of interest in 1744 is one from Mr. Montagu to his
wife, written February 23, from London, whither he had returned for the
meeting of Parliament.

[Page heading: SUGAR TAX]

After alluding to parliamentary debates and elections, and to the
failure of the new tax proposed upon sugar, “which was carried in the
negative by a majority of 8 only, to the great joy of those concerned
in the Sugar Colonies, and the duty is to be raised on the surplusage
of the tax which was given upon spirituous liquors[313] last year,” he
says--

“The danger of the Pretender, if we may believe our wise and
vigilant ministers, is not yet blown over. It is said that a few
days ago several French men of war were seen off Rye and that
the Pretender’s Eldest Son has been seen walking about publickly
at Calais, and is styled Charles the 3rd, his Father having
relinquished his rights in his favour; but people seem to be little
affected with any apprehensions of danger, and what the designs of
the French were, a little time will discover; whatever they shall
prove to have been j am heartily sorry for the alarm, and whatever
ground or no ground there has been for the rumour of an invasion,
j am afraid it will be made use of as a pretence for a further
plundering of us, and invasion of our pockets, for j cannot forget
what j have heard before j sat in the House, that a member (I think
his name was Hungerford) should say the Pretender was the best
wooden leg a ministry ever had to beg with, and perhaps the present
may have as much inclination to make use of it as ever any of their
worthy predecessors had.”

[313] Tax on spirits, passed 1742–3.

[Page heading: THE PRETENDER]

[Page heading: SIR JOHN NORRIS]

On February 25 Mr. Montagu writes--

“Since my last the King has sent another message to the House
with some intelligencies concerning the invasion and the French
King’s[314] answer to Mr. Thompson,[315] our agent in Paris in
relation to the removal of the Pretender’s Son out of France,
in pursuance of treaties which in substance is as follows,
viz.:--‘That engagements entered into by treaties are not binding
any further than those treaties are religiously observed by the
contracting parties on all sides. That when the King of England
shall have caused satisfaction to be given on the repeated
complaints that have been made to him of the infractions of these
very treaties of which he now demands the performance, which
violations were committed by his orders, his Most Christian
Majesty will then explain himself upon the demands now made by Mr.
Thompson in the name of his Majesty.’ Besides this there was a long
affidavit of a Master of the packet boat read, letting us know that
he saw a young man who was called the Chevalier, and said to be the
Pretender’s Eldest Son, with another young man, his brother, that
there was arrived there Count Saxe,[316] who was to bring over here
in transports, 1500 men, together with several particulars too long
to be inserted here.... The House addressed his Majesty to augment
his forces both by sea and land as much as be necessary, and that
they would defray the expense.

“An express arrived yesterday that Sir John Norris[317] with
his squadron was in sight of the French fleet, that he stood
off Romney, and they were at Dengeness, that he weighed anchor
and would endeavour to come up with them, and bring them to an
engagement if possible. It was this morning reported he had
demolished them, but this wants confirmation, as well as the news
of Admiral Matthew’s[318] having beat the Toulon fleet,[319] with
which there has been an engagement.”

[314] Louis XV.

[315] The English Resident.

[316] Maurice, Comte de Saxe, born 1696, died 1750. Field-Marshal
of France.

[317] Admiral Sir John Norris, died 1749.

[318] Admiral Thomas Matthews, born 1681, died 1751.

[319] On February 9.

Mrs. Montagu and her sister now joined Mr. Montagu in Dover Street,
leaving little “Punch” at Sandleford with regret. On the way their
coachman, who had met them at Hounslow with their own chaise, ran a
race with a coach and four, and overturned them, but they were none the
worse; in fact, being upset in a carriage in those days seems to have
been little thought of!

A letter of March 4 of Mrs. Robinson from Mount Morris says--

“Sir John Norris is returned into the Downs, and all our fears are
over. I heard that the people of Romney and Lydd had their most
valuable goods packed up and put in carts ready to drive away,
if they saw any occasion: for my part I was very composed, never
thinking there would be any occasion to put myself in a stickle....
I am so good a subject to his Majesty that I can’t conceive any
people would be so foolish to assist France with setting up a
Popish Pretender.”

A letter from the duchess states that she has been reading Lord
Bolingbroke’s “Dissertations upon Partys,” and desires Mrs. Montagu’s
opinion on them. She laughs at the idea of the invasion, and says,
“Cecil, the Pretender’s agent, is taken up, and likewise Carle, and
some say Lord Weims,[320] others his second son Charles.”

[320] James, 5th Earl of Wemyss.

[Page heading: SIR SEPTIMUS ROBINSON]

In a letter to Mr. Freind, Mrs. Montagu mentions meeting at a drum of
Mrs. Mainwaring’s “My cousin Septimus Robinson, dressed as gay as a
lover, but whether that was the footing he was upon, I do not know.”

Septimus Robinson was a brother of Mrs. Freind, and, as his name
denotes, was the seventh child of William Robinson of Rokeby. He was
born in 1710, was educated at Oxford, then entered the army, and served
in the ’45, under General Wade. He left the army in 1754; became
Governor to the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland, brothers of George
III., and eventually was made Usher of the Black Rod. He died unmarried
in 1765.

In the same letter she states--

“Lestock and Matthews are now examined before the Parliament as to
their conduct in the Mediterranean. It is said by some who have
read it Thompson’s[321] new play is equal to Otway’s[322] _Orphan_
and Rowe’s[323] _Fair Penitent_.”

[321] James Thomson, born 1700, died 1748. Poet; author of “The
Seasons.”

[322] Thomas Otway, born 1651, died 1685.

[323] Nicholas Rowe, born 1673, died 1718. Poet Laureate.

She adds--

“In the morning all throng to the Senate House, and at night to
the playhouse;[324] those who bewail the poverty of the nation
in the morning, part with gold for two hours’ entertainment at
the Oratorio at night. Those who talk of taxation, did they but
see how full of powder, and how empty of thought the heads of
the Hydra appear to be, they would fear nothing from so spruce a
set of Senators. I think the town was never so gay or so fond of
amusements.”

[324] Garrick was acting “King Lear” then.

On March 31, 1744, the Duke of Portland wrote to announce the birth of
his second son, Lord Edward,[325] saying--

[325] Lord Edward Charles Bentinck, died 1819.

“I should be wanting in regard to the long friendship which has
existed between you and my wife, were I not to give you the
earliest notice of your friend: she was safely brought to bed of a
boy this morning, at three quarters after 3. She and the child are
as well as can be expected.”

[Page heading: “HIDE” PARK]

The Montagus now returned to Sandleford to visit their child, leaving
Sarah in Dover Street to await her father’s arrival from Kent to fetch
her. A passage in the following letter throws a light on the vehicles
in use at this period:--

“Passing through Hide Park,[326] we saw capering horses with
creatures on their backs more whimsical than themselves.... Between
London and Kensington were many pert folk in single Horse Chairs,
who seemed proud of the government of the humblest machine, saving
a wheelbarrow, that ever the art of man contrived: one of these
chaises had like to have suffered by contending with his Grace’s
coach and six. Towards Uxbridge we met a leathern vehicle called a
flying coach, a most intolerable counterfeit, for in fact it merely
crawls. We passed two or three travelling waggons laden with many a
ton of Humanity, the savour of which would have made the delicate
nostril a misanthrope.... Our dear little fellow is all alive and
merry, and more grown in length than breadth.”

[326] _Sic_. Query, was it originally _Hide Park_?

[Page heading: A DOMESTIC COMEDIAN!]

Dr. Freind, now made a Prebendary of Westminster, in addition to his
living at Witney, in this year sent a present of Witney blankets to
Mrs. Montagu and a Witney rug to Sarah Robinson. On April 8 Mrs.
Montagu writes to thank him, and says--

“Your kind present is significant of the warmth of a friend. I
think there is great analogy between friendship and a blanket. We
have been here (Sandleford) almost a fortnight, much diverted with
the humours of ‘Punch,’ who grows a merry fellow. I like my little
comedian so well, I shall be sorry to change him for the great
comedians; my little actor has no artifice but hide and seek, nor
plays any tricks but innocent Bopeep.

“I hope now Lord Carteret is going to take a young, handsome
Lady[327] his politicks will take a milder tone....

“Have you seen Dr. Gregory and his bride? When I saw the Doctor
at Mrs. Knight’s, I did not apprehend he designed to be our dear
cousin.”

[327] His second wife, Lady Sophie Fermor, daughter of 1st Earl
Pomfret; married April 14, 1744.

This is the first mention of Dr. John Gregory, afterwards such an
intimate friend of the Montagus. He was the son of Dr. James Gregory,
an eminent physician, by his second marriage with Anne Chalmers, and
grandson of James Gregory, who invented the Gregorian telescope. His
bride, who, judging from the above, must have been a cousin of the
Robinsons, was Elizabeth,[328] daughter of William, 13th Baron Forbes,
by his wife Dorothy Dale. Lady Forbes lost £20,000 in the South Sea
bubble. Dr. John Gregory[329] became a distinguished physician, and an
author of note. Frequent mention of him will be made later on.

[328] She had beauty, wit, and a large fortune.

[329] A daughter of his married A. Allison, and was mother of the
historian.

In the same letter Mrs. Montagu urges Dr. Freind to write and
congratulate the duchess on her second son’s birth. The Freinds had
just commenced a friendship with the Portlands.

[Page heading: GOWNS]

Mrs. Robinson asks her daughter, who had now returned to London, to buy
her a lutestring gown, “but as I have a tabby of a dark brown, I would
have my lutestring pretty light.” This gown, from a further letter,
appears to have cost 6_s._ 9_d._ a yard, and Mrs. Montagu suggests she
should buy a French trimming of Mademoiselle for the same, “a slight
pretty thing for a guinea.” A capucin Mrs. Robinson had ordered; she
says, “I like my capucin much better than that which was shorter, and
it is quite good enough for the use one makes of them.” Probably a hood
with a deep cape, as in a previous letter the garment is described as
“always ugly, but useful.”

Mrs. Robinson says, “I suppose you have had your promised visit from
Mrs. Middleton.[330] I believe the doctor would give something to be in
the state of widowhood once again; she is queer and ill-tempered, and
he heartily tired with it.”

[330] Mrs. Conyers Middleton No. 2.

Mrs. Botham, Mrs. Laurence Sterne’s sister, had been in London, and
Mrs. Montagu had written to her mother--

“Mrs. Botham is really quite well behaved, she has not anything of
the Hoyden now. I believe she is one of the best wives and best
Mothers, and an admirable housewife. I bought a very handsome
quarter lace cap for my godson, and presented her with it. Mr.
Botham wants to be a King’s Chaplain, and I have offered her my
interest with her Grace of Portland, who by means of Bishop Egerton
and others could easily get it for him.”

To this her mother[331] replies--

[331] Mrs. Botham was Mrs. Robinson’s niece.

“I am much pleased with the character you give of Mrs. Botham, I
always thought her one of good understanding and good temper, and
as to her giddiness, I hope it is partly wore off. I should have
been pleased to have seen her at Horton, if her time had admitted.
She always had a chearful, agreeable disposition. I much fear his
being chaplain to his Majesty, if he should succeed, will be no
advantage to him, for as I take it, must occasion London journeys,
and without good interest he may be no nearer preferment.... I
believe his income is but small, and his family increases very
fast. I wish they have not a spirit of generosity much superior to
it, they keep a good deal of company, and of the expensive kind.”

At a party at the Duchess of Portland’s the bride, Lady Carteret, is
thus described by Mrs. Montagu--

“She came in a sack and a night-cap for which she made an apology,
and said she had a cold. I suppose she designs to carry her dignity
high enough by this, particularity of dress. She is handsome
enough, has a good air, a genteel, easy address without any
_mauvaise honte_.”

[Page heading: FANS]

In a letter of Sarah’s, May 10, thanking her sister for a fan, she
reminds her she was then at “Mrs. May in Tooke’s Court, in Cursitor
Alley, Chancery Lane.” She also mentions buying a tabby gown, 7_s._
3_d._ a yard, at Wells and Hartley, at the “Naked Boy and Woolpack,” in
Ludgate Street. Mrs. Montagu replying, says--

“I am glad you like the fan; there are some worn at present that
exceed the flails of a mill. Cotes has one that makes an eclipse of
her little person whensoever she pleases to flirt it. I have been
buying finery for your nephew, a famous pink satin coat, and two
flowered lawn frocks, extremely fine.”

[Page heading: A PINK SATIN COAT]

“Punch,” being now turned a year old, was to be weaned, and many were
the anxieties and qualms of his mother on that occasion. Her mother
wrote wise advice to her on the subject, with her experience of a large
family. After this she adds--

“He must be most delightful now he runs and prattles, he will look
a little angel in his finery....

“I find you are still a house hunting: as to the house you mention
in Grosvenor Square, I think the fault of it cannot be in the
goodness of the house or situation, for, as I take it, they are all
calculated for large fortunes.

“It gave me great joy to hear my Robert got safe to Bengall. I hope
by the end of the summer, we shall have him safe here, and poor
‘Pigg’ with him.”

“Poor Pigg” was a pet-name for Charles Robinson, who suffered from weak
eyes, and had accompanied his brother on this voyage for health’s sake.

The weaning of “Punch” was successfully carried out, and we learn from
the letters from Mrs. Montagu to her husband, who was still detained in
London, that he was fed on “milk porridge, bread and rusks, and drinks
milk and water all day.”

A letter of Mr. Montagu’s of June 7 mentions meeting the Duke and
Duchess of Portland coming from church at the Banqueting Hall, White
Hall, and accompanying them home. Mr. Carter, the faithful steward, and
his son Willy, who had just returned from the war wounded, were in town.

“Yesterday I waited on the Duke of Montagu[332] about our young
Hero (Wm. Carter), who will get made a lieutenant, which does not
give us the same satisfaction as a Captain’s commission would do,
but the Duke said they would not do it for him. I am to consult
with his agent, Mr. Guerin, about it.”

[332] John, 2nd Duke of Montagu, born 1705, died 1749; married
Mary, fourth daughter of Duke of Marlborough.

The regiment was probably the 2nd Horse, which the duke then commanded.
The duke was a relation of Mr. Montagu’s, both being descended from a
common ancestor.

[Page heading: A WET-NURSE]

Writing to Sarah Robinson, Elizabeth says--

“Your nephew continues his manlike behaviour, and scorns to weep
over a trifle, he is quite well, and has been dancing in his shirt
on a blanket spread on the ground, he dances after a droll manner,
for not being very firm on his legs he reels about when he gets out
of his common pace, and he flourishes his hands and legs, and is
just a little merry drunken Bacchus.”

Mrs. Kennet, the wet-nurse, was about returning to her farmer husband
in Kent--

“Mrs. Kennet will soon be restored to her husband. We are to make
up her salary to £50. I have given her a good deal of cloaths too,
the brown silk night gown, a brown camblet, two short cotton gowns,
and I have dyed my purple Tabby blue, and added two yards of new to
it, which will make her fine.”

[Page heading: APRONS]

The first mention is made in this letter of Mrs. Dettemere, of whom
more anon. This poor woman appears to have been in a good position of
life, and well known to the Robinsons, but unhappy circumstances had
placed her in great distress. Mrs. Montagu says--

“I have collected 3 guineas for her, and put her on a scheme of
working blonde caps. I sold one for her for 7_s._ 6_d._ that cost
her only 18_d._... I am to lend her £5 to lay out in ribbons,
and get her customers, and she is to work muslin aprons which
I will find the materials for, and when she sells them I am to
be repaid.... I wish you would devise a pattern of sprigs for an
apron for Mrs. Dettemere to work, I dare not let her have the same
as Mrs. Medows’[333] apron, but I think to get one of monkeys and
squirrels.”

[333] Mr. Montagu’s sister.

Writing to Mrs. Donnellan on June 7, Mrs. Montagu says--

“The country is now extremely delightful, all nature is in bloom,
every being joyous and happy, it seems to me impossible that any
citizen of so fair a world should harbour any gloomy care in their
breast. It is a vain pretence we make to delicacy and taste, while
we prefer a dirty town to the country in the fine Season: all
the arts of luxury cannot invent any pleasures equal to what one
receives from soft air, moderate sunshine, a gay scene of prospect
and the musick of the feather’d songsters. Sir William Temple[334]
says his three wishes were, ‘health, peace and fair weather.’ I
have often thought that saying not the least wise of many of his
admired sentences.”

[334] Sir William Temple, born 1628, died 1699, at Moor Park,
Surrey. Patron of Swift and his “Stella.”

Mr. Carter, the faithful north-country agent, was now at Sandleford,
and on June 15 Mrs. Montagu writes to her sister, who was staying at
Chilston in Kent with the Thomas Bests. Mr. Best had married Caroline,
_alias_ “Cally,” Scott, of Scott’s Hall, the intimate friend of both
sisters. A most happy marriage it appears to have been--

“Your nephew is really a droll fellow. Mr. Carter is half bewitched
with him, at the first salutation ‘Old Trusty’[335] had tears of
joy, he cries out ‘Bonnie Bairn, ye are a fine one, weel worth it,
weel worth it, I warrant hee’s think of me when I be dead and
gone, I’se make all t’improvements I can for him. Thank God he’s
have a bonnie estate when all comes in; God send him to live to an
ould man: oh my lady he’s brave company. God’s blessing light on
him,’ thus he ran on for an hour. The child grew immediately fond
of him, cries after him, and will beat away even the nurse, if she
takes him away from Mr. Carter.”

[335] A nickname of Mr. Carter’s.

[Page heading: ORANGE TREES]

The Duchess of Portland had promised to give a dozen orange trees
from Bullstrode to Mrs. Montagu, which she was most anxious to have.
These trees were to be sent to the Red Lyon at Slough, where the
Newbury carrier was to take them up. They arrived, after the following
vicissitudes, safely:--

“The poor waggoner who was to have brought them was unhappily
killed some days ago by a loaded waggon falling on him; his servant
foolishly left the orange trees because he said he had no room for
them, and at 9 o’clock at night they brought us word the orange
trees were left at Slough. We immediately sent servants with a
cart who travelled almost all night, and brought the trees safe,
the next day. They have not received the least damage, they are
blooming, full of fragrance,” says Mrs. Montagu in her letter of
thanks. She also asks for Mr. Achard to instruct her as to their
culture, “whether they should be nailed to the wall, without
pruning their heads, and thirdly what size the tubs should be for
those that are to be kept in that manner.”

Mr. Achard’s instructions were sent, but alas! are lost.

Mr. Montagu being obliged to go to the North to attend to business of
his own, and as trustee to Mr. Rogers, Mrs. Montagu had determined on
accompanying him and taking “Punch” and her sister Sarah with them.
It was with some difficulty she obtained leave of her parents for her
sister’s company, as they considered she had been so much away from
them. Sarah was desired not to come in the stage-coach from Horton, but
by a post-chaise or chariot at Mrs. Montagu’s expense, and

“ask Matt to lend you his footman to ride by the chaise. You know
it will only cost you 3_d._ a mile more.

“Your nephew has just had his pink sattin coat tryed on, and he was
so fond of it, he scolded and fought every one who approached him,
lest they should deprive him of his new cloaths. He has just learnt
to make a bow with a good grace, and he is very lavish of it.”

[Page heading: ADMIRAL ANSON]

Mrs. Donnellan writes from Hampstead, where she has taken lodgings for
her health, on July 4, and she describes Admiral Anson’s[336] booty
being taken to the bank thus--

“I went yesterday morning to London, I found all my folks gone to
see the show of Anson’s wealth carried to the Bank, so I went to my
Lord Egmont’s[337] and saw two and thirty dirty waggons pass by,
guarded by a number of tanned sailors, but we had the pleasure of
knowing or thinking those dirty waggons contained what makes all
the pursuits of this world....

“The Duke and Duchess of Portland staid a day longer than they
designed to see this Show. The King and all the royal family were
spectators. The Tars were very happy and dressed themselves in the
Spanyards’ fine cloaths.”

[336] Admiral Lord Anson, born 1697, died 1762.

[337] 1st Earl Egmont, a relation of Mrs. Donnellan’s stepfather.

Commodore Anson had been absent from England three years and nine
months. He had intercepted a Spanish treasure ship, _Neustra Signora
de Cabodonga_, loaded with treasure, etc., to the value of £313,100
sterling![338]

[338] Altogether he obtained £500,000.

Mrs. Donnellan continues--

“I have not yet heard from Mrs. Delany from Ireland. They were
stopped at Chester by the Dean’s having a return of ague, so you
see though a fine preferment may cure, it cannot preserve from
future evils. The yacht was ready and they hoped to sail the next
morning.”

[Page heading: CLOTHES]

Lord Carteret had just made Dr. Delany, Dean of Down. Sarah Robinson
was to stay in Dover Street a few days to prepare for her northern
journey before joining the Montagus at Sandleford, and Mrs. Montagu
gives her many commissions--

“Mr. Montagu desires you would be so kind as to buy him a purple
tabby for a wastecoat, and a handsome gold lace to trim it; he
has got a pretty Coventry stuff coat making up here, and would
have a purple tabby wastecoat to wear with it; please to consult
Morris[339] both as to the quantity of silk and lace necessary,
and also what kind of buttons would be proper.... Get pink sattin
enough for a pair of shoes for your nephew, for he wants a pair of
shoes for his silk coat: get me coarse canvass for the two little
armchairs in the dining room in Dover Street, and buy me shades in
purple worsted to do them in Irish stitch in squares, there must be
some white Thrum for a stitch in each square. I should be glad if
you would buy me a pink French paste cross and earrings, the best
you can get at Chenevix.”[340]

After ordering some table linen to be brought,

“six table cloaths, three dozen napkins, two pair of sheets, 4 pair
of Pillibers,[341] my gold lutestring gown, and my white sack with
the flowers, and a gold handkerchief, my new hoop please pack up.
Pack up paper of all sorts and sizes enough for all our use, and
also wax, you will find a stationer’s shop in my cabinet of which I
sent you the key. Bring a stick of wax for your nephew.”

[339] Her brother, Morris Robinson.

[340] Mrs. Chenevix’s celebrated fancy-shop.

[341] Evidently means pillow-cases.

In a letter to Dr. Freind, Mrs. Montagu says--

“‘Punch’ is a fine fellow, he is greatly improved since you last
saw him, he is now an admirable tumbler, I lay him down on a
blanket on the ground every morning before he is dressed, and at
night when he is stripped, and there he rolls and tumbles about to
his great delight.”

Alas! the mother’s joy was turned to grief, for in a few days after,
Punch cut his first tooth with great difficulty and severe illness.

They set out on their journey to the North on July 31, when they
started _viâ_ Oxford, stopping at the Blue Boar there.

[Page heading: MR. JAMES MONTAGU]

[Page heading: CAMBRIDGE AND STOWE]

The following letter to the Duchess of Portland was written from
Newbold Verdon, Mr. James Montagu’s seat in Leicestershire. He was the
elder half-brother of Mr. Montagu by Mr. Charles Montagu’s first wife,
Elizabeth Forster, daughter of Sir James William Forster, of Bamborough
Castle, Northumberland. Newbold Verdon had been left to Mr. James
Montagu by his uncle by marriage, Nathaniel, Baron Crewe of Stene, who
married Dorothy Forster.

“Newbold Verdon, August 9, 1744.

“MADAM,

“I did not set out on my journey so soon as we proposed; the letter
we sent to my brother Montagu having made the tour of England
before it reached him, so we waited for an answer. The 31st of July
we set out for Oxford, where we spent an agreeable day in seeing
new objects and old friends. The good people from Witney[342] were
so kind as to come over to see us, and show us what was best worthy
our attention. The University, I think, is finer than Cambridge,
but does not excel so much as I had imagined. Alma Mater, however,
presides in great dignity there. I had hoped to have seen Mr.
Potts,[343] but was informed he was at Bullstrode, or I should have
sent to have begged the favour of seeing him.

“The mighty Shaw[344] had left the classic ground to take care
of his glebe in the country. The first of August we went to
Stowe,[345] which is beyond description, it gives the best idea
of Paradise that can be; even Milton’s images and descriptions
fall short of it, and indeed a Paradise it must be to every mind
in a state of innocence. Without the soul’s sunshine every object
is dark, but a contented mind must feel the most ‘sober certainty
of waking bliss.’ The buildings[346] are indeed in themselves
disagreeably crowded, but being dedicated to Patriots, Heroes,
Lawgivers and Poets, men of ingenuity and invention, they receive
a dignity from the persons to whom they are consecrated. Others
that are sacred to imaginary powers, raise pleasing enthusiasm
in the mind. What different ideas arise in a walk in Kensington
Gardens, or the Mall, where almost every face wears impertinence,
the greater part of them unknown, and those whom we are acquainted
with, only discover to us that they are idle, foolish, vain and
proud. At Stowe you walk amidst Heroes and Deities, powers and
persons whom we have been taught to honour, who have embellished
the world with arts, or instructed it in Science, defended their
country and improved it. The Temples that pleased me most for the
design to which they were consecrated, were those to ‘Ancient
Virtue,’[347] to ‘Friendship,’[348] and to ‘Liberty.’

“On Saturday last we arrived at my brother Montagu’s, who has made
this place one of the most charming and pleasant I ever saw: the
gardens are delightful, the park very beautiful, the house neat
and agreeable, and everything about it in an elegant taste. My
brother has made great improvements. It was a very bad place when
Lord Crewe left it to him, and had no ornament but fine wood; now
there is water in great beauty, grand avenues from every point,
fine young plantations, and in short, everything that can please
the eye. But nothing gives me so much pleasure as the obliging and
friendly reception of the Master, who has entertained us in a kind
and elegant and magnificent manner. The regularity and order of the
family, and the happiness that appears in the countenance of every
friend and servant, gives one pleasure to observe it....

“I am, Madam,
“Your Grace’s most obedient,
Humble servant,
“E. MONTAGU.”

[342] The Rev. Dr. Freind and wife.

[343] Frequent mention is made of Potts in the letter, but no clue
as to who he was.

[344] Dr. Thomas Shaw, divine and antiquary, also conchologist,
born 1692, died 1751.

[345] Stowe in Buckinghamshire, the magnificent seat of Viscount
Cobham.

[346] Alluding to numerous temples and monuments in the gardens.

[347] In this are the statues of Greek sages, by Scheemackers.

[348] Erected by Lord Cobham for busts of his political friends.

[Page heading: NEWBOLD VERDON]

After leaving Newbold Verdon, the Montagus went over Thoresby, the
seat of the Duke of Kingston.[349] In a letter to Mrs. Freind from
Allerthorpe, where the Montagus had arrived on August 16, Thoresby is
thus described--

“A fine place enough, but does not deserve what is said of it;
the cascade is not pretty, it is regular and formal. The lake
from which it is supplied is fine. The verdure of the park is not
good, nor are there fine trees. Our last stage was to York, where
we saw the Assembly Room[350] built by Lord Burlington, it is
prodigiously grand and beautiful.”

[349] The 2nd Duke of Kingston, called by Sir Horace Walpole
“a very weak man, of the greatest beauty, and finest person in
England.”

[350] Designed by Richard, 3rd Earl of Burlington, celebrated as an
amateur architect. He built Burlington House.

[Page heading: “PUNCH’S” DEATH]

In a letter to the Duchess of Portland of August 19, Mrs. Montagu said
her boy had borne the journey well, and was “quite well.” She intended
to leave him in Mrs. Carter’s care whilst she accompanied Mr. Montagu
to Newcastle, where the air was not healthy, and roads very bad. Alas!
a few days after, poor little “Punch,” in cutting another tooth, was
taken with convulsion fits and died. The exact date I am unaware of.
Lodge, in his “Peerage of Irish Peers,” states he died on August 17,
and was buried at Burneston.[351] The date of the day is wrong, as will
be perceived by her letter to the duchess. My grandfather simply states
he died of convulsion fits, occasioned by teething, no date; but as
Mrs. Freind wrote to condole with Mrs. Montagu on September 3, it must
have happened soon after her letter to the duchess. As no parents, from
their letters, could have adored an infant more than the Montagus, it
may be judged what a blow this was to them. Many sweet passages about
this child have I suppressed from want of space. He seems to have been
of a too precocious nature in mind and body. He was so large he wore
shoes big enough for a child of four. He ran alone and talked, and
mimicked people’s manners and ways, and was only one year and three
months old! “Our little cherub,” “our sweet angel,” as his father
constantly writes of him. The noble way in which both his parents
supported their anguish will be seen by future extracts from letters.
Dr. Freind’s fine letter of condolence to Mrs. Montagu is indorsed at
the back, “Letter from Dr. Freind on the unhappy loss of my son,”
and is much worn with constant reading. He had lost two children, and
was then threatened with the loss of his father,[352] whom he adored.
The poor Montagus, much as they desired children, never had any more.
I sometimes think that this poignant and irrevocable loss turned
Elizabeth Montagu’s thoughts more strongly to literature and knowledge
of all kind. She sought to occupy her mind as a solace for grief, but
she never forgot her loss, and every now and then the bitterness of it
is shown in passages in her letters.

[351] His body was moved to Winchester Cathedral eventually, and is
buried with his father and mother there, by her will in October,
1800.

[352] The Rev. Dr. Robert Freind, died August 9, 1751.

[Page heading: THE LOSS OF AN ONLY CHILD]

The Duchess of Portland writes on September 7, 1744--

“MY DEAREST AND MOST AMIABLE OF FRIENDS,

“Could I have thought I should have given you a moment’s relief or
abated the anguish of your affliction, I should before now have
written to you, but I found myself too much affected to be able
to say anything to lessen it. Thank God, my dear Friend, your
Health is good, my dependence is upon your good understanding and
submission to the Divine Will, for no one can have a higher idea
of the Deity than I know you have. Everything is in His disposal,
our blessings, and our afflictions, and He never chastises us
above what we are able to bear. This affliction would have been
still more grievous had you been out of the way.[353] You might
have thought some neglect had been the cause, which now you
are convinced was not in the power of Human Means. There is no
misfortune but what God Almighty discovers His mercy in some means
or other, even in our most bitter calamities. But why should I
tell you this, that know and think so much better than I can do?
It is a great comfort to me that you are well, and I hope you will
endeavour to keep so. Miss Robinson has been most excessively
kind in giving me such frequent accounts of you, for which I shall
ever esteem her, and be her most humble, grateful servant.... What
would I give to be with you, my dear Friend, that you might pour
out your whole heart, and utter all your grief, but it is never in
my power to be of any service to those I love. Adieu, God bless
and preserve you from any future ill, but that He may heap many
blessings on you is the ardent wish of one that entirely loves you
with the utmost fidelity and will ever be yours.”

[353] This shows Mrs. Montagu was not away at the time of her
child’s death.

[Illustration:

_Thomas Hudson Pinx._ _Emery Walker Ph. Sc._

_Margaret Cavendish Harley second Duchess of Portland._]

[Page heading: SUBMISSION TO GOD’S WILL]

To this letter Mrs. Montagu replied--

“Allerthorpe, September 16, 1744.

“I am much obliged to my dear Friend for her tender concern for
me; I would have wrote to you before, but I could not command my
thoughts so as to write what might be understood. I am well enough
as to health of Body, but God knows the sickness of the soul is far
worse. However, as so many good friends interest themselves for me,
I am glad I am not ill. I know it is my duty to be resigned and to
submit; many far more deserving than I am have been as unfortunate.
I hope time will bring me comfort. I will assist it with my best
endeavours; it is in affliction like mine that reason ought to
exert itself else one should fall beneath the stroke. I apply
myself to reading as much as I can, and I find it does me service.
Poor Mr. Montagu shows me an example of patience and fortitude,
and endeavours to comfort me, though undoubtedly he feels as much
sorrow as I can do, for he loved his child as much as ever parent
could do. My sister has been of great service to me; and on this,
as on all other occasions, a most tender friend. I am much obliged
to you for wishing yourself with so unhappy a companion: your
conversation would be a cordial to my spirits, but I should be
afraid of being otherwise to yours. Adieu, think of me as seldom as
you can, and when you do, remember I am patient, and hope that the
same Providence that snatched this sweetest blessing from me, may
give me others, if not I will endeavour to be content, if I may not
be happy. Heaven preserve you and your dear precious Babes; thank
God you are far removed from my misfortune, and can hardly fear to
be bereft of all.[354]

“I am, ever your Grace’s most affectionate
“E. M.”

[354] The duchess then had five children alive.

[Page heading: A BROTHER’S SYMPATHY]

Lady Andover wrote from Charlton, Wilts, “by Highworth Bag,” to condole
with her friend. In this letter she mentions that her friend, Lydia
Botham (Mrs. Laurence Sterne’s sister), had nearly died at the birth
of a daughter (Catherine), but was better. Matthew Robinson wrote and
implored his sister to accompany her husband to Newcastle. He says,
“Books and thought are the food of melancholy, and lovely places,
however beautiful, the dwellings of it, but a town entirely strange to
you, and new company, would bid fairest to dissipate your thoughts.” He
signs himself “Matthew Robinson Morris,” having adopted the latter, the
maiden name of his mother, as her heir to the Mount Morris and Monk’s
Horton estates. Mrs. Donnellan, writing from Bullstrode on September
24, mentions, “I have brought down a screen to work in snail for the
Duchess, and for my retired hours, Carte’s[355] History to read, for
Sir Paul Davis, who is a chief actor, was my great-grandfather.”

[355] The Rev. Thomas Carte, born 1686, died 1754. Chaplain to
Bishop Atterbury.

No further letters do I possess till October 23, when Mrs. Montagu
writes to the duchess and states Mr. Montagu had started riding to
London on particular business. He hated wheels, and always preferred
riding. Mrs. Montagu and Sarah had been prevailed on to visit Mrs.
Yorke at Richmond in his absence.

The great Duchess of Marlborough’s death, which had just occurred on
October 18, is commented on thus--

“How are the mighty fallen! Oh vanity of Human things! the Duchess
of Marlborough is now not worth a groat, nor does pride glow any
longer in old Granville’s heart. The old Countess[356] had reckoned
with pleasure the riches Mrs. Spencer[357] was to possess, and no
doubt pleased herself with the hopes of seeing it, little imagining
Clotho had twisted their line of life together.”

[356] The Countess of Granville, died October 27, 1744.

[357] Hon. John Spencer was grandson of the Duchess of Marlborough,
married to the daughter of the Countess of Granville.

[Page heading: A RAREE SHOW]

Whilst staying with Mrs. Yorke, Mrs. Montagu writes to the duchess--

“Your Grace may not think we have any publick diversions at
Richmond. I must assure you we went to a fine Raree Show.[358] An
orrery made up some part of it, and gave a dignity to the whole.
However it was an emblem of life, the first scene was all gay
figures and dogs and Ducks and Horses and Coaches, and every object
was new and striking: then came Mademoiselle Catherina with all the
airs of a celebrated toast, turned her head about with a measured
grace, smiled, curtseyed, and flirted her fan: when everyone had
enough of that, we went to study the world. We observed its motion,
saw the revolution of a few years, and while we rather admired
than understood its movements, were almost weary and yet loath to
retire, there was presented the figure of Time mowing us all down,
and so we made our Exit.”

[358] A show enclosed in a box.

Mrs. Montagu and Sarah set out on their journey to London, and a letter
to the duchess from Northampton, November 17, shows the state of the
roads then--

“I am here in a whole skin, thanks to the care of our coachman,
and the stuffing of our coach seats, but never was poor mortal so
jumbled, jolted and dragged through such roads. I never saw such
roads in my life as between Harborough and this place. We were
obliged to come a nameless pace that is slower than a walk. Mr.
Montagu is to meet us to-morrow, he expected our being at Newport
to-night, but we did not get to Northampton till after three
o’clock in the afternoon, though we got into the coach at seven in
the morning.”

In a letter of November 23 the duchess says, “I have read a sermon of
Swift’s upon the Trinity, which I like extremely, and wish you would
read it, and give me your opinion of it.”

[Page heading: DISEASE IN CATTLE]

At Bullstrode at this time were Lady Wallingford and Miss Granville. On
the same day Mrs. Robinson writes from Mount Morris and congratulates
her daughters on their safe arrival in Dover Street. She mentions the
cattle plague then beginning; thus--

“Our epidemical distemper is madness, which, thank God, has not yet
reached the human species, but reigns among horses, cows, hoggs,
shepp, and doggs; of the latter we have been one out of pocket, but
our new tenant has lost a cow, and has a ram uncommonly freakish,
which they suppose is going the same way, and J. Smith a hogg or
two, and the country people take so little care of their doggs when
they are bitt, as is very injurious to their neighbours. Ours was
a greyhound, which will prevent Mr. Robinson’s coursing till he
recruits his loss with another.”

Poor Mrs. Robinson, only three weeks after this letter, wrote to her
daughters to say she had a swelling in her breast, which had formed
some ten weeks back, and which she had hitherto concealed, and feared
was cancer. She wrote to Dr. Chesilden,[359] the famous surgeon, to
tell him, and he desired her to come to town.

[359] Dr. William Chesilden, born 1688, died 1752.

[Page heading: MRS. ROBINSON’S ILLNESS]

Mrs. Montagu writes on December 17 to the duchess in great distress--

“that it was a cancer, but that not sticking to the ribs, it may
be taken out without danger; he (Dr. Chesilden) has behaved to her
with great gentleness and care, and has made her very easy. She
bears her misfortune with great fortitude, she is neither afraid of
death or pain, but says she is contented to suffer what Providence
pleases to ordain.... She will not suffer us to be in the house
while the operation is performed. They assure us there is no danger
of her Life, but it is terrible to think of the pain she must
undergo.”

The operation was performed successfully, but must have been shocking
to bear, the use of anæsthetics not being then known. The two daughters
nursed their mother, and the affectionate Mrs. Donnellan assisted,
though herself in great trouble at the ill-health of her stepfather,
Mr. Perceval. On Christmas Day, Mrs. Montagu writes a good report to
the duchess, whose London porter, Elias, called daily to inquire. In
the letter mention is made of “Marshall Belleisle[360] being taken
prisoner, as he was going to the King of Prussia. His papers and
attendants all seized.”

[360] Duc de Belle-Isle, French Marshal; born 1684, died 1761.

Thus end the letters of 1744.

CHAPTER VI.

1745--AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS--LETTERS FROM MR. MONTAGU AND OTHERS ABOUT THE
JACOBITE CAMPAIGN.

[Year: 1745]

The first letter of any interest in 1745 is from Mrs. Robinson to Mrs.
Montagu, dated May 8. In this she alludes to the death of the second
Mrs. Conyers Middleton, _née_ Miss Place, who had died on April 26, in
her thirty-eighth year. It appears the marriage had not been a very
happy one. Mrs. Robinson remarks--

“The Dean of Canterbury hears the Doctor (Middleton) is going to
Ireland with Lord Chesterfield.[361]... I take it for granted, if
he goes he is to be an Irish Bishop. It is very strange that no one
can be contented with their present state, for though the Doctor is
neither great nor rich, he has more than he wants, and can spend
his time in such studies as he chuses, and his vacant hours in the
company he has been used to, which I think to one between 60 and
70, would be no small consideration.”

[361] The 4th Earl of Chesterfield, born 1694, died 1773. He was
just made Viceroy of Ireland.

[Page heading: DONNINGTON CASTLE]

A letter of July 24 from Mrs. Montagu at Sandleford to the Duchess
of Portland gives an interesting account of Donnington Castle, near
Newbury--

“One day this week we rode to Chaucer’s Castle,[362] where you
will suppose we made some verses no doubt, and when they showed us
Chaucer’s well, I desired some Helicon, hoping thereby to write
you a more poetical letter, but the place having been, during the
last Civil War, besieged, the Muses were frightened away, and
forbade this spring to flow, so it is entirely choaked up, and
where flourished Laurels and Bays, grows only uncouth thorns and
thistles. Where erst the Muses and the Graces played in the best
room of the Castle, now stink a few tame partridges: in short, the
present owner, having none of the divine enthusiasm of poetry, has
turned the Castle to barbarous uses. Above it is a partridge Mew,
below a court is kept for paying fines and fees.”

[362] Donnington belonged to Thomas Chaucer, son of the poet, but
likely enough the father visited his son there.

Mrs. Montagu had been far from well this spring and summer, with
lowness of spirits and nervous fainting attacks. Dr. Mead prescribed
riding as a remedy, and finally advised her to take the waters at
Tunbridge Wells. Mr. Montagu being obliged to go to the North about his
own and Mr. Rogers’ affairs, it was agreed that she should drink the
waters whilst he was absent.

Lady Wallingford, who had been paying them a long visit, set out for
Bath. Mrs. Montagu left Sandleford, August 18, for London, with Mr.
Montagu, and left for Tunbridge Wells on the 20th, Mr. Montagu leaving
for the North on August 29.

[Page heading: DR. YOUNG AND CIBBER!]

Writing from Tunbridge Wells to the Duchess of Portland on August 27,
Mrs. Montagu says--

“I have great joy in Dr. Young, whom I disturbed in a reverie, and
at first he started, then bowed, then fell back into a surprise,
then began a speech, relapsed into his astonishment two or three
times.... I told him your Grace desired he would write longer
letters, to which he cried “Ha!” most emphatically, and I leave
you to interpret what it meant. He has made a friendship with
one person here, whom I believe you would not imagine to have
been made for his bosom friend.... You would not guess that this
associate of the Doctor’s was old _Cibber_![363] Certainly in their
religious, moral and civil character there is no relation, but in
their Dramatic capacity there is some. But why the Reverend Divine
and serious author of the melancholy ‘Night Thoughts’ should desire
to appear as a _persona dramatis_ here, I cannot imagine. The
waters have raised his spirits to a fine pitch, as your Grace will
imagine when I tell you how sublime an answer he made to a very
vulgar question. I asked him how long he staid at the Wells? He
said ‘as long as my rival staid!’ I was astonished how one who made
no pretensions to anything could have a rival, so I asked him for
an explanation: he said he would stay as long as the _Sun_ did!”

[363] Colley Cibber, actor and dramatist, born 1671, died 1757.

On August 30, writing to Mr. Montagu, mention is made of Dr. Smith, his
friend, being at Tunbridge Wells. Dr. Robert Smith[364] was Master of
Trinity, Cambridge, a mathematician and professor of astronomy, and had
been tutor to the Duke of Cumberland.

“He sat next me at the Concert last night; why he is so fond
of this place, I cannot tell, for it seems not very agreeable
to the nature of a Philosopher. This is a life of idleness and
dissipation. I spend great part of my day at home, but most people
live upon the Publick Walks. I have got up very early and generally
read an hour before I go to the Well. The greatest pleasure I have
here is riding about to see this wild, rude country. Dr. Young
dined with me to-day. Dr. Audley was much pleased with him, and we
had a very chearful meal.”

[364] Dr. Robert Smith, born 1681, died 1768.

Mr. Montagu desired much to see some wheatears, birds that abound in
the Downs still, and are delicious eating.

“I was sorry the Wheatears could not be got, but the Poulterer
disappointed me; however I have now got a couple stuffed, by which
you will see their shape and feathers.

“It is now absolutely said the Duchess of Manchester[365] is to
marry Mr. Hussey.”[366]

[365] Isabella, daughter of the Duke of Montagu, and widow of 2nd
Earl of Manchester.

[366] Mr. Edward Hussey, afterwards Earl of Beaulieu.

Mr. Montagu writes from his brother’s place, Newbold Verdon, where he
stayed _en route_ to the North--

“At Dunstable Hill j met Mr. Stanhope with your friend Dr.
Courayer, and not far from Northampton my Lady Halifax[367] going
to London to lye in, and afterwards my Lord,[368] with whom j
had some discourse, and who was so civil as to say he hoped j
intended calling on him at Horton. I said j would take some other
opportunity of paying my respects. We had yesterday the company of
Lord Wentworth[369] and a brother[370] of the great Mr. Lyttelton,
who is a Clergyman, at dinner. The former of whom is a very pretty
kind of man, and the other will be a Bishop.”

[367] _Née_ Anne Dunk, a great heiress.

[368] George Montagu Dunk, 5th Earl of Halifax.

[369] Edward, 9th Baron Wentworth.

[370] Charles Lyttelton, afterwards Bishop of Carlisle.

[Page heading: DERBY]

Arrived at Derby, Mr. Montagu writes, “The town is finely situated, and
the country good about it, but the famous engine[371] for silk weaving
being out of order, j am afraid we must go away without seeing it.”

[371] Invented by Mr. John Lombe, one great wheel turning 99,947
smaller wheels!

[Page heading: MANCHESTER]

On September 5 Mr. Montagu writes from Manchester--

“We lay last night at Buxton, which is a mean town, very romantic
and surrounded with barren hills, and this morning, after
travelling over about ten miles of very hilly country, some of
which afforded very delightful prospects, and about 12 miles over
a rich, flat country, we came here. This town is in the general,
old, but some good houses have been built, and are daily building.
The Collegiate Church is very handsome. It is very populous, and
contains, as they say, about 70,000 people, and drives a prodigious
trade.

“To-morrow we pursue our journey. We propose to lye at Skipton in
Craven, which if we do, we shall reach Burton in good time the next
day.”

Burton was Mr. Buckley’s[372] home.

[372] With whom the three younger Robinson boys had lived.

We must now return to Mrs. Montagu. Tunbridge Wells agreed with her,
her spirits mended, and to the duchess’s inquiries she states--

“I can eat more buttered roll in a morning than a great girl at
a boarding school, and more beef at dinner than a yeoman of the
Guards; I sleep well, and am indeed in perfect health, and the
waters have done me much service.”

[Page heading: DR. YOUNG]

With Dr. Young’s company she was delighted, and she rode with him
often. One ride she describes thus--

“I have been in the vapours these two days, on account of Dr.
Young’s leaving us: he was so good as to let me have his company
very often, and we used to ride and walk and take sweet counsel
together. A few days before he went away, he carried Mrs. Rolt[373]
and myself to Tunbridge,[374] five miles from hence, where we were
to see some fine ruins.... First rode the Doctor on a tall steed,
decently caparizoned in grey; next ambled Mrs. Rolt on a hackney
horse lean as the famed Rosinante, but in shape much resembling
Sancho’s ass; then followed your humble servant on a milk white
Palfrey, whose reverence for the human kind induced him to be
governed by a creature not half as strong and I fear scarce thrice
as wise as himself. The two figures that brought up the rear, the
first was my servant valiantly armed with two uncharged pistols,
whose holsters were covered with two civil harmless monsters, that
signified the valour and courtesy of our ancestors. The last was
the Doctor’s man, whose uncombed hair so resembled the mane of the
horse he rode on, one could not help imagining they were of him....
On his head was a velvet cap much resembling a black saucepan,
and on his side hung a little basket. Thus did we ride, or rather
jog on to Tunbridge town. To tell you how the dogs barked at us,
the children squalled, and the men and women stared at us, would
take too much time.... At last we arrived at the ‘King’s Head’:
the loyalty of the Doctor induced him to alight.... We took this
progress to see the ruins of an old Castle; but first our Divine
would visit the Churchyard, where we read that folks were born
and died, the natural, moral, and physical history of Mankind.
In the Churchyard grazed the Parson’s Steed, whose back was worn
bare with carrying a pillion Seat for the comely, fat personage,
this ecclesiastic’s wife. Though the creature eat daily part of
the parish, he was most miserably lean. Tired of dead and living
bones, Mrs. Rolt and I jumped over a stile into the Parson’s field,
and from thence, allured by the sight of golden Pippins, we made
an attempt to break into the holy man’s orchard. He came most
courteously to us and invited us to his apple-trees; to show our
moderation we each of us gathered two mellow codlings....

“The good parson offered to show us the inside of his Church, but
made some apology for his undress, which was a truly canonical
dishabille. He had on a grey striped calamanco night gown, a wig
that once was white, but by the influence of an uncertain climate
turned to a pale orange, a brown hat, encompassed by a black
hatband, a band somewhat dirty that decently retired under his
chin, a pair of grey stockings well mended with blue worsted,
strong symbol of the conjugal care and affection of his wife,
who had mended his hose with the very worsted she bought for her
own.... When we had seen the Church, the parson invited us to take
some refreshment, but Dr. Young thought we had before trespassed
on the good man’s time, so desired to be excused, else we should,
no doubt, have been welcomed to the house by Madam in her muslin
pinners and sarsenet hood, who would have given some Mead and a
piece of a cake that she made in the Whitsun holidays for her
cousins.”

[373] Mrs. Rolt, a friend of Dr. Conyers Middleton.

[374] Tunbridge and Tunbridge Wells are separate towns.

[Page heading: TONBRIDGE CASTLE]

Mrs. Montagu goes on to say they invited the divine to join them
at dinner, which he refused, but appeared afterwards with a large
tobacco-horn, with Queen Anne’s head upon it, peeping from his pocket.

“After dinner we walked to the old Castle,[375] which was built by
Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, in William Rufus’ days. It
has been a most magnificent building, the situation is extremely
beautiful: the Castle made a kind of half moon down to the river,
and where the river does not defend it, it is guarded by a large
moat. The towers at the great Gate are covered with fine venerable
ivy. It was late in the evening before we got home, but the silver
Cynthia held up her lamp in the heavens, and cast such a light on
the earth, as showed its beauties in a soft and gentle light. The
night silenced all but our Divine Doctor, who sometimes uttered
things fit to be spoken in a Season when all Nature seems to be
hushed and hearkening. I followed gathering wisdom as I went, till
I found by my horse’s stumbling that I was in a bad road, and that
the blind was leading the blind: so I placed my servant between
the Doctor and myself, which he not perceiving, went on in a most
philosophical strain to the great amazement of my poor clown of
a servant, who not being brought up to any pitch of enthusiasm,
nor making answer to any of the fine things he heard, the Doctor
wondering I was dumb, and grieving I was so stupid, looked round,
declared his surprise, and desired the man to trot on before.”

[375] William Rufus gave Tonbridge to Richard FitzGilbert, ancestor
of the Earls of Clare, surnamed “De Benefacta.”

[Page heading: THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ’45]

Not till a letter of Mr. Montagu’s of September 17, from Allerthorpe,
is a word said of the rising in Scotland. This passage occurs--

“The affair of the Pretender has made a noise beyond what j at
first imagined it would. If it is as formidable as some would have
us believe it to be, j hope by the care and vigilance of those at
the helm, it will be soon crushed. We are hitherto in this country
very quiet, and j hope we shall keep so.”

The next letter of September 22 says--

“I intended being at Newcastle next Tuesday, but what has happened
since has made that impossible, for on Tuesday there is to be a
meeting of the gentlemen at York, at which Mr. Carter and j are to
be there.

“The rebels have certainly entered the city of Edinburgh,[376]
as j suppose by the treachery of some there, but as the town of
Newcastle has taken proper precautions and that there are at that
town 1700 men, besides 1200 at Durham, and j hope with Cope are
computed 3000, and it is said that the Dutch transports have been
seen off the coasts, j hope there is no doubt this rebellion will
be crushed. I hope, however, you will be under as little concern
as possible, for j will run myself into no unnecessary danger, but
behave as j hope you, if you were upon the spot, would approve.”

[376] They entered Edinburgh on September 16.

[Page heading: GEORGE LEWIS SCOTT]

[Page heading: NATIONAL TERRORS]

This letter frightened Mrs. Montagu much. She immediately wrote to
propose joining Mr. Montagu, and despatched a messenger to London to
ask advice from a person likely to know about the affair. This person
was Mr. George Lewis Scott,[377] eldest son of George Scott, of Bristo
in Scotland, by Marion Stewart, daughter of Sir James Stewart, Lord
Advocate of Scotland. He was a great friend of George I., and had his
names given to him by the Princess Sophia,[378] who was his godmother.
He was a most able mathematician, which formed a tie between himself
and Mr. Montagu. He was a tall, big man, very sociable and facetious,
an accomplished musician. In 1750 he was Sub-Preceptor to George III.,
and in 1756 Commissioner of Excise. I give a portion of his letter in
reply; his handwriting is beautiful--

“Hearing of an express said to arrive last night, I went out in
search of news, but find nothing material since the account of
the unhappy battle,[379] or rather infamous flight, of Saturday
last. We have as yet no authentic detail of the action. The common
opinion is, that the King’s forces both horse and foot behaved
scandalously. Inclosed I send you a list of some officers killed
and wounded in this affair. We do not yet know what is become of
the rest, excepting that the greatest part of the Dragoons were
safe at Berwick with Sir John Cope.[380] The Captain Stewart of
the Earl of Loudoun’s Regiment mentioned among the slain was an
acquaintance of Mr. Montagu’s, and a great friend of Mr. Spencer’s.
There are two Captains killed and regretted of Guise’s Regiment,
the same corps in which my brother has a company. By good fortune
he was not there, being just returned from Flanders, and this Day
upon the Establishment as engineer, and ordered to attend Marshal
Wade. We may once more call the east wind a Protestant wind. Had
the English and Dutch forces, amounting to 12,000 men, been kept
off by contrary winds, God only knows what the consequences of the
loss of this, in itself trifling, skirmish might have been. As
it is the Stocks have fallen considerably. There has been a run
upon the Bank, who have paid silver to gain time, and have been
much blamed for so doing. But on the other hand, just reasons are
alledged for their conduct. They say they had certain knowledge
that those who began the run were disaffected persons, who, if
they had been paid in gold, might with much greater facility have
transmitted supplies to Scotland, than when paid in silver. However
this may be, it is certain that some of the most considerable
Bankers and Merchants have agreed to support the Bank on this
occasion. I am still hopeful, notwithstanding all the bad rumours
we hear, that the old English spirit, though confessedly sunk in
deep slumbers for many years, may yet awake. Can anything be more
ridiculous and more joyful to the French, more terrible and more
shameful to ourselves, to see a Nation which might raise 500,000
men, a nation worth twice 500 millions of property, frightened and
disordered by 5000 Highland ruffians not worth £5000, if they,
their wives and children, servants, goods and chattels, were to be
sold in the market? In the days of Oliver six times that number
were near Dunbar dispersed by 10,000 English like chaff before the
wind. But perhaps, as Voltaire says, ‘Les anglois d’aujourd’huy ne
resemblent aux anglois de Cromwell, non plus que les Monsignori de
Rome ne resemblent aux Scipions et aux Catons.’”

[377] George Lewis Scott, born 1708, died 1780.

[378] Daughter of George I., married Frederick William, King of
Prussia.

[379] Battle of Preston Pans, fought on September 20.

[380] Commander-in-Chief for Scotland.

[Page heading: GENERAL WADE’S ARMY]

The last account we have of the rebels is that

“they are returned to Edinburgh, and it is supposed they will
be audacious enough to call a Parliament of that Nation, and
dissolve the Union. This I think good news, as it will give time
for the panic, with which too many are seized, to dissipate. It
will also give the well affected in the Northern counties time
to arm, and for the King’s forces to assemble. Mr. Wade’s army
is to be 10 or 12,000 strong. The Rendezvous it’s said, is to be
at Nottingham. I wish the Duke[381] were sent for to command.
He behaved incomparably well in Flanders, avoided no danger, no
fatigue, was an example of regularity and discipline, and what
is more considerable, of justice in rewarding merit. More troops
are said to be ordered over. This is certainly a right step, but
the consequences on the other side of the water, be what they
will.... We have a report that the Castle of Edinburgh must soon
surrender for want of provisions. What an unpardonable neglect! If
this should be so, the consequences would be very bad, as it would
furnish the rebels with considerable quantities of cash, plate,
arms, powder, and artillery. What will happen, I know not, but if
I were Governor, I could soon fetch up provisions from the city by
bombs and red-hot balls.”

[381] The Duke of Cumberland, born 1721, died 1768; second son of
George II.

Mr. Scott concludes his letter by saying he hopes Mr. Montagu will be
in London for the meeting of Parliament on October 17. He also adds--

“I could wish you further from the Sea-side than Mount Morris,
though Mr. Vernon[382] is the most vigilant of commanders. I have
been assured that as soon as the news of his being appointed was
known in France, the price of insurance was raised.”

[382] Admiral Vernon, born 1684, died 1757.

He concludes with messages to Sarah Robinson, who was with her sister,
and who was destined to become his wife.

[Illustration

_Emery Walker Ph. Sc._

_Lady Lechmere née Howard_]

[Page heading: COUNTY MEETING]

[Page heading: CONDUCT OF THE NORTHERN GENTRY]

The next letter from Mr. Montagu from Allerthorpe, dated September 27,
is thus--

“MY DEAREST,

“Since my last letter to you by Sunday’s Post, we had our meeting
at York on Tuesday the 24th, where there was the greatest Meeting
of peoples of all Ranks and degrees that j believe was ever
known upon any occasion. Of the nobility there was present the
Lord Carlisle,[383] the Lord Malton,[384] Lord Lonsdale,[385]
Lord Falconbridge,[386] Lord Fitzwilliam,[387] and perhaps some
others who may have escaped my notice, together with Sir Conyers
D’Arcy,[388] Mr. Turner, Member for the County, Mr. Fox and Mr.
Wentworth, members for the City of York, and all the gentlemen
of the County, together with the clergy. There was the utmost
unanimity and spirit imaginable, and after a meeting at the Castle,
where the Archbishop made a handsome speech on the occasion, an
association was entered into with an address to the King, and
subscription made of near £20,000, and which when the whole of
the collection shall be made, will j believe amount to much more.
With this money there are to be raised several Companys of foot,
consisting of 50 men each, and they will be officered by gentlemen
who will serve without any pay, among whom is my friend, Sir R.
Graham, but it will be some time before these companys can be
raised, and made usefull, which would not have been otherwise,
if the Militia had been kept up and exercised as the law directs
instead of being ridiculed and rendered contemptible these
last fifty years for purposes j need not tell you. I wish this
misfortune would for the future learn us more prudence, and make
us settle the Militia which is the only constitutional force, and
agreeable to our liberty, upon a better footing than it has of late
been, but j know too much of mankind ever to hope to see it in
this country. This rebellion has made a most rapid and surprising
progress. Edinburgh was taken before it was believed there was
almost any such thing. The disbelief, however, of the people was
no excuse for the M(inistr)y, whose measures have been the cause
of it, for not crushing it at the beginning. The conduct of our
General Cope is much censured for suffering himself to be surprised
by the enemy, who in a short time overcame, and j wish Wentworth
who is sent may have better success than he had at Carthagena. Mr.
Ridley, the Mayor of Newcastle, has taken all proper precautions
to secure the town, and if we are rightly informed, has, with the
promise of £10,000, gained all the Keel men, who are computed
at 15,000 men. The county of Durham has raised the Militia and
General Oglethorpe[389] is at York raising a regiment of gentlemen
volunteers. About 15,000 Dutch are j believe got to Berwick, and j
hope we shall soon have the regiments amounting to upwards of 6000,
which are lately landed in the Thames from Holland, by means of
all which force j flatter myself a speedy end will be put to this
unhappy affair, and peace restored to our Island....

“I desire you will not let yourself be concerned more than you
ought at these unhappy times, nor imagine us here in greater
danger than we really are, for if the enemy should be for coming
this length, we should have notice enough of it, and as we are
at present unprovided with force, must take to flight to save
ourselves. I am in very good health and spirits, and run no hazards
but what others as deserving and better than j do run, and hope
your good sense and greatness of mind will preserve you from being
more concerned than other people are, or you ought to be. I desire
you will add to all the other testimonys of your love and affection
to me, what j now ask, which at all events will make me easy. I
will take all opportunities of writing to you, and am, with my
compliments to dear Miss Salley,

“My dearest Angel,
“Your most affectionate Husband,
“EDW. MONTAGU.

“P.S.--I subscribed a £100.”

[383] 7th Earl of Carlisle.

[384] 6th Baron of Malton.

[385] 3rd Viscount Lonsdale.

[386] Should be Viscount Fauconberg.

[387] 1st Earl Fitzwilliam.

[388] Afterwards 6th Earl of Holdernesse.

[389] James Edward Oglethorpe, born 1698, died 1785; 1733 founded
Georgia, which he named after George II.

[Page heading: GENERAL COPE’S DEFEAT]

The next letter from Mr. Montagu is written from Allerthorpe, on
September 29, after having received his wife’s earnest appeal to be
allowed to join him. This sentence shows his affection for her--

“You have ever been my Pride, j have loved and honoured you with
the tenderest affection, and will continue to do so as long as j
live, but j now adore you for the greatness of mind, joyned with
the utmost regard shewn to me in a letter which might have well
become a Roman Lady. The happiest days that j ever past in my life,
have been with you, and j hope Heaven, after these storms shall
be blown over, will grant me the long enjoyment of your charming
society, which I prefer above everything upon Earth....

“I cannot consent to the danger you might run by coming to me,
however glad j might be to have you with me, but must desire you
and conjure you without any further difficulty or hesitation to go
to your Father’s in Kent, where you will be amongst those who best
love you, and are most capable to defend you, till j can come to
you there myself....

“The defeat of Cope is a very great misfortune. Everybody censures
the conduct of the General, as well as the behaviour of the
soldiers. We have since the battle heard no more but that the
Rebels are encamped at Preston Pans, near where the battle was
fought.”

[Page heading: SUSSEX PRIVATEERS]

On September 30, from London, George Lewis Scott writes to Mrs.
Montagu, still at Tunbridge Wells--

“Since my last I have seen two Officers, who were in the engagement
of Saturday sen’night, and I have had a pretty distinct account
of our dispositions, so that I could send you a plan of that
affair.... It seems agreed both by these officers and by the
General’s letter that our men were seized with a panic at the
rapid motion of the Highlanders, so that their officers attempted
to rally them in vain. The military Chest and all the baggage
was taken, what the loss of men is cannot yet be known. I find
Captain Stewart is not killed, but only taken Prisoner. Our civil
panic here begins to subside a little. General Wade’s[390] Army
will probably be near Doncaster by this day sen’night, so that we
hope Yorkshire will be protected.... We are in no apprehensions
for Berwick or Newcastle: nor is the Castle of Edinburgh in danger
for want of provisions. Besides the ordinary Stores, the Governor
swept all the Markets in town, the day the Rebels left it to meet
General Cope. The Provost, I hear, is in the Castle, so that I
hope he will be able to wipe off the aspersions so liberally
thrown upon him. There is no certain news of the further motions
or schemes of the Rebels. To-day I was told they intended to march
for Northumberland, and expected to be there increased 10,000 men
besides £100,000 in money. I give no great credit to my author’s
intelligence, he is of a suspected family and speaks as he wishes.
This is all I have been able to pick up for you, and I hope your
fears begin to subside a little. But if I endeavour to diminish
them for the North I shall now on the contrary try to increase
them on the South. I mean as to your going to Mount Morris. I saw
a Sussex gentleman yesterday, who tells me they are frequently
alarmed by Privateers on their coast, and what should hinder a few
desperadoes from landing in the night and doing as they pleased on
the coast.... I own it would give me a vast satisfaction to see you
and Miss Robinson in Dover Street again.”

[390] Field-Marshal George Wade, died 1748, ætat 75.

On October 1 Mr. Montagu writes from Allerthorpe--

“MY DEAREST LOVE,

“Since my last to you, we have heard nothing of the advancing of
the Rebels, who, we have advice, are not above 5000, and most of
them very shabby fellows. A Spy has been taken at Newcastle, said
to belong to the Duke of Perth,[391] on whom was found a letter
concealed in his glove. The contents are not yet made publick, no
more than those of the letters found also on another person at
the same place. The former has cut his throat, but is not dead.
We are very quiet in these parts. The Captains are raising their
men, and General Oglethorpe is getting together a flying Squadron
of Volunteers, amongst whom are Mr. Tanfield of Calthorpe, and Dr.
Chambers of Ripon. Captain Twycross is Lieutenant to Sir Reginald.

“I hear the Dukes of Bedford and Devonshire and others are set out
for their respective counties to raise men to assist in suppressing
this rebellion.”

[391] 3rd titular Duke of Perth, born 1720, died 1746.

He ends by entreating her to go at once to Horton, as Mount Morris was
more generally called in the family, and that till the country was
safe, she would not blame his staying north as long as he could be of
any service.

[Page heading: TUNBRIDGE WARE]

This letter hastened Mrs. Montagu’s and Sarah’s departure from
Tunbridge Wells. Writing to the Duchess of Portland on the eve of
starting, she asks her if she has

“received a fan with Dr. Young’s picture in his riding
accoutrements. I have taken the liberty to send you some Tunbridge
ware, which in your magnificence you will despise, but I desire it
may be sent to your Dairy, and there humbler thoughts will possess
you, and churns of butter, prints, and skimming dishes will appear
of consequence. I have sent you baskets for your goodyship to put
your eggs in, also for feeding your poultry.”

[Page heading: SIR JOHN COPE]

On October 5 George Lewis Scott wrote to Mrs. Montagu, then at Mount
Morris, a long letter, a portion of which I copy. His handwriting,
though small, was clear and exceedingly elegant. He chaffs her and Miss
Robinson at taking refuge near the sea, and says, “If I were Captain
of a Privateer, and had 50 stout fellows to second me, I would carry
you and your whole family off in spite of the unconquered county of
Kent.”... After this he suggests

“a vidette, a Sentinel on Horseback at a proper distance from
the house, who may gallop home and give you timely allarm, your
horses should be ready saddled.... The Army under Marshal Wade
is not to rendezvous at Worcester till the 12th instant. If the
Highlanders have begun their march as it is supposed, and that
their Chiefs get their men to cross the borders, (no easy task,
because of the prevailing tradition among them that none ever get
back again), they may be in Yorkshire as soon as our Army. I am
sorry that county is not better prepared, but alas! it is not easy
to be prepared in a country rendered so artificially unwarlike as
England. What signify all the speeches of the Orators, or rather of
our ignorant, perhaps knavish babblers in Parliament against the
Army? What has been the consequence of their insisting so often,
contrary to common experience and common sense, that our Navy was
a sufficient security. They only misled honest gentlemen. Their
frothy words will not restore tranquillity, and public credit, nor
repel the Highlanders. The Roman orators were also warriors, even
Cicero was, I believe, a better General than most of ours, who have
not forgot the Art of War, as Miss Robinson suggests: they never
_learnt_ it.

“_À propos_ of Generals, the following lines were made and repeated
by a lady while asleep; her husband set them down, and astonished
her with them in the morning; she remembered nothing of the
matter:--

“‘Say what reward shall be decreed
For deeds like those of Sir John Cope?
Reason and rhyme have both agreed
His ribbon should be made a rope.’

“You say, Madam, you have wasted, not spent your time at Tunbridge.
Your health restored, and your reflections show me the contrary....”

Mr. Montagu now proposed returning from the North, thinking matters
were on a better footing, and intended fetching his wife from Mount
Morris, but Parliament being summoned, was forced to remain in Dover
Street. Mrs. Montagu proposed joining him from Kent on October 27.
In a letter to him on the 25th, she states, “The smugglers here are
all patriots it seems, which is very fortunate, for they assemble in
formidable numbers.”

Mrs. Robinson being threatened with a renewal of cancer in her breast,
was persuaded to accompany Mrs. Montagu to London for advice. In a
letter to the Duchess of Portland at this period Mrs. Montagu states--

“The learned faculty have given us better hopes of my Mother’s
case than I could have expected. They say it is not yet cancerous,
and that it may be many years before it hurts her. Your Grace was
excessively good in sending me the receipts which I have sent her,
and also the Walnut medicine.”

The “Walnut medicine,” from; a letter of the duchess, appears to have
been made of the lining of the nuts.

[Page heading: MR. SCOTT’S APPETITE]

In a letter to Sarah of November 8 Mrs. Montagu jokes about Mr. Scott
being in love with Sarah, but his appetite being little diminished
by it, as he had just eaten most of a chine of mutton and two large
apple dumplings. He seems from other letters to have possessed a large
appetite! She then adds--

“I think it is time to tell you all the news I have heard about
the Rebels, God knows it is not very good: 5000 Irish Brigadiers
from Dunkirk are embarked in order to land in Scotland to
assist the Rebels. Ligonier[392] is sent for, Marshal Wade,
who thinks he has forces enow, and the Dukes of Bedford,[393]
Richmond,[394] Rutland,[395] and some others march in person to
him immediately.... The Pretender is at Kelso on the borders of
England. The Dutch troops are not to be depended upon, and ours are
very drunken and licentious. The Parliament has not done anything
remarkable for some days. On Thursday they had the Pretender’s
declarations read, and after a Conference with the Lords ordered
the Declaration to be burnt by the hands of the common Hangman.”

[392] John, Earl of Ligonier, born 1678, died 1770. Field-Marshal,
distinguished in Marlborough’s campaigns.

[393] 4th Duke, born 1710, died 1771.

[394] 7th Duke, born 1701, died 1750.

[395] 3rd Duke, born 1696, died 1779.

[Page heading: MR. STANLEY’S LETTER]

[Page heading: TO THE DUKE OF MONTAGU]

Amongst Mr. Montagu’s papers endorsed by him “a letter of Mr. Stanley’s
to the Duke of M,” meaning John,[396] 2nd Duke of Montagu, his
relation, is the following:--

“Boughton,[397] November 17, 1745.

“MY LORD,

“I received your Grace’s commands by express yesterday morning by
six o’clock. I immediately wrote a letter to old Mr. Squire and his
son, and expected an answer last night, but to my surprise John
Goodwin came in without one, they being both in Huntingdonshire,
and I expect every minute an answer which was promised by Mr.
Squire. Mr. George Robinson I waited upon, and he expressed great
satisfaction at your Grace’s kind favour of being made Captain
Lieutenant in your Grace’s own troop of Horse, and returns your
Grace his most dutiful thanks for the same. Your Grace is pleased
to mention that the new rais’d Regiment will soon march northwards,
at which both regiments have expressed much uneasiness: the men
say they had no need to leave their houses and families to go
for soldiery, that they and their forefathers have lived quietly
and happily under your Grace and your forefathers as tenants for
hundreds of years, that they would never have engaged to the Wars
with anybody but your Grace, when they listed it was only to go
along with your Grace to fight for you, and that they would go with
nobody else. The Northamptonshire men are in the same story, they
say if they had wanted to quit their professions to be soldiers
they might have had five pounds a man to list in the Guards, or
four pounds a man to list in a marching regiment, but they chose
to list with your Grace for nothing, out of regard for you, and
to go with you and fight for you, and nobody else. I believe one
reason which made the people more uneasy is, that at the time they
were raising, it was maliciously insinuated amongst them that
your Grace’s name was only made use of to get them to list, and
that they would be draughted and turned over to other Colonels,
which made many backward in listing, and many of them are still
apprehensive of being serv’d so, and declare if they are, they will
sooner venture being shot for deserters than serve, and it has
cost us much pains and many good words and a great deal of coaxing
to bring them into temper; and we have told them that in fighting
in defence of their King and country, wherever your Grace shall
order them is the true way of serving your Grace, and that they
may be assured they will not be draughted and turned over to other
Colonels, and they seem now to be pretty easy for the present, and
I believe, will march chearfully and willingly enough, when and
wherever your Grace shall please to order them. Give me leave, my
dear Lord Duke, once more to offer myself and fifty men, quite
volunteers, to bear our own expenses, to wait on your Grace, if
you must expose your person to danger, wherever you shall please
to command us, and cloath ourselves in what manner you like best,
and shall think ourselves happy in hazarding our lives for the
preservation of yours, who are so dear a Father to your Country.

“It being half an hour after 11 o’clock, I dare not stay any longer
for Mr. Squire’s answer. I dare venture to say young Mr. Squire
would be very glad to accept the Favour of your Grace’s convey of
Horse. I have heard him say to that effect. I take the freedom to
inclose a letter or two in this packet, and am,

“My Lord,
“Your Grace’s most humble,
and Dutiful Servant to command,
“D. STANLEY.”

[396] John Montagu, 2nd Duke, born 1689, died 1749.

[397] Boughton, the duke’s property near Kettering in
Northamptonshire.

The Duke of Montagu[398] raised three regiments, two of foot and one of
horse. The command of one regiment he gave to his relation John, 4th
Earl of Sandwich.

[398] The duke was Master of the Wardrobe, and Grandmaster of the
Order of the Bath.

[Page heading: SIR FRANCIS DASHWOOD]

A letter of Mrs. Montagu’s to the Duchess of Portland, dated November
19, says--

[Page heading: CATTLE MURRAIN]

“Carlisle is surrendered to the rebels, who, I hear, behave
civilly, and not as conquerors.... Ligonier is still ill; the Dukes
of Richmond and Bedford are set out. Lord Sandwich is aide-de-camp
to the Duke of Richmond. I pity poor Lady Sandwich, she endeavours
to bear up, but certainly she is in an uneasy situation; I saw her
on Sunday, and she is to dine here to-morrow.... I suppose you know
Sir Francis Dashwood is upon the brink of matrimony. I see him
sometimes with his intended bride, Lady Ellis; he is really very
good company.”

This was the celebrated Sir Francis Dashwood,[399] afterwards Lord
Le Despencer, the leader of the infamous Hell Fire Club of the sham
Franciscan monks at Medmenham Abbey. Mention is made in this letter
of the murrain amongst the cattle, which raged to such a degree that
people forbore to eat beef or veal, or drink milk. A passage in a
letter of November 26 to the Rev. W. Freind, who was then at Bath,
reads--

“The Duke of Cumberland set out yesterday, as did the Duke of
Bedford and Lord Sandwich: the Duke of Montagu gave his Lordship
one of his regiments. Almost all of our nobility are gone to the
Army, so that many of the great families are in tears. Let it be
said for the honour of our sex, there are no drums, no operas, and
plays are unfrequented.”

[399] He married Lady Ellis, December 19, 1745.

Sarah Robinson, writing from Mount Morris, states that they were in
great fear of an invasion of the French. It filled her with unspeakable
terror, as well as the servants; but she says--

“My Father, you are to understand, is not at all concerned, he is
not at all afraid of an invasion, nor don’t think there is the
least probability of it, but for all that he has ordered everything
to be packed up that can be packed.” She adds, “I don’t know that
the French will invade us, but I am sure crossness has, and my
Father is just miserably out of sorts, so it’s a pity but he should
stay in the house, he would presently scold the French away.”

[Page heading: INVASION EXPECTED]

[Page heading: THE LAW REGIMENT]

The Montagus had now left London for Sandleford, and Mr. George L.
Scott writes the following letter to Mr. Montagu:--

“London, December 12, 1745.

“DEAR SIR,

“I did not expect so sudden an occasion of writing to you. You need
not, however, expect very important news, it being only to inform
you that henceforward you may shine in the dignity of F.R.S., you
were elected this evening, and may be admitted when you return to
town. We had a very hot alarm this morning, of a descent of the
French in Sussex. It was grounded upon a letter of a gentleman of
distinction in your county; the Secretary of the Customs roused Mr.
Pelham with the news at three, but a more certain and contradictory
account came by eight, with us the report subsisted till two, and
then vanished. Thus far, they say, may be depended on, that Dunkirk
Harbour is filled with Ships. If the French can get a footing in
Kent, it will be their fault if they do not do us inconceivable
damages by destroying our docks, and raising heavy contributions.
Were it not for some individuals, and innocent persons who would
suffer on such an occasion, I should not grieve in the least to
see some others pay the penalty of their infatuation or dastardly
spirit. I only wish the King’s forces might be strong enough to
take the booty from the French, and divide it among themselves;
this would be no loss to the nation, and only transfer property
from the fools or cowards to the brave. I say the same of the
Northern counties, through which the Rebels have passed. They have
behaved infamously. Sullivan, who was in Corsica with Marshal
Maillebois,[400] has now felt the difference between modern
Englishmen and Corsicans, much to the honour of the latter. These
poor people, undisciplined and unarmed, almost with any thing but
the spirit of liberty, baffled two veteran armies. Here a country
more extensive than Corsica, better peopled, richer, and either
well armed, or such as might have been so if they pleased, and
with-all well furnished with plenty of horses, has tamely suffered
itself to be overrun by a pack of foot banditti, two-thirds of
which, by the best accounts, are scarce men, _pudet hæc opprobria_!

“Our accounts from Scotland are but melancholy. The Rebels lay what
contributions they please. Some Clans, they say, have taken arms,
not with any intention to assist either side, but only to plunder.
It is now at last agreed upon to bring over the Hessians. What a
shame that we should want them! and what a shame that since any man
might see we did want them, they were not brought over sooner. I
say the same of the remainder of our country. Our administration
puts me in mind of the rustic mentioned by Demosthenes, who coming
into a fencing school, never foresaw a blow, but as soon as he was
pushed, he would then clap his hand to the place, and so shift it
after another blow, being thus always too late.

“Our law regiment received his Majesty’s thanks much about the
time you left this on Tuesday, with an intimation that the rebels
being retired, he was unwilling to put us to any further trouble or
expense. The frustrating this scheme is placed to the account of
the mean jealousy of a certain great man. His family, I hear, on
the other hand complain that he should be reproached on this head,
when he was totally ignorant of the whole affair, and his being
at all mentioned in it, was entirely owing to the indiscretion
and impertinent zeal of some silly young fellows, who might fancy
to obtain his favour by their conduct on this occasion, but what
he totally disapproves of. What the truth of the matter is I know
not, but I have my own suspicions, which possibly I may find an
opportunity to verify. If they prove true, all I can say is I would
not have some men’s souls for their estates.

“My best respects to Mrs. Montagu. I hope she finds the country
answer her expectations, as to health and every other respect.

“I am, dear Sir,
“Your most obedient, humble servant,
“GEO. L. SCOTT.

“10 o’clock--

“The rebels set out from Manchester Northward, Tuesday last. They
have murdered and plundered many. The Duke is in pursuit.

“The Provost of Edʳ is to be sent to the Tower.”

[400] Jean Des Marets Maillebois, born 1682, died 1762. French
Marshal, conquered Corsica in 1739.

[Page heading: COUNT ST. GERMAIN]

In a letter of Mrs. Montagu’s to the Duchess of Portland at this
period, she says--

“Count St. Germain[401] was seized some days ago; it is said he
had many jewels to a great value, and letters were found directing
him how to manage the Papists in case the Pretender should
approach and in what manner they were to use it. Sir R. Brown[402]
offered to bail St. Germain. A transport Ship that was bringing
officers over to the Rebels is taken. The old Pretender had sent
his abdication of his crown, and orders to Charles to publish the
manifestoes in his own name. The Lawyers offered to form themselves
into a regiment to guard the Royal family, but Lord Chief Justice
Willes’[403] friends insisted on his being Colonel, which has
discouraged the affair.”

[401] Comte De Saint Germain, born 1707, died 1778. French General.

[402] Probably Lieut.-General George Brown.

[403] John Willes, born 1685, died 1761.

[Page heading: ROMNEY MARSH]

Meanwhile the fears of a French invasion increased in the southern
counties, as will be seen by this letter of Mrs. Robinson’s to Mrs.
Montagu--

“December 15, 1745.

“MY DEAR,

“Before you receive this you will have heard from Sally that she
this day sett forward for Cantʸ, in order to proceed for London
to-morrow morning: indeed the frequent alarms we have had for this
last week has been too much for her spirits, and I pressed her
to go, for she was not able to make herself easy in staying, and
yet, poor girl, she went with great heaviness, though she had a
mind to it, and Mr. Robinson, though he thought the fright more
than necessary, was very easy with it. Yesterday he had a certain
account from Dover that Admiral Vernon sent yᵐ an express last
Tuesday, yt he had reason to believe yt ye French design’d landing
a great force (it was said 200,000, though yt, I think, must be
a mistake) at Dover, or on the Kentish coast, and ordered them to
keep themselves in readiness to oppose them: 400 men keep watch
at nights, and ye inhabitants keep all their best effects packed
up to send away at ye first approach of danger. These things much
magnified, and told in many different shapes, are sufficient to
alarm most people that live where we do, for should any army land
on ye coast of Kent, I am told Romney[404] is the most convenient
place, as there is a fine flat to land on, and no opposition can
be made, as we are destitute of forces, and the people entirely
unarmed and frightened out of their wits: we are in the worst
situation of any gentleman’s house in the county in such a case,
for they must pass within two or three fields[405] of ye house,
if not through the yard, and you know we stand very visible, yt
in such case, which God forbid, we must be great sufferers, they
wou’d certainly spoil what they cou’d not carry away, and probably
set fire to the house. But as to our selves, I don’t doubt but we
are as safe as the rest of the Nation, for we have given orders
for an express to come away if any landing appears in ye Marsh,
and should set out in an hour’s time, whereas an army would be
some days in landing. Nor am I in any fright, no do I believe they
dare attempt any such thing, but that ye transports that lay manᵉᵈ
at Dunkirk are designed to land some forces in Scotland, of wcʰ
two was taken, and broᵗ into Deal yesterday, bound for Montrose,
and I think Suffolk would be a better place yⁿ ye Kentish coast,
and less guarded: but I will tell you what I have done by way of
precaution. I have packed up all ye lining, plate and Clothes yt
cou’d be spared from constant use, and all writings, and they are
ready loaded in the waggon, and secured tennants’ horses to carry
them off. As to furniture, it may take its fate, as I cou’d neither
put it up properly, nor get carriages to carry it off on ye sudden,
and it wou’d be great expence, and great damage to do it to no
purpose. Pray don’t be in any fright for us, for you may be sure we
shall take care of ourselves so far as not to be caught, and that
is all anybody can do. I shall be greatly concern’d shou’d such a
thing happen, for our own misfortune and those of everybody’s else,
for ye whole nation must be sufferers, though some may feel it in a
more particular manner than others, as they wou’d be more in ye way
of these people. I am much at ease yt Sally is gone, as a sudden
alarm might have affected her so as to have highten’d my fright,
wʰ wou’d have been more for her than for myself. There is orders
come to ye Deputy Lieutenants to raise ye Militia, we hear yt the
Dutch Ships with Admiral Vernon sail’d this afternoon northwards,
by which we hope ye fears of this part grow less, or he wou’d not
lessen his forces.

“I think the wind will never be fair for poor Robert.[406] Sure
they are not still off Galway....

“Mr. Robinson joins with me in our best compliments to Mr. Montagu,
and love to yourself,

“I am, my dear,
“Yours most affectionately,
“E. R.

“P.S.--I was surprised you prevailed with yourself to leave London,
as it is thought the safest place.”

[404] Romney Marsh, close by Mount Morris.

[405] By the ancient road called Stone Street.

[406] Her two sons, Robert and Charles, returning from the East
Indies.

Sarah Robinson had taken refuge with her friend, Mrs. Cotes, in Charles
Street. In a letter to the duchess of December 16, Mrs. Montagu says,
“I hear the Rebels made great havoc at Levens, which has greatly
established the Countess’ loyalty to the Hanover succession.”

[Page heading: LEVENS HALL]

Levens Hall, in Westmorland, was the beautiful seat of the 4th Earl of
Berkshire, brought him by his wife, Catherine Grahame. They were the
parents of William Lord Andover, whose wife was the intimate friend of
Mrs. Botham.

[Page heading: A FOOTMAN]

A passage in a letter to the Rev. William Freind concerning a footman
indicates the manners and wages of that time. Mrs. Montagu says--

“Pray is the young man who you once proposed to me for a servant
at liberty now? For my footman thinks my wages not equal to his
parts and merits. The servant I part with, is very honest, but I
cannot bring him to deliver his sincerity in such delicate terms
as are necessary in a message. He told a lady of quality who
inquired after my health, that I was _pure stout_, and if I am in
good spirits he tells people I am _brave_, that he is likely to
establish me as a character of violence.... If your youth can carry
a message, keep himself sober and clean, and stay at home, when he
is not sent abroad, they are all the qualifications I desire. He
is to have livery, and frock every year, and six pounds wages the
first year, the second seven. He is to put out his washing.”

Greater threatenings than ever of an invasion arose at the end of
December. Mr. and Mrs. Montagu implored her parents to take refuge in
their house in Dover Street. Mrs. Robinson, on December 25, says--

“MY DEAR,

“I return you and Mr. Montagu my sincere thanks for the kind offer
of your house, and should I be obliged to run away of the sudden, I
shall certainly make use of it till I can get lodgings.

“Last night a drunken fellow went through Hanford, and told yᵐ yt
ye French was landing in the Marsh, wh. was presently believed,
and 500 men was ready to march from thence this morning, when they
found it to be a lie. It is a pitty ye country is quite without
arms, for the people show great alacrity to defend themselves. Your
Father has gone to dine with Mr. Brockman,[407] and as he is not
returned, the coast was certainly clear when he went over the hill.”

[407] At Beachborough.

[Page heading: A BRAVE GAMEKEEPER!]

Mr. Robinson had armed a number of his tenants, and appointed John
Cullen, the gamekeeper, as Master of the Ordnance. This amused Mrs.
Montagu, as in a letter to Mrs. Robinson she says--

“I fancy John has little notion of a gun without a dog, and though
a mighty hunter, his prey not being man, he would probably run
away, or take to covert. I once saw my Father arm our Militia to
take up Jarvis, the Highwayman, and I own I thought the warrant the
only arms they durst use against the offender.”

In the same letter she comments on the prevailing expectation that the
Pretender would arrive at some particular place. “They expected the
Pretender at Newbury three weeks ago. I had a mind to have asked them
if he loved eels, for really I don’t know any other seduction he would
have to have called on them....”

Lady Oxford wrote one morning to the Duchess of Portland that “it was
said the Rebels would be at Welbeck by one o’clock, but did not leave
her house, which I think was very wrong, but she is always composed.”

This is the last letter of 1745.

CHAPTER VII.

1746–1748--CHIEFLY IN LONDON AND BATH AND AT SANDLEFORD--VISITS TO
BULLSTRODE AND TO CAMBRIDGE.

[Year: 1746]

The first letter of 1746 is dated January 1 to the Duchess of Portland
at Bullstrode.

The Montagus remained quietly at Sandleford till Parliament met.

[Page heading: THE DEATH OF MRS. ROBINSON]

At the end of April, or commencement of May, Mrs. Montagu lost her
excellent and amiable mother from a return of her former illness. I
have no letters till the following one, undated, in reply for a letter
of condolence of Mrs. Freind’s:--

“DEAR MADAM,

“The tender hand of a friend does all in the power of human art
to heal the wounds given by affliction. That you love me, and
interest yourself for me, must on all occasions give me comfort.
It is not consistent with duty or prudence to be ever considering
one’s loss with those circumstances of tenderness that make one
unable to bear up against it, so I will say as little as possible
of the dear, tender parent, and endeavour to recollect her only as
a most excellent woman, and try to become good by her example. She
concluded with an heroic constancy the most virtuous life. From
her prosperity she drew arguments of resignation and patience, and
expressed the greatest thankfulness that Providence had lent her
so many blessings without repining that they were to be taken
away. How few are they that do not grow proud and stubborn by
that indulgence which made her humble and resigned! She had spent
her life in doing those just, right things that bring peace at
the last; and after living so many years in the world, left it
with the greatest innocence of soul and integrity of heart I ever
knew. How much superior is this to the forced and immeritorious
innocence of a sequestered Cloister; for after having bent to all
the duties of human life, she had not contracted any of the vices
or bad affections of it; nor had she the least tincture of the
secret faults of malice or envy which often lurk about the hearts
of those who are esteemed persons of unblameable conduct. Through
every action of her life she deserved to be loved and esteemed, and
in her death almost to be adored, for in that scene she appeared
almost more than human. But this subject is too affecting, nor
can I think of my final separation from such a friend with the
resignation I ought.

“I beg you would think favourably of a journey to Sandleford: you
cannot imagine the pleasure it would give me to see you there. We
are still roasting in this dusty town, but hope a very few days
will carry us into the country.

“I am, dear Mrs. Freind’s
“Most affectionate cousin,
and sincere friend,
“ELIZ. MONTAGU.”

[Page heading: LYDIA BOTHAM]

The only other letter on this subject is from Mrs. Lydia Botham, Mrs.
Laurence Sterne’s sister, a portion of which I give. The handwritings
of the two sisters[408] were much alike--

“Yoxall, May 25, 1746.

“MY DEAR COUSIN,

“If your knowing how sensible I am of your loss of my dear Aunt,
and how deeply I share in your affliction, could afford you any
relief, I should endeavour to lay open a most sorrowful Heart to
you, tho’ I could send you but a faint copy of it, for my grief,
like yours, is at present too big for utterance. I can offer
nothing for your consolation, but what I’m sure your own thoughts
will have suggested to you; that the Dear, the Valuable Parent you
have lost has lived to enjoy the Greatest Blessing a parent can
have, the seeing her children brought up in health and prosperity;
that she who acted so strictly up to her duty in every capacity
here is only removed from the Happiness she reap’d in her Family,
to receive the further and infinitely greater Reward of her
well-doing; that since the Giver of Life saw fit to finish hers by
so painful a Distemper, it is some comfort that her Misery was of
no longer duration.

“From these considerations I am persuaded you will find all the
consolation that such an affliction can admit of. Your letter is
dated the 5th, but it did not reach me till the last post, and had
the Dublin postmark on it. I had received the melancholy news from
Lady Suffolk, but could not write to you immediately upon your
misfortune. The news of my poor Aunt’s Death is a heavy addition
to such a load of sorrow as I was before nearly ready to sink
under. My eldest girl has lately discovered some tendency to my
asthmatical Disorder; the Thought that she received this from me,
and that the rest of my dear Babes stand the same unhappy chance,
is such an affliction to me....

“I mourn with my Uncle, but shall forbear writing to him for fear
of adding to his concern.”

[408] Mr. Botham was Vicar of Yoxall, Staffordshire.

By the will of his maternal grandfather, Thomas Morris, the estates of
Mount Morris and East Horton, Kent, now passed to Matthew Robinson,
Mrs. Montagu’s eldest brother. His father, Mr. Robinson, who had always
disliked country life, now made London his headquarters. In a letter of
June 22, to the Duchess of Portland, Mrs. Montagu says--

“We shall stay in London about a week getting a plan for finishing
a house which we are to have in a street near Berkeley Square, in a
street not yet much built; it will be better to stay a year for the
finishing than to take what one does not like.”

This was the house in Hill Street, in which she lived many years.

[Page heading: ALBURY]

At this period Lord Andover presented the Rev. John Botham to the
living of Albury in Surrey. Mrs. Botham and Mrs. Sterne had, as we
learn from a letter of Mrs. Montagu’s, been brought up in great luxury,
with a constant succession of company, whilst their father, the Rev.
Robert Lumley, was alive. Reduced to poverty by his death, they both
married men of small fortune, therefore one is not surprised that Lydia
Botham, unaccustomed to small means, and, in spite of her delicacy,
extremely fond of society, soon incurred debt and embarrassment with a
growing family and small income.

Lady Andover, who was her constant and best friend, writes on June 26
to Mrs. Montagu to explain the excessive melancholy of Lydia, who was
proceeding that week to Albury. She says--

“The blame they lay upon themselves for having lived beyond their
circumstances and the sense of having injured their children, of
whom they are most tender, is a reflection sufficient to bring a
person of Lydia’s sense and goodness to the dejected state she is
in. I that love and value her most sincerely, and _who have largely
shared in the best she was ever possest of_, bear a great share in
her sufferings....”

[Page heading: A “JOHNNY!”]

She then goes on to talk of how she and the Duchess of Portland wished
to get more preferment for Mr. Botham.

“I have not seen Harry Legge[409] for a great while, but I know
he has a very sincere regard for Lydia, and should hope it was in
his power to do them some good, but then Alas! poor Johnny is such
a Johnny that there arises all the difficulty of getting them any
preferment. Lydia also is so blind to all his defects that the
least disrespectful thought of Johnny would make her more than ever
miserable.” She continues to say, “Any exchange from Staffordshire
must be advantageous to them, for there, as they unfortunately
began with entering into all the expenses that attend a great
neighbourhood, they could never have lived in the way they intend
doing and may do here.... This place is but a mile from them, and I
don’t despair of making a very beaten path between us by constant
use.”

[409] Harry Legge, second son of the Earl of Dartmouth, was Lord of
the Treasury and Chancellor of Exchequer; a first cousin of Lady
Andover’s.

Mrs. Montagu hastened to Albury, and, from a letter of Lady Andover’s,
appears to have not only given good advice for the future, but
helped their purse. Harry Legge also paid them a visit, endeavoured
to persuade them they could live on £300 a year, gave good advice,
but made no promise for the future. Lady Andover says, “He gave them
frugal good advice, but no hints or promises to make the discourse be
relished; he went away yesterday morning, and I am persuaded when it is
in his power he will remember them.” At the end of the letter she says--

“I am quite of your mind concerning Lord Tullibardine,[410] full of
wonder that he should chuze to sneak out of life much more like a
rebell than resolutely suffering publick execution. I hear of great
interest making for tickets to see the executions,[411] and fear
humanity is at a very low ebb.”

[410] William Murray, Marquis of Tullibardine; died July 9, 1746.

[411] The Earl of Kilmarnock and Lord Balmerino.

[Page heading: THE “LITTLE PÈRE”]

Mrs. Montagu was much distressed by the poor boy employed in her garden
at Sandleford having accidentally fallen into a pond there and been
drowned, an account of which she writes to the duchess on August 7.
In this letter she begs the duchess to send the “Little Père,” as he
was fondly called (Dr. Courayer), to stay with her, from Bullstrode,
where he had been domiciled some time. At the same time she asks for
two peacocks, “After asking for Dr. Courayer to beg your two peacocks,
are there in Nature things that differ like this Philosopher and the
bird of noise, vanity, and ostentation?” The peacocks were to console a
white pea-hen at Sandleford for the loss of her mate, a white peacock,
which, together with a quantity of poultry, had been stolen by the
bargemen of Newbury. The Montagus sent a party of armed servants to
inspect the barges, but only feathers and eggs were discovered. The
peacocks were duly conveyed by waggon to the “Windmill,” Slough, whence
the Newbury waggoner, Sandy, conveyed them to Sandleford. The duchess,
in writing about them, adds, “Lord Cromartie is pardoned; the King sent
for my Lady to acquaint him with it. Was not that doing it in the most
tender, compassionate manner?”

Mrs. Donnellan was at this time at Tunbridge, at Lord Percival’s house,
and Mrs. Montagu jokingly confided her father, Mr. Robinson, who was
there, to her care. On August 5 Mrs. Donnellan writes to say of Mr.
Robinson, “I can assure you he is in very good widower’s spirits.” She
adds, “He has lent me his chariot daily to carry me home at night to
Lord Percival’s.” Mrs. Donnellan waited at Tunbridge till the death of
her friend, Sir Robert Sutton,[412] which was daily expected; when it
took place she accompanied his widow, Lady Sunderland,[413] and his
daughter, Miss Sutton, to London.

[412] The Right Hon. Sir Robert Sutton, of Broughton, Lincolnshire.

[413] Wife of Sir Robert Sutton; had been third wife to 4th Earl of
Sunderland.

[Page heading: DEATH OF MR. CARTER]

Mrs. Botham, having an alarming attack of asthma which caused her six
sleepless nights, Mrs. Montagu writes to recommend her Valerian tea,
made from the roots. Evidently “Lydia” was not a notable housekeeper,
as she also instructs her in the art of keeping a weekly account book,
and entering in it every item of expense. The duchess was anxious for
the Montagus to go to Bullstrode, but the visit was deferred, as the
three younger Robinsons were spending their holidays at Sandleford, and
the captain and Morris Robinson expected Mr. and Mrs. Freind there as
well. Poor old Mr. Carter, the steward, was just dead of fever, which,
it was thought, he caught when on agent’s work at Newcastle, where
fever had been rife amongst the unhappy prisoners of the ’45 confined
there. He was a great loss to Mr. Montagu, who was contemplating a
journey north to place his affairs in young Mr. Edward Carter’s[414]
hands. Dr. Conyers Middleton, in a letter from Bath, of September
21, proposes setting out at Michaelmas “with young Frederick” for
Sandleford for a few days. Mr. Montagu, accompanied by Mr. Carter, had
set out on their northern journey, staying at Newbold Verdon with Mr.
James Montagu _en route_, arriving at Theakstone by October 7.

[414] He was agent to Lord Aylesbury.

On October 12, from Theakstone, Mr. Montagu writes to his wife--

“Mr. Carter has now dispatched what business he had to do for Lord
Aylesbury at his courts, and is now at liberty, and on Tuesday
morning we design to set out for New Castle. Eryholme we shall
take in our way....

“I have now with me Mr. Buckley and Mr. Emerson;[415] amidst all
these avocations j have found time to study and profit by the
Hurworth Philosopher as much as j proposed, and shall not when j
return from Newcastle, have occasion to delay my journey for any
further instruction from him. I am glad Dr. Middleton is going to
publish, and the rather because you approve of what he has done.
It is a fine subject,[416] and none is capable of doing it more
justice than he can. I wonder the young Lord Hervey[417] should
refuse to deliver up the Doctor’s letters, for it would have been a
great loss to the learned world if he could not have retrieved the
matter of them as he has done.”

[415] William Emerson, eminent mathematician; author of “Doctrine
of Fluxions,” etc.

[416] An account of the Roman Senate. He allowed Mrs. Montagu to
read the manuscript.

[417] George William, Baron Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol.

[Page heading: DENTON]

On October 19, from Newcastle, Mr. Montagu writes--

“MY DEAREST,

“Yesterday Mr. Carter and j rid out and view’d Mr. Rogers’ estate
of Denton lying upon the river west of this town, a fine tract
of land with a fine colliery belonging to it. After we came in
Bp. Benson of Gloucester, who had been doing duty for the Bishop
of Durham, being at our inn, desir’d the Drawer to present his
compliments, and would be glad to see me.... He is a very polite
man.... This morning Mr. Bowes[418] came and made me a visit,
invited me to Gibside, and proffered me any assistance he could
give me. I promised to pay my respects to him and dine with him
when j was prepar’d to talk with him about those affairs in
which he and Mr. Rogers are concern’d in partnership.... Mr.
Rogers’ affairs consist of a great many concerns, particularly
in collieries, lying at a great distance from each other, and as
they have been neglected, great encroachments have been made which
require some pains to detect.”

[418] Mr. George Bowes, owner of Gibside Park, Streatlam Castle,
and Hilton Castle, Durham.

[Page heading: LADY PRIMROSE]

Early in November Mrs. Montagu visited London to take leave of her two
sailor brothers, who were going to China. On the 10th she was to visit
Bullstrode. In writing to the duchess on the 2nd she says--

“I am very glad Lady Wallingford has not left Bullstrode, extreamly
rejoiced Mrs. Delany is come there, infinitely happy Lady
Primrose[419] remains there, and for Mr. Freind I propose much
happiness in seeing him.”

[419] _Née_ Anne Drelincourt, wife of 3rd Viscount Primrose. Lord
Rosebery says she once sheltered the Pretender.

On November 24, writing to Mr. Montagu, his wife says--

“I wish my brother Morris had done Lord Lovat’s[420] trial; I have
great desire to see the Solicitor-General’s speech. As to Sir W.
Young and Lord Cooke’s, I heard them perfect, and shall perhaps
hardly think them worth further regard and attention. I lost a
great deal of Secretary Murray’s speech, which, as it combined an
account of the first overtures of the rebellion, I think matter of
curiosity.”

[420] He was beheaded April 9, 1747.

The curious remedies of the period are shown in a letter of Mrs.
Botham, of November 25, where she says she has been taking _Elixir of
Vitriol_ for her asthma, and is now going to try _Tar Water_, then
supposed to be a universal medicine. She adds that the Glebelands,
sixty acres in extent at Albury, had been let for £17 a year for thirty
years, but as no one bid “Johnny” more, he was now farming it himself,
as it provides our family with “grain, fowls, bacon, milk, butter and
eggs.”

In the next letter from Bullstrode, to Mr. Robinson, his daughter says--

“Mrs. Delany tells me Mr. Granville thinks himself very happy in
passing some of his hours with you. She says she has great ambition
to please you as you are an artist and a connoisseur. She is now
copying a portrait of Sacharissa from Vandyck, and I believe it
will please you very well.... The Duchess is in better spirits
than ever I knew her; time has added accomplishments to her young
family, her gardens are much improved, her house is new furnished.”

[Page heading: DR. SHAW]

The last letter of the year to the duchess mentions--

“I hear there is going to be published a new comedy by Dr.
Hoadley[421] and a tragedy by Mr. Thomson. I have no great
expectations of the comedy, for Dr. Hoadley is a sober physician,
and must be a kind of comedian _malgré lui_. As to Mr.
Thomson,[422] we know the pitch of his muse, and with what dignity
his buskins tread the Stage.” She winds up with “best respects to
the huge ‘Godfather of all Shell-fish,’ who, tho’ not so frisky I
presume, as nimble as his Seabrother the Leviathan, or his Hornie
palfrey the Seahorse, or his lapdog the Porpoise.”

[421] Benjamin Hoadley, born 1706, died 1757. Physician to George
II.; wrote “The Suspicious Husband.”

[422] “Tancred and Sigismund.”

This alludes to Dr. Shaw, the traveller, a constant visitor at
Bullstrode, and a connoisseur in shells,[423] which the duchess took
great delight in collecting.

[423] _Vide_ the Catalogue of the Portland Museum of 1786, in which
are hundreds of rare shells.

[Year: 1747]

An undated letter of Mrs. Montagu’s to the Duchess of Portland of 1747
in my collection, alluding to her visit at Bullstrode, is probably the
first of that year. She says--

“I am this instant from the play, where I have been extremely
entertained with that most comick of all personages, Sir John
Falstaffe; as to Hotspur, he was in a very violent passion in the
first act, and I think it is a part not equal to the genius of
Garrick.”

Garrick and Quin were this season taking alternate parts. Quin was then
playing Falstaffe.

A letter of Mr. Robinson’s of April 25 describes him giving a Drum in
London, “4 card tables and others who did not play, and they were all
a Kentish Set.... Dr. and Mrs. Middleton are in town, but they talk of
going in a fortnight. I will tell you what I think of her when I see
you.” This was Dr. Conyers Middleton’s third wife, Anne Powell, whom he
had just married, but the exact date I am uncertain of.

[Page heading: YOUNG EDWARD WORTLEY MONTAGU]

Two curious letters to Mr. Montagu from his eccentric young cousin,
Edward Wortley Montagu, occur next. He was the only son of Mr.
Montagu’s first cousin, Edward Wortley Montagu, whose father, Sidney
Montagu, was the second son of the great Earl of Sandwich. Sidney
Montagu married Anne, daughter and heiress of Sir Francis Wortley, and
assumed the name of Wortley. By her he had one son, Edward Wortley
Montagu, who married Lady Mary Pierpoint, daughter of Evelyn, Duke of
Kingston; they had two children, Edward, born in 1713, and Mary, born
1718, who married John, Earl of Bute. To give young Wortley Montagu’s
eccentric life here would take too much space, but the reader will find
an epitome of it at the end of this work. In 1745, he was in the Army
through the influence of his relation, the Duke of Montagu, had been
through the campaign, and was present at the Battle of Fontenoy. He
became a prisoner of war, but was shortly before the date of the first
letter exchanged, and, coming to England, was given, by the Earl of
Chesterfield,[424] a commission to carry a packet of important papers
to his relation, Lord Sandwich,[425] being informed of the contents of
them in case he was waylaid and robbed. Mr. Montagu had always acted a
kind part towards his young cousin, and frequently interceded for him
with his father, old Wortley Montagu, in his endless escapades, which
were enough to try any parent’s heart.

[424] Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, celebrated
politician and author; then Secretary of State.

[425] Then Minister Plenipotentiary to the States General.

[Page heading: ACTION IN HOLLAND]

As the letters are of interminable length, I only quote portions of
them. In the first, from Harwich, April 22, becalmed _en route_ for
the Army, he begs Mr. Edward Montagu to recommend him to the Duke
of Montagu as messenger to the Court of Prussia, whither he heard a
despatch was to be sent. He alludes to his father having visited Lord
Chesterfield to ask about him, as they were not on speaking terms
then, though his father was at the same time anxious he should enter
Parliament. The second letter is from Ter Goes, May 15, 1747 (N.S.)--

“We sailed from Harwich with the wind contrary, and were two
pacquets in company. We were attacked by a privateer of 16 guns
and got clear of him after a combat of between four and five
hours. As soon as I arrived at Helvoet, I went immediately to the
Hague, staid one day there, and then went on to H.R.H.[426] with a
pacquet from Lord Sandwich; the moment the Duke saw me he told me
I was released, and ordered me to take post and join my regiment.
The moment I got to the regiment, I found it retreating from the
French, having lost between two and three hundred men and about 10
officers killed or wounded; our Major is among the former. When
we got to the seaside we did not find vessels enough to embark
us all, so our regiment, as the eldest, embarked the last, but
when all Braggs’ and most of the Highlanders were got off, we and
the remainder of them were attacked by a body of 1200. They were
so well received that they quitted us, after having lost three
officers and about twenty-seven men. We lost only one officer and
a very few men. Billanders came just then, and we got off very
luckily, for had we staid ten minutes longer we should all have
been killed or taken, for we were scarce on board when we saw a
considerable body march to the ground we had been on....”

[426] The Duke of Cumberland.

Edward Wortley Montagu’s handwriting was excessively neat; his
signature, with peculiar flourishes to the “Edward,” is unmistakable
when once known.

A dissolution and general election of Parliament took place in June,
and Mr. Montagu hastened to Huntingdon for re-election, leaving Mrs.
Montagu packing up and removing furniture, etc., from Dover Street to
their new house in Hill Street, which was being finished and decorated.

[Page heading: GENERAL ELECTION]

In a letter of June 18, from Huntingdon, Mr. Montagu says--

“Yesterday was a day of more business, for we walked the town,
where we met with very uncommon success, having met with one
negative only. Mr. Wortley[427] the elder came from Peterborough to
give us his assistance.... He seems very well pleased with what my
Lord has done for his son,[428] and will, j dare say, bring about a
perfect reconciliation, tho’ as yet they have not seen one another,
nor will till they perhaps may both be in London.

“The day for my election is not yet fixed.... I may, if time should
allow, ride over to Cambridge to congratulate Dr. Middleton on his
marriage.”

[427] Old Wortley Montagu.

[428] Edward Wortley Montagu.

[Page heading: HUNTINGDON ELECTION]

Lord Sandwich gave Mr. Montagu £500 towards his election expenses.
Young Wortley Montagu was trying for Parliament at the same time, and
was returned, and Matthew Robinson was seeking election for Canterbury.

On June 23 Mrs. Montagu writes her last letter from Dover Street
to her husband: “I am now on the point of leaving this town and my
disfurnished house.... Please to send to the Crown Inn for a box, in
which I have sent your frock with the gold loops. My brother does not
meet with any opposition.”

The Hill Street house being still unfinished, Mrs. Montagu went to
Sandleford, accompanied by Mrs. Donnellan, previously securing a room
for her husband in town, “my Father’s lodgings at Mrs. Cranwell’s in
Shepheard Street, near Red Lion Square.”

On June 30 Mr. Montagu writes--

“My Dearest, it is with great pleasure that j can tell you our
election is well over. Everything passed yesterday in the manner
one could wish, and there was little of that riot and madness which
is the constant concomitant of things of this nature. Captain John
Montagu, who represented Mr. Courteney, is yet here on account of
a ball which we are this night to have in the Assembly Rooms. My
cousin[429] gives great satisfaction in the county. I think his
nature to be good as well as his parts, and hope he will be an
ornament to his family. I am sure he is very grateful to me. I have
invited him to Sandleford.... My Lord Sandwich is entire master
both of this town and county. He has so riveted his interest, that
j believe nobody will venture to oppose as long as he lives. He is
really a very great young man, with great talents, and many amiable
qualities.”

[429] Young Edward Wortley Montagu.

On July 8 Mr. Montagu writes from London, having changed his lodging
to “Mrs. Barrows at the Golden Fleece” in New Bond Street. He says--

“I left Huntingdon on Fryday in the afternoon, and got to Cambridge
between seven and eight in the evening, walked about the Colleges,
and then sent for Mr. Branson to enquire about the Canterbury
Election. The next morning at eight, j waited on Dr. Middleton and
breakfasted and din’d with him and his wife. The Doctor receiv’d me
in a very agreeable and friendly manner, ask’d me why j did not the
night before take up my lodging with him, press’d my longer stay.
He has married a very agreeable, good-natur’d woman, her person is
extreamly good, in her prime, must have been very handsome. She
seems to have very good sense and a great deal of good nature.
She went along with the Doctor and j, and spent an hour or two
seeing Dr. Woodward’s Fossils,[430] and afterwards she entertain’d
us playing on the Harpsichord, in which she is a considerable
proficient; in short, the Doctor seems to have consulted his
happiness in what he has done, and j congratulated him upon it in
the handsomest manner j could.”

[430] John Woodward, born 1665, died 1728. Geologist; founded a
chair of geology at Cambridge.

[Page heading: DR. POCOCKE]

Dr. Courayer had now joined the Sandleford party.

“Dr. Pococke[431] and his family dined here yesterday. After dinner
we all went to see the Vieux Hermite, who received us at the gate
in a manner rather smiling Eastern courtesy and ceremony than rural
simplicity; he bow’d to the ground several times, led me in, then
accosted the little Père by the title of _the_ Courayer.... Standen
asked Mary classical questions, of Dr. Pococke particularly whether
he had been on the plains of Pharsalia and of Marathon, and if he
had passed the Straits of Thermopylæ. He was overjoyed to hear the
Temple of Theseus was entire. Dr. Pococke is a faithful relater of
what he has seen, but does not embellish his narrations with any
imagination of fancy.”

[431] Rev. Dr. Pococke, born 1704, died 1765. Bishop of Ossory and
Meath; author of “Descriptions of the East,” etc.

[Page heading: WEST WOODHAY]

Writing to the duchess on July 6, Mrs. Montagu says--

“A few days ago I carried Mrs. Donnellan and the little Père to see
Mr. Sloper’s gardens[432] and house at a time when I was assured
he was absent on his election, but seeing a man ride up the avenue
at the same time, I took it into my head it might be Mr. Sloper,
so I did not alight immediately. The housekeeper came to me and
asked if I would walk in; I said I should be glad to see the house
if Mr. Cibber was not at home; the housekeeper looked aghast, as
if she had spoilt a custard or broke a jelly glass; I coloured,
Mrs. Donnellan tittered, Dr. Courayer sputtered, half French, half
English, and began to search for the case of a spying glass I had
dropt in my fright. As my organs of speech rather than of sight,
seemed defective, I was little interested for my perspective, but
sat in the coach making melancholy reflections on my mistake. Mrs.
Donnellan could not compose her countenance, so that we were near
a quarter of an hour before we got out of the coach; and after so
long a pause I walked into the house, greatly abashed.”

[432] Mr. Sloper lived at West Woodhay House, near Newbury, built
by Inigo Jones.

To understand this joke it must be explained that Mrs. Theophilus
Cibber,[433] the celebrated actress, was the mistress of Mr. Sloper.
She had been forced into marriage with Theophilus Cibber,[434] son
of “old Cibber,” the celebrated actor, and her husband, who was a
worthless man, had connived at the connection. In a previous letter
of Mrs. Montagu’s, of 1744, mention is made of a house at West Woodhay
furnished by Mr. Sloper for Mrs. Cibber “entirely in white satin.” A
further passage says--

[Page heading: DR. COURAYER]

“I believe I could shake your spleen with a description of Dr.
Courayer’s figure--when he arrived here from Oxford through a
whole day’s rain; but let it suffice that he shone with drops of
water like the Diamond ficoides. How his beaver was slouched,
his coloured handkerchief twisted, and his small boots stuck to
his small legs; how the rain had uncurled his wig, the spleen
dejected his countenance, the cramp spoiled his gait! not being
much accustomed to riding he was so fatigued and benumbed he could
scarce walk, that for so good a Christian he appeared surprizingly
like Un Diable boiteux. Mrs. Donnellan and I could not help
laughing; with the vivacity of his nation, he fell in with the
mirth and helped on the raillery his figure provoked.”

Mr. Montagu was detained in London by much legal business. He tells his
wife her father, Mr. Robinson, carries him to Ranelagh. She retorts, “I
am very glad my Father carries you to Ranelagh, but tell him I desire
he would not make you a coquette, a character I think him a little
inclined for.”

[433] Anna Maria Cibber, _née_ Arne, celebrated actress, born 1714,
died 1766.

[434] Theophilus Cibber, son of Colley Cibber, actor and dramatist,
died 1757.

On July 18 mention is made of Lord Sandwich embarking for the seat of
war.

The next letter, July 23, to Mr. Montagu, from young Edward Wortley
Montagu, who had been returned Knight of the Shire of Huntingdon,
described an election ball. “Our ball last Monday was very brilliant.
We had a very elegant supper for near 200 people, and finished by
dancing till 6 in the morning.” He mentions “my friend untieing his
purse strings with the greatest reluctance, and was very peevish to
see so many people at Supper, which he thinks very unwholesome.” This
is probably old Wortley, his father. A christening of one of Lady
Sandwich’s children had just taken place. Mrs. Montagu was godmother
by proxy. “I assure you I wished the real Godmothers had been there
instead of the substitutes.” Then stating Lord Sandwich had left so
hastily they did not know if he had arranged for venison for the races,
he begs Mr. Montagu to ask the Duke of Montagu to send him two bucks,
“to be here by Tuesday.”

The Duchess of Portland, writing on July 24, mentions “Lady Bute is
with me; she is a most agreeable friend in all respects.” This was
Edward Wortley Montagu’s only sister, Mary, who was born in 1718,
whilst her father was ambassador to the Porte. She had married in 1736,
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute.

[Page heading: A HIGH AND DRY RESIDENCE]

A long letter of Mrs. Montagu’s in reply to the duchess contains some
amusing descriptions of the trio--herself, Mrs. “Donn,” and the little
Père’s expeditions from Sandleford--

“Yesterday we went to see a very extraordinary place. A gentleman
has built a house on the summit of a prodigious hill, where there
is not a drop of water nor a stick of wood; he has planted some fir
trees which are watered every day by carts that bring the water
about three miles; he has sunk a well to the centre of the earth,
from whence some laborious horses draw him as much water as may
wash his face, or in a liberal hour supply his tea kettle. The
winds plays about his house in so riotous a manner, that a person
must poise themselves in a very exact manner to maintain their
ground and walk on two legs with an erect countenance as it is the
glory and pride of human nature to do.... The first house this
gentleman built was in a bottom, where the ground was all wet and
marshy, overgrown with willows and alders and extremely peopled
with frogs; there he found himself ill at ease, and no doubt but
in time would have died of a dropsy, as I now fear he will be
destroyed by a wind cholick.

“A few days ago we were at Miss Lisle’s wood and grotto; the work
of 9 sisters, who in disposition as well as number, bear some
resemblance to the Muses. On Monday we think of going to Lady
Fane’s[435] grotto.[436] Mrs. Donnellan and I are going to make a
shell frame for a looking glass. I think a looking glass to be the
properest for the first work, as everybody will be sure to find
something they like in it.”

[435] Mary Stanhope, widow of Charles, Viscount Fane, of Basildon;
once Maid-of-Honour to Queen Anne.

[436] At Basildon, still called “The Grotto.”

[Page heading: LADY FANE’S GROTTOES]

[Page heading: THE AXLETREE]

In the next letter of August 23 is the description of Lady Fane’s
grotto--

“The situation is, like most grottoes, placed where a grotto would
not be looked for: it joins to the house. Now having told its only
defect, I will go on to the rest. The first room is fitted up
entirely with shells, the sides and ceiling in beautiful mosaic, a
rich cornice of flowers in baskets and cornucopias, and the little
yellow sea snail is so disposed in shades as to resemble knots
of ribbon which seem to tye up some of the bunches of flowers.
There is a bed for the Hermit, which is composed of rich shells,
and so shaded that the curtain seems folded and flowing.... The
room adjoining it is the true and proper style for a grotto; it is
composed of rough rock work in a very bold taste, the water falls
down it into a cold bath. This grotto is about 50 yards from the
Thames, to which the descent is very precipitate. From the Shell
Room you have no advantage of the Thames, from the other room you
have a view of it. The House to which this grotto is joined is
a small habitation where Lady Fane used to pass a good deal of
time. Lord Fane’s seat[437] is about a mile from it: it has not
indeed the view of the Thames, but is finely situated in a bower
of Beech Wood, and before it a pretty prospect. From the Grotto
we went to a Wood by the Thames, where we sat and eat our cold
dinner very comfortably. In the afternoon we walked up a hill
which commands a fine prospect, the Thames winds about in the
manner it does at Cliefden. There is a want of wood, as I think
the country rather flat, but the prospect is very extensive; you
see Oxford and Reading, one on the right, the other on the left
hand. In our road thither one of the wheels took fire and burnt
thro’ the axletree.... A wheelwright was apply’d to but he had been
carousing at a christening, and was not in that degree of sober
sense requisite to make even an axletree. A Justice of the peace
whom the King had knighted lived hard by; to him we applyed for a
coach, as it was part of his office to send vagrants to the place
of their abode. Alas! his coach, which contrary to other things
used to rest on the week days and work only on the Sabbath, had not
been licensed, to the great inconvenience of his lady and the grief
of Carter John, who one day in the week was a coachman.... What was
to be done? The sun was declining, we were 20 miles from home....
A good inn with the sign of the Blue Boar, Green Dragon, or Red
Lion would have pleased us better than all we had seen, but--Alas!
the only village within reach offered us a homely lodging under
thatched roofs. We were a party of seven, and might have stormed
the village with more ease than the French can Bergen-op-Zoom,
but the plunder w’d not have given us a supper, or the place
afforded us a lodging. But on finding the uncoached Justice was
married to Sir Robert Sutton’s niece,[438] an acquaintance of Mrs.
Donnellan’s, she sent her compliments, told our distress, and we
were kindly received that night. The wheelwright slept himself
sober, the next day made us an axletree, and we came home laughing
at our adventures.”

[437] Basildon Park.

[438] Lady Rush.

[Page heading: SOUTHAMPTON]

The Montagus had projected a tour to Southampton for some time, and
towards the end of August they set out, accompanied by Dr. Courayer,
leaving Jack and William Robinson at Sandleford. Writing to the duchess
on September 22, Mrs. Montagu says--

“We went from hence to Winchester, where we saw the Cathedral,
attending Service on Sunday; it is a very neat Gothick building in
so good repair that time seems rather to have made it venerable
than old. The Choir is very handsome, there are many old monuments.
Several of the Saxon Kings have their bones collected into a sort
of Trunk.... William Rufus is interred there too, in a kind of
stone chest; William of Wickham and Cardinal Beaufort bear their
ensigns of the Prelatick order on their tombs, which are very
handsome; but let us leave the pride of the dead for the luxury of
the living, and go on to Mr. Dummer’s.[439] The gardens are pretty,
and there is a fine lawn before the house, from whence there is
a rich prospect and a distant sight of the river at Southampton,
where we arrived pretty late in the evening. The next morning we
surveyed the town, which I think is very pretty, but what most
pleased me there, was the prospect from a little Round Tower from
which one has the finest view imaginable, the sea and river most
encompass it.... From hence we went to Mount Bevis;[440] your Grace
knows it so well I shall not describe it.... What a noble Bason
does the river form at the end of the Bowling Green! how fine a
prospect from the Mount! Lord Peterborough[441] says in a letter
to Mr. Pope in reference to Mount Bevis, ‘I confess the lofty
Sacharissa at Stowe, but am content with my little Amoret.’ His
Lordship had great reason to be content, for tho’ Stowe, like a
court beauty, is adorn’d and ornamented with great expence, the
native graces of Mount Bevis surprize and charm the beholder, and
have an effect that art can never reach.... We spent a good deal of
time in these charming gardens: went from them to Lyndhurst, one
of the King’s houses in the New Forest, which house the Duke of
Bedford lends to Mr. Medows.”[442]

[439] Cranbury Park, near Hursley.

[440] The seat of the great Earl of Peterborough, now incorporated
into the town above Bar.

[441] Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough, born 1658, died 1735.
Soldier and diplomatist.

[442] Brother-in-law of Mr. Montagu.

From three other letters, to Sarah Robinson, Mrs. Donnellan, and Dr.
Freind, I give paragraphs. Speaking of Mount Bevis, she says--

“In a room on this Mount, Pope used to write, and I imagine he
wrote his ‘Universal Prayer’ there, for the unbounded prospect
leads the mind to the Great Author of all things, and to say to
Him, ‘Whose Temple has all space, &c.’ There is a little recess in
the wood where he used to study, and here perhaps he meditated his
satires, for we are most apt to blame the crowd when we ourselves
are out of the Tumult.”

[Page heading: THE NEW FOREST]

[Page heading: WILTON]

[Page heading: SAVERNAKE]

At Lyndhurst the Medowses took their guests to see the Forest--

“saw Burleigh and Bolder Lodges, the one belongs to the Duke of
Bolton, the other to Lord Delawarre. Saw the Forest, where there
are (after great depredations), still some fine trees remaining....
Went one day to Hurst Castle, which commands a full view of the
Isle of Wight; we dined on our cold loaf in the room where King
Charles was prisoner; it is a neat, strong castle but small--Harry
Bellardine is governor of it. Another day we were carried to
Beaulieu, a seat of the Duke of Montagu’s, the wood and water make
it the finest summer situation imaginable. The house was part of an
old Abbey,[443] and there are traces of the Monastery that show it
was large. We saw a fine prospect of the River and Isle of Wight
from a place called Exbury. From Lyndhurst we went to Salisbury; on
the Sunday we went to the Cathedral and heard an excellent sermon
from the Bishop of Lincoln. We received great civilities from the
Bishop of Salisbury[444] and Mrs. Sherlock. I cannot describe
Wilton,[445] it exceeds all that poetry and painting can represent.
A fine lawn leads you to a charming river, on which there is a
bridge, and such a bridge![446]... What sort of Bridge, say you?
Why such a bridge as the gods would build to lead the souls of
the Blessed from Lethe to Elysium if Charon would permit it. This
leads to a fine hill covered with Nature’s verdant carpet adorned
with fine plantations.... We descended from this hill and crossed
the river again over another elegant building, and so returned to
the house. The apartments are very noble, the Statues and busts
are famous.... The rooms are very fine, and there is one which
exceeds any I ever saw and which has in it the fine family piece
by Vandyck; it really exceeded my expectation, the figures are
so finely painted, their attitudes are gestures and their looks
are speech; there are many other fine pictures. From Salisbury
we directed our course to Stone Henge, which is an astonishing
thing.... Thence we went to Amesbury,[447] where great improvements
are making. There is a little river which winds about so as to make
the place appear almost an island. There are three pretty Bridges,
one in the manner of a Chinese house. The Duke of Queensborough has
planted the hill very prettily. The house was a hunting box, built
by Inigo Jones, the front handsome, the inside very small, only one
fine room.

“We got that night to Marlborough, early enough to walk in Lord
Hertford’s garden.... Lord Hertford has made a pretty grotto.

“From Marlborough we took our route to Lord Bruce’s,[448] the
access to it is very noble, avenues planted or woods cut thro’ for
a mile and a half before you reach the house. The house contains a
great number of fine rooms richly gilt and adorned with handsome
chimney pieces; there are many family pictures and some very good
ones....

“Dr. Courayer is still here.

“My brother Tom was here three weeks. The Westminsters[449] are
here, and they are admitted at Cambridge, so are now very happy.”

[443] Founded in 1204 for Cistercians.

[444] Thomas Sherlock, born 1678, died 1761: afterwards Bishop of
London.

[445] The Earl of Pembroke’s.

[446] A Palladian bridge. Here Sir Philip Sidney wrote his
“Arcadia.”

[447] Belonged then to the Duke of Queensborough, the patron of Gay.

[448] Savernake Forest House.

[449] John and William Robinson.

[Page heading: DR. COURAYER’S LETTER]

I copy a letter of Dr. Courayer’s here--

“November, 1747.

“DEAR MADAM,

“C’est sans doute un mauvais Genie qui a fait trotter ma lettre
par toute l’Angleterre, au lieu de l’addresser directement
à Sandleford, et cela je pense dans le dessein de me mettre
de mauvaise humeur en vous soupconnant d’indifference, ou de
m’inquieter par des allarmes sur votre santé. Votre reponse a
remedié au mal, et a exorcisé le mauvais esprit qui s’étoit ingeré
de vouloir nous broüiller ou nous refroidir, mais qui n’a fait que
decouvrir sa malice, sans rien produire de ce qu’il avoit eu en
vüe. J’espere que cette lettre ci ne fera pas tant de circuits.

“Je vous felicite de la continuation de la belle saison. Nous en
avons eu notre part à Londres, et Dieu qui, comme vous le dites,
fait luire son soleil sur les injustes comme sur les justes a moins
consulté nos iniquités que sa misericorde. Je ne laisse pas d’etre
un peu scandalisé de vos reproches. Croyez-vous donc qu’il n’y ait
de saints que dans les villages, et nous mettez vous tous au rang
des réprouvés? A la verité

“‘Le monde a de fort grands defauts,
Ne croyez pas que je l’excuse.
Il est mechant, leger et faux,
Il trompe, il seduit, il abuse.
Il est auteur de mille maux,
Mais tel qu’il est, il nous amuse.’

Ainsi ne soyez pas surprise, si je ne suis pas aussi ennemi de la
ville que vous pretendez l’être. Quand votre sort vous y ramenera,
vous changerez de morale comme de demeure, et en quittant les
Penates de Sandleford pour ceux de Londres, ce changement de place
vous fera changer d’Idolatrie, et vous convaincra de l’injustice
de vos declamations. Ce n’est pas après tout que je condamne votre
goût pour la campagne.

“‘La solitude est belle en vers,
On est charmé de sa peinture.
Mais elle a de facheux revers.
Quelque bien qu’on soit, le temps dure,
Et je vois dans cet univers,
Qu’on aime à changer de posture.’

“Je vous suis très obligé de l’offre que vous me faites d’ecrire ma
vie, au lieu de mon Oraison funèbre. Mon amour propre trouve à se
satisfaire dans ce Projet, et ce sera une chose egalement nouvelle
et curieuse de voir la vie d’un Philosophe écrite de la main d’une
Dame, qui n’approuve ni ses maximes ni ses inclinations. Mais quoi
qu’il en puisse etre c’est trop d’honneur pour moi d’avoir une
telle historiographe pour ne pas accepter votre offre; et quand
bien meme j’aurois à essuyer quelque trait de satyre parmi les
Eloges, je ne pourrois que vous savoir bon gré d’avoir voulu vous
exercer sur un sujet dont le principal merite seroit d’avoir passé
par vos mains.

“Pour dire tout le mal que vous dites de vous même, vous avez sans
doute des raisons que je n’ai pas pour le croire; et tant que je
les ignorerai, je ne puis pas vous voir par d’autres yeux que par
les miens. Mais puisque vous vous accusez d’etre si vaine, je dois
vous taire ce que je pense de vous, de peur d’augmenter encore la
vanité dont vous vous dites coupable. Restons chacun dans l’idée
que nous avons, vous en serez plus humble, sans que je sente
diminuer pour vous mon amitié et mon estime.

“Le Duc et la Duchesse de Portland sont venus ici pour la
naissance du Roi. Ils repartirent hier pour Bullstrode, où je
vous conseillerois volontiers lorsque Mr. Montagu vous aura
quittée d’aller passer quelque temps. Vous y auriez un peu plus de
compagnie, et la votre ne gateroit rien à la leur.

“Mrs. Donnellan sera ici demain ou le jour d’après. J’ai toujours
regardé la promesse qu’elle vous avoit faite comme un compliment
sans consequence, et je n’ai pu m’imaginer qu’elle put revenir de
King’s Weston qu’en compagnie, ce qui lui ôteroit la liberté de
vous voir.

“Je suis très obligé à Mr. Montagu et à Miss Robinson de leur
souvenir. Mes amitiés à l’un et à l’autre. Independamment de ce que
je leur dois, il suffit qu’ils vous appartiennent, pour qu’ils me
soient chers.

“Voici, Madame, une longue lettre. Peut etre vous ennuyera-t-elle?
En ce cas jettez la au feu avant que d’en achever la lecture. Une
autre fois je serai plus court, et me contenterai de vous dire que
je vous aime autant que vous le meritez, c’est à dire beaucoup, et
que je suis très sincerement tout à vous.

“LE COURAYER.

“À Londres, ce 3 Novembre, 1747.”

[Page heading: MATTHEW ROBINSON’S ELECTION]

Matthew Robinson had been returned member for Canterbury with little
opposition. In writing to her father to press his visiting at
Sandleford, Mrs. Montagu begs him to leave his canvasses, but bring
his painting materials. “We will provide all possible conveniences for
your work, and you may create immortal plants, clouds that will never
dissolve in rain, nor be chased by wind, and suns that shine larger
than in the miraculous days of Joshua.” She also thanks him for Hoyle’s
book on Chess, and Taylor’s on Perspective, and some drop medicine
called “Devil’s Drops,” which Mrs. Montagu alludes to as having “a
quality that makes one less fit for conversation than the Vapours
themselves!”

Matthew Robinson writes from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, to his father as
to his young brothers William and John. William was at St. John’s, and
John at Trinity Hall. Both matriculated most creditably. William[450]
was said to be the best scholar of the year of his college, and John’s
tutor had a high opinion of his talent. Matthew addresses his father
“Honoured Sir.”

[450] William became soon an intimate friend of the poet Gray.

[Page heading: LORD LYTTELTON’S “MONODY”]

Parliament being summoned for November 10, Mr. Montagu set out, but
very unwillingly, as his wife had been suffering much from “spasms of
the stomach,” a complaint she was much plagued with. In a letter of
November 14 he promises to send a pamphlet on Lord Lovat’s trial, and
Mr. Lyttelton’s verses. This latter was the celebrated Monody which he
wrote after the death of his first wife, _née_ Lucy Fortescue, who had
died on January 19 of this year, leaving him with two children--Thomas,
afterwards 2nd Baron Lyttelton, and Lucy, who married Arthur, Viscount
Valentia.

Mr. Montagu, accompanied by his neighbour, Mr. Herbert, of Highclere,
inspected his new house in Hill Street, which was then being
ornamented, and with which he was not pleased. They then proceeded to
see Lord Chesterfield’s house, which was nearing completion. He says
“his principal apartment, which is on the ground floor, will be very
magnificent.”

Mrs. Donnellan writes on November 17--

“I went with Mrs. Southwell[451] on Saturday to _King Lear_ to see
Garrick and Mrs. Cibber, both performed extremely well. I think
he took the part of the old testy madman better than the Hero,
and Mrs. Cibber is the soft, tender Cordelia in perfection. I am
only provoked that they have altered Shakespear’s plain, sincere,
artless creation into a whining, love-sick maid. I would have an
Act of Parliament, at least of Council, that nobody should add a
word to Shakespear, for it makes sad patchwork....

“I have read Mr. Lyttelton’s ‘Monody;’ ’tis moving and seems to
speak the feeling heart.... Madame ‘Gran’(ville) desires her duty,
she is sorry you are not in town, there was a charming execution
yesterday--two smugglers and a Jew, and a fine view from her
windows.”

[451] Wife of the Right Hon. Edward Southwell.

Mrs. Montagu’s health being extremely delicate, she was ordered to
Bath, accompanied by her husband and sister. They stayed at Mrs.
Purdie’s, Orange Court. In a letter of December 28, to Mrs. Donnellan,
she says--

“The day after I came I consulted Dr. Hartley;[452] he gave me
comfortable words, said mine was a Bath case, would be cured by
the waters, but medicines were improper and dangerous, and neither
ordered bolus, draughts, or electuary, or any of the warlike stores
of the faculty. The waters do not disagree with me, nor have I
been ill since I came in any violent degree. My spirits are not in
the best order, which you will not wonder at when I tell you my
brother Tom[453] has a miliary fever; Dr. Wilmot does not perceive
any danger at present, but cannot pronounce him safe till the fever
leaves him.”

[452] Dr. David Hartley, born 1705, died 1757; physician,
philosopher, and writer.

[453] Her second brother, admitted to Lincoln’s Inn, April 14, 1730.

[Page heading: THOMAS ROBINSON’S DEATH]

Alas! poor Tom died on December 29; his hitherto brilliant career being
cut short, my grandfather, Matthew, 4th Baron Rokeby, says, “by a cold
caught by being overheated in a pleading before the House of Commons.”
He was a young man so promising in his profession that the then Chief
Justice of the King’s Bench exclaimed, “We have lost the man in
England for a point of law.” His treatise[454] on Gavelkind still
continues to be the standard book on that subject. In sprightliness of
wit and fertility of invention he much resembled his sister. He left
on Mrs. Montagu’s recollection “an indelible impression of admiration,
and a regret which no subsequent acquisition in friendship could
sufficiently compensate.”

[454] “The Common Law of Kent,” or “The Customs of Gavelkind, with
an Appendix concerning Borough English,” 1st edition, 1741; 2nd at
a date I have not been able to ascertain; 3rd in 1822; 4th in 1858.
Edited by J. D. Norwood, of Ashford.

[Year: 1748]

In writing to Mrs. Donnellan soon after, she says--

“My poor brother’s virtues and capacity gave me the fairest hopes
of seeing him enjoy life with great advantages; a fatal moment
has destroyed those hopes, but it must be length of time that can
make me submit to the cruel disappointment; he was an honour and
happiness to us all, and I never thought of him without pleasure.”

[Page heading: BATH]

In a letter to Mrs. Donnellan from Bath, dated February 6, the
following passage occurs: “The Coffee House is really grown sprightly.
We meet Mrs. Pitt,[455] Mrs. G. Trevor, Mrs. Grosvenor, Lady Lucy
Stanhope, and a few more, and we are often very merry, and sit round
the fire after other people go away.”[456] The Freinds were at Bath,
but their little boy Robert being inoculated for the smallpox kept the
cousins apart.

[455] Anne Pitt, sister of Mr. Pitt, Maid-of-Honour to Queen
Caroline.

[456] The “Coffee House” apparently adjoined the Rooms, as is
shown in the reproduction of Nixon’s original water-colour drawing
of such a scene as Mrs. Montagu describes, now in Mr. Broadley’s
valuable Bath Collection.

Her spirits reviving, Mrs. Montagu, writing to the duchess, says,
“Whisk and the noble game of E. O. employ the evening; three glasses
of water, a toasted roll, a Bath cake, and a cold walk the mornings,”
but the regimen agreed with her, and she accompanied Mr. Montagu to
Sandleford on May 1, leaving Sarah Robinson, who was suffering from
headache, with her friend, Miss Grinfield, at Bath. From this period
dates the extreme intimacy which grew up between Miss Robinson and Lady
Barbara Montagu, sister of George Montagu Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax,
who was then living at Bath, and invited Miss Robinson to stay with her.

The Hill Street house not being completed, Mrs. Knight,[457] a cousin
of the family, lent Mrs. Montagu her house in Golden Square, London.
Miss Grinfield, just mentioned, was just made a dresser to the
princesses, daughters of George II.

[457] _Née_ Robinson.

“Miss Grinfield is in waiting.... The place is enough to weary a
person of the strongest constitution; their Highnesses rise early
and go to bed late; are waited upon by the dressers at dinner.
Princess Caroline[458] has one to read to her continually; poor
Nancy is to have only the £100 per annum, and no cloathes till one
goes off.”

[458] Married 1766, to King Christian VII. of Denmark.

[Page heading: MISS M. ANSTEY]

In the same letter Mrs. Montagu mentions Miss M. Anstey[459] had been
staying with her, but her parents insisted on her returning to them to
help furnish Trumpington, near Cambridge, a property they had just come
into.

[459] Sister of the author of the “New Bath Guide.”

[Page heading: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY]

From the Middletons, Mrs. Montagu writes to Mrs. Donnellan--

“Cambridge, June 15.

“DEAR MADAM,

“As I date my letter from the modern capital of the Muses, you will
perhaps expect that I should send you some strains of immortal
poetry, but I have not yet met with any such thing, and must rather
give an account of the Buildings than the literary works of the
University. I had some pleasure in the recollection of the easy
careless years of infancy, some part of which I passed here with
the most tender of relations, a fond grandmother; in comparison
of whose indulgence all other indulgence is severity, as you must
be sensible if ever you had the greatest of infant comforts, a
grandmother. So much to my particular circumstances; then, to
the general situation of the University. The Colleges do not in
general, stand so as to give ornament to the town, as those of
Oxford, but if the town is the worse for it, the Colleges are the
better, as they open to the fields, and from thence receive and
give a fine prospect. King’s College, Clare Hall, and Trinity
Library, and the finest of Gothick buildings--King’s College
Chapel, makes a beautiful appearance from the public walks. Trinity
College is a most noble thing; the Quadrangle is a sixth part
bigger than that of Christchurch in Oxford. The Library is very
handsome, and esteemed one of the finest rooms in the World. In the
Library there is preserved the skeleton of a gentleman who left his
bones as a monument of his regard to mankind on purpose to instruct
even the most superficial observer of the formation of the human
body, and at the same time designed that his name, like his body,
might be snatched from the grave; how various are the roads to
Fame! Some seek them by grand and pompous obsequies; others expect
them for not having Christian burial, and hope to be remembered
by a magnificent tomb, or the want of a coffin. I always thought
vanity the very marrow of a human creature, and it sticks to them
even to their very bones.... What gives me the greatest pleasure is
the seeing Dr. Middleton married to a person[460] who seems formed
to make him happy; she is very well bred and agreeable, has a most
obliging temper, likes his manner of life, shows him the greatest
regard, and among her accomplishments I must take notice of her
playing on the Harpsichord in great perfection.

“I found two brothers very well, and extremely happy in their
situation.”

[460] Anne Powell, his third wife.

[Page heading: RICHARDSON’S “CLARISSA”]

She then continues that, Master Knight having taken smallpox, she
cannot go back to Golden Square, but into two bedrooms in her
unfinished house in Hill Street. This sentence shows that Mrs.
Donnellan was a friend of Mr. Samuel Richardson, the great author: “I
wish you much pleasure with the nightingales at North End, and you have
a good right to be of so harmonious a society.” North End, near Fulham,
was Mr. Richardson’s[461] country house. He had published “Pamela”
in 1740, and “Clarissa Harlowe,” which was to make such a lasting
sensation, was published in this spring of 1748.

[461] Samuel Richardson, born 1689, died 1761. Novelist and
publisher; wrote “Sir Charles Grandison,” etc., etc.

[Page heading: PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE]

Mrs. Montagu writes to her sister, who was still at Bath on June
25, from Hill Street, where, as she states, everything is in great
confusion, “the middle floors not laid.” Mrs. Dettemere, her
lady’s-maid, had just lost her husband, whom she had not seen for
years, but loved dearly. She appears to have been a poor lady, but the
cause of her living separate from her husband does not appear. Dr.
Shaw had been consulted as to a return of Mrs. Montagu’s spasms of the
stomach, and recommended the extraordinary remedy of “sweating.” This
was to remain in bed for days and weeks in flannel sheets, which at
midsummer could have hardly been endured. She says--

“He assures me I shall neither be sick or nervous: after my
sweating fit is over, I am to drink asses’ milk, ride on horseback,
and grow fat and jolly. I am now thinner than ever, so the
reformation will be greater if I grow fat.... My brother Robinson
had a very pleasant journey to Aix, where I daresay he will have a
great deal of pleasure. There will be a great concourse of people
of all nations, and Lord and Lady Sandwich are extremely obliging
to him....

“Mr. Flower sent your jumps[462] yesterday; I did not pay for them
on account of his raising the price.”

[462] A sort of stays.

The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle had been signed in March, Lord Sandwich
and Sir Thomas Robinson[463] being the English plenipotentiaries.
Lady Sandwich, going out to join her husband, persuaded Mr. Matthew
Robinson, who was a great friend, to escort her to Aix-la-Chapelle.

[463] “Short Sir Thomas Robinson,” called in contradistinction to
“Long” Sir T. Robinson, Mrs. Montagu’s cousin.

In order to while away the weary hours of lying in bed at Sandleford,
Miss Anstey and Dettemere had to read aloud to Mrs. Montagu Admiral
Anson’s book, “A Voyage round the World,” recently published. Sarah
Robinson designated it “as the best receipt book in England as far as
dressing turtles and some Indian animals can reach.”

Mrs. Donnellan had lost her stepfather, Mr. Percival, on April 26 of
this year. He had long been in declining health. She was very anxious
about the remedy Mrs. Montagu was taking, and demanded constant news.
She recommends Townsend’s “Translation of the Conquest of Mexico” to be
read to Mrs. Montagu. Her mother, she writes, had taken a house for the
summer months “a little beyond the walls of Kensington gardens, and I
have a key to the nearest door.”

Dr. Shaw is mentioned as going away on his travels, leaving no
directions for his patients, and the Duchess of Portland as giving him
£600 to enable him to travel and find her shells and curiosities, for
which she had an insatiable appetite.

Sarah Robinson continued at Bath with Lady Bab Montagu, and hints
are thrown out in some of the letters of an attachment springing up
between her and Mr. G. L. Scott, mentioned before. Captain Pigott,
an admirer of Sarah’s, is described as “dressed according to custom
in a tied wig fresh powdered, a bloom colour cloth coat, laced most
magnificently with gold, and bloom-coloured stockings; he visits our
door continually, but all the consequence is a little expense in chair
hire to him.”

Two people with immense trains of attendants are noticed as then at
Bath, the Earl of Harrington[464] and Earl of Hertford,[465] the
latter “never stirs without three footmen, and his very chair men have
shoulder knots.”

[464] William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington; Viceroy of Ireland.

[465] 15th Earl, afterwards Duke of Somerset.

[Page heading: SPA]

Three letters of Matthew Robinson to his sister from the Continent
whilst with Lord and Lady Sandwich contain a few interesting
paragraphs--

“After my last letter we set out for Spa, whither we travelled
through the Dutchy of Limburg, a most beautiful country to look
at, and among the rest we saw to the left the Forest of Arden
where Jacques moralized, but though it is about 80 miles in
circumference, by means of bad government and its revenues being
carried to its Princess, the Empress, to Vienna its capital,
Limburg is a pitiful village and in the whole Dutchy there are
not above 4 or 5 other villages, still more contemptible. At Spa
we lived a very merry life, and were entertained by an Hungarian
Prince and other German nobility. Tokay and other very good wines
gave us a taste how very fine a country Hungary must be, but our
scheme was unluckily cut short in the middle by Lord Sandwich
having a sudden call to Aix. Upon our return Sir Thomas Robinson
was here, who at his Lordship’s request is joined with him as
second plenipotentiary; he says he is an old familiar of my
Father’s, and inquires much after him. Our life here is as it used
to be. The Sunday before last there was a most magnificent gala,
a dinner, supper and ball at the French ambassador’s on account
of St. Louis’ day, where I assure you I was much charm’d with the
unaffected liveliness and gaiety of the French.... Last Sunday we
had a second part of the same comedy by the Dutch on account of the
Prince of Orange’s birthday; besides a dinner and supper, there was
a ball at the Maison de Ville, which of itself is very magnificent,
and was finely decorated by Mr. Vanharen. Lady Sandwich both in her
journey and here has often wished for your company.... To-morrow
morning I set out for Bonn upon the Rhine, and we go from thence
all down the Rhine to the Hague.”

[Page heading: THE HAGUE]

Matthew and a Mr. Gee left Lord and Lady Sandwich at Aix. Young Edward
Wortley Montagu was acting-secretary to Lord Sandwich. From the Hague
he writes in October--

“Since I wrote to you last I have taken a long and pleasant journey
up the Rhine among the palaces of the four Electors, from thence I
am come to the Hague, about 10 days ago. From the neatness of the
town, the incomparable walks and rides about it, its rendezvous of
Ministers and politicks, it is a very agreeable place to live in.
The Ministers here by turns hold assemblies of the men at their
houses, morning and evening, and I have dined at the house of one
or other of them almost every day. The court is well filled and
well attended, but as formal as our own.... The most extraordinary
person here is Mr. Grounen, the Father of Mrs. Trevor, wife of
our envoy, who has knowledge and sense enough to be mighty well
acquainted with the History of Europe, and to be supposed by
some people to be writing the History of his own times, to have
constantly every noon about him a resort of the Ministers and best
company here, to be the center of all their news, and to be the
particular and intimate acquaintance of several great men, and
among the rest the correspondent of Lord Chesterfield, and yet at
the same time to be so mad as for fear of infection literally not
to touch any human creature, neither his servants, his children,
nor even his second wife!”

[Page heading: DEATH OF MR. JAMES MONTAGU]

Mr. James Montagu, half-brother to Mr. Edward Montagu, had for some
time been deaf, and was now in a very dropsical state; he now fell very
ill. Mr. and Mrs. Montagu nursed him tenderly till the end, which took
place on October 30. From letters of Mrs. Medows to Mrs. Montagu one
learns the brothers had not been brought up together; hence the blow
was less acutely felt. He appears to have died in London. His estate
of Newbold Verdon in Leicestershire was left to Wortley Montagu. Mrs.
Medows says, “I can’t help feeling a little hurt that Newbold goes
where it should not, but I really believe Sandleford is a pleasanter
place to live in.”

In a letter to Sarah, Mrs. Montagu says--

“Mr. Montagu is now returned from the melancholy ceremony of
opening the will. My brother has left us a handsome legacy, and
also all his plate and jewels, which last, he told the person who
made the codicil, would be proper for me, as I had refused any when
I married, perhaps his brother would forget them. I hear the plate
is valued at £1500, and the jewels, they say, are fine, but I never
saw them. I esteem the good will and kindness of the donor more
than ever I shall the glittering gems.”

The two sailor brothers had just returned from the East Indies.

“Charles grown from a fine boy to a very clever man, he is improved
in all respects.... My house looks like an Indian warehouse: I
have got so many figures, jars, etc., etc., you would laugh at
the collection, my gown I brought out of the ship buckled under
my jumps, it is very pretty and the work extremely neat. The
Captain has brought China, Lutestrings, taffeties and Paduasoys,
they wear so well, but the colors are not as good as those of our
manufacture.”

[Page heading: PRICE OF TEA]

Tea was also brought, and Dr. Conyers Middleton had 4 lbs. at 16_s._ a
pound. He had just brought out his “Free Enquiry into the Miraculous
Powers.” Matthew Robinson writes of it on December 17, “Middleton will
tell you there is no belief to be given to any of the miracles related
by the Fathers, Hume[466] says that there is no belief to be given to
miracles related by any man whatsoever.” And thus end the letters of
1748.

[466] David Hume, born 1711, died 1776; philosopher and historian.

CHAPTER VIII.

1749–1751--SOCIETY IN LONDON AND AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS--BEGINNING OF
CORRESPONDENCE WITH GILBERT WEST, AND RESIDENCE AT HAYES.

[Year: 1749]

An account of a subscription masquerade given at Ranelagh in May opens
the letters of 1749. My grandfather[467] by mistake put this in 1751.
It succeeded a magnificent fête and masquerade given on May 1 in
celebration of the Peace.

[467] _Vide_ Horace Walpole’s letter to Sir H. Mann, vol. ii. p.
292.

Mrs. Montagu writes to her sister at Bath on May 8--

“I am ashamed that I have been so remiss in writing to my dear
sister, but business and amusements have poured in torrents upon
me. I was some days preparing for the subscription masquerade,
where I was to appear in the character of the Queen Mother,[468]
my dress white satin, fine new point for tuckers, kerchief and
ruffles, pearl necklace and earrings, and pearls and diamonds
on the head, and my hair curled after the Vandyke picture. Mrs.
Trevor[469] and the Lady Stanhopes’[470] adjusted my dress, so that
I was one day in my life well dressed.

“Miss Charlotte Fane was Rubens’ wife, and looked extremely well;
we went together. Miss Chudleigh’s[471] dress or rather undress was
remarkable. She was Iphigenia for the sacrifice, but so naked, the
High Priest might easily inspect the entrails of the victim. The
Maids of Honour, not of maids the strictest, were so offended they
would not speak to her.

[468] Henrietta Maria.

[469] Mrs. John Morley Trevor, _née_ Montagu.

[470] Daughters of 1st Viscount Stanhope; their mother was a Pitt.

[471] Maid-of-Honour, and secretly married to Viscount Bristol,
afterwards Duchess of Kingston.

“Pretty Mrs. Pitt[472] looked as if she came from heaven, but was
only on her road thither in the habit of a chanoiness. Many ladies
looked handsome, and others rich, there was as great a quantity
of Diamonds as the town could produce. Mrs. Chandler was a starry
night, the Duchess of Portland had no jewels, and was miserably
dressed. Lord Sandwich made a fine Hussar. Mr. Montagu has made me
lay by my dress to be painted in when I see Mr. Hoare again. His
picture is thought like, but the face too full for my thin jaws. I
staid till 5 o’clock in the morning at the masquerade, and was not
tired, but a glass of your champagne and water gave me a fit of the
cholick the next day, and I have never been well since, but I had
better luck than Miss Conway[473] who was killed by a draught of
Lemonade she drank there....

“I suppose you have read Lord Bolingbroke’s new work,[474] as it is
short we idle ones in London can find time to peruse it.”

[472] _Née_ Penelope Atkyns, wife of George Pitt, afterwards Lord
Rivers.

[473] Miss Jenny Conway, sister of Lord Conway.

[474] “The Idea of a Patriot King.”

Mrs. Montagu paid a visit to the Bothams at Albury soon after this.
From the letters it appears Mr. Matthew Robinson was pressing a suit
on Miss Godschall, a rich heiress living near Albury, but it came to
nothing.

In June, Mrs. Montagu, being recommended to drink the Tunbridge waters,
was accompanied by Lady Sandwich, who was also ordered there; Mr.
Montagu remaining on business for a while in London, Sarah Robinson
still living with Lady Bab Montagu at Bath.

A letter from Lady Talbot welcoming them to stay with her till
they found a house now appears. She was the wife of William, 2nd
Baron Talbot, afterwards Earl Talbot and Baron Dinevor, _née_ Mary
de Cardonnel, a great heiress, who had been married at the age of
fifteen! An amiable, affectionate person, and a great friend of Mrs.
Montagu’s. Mrs. Montagu writes for her chariot to be sent to her; she
and Lady Sandwich having performed the journey in Lady Sandwich’s
post-chaise,[475] then a new vehicle.

[475] The four-wheeled post-chaise invented by Mr. Jethro Tull.

[Page heading: JOHN, DUKE OF MONTAGU]

They stayed three weeks drinking the waters, during which Lady Talbot
had a bad fall from her horse. A report reaching Tunbridge Wells that
Lord Sandwich had a fever, his wife, accompanied by Mrs. Montagu,
drove in four hours to London, where they found him recovered by the
taking of bark. As Lady Sandwich wished to be present at the Huntingdon
races, she did not return to Tunbridge, but Mrs. Montagu persuaded her
sister-in-law, Mrs. Medows, to accompany her there for a week. Mr.
Montagu now joined her from Sandleford, whither he had been accompanied
by Captain Robert Robinson, the sailor brother. The captain proceeded
on to Bath to see Sarah. Before leaving town, Mr. Montagu had been much
distressed at the illness of his relative, the Duke of Montagu, and
sent daily to inquire after him. He had only been at Tunbridge a few
days before the duke died, and he was summoned to town as an executor,
together with the Dukes of Bedford and Devonshire. Mrs. Montagu writes--

“I am grieved at the heart for the poor Duke of Montagu, as he was
your friend and the friend of mankind; his memory will be dear to
all that knew him, he is embalmed in the tears of the poor and the
distressed: it is happier to dye lamented than to live unloved.”

This is the Duke of Montagu[476] mentioned by Horace Walpole, page 141
of his letters to George Montagu, “as the head of all the ‘cues.’”[477]
In the codicils legacies were left to his servants, dogs, and cats.
Horace says, “As he was making the codicil one of his cats jumped on
his knee. ‘What,’ says he, ‘have you a mind to be a witness too? You
can’t, for you are a party concerned.’”

[476] John Montagu, 2nd Duke, born 1705, died February 16, 1749.

[477] The “cues” was the nickname of the large Montagu circle.

He left no male heir, only two daughters, the Duchess of Manchester,
who had remarried Mr. Hussey, and Lady Cardigan. Their mother was the
fourth daughter of the celebrated Duke of Marlborough.

[Page heading: MRS. VESEY]

Mr. Montagu got £100 as executor. Whilst he was detained in London,
Mrs. Montagu made an expedition to Coombe Bank in company of Mr. and
Mrs. Vesey. This is the first mention of people who were destined to
become most intimate friends. Mrs. Vesey was the daughter of Sir Thomas
Vesey, Bishop of Ossory. She married, first, Mr. William Handcock;
secondly, her cousin, Agmondesham Vesey, of Lucan, Ireland. He was M.P.
for Harris Town.

[Page heading: THE FEATHER SCREEN]

Mrs. Montagu writes--

“I went yesterday along with Mrs. Vesey to see General Campbell’s
place; we set out to avoid heat a little after 6. Lady Allen lent
us her coach and six. We got to Coombe Banke by nine. It is about
16 miles[478] from here. We walked about the gardens, which are
very pretty, and saw the house, dined under the shade, and about
4 o’clock Mr. and Mrs. Vesey got into their post-chaise to go to
London. I mounted my horse and went to Senoak, where Lady Allen’s
coach waited for me. Lord Sandwich and Lord Anson were just come to
the inn, and going to dine on turtle, to which they invited me, but
I had made a more agreeable meal in General Campbell’s garden....
I am going to dinner to Lady Talbot’s, where I breakfasted. Lord
Sandwich and Lord and Lady Anson and a great deal of company are
to dine there. We have now such a crowd we expect a splendid ball
to-night. I received great civility from Mr. and Mrs. Vesey, and
they desired to know how I got home last night, so I must beg you
to send the enclosed note to them in Bolton Row. They desired leave
to see the house and celebrated feather screen, so I have wrote
to Betty to have the house in order, and to set the screen for
them.... Coombank is but a small place, but a fine terrace commands
a beautiful view of the country. The house is most elegantly
furnished. We were offered everything as politely as if the General
had been there. We had a fine dessert of fruit served in the finest
china. Our dinner we carried, but wine, tea and coffee were offered
us.”

[478] Three hours doing sixteen miles shows the badness of the
roads.

This feather screen was in six panels, one of which was worked by Miss
Anstey, in imitation of one of the Duchess of Portland’s. The feather
work, immortalized afterwards by the poet Cowper, had been begun,
but it was the Duchess of Portland’s original idea. Numerous letters
mention feathers being sent or asked for. Lydia Botham collected the
plumage of peacocks, pheasants, and jays. Every known sort of parrot
and macaw was placed under contribution. From Albury the boxes of
feathers were sent by the Guildford coach to the “White Horse cellar in
Piccadilly.” With these came fifty pens made by Lydia from her geese.

Dr. Jurin[479] kept Mrs. Montagu longer than she intended drinking the
waters of Tunbridge. During her stay there amongst the company were the
Duchess of Somerset[480] and her daughter the Duchess of Bedford, Lord
and Lady Fitzwalter, Lady Ancram, Lady Anson, Lord and Lady Elibank,
Dowager Lady Barrington, Lady Betty Germain, Lord and Lady Vere
Beauclerk, Lady Talbot, Lord March, Lord Eglinton, Lord Granby and Lord
Powis, Lady Winchelsea, the Bishop of London and Mrs. Sherlock.

[479] Dr. James Jurin, born 1684, died 1750; physician,
mathematician and author.

[480] Second wife of Charles, “the proud Duke” of Somerset. Her
daughters became, one Marchioness of Granby, the other Countess of
Aylesford.

In a letter to Dr. Freind this is said--

“In many respects this place is inferior to Bath, in some it
is better. We are not confined here in Streets; the houses are
scattered irregularly, and Tunbridge Wells looks from the window I
now sit by a little like the village[481] you see from our terrace
at Sandleford, only that the inhabitants instead of Jack and Joan
are my Lord and my Lady.”

[481] Newtown.

[Page heading: HINCHINBROOK]

A letter of September 28, of Mr. Montagu’s, after his return to London,
is addressed to Hinchinbrook, where his wife had gone to stay with Lady
Sandwich for a grand ball at Huntingdon, and the election of a new
mayor. He says--

“I am not surprised that Hinchinbrook pleases you so well, or that
you are of opinion it is capable of being made a fine place, it
stands upon an eminence and commands a fine prospect, which those
that made the Terrass well knew. The venerable old elms in the road
are very ornamental, and the wood at the bottom of the garden is
pretty as is also the plantation in the Park. The brook from whence
the place takes its name is at a due distance from the house, and
might be improved into a river or fine piece of water. I doubt not
my Lord will do it, if not at present, at an age more suitable.
The room where Oliver Cromwell was born I daresay Mr. Audley will
be proud to show you, and is seen by all strangers, tho’ I don’t
believe it consists of one of the same particles of the material of
which the room was built when that great man was brought into the
world.”

[Page heading: THE MISS GUNNINGS]

Mrs. Montagu writes--

“The Huntingdon ball was more splendid than I expected. I danced
with Lord Sandwich. For beauties we had the two Miss Gunnings,[482]
who are indeed very handsome; _nonpareille_, for the sisters are
just alike take them together, and there is nothing like them; they
are really very fine girls.”

[482] The daughters of John Gunning, of Castle Coote, Roscommon.
Elizabeth married, first, the Duke of Hamilton; secondly, the Duke
of Argyll. Maria married the Earl of Coventry. There was a third
sister, Kitty, married Mr. Robert Travers, but lived in Ireland.

On her road back to London she stayed with the Ansteys at Trumpington,
and Miss Anstey accompanied her to London.

Sarah Robinson, between whom and Mrs. Montagu there was a slight
estrangement on account of her engagement to Mr. George Lewis Scott,
which Mrs. Montagu disapproved of, now paid her sister a visit.
Matthew wrote to recommend that the sisters should meet as if nothing
had occurred to weaken their bond of affection. Sarah’s health had
improved much by her long residence at Bath with Lady Barbara Montagu,
who accompanied her on her visit to Sandleford. Sarah had painted
a toilette-cover with flowers for Mrs. Montagu’s new house in Hill
Street, which was beginning to be decorated.

In November, Parliament called the Montagus to London.

[Year: 1750]

[Page heading: MRS. MONTAGU’S CHINESE ROOM]

[Page heading: A CLERGYMAN’S CHILDREN]

The first letter of 1750 is dated January 3, from Sandleford, addressed
to Sarah. I give portions of it--

“Lady Sandwich was so good as to spend a week with us, and as
the weather was fine for this time of year, we went out in the
post-chaise all the morning, then dinner, tea and supper pretty
well filled the rest of the time. On Monday I went with her
Ladyship to Reading, where we lay that night. The next morning she
went to town, and I returned hither, where I found my brothers,
who give me a very agreeable account of your health ... I saw our
friend Cotes the day before I left town, she is very well and in
good spirits, and seems determined to keep her freedom and enter
no more into wedlock’s bonds. She has only a small lodging, and
I think with her economy she might afford herself a house of her
own, and she might furnish it in the present fashion, of some
cheap paper and ornaments of Chelsea China or the manufacture of
Bow, which makes a room look neat and finished. They are not so
sumptuous as mighty Pagodas of China or nodding Mandarins. My
dressing room in London is like the Temple of some Indian god: if
I was remarkably short and had a great head, I should be afraid
people would think I meant myself Divine Honours, but I can so
little pretend to the embonpoint of a Josse, it is impossible to
suspect me of such presumption. The very curtains are Chinese
pictures on gauze, and the chairs the Indian fan sticks with
cushions of Japan satin painted: as to the beauty of colouring,
it is carried as high as possible, but the toilette you were so
good as to paint is the only thing where nature triumphs. Lady
Sandwich brought her sons here, they are charming boys; Lord
Hinchinbrooke[483] is much improved since you saw him, and Master
Montagu[484] is a complete beauty....

“Mr. Morgan is at last deprived of the curacy of Newtown, which
is a great grief to him. Nanny performs extremely well at the
embroidery, and I hope the habit of application will make her
useful to herself and other people. I was afraid she would never
have been either of those things! Her Father and Mother are much
afraid she should be buried in Westminster Abbey near the lady that
dyed by the pinch of her finger in working, but I will lay some
wager on her head she will not be killed by diligence; as to Jacky
Morgan, he has an admirable education for a jockey, he lives on
horseback but can neither read nor write.”

[483] John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich, born 1744.

[484] Edward Montagu, born 1745; Mrs. Montagu’s godson.

This passage shows the position of the lower class of clergy of the
period. Mr. Morgan was of Welsh birth, and preached long, dull sermons,
as appears from former letters; his wife was a good motherly body, but
no more. Mrs. Montagu apprenticed Nanny Morgan, as is shown by her next
letter.

“She is too high and too giddy for a servant, time and experience
may mend her, she likes the business she is going to.... I have
obliged Mrs. Albert to promise she shall never go without her
or Dettmere[485] or Mrs. Donnellan’s maid.... Charles went to
Cambridge on Tuesday.”

[485] Mrs. Montagu’s lady’s-maid.

Charles’s health had improved, but as he did not like the sea as a
profession, he entered Cambridge as an undergraduate.

“Tell Mr. Hoare when you see him, that if he pleases to send my
face[486] to Hill Street, it will meet with a kind reception;
it is a young face to be sure, but the retrospect to 18 is so
pleasant I shall not find fault with it. I am, as you observe,
Mistress of a post-chaize, which next to having wings, is the most
convenient thing in the world, and must serve till it is brought to
perfection. We liked so well our journey to Cambridge in the summer
in a post-chaize which we hired for the time, that we bespoke one
immediately.”

[486] Her portrait by Hoare.

The old post-chaises had only two wheels. Four-wheeled post-chaises
were new, and were thought the more dangerous, as being liable to
overturn.

[Page heading: LORD PEMBROKE’S DEATH]

A letter occurs now from the Duchess Dowager of Chandos, third wife,
and widow since 1744, of the 1st Duke of Chandos, surnamed the
“Princely Duke,” the builder of the palatial residence of Canons, in
Middlesex, on which he spent £200,000. Having spent his fortune in
building and speculating, Canons was sold for the _material_ at his
death. The duchess’s maiden name was Van Hatten, but she had been
married to a Sir Thomas Davall. After the duke’s death she came to
reside at Shaw House,[487] near Newbury, from whence she writes to Mrs.
Montagu, and after some inquiries as to health, etc., says--

“What different tempers the world consists of: I am told passion
sent the late Lord Pembroke[488] out of the world, but that Mr.
Middleton who opened him says that both heart and all the vitals
were displaced by the continual swathing he used to keep himself
from growing bulky. This was itself a discontented temper, and if
at any time I should be extremely strait laced and contradicted,
it is certain my crossness would have been very great, and I or
my lace must burst. The giving Ward’s pill to a cock and then
turning it into broth for old Lady Northampton[489] has something
curious in it too, but as it ended in death, I suppose will not
be practised further. How many tricks do we try to lengthen life,
and yet like poor Lord Pembroke waste it in tormenting our blood
because others will not be of our mind, or we are too fat, or
too lean to please ourselves: if there is not another life where
we may be more perfect, more happy, we are certainly the most
inconsistent, foolish creatures this world produces; how much
better the other planets have for inhabitants I know not.

[487] From a letter of Mrs. Medows, 1744, Shaw belonged to the
duchess, and had been rented by a Mr. Forster, who then went to
live at Englefield.

[488] Henry, 28th Earl of Pembroke, died January 9, 1750.

[489] Elizabeth, second wife and widow of 11th Earl of Northampton.

[Page heading: THE EARTHQUAKE]

The earthquake mentioned by Horace Walpole in his letters to Sir Horace
Mann, page 349 in volume 2, on February 5, created much terror. The
Montagus were in Hill Street at the time. On February 20, in a letter
to her sister, Mrs. Montagu says--

“I was not under any apprehensions about the earthquake, but went
that night to the Oratorio, then quietly to bed, but the madness of
the multitude was prodigious, near 50 of the people I had sent to,
to play at cards here the Saturday following, went out of town to
avoid being swallowed, and I believe they made a third part of the
number I asked, so that you may imagine how universal the fright
must be. The Wednesday night the Oratorio was very empty, though it
was the most favourite performance of Handel’s.”

A slighter shock took place a month later; some people prognosticated a
worse shock on April 3, which was to swallow up London. The following
letter of the Duchess of Chandos alludes to this:--

“Shaw, April 3.

“DEAR MADAM,

“I do assure you although I had many accounts of the earthquake, I
do easily perceive the difference betwixt a fright, and a sensible
account of the same matter of fact: the day this, I hope, will
kiss your hands and find perfect peace and safety at Hill Street,
is the day when in many people have great fears, but in my opinion
without reason, for I never heard of periodical earthquakes, and
the coolness of the weather I hope will assuage these sulphurous
heats. It would now bear hard upon Human understanding as well as
gratitude, if when they see how very easily the destruction of
popular places may be effected, we should not all live in such a
way as to make Death not so extremely shocking to us, as it has
appeared to some of the gay world at this time. The same Providence
that certainly made this complicated and beautiful Machine, is not
the children that blow bubbles in air only to divert themselves,
but has will, and good further designs suitable to His infinite
goodness and wisdom, and therefore a hope in Him is a real security
in all evils, and as to the manner of Death I have it, may be a
peculiar thought, that there is a degree of pain that human nature
cannot exceed consistent with life; which is a great mercy, or else
our cruelty to one another would be without bounds: therefore I
will never be too anxious what is the manner of my death, but trust
it to that power that sent me into life....

“Dear Madam, yʳ much obliged
and faithful humble servant,
“L. C. CHANDOS.”

[Page heading: DEATH OF DR. CONYERS MIDDLETON]

There are few letters for 1750 in my collection. In July Mrs. Montagu
went to Tunbridge Wells, whilst Mr. Montagu prepared to accept the
invitation of his Huntingdon constituents to the races, etc., held
there. Miss Anstey, who had accompanied Lady Romney[490] to Tunbridge,
remained with Mrs. Montagu for a while. Dr. Conyers Middleton and his
wife not being in good health, went to London to consult physicians.
In June, from Horace Walpole’s letters to George Montagu we learn the
doctor was suffering from jaundice and dropsy, and was much broken in
health. He died on July 28, 1750. In a letter of Mr. Montagu’s, dated
August 4, from London, he says--

“This morning at Vaillante’s the bookseller, I met Dr. Green,[491]
the Regius Professor, who told me the Friday before his death
Dr. Middleton sent for Dr. Plumtree, told him he thought he had
but a very short time to live, desired him freely to tell him his
opinion, which from the knowledge he had of him, he hoped he would
make no scruple to do, upon which the Professor told him he thought
he could live but a few hours; then he asked the Professor if from
his pulse he thought his death would be easy, who answered that he
did. He further told the Professor he had taken Dr. Heberden’s[492]
medicines till he found they did him no good, his case being out
of the Power of Physick. Dr. Green said he had left his niece an
annuity, but did not say what, nor any further about his will. He
was buried at St. Michael’s, Cambridge.”

[490] _Née_ Priscilla Pym, wife of 2nd Baron Romney.

[491] Dr. John Green, born 1706, died 1779; afterwards Bishop of
Lincoln.

[492] Dr. William Heberden, born 1710, died 1801; physician and
author.

Mrs. Montagu mourned sincerely for one who had acted as a grandfather,
a godfather, and an instructor to her.

[Page heading: ANNIVERSARY OF WEDDING-DAY]

Of a splendid letter she wrote to Mr. Montagu on the return of the
anniversary of her wedding-day, August 5, only a few sentences can be
inserted from its length.

“MY DEAREST,

“There is not any day in which you have not a right to my most
grateful acknowledgments, but there is not any day that so
particularly demands them as the fifth of August, when you made me
your friend and companion, and gave me so near an alliance to your
virtues and fortune, all so superior to what I could expect. I can
truly assure you my affection and esteem for you, and happiness in
you have increased every day. I am not sensible there can be any
further progress or addition made, but as I owe every happiness
to you, each day’s felicity adds to my obligation, and I hope
you think what does so increase my gratitude for eight years’
happiness in a state so often wretched, inexpressible thanks are
due. May we enjoy many years together of this happy society, but
if I should be taken from you, let the consciousness of having
been the occasion of my enjoying more happiness in a short life
than is the lot of thousands in a long one, take out the sting of
grief, and teach you to think of me with a tender but not painful
remembrance....” She signs--

“With heart and hand your grateful,
affectionate, faithful and obedient Wife,
“E. MONTAGU.”

[Page heading: MRS. BOSCAWEN]

At Tunbridge this year Mrs. Montagu first became acquainted with Mrs.
Boscawen, wife of Admiral Boscawen; she describes her as “a very
sensible, lively, ingenious woman, and she seems to have good moral
qualities. We often pass the evening together, partly in conversation,
partly in reading.” Mrs. Boscawen’s maiden name was Frances Glanville;
she had married Edward Boscawen, second son of 1st Viscount Falmouth,
in 1742. As Dorothy Boscawen, aunt to the Admiral, married Sir Philip
Medows, the families were already connected.

Mrs. Medows writes to Mrs. Montagu, “I think of Mrs. Boscawen as you
do, I expect you should be fond of the Admiral,[493] his cool courage,
his firmness, good nature, diligence and regularity, with his strong
sense and good head, make a great character.”

[493] Admiral the Hon. Edward Boscawen, born 1711, died 1761.

[Page heading: MR. GILBERT WEST]

Sir Dudley and Lady Ryder, Lady Townsend, and Lady Robinson, wife of
“Short” Sir Thomas Robinson,[494] were amongst the company. A Mr.
Samuel Torriano also appears as a friend of Mrs. Montagu’s. He tries
to find her a cottage near London, as she fancies her health would be
better in the country, and yet not so far from London as Sandleford,
during the winter session when Mr. Montagu would have to be in London.
The reception rooms in Hill Street were to be decorated in the early
spring. Hearing of a cottage at West Wickham, near Croydon, Mrs.
Montagu went to see it, and made her first acquaintance with Mr.
Gilbert West.[495] He was the son of the Rev. Dr. Richard West by
Maria, daughter of Sir Richard Temple, of Stowe. He married in 1729
Catherine Bartlett, by whom he had an only son, Richard. With them
lived Miss Maria West,[496] his sister; his mother had remarried Lord
John Langham. West was a cousin of Mr. Botham’s, also of Mr. Lyttelton,
afterwards Sir George Lyttelton. Writing to Mrs. Boscawen, Mrs. Montagu
says--

“I saw at Wickham the miracle of the Moral World, a Christian Poet,
an humble philosopher, a great genius, without contempt of those
who have none.... I am charmed with Mrs. West, and approve all you
say of her. She is neither a tenth muse, nor a fourth grace, but
she is better than all put together. I believe it might truly be
said of her--

“‘That she always speaks her thought,
And always thinks the very thing she ought.’

Her vivacity, easiness of behaviour and good sense delight me.

“Mr. West has been so good as to find out a cottage for me.
The pleasure of being near Mr. West gets the better of all
considerations in regard to the situation of my cottage. I hope it
will be an inducement to you to visit my hermitage, where you shall
be entertained with the wholesome fare of brown bread, sincerity
and red cow’s milk, which afford good nourishment to the mind and
body.”

[494] Afterwards Lord Grantham.

[495] Born 1706, died April, 1756. Author and poet; translator of
Odes of Pindar, etc.

[496] Maria West, afterwards wife of 1st Viscount Bridport.

[Page heading: BARRY AND GARRICK]

On October 16 she writes, “The cruel owner of the house near Mr. West
makes unreasonable demands, we are going to treat for one about two
miles from him, which Mrs. West and he went with me to see yesterday.”
She laments it is so far from the Wests. This house was at Hayes in
Kent, or, as it is frequently spelt in the letters, “Heyes.” Mrs.
Montagu continues--

“I hear there is a great strife and contention between Mr.
Barry[497] and Garrick, each acting the part of Romeo[498] every
night, and that the ladies think the first makes the best lover,
by which one may learn they think beauty a better qualification
than sense in that character, for Barry always seems to betray the
fool in all the parts he appears in.... The Duke of Ancaster[499]
is going to take unto wife the daughter of Mr. Panton;[500] the
match is at last agreed upon, and coaches and jewels and horses and
servants and houses and clothes and all the fine things with which
Hymen now embroiders his saffron robe, are bespoken....

“Mr. Ramsay[501] was so good as to call on us, and Mr. Montagu
and I went to his house, where we had the pleasure to see some
admirable pictures.”

[497] Spranger Barry, born 1719, died 1777; celebrated Irish actor.

[498] Barry at Covent Garden, and Garrick at Drury Lane.

[499] Peregrine, 3rd Duke of Ancaster.

[500] Mr. Panton was Master of the King’s Racers.

[501] Allan Ramsay, born 1709, died 1784. Eminent portrait painter;
son of the poet.

These letters are addressed to Hatchlands, Admiral Boscawen’s place
near Guildford.

[Page heading: EMBROIDERED FLOUNCES]

In a letter to Sarah at this period, Mrs. Montagu mentioned the
appointment of her brother Robert to a Madras and China voyage: “I
rejoice in the Captain’s appointed voyage to Madras and China, it is
reckoned a profitable and healthful voyage, and all we ask for our King
is ‘in health and wealth long to live.’” She then proceeds to comment
on some white satin flounces Sarah wished embroidered in China.

“As you design them to be in white, they need only have the outline
drawn on one flounce and on the sleeves and robing. Mrs. Marsh
is the best contriver of flounces: she did me a white lutestring
very prettily, this summer’s gown is to be cut in the same manner,
but not pinked.... All people are buying cloaths for the Birthday
... the prices are most unreasonable, 17 and 18 shillings a yard
for Damask, and six and twenty for flowered silks of an ordinary
appearance.”

In November Sarah Robinson writes to her sister as to her lover’s
appointment at Court--

“Mr. Scott[502] is appointed to have the education of Prince
George.[503] I can’t give this employment any name, for none but
the King has a right to appoint any one over the young Princes
under the title of governor or Preceptor; the salary I cannot tell
you, it being not yet determined. His Royal Highness[504] has left
it to Mr. Scott’s friends to name whatever they think proper, and
has behaved in the handsomest manner imaginable. He was recommended
to the Prince for this place by a great number of people, many of
whom had very little personal----” (the end of the letter is lost).

[502] He was made sub-preceptor.

[503] George III., then twelve years old.

[504] Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of Prince George.

[Page heading: THE DOWAGER DUCHESS OF CHANDOS]

Probably the Duchess of Portland may have been one, as she sided with
Sarah in the affair, telling Mrs. Montagu that she might wish to obey
her in all other respects, but could not control her affections. Lord
Bolingbroke is said to have recommended him through Lord Bathurst. The
ill-starred marriage took place probably at the commencement of 1751,
but no letters are left recording it. On November 18 the Dowager
Duchess of Chandos died at Shaw House, near Newbury, and in a letter to
Miss Anstey is thus noticed--

“A little before I went to London I lost my very good neighbour,
the Duchess of Chandos, a stroke of the palsy carried her off in
a few days: her bodily pains were great, but her mind felt the
serenity that gilds the evening of a virtuous life. She quitted
the world with that decent fare-well which people take of it, who
rather consider it as a place in which they are to impart good
than to enjoy it. Her character has made a great impression on me,
as I think her a rare instance that age could not make conceited
and stiff, nor retirement discontented, nor virtue inflexible and
severe.”

To Mrs. Donnellan, on December 30, Mrs. Montagu says, “The Duchess of
Chandos is greatly missed by the poor this rigorous season.”

In these two letters the following books and pamphlets are recommended,
“An Occasional Letter,” said to be Lord Bolingbroke’s;[505] the King
of Prussia’s “Memoires pour servir à L’Histoire de la Maison de
Brandenbourg,” and “Sully’s Memoires.”

[505] Viscount Bolingbroke, born 1678, died 1751; philosopher and
statesman.

[Year: 1751]

January, 1751, finds Mrs. Montagu in London, and Mr. Montagu at
Sandleford Priory, engaged in business affairs. Mrs. Montagu, on
January 7, writes to him--

“MY DEAREST,

“I am glad you are so far tired of your monastic life as to think
of returning to the secular state of a husband and a member of
Parliament. I believe our predecessors in the cowl had their
particular kinds of _volupté_ which silence, secresy and peace
might much enhance and recommend; but to those who have been used
to the bustle and business of life such pleasures want vivacity.
Boileau makes a man who goes to visit the Chantre just before
dinner observe the luxury of a prebendal table. Says he--

“‘Il voit la nappe mise,
Admire le bel ordre, et reconnait l’_Eglise_.’

I have sat so constantly in Lady Sandwich’s chimney corner, I can
give you little account of the world.”

To which Mr. Montagu rejoins, “I am much obliged to you for the kind
impatience you show at my stay here; in a few days I now hope to
convince you that however unworthy of either state, I have deserted
neither.” He was accompanied to London by Captain Robinson.

From a letter of Mr. Gilbert West’s of May 16, 1751, we learn that Mrs.
Montagu, though wishing to be near London and yet not in it, did not
take up her temporary residence at Hayes till then. In it he says, “I
have agreed with a farmer at Wickham to fetch your goods at the price
of 15 shillings: the waggon will be in Hill Street to-morrow morning
early.” He desires her to breakfast and dine at West Wickham with him,
and signs himself, “Dear Madam, your loving cousin to command till
death, G. W.”

[Page heading: “THE COUSINHOOD”]

In the collection of letters published by her nephew, Matthew Robinson,
4th Baron Rokeby, he says he cannot remember the reason why West and
Mrs. Montagu called each other cousins, but he had forgotten his
cousinship to the Bothams, the beloved cousins of his aunt, Mrs.
Montagu. “The cousinhood” was also the favourite term of the whole set
of Wests, Pitts, and Lytteltons, all much connected in marriage and
extreme intimacy.

Gilbert West was at this period forty-five years of age only, but even
then a perfect martyr to gout. Amongst his poems and translations was
Lucian’s “Triumph of the Gout,” every line of which he could painfully
indorse. In his “Lives of the Poets” Dr. Johnson[506] brackets him
with Crashaw under “the two venerable names of _Poet and Saint_.” He
was often visited by Lyttelton and Pitt, “who, when they were weary of
faction and debates, used at Wickham to find books and quiet, a decent
table and literary conversation.”

[506] _Vide_ Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets.”

There may still be seen at Wickham a walk made by Pitt, and at Wickham,
Lyttelton received that conviction which produced his “Dissertation on
Saint Paul.” The same spirit of _cheerful_ and _benign religion_ was
now to exercise a large influence on Elizabeth Montagu, to strengthen
her already religious turn of mind, and to enable her in the future,
though living in the great world of fashion and rank, and the idol of
society, to keep that sacred, secret lamp of spirituality _not of this
world_ alight.

[Page heading: THE WEST FAMILY]

The family circle at the Wests was a happy one; his wife and sister
adored him, and he was the magnet that attracted all to him. He had a
great sense of humour and a pretty taste for decorating, as the many
letters upon the subject of the adornment of the Hill Street rooms
show; Mrs. Montagu took his advice in every point from this time till
his death in 1756. At the period I am now writing of he was far from
well off, though expecting promotion, with just reason, having been a
faithful servant to the King, and secretary to Lord Townshend during
his period of office as Secretary of State.

[Page heading: MR. R. BERANGER]

Amongst the friends of the Wests, Mrs. Montagu now made acquaintance
with Mr. R. Berenger,[507] called by Mrs. West “the little Marquis.”
He was the son of Moses Beranger and Penelope Temple, and was therefore
related on the maternal side to West. He afterwards became “Gentleman
of the Horse” to George III. He wrote a book called the “History and
Art of Horsemanship.” He was famous for his charm in social life.
Hannah More called him “everybody’s favourite, all chivalry, blank
verse and anecdote,” and Dr. Johnson dubbed him “the Standard of
true Elegance.” He was a great friend of the Garricks. Another fresh
acquaintance was William Henry Lyttelton, brother of Sir George
(afterwards Lord) Westcote.

[507] R. Berenger, born 1720, died 1782.

At some early period of this year Sarah Robinson became the wife of
George Lewis Scott, but no date is recorded, and no letters concerning
the marriage remain. Only on June 9, when Mrs. Montagu was making her
yearly visit to Tunbridge Wells in company with Lady Romney, she writes
to her husband at Sandleford to say she had arrived safely, “Mrs. Scott
and the Captain,” whose departure to China had been delayed, seeing
her off. From other letters it appears the Scotts, accompanied by Lady
Barbara Montagu, took up their abode in Leicester Fields, now Leicester
Square, doubtless to be close to Leicester House, where, with their
mother, the widowed Princess of Wales,[508] Scott’s royal pupils dwelt.

[508] Frederick, Prince of Wales, died March 31, 1751.

At Tunbridge Mrs. Montagu joined Mr. and Mrs. West and their son, and
lodged in the same house. At Tunbridge were Sir George Lyttelton, his
brother the Dean, the famous Mr. Garrick, the Bishop of London, etc.
Then she wrote--

“Monsieur[509] and Madame Mirepoix are come to pass a few days
here, but I imagine they will soon be tired of us. The Justices of
Peace have done great service to the imprudent part of our company
by prohibiting gaming, and though you may suppose I do not number
myself among them, I feel my obligations to them on account of the
servants, who have one temptation less to be idle and bad.”

[509] The French ambassador and his wife. She was a daughter of the
Princesse de Craon.

She then adds grateful words to her husband, who had written to say
he had made a fresh will, and in her favour. Mr. Montagu was then in
London, but on the eve of going north to attend to his own estates
in Yorkshire, and the complicated business of regulating Mr. Rogers’
affairs in Northumberland. In this letter he says--

“I this day, though I could ill spare the time, dined in Leicester
Fields” (with the Scotts). “Being in the city I was informed by Dr.
Middleton’s bookseller that Mrs. Middleton has had the good luck
to sell Hildersham for 2000 guineas, it cost the Doctor, he said,
£1600, besides what he lay’d out in building, so that if there
should be some loss it cannot be much.”

[Page heading: HILDERSHAM]

Hildersham was some miles from Cambridge. Here Gray, the poet, loved
to visit Conyers Middleton, and improved his friendship with William
Robinson, who was preparing for Holy Orders, and whom Gray always
called the “Reverend Billy.”

On July 23 Mr. Montagu writes from Huntingdon--

“I lay last night at Cambridge. I dined with Mrs. Middleton in
company with your brother, and the evening I spent with the Master
of Clare Hall. Mrs. Middleton indulged me with the sight of some
letters that passed between the Doctor and a great man[510] who
formerly had a seat not far from Cambridge, and who is no more....
She very obligingly of herself promised your brother all the
Doctor’s Sermons which she had in her custody, and promised also to
keep it secret, which I think you and I should also do, even from
the brotherhood.... The races are to continue 4 days....

“I desire when wheatears are plenty and you send any to your
friends in London, you would send some to Monsieur de Moivre at
Pons Coffee House in Cecil Court in St. Martin’s Lane, for I think
he longs to taste them.”

[510] Probably the 1st Earl of Godolphin, who lived at Gog Magog,
near Cambridge.

[Page heading: MISS MARIA NAYLOR]

Mrs. Montagu wishing to hear about the Huntingdon races, he says--

“I can tell you little about the races, having no concern in the
bets, but I heard Lord Trentham had lost £1000, Captain William
Montagu £200. Lord Sandwich’s horse won a heat, but he did not tell
me how much he won.

“At the ball all the family of the Naylors were there, with Captain
William Montagu’s lady, who danced country dances. Miss Maria
Naylor danced both kind of dances, and was, I think, the lady that
outshone all the rest. Her head dress was new and particular, and
became her very well, and gave her the air of a shepherdess....
There was Mrs. Apreece and Mrs. Alstone, who married my relation
with a fortune of £4000, and Miss Ascham, etc. The distinguished
amongst the men besides the Prince of Baden, and the Marquis de
Bellegarde, were the Duke of Kingston,[511] Lord Montfort,[512]
Lord Onslow,[513] Lord Goring,[514] Lord March,[515] Lord
Eggletone,[516] Mr. Alstone and Mr. Apreece. The members both of
the county and town. Mr. Wortley from the Huntingdon races set out
for those of Reading.”

[511] The 2nd Duke.

[512] 1st Baron Montfort, of Horseheath.

[513] 3rd Baron Onslow.

[514] Viscount Goring, a Jacobite Viscount.

[515] 3rd Earl of March, afterwards Duke of Queensberry. “Old Q.”

[516] 10th Earl of Eglintown.

This was young Edward Wortley Montagu.

Mrs. Montagu writes to say her father had arrived at Tunbridge in great
spirits with a party of five, and she was, she adds, much better.

“I have a great appetite. I think I shall be able to eat for a
wager, with my brother-in-law.[517] I am glad Miss Maria Naylor
had an opportunity of shining in her proper sphere, the county of
Huntingdon. Why should the Gunnings[518] of universal empire drive
her from her little native land? Do they want to add the epithet
of great to their names? Indeed I do not know why Gunning the
great should not sound as well as Alexander the Great. I am afraid
the eldest Miss Naylor is much dejected at the infidelity of our
cousin Wortley, who is greatly enamoured of little Miss Ashe. All
collectors of natural curiosities love something of every species.
Mr. Wortley has had a passion for all sorts and sizes of women.
Miss Ashe is a sort of middle species between a woman and a fairy,
and by her rarity worthy to be added even to so large a collection
of amours.”

[517] George Lewis Scott.

[518] The celebrated Irish beauties, afterwards one Countess of
Coventry, the other Duchess of Hamilton and Argyll.

[Page heading: MISS ASHE]

Miss Ashe, or the “Pollard Ashe,” as Walpole called her, eloped with
Edward Wortley Montagu in the autumn of 1751. He was soon after this
put in prison with a Mr. Taafe in France for robbing or cheating a Jew.
As he was married before, though separated from his wife, he could not
marry Miss Ashe. She afterwards married a Mr. Falconer, R.N.

It was in this year Horace Walpole had written to Sir Horace Mann--

“Our greatest miracle is Lady Mary Wortley’s son whose adventures
have made so much noise, his parts are not proportionate, but his
expense is incredible. His father scarce allows him anything, yet
he plays, dresses, diamonds himself, even to distinct shoe buckles
for a frock, and has more snuff-boxes than would suffice a Chinese
idol with an hundred noses. But the most curious part of his dress,
which he has brought from Paris, is an iron wig; you literally
would not know it from hair. I believe it is on this account that
the Royal Society have just chosen him of their body.”

Mrs. Montagu wrote the description of “our cousin’s adventures,” and
after several comments on Wortley’s conduct, she says, “Poor Miss Ashe
weeps like the forsaken Ariadne on a foreign shore.”

The company at Tunbridge Wells had been increased by the Duke and
Duchess of Newcastle, the Duchess of Norfolk, and, Mrs. Montagu
writes, “we expect those goddesses called the Gunnings and Sir Thomas
Robinson.... My Father is very gay, but complains he never saw the
place so dull. I never said so to those about me, lest they should say
to me as Swift to the fat man who complained of a crowd, ‘Friend, you
make the very crowd you blame!’ Mr. West reads to us in the evening,
and the wit of the last age supplies us when we do not meet with any in
this.”

[Page heading: DEATH OF MRS. PERCIVAL]

[Page heading: DR. SHAW]

At this period Mrs. Percival (Anne Donnellan’s mother) died; she had
long been in bad health. Dr. Shaw, the celebrated traveller, died also,
and Mrs. Montagu comments thus on August 29 on the two events to her
husband, who was then at Newcastle--

“As to poor Mrs. Percival I hailed her voyage to the realms of
rest: the last page of life is commonly a blank. But for poor
Shaw,[519] he might have lived and laughed and talked of the Deluge
and collected cockle shells many years longer. The death of those
we esteem afflicts us; we are shocked at the death of those we have
laughed[520] at and laughed with, as we never looked upon them in
so serious a light as to suppose so sad an event could happen to
them. I would deck his tomb with emblems of all the wonders of the
land and deep; crocodiles should weep and tigers howl; every shell
should become vocal; sea-weed should bloom immortal on his tomb,
and moss, though petrified, lie lightly on his breast. What signify
voyages? What signifies learning! Hebrew Professor! Traveller to
Memphis! Sole witness living of the present state of the Ptolemies!
Must all these glories sink into oblivion? How gloriously had he
been interred had he died in the perilous pass of the Pyramids,
and succeeded Mark Anthony in the bed of Cleopatra! I hope the
poor man will have the satisfaction of being embalmed in the true
Egyptian manner, for the more like a mummy his body be made, the
more it will joy his gentle ghost. Nature has lost the inventory of
all works in losing Shaw, for he knew every plant from the Hyssop
to the Cedar of Lebanon, and every animal from the pismire to the
whale. I am afraid his sister Sarah must again dust down those
cobwebs she has been taught to venerate, and kill the moths in a
stuff turban, though it should have a horn more or a horn less.”

[519] Dr. Thomas Shaw; traveller, antiquary, and naturalist.

[520] In former letters his merry and loud laughter in the
Bullstrode circle is commented on.

Another Dr. Shaw is frequently mentioned as a chief physician at
Tunbridge Wells, but whether he was a relation of the archæologian and
naturalist, I have not been able to ascertain.

In a letter from Newcastle of September 1, Mr. Montagu, who with
his steward, Mr. Carter, was regulating the business of his cousin,
Mr. Rogers, mentions Denton Hall[521] for the first time, which was
eventually to become one of his residences.

[521] Note at the end of this work on Denton Hall.

“Yesterday Mr. Carter and I rid to Denton, which is about 3 miles
from Newcastle. We first viewed the house which is a good deal
worse than I thought, and indeed so bad that it would not be
justifiable to lay out any money upon it. The rooms on the second
floor are pretty good, and served the family when they went there,
but if ever I should be so happy as to have your company in these
parts, if these should be thought fit I would hope it would be no
difficult matter to find you some better accommodation. This next
week I propose to go to a Farm of Mr. R.’s at Jarrow, about ten
miles from Newcastle, and to Monk Seaton, where he has another. I
never have yet been at either of them.”

[Page heading: JARROW]

Amongst his other property Mr. Rogers owned much in coal mines, some of
them entirely his own, others in which, with the Claverings, Mr. Bowes,
the Bishop of Durham, etc., he owned a share. Mr. Montagu was employing
a Mr. Newton to value these--a complicated, unfair business. Owing to
Mr. Rogers’ lunacy, much advantage had been taken by dishonest stewards
and coal merchants, too long and complicated for description in these
pages. On September 8 Mr. Montagu writes--

“On Friday last I was at a farm one half whereof belongs to Mr.
Rogers, the other to Sir Thomas Clavering, called Jarrow, not
far from Tynemouth, it is in the parish where the Venerable
Bede formerly practised. Upon a Key this estate is obliged to
contribute to for the repair of all the Ships that come to this
port, they unload their ballast, which in length of time is become
an incredible heap. This estate is let at £107 10_s._ per ann.
To-morrow we go to Ravensworth, after which, when we shall have
visited Seaton and Rudchester, we shall have seen all Mr. R.’s
territories.”

[Page heading: CARLISLE TURNPIKE ROAD]

In the next letter he says--

“North Seaton lies upon the sea, consists of very good land with
coal under, and has a key and a granary for corn and some quarrys
of stone. The other estate of Rudchester is that through which
the Carlisle Road is to pass, and which with all the clamour of
the tenants will, as we think, be rather a benefit than hurt to
the estate. It is thought to have a good deal of good coal in it,
and but a very little way from the river Tyne, and will be very
valuable if ever the river should be made navigable so high up as
Mr. Carter thinks it may be in twenty years’ time.”

Mr. Montagu also adds that he and Mr. Carter have discovered that Mr.
Rogers owned two-thirds of a colliery at West Denton, of which they had
not known.

On September 13 a son was born to the Dauphin[522] of France, and Mrs.
Montagu writes on the 15th--

[522] Louis, Duke of Burgundy, son of the Dauphin.

“I hear Monsieur Mirepoix intends the town fine illuminations and
masquerades on the birth of the Dauphin. I believe every miserable
peasant in France has great joy in the birth of one who is to be
his future tyrant. Strange infatuation!... I wish the English loved
their Island as well as the French do their ‘Monarque.’”[523]

[523] Louis XV.

On the 22nd Mrs. Montagu writes to say she is packing up for London,
and she begs her husband, who is thinking of moving southward, not
to travel with a single servant, as “every newspaper is filled with
accounts of robbery.” She congratulates him “on having so well
considered and settled Mr. Rogers’ affairs. It appears a noble estate,
and I hope to see it in your possession who would nobly enjoy it.”

Matthew Robinson had been in Yorkshire, and thence travelled to
Scotland, then little visited. Mrs. Montagu says--

“I suppose my brother Robinson is by this time returning to the
known world. I expect to hear he has travelled to the extremity
of Scotland, for he is a man of infinite curiosity, and would have
knowledge at no entrance quite shut out.”

To this her husband rejoins, “Whenever I come near London I will hire a
guard, and if I can give you sufficient notice shall not be sorry to be
met by Brunton....” He says he has not heard of Brother Robinson since
he dined with him. “If he has gone to Scotland, I have lately read in
a book concerning the Rebellion, that barbarous part of our island may
in good weather be seen with pleasure!” In return, his wife writes from
London that she is going to Hayes “to enjoy quiet and my books till
you arrive. I take Mrs. Isted with me.” Mrs. Isted was a poor lady who
acted as housekeeper to Mrs. Montagu, and had seen better days.

The Scotts had been dining with her. They were then living at Chelsea,
as London did not suit Sarah’s delicate health. A scheme of education
for the young princes had been drawn up and submitted to the King, who
was much pleased with it. It was also rumoured he was to take them to
Hanover next year, “a step which will not be popular.”

[Page heading: DR. MIDDLETON’S WORKS]

“Dr. Middleton’s works are to be printed by the booksellers by
subscription. Mrs. Middleton sold the copies for £300: it seems to
me an insolence in the booksellers that should not be encouraged.
I should never grudge the guinea I could spare to a man of genius,
but to a set of wretches that live by other people’s wits, I am not
so willing to part with that gold which the wise man allows to be
better than anything except wisdom. It is strange malice in Apollo
to make poor authors and rich booksellers, he should give his upper
servants the best wages.”

From Hayes, on September 30, she writes--

“I am so well in health that I scarce know myself, and I think I
am a little like the humorous Lieutenant that would run no hazards
when he was well, though he was prodigal of life when he had a pain
in his side. I am very desirous to preserve this comfortable state
of health, and also my comely, plump and jolly condition; my face
is no longer a _memento mori_. I am like one of the goddess Hebe’s
elder sisters, ‘Not ever fair and young, but not so wan and decayed
as of late.’” She adds, “Lady Bab and my sister design to visit my
solitude in a few days. She is much better for country air, but
they do not enjoy many rural pleasures at Chelsea, it is too near
London.”

[Page heading: MRS. DONNELLAN]

[Page heading: JOURNEY TO IRELAND]

Mrs. Donnellan, having let her house to Lord Holderness, was preparing
to go to Ireland to visit Dr. and Mrs. Delany at Delville, and her
relations. She was staying with her friends the Southwells, at King’s
Weston, and as her letters throw light on the then mode of travelling,
I insert portions--

“Delville, near Dublin, October 7.

“MY DEAR MRS. MONTAGU,

“I am sure will be pleased to hear I am got safe to the end of my
journeys and voyage, and am with my good friend Mrs. Delany resting
myself after a good deal of fatigue. I left London as I told you
I should, as I informed you by a letter from King’s Weston, which
I hope you got. Mr. Leslie, the gentleman who took the charge of
conducting me to Ireland, came at the time appointed, but we heard
so bad an account of the cross roads between Bristol and Chester
that we were very near setting out again for London, and going
from thence to Chester. However, I plucked up courage, and as my
good friends would do everything to accommodate me, we set out on
Thursday sen’night with Mr. Southwell’s coach, two post-chaises and
Mr. Southwell’s groom and double horse,[524] so that we had variety
enough. The road for the greatest part to Gloucester was so bad I
rid most of it, but hearing it would rather mend I sent back the
coach, and between the chaise and the horse got to Chester and on
to Park Gate in five days, and Mr. Leslie my companion, being a
very sensible, polite travelled man, made the journey as agreeable
as such a journey could be. We found Lord and Lady Fitzwilliams and
many more waiting at Park Gate for the King’s Yacht, but as I hate
a crowded ship and am not a coward, I resolved not to wait, and
the wind being fair, we hired a small ship for ten guineas and set
sail. The next morning at six o’clock and with the finest weather
imaginable made our passage and landed in Dublin in 30 hours. The
Bishop of Clogher, who had been enquiring for me the morning tide,
came to the house when I was landed, with his usual politeness, and
carried me to their house, and as it was too late to come here,
they kept me that night, and the next day Mrs. Delany came and
brought me here, where I am extremely happy, the most polite and
hearty welcome, a large and convenient house, sweet gardens and a
manner of living quite to my sober taste. Our only disturbance are
visitors: we had yesterday seven coaches and six, mostly my own
relations, my brother, sister, nephews and nieces.”

[524] Means a horse trained to carry a pillion.

[Page heading: THE DAUPHIN]

On October 31 there is a letter dated from London to Mr. Gilbert
West. In this Mrs. Montagu is forwarding him patterns of all kinds
of dove-coloured paper from Mr. Bromedge’s shop, and Mr. Linnell was
sending a marble chimney-piece for West’s big room at Wickham. She
says--

“Poor Dr. Courayer notified to me that he was ill of a sore throat,
and could not come to visit me, though he wanted to see me. I went
to him, I was obliged to pass through all the gay vanities of Mrs.
Chenevix,[525] and then ascend a most steep and difficult staircase
to get at the little Philosopher: this way to wisdom through
the vanities and splendid toys of the world might be prettily
allegorized by the pen of the great Bunyan; the good man himself
to an emblematizeing genius would have afforded an ample subject;
his head was _enfoncé_ in a cap of the warmest beaver, made still
more respectable by a gold orrace, ‘a wondrous hieroglyphick robe
he wore,’ in which was portrayed all the attributes of the god
Fo, with the arms and delineaments of the Cham of Tartary.... I
began to consider him as the best piece of Chinese furniture I had
ever seen, and could hardly forbear offering him a place on my
chimney-piece. He asked much after your health.... There has been
a terrible fracas in the court of the grand Monarque, the people,
generally credulous, have strangely taken it into their heads that
the Duke of Burgundy is not legitimate, and instead of acclamations
and huzzas, murmurs and sighs have echo’d through the streets, on
the days the feasts were made for the birth of this child; besides
this there was conveyed into the cradle some gunpowder and a match
with an epigram expressing that they would serve to blow up the
pretended Duke of Burgundy. Upon his Majesty hearing this, the
gouvernante, sub-gouvernante, women of the bedchamber, even to the
toothless pap tasters, were all sent to the Bastille, one of the
women who said she saw a hand reach over a screen to throw a paper
into the cradle is since dead. A little knowledge is allowed to be
a dangerous thing; had the lady been able to inform his Majesty at
once who threw the paper, she had been safe, but it is supposed the
hand that threw it, lest she should discover more, gave her a dose
that has silenced her for ever....

“The Duke and Duchess of Portland and Lord Titchfield dined with us
to-day, and staid till eight o’clock; her grace inquired after you.”

[525] Famous shop for _bric-à-brac_ and toys.

[Page heading: MR. NATHANIEL HOOKE]

The last letter of the year is on December 17, to Mr. West, from
Sandleford. From this it appears Mrs. Montagu was extremely unwell,
but anxious for the health of Mr. West, who had had one of his
periodical gout attacks, which had rendered his hands temporarily
incapable of use. In this mention of Mr. Hooke is made. Mr. Nathaniel
Hooke[526] wrote a “History of Rome,” and other works. He assisted
the old Duchess of Marlborough to write her “Memoirs of her Life,”
for which she gave him £5000. He was a Roman Catholic, a disciple of
Fenelon’s, and brought a Catholic priest to Pope on his death-bed.
“Pray have you made a good Protestant of Mr. Hooke? If you cure heresy
and schism, should you not have your doctor’s degree in divinity rather
than law?”

[526] Died in 1763.

END OF VOL. I.

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.

[Illustration: GILBERT WEST.]

Volume II

[Illustration:

_Frances Reynolds pinx.ᵗ_ _C. Townley sculp_

_Mrs. Montagu_

_Emery Walker Ph.Sc._ ]

ELIZABETH MONTAGU

THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS

HER CORRESPONDENCE FROM 1720 to 1761

BY HER GREAT-GREAT-NIECE

EMILY J. CLIMENSON

AUTHORESS OF “HISTORY OF SHIPLAKE,”
“HISTORICAL GUIDE TO HENLEY-ON-THAMES,”
“PASSAGES FROM THE DIARIES OF MRS. P. LYBBE POWYS,” ETC., ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

IN TWO VOLUMES--VOL. II

[Illustration: Publisher’s colophon, a coat of arms]

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1906

PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
LONDON AND BECCLES

CONTENTS TO VOL. II

PAGE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix

CHAPTER I.

Rev. William Robinson--Botham and Bishop Sherlock--Death
of Dr. Chesilden--The Scott separation--South Lodge,
Enfield--“Chinese pomp”--A letter to Edward Montagu--Mount
Morris--Archibald Bower--“Madonna”--Inoculation--Books
to read--History of the Popes--G. L. Scott--The Delany
lawsuit--Turkey Pye--The joyous Berenger--Death of Bishop
Berkeley--A woman in vapours--Mrs. Laurence Sterne--Lady
Bute’s Assembly--A perfect woman--Pitt’s insomnia--Rent
of lodgings--The Penshurst pictures--Trinity College,
Cambridge, Library--Gibside--Stonelands--“Minouets”--Beau
Nash--Pitt at Hayes--The new post-chaise--Bullstrode
menagerie--Richardson’s _Sir Charles Grandison_--Lucian’s
_Triumph of the Gout_--Schoolgirls’ bills--Death of
Pelham--“Tom” Lyttelton--West appointed to Chelsea
Hospital--Elizabeth Canning--Molière’s _Precieuses
Ridicules_--Hateley the artist--Lillingston
Dayrell--History of Bath--Pitt’s engagement and
marriage--Bishop Warburton and Bolingbroke--Pitt’s
honeymoon--“Gossip” Joan--Nathaniel Hooke 1–66

CHAPTER II.

Lord Montfort’s suicide--Mrs. Pococke--Lord
Baltimore’s house--Mr. Bower’s
cottage--Torriano’s marriage--Hatchlands--Sheep
Leas--Painshill--Reading--Sarah Scott’s daily
life--The calm, meek Miss Pococke--The Garrett
Wellesleys--Fears of French invasion--Garrick at Drury
Lane--Earthquake at Lisbon--Death of West--Wortley
Montagu’s pious pamphlet--Captain Robert Robinson’s
death--Byng--David Hume--Morris Robinson’s marriage--The
eccentric Matthew Robinson--Pitt buys Hayes
house--Viscount Pitt’s birth--Lyttelton a peer--The
famous _bas bleu_ assemblies--Emin--Windsor election
riot--Stillingfleet--Culham Court--George Stevens--Battle
of Hastenbeck--The Severn and Wye--Elizabeth
Wilmot--Battle of Kollin--A description of Emin--“Is got
pure well”--The Mordaunt Expedition--Dr. Monsey--Admiral
and Mrs. Boscawen--Battle of Rosbach 67–122

CHAPTER III.

The Delany trial--Death of Dr. Clayton--Emin applies
to Pitt--The attack on St. Malo--Death and will of
John Rogers--The Garricks--Letters to Mrs. Elizabeth
Carter (_passim_)--Lyttelton and Monsey--The Louisburg
blockade--Correspondence with Lyttelton (_passim_)--Molly
West’s marriage--Newcastle--Denton Hall--Lumley
Castle--Hampton Court, Herefordshire--Battle of
Zorndorff--Emin on Frederick the Great--The _eau
de luce_ disaster--Mrs. Garrick--Current price of
food--Athenian Stuart--Viper broth--“Brusher” Mills the
snake-catcher--Illness of George II.--Young Mr. Pitt--The
Session opened--Monsey’s doggerel--Admiral Boscawen
thanked by Parliament--Lady Emily Butler--Helvetius’
_De l’Esprit_--Attempted assassination of King of
Portugal--Lyttelton’s _History of Henry II._--Burke’s
_Sublime and Beautiful_--Dr. Johnson--Emin off to
Armenia--Calves Pluck water--Harleyford--Inverary
Castle--Alnwick--York--Glamis Castle--Scotch
characteristics--Burke’s appeal for Madrid
Consulship--Quebec taken--Bonus, the picture-cleaner--The
Laurence Sternes 123–177

CHAPTER IV.

Correspondence with Lyttelton (_passim_)--Lord Bath--The
Lisbon Embassy--_Dialogues of the Dead_--Lord
Chesterfield--Earl Ferrers executed--William Robinson’s
marriage--Tunbridge Wells--The Stanley family--Ned, the
groom--Lord Bath’s character--Lord Mansfield--“Montagu’s
main”--Sophocles--Hagley House rebuilt--Dr. Monsey’s
ways--Allan Ramsay, portrait painter--Letter to Duchess
of Portland--Macpherson’s _Highland Poems_--Bishop
Sherlock’s letter--Dr. Young--George Bowes’ funeral--Miss
Bowes--Greek Plays and Shakespeare--Green tea and
snuff--Death of George II.--George III. king--George
II.’s will--Floods at Newark--A great lady’s avarice--The
King’s first speech--Attendance at Court--A fashionable
dentist--A languid campaign--Bishop Sherlock’s letter
to the King--_Billets doux_--Chesterfield’s _bon
mot_--An impetuous lover of fourscore--Monsey’s fresh
doggerel--George Colman the elder 178–227

CHAPTER V.

Admiral Boscawen’s illness and death--Wortley
Montagu’s death--“Montagu Minerva”--Voltaire’s
_Tancred_--Macpherson’s _Fingal_--Lord Bath’s gift to
Mrs. Carter--Dr. Young’s letters--Another _Dialogue of
the Dead_--An anonymous letter--the British Museum--A
country gentlewoman--Gesner’s _Mort d’Abel_--Lord Bath’s
character--The future queen--Mrs. Montagu’s advice to
Tom Lyttelton--Monsey’s bloom-coloured coat--Dr. Young’s
_Resignation_--Lord Bath’s portrait--The Coronation--Lady
Pomfret--Lord Bath at Sandleford--Position of
Ministers--An act of humility--Widows’ weeds--The
_Bas-Bleus_ and shells--Laurence Sterne 228–273

APPENDICES.

“Long” Sir Thomas Robinson 275

Sandleford Priory, Berks 278

Denton Hall, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northumberland 281

INDEX 283

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOL. II.

MRS. MONTAGU _Frontispiece_

_From the engraved portrait by C. TOWNLEY, after FRANCES
REYNOLDS, in the possession of Mr. A. M. Broadley._
(_Photogravure._)

TO FACE PAGE

TEA AND COFFEE IN THE BATH-ROOM 38
_From the drawing by JOHN NIXON, in the possession of
Mr. A. M. Broadley._

THE CIRCUS, AT BATH 40
_From a drawing by THOMAS MALTON, in the possession of
Mr. A. M. Broadley._

THE KING’S BATH, AT BATH 60
_From a drawing by THOMAS ROWLANDSON, in the possession of
Mr. A. M. Broadley._

PHILIP, FOURTH EARL OF CHESTERFIELD 64
_From the picture by WILLIAM HOARE, R.A., in the National
Portrait Gallery._ (_Photogravure._)

DAVID AND MRS. GARRICK 82
_From the picture by WILLIAM HOGARTH, in the possession of
His Majesty The King._ (_Photogravure._)

GEORGE, LORD LYTTELTON 96
_From a picture by (unknown), in the National Portrait
Gallery._

MRS. MARY DELANY 106
_From the picture by JOHN OPIE, R.A., in the National
Portrait Gallery._

ALLERTHORPE HALL, YORKSHIRE 120

CONYERS MIDDLETON 120
_From the mezzotint by FABER, after the picture by
ECCARDT, 1746._ (_Photogravure._)

BENJAMIN STILLINGFLEET 128
_From an engraving by V. GREEN, after ZOFFANY._

MRS. ELIZABETH CARTER 160
_From the picture by SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, P.R.A._

DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON 164
_From the picture painted for Topham
Beauclerk by SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, P.R.A., in the
possession of Mr. A. H. Hallam Murray._

EDMUND BURKE 170
_From the picture by SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, P.R.A., in the
National Portrait Gallery._

DR. EDWARD YOUNG 256
_From the picture by (unknown), in the National Portrait
Gallery._

WILLIAM PULTENEY, FIRST EARL OF BATH 258
_From a picture by SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, P.R.A., 1761, in
the National Portrait Gallery._ (_Photogravure._)

LAURENCE STERNE 272
_After the picture by SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, P.R.A., in the
possession of The Marquess of Lansdowne._ (_Photogravure._)

ELIZABETH MONTAGU

THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS

CHAPTER I.

1752–1754--CHIEFLY AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS, SANDLEFORD, AND
HAYES--BEGINNING OF FRIENDSHIP WITH PITT--CORRESPONDENCE WITH
GILBERT WEST.

[Year: 1752]

[Page heading: “PEREGRINE PICKLE”]

[1]_January 1, 1752_, an interchange of letters and compliments from
the Wests and Mrs. Montagu take place. Mrs. West sends a huge turkey
and ham pie, half for Mrs. Montagu, half for Temple West, Gilbert’s
brother. Mr. Pitt, Lady Cobham, and Berenger were expected. In a letter
to her sister, Sarah Scott, Mrs. Montagu mentions--

“My Father is going to purchase a fine living for Willy, indeed he
will not enjoy it till after the death of the present incumbent,
but it brings in £470 a year, a fine reversion for a younger
brother, and what, joined to another moderate living, will be a
comfortable subsistence.”

This was the living of Burghfield in Berkshire, purchased from the
Shrewsbury family, for two lives, of which in after years William
Robinson became rector, his son Matthew succeeding him. Further in this
letter it says--

“I recommend to your perusal ‘The Adventures of Peregrine
Pickle.’[2] Lady Vane’s[3] story is well told. Mr. W. Robinson and
the Doctor called on me this morning. The Doctor talks of Bath for
his health, but he is the best-looking invalid I ever saw. An Irish
Bishopric will cure him entirely. Mrs. Delany is not in England.
Poor Mrs. Donnellan has lost her brother, Dr. Donnellan,[4] and is
in great affliction.”

[1] In 1752 the New Style began. I adhere to the dates as placed on
the letters, as I have all through this book.

[2] Published in 1751, by T. Smollett.

[3] _Née_ Anne Hawes, of Purley Hall, Berks. Married, first, Lord
William Hamilton; secondly, Lord Vane.

[4] The Rev. Christopher Donnellan, a friend of Swift’s.

Mr. W. Robinson, afterwards Sir William Robinson, and Dr. Robinson,
were her cousins, brothers of “Long” Sir Thomas Robinson and Sir
Septimus, and sons of William Robinson of Rokeby. Dr. Richard
Robinson[5] was chaplain to the Duke of Dorset, then Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, and had just been made Bishop of Killala. They were immense
men, with fine features and rosy cheeks. Mr. Richard Cumberland[6]
calls Dr. Richard Robinson “a colossal man.” So attached was Sir
William to his brother Richard that Cumberland says he imitated the
Archbishop in everything, even to the size of his shoes, diet, and
physic!

[5] The Rev. Dr. Richard Robinson, born 1709, died 1794; afterwards
Archbishop of Armagh, and 1st Baron Rokeby.

[6] Richard Cumberland, dramatist, born 1732, died 1811.

On February 10, Mr. West applied to the Bishop of London[7] for further
preferment for Mr. Botham, and writes to Mrs. Montagu--

“Wickham, February 10, 1752.

“DEAR COUSIN,

“Inclosed is my letter to the Bishop of London, which I send open
for your perusal; if you approve of it, be pleased to seal it and
convey it to his Lordship in what manner you think proper. I most
sincerely wish it may have any good effect for my cousin Botham’s
sake, but we must not flatter ourselves too much. Great men often
think their smiles sufficient Favors, and you know there is a
Beauty in that of my Lord of London that must enhance its value....

“Dear cousin,
“Your most affectionate and
obliged humble servᵗ,
“G. W.”

[7] Rev. Thomas Sherlock, born 1678, died 1761.

[Page heading: BISHOP OF LONDON’S LETTER]

The letter was sent to the Bishop. Here is his reply to Mr. West--

“London, ye 18th February, 1752.

“SIR,

“I had the honour of yours of the 10 inst., and tho’ I am disabled
from writing myself with the Gout in my Hands, yet I will not omit
to assure you that there are very few whom I should be better
pleased to oblige than yourself, and the Lady at whose instance you
write.

“I feel very sensibly the distress of Mr. Botham and his wife, and
judge as you do that it is a case that calls for, and deserves
assistance. But in considering where my Patronages lye, I cannot
find that I have any living within distance of Albury, unless it be
in the City of London, where probably Mr. Botham would not choose
to live. When I have the Happiness to see you, you shall be more
fully acquainted how far I am able to assist you.

“I am, Sir,
“Your very obedient, humble Servᵗ,
(Signed by himself) “THO. LONDON.

“Mrs. Sherlock desires to join me in respects to you and Mrs. West.”

In March, Mr. Pitt obtained for Mr. Gilbert West the clerkship of the
Privy Council, a lucrative office.

On March 25, from Hayes to Wickham, Mrs. Montagu writes--

“DEAR COUSIN,

“I thank you most heartily for immediately giving me the sincerest
joy I have felt for this long time. May you long enjoy what you
have so late attained.... You cannot imagine the pleasure I
propose in hearing your friends congratulate you on Fortune’s
first courtesy. Base Jade! to be so tedious and so sparing in her
favours.”

With many congratulations to Mrs. West, etc., to which Lydia Botham,
then at Hayes, added a few lines, Mrs. Montagu announces she will
convey him and Mrs. West to London the next morning in her post-chaise,
and they shall stay in Hill Street, where Mr. Montagu was attending to
his parliamentary business; and, she adds, to fix an hour “so as to be
with the President of the Council at 12 o’clock.”

[Page heading: DR. WILLIAM CHESILDEN]

From London, on April 17, Mr. Montagu writes an account of the
celebrated surgeon, Dr. William Chesilden’s death--

“The papers, I suppose, have informed you of the death of poor
Chesilden. I had an account of the manner of his death from one Mr.
Vourse, an eminent man in his own profession. He told me the poor
man was with Jerry Pierce and others, telling them how soon after
his being seized with the Palsy he had been making a bargain with
an undertaker to bury him, with this he was entertaining them with
his usual humour, and in the midst of his story was seiz’d with an
apoplectic fit which finish’d him in half an hour.... I forgot to
add that Mr. Chesilden had eat a great deal of Bread and drank a
good quantity of ale; being asthmatic, this was reckoned to be the
cause of his death.”

[Page heading: THE SCOTT SEPARATION]

It will be remembered that Mrs. Montagu was always opposed to her
sister Sarah’s marriage to George Lewis Scott. Unfortunately, her
fears as to their felicity were prophetic, for in April, 1752, after
only a year’s matrimony, they separated; incompatibility of temper was
alleged, but from the letters there was evidently much more below the
surface. Mrs. Delany, writing in April to her sister, Mrs. D’Ewes,
says--

“What a foolish match Mrs. Scott has made for herself. Mrs. Montagu
wrote Mrs. Donnellan word that she and the rest of her friends had
rescued her out of the hands of a very bad man: but for reasons of
interest, they should conceal his misbehaviour as much as possible,
but entreated Mrs. Donnellan would vindicate her sister’s character
whenever she heard it attacked, for she was very innocent.”

Sarah was only twenty-nine. Her father and brothers separated her from
Mr. Scott, as is shown in his own letters to Mr. Montagu, who had been
his original friend. He acknowledged “that Mrs. Montagu knew nothing
of the separation till it was communicated to her;” in truth she was
at Hayes at the time. Her letters indicate the enmity and rancour of
a great lady whose name was kept behind the scenes. Mr. Scott wrote
two letters to Mr. Montagu, dated April 29 and May 1, but both are so
involved and mysterious as to shed no real light on his misdemeanours.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Montagu received Mrs. Scott at Hayes, and in a letter
to her husband, whom she was preparing to join in London, says Morris
was urging Mrs. Scott to go to Albury. She says--

“I could leave her at Hayes when I go to town, but her spirits
are so bad and she is so ill she cannot be alone.... Indeed, poor
creature, her situation is miserable, allied to the faults and
the infamy of a bad man, subject to his aspersions, and liable to
the censures of his friends (for the worst have some), as in all
disagreements in wedlock, blame falls ever on the innocent where
there is no harmony. ‘How happy to behold in wedded pair!’ each has
the credit of the other’s virtues; they have double honour, united
interests and all that can make people strong in society. This,
my Dearest, is my happier lot, inriched by your fortune, ennobled
by your virtues, graced by your character, and supported by your
interest.”

Mrs. Montagu accompanied Mrs. Scott to Albury. She writes--

“We had a very pleasant journey here, and our horses performed
well. We found Lydia and Johnny in health and happiness, surrounded
by five of the finest children I ever saw; the youngest boy is a
little cherubim and has the finest white hair imaginable.”

[Page heading: A SEDAN CHAIR]

[Page heading: THE SCOTTS]

Mrs. Donnellan, in May, writes from Delville, where she still was, to
Mrs. Montagu, to say that Lord Holderness was to give up her house in
Hanover Square about August, and as it was too large for her fortune,
and the lease was near its end,[8] she wishes Mrs. Montagu to look out
for a house for her “not farther than Windsor from London. Soon after
our return, the Dean and Mrs. Delany go to Down, and I fear his affairs
will not permit him to go to England this year.” She adds--

“I have writ to Mrs. Shuttleworth to bespeak me a chair of
Vaughan.[9] I would have it plain and light, lined with white
cloath and green curtains, as white and green is my livery. If you
should go to town, I should be obliged to you if you would send to
Vaughan about it....

“I now come to the interesting part of your letter, the unhappy
affair of poor Mrs. Scott. I had heard before I received yours that
she and Mr. Scott were parted, but could hardly believe it, a match
so much of mutual inclination seemed to promise mutual happiness,
and the shortness of the time of their union hardly allowed them
to find out they were not happy, so that you are unwilling to hurt
the gentleman in his character. I must conclude he is very bad,
since in so short a time he could force Mrs. Scott and all her
family to come to such an _éclat_. I am extremely concerned for all
the uneasiness you have had on the occasion, but you have had the
consolation of showing yourself a most generous and kind sister
in supporting her in her misfortunes, and especially as it was a
match made against your better judgment. I beg my compliments to
Mrs. Scott, and I heartily wish her health and spirits to support
her situation; ’tis said here she is returning to Bath to live with
Lady Montagu. On these occasions people love to seem to know more
than perhaps they do; all I say is that you entirely justify Mrs.
Scott, and I am sure you must know the truth. I hear, too, he has
given her back half her fortune, and has settled a 150 pounds a
year on her; this, I think, is a justification to her.”

[8] Mr. Macartney took it on.

[9] Means a sedan chair.

Mrs. Montagu had indeed a great deal of trouble at this time, for
besides sheltering and endeavouring to cheer Mrs. Scott’s failing
spirits, she had, to say nothing of her own constant ill-health,
the additional trouble of her favourite brother Jack’s illness, now
continuing some months, of a nervous disorder, which he never recovered
from.

[Page heading: SOUTH LODGE]

[Page heading: THE REV. WILLIAM ROBINSON]

On May 26, from Sandleford, Mrs. Montagu writes to Mr. West, who is at
her house in Hill Street, attending as clerk to the Privy Council--

“DEAR COUSIN,

“I was informed by Mrs. Isted[10] that you intended to return to
town in the middle of this week, so I imagine that by this time you
are in the Empire of China.[11] The leafless trees and barren soil
of my landscape will very ill bear comparison with the shady oaks
and beautiful verdure of South Lodge, and the grinning Mandarins
still worse supply the place of a British Statesman: but as you
can improve every society and place into which you enter, I expect
such hints from you as will set off the figures, and enliven
the landscape with rural beauty. I grieved at the rain from an
apprehension that it might interfere with your pleasure at South
Lodge. I hope it did not, but that you saw the place with the
leisure and attention it deserves; if you give me an account of
the parts of it which charmed you most, or of the whole, you will
lead my imagination to a very fine place in very good company, and
I shall walk over it with great pleasure. I imagine you would feel
some poetic enthusiasm in the Temple of Pan, and hope it produced a
hymn or ode in which we shall see him knit with the Graces and the
Hours to dance, lead on to the Eternal Spring, through groves of
your unfading bays.”

South Lodge, Enfield, was then the residence of Mr. Pitt, the grounds
of which he laid out with great taste, and designed the Temple of
Pan. Mrs. Montagu had recently been on a visit to him here, as will
be seen in West’s answer. At the end of a long letter, which contains
directions as to the ornaments of her room, comments on her bad health,
in which she quotes Pope’s saying, “ill-health is an early old age,”
she winds up with regretting that Sir George Lyttelton and Miss West
were going to Tunbridge so soon, for “I fear they will leave the place
the earlier, as they go at the beginning of the season.” She finishes
by commending her brother William, who was to spend a day or two in
Hill Street, to West, saying--

“I wrote my advice to him to take this opportunity to pay his
respects to you, but possibly a little College awkwardness, added
to natural timidity, may prevent his doing it. I assure you he is a
very good young man, more I will not say, for having for some years
had a mother’s care of him, I have also a mother’s partiality:
perhaps you may like him the better for his resemblance to your
son.”

[10] Mrs. Isted, Mrs. Montagu’s lady housekeeper.

[11] She was fitting up her big room in Chinese style, and West was
assisting her with hints.

From Albury she had brought Lydia’s second daughter, Bessie--

“Not so handsome as her sister whom you have seen, but she is fair
and well shaped, very sensible and of a sweet disposition, and
though but ten years of age, reads and writes well, and has made a
great progress in arithmetic.”

To this letter Gilbert West answers on May 30--

“Mr. Pitt, as you will easily imagine from your own experience,
received and entertained us with great politeness, and something
still more pleasing and solid, with every mark of friendship and
esteem. He had provided for me a wheeling chair, by the help of
which I was enabled to visit every sequestered nook, dingle and
bosky bower from side to side in that little paradise opened in
the wild, and by the help of my imagination doubled the pleasure I
received from the various Beauties of Art and Nature, by recalling
and participating the past pleasure of a certain person,[12] some
of whose remarks and sayings Mr. Pitt repeated with a secret pride,
and I heard with equal admiration and delight. The weather indeed
was not so favourable to us as we could have wished.... Molly[13]
indeed, who has an insatiable ardour in viewing a fine place, and
an almost implicit faith in Mr. Pitt’s taste and judgment, stole
out often by herself, and in defiance of wind or rain walked many
times over the enchanting round.... Kitty[14] has seemed to be
inspired with an unusual flow of spirits, which not only emboldened
her to undertake, but enabled her also to complete the tour, which
I was forced to make in my chair, attended by her, Molly, and Mr.
Pitt.”

[12] Mrs. Montagu, who had been on a visit to Mr. Pitt.

[13] Miss West, his sister.

[14] Mrs. West.

In the reply occurs the following passage:--

“I am very glad you and Mrs. West went over every part of South
Lodge, as you see with more judgment you must see with more
pleasure than I did, and I think there can hardly be a finer
entertainment not only to the eyes but to the mind, than so sweet
and peaceful a scene. I was surprised to hear Mr. Pitt say he had
never spent an entire week there, this shows one that a person who
has an active mind and is qualified for the busy scene of life,
need not fear any excess in the love of retirement.”

[Page heading: CAPTAIN ROBERT ROBINSON]

[Page heading: “CHINESE POMP”]

Captain Robinson returned from his Chinese expedition in the _Saint
George_ the middle of June, and Mrs. Montagu and Mrs. Scott met him
from Sandleford at her villa at Hayes. “He has brought me two beautiful
gowns and a fine Chinese lanthorn. We are to go on board the _St.
George_ to-morrow,” she writes to her husband. He also brought a gown
apiece for Lady Sandwich and her sister, Miss Fane. The greater part of
the Robinson family went to dine on the _Saint George_, but on a stormy
day, and Mrs. Montagu was very terrified at the tossing of the small
boat they went in. Soon after this, in the beginning of July, Mrs.
Montagu left for her annual visit to Tunbridge Wells, where she had
taken the “White Stone House” on Mount Ephraim. Sarah Scott returned
to Sandleford to Mr. Montagu, _en route_ for Bath, where she was about
to take up residence with her friend, Lady Bab Montagu. At Tunbridge
were Sir George and Lady Lyttelton, Mr. West, Miss Charlotte Fane, Mr.
Garrick, Mr. Bower, the Dean of Exeter, General Pulteney,[15] etc. At a
big ball Mrs. Montagu says--

“I shone forth in full Chinese pomp at the ball, my gown was much
liked, the pattern of the embroidery admired extremely.... Garrick
had an incomparable letter from Beranger which he read with proper
humour one day he dined here.... I go every day to Mr. King’s
lectures.”

[15] Brother of Lord Bath.

On July 22 Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband--

“Sir George and Lady Lyttelton[16] went away this morning, as to
the lady, she is so unsociable and retired, her departure makes
no difference in the Society, in all her manners she signified a
dislike and contempt of the company, and in this, the world is
always just, and pays in kind to the full measure, and even with
more than legal interest at 4 per cent!”

[16] The second Lady Lyttelton, _née_ Rich.

[Page heading: “A COLD LOAF”]

Mr. West from Tunbridge visited his cousins, the Bothams, at Albury,
and found Lydia in a terrible state of health, and worried with the
preparation of her five children to be inoculated. He persuaded her
to go to Tunbridge to consult Dr. Shaw, and writes from Stoke to Mrs.
Montagu to suggest that Mrs. Botham should stay with her at Sandleford
whilst the children are inoculated, and left in their father’s care.
He mentions Mr. Hooke being in a cottage near Stoke, very busy writing.
Lydia Botham, despite of all entreaties, returned to Albury to remain
with her children. Mrs. Montagu contemplated a visit to Horton, _alias_
Mount Morris, with her husband, to stay with her brother Matthew, but
violent rheumatism attacked her in the shoulders. She was reluctantly
obliged to let Mr. Montagu visit “the brethren,” as they termed them,
alone. Meanwhile, West, not being satisfied with the tutor with whom
his son was residing, hastened to Hill Street to remove him to Oxford.
Mrs. Medows[17] writes from Chute on October 3 to say she had taken
her nieces, the Miss Pulses, to see Sandleford, where they ate “a cold
loaf,”[18] and “I was not a little exalted as a planter when I saw
chestnuts I had set nuts, five and forty feet high.” She mentions that
Mrs. Isted gave them a great many good things, “and showed several
pretty pieces of her painting, and one of your curtains finished and
a handkerchief the little girl you are so good as to take care of is
making for you, that will look very like point.”

[17] Mr. Montagu’s sister.

[18] The usual expression for a picnic then.

Mr. Montagu set out on October 2 to Horton, and arrived at Canterbury,
where he ascended the Cathedral tower for the view, his first sight of
that place. His first letter crossed one of his wife’s, in which she
laments her inability to accompany him, and says--

“I suppose you will see the place with great veneration, where your
consort’s virtues, charms and accomplishments were ripened to their
present perfection, besides the pleasure of seeing my brothers,
which would have been great. I should have reviewed the place where
I spent the careless days of infancy and the more gay ones of early
youth with satisfaction. To the Fair, the years from 15 to 20 are
very agreeable.” She continues, “When do my brethren come to town?
I hear my brother Robinson stays to cultivate the maternal acres.
As to the Paternal they will not come yet. I think he will think of
the Père Eternel when he does not say the Lord’s Prayer. I design
to go to Mrs. Donnellan to-morrow, she is at North End, where she
designs to remain till her house is ready for her reception.”

These letters are addressed thus:--

“To
“Edward Montagu Esqr. & Memʳ· of Parlᵗ·
at Matthew Robinson Morris Esqr.,
at Horton,
“Near Hythe,
“Kent.”

Morris Robinson, when not in town on business, lived with his brother,
and it was a home to all the brothers as they required one, their gay
old father, Mr. Robinson, preferring lodgings in London, where he was
the life and soul of the fashionable coffee-houses.

[Page heading: A BACHELOR!]

Mr. Montagu having complained of his horse not liking stony roads, his
wife writes--

“I am sorry your horse does not like hard roads, for the ways about
Horton are very stony; a dull horse is like a dull friend, one is
safe but not much delighted in their company.” She adds, “I hope
the sight of so many merry bachelors does not revive in you the
love of a single state. Theirs is the joy of the wicked, not the
pure comforts of a holy state like matrimony.... Poor Mr. Brockman
is the only man truly sensible of the evils of celibacy, and he
weeps and will not be comforted, as all unmarried men should do,
were they truly sensible of their misfortune.”

This is playfully malicious, as Mr. Brockman had been one of her
earliest admirers.

[Page heading: MOUNT MORRIS]

Her husband, on October 12, answers a long letter of hers about the
monuments in Canterbury Cathedral, and says--

“Since I came here I have passed my time much to my satisfaction,
the entire freedom and liberty that reigns here, the love and
harmony that dwells amongst the brethren, as it is very uncommon,
so is the more agreeable to me, as I cannot but take a part and
be affected with pleasure and pain in everything that relates
to you. If you had been here you would have much added to our
happiness, and I believe this not only to be my sentiments but
that of all the rest of the company. I have never before now had
an opportunity of sufficiently observing this house, which is very
large and perfectly regular, though it is not placed just where one
could wish it, ’tis easy to see is capable of great improvement by
openings and cuttings in a good deal of that fine prospect which is
now shut out by the walls and trees; and by grubbing up the bushes
and hedges and making a kind of Paddock on the South side of the
house. A bason of water like that at Newbold might also be easily
made.... Some of these things the worthy owner is not without
having some thoughts of doing, as well as cutting some walks and
vistas through his wood.”

There is a picture of Mount Morris in Harris’ ‘History of Kent,’
1719, a large square house with a cupola surmounted by a big ball and
weathercock. In front of the house and round it are the small walled
gardens, formally planted, the fashion of the period. These were
eventually pulled down by Matthew Robinson, the hedges grubbed and
all thrown into one large park,[19] in which his numerous horses and
cattle roamed at large. Mr. Montagu seemed to have enjoyed some fine
partridge shooting whilst at Horton. He also frequented “‘Old Father
Ocean’ at Hythe, with whose solemn majestic look I am always delighted.”

[19] A picture of Mount Morris as altered by Matthew is in the Kent
volume of “Beauties of England and Wales”.

[Page heading: ARCHIBALD BOWER]

Visits to the Scotts of Scotts Hall, the Brockmans of Beachborough,
etc., are spoken of. In a letter of the same date, October 12, to her
husband, Mrs. Montagu first mentions Archibald Bower[20] and his wife.

[20] Archibald Bower, born 1686, died 1766; wrote “The History of
the Popes,” etc., etc.

To give the whole biography of Archibald Bower would take too much
space in this book. An account of him can be found in the “National
Biography,” vol. vi. p. 48. He was a Scotsman, was sent to Douai, and
entered the Jesuit Society in 1706. In 1717 he studied Divinity at
Rome; became Reader of Philosophy and Adviser to the College of Arezzo.
Horrified at the “hellish proceedings” of the Court of Inquisition,
where he witnessed the torture of two innocent gentlemen, he fled to
England, and while there made the acquaintance of Dean Berkeley, the
old admirer and friend of Mrs. Donnellan, who was afterwards Bishop of
Cloyne. He entered, as tutor, the family of Mr. Thompson, Coley Park,
Berks, and afterwards that of Lord Aylmer. He revised the “Universal
History.” In 1748 he was made keeper of the Queen’s Library, and in
1749 he married a widow with one child, a niece of Bishop Nicholson.
His first volume of his “History of the Popes” was published in 1748,
the second in 1751, the third in 1753. Though renouncing the Jesuit
order, he seems to have had business dealings with the Society, some of
which brought him into considerable obloquy, but they are too lengthy
to be detailed here.

Mrs. Montagu, returning to Hayes, says--

“Mr. Bower and his wife are to come to me on Friday, and stay till
Saturday or Monday, he is a very merry entertaining companion. He
left all gloominess in that seat of horrors--the Inquisition. I
breakfasted with him on Tuesday, he is but between two or three
miles from Hayes. His wife is civil and silent, so I asked her to
come over with him. I never saw any country more beautiful than
about Chislehurst, where he lives. I cannot say much in praise of
his habitation, which he terms his Paradise, but indeed to a mind
so gay and cheerful as his, all places are a Paradise. He is much
engaged with those old ladies, the Popes, but says he will leave
the Santi Padri for his Madonna. He will teach me the pronunciation
of Italian, which he has reduced to a Method, so it may easily be
acquired. He taught it to Mr. Garrick at Tunbridge.”

[Page heading: “MADONNA”]

Apparently Bower was introduced to Mrs. Montagu by Gilbert West. He was
an intimate friend of Sir George Lyttelton. Both he and Sir George gave
Mrs. Montagu the sobriquet of “Madonna,” but as Bower’s first letter
of 1753 addresses her as “Madonna,” with him probably the nickname
originated. They corresponded for some years in Italian.

In the next letter of October 14, she says--

“The Bowers came here yesterday. Mr. and Mrs. West met them here at
dinner, and to-morrow we are all to dine at Wickham. This morning I
shall carry Mrs. Bower to see Cæsar’s Camp, the prospect from which
is now in high beauty.”

[Page heading: INOCULATION]

The five Botham children had been inoculated! Their mother had been
persuaded in her bad health to leave them in their father’s care.
Lydia, writing to Mrs. Montagu to thank her for a present of Madeira,
says--

“You will desire to hear something of my Babes. My letter from
their good Father to-day says they were well when he wrote, but
that my kind and humane friends, Dr. Shaw and Winchester, who had
both been with them in the morning, said their eyes were so heavy
and their pulses so loaded that they would not hold up long.”

A postscript to this letter gives the next day’s account in Mr.
Botham’s words--

“My dear Babes are all drooping round me, and wonder not if I tell
you I am glad they are so, since from the gentlest symptoms of the
distemper I have a good foundation to hope they will do well. They
are sometimes up and sometimes down, and sicken so gradually that
Winchester doubts not that they will have a favourable sort of the
smallpox. I expect they will be in their beds to-morrow.”

By November 16 the five children were well, and Mrs. Montagu writes to
Mr. West from Sandleford--

“Mrs. Botham returns to her little family to-morrow, they are
all quite recovered, and I hope this lucky event will hasten the
recovery of my Lydia. I should indeed be glad to behold the happy
smile that will illuminate her countenance at her return to her
babes. Mr. Rogers[21] is recovering from another mortification....
I really believe he will live to the age of Methuselah, for he
recovers of those illnesses which destroy the strongest.

“I find the Princess of Wales will have a drawing-room as soon as
the King returns, and I hope you will consult with your friends,
whether it will not be proper you should appear there.... Mr.
Linnell[22] brought me his bill the morning I left town, and
I think I will send a copy of it as a proper warning to your
Mrs. West, and if you will still proceed in spite of my sad and
woeful example, I cannot help it. I shall repent my misdeeds as
the daughters of Israel did theirs in sackcloth and ashes. Adieu
Brocade, Embroidery, and lace, and even the cheaper vanities of
lutestring and blonde.”

[21] John Rogers, of Denton Hall, to whom Mr. Montagu, his cousin,
was trustee, as he was a lunatic.

[22] Linnell had been decorating rooms in her house at Hill Street,
and Mr. West was also employing him at Wickham.

Mr. West took Mrs. Montagu’s advice as to going to Court and “kissing
hands, a ceremony which upon more deliberation I think it most
advisable to go through, however glad I should have been to avoid it.”

[Page heading: NEW BOOKS]

In a letter to Miss Anstey from Mrs. Montagu, of November 23, we gain a
glimpse of the books being read then--

“Mr. Hooke has published a second edition of his ‘Roman
History,’ which is much admired. Mr. Brown’s[23] essays on the
‘Characteristics of Lord Shaftesbury’[24] are well spoken of;
Lord Orrery[25] has just published his Observations on the ‘Life
and Writings of Dr. Swift.’ ... The ‘Biographia Brittanica’ will
entertain you with the Lives of many great men, some of them are
very well written. Mr. Warburton’s[26] Edition of Mr. Pope’s Works
contains some new pieces, and some alterations of old ones. ‘The
Memoires du Duc de Sully’[27] are very entertaining.... The Duke of
Cumberland has been dangerously ill, is now something better. Lord
Coventry[28] they say is to marry Miss Gunning. Some actors have
appeared at the Theatre, and their characters are not of the first
rank. One of them imitates Mr. Garrick.” This must have been Foote.

[23] John Brown, D.D., born 1715, died 1766. Eminent divine,
indefatigable writer.

[24] 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, born 1671, died 1713; wrote
“Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, and Times.”

[25] Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery.

[26] William Warburton, born 1698, died 1779. Divine and writer;
Bishop of Gloucester.

[27] Duc de Sully, favourite minister of Henry IV. of France.

[28] Lord Coventry, married March 5, 1782, to Maria Gunning.

[Page heading: “HISTORY OF THE POPES”]

Gilbert West was busied at this time planting his garden at Wickham
with firs and laurels, and Mrs. Montagu teased him by letter about his
“evergreen-nevergreen garden,” as she called it. She says--

“Remember that while you avoid winter, you exclude Spring, and
forbid the glad return of the vernal season, as well as the sad
approach of autumn. In your garden and in your life, may all that
is necessary for shade, for shelter and for comfort be permanent
and unchanged. May the pleasures and aromatics be various,
successive, sweet and new! ... I shall be much obliged to you if
when you see the incomparable Mr. Bower you will get of him the
second volume of the ‘History of the Popes.’ I have almost finished
Mr. Hooke’s history. I do not care to quit the city of Rome till
I have seen the establishment of its spiritual Monarchy.... I
have just received a collection of letters, wrote by Madame de
Maintenon, though Voltaire has diminished my opinion of her in some
degree; yet I have an impatience to open the book.... I shall like
to see what alteration there is in her from the wife and widow of
poor Scarron to becoming the consort of Louis le Grand.”

On December 2 Lady Courtenay sent feathers and shells to Mrs. Montagu
for her work. She was the daughter of Heneage, 2nd Lord Aylesford, and
married to Sir William Courtenay, afterwards 1st Viscount Courtenay.
She was a sister of Lady Andover’s, and a great friend of Lydia
Botham’s, and in this letter expresses great concern at Lydia’s sad
state of health.

On December 29 Mrs. Montagu writes to her sister Sarah that she had
sustained the great loss of her lady housekeeper, Mrs. Isted, who had
died very suddenly whilst Mr. and Mrs. Montagu had been spending a few
days with Lydia Botham. The latter was then supposed to be dying.

From the letters it appears Mrs. Isted was a widow lady, who had
lost an only child, and had been known to Mrs. Montagu in her more
prosperous years. Lydia Botham rallied for a time.

[Page heading: GEORGE LEWIS SCOTT]

A great dispute was going on at Leicester House at this time on the
subject of Prince George’s tutors. Amongst the sub-preceptors, it will
be remembered, was Mr. George Lewis Scott, Sarah’s (_née_ Robinson)
husband. Soon after this he was dismissed from the list of tutors. One
reason alleged was that he was a Jacobite, but there was little ground
for this supposition. Though a clever man, he seems to have been quite
an unsuitable person to be tutor to the princes, and Mrs. Montagu
comforts Sarah by saying his true character will now appear. “You will
see shortly that he and you will have justice done you, and with this
difference, that to you it will be a guardian angel, to him an avenging
minister. In the mean time ‘leave him to Heaven, and the thorns that
prick his bosom,’ as says good Mr. Hamlet.”

On December 23 she had an assembly, and writes to Mrs. Boscawen that
“the Chinese Room was filled by a succession of people from eleven in
the morning till eleven at night.”

The year ends with a letter to Gilbert West, who had had a terrible
attack of gout, sending him Birch’s[29] “Life of Archbishop
Tillotson,”[30] “which Mr. Birch left for you himself.”

[29] Rev. Thomas Birch, born 1705, died 1766.

[30] John Tillotson, born 1630, died 1694. Archbishop of Canterbury
in 1691.

[Year: 1753]

1753 opens with a letter from Mrs. Donnellan on January 2, to Mrs.
Montagu, then at Sandleford. In this she says--

“Two letters from Ireland informed me of a sort of determination
both of Dr. Delany’s affair and my own. I had a very particular
account of both from my Six Clerk and Manager, Mr. Croker, who is
Six Clerk to Delany’s adversarys, and a short letter from Mrs.
Delany. My Lord Chancellor has acquitted Dr. Delany of a hard word
in the law, called spoliation, but has ordered an account before
two masters in Chancery to be taken of all the late Mrs. Delany’s
personal estate, and what she was worth when she married the Dean.”

This law-suit, which lasted some years, and was a great annoyance and
expense to the Delanys, was caused by his having inadvertently burnt
a paper of importance belonging to his first wife. Mrs. Donnellan’s
brother had claimed the lease of the house lately belonging to their
mother, in London, owing to a defect in the execution of the will. Mrs.
Donnellan got the books, and some few hundred pounds, but, as she had
been residuary legatee in the will, suffered severe loss which she bore
with exemplary patience.

It is probable that at this period her brother-in-law, Bishop Clayton,
being wealthy and generous, gave up his wife’s marriage portion to her
sister, Anne Donnellan.

Anne now took a house in Bolton Row, London.

[Page heading: TURKEY PYE]

On January 3 Mrs. Montagu writes to thank Mrs. West for a portion of
Turkey “pye,” and some verses of her composing with it. She says--

“January 3.

“DEAR MADAM,

“For your pye and your verses what strains are sublime enough to
return proper thanks! You have held the balance of justice so
exactly and directed its sword so well where to fall that Mrs.
Temple West and I are determined to divide the pye this evening
according to the rules prescribed. Though our pye has not yet
been toasted, your verses have been well relish’d by some of the
greatest connoisseurs. About an hour after I had your letter Miss
West came to call on me; I communicated your poetic strains and
we were very merry over them. When Lord Temple and Sir George
Lyttelton came in we let them have a share, and they joined in the
laugh and commendation. Lord Temple desired his best and kindest
compliments to you and my cousin. He is not at all the worse for
his late illness.... Sir George and he were going to dine with Mr.
Pitt, whose health, I believe, is in much the same state as when
you saw him.”

[Page heading: THE DUCHESS OF CHANDOS]

Mrs. Medows wrote on January 6 from Chute, Wilton, then her
brother-in-law’s residence, to wish the Montagus a happy new year, and
in this letter she says--

“The Duke of C(handos)[31] our neighbour kept his Son’s[32]
birthday with great magnificence. I was invited, and not foreseeing
such an occasion for dress, I had neither manto nor sack, and
desired leave to come in a white apron in the evening, but the
Duchess insisted on my coming with it to dinner. You may imagine
how well I dined on two and forty dishes, and a dessert of one and
twenty, very well ordered and served; but the Duchess’s behaviour
was really an entertainment, not in the least embarrassed, she did
the honours perfectly well, and seemed conscious she should make
a good figure, and pleased with the opportunity. In the evening
there was a ball, cards for the grave people. I am pleased to find
that I can still see the young people dance and with pleasure;
our nieces[33] Pulses were the best dancers. I won four rubbers
and past for a good player; content with this, I came away before
supper. I was charmed with Mrs. Ironmonger[34] ... If you would
have me think you well get a Vandike Hankerchief. Mrs. Ironmonger
had one, and I am sure it will become you.”

[31] 2nd Duke of Chandos.

[32] His only son by first wife, afterwards 3rd Duke.

[33] Mrs. Medows’ nieces.

[34] Probably Mrs. _Iremonger_, of Wherwell, Hants.

The duchess here alluded to was the second wife of the duke, Anne
Jefferies, _née_ Wells. In the “Complete Peerage” we read, “See the
story of her being sold with a halter round her neck by her husband,
Jefferies, an ostler at the Pelican Inn, Newbury, and purchased by the
Duke of Chandos in ‘N & Q,’ 4th l. vi. p. 179.” She was married in 1744
to the duke, and died in 1759 _s.p._

[Page heading: THE POET GRAY]

January 18, Miss Anstey, writing from Trumpington, says--

“Have you heard that Mr. Gray[35] is going to publish his whole
stock of poetry, which, though it will consist of only one volume,
and contains but few things which have not been already printed,
the price will be half a guinea; but what seems most extraordinary,
it is expected there will be a very great demand for them, and I
am told there is already a great number bespoke, for they are to
be embellished and illustrated in the most curious and ingenious
manner with copper plates drawn and imagined by Mr. Bentley.[36]
I hear they are all very clever, and was told for a specimen
that the little ode on the cat is to have in the frontispiece
the Fates cutting her nine threads of her life, and the rats and
mice exulting upon the death of their enemy. At the end Puss is
represented as just landed from Charon’s Boat, and in her approach
towards Pluto’s Palace, she sets up her back and spits at Cerberus.
How do you like the conceit? They are said to be very highly drawn,
and Mr. Gray gives his poetry. Mr. Horace Walpole[37] is at the
whole expense of the printing and copper plates for the benefit of
Mr. Bentley....

“I hear the scholar[38] of St. John’s who has admitted himself
of the play house performs much better in a personated than he
did here in his real character. I suppose he does not regret his
being expelled the University, as he finds himself well received
by the Town, for excommunication would not hurt him there. I hear
he is really a good actor, which is a thing, I am afraid, much
more rare than a bad clergyman, so I am glad he has taken to the
stage instead of the Pulpit. I hear there were fourscore of this
University present at his first performance, and that if he has a
benefit the whole body will be present at it.”

[35] Thomas Gray, born 1716, died 1771.

[36] Richard Bentley, junior son of the Master of Trinity,
Cambridge.

[37] Horace Walpole, younger son of Sir Robert Walpole, born 1717,
died 1797.

[38] Is this Churchill?

This edition of Gray was published in March, 1753, printed at Mr.
Horace Walpole’s private press at Strawberry Hill.

[Page heading: BERENGER]

[Page heading: BISHOP BERKELEY]

Mr. West, attacked by his enemy the gout, was now a prisoner at
Wickham. On January 24, in a long letter, these paragraphs are of
interest--

“The joyous Berenger passed five days with us last week, read to us
a play in Shakespeare and the ‘Volpone’ of B. Johnson, and repeated
innumerable scraps out of a hundred others, laughed a great deal,
said many droll and some witty things, and then disappear’d,
after promising to come frequently to strut upon the little stage
of Wickham, which you may perceive has been lately graced with
almost as great a variety of characters as are exhibited at Drury
Lane, so that we have little occasion to run to the great city
in search of company, much less for the sake of society, which
indeed there is almost lost, in the various bustle of Resort, the
busy hum of Men, the embarrassments of Hoops,--Interruptions of
Messages and ostentatious dinners and Drums, Trumpets, Politics,
etc., etc.,--but besides the pleasures of social converse, we
have had amusements of a stiller kind furnished by the obliging
civility of some of my brother Authors; among which are two new
papers, ‘The Adventurer’ and ‘The World,’[39] by Adam Fitz-Adam.
The writer of the former sent me the first 14 numbers with a very
handsome letter. To the other I had indeed a kind of right since I
am inform’d that the judicious Tasters of the Town have declared
it to be written by Sir G(eorge) L(yttelton), by Mr. Pitt, or your
humble servant; with how much sagacity this opinion is form’d I
shall leave you to judge, for I doubt not but this character will
recommend them to your perusal, as it precludes me saying anything
in their favour: of the former I may be so free as to declare I
like them very well, but I will be still bolder in recommending to
you Dr. Leland’s ‘Observations of Lord Bolingbroke’s letter,’ which
was sent me by the author yesterday, and which I have read through
with great pleasure and edification. I must transcribe a part
of my boy’s[40] letter about the death of the Bishop of Cloyne:
‘We have had a great loss at Oxford; the poor Bishop of Cloyne
died on Sunday about 8 o’clock in the evening. Mrs. Berkeley[41]
was sitting by him, and spoke to him several times, and he never
answered, so it is supposed he was dead a quarter of an hour before
it was discovered, for he died without a groan or any sign of pain.’

“He has received Rollin, for which I thank you in his name.”

[39] Edward Moore published “The World.”

[40] His son Richard, then at Oxford.

[41] George Berkeley, born 1684, died 1753. Celebrated divine and
author.

To this Mrs. Montagu rejoins--

“How happy was the Bishop of Cloyne’s exit, or rather entrance,
one should call it into another, than departure out of this life,
for it had none of the agonising pangs of farewell. I pity poor
Mrs. Berkeley, who had so little preparation for so heavy a stroke.
I hope the constant conversation and example of a man so eminent
in every Christian virtue may have given her an uncommon degree of
fortitude and patience. I have heard her temper and understanding
highly commended. She had a perfect adoration of the Bishop....
Dr. Berkeley had formerly made his addresses to Mrs. Donnellan:
what were her reasons for refusing him I know not, friends were
consenting, circumstances equal, her opinion captivated, but
perhaps aversion to the cares of a married life, and apprehensions
from some particularities in his temper hinder’d the match; however
their friendship always continued, and I have always heard her give
him for virtues and talents the preference to all mankind.”

[Page heading: THE VAPOURS]

Mrs. Montagu continues that she had neither health nor spirits to read
with pleasure. “The misfortunes I have suffered and those I have feared
have worn me out; after the various turns of hope and fear on my poor
Lydia’s account, I am at last in despair about her. Mr. Botham sent to
us for a milch ass for her some days ago.” After a long lamentation
on Lydia’s behalf, she ends, “I am that poor little selfish animal,
a human creature, made more poor, more little, more selfish by the
Vapours; in all Sir Hans’ Museum there is not so ugly a monster as a
woman in Vapours.” Lydia becoming worse, Mrs. Montagu wrote to inform
her sister, Mrs. Laurence Sterne, whose curious letter I give in full
as a specimen of her style. Both she and her sister Lydia wrote large,
legible hands, much alike.

[Page heading: MRS. LAURENCE STERNE]

“Sutton,[42] March ye 9th.

“DEAR MADAM,

“I return you my sincere and hearty thanks for the Favour of your
most welcome letter; which had I received in a more happy Hour,
wou’d have made me almost Frantick with Joy; for being thus cruelly
separated from all my Friends, the least mark of their kindness
towards me, or Remembrance of me gives me unspeakable Delight. But
the Dismal Account I receiv’d at the same time of my poor Sister,
has render’d my Heart Incapable of Joy, nor can I ever know Comfort
till I hear of her Recovery.

“Believe me, Dear Madam, you were never more mistaken than when you
imagine that Time and Absence remove you from my Remembrance. I do
assure you I do not so easily part with what affords me so great
Delight, on the Contrary I spare no pains to improve every little
accident that recalls you to my Remembrance, as the only amends
which can be made me for those Unhappinesses my Situation deprives
me of. As a proof of this I must inform you that about three
weeks ago I took a long Ride Through very bad weather, and worse
Roads, merely for the satisfaction of enjoying a Conversation with
a Gentleman who though unknown to you had conceiv’d the highest
opinion of you from the perusal of several of your Letters, for
which he was indebted to Mrs. Clayton. Had this Gentleman nothing
else to recommend him, it certainly would be Sufficient to have
made me desirous of his acquaintance; but he is both a Man of Sense
and good Breeding, so that I am not a little pleas’d with my new
Acquaintance. Your Supposition of my Sister’s having Boasted to me
of her Children is doubtless extremely Natural, I wish it had been
as Just: But I can in three words inform you of all I know about
’em,--to wit their number and their Names, for which I am indebted
to Johnny. Had my Lydia been so obliging as to have made them the
Subject of her Letters, I shou’d by this time have had a tolerable
Idea of them, by considering what she said with some abatement:
but as it is I no more know whether they are Black, Brown or Fair,
Wise, or other wise, Gentle, or Froward than the Man in the Moon.
Pray is this strange Silence on so Interesting a Subject owing
to her profound Wisdom or her abundant Politeness? But be it to
which it will, as soon as she recovers her Health I shall insist
on all the satisfaction she can give on this head. In the meantime
I rejoice to find they have your approbation and am truly thankful
that Nature has done her part, which indeed is the most Material,
though I frankly own I shall not be the first to Forgive any
slights that Dame Fortune may be dispos’d to shew them.

“Your god-Daughter, as in Duty bound, sends her best Respects to
you. I will hope that she may enjoy what her poor Mother in vain
Laments, the want of a more intimate acquaintance with her Kindred.

“Be so good as to make Mr. Sterne’s and my compliments to Mr.
Montagu, and Believe me, Dear Madam,

“Your most affectionate Cousin,
and oblig’d Humble Servant,
“E. STERNE.”

[42] The Rev. Laurence Sterne was Vicar of Sutton-in-the-Forest,
Yorkshire.

[Page heading: LYDIA STERNE]

The godchild was Lydia Sterne, born December 1, 1747, then in her sixth
year. The Sternes had lost their first child, also a _Lydia_, born in
October, 1745.

Lydia Botham did not long survive; I do not know the exact day of her
death, but West, writing on April 2, to Mrs. Montagu, says--

“I cannot conclude without thanking you, my dearest Cousin, for
informing me of your health, about which I should have been under
great alarms upon hearing of Lydia’s Death, of which your letter
brought me the first intelligence. This kind attention to my
happiness at a time when your heart was overflowing with sorrow is
such a proof of your regard for me I shall always remember with
gratitude.”

Though deeply lamented, Lydia’s sufferings, latterly from asthma,
dropsy, and a complication of disorders, made her death more or less a
release. Mr. Botham was now left a widower with five children.

[Page heading: LADY BATH’S ASSEMBLY]

Writing from London, the end of April, to Sarah Scott in John Street,
Bath, where she and Lady Bab were living, Mrs. Montagu says--

“I have been at Oratorios so crowded and plays so hot I have almost
fainted, but first of all crowds and greatest of all mobs, I must
in justice name Lady Bath’s[43] assembly, from whence at hazard
of life and limb I broke away a little after one on Tuesday last.
Her ladyship had happily gathered together eight hundred Christian
souls, many of which had like to have perished by famine and other
accidents. I suffered the most from the first of these; being ill,
I had not eat a morsel of dinner, and there was not a biscuit nor
a bit of bread to be got, and half the company got out through the
stables and garden. The house was not empty till near 3 in the
morning.”

[43] _Née_ Anna Maria Gumley, wife of Pulteney, Earl of Bath. She is
said to have been a great “screw.”

Mrs. Montagu had for some time been expecting Miss Carter, the young
daughter of Mr. Montagu’s faithful agent, to stay with her. She says--

“My little disciple[44] is very good, and takes to me wondrous
well. I expect the eldest Miss Botham next week, you may suppose it
was some denial not to choose the second, but I thought the other
my duty rather, and the eldest would have been much grieved to be
passed over.”

[44] Miss Carter.

Writing to Mr. Montagu (who had gone to Sandleford on business, and to
cure a bad cold) on May 3, his wife describes a Rout she had given. “I
had rather more than an hundred visitants last night, but the apartment
held them with ease, and the highest compliments were paid to the house
and elegance of the apartments.”

[Page heading: “A PERFECT WOMAN”]

Gilbert West from Wickham, on May 23, gives the following account of
Mr. Pitt, whose health had been causing much anxiety to his friends--

“Had I answered your letter last night I should have given you
a good account of Mr. Pitt, who was yesterday in better spirits
than I have seen him in since he came hither, but I find by
inquiring after him this morning that he has had a bad, that is,
a sleepless night, which has such effect on his spirits that I
am afraid we shall see him in a very different condition to-day.
This has happened to him every other night since Friday last, so
I am persuaded there is something intermitting in his case, of
which neither the Physicians nor himself seem to be aware. I think
he ought to go to town to consult with them, but to this he has
so great an aversion that I question if he will comply with our
request. Sir George Lyttelton, who saw him on one of his bad days,
Saturday last, promised to come hither to-day, and his voice added
to ours may possibly prevail....

“Mr. Pitt express’d a due sense of your goodness in inquiring so
particularly after him, and that you may know how high you stand in
his opinion, I must inform you that in a conversation with Molly he
pronounced you the most _perfect woman_ he ever met with.”

[Page heading: MR. PITT’S INSOMNIA]

Mr. Pitt was recommended by his doctors to go to Tunbridge Wells to
drink the waters. Accompanied by Mr. West, Mrs. West, and Miss West, he
set off on May 26. West, writing to Mrs. Montagu, says--

“Tunbridge Wells, May 27, 1753.

“MY DEAREST COUSIN! MY BEST AND MOST VALUABLE
FRIEND!

“Your kind letter which I received on coming from Chapel is the
most agreeable thing I have met with at Tunbridge, where we
arrived last night about 7, after only stopping at Sen’nocks,
and dining at Tunbridge Town. It came very seasonably to relieve
my spirits which were much sunk by the extreme dejection which
appears to-day in Mr. Pitt, from a night passed entirely without
sleep, notwithstanding all the precautions which were taken within
doors to make it still and quiet, and the accidental tranquillity
arising from the present emptiness and desolation of this place, to
which no other invalids, except ourselves are yet arrived, or even
expected to arrive as yet. He began to drink the waters to-day,
but as they are sometimes very slow in their operations, I much
fear both he and those friends who cannot help sympathizing with
him, will suffer a great deal before the wished-for effect will
take place, for this _Insomnium_ his Physicians have prescribed
Opiates, a medicine which, in this case, though they may procure
a temporary ease, yet often after recoil upon the spirits. He
seems inclined to take Musk, and intends to talk with Molly about
it. I think his Physicians have been to blame in giving all their
attention to the disorder in his bowels, and not sufficiently
regarding the Distemperature of his spirits, a Disease much more
to be apprehended than the other; while he continues under this
Oppression, I am afraid it will be impossible for me to leave
him, as he fancies me of the greatest use to him as a friend, and
a comforter, but I hope in God he will soon find some alteration
for the better, of which I shall be glad to give you the earliest
information. In the meantime I beg you will take care of your
health, and as the most effectual means of establishing it, I most
earnestly desire you will follow Mr. Montagu’s exhortations to
repair forthwith to Tunbridge, as by so doing you will not only
contribute to the regaining your own health, but to the comfort
and felicity of some here who love you.... Kitty, Molly and Mr.
Pitt desire their affectionate compliments. Molly begs you will
communicate this account of Mr. Pitt to Sir G(eorge) L(yttelton).”

[Page heading: RENT OF LODGINGS]

In West’s next letter, of May 30, he says--

“I think Mr. Pitt is somewhat better, tho’ his spirits are too
low to allow him to think so, and his nights are still sleepless
without the aid of Opiates. I write this from the ‘Stone House’ to
which we were driven by the noisy situation of our house at the
foot of Mount Sion. How many pleasing ideas our present habitation
recalls I leave you to judge, though there needs no such artificial
helps to make you ever present to my memory.... Mr. Pitt is lodged
in your room, and I in that which was Mr. Montagu’s dressing-room
on the ground floor.”

The Montagus and Wests together had rented the “Stone House” the year
before this. On May 31 West writes to say he is leaving Mr. William
Lyttelton with Mr. Pitt, and will return to Wickham on Saturday, and
dine with Mrs. Montagu at Hayes _en route_. He adds, “Mr. Pitt feels
a little gout in his foot, which we hope will increase so as to be an
effectual Remedy for all his disorders.”

On June 6, West, who had been commissioned to find a house for Mrs.
Montagu, looks at the last two left on Mount Ephraim, a Mr. Spooner’s
and a Mr. Sele’s; he decided on the latter, orders the chimney to be
made higher, and a _hovel_ put on it to stop smoking, and to order the
owners to lie in the beds to air them!

“The price he told me was 4 guineas a week, or thirty-five guineas
for the whole season, that is till Michaelmas, or a week or two
over; for this price you are to have stabling for eight horses,
and a coach house for two carriages.... Mrs. West will be obliged
to you if you will bring her jewels with you.”

Mrs. Montagu arrived at Tunbridge on June 11, and on the 13th writes to
her husband, then in London, to say

“my cough is much abated, and my appetite increased: the asses’
milk sits well on my stomach.... I have a constant invitation to
dinner at the ‘White House’; Mr. Pitt is too ill to dine abroad,
and the Wests cannot leave him, so as often as I am disposed for
company, I dine there; the rest of my time passes in taking air and
exercise, and now and then the relief of a book.”

[Page heading: CANVASSING]

On account of the Jew Bill and other unpopular measures coming before
Parliament, a General Election was anticipated, and Lord Sandwich was
already arranging for it by canvassing his constituents, and those at
Huntingdon, and summoned Mr. Montagu to meet him at Hinchinbrooke the
second week in August. Previous to this he spent a few days with his
wife at Tunbridge hence proceeding to Yorkshire for his annual estate
business. Old Mr. Robinson accompanied his friend, Sir Edward Dering,
to canvass for him in Kent, and his daughter says, “My Father would
have made a good counterpart to Sir Edward Dering; if _bon mots_ could
carry a county, I know few that would care to contend with them.”

Previous to going to Tunbridge, Mrs. Montagu placed her two young
charges, Miss Carter and Miss Botham, in a boarding-school. She writes
to her sister Sarah--

“Mr. Montagu thought Miss Carter’s dancing would be better
improved if she went to School, and he is as desirous she should be
a fine dancer as if she was to be a Maid of Honour. I was the more
willing in regard to Miss Botham going, for my cousin is of such
a ‘diversian’ temper, as Cotes used to express it, that I feared
she would not be easily restrained in a place of this sort; she
is a fine girl, but so lively and so idle, she requires infinite
care. With great capacity of learning she has prodigious desire
to be idle, and thinks it quite hard not to take her share of all
the diversions she hears of. On being asked how she liked London
she said very well, but should do so much better if she was to go
to Ranelagh every night! I have left them at a very good school,
but an expensive one; however, they are only to stay there till
the 15th of August, for then the school breaks up, and if I do not
leave this place sooner, they must come. I believe no gouvernante
ever took half the pains I have done with these children,
explaining to them everything they read, and talking to them on all
points of behaviour.”

[Page heading: PENSHURST]

On July 4, in a letter to Mr. Montagu, who was at Theakstone, his wife
writes--

“All the family at the ‘Stone House’ and myself in their train went
yesterday to Penshurst; we spent a good deal of time in viewing the
pictures. I was most pleased with the portraits, as I know not any
family that for Arts and Arms, greatness of courage and nobility of
mind have excelled the Sydney Race. Beauty too, has been remarkable
in it.”

And on July 8--

“It has been much the turn of the Society I am in to go out
in parties to see places, and last post day we settled upon
an expedition of this sort with such precipitation, I had not
opportunity to write without keeping the company waiting. We went
to see an old seat of a Mr. Brown’s; it is well situated, was
built by Inigo Jones, has some fine portraits.... We went from this
venerable seat to a place called New Vauxhall, where Mr. Pitt had
provided us a good dinner; the view from it is romantic; we staid
there till the cool of the evening, and then returned home. We
drank tea yesterday in the most beautiful rural scene that can be
imagined, which Mr. Pitt had discovered in his morning’s ride about
half a mile from hence; he ordered a tent to be pitched, tea to
be prepared, and his French horn to breathe music like the unseen
genius of the wood: the company dined with me, and we set out,
number 8.... Sir George Lyttelton and Mr. Bower are come to spend a
few days with Mr. Pitt.”

To this her husband replies, “I very much approve of the excursions
you make, and think the more the better, as they both entertain the
mind and give exercise to the body.” He adds, the epidemic then raging
amongst cattle in England had not been so severe on his northern
property as in other parts of the country.

[Page heading: TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY]

Mr. Pitt went to Hastings for two days, and on his return, Mr. West
made a tour to Canterbury, Dover, etc., which lasted five days. Dr.
Smith,[45] Mr. Montagu’s old friend, was then at Tunbridge, and Mrs.
Montagu says--

“We fell into discourse upon some embellishments and ornaments to
be added to the fine Library at Trinity College. There are to be 26
Bustos put up, 13 in memory of the ancients, 13 of modern, these
are to be cast in plaister of Paris: but Mrs. Middleton talks of a
fine Marble Busto of Dr. Middleton to be done by Roubilliac,[46]
which I think very proper, as he was so eminent, there should be a
public memorial of him, and as he was long Librarian it is proper
it should be in that place: there are likewise to be 48 portraits
of considerable persons that have been of the College.”

[45] Dr. Robert Smith, then Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Founded “Smith’s Prizes.”

[46] Louis François Roubilliac, born 1695, died 1762. Eminent
sculptor.

To this Mr. Montagu replies--

“I am very well pleased with what Dr. Smith is doing at Trinity
College. I hope he has not lay’d aside the noble design he had
form’d of having a Statue[47] of the great Newton. Such men as he
and Dr. Middleton should be represented in something more durable
than plaister of Paris, and I honour Mrs. Middleton for her
intention.”

[47] In 1755 Dr. Smith gave the statue of Sir I. Newton, sculptured
by Roubilliac.

[Page heading: GIBSIDE]

After seeing to the business consequent on his trusteeship to his
cousin, Mr. Rogers, of Newcastle, Mr. Montagu had returned to
Theakstone on July 29. He describes Gibside, the seat of Mr. Bowes[48]--

“I dined this day sennight at Gibside; it was one of the finest
summer days I ever saw. It set off to great advantage the whole
vale through which the river Tyne runs, which consists of a great
deal of good rich land. The Moors, tho’ not so pleasing to the eye,
make abundant amends by the riches of the mines. All the gentlemen
are planting and adorning their Seats, but nothing comes up to
the grandeur and magnificence of what Mr. Bowes has done, and is
a (_sic_), doing, I mean without doors, for his house is but an
indifferent one. It stands in the midst of a great wood of about
400 acres, through which there are a great many noble walks and
rides interspers’d with fine lawns, with a rough river running
thro’ it, on each side of which are very high rocks, which gives
it a very romantick look. Mr. Bowes is at present upon a work of
great magnificence, which is the erecting a column of above 140
feet high. This, as far as I know, may be the largest that ever was
erected by a subject in this Island, and may yield to nothing but
the Monument at London. I ought not to omit telling you that he
has already erected upon a rising ground a gothick building which
he calls a Banquetting room, in which the night before there was a
concert of Musick (_sic_), at which Jordain and an Italian woman
performed, whom Mrs. Lane[49] brought with her from Bramham Moor,
from which she came in a day.... On Monday I dined with Sir Thomas
Clavering.[50] This gentleman’s house is very old and bad, but
the situation good and prospect pleasant. He has made a long road
leading to his house and improved his park, and made a serpentine
river.... He has also, as well as all the other gentlemen in that
county, made a kitchen garden with very high walls, planted with
the finest fruit trees. I question not peaches and nectarines may
succeed very well, but for grapes they must be beholden to fire.”

[48] George Bowes, of Streatlam Castle, and Gibside, Durham.

[49] Mrs. Lane, of Bramham Park, Yorkshire.

[50] 7th Baronet, related to the Roger family, Oxwell Park.

[Page heading: EXCURSION TO STONELANDS]

From this it would appear that walled kitchen gardens were new things
in the North then; probably “Kail yards” reigned supreme. Miss Carter
and Miss Botham now joined Mrs. Montagu at Tunbridge from their school.
Another excursion to Stonelands[51] with Mr. Pitt took place, and in a
letter to Mr. Montagu on August 3 we learn--

“This dry Summer has been so favourable to the Waters that they
have made several surprising cures. I think Mr. Pitt may be
numbered amongst them. The first time I saw the Duke of Bolton,[52]
I could hardly imagine he would last a month, but seeing him again
yesterday I was amazed at the amendment.”

[51] A seat of the Duke of Dorset’s, now called Buckhurst, in
Surrey.

[52] 3rd Duke; he died August 26, 1754. Married as second wife
Lavinia Fenton, _alias_ “Polly Peacham.”

[Page heading: “MINOUETS”]

In the afternoons Mrs. Montagu and Mr. Pitt were attending Mr. King’s
lectures on philosophy, etc., and “Mr. Pitt, who is desirous of
attaining some knowledge in this way, makes him explain things very
precisely.” In another letter she says--

“Miss Carter will excell in dancing. I did not think it right she
should dance Minouets at the ball till she was quite perfect in it,
but Mr. West, Mr. Pitt and all their family and some other company
were here the other day, and I made her dance a Minouet with Master
West by way of using her to do it in company; she acquitted herself
so well as to get great commendation.”

As usual, the husband and wife exchanged loving letters on the
anniversary of their wedding-day, August 5. Mrs. Montagu mentions--

“There is a report that Lord Coke is dying; his wife, Lady Mary,
is here; she is extremely pretty, her air and figure the most
pleasing I ever saw. She is not properly a beauty, but she has more
_agrémens_ than one shall often see. With so many advantages of
birth, person and fortune, I do not wonder at her resentment being
lively, and that she could ill brook the neglects and insults of
her husband.”

Lady Mary was the daughter of the 2nd Duke of Argyll and Duke of
Greenwich. She is often mentioned by Horace Walpole. Her husband
treated her with great brutality, and she gained a separation from him.
He died August 31, 1753; she survived him till 1811.

[Illustration:

_John Nixon, pxt._]

TEA AND COFFEE IN THE BATH-ROOM.]

[Page heading: “BEAU” NASH]

Mr. Herbert is mentioned as being very ill at Tunbridge; this was the
uncle of the 6th Earl of Carnarvon, of Highclere Castle, Hants.
Mr. Montagu says, “He has done a great deal to adorn and beautify
Highclere; he had designed to do much more, if he dies it will want his
finishing hand.” On August 13 Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband--

“Mr. Nash[53] had a fit yesterday, by which it is imagined this
Monarch will soon resign that Empire over Mankind, which in so
extraordinary a manner he gained and has preserved. The Young
Pretender is now known to be at Passi, near Paris, where he keeps
himself so concealed that he may on any project be able to leave it
without exciting the attention of the people. It is said in case
of a Minority he will make us a visit. Lord Rochford intercepted a
letter from a Cardinal in France to his brother in Italy, in which
he said he had supped with Prince Charles the night before. I hear
this young adventurer is much a favorite with the French officers
and soldiers, whose romantic visions of honour may excite them to
do more than even the policy of their Monarque requires.”

[53] Richard Nash, “Beau Nash,” Leader of Fashion at Bath and
Tunbridge, born 1674, died 1761.

On August 20 Mr. Montagu arrived at Hinchinbroke to stay with Lord
Sandwich, in order to beat up votes for the next election for
Huntingdon and the county. A Mr. Jones, an eminent merchant, was to be
his fellow-candidate.

“On Tuesday we are to go about the town and canvass, where an
entertainment will be prepared for the Burgesses, who will
to-morrow night be treated with their wives, with a ball for them
only, a thing intirely new and which must produce something new and
out of the common. On Friday we shall be at liberty to move off,
but on Monday night we are to meet and entertain the Londoners at
the King’s Head, Holbourn.”

Writing on August 21 to Mrs. Boscawen, Mrs. Montagu mentions--

“I am living in the very house my dear Mrs. Boscawen inhabited
three years ago. At the Stone Castle reside Mr. Pitt, Mr. and Mrs.
West and Miss West. Instead of making parties at Whist or Cribbage,
and living with and like the _beau monde_, we have been wandering
about like a company of gipsies, visiting all the fine parks and
seats in the neighbourhood.”

These excursions were much encouraged by Mr. Pitt, who considered them
“as good for the mind as the body,” and that an occasional day without
drinking the waters gave them a greater effect.

Mention of a ventriloquist now occurs as something new--

“I have been this morning to hear the man who has a surprising
manner of throwing his voice into the Drawer, a bottle, your
pocket, up the chimney, or where he pleases within a certain
distance.... I was last night at Mr. King’s, we had the Orrery and
an astronomical lecture.”

[Illustration:

_Thos. Malton, pxt._]

THE CIRCUS, AT BATH.]

[Page heading: MR. PITT VISITS HAYES]

Mr. Montagu joined his wife for a week at Tunbridge, when he had to
return to London. On September 16 she writes to him--

“I intend to be with you on Thursday.... I find Mr. Pitt has some
intentions, as _I told you when you was here, of going to Heys_,
in case he should not be well enough to take the long journey he
intends, and he seems much pleased that I will lend him that little
tenement; but as I apprehend a feather bed more will be wanted than
used to be, I propose to send one from Hill Street.... Mr. Pitt
leaves this place to-morrow, he is now going to Dr. Ascough’s, and
from thence to Stowe[54] and Hagley.[55] Mr. West goes to Stowe
with him.”

[54] Lady Cobham’s.

[55] Sir George Lyttelton’s seat.

Probably it was from this time that Pitt took such a fancy to Hayes,
which endured all his lifetime.

[Page heading: MR. HOOKE]

The next letter to Gilbert West I transcribe in portions--

“Sandleford, September 27, 1753.

“MY MOST HONOURED COUSIN,

“Your kind and agreeable letter restored me in some measure to the
temper I lost at going out of town the very day you came to it. I
know not what poets may find in the country, when they have filled
the woods with sylvan Deities, and the rivers with Naides; but to
me groves and streams and plains make poor amends for the loss of a
friend’s conversation. You have better supplied Mr. Pitt’s absence
by reading the Orations of his predecessor, Demosthenes, and I can
easily imagine you would rather have passed the evening with the
British than the Grecian Demosthenes, whom in talents perhaps he
equals, and in grace of manners and the sweet civilities of life,
I dare say he excels. But when you seem to say you would even have
preferred the simple small talk of your poor cousin to the Athenian
Orator, I cry out,--Oh wondrous power of friendship, which like the
sun gives glorious colours to a vapour, and brightens the pebble
to a gem, till what would have been neglected by the common herd
is accepted by the most distinguished.... On Tuesday morning about
eight o’clock I called upon Mr. Hooke at his hermitage. I found
him like a true Savant surrounded by all the elements of Science,
but though I roamed round the room, I could not perceive any signs
of the Author, no papers, pen, ink, or sheets just come from the
press. I fear the fine ladies and fine prospects of Cookham divert
his attention from the Roman History.... I desired him to carry
me to Mrs. Edwin’s, which I heard was a pretty place.[56] There
is an old ferry woman who crosses the Thames very often before
Mrs. Edwin’s terrace.... While we were in Mrs. Edwin’s garden he
betrayed my name to her ... she came down, showed me her house and
the pictures, which are very fine, but the views from her windows
gave one no leisure to consider the works of art.... Cliefden Hill
rises majestically in view, and the only flat shore you see from
this place lies straight before it, and is a large plain of the
finest verdure and full of cattle.”

[56] Could this be Hedsor?

[Page heading: THE WICKHAM URN]

To this letter Gilbert West replies--

“I am glad your journey to Sandleford was relieved by the agreeable
digression you made to Cookham, where I hope to find, at least in
the memory of Mr. Hooke, the vestiges of your having been there,
which will be an additional motive to me to make him a visit from
Stoke, for I am going once more from Wickham, notwithstanding the
neighbourhood of Sir Thomas Robinson,[57] the Archbishop,[58] and
Bower, and the arrival of my Urn, which is to come this very day,
and which Mr. Cheer hath taught me to consider as an emblem and
monument of the polished, elegant and accomplished Mrs. Montagu,
by assuring me ‘that it is indebted for all the extraordinary and
highly finished ornaments he hath bestowed upon it, to the great
regard and veneration he hath for her, and that he will not either
for love or money make such another.’ ... I was paying a visit
at Fulham, where I enjoyed the smiles of my beloved Bishop,[59]
the presence of Mrs. Sherlock, and the agreeable conversation of
Mrs. Chester, with the more substantial delicacies of an excellent
English Venison Pasty.”

Further on he says he is going to Lillingston Dayrell to see his
mother, Lady Langham.

[57] “Long” Sir Thomas, Mrs. Montagu’s cousin.

[58] Archbishop Secker.

[59] Thomas Sherlock, born 1678, died 1761. Bishop of London.

[Page heading: THE NEW POST-CHAISE]

In the next letter (Oct. 3) from Sandleford to Mr. West occurs
this sentence, “Mr. Montagu returned hither on Monday with the new
four-wheeled post-chaise; it is the pleasantest machine imaginable
in rough roads, but I think it too easy on even roads.” The coachmen
had nothing intermediate between the two-wheeled vehicles and the
ponderously long six-or four-horsed coach, which required elaborate
skill in turning.

Staying again at Fulham, Mr. West mentions that he has been urging
Bishop Sherlock to publish some of his sermons, which he promised
to do. West had a fresh attack of the gout, which made him return
home. Mr. Pitt had left Hayes suddenly for Bath, Tunbridge waters not
having been of sufficient use to him; and in a letter of October 13,
to West, in capital letters, her inquiries not being answered, Mrs.
Montagu asks, “I desire TO KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE HEARD CONCERNING MR.
PITT’S HEALTH?” Describing her daily life, she says she keeps up the
Tunbridge habit of driving an hour or so after dinner (which, it must
be remembered, was then early) over the adjacent common; after these
airings she drank tea, and retired to her dressing-room for two or
three hours of reading.

On October 14 West writes--

“The Duke and Duchess of Portland, with two of their daughters,
dined here last Thursday, and we are to make them a morning’s
visit to-morrow at Bullstrode. Her Grace was extremely courteous
and obliging to me, but never made any inquiry after you, which
piqued me so much, that I put her against her upon talking about
Mr. Botham, and from what she said about the distrest situation of
his family, took occasion to extol you as the most generous and
sincere friend, and indeed the only one the poor man could depend
on.”

[Page heading: LADY BUTE]

The reader will have doubtless missed the frequent mention of the
duchess and her letters. There is no doubt that the coolness between
the quondam intimate friends was on account of the Scott separation.
It will be remembered the duchess sided with Mrs. Scott’s engagement
against Mrs. Montagu’s opinion. After the Scott separation, probably
influenced by her intimate friend, Lady Bute, who with the Princess of
Wales seems to have defended him,[60] the duchess appears to have taken
his part; but his true character is shown by the fact that the Prince
of Wales (George III.), on being given a Household in 1756, begged that
Scott[61] should not be continued about him, and to make up for this
dismissal he was given a commissionership in the Excise. Later on the
duchess and Mrs. Montagu had a _rapprochement_, but the letters were
never as cordial as in previous times.

[60] _Vide_ Walpole’s “Memoirs of the Reign of George III.,”
vol. ii. p. 259.

[61] Scott is said to have been a Jacobite secretly. That he was
double-faced is evident from letters.

[Page heading: BULLSTRODE MENAGERIE]

Writing from Lillingston on October 27, West describes his visit to
Bullstrode--

“I was very kindly received both at Bullstrode and Cookham; at
the former we were shown a great many fine and great many curious
things, both in doors and without; the day proved too cold, and I
was not enough recovered to see all the rarities of the animal as
well as the vegetable kind, which were dispersed over the Park and
gardens. Those that might be seen from the windows, as some spotted
Sheep and a little Bull from Fort St. David’s, whose resemblance
I have often seen in China ware, I beheld with admiration and
applause, and ventured two steps into the garden to take a view
of the orange trees against the wall.... Her Grace promised to
make me a present of some trained up for that purpose. In her
closet we were shown some curious works in Shells, performed by
Mrs. Delany, whom her Grace expected at Bullstrode in a short
time, and expressed great pleasure and not a little impatience in
the prospect of seeing so dear and so ingenious a friend. Of you
she said nothing, till upon her naming Mrs. Donnellan, I said I
could give her some account of her, having been informed by you
that she was gone to town; she then asked when I heard from you,
and where you was, but carried her enquiry after you no further.
At Cookham I spent some hours with Mrs. Stanley, for Mr. Hooke
had gone out with Mrs. Edwin to make a visit to Dr. Freind....”
He further states that he found his mother well, and “very little
alter’d since I last saw her, excepting that she has grown a little
fatter, a circumstance to a woman of seventy is greatly preferable
to wrinkles. In my way thro’ Stowe Park I met Miss Banks riding
out with Lord Vere,[62] of her I enquired much about Mr. Pitt,
and received from her the same answer, which I must have made for
your enquiries after him, that they had heard nothing of him since
he left Stowe.... While he staid at Stowe he was in good health
and spirits, he went from thence to Hagley, and she believed he
intended to go from Hagley to Bath.”

[62] Baron Vere, of Hanworth.

On November 10 Mrs. Donnellan, to whom Mrs. Montagu had lent her house
in Hill Street, whilst she searched for lodgings in the suburbs, her
lungs not permitting her to live in the town during the winter, writes--

“I have taken a little house on tryal at Kensington Gravel Pits
... both Richardson’s house at Northend and Mrs. Granville’s at
Chelsey I think too low for me.... I want you to read ‘Sir Charles
Grandison,’ it is not formed on your plan of banishing delicacy.
I am afraid it carrys it too far on t’other side, and is too fine
spun, but there are fine things and fine characters in it, and I
don’t know how it is, but his tediousness gives one an eagerness to
go on; there is a love-sick madness that I think extremely fine and
touching, but if you have not read it I must not forestall. I think
I will own to you, the great fault of my friend’s writings, there
is too much of everything. I really laughed at your nursery of
‘Clarissas,’ but I hope you did not think of me as the old nurse,
there was nobody there while I stayed!”

[Page heading: “SIR CHARLES GRANDISON”]

Mr. Richardson had just completed his novel of Sir Charles Grandison.
The Clarissas is an allusion to Miss Botham and Miss Carter, then with
Mrs. Montagu.

This same month Mrs. Montagu was again very unwell. West urged her to
go to London, but Mr. Montagu, who loved the retirement at Sandleford,
was unwilling to leave it, and she says--

“Tho’ I am told I may go to town, I know it would not be agreeable
where I ought to please, and I can hardly think it right to be
in such haste to quit the place where I live most in the manner
I ought to do, where only I am useful. I relieve the distresses
and animate the industry of a few, and have given all my hours to
the two girls under my care, whose welfare, whose eternal welfare
perhaps, depends on what they shall now learn.”

Mr. Hooke and Mr. Botham were both at Sandleford. In Mr. Hooke’s
conversation Mrs. Montagu found much enjoyment; as West put it, “He
(Hooke) is a very worthy man, and has in him the greatest compass of
entertainments of any one I know, from nonsense (as Lord Bath calls
it), to sense, and beyond sense to Metaphysics.”

[Page heading: “THE TRIUMPHS OF THE GOUT”]

On December 20 Mrs. West writes to present her Christmas wishes,
and Mr. West’s, to the Montagus, as “Tubby” (Mr. West), as was his
uneuphonious family nickname, had the gout in both hands. Mrs. Montagu
writes to him--

“The 27th of December, 1753.

“And what, my dear Cousin, are both hands prisoners of the gout!
such innocent hands too! Hands that never open’d to receive or give
a bribe, that never dipped into the guilt of the South Sea fraud,
of Charitable Corporations, or pilfer’d lottery tickets, clean even
from perquisite in office, and the most modest means by which the
Miser’s palm wooes and sollicits gain. So far have your hands been
from grasping at other’s gold, they have not held fast your own
with a tenacious grip, but open’d liberally at the petitions of the
poor, for the productions of Art, or to feast your friends at the
genial board. Most of all do I resent the fate of the writing hand,
which was first dedicated to the Muses, then with maturer judgment
consecrated to the Nymphs of Solyma, and shall it be led captive
by the cruel gout? Why did you sing the triumphs[63] of the dire
goddess? Oh, why could you not describe them unfelt, as Poets often
do the softer pains and gentler woes of Venus and her Son?”

[63] West wrote a poem entitled “The Triumphs of the Gout.”

[Year: 1754]

[Page heading: SCHOOLGIRLS’ BILL]

The first amusing paper I have of 1754 is a school bill for the two
younger Miss Bothams, Molly and Kitty. I am sorry that several of the
items are torn away, but it is curious as to things then required, and
also for the extraordinarily bad spelling and wording of the preceptor
entrusted with their care. It is addressed to--

“The Revd. Docʳ Botham,
“These.”

“SIR,

“According to your desire by the honour of your Last, I send you
the Bill of the two Miss’s Botham, your daughters, to ye first of
this month, altho’ wee had spoak of it before the Holydays I had
quite forgot it, and was very easy on that account. I hope, Sir,
that you’r satisfied of us, if so I shall alwise thry, as well as
my wife, to do all wee can to improve your daughters in everything,
especially in their Morals and manners. I was very sorry of your
last indisposition, and hope you’r much better, it is the sincere
wish of

“Sir,
“Your most humble
and obedient Servant,
“E. SAGE ROBERTS.

“Kensington, the 20th January, 1754.

“P.S.--My wife with her compliments to you joyns with me in compts.
of the Saison, wishing you health, prosperity and all you can wish
yourself for many years.”

“_The two Miss’s Botham’s Bill._

£ _s._ _d._
“To Board from the 9th of August, 1753, to
the 1st January, 1754, at £25 per year,
maketh 19 16 0
To a Seat at Church 0 8 6
To copy Books, pens, pencils, Ink, paper, &c. 0 7 0
To the Dancing Master 4 10
To sundry things furnished, viz.--
To a chest of Draws 1 5 0
To silver spoons, knife and Fork. 1 1 0
To a tea chest 0 (torn off)
To a Spelling book, 1 Grammar 0 3 -
To two Hats and two Bonets 0 15 0
To three pair of Shoes 0 (torn)
To Gloves, 6 pairs 0 (torn)
To tea and suger 0 (torn)
To Thread, Tape and pins, needles, worsted,
laces, &c. 0 13 -
To Hair cutting, Pomatum Powder (torn)
To Pocket Money 0 10 9
To Pots and Mugs, &c. 0 1 6
To a percel recd. by the Coach 0 0 2
To Soap, Oatmeal for to wash, &c. 0 2 6
----------
Total 30 15 0”

[Page heading: MR. PELHAM’S DEATH]

In the beginning of March in this year Mr. Pelham, the Premier, died
suddenly, and there was a General Election. Mr. Pelham’s brother, the
Duke of Newcastle, was appointed first Lord of the Treasury; Mr. Legge,
Mr. Botham’s uncle, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Sir George Lyttelton,
Cofferer. Mr. Montagu proceeded to Hinchinbrooke early in April to
canvass, and his wife writes to him on the 11th--

“I hope you had a pleasant journey, and arrived without fatigue.
You are proceeding quietly and well at Huntingdon, while many are
hustling with infinite animosity in other Boroughs. The votes are
eleven hundred paid a piece at Bury as I am informed.... Morris is
very busy with the Canterbury Voters, he does not like them so well
as law Clients.”

Morris was canvassing for his elder brother Matthew, of Horton.

Mr. Montagu writes on April 16 to say, “Yesterday our Election came on,
and was, I believe, one of the most quiet and peaceable that ever was.”

[Page heading: AN ELECTION]

In her next letter to her husband she says--

“I have had a letter to-day from my brother Robinson, informing me
that he is chosen along with Creed; Mr. Best declined the Poll. My
brother has carried his Election without expence.... I cannot take
leave of you without expressing my pride and satisfaction in seeing
you again enter the House of Commons, where you have behaved with
such steadiness and integrity. I have a joy and pride whenever I
reflect on any part of your moral character. May your virtues meet
with the happiness they deserve!”

[Page heading: “TOM” LYTTELTON]

Bower writes to Mrs. Montagu on April 16 from Oakhampton, where he had
gone with Sir George Lyttelton for his election, in fervid Italian.
He was disgusted at the orgy of the election, and says that at the
election dinner given by the mayor and magistrates in their robes to
Sir George Lyttelton, they sat down at 3 o’clock p.m., and none rose
to leave till two in the morning! “e tutti, o quasi tutti partirono
cordialmente ubbriachi” (“and all, _nearly_ all, parted thoroughly
drunk”). He continues, “The cavaliers then went from house to house
to kiss the ladies, as was customary, and ask for the votes of their
husbands.” After fervid speeches made to the “celeste imagine della
Madonna del Monte e della Strada del Monte” (the celestial image of
the Madonna of the Mount and the Madonna of Hill Street), meaning Mrs.
Montagu, his pen is taken up by Lyttelton, who says, “The Italian
language affords such lofty expressions, as the poverty of ours will
not come up to, and therefore the Madonna must be content with my
telling her that the good Father with all his Devotion does not honour
her more than I do....” At the end of his letter he says, “I hear from
my wife that my Boy has been with you: a thousand thanks for your
goodness to him.” This is the first mention of Thomas, afterwards 2nd
Baron Lyttelton, then only ten years old. Lyttelton had early besought
the interest and influence of Mrs. Montagu for his son and daughter by
his first marriage. Both became truly attached to her, would that her
influence had prevailed on “Tom” later in life.

At this period Mrs. Donnellan was very ill, and Mrs. Montagu did
her best to nurse her. Lady Sandwich came to town to inoculate her
daughter, Lady Mary. Miss Mary Pitt had been to see Mrs. Montagu, and
“she assures me Mr. Pitt is in good health, but has had another attack
of gout in his hand, owing, ’tis imagined, to his being blooded for a
sore throat.”

Mr. Montagu at this period sustained the heavy loss of his faithful
agent, the second Mr. Carter, who died at Theakstone, and whose loss
necessitated his immediate journey to the north to attend to his own
and Mr. Rogers’ affairs, all of which had been confided to Mr. Carter’s
care. Taking Mr. Botham as his temporary secretary and companion, they
started off northward by post-chaises, a most expensive process, as Mr.
Montagu called it. On June 13 Mrs. Montagu writes--

“I am sorry Mrs. Carter (the grandmother), has set her heart so
much on having her granddaughter with her, she is of the proper age
to receive instruction and take impressions; a few years passed
innocently will not leave her as amiable a subject as she is now,
her mind will be less flexible.... Mr. Pitt drank tea with me this
afternoon; he has recovered his health entirely, if one may judge
by his looks. He tells me he has built a very good house at Bath
for £1200. He mention’d to me his intention of going on Saturday to
Wickham to propose the place at Chelsea to Mr. West, the offer will
certainly be an agreeable one.”

This place was that of the paymaster to Chelsea College. In the next
letter to Mrs. Boscawen, Mrs. Montagu says--

“The place is call’d a thousand pounds a year, it is in the gift
of Mr. Pitt, and was given with grace that few know how to put
into any action ... they have excellent lodgings annexed to the
place.... Mr. Pitt dined with them on Saturday; I imagine he was
very happy, but he so well deserved to be so. It is a fine thing to
act the part of Providence and bless the good. Miss Carter was sent
for by her old grandmother, last week she left me.”

Writing to her husband on June 15, Mrs. Montagu states she shall be
glad to hear as soon as Mr. Montagu thinks he will return, “that I may
disfurnish Hayes, which I shall quit as a man does a homely but a quiet
wife, with some little regret, but not much tender sorrow; it is not a
beautiful place, but it is quiet, and when one steps out of the bustle
of Town, appears on that account amiable.” She adds that her sister’s
health is greatly improved, and her temper less petulant, on account of
having taken to a milk and vegetable diet.

On July 9 Mrs. Montagu mentions--

“My brother Robinson came to town last night; he dined here to-day,
and we are all going to Vauxhall, where Mr. Tyers has had the ruins
of Palmyra painted in the manner of the scenes so as to deceive the
eye and appear buildings.”

Her sister Sarah and brother Charles were with her. She concludes with
an affectionate appeal to her husband not to apply himself too much to
business at Newcastle, but to take exercise for his health’s sake.

[Page heading: MR. WEST’S APPOINTMENT]

[Page heading: ELIZABETH CANNING]

In another letter undated, but about this period, as it mentions West’s
thanks to Mr. Montagu for his congratulations on his appointment to
Chelsea Hospital, allusion is made to Elizabeth Canning, whose curious
story of having been kidnapped[64] and ill-treated had convulsed
London opinion.

“The town is in great agitation about Elizabeth Canning; she is
condemn’d to Transportation, but her guilt is so far from appearing
certain, that the Sheriffs refuse to conduct her among the other
felons. All the Aldermen but Sir Crispe Gascoigne[65] petition in
her behalf, all the great officers of the State almost, interpose
for her, and the Archbishop of Canterbury also desires that she may
have a decent person of her own sex to attend her over, and then
to board in a private family. Some fear there will be a rising of
the Mob in her favour; in general all seem to agree that the matter
is entirely doubtful. As to Sir Crispe Gascoigne he dare not stir
without being guarded.... I wish the whole affair was brought to
light, there is great iniquity somewhere.”

[64] _Vide_ vol. ix., Smollett, “History of England,” p. 231.

[65] Then Lord Mayor of London.

On July 19, writing from Hayes, she says--

“Miss Mary Pitt, youngest sister of Mr. Pitt, is come to stay a few
days with me, she is a very sensible, modest, pretty sort of young
woman, and as Mr. Pitt seem’d to take every civility shown to her
as a favour, I thought this mark of respect to her one manner of
returning my obligations to him.”

Mr. Montagu and Mr. Botham proceeded to Newcastle to regulate Mr.
Rogers’ affairs, which, as before mentioned, required attention, owing
to the death of the head agent, Mr. Carter.

In consequence probably of worry, Mr. Montagu returned from the north
at the end of July with a fever, “which,” as his wife writes to Sarah,
“bleeding and wormwood draughts have taken off,” and as soon as he was
fit he was to go with her to Hayes to pack up her books. Miss Anstey
was staying with them, and was to accompany them to Sandleford. Mention
is made of a portrait of herself which Mrs. Montagu was going to send
Mrs. Scott: “Mr. Cambridge call’d on me the other day, he spoke much
in your praise. I told him I hoped he would call on you at Bath, he
promised he would.” This was Richard Owen Cambridge,[66] a friend of
Dr. Johnson, who wrote the “Scribbleriad.”

[66] Mr. Cambridge died in 1802.

Writing to West from Sandleford of her neighbours at Hayes, she regrets
the society of Mrs. Herring and the Archbishop,[67] and desires her
regards to them. He answers--

“I made your compliments to the Archbishop and Mrs. Herring, who
dined with us the very day I received your letter. He is very well
and as amiable and polite as ever. Dick[68] has been very dilligent
and very successful in partridge shooting, and t’other day sent the
prime fruits of his labours, a landrail, as a present to his Grace
of Canterbury.”

[67] Thomas Herring, born 1671, died 1757. Archbishop of Canterbury.

[68] Young West.

[Page heading: BRIGHTHELMSTONE]

At the beginning of September, through the influence of West, the
Bishop of London gave the living of Ealing to Mr. Botham. Botham was at
Brighthelmstone with his two boys for sea-bathing, as they were not in
health. The joy of Mrs. Montagu was great at this preferment, as the
bishop permitted Mr. Botham to continue to hold Albury as well, placing
a curate in the living he did not occupy.

[Page heading: “PRECIEUSES RIDICULES”]

Writing again to West, Mrs. Montagu says--

“Dr. Mangey kept a curate at Ealing as he did not reside there, but
undoubtedly Mr. Botham will discharge the duties of the living
he resides at without assistance; the Bishop of London required
Mr. Botham’s residence: as the girls and boys are growing up and
must soon live with him, they will be better placed at Ealing
in a good neighbourhood than at Albury. They will learn nothing
there but eating and drinking plentifully of Lord Aylesford, and
Mr. Godschall’s house is generally full of poetic Misses, who are
addressing each other by the names of Parthenia, Araminta, etc.,
with now and then a little epistle to Strephon or Damon. I was
uneasy whenever they were at home, for fear they should enter into
the _precieuse_ character of Mrs. Godschall.”

This style of conversation is taken off in Molière’s “Precieuses
Ridicules.”

West’s mother, Lady Langham was now paying her son a visit. Mrs.
Montagu writes--

“I think the vast territories of imagination could not afford any
view so pleasing as the meeting of such a son and such a mother;
the pictures not only pleased my mind, but warm’d my heart ... that
you may at Lady Langham’s age be as well able to take a journey,
and your son as well deserve, and as joyfully receive such a visit
is my sincerest and most earnest wish ... another pleasure attends
you all, and which your benevolence and not your pride will feel,
that of setting an example of those various charities, of parent,
child, husband and wife, which make the happiness of domestic life;
and there is surely more honour in filling well _the circle mark’d
of Heaven_ in these spheres of relation, than in running the wild
career of Ambition in its most shining track. Indeed there is no
part of a conduct that so certainly deserves our approbation as an
acquittance of family regards. Actions of a public nature often are
inspired by vanity, domestic behaviour has not popular applause
for its object, tho’ with the sober judgment, as Mr. Pope says of
silence, ‘_its very want of voice makes it a kind of fame_.’”

She then proceeds to thank West eloquently for Botham’s presentation to
_Kingston_ (this must be a mistake for Ealing), and ends with desiring
some paper hangings “she and Mrs. Isted had laboriously adorned” to be
taken down with care at her house at Hayes, but leaves the rest of the
hangings to the landlord. “I presume some retail grocer, haberdasher
of small wares, or perhaps a tallow chandler, will shortly be in
possession of my Castle at Hayes.”

[Page heading: MR. HATELEY]

At Sandleford were staying young Mr. Hateley, an artist, and Miss
Anstey. The latter being in treaty for a house in London, accepted Mr.
Montagu’s escort thither, and Mr. Hateley wishing to accompany them
a portion of the way, mounted a horse, which flung him at the first
start off and grievously cut and bruised him. The doctor was summoned
after the departure of Mr. Montagu and Miss Anstey, who “blooded him,
and he was ordered to take no food but balm tea lest he should have a
fever.... The Harvest Home Supper last night was very jolly, the guests
had as good appetite as those who meet to eat Turtle,” writes Mrs.
Montagu to her husband on September 23.

Miss Anstey, having lost her parents, and Trumpington having become
her brother’s property, had determined to live in London. She took
Mr. Montagu to help her in choosing a residence in Queen Street, a
new-built house for £800. Miss Anstey executed several commissions for
Mrs. Montagu, amongst which she mentions, “I have sent several prints
of Nun’s habits, some one of which I hope may become the beautiful
Eloise, and I shall very much rejoice to hear she has taken the Veil.”

Mention is made in a previous letter of Mrs. Montagu’s of Hateley
painting a picture of Eloise, but who sat for it I cannot say. Hateley
recovered from his accident. A new post-chaise had been ordered for
the Montagus, and Mr. Montagu found it “nothing showy or brilliant,”
but his wife assures him, “I shall find no fault with the plainness of
the post-chaise, neatness being all that is aimed at.”

[Page heading: LILLINGSTON DAYRELL]

West, writing on October 8 from Wickham, says--

“I have the honour to agree with my dearest and most excellent
cousin in looking upon writing letters as one of the evils of
Human Life, and for that reason I have always declined engaging
in a correspondence of that kind with anybody but her, tho’ I was
once invited to it by the great Mr. Pope.... I am now turning
my thoughts towards Chelsea, where I hope to be settled for the
whole winter by the beginning of next month. My Mother and Mrs.
Ives[69] go from hence to my brother’s[70] house in the country,
where they will remain a week or ten days, and from there return to
Lillingston.[71] Mr. and Mrs. Dayrell were prevented by the death
of two of his Aunts from making us a visit at Wickham, by which
accident and the absence of my sister Molly, my Mother lost the
opportunity of exhibiting the pleasing picture of a Hen gathering
with a careful and maternal tenderness all her chickens at once
under her wings, but she will have them by turns.”

[69] Mrs. Ives appears to be Lady Langham’s sister.

[70] Temple West.

[71] Lillingston Dayrell in Bucks.

From this it would appear that Mrs. Dayrell was a daughter of Lady
Langham’s. The Dayrells have owned Lillingston Dayrell for some eight
hundred years!

Mrs. Medows writes from Chute on October 16 to Mrs. Montagu--

“I am impatient to wait on you; all the horses and all the Maids
have been taken up with Wey Hill Fair,[72] now I hope to hire a
couple of cart-horses: I dare not venture with a common postboy and
horses, because the postboys are not used to a four-wheeled chaise,
nor the Road I must go.... I wish you joy of a pleasure for life at
least, the good you have done to Mr. Botham and his family.... I am
pleased you have hired the wood, now one may walk in the bowling
green without coveting what is your neighbour’s. I hope hiring is
a step to purchasing; laying field to field is a natural thought
and not a blameable one, when no injustice is meant. I have often
thought what a pretty place Sandleford would be if it was bounded
by the little river, Newbury Wash, and Greenham Heath.”

This wood was on the east side of Sandleford, and was eventually
purchased, and Sandleford at this moment is bounded exactly as Mrs.
Medows wished.

[72] On October 10 and five following days.

“A Buck, we are told, is come to Grateley, his name is Mitchell, he
has laid out a £1000 in furnishing it completely, altho’ he could
not be sure of having it more than a year. He intends to keep Stags
in the paddocks, and turn them out on the Downs, which will give
him fine chases. He says the Drawing room is a good drinking room.”

[Page heading: BATH EASTON]

Sarah Scott and Lady Bab Montagu had taken a house at Bath Easton for
use in the summer, and desiring plants for the garden there, Mrs.
Montagu sends on November 6 to them a vast number of pinks, roses and
honeysuckles, together with a home-cured ham. In the accompanying
letter she mentions Ealing being

“two hundred pounds a year, his house a very pretty one, a
good garden with a great deal of wall fruit, and there is a
neighbourhood of genteel people, who have all shown him great
civility.... Mr. Hateley is still with us, he has made a very
pretty Landskip (_sic_) with Eloisa, and her figure is pretty,
her face amiably triste. He has done my portrait so like, and got
a good likeness, and with a spirit in the countenance and attitude
that is very uncommon.”

[Page heading: “HISTORY OF BATH”]

To this Sarah writes on November 17, to thank her for the plants and
to say she and Lady Barbara had returned to Bath for the winter, Bath
Easton being too near the water for them. She says--

“Have I sent you word of a subscription making for Nash? I believe
it began since I wrote last. It is entitled a subscription for a
‘History of Bath and Tunbridge for these last 40 years,’ by Richard
Nashe, Esqre., with an Apology for the Author’s life. The whole
money, two guineas, is to be paid down at once, for he does not
pretend any book is to come out. Some have subscribed 10 guineas,
many five, and a great many hundred pounds are already subscribed.
It is to be kept open for life, and people give to him who will
not part with a guinea to relieve the greatest real and unmerited
distress imaginable. The pretence is that he has but little more
than £200 a year, which is not supposed true, but if it was, surely
it is full equal to his merits, whether one considers them as moral
or entertaining. To such ladies as have secret histories belonging
to them, he hints that he knows every one’s private life and shall
publish it. This place grows so full of subscriptions that no
person of moderate fortune will long be able to come to it. The
people of the rooms are endeavouring to obtain a subscription of
half a guinea each man, and a crown each woman for the season. As
yet it has not been complied with, but they require it with such
insolence, that I make no doubt it will be complied with. I shall
be glad to hear you are safely settled in Hill Street. I assure you
the picture[73] you were so good as to give me is a great ornament
to a pretty room, and people are so civil to me as to see the
likeness, which I take well of them; as it is placed near the fire
it may grow warmer, which is all that can improve it.”

[73] A portrait of Mr. Montagu.

“Beau” Nash had reigned a despotic Master of the Ceremonies over Bath
for fifty years, living in a most expensive style, mainly supported
by his success at the gaming tables. The Act of Parliament against
gambling put an end to his chief means of obtaining money. The
Corporation, however, settled a pension of 120 guineas on him for his
services. He was eighty-one years old at this period, having been born
in 1673. His rules for general behaviour and manners are most amusing,
but are too long to insert.

[Illustration:

_T. Rowlandson, pxt._]

THE KING’S BATH, AT BATH.]

[Page heading: MR. PITT’S ENGAGEMENT]

At this time Mr. Pitt became engaged to Lady Hester Grenville, daughter
of Mr. Richard Grenville and his wife, Lady Temple, and sister of
Viscount Cobham. She was a cousin of West’s and Sir George Lyttelton’s.

On November 5 Mrs. Montagu writes to West--

“MY DEAR COUSIN,

“Since the days that Cupid set Hercules to the distaff, he has
not had a nobler conquest than over the elevated soul of Mr.
Pitt. I congratulate you on the affinity, and I hope he will be
happy: his long acquaintance with the lady makes the hazard much
less than where people marry without knowing the disposition of
the person they choose. I believe Lady Hester Grenville is very
good-humoured, which is the principal article in the happiness of
the Marriage State. Beauty soon grows familiar to the lover, wit
may be pernicious, and many brilliant qualities troublesome; but a
companion of gentle disposition softens cares and lightens sorrows.
The sober matches made on reflection, are often happier than those
made by sudden and violent passion, and I hope this will prove of
this kind; and there is an authority in the character of Mr. Pitt,
that will secure him the deference and obedience of his wife;
proud of him abroad, she will be humble to him at home; and having
said so much, I consign them over to Hymen, who, I hope, will join
their hands in the most auspicious hour. I was prevented writing to
you by Sunday’s post, Dr. Pococke having stayed with us on Saturday
night, and the first Sunday of the month I always go to Newbury
Church;[74] the length of the service made me too late to write. I
am glad Mr. Cambridge has been with you at Wickham.... We were in
Wiltshire last week to visit Mrs. Medows.”

She ends with expressing a wish to exchange the country for London, but
is determined not to say a word to Mr. Montagu, whose health had been
recently restored by country air.

[74] St. Nicholas, Newbury. They generally attended Newtown church,
as it was nearer.

[Page heading: REV. W. WARBURTON]

[Page heading: THOMAS HEARNE]

In her next letter to West, of November 14, she says--

“As the Virtues and Graces as well as Cupid and Hymen will assist
at Mr. Pitt’s nuptials, I think he could not choose a better place
for their celebration than Wickham, their capital seat. I wish them
many happy years together, and God bless them with health and every
good.... I hope while you are at Croydon the good Archbishop will
animate you to defy that foul fiend my Lord Bolingbroke; I believe
I shall take some of Ward’s sneezing powder to clear my head of
the impieties and impurities of his book. I am not satisfied with
Mr. Warburton’s[75] answer, the levity shocks me, the indecency
displeases me, the _grossièreté_ disgusts me. I love to see the
doctrine of Christianity defended by the spirit of Christianity.
When absurdity is mix’d with impiety, it ceases to be a jest. I can
laugh at his Lordship’s cavils at Mr. Locke, his envy to Plato and
all the old Philosophers, but I could with great seriousness apply
to him the words of his friend and Poet to the Dunces--

“‘’Tis yours a Bacon and a Locke to blame,
A Newton’s genius or a Milton’s flame.
But oh! with one, immortal one dispense
The source of Newton’s light or Bacon’s sense.’

But I must do his Lordship the justice to say that what he wants in
faith he makes up in confidence, for after having assured you it
is absurd to affirm God is just or good, he declared he is willing
to trust the being whose attributes he cannot know, to dispose of
him in another world, not at all doubting that the Supreme Being
will be good to him, without goodness, and just to him without
justice! He laughs at the faith of Abraham, and I should do so
too, if Abraham had disputed God’s veracity, and then trusted to
His promises. I never read such a mass of inconsistencies and
contradictions, such a vain ostentation of learning, and if I
durst, I would say it, all that can show ‘the trifling head, or
the corrupted heart.’ I think I may venture to say trifling, for
whatever does not relate to the argument is so, and to teize the
gentle reader with all the miserable sophisms that perplex’d the
world 2000 years ago, is barbarous. I wanted to apply to him the
Epigram on Hearne[76] the antiquarian--

“‘Fye on thee! quoth Time to Thomas Hearne,
Whatever I forget, you learn....’

I thank his Lordship, though, for making me once more look into Mr.
Locke and Doctor Clarke,[77] in the veneration of whom I believe I
shall live and dye.”

[75] Rev. William Warburton, born 1698, died 1779. Chaplain to the
King; Bishop of Gloucester; author of various works.

[76] Thomas Hearne, born 1678, died 1735; antiquarian and author.

[77] Samuel Clarke, D.D., born 1675, died 1729; celebrated
theologian and natural philosopher.

[Page heading: MR. PITT’S MARRIAGE]

[Page heading: THE HONEYMOON]

The return letter from West is so interesting that I give it _in
extenso_--

“Croydon, November 18, 1754.

“MY DEAR COUSIN,

“Your admirable letter found me at the Archiepiscopal Palace at
Croydon, where Mrs. West, Dick and I had been ever since Wednesday;
and it was lucky that it found me there, as I had by that means
an opportunity of showing the Archbishop, whom you very properly
style good, your most ingenious and judicious Reflections of Lord
Bolingbroke’s pompous Rhetorical and inconsistent Declamations with
which his Grace (who, by the bye agrees entirely with you in the
censure you there pass’d upon Mr. W(arburton)’s way of answering
him,) was so pleas’d that he desired me to give him a copy of the
whole paragraph, promising that if he show’d it to anybody he
would, however, cautiously conceal the name of the author. After
this I need not tell you how much we both said in praise of you;
I shall only add that I, this morning, received his commands to
present his respects to you, and to tell you in his name that if
you allow’d yourself the liberty of saying fine things of him,
he would be even with you. These are his own words, grounded on
a piece of information I had given him of the great honour and
esteem you had for him. We quitted Wickham, as I told you, on
Wednesday last, that we might throw no obstacle in the way of that
amorous impatience which Mr. Pitt had in all his notes express’d
of bringing Lady Hester to our sweet and hospitable Habitation,
as he call’d it; but to our great surprise, and to the no small
mortification of Mrs. West in particular, who was afraid that all
the good things, with which she had fill’d her larder, would be
spoil’d by their delay--the happy Bridegroom and his Bride did not
arrive till Saturday, on which morning they were married[78] by Dr.
Ayscough[79] with the Archbishop’s License. They came down alone,
and have continued alone ever since, and, I imagine, will continue
during their stay at Wickham, in that Paradisaical Solitude, tho’
by the quantity of provisions which Mr. Campion[80] brought with
him, and more which he has since sent for from Croydon, we conclude
he expected some visitants from Town, as Lord Temple, etc.,[81]
but having heard of no such visitants being expected, I suppose
that all this profusion was owing to Mr. Campion’s solicitude to
testify in his own way his respects to his new Lady, and make his
compliments on this joyous occasion, in the polite, that is, in the
French Phraseology: this is all the intelligence I can at present
give you of this important affair, for we have had no communication
by messages, either to or from Mr. Pitt, whom we were unwilling to
disturb, or interrupt the free course of those pleasures, which
for a time at least, possess the whole mind, and are most relished
when most private; for this reason I cannot yet acquaint you when
we shall leave Wickham, but I believe it will be about the middle
of this week, and I suppose we shall not be able to go to Chelsea
before the latter end of the next, or the beginning of the week
after, and by that time I am still in hopes you will come to Hill
Street, and by giving me the pleasure of seeing you there in good
health, compleat the happy change which you observe is already
begun in the once gloomy month of November. I do often, my dear
Cousin, look back with pleasure and thankfulness on many incidents
of my past Life, and compare them with my present situation, so
much changed for the better in a thousand instances, such as
Health, fortune and Friendship, among which there is none that has
given me more happiness than yours, and which therefore I hope
will continue, till it is lost where only it can be lost, in the
brighter and warmer radiance of an unchangeable and everlasting
Society, where I hope to have it continued to me through all
eternity. I am going to take the air with the good and amiable
Archbishop, and therefore must conclude.

“Adieu, my dear, dear Cousin, and assure yourself that all that
period I shall continue

“Ever most affectionately Yours, etc.,
“GIL. WEST.

“Mrs. West and Mrs. Herring desire their compliments to Mrs.
Montagu and Miss Anstey.”

[78] Married November 16, 1754, by special license, in Argyll
Street.

[79] Rev. Francis Ayscough, D.D., married Anne Lyttelton, Sir
George’s sister.

[80] The chef.

[81] Richard, Earl Temple, brother of Lady Hester.

[Illustration:

_W. Hoare R A Pinx._ _Emery Walker Ph. Sc._

_Philip, 4th Earl of Chesterfield._]

[Page heading: “GOSSIP” JOAN]

I give a portion of the reply to the foregoing letter--

“Hill Street, November 23, 1754.

“MY DEAREST COUSIN,

“From country Joan I am, according to my ambitious views, turned
into ‘Gossip’ Joan, and by no supernatural metamorphosing power,
but merely by the help of so ordinary a vehicle as a post-chaise,
which wrought this happy change between the hours of 7 in the
morning and 5 in the afternoon; the subject, no doubt was well
prepared that would so easily receive the alteration. In my town
character I made 15 visits last night: I should not so suddenly
have assumed my great Hoop if I had not desired to pay the earliest
respect to Lady Hester Pitt. I came to town on Wednesday night,
and was too weary to write to you. I proposed doing it on Thursday
evening, but my brother Robinson hinder’d me by making a long
visit. Yesterday morning was divided amongst Milliners, Mantua
makers, Mercers and such as deal in the small wares of vanity.”

[Page heading: MR. HOOKE]

The year ends with a letter from Mr. Nathaniel Hooke--

“Cookham, December 22, 1754.

“MADAM,

“If it were not for a certain text of Scripture, I should be very
impatient for the time to come when I must be in London for some
days. The idea of Hill Street and what is to be seen and heard
there, is very lively and pressing. But alas! What says St. John
the Divine? _Little children keep yourselves from Idols._ If you
can satisfy my conscience in this point I shall be much obliged
to you, and I beg you will study it thoroughly, and let me have
your Resolution by a line, directed to be left at Mr. Watson’s in
Cavendish Street. ’Tis uncertain just now _when_ I shall move, but
I think it will be some time this week. Till then I am not your
religious worshipper, but Madam,

“Your most obliged and most obedient
and most humble Servant,
“N. HOOKE.

“Give me leave to add best compliments to Mr. Montagu.”

CHAPTER II.

1755–1757--IN LONDON, AT SANDLEFORD, AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS, AND WITH
THE BOSCAWENS AT HATCHLANDS--LETTERS ON EVENTS OF THE WAR.

[Year: 1755]

[Page heading: LORD MONTFORT’S SUICIDE]

In January, 1755, but with no date of day, is a letter of Mrs.
Montagu’s to Sarah Scott on Lord Montfort[82] committing suicide after
gambling heavily.

“I imagine that you will be glad to hear the history of the times,
which indeed bring forth daily wonders; nor is it the least that
the most profound arithmetician and the greatest calculator, one
who carried Demoivre’s[83] ‘Probabilités de la Vie Humaine’ in his
pocket, never foresaw that spending ten times his income would ruin
his fortune, and that he found no way to make the book of debtor
and creditor even, but paying that debt which dissolves all other
obligations. You will guess I mean Lord Montfort and his pistol. He
had not discovered any marks of insanity, on the contrary, all was
deliberate, calm and cool; having said so much of his indiscretion,
I think, with the rest of the world, I may acquit him of the
imputation of cunning and sharping, but what can one say in defence
of a conduct that had all the appearance of deep knavery and the
consequences of inconsiderate rashness and folly.... Many reasons
have been given for his Lordship’s violent act, but by what I
learn from those best acquainted with his person and fortune, he
was not under the pressure of any very heavy debt, but had a true
Epicurean character, loved a degree of voluptuousness that his
fortune could not afford, and a splendour of life it could not
supply, much of his relish for the world was lost, and like one
that has no appetite to ordinary fare, chose to rise from table
unless fortune would make him a feast.... When Lord Montfort’s
children were paid their demands on his estate, I hear he had only
£1200 a year clear, and in table, equipage and retinue he equalled,
and in the first article perhaps excell’d, the largest fortunes. To
retrench or die was the question, he reasoned like Hamlet, but left
out the great argument of a future state.”

[82] Lord Montfort shot himself on January 1, 1755, at White’s
Coffee House, after playing whisk all night. _Vide_ Horace Walpole’s
“Letters to George Montagu,” vol. i. p. 252.

[83] Abraham Demoivre, born 1677, died 1754. Great mathematician;
wrote “The Doctrine of Chances,” etc.

In the same letter is--

“I have lately been engaged in a melancholy employment, condolence
with poor Mr. and Mrs. West on the loss of their son, who died
of a bilious fever, occasioned by his want of attendance to the
jaundice, which attacked him in the season of plays and Operas, and
he preferred them to the care of his health; he died very suddenly,
the poor parents bear the blow with surprising patience. Mr.
Lyttelton[84] is going to S. Carolina as Governor, and his sister
dreading such a separation desires to accompany him.

“Pray have you read Mr. Hume’s History of James I. and Charles
I.? I am afraid it will rather promote Jacobitism, but it is
entertaining and lively and will amuse you.... I suppose you know
there are two volumes of Madame de Sevigné’s letters come out this
winter; they are amusing as the anecdotes of a person one has a
great regard for, but they were rejected in former editions as not
being so brilliant as those published before. My brother Robinson
is emulating the great Diogenes and other budge Drs. of the Stoic
fur; he flies the delights of London and leads a life of such
privacy and seriousness as looks to the beholder like wisdom, but
for my part, I think no life of inaction deserves that name.”

This is the first mention of Matthew’s increasing love of retirement
and the hermit-like habits which he adopted at Horton.

[84] This was William Henry, brother of Sir George Lyttelton.

[Page heading: MRS. POCOCKE]

In March occurs a long letter from Mrs. Pococke, of Newtown, the very
learned lady mentioned before. She dispensed money for charitable
purposes given by Mrs. Montagu. She mentions that her son, Dr. Pococke,
is coming for a few days to see her before going abroad, “probably for
the last time, unless I live to the age of the late Bishop of Man.”
She mentions having walked eight miles that day as an excuse for bad
writing, which was superfluous, as her handwriting is amazingly good
and clear, and she was between eighty and ninety! _Mens sana in corpore
sano!_

[Page heading: LORD BALTIMORE’S HOUSE]

On June 9, presumably in this year, Mrs. Montagu writes--

“I suppose you know that Lady Sandwich has at last left her kind
Lord. To complete the measure of his good usage, he keeps her
daughter to educate with the Miss Courtenays. I hope her Ladyship
will be happier than she has been for many years, she has nothing
to harass her but the apprehensions for Lady Mary, but God knows
that is a dreadful object. She has taken a house at Windsor for the
summer.” This daughter died June 25, 1761.

And in the same month to Sarah Scott, she says--

Mrs. Boscawen and Miss Pitt came from Hatchlands to London to spend
two days with me; we went to Vauxhall each night, and Mrs. Anstey
and I went with them as far as Epsom: we saw Lord Baltimore’s
house, [_sic_] which speaks bad french, so I will not rehearse what
I saw there. Why should I teize your imagination with strawberry
colour’d wainscotts, doors of looking-glass, fine landskips on
gilt leather, and painted pastorals with huge headed Chloes and
gouty legg’d Strephons, with french mottoes to explain those tender
glances. We were glad to quit this palace of bad taste for a little
arbor in the garden of the inn at Epsom. The Sunday following Mr.
Montagu and I went to dine with Mr. Bower at Sidcop, his little
habitation has the proper perfections of a cottage, neatness,
chearfulness, and an air of tranquillity, a pretty grove with
woodbines twining round every Elm, a neat kitchen garden, with an
Arbor from whence you look on a fine prospect. Here he may write
of heresies and schisms, of spiritual pride and papal usurpations,
while peaceful retirement and the amenity of the scene about him,
rob controversy of its acrimony, and allay the bitterness of
censure by a mixture of gentle pity.”

[Page heading: SANDLEFORD]

Writing to Mrs. Boscawen from Sandleford, June 19, Mrs. Montagu
begins--

“‘When the Mower whets his scythe,
And the Milk-maid singeth blythe,
And every Shepherd in the dale
Under the Hawthorn tells his tale,’

there am I, and no longer in the sinfull and smoaking City of
London; this happy change was brought about on Tuesday, by very
easy and speedy measures. We got into our post-chaise between 10
and 11, arrived at Maidenhead Bridge about one; were refreshed by a
good dinner, and amused by good company. Mr. Hooke[85] meeting us
at our inn, we staid with him till after 5, and about ten arrived
at Sandleford.... I have not for these ten years been so early in
the Season at Sandleford, and it appears therefore with greater
charms. It cannot afford to lose any of its natural beauties, as
it owns none to Art, it is merely a pretty shepherdess, who has
no graces but those of youth and simplicity; but my dear Mrs.
Boscawen may turn it into a paradise when she pleases. When may I
hope to see her here.... I spent two days at Wickham last week;
our good friends had left the Archbishop of Canterbury only a few
days before I went to them. Mr. West seemed a good deal affected by
this return to Wickham, as to Mrs. West I cannot so well judge, the
cheerfulness she puts on is _outré_.... Mr. West told me he would
alter the room where poor Dick dyed, for he did not like to go into
it, and then a soft tender shower fell down his cheeks, he added
he had lost much of his relish for Wickham; however on the whole I
found them better than I could have expected!”

[85] He was then living at Cookham.

Directly after this, West was ordered to Tunbridge Wells, where he was
accompanied by Lady Cobham, Miss Speed, and his wife. He writes to Mrs.
Montagu that he hopes she will like a long stay in the country, as its
tranquillity will not

“produce the same effect which an Admiral of my acquaintance found
from the tranquillity of his friend’s house in the country, to
which coming directly from his ship, where he had been so long
accustomed to noise and bustle as to be grown fond of it, said,
after having passed a restless night, ‘Pox on this house, ’tis so
quiet there is no sleeping in it.’”

To this letter she answers--

“Mr. Montagu has been studiously disposed ever since we came to
Sandleford, so that I pass seven or eight hours every day entirely
alone. Five months are to pass before I return to the Land of the
Living, but I can amuse myself in the regions of the dead: if it
rains so that I cannot walk in the garden, Virgil will carry me
into the Elysian fields, or Milton into Paradise.”

[Page heading: MR. TORRIANO’S MARRIAGE]

Mention is also made of Sam Torriano’s engagement to Miss Scudamore,
“who is said to have been handsome, and it was on both sides a marriage
of inclination. He has delicacy enough to make him very happy or very
miserable, and restlessness enough to be very uneasy in a state too
insipid to allow of neither.”

Mrs. Montagu might well make this remark on Torriano’s marriage, as
her friend Sir George Lyttelton’s[86] second matrimonial contract had
by mutual consent ended in a separation. In a former letter it will
be remembered that the haughty tone and unpleasant manners of the
lady were commented on. It was a case of incompatibility of temper
and thought, and a constant imagination of bad health on her part.
Lady Lyttelton was a great friend of the Wests, and from a letter of
Lyttelton’s to West of this year it is evident that a little coldness,
which did not endure long, had sprung up between West and his friend.

[86] With Miss Rich, daughter of Field-Marshal Sir Robert Rich.

[Page heading: MR. WEST ILL]

On July 8 and July 14 Sir George Lyttelton writes to Archibald Bower
a complete diary of his tour in North Wales, accompanied by “Parson
Durant and Mr. Payne.” These letters Bower gave to Mrs. Montagu. They
contain many messages to the “Madonna,” but are, though interesting,
too long to insert here. At this period West was at Tunbridge Wells,
seeking health, but depressed at the absence of Pitt, Lyttelton,
Torriano, and, above all, Mrs. Montagu; and from this letter it appears
that 1750 was the year in which they first made friends at Tunbridge.
“Where are the happy seasons of 1750, 1751, 1752, and 1753?” he cries.
“In the ‘Stone House’ are Mr. Walpole and Lady Rachel, persons with
whom I have no concern.” The only people he now consorts with are Mrs.
Vesey, to whom he talks of Mrs. Montagu, “we both love and honour you;”
and Bishop Gilbert and his daughter.[87] The Bishop of London was
expected. West laments “a difficulty of breathing, accompanied with
wheezing,” he thought asthma. “The Doctors said Hysterical as only
fit for _petticoats_!” They prescribed assafœtida, valerian, and gum
ammoniac. He laments that Torriano “has done the irrevocable deed, and
is married on £500 per annum.”

[87] Miss Gilbert became Countess of Mount Edgecumbe.

In Mrs. Montagu’s answer to West of July 13 she laments Torriano’s
marriage not only as

“the world will lose him, but as he is to lose the world, which
with all its faults is not to be entirely quitted; man and wife
should always have something to charge with their ennui, the
impertinence of society bears the blame very well, in solitude
they must accuse each other of all they suffer of it. I do not
understand why they should live in Herefordshire, unless they
are very fond of cyder, for, in my opinion, London is the best
place for people of moderate circumstances. In the country people
are respected merely according to the acres they possess, an
equipage is necessary, and company must be entertained at a great
expense.... I am afraid his friend Stillingfleet[88] has left
Herefordshire.... Last Tuesday Mr. Botham came hither, as did Dr.
Gregory,[89] an ingenious agreeable man. Miss Pitt[90] has arrived
here to my great joy, and we are to go to Hatchlands on Thursday.”

[88] Dr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, born 1702, died 1771. Author of
“Calendar of Flora,” etc., and a prominent member of the Bas Bleu
circle.

[89] Dr. John Gregory, physician and miscellaneous writer; Professor
of Philosophy at Edinburgh.

[90] Mary Pitt, sister of Mr. W. Pitt.

[Page heading: HATCHLANDS]

Hatchlands, near Guildford, belonged to Admiral Boscawen. Writing
thence to her husband Mrs. Montagu says--

“We were received by Mrs. Boscawen with the most joyful welcome, as
we found her in great spirits on account of the taking of the two
French men of war. Mr. Hoquart had been taken twice by Mr. Boscawen
in the last war, but did not surrender himself in this engagement
till 44 men were killed on board of his ship. Mr. Boscawen writes
that he lived at great expence, having 11 French officers at his
table, whom he entertains with magnificence, and there were 8
companies of soldiers on board the _Alcide_ and the _Lys_. I hope
as Admiral Holborn has joined Mr. Boscawen, we may soon hear of a
more considerable victory.... The Duke[91] declares himself well
pleased with Mr. Boscawen for his enterprise.... Mr. Boscawen was
very much concern’d that the _Dauphin_, which had stands of arms
and some silver on board, has escaped by means of a fog....”

[91] Duke of Cumberland.

On July 27, to West, is this--

“Monsieur Mirepoix[92] threatened us with _la guerre la plus
sanglante qui fut jamais_, but by his _dépit_ I imagine the French
would have been better pleased if we would have let them silently
and quietly possess themselves of the West Indies.

“I walked round the park this morning, it does not consist of many
acres, but the disposition of the ground, the fine verdure and
the plantations make it very pretty: it resembles the mistress of
it, having preserv’d its native simplicity, tho’ art and care has
improv’d and soften’d it, and made it elegant.”

She mentions a miserable inn on Bagshot Heath, which they drove over,
“situated in the middle of a dreary Heath, which has been famous for
robberies and murders. The inn has for its sign the effigies of a man
who practised this dreadful trade 40 years.”

[92] The French ambassador.

[Page heading: SHEEP LEAS]

Whilst at Hatchlands Mrs. Boscawen took her guest to Sheep Leas,
belonging to Mr. Weston, also to Sir John Evelyn’s and Mr. Hamilton’s
places. Of Sheep Leas, in a letter to Sarah, who was with Lady Barbara
at Badminton, is this description--

“The Sheep Lees consists of a most beautiful down, adorn’d with
noblest beeches, commanding a rich gay and extensive prospect,
a prodigious flock of sheep enliven the scene; it has a noble
simplicity, and one imagines it to be the abode of some Arcadian
Prince.... Our next visit was to Sir John Evelyn’s,[93] you pass
over a high hill, finely planted, at the bottom of which lies
the good old seat, which is venerable and respectable, and put
me in mind of the song of ‘the Queen’s old Courtier,’ and it
has a library of good old books, handsome apartments furnished
and fitted up just as left them by their ancestor, the Sylvan
Evelyn.[94] I cannot but own that tired of papier maché ceilings
and gilt cornices, I was glad to see an old hall such as ancient
hospitality and the plain virtues of our ancestors used to inhabit
before country gentlemen used to make fortunes in Parliament or
lose them at ‘White’s,’ hunted foxes, instead of Ministers, and
employ’d their finesse in setting partridges. The garden at Sir
John Evelyn’s is adorn’d with _jets d’eaux_ in the old style, then
you pass on to the woods, which are great and noble, and lye on
each side a fine valley.”

[93] Leigh Place.

[94] John Evelyn, born 1620, died 1706. Author of the “Sylva, or
Discourse on Forest Trees,” etc., etc.

[Page heading: PAINSHILL]

Mrs. Ann Evelyn is mentioned as deserving this habitation.

“Pray follow me to Mr. Hamilton’s:[95] I must tell you it beggars
all description, the art of hiding art is here in such sweet
perfection, that Mr. Hamilton cheats himself of praise, you thank
Nature for all you see, tho’ I am inform’d all has been reformed
by Art. In his 300 acres you have the finest lawns, a serpentine
river playing in the sweetest valley, hills finely planted, which
command charming prospects, winding walks made gay with flowers
and flowering Shrubs, part of a rude forest, sombre woods, a river
deep and still, gliding round the woods and shaded by trees that
hang over the bank, while the serpentine river open and exposed to
the sun, adorn’d with little Islands and enlivened by waterfowls,
gladdens the vallies.”

[95] Painshill.

At the end of this letter mention is made of Travile, a poor lady
originally recommended by Lady Sandwich as lady’s-maid to Mrs. Montagu.
She was dying of consumption. Three doctors had treated her, and now
Dr. Gregory put her on a diet of vegetable and asses’ milk.

Mr. Botham, writing from Albury, July 23, 1755, says--

“A Captain Cunningham past through Guildford last night express
from the Governor of Hallifax in Nova Scotia with advice that
Col. Warburton of the land forces had taken a fort at the back
of Louisbourg called Bouche, (by the bye the most material Fort
belonging to the French settlements), 500 men and 20 cannon; that
the Colonel had blocked up Louisbourg by land, and Admiral Boscawen
had done the same by sea; that the town was very bare of provisions
and must soon surrender, and the sooner as the Colonel has turned
in the 500 brethren to help to consume the faster; so that there
is great reason to suppose we shall soon be masters of Louisbourg,
and the Admiral of the 4 French men of war blocked in the Harbour.
We have taken papers of the utmost consequence, which let us into
the secret schemes of the French, which were nothing less than
a design of taking all our Plantations from us in America, and
Hallifax in the first place, was destined for destruction.”

West, writing on August 22 from Tunbridge Wells, mentions that Lady
Cobham and Harriet had left them for Stoke, Mrs. Vesey was returning
to Ireland, and the Bishop of London had just left, “but while he was
here put into my hands some sheets of a third Volume of Discourses
now printing, which, as I had the chief hand in prevailing upon him
to publish, I received as a mark of his regard for me.” The bishop
was then in very bad health. West was persuaded by the three doctors,
Duncan, Burgess, and Morley, to stay on at Tunbridge Wells.

[Page heading: READING]

In a letter to Miss Anstey, who was with her friends, Lord and Lady
Romney, at Brighthelmstone, Mrs. Montagu says that Miss Pitt had left
her to join her brother, Mr. Pitt, and Lady Hester, at Sunninghill.[96]
Mrs. Montagu accompanied her as far as Reading,

“where we dined in the garden of the inn, from whence there is a
fine gay prospect, and after dinner we walked to see the ruins of
the old Abbey, which was most delightfully situated. The river
winds about the richest meadows I ever saw; hills crowned with
woods and adorn’d by some gentlemen’s houses bound the prospect,
and make it the most soft and agreeable landscape imaginable.”

[96] Sunning Hill, at that time rising in repute for its mineral
wells.

She and Mr. Montagu were contemplating visiting Mrs. Scott and Lady Bab
Montagu at Bath Easton, “but I do not propose to leave poor Travile
as long as she continues in this life; her end draws very near.” The
invalid seems to have been most religious, and one learns that by her
request Mrs. Montagu nightly read her the Service for the Sick.

On September 26, West informs Mrs. Montagu that the Archbishop of
Canterbury[97] had written to tell him of the release of Governor
Lyttelton, who, with his sister, had been taken prisoners by the French
in the _Blandford_, which was conveying the Governor to his province,
South Carolina. This was William Henry, brother of Sir George, and
his sister Hester. The _Blandford_ was soon after this given up by
the French. Mary Pitt, writing to Mrs. Montagu, said that Governor
Lyttelton’s only loss was his wine and provisions on the _Blandford_,
he having sent most of his baggage by another ship.

[97] Rev. Dr. Thomas Herring.

Mr. Pitt was then at Bath, while Lady Hester awaited her confinement
at the Pay Office, of which Pitt was then master. Miss Pitt says, the
sudden arrival of Governor Lyttelton “has proved very fortunate for Sir
George at Bewdley,[98] where, by the Election of a Bayliff, the Borough
was gone, if his brother had not thus dropt out of the clouds to give
his vote and the turn to the scale.”

[98] Bewdley, Worcestershire.

[Page heading: MRS. SCOTT’S DAILY LIFE]

Travile becoming slightly better, Mrs. Montagu went to Bath Easton to
visit Mrs. Scott and Lady Bab Montagu. In a letter to Dr. Gilbert West,
October 16, after her return to Sandleford, the following account is
given of the life led by the two lady friends:--

“My sister rises early, and as soon as she has read prayers to
their small family, she sits down to cut out and prepare work
for 12 poor girls, whose schooling they pay for; to those whom
she finds more than ordinarily capable, she teaches writing and
arithmetic herself. The work these children are usually employed
in is making child-bed linen and clothes for poor people in the
neighbourhood, which Lady Bab Montagu and she, bestow as they
see occasion. Very early on Sunday morning these girls, with 12
little boys whom they also send to school, come to my sister and
repeat their catechism, read some chapters, have the principal
articles of their religion explained to them, and then are sent
to the parish church. These good works are often performed by the
Methodist ladies in the heat of enthusiasm, but thank God, my
sister’s is a calm and rational piety. Her conversation is lively
and easy, and she enters into all the reasonable pleasures of
Society; goes frequently to the plays, and sometimes to balls,
etc. They have a very pretty house at Bath for the winter, and one
at Bath Easton for the summer; their houses are adorned by the
ingenuity of the owners, but as their income is small, they deny
themselves unnecessary expenses. My sister[99] seems very happy; it
has pleased God to lead her to truth, by the road of affliction;
but what draws the sting of death and triumphs over the grave,
cannot fail to heal the wounds of disappointment. Lady Bab Montagu
concurs with her in all these things, and their convent, for by its
regularity it resembles one, is really a cheerful place.”

[99] Mrs. Scott described their life in her novel, “Millenium Hall,
by a _Gentleman_ on his Travels,” 1762,--as there was a popular
prejudice then against a female author. Doubtless many of the
histories are true in it.

[Page heading: MISS POCOCKE]

Writing to Sarah Scott of their safe return from Bath Easton, Mrs.
Montagu says--

“You would hardly imagine that the calm, meek Miss Pococke[100]
is as great a heroine as Thalestris, Boadicea, or any of the
termagant ladies in history. One Wednesday night, she was awaken’d
by a robber, who threw himself across her bed and demanded her
money; she started up, seized him with one hand and rang her bell
with the other, and held him till the maid came into the room,
but at last he broke from her, and by the ill-management of her
assistants made his escape. He is our late Gardener’s son, whom you
may remember a boy in the gardens, his name Moses. He attempted to
break open our house two nights before, opened the parlour sash,
but could not force the shutters, which I am glad he did not do,
for any alarm to the poor sick woman would have been a grievous
thing.”

[100] Daughter of Mrs. Pococke, of Newtown, and sister of the
bishop.

[Page heading: GARRETT WELLESLEY]

Mrs. Donnellan, in a letter from Fulham, August 28, reproached Mrs.
Montagu “for not having visited Mrs. Southwell and me, for actually
from Bagshot to her house is not quite 3 miles and a straight road....
My very near relation and friend, my Lord Mornington[101] and his
son[102] and _my godson_ young Wesley, are at London and come often to
me.”

“I shall hope to make you acquainted with them next winter; you
have known my regards to them, the son is the best creature I ever
knew of his age, his whole attention is to make his Father as happy
as he can, who is greatly hurt since the death of his daughter,
Mrs. Fortescue.[103] The young man’s behaviour to me is like a
tender child to a parent, so you may believe he must engage me; he
says he shall not think of marrying till he is of age, and assures
me I shall have a negative in his choice, you may believe he is not
likely to meet one from the ladies as his estate will be a good
ten thousand a year all within 25 miles of Dublin.... The Duke and
Duchess of Portland, and the Marquis, and young ladies have been at
D’Ewes[104] at Wellesbourne in a tour.”

Mrs. Donnellan was in very bad health at this time.

[101] Baron Mornington, cousin through the Ushers to Mrs. Donnellan.

[102] Garrett _Wesley_, or Wellesley, 1st Earl Mornington; famous
for his musical talent; father of the Duke of Wellington.

[103] Elizabeth Wesley, married in 1743, Chichester Fortescue, of
Dromisken.

[104] Mrs. D’Ewes, _née_ Granville, sister of Mrs. Delany’s.

[Page heading: HAGLEY]

Now occurs a joint letter from Mr. Bower and Sir George Lyttelton
on October 6; the first writing in Italian from Hagley. Bower calls
Hagley, “questo Paradiso ed O! Madonna che paradiso! Non v’é luogo
sulla terra più degno di tal nome.” Further on he assures her that the
first volume of the “Life of Henry II.” which Sir George was engaged
upon, should, as soon as printed, be sent to her. Sir George adds--

“Till Bower came we were very uneasy at your not writing a line to
Miss West, nor am I yet without great anxiety for fear that your
attendance on the Deathbed of your servant should hurt your health.
The goodness of your heart, most amiable Madonna, is too much for
its strength. I hope by this time your servant is releas’d from her
sufferings here, and you from the sight of them; otherwise I am
sure this melancholy office of Virtue and Friendship will cost you
dear. I do not blame your obeying the impulse of that most sweet
Nature which is all tenderness and Benevolence; but remember you
have other friends interested in your health, and for whose sake
you ought to take care of it. I have a 1000 more things to say to
you, but there is a country gentleman just come to visit me whom I
must attend, and Bower brought me his letter, so that the post is
just going out. I shall be in London at latest by 10th of November.
I need not tell you that Mr. Pitt has made Fox, Secretary of State.
After a hard struggle, I have secured my Borough of Bewdley. Adieu,
this vexatious man will have me come to him, and the post will not
wait.”

On October 15, Admiral Boscawen writes to inform Mrs. Montagu of the
birth of a daughter stillborn, but that Mrs. Boscawen was doing well.

On October 20 West writes to say that Miss Pitt

“is gone this morning to congratulate Lady Hester and her brother
on the birth of a daughter[105] of which Lady Hester after a hard
and long labour was delivered on Saturday.... Miss Pitt returns
to us after she has paid her compliments to the happy Father and
Mother, and taken an exact survey of this future fair and fine
lady.”

[105] This was Hester, who became Lady Mahon, afterwards Stanhope,
mother of the celebrated Lady Hester Stanhope.

In a letter to Mr. West of November 1, after congratulating him on the
birth of Miss Pitt, Mrs. Montagu says--

“I wish her nurse in the first place, and then her governess,
would keep a journal of all the instructions the young lady has,
and all her employments, and the world might get a better treatise
of education than any yet extant. Mr. Pope says of Voiture ‘that
trifles themselves were elegant in him,’ a moderate praise to a man
who dealt only in trifles, but Mr. Pitt mixes the elegant with the
sublime.”

[Page heading: EXPECTED INVASION]

Great fears were entertained at this time of an invasion by the French.
Mrs. Medows writes from Chute to say her brother-in-law, Sir Philip
Medows

“has with a grave face told me that in troublesome times such
places as Conhault Farm often escaped, by being unseen and out of
the way, as it possesses both these advantages, I hope we shall
have the benefit of them, and seriously offer you our retreat if
anything should happen to make you prefer it to being near a town.”

At last, Travile having breathed her last, and Parliament being
summoned, the Montagus started for London on November 10, dining that
night with Miss Anstey at her new house. Mrs. Montagu tells Mrs. Scott
that

“I find the town very busy; the men are full of Politicks, the
Ladies of the Birthday Cloaths. New Ministers and new fashions
are interesting subjects, but I hear Messrs. Legge, Pitt, and
Grenville, tho’ against the subsidy, are not to be turned out.
What gives me most concern is Mr. Boscawen’s delay; the Admiralty
do not know where he is or what he is doing, he may be gathering
laurels, but as they are a deadly plant, I could wish he was at
his inglorious fireside. I am very uneasy for the poor woman (Mrs.
Boscawen) who is still at Portsmouth, if any accident should happen
to him I should go post to her. It is thought that a certain
great, very great Dowager[106] has given some discontent to her
Father-in-law.[107] I shall call on the Marechalle D’Ancre the
first time I go out to hear what they say on the present situation
of affairs. I think between his mysteriousness and her openness one
may find out something. I don’t believe Signor Concini advised the
Dowager to offend the old gentleman. The bell is very clamorous.”

[106] Dowager Princess of Wales.

[107] George II.

This last sentence I place here, as I do not think I have mentioned
that at this period a postman was sent round with a bell to collect all
the latest letters.

[Page heading: MR. GARRICK’S PLAYHOUSE]

[Illustration:

_W. Hogarth Pinx._ _Emery Walker Ph. Sc._

_Garrick and his wife_ _from the picture in the possession of H.M. The
King._]

“There is a great bustle at Mr. Garrick’s playhouse[108] about
some dancers, though they are chiefly Germans and Swiss, the mob
considers them French, and I imagine they will be driven off the
stage, tho’ the dancers and scenery have cost Mr. Garrick an
immense sum; this evening is to decide their fate, and I imagine
that at this time there may be a very bloody engagement. I rejoice
with you on the gallant behaviour of Captain Stevens animated by
your brother, to whom L’Esperance struck to Admiral West,[109] but
I met Lord Cadogan last night at Mrs. Southwell’s, who said the
French did not strike till Mr. West came up to them.”

[108] Drury Lane rows every night. On November 15 the Galleries were
victorious over the young men of quality, who protected the dancers.

[109] Temple West.

In this letter it is stated that Admiral Boscawen had just returned.

[Page heading: THE SUBSIDIES]

On November 25, in a letter to Sarah Scott, Mrs. Montagu says--

“The House of Commons sat till after 5 o’clock in the morning on
the motion for the address, which was carried by 311 against 105,
there were many speeches made which were talk’d of in all the
drawing rooms in town; with the same cool spirit of criticism you
would hear the speeches in a new Play of Mr. Whitehead’s,[110] and
Garrick and Mrs. Cibber’s manner of speaking them examined.... I
expected to find the town full of the subsidies,[111] they are
entirely forgot and never did the publick stand by more quiet
and contented. Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt say a great many very lively
things to each other, which those who are not personally attach’d
to either hear with a great deal of pleasure. Messrs. Legge, Pitt,
and Grenville are dismiss’d, but no one positively named to succeed
them; Lord Egmont, Lord Dupplin, Mr. Doddington, and Charles
Townsend are talk’d of. Sir George Lyttelton is Chancellor of the
Exchequer, which place he was sollicited to accept. I wish the
fatigue of it may not impair his health, which is very delicate.”

[110] Paul Whitehead.

[111] Aid to be raised in supplying additional troops and seamen.

[Page heading: THE EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON]

Remarking on their friend, Miss Grinfield, being dismissed as Maid of
Honour to the Princess of Wales, Mr. Montagu writes--

“I suppose Lord B(ute)’s interest got Mrs. Ditched her place,
there is no man has such instinct for the Heir Apparent as his
Lordship. I would have him take the ‘Ich dien’ for his motto, he
serves and will serve, the hour of his ministry will never come.
I wish he would leave behind him a treatise on hope, or at least
answer Plautus who _grossièrement_ decides that hunger, thirst
and expectation are the greatest evils of human life.... The news
will tell you the sad tydings of an earthquake[112] at Lisbon,
some say a 100,000 persons were destroyed by it. The commotion
began in the Atlantick Ocean.... As to the fuss of an invasion, it
chiefly possesses those who have money in the public funds, the
state of things consider’d it appears probable. The Boom across
the Thames perhaps is to hinder such insults from the French as we
once receiv’d from the Dutch; I cannot describe it particularly to
you, not having seen it.... Lord Temple[113] very generously wrote
a letter to Mr. Pitt in polite and earnest terms to desire his
acceptance of a £1000 a year while he continues out of place.

“Voltaire, in compliance with the taste of the age, has written
a Chinese tragedy, it is called ‘L’orphelin de la Chine.’... I
have not seen Dr. Delany’s remarks on Lord Orrery’s[114] letters,
but they certainly deserved the animadversions of Dr. Swift’s
particular friend.”

[112] Took place November 1.

[113] Richard Grenville, Earl Temple, brother-in-law to Mr. Pitt.

[114] Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery, born 1703, died 1731.

Through Sir George Lyttelton’s influence, Gilbert West was reinstated
in his office at Chelsea, which from the change of parties would lapse
to the paymaster. The following letter from Sir George hints at the
trifling coolness between himself and West:--

“Hill Street, December 13, 1755.

“MY DEAR WEST,

“My endeavours to serve you, which from Lord Dupplin’s goodness
have proved successful, are indeed marks of affection, but not of
_returning_ affection. Mine for you has been constant and uniform.
What variations may have happened in yours for me I can’t tell.
Your behaviour has certainly indicated some, and I could not but
observe it. However, I can most truly assure you that one of my
greatest pleasures in my present situation has been it’s enabling
me to show you that my heart will ever be most eagerly warm in your
service. Indeed no Friend you have can more honour your vertue or
more affectionately desire your happiness than I,” etc.

The last letter of the year, December 31, to West from Mrs. Montagu,
contains this mention of Sir George Lyttelton’s son, Thomas[115]--

“Master Lyttelton paid me a visit yesterday morning, it gave me
great pleasure to find he had an air of health and strength beyond
what I had ever hoped for him; every sentence he utters shows
an understanding that is very astonishing. Mr. Torriano and Mr.
Stillingfleet came in while he was with me, the share he took in a
very grave conversation surprized them very much.”

[115] Afterwards 2nd Lord Lyttelton.

[Page heading: DEATH OF MR. WEST]

1756 begins with two letters of West’s. At the end of January he moved
to Chelsea; soon after this a stroke of the palsy brought him to the
grave on March 26.

[Page heading: MR. WORTLEY MONTAGU’S PAMPHLET]

On March 30 Mrs. Montagu writes to her sister--

“Ye 30th March.

“I imagine my dear sister would see a paragraph in the newspaper
that would excuse my not having written to her a farther account
of my poor friend, Mr. West. On the melancholy event I brought
his sister to Hill Street, where she is to stay a few days to
recover in some measure the consequences of her fatigue and the
shock her spirits have received. Mrs. West is with Lady Cobham.
She is sensible of her great loss, but says she will behave under
her affliction worthy the example of her excellent and worthy
husband, and his sentiments of resignation to the will of God, this
resolution join’d to natural good spirits and vivacity of mind,
supports her in a surprizing manner. I wish the good man could have
known she would have endured her misfortune so well, apprehensions
for her were all that disturbed the peace, I might almost say the
joy of his deathbed. Miss West went thro’ the sad duties of nursing
with great fortitude, but, she is much affected by her loss; the
Admiral[116] his brother is in deep affliction, Lady Langham[117]
finds great resources in a very extraordinary degree of piety. For
my part, tho’ I went thro’ the most melancholy scenes every day
between the sick and the afflicted, I have not suffered so much in
my health as might have been expected.... Lord Chesterfield[118]
has gone to Blackheath in a very bad state of health. The King
has had an ague but is well again.... Mr. Wortley Montagu[119]
has published a pious pamphlet titled, ‘Reflections physical and
moral upon the uncommon Phenomena in the air, water or earth which
have happened from the Earthquake at Lima, to the present time.’
I think you will send to Mr. Lake’s for it, it is written on the
Hutchinsonian[120] principles.”

[116] Temple West.

[117] West’s mother, then over seventy.

[118] The celebrated statesman, and author of the Chesterfield
“Letters” to his son.

[119] Old E. Wortley Montagu.

[120] Rev. John Hutchinson, born 1674, died 1734; author of “Moseis
Principia.”

Miss West being ordered to Bath, Mrs. Montagu gave her an introduction
to Mrs. Scott and Lady Bab Montagu, then residing in Beaufort Square.
In this letter mention is made of Miss Anstey’s death, and her not
having left a will. “Poor Mr. Anstey is not likely to survive his
sister, he has a violent fever.” We also hear of William Robinson,[121]
then recently ordained a curate at Kensington. William seems to have
been rather a _souffre douleur_ all his life, which annoyed his sister
perpetually: his harping on small worries and domestic trifles is
constantly alluded to. Mr. Botham bids him “fight a good fight, and by
diligence and spirit in his curacy to show himself worthy of a good
living.”

[121] William was the intimate friend of the poet Gray, who called
him the “Rev. Billy.”

[Page heading: DEATH OF CAPT. ROBERT ROBINSON]

A heavy affliction now fell on the sisters; early in June came the
tidings that their favourite brother Robert, the sea captain, had died
at sea. This was acutely felt by Sarah Scott, as he was her favourite
brother, probably from being nearest in age to her.

On June 24, in a letter to Mrs. Boscawen, this sad subject is touched
on--

“I know not how to reconcile myself to the loss of one of the
companions of my youth, the recollections of one’s earliest season,
the spring of life is usually pleasant and gay, but whenever it
offers itself to my mind, I cannot help asking where are those who
were my playfellows? Faith should answer, with their Maker, reason,
patience, resignation, should take place, but there is a weakness
and stubbornness too in the human habit.... My poor sister bears
her loss patiently, but it touches her heart very sorely.”

[Page heading: ADMIRAL BYNG]

Mrs. Montagu had been extremely unwell, and had spent some weeks at
Ealing Vicarage, lent to her by Mr. Botham. Dr. Shaw ordered her to
Tunbridge Wells. Mrs. Boscawen had asked for her letters to Mr. West to
be returned; Mrs. West promises to do this. At the end of the letter
one reads this--

“Mr. Montagu had just come in from the coffee-house. Mr.
Byng’s[122] expedition is unfortunate, not to say disgraceful,
instead of throwing succour into Minorca, it was agreed in the
Council of War that as there were 18,000 Frenchmen there, it would
be these men; then it was agitated whether they should engage
with the French, that was also carried in the negative; the third
question was whether they should go to take care of Gibraltar,
which was agreed on. Alas! Alas! the report to-day is that Admiral
West’s son is dead: one should lament this if we had not greater
reason to lament that the English spirit is dead. Arthur was going
to make illuminations and bonfires yesterday, and Lord Anson came
in and forbade it.”

[122] Admiral John Byng, born 1704, was shot in pursuance of the
sentence of a court-martial in 1757.

A letter to Sir George Lyttelton to Hagley in return for his
condolences runs thus--

“Your publick life will raise a high expectation of your son, it is
but just that you should give some of your private hours to qualify
him so as to answer it: his happy genius makes him worthy of such
a Preceptor.... You need but do justice to my affection for him to
give me some share of his love.”

Sir George had specially commended his son “Tom” to the “Madonna’s”
care, and they kept up a correspondence. Alas! that in future years,
despite his brilliantly intellectual qualities, and his careful
bringing up, he should almost break his father’s heart by his wild and
dissolute life. She continues--

“Most people think that Mr. Byng will have some good excuse, if not
justification, for what he has done; but however that may be, Sir
Edward Hawke[123] and Captain Saunders (now made an Admiral) are
gone to take command of the fleet.”

[123] Afterwards Lord Hawke, born 1705, died 1787.

In a letter of July 28, from Tunbridge to Mr. Montagu, one finds--

“The people at the Walks were all rejoicing poor Admiral Byng
was arrested at Portsmouth. I cannot think of him without some
compassion, a criminal is not always an object of mercy, but frail
man is ever an object of pity. People here seem to think that
a shameful death must end his shameful life. Birth and Station
bring a man into an elevated station, but do not give to him the
qualities necessary to become it.”

Lyttelton, in a letter of August 8, writes to the “Madonna,” “the
Admiral (Temple West) triumphs and pouts, and is gone to George
Grenville’s[124] with Jenny Grenville. He blames Byng, though
unwillingly, because he would rather condemn those that sent him.”

[124] George Grenville, born 1712, died 1770; became 1st Lord of the
Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, time of George III.

In another letter is--

“Dr. Shaw tells me that the mob at Portsmouth would not suffer Mr.
Byng to be brought away, lest he should escape punishment. It is
said that Mr. Boscawen has taken a great number of Martinico ships,
and that part of the Brest squadron have got out, and gone to join
M. Galissionière.[125] Mr. Bower’s affidavit has had a very good
effect. I hope Mr. Millar has got some of them to distribute among
his friends in the country. I am sure his good heart will rejoice
to see innocence re-instated in reputation.”

[125] The French Admiral.

[Page heading: MR. BOWER’S ENEMIES]

Bower’s enemies had set about many evil reports of him at that period,
and Mr. Hooke had specially warned Mrs. Montagu against Bower, but she
refused to give up her friendship with one who had been introduced
to her by the saintly Gilbert West, and was the intimate friend of
Lyttelton. Bower’s change in religion from Roman Catholicism to
Protestantism exposed him to all the virulence of the priests, who in
revenge formulated all sorts of charges against him.

Mrs. Montagu now took a house on Mount Ephraim at Tunbridge Wells,
leaving Mr. Montagu in London, from whence he went to Sandleford. She
requiring wine, he sends her, from a “new wine merchant,” Madeira,
port, and claret.

[Page heading: MR. DAVID HUME]

At Tunbridge mention is made of David Hume[126] and his wife, who were
there, the latter in bad health: “I remember her twenty years ago as a
fine woman, though swarthy, but she is now a most melancholy object.”

[126] David Hume, born 1711, died 1776; philosopher and historian.

Writing to her husband at Sandleford, she says--

“Dr. Smith inquired after you this morning, he is much pleased with
your present of Dr. Barrow’s[127] bust to the Library.[128]...
He is angry with Mrs. Middleton for being so tardy as to Dr.
Middleton’s bust, at which, I own, I am a little offended.... All
the people here are impatient for the tryal of Mr. Byng. They say
he was surprised at the reception, tho’ he had so much reason to
expect the treatment he has found. Sir William Milner and his Lady
are here, they are people of considerable fortune in Yorkshire,
they seem very good-natured and obliging.”

[127] The Rev. Dr. Isaac Barrow, born 1630, died 1677; eminent
scholar and mathematician; preceptor of Sir Isaac Newton; Master of
Trinity College, Cambridge. The bust is by Roubilliac.

[128] The library of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Mention is made of Miss Dashwood[129] being at Tunbridge, much gone
off in looks: “Miss Dashwood dined with me yesterday. This place must
appear as melancholy to a lady who has formerly been a reigning beauty,
and is on the decline, as the coronation of an usurper to a dethroned
Prince!”

[129] The “Delia” of Hammond.

[Page heading: MR. MORRIS ROBINSON’S MARRIAGE]

During this summer Morris Robinson, Mrs. Montagu’s third brother,
married Miss Jane Greenland, daughter of John Greenland, of Lovelace,
Co. Kent, who was the eldest son of Augustine Greenland, of Belle Vue,
Kent. Her mother was Jane Weller, of Kingsgate House, Rolveden, Kent,
of a good family. Mrs. Montagu did not like the marriage, though she
finally adopted their second son, her nephew,[130] Matthew Robinson,
and made him take the name of Montagu. There never was any cordiality
between the sisters-in-law. Mrs. Morris Robinson was a violent-tempered
woman, and, despite her good birth, very illiterate, which, to a person
like her sister-in-law, was extremely annoying, the more so as Morris
was one of her favourite brothers, and extremely clever. As mentioned
before, he belonged to the Six Clerks’ office, and managed both the
legal affairs of the Duke of Montagu and Mr. Montagu.

[130] Succeeded his elder brother Morris as 4th Baron Rokeby in
1829.

Writing from Hagley[131] on August 11, Miss West gives an account of
her brave young nephew, who had been wounded, not killed, as at first
reported--

“My nephew[132] is at Portsmouth, not being able to bear
travelling. He has been in danger from his wound, it beginning to
mortify, but he is now in a fair way of recovery. He has shown a
spirit suited to his profession, and to the grandson of Admiral
John Balchen,[133] for when his Father proposed to send him on
board a frigate, with Byng’s nephew, who was ordered to leave my
brother’s ship by his uncle, Admiral Byng, before the engagement
began, being, like my nephew, too young to be of use. My nephew
remonstrated very strongly, ‘that Mr. Byng was only a passenger,
but he belonged to the ship he was in, and therefore it would be
such a disgrace that he could never show his head again, should
he quit it at such a juncture:’ this joined to lamentation and
importunity prevailed; when he received his wound his Father
ran to pick him up and said, ‘I hope you are not much hurt?’ ‘I
believe I am killed, but pray don’t mind me, Papa,’ answered the
poor fellow.... Hagley is now blessed with its master, who came on
Monday last with good health, looks and spirits. I was glad to see
him accompanied by Stillingfleet, so worthy a man deserves such a
countenance, and he is so unexceptionable that no censure can arise
from any favours confer’d on him.”

[131] Sir George Lyttelton’s place in Worcestershire.

[132] Son of Temple West.

[133] Admiral Sir John Balchen, born 1669, died 1744.

[Page heading: MATTHEW ROBINSON’S ECCENTRICITIES]

Sarah Scott at this time had a dangerous fever at Clifton, where she
and Lady Bab had gone to drink the waters. Writing to her, Mrs. Montagu
remarks upon the growing eccentricities of their brother Matthew,[134]
who lived upon almost raw meat, and never touched bread at all,
considering corn as exotic, and therefore diminishing British trade, at
the same time avoiding sugar for the same reason, substituting honey
for it.

[134] Afterwards 2nd Baron Rokeby.

He lived in the plainest, simplest manner himself, but was mighty
hospitable to all who came to Horton. He gradually pulled down the many
walled gardens round the house, as well as hedges, and threw the whole
of his grounds into one large park, where his cattle roamed at will.
He dressed plainly, and allowed his beard (then an unusual hirsute
ornament) to grow; but as Sir Egerton Brydges,[135] who eventually
became his nephew by marriage, remarks, “he carried his hatred of
artificialities through everything.... He was the reverse of his
Father, who was never happy out of the high and polished society and
clubs of London, and thought a country life a perfect misery.” Matthew
was, however, greatly esteemed by his neighbours and constituents, was
a great reader, and wrote some clever political pamphlets.

[135] From Sir Egerton Brydges’ “Biography,” _vide_ vol. ii. p. 2.
Sir Egerton married for second wife, Mary Robinson, niece of
Matthew, daughter of Rev. William Robinson.

[Page heading: MR. PITT BUYS HAYES]

Mr. Pitt had taken such a fancy to Hayes since Mrs. Montagu had lent
him her house there, that he bought it soon after her tenancy expired,
as will be seen by this passage in a letter of Bower’s to Mrs. Montagu--

“Mr. Pitt is doing great things at Hayes, he has bought the house,
and the house hard by, and some fields. He has built a wall towards
the public road 13 feet high. He intends to pull down the old
house, and build another in the middle of the garden. His neighbour
Elly asks an exorbitant price for his house, £500.”

Mary Pitt, writing from Hayes on September 16, mentions she is leaving
to go to Howberry to the Nedhams,[136] in order to make room for
Lady Hester’s extra attendants, as Lady Hester was expecting her
confinement. Mrs. Montagu went for ten days to Bath Easton to see
Mrs. Scott. Lord Lyttelton, writing to Mrs. Montagu on October 23, to
enquire as to her health and Mrs. Scott’s, says--

“Mr. Fox[137] has determined to lay down the seals, because he says
he has not support or credit sufficient to carry on the King’s
business in the House of Commons, and Mr. Pitt will not take them
under the Duke of Newcastle. What will be the consequence of all
this I can’t tell, my fears are great for the publick, for myself
I have none in any event: the worst that can happen to me is to
remain in the office I am in under the Duke of Newcastle, but I
will remain for the same sense of honour and duty upon which I came
into it, if the King and his Grace shall determine to stand the
attacks made upon them. How happy are Mr. Stillingfleet and Mr.
Torriano to enjoy the Madonna’s conversation, instead of hearing
the nonsensical speculations of the town.... Little Tom is quite
well and desires his best compliments. I am charmed with his sister
upon my acquaintance with her during her week’s stay at Hagley.
To make her as perfect as I could wish she wants nothing but the
society of the Madonna.”

This was his little daughter Lucy,[138] afterwards Lady Valentia.
She appears to have been brought up at first by the Fortescues, her
mother’s family.

[136] Mrs. Nedham was her married sister.

[137] Henry Fox, 1st Lord Holland, born 1705, died 1774.

[138] About ten years old then.

[Page heading: VISCOUNT PITT’S BIRTH]

On November 4 Mary Pitt writes from Howberry, “I thank you for your
congratulations on the birth of my nephew, he seems to give prodigious
satisfaction at Hayes.” This was John Pitt, afterwards Viscount Pitt;
he was born on October 9.

On November 6 Admiral Boscawen wrote from the Admiralty Office to Mrs.
Montagu, then at Sandleford--

“Last week the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox resigned, and the
following are those that come in:--the Duke of Devonshire, Mr.
Legge, Mr. Nugent, Lord Duncannon and Mr. James Grenville for the
Treasury; Lord Temple, Mr. Boscawen, Mr. West, Mr. Thomas Pitt, Dr.
Hay, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Elliot of Scotland for the Admiralty; Lord
Bateman, Treasurer of the household, Mr. Edgecumbe, Comptroller of
the Household, Lord Berkeley, the band of pensioners, Mr. George
Grenville, Treasurer of the Navy, Sir Richard Lyttelton,[139] the
jewel office: these have all kissed hands. Mr. Pitt having the
gout at Wickham is not yet Secretary of State. Mr. Amyand is to be
a Commissioner of the Customs, Sir G. Lyttelton and Lord Hillsbury
have both kissed hands for peerages.”

[139] Brother of Sir George, married the Dowager Duchess of
Bridgewater.

[Page heading: LORD LYTTELTON]

On November 19 Charles Lyttelton, Dean of Exeter, afterwards Bishop
of Carlisle, wrote an almost similar account of the new Ministry, and
said--

“Mr. Pitt was in his bed at Hayes with a sharp attack of gout in
his feet; as soon as he is able to get abroad he will kiss hands
as Secretary of State.... Sir George’s patent for a peerage is
making out, which the King granted him in the most gracious manner,
which is a solid consolation to him for loss of so considerable
employment.”

On November 16 Mrs. Montagu writes to Lord Lyttelton from Sandleford--

“MY LORD,

“I think you should have written me a letter of congratulation on
Sir George Lyttelton’s being made a peer: who can feel more joy for
any honour, virtue, etc., he obtains? We congratulate our friends
on the most transient prosperity, but this peerage is a most solid
and lasting advantage, happily timed and accompanied with such
agreeable circumstances, on which I reflect with so much sincere
satisfaction.... I imagine when you take your seat in the House
of Peers, the ghost of Henry II.[140] will claim his seat in the
Temple of Fame near the Heroes, recorded by Livy and the great
Historians of Antiquity, assuring them that your Lordship is making
out his Patent for Eternal Fame.”

[140] Alluding to Lord Lyttelton’s “History of Henry II.”

[Illustration: GEORGE, LORD LYTTELTON.]

To this Lyttelton replies--

“Hill Street, November 18, 1756.

“MADAM,

“Whatever advantages there may be in a peerage, which you set
forth with an eloquence peculiar to yourself, mine has given me no
greater pleasure than your most obliging congratulations.” He then
alludes to his principal pleasure being the advantage to his son,
whose talents he praises, and continues, “An early acquaintance and
intimacy with the Madonna will be a further advantage to him, if
she will be so good as to favour him with it, which will form his
mind to all that is worthy and noble, and make him amends for the
loss of a Mother whose instructions she alone can ever supply.”

Sarah Scott’s husband, George Lewis Scott, was now made a Commissioner
of the Excise. Writing on Christmas Day to Mrs. Montagu, Sarah says
about this--

“Lady Car Fox[141] told Lady Bab that to her certain knowledge the
Prince of Wales[142] had desired he might not be placed about him,
but unless he has committed some very heinous offence against Lord
B(ute) I make no doubt of the Princess[143] providing for him, as
the contrary would be unparalleled, and not to her honour.”

[141] Daughter of Charles, 2nd Duke of Richmond.

[142] Afterwards George III.

[143] Widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales.

[Page heading: ADMIRAL BYNG]

The letters for the year wind up with one from Sam Torriano, of
November 13. It begins--

“MADAM,

“If the brave and victorious Admiral Byng should be so lucky as to
meet with so tender an advocate for him as you have been for me,
he stands a good chance of an easy death,[144] and so the mob will
be disappointed, who now wish that everybody may be hanged but
himself....”

[144] Admiral Byng was shot on his own ship, March 14, 1757.

[Page heading: DR. MESSENGER MONSEY]

Further he alludes to Pitt being laid up with gout at Hayes, “a legacy
you left him,” alluding to her formerly owning Pitt’s residence at
that place. Then he mentions Stillingfleet having been staying at
Sandleford, and says, “Monsey swears he will make out some story of you
and him before you are much older; you shall not keep blew stockings at
Sandleford for nothing.” This is the first allusion to blue stockings,
but that Stillingfleet’s wearing blue stockings gave the name to the
coterie entirely, must be false. He was, however, a very learned man,
especially upon botany. In later letters allusion is made to his having
left off wearing blue stockings! The coterie of friends probably was
named thus after the famous _bas bleu_ assemblies of Paris, held in
the _salons_ of Madame de Polignac in the Rue St. Honoré, where the
wearing of blue stockings was the rage: but Dr. Monsey is mentioned for
the first time here. Dr. Messenger Monsey was the son of a clergyman;
he was born in 1698, so was fifty-eight years old at this date. He
was a doctor and surgeon, and became private physician to the Earl of
Godolphin, and afterwards physician to Chelsea Hospital. He was most
eccentric, and, if his portrait at the Soane Museum was like him,
hideous in appearance; but he had a coarse rough-and-tumble wit, and
evidently was so droll in manner, that he became a sort of pet buffoon
of the Montagu and Lyttelton circle. His letters are interminably
long; written in such small though neat writing, a magnifying glass
is required for careful perusal. He was at this time a widower, with
one married daughter, Charlotte, whose husband, William Alexander,
was elder brother to the 1st Earl of Caledon. Mrs. Alexander had one
child, a daughter, Jemima, who married the Rev. Edmund Rolfe, and was
mother eventually of the 1st Baron Cranworth. Monsey’s letters are so
coarse one can hardly imagine the _bas bleus_ putting up with them.
Dr. Monsey begged Dr. Cruickshank, in case of his dying away from his
own doctor (Dr. Forster), to dissect his body before the students,
set up his skeleton for instruction, and put his flesh in a box and
throw it into the Thames. He must either have been very swarthy, or
disliked soap and water, as Torriano, in allusion to Monsey’s threat
of inventing a story about Stillingfleet and Mrs. Montagu, says, “Your
fame, which was as fair as Dian’s visage, will be soon black and
begrim’d like the Doctor’s own face!”

[Page heading: EMIN]

During this year Mrs. Montagu had also formed an acquaintance with an
Armenian named Joseph Ameen, or Emin. He was the son of a merchant, and
born at Hamadan, whither his father had been carried captive by the
Persians. His father at last escaped to Calcutta, after being slave to
Kouli Khan for many years. The Persians, ever since 1604, under Shah
Abbas, had frequently made inroads into Armenia, captured the majority
of the inhabitants, and carried them away as slaves into Persia. Emin
grew up with a passionate desire to free his country from oppression
and the yoke of unbelievers, for the Armenians were then, as now,
Christians. Emin says of his father in a letter to his patron, the Earl
of Northumberland[145]--

“My Father taught me like other Armenians only to write and read
in our own language, and to get Psalms by heart to sing in Church,
but he did not show me how to handle arms to fight for that Church,
as my Uncle did who was killed at his Church door, nor anything to
kindle up my heart to understand great affairs.”

[145] Hugh Smithson, the 15th Earl, made Duke of Northumberland in
1766; born 1714, died 1786.

[Page heading: EMIN’S TROUBLES]

[Page heading: EMIN’S FORTUNES]

Burning to learn “the art of war” as practised by the British soldiers
in India, and his father opposing him, Emin determined on flight to
England, and, taking what money he possessed, he “kissed the feet of
Capt. Fox of the ship _Walpole_ a hundred times to let me work[146]
my passage to Europe before he would heed to me, but he did at last
admit me, and I came to England with much labour.” Arrived in England,
he entered Mr. Middleton’s Academy, and was first a scholar, and
then, when his money was exhausted, worked there as a servant for his
learning. His master becoming bankrupt, Emin lost his all, and was
reduced to the streets. At last he obtained service with a Mr. Rogers,
a grocer, as porter. “In this time I carried burthens of near 200 lbs.
upon my back, and paid out of my wages to learn geometry, complete my
writing, and learn a little French.” Overstraining himself, he could no
longer carry such heavy burthens, and was reduced to living on 1½_d._
a day, but a friend recommended him to a Mr. Webster, an attorney in
Cheapside, with whom he got work for a time. His uncle sent £60 to
Governor Davis to take Emin home to India, but after a while, meeting
“by chance some gentlemen[147] who encouraged me and lent me books, and
advised me to kiss Colonel Dingley’s hands and show him my business, he
was a brave soldier, took me by the hand, spoke to his own Sergeant, an
honest man, to teach me Manuel Exercise, and gave me ‘Bland’s Military
Discipline’ and promised to help me learn gunnery and fortification.”
Unfortunately Colonel Dingley died, and Emin, in despair, and by the
advice of the gentlemen mentioned before, who appear from the letters
to have been a Calcutta lawyer and Edmund Burke, applied to the Earl
of Northumberland in a long letter, passages of which I have quoted.
Emin proposes that his lordship should apply to Governor Davis for some
of the money his uncle had sent to pay for his passage back to India to
enable him (Emin) to join the “black Armenians in the mountains, as I
heard they had never been conquered,” to teach him the art of war. The
Earl of Northumberland at last--after Emin waiting at his house often
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.!--took notice of him, and sent his servant to
fetch him to see him, and on hearing his story, said, “Ameen, it is
very hard to live in this country without friends and without money,
almost four years, therefore the Lord is with you, be contented, I will
from this time provide and furnish you with all necessaries,” and,
said he, “I will mediate to the son of our King, and after you have
learned the art of war, I will send you to your Father and your Uncles:
the noble lady[148] comforted me also likewise.” Lord Northumberland
introduced Emin to Sir Charles Stanhope,[149] and he in turn to Lord
Cathcart,[150] who gave him great encouragement. Lord Northumberland
now introduced him to the Duke of Cumberland, who henceforth took an
interest in him. Emin applied for military service in a long letter to
Heraclius II., King of Georgia and Armenia, who was anxious to shake
off the yoke of the Persians, but evidently the reply was delayed, and
the next we hear of him is that he had been sent to Woolwich Academy,
“to Mr. Heaton’s on Church Hill,” to learn the “art of war.” Having
effected a reconciliation with his father, it is interesting to read
what presents he desired him to send this noble patron, the Earl of
Northumberland--

“Send to my protector Nobleman, spices of the finest Pulam of
Radnagar, 2 pieces of the finest Mul-mul, and 2 pieces of Madras
red handkerchiefs, 2 pieces of Cuzombzar Silk handkerchiefs to be
ornamented at both ends at Dacca.”

[146] The passage took from February 3 (from Hoogley) to December
14,--ten months!

[147] The gentlemen were a Calcutta lawyer, Emin, or Joseph Ameen,
and Edmund Burke, who at once protected Emin.

[148] Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Algernon Seymour, Duke
of Somerset.

[149] Sir Charles Stanhope, died 1759.

[150] 9th Lord Cathcart, aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland,
etc., etc.

So ends 1756.

[Year: 1757]

[Page heading: “MY QUEEN OF SHEBA”]

On May 10, 1757, Emin writes from Woolwich to implore Mrs. Montagu
to use her influence with her brother-in-law, Mr. Medows, who was
intimate with the Duke of Marlborough, to get him a commission in the
Royal Artillery, in order to enable him to join the British army then
fighting to defend Hanover, and assist the King of Prussia against the
inroads of the French.

This letter, speaking of Mrs. Montagu, addresses her as “My Queen of
Sheba,” and alludes to all “the noble ladies of her circle,” and Dr.
Monsey as “my honest, dear Dr. Monsey.”

From a letter printed in my grandfather’s collection of his aunt’s
letters, dated March 8, 1757, but which I do not possess, Mrs.
Montagu writes to Dr. Monsey, then at Gog Magog, Lord Godolphin’s
Cambridgeshire seat--

“DEAR DOCTOR,

“That is because you have made me well! Dear Sir, because you make
me laugh!”

In this letter, too long to insert here, she says “there have been
great efforts to save Mr. Byng.” She says Stillingfleet had left off
his blue stockings, and was at gay operas and assemblies each night.

[Page heading: THE WINDSOR ELECTION]

From Windsor Castle, where Lady Sandwich had been granted apartments,
and was living with her sister, Miss Fane, this interesting letter from
Mrs. Montagu, who was on a visit there, is dated--

“Windsor Castle, Friday.

“MY DEAREST,

“I know you will be curious to hear how the famous election has
been carried at Windsor, and the greatest pleasure I can have
is to impart any to you. Mr. Fox[151] had a majority of 52, the
Mayor, who is Mr. Bowles’ friend, owns he had a legal majority of
nine. The boxers and the bruisers Mr. Fox had on his side beat the
Windsor mob out of the Field, but they had once the courage to
attack Mr. Fox’s person, and pulled off his wig, and threw it in
his face. In short the affair has been very tumultuous. The town
is quiet, none are actually dead, but four or five are dangerously
ill, and the Doctors and Apothecarys had a great harvest of bruises
and fractures.... The ladies wore party gowns, Fox’s is partly
yellow and green, and the others blue; our sex have a wise way of
expressing their political principles.”

[151] Henry Fox, born 1705, died 1774; afterwards Baron Holland.

On June 28, being returned to Sandleford, writing to Mr. Montagu, she
mentions--

“The poor are very riotous on Market days, and it was rumoured, as
I am told, that you had some corn in the granary,[152] and also
the same of Mr. Herbert,[153] at which they were very angry; but
I hope they will patiently wait its going to Market, for there is
still a great while to Harvest. Corn fell last week, and bears but
8_s._ 6_d._ a bushell, but gin and idleness give the poor a riotous
and licentious spirit.... Lady Sandwich has got a very pretty
habitation in the Castle, we went into the little park in the
evening, that and all I saw of the environs of Windsor delighted me
extreamly.”

[152] There was a great dearth of corn at this period, and a bill
had to be passed prohibiting exportation.

[153] Mr. Herbert, of Highclere.

Mr. Montagu thanked his wife on July 10 for telling him about the
election, and says, “I hear it cost him (Mr. Fox) £3000, that he gave
£50 apiece for many of his votes, and carried it by 31.”

[Page heading: DR. STILLINGFLEET]

The first letter of Dr. Stillingfleet’s[154] I possess is written on
July 23 to Mrs. Montagu. His handwriting is clear, but he always uses a
small “i” alone instead of a capital “I,” except at the beginning of a
sentence. Portions I copy--

“I have been at Malvern about twelve days, where with difficulty i
have got a lodging, the place is so very full, nor do i wonder at
it, there being some instances of very extraordinary cures in cases
looked on as desperate, even by Dr. Wall,[155] the Physician, who
first brought the waters into vogue. I do not doubt but that the
air and exercise, which at present is absolutely necessary here,
the Well being at over two miles[156] from the town, contribute
very much towards restoring the health of the patients. The road
is very fine, and made on purpose for the drinkers. It is on the
side of a hill, which i am told is found by exact mensuration in
some part to be half a mile perpendicularly high, above a wide
plain that lies at the bottom. Towards the well the road ascends
considerably, so that i imagine the end of it is not much less
than halfway up to the top. A gentleman in the neighbourhood has,
at his own expense, made a walk a little above the well; this walk
runs on a level for about 600 yards, winding with the breaks of the
hill, and makes the noblest terrace i ever saw, the plain over
which you look being bounded by some fine hills, and on it, lying
on one side, Worcester, on the other Gloucester. The hill is fed
with sheep, here and there some cattle graze, overhead I see my
favourite bird, the Kite, sailing, and all the while i tread on
porphyry, the consciousness of which, you may guess, adds not a
little to my satisfaction, when i consider that Princes are proud
to have a few pillars of this material.... The town lies high on
the side of the hill, and still on Porphyry. The church, which
stands a little lower, was a Priory.... Not far below the Church is
a spring of the same nature with that of Tunbridge.... I wish this
place was nearer to London, for it seems exactly adapted to do you
good.... There is a subscription going forward for building a large
lodging-house near the Well. At present there is only one old house
in the town, turned entirely to that purpose, which contains about
fifteen persons, and one large room in it, where once a week there
is a sort of public breakfast and dinner. We have had one public
tea-drinking and card-playing in the afternoon, by particular
invitation; to-day it will begin on another footing, and is to be
weekly.”

[154] Dr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, born 1702, died 1771. Wrote
“Calendar of Flora,” etc., etc.

[155] Dr. John Wall, an eminent physician. First made Malvern known
as a Spa, and founded the porcelain manufactory at Worcester.
Dr. Wall died in 1776.

[156] Matlock Bath now.

[Page heading: TO “KILLUM”]

[Page heading: “KILLUM”]

Soon after the receipt of this letter, Mrs. Montagu set out on a visit
to Lady Bab Montagu and Mrs. Scott at Bath Easton, and Mr. Montagu,
on July 28, writes to say he purposes driving to “Killum”[157] to
see his friend Mr. Stevens.[158] “Killum” was Culham Court, Berks.
George Stevens, a very eccentric character, afterwards, in 1766,
published an edition of Shakespeare, and three years later some notes
were incorporated in it of Dr. Johnson’s. Mr. Montagu writes this
description of “Killum”--

“His house is a very good one, built about fifty years ago,
the rooms large and wainscoated with oak, and three very good
bedchambers with beds that at some time cost a good deal of money,
but are the worse for time. He has been pulling down walls, and
everything lyes rough and without order or neatness, and to finish
the account of it, very much resembled its owner. Its situation
is what I think fine and much pleases me, it is in a Valley
which begins at the foot of that hill which we see on Maidenhead
Thickett, and goes as far as Henley and further. The Thames runs
quite through it, is of good breadth, and with a great number of
little islands scatter’d here and there makes a most beautyfull
appearance. On the bank of this river, on a terrass the house
is built, it is of considerable extent, and if adorn’d with
plantations and buildings would be very pretty and pleasant, but
to do this may require a greater expense than may be convenient,
so that all he at present thinks of doing is the improving the
lawn.... You might blame me if I omitted giving you some account
of one of a kind very uncommon. I mean Mr. Hart’s[159] Chinese
house. This stands in a beech wood of Mr. Stevens about half a
mile from him. Consists of a suite of rooms pav’d with pantyles
and hung with paper, and on the outside is embellish’d with very
costly decoration of the Chinese manner. Mr. Stevens says the cost
has been about two thousand pounds, but I don’t believe three would
pay for it. It seems to me no more than a whim, and so much money
flung away. It stands very high, and has a more extensive view
than Mr. Stevens’. It might be agreeable to entertain a company
there in the finest and warmest weather, but one cannot think of
it as an habitation without shuddering. At present no use is made
of it; three servants are kept there who have no other business
than to look after the house, keep the wood walks in order, and
breed pheasants; in about 15 years the lease expires, and then
it comes to Mr. Stevens.” Mr. Montagu says, “I have some other
thoughts of taking another ramble about the middle of the week to
Winchester, and perhaps Southampton.”

[157] This would place the building of Culham Court as taking place
in 1707. See the first line of the next page.

[158] George Stevens, born 1736, died 1800.

[159] This was Rose Hill, built by Governor Hart, now the property
of General E. Micklem.

Mrs. Montagu had written to ask for a pair of horses and a coachman to
be sent to Bath Easton, in order to convey herself and sister to stay
at King’s Weston with Mrs. Southwell, “a man at Bath Easton will feed
each horse at 6_d._ a day!” Mr. Montagu sends them, but says, “They may
possibly serve to carry you to King’s Weston, and bring you part of the
way home, but for any expeditions out of the Turnpike roads I fear they
will not endure it.”

[Illustration: MRS. MARY DELANY.]

[Page heading: MR. STEVENS]

In replying to her husband, the following character of Mr. Stevens is
given:--

“I look upon Mr. Stevens as a man who has disfranchised himself
from all slavery to custom and fashion, and who as seldom brushes
up or new trims his modes of living as his coat, but wears both
as long as they fit him, in spite of what fops and taylors may
say. I hope he will come to Sandleford, for he has parts enough to
make his singularities amusing. I dare say he was very happy in
the visit you made him, both for the pleasure of your conversation
and from a little vanity, for tho’ the modes of singularity may
give a man an air of designing to live alone and of contemplation,
in the world, I believe one may venture to say, none are more
desirous of regard and notice than those who affect to retire and
be singular; they rather design their peculiarities for a badge of
distinction than a line of separation between them and Society;
and a man in low life may go ungarter’d or cross-garter’d, who in
another station would have been ambitious of a blue garter, and
their installment into a particular character is a matter of great
wit.... We had a report that the Duke had killed 3000 French, but
he is well off if he can keep on the defensive. I had a letter
from Mr. Emin that the Duke of Cumberland received him in the most
gracious manner, and he is so pleased, I believe he thinks one more
step will put him on the Persian throne. It is happy to be born of
a hoping constitution; his day dreams are very pleasant. I wish his
patriot spirit was communicated to a dozen or two of our great men.”

[Page heading: EMIN’S LETTER]

Emin had joined the English army under the Duke of Cumberland, then
fighting the French. On July 30 he wrote to Dr. Monsey, enclosing
a letter to his patronesses, to be copied for each lady. In the
postscript is the first mention of Edmund Burke.

“Now I would have you ask Mr. Burke’s advice about this letter
before you coppy it for my friends. Pray don’t be mad because my
friend is an Irish gentleman, but I can tell you that he is your
beloved son-in-laws[160] countryman. I dare say you will be mighty
pleased at being acquainted with him.”

[160] Dr. Monsey’s only child married William Alexander, elder
brother 1st Earl Caledon.

Emin’s letter begins--

“Limburg, August 1, 1757.

“To all the ladies and Patronesses of Joseph Emin.

“MY NOBLE LADIES,

“I believe your ladyships have been in a long expectation to hear
from this part of the world, more especially of the battle which
began on the 23rd of July. In the morning we were ordered out with
25 horses and 200 foot irregulars to secure a post, where we found
300 husars and 700 foot soldiers, upon which we began immediately
to fire, and they retreated very soon; and in the afternoon his
highness, hearing that the French were advancing with their whole
army, ordered that the part of his army were to advance also, but
it was very unlucky for us that our infantry was too late; and
before they could come up, the enemy begun from some distance to
fire upon us with their cannon, with no manner of execution. His
Royal Highness thought proper to return to his camp in Aferden.
The next day, the enemy, still advancing from their camp at Halla
all along the river Vizer,[161] and were retreating untill we
halted upon a high hill with full of trees, and they on another;
were the firing of cannon began again on both sides, and lasted
till evening. Our situation not being so well as we could wish,
we still retreated till we come to Hamelin,[162] there we posted
the right of our army, and our left at Onsburg, and unfortunate
Hastenbek[163] between us and the enemy, which was soon burnt down.
The 25th, about four in the morning, the enemy began to advance
with their musicks and drums, making a very great noise, more
like Indians than Europeans, and was soon silenced; as a few of
our balls, and cannonading begun of both sides briskly. At that
time your slave was upon a hill with no more than 200 irregulars,
commanded by my friend, Major Freydag, a man of good conduct and
judgment, where we could see the two armies very plain. It was a
place had it not been so dangerous as the cannon balls were flying
like so many flies over our heads, I would wish my noble friend
ladies who are my patronesses and who are so fond of Heros and
hearing of battles, to have seen it, which would really have been
worth their while; then I would have wished again that the heavenly
chariots where descended from the gods above, to have transported
them to their native and blessed Island, peradventure they should
have been in the greatest of dangers, for wee saw about eleven
of the clock the enemy with no less than six thousand of Horses
and Foot comming up to us of all sides with a great fury, except
a little grass that led us down to our army, but this bravery of
theirs was greatly owing to an information which they had of us a
day before. Knowing that we were no more than two hundred men,
or else they woud not be so furious in their attack, for they are
vastly like the black Indians, fire at a great distance and run
away. However, we stood almost half an hour, our men ralyed three
times and killed no less than 300 of them; for our men are brought
up from their infantry (_sic!_) as huntsmen, they never miss their
mark. I have seen them shoot at 300 yards’ distance; they are like
the mountiniers of Armenia and Dagastun, the French husars run
away as soon as they see us. You see, my noble ladies, what great
advantage it is to a Nation who has the liberty not only to kill
the partridges but to kill as many deers and other animals as they
please. The loss of ours was but 20 and 6 wounded, we could not
support any longer and where obliged to retreat, and join the army,
and about 2 a-clock in the afternoon, the enemy retreated with the
loss of eleven cannon, and had taken some of ours, but we retaken
them again, but the battle continued still and lasted from 4 in the
morning to 6 in the afternoon, the loss of their side was about
3000 and about 1200 of ours, we don’t look upon this as a battle in
Persia, but as a scarmish (_sic!_). The inventor of gunpowder tho’
he is cursed by many ignorant people but his invention has been a
very great service towards preservation of Mankind, gunpowder is
a thing which makes a great noise like lightning and thunder keep
mankind distant with an awe. ‘The thought of gunpowder,’ says the
great Marshal de Saxe, ‘is more than the danger itself.’ I woud
wish to have no more than 1500 Persian Horse if it is not too bold
and your humble servant the teacher of them, we could soon show the
French that the effect of symiters (_sic_) would be greater than
that of gunpowder tho’ their number of what we hear is one hundred
fifty thousand men and ours are you very well know. At present we
are upon marches and countermarches.”

At the end of the letter he says he has received nothing as yet from
his royal master, and that if he does not, he must unwillingly return
to his father in India, as he will not be a “begar” any longer on his
noble patrons.

[161] River Weser.

[162] Hamelen.

[163] Hastenbeck.

[Page heading: THE HEALTH OF H.R.H.’S LEG]

This battle was that of Hastenbeck. The Duke of Cumberland had placed
the archives and valuable effects from Hanover in the town of Stadt,
and from Stadt came a letter from Emin to Dr. Monsey, on September
13, just after the famous Convention of Kloster-Seven had, by the
intervention of the King of Denmark, been signed, and peace arranged.
In reply to Dr. Monsey’s inquiry about the Duke of Cumberland’s health,
Emin says, “You are desirous to know how my royal master is. Mr.
Andrews (_valet_), with his compts. to you, says his Royal highness’s
leg is quite well, so you may be easy.”

To return to Mrs. Montagu, staying at Bath Easton, on August 1, writing
to her husband, she expresses herself uneasy, as Admiral Boscawen was
recalled from the fleet, for what he knew not. “Mr. Boscawen will be
busy enquiring the cause of his being recalled, he has merit and a
powerful family, and I hope his ennemies cannot oppress tho’ they may
oppose him. Do not mention this affair.”

In July Mrs. Morris Robinson had presented her husband with a son
and heir, who was christened Morris, after his father, and became
eventually 3rd Baron Rokeby. “Morris’ little boy goes on well.... Mr.
Potter made a fine harangue to the Bath Corporation on Mr. Pitt’s
Election. The circus,[164] I am told, is but little nearer finish’d
than when we were here.”

[164] The circus at Bath.

In the next letter, after comments on the beauties of things at Weston,
she writes--

“Yesterday morning Mrs. Southwell and I got into her postchaise
early, and went to the passage of the Severn, got into the Ferry
boat and cross’d over to Chepstow in Monmouthshire, and from
Chepstow we went to Mr. Morris’ called Piercefield, a place so far
exceeding any thing I ever saw or expect to see, I must reserve
the description till I see you. A reach of the Severn of forty
miles is one of the most inconsiderable advantages of the place,
every beauty of land, sea, rocks, verdure, cultivation, old ruins,
villages, churches are there in the highest perfection; the river
Wye forms a most beautiful half island in one part as the Severn
Sea adorns the other.”

[Page heading: WORTLEY MONTAGU]

Mr. Montagu replies--

“On Tuesday night, as I was at Supper about 10 o’clock, who should
come in to me but my cousin Wortley,[165] he had been making a
visit to somebody near Wallingford ... he missed his way, the roads
were so bad and rough that two of the glasses of his new chaize
were broken and he could not get any reparation at Newbury.” In
commenting on political subjects, he adds, “I suppose now everybody
will be sensible of the folly we have been guilty of in so long
suffering the Wild Boar of Germany to enter and destroy our
vineyard.”

[165] Mr. Wortley Montagu, senior, husband of Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu, first cousin to Mr. Edward Montagu.

Mrs. Montagu answers--

“I assure you it is with a melancholy pleasure I often look on this
charming country, perhaps this is the last summer I may ever be
an idle traveller thro’ a peaceable country; however, I have one
comfort, that as you are innocent of the evils that may overwhelm
us, you will the better support yourself and me under them, and
that the best we can hope is to be tributary vassals to France,
perhaps they will invade and conquer us, but God forbid.”

[Page heading: ELIZABETH WILMOT]

Mrs. Talbot,[166] writing from Barrington,[167] bids Mrs. Montagu
to come and stay with her. The letter is not a remarkable one, but
it says, “Have you heard lately from Lady Sandwich? I find the old
Countess[168] is dead at last at Paris.” This was the eccentric
Elizabeth Wilmot, sister of _the_ Earl of Rochester, and grandmother of
John, Lord Sandwich, widow of the 3rd Earl. It is said she governed her
husband to such a degree that he was almost a cypher and a prisoner in
his own house, she being, though an indifferent wife, a most brilliant
spirited woman. After her lord’s death in 1729, she lived in Paris,
where she was the friend of Ninon de l’Enclos and St. Evremont. Both
Pope and Lord Chesterfield have mentioned her as extremely spirited and
having great intellectual ability.

[166] Mrs. Talbot, widow of Edward Talbot, Bishop of Durham.

[167] Barrington Park, near Burford, Oxon.

[168] She died July 2, 1757, at Rue Vaugirard, Paris.

Her daughter-in-law, Lady Hinchinbroke, _née_ Elizabeth Popham, lost
her husband, Lord Hinchinbroke, in 1722, and I have several curious
letters written by her to Mrs. Montagu in 1739, respecting her son
John, 4th Earl of Sandwich (“Jemmy Twitcher”). He was then eleven
years old, and his mother sent him to sea. Probably he was even then
very unruly, but he could not bear the sea, and through Mr. Montagu
she applied to their common connection, John, Duke of Montagu, to get
him a commission in the Army, buying it “as an ensign in a marching
regiment.” The duke’s reply to this is singularly indifferent in
expression, and his spelling terrible.

On August 6, writing from Bath Easton to her husband, Mrs. Montagu
alludes to the defeat of Frederick the Great at Kollin in Bohemia, on
June 18, by General Daun. Emin had written to her, saying--

“The French seem afraid of us, tho’ so much inferior in numbers....
I hear the King of Prussia takes to himself the whole blame of his
disgrace in the late affair, and says if he had followed the advice
of the Prince of Bevern, it had not happen’d; there is something
more great perhaps in a Monarch owning his error than in gaining a
victory, but it will not have the same effect in establishing his
affairs in Germany, so that in his situation the least advantage
over the Empress Queen[169] would have been of better consequence.
Sir John Mordaunt, General Conway,[170] and Col. Cornwallis are
going abroad with some forces as the Newspapers tell us, and the
French seem again disposed to disturb us with the apprehension of
an invasion.”

[169] Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, born 1717, died 1780.

[170] Seymour Henry Conway, the cousin and bosom friend of Horace
Walpole; born 1720, died 1795.

[Page heading: DESCRIPTION OF EMIN]

Writing to Dr. Stillingfleet on August 7, in return for his description
of Malvern, Mrs. Montagu gives this fine description of Emin--

“Mr. Emin was most graciously received by the Duke, had offers of
money and all marks of regard from his Royal Highness, so that his
letters express the highest satisfaction ... there must be a nobler
seat than the Persian throne reserved for that fine spirit which,
born in slavery and nurtured in ignorance, aspired to give liberty,
knowledge, and civil arts to his country. To compass this he
risqued his life, and endured the greatest hardships, and ventured
all dangers and uncertainties in a country whose very language he
was a stranger to; how different from so many of our countrymen,
who for little additions of power and greater gratifications of
luxury, in spite of their pride of birth and advantage of a
liberal education and the incitements of the great examples of
all ages and nations, will hazard enslaving us to a nation our
forefathers despised.”

In this letter we learn that Lord Lyttelton had returned from a Welsh
tour very unwell, had spent two days with her and Mrs. Scott at Bath
Easton, _en route_ to Hagley, and that on her return to Sandleford she
expected a visit from Dr. Monsey.

[Page heading: LADY LYTTELTON’S TEMPER]

In a letter from Rev. Charles Lyttelton from Hagley of August 17, one
catches a glimpse of the second Lady Lyttelton’s temper. He says--

“My brother Lord Lyttelton returned from his Welsh expedition the
same day I came home, and you will easily believe how welcome he
was to Miss West and me, as we had nobody to converse with or
rather to eat with, but ye amiable Lady of ye house, for she does
not deign to converse or hardly say a single word to either of us.
On Saturday, Hester[171] arrived, so we are now a strong party, and
her Ladyship may be as sulkey and silent as she pleases.... Lord
Lyttelton is got pure well.”

This expression is often used in the eighteenth-century writings;
apparently it meant perfect health at that time.

[171] Lady Hester Pitt.

From Merton, on August 30, Lady Frances Williams[172] writes to Mrs.
Montagu, and in her letter alludes with joy to Emin’s safety, and then
adds--

“By the accounts arrived from Lord Loudoun,[173] _the_
_Mediterranean tragedy_ seems to be acting over again in the
American seas. A Council of War was call’d to advise whether the
10,000 men brought to Louisburgh[174] should be landed or not; it
was determined in the _negative_ upon finding the French had 2 more
ships than we had. Lord Charles Hay’s only entering his protest,
and they are returned to Halifax to wait a reinforcement.

“This brings to my mind the death of Admiral West, and the
disgust given our friend Admiral Boscawen, which I look upon as a
retaliation from the Pittites for the dismission of the former last
Spring.”

[172] Lady Frances Williams was daughter of the Earl of Coningsby;
her husband, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, was a statesman, poet,
and wit.

[173] Lord Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the English army in
America against the French.

[174] Louisburg in Nova Scotia; the English were attacking the
French Canadian Provinces.

[Page heading: THE HAWKE EXPEDITION]

In a letter from Fulham on September 15 Mrs. Donnellan alludes to the
expedition under Sir Edward Hawke[175] and Sir John Mordaunt against
the French, which was kept very secret.

“They say Sir John Mordaunt said to the officers, ‘You will have
but a short bout, but it will be a brisk one, and I hope we shall
all behave as we ought to.’ ’Tis supposed we shall hear in less
than a week something about it.... Whatever it is, Mr. Pit (_sic_)
will either have the glory or disgrace of it, for every one calls
it his scheme. The King, they say, had a fainting fit about a week
ago as he sat at cards, but is now well and seems cheerful.... Lord
Bolingbroke and Lady, were in such a hurry of passion they could
not wait for settlements but were married upon an Article; may one
not think of an old Proverb, ‘Marry in haste.’”

Lady Bolingbroke was a daughter of Charles Spencer, Duke of
Marlborough, and Mrs. Donnellan’s prophecy came true, but not till
1768, when she was divorced, and married Topham Beauclerk, son of Lord
Sydney Beauclerk.

[175] Sir Edward Hawke commanded the navy, and Sir John Mordaunt the
army. It was against the French, and proved a failure, costing
nearly a million.

[Page heading: AN HUMOROUS AFFECTION]

On September 15 Mrs. Montagu wrote a long letter to Dr. Stillingfleet
from Sandleford. In this she alludes to the humorous affection for her
which Dr. Monsey had developed.

“You must know Sir, Dr. Monsey is fallen desperately in love with
me, and I am most passionately in love with him, the darts on both
sides have not been the porcupine’s, but the grey goose quill. We
have said so many tender things to each other by the post, that at
last we thought it would be better to sigh in soft dialogue than
by letter. We agreed to meet, and the rather, as all the lovers we
had read of (and being in love with each other only _du coté de
l’esprit_, you may suppose we woo by book) had always complained
of absence as the most dreadful thing imaginable. He said, nay he
swore, he would come to Sandleford, and twice had named the day,
but each time his grand-daughter fell sick, and I know not whether
he will keep the third appointment, which is for next Monday.
These disappointments have made me resolve, and I really believe
it will not be difficult to keep the resolution, never again to
fall in love with a man who is a grandfather. In all other respects
the Doctor is a perfect Pastor Fido, and I believe when we get to
Elysium, all the lovers who wander in the Myrtle Groves there will
throw their garlands at our feet.”

Further on she alludes to Emin, who was at Stadt, and had written her a
most devoted letter.

“I do not indeed hope to see him on the Persian throne, or giving
laws to the East, but I know he sits on the summit of human virtue,
and obeys the laws of Him who made that world the ambitious are
contending for, and to such only my esteem pays homage.”

[Page heading: MRS. BOSCAWEN]

In a letter to Mrs. Scott of this period occurs Mrs. Montagu’s opinion
of the character of her friend, Mrs. Boscawen.[176]

“She is in very good spirits, and sensible of her many felicities,
which I pray God to preserve to her; but her cup is so full of
good, I am always afraid it will spill. She is one of the few whom
an unbounded prosperity could not spoil. I think there is not a
grain of evil in her composition. She is humble, charitable, pious,
of gentle temper, with the firmest principles and with a great deal
of discretion, void of any degree of art, warm and constant in her
affections, mild towards offenders, but rigorous towards offence.”

[176] _Née_ Frances Glanville, daughter of William Evelyn Glanville,
of St. Clair, Kent.

[Page heading: HER TRUST IN PROVIDENCE]

I make extracts from a splendid letter to Mrs. Boscawen of October 25.
Admiral Boscawen had just received a commission rather unexpectedly,
owing to the failure of the Hawke and Mordaunt expedition.

“I am a little uneasy lest the surprize should have hurt you,
satisfy me in that matter and my imagination will then sit down
and weave laurel garlands for your husband’s head, and I too will
rejoice in the advantage which I hope his country will reap from
his arms, but think me not ignoble if I own, glory is but a bright
moonshine when compared to your welfare, and think me not below
the standard of true patriotism, if I confess, it is for the sake
of such as you, my country is a name so dear. I know you are too
reasonable to wish Mr. Boscawen might avoid the hazards of his
profession. The Duke of Marlbro’ his kinsman, lived to old age
and survived perhaps all the cowards that were born on the same
day, the accidents of life are more than the chances of war. Be
not afraid, but commit it all to the great and wise Disposer of
all events; a firm hope and cheerful reliance on Providence I do
believe to be the best means to bring about what we wish, and that
such confidence does it far better than all our anxious foresight,
our provident schemes and measuring of security. I remember with
sorrow and shame, I trusted much to a continual watching of my
son,[177] I would not have committed him to a sea voyage, or
for the world in a town besieged, I forgot at Whose will the
waves are still, and Who breaketh the bow and knappeth the spear
asunder. What was the reward of this confidence of my own care
and diffidence of His who only could protect him? Why, such as
it deserved, I lost my beloved object, and with him my hopes, my
joys, and my health, and I lost him too, not by those things I had
feared for him, but by the pain of a tooth. Pray God keep you from
my offence and the punishment of it. I do not mean that you should
be void of anxiety in times of hazard, but offer them to God every
night and sleep in peace, the same every morning, and rise with
confidence.... I am much pleased with his Majesty’s confidence in
Mr. Boscawen....

“The Duke,[178] it seems, is gone to plant cabbages; as soon as
these great folks are disgusted they go into the country; the
indignant statesman plants trees upon which he wishes all his
enemies hanged, his occupations are changed, but his passions not
altered. The angry warrior rides a-hunting, ‘mais le chagrin monte
en croupe et galope avec lui,’ nor can the hounds and horn ‘that
cheerily rouse the slumbering morn’ content the sense that wants
‘to hear piercing fife and spirit-stirring drum.’”

Not having been well, she adds she is moving to London to consult her
doctors, leaving Mr. Montagu to plant trees, etc.; before joining her.
“I expect a cargo of Morgans and good folk from Newbury to dine here; I
always endeavour to depart the country in an odour of civility.”

[177] Alluding to her only child, John, _alias_ “Punch’s” death.

[178] The Duke of Cumberland.

[Page heading: THE MORDAUNT AFFAIR]

A letter from Mrs. Donnellan throws a light on the Mordaunt affair.

“All I can gather of this most shameful affair is that there will
be no more known till there is a publick enquiry,[179] and then
if the scheme is proved by the General Officers to have been
impracticable, those who sent them on it must suffer, but if it
is found that they might have made more of it, I suppose they
will.... It will be defered (the enquiry, I mean) till the sitting
of parliament. Sir J. Mordaunt and Admiral Hawke have both been
to Court, the Admiral was received graciously, the other taken no
notice of, ’tis said he stooped to kiss the royal hand, but it was
pulled back from him; wou’d it not have been more kingly to have
forbidden his coming? ’Tis said soon after some of the troops were
in the boats in order to land; there was a council of war called,
and when Hawke thought they were landed, they were ordered on board
again; ’tis certain there were 5 or 6 days spent on councils of
war, and then Hawke, who was not concerned in them, desired them to
come to some resolution, for he wou’d either land them or return
home. Colonel Conway, I hear, showed the most spirit, and that our
commen men showed no unwillingness to action.... The Duke came
thro’ the city on Thursday at four in the afternoon. I saw some
who saw him, there was no sort of notice taken of him; I think he
was well off. I suppose you have seen the King of Prussia’s letter
to our King, ’tis denyed but believed to be genuine. I think your
remarks on the correspondence between the King of Prussia and
Voltair (_sic_) very just; however, I forgive him some levity
when conversed with a wit, and part since he knows when ’tis proper
to the King.... I have got since I came home, Taylor’s Sermons, he
is so good he frightens me, and so witty he makes me laugh.”

[179] The Mordaunt enquiry warrant was not signed till
December 3, 1757.

[Illustration: ALLERTHORPE HALL.]

[Illustration:

_J.G. Eccardt. Pinx._ _Faber. Mezzo._

_Conyers Middleton D.D._

_Emery Walker Ph. Sc._]

Mr. Montagu, writing from Sandleford on November 6, to his wife,
mentions Hawke being sent out again with Boscawen, “was a clear proof
that they had nothing to impute to him which was faulty.” He was busy
planting at Sandleford, and said he must get chestnuts and acorns when
he came to London, as the last sown had been rotten, “according to
Millar the way of trying them is somewhat like that formerly us’d in
the case of witches, such of them as swim are to be rejected and those
that sink esteem’d good.”

[Page heading: MRS. MONTAGU’S ILLNESS]

Mrs. Montagu, with the advice of Dr. Shaw and Dr. Monsey, gradually
recovered her health. Wormwood draughts were prescribed; her illness
appears to have been a nervous fever, with weakness and loss of
appetite. Of Dr. Monsey she says, “He has given me as much attendance
as if I was a Princess of the blood, tho’ I have never given him a
fee.” Dr. Shaw had been called off to the Duchess of Newcastle at
Claremont, who was suffering in the same way. Great discussion is given
as to giving of the “bark” without danger, and when to do so. “Dr. Shaw
has had six guineas of me, I shall give him no more, I had difficulty
to make him accept the last, but he attended me at first twice a day.”
The Mordaunt affair is alluded to in each letter. In one occurs the
following--

“Lord Chesterfield in a letter from Bath to Lady Allen writes thus:
‘Your ladyship may believe all the circles here think they have
a right to form a court-martial to sit on Sir J. M. For my part
I wait for information. I can never believe he wants courage or
capacity, as I imagine he will show the scheme was impracticable
and they must answer who sent him.’”

[Page heading: ROSBACH]

On November 7, Mr. Montagu writes to announce his intention of joining
his wife, and adds--

“I see by the _Gazette_ that the King of Prussia has obtained a
great victory over the combined army under Prince Soubise. This is
an unexpected event, and must give a turn to his affairs. One thing
seems to be collected from it, that this enterprising courageous
Prince has not made peace nor flung himself into the arms of France
as we were given to believe.”

This was the Battle of Rosbach in Saxony, won against the Austrians
and French by Frederick the Great of Prussia on November 5, 1757. The
year’s correspondence ends with a letter to Emin of Lady A. Sophia
Egerton, enclosing a letter of recommendation of him to her uncle, Mr.
Bentinck, then in diplomatic service in Holland. Emin was going to
rejoin the Prussian Army.

CHAPTER III.

1758, 1759--BEGINNING OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. CARTER, WITH DR.
JOHNSON, AND WITH BURKE.

[Year: 1758] 1758 commences with a letter on March 2, from
Mrs. Montagu to her husband, who had left London for Sandleford. In it
she says--

“I shall enclose an _Advertizer_ in which you will find a curious
article from Warsaw. It astonished all Europe to find the King
of Prussia had got copies of the plans of the Imperial Court and
Dresden, the means by which he obtained them are now discover’d.
To this contrivance his Prussian Majesty and his Country owe their
present being, but one cannot envy the state of a King if it is
necessary to take such means for preservation as would startle a
vulgar man of Honour. To get false keys to cabinets is but a poor
low trick, and it is very strange to see a hero guilty of burglary,
but as Mr. Pope observes, ‘the story of the great is generally a
tale that blends their glory with their shame.’ Mr. Stanhope call’d
on me as I was writing, and I am to dine with my brother Morris,
so must abridge my letter. I can’t hear what pass’d in the House
of Lords yesterday in Delany’s trial.... I was at the Oratorio
last night, where I heard the Dublin man-of-war was sent to Mr.
Boscawen to supply the loss of the _Invincible_. I am to be at Lady
Hillsborough’s assembly to-night.”

The Delany trial had lasted for nearly ten years. It was on account
of Dr. Delany, in inadvertence, having burnt a paper of importance
belonging to his first wife. Sometimes it appeared to be at an end,
but it was as often renewed. At last, on March 5, Lord Mansfield,[180]
after an hour and a half’s speech, decided in favour of Delany. The
cost of the suit exceeded the disputed sum, but the relief to the good
dean and his wife on its decision balanced everything.

[180] “Silver-tongued Murray.”

[Page heading: BISHOP CLAYTON]

On March 9 Mrs. Montagu writes--

“I met Mrs. Delany to-day at Mrs. Donnellan’s, and she is very
happy, the Irish decree is reversed, tho’ even as matters stand,
they will have little left when the £7000 is paid. Lady Frances
Williams is still in grief for her husband,[181] who in his madness
has writt (_sic_) letters to half the crowned heads in Europe. I am
going to the play to-night, to-morrow I shall give up the Oratorio
to stay with Lady Frances Williams as comforter.

“That bright luminary of the Church, Dr. Clayton, Bishop of
Clogher, is dead.... The Bishop has left his wife his whole
fortune, which is very considerable. It is thought we shall not
send troops to the King of Prussia, but whether he will accept of
our money[182] we shall not know till the return of the Express.
The King of Pegu has wrote a letter to the King on a gold plate,
and the stops are made with rubies; I should be glad of his
correspondence tho’ his letters had no wit in them.”

[181] Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, poet and writer, had been
attacked with madness.

[182] Another letter says the King of Prussia will not accept money.

[Page heading: EMIN ADDRESSES PITT]

Emin, anxious for re-employment, now addressed Mr. Pitt. The letter was
addressed to Mr. Pitt, Secretary of State.

“SIR,

“Though I never had the honour to be known to you, yet I have the
boldness to write. I have been over a great variety of the world,
and have seen much people, but I wanted to see men; for the Design
of my Travel was knowledge, and I thought knowledge of real men
was better than books, therefore I have turned my Eyes upon all
ways and at last had the great happyness of seeing and hearing you
in that potent House of Commons, and there I discovered like the
light breaking upon me, what my Friends had often told me, of your
great love to your Country and your wise Eloquence that conquers
more than the Sword of a Hero. I own I grew a little envious; for
I thought no man loved his country better than I have mine, but
I confess it that I am nothing, tho’ I have been sailor, porter,
slave, and suffered everything in every shape, to make my country
what you have made yours. This is my small merit and the only
recommendation I can make to you. Sir, I will observe that a cloudy
day in winter is light enough to see what is about us and to serve
common business, but permitt me to say no man is happy nor in good
spirit untill the sun shines out. Then there is joy upon all men’s
faces. Thus it is, great Sir, with me in this country, I along with
the rest in this happy land, find Benefit of the Light you give us
all by your great wisdom of governing, but I am not happy, and my
Life is dead untill I see the Vezirazam of England.

“If you do me this high Honour, you will see a poor soldier whose
only Fortune is a character with all people which I have been
amongst. I was a Porter for learning not for livlihood, and I was
honest in that low way. This is known when by the goodness of great
Souls I was raised from that. I was not idle nor ingreatefull; I
have been high and low and I was not bad. When I served the last
campaign in Germany, all the officers, both English and the German,
will say more of me than I dare think of myself. I have, Sir, in my
studies for my country, found the way to advance it, and do some
service to your noble Nation at the same time. My humble plan for
this good design I will do myself the Honour to show to you and be
instructed by your great Wisdom and to give me new rights in this
great matter. My scheme has two Qualities which make some laugh at
me, others seem to like me for it. Whatever it is, it is little
without your assistance. If you approve of it, I laugh at those
that laugh at me, at any rate I am resolved and nothing shall stop
me but Death, which is common to everybody, and an honest Heart
need not fear any. I am, with the greatest Respect and Veneration,

“Great Sir,
“Your most obedient most obliged
devoted humble Servant,
“J. EMIN.

“In the Month of March, 1758,
“To the R. H. William Pitt, etc., etc.”

In her next letter to her husband Mrs. Montagu says--

“Emin dines with Lady Medows to-day, if joy can give appetite,
he will make a good meal, for by the solicitation of Lady
Yarmouth,[183] Mr. Pitt has received him, and promised to see what
can be done for him, as great minds are akin. Mr. Pitt was much
pleased with him. Emin repeated to me his discourse to Mr. Pitt,
and it was full of Asiatick fire and figure--if it did not touch
the man, it must the Orator. Mr. Pitt made him great compliments. I
hope they will be realized, and they surely will if Lady Yarmouth
continues her desire to serve him.”

[183] Amelia S. de Walmoden, created 1740, Baroness Yarmouth,
mistress of George II.

[Page heading: EMIN JOINS MARLBOROUGH]

Emin was sent to join the English army under the Duke of Marlborough in
their attempted invasion of France at St. Malo, and wrote on June 11
to say that “Captain Howe had burnt 73 ships and from 10 to 16 guns,
besides small vessels.” After this expedition, Emin joined the army
with the King of Prussia.

[Page heading: AFFAIRS IN PARLIAMENT]

Writing to Dr. Stillingfleet on June 13, after alluding to the attack
on St. Malo, Mrs. Montagu says--

“So much for war and war’s alarms; as to our civil occurences, they
have been so boisterously carried I need not change the tone of my
narrative; the Judges, the Lord Keeper, the Chief Justice, and the
late Lord Chancellor gave their opinions against the Habeas Corpus
bill.[184] Lord Temple, much in wrath, insulted the Judges in some
of his questions; Lord Lyttelton warmly and sharply reproved him
upon which words rose high, the House of Lords interfered. The last
day of this bill, Lord Mansfield and Lord Hardwicke[185] spoke so
full to the matter, even Tory Lords, and these most violent in
their wishes for it, declared they were convinced the new bill was
dangerous to liberty in many respects, in many absurd; so that
had there been a division there would not have been four votes
for it, but Mr. Pitt’s Party discreetly avoided a division. This
affair has not set the legislative wisdom of the House of Commons
in a very high light, but the great Mr. Beckford,[186] whom no
argument can convince, no defeat make ashamed, nor mistake make
diffident, did on the motion for a vote of credit stand up in the
House of Commons and say he would not oppose that measure, as he
had an opinion of the two Commoners in the administration, but in
the Peers that composed it, he had no confidence, and ran in foul
abuse of them and then ended with a severe censure of the House
of Lords in general. Lord Royston[187] answered him that this was
unparliamentary where personal, and indecent in regard to the
House of Peers in general, to which Mr. Pitt answered with great
heat that he was sorry to hear such language from a gentleman who
was to be a Peer; he set forth the great importance and dignity of
Mr. Beckford personally, and above all the dignity and importance
of an alderman, concluding it was a title he should be more proud
of than that of a Peer. This speech has enraged the Lords, offended
the Commons, and the City ungratefully say was too gross. Those who
wish well to this country, and consequently to a union of parties
at this juncture, are sorry for these heats; it is well if they do
not unsolder the Union.... I began Islington Waters to-day.... You
make a false judgment of your own letters. I will allow you to say
it gives you some trouble to write them, but pray do not assert
that I have not great pleasure in reading them; it becomes not a
descendant of the great Bishop Stillingfleet[188] to tell a fib.”

[184] This was occasioned by a gentleman having been impressed for
service in the Navy and illegally detained prisoner. The motion was
to administer the Act more decisively.

[185] Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, born 1690, died 1764.

[186] Alderman Beckford, a remarkable city man and father of the
great millionaire and author.

[187] Son of the Earl of Hardwicke, eventually 2nd Earl.

[188] Edward Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, author of
“Eirenicon,” born 1635, died 1699.

[Illustration: BENJAMIN STILLINGFLEET.]

[Page heading: JOHN ROGERS]

[Page heading: ROGERS’ WILL]

Mention has been made of Mr. John Rogers, first cousin on his mother’s
side to Mr. Montagu, also of Mr. Montagu becoming his trustee in 1746,
when he was pronounced a lunatic. At first it seems that he suffered
from epileptic fits, which increased to lunacy, but of a mild order.
On June 23 Mr. Edward Steuart wrote to say Mr. Rogers was seriously
ill, and his death expected hourly; he was being attended by Dr.
Askew, then a famous north-country doctor, and several surgeons,
for a mortification in his leg.[189] On the 24th he expired, in his
seventy-fourth year, at his house in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Mr. Montagu was his principal heir. Mrs. Montagu, in a letter
respecting the estate of East Denton, etc., wrote in later days,
“Mr. M. has half the estate by descent, a share by testamentary
disposition, and a part by purchase.” Mr. Rogers’ lunacy seems to have
been made worse by the death of his wife, Anne Delaval, daughter of Sir
John Delaval, whom he married in 1713, and who died in 1722–23. His
will was made in 1711, and a codicil added 1715, in which he left his
property, after the death of his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Rogers, to his
wife, and failing issue by her, to the Montagus and Creaghs, all first
cousins. Mary Creagh had married Dominick Archdeacon, and her sister
Margaret, Anthony Isaacson; Mr. Montagu’s two brothers, Crewe and John,
being dead, the only other heir was Jemima, Mrs. Medows, afterwards
Lady Medows. The estates were very large; besides Denton, with its
coal-mines, houses in Newcastle, and in Bramston, Lamesley, Harburn,
Parkhead, and Jarrow, in the county of Durham; lands at Hindley,
Sugley, Throckley, Newbiggin, Scotswood, etc., etc.; collieries and
saltpans in Cullercoats, Monkseaton, Whitley, and Hartley, etc., etc.
Mrs. Montagu was at Ealing with the Bothams when the express came. She
writes to her husband, “It gives me pleasure to think I shall see you
with unblemished integrity and unsoiled with unjust gain, enjoying that
affluence many purchase with the loss of honesty and honour.”

[189] Mr. Rogers’ leg swelling, the doctors feared dropsy, and made
him drink two bottles of Hock daily.

Her brother Morris fetched her from Ealing in order to accompany her
husband to the north. Mr. Rogers was embalmed and buried on July 5 at
St. Nicholas’ church in Newcastle. The Montagus did not start for the
North till Tuesday, August 1. A letter from Dr. Monsey of June 26,
while staying with the Garricks at Hampton, congratulates Mrs. Montagu
on her inheritance, but scolds her for leaving her friends to go North.
This contains the first mention of his acquaintance with the Garricks,
who were great friends of Dr. Monsey’s, and he says, “Mr. Garrick[190]
was very near in a apoplectic fit when he found you were gone.... Mrs.
Garrick[191] also abus’d herself for not pressing you to return to the
Temple[192] and enjoy another half-hour.”

[190] David Garrick, born 1716, died 1779; famous actor.

[191] Eva Marie Veilchen, or Viegel, known as “la Violette,” once an
opera _danseuse_.

[192] The temple at Hampton, on the lawn by the river, still
existent; once held Roubilliac’s bust of Shakespeare.

[Page heading: ELIZABETH CARTER]

[Page heading: MRS. MONTAGU’S LETTER]

The next letter is the first I possess to Elizabeth Carter, whose
learned translation of Epictetus was first printed in April of 1758.
Miss Carter, or _Mrs._ Carter (as courtesy termed her), was the
daughter of a clergyman, the Rev. Nicholas Carter, D.D., Perpetual
Curate of Deal, Kent, where he resided; he had been twice married,
and Elizabeth was his child by his first marriage. To his children by
both marriages Mr. Carter gave an excellent education, and at an early
age Elizabeth studied Latin, Greek, and eventually Hebrew. She was a
proficient in French, and taught herself Italian, Spanish, and German;
later in life Portuguese and Arabic were added. Her application to
study produced severe headaches, principally brought on by drinking
green tea and taking snuff to keep herself awake. It appears that Mrs.
Montagu had met her in 1757, but Mrs. Carter had rather avoided such a
brilliant acquaintance, being herself of a most humble and unambitious
character, despite her learning. From the following portions of Mrs.
Montagu’s letter we learn that Miss Carter had been paying her a
visit:--

“Hill Street, July 6, 1758.

“What must my dear Miss Carter think of the signs of brutal
insensibility which I have given in not answering her obliging
letter? As my heart has had no share in the omission, I have no
apologies to make for it; no day has passed since you left us
in which I have not thought of you with esteem and affection;
I look upon my introduction to your acquaintance as one of the
luckiest incidents of my life, if I can contrive to improve it
into friendship; this is, and has been the state of my mind and
I am proud of it: as to my conduct in the commencement of our
correspondence, I am ashamed of it. I was ill when I received
your polite and agreeable letter. I have ever since been drinking
Islington waters, from which I receive some benefit, but with
this inconvenience, that I am unable to write till late at night,
and even then not without headache. The death of a relation of
Mr. Montagu’s in the North, which happened about a fortnight
ago, with a large accession of fortune, has brought me the usual
accompaniment of riches, a great deal of business, a great deal
of hurry, and a great many ceremonious engagements. The ordering
funeral ceremonies, putting a large family in mourning, preparing
for a journey of 280 miles, and receiving and paying visits on this
event, has made me the most busy miserable creature in the world.
As the gentleman from whom Mr. Montagu inherits had been mad above
40 years and almost bed-ridden the last ten, I had always designed
to be rather pleased and happy when he resigned his unhappy being
and his good estate. I thought in fortune’s as in folly’s cup,
still laughed the bubble joy; but though this is a bumper, there
is not a drop of joy in it, nor so much as the froth of a little
merriment. As soon as I rise in the morning, my housekeeper with
a face full of care, comes to know what must be packed up for
Newcastle; to her succeeds the Butler, who wants to know what wine,
etc., is to be sent down; to them succeed men of business and money
transactions; then the post brings twenty letters, which must be
considered and some answered. In about a week we shall set out for
the North, where I am to pass about three months in the delectable
conversation of Stewards and managers of coal mines, and this by
courtesy is called good fortune, and I am congratulated upon it
by every one I meet; while in truth, like a poor Harlequin in the
play, I am acting a silly part _dans l’embarras des richesses_.
I would not have troubled you with this detail, but as part of my
defence for not having written to you. I can perfectly understand
why you were afraid of me last year, and I will tell you, for you
won’t tell me; perhaps you have not told yourself. You had heard
I set up as a wit, and people of real merit and sense hate to
converse with witlings, as rich merchant-ships dread to engage
privateers, they may receive damage and can get nothing but dry
blows. I am happy you have found out I am not to be feared; I am
afraid I must improve myself much before you will find I am to be
loved. If you will give affection for affection _tout simple_ I
shall get it from you....”

Mention is made of Emin’s joining the King of Prussia, so he was known
to Mrs. Carter, probably through Lord Lyttelton.

“I have the pleasure of hearing infinite commendations of Epictetus
every day; from such as are worthy I taste a particular pleasure;
from the multitude I take it in the gross, as it makes the sum of
universal fame. Some praises I heard a few days ago at the Bishop
of London’s I put in the first class.”

[Page heading: LORD LYTTELTON TO DR. MONSEY]

A most amusing letter from Lord Lyttelton to Dr. Monsey of July 24 now
occurs, in which he returns a letter of Mrs. Montagu’s to the doctor,
and summons him to a duel of words in her praise on Hagley turf. He
teases Dr. Monsey with the idea of her going north, and advises him “to
quit Lord Godolphin to follow love, follow him over the Cheviot Hills
and down to the coal-pits at Newcastle.” After a great deal of chaff it
ends, “Your most affectionate, humble Servant,--LYTTELTON.”

[Page heading: MRS. MONTAGU’S SYMPTOMS]

This frightened Monsey, so on July 30 he writes from St. James’s and
gives her strings of advice as to her health.

“I know the generality of Physicians will be cautious of blooding
you, as being what is called nervous; I know nothing of nerves in
the usual sense of the word, if indeed it has any precise meaning
at all, it is used by the wise to quiet fools, and by fools to
cover ignorance.” Then he adds in high fever she may be blooded,
“5, 6 or 7 ounces, and if you flag a blister! will set matters to
right. I say nothing of vomits, you can’t bear ’em, but you will
gentle purging, your lemon mixture and contrayserva with a little
saffron, be cautious of hot medicines, but do not wholly throw them
away, as to spasms and cramps they are such Proteuses, one does not
know how to catch or hold them, Valerian and Castor are in such
reputation for vanquishing those Hussars.... Assafœtida you can’t
bear, I wish you cou’d ... if feverish 3 spoonfuls of a decoction
of the bark by boyling one ounce and half in a quart of water to a
pint, and if your stomach flags put in from 5 to 10 drops of Elixir
of Vitriol, so arm’d a common cold will not have courage to attack
you.”

Finally he consigns her to a Dr. Ramsay’s care, should she require a
physician!

On August 1 Mrs. Boscawen wrote from Hatchlands a long letter
describing a visit to London. Her letters are sprightly, but too much
larded with French words and phrases; the end is interesting--

“_Enfin_ we left this dear odious London at 4 in the afternoon,
_chemin faisant_ I thought within myself, what if I should meet
an express from America, and sure enough upon Cobham Common I met
a post-chaise containing an officer, on him I star’d attentively,
he star’d again; then he cry’d ‘Stop,’ I echoed ‘Stop,’ _enfin_ I
heard him ask ‘is Admiral Boscawen’s[193] lady in that coach?’ I
make quick reply in the affirmative, and soon he produced himself
at my coach window, and told me he was express sent by the Governor
of Nova Scotia with news of our troops having taken the Forts of
Beau Sejour and Chignecto, that he attended Admiral Boscawen for
his orders twenty-three days ago, and left him in perfect health;
he added that Admiral Boscawen had saved North America, where all
our Colonies were in the utmost danger, as well as consternation
till he came. Papers having been found which showed the French
had a design to destroy Halifax, where the people imagin’d the
French wou’d let in the Indians to massacre them.... He added,
‘Mr. Boscawen had taken, or as the phrase there is _detain’d_, six
French merchant ships, and had blocaded Louisbourg.’”

She adds that her letters from her husband were with Mr. Cunninghame
(the Officer), addressed to Mr. Cleveland, so she let them go, and sent
on her black servant “Tom” next day to fetch them, and was going to
Portsmouth to meet the Admiral, who thought he should soon be back.

[193] Admiral Boscawen, Major-General Amherst, and Brigadier-General
Wolfe were combined in this campaign.

[Page heading: ON THE WAY NORTHWARDS]

To return to the Montagus, they set out on August 1 for the North,
and the first letter is from her to Lord Lyttelton on August 6, from
Darlington--

“I am now about 25 miles short of Newcastle, having travelled above
250 miles since last Tuesday, and am better to-night than I was
when I left London, so I will no longer endure that Dr. Monsey
shall call me flimsy animal, puny insect, and such opprobrious
names. I have had a surfeit of being in a post-chaise, that I
have not made many excursions to see the fine places that lay
in the road. In my way to Nottingham I went to see Sir Robert
Clifton’s,[194] which appears to me for beauty of prospect equal to
any place I ever saw. You are led to it from the turnpike road by
a fine terrace on the side of the Trent. From a pavillion in the
garden you see the town and Castle of Nottingham standing in the
most smiling valley imaginable, in which the Trent serpentizes in
a most beautiful manner.... I return your Lordship many thanks for
having lent me so agreeable a companion as Antonio de Solis.”[195]

[194] Clifton Hall.

[195] “The History of the Conquest of Mexico,” by Antonio de Solis,
a Spaniard; born 1610, died 1686.

[Page heading: MARY WEST]

To this Lord Lyttelton writes from Hagley on August 17, to say how glad
he is she bore the journey so well, and the book entertained her. He
had been drinking the waters at Sunning Hill, Berks, and found benefit.
In the end of a long letter he writes, “Miss West and Captain[196] Hood
will be as happy next Monday as mutual love can make them.” Miss West
was Gilbert West’s sister, and her future husband, Captain Hood, became
afterwards first Viscount Bridport. Mary West lived till 1786, but had
no children. Lord Lyttelton alludes to her not being very young and
“having no time to lose.”

[196] He became the celebrated Admiral Hood.

In another letter of August 22, written from Lindridge Vicarage,
Worcestershire, where the Vicar, Mr. Meadowcourt, was a great friend of
his Lordship’s, he writes--

“Tom and I came this afternoon to this sweet abode on our way to
Hampton Court.... I told you in my last that Miss West was to be
married to Captain Hood. Yesterday I had the pleasure to give her
away to him at Hagley Church, after which we made a party to Mr.
Shenstone’s[197] Arcadian Farm in very fine weather. The pastoral
scene seemed to suit the occasion, and the bride owned to me that
the cascades and rills never murmured so sweetly before.... The
Dean[198] came to Hagley just time enough to give Hood and her the
Nuptial Benediction.”

[197] William Shenstone, poet, born 1714, died 1763. His place, the
“Leasowes,” adjoined Hagley.

[198] Charles Lyttelton, Dean of Exeter.

Further on, alluding to Mr. Montagu’s going north to take possession of
the Rogers’ estate, he says--

“I suppose this will find you, like Guyon in Mammon’s Cave, got
down the bottom of your mines,[199] and beholding your treasures
with all the indifference that the Knight of temperance showed when
the Demon of Riches revealed to him his hidden wealth. I paint to
myself the wonder and admiration of the subterraneous inhabitants
when you first came among them. Since the time that Proserpina was
carried by her husband to his Stygian Empire, the infernal regions
have not seen such a charming goddess. But is it sure they will let
you return again to daylight? Upon my word I am afraid you are in
some danger, as the Habeas Corpus Bill was thrown out; for all the
women of the upper world will make interest with the Judges to let
you stay there. Yet I verily think Baron Smith will release you in
spite of them all, and even if he should fail, you have still a
resource, Emin shall come back and deliver you from the Shades as
Hercules did Alcestis.”

[199] Denton was, and is, full of coal-mines, copper, etc.

[Page heading: ARRIVAL AT CARVILLE]

[Page heading: “HURRYS AND CEREMONIES”]

The best description of the Montagus’ arrival in the north is
contained in a letter to Dr. Stillingfleet at “Robert Price’s, Esqre.,
Herefordshire,” sent open to Dr. Monsey, who forwards it with a few
words of his own. It is dated, “Carville, ye 22nd day of August.”
Carville Hall had been hired by them; it was situated at the end of the
Roman Wall, called Wallsend. Portions of the letter I give--

“I desired Dr. Monsey to acquaint you with the death of Mr.
Rogers. Many letters were to be written in order to procure him
most pompous funeral obsequies, according to the fashion of
Northumberland, as he was allied to the people of the first rank
in the county, and they were all to be at the funeral.... The 7th
of August at noon we got to Durham, and there began hurrys and
ceremonies that have continued to this day, and I know not when I
shall see a quiet hour. At Durham we were met by a great number of
Mr. Rogers’ relations, and the Receivers and Agents of his estate,
who attended in great form till we got to Newcastle, where we were
to stay two or three days, with a relation of Mr. Montagu’s till
our house was aired. We had not been an hour at Newcastle before
we had the compliments of the principal persons of the Corporation
and in the town. The next morning visits began.... We had fifteen
people to dine here on Sunday, a family yesterday, people about
business to-day, and three families to dine here to-morrow; in the
morning I am up to the elbows in dusty parchments and accounts,
after dinner as busy as an hostess of an Inn attending her guests,
at night as sick as an invalid in Hospital, and these are the woes
of wealth, and I am not _une malade imaginaire_.... Mr. Rogers’
family Mansion[200] having been uninhabited many years, was not fit
for our reception, his house[201] in Newcastle was not agreeably
situated for the summer, so we hired a house on the banks of the
Tyne for the occasion. It is a very pretty house, extreamly well
furnished and most agreeably situated, ships and other vessels from
Newcastle are sailing by every hour. The river here is broad and of
a good colour, and we have a fine reach of it: we have a very good
turnpike road to the sea-side, where I should pass a great deal of
my time if it was not all engross’d by company, but we are in the
midst of the largest neighbourhood I ever saw, and some of these
gentlemen by means of coal mines have immense fortunes.”

[200] Denton Hall.

[201] In Pilgrim Street.

[Page heading: NEWCASTLE]

In a letter to her sister, Mrs. Scott, Newcastle is described.

“The town of Newcastle is horrible, like the ways of thrift it is
narrow, dark and dirty, some of the streets so steep one is forced
to put a dragchain on the wheels: the night I came I thought I was
going to the center. The streets are some of them so narrow, that
if the tallow chandler ostentatiously hangs forth his candles, you
have a chance to sweep them into your lap as you drive by, and I
do not know how it has happened that I have not yet caught a coach
full of red herrings, for we scrape the Citty wall on which they
hang in great abundance. There are some wide streets and good
houses. Sir Walter Blackett’s seems a noble habitation.”

Mention is made of the Claverings, Bowes, and Lord Ravensworth calling.

In a letter of August 25 to Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Montagu tells her, that
_en route_ to Newcastle, she had visited “Althorpe, the seat of Mr.
Spencer, worthy of regard only on account of a very fine collection of
pictures. The park is planted in a dull uniformity, the ground flatt
(_sic_), little prospect, has not the advantage of a river or lake.”
After repeating the details of her journey, she adds that Denton Hall

“had not been inhabited for 30 years, the poor gentleman having
long been a lunatick, so I imagined the rats and ghosts[202] were
in such full possession, it would require time to eject them, and I
am now placed as I could wish, being within 4 miles of Tinmouth....
We have a very good land as well as water prospect. We see from our
windows the place where once lived the Venerable Bede,[203] some
little ruins show still, I believe, where the Monastery stood: the
place is called Jarrow, the estate belong’d to Sir Thomas Clavering
and the late Mr. Rogers. I shall visit it more from respect to the
old Historian than curiosity to see a new possession.”

[202] Did she know? It is supposed to be haunted to this day.

[203] The monk Beda, or Bede, born 672, died 735.

[Page heading: ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD]

On August 27 Mrs. S. Montagu wrote to young Tom Lyttelton a long letter
describing the country round Newcastle.

“After dinner I ferried over the river Wear to Sunderland, a good
sea-port town. They are making a new pier there, which is done
at the expense of the coal-owners, who have mines near the Wear.
I got a very pleasant walk on the sea-shore; several ships were
sailing out of the harbour fraught only with the comforts and
conveniences of life, they carry out coal and salt and bring home
money. I question whether those who carry out death and bring home
glory are concerned in so good merchandize, though they account
their occupation more honourable. On Thursday I went to see Lumley
Castle; it is a noble habitation, but so modernized by sash windows
and other fashionable ornaments, I admired it only as a good house.
There are many family pictures in the Hall, a succession of 16
Lumleys, all martially accoutred, the Lumley arms on their shields,
their figure and attitudes make them look like scaramouches. They
hang so high I could not read the inscriptions, but I imagine it
is intended one should suppose each picture was taken from life;
but from the dress and character, I am sure they have been done by
one hand from the genealogical tree. There are many old pictures in
the house, and many fair testimonies of the ancient nobility of the
family, but I cannot pass them sixteen[204] generations. There are
large plantations of firs at Lumley Castle, a large park behind the
Castle, to the front a good prospect, and the river Wear at a due
distance.”

[204] She was wrong; the Lumleys descend from Liulph, a Norman
nobleman of merit in 1060.

Mrs. Montagu was connected with the Lumleys, her cousin, Mrs. Laurence
Sterne, being the daughter of the Rev. Robert Lumley, of Lumley Castle.
At the end of the letter she complains of the tediousness of the
post--three weeks before she had any letters from her friends!

[Page heading: THE CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG]

This accounts for the news of the taking of Louisburg on July 27, under
Admiral Boscawen, General Amherst, and Wolfe, not having reached her
when she wrote, as Lord Lyttelton wrote to congratulate her on August
22, “upon the glorious success of Admiral Boscawen. I wrote last post
to his lady, whom I love for a thousand good qualities in herself and
because she loves you. Had her husband commanded in the Mediterranean,
and Amherst or Wolfe at Fort St. Philips, we had not lost Minorca.”

[Page heading: TOM LYTTELTON]

In another letter of August 31, Lord Lyttelton having had a pleasant
tour to Lady Coningsby’s,[205] where he met Sir Sidney Smith, and to
Lord Oxford’s,[206] Brampton Brian,[207]--

“I carried Tom with me through the whole tour, and a more
delightful fellow traveller I never can have, unless his Mother was
raised from the dead or Heaven would give me another Lucy! Wherever
we went he won all hearts, and you may believe mine beat with joy
at the sight of his conquests, my only fear is that hereafter he
may please the ladies too well. You must instruct him, Madonna, as
Minerva did Telemachus to avoid the dangers of the Calypsos he may
meet with in his travels, and let him learn by admiring you that no
charms are truly amiable, but those that are under the government
of wisdom and virtue.”

[205] Hampton Court, Herefordshire, built by Henry IV.

[206] Edward Harley, 24th Earl of Oxford.

[207] In Herefordshire.

Tom was fifteen at this time, having been born January 30, 1743–4. His
father’s fears as to his attractions for the fair sex were prophetic.

Tom writes to Mrs. Montagu on September 9, giving her an account of his
travels. Here is a description of Hampton Court, Herefordshire, the
seat of Lady Coningsby--

“The house stands at the end of a line of regular planted trees,
and looks more like a Monastery than a nobleman’s house. The
garden is very large, and would have been pretty enough if Nature
had been left in it unmolested. In the middle of it is a piece of
water of about an acre, cut into two square lines, in which, to the
astonishment of the beholder, you see Neptune upon his throne, and
twenty Tritons waiting behind him. The carver has express’d great
fierceness in his countenance, and well may the god who shakes the
earth with his Trident, be angry at being confined in a Pool, which
would scarce hold two hundred fish. From the garden one might see
a noble lawn bounded with an amphitheatre of wood, was it not for
the high Yew Hedges clipt into a thousand ridiculous shapes which
hinder the eye from passing them, the park, too, is very large, but
so overrun with Bushes that some of the Lawns resemble bogs....
From my Lady Coningsby’s we went to my Lord Oxford’s, a place where
nature has done a great deal, which by a little money judiciously
laid out may be made the prettiest _ferme ornée_ in England. My
Lord’s House is a very good one, built in a remarkable good taste
for the times of Queen Anne.”

Lord Lyttelton, as usual, adds a few words at the end of the letter,
and congratulates Mrs. Montagu on the King of Prussia’s “most glorious
success, but I am in pain till I hear what has become of Emin.”

Dr. Monsey writes from Claremont on September 6--

“DEAR MADAM,

“I should be asham’d of myself to be in the house of a Prime
Minister, and not let you know the King sent a long letter from the
King of Prussia hither this evening, giving a long detail of his
last victory[208] over the Russians, but it being in French and the
Duke of N(ewcastle) not being the best reader, I am unable to give
you an account, though my Lord G(odolphin) heard it as well as I,
and wou’d have interpreted for me, if he cou’d. However there is
an English account too of which I will give you some particulars.
Eighteen thousand killed by their own account, 6 generals killed,
I don’t remember how many wounded, 7 Generals prisoners in the
King’s Camp, 73 pieces of cannon taken, the military chest with
850,000 Rubles. General Brown killed, refusing quarter. The Russian
infantry as they had behaved like Bears, fought like Lyons, part of
Count Dohna’s foot gave way, or else it had been a most compleat
victory. The King himself took the colours in his hand and brought
’em on again, sure this is too bold for anybody but an immortal and
invulnerable. He had two aide-de-camps killed.”

[208] Battle of Zorndorff, fought August 25.

Monsey picked up the cover to the letter, addressed--

“A Monsieur mon frère,
“Le Roy de grande Bretagne.”

This he intended to send Mrs. Montagu, but the Duke asked for it. It
was sealed with two large seals, the arms and royal Crown under a camp
canopy in black wax.

[Page heading: EMIN DISCONSOLATE]

[Page heading: THE KING OF PRUSSIA]

On September 9 Emin wrote a long letter from the Duke of Marlborough’s
Quarter in Germany, whither he had retired disconsolate at not being
allowed to fight in the battle by General Yorke, Lady Anson’s brother,
to whom he had been recommended by her. Meanwhile he had marched four
days with the Army, and the King of Prussia had taken notice of him,
staring at him hard and saying to Mr. Mitchell he wished he had 12,000
men like him. Emin wished he had a letter to the King, and was furious
at General Yorke’s forbidding him to fight; probably the General was
too anxious for his safety. The following description of the King
of Prussia is so interesting I insert it, the whole letter to Mrs.
Montagu, a folio sheet closely written, being too long:--

“I will do my endeavour to describe the King of Prussia’s person,
and his way of living. He is no taller than Emin the Persian, he
has a short neck, he has one of the finest made heads ever I saw in
my life, with a noble forehead; he wears a false wigg, he has very
handsome nose. His eyes are grey, sharp and lively, ready to pearce
one through and through. He likes a man that looks him in the face
when he is talking to him. He is well made everywhere, with a bend
back, not stupid (_sic_, stooped?) at all, like many Europeans. His
voice is the sweetest and clearest ever I heard. He takes a great
quantity of Spanish snuff, from his nose down to the buckles of
his shoes or boots is all painted with that confounded stuff. His
hands are as red as paint, as if he was a painter, grizy all over.
He dines commonly between twelve and one, and drinks a bottle of
wine at his dinner. I was told that he was very unhealthy in the
time of peace, but since this war he has grown healthy, and left
off drinking a great quantity of coffee, which he did formerly. All
the satisfaction that I have, which is great enough that I have
seen Cæsar alive, nay twenty times greater, he is more like King
Solomon, for he rules his nation by wisdom and understanding....
His armies are not only disciplined to the use of arms, but very
religious, and say their prayers three times a day: it is never
neglected, even when they are on the march.”

Emin winds up with a message of apology to Mr. Burke at not having
written to him from want of time.

[Page heading: A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE]

Meanwhile his adored Mrs. Montagu had nearly lost her life through the
carelessness of a maid. It happened on September 3. Writing to Sarah
Scott, she gives this description--

“On this day sennight at 4 in the morn I was seized with a fainting
fit, in which I lay some time, my maids in their fright let the
_eau de luce_ fall into my eye, nostril and mouth, my eyes were
enflamed and nostril, the mouth and uvula of the throat excoriated.
After a long and cruel struggle for life,[209] a most sharp
contention with this medicine, I awaken’d to find myself in this
terrible condition. Dr. Askew unhappily lay at Durham that night,
so had no assistance till 2 at noon, then I was blooded, which
abated the inflammation so far I could articulate. The Doctor told
me my safety depended on frequent gargling and drinking, so for,
four days, I was never a quarter of an hour without doing so, the
spitting was more violent than from a mercurial salivation.... When
I came out of my fit, to see blood running from eye, nose and mouth
drove Mr. Montagu almost distracted, and I knew not which way my
agonies would end.... Mr. Montagu has shown on this occasion the
most passionate love imaginable. Dr. Askew has been very careful,
and an excellent apothecary has watched me night and day.”

[209] For two days her life was despaired of; for four days she
could swallow no solid, and was salivated for a week.

In a second letter she says, “On the fourth day when I was able to look
up I was surprized at the impression concern had made on Mr. Montagu,
and I should hardly have known him, he looked 20 years older at least.”

In a letter of Monsey’s we learn _eau de luce_ was made of strong sal
ammoniac and quicklime.

[Page heading: LADY BURLINGTON]

Mr. Montagu’s sister, now Lady Medows, wrote on September 14 to say
her brother-in-law, Sir Philip, had been nearly killed in the same way
by hartshorn. At the end of the letter she says, “Lady Bath dyed at
two this morning of the Palsy.” This was the wife of Pulteney, Earl of
Bath, soon after this to become one of Mrs. Montagu’s most intimate
friends. Lady Bath’s maiden name was Maria Gumley, daughter and
heiress of a great glass manufacturer. She had the character of great
penuriousness, and her husband was credited with the same character,
but I hope to show later that he could be very generous. When the news
of Mrs. Montagu’s accident spread amongst her numerous friends, many
were the letters of condolence and rejoicing at her safety from Lord
Lyttelton and a host of others. Dr. Monsey had been staying with the
Garricks; he was a great admirer of Mrs. Garrick, whom he often quotes
in his letters. It was whilst staying with them he heard of it. Both
he and Lord Lyttelton were quite frantic at the risk she had run,
and distressed at her fainting fit. Monsey was suffering from a bad
cough, for which, when staying with Sir John Evelyn at Wooton, he tried
bleeding, cathartics, and syrup of white poppies. He returned to St.
James’s, where Mrs. Garrick came to sit with him, and cheer him up. In
a letter of his to Mrs. Montagu of September 23, mention is made of
Lady Burlington’s death. “Lady Burlington is dead. Mrs. G(arrick) gets
nothing, but rid of her, and that’s a great deal, I think. She gives
the Duke of D. £3000 per annum ... not a farthing to any one servant,
she had some lived with her 20 or 25 years.”

[Page heading: MRS. GARRICK]

Lady Burlington, widow of the 3rd Earl, the celebrated amateur
architect, was the daughter of William, Marquis of Halifax. On Eva
Marie Viegel’s[210] arrival in England from Austria, the Empress
Queen, Maria Theresa, gave her a recommendation to Lady Burlington,
who received her at Burlington House as an inmate. It is said “La
Violette,” as she was called from her exquisite dancing in the operas,
had attracted the Emperor of Austria’s attention so much as to alarm
the Empress, and that she therefore sought to remove her from Austria.
Lady Burlington strongly objected to Garrick’s attachment to La
Violette, having more ambitious projects for her _protégée_, but it
was a true love affair from the beginning even to the end, and not one
word could ever be said against Mrs. Garrick; theirs was indeed a love
match, and after fifteen years of married life Garrick presented her
with a ring on her birthday, with the most touching love verses. From
the letters, I gather it was Dr. Monsey who brought Mrs. Montagu into
personal intercourse with the Garricks.

[210] Eva Maria Viegel, or Veilchen, born at Vienna, 1725; married
David Garrick on June 22, 1749.

Dr. Monsey was so disturbed at Mrs. Montagu’s accident that he wrote
almost daily to her, and no one who reads his letters could imagine,
however eccentric he was, that he was a free thinker in religion, as
is asserted in the “Dictionary of National Biography.” His letters are
so long that it is impossible to print them in full in this book. He
had a bad cough and a sort of vertigo at this time, in the midst of
which he was called to the Earl of Northumberland, who was desperately
ill, whose sufferings Monsey succeeded in alleviating. In a letter
of October 8 we learn that his birthday and Mrs. Montagu’s were on
the same day, viz. October 2.[211] He promises in joke to marry Mrs.
Stuart, a widow lady who had nursed Mrs. Montagu with the greatest
attention. To add to Mrs. Montagu’s troubles, her faithful housekeeper,
Mrs. Crosby, a lady by birth, but reduced to poverty, died of a quinsy
in twelve days.

[211] Monsey, in a letter, said he was sixty-four then.

In a letter of Dr. Monsey’s of October 27, mention is made of Lord
Godolphin drinking “absent friends” as a toast, coupled with special
mention of Mrs. Montagu, and also of Allan Ramsay,[212] the artist.
“Ramsay is one of us, he was born on October 2. I jumped for joy, but
hang it, ’tis the old October. I tell him he must be regenerated,
become a child of grace, and then he shall be adopted into our
family....” Dr. Monsey’s little grand-daughter “loves Missy Montagu
dearly.”

[212] Eminent portrait painter; son of the Scotch poet of the same
name; born 1709, died 1784.

A letter of Atkinson, the farm bailiff at Sandleford, on October 3, to
Mrs. Crosby, the late housekeeper, shows the current price of food:
“Everything continues dear for ye pour, and will do so all this winter,
I am afraid, befe is sold in our market for 3_d._ for a pd. Muton 4_d._
to 4½_d._, it is beyond prise wich I never heard before at this time of
ye year, pork and veal 5_d._ a pound.”

[Page heading: MRS. SHERLOCK]

[Page heading: GEORGINA POYNTZ]

Mrs. Donnellan wrote from Fulham on October 21 condoling with Mrs.
Montagu on her accident, and the loss of Mrs. Crosby. She says--

“I told you how near we were losing our respectable friend Mrs.
Sherlock, she is now quite recovered ... they say there never was a
more moving scene than between her and the Bishop,[213] who would
be carried up to her in the worst of her illness; he got hold of
her hand and it was with difficulty they could get him to let
it go and separate them.” (Bishop Sherlock was born in 1678, so
was then eighty years of age.) “I went yesterday _pour égayer_ a
little to see Mrs. Spencer[214] after her lying in, and there is
nothing but joy and magnificence; the child[215] is likely to live
tho’ it came, they reckon, six weeks before its time. Mrs. Poinne
showed me all the fineries; the pap boat is pure gold, etc., etc. I
like Mrs. Spencer, she is a natural good young woman, no airs, no
affectation, but seems to enjoy her great fortune by making others
partakers, and happy with herself.”

This was Georgina, _née_ Poyntz, who had married Mr. John Spencer,
afterwards 1st Earl Spencer, by whom she had Georgiana, afterwards
the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire; George John,[216] who was born
on September 1, 1758, was the owner of the gold pap boat. and Lady
Besborough. Mrs. Donnellan adds--

“Mrs. Poinne (Poyntz) has the practical moral virtues, and when
I see her good works I think she is worth a hundred such poor
spectators as I am; her present business is attending the foundling
Hospital, and she has six and twenty children nursing under her
care.... The Duchess of Portland and her family are at Bath.”

[213] Thomas Sherlock, then Bishop of London.

[214] _Née_ Georgina, daughter of Stephen Poyntz, of Midgham, Berks.

[215] Became Earl Spencer, born September, 1758.

[216] Became 2nd Earl Spencer in 1783.

The next letter is from Lord Lyttelton on October 10, full of anxiety
as to Mrs. Montagu’s health, and urging her to return South as soon as
possible. In this he says--

“You inquire about my new house,[217] and my History,[218] both are
going on but the first much faster and better than the other. When
the History will be finished I cannot tell, and when it is, I fear
it will be little better than a _gothick house modernised_. The
Goths will think it too Græcian and the Græcians too Gothic.” He
winds up with, “Adieu, best Madonna, take great care of yourself,
your late danger has shown you how dear you are to your friends.
Don’t try their affection that way any more.”

[217] He was rebuilding Hagley.

[218] His “History of Henry II.”

[Page heading: CARVILLE]

Writing on October 20 to Dr. Stillingfleet, who was exploring Wales
with Charles Lyttelton, the Dean of Exeter and brother of Lord
Lyttelton, Mrs. Montagu says--

“Carville[219] is just at the end of the Picts’ Wall, it makes part
of our enclosures, and we have a Roman Altar in the stables. The
din of War has so frightened the rural Deities that even the long
time that has passed since the Union with Scotland, has not brought
them to make their residence with us. Pan, Ceres, and Pomona, seem
to neglect us; we are under the domination of the god of mines.
There is a great deal of rich land in this country, but agriculture
is ill understood. The great gain made by several branches of the
coal trade has turned all attention that way. Every gentleman in
the country, from the least to the greatest, is as solicitous in
the pursuit of gain as a tradesman. The conversation always turns
upon money; the moment you name a man, you are told what he is
worth, the losses he has had, or the profit he has made by coal
mines. As my mind is not naturally set to this tune, I should often
be glad to change it for a song from one of your Welch Bards.”

[219] Carville, the house they had hired.

[Page heading: “ATHENIAN” STUART]

Mrs. Lowther had asked her to spend some time at Lowther Hall,[220] of
which she says, “Lowther is much greater than Gibside, which is too
great for me.” In the next letter of Lord Lyttelton’s he mentions Mr.
Anson and Mr. Steward being at Hagley--

“Stuart seems almost as fond of my hall as of the _Thessala
Tempe_,[221] which I believe you heard him describe when I brought
him to see you.... He is going to embellish one of the Hills with
a true Attick building, a Portico of six pillars, which will
make a fine object to my new house, and command a most beautiful
view of the country. He has also engaged to paint me a Flora and
four pretty little Zephyrs in my drawing-room ceiling, which is
ornamented with flowers in Stucco, but has spaces left for these
pictures. He thinks all my Stucco work is well done.”

This was James Stuart,[222] nicknamed “Athenian Stuart,” traveller and
antiquary, author of “The Antiquities of Athens.” Alluding to Tom, he
says, “Dr. Bernard[223] offered to putt him into the Remove, but rather
advised him to stay in the fourth form in order to learn more Greek,
which advice he has prudently and cheerfully followed.”

[220] Now Lowther Castle.

[221] Mr. Bower’s place.

[222] James Stuart, born 1713, died 1788.

[223] Head-master of Eton.

Mrs. Montagu, being attacked by a choleraic disorder, which kept her in
her room a week, and being still very hoarse from the _eau de Luce_,
Mr. Montagu insisted on her returning to London before himself, so as
to be in reach of Dr. Monsey. On November 6, from Wexford, she writes
to Sarah Scott to inform her she is returning to London. Mr. Montagu
had accompanied her three days’ journey; he then returned to Carville.
She had left behind the post-chaise, and travelled in the “body coach,
but my horses are so stout I believe they will perform the journey from
Carville to London in seven days.” _En route_ she picks up Mr. Tom
Pitt,[224] nephew of Miss Pitt and a friend of his, and carries them
to Durham, putting her maid into their post-chaise. “My gentlemen leave
me at Stilton, from whence they go to Cambridge.” She mentions that Mr.
Montagu had bought all the jewels belonging to Mr. Rogers for her, “and
to-day intimated he should give me a great purse of old gold which fell
to his share in the division; some of the pieces are curious, but there
will be between £60 to £70 of money that one may spend with a good
conscience.”

[224] 1st Lord Camelford, Thomas Pitt, junior, son of Lord Cobham’s
brother Thomas and his wife, _née_ Christian Lyttelton.

[Page heading: VIPER BROTH]

Arrived in London, Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband that his sister,
Lady Medows,[225] was in very bad health, and she had recommended
her to take “Viper broth!” if her doctor approved it, “as it is a
nourishing food, and by its quality supplies deficiency of food.”
I believe vipers are still used as medicine in France, but whether
in England I know not; perhaps “Brusher Mills,”[226] the famous New
Forest snake-catcher, could inform one; it does not sound inviting! In
the same letter she mentions having secured a berth as midshipman for
Montagu Isaacson,[227] Mr. Montagu’s cousin, with Admiral Boscawen. The
Admiral had been most graciously received by the King, “and nothing can
exceed the honours the Admiral meets with from all quarters.”

A Scotch gardener had been hired for Sandleford, and she adds, “The
Scotch Gardener was tired a little, so I thought you would not dislike
his recreating himself and resting his horse a little. I have sent him
to the play to-night.”

[225] She was suffering from cancer and dropsy.

[226] Since this was written, “Brusher” died.

[227] Son of Margaret, _née_ Creagh, and Anthony Isaacson.

In the next letter she writes, “The Carville gardener will set out
to-morrow, he is more happy in London than a young toast, he has seen
St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, etc., and sees them with taste; his mind
was made for a higher condition of life.” Mentioning the horses, she
says she shall send three to Sandleford, “it is a shame for a little
animal as I am to keep 7 horses in town.” The team for a big coach was
then six, but a seventh was ridden alongside by a servant in case of
accidents on the way.

[Page heading: ANXIETIES AND ILLNESSES]

George II. had been very ill. “Princess Emilia not well, and the
Duke[228] has got the gout.... Sixteen thousand pounds a year of
annuities on the Duke of Marlborough[229] expire with him, so there
are many sincere mourners; the Duchess[230] bears her loss better
than could have been imagined. Lord Bath[231] is so apparently
rejoiced at his deliverance, it makes people smile, he ordered a
plentiful table to be kept as soon as she was dead, and is gay
and jolly, and at the Bath like a young heir just come to his
estate.... It is thought Mr. Charles Montagu[232] can live but a
few days.”

[228] Cumberland.

[229] 3rd Duke of Marlborough, died October 20, 1758, at Munster in
Westphalia.

[230] Elizabeth, daughter of 2nd Baron Trevor.

[231] William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, had just lost his wife.

[232] Charles Montagu, son of the Hon. James Montagu, cousin of Mr.
Edward Montagu. He died in 1759.

Great anxiety reigned for some days about the health of little Morris
Robinson, Morris’s son. Dr. Monsey stayed with the child four days
and nights, and he pulled through, but it painfully reminded his aunt
of her loss in little “Punch,” Morris being much of the same age. Dr.
Monsey wrote to Mr. Montagu to say he had insisted, when the child was
at its worst, that Mrs. Montagu should not come to see it. Mention is
made of young Mr. Pitt “just come to town, not so well as when you
saw him; he was here on Tuesday night, and I thought looked ill; his
chairmen were drunk and threw him in the street, and cut his face and
hurt him a little, and he had a bad fit that night from the surprise.”
This was Thomas Pitt, junior, son of Thomas Pitt, of Boconoc, Cornwall,
brother of Mr. William Pitt, and afterwards 1st Lord Camelford.

[Page heading: MEETING OF PARLIAMENT]

On November 23 both houses of Parliament met at Westminster, and Mrs.
Montagu writes on the 28th to her husband--

“Mr. Pitt opened the session on Tuesday with a very fine speech,
Mr. Beckford stood up and said the turn things had taken of late
had put him in good humour, so that he was willing to give two
millions towards the war on the Continent; he thought it too little
to be of service, but rather more than could be got. Mr. Pitt
answered the sum must not be limited, a great deal indeed would be
wanted, he knew not how it would be raised, for he did not concern
himself with Treasury business, but the honourable gentleman,
signifying Mr. Legge, understood these matters, and he did not
doubt would raise a proper sum. Poor Legge looked distressed. No
one knows how these great sums are to be raised, taxes on Dogs and
publick diversions are talked of, the King is much pleased with his
Secretary’s declaration of a support of the continent interest at
any rate. I hear Mr. Pitt’s speech was much admired, and nowhere
more than at St. James’s.... Mr. Pitt has a personal dignity
that supports open measures, and I am glad he does not learn
the political art of prevarication. He has the people’s intire
confidence, and I hope he will use it to good ends.”

[Page heading: EMIN HOME AGAIN]

On December 2, writing to Mr. Montagu, she says--

“Emin is come home, he has a great loss of the Duke of
Marlborough, who called him his Lion and kept him always with
him. He has been a sort of aide-de-camp to Count Schullenburg;
he has lately been in Holland where the Armenians have promised
to assist his schemes. Lady Yarmouth has him with her in a
morning and promises him her interest with a very great man;
Lord Northumberland, Lord Anson, and General York are to be his
advocates with Mr. Pitt. He is an astonishing creature to take
thus with all kinds of people. He hopes to go home in January in a
sort of public character. He is full of anecdotes of the King of
Prussia. He says his eyes and forehead are just like mine, and he
is as particular in his description of him as a portrait painter
would be. He marched with him seven days, the Prussian Hero is as
easy and familiar as a private man, knowing his character will give
him more respect than his rank: it is not advisable in general for
Princes to lay aside their rank lest they should not otherwise gain
respect, but a truly great man is above all respect that is not
personal.”

A set of verses sent by Dr. Monsey from North Mimms to Lord Lyttelton
is amusing, but too prolix to insert. Lyttelton had a bad cold, and
wanted to go to Eton to see his boy--

“_L._ I _must_ go to Eaton.”

“_M._ You shall _not_ go to Eaton.”

Much allusion is made to Mrs. Montagu in the verses, which are rank
doggerel.

Louisburg had been taken on July 27. On December 7 Mrs. Montagu writes,
“The House of Commons yesterday returned thanks to Admiral Boscawen and
General Amherst for their services at Louisburg, and to Admiral Osborne
for his conduct in the Mediterranean.”

Dr. Monsey had been reading the “Memoirs of Madame de Maintenon,” in
whom he sees a strong likeness to Mrs. Montagu.

“I take her into my hand and you into my mind as I go along ...
tho’ Lewis was a scrub of a scoundrel and not worthy a crown which
he would not put upon her head, he now and then thought right about
her, instead of a foreign Princess whom he must study to please,
he chose a woman who made it her whole business to please him,
the only one who could inspire him with a lasting passion, and so
revered that in the admiration which the recital of her vertues
occasioned he cried, ‘Let us go and shut ourselves up to talk of
this woman.’ That’s my Lord (Lyttelton), and I!”

[Page heading: LORD ARRAN DEAD]

On December 17 the Earl of Arran died; he had married Mr. Montagu’s
relation, Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Crewe of Stene, who brought him a
large fortune. It was an unhappy marriage, and Mrs. Montagu hints that,
had Lady Arran treated her husband as he deserved, her money would have
come to Mr. Montagu and Lady Mary Gregory. He died at eighty-eight. His
sister, Lady Emily Butler,

“is a surprising woman, healthy and lively at past 99! Mr. Boscawen
yesterday show’d us a box of horrid implements with which the
French cannon was charged at Louisbourg, rusty locks, pieces of
pokers, curling tongs, nails in abundance and all sorts of iron
instruments, and this not for want of ammunition, but wanton
cruelty. He found the cannons loaded with these as well as ball.
General Wolfe had a gridiron shot at him; it fell short of him, but
he had it taken up and straiten’d and eat a beef steak broil’d upon
it.”

[Page heading: EDMUND BURKE]

In a letter undated, but presumably at the end of December, Mrs.
Montagu says--

“Lord Bath said there had been but three speeches in Parliament
this year; one was Lord Middleton’s,[233] who said he would
give all he was worth to support the war; the other Sir Michael
Grosvenor’s,[234] who said he would lend all he was worth; and
the third, Mr. Pitt’s, who said he would take all they were both
worth.... If Mr. Isaacson wants any enquiries made at Cork, I
can get good intelligence by means of Mr. Burke, a young lawyer
by profession, tho’ an author by practice, for he wrote Natural
History[235] preferable to Artificial; he has several acquaintance
of credit at Cork, you have often heard me mention him.”

[233] 3rd Viscount Middleton.

[234] Sir Richard Grosvenor, afterwards 1st Earl Grosvenor.

[235] “Vindication of Natural Society,” his first avowed work copied
for him by Emin, and published in 1756.

This is the third mention of Edmund Burke, the first being in a letter
of Emin’s, whose patron he was, to Dr. Monsey.

On December 28, writing to her husband, who was still at Carville, Mrs.
Montagu says--

“The Parliaments meet on the 16th ... the ardour for carrying on
the war is such it will be rather a point of contention who shall
give most money. Some people think Mr. Boscawen will be sent
against Quebec. General Conway is taken into favour again, he is
going to settle ye dispute between us and the Dutch concerning
the ships we have taken. The Princess of Orange is thought in a
desperate state of health.... My Father call’d on me on Monday; he
was not well, which put him a little out of sorts, he seems uneasy
that he is not immortal, however, he takes the best means for long
life, and I daresay will attain it unless fears of the inevitable
moment should hurt his spirits. Life has been to him one long play
day, he must not expect the rattles and sugar plumbs will hold good
to the last. He has never tasted business, care, or study; _vivre
du jour la journée_, as the French saying is, has been his moral
maxim; it may make a merry day, but it does not make the best
evening; the mind that has employ’d itself in study and application
or in active life has more to look back upon, and old age’s joy is
in the retrospect.”

This ends the letters for 1758.

[Page heading: 1759]

[Page heading: HELVETIUS]

On January 2, 1759, writing to Mr. Montagu, who was still in the north,
his wife says--

“I am now reading a very ingenious, pernicious French author, his
name is Helvetius,[236] a descendant of the famous Helvetius;[237]
he is a man of fortune in France, very amiable in his private
character, good-natured, liberal and witty, so has many disciples
at Paris from respect to his person; I fear he will have many here
from respect to his doctrines well adapted to the corruptions of
the human heart. He endeavours to show it is custom makes virtue
and vice, like Epicurus, placing his good in pleasure but not his
pleasure in good. He thinks a less strict observation of some
moral rules would make man in general happier. He would trust
everything to laws, Legislature is to be the god and conscience
of mankind. He does not consider how many by their situation are
above laws, how many one may say are below it, and how many more
by fraud, evasions, concealment would hope to escape it. I hope
conscience, call’d by Mr. Pope ‘the god within the mind,’ will keep
her empire in spite of Mr. Helvetius.... The church has obliged
him to a retractation, which indeed may in some measure mortify
the author but will not alter the argument of his book.... Lord
Clarendon’s other volume[238] will soon be published.... I forgot
to tell you I have receiv’d great compliments from Mr. Pitt, the
Secretary, since I came to town, congratulations on your accession
of fortune, congratulations on my recovery from the _eau de Luce_,
high expressions of esteem and friendship, but being a person of
moderate ambition, I have not ask’d for a place at Court.”

[236] Claude Adrien Helvetius, born 1715, died 1771. Published “De
l’Esprit” in 1758.

[237] John Claude Helvetius, his father, celebrated physician and
author; died 1755.

[238] His “History of the Rebellion.”

[Page heading: SOCIAL FESTIVITIES]

In the next letter of January 4 she says--

“I was last night at Lady Cowper’s concert, where there was much
good company and good musick. The night before I was at an assembly
at Mrs. Pitt’s, where I found Sir John Mordaunt playing at cards
with Lady Hester Pitt; this might be accident, but among political
folks one is apt to look deeper perhaps than the truth lies, but
this and General Conway being received into grace and sent to Le
Cas[239] to settle the cartel for exchange of prisoners, makes
me suspect some coalition may be designed between the folks at
Leicester House and the D(uke).... I am to go to the play with Miss
Pitt to-morrow night. Mr. Garrick is to act Anthony, he will make
but a diminutive hero; I should not think it a part he would shine
in, but he has taken great pains about it.”

[239] He was sent to Sluys, for which the French is L’Ecluse, not Le
Cas, to meet Monsieur de Bareil.

On January 18, writing to her husband, Mrs. Montagu says--

“It is apprehended the loss of the King of Spain[240] will be
a misfortune to Great Brittain. There is a great conspiracy
discovered in Portugal; it was at first surmised that the
assassination[241] of the King arose from jealousy, but people now
think there was more of ambition than jealousy in it. The Marquis
of Tavora’s family had a nearer claim to the crown than that Duke
of Braganza who got it, but not being personally so well qualified
for so great an attempt, or for want of alliances or other means,
they were quietly governed by Spain, but when the Braganzas gained
the Royal dignity, they grudged it to them, and ambition and envy
may easily form conspiracy and assassination. Twelve of the first
nobility will be brought to the scaffold.”

[240] Ferdinand VI.

[241] Attempted assassination of Joseph I., led to the expulsion of
the Jesuits.

[Page heading: ROUSSEAU]

On the 24th occurs a very long letter to Mrs. Carter. In this
mention is made of Rousseau: “There is a letter from Rousseau to Mr.
D’Alembert[242] upon the project of settling a theatre at Geneva, which
treats of Dramatical performances in general; it is ingeniously written
and with great eloquence.” She also adds that she is sending Mrs.
Carter Dr. Newton’s “Dissertation on the Prophecies,” Leland’s “Life of
Philip of Macedon.”

“Lord Lyttelton’s History is not yet ready to appear; the work
goes on slowly, as the writer is scrupulously exact in following
truth. His delicacy in regard to characters, his candour in regard
to opinions, his precision in facts, would entitle him to the best
palm history can claim, if he had not added to these virtues of
History (if I may call them so) the highest ornaments of style,
and a most peculiar grace of order and method.... I shall send you
a treatise on the ‘Sublime and Beautiful,’[243] by Mr. Burke, a
friend of mine. I do not know that you will always subscribe to
his system, but think you will find him an elegant and ingenious
writer. He is far from the pert pedantry and assuming ignorance
of modern witlings; but in conversation and writing an ingenious
and ingenuous man, modest and delicate, and on great and serious
subjects full of that respect and veneration which a good mind and
a great one is sure to feel, while fools mock behind the altar, at
which wise men kneel and pay mysterious reverence.”

[242] Lettre à d’Alembert (Sur les Spectacles), Amsterdam 1758;
translated into English in 1759.

[243] First published in 1757.

[Page heading: KITTY FISHER]

Soon after this letter, Mrs. Carter paid her first visit to Mrs.
Montagu in Hill Street. Mrs. Carter had been much troubled by the
severe illness of Miss Talbot, her bosom friend, and of Archbishop
Secker, with whom the Talbots lived. Mrs. Montagu, writing to condole
about this, mentions that Lord Waldegrave[244] was going to marry the
illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole, and she continues--

“Miss Kitty Fisher modestly asked Earl Pembroke[245] to make her a
Countess; his family love forms, so perhaps the fair one thought he
would approve the legal form of cohabitation; but he hesitated, and
so the agreement is made for life, a £1000 per annum, and a £1000
for present decorations.”

[244] 2nd Earl Waldegrave, married Maria, daughter of Sir Edward
Walpole, on May 15, 1759. She survived him, and married in 1766 the
Duke of Gloucester, brother to George III.

[245] Henry, 29th Earl of Pembroke, born 1734, died 1794.

Mr. Montagu had now returned to his wife, having bought another portion
of the Denton estate from Mr. Archdeacon, his cousin. He made a codicil
to his previous will of 1752, leaving his wife the whole property, as
well as all he possessed besides. The codicil was witnessed by Ben
Stillingfleet, William Archdeacon, and Samuel Torriano, on April 12,
1759.

[Illustration: MRS. ELIZABETH CARTER.]

On June 7, writing to Mrs. Carter, who was drinking the waters at
Bristol, Mrs. Montagu chaffs her as to her surroundings. “Do you like
pompons or aigrettes in your hair? if you put on rouge, dance minuets
and cottillions? that I may describe and define you in your Bristol
State.” Mention is made of Mr. Mason’s “Caractacus.”

“It is a Drama not dramatized; his Melpomene is too chaste,
too cold for the theatre. She is a very modest virgin, pure in
sentiment and diction and void of passion; her sober ornaments
are a Greek veil and some Druidical Hieroglyphicks, all which I
mightily respect and do not like at all.... Lord Northampton had a
fine suit for the birthday, the wastecoat silver and gold, the coat
gold and silver.”

[Page heading: DR. JOHNSON]

On June 9 occurs the first letter of Dr. Johnson[246] to Mrs. Montagu.

[246] Dr. Samuel Johnson, born 1709, died 1784; the famous
lexicographer and critic.

“MADAM,

“I am desired by Mrs. Williams to sign receipts with her name for
the subscribers which you have been pleased to procure, and to
return her humble thanks for your favour, which was conferred with
all the grace that elegance can add to Beneficence.

“I am,
“Your most obedient
and humble servant,
“SAM. JOHNSON.

“June 9, 1759.”

This letter is printed in Boswell’s “Life of Johnson,”[247] vol. ii.
p. 113; but who introduced him first to her I have not yet been able
to discover, but I fancy it might be through Mrs. Carter. His mother
had died at the age of ninety in January of this year. His “Rasselas,”
published in the following April, is said to have been written to pay
the expenses of the funeral of his beloved parent. Mrs. Williams
was one of Dr. Johnson’s _protégées_, a woman of talent and literary
attainments, who had been a constant companion of his late wife. Her
eyes being affected with an incurable cataract, she became blind, and
Dr. Johnson was trying to raise money enough to buy an annuity for her.
In 1766 she became a permanent inmate of Johnson’s house, and on Mr.
Montagu’s death in 1775, Mrs. Montagu settled £10 per annum on her.

[247] By John Wilson Croker revised, and by John Wright published,
1880.

Dr. Johnson’s writing is singularly clear, and, once seen, is
unmistakable, from his peculiar long _s_’s.

On June 9 also, Emin wrote on board the _Prince Edward_, from the Mole
of Genoa, where they were in quarantine. The letter begins, “To the
most learned and most magnanimous Mrs. Montagu.” He was on his way to
see Prince Heraclius with letters of recommendation from his father and
all the principal Armenians of Calcutta and India to the Prince and the
Archbishop of Armenia. At last his transcendent merit as a leader had
been acknowledged by his own countrymen, who now designated him “their
chief, their Shepherd and Protector.” Emin’s affectionate heart was
rent at the thought of parting with his kind English protectors, and in
this letter he says he was almost glad when he found most of them out
or away from home when he called to bid adieu. He was to cross Turkey
by land to get to Armenia, a most dangerous Journey, and on the way out
two ships had chased them for four or five hours off Spain.

[Page heading: LADY ESSEX’S DEATH]

Writing from Sandleford on July 25 to Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Montagu
narrates the sad death of Lady Essex, carried away at the early age of
nineteen by puerperal fever and throat disease. She was the daughter of
Lady Frances Williams, who was bowed down with this affliction, added
to the terrible lunacy of her husband. Mrs. Carter was at Bristol
drinking the waters for her constant violent headaches. At the end of
the letter we read--

“I am glad you agree with me in detestation of Voltaire’s
Optimism. Are not you provoked that such an animal calls itself a
Philosopher? What pretence can he have to philosophy who has not
that fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom? This creature
is a downright rebel to his God. Some good may arise indeed from
the division of Satan’s household; Voltaire directly opposes Lord
Bolingbroke and those who affirm whatever is is right, and that
there wants not a future state to make the system just.”

[Page heading: “CALVES PLUCK WATER”]

Lady Medows writes that her appetite has been mended by drinking
“Calves Pluck water!”

[Page heading: HARLEYFORD]

On August 3 Mrs. Montagu thanks Lady Barbara Montagu for “the great
favour you have done me in behalf of Mr. Burke,” but what that favour
was I know not. The letter proceeds thus--

“I conducted Mrs. Pitt to Maidenhead Bridge on Tuesday, and on
Wednesday dined at Mrs. Clayton’s[248] at Harleyford.[249] I think
it the most agreeable situation I have seen on the Thames, I mean
as a place of residence, every object speaks peace and plenty,
the silver Thames glides at the foot of their garden, lofty trees
crown the summit, they have fine prospects, sweet lawns, fine
cornfields and distant villages.... I could not get permission from
Mr. Montagu to stay a day or two, but had barely leave for a dining
visit; to my great mortification, my Landlord at the Bridge told me
that to go by Marlow would carry me 8 or 9 miles out of the Road,
so I gave up my scheme, but met Mr. Amyand, who was travelling
through Maidenhead town: he jumped out of his post-chaise, got
into the coach to tell me all the news of the town, and on my
complaining of my disappointment in regard to Mrs. Clayton, he
assured me if I would go two miles out of my road I should find
myself on the bank of the river opposite Mrs. Clayton’s house,
that then I might go on board a flat-bottom’d boat and invade her
territories. I followed his directions, but as my coach could not
pass the river, I proposed only to drink a dish of Chocolate, walk
round her gardens, and proceed to Reading. She kindly desired to
carry me thither early in the afternoon, said she would get Mrs.
Southwell[250] of the party, that my coach should go on to Reading
and I should find my horses refreshed and ready to set forward for
Sandleford: no magical wand could have made a metamorphosis more
to my advantage than converting the rose Parlour at the Inn in
Reading into an elegant _salon_, and my Landlord and his wife into
Mrs. Clayton and Mrs. Southwell; and an empty coach into one filled
with good company. A most incomparable dinner appeared, and Mrs.
Southwell; we went together to Reading, and by 11 I got back to my
darksome pines.”

[248] Presumably the widow of Bishop Clayton, and sister of Mrs.
Donnellan.

[249] Now the seat of Sir William Clayton.

[250] Of King’s Weston.

Soon after her return to Sandleford, Mr. Montagu fell ill of a bad
throat, caught, she thought, at a place built by a Mr. Cottington near
Newbury, on such a hill that, as she says to Lyttelton,

“it would have made a good situation for a college of Augurs, for
here they might conveniently make observations on the flight of
Birds; the ascent is so steep a goat can hardly climb to it; he
built a Belvidere at the top of the house, where perhaps he hoped
to sit as umpire in the battles between the cranes and the pigmies,
for as to looking down from it, it is rather horrible.”

Fortunately, Dr. Monsey was at Sandleford, and promptly “blooded” and
doctored Mr. Montagu. Mention is made of a “magnificent epistle of Emin
to the noble daughters of Brittain,” too long to be inserted here.

[Illustration: DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.]

[Page heading: INVERARY]

Lord Lyttelton and “Tom” were taking a tour to the Highlands, having
gone from Hagley to Durham, thence to Lord Ravensworth’s and Morpeth,
“on our way to Alnwick.” Lord Lyttelton alludes to the Battle of
Minden, fought on August 1, between the English, Hessians, and
Hanoverians, against the French. Prince Ferdinand[251] of Brunswick
commanded, and under him Lord George Sackville,[252] who commanded the
English and Hanoverians, and incurred some obloquy on the score of
disobeying orders; but Lyttelton says--

“The necessity the French will be under of restoring their army in
Germany by large reinforcements must, I think, putt an end to their
intended invasion, and you Ladies of Britain will not be exposed to
the outrages and brutalities which the poor Ladies of Hildesheim
have suffered from the rage of those polished barbarians.... I
had writt thus far at Taymouth, Lord Breadalbane’s fine seat, but
was forced by some interruption to delay ending my letter till I
came to Inverary, from whence I now write. The House deserves to
be call’d, as it was stil’d by Lord Leicester, ‘the Royall Palace
of the King of the Goths.’ He reigns here in great state, but
Nature reigns in still greater. I have scarce ever seen her more
sublimely majestick; nor does she want some sweet graces to soften
her dignity and make it more amiable. As the Duke of Argyll[253] is
one of your admirers, and, I think, a favoured one too, you ought
to make him a visit here when next you return to your northern
dominions.”

[251] Brother of the Duke of Brunswick.

[252] Afterwards Lord George Germaine.

[253] Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, born 1682, died 1761,
ætat 79.

[Page heading: ALNWICK]

Tom Lyttelton, who was travelling with his father in Scotland, writes
on September 10 from Edinburgh to Mrs. Montagu. Some portions of his
letter I copy--

“The first place I shall mention to you is Alnwick, the seat of the
Earl of Northumberland. The Castle is very gracious, and stands on
the brow of a hill; it was formerly very strong. His Lordship has
shown great judgment in the manner of fitting it up, for instead
of using the modern stile of architecture (as Mr. Lumley has done
at Lumley Castle), he has left it for the most part as it was
in Harry Percy’s time, with this difference, that two or three
rooms which were before ill proportioned and quite unfurnished,
are now much enlarged and fitted very handsomely in the Gothick
stile. He will add many more rooms on the other side of the court,
and will make it in time a very good house, still preserving its
original character. From thence we went to Berwick to Sir Hugh
Dalrymple’s.... The Bass Island is all a vast Rock broken into many
rough and irregular pieces; it is inaccessible to very large ships,
there is but one place where a boat may safely land; in the middle
of the ascent there are still the remains of an old castle, which
was a state prison with houses for soldiers built in the rock;
they tell you that within these sixty years it was garrisoned, but
it is now become the habitation only of an infinite number of sea
birds, of which the Solan goose is the most remarkable.... We went
to dine with Mr. Charters, and from thence the same night reached
Edinburgh, and were lodged in the Royal Palace called _Holy Rood
House_.... My next shall be from Bishops Auckland (a seat of the
Bishop of Durham’s)....”

As usual, Lord Lyttelton adds a postscript, and in it says--

“We dined to-day with the Magistrates and corporation of Edinburgh,
and supped with the Duke of Argyll, who honoured me with his
presence at the dinner, a distinction he never paid to any other
than upon this occasion. Tom and I had our freedoms given us, as we
have had from many other towns with as great compliments as if I
had been a minister of State, or the Head of a faction.”

Young Edward Wortley Montagu writes on September 13 to Mr. Montagu from
“Mrs. Lyster’s in Hyde Street, Bloomsbury Market,” to say--

“I am really greatly concern’d that it has hitherto been out of
my power to wait upon you, and I am afraid will be so the whole
summer, for my book is sold off, and Millar presses me for a second
edition, which I am now about, and since I wish it should appear
in the world as perfect as possible, I must beg the favour of you
to let me know what corrections you think it may want; the world
received the first edition with great indulgence, but the second
will have a right to approbation when it has received a greater
degree of perfection from the corrections of a gentleman of your
abilities.”

[Page heading: YORK]

In an answer to Lord Lyttelton’s letter from Inverary, too long to be
inserted, Mrs. Montagu mentions that she is sending the letter to York--

“I shall be glad to hear that your Lordship and Mr. Lyttelton
like York, to which perhaps I am partial as to the place of my
nativity. One of the strongest pictures in my mind is the funeral
of a Dean of York, which I saw performed with great solemnity in
the Cathedral when I was about 4 years old.... I know, my lord, you
will rejoice with me for Mr. Boscawen’s[254] victory, both from
public spirit and private friendship.”

[254] Admiral Boscawen defeated the French off Cape Lagos on
August 18.

Emin, after a serious illness, was setting off on his dangerous journey
through Turkey, and on September 20 wrote “To the Montagu the Great,”
ending up with, “My dearest, brightest and the wisest Queen of the
East, your very affectionate and faithful, obedient, humble servant and
soldier, Emin of Hasnasari in Persia.”

Lord Lyttelton and his son travelled from Edinburgh to Lord Hopetoun’s
place, Hopetoun House. In a letter to Mrs. Montagu of September 21,
Tom says, “There is one chimney piece done by Risback that cost £600,
my father thinks it the finest he ever saw.” Thence they proceeded to
Stirling, and paid visits to Lord Cathcart and Lord Kinnoull; thence to
Glamis Castle, which he describes “as a very old castle, but has not
a tolerable apartment, and can never be altered much for the better.”
He does not mention the ghost; probably he was not told about it. From
thence to the Duke of Athole’s at Dunkeld, where he is enraptured with
the country, and mentions the window at the Hermitage,[255] “through
which the falls of the Braan appear as a surprise to the visitor.” The
Lytteltons accompanied the duke to his other seat, Blair Athole, after
which they proceeded to Taymouth, Lord Breadalbane’s splendid place,
which enchanted Tom.

[255] Ossian’s Hall.

[Page heading: SCOTCH CHARACTERISTICS]

He now gives Mrs. Montagu a sort of character sketch of the Scottish
nobility--

“The characteristical virtues of the Scotch are courage,
temperance, prudence, economy and hospitality. This last is not
only peculiar to the nobility, but is universally practised by all
kinds of people. _Good breeding_, though it cannot be properly
styled a virtue, is of the highest _consequence_ to Society. This
the Scotch universally possess, and there is not in the North such
a character as that of an English country Squire, whose whole
life is spent in the laudable customs of hunting, drinking,
swearing and sleeping.... Scotch ladies are very handsome and very
sweet-tempered. It is their general character to be rather too free
of their favours before marriage; however that may be, they are
very chaste after that ceremony. They breed up their children in a
particular manner, for they are accustomed from their infancy to go
without shoes and stockings, nor in the coldest weather do their
parents permit them to wear a great-coat; if they are of a puny
constitution they die, if not, they are the better for it all their
life.”

He also remarks that “few of the nobility omit going to Church on a
Sunday, and what is of more importance, when they are there they do
not trifle, but seem seriously to reflect upon the duty they owe their
Maker.” This description from a boy of fifteen is remarkable, and
throws light upon English manners of that period. After several other
visits, Tom returned to his studies at Eton.

[Page heading: MR. EDMUND BURKE]

[Illustration: EDMUND BURKE.]

[Page heading: CONSULSHIP AT MADRID]

Next to this comes a letter from Mr. Burke, which, being the first, is
given _in extenso_. His handwriting is beautiful and very even, but of
a feminine cast.

“MADAM,

“I have now the honour of writing to you for the first time, and
the subject of my letter is an affair that concerns myself. I
should stand in need of many more apologies than I know how to make
both for the liberty I take and for the occasion of it, if I had
not learned by experience that I give you a pleasure when I put it
in your power to exert your good-nature. I know it is your foible
to carry this principle to an extream, and one is almost sure of
success in any application, or at least for pardon for having made
an improper one, when we know judiciously to take advantage of
a person’s weak point. I do not know anything else which could
give me confidence enough to take the Liberty I am now going to
use. The Consulship of Madrid has been vacant for several months;
I am informed that it is in the gift of Mr. Secretary Pitt, and
that it is valuable. I presume, however, that it is not an object
for a person who has any considerable pretensions, by its having
continued so long vacant, else I should never have thought of it.
My interest is weak, I have not at all the honour of being known
to Mr. Pitt; nor much to any of his close connections. For which
reason I venture to ask your advice whether I can with propriety
proceed at all in this affair, and if you think I ought to
undertake it, in what manner it would be proper for me to proceed.
If my little suit either in itself or in the persons through
whose hands it must necessarily pass, should be attended with any
circumstances that may make it disagreeable to you to interfere in
it, I shall take it as a favour equal to that I have asked, if you
will be so good to tell me you can do nothing in it. I shall think
such a declaration a great mark of your confidence. I am sensible
that there are in all people’s connections many points that may
make a person of delicacy unwilling to ask a favour in some
quarters, and yet more unwilling from the same delicacy to tell the
person for whom it is to be asked that they have such difficulties.
There are undoubtedly many circumstances of propriety in every
person’s situation, which none can feel properly but themselves.
I am not, however, if I know myself, one of those expectants who
think everything ought to be sacrificed to their Interest. It
occurred to me that a letter from you to Miss Pitt might be of
great service to me. I thought too of mentioning Mrs. Boscawen. The
Admiral has such great merit with the Ministry and the Nation, that
the want of it will be the more readily overlooked in any person
for whom he may be induced to apply. But these are crude notions
and require the understanding they are submitted to, to bring them
to form and dwelt so long upon so indifferent a subject. Your
Patience is almost equal to the rest of your virtues if you can
bear it. I dwell with far more pleasure on my acknowledgments for
what you have done for my friend[256] in so obliging and genteel a
manner. He has but just now succeeded after a world of delays, and
no small opposition. He will always retain a very grateful sense
of what you have done in his favour. Mrs. Burke[257] desires me to
present her respects to you, and her best wishes for your health.
When last I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Monsey, he told me that
the country still agreed with you, else I should most wickedly
wish this fine weather over that you might be the sooner driven
to town. This fine weather suffers nothing good to be in Town but
itself. We are much obliged to the Doctor for the satisfaction he
gave you in uniting his care with yours for Mr. Montagu’s recovery.
I congratulate you very sincerely on that event. If I could find
some agreeable circumstance in your affairs for congratulation as
often as I wish I should be the most troublesome correspondent in
England, for nobody can be with greater respect and gratitude,

“Madam,
“Your most obliged and
obedient humble servant,
“EDMUND BURKE.

“Wimple Street, Cav. Sq., Sepʳ 24, 1759.”

[256] This was Emin.

[257] Mrs. Burke’s maiden name was Nugent. She was a Roman Catholic.

[Page heading: GENERAL TOWNSHEND]

[Page heading: GENERAL WOLFE]

In a letter to Lord Lyttelton of October 23, Mrs. Montagu mentions
visiting Lady Townshend to congratulate her on the taking of Quebec,
which had happened on September 13, and in which her son, General
Townshend, had taken a prominent part. In this she says--

“The encomiums on Mr. Wolfe run very high, a great action is
performed and every one can endure to give praise to a dead
man; and there was certainly something very captivating in his
character; he took the public opinion by a _coup de main_, to which
it surrenders more willingly than to a regular siege. The people
had not time to be tired of hearing him called the brave; he is the
subject of all people’s praise, and I question whether all the Duke
of Marlborough’s conquests gained him greater honour.”

In answer to this Lord Lyttelton says--

“I wish that a French invasion from Havre de Grace, which I
have particular reasons to be more afraid of than ever, may not
correct the extravagance of our joy for our unexpected success at
Quebec, and the false security it has produced in the minds of our
ministers.... Mr. Bonus, the picture cleaner, has come down and
has restored my old family pictures to such a state of perfection
that I can hardly believe my eyes when I see them. Few gentlemen,
I assure you, have a finer collection than mine appears to be
now. If Lady Coventry ever comes here, she will cry at the sight
of some of the beauties of Charles the Second’s court, which by
Mr. Bonus’ help exceed hers as much as she does my milkmaids.
There is particularly a Duchess of Richmond whom you have read of
under the name of Mademoiselle Stuart in the ‘Memoirs of the Count
de Grammont,’ whose charms are so divine that my nephew Pitt is
absolutely falling in love with her and does nothing but gaze upon
her from morning till night. What would you living beauties give if
twenty years hence, when you begin to suffer by time, there could
be found a Mr. Bonus to restore you again, as he has done this fair
lady and others at Hagley? Pray come and see the miracles of his
art....

“Pitt sends his best compliments, and we both agree you have indeed
a great deal of a witch about you, but nothing of a Hag.”

Mrs. Montagu evidently refused to exert her influence in favour of Mr.
Burke’s desire to obtain the Madrid Consulship, as on October 6 he
writes--

“MADAM,

“For many publick as well as private reasons I am sorry that you
have not an influence on Ministers of State; but the qualities
which some persons possess are by no means those which lead to
Ministerial influence. The reasons you have been pleased to give me
for not making the application are very convincing and obliging.
Before I applied I was well aware of the difficulties that stood in
my way.”

Further down in the letter (which is not sufficiently interesting to be
given _in extenso_) he says--

“It is not very easy to have access to Mr. Pitt, especially for me,
who have so very few friends. I mentioned those methods, not that
I was satisfied of their propriety, but because I would try every
method which occurred to me.”

[Page heading: MRS. OGLE]

On December 17 Dr. Johnson writes--

“MADAM,

“Goodness so conspicuous as yours will be often solicited and
perhaps sometimes solicited by those who have little pretension to
your favour. It is now my turn to introduce a petitioner, but such
as I have reason to believe you will think worthy of your notice.
Mrs. Ogle who kept the music room in Soho Square, a woman who
struggles with great industry for the support of eight children,
hopes by a Benefit Concert to set herself free from a few debts,
which she cannot otherwise discharge. She has, I know not why, so
high an opinion of me as to believe that you will pay less regard
to her application than to mine. You know, Madam, I am sure you
know, how hard it is to deny, and therefore would not wonder at
my compliance, though I were to suppress a motive which you know
not, the vanity of being supposed to be of any importance to Mrs.
Montagu. But though I may be willing to see the world deceived for
my advantage, I am not deceived myself, for I know that Mrs. Ogle
will owe whatever favours she shall receive from the patronage
which we humbly entreat on this occasion, much more to your
compassion for honesty in distress than to the request of, Madam,

“Your most obedient
and most humble servant,
“SAM. JOHNSON.

“Gray’s Inn, Dec. 17, 1759.”

This letter is printed in Croker’s edition of Boswell’s “Life of
Johnson,” vol. ii. p. 115, published in 1880 by George Bell and Sons.
He probably received the copy, as he did a former letter, from my
grandfather, the 4th Baron Rokeby, as he would have been too young to
obtain it from Mrs. Montagu, who died in 1800, and John Wilson Croker
was not born till 1780.

[Page heading: “TRISTRAM SHANDY”]

[Page heading: THE REV. LAURENCE STERNE]

Though undated, the following letter of Laurence Sterne may be
placed here. Early in 1759 he had been writing the first two volumes
of “Tristram Shandy,” towards the end of the year he was in London
arranging for their publication with Dodsley the publisher, who
declined the venture. They were printed for and sold by John Hinxham,
bookseller in Stonegate, according to Mr. Traill’s volume on Sterne in
the “Englishmen of Letters” series. The allusions to the Dean of York,
etc., referred to a dispute between a Dr. Topham and Dr. Fountayne
(Dean of York), in which Sterne sided with the Dean when he wrote his
“History of a Good Warm Watchcoat,” “a sarcastic apologue,” as Mr.
Traill terms it. I have not time or knowledge enough to enter into the
details of this affair, but hope the letter may throw light upon it to
students of Sterne’s character.

“MADAM,

“I never was so much at a loss as I find myself at this instant
that I am going to answer the letter I have had the honour and
happiness to receive from you by Mr. Torriano; being ten times
more oppress’d with the excess of your candour and goodness than I
was before with the subject of my complaint. It was entirely owing
to the Idea I had in common with all the world of Mrs. Montagu’s
that I felt sorrow at all--or communicated what I felt to my
friend; which last step I should not have taken but from the great
reliance I had upon the excellency of your character. I wanted
mercy--but not sacrifice, and am obliged, in my turn, to beg pardon
of you, which I do from my soul, for putting you to the pain of
excusing, what in fact was more a misfortune, than a fault, and
but a necessary consequence of a train of Impressions given to my
disadvantage. The Chancellor of York, Dr. Herring, was, I suppose,
the person who interested himself in the honour of the Dean of
York, and requested that act of friendship to be done to the Dean,
by bringing about a separation betwixt the Dean and myself--the
poor gentleman has been labouring this point many years--but not
out of zeal for the Dean’s character, but to secure the next
residentiaryship to the Dean of St. Asalph, his son; he was
outwitted himself at last, and has now all the foul play to settle
with his conscience without gaining or being ever likely to gain
his purpose. I take the liberty of enclosing a letter I wrote last
month to the Dean, which will give some light into my hard measure,
and show you that I was as much a protection to the Dean of
York--as he to me. The answer to this has made me easy with regard
to my views in the Church of York, and as it has cemented anew the
Dean and myself beyond the power of any future breach, I thought
it would give you satisfaction to see how my interests stand, and
how much and how undeserved I have been abused: when you have read
it--it shall never be read more, for reasons your penetration will
see at once.

“I return you thanks for the interest you took in my wife, and
there is not an honest man, who will not do me the justice to say,
I have ever given her the character of as moral and virtuous a
woman as ever God made--what occasion’d discontent ever betwixt
us is now no more--we have settled accounts to each other’s
satisfaction and honour, and I am persuaded shall end our days
without one word of reproach or even Incivility.

“Mr. Torriano made me happy in acquainting me that I was to
dine with you on Friday; it shall ever be my care as well as my
Principle ever to behave so that you may have no cause to repent of
your goodness to me.

“I am, Madam,
“With the truest gratitude,
“Your most obliged and affᵗᵉ
“Kinsman, LAUR. STERNE.”

[Page heading: MRS. STERNE]

A fragment, also undated, from Mrs. Sterne may be placed here, but I
have failed to find any allusion to it in other letters--

“Cou’d Mrs. Montagu think this the way to make a bad husband
better, she might indeed have found a better, which I have often
urg’d, though to little purpose, namely some little mark of
kindness or regard to me as a kinswoman, I meant not such as would
have cost her money, but indeed this neither she or any one of
the Robinsons vouchsafed to do, though they have seen Mr. Sterne
frequently the last two winters, and will the next, so that surely
never poor girl who had done no one thing to merit such neglect
was ever so cast off by her Relations as I have been. I writ three
posts ago to inform Mrs. Montagu of the sorrow her indifferation
had brought upon me, and beg’d she wou’d do all that was in her
power to undo the mischief, though I can’t for my soul see which
way, and must expect to the last hour of my life to be reproach’d
by Mr. Sterne as the blaster of his fortunes. I learn from Mr.
Sterne that there was both letters and conversations pass’d
betwixt them last winter on this subject, and though I was an
utter stranger to that and every part of this affair till ten days
ago, when the Chancellor wrote his first Letter, which Mr. Sterne
communicated to me. Yet in several he wrote to me from London he
talk’d much of the honours and civilities Mrs. Montagu show’d
him, which I was well pleas’d to hear, as the contrary behaviour
must have wrought me sorrow. I only wish’d that amongst them she
had mixt some to her cousin, but that I heard not one syllable
of. I beg you will give me one gleam of comfort by answering this
directly. Mr. Sterne is on the wing for London, and we remove to
York at the same time, so that I fear thy letter will not arrive
before me. Direct to Newton. Mine and Lydia’s love,

“Thine most truly and affectionately,
“E. STERNE.”

Commenting on Mrs. Sterne’s character some years after this date, Mrs.
Montagu said she was a woman of good parts, of a temper “like the
fretful Porcupine, always darting her quills at somebody or something!”

[Page heading: LADY MEDOWS’ DEATH]

Lady Medows, Mr. Montagu’s sister, who had long been suffering from
cancer, died at the end of October. Horace Walpole says in his letter
to George Montagu that she left Lady Sandwich’s daughter £9000, after
the death of her husband, Sir Sydney Medows.

CHAPTER IV.

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

[Year: 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.”

[258] Probably the “Letter to two Great Men” of Walpole’s Memoirs of
George I. Ed. 1847. Vol. iii. p. 250.

[259] Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick.

[Page heading: 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.”

[Page heading: 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--

[260] John Lyon, 7th Earl of Strathmore.

“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.”

[261] The king had opposed the marriage of the Duke of Tavora’s son
to a sister of the Duc de Cadaval.

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.”

[262] Monsieur de Merle.

[Page heading: 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.

[263] Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield; born 1694, died
1773.

[264] His “Dialogues of the Dead,” just published.

[265] Allusion to Dialogue No. 20 on Charles XII. and Alexander the
Great.

[266] William Henry, son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton; he was created
Baron Westcote of Ballymore in 1776; died in 1808.

[Page heading: “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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[267] Laurence, Earl Ferrers, was hanged at Tyburn, on May 5, 1760.

[Page heading: 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,

“‘I’ll tell thee, Sall, where I have been,
Where I the rarest sights have seen,
Oh! sights beyond compare!’

“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.”

[268] The bride’s brother; her father was dead.

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.”

[269] Lord Bath’s brother.

[Page heading: “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?”

[270] 2nd Viscount Barrington, Secretary for War in 1755, etc.

[Page heading: 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.

[271] Now known as Clewer.

[272] He died in 1780.

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.”

[273] Catherine Pelham, daughter of Henry Pelham, brother to the 1st
Duke of Newcastle; she died July 27, 1760.

[Page heading: 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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[274] William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, born 1704, died 1793;
eminent statesman, Lord Chief Justice, etc.

[275] John Gilbert, Archbishop of York, 1757 to 1761. Torriano seems
to have been then his secretary.

[Page heading: 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.”

[276] He had married the Dowager Duchess of Bridgewater in 1745. She
was second wife to Scroop, 1st Duke of Bridgewater.

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.”

[Page heading: LADY HERVEY]

[Page heading: 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.

[277] A celebrated beauty, _née_ Mary Lepell, widow of John, Lord
Hervey, Pope’s “Sporus.”

[278] Mrs. Hancock, sister-in-law to Mrs. Vesey by Mrs. Vesey’s
first marriage.

[279] Lady Primrose, widow of 3rd Viscount Primrose.

[280] Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, born 1690, died 1764;
Lord Chancellor, etc.

[281] Mr. Millar was the architect.

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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[282] Lord Bath had become an ardent admirer of her.

[283] Thomas Sherlock, born 1678, died 1761.

[284] Macpherson’s “Fragments of Ancient Poetry,” from the Gaelic.

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....”

[Page heading: 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--

[285] Allan Ramsay, the poet, born 1686, died 1758.

“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.”

[286] Sir John Wedderburne, born 1729, died 1803.

[Page heading: LETTER TO THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND]

[Page heading: 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.

[287] Thomas Sherlock, born 1678, died 1761.

“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.”

[288] “Fragments of Ancient Poetry,” translated from the Erse or
Gaelic language, by James Macpherson.

[Page heading: BISHOP SHERLOCK’S LETTER]

[Page heading: “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.”

[Page heading: 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.

[289] Lady Hervey was a great friend of Lord Bath’s.

[Page heading: MR. BOWES’ FUNERAL]

[Page heading: 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--

“‘When dead a thousand lights attend
The wretch who, living, sav’d a candle’s end.’

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.”

[290] George Bowes, of Gibside and Streatlam Castle.

[Page heading: 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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[Page heading: 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....”

[291] Mr. Rust was travelling companion to the son of Mr. Hoare, of
Stourhead, the great banker.

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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[292] Her mother’s house near Newbury.

[Page heading: DEATH OF KING GEORGE II.]

[Page heading: 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.”

[293] George III.

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.”

[Page heading: ON THE DEATH OF GEORGE II.]

[Page heading: 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!”

[Page heading: “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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[294] Sister of Lord Chatham.

[295] Sometimes called Princess Amelia, daughter of George II.

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.”

[296] John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, born 1713, died 1792; married
Mary Wortley Montagu.

[297] Francis, 10th Earl of Huntingdon, son of the famous Lady
Huntingdon, the patroness of the “Huntingdon Connexion” branch of
the Methodists.

[Page heading: 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.”

[298] The funeral of King George took place the same day, November
11, 1760.

[Page heading: 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.”

[Page heading: 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_.’”

[299] Lord George Sackville.

[Page heading: THE KING’S FIRST SPEECH]

[Page heading: 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.”

[300] Parliament met on November 13.

[301] Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont.

[302] Sir Richard Grosvenor, afterwards 1st Earl Grosvenor.

[303] Made 1st Earl Camden, became Lord Chancellor and Lord
President of the Council.

[304] A famous Whig coffee-house.

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.”

[Page heading: 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.

[Page heading: 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.”

[305] George Townshend, 4th Viscount and Marquis, born 1723, died
1807.

[306] George Keppel, 15th Earl of Albemarle.

[307] Hans Stanley, of Paultons, Hants.

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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[Page heading: 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.”

[Page heading: 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.

[Page heading: 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....”

[Page heading: 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--

“What power can withstand Gt. Britain’s King,
Where for a Queen he has so fair a thing?
Nations fight Nations, and one fool beats t’other,
And Frederick[308] pommels his dear Polish brother.
He burns a town and then knocks down a Church,
Then Daun comes thundering with a rod of birch.
He scampers, then he rallies, whip goes Daun,
Old boy, I’ll meet you on a Torgau[309] lawn.
They meet, they fight, and then more bloody noses,
And then great victories, as our news supposes.
They both are Victors, yet both beaten well,
And who’s best man the Devil himself can’t tell.
Things are by both into confusion hurled,
Montagu speaks, and she subdues the world.”

[308] Frederick “the Great.”

[309] The battle of Torgau, fought on November 3, 1760.

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.

[Page heading: 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.

[310] Master of the Horse; author of “The History and Art of
Horsemanship.”

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.

[Page heading: 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.

[311] George Colman the elder, born 1732, died 1794; dramatist, etc.
His first acknowledged comedy, “The Jealous Wife,” first acted at
Drury Lane on the 12th of February, 1761, and dedicated to the Earl
of Bath as a “lover of the belles lettres.”

[312] Means Lord Coke, in his work upon Lyttelton. In 1757, Colman
had been entered by Lord Bath at Lincoln’s Inn and called to the
bar.

CHAPTER V.

1761--DEATH OF ADMIRAL BOSCAWEN--CORRESPONDENCE WITH LORD
BATH--CORONATION OF GEORGE III.--IN LONDON, AT SANDLEFORD, AND AT
TUNBRIDGE WELLS.

[Year: 1761]

Matthew Robinson, Mrs. Montagu’s eldest brother, who had been member
for the borough of Canterbury, did not propose to offer himself for
re-election to the new parliament, but presented the Canterbury
address to the new king at Court. He was clad in such a peculiar and
uncourtierlike garb that his sister writes to her husband at Newcastle--

“I am glad he is gone into the country, but he has made a most
astonishing appearance at court with the Canterbury address. Morris
says he hears of nothing else. I wish the Beefeaters had not let
him pass the door. Lord Harry Beauclerc on the buzz his appearance
occasioned, desired the people to be quiet, for that he had never
seen the gentleman so well dressed before.”

[Page heading: ADMIRAL BOSCAWEN ILL]

Mr. Montagu, having attended the Durham election in favour of Sir
Thomas Clavering, was preparing to go to Huntingdon for his own
re-election. In Mrs. Montagu’s next letter she says--

“I told you in my last that Admiral Boscawen was ill of a fever,
I hope he is out of danger. The noble admiral does not fight so
well with a fever as he does with the French; he will not lye in
bed, where he would soonest subdue it. Poor Mrs. Boscawen is very
anxious and unhappy about the Admiral, and indeed the loss to her
and her children would be as great as possible.”

In this letter she remarks upon having heard from Mrs. William
Robinson, her sister-in-law, from Lisbon dated November 12: “they
are all well, and going on to Madrid.” “They” were the Rev. William
Robinson, his wife, and her brother, Mr. Richardson, who, being in bad
health, was ordered abroad, and was going to Italy. On December 20,
Admiral Boscawen is reported as out of danger, but on the 27th Mrs.
Montagu writes--

“His fever still hangs upon him, his strength is quite subdued; any
sudden attack, any degree more of fever, and my dear Friend loses a
good husband, her children a fond father, their situation in life
will suffer a grievous alteration, and the publick will be deprived
of a man who serves it with zeal and ability and is always more
tender of the honour of his country than of his own person.”

The admiral had a relapse, and Mrs. Montagu, with her husband’s
permission, flew to see her friend, but, to avoid alarming the admiral,
slept at Mr. Botham’s at Albury. She, however, returned to London, as
the admiral could not bear his wife out of his sight, and begrudged any
friend taking her away from him for an instant. In this same letter she
mentions that old Mr. Wortley Montagu was very ill.

Dr. Monsey, who himself was very unwell, wrote on January 9 to tell
Mrs. Montagu he was sure the admiral would not recover; he begs her to
remember it is God’s will, and “to try and guard Mrs. Boscawen’s mind
and let money and the world be thrown into the Coal Hole.”

[Page heading: DEATH OF ADMIRAL BOSCAWEN]

The admiral expired on January 10 at 7 a.m. He died of a putrid fever,
and before death sent for his sister, Mrs. Frederick, to desire her
to take his wife and children to London the moment he was dead. Mrs.
Montagu went at once to her friend to endeavour to comfort her. Mr.
Montagu, with his characteristic kindness, begged Mrs. Boscawen to go
to Hill Street, but she remained at the Admiralty. Mrs. Montagu writes
of her on January 17--

“I thank God her mind is very calm and settled, she endeavours all
she can to bring herself to submit to this dire misfortune; I know
time must be her best comforter, so that I oppose her lamentations
rarely and gently, but when they continue long, set before her the
merit of her five children, the want they will have of her, and the
comfort she may derive from them.... Mr. Boscawen has left all his
fortune, except a purchase he made in Cornwall, to Mrs. Boscawen at
her entire disposition, the land in Cornwall he has left her only
for life, and then to his eldest son. This estate cost but £10,000,
and so is a small part of his fortune, so that the children are
entirely dependent on her. I hear old Mr. Wortley can last but a
very short time. It is supposed Lady Mary will come to England.”

[Page heading: DEATH OF OLD MR. WORTLEY MONTAGU]

Writing to her husband, still at Newcastle, at the end of January, Mrs.
Montagu says--

“I believe it will be agreeable to you to hear that Lord Sandwich
called on me this morning to desire me to write you word that
he hopes that the second week in February you will be ready for
Huntingdon; his Lordship says he will give you only two days’
trouble, one to canvass, another to be elected.... Mr. Wortley
Montagu dyed last night, the disposition of his effects not known
as yet, by next post you shall hear.”

In her next letter she says--

“I have had a full account of Mr. Wortley’s will, it runs
thus:--‘To his son £1000 per annum rentcharge,’ with an order it
should not be liable to his debts, which by-the-bye is nonsense.
The Leicestershire estate, we know to our sorrow is his. If the
present wife[313] dyes and he has legitimate issue, that issue is
to have the Wortley estate. In case he has not such issue, then
the whole of his personal and real estate is to go to Lady Bute’s
second son, he taking the noble name of Wortley. Two thousand
pounds apiece indeed to each of Lady Bute’s younger children! The
old gentleman’s wealth is reckoned immense.”

[313] Caroline Feroe, _née_ Dormer.

In another letter his estate is stated to be £800,000 in money, and
£17,000 per annum in land, mines, etc.!

Mr. Montagu writes in reply to this--

“I am extremely sorry that Mr. Wortley has made such a will as you
mention. I think he has been unworthy of being a Father. I cannot
pretend to say but his son gave him too good reason to take care
he should not waste and consume his estate, it was mine and the
opinion of others that, as the phrase is, he would have tyed him
up, but if he had done it in the literal sense he would have been
less cruel to him; this poor man was not without very good parts,
he was greatly altered; if he had done kindly by him, it was not
impossible that he might have been reclaimed and have yet made
some figure in life. What is now to become of him I don’t know.
I suppose he is not to come into Parliament again, and if so I
cannot see what he can do but leave his native country, and live in
perpetual banishment abroad. I cannot but greatly commiserate this
poor man, and reflect with horror on his cruel unrelenting parent.”

On February 15 Mr. Montagu writes from Hinchingbrooke, as he spells it--

“MY DEAREST,

“We got here on Friday night. Our canvassing the town is put off
to Tuesday. Lord Hinching[314] is here, who is much grown and
every way improved. My Lord has made considerable alterations
to the house, and by the addition of two or three rooms is very
convenient, and he says without much expense.... Calling at Barnet
j heard poor Wortley’s stock upon his farme was the day before sold
by auction, and fetched a thousand pounds, which j fear will be
devour’d by the creditors.”

[314] Viscount Hinchinbrook, afterwards 5th Earl of Sandwich; born
1742–3, died 1814.

[Page heading: “MONTAGU MINERVA!”]

Soon after this Mr. Montagu joined his wife in Hill Street. A folio
letter from James Stuart[315] (Athenian Stuart) ends the month of
February. In it he represents himself as an English horse--a hunter
dragging Greek treasures to Mrs. Montagu, whom he addresses in verse
as--

“Fairest and best! hail Montagu Minerva!
Smile on my labours. Say that my rich freightage
Amply deserved the Price and Pains it cost.
So that the Muses thy companions dear,
The Graces and the Virtues all approve
My bold Emprise:
And end at once and recompense my toil.”

[315] James Stuart, born 1713, died 1788; author of “Antiquities of
Athens.”

[Page heading: VOLTAIRE’S TANCRED]

Lord Bath writes March 4, 1761--

“MADAM,

“I am sorry that I cannot wait on you this evening, being
engaged to go to Lady Strafford’s,[316] and afterwards to Lady
Darlington’s[317] to play at cards; but on Saturday I will have
the honour to call on you and stay the evening with you, if you
are not otherwise engaged, and your feverish disorder will allow
you to come down stairs. I have sent for your amusement Voltaire’s
Tancred, which has many fine lines in it, but the speeches are too
long, as they generally are in French Plays. When I have the honour
of waiting on you I will bring with me Emin’s letter.

“I am, Madᵐᵉ,
“Yours most truly,
“B.”

[316] Lady Strafford, Anne, second daughter of the 2nd Duke of
Argyll.

[317] Lady Darlington was a cousin of Lord Bath’s; her mother was a
Pulteney.

[Page heading: MACPHERSON’S “FINGAL”]

To this Mrs. Montagu replies--

“MY LORD,

“I return the Tragedy with many thanks. The character your Lordship
gave of it kept up my hopes and my spirits through the long tedious
speeches with which it opens, and upon the whole it appears to
me to be one of the best of Voltaire’s Tragedies, as it is, what
few of his are, interesting. Pompous declamation season’d with
Moral reflections is surely far from the perfection of dramatick
writing, tho’ in a nation too much polish’d and refin’d, it is
prefer’d to the natural sallies of passion in our Shakespear,
as fops love essences better than the flowers from whence they
are extracted. I find in this Tragedy many petty larcenies from
Corneille. The character of Aménaide is in part an imitation of the
Sister of Horatius, but the Roman name supports the _fierté_ of her
character, born in any other city I should call her a termagant,
there I consider her as a She Roman, the female of the Lion. The
fair Amenaide is too much an _esprit fort_ in regard to her duties
to please me. She does not follow Virtue as by law establish’d, but
despises forms and follows sentiment, a dangerous guide. Design’d
by Nature to act but a second part, it is a woman’s duty to obey
rules, she is not to make or redress them. I must confess that
Aménaide is noble and heroick, and a proper mistress for a Knight
Errant, whose motto is ‘l’amour et l’honneur.’ I have seen many
poems form’d on the manners of Chivalry, but I never saw them
before in Drama. They admit of the bombast in honour and love,
which the French and Spanish Theater affect, and will furnish those
brilliant sentiments they so much admire, but which indeed come
better from any Muse but the pathetick Melpomène.

“I shall be very glad of the honour of your Lordship’s company on
Saturday evening. I was to have gone to the play that night, but
if my fever should have left me by that time, I have a cough which
would be louder than Mrs. Prichard.[318] I have taken the liberty
to enclose Mr. Macpherson’s proposals, and if your Lordship designs
to subscribe to the work, and have not already done so, I should
be very glad to have the honour of your name on my list. I have
read the first canto,[319] which far exceeded my expectation. The
various incidents recited take off that sameness of character which
appeared in the detached pieces, and which were their greatest
fault. The original Ersh is to be seen at Mr. Millar’s. I have also
enclosed a letter from Edinburgh which gives an account of these
poems. By this long letter I have taken some revenge upon your
Lordship for not coming here last night, and now I am in perfect
charity, mix’d with some compassion for the trouble I have given
you.

“My Lord,
“Your Lordship’s
Most obliged and obedient Hᵇˡᵉ Serᵛᵗ,
“E.M.”

[318] Celebrated actress.

[319] This must be “Fingal.”

[Page heading: LORD BATH’S LETTER TO MRS. CARTER]

At this period Mrs. Montagu and Mrs. Carter went to stay with Lord Bath
at Ives Place.[320] Dr. Monsey was to have accompanied them, but he was
suffering with acute pain in his back, for which Dr. Gataker gave him a
plaister, which he said would pull his head to his back.

[320] His country house near Maidenhead.

Lord Bath writes to Mrs. Montagu the following:--

“MADAM,

“I am going to entrust you with a most prodigious secret; and in
order to engage you the better to keep it, must desire you to be a
joynt agent with me in conducting it, and carrying it on, and yet
it is not every woman neither that can keep that very important
_secret of joynt agency_, but you, I am very sure, will be true to
me when I tell you what it is. You must know, Madam, that I have
a great desire of making a small present to Mrs. Carter, to make
her fine, when she comes to Tunbridge, and I must beg of you to
take the trouble of buying the silk or Damask, or what you please,
and in order to engage her to have no difficulty or scruples in
accepting it, I will send with it the following letter:--

“‘_To Mrs. Carter._

“‘MADAM,

“‘I have sent you a trifling present which I desire you will
accept, and that you may have no difficulty in doing it I will tell
you the plain truth. The first thing is this--I have found in my
Library some books, which tho’ they may be very good ones, can be
of no use to me, as they are in Greek,[321] and possibly they may
be of service to you. The next thing is that I have two pounds of
very bad tea, which I cannot so much as take myself, nor offer to
anybody else, unless it be to you: the last thing is this: I found
in the drawer of an old India Cabinet a piece of silk with this
wrote in a paper upon it: _Enough for a Mantua and petty coat._
Now, Madam, as I neither wear a mantua nor pettycoats, I do not
know what to do with it, unless you will accept of it, which you
may very readily do, since you may perceive that it lays you under
no manner of obligation to your, etc.

“‘BATH.’

“But after all I have said, if you think, Madam, giving you the
two enclosed Bank bills of 20 pounds each to send privately to her
without letting her know or guess from whom they come, may be of
more real use and service to her, you may do it as you think fit,
and I can venture to say of the Bank Bills just what I have done of
the Greek books, that they are of little use to me, and possibly
may be of great service to her, and more in that I hope than any
other.

“I am, Madam,
“Your most obedient and very
humble servant,
“BATH.

“Piccadilly, April 2, 1761.

“P.S.--I am afraid you will be puzzled at first to know what all
this nonsensical stuff can mean, but you may remember that when you
were at Ives Place, I mentioned something of this kind to you.”

[321] This is an affectation, as he constantly uses Greek phrases in
Greek character in his later letters.

[Page heading: GOING TO WELLWYN]

Mrs. Montagu and Mrs. Carter proposed a visit to Dr. Young at Welwyn,
and on April 9 he writes as follows--

“DEAR MADAM,

“Your letter, etc., lay me under great obligations, but the
greatest lies in the kind promise you make me that I shall kiss
the hands of two fair Pilgrims at Wellwyn. I hope they are too
much Protestants to think there is anything sacred in the shrine
you speak of. I have too many sins beside, to pretend that I am a
Saint. Was I a Saint and could work miracles I would reduce you
two ladys to the common level of your sex being jealous for the
credit of my own; which has hitherto presum’d to boast an usurp’d
superiority in the realms of genius and the letter’d world. For
you, Madam, I shall say nothing, for who can say enough? Miss
Carter has my high esteem for showing us in so masterly a manner
that Christianity has a foil in one of the brightest jewels of
Pagan Wisdom, a jewel which you will allow she has set in gold.
Might not such an honour from a fair hand, make even an Epictetus
proud without being blamed for it? Nor let Miss Carter’s amiable
modesty become blameable, by taking offence at the truth, but stand
the shock of applause, which she has brought upon herself; for tho’
it pains her, it does credit to the publick, and she should support
it patiently, as her Stoical Hero did his broken leg. I rejoice
that you are recovered; I too, Madam, have been very ill of late,
and stand in no small need of a cordial: hasten therefore your
favour, which the sooner it is, will be the kinder to, dear Madam,

“Your most obedient
and obliged, humble servant,
“E. YOUNG.”

On April 28 Lord Bath writes to Mrs. Montagu--

“MADAM,

“I would sooner have answer’d your letter, and sent you back the
enclosed Dialogue, but that I went out to take the air in my
chaize. You may depend upon my secrecy, but should it ever be
published, it will be known to be yours, because nobody can write
like it. I will endeavour to wait on you when you return from Dr.
Young’s, unless I go to Ives Place for a day or two.

“I am, with the greatest regard and truth,

“Your most humble and obedient servant,
“BATH.”

[Page heading: ANOTHER DIALOGUE OF THE DEAD]

[Page heading: BERENICE _V._ CLEOPATRA]

[Page heading: THE “WORLD WELL LOST!”]

This is the dialogue which I believe has not yet been published:--

“BERENICE AND CLEOPATRA.”

_Berenice._ The similitudes and dissimilitudes of our fortune
have long made me wish to converse with you, if the charming, the
victorious Cleopatra by her lover prefer’d to glory, to empire, to
life, will deign to hold converse with the forsaken, the abandon’d,
the discarded Berenice.

_Cleopatra._ The scorns of Octavius, the bite of the aspic, the
waters of Lethe have so subdued my female vanity, that I will own
to you I greatly suspect my greater success with my lover did not
arise so much from my charms as in my skill of management of them.

_Berenice._ I can scarce understand you. Beauty and love I thought
to be the greatest attractions. In the first you must have excell’d
me, but in the second you certainly could not: I had beauty, youth,
regal dignity, and an elevated mind. I was distinguished by many
qualities and accomplishments which were so dedicated to my Lover,
that of all I had been and all I could be, I was, I would be, only
_l’amante_ of Titus. I thought the next person in merit and dignity
to Titus himself was the woman who ador’d him, and I was more proud
of the homage I paid him, than of all I had receiv’d from lovers
or subjects. But you, Cleopatra, had loved Cesar before Anthony,
and other passions besides the gentle one of love seemed still
to have your heart. Yet for you Anthony despised the dangers of
war, the competition of a rival in Empire, the motives of military
glory, and the resentment of a Senate and people not yet taught
to submit to or flatter the passions of a master. Over these you
triumph’d; but I was sacrificed to the low murmurs of the people,
and the cautious counsels of gray-headed Statesmen. Was it that
Minerva desired to triumph over Venus in the noblest and gentlest
heart that ever was contain’d in the breast of mortal? Tell me,
Cleopatra, for 1700 years have not made me forget my love and my
grief?

_Cleopatra._ I have often with attention listen’d to your story;
and your looks, on which still remain the sadness of a lover’s
farewell, move my compassion. I wish I could have assisted you with
my counsels when Titus was meditating your departure. I would have
taught you those arts by which I enslaved the Soul of Anthony, and
brought Ambition and the Roman Eagles to lye at my feet.

_Berenice._ Your arts would have been of little service to me, I
had no occasion to counterfeit love. From Titus’s perfection one
learn’d to love in reality beyond whatever fiction pretended; no
feigned complaisance could imitate my sympathy; if he sigh’d I
wept, if he was grave I grew melancholy, if he sicken’d I dyed. My
heart echoed his praises, it beat for his glory, it rejoiced in his
fortunes, it trembled at his dangers.

_Cleopatra._ Indeed, Berenice, you talk more like a Shepherdess
than a great Queen. You might perhaps in the simplicity of pastoral
life have engaged some humble Swain, but there was too much of
nature and too little of art in your conduct, to captivate a
man used to flattery, to pleasures, to variety. I find you was
but the mirror of Titus, you gave him back his own image, while
I presented every hour a new Cleopatra to Anthony. I was gay,
voluptuous, haughty, gracious, fond and indifferent by turns; if
he frown’d on me, I smiled on Dollabella; if he grew thoughtful, I
turn’d the Banquet to a Riot. I dash’d the soberness of counsels
by the vivacity of mirth, and gilded over his disgrace by show
and magnificence; if his reason began to return, I subdued it by
fondness, or disturb’d it by jealousy. Thus did I preserve my
conquest, establish my fame, and put Anthony first in the list of

“all the mighty names by love undone.”

Had I only wept when honour and Octavia call’d him home I might
have been the burthen of a love ballad, or subject of a tender
Elegy, who now am the glory of our sex, and the great instance of
beauty’s power. Do not you wish you had used the same managements?

_Berenice._ I might have used them had I loved the same man:
Cleopatra, the coquette was a proper mistress for the Reveller
Anthony; but the god-like Titus, the delight as well as Master of
Mankind, left no part of the heart unengaged and at liberty to
dissemble. What had not yielded to his wisdom, submitted to his
witt, was subdued by his magnanimity, or won by his gentleness;
when affection does not vary, behaviour cannot change; and methinks
Anthony should have quitted you from distrust of your love, and
Titus have retain’d me from confidence in mine. After what you have
told me, I am more than ever surprised at your fate and my own.

_Cleopatra._ If you want this explain’d ask Eneas, Theseus, Jason,
and the infinite multitude of faithless lovers, but if my authority
will pass, believe me Anthony was preserved by his doubt of my
love, and Titus was lost by his confidence in yours. Do not look so
concern’d. From the era of your disaster to this very day you will
find every faithful and fond Berenice discarded, while the gay,
vain, and capricious fair one is to her Anthony a Cleopatra and the
“world well lost.”

From the following letter of Dr. Young’s to Mrs. Montagu it would
appear that she had sent this dialogue for him to read.

“DEAR MADAM,

“I hope you will allow that a curiosity is better than a good
thing. I send you a paper which may be called a curiosity, as it is
printed, but not for the publick, only for your ease in perusing it.

“I much thank you for the bright specimen of genius you was so kind
as to send me. I admire it as much as you. I hope you are recover’d
of the Indysposition you mention’d in your Last, and that you, the
cloud remov’d, will continue to shine on,

“Dear Madam,
“Your most obedient
and Humble Servᵗ,
“E. YOUNG.”

“May 26, 1761.”

[Page heading: LIKENESS TO FREDERICK THE GREAT]

Emin, from “Standgate Creek, on board of the ship _Northumberland_,”
writes on May 5 to Mrs. Montagu, addressing her thus--

“To the wisdom of Europe, sister to the great King of Prussia,
excellent Mrs. Montagu.”

Not only did he think Mrs. Montagu equal in cleverness to Frederick the
Great, but he considered her forehead and eyes like his, to the great
indignation of Lord Bath and Dr. Monsey, who pronounced it impossible
she should resemble so bloodthirsty a character.

Mrs. Carter took leave of Mrs. Montagu on May 18, and that very evening
Mrs. Montagu writes to her--

“You left London only this morning, and I am writing to you
to-night; does it not seem unreasonable? I hope not, as you must
know there are habits which it is hard to break, and alas! I was
in the habit of conversing with you every day. I feel like a
traveller, who by the chearfull light of the Sun has pleasantly
pursued his day’s journey, but seeing it below the horizon, enjoys
and would fain prolong the twilight, which tho’ it has not the
warmth and lustre of the noon-day, yet is a kind interposition
between it and the gloom of the night.”

She dates her letter from Ealing, where she had gone to the Botham’s
for the night, “imagining I should hear your tones better from the
nightingale than in the din and chatter of London.” So much did Mrs.
Carter value Mrs. Montagu’s letters that she always noted the day and
year of their reception of them, which is a great help to an editor in
compiling, as many of Mrs. Montagu’s letters are undated. In the end of
this letter she mentions that she is returning to London next day to
spend the evening with Mrs. Boscawen, who was to leave the Admiralty
that day for her new house.

“She will be too apt to reflect on the change of her condition upon
such an occasion, and the less time she has to dwell on the subject
the better. Alas, how few people are there so happily situated that
they can intrepidly look on their condition! Mr. Melmoth[322] made
me a visit this evening. I exhorted him to give his leisure hours
to the publick, and hope he will do it, as his health is now much
improved.”

[322] William Melmoth, born 1710, died 1799. English scholar;
translated the “Letters of Pliny,” etc., etc.

[Page heading: LORD BATH’S HOUSE IN PICCADILLY]

A most curious anonymous letter to Lord Bath concerning his house in
Piccadilly, dated June 5, 1761, is next in order. The handwriting is
large and bold.

“MY LORD,

“A zeal for the glory of the Nation and of the town, also of your
Lordship, induces me to recommend to you to modernize your house
in Piccadilly, at least externally, by facing it with stone or
Stucco, as brick has an ignoble appearance, and is considered by
foreigners only fit for a _Maison bourgeoise_; a Portico with a
_Rampe_,[323] as at the Hotels of Prince Eugene and Swartzenburg
at Vienna, unites Conveniency, Elegance, and Grandeur, as chairs
and coaches can go up the _Rampe_ and under the Portico, whereas
a _Perron_[324] or open steps are always inconvenient, and often
dangerous in snowy, wet, and frosty weather. I hope that your
Lordship will give a Proof and monument of your Taste, Spirit,
and Generosity in architecture, contributing thereby to the
embellishment of the Metropolis. A House of Distinction sho’d be
always _insulated_ without any Building contiguous thereto, which
insulation has many advantages.

“I have the Honour to be, with Respect,
“ETC.

“June 5, 1761.”

[323] Means a rising gradient.

[324] A flight of steps.

[Page heading: THE BRITISH MUSEUM]

The British Museum, containing the library and collection of Sir Hans
Sloane, the Cottonian and Harleian MSS., etc., had been established in
Montagu House, bought of the Earl of Halifax, and opened in 1759. The
following letter from Mr. Charles Morton, the curator, will show the
conditions under which the Museum was then shown. The Earl of Halifax,
who had owned Montagu House, was a cousin of Mr. Montagu’s.

“_To Mrs. Montagu._

“MADAM,

“I am extremely sorry not to have received the Honour of your
Message before eleven o’clock last night, being detained abroad by
Business till that Time. I flatter myself, however, that the affair
you mention will not have suffered by my absence; for on fridays
and mondays the Museum is open in the afternoon only, at the Hours
of four and six, calculated to accommodate for a few months persons
of a different class, and on Saturdays the Museum is shut up. I
have therefore secured places for Mrs. Montagu and her company for
Tuesday sennight, at one o’clock, and promise myself the Pleasure
to send the Tickets on Wednesday next, unless the Time I have
engaged should be inconvenient to you; in which latter case, I beg
the Honour of a note to-morrow some time before noon.

“Madam, I remain, with great respect,

“Your most obedient
and most humble Servant,
“CHAS. MORTON.

“Montagu House, June 7, 1761.”

[Page heading: A COUNTRY GENTLEWOMAN]

[Page heading: GESNER’S “MORT D’ABEL”]

From Sandleford, on June 23, Mrs. Montagu writes to Mrs. Carter--

“DEAR MADAM,

“I told you in my last that I was going to take a flight into
Berkshire; and here I have been ever since Friday evening,
leading a Pastoral life in the finest weather I ever saw. Tho’
the most sage Horace says we change our climate without changing
our disposition, I must be of another opinion, for by only the
difference of latitude and longitude between Hill Street and
Sandleford I am become one of the most reasonable, quiet, good,
kind of country gentlewoman that ever was. In the days when misses
employ’d their crimping and wimpling irons upon cheese-cakes and
tarts, not on flounces and furbelows, and matrons used no rouge,
but a little cochineal to give a fine colour to a dried neat’s-foot
tongue, they could not be further from the temper and qualities and
conditions of a fine lady than your humble servant at this present
writing. My health is much improved by the country air; I saunter
all day, and when Phœbus sets in the material world, he rises in
the Intellectual; then I sit down to read what he has inspired,
and I find the amusements of the day here prepare me well for my
evening’s lecture....

“The mention of poetry puts me in mind to tell you I am very well
satisfied with the share of praise you give to Cowley.[325] He had
a rich vein of thought, but being too ostentatious of it, we are
disgusted at the proud display of his treasures, as at the pomp
of a rich man, when it goes beyond the bounds modesty and a sound
judgment should set to it. I agree with you that his love verses
are insufferable. I think you and I who have never been in love,
could describe it better were we ask’d, _what is it like?_ I think
some of his verses, like Anacreon, very pretty, and the verses by
the god of love in honour of Anacreon are very pretty tho’ a little
too long. I think you was too temperate in your commendation of ‘La
Mort D’Abel.’[326] I was infinitely delighted with it as a work
of genius. On your recommendation I lent it to my Lord Lyttelton,
who sent it back with great approbation. But to be sincere in
spite of you both, some silly prejudices against the Author and
the language the poem was originally written in, a little damped
my expectations, and the beginning, in which he imitates Milton,
with all the faintness of reflected beams, make me advance very
soberly. But what a feast is the Patriarchal dinner! How sweetly
innocent their manners! Eve’s horror at the first storm, her
surprize at Adam’s fastening up the mouth of the cave, concern
at the first sight of death, which is finely supposed to seize a
dove, because in that animal only could the grief of a surviving
friend be shown, with ten thousand other circumstances in hers and
Adam’s narration, all so natural and yet so new that I must call
Mr. Gesner a Poet. A Poet should create, but he should not make
monsters. I think our Author has not the sublime, but his genius
suits his subject. What a noble piety! what a purity of heart in
Abel! and how finely is his character contrasted with Cain’s.
Abel’s are virtues of disposition and temper in a great degree,
and so are Cain’s vices, which rightly imagined in a state of life
where example and discipline could not have so much influence as
in a larger society and more mix’d life. Milton’s and Mr. Gesner’s
pastoral scenes are so ennobled and refined by Religion, that the
Shepherds and Shepherdesses who worship the wanton Pan and drunken
Silenus, make a mean figure when compared to them. I agree with
you in liking Mr. Gesner’s Pastorals extreamly, but let him still
keep to the more than golden age of the Poets. I would fain propose
to him to take the story of Joseph next. He has a fine genius for
Drama! The last three books of Abel make a noble tragedy. Did you
not drop a tear at the lamentation of Cain’s children over Abel’s
body? _Il ne se reveillera plus! Il ne se reveillera plus!_ How
simple! how natural! how affecting! What a witchcraft is there in
words! repeat, _il est mort_, it is nothing, but the simplicity
of children who had not a name for death and the words at once
signifying the circumstance is very touching.... I have taken a
house at Tunbridge from the 3rd of July. I hope my dear friend will
be ready to come to me. I shall send the post-chaize to you as soon
as I am at Tunbridge.

“I am, my dear Madam,
“With most sincere and tender affection,
“Yours,
“E. MONTAGU.”

[325] Abraham Cowley, born 1618, died 1667; poet.

[326] By Salomon Gesner, born 1730, died 1788. “Tod Abels.”

[Page heading: GOING TO TUNBRIDGE]

[Page heading: CHARACTER OF LORD BATH]

Writing from Sandleford on June 26 to Mrs. Scott, Mrs. Montagu mentions
that she is going to Tunbridge

“for 6 or 7 weeks perhaps, and the rest of the summer I shall pass
at Sandleford, except my excursion to Bath Easton. Mrs. Carter is
to come to Tunbridge to me as soon as I get thither, and, I hope,
stay with me the whole season. I was so fortunate as to enjoy her
company much longer in town this year than usual, but that only
makes me wish the more to have her again. She was not in the house
with me in town, preferring the quiet of a lodging to herself, and
indeed it would not be any delight to Mr. Montagu to have her in
the house; tho’ he says she would be a good sort of woman _if she
was not so pious_.[327] My Lord Bath told me he was to go to Bath
on Wednesday, the day we dined with him....

“I shall have Mrs. Boscawen for my neighbour at Tunbridge; she is
to be at Sir Sydney Smythe’s, only three miles from the Wells.
Lady Frances Williams is in the deepest affliction for Lady
Coningsbye.[328] To show the last respect to her, Lady Frances
staid in the house with the dead body in spite of all her friends
could do; she did not leave Lady Coningsbye’s house till last
Saturday; she has been so singularly unfortunate that, had she
not the strongest piety and the strongest reason to support her,
she must sink under the repeated strokes of affliction.... I
suppose you have read Dr. Hawkesworth’s[329] ‘Oriental Tales,’ it
is not written with so much spirit as the Oriental tales in ‘the
Adventurer’ which were by him, but there are some fine things in
it.... I have heard my Lord Bath speak with great regard for you
and Lady Bab Montagu. I believe we shall call on him on Monday,
on our way to London. We were asked to dine or lye there in our
journey down, and at our return. He has recovered his health and
spirits and is the most delightfull companion imaginable. I think
he has great good qualities, and I do not perceive the least of
that covetousness which was attributed to him while his wife lived;
he lives nobly, entertains generously, and I know many acts of
generosity he has done, and I have known them from the report and
acknowledgements of the persons obliged, for by his behaviour to
such of them as I have seen at his house you would think he had
received favours from them, which nobly enhances the benefit. He
seems to have the strongest sense of Religion, and on all occasions
to show it without the ostentation of one who wants to be praised
for piety, nor does he ever in the gayest of his conversation
forget the respect due to every moral duty. It would give one
pain to discover any faults in one who has such extraordinary
perfections and endowments, and I think his Lordship has outlived
the errors which the hustling of a mighty Spirit may in youth
have led him: as to his consort, she was, in Milton’s phrase, _a
cleaving mischief in his way to virtue_.

“I am glad Lord Bath is to be at Tunbridge. Mrs. Carter is a great
favourite, and I hope we shall have a good deal of his company.”

She winds up her letter with high commendation of Gesner’s “Death of
Abel” mentioned before.

[327] Mr. Montagu, though a most moral man and a Church attendant,
objected to religious conversation.

[328] Her sister.

[329] John Hawkesworth, LL D., essayist and novelist, died 1773.

[Page heading: BLIND MAN’S BUFF]

Dr. Young now writes--

“DEAR MADAM,

“You and I are playing blind man’s buff; we both fancy we are
catching something, and we are both mistaken. You say you have sent
me two somethings, and I have not received so much as one, and you
expected one from me, which is not yet come to your hand, which
will kiss your hand this week, and if you are at the trouble of
reading it over you will find a sufficient excuse for my delay. By
what you say in your kind letter, you give me a very keen appetite
for both the books which you promise. I have heard nothing yet of
the time of my going to Kew: when I am there I shall make it my
endeavour to enjoy as much of you as I can. I have been in very
great pain with my rheumatism for some time, but now, I bless God,
I hope the worst is over. May health and peace keep company with
that benevolence and genius which are already with you.

“I am, dear Madam,
“Your much obliged
and most obedient humble Servt.,
“E. YOUNG.

“Mrs. Hallows[330] sends her best respects.

“Wellwyn, the 2nd July, ’61.”

[330] Mrs. Hallows was Dr. Young’s lady housekeeper.

Dr. Young’s allusion to Kew was the fact that he had recently been
appointed Clerk of the Closet to the Princess Dowager of Wales.

[Page heading: THE FUTURE QUEEN]

On July 7 Mrs. Montagu started for Tunbridge Wells, and on the
following Monday sent her post-chaise to fetch Mrs. Carter, and Lord
Bath arrived from London on the same day. Mr. Montagu, who was going to
Sandleford for a while, mentions in a letter of July 11 to his wife that

“there was a great appearance of the privy council when the King
declar’d his intention of demanding the Princess of Mecklenburgh
in marriage, a request that can never be denied. The family is
ancient, and the blood high, but I suppose the Dukedom not very
rich, but this may be helped with subsidies, etc., but this is
not much to be grudged if by making our young Monarch happy it
contributes to that of the Nation, tho’ Princes are under a
disadvantage from which their subjects are free, of marrying those
whom they have never seen or convers’d with, still I hope there is
reason to be believed that this alliance, as it was of the young
Monarch’s choosing and not of the imposing of a Father, and as
money, etc., is out of the case, that care has been taken by those
employ’d to give a true information both of the perfections of the
mind and body of this Princess, and he will be happy.”

Mr. Montagu adds that the pictures at Newbold Verdon were to be sold
for Mr. Edward Wortley-Montagu’s debts, but that a list of them had
been sent to him by Mr. E. Wortley-Montagu, who desired to know which
he would accept of as a present. Mr. Montagu had marked his brother’s
portrait (Mr. James Montagu), and asks his wife to say if there were
any she wished for. Very probably the picture by Sir Peter Lely of the
first Earl of Sandwich, Mr. Montagu’s grandfather, which I possess,
came from there.

Lord Bath conveyed Mrs. Montagu and Mrs. Carter “to Mr.
Pratt’s[331] place, call’d Bayham Abbey, which I believe you once
saw with Mr. Pitt. The ruins of the Abbey are very noble. Tho’ the
Gothick buildings have not in their time of utmost perfection the
beauty of the Græcian; time seems to have a greater triumph in
the destruction of strength than of grace.... I have just now the
pleasure of hearing Pondicherry[332] is taken. I hope this will
depress the spirits of the French.... Lord Bath and Lord Lyttelton
and Mrs. Carter and Doctor Smythe and many others desire their
compliments.”

[331] Afterwards Lord Camden.

[332] Pondicherry in the East Indies was taken on January 15, 1761.

On July 20 Dr. Stillingfleet writes from Stanlake, Berks, the seat of
his friend, Richard Neville Aldworth, expressing his regret that he
cannot accept Mrs. Montagu’s kind invitation to Tunbridge Wells, as
his friend, Mr. Aldworth, had made him promise to spend a summer with
him at Stanlake. “This friend has had his constitution broken so by
the gout, that he is become a valetudinarian, and therefore I can the
less think of leaving him. He is ordered by his Physician to drink the
Sunning Hill Waters, and we are going there as soon as he is able.” Mr.
Aldworth was an ancestor of Lord Braybrooke’s.

[Page heading: MR. RICHARDSON’S DEATH]

Mr. Richardson, the author of “Clarissa Harlowe,” etc., died on July
4, to the great grief of Dr. Young, who was a bosom friend of his.
Mrs. Montagu bade Dr. Young come to Tunbridge to cheer his spirits. He
writes--

“DEAR MADAM,

“On your very kind invitation I have inquired if it is in my
power to accept of it, but I am not yet satisfied in that point.
Probabilities will not excuse me if her R. H. should go to Kew. I
should be very happy to be with you. I have so much to say to you
that at present I shall say nothing. You will hear further of me
in a little while. I beg my humble service to Mrs. Carter. May the
Waters continue to be as serviceable to you as I would be if it was
in my power.

“I am, dear Madam,
“Your obliged
and most obedient humble Servt.,
“E. YOUNG.

“July 21, 1761.”

[Page heading: “COOLING STANZAS!”]

On July 30 Dr. Young writes that he is obliged to refuse Mrs. Montagu’s
kind invitation “as he had a friend with him he could not leave,”
and as “her Royal Highness sent me word she would send for me when
she wanted me; for these reasons I deny myself the great pleasure of
waiting on you. I have ordered some Stanzas to be sent to you; they are
of a cooling nature, and may qualify your waters.”

In this year (1761) a complete collection of the doctor’s works was
printed.

[Page heading: UPON THE FUTURE QUEEN]

On the 8th of July George III. had announced his intention of
demanding in marriage the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz;
negotiations were immediately commenced. Mrs. Montagu writes from
Tunbridge Wells to her husband thus--

“We are all disappointed here at hearing our new Queen is fair; the
first report was that by a lively bloom she would cast a shade
over the white complexions of our royal family. The sight of our
brilliant Court, the salutations of our navy on her arrival, the
opulent appearance of our towns, and the greatness of our capital
city will astonish her. I hope her mind is more proportioned
to her lot in marriage than such a situation is to her present
circumstances. A noble mind will fill a great situation, and enjoy
it with pleasure and gratitude, without the swellings of insolence,
but such a change is dangerous where there is a mediocrity of sense
and virtue. I heartily wish she may be worthy of our young King,
be pleasing in the domestick scene, and great in the publick; his
good nature will impart to her a share of power and a degree of
confidence, and I wish for the publick she may never abuse the
one, nor misapply the other. There seems not to be a very good
choice of ladies about her, there is not one who is quite fit to
teach her even the forms of her publick conduct, none at all equal
to advise her private, ignorant as she must be of the behaviour
that will be expected of her, she should have had some woman of
quality of remarkable discretion, character, and politeness, whom
high birth and great situation had approached as nearly as a
subject can to the station of a Queen. Lady Bute would have been
the properest person, but I suppose she might out of delicacy
avoid putting herself about the Queen’s person, as thinking it
might look like watching her, and indeed so happy as Lady Bute
is in her circumstances, the slavery of personal attendance is
more than anything but great ambition could pay her for. I think,
however, they have chosen the ladies[333] of the bedchamber; her
Majesty must consult Lady Bute upon everything.... Lord Bath always
inquires after you and sends his compliments. Lord Lyttelton is
gone on a party of pleasure with Mr. Selwyn.[334] This place is
pretty full of I know not who. Sir Edward Dering and his family
and the Lambarts breakfasted at Tunbridge, and go back again.

“I am, my Dearest,
“With the greatest gratitude
and affection, your most faithful wife,
“E. M.”

[333] The Duchess of Ancaster and Duchess of Hamilton were sent to
escort Queen Charlotte to England.

[334] George Selwyn, celebrated wit; born 1719, died 1791.

[Page heading: A LETTER OF ADVICE]

[Page heading: LES BELLES LETTRES]

[Page heading: THE FEAR OF GOD]

Mrs. Montagu’s letter of advice to Mr. Thomas Lyttelton, who had now
left Eton and gone to Christ Church, Oxford, though undated, may be
placed here.

“Tunbridge, 28 (July?).

“DEAR SIR,

“I have often check’d my inclination to write to you while you were
at Eton for fear of calling you off from your school exercises;
but as you are now in a situation, where there is a vacancy of
business and pleasure, I do not feel the same scruples, may write
you long letters, and expect full answers to them. However, I will
be so far reasonable, that if you send me a card, to signify that
you are engaged for the week, or month, to Cicero or Livy, it will
be a more valid excuse to me than if, on inviting you to dinner,
you told me you were engaged to a beauty or a Duchess. My love
for you, my hope of you, my wishes for you, and my expectations
from you, unite in giving me a respect for your time, and a deep
concern for your employment of it. The morning of life, like the
morning of the day, should be dedicated to business. On the proper
use of that ‘sweet hour of prime’ will depend the glory of your
noon of life, and serenity of the evening. Give it, therefore, dear
Mr. Lyttelton, to the strenuous exertion and labour of the mind,
before the indolence of the meridian hour, or the unabated fervour
of the exhausted day renders you unfit for severe application.
I hope you will not (like many young men who have been reckoned
good scholars at Eton and Westminster) take leave of it there,
and fall into the study of _les belles lettres_, as we call our
modern books. I suppose from the same courtesy the weakest part
of the rational species is styled the fair sex, though it can
boast of few perfect beauties, and perhaps the utmost grace and
dignity of the human form is never found in it. As you have got a
key to the sacred shades of Parnassus, do not lose your time in
sauntering in the homely orchards or diminutive pleasure gardens
of the latter times. If the ancient inhabitants of Parnassus were
to look down from their immortal bowers on our labyrinths, whose
greatest boast is a fanciful intricacy, our narrow paths where
genius cannot take his bounding steps, and all the pert ornaments
in our parterres of wit, they would call them the modern’s folly;
a name the wise farmer often gives to some spot from whence the
Squire has banished the golden harvest, to trim it up for pleasure
with paltry ornaments and quaint conceits. I should be sorry to see
you quit Thucydides for Voltaire, Livy for Vertot, Xenophon for the
bragging Memoirs of French Marshals, and the universal Tully and
deep Tacitus for speculative politicians, modern orators, and the
dreamers in Universities or convents. I will own that in Natural
Philosophy and some of the lesser branches of learning the Moderns
excel; but it would not be right for a person of your situation
to strike into any private paths of Science. The study of History
will best fit you for active life. From history you will acquire a
knowledge of mankind, and a true judgment in politics; in moral, as
well as physical enquiries, we should have recourse to experiments.
As to the particular study of eloquence, I need hardly exhort you
to do it; for eloquence is not only the most beautiful of all the
daughters of wisdom, but has also the best dowry; and we may say
of her, as Solomon did of her Mother, riches and honours are in
her right hand. Elevation of sentiment and dignity of language
are necessary to make an orator; modern life and modern language
will hardly inspire you with either. I look upon Virtue as the
muse of Eloquence, she inspired the phillippics of the Grecian
and Roman Orator, her voice awakened Rome, slumbering in the
snares of Catiline. Public spirit will teach the art of public
speaking better than the rules of rhetoric, but above all things,
the character of the orator gives persuasion, grace, and dignity
to the Oration. Integrity of Manners gives the best testimony of
sincerity of speech. If you form your conduct upon the sacred
book which gives rules far more perfect than human wisdom could
contrive, you will be an honour to religion, a support to your
country, and a blessing to your family. It may seem strange that
I have last mentioned what should be first regarded. The Bible
alone will make a good man; human learning without the fear of God,
which is the beginning of Wisdom and the knowledge of Him, which is
understanding, will produce but a poor inconsistent character; but
duties are enlarged and multiplied by the power and circumstances
with which God has intrusted us, and in which He has placed us.
Your talents and situation will fit you for public trusts; it is a
duty in you to qualify yourself for them, to give your virtue every
strength, and then to employ it in the service of your country in
its most important interests, true religion, and good government.
I hope you will excuse my having said so much, that has the air
of advice to one who wants it so little, but young people are apt
to be prodigal of time because they think they have so many years
before them; but if life be long, the season for improvement is
short.

“I hope Mrs. Fortescue[335] liked the Indian paper; it is new
and uncommon, and I thought much prettier than any I could get
at a moderate price. I beg my respects to her and my dear Miss
Lyttelton.[336] I hear there will be a turnpike road between Oxford
and Newbury, and I hope you will frequently make use of it. I shall
leave Tunbridge on Monday. I have enjoyed perfect health here, and
the society of some of my best friends, so you may believe I have
passed the season very happily, but a happy life seems always a
short one. Mrs. Carter was so good as to give me her company in
my house. My Lord Lyttelton and my Lord Bath were often with us;
having had their characters continually before me, you will not
wonder I should think great acquirements as well as great talents
necessary to make all possible perfection. I am sure you will be
pleased to hear that my Lord Bath greatly approves and admires that
part of my Lord Lyttelton’s history which is already printed. I
believe there is not any one living whose approbation would give
Lord Lyttelton so much pleasure; talents and virtues and extensive
knowledge all in the highest degree join to make him a perfect
judge, and his great reputation gives him a decisive authority;
your Father is proud of his praise as a critick, and pleased with
it on motives of friendship, which touch his heart more nearly than
any where vanity has a part, tho’ he is an author and a poet. His
Lordship’s Muse met him in the shades of Penshurst, and with love
or flattery prompted two charming pieces, one to Mrs. Carter, and
one to my Lord Bath. Mrs. Carter, Dr. Monsey and Mr. Montagu desire
their compliments to you.

“I am, dear Sir,
“Your most sincere and affectionate friend
and obedient humble Servant,
“E. MONTAGU.”

[335] Mr. Lyttelton’s grandmother.

[336] His sister.

[Page heading: A BLOOM-COLOURED COAT]

Dr. Monsey, who had recovered from a severe illness, had joined the
party at Tunbridge, and had appeared in a new bloom-coloured coat, to
the amusement of the Montagu circle, who chaffed him upon it.

On August 22 Mr. Charles Morton wrote to Mrs. Montagu the following:--

“MADAM,

“As I conceive the following article which I have just received in
a letter from Paris, to relate to the Countess of Pomfret,[337]
I thought it might be agreeable to you to acquaint Her Ladyship
therewith.

“‘Monsʳ Bejot, who, since the death of the Abbé Sallier, has care
of the manuscripts in the King’s Library, is a most worthy and
obliging gentleman; he has promised me to have copies drawn of the
curious Cuts in the beautiful Manuscript of Froissard’s Chronicle,
for an English lady, a great friend to Oxford.’ This letter is
dated Paris, August 1st; the writer is the Butler who travels with
Mr. Howard, nephew to the Duke of Norfolk. I am much obliged to you
for the Highland Poems; and have the honour to remain, Madam,

“Your most obliged and most humble servant,
“CHARLES MORTON.

“Museum, August 22, 1761.”

[337] Lady Pomfret, widow of the 1st Earl Pomfret, had in 1755
presented the University of Oxford with a portion of the Arundel
marbles which had been purchased by her husband’s father. She was
the daughter of the second and last Baron Jeffreys, of Wem. She had
been Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Caroline.

[Illustration: DR. EDWARD YOUNG.]

[Page heading: DR. YOUNG]

Mrs. Montagu quitted Tunbridge Wells on August 30. On September 2 she
wrote to Mrs. Carter--

“I found on my table a poem on ‘Resignation’[338] by Dr. Young;
he sent me a copy for you which I will send by the Deal coach....
You will be pleased I think with what he says of Voltaire, you
know we exhorted him to attack a character whose authority is so
pernicious. In vain do Moralists attack the shadowy forms of Vice
while the living Temples of it are revered and admired.”

[338] “Resignation” was written with a view of consolation for Mrs.
Boscawen on her husband’s death.

Dr. Young writes on September 2--

“Dear MADAM,

“I was in too much haste and ordered a thing to be sent to you
(which I suppose you have received) before I had read it myself. On
reading it, I find my distance from the Press has occasioned many
errors; so that in some parts I have had the impudence to present
you with perfect nonsense.

“Page 18, Stanza 2nd, should be thus (viz.)--

“‘Earth, a cast Mistress _then_ disgusts, etc.’

“Page 34: It should be thus (viz.)--

“‘Receive the triple prize, etc.’

“Pray pardon this trouble from, dear Madam,

“Your much obliged and most obedient
“H. Servant,
“E. YOUNG.

“P.S.--I know not how to direct the enclosed, excuse my insolence
in desiring you to do it for me.”

[Page heading: LORD BATH’S PORTRAIT]

[Illustration:

_Sir J. Reynolds P.R.A. Pinx._ _Emery Walker Ph.Sc._

_William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath_]

Lord Bath was having his picture (now in the National Portrait Gallery)
painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds for Mrs. Montagu. He left London for
Ives Place, and writes--

“I shall be in town again in a few days, but not till after the
Queen’s arrival, for I have had the opportunity of making my
excuses, in the proper place, for not attending the marriage
ceremony. You will judge of the likeness of the Picture best, when
I am not present, if it could speak, it would tell you, what I can
scarce venture to do. How much I love and am, etc.”

[Page heading: THE CORONATION]

Mrs. Montagu went to London for the coronation, which took place
September 22, leaving Mr. Montagu at Sandleford. She writes to him--

“I have not got any cold or mischief from the coronation, at half
an hour after four I got into the coach, went by Fulham to Lambeth,
from whence I crossed the water in a boat which landed me at the
cofferer’s office, where I was to see the Show. I had a perfect
view of the procession to and from Westminster to the Abbey, and
I must say it rather exceeded my expectation. The ladies made a
glorious appearance; whenever there was any beauty of countenance
or shape or air they were all heightened by the dress. Lady Talbot
was a fine figure. The Queen, being very little, did not appear to
advantage. The King had all the impressions of decent satisfaction
and good-natured joy in his face; looked about him with great
complacency, and tried to make himself as visible as he could to
the mob, but the canopy carried over his Majesty’s head and the
persons who carried his train made him not so conspicuous. His
behaviour at the Abbey pleased much. It was perfectly dark before
the Procession returned from the Abbey, so we lost the second view.
I got into a barge which I hired for 7_s._ 6_d._, and got to the
coach which waited at Yorke buildings. Mr. Botham and his daughters
are just gone. Lord Lyttelton was near fainting away just as the
procession set out from the Hall, and was obliged to sit down
and take drops till a chair could be got to carry him home. Lady
Albemarle fainted presently after. Lord Grantham was ill, but able
to go thro’ the ceremony.

“The early hour the Peers and Peeresses are forced to rise at and
the weight of their robes and all the whole affair is fatiguing,
but they make a good figure, for there is something very majestick
in the dress.

“I believe my Lord Bath will come down to us about Wednesday or
perhaps Tuesday. I shall be at Sandleford on Monday.”

[Page heading: HIS MAJESTY’S BEHAVIOUR]

In another letter describing the coronation to Mrs. Carter, Mrs.
Montagu says--

“It is impossible to say enough of the behaviour of the King.
During the procession his countenance expressed a benevolent joy
in the vast concourse of people and their loud acclamations, but
with not the least air of pride or insolent exultation. In the
religious offices his Majesty behaved with the greatest reverence
and deepest attention; he pronounced with earnest solemnity his
engagements to his people, and when he was to receive the Sacrament
he pulled off his crown. How happy that in the day of the greatest
worldly pomp and adorned with the ensigns of regal power he should
remember his duty to the King of Kings. The Archbishop pleased
much in the Coronation Service. I am indeed grieved at the heart
for Mrs. Chapone:[339] all calamities are light in comparison of
the loss of what one loves, uniquement; after that dear object
is lost the glories of the golden day are for ever overcast, and
there is no tranquillity under the silent moon, the soft and quiet
pleasures are over, business may employ and diversions amuse the
mind, but the _soul’s calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy_ can
never be regained. Mrs. Chapone has great virtues, and if she has
the Martyr’s sufferings will have the martyr’s reward.”

[339] _Née_ Hester Mulso, a friend of Mr. S. Richardson’s, and
authoress of “Letters on the Improvement of the Mind”; born 1727,
died 1801.

[Page heading: LADY POMFRET]

The following letter is from Lady Pomfret:--

“Richmond Hill, October 4, 1761.

“DEAR MADAM,

“The reason you give for my being deprived of the pleasure of a
visit from you before you left London doubles the mortification.
I was in hope Tunbridge had established your Health. The return
of my fever (which has left me but a few daies) was the cause
that I made no attempt to wait on you, the week you stayed after
the Coronation, and when I did found you had been gone the day
before; but soon after, Froissart and your letter informed me that
your goodness to me subsisted, in all the bustle of magnificence
and oppression of sickness, since you found time to read my old
Chronicle with my Lord Lyttelton, to whom, and to you, I know not
how to express my gratitude enough, but I really feel a great deal.

“Your criticism delights me, as it was always my opinion that such
words as you mention ought to be changed for more intelligible
ones, and that it might be done, with propriety, without altering
the idiom, but I was so charged not to deviate from the old
language that, till I had such authorities as you and my Lord
Lyttelton, I did not dare to follow my own judgment, but shall now
with alacrity go about it, being very happy in your approbation
of the rest of the book, which I hope will be finish’d before the
meeting of the Parliament, and that I shall have the assistance of
such friends for the perfecting of it. Your partiality to me, dear
Madam, is very flattering; but let Mrs. Montagu know that if I ever
was or am proud of my discerning faculty ’tis because I see her in
her true light; of brightness with modesty, Reason without Vanity,
and a thorough knowledge of this and the next world as far as is
permitted to mortals; this I might have heard, but I glory that I
see it. I need not add what must be the consequence; that

“I am, Madam,
“Your sincere admirer: and
“Most faithful Humᵉ servᵗ,
“J. POMFRET.

“Lady Sophia Carteret and Mrs. Shelley beg
your acceptance of their best respects.”

Lady Pomfret died on December 16, 1761, at Marlborough, Wilts.

[Page heading: LORD LYTTELTON’S LETTER]

On October 5 Lord Lyttelton writes to Mrs. Montagu from Hagley a long
letter, an extract of which I give--

“Tom proposes to give a ball to some young people of the
neighbourhood on this day sennight, which will add to our number
and our jollity. He desires me to tell you that if you were within
twenty miles of our Ball-room he would invite you to it among the
handsome _young_ women; which you may notify to the cynic Monsey,
when he talks to you next of the _horrid gulph of forty_, and bid
him hold his fool’s tongue. I believe you fib about your age and
make yourself at least ten years older than you are, to be nearer
to Lord Bath. I hope you have been, and are still as happy with
him at Sandleford as your heart can desire. You will not think it
a compliment to either of you when I say, that I would be glad
to exchange all the mirth of our ball for the dullest of your
evenings; but I will add in great truth, that I would give up the
finest day in Hagley Park for a rainy one in your company. I had
a letter last post from the Dean,[340] in which he says, ‘Your
Lordship must not be surprised if you hear in a post or two of Mr.
Secretary Pitt’s and Lord Temple’s being out of their employments.
Unless something extraordinary happens, this event will certainly
take place in a few days. I have this intelligence not from common
report, but from the best authority. The reason given for their
resignation is the opposition made in the Cabinet to Mr. Pitt’s
proposal of sending a fleet immediately to intercept the Spanish
Flota daily expected home, and likewise to attack their men-of-war
wherever they are to be found, but your Lordship knows there are
other causes of discontent.’ If this should be true, I imagine Lord
Egremont[341] will be Secretary of State and Lord Hardwick[342]
Privy Seal. Mr. James Grenville will probably lay down with his
brother, which will make a vacancy at the Cofferer’s Office, one
of the few I might take if there was an inclination to bring me
into employment. I wish much to know Lord Bath’s opinion of Pitt’s
advice. To me it seems to be that of a man who (in a political
sense) _fears neither God nor man_. It certainly must be founded
upon a supposition that a war with Spain is inevitable, which I
should hope is not true; and even in that case I think England
ought to be very cautious not to appear the aggressor, which this
conduct would make her. But I had rather hear his Lordship’s
judgment upon this question than give my own.”

[340] Charles Lyttelton, Dean of Carlisle.

[341] Charles, 2nd Earl of Egremont, born 1710, died 1763.

[342] Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwick, born 1690, died 1764.

[Page heading: LORD BATH’S JOURNEY]

[Page heading: THE POSITION OF MINISTERS]

Lord Bath had left Sandleford before this letter arrived there.

On October 8 he writes--

“I can never sufficiently, Madam, acknowledge my great obligations
to you and to Mr. Montagu for the honours I received at Sandleford.
Six more agreeable days I never passed in my whole Life, but when
one has been excessively happy we always pay most severely for the
change, when forced to quit it. This made the Doctor’s[343] journey
and mine most excessively stupid and melancholy. He was seized with
such a soporifick Torpor (as if a deluge of rain was hanging in
the clouds), and yet we had not a drop the whole way, and I was so
wretchedly miserable, that all I could say to him was, ‘Doctor, I
passed over this same ground yesterday from coming from Padworth
much more cheerfully and happily than I do now, but one comfort
is that we are allowed the liberty of hoping for a renewal of the
same happiness some other time.’ When we got to Reading, where we
stopped for 10 or 12 minutes (without getting out of our chaize),
our landlady seeing we looked melancholy, endeavoured to comfort
us by telling us a piece of good news, that an express was just
arrived with an account of a complete victory obtained by the King
of Prussia over the Russians. On this we speculated and ruminated
for some time, when we met Mr. Cambridge, who assured us it was all
a lye, but that another event had occurred which would surprize us
extremely, and then told us Mr. Pitt[344] had quitted the seals;
this astonished the Doctor more than it did me, who had received
some hint of it before, but we both agreed it was a very unlucky
time for adventuring on such rough measures, so near the Meeting
of Parliament, and before anything was fixed for the obtaining of
peace, or preparing for a further prosecution of the War; in short,
we ended in wishing all Ministers at the Devil, rather than that
their disagreements and dissentions amongst one another should
bring any difficulties or dishonour on the best man in the world,
the master of all of them.... I will make this reflection upon all
human happiness, that the state and duration of it is extremely
uncertain. A minister may be a very great and think himself a very
happy man one day, and nothing at all the very next. Just so was
I, Madam, happy beyond measure a few days ago, and now forced at a
terrible distance to be assuring you that I am, with all possible
respect,

“Your Ladyship’s most humble
and most obedient Servant,
“BATH.”

[343] Dr. Monsey.

[344] Mr. Pitt resigned the Seals on October 5, 1761.

Lord Lyttelton writes on October 14 to Mrs. Montagu--

“Since my last, Mr. Pitt has brought his bark into a happy port. A
Barony for his wife and a pension of £3000 a year for three lives
are agreeable circumstances in a retreat, which delivers him from
the difficulty of carrying on the War, or making the Peace, and
keeps all his laurels green and unfading on his brow. No Minister
in this country has ever known so well the times and seasons of
going in and coming out with advantage to himself. I hope there
will be new gold boxes sent to him by the cities and Boroughs to
express their sense of his noble and _disinterested_ conduct, and
to assure him that their lives and fortunes are all at his service.
In effect, I hear that all over this country since first we had the
news of his resigning the Seals, the cry of the people in Taverns
and Alehouses is, ‘No Pitt, no King.’ However, I imagine that as
he has condescended to accept of this mark of royal favour, he will
be so good as to allow the King to remain on the throne.”

[Page heading: AN ACT OF HUMILITY]

On the same day as this last letter Dr. Monsey writes from St. James’s
to Mrs. Montagu. This paragraph is interesting--

“But here’s a Rout about giving a patriot 3_s._ 6_d._ for his past
services either for speaking to the purpose, or holding his tongue
for a very good one. Why, he might have been Governor-General of
all North America with a pension of £5000. This was confidently
said at the ‘Mount’ Coffee House as offered by the King, and was
told by Manby as coming from P----, _no joke indeed_, no more than
he has advertised seven good horses, ‘_late Mr. Pitt’s_,’ to be
sold. There’s an act of humility for you.”

Miss Mary Pitt, Mr. Pitt’s sister, writes to Mrs. Montagu--

“DEAR MADAM,

“Tho’ I suppose you know all that has happened since last Monday,
I cannot forbear talking to you upon what the King has been so
very gracious as to do for my family, in granting a pension of
three thousand pounds a year to Mr. Pitt for three lives, and as he
knows that he feels a repugnancy to having his name upon the Irish
pensions, his is upon the American Duties, and the Peerage which
his Majesty has also done him the honour to bestow upon his family
is given to Lady Hester,[345] who is made Baroness of Chatham,
by which means he is left still at liberty to be an Alderman; as
to all the rest, which you may know, I will do _comme si vous ne
saviez pas_. My Lord Egremont received the Seals of Secretary of
State yesterday, my Lord Temple gave up his seals yesterday, and I
was informed last night that my Lord Hardwick was to be Privy Seal,
which I do not doubt, tho’ it is not declared. Mr. George Grenville
is not to be Speaker, that he may have the management of the House
of Commons. My Lord Temple is very angry with him, and I believe
very much disappointed; at the same time I am assured that my Lord
Bristol writes in the strongest manner everything that can give
satisfaction to the present Ministry with regard to the intentions
of the Spanish Court, and those despatches are said to have come
Wednesday last.... I heard a few days ago from Paris that the Duc
de Nivernois[346] had got a passport for my nephew.” This was for
Mr. Tom Pitt.

[345] Lady Hester’s patent made out on December 4, 1761.

[346] French ambassador and writer.

At this period Dr. Gregory lost his wife, and was in great despair; she
was a daughter of William, Lord Forbes.

[Page heading: WIDOWS’ WEEDS]

At the end of October Mrs. Montagu set out on a short visit to her
sister, Mrs. Scott, and Lady Bab Montagu at Bath Easton. Dr. Monsey was
then at Bath, whither later Mrs. Montagu also repaired. Bath society
was enthusiastic upon the subject of Mr. Pitt and a political letter
he wrote at this period. From a letter written from Bath to Mrs.
Carter about a Mrs. Talbot, a reduced lady, who was an applicant for
a lady’s-maid situation, we learn that £10 per annum were regarded as
adequate wages for such an attendant. I subjoin a curious paragraph as
to a widow’s dress--

“The fashionable dress for a widow is a gown with two broad plaits
in the back, a short cuff which comes a little below the elbow,
round double ruffles very shallow. The dress weed is made of silk
made on purpose, undress crape, a black silk long apron, black
handkerchief, black hood, and a plain sort of night-cap. Either
a night-gown or sack may be worn with a short train, no flounce
or ornament of any sort, and if a sack scanty, and only two broad
plaits. Many women of condition who are not young, wear merely a
common crape sack, the younger sort wear the dress that denotes
their widowhood, and in a country town I should suppose the full
form must be observed. I imagine your enquiry is for poor Mrs.
Primrose.”

[Page heading: A CALL FOR POETRY]

On November 17 Mrs. Montagu writes from Hill Street to Mrs. Carter--

“MY DEAR FRIEND,

“I had this day the pleasure of receiving my dear Friend’s most
charming ode. I, alas! am like Monsr. Jourdain, I speak nothing
but prose, but I believe my heart feels with all the enthusiasm
of poetry.... My Lord Bath is vastly happy that you are to be in
town the 1st of January. My Lord Lyttelton is better, but his fever
is not quite gone.... I think you should print the verses my Lord
Lyttelton addressed to you from Penshurst. Pray write some more
odes, and let your seamstresses do your plain work, and the Clerk
transcribe your verses.”

This year an edition of Mrs. Carter’s various works was printed. When
Mrs. Carter was in London she lodged with Mrs. Norman in Clarges
Street. Mrs. Montagu having ascertained that she could have her
lodgings there from the 1st of January, adds--

“You do not deign to mention Fingal, etc., but that I could pardon,
for Poet Ossian has been dead full many a day, but there is a head
on which laurels now grow, and it bears more than Parnassian bays,
even wreaths of sacred Virtue, and this head is apt to ake, and
then my heart akes for sympathy. Poor Lady Pomfret by weary stages
reached Marlborough, from thence she yesterday morning quitted
the weary journey of human life and passed with resignation to a
better. I am angry with Dr. James for sending her in so hopeless
a state from her quiet home to the noise and inconvenience of
Inns.... I think Mr. Rivington must be bewitched. I will send the
books as you direct. I had a quadrille table last night; and last
week the Bard Macpherson and many others of the tuneful train and
we had the feast of shells and drank out of a nautilus to the
immortal memory of Ossian. The Nautilus, you know, is a perfect
sailor as the other is a poet by nature. I am a little mortified
that you had not a word to fling at Ossian. Take a modern Poet
Laureate and put out his eyes and see whether he will sing as
sweetly, tho’ he sings darkling.”

[Page heading: THE _BAS-BLEUS_ AND SHELLS]

The _bas-bleus_ from this time constantly celebrated, amongst their
_intimates_, the feast of shells mentioned in Ossian by drinking out of
them on any particular occasion.

Lord Bath’s portrait, not satisfying Mrs. Montagu, had been returned to
Mr. Reynolds for amendment, and Lord Bath writes--

“MADAM,

“I will sitt to Mr. Reynolds either Wenesday or Saturday next,
whichever is most convenient to him, and shall be glad to meet
Mr. Tristram Shandy (as you call him) or Mr. Sterne (as I must
call him) there, but where it is to be you do not mention. If the
alteration can be made in a quarter of an hour, it is scarce worth
taking the Picture out of your house, but if it is to be altered at
Mr. Reynolds’ I will be there on either of the days mentioned. Last
night I slept extreamely well and the better since I went from Mrs.
Vesey’s, happy in seeing you look so charmingly and well....

“3 a clock, Dec. 26th, 1761.”

[Page heading: LAURENCE STERNE]

Lord Bath had remarkably penetrating and brilliant eyes, and one of the
faults found with the picture was in the representation of this feature.

The next letter from Lord Bath runs--

“How cruel was it, before I got out of bed, to receive a letter
forbidding me coming to you this night! but I hope nothing will
prevent me from having that happiness to-morrow. On Wenesday about
one of the Clock, I will most certainly be at Mr. Reynolds’ to mend
my sickly looks, and to sitt down in my chair, as I should do;
instead of being half standing, which criticism of Mr. Sterne’s I
think perfectly right; as for my looks, I fear they will not be
much mended by any Physick of Mr. Reynolds. He has made an old man
look as if he was in pain, which an old man generally is, and so
far he is right.”

Mrs. Montagu took Mr. Sterne to the sittings so that he might amuse
Lord Bath with his _bons mots_! Surely this would form a pretty and
historical picture if any artist would paint it.

On the publication of her poems, to which Mrs. Carter looked forward in
a nervous frame of mind, Mrs. Montagu says--

“I am sorry for your tremors and trepidations, but they are mere
nervous disorders, and the manuscript must be printed, so my dear
Urania, away with your lamentations, sit down, revise, correct,
augment, print, and publish. I am sure you will have a pleasure in
communicating the pious, virtuous sentiments that breathe in all
your verses. My inferior Soul will feel a joy in your producing
such proofs of genius to the world.... The very best of your
poetical productions have never been published, they may indeed
have been seen by a few in manuscripts, but the finest things on
sheets are soon lost--

‘Foliis tantum ne carmina manda;
Ne turbata volent rapidis ludibria Ventis.’

Print them and bind them fast I beg you.”

Writing to her brother, William Robinson, then at Rome, at this period,
Mrs. Montagu congratulates him on the prospect of a son or daughter--

“I desire to have all the share I can in the little one, shall
be happy to be accepted as a godmother, and thank you for being
so obliging as to intend it my name if it is a girl; it will not
disgrace her if she should be a toast, for I once knew a Miss Betty
Robinson that set up for one; if it is not disagreeable to you I
should be glad if it was christened Elizabeth Montagu, which will
be also a compliment to my husband. I envy you, my dear brother,
the pleasure of seeing at your leisure the Queen of Cities,
Imperial Rome.”

[Page heading: STERNE GOES ABROAD]

[Page heading: STERNE’S “MEMORANDUMS”]

The Rev. Laurence Sterne had been in bad health for some time; he had
just completed his fifth and sixth volumes of “Tristram Shandy,” and
with permission from the Archbishop of York for absence for a year or
more, he left Coxwould for the South of France, leaving the following
paper with Mrs. Montagu, who, it will be remembered, was his cousin by
marriage.

“December 28, 1761.

“Memorandums left with Mrs. Montagu in case I should
die abroad.

“L. STERNE.

“My sermons in a trunk at my friend Mr. Hall’s, St. John’s Street,
2 Vols. to be picked out of them.--N.B. There are enough for 3
Vols.--

“My Letters in my bureau at Coxwould and a bundle in a trunk with
my sermons.--

“Note. The large piles of letters in the garrets at York, to be
sifted over, in search for some either of Wit, or Humour--or what
is better than both--of Humanity and good Nature--these will
make a couple of Volumes _more_, and as not one of ’em was ever
wrote, like Pope’s or Voiture’s, to be printed, they are more
likely to be read--if there wants ought to serve the completion
of a 3rd volume--the Political Romance I wrote, which was never
publish’d--may be added to the fag end of the volumes.... Tho’ I
have 2 reasons why I wish it may not be wanted--first an undeserved
compliment to one, whom I have since found to be a very corrupt
man--I knew him weak and ignorant--but thought him honest. The
other reason is I have hung up Dr. Topham in the romance in a
ridiculous light--which upon my soul I now doubt whether he
deserves it--so let the Romance go to sleep not by itself--for
’twil have company.

“My _Conscio ad Clinum_ in Latin which I made for Fountayne, to
preach before the University to enable him to take his Doctor’s
Degree--you will find 2 copies of it, with my sermons--

“--He got Honour by it--What got I?--Nothing in my lifetime, then
let me not (I charge you Mrs. Sterne) be robbed of it after my
death. That long pathetic letter to him of the hard measure I have
received--I charge you, to let it be printed--’Tis equitable you
should derive that good from my sufferings at least.

“I have made my will--but I leave all I have to you and my
Lydia--you will not Quarrel about it--but I advise you to sell
my estate, which will bring 1800 pds. (or more after the year),
and what you can raise from my Works--and the sale of the last
copyright of the 5th and 6th Vols. of Tristram--and the produce
of this last work, all of which I have left (except 50 pds. in
my bookseller Becket’s hands, and which Mr. Garrick will receive
and lay out in stocks for me)--all these I would advise you to
collect--together with the sale of my library, &c., &c.--and
lay it out in Government Securities--If my Lydia should marry--I
charge you,--I charge you over again (that you may remember it the
more)--That upon no Delusive prospect, or promise from any one, you
leave yourself DEPENDENT; reserve enough for your comfort--or let
her wait your Death. I leave this in the hands of our Cosin Mrs.
Montagu--not because she is our cosin--but because I am sure she
has a good heart.

“We shall meet again.

“--Memᵈᵘᵐ. Whenever I die--’tis most probable, I shall have about
£200 due to me from my living--If Lydia should dye before you;
Leave my Sister something worthy of your self--in case you do not
think it meet to purchase an annuity for your greater comfort; if
you chuse that--do it in God’s name--

“--The pictures of the Mountebank and his Macaroni--is in a Lady’s
hands, who upon seeing ’em most cavaliery declared she would never
part with them--and from an excess of civility--or rather weakness
I could not summon up severity to demand them.

“--If I dye, her Name, &c., is inclosed in a billet seal’d up and
given with this--and then you must demand them--If refused--you
have nothing to do but send a 2d. message importing--’tis not for
her Interest to keep them.

“LAURENCE STERNE.

“Memorandums left by Mr. Sterne in
Mrs. Montagu’s hands before he
left England.”

[Page heading: TWO TEARDROPS]

Two teardrops are on this paper, which indicate Sterne’s emotional
temperament.

[Illustration:

_Sir J. Reynolds, pinx._ _E. Fisher. sc._

_Laurence Sterne._

Walker & Cockerell, ph. sc.]

[Page heading: FINIS]

And now, patient reader, I, the Editress of this literary mosaic of
my great-great-aunt’s letters and those of her friends, take leave
of you. If life and eyesight are vouchsafed to me, I hope to write
the remainder of her life some day, for she lived till 1800. Each
year added to her enormous circle of clever acquaintance, British and
foreign. The letters of Garrick and his wife, later ones of Sterne and
Dr. Johnson, Mrs. Vesey, Edmund Burke, Hannah More, and a host of other
notabilities, belong to a different period. As it is, the compilation
of this work has occupied me five years. One whole winter was devoted
to arranging the correspondence in chronological order, as very few of
the letters are dated.

APPENDICES.

“LONG” SIR THOMAS ROBINSON.

Sir Thomas was the eldest of the seven sons of William Robinson, of
Rokeby, Yorkshire, by his wife, _née_ Anne Walters. He was born and
baptized at Rokeby in 1700. After his school-days he made the grand
tour, as was the fashion of the day, and then entered the Army. At the
death of his father in 1719, he succeeded to the family estates in
Yorkshire. At the General Election of 1727 he became M.P. for Morpeth.
On October 25, 1728, he was married at Belfreys, in Yorkshire, to
Elizabeth, widow of Nicholas, Lord Lechmere, and daughter of Charles
Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle. Between the years 1725 and 1730 he
rebuilt the house at Rokeby, removed the church which stood behind
the house and rebuilt it in another spot, he added a stone wall all
round the park, made a bridge over the Greta river, and erected an
obelisk to his mother’s memory in 1730. All these acts were recorded
on two stone piers at the Greta entrance of the park. He planted
many trees at Rokeby. He designed the west wing of Castle Howard for
his brother-in-law, Lord Carlisle. In 1731 he was made a Baronet
of England, with remainder to his brothers. His nickname of “Long”
Sir Thomas Robinson was given to him from his great height, and to
distinguish him from another Sir Thomas Robinson, a diplomat of note,
afterwards created Lord Grantham. These two men were the reverse
of each other in appearance, “Long” Sir Thomas being exceptionally
tall, and the other very short and fat. One of Lady Townshend’s _bon
mots_ about the two was, “Why one should be preferred to the other I
can’t imagine, there is but little difference, the one is as broad
as the other is long;” and Lord Chesterfield, on being told “Long”
Sir Thomas was reported to be “dying by inches,” said, then it
would be some time before he was dead. On April 10, 1739, his wife,
to whom he was tenderly attached, died at Bath, and was taken to
Rokeby and buried under the new church he had erected. A monument was
erected to her there. In accordance with Sir Thomas’s will, though he
himself was buried at Merton Abbey, Surrey, a cenotaph was placed in
Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, to his and his wife’s memory, with
medallion portraits of her and himself, and bearing the following
inscription:--“To perpetuate his grateful sense of the pleasure he had
in the conversation of an accomplished woman, a sincere friend, and an
agreeable companion.” They had no children, so the English baronetcy
went to his next brother, William.

Sir Thomas was greatly given to hospitality; too much so for his
income. On October 22, 1741, he gave a great ball, as Horace Walpole
relates, “to a little girl of the Duke of Richmond’s; there are already
200 invited, from miss in a bib and apron to my Lord Chancellor in bib
and mace.” The ball began at 8 p.m., and ended at 4 a.m. A few days
after Horace Walpole writes, “There were a 197 persons at Sir Thomas’s,
and yet it was so well conducted that nobody felt a crowd. He had taken
off all his doors, and so separated the old and the young that neither
were inconvenienced by the other. The ball began at 8; each man danced
one minuet with his partner, and then began country dances. There
were four-and-twenty couple, divided into twelve and twelve; each set
danced two dances, and then retired into another room, while the other
set took their two, and so alternately.... We danced till 4, then had
tea and coffee and came home.” A month later he writes about a second
ball. What with his numerous entertainments and his building at Rokeby
and elsewhere, he became impoverished, and accepted the Governorship
of Barbadoes in January, 1742, from which he was recalled in 1747.
In Barbadoes he married his second wife, a widow named Salmon, _née_
Booth. She had a considerable fortune, but on her husband’s return
to England, she refused to accompany him, preferring Barbadoes. Sir
Thomas was intimate with Lord Chesterfield, who made an epigram on him,
beginning--

“Unlike my subject will I make my song,
It shall be witty, and it shan’t be long.”

He must have been a bore, for Sir John Hawkins says of him, “Sir Thomas
Robinson was a man of the world, or rather of the town, and a great
pest to persons of high rank or in office. He was very troublesome
to the Earl of Burlington, and when in his visits to him he was told
his lordship had gone out, would desire to be admitted to look at a
clock, or play with a monkey that was kept in the hall, in hopes of
being sent for to the Earl. This he had so frequently done that all
the household were tired of him. At length it was concerted amongst
the servants that he should receive a summary answer to his usual
questions; and accordingly, at his next coming the porter, as soon as
he had opened the gate, and without waiting for what he had to say,
dismissed him with these words, ‘Sir, his lordship is gone out, the
clock stands, and the monkey is dead!’” The Duchess of Portland used to
name him to Mrs. Montagu as “your inimitable cousin!”

Appearing in Paris one day at a dinner in his hunting suit of green
and gold, and booted and spurred, a French abbé asked who he was, and,
on being told his name, and looking at his attire, inquired if he was
Robinson Crusoe. His house at Whitehall he sold to Lord Lincoln, and
he afterwards lived at Prospect Place, Chelsea. He bought the gardens
once belonging to Lord Ranelagh, and, with other shareholders, erected
the Rotunda in 1741–42. This place of amusement lasted for quite forty
years; the site of it is in the gardens of Chelsea Hospital.

At the Coronation of George III. Sir Thomas, probably from his great
height and majestic presence, was chosen to represent the mock Duke of
Normandy and Acquitaine, the kings of England still pretending to own
those provinces.

In 1769 he sold the estate of Rokeby, Yorks, to John Saurey Morritt,
the father of Sir Walter Scott’s friend. The Rokeby estate had been in
the possession of the Robinsons 160 years. On March 3, 1777, Sir Thomas
Robinson died at his house in Prospect Place, Chelsea, at the age of
seventy-six.

SANDLEFORD PRIORY, BERKS.

Sandleford Priory was founded for Austin Canons by Geoffrey, 4th Count
of Perche, and his wife, Matilda of Saxony, grand-daughter of Henry
II. of England, and niece of King Richard Cœur de Lion, and King John,
before the year 1205. The town and manor of Newbury, in Berkshire, were
bestowed on the first Count of Perche, who accompanied the Conqueror
to England. The Priory was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. John
the Baptist. A dispute arising between the Prior and Richard Beauchamp,
Bishop of Salisbury and Dean of Windsor about 1480, the religious
forsook the house, and King Edward IV. allowed the Priory to be annexed
to the Chapel of St. George’s, Windsor. In the Ayscough Register, folio
50, will be found an account of irregular and scandalous behaviour
of the Prior of that period, which probably was the cause of the
disruption. The Priory now formed a parcel of the properties of the
Dean and Canons of Windsor, and it is stated by the commissioners of
Henry VIII. (_vide_ c. 3, Henry VIII.) to be worth £10 annually.

In the reign of James I. Sandleford was declared to be a separate
parish from Newbury, and not subject to tithes which had hitherto
been paid to the Rector of Newbury. After this a commutation was made
that the lessee of the house paid £8 a year to the Rector of Newbury,
and for that sum had a pew in perpetuity. It is stated that after
this award the chapel of the Priory was allowed to fall into decay.
This chapel was separate from the house, and continued to be so till
1781–2, when Mrs. Montagu employed Wyatt to build her an octagonal
drawing-room with ante-chambers, which united the house and the chapel.
Long previous to this it was used as a bedroom or bedrooms, and in the
Montagu manuscripts Hannah More and others are described as sleeping
in the chapel bedroom when the rest of the house was occupied. At the
beginning of the eighteenth century the lessees of Sandleford were the
Pitt Rivers of Strathfieldsaye, and they were succeeded by the Montagu
family as early as 1730, or perhaps earlier. At any rate, at that
date Mr. Edward Montagu was resident there, and as his mother, _née_
Sarah Rogers, lived with him (as is shown by a letter of 1733 which I
possess), it is possible Mr. Charles Montagu had been lessee before
his son. He died in 1721. At what period the chapel was dismantled
I have no record, but it may have been done by order of the Dean
and Canons of Windsor before their letting it as a residence. Elias
Ashmole, the great antiquarian, who died in 1692, describes the chapel
as he saw it, and says, “Upon the first ascent of steps towards the
high altar lyes a freestone tomb of a knight in mail, cross-legged,
with a deep shield on his left arm, and seeming to draw his sword,
his feet resting on a dragon. Written on the west wall is a Latin
inscription.” In a paper belonging to my uncle, the last Baron Rokeby,
it is stated the inscription was “written on the north wall of the
chapel, but more anciently on the west wall.”

This was the inscription:--

“Lancea, crux, clavi
Spine, mors quam tolleravi,
Demonstrant qua vi
Miserorum Crimmia lavi
In Cruce sum prote qui peccas
Desine pro me desine, do Veniam
Die culpam, Corrige Vitam.”

As to the monument, it has been stated to have been that of the
founder, Geoffrey, Count of Perche; but as he died in France at the
siege of Acre, it is more likely to have been his son Thomas, Earl of
Perche, who died at the battle of Lincoln in 1217; or else it is quite
possible that it might be one of the Earls Marshal of Pembroke, as
at the death of Thomas, Earl de Perche, his uncle William, Bishop of
Chalons, seems to have claimed the property and sold it to William,
2nd Earl Marshal. Anyhow, not a trace of this monument is now to be
found. And it would be very interesting to ascertain if it was removed
to the Temple church, where the other Earls Marshal of Pembroke are
buried and a very similar monument exists; but this is only my surmise.
Behind the chapel, when Mrs. Montagu made her alterations in house
and garden in 1780 to 1782 with the designs of Wyatt and “Capability
Browne,” a number of skulls and bones were found, and, with the
characteristic irreverence of the eighteenth century, were buried in
what is now called “Monkey Lane,” near Newbury. The present library was
originally the refectory. In 1836 Edward, 5th Baron Rokeby, parted with
the lease of Sandleford to Mr. William Chatteris, who eventually, in
1875, enfranchised the property from the Dean and Canons of Windsor,
and, dying a widower and without issue, he left Sandleford to his
second wife’s nephew Mr. Alpin Macgregor. Mrs. Chatteris was the
second daughter of Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, the friend of Nelson.
Mrs. Myers, who has a lease of Sandleford now, will not use the chapel
as a dining-room. Hannah More, writing in 1784, whilst staying at
Sandleford, says, “There is an irregular beauty and greatness in the
new buildings, and in the cathedral aisles which open to the great
Gothic window (alluding to the east end of the chapel, still all
glass), which is exceedingly agreeable to the imagination. It is solemn
without being sad, and Gothic without being gloomy.”

DENTON HALL, NEAR NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, NORTHUMBERLAND.

The history of Denton Hall dates from the ancient Britons, and a
burial-place of theirs, with an urn and bones, was found near the
Roman wall within a quarter of a mile from the hall. It subsequently
became the site of a Roman camp, which was occupied by a garrison of
Hadrian’s soldiers, and a wall was built to keep out the Picts and
Scots. Of the Roman relics there still exist an altar dedicated to
Jupiter, and several carved stones, and in Mrs. Montagu’s time many
Roman coins and objects were discovered. In No. 7, Vol. 2, of the
_Proceedings of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne_, 1885, Mr. W. Aubone
Hoyle, then living with his brother at the hall, writes, “A little to
the south-west stood a chapel, of which a baptismal font remains and
a few sculptured stones; adjoining these was a burial-ground, which
is now included in the garden. An incised slab, with a memorial cross
and sword, was found here some years ago, as well as some large stone
coffins; and a cist of ancient British times, containing a funeral urn.
The chapel was removed shortly after the Reformation. The earliest
record we have of the occupants is of a family of the name of Denton,
in the tenth century, who continued to hold lands here and in the
neighbourhood, and also at Newcastle.”

The Widdringtons seem to have succeeded the Dentons, and Mr. Hoyle
continues, “The manor of Denton, saving these rents paid to the
Widdringtons, had been, in 1380, granted to the Prior and Convent of
Tynemouth, and was used by them as a country residence or grange.
Tradition relates that they had an underground passage leading from
Denton to their residence at Benwell Tower. The present building
was probably erected by them at the beginning of the sixteenth
century--1503 being the date of erection. The Roman wall skirting its
grounds appears to have supplied the materials, as most of the stones
are of the Roman type. The roof was formed of flags fastened with pins
made of sheep bones. These have gradually been done away with until
only a few courses remain, and the flags have been replaced by tiles.
At the Dissolution in 1539, the Widdringtons lost their interest in
Denton, and the Erringtons appear.”

The Erringtons being Jacobites, Mr. Hoyle continues, “Their loyalty to
the Stuarts cost them their estates, which now passed to a family of
Rogers, related to the Earl of Sandwich.” As has been shown in this
book, Mr. Edward Montagu, at the death of his cousin, Mr. Rogers,
became owner, to quote his wife’s words, “of Denton; Mr. Montagu has
half the estate by descent, a share by testamentary disposition,
and a part by purchase.” At the death of Mrs. Montagu in 1800, the
estate passed into the possession of her nephew and adopted son,
Matthew Montagu, afterwards 4th Baron Rokeby, who let the hall to
Mr. Richard Hoyle, and his descendants occupied the house till 1889.
Henry, 6th Baron Rokeby, dying in 1883, left the estate of Denton
to his grandson, Lord Henry Paulet, now 16th Marquis of Winchester,
who in 1886 sold the whole estate. The hall was bought by Mr. John
Henderson, of Allendale, who resold it to Mr. William Andrew I’Anson,
the present owner. The Denton ghost, called “Old Silky” by the miners,
one of the most authentic on record, is a beneficent spirit, for
she is said on various occasions to have warned the miners against
coal-damp. A song about her is still sung, I am told, in Newcastle, but
hitherto I have failed to obtain it, or to discover who “Silky” was. A
further account of her can be read in Ingram’s “Haunted Homes,” under
“Denton Hall.”

INDEX.

_The figures in italics refer to the notes only._

Abbas, Shah, ii. 99

Abel, ii. 245

Achard, Mr., tutor, afterwards secretary to Duke of Portland, i. 44,
48, 61, 90, 158, 185

Adam, ii. 245

_Adventurer, the_, ii. 25

_Advertiser, the_, ii. 123

Æsop’s _Fables_, i. 73

Aix-la-Chapelle, Peace of, i. 259

Albemarle, George Keppel, 15th Earl of, ii. 220

Albemarle, Lady, ii. 259

Aldworth, Richard Neville, ii. 250

Alexander, William, ii. 98, 108

Alexander, Mrs. W. (_née_ Monsey), ii. 98

Allen, Lady, i. 267, 268; ii. 121

Allison, A., _i. 179_

Alnwick Castle, ii. 166

Alstone, Mr. and Mrs., i. 286

Ameen, Joseph. _See_ Emin, Joseph

Amelia, Princess (daughter of George II.), ii. 152, 213, 214

Amesbury, i. 249

Amherst, General, ii. _134_, 140, 154

Amyand, Mr., i. 167; ii. 163

Ancaster, Duchess of, ii. 252

Ancaster, Peregrine, 3rd Duke of, i. 279

Ancram, Lady, i. 269

Andover, Mary, Lady (Mrs. Botham’s intimate friend and patroness),
i. 55, 95, 102, 115, 144, 194; ii. 19;
her letters to Mrs. Montagu, i. 230, 231

Andover, William, Lord, i. _55_, _144_, 224, 230

Anne, Queen, _i. 245_

Anson, Admiral Lord, i. 107, 268; ii. 89, 154;
captures a Spanish treasure-ship, i. 186;
_A Voyage round the World_, i. 259

Anson, Lady, i. 268, 269; ii. 142

Anstey, Christopher, _New Bath Guide_, i. 19, _256_; ii. 87

Anstey, Miss, i. 256, 259, 270, 275; ii. 54, 56, 70, 82;
works a panel of Mrs. Montagu’s feather screen, i. 268;
her death, ii. 87;
letters from Mrs. Montagu to, i. 19, 281; ii. 18, 77;
her letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 23

Apreece, Mr. and Mrs., i. 286

Archdeacon, Dominick, ii. 129

Archdeacon, Mrs. D. (Mary Creagh), ii. 129

Archdeacon, William, ii. 160

Arezzo, Collection of, ii. 15

Argyll, John, 2nd Duke of, and Duke of Greenwich, i. 117; ii. 38, 233

Argyll, Duchess of (Elizabeth Gunning), i. 270, 287, 288

Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of, ii. 165, 167, 195

Argyll, John, 5th Duke of, _i. 270_

Arran, Earl of, ii. 155

Arran, Elizabeth, Countess of, ii. 155

Ascham, Miss, i. 286

Ashe, Miss, called by Walpole, the “Pollard Ashe,” i. 287, 288

Askew, Dr., ii. 128, 144

Athole, Duncan de Atholia, Earl of, i. 1

Athole, John Murray, 3rd Duke of, ii. 168

Atkinson, Mr., farm bailiff at Sandleford, i. 145; ii. 147

Atterbury, Bishop, _i. 194_

Audley, Dr., i. 129

Audley, Mr. (Hinchinbroke House), i. 270

Augusta, Princess (daughter of George II.), i. 53

Austin, Sir Robert, i. 27

Austria, Emperor of, ii. 146

Aveiro, Duke of, ii. 180

Aylesbury, Lord, i. 233

Aylesford, Countess of, _i. 269_

Aylesford, Heneage, 1st Earl of, _i. 39_

Aylesford, Heneage, 2nd Earl of, i. 41, _55_, 144; ii. 19, 55

Aylmer, Lord, ii. 15

Ayscough, D.D., Rev. Francis, ii. 40, 63

Ayscough, Mrs. (_née_ Lyttelton), ii. 63

Baden, Prince of, i. 286

Bagshot Heath, ii. 74

Balchen, Admiral Sir John, ii. 92

Balmerino, Lord, _i. 231_

Baltimore, Lord, ii. 70

Banbury, Charles Knollys, 3rd Earl of, i. 22

Banks, Miss, ii. 45

Barbarini, i. 92

Bareil, M. de, _ii. 158_

Barrington, Dowager Lady, i. 269

Barrington, 2nd Viscount, ii. 185

Barrow, Rev. Dr. Isaac, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, ii. 91

Barrows, Mrs., i. 241

Barry, Spranger, Irish actor, i. 279

_Bas bleus_, the, ii. 98;
and shells, ii. 268

Basildon, Lady Fane’s grottoes at, i. 245

Bateman, Lord, ii. 95

Bateman, Richard, ii. 192

Bath, i. 36–41, 254;
“Coffee House” at, i. 255

Bath, William Pulteney, 1st Earl of, i. 102; ii. _11_, _29_, 47, 145,
155, 185, 193, 204, 219, 223, 225, 241, 246, 250, 252, 262, 267;
his wife’s death, ii. 152;
_Letter to Two Great Men_, ii. 178;
“Patriot and Philosopher,” ii. 179;
his character, ii. 189, 247;
“is fall’n desperately in love with Mrs. Montagu,” ii. 200, 201,
212;
on green tea and snuff, ii. 207;
and Mrs. Carter, ii. 235, 236;
on Mrs. Montagu’s _Dialogues of the Dead_, ii. 237;
Reynolds’ portrait of, ii. 258, 268, 269;
letters from Mrs. Montagu to, ii. 220, 222, 233;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 222, 224, 226, 233, 237, 263, 268,
269

Bath, Countess of (Anna Maria Gumley), a “screw,” ii. 29;
death of, ii. 152, 189

Bath, Thomas, 1st Marquis of, i. 17

Bath, Elizabeth, Marchioness of (_née_ Bentinck), i. 17

Bathing tubs, i. 89

Bathurst, Lady Selina, i. 139

Bathurst, Lord, i. 280

Bathurst, Mr. (Lady Selina’s son), i. 167

Bayham Abbey, ii. 250

Beau, description of a, i. 133

Beauchamp, Richard, Bishop of Salisbury, i. 151

Beauclerc, Lord Aubrey, i. 80

Beauclerc, Lord Harry, ii. 228

Beauclerk, Lord and Lady Vere, i. 269

Beaufort, Cardinal, i. 247

Beaufort, 4th Duke of, i. 39, 41, 42

Beaulieu, i. 248

Beaulieu, Edward Hussey, Earl of, i. 201

_Beauties of England and Wales_, _ii. 14_

Beckford, Alderman, ii. 127, 128, 153, 220

Bede, Venerable, _History of the British Nation_, etc., ii. 138

Bedford, Duchess of, i. 63, 269

Bedford, John, 4th Duke of, i. _63_, 216, 218, 219, 248, 266

Bejot, Monsieur, ii. 257

Bell and Sons, George, publishers, ii. 174

Bellardine, Harry, Governor of Hurst Castle, i. 248

Bellegarde, Marquis de, i. 286

Belle-Isle, Duc de, French Marshal, i. 197

Benson, Dr., Bishop of Gloucester, i. 234

Bentinck, Lord Edward Charles, i. 178

Bentinck, Lady Elizabeth (afterwards Marchioness of Bath), i. 17, 150

Bentinck, Lady Frances, i. 69, 100, 146

Bentinck, Lord George, i. 46, 48, 98

Bentinck, Lady Harriet, ii. 197

Bentinck, Lady Isabella, i. 23

Bentinck, Lady Margaret, i. 33

Bentley, Richard, ii. 23, 24

Berenger, Moses, i. 284

Berenger, R., “the little Marquis,” _History and Art of Horsemanship_,
i. 283, 284; ii. 1, 24, 226

Berenice, ii. 238

Berkeley, Elizabeth (afterwards Lady Noel Somerset), i. 42

Berkeley, George, Bishop of Cloyne, ii. 15, 25, 26

Berkeley, Mrs. George, ii. 25, 26

Berkeley, James Symes, of Stoke Gifford, _i. 42_

Berkeley, Lord, i. 167; ii. 95

Berkshire, 4th Earl of, i. 39, 41, 224

Berkshire, Lady (Catherine Grahame), i. 39, 66, 224

Berkshire, Tom, 6th Earl of, i. 39

Bernard, Dr., head master of Eton, ii. 150

Best, Mrs. T. (Caroline Scott), i. 86, 103, 121, 184

Best, Thomas, i. 121, 184; ii. 50

Bevern, Prince of, ii. 114

Bevis Mount, Lord Peterbrough’s place, i. 22

Bewdley, Sir George, ii. 78

_Biographia Britannica_, ii. 18

Birch, Rev. Thomas, _Life of Archbishop Tillotson_, ii. 20

Blackett, Sir Walter, ii. 138, 201, 202

Bland, _Military Discipline_, ii. 100

Blooding, panacea of, i. 33, 83, 98, 100, 135

“Blue Stockings,” first allusion to, ii. 98

Boccacio, _Decameron_, i. 61

Boileau, Nicholas Despreaux, i. 154, 282

Bolingbroke, Lady, ii. 116

Bolingbroke, Lord, i. 89, 280;
_Dissertations upon Partys_, i. 176;
_The Idea of a Patriot King_, i. 265;
_An Occasional Letter_, i. 281;
“that foul fiend,” ii. 61;
his “pompous Rhetorical and inconsistent Declamations,” ii. 63;
his marriage, ii. 116;
Voltaire _v._, ii. 163

Bolton, Duchess of (Lavinia Fenton, _alias_ “Polly Peacham”), ii. 37

Bolton, 3rd Duke of, i. 248; ii. 37

Bonus, Mr., picture cleaner, ii. 172

Boscawen, Admiral the Hon. Edward, i. 277; ii. 81, 83, 84, 123, 151,
155, 156, 170, 190;
captures two French men-of-war, ii. 74;
blockades Louisburg, ii. 76;
the Martinico ships, ii. 90;
recalled, ii. 111, 116;
Mrs. Montagu’s opinion of, ii. 118;
receives a fresh commission, ii. 118, 121;
“had saved North America,” ii. 134;
captures Louisburg, ii. 140;
the thanks of Parliament, ii. 154;
defeats French off Cape Lagos, ii. 167;
his illness and death, ii. 228–230;
his letter to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 95

Boscawen, Mrs. Edward (Frances Glanville), i. 277; ii. 69, 74, 81, 83,
170, 196, 217, 229, 230, 242, 247, 257;
Mrs. Montagu’s letters to, i. 278; ii. 20, 40, 52, 70, 88, 118;
her letter to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 133

Boswell’s _Life of Johnson_, ii. 161, 174

Boteler, Sir Philip, ii. 227

Botham, Rev. John, i. 55, 265, 278; ii. 43, 46, 73, 88, 129, 241, 259;
a legacy, i. 84;
his “sermonical lullaby,” i. 96;
rector of Yoxall, Staff., and chaplain to Lord Aylesford, i. 144;
wishes for a King’s chaplaincy, i. 180, 181;
the Albury living, i. 230;
“such a Johnny,” i. 231;
farming his glebe, i. 235;
his appeal for further preferment, ii. 2, 3;
inoculation of his children, ii. 17;
his wife’s last illness and death, ii. 26–29;
a school-girls’ bill, ii. 48;
in the North with Edward Montagu, ii. 51, 53;
appointed to Ealing, ii. 54, 55, 58;
his letter to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 76

Botham, Mrs. John (Lydia Lumley), i. 3, 55, 95, 143, 152, 194, 224,
265, 268; ii. 4;
an opportune legacy, i. 84;
her character, i. 180, 181;
excessive melancholy of, i. 230;
Mrs. Montagu’s advice, i. 233;
curious remedies, i. 235;
her state of health, ii. 11, 19, 20;
her five children inoculated, ii. 16;
illness and death of, ii. 26–29;
her letters to Mrs. Montagu, i. 84, 228

Botham, Miss, ii. 29, 33, 37, 46, 185

Botham, Miss Kitty, ii. 47, 48

Botham, Miss Molly, ii. 47, 48

Bower, Archibald (_History of the Popes_), ii. 11, 15, 16, 19, 35, 42,
70, 72, 90, 178;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 50, 81, 94

Bower, Mrs. A., ii. 16

Bowes, George, of Streatlam Castle, and Gibside, Durham, i. 234, 290;
ii. 36, 138, 201, 203

Braganza, Catherine, wife of Charles II., i. 111

Braganza, Duke of, ii. 158

Branson, Mr., i. 241

Braybrooke, Lord, ii. 250

Breadalbane, Lord, ii. 165, 168

Bridport, 1st Viscount, _i. 278_; ii. 135

Bridport, Maria, Viscountess (_née_ West), i. 278; ii. 10, 22, 30, 32,
40, 57, 86, 87, 92, 115, 135

Bridgewater, Dowager Duchess of, ii. 95, 191

Bridgewater, Scroop, 1st Duke of, ii. 191

Bristol, George William, 2nd Earl of, i. 234; ii. 266

Bristol, Viscount, _i. 265_

British Museum, established at Montagu House, Harleian MSS. in, i. 8,
83; ii. 243;
Cottonian MSS. in, ii. 243

Broadley’s Bath Collection, _i. 255_

Brocchi, Carlo (Farinelli), i. 16

Brockman, James, of Beachborough, i. 15, 76, 108, 225,; ii. 13, 15

Brockman, Miss, i. 147

Bromedge, Mr., i. 294

Brown, Lieut.-General George, i. 222; ii. 142

Brown, D.D., John, _Essays on Lord Shaftesbury’s Characteristics_,
ii. 18

Bruce, Lord, i. 250

“Brusher” Mills, the New Forest snake-catcher, ii. 151

Brydges, Sir Egerton, _Biography_, ii. 93

Brydges, Mary, Lady (_née_ Robinson), _ii. 93_

Buchan, Earl of, i. 33

Buckley, Mr., i. 125, 202, 234

Bullstrode, i. 13, 49

Bunyan, John, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, i. 73

Burgess, Dr., ii. 77

Burgundy, Louis, Duke of, the Dauphin, i. 291, 295

Burlington, Richard, 3rd Earl of, i. 191; ii. 145

Burlington, Lady, ii. 145, 146

Burke, Edmund, ii. _100_, 101, 108, 144;
_Vindication of Natural Society_, ii. 156;
_Sublime and Beautiful_, ii. 159;
Lady Bab Montagu and, ii. 163;
and the Madrid Consulship, ii. 170;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 169, 173

Burke, Mrs. (_née_ Nugent), ii. 171

Burnet, Bishop, _History of the Reformation_, i. 101

Bute, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of, i. 237; ii. 84, 97, 214, 226

Bute, Mary, Countess of (_née_ Montagu), i. 51, 237, 244; ii. 44, 197,
_214_, 217, 252

Butler, Lady Emily, ii. 155

Byng, Admiral John, ii. 88–93, 97, 102

Cadaval, Duc de, _ii. 180_

Cadogan, Lord, ii. 83

Caffarelli, Gaetano Majoriano, Italian singer, i. 27

Cain, ii. 245

Caledon, 1st Earl of, ii. 98, 108

Calves Pluck water, ii. 163

Cambridge, Richard Owen, ii. 263;
_Scribbleriad_, ii. 54, 61

Cambridge University, i. 256, 257

Camden, Pratt, 1st Earl, Lord Chancellor, and Lord President of the
Council, ii. 217

Camelford, Thomas Pitt, Junr., 1st Lord, ii. 150, 153

Campbell, General, i. 267

Campion, Pitt’s _chef_, ii. 64

Canning, Elizabeth, ii. 53

Canterbury Cathedral, ii. 12, 14

Canterbury Races, i. 9, 17, 31

Cape Lagos, naval battle of, ii. 167

Cardigan, Lady, i. 267; ii. 217, 218

Carlisle, Bishop of, ii. 96

Carlisle, 7th Earl of, i. 104, 209

Carlisle, surrendered to the rebels, i. 218

Carnarvon, 6th Earl of, ii. 38

Caroline, Princess, wife of Christian VII. of Denmark, i. 256

Caroline, Queen, _i. 255_

Carr, Lord Robert, i. 167

Carte, Rev. Thomas, _History_, i. 194

Carter, Edward, agent to Lord Aylesbury, afterwards to Edward Montagu,
i. 130, 139, 233, 234, 289, 291; ii. 51

Carter, Hannah, _Memoirs of her Life_, ii. 189

Carter, Miss, ii. 29, 33, 37, 38, 46, 51, 52

Carter, Mr., “Old Trusty,” Edward Montagu’s steward and agent, i. 107,
118, 141–143, 147, 166, 182, 184;
death of, i. 233

Carter, Mrs. (wife of above), ii. 51

Carter, Mrs. Elizabeth, the Greek scholar, i. 111; ii. 235, 236, 246,
248, 250, 251, 255, 256;
an edition of her _Works_, ii. 267;
Mrs. Montagu’s letters to, ii. 130, 138, 159, 160, 162, 163, 182,
183, 207, 241, 244, 257, 259, 266, 267, 269

Carter, D.D., Rev. Nicholas, ii. 130.

Carter, William, i. 130, 182

Carteret, John, 2nd Baron (afterwards Earl Granville), Secretary of
State, i. 102, 135, 179, 187

Carteret, Lady (Lady Sophie Fermor), i. 179, 181

Carteret, Lady Sophia, ii. 261

Carthagena, naval battle of, i. 79

Cathcart, 9th Lord, ii. 101, 168

Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II., i. 111

Cattle disease, i. 196, 219

Cesar, Miss, i. 46

Chalmers, Anne (Mrs. James Gregory), i. 179

Chalmers, Dr., of Ripon, i. 213

Chandler, Mrs., i. 265

Chandos, 1st Duke of (the “Princely Duke”), i. 273

Chandos, 2nd Duke of, ii. 22, 23

Chandos, 3rd Duke of, ii. 22

Chandos, Duchess of (_née_ Wells), formerly Mrs. Jefferies, ii. 22, 23

Chandos, Dowager Duchess of (_née_ Van Hatten), i. 281;
her letters to Mrs. Montagu, i. 273, 274

Chapone, Mrs. (Hester Mulso), _Letters on the Improvement of the
Mind_, ii. 260

Charlemagne, i. 59

Charles II., i. _80_, 111; ii. 211

Charles XII. of Sweden, ii. 181

Charlotte, Queen, ii. 249, 251, 252, 258–260

Charters, Mr., ii. 166

Chateauneuf, Mdlle. de, i. 44

Chatham, Baroness of. _See_ Pitt, Lady Hester

Chatham, William Pitt, 1st Earl of. _See_ Pitt, William

Chaucer, Geoffrey, i. 155, 199

Chaucer, Thomas (son of above), i. 198

Cheer, Mr., ii. 42

Chenevix, Mrs., her famous _bric-à-brac_ shop, i. 187, 294

Chesilden, Dr. William, i. 196; ii. 4

Chester, Mrs., ii. 42

Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of (_Letters_), i. 198,
238, 253, 262; ii. 87, 113, 121, 181, 207, 223

Chinese rooms, Mrs. Montagu’s, ii. 8

Christian VII. of Denmark, _i. 256_

Chudleigh, Miss, maid-of-honour (afterwards Duchess of Kingston),
i. 265

Churchill, Arabella, _i. 156_

Churchill, General Charles, commonly called “old Charles Churchill,”
i. 156

Cibber, Colley (_Apology for his Life_), i. 91, 200, 242

Cibber, Theophilus, i. 242

Cibber, Mrs. Theophilus (Anna Maria Arne), i. 242;
as “Cordelia,” i. 253

Cistercians, _i. 248_

Clare, Earls of, _i. 204_

Clarendon, Lord, _History of the Rebellion_, ii. 157

Clarke, D.D., Samuel, i. 61; ii. 62

Clarke, William, of Merivale Abbey, i. 2

Clarke, Dr. W., i. 88, 91

Clavering, Sir James, i. 144, 147

Clavering, Sir Thomas, i. 290; ii. 37, 138, 139, 202, 203, 223, 228

Clayton, Robert, Bishop of Killala, afterwards of Clogher, i. 85; ii.
21, 124, _163_

Clayton, Mrs. Robert, i. 25, 85, 93, 129; ii. 27, 163, 164

Clayton, Sir William, _ii. 163_

Clegg, Jenny, i. 139

Cleopatra, ii. 238

Cleveland, Mr., ii. 134

Clifton, Sir Robert, ii. 135

Cobham, Viscount, ii. 60

Cobham, Sir Richard Temple, Baron, i. 102, _189_

Cobham, Lady, ii. 1, _41_, 71, 77, 86

Cock, Sarah (Mrs. John Rogers), i. 111

Cocoa Tree Coffee-house, ii. 217

Coke, Lady Mary, ii. 38

Coke, Lord, ii. 38;
_on Lyttelton_, ii. 226

“Cold Loaf” = a picnic, ii. 12

Colebrooke, Sir James, ii. 202

Collet, Sir James, i. 2

Collingwood, Mrs., i. 48

Colman, the Elder, George, _The Jealous Wife_, ii. 226.

Colman, Mrs. George (_née_ Gumley), ii. 227

Concini, Signor, ii. 83

Coningsby, Earl of, ii. _115_, 140, 141

Coningsby, Lady, ii. 247

Conway, Lord, _i. 265_

Conway, Miss Jenny, i. 265

Conway, General Seymour Henry, ii. 114, 120, 156, 158

Cooke, Lord, i. 235

Cookham, ii. 41, 42

Coombe Bank, i. 267

Cope, Sir John, Commander-in-Chief for Scotland, i. 206, 210–212

Cornbury, Lord, i. 101, 104

Cornwallis, Colonel, ii. 114

Cotes, Dr., i. _95_, 158, 160, 162; ii. 34

Cotes, Mrs., i. 95, 98, 163–166, 181, 224, 271

Cottington, Mr. and Mrs., i. 52

Cottonian MSS., ii. 243

Courayer, LL.D., Peter Francis le (“the little Père”), i. 124, 126,
154, 201, 232, 241–244, 247, 294;
his letter to Mrs. Montagu, i. 250

Courtenay, Lady, ii. 19

Courtenay, Sir William, afterwards 1st Viscount, ii. 19

Courteney, Mr., i. 240

Coventry, Countess of (Maria Gunning), i. 270, 287, 288; ii. 172

Coventry, Earl of, _i. 270_; ii. 18

Cowley, Abraham, ii. 244

Cowper, Henrietta, Countess, i. 19; ii. 158

Cowper, William, 2nd Earl, i. 19

Cowper, William, poet, i. 268

Cradock, William, i. 151

Cranwell, Mrs., i. 240

Cranworth, 1st Baron, ii. 98

Craon, Princesse de, i. 284

Crashaw, Richard, poet, i. 283

Crawford, John, 17th Earl of, and 7th Earl of Lindsey, i. 41

Creagh, Mary (Mrs. D. Archdeacon), ii. 129

Creed, Mr., ii. 50

Crewe, Lady (Dorothy Forster), i. 188

Crewe of Stene, Nathaniel, Baron, i. 188, 190; ii. 155

Croker, John Wilson, _Boswell’s Life of Johnson_, ii. 146, 147

Croker, Mr., Mrs. Donnellan’s Six Clerk and Manager, ii. 21

Cromartie, Lord, i. 232

Cromwell, Oliver, i. 270

Crosby, Mrs., Mrs. Montagu’s housekeeper, ii. 146, 147

Cruickshank, Dr., ii. 99

Culham Court, Berks., ii. 105

Cullen, John, Edward Montagu’s gamekeeper, i. 226

Cumberland, Duke of, acts as proxy at Princess Mary’s wedding, i. 53;
Septimus Robinson, Governor to, i. 177;
his tutor, Dr. Robert Smith, i. 200;
Edward Montagu’s wish, i. 208;
and young Wortley Montagu, i. 238;
dangerously ill, ii. 18;
praises Admiral Boscawen, ii. 74;
and Emin, ii. 101, 108;
battle of Hastenbeck, ii. 108–111;
“is gone to plant cabbages,” ii. 119;
passes through the city, ii. 120;
the gout, ii. 152;
will of George II., ii. 212–214

Cumberland, Richard, dramatist, ii. 2

Cunningham, Captain, ii. 76

Cunninghame, Mr., ii. 134

Curll, Edmund, i. 38

Cutler, Sir John, ii. 202

Dale, Dorothy, afterwards Lady Forbes, i. 179

D’Alembert, ii. 159

Dalrymple, Sir Hugh, ii. 166

D’Ancre, the Marechalle, ii. 83

D’Arcy, Sir Conyers, afterwards 6th Earl of Holdernesse, i. 209, 293;
ii. 6

Darlington, Lady, ii. 233

Darlington, Lord, ii. 202

Dartmouth, William, 2nd Earl of, _i. 231_

Dashwood, Miss, the “Delia” of the poet Hammond, i. 25, 42, 46, 103;
ii. 91;
her letter to Mrs. Montagu, i. 116

Dashwood, Sir Francis, afterwards Lord Le Despencer, leader of the
Hell Fire Club, i. 27, 218

D’Aubigné, Mdlle. (Madame de Maintenon), _i. 38_

Davall, Sir Thomas, i. 273

Davis, Governor, ii. 101

Davis, Sir Paul, i. 194

Dayrell, Mr. and Mrs., of Lillingston Dayrell, ii. 57

Delany, Mrs. (formerly Mrs. Pendarves), _Memoirs_, i. 56, 57, 153,
156, 170, 173, 187, 235, 293, 294; ii. 2, 5, 6, 21, 45, 123,
124. _See also_ Pendarves, Mrs.

Delany, Rev. Dr. Patrick, Dean of Down, Bishop of Clogher, i. 153,
170, 173, 187, 293, 294; ii. 6, 21, 85, 208;
the protracted lawsuit, ii. 123, 124

Delaval, Anne (afterwards Mrs. John Rogers), i. 145

Delaval, Sir John, ii. 129

Delawarr, Lord, i. 248

Delves, Lady, i. 17

Demoivre, Abraham, _The Doctrine of Chances_, etc., ii. 67

Demosthenes, ii. 41

Denton Hall, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, i. 289; ii. 137, 281, 282

Dering, Sir Edward, ii. 33, 252

Desbouveries, Miss, ii. 227

des Champs, Monsieur, ii. 186

Dettemere, Mrs., Mrs. Montagu’s lady’s-maid, i. 183, 258, 259, 272

Dettingen, battle of, i. 154, 157

“Devil’s Drops,” i. 252

Devonshire, Duke of, i. 266; ii. 95

Devonshire, Georgiana, Duchess of, ii. 148

D’Ewes, John, i. 47

D’Ewes, Mrs. John (_née_ Granville), “Pip,” i. 47, 56, 57, 101; ii. 5,
80

_Dialogues of the Dead_, by Lord Lyttelton and Mrs. Montagu, ii. 181,
182, 200, 204, 207, 238

Dickens, Sergeant, i. 82

_Dictionary of National Biography_, i. 7, 97; ii. 15, 146, 189

Dido, Queen of Tyre, i. 64

Dingley, Colonel, ii. 100

Ditched, Mrs., ii. 84

Doddington, Mr., ii. 84

Dodsley, ii. 174

Dohna, Count, ii. 142

Domville, Mr., ii. 189

Donnellan, Rev. Christopher, i. 25, 41; ii. 2

Donnellan, Nehemiah, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Ireland, i. 41

Donnellan, Mrs. Nehemiah (Martha Usher), i. 41

Donnellan, “Mrs.” Anne, i. 25, 40, 41, 43, 52, 84, 124, 146, 197, 232,
240, 242–244, 252; ii. 2, 5, 13, 21, 26, 51, 183;
her letters to Mrs. Montagu, i. 44, 53, 58, 70, 80, 85, 92, 93, 99,
102, 112, 128, 139, 161, 168, 169, 186, 187, 194, 253, 259, 293;
ii. 6, 21, 45, 80, 116, 120, 147;
Mrs. Montagu’s letters to, i. 56, 68, 72, 86, 91, 92, 96, 139, 159,
160, 184, 248, 254–256, 281

Donnington Castle, i. 155, 198

Dorchester, Countess of (Lady Caroline Sackville), i. 53

Dorset, Duke of, _i. 53_; ii. 2

Dorset, Duchess of (Elizabeth Colyear), i. 53

Douglas, Colonel, i. 80

D’Oyley, Christopher, ii. 186

D’Oyley, Mrs. (Sarah Stanley), ii. 186

Drake, Councillor Robert, of Cambridge, i. 4

Drake, Elizabeth (Mrs. Matthew Robinson), i. 4

Drake, Mrs. Robert (Sarah Morris), afterwards Mrs. Conyers Middleton,
i. 4, 5, 119

Drakes of Ashe, Devon, the, i. 4

Dufour, Mdlle., Mrs. Montagu’s French maid, i. 89, 91

Dummer, Mr., of Cranbury Park, i. 247

Duncan, Dr., ii. 77

Duncan, king of Scotland, i. 1

Dupplin, Viscount (afterwards 8th Earl of Kinnoull), i. 8, 9, 44, 46,
54; ii. 84, 85, 168, 179

Duncannon, Lord, ii. 95

Durham, Bishop of, ii. 202

Earle, Mr., i. 93, 94

Earthquake, in London (1750), i. 274; in Lisbon (1755), ii. 85

_Eau de luce_, Mrs. Montagu’s accident with, ii. 144

Edgecumbe, Mr., ii. 95

Edinburgh, taken by the rebels in 1745, i. 205, 209

Edward IV., i. 151

Edwin, Mrs., ii. 42, 45

Egerton, Lady A. Sophia, ii. 122

Egerton, Bishop, i. 180

Eglinton, 10th Earl of, i. 269, 286

Egmont, 1st Earl, i. 41, 186; ii. 84

Egremont, Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of, ii. 217, 262;
Secretary of State, ii. 265

Elibank, Lord and Lady, i. 269

Elixir of vitriol, a remedy for asthma, i. 235

Elliot, Mr., ii. 95

Elliot, Mrs., i. 164

Ellis, Lady (afterwards Lady Dashwood), i. 218

Ellis, Mrs. W. (_née_ Stanley), ii. 186

Ellis, Welbore (afterwards Lord Mendip), ii. 186

Elstob, Mrs., i. 133

Emerson, William, _Doctrine of Fluxions_, etc., i. 111, 234

Emin, or Ameen, Joseph, an Armenian, ii. 99, 115, 122, 165, 214;
his flight to England, ii. 100;
Duke of Northumberland’s kindness to, ii. 101, 102;
his patron Burke, ii. 101, 108, 144, 156, 171;
his letter from Limburg to “all his ladies and Patronesses,”
ii. 108–110;
Mrs. Montagu’s description of, and tribute to, ii. 114, 117, 154;
his application to Pitt, ii. 125, 126;
joins Frederick the Great’s army, ii. 127, 132, 141;
his description of Frederick the Great, ii. 143, 154;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu--“My Queen of Sheba,” ii. 102, 114;
“To the most learned and most magnanimous Mrs. Montagu,” ii. 162;
“To the Montagu the Great,” ii. 168;
“To the wisdom of Europe,” ii. 241

England _v._ France in Canada--the Mordaunt Expedition, ii. 116–122;
the attempted invasion at St. Malo, ii. 126, 127

Erringtons, the, i. 144

Essex, Lady (_née_ Williams), ii. 162

Euston, George, Earl of, i. 17

Eve, ii. 245

Evelyn, Mrs. Ann, ii. 75

Evelyn, Sir John, _Sylva, or Discourse on Forest Trees_, etc., ii. 75,
145

Falconer, R. N., Lieutenant, i. 287

Falmouth, 1st Viscount, i. 277

Fane, Charles, 1st Viscount, i. _87_, 245

Fane, Miss Charlotte, ii. 11, 102

Fane, Miss Dorothy, afterwards Lady Sandwich, _q.v._

Fane, Mary Stanhope, Viscountess, once Maid-of-Honour to Queen Anne,
her grottoes, i. 245

Farinelli (Carlo Brocchi), i. 16

Fauconberg, Viscount, i. 209

Fausan, M. and Mdlle., i. 48

Fawcet, Mr., i. 140

Feather screen, Mrs. Montagu’s, i. 268

Fenelon, i. 296

Fenton, Lavinia, _alias_ Polly Peacham, Duchess of Bolton, _ii. 37_

Ferdinand of Brunswick, Prince, ii. 165, 178

Ferdinand VII. of Spain, ii. 158

Ferguson’s lectures on philosophy, ii. 191

Fermor, Lady Sophie (afterwards Lady Carteret), i. 179

Ferrers, Robert, 1st Earl, _i. 39_

Ferrers, Laurence, 2nd Earl, executed at Tyburn, ii. 183

Feversham, Lord and Lady, ii. 187

Fielding, Captain and Mrs., i. 21

Fielding, Lady Betty, i. 21

Fielding, Henry (novelist), i. _21_, 164

Finch, Lady Anne, i. 39

Finch, Lady Charlotte, i. 21

Fisher, Kitty, ii. 160

Fitz-Adam, Adam, ii. 25

FitzGilbert, Richard, _i. 204_

Fitzroy, Lord Augustus, i. 17

Fitzwalter, Lord and Lady, i. 269

Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl, i. 209, 294

Fitzwilliam, Lady, i. 294; ii. 185

Foley, Thomas, 1st Baron, i. 83

Foley, Thomas, 2nd Baron, i. 46

Fontenoy, battle of, i. 237

Foote, the actor, ii. 19

Forbes, Lady (Dorothy Dale), i. 179; ii. 226

Forbes, William, 13th Baron, i. 179; ii. 266

Forster, Sir James William, i. 188

Forster, Dr., ii. 99

Forster, Elizabeth (Mrs. Charles Montagu), i. 111, 188

Fortescue, Chichester, _ii. 80_

Fortescue, Mrs. C. (_née_ Wesley), ii. 80, 255

Fortescue, Hugh, of Filleigh, Devon, i. 110

Fountayne, Dr., Dean of York, ii. 174

Fox, M.P. for York City, i. 209

Fox, Captain, ship _Walpole_, ii. 100

Fox, Lady Caroline, ii. 97

Fox, Henry, 1st Lord Holland, ii. 81, 84, 94, 103, 104

Fox, Stephen, i. 105.

France _v._ England, in Canada--the Mordaunt Expedition, ii. 116–122;
the attempted invasion at St. Malo, ii. 126, 127

Franking letters, use and abuse of, i. 12

Frederick, Mrs., ii. 230

Frederick the Great, ii. 120, 123, 124, 132, 154, 178, 225, 241;
his defeat at Kollin, Bohemia, ii. 114;
battle of Rosbach, ii. 122;
Zorndorff, ii. 141, 142;
Emin’s description of, ii. 143

Frederick William, of Prussia, _i. 206_

Frederick V., King of Denmark, ii. 111

Freind, Rev. Dr. Robert, Head Master of Westminster School, i. 30, 52,
192

Freind, Mrs. Robert (Jane de l’Angle), i. 52

Freind, Rev. William, Dean of Canterbury, i. 30, 52, 57, 114, 122,
148, 174, 180, 189, 233, 235; ii. 45;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, i. 66, 79, 191, 192;
Mrs. Montagu’s letters to, i. 49, 52, 58, 63, 75, 78, 81, 106, 109,
131, 177, 179, 190, 219, 225, 248, 269

Freind, Mrs. William (Grace Robinson), i. 30, 40, 66, 143, 148, 174,
177, 189, 191, 233;
Mrs. Montagu’s letters to, i. 49, 122, 227

French invasion, fears of, i. 174–177, 219–226; ii. 82, 114

Freydag, Major, ii. 109

Froissart, _Chronicles_, ii. 257, 260

Fromantel, Mr., i. 145

Furnese, Lady Anne, i. 39

Gage, Miss, i. 39

Galissionière, Admiral, ii. 90

Garrick, David, i. _92_, 131, 284; ii. 11, 16, 19, 83, 129, 130, 145;
as “Richard III.,” i. 107;
“King Lear,” i. _177_, 253;
“Hotspur,” i. 237;
“Romeo,” i. 279;
“Antony,” ii. 158;
his marriage, ii. 146

Garrick, Mrs. (Eva Marie Veilchen, “La Violette”), ii. 129, 130, 145

Gascoigne, Sir Crispe, Lord Mayor of London, ii. 53

Gataker, Dr., ii. 235

Gay, John, poet, _Court of Death_, i. 39, 249

_Gazette_, ii. 122

Gee, Mr., i. 261

George, Prince, ii. 20

George I., i. 206

George II., i. 53, 94, _236_, 256; ii. 83, 87;
his offer to Prince of Wales, i. 99;
creates Walpole Earl of Oxford, i. 100;
the Hanoverian troops, i. 135;
pardons Lord Cromartie, i. 232;
makes Lyttelton a peer, ii. 96;
a fainting fit, ii. 116;
his reception of Mordaunt and Hawke, ii. 120;
Frederick the Great’s report of Zorndorff victory, ii. 142;
his illness, ii. 152;
and Pitt, ii. 153;
death, ii. 208–215

George III., i. 177, 280; ii. _160_, 209–215;
and G. L. Scott, ii. 44, 97;
Lady Yarmouth, ii. 126;
his first speech as king, ii. 217;
Bishop Sherlock’s letter to, ii. 221;
Lord Chesterfield’s _bon mot_, ii. 223;
his engagement and marriage, ii. 249, 251, 252;
coronation, ii. 259

Germain, Lady Betty, i. 269

Germain, Lord George, ii. 165

Geronsterre waters, the, i. 53

Gesner, S., _La Mort d’Abel_, ii. 245, 248

Gilbert, Dr., Archbishop of York, ii. 73, 190, 270

Giles, i. 193

Glamis Castle, ii. 168

Glanville, William Evelyn, _ii. 118_

Gloucester, Duke of, i. 177

Gloucester, Richard de Clare, Earl of, i. 204

Gloucester, Duchess of, _ii. 160_

Goddard, Harry, i. 73, 74

Godolphin, 1st Earl of, i. 285; ii. 98, 102, 132, 142, 147

Godolphin, Lady Harriet, afterwards Duchess of Leeds, i. 51

Godolphin, Lady Mary, i. 51

Godolphin, Mr., ii. 209

Godschall, Miss, i. 265

“Golden Ball,” the, i. 15, 16

Goodwin, John, i. 216

Goring, Viscount, i. 286

Grafton, 2nd Duke of, _i. 17_

Graham, Sir R., i. 209

Grahame, J., of Levens, Westmoreland, _i. 39_

Grammont, _Memoirs of the Count de_, ii. 172

Granby, Marchioness of, _i. 269_

Granby, Lord, i. 269

Grantham, Lord (“Short” Sir Thomas Robinson), i. 259, 260, 277, 288;
ii. 259

Granville, Anne (Mrs. Pendarves’ sister), afterwards Mrs. D’Ewes,
i. 47, 56, 57

Granville, Anne (Mrs. Pendarves’ aunt), afterwards Lady Stanley,
_i. 46_

Granville, Countess, i. 195

Granville, Grace, Viscountess Carteret and Countess, i. 153

Granville, Mr. (brother of Mrs. Pendarves), i. 46, 236

Granville, Mrs., i. 254

Granville, Miss, i. 196

Granville, John, _i. 18_

Granville, John, Earl, i. 102, 104

Granville, the Misses (Lord Lansdowne’s daughters), i. 50

Gray, Thomas, the poet, i. 119, _253_, 285; ii. 23, 24, _87_, 183

Green, Dr., musician, i. 60

Green, Dr. John, Bishop of Lincoln, i. 249, 275

Greenland, Augustine, of Belle Vue, Kent, ii. 92

Greenland, John, of Lovelace, Kent, ii. 92

Greenwich, Caroline, Baroness, i. 117

Gregory, James, inventor of the Gregorian telescope, i. 179

Gregory, Dr. James, i. 179

Gregory, Dr. John, Professor of Philosophy at Edinburgh, i. 179;
ii. 73, 76, 204, 211, 226, 266

Gregory, Mrs. John (Elizabeth Forbes), i. 179; ii. 226

Gregory, Lady Mary, ii. 155

Grenville, Mr., i. 54

Grenville, George, ii. 90, 95, 266

Grenville, James, ii. 95, 262

Grenville, Jenny, ii. 90

Grenville, Richard, ii. 60, 83, 84

Greville, Mr., i. 167

Greville, Mrs., i. 39

Grey, Mr., i. 147

Grey, Rev. Dr. Zachary, i. 62

Griffith, Edward Montagu’s valet, i. 136, 140, 143

Grinfield, Miss, dresser to George III.’s daughters, i. 256; ii. 84

Grosmith, Rev. ----, i. 85

Grosvenor, Mrs., i. 255

Grosvenor, Sir Richard, 1st Earl, ii. 156, 217

Grounen, Mr., i. 261

Guerin, Mr., i. 183

Guilford, Earl of, _i. 63_

Gunning, John, of Castle Coote, Roscommon, i. 270

Gunning, Elizabeth, (1) Duchess of Hamilton, (2) Duchess of Argyll,
i. 270, 287, 288; _ii. 252_

Gunning, Kitty, Mrs. Robert Travers, i. 270

Gunning, Maria, Countess of Coventry, i. 270; ii. 18

Habeas Corpus Bill, ii. 127

Hagley House, Lyttelton’s place, ii. 192

Halifax, Anne, Lady (_née_ Dunk), i. 201

Halifax, William, 2nd Marquis of, _i. 18_; ii. 145

Halifax, 2nd Earl of, i. 256

Halifax, George, 5th Earl of, i. 104, 201; ii. 243

Hallows, Mrs., Dr. Young’s lady housekeeper, ii. 248

Hamilton, Mr., of Painshill, ii. 75

Hamilton, Duke of, i. 167, _270_

Hamilton, Duchess of (Elizabeth Gunning), i. 270, 287, 288; _ii. 252_

Hamilton, Lord William, _ii. 2_

Hammond, the poet, i. 25

Hampton, the Temple at, ii. 130

Hampton Court, Herefordshire, ii. 140, 141

Handcock, Mrs., ii. 192

Handcock, William, i. 267

Handel, George Frederick, i. 27, 44, 70, 92, 131, 274

Hanmer, Lady Catherine, i. 162

Hanoverian troops, employed by England, i. 130, 134, 135, 137, 173

Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of, _i. 7_; ii. 127, 192, 212, 262,
266

Hardwicke, 2nd Earl of, ii. 127, 217

Hare, Dr. Francis, Bishop of St. Asaph and Chichester, i. 50

Hare, Mrs., i. 50

Harleian MSS. in British Museum, i. 8, 83; ii. 243

Harley, Lady Margaret Cavendish. _See_ Portland, Duchess of

Harley, Mr., i. 104

Harrington, William Stanhope, 1st Earl of, i. 48;
President of the Council, i. 102;
Viceroy of Ireland, i. 260

Harris, _History of Kent_, i. 7; ii. 14

Hart, Governor, ii. 106

Hartley, Dr. David, i. 254

Hastenbeck, battle of, ii. 56, 58

Hawke, Sir Edward, Lord, ii. 89, 116, 118, 120, 121

Hawkesworth, LL.D., John, _Oriental Tales_, ii. 247

Hawkins, Mr., Surgeon, i. 158, 161–163

Hay, Lord Charles, ii. 116

Hay, Rev. Robert, Archbishop of York, i. 47

Hay, Hon. John, i. 51, 61

Hay, Dr., ii. 95

Hayton Farm, i. 66

Hearne, Thomas, _Diary_, _i. 12_; ii. 62

Heberden, Dr. William, i. 276

Hell Fire Club, i. 218

Helvetius, Claud Adrien, _De l’Esprit_, ii. 157

Henrietta Maria, Queen, i. 264

Henry II., i. 150

Henry IV. of France, _ii. 18_

Henry VIII., i. 151

Heraclius II., King of Georgia and Armenia, ii. 101

Heraclius, Prince, ii. 162

Herbert, Mr., of Highclere Castle, Hants, i. 253; ii. 38, 39, 103

Hereford, 6th Viscount, _i. 39_

Hereford, Lady, i. 39

Herring, Thomas, Archbishop of York, i. 209; ii. 53, 54, 61, 63, 71,
78

Herring, Mrs., ii. 54, 65

Herring, Dr., Chancellor of York, ii. 175

Hertford, Lord, i. 249

Hervey, John, Lord, Pope’s “Sporus,” _ii. 192_

Hervey, Rev. James, _The Complaint, or Thoughts on Time, Death, and
Friendship_, i. 136, 138

Hervey, George William, Baron, 2nd Earl of Bristol, i. 234

Hervey, Lady (Mary Lepell), ii. 178, 192, 201, 207

Hesse Cassel, Frederick, Landgrave of, i. 53

Hessians, the, i. 221

Hickman, Dr., i. 149

“Hide” Park, i. 178, 179

Hillsborough, Lady, ii. 123

Hillsborough, Lord, ii. 96

Hinchinbroke, Lady (Elizabeth Popham), ii. 113

Hinchinbroke, Lord, afterwards 5th Earl of Sandwich, i. 138, 271;
ii. 113, 232

Hinchinbroke House, Huntingdon, i. 269

Hinxham, John, bookseller, ii. 174

Hoadley, Dr. Benjamin, _The Suspicious Husband_, i. 236

Hoare, Mr., of Stourhead, the banker, _ii. 206_

Hoare, artist, his portrait of Mrs. Montagu, i. 265, 272

Hoare, Mrs., i. 58

Hog, Mrs., French maid to the Duchess of Portland’s children, i. 89

Holborn, Admiral, ii. 74

Holdernesse, Sir Conyers D’Arcy, 6th Earl of, i. 209, 293; ii. 6

Holland, Henry Fox, 1st Baron, i. 105; ii. 94, 95

Holler’s _Prints_, i. 103

Hollins, Dr., i. 162

Honeywood, General, i. 161

Hood, Admiral, 1st Viscount Bridport, ii. 135

Hooke, Nathaniel, _Duchess of Marlborough’s Memoirs_, i. _103_, 296;
_History of Rome_, i. 296; ii. 12, 18, 19, 41, 45, 46, 70, 90;
his letter to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 65

Hopetoun, Lord, ii. 168

Hoquart, Admiral, ii. 74

Horace, i. 71, 72

Hounslow Heath, i. 164

Howard, Brigadier-General, i. 39

Howard, Thomas, 6th Earl of Berkshire and 14th Earl of Suffolk, i. 39,
46

Howard, Lord, i. 46

Howe, Captain, ii. 126

Hoyle, _on Chess_, i. 252

Hume, David (_History of James I. and Charles I._), i. 263; ii. 68,
91, 195, 211

Hume, Mrs. David, ii. 91

Hunter, Mr., ii. 95

Huntingdon, Francis, 10th Earl of, ii. 214

Huntingdon, Lady, the patroness of the “Huntingdon Connexion” branch
of the Methodists, _ii. 214_

Huntingdon Ball, i. 270

Hurst Castle, i. 248

Hussey, Edward, Earl of Beaulieu, i. 201, 267

Hutchinson, Rev. John, _Moseis Principia_, ii. 87

Inoculation for smallpox, i. 149, 158

Inquisition, Court of, ii. 15

Inverary Castle, ii. 165

Iremonger, Mrs., of Wherwell, Hants, ii. 23

Irvine, Henry, Viscount, _i. 95_

Irwin, Lord, i. 164

Isaacson, Anthony, ii. 129, _151_

Isaacson, Mrs. Anthony (Mary Creagh), ii. 129, _151_

Isaacson, Montagu, ii. 151, 156

Isted, Mrs., Mrs. Montagu’s housekeeper, i. 292; ii. 8, 12, 19, 20,
56

Ives, Mrs., ii. 57

James II., _i. 156_

Jarret, a jobmaster, ii. 188

Jefferies, Judge, _i. 49_

Jefferies, an ostler at the Pelican Inn, Newbury, ii. 23

Jeffreys, Baron, of Wem, _ii. 257_

Jenny, Sarah Robinson’s maid, i. 164

Jersey, Earl of, _i. 50_

Jew Bill, ii. 33

Johnson, B., _Volpone_, ii. 24

Johnson, Dr. Samuel, ii. 54, 105, 162;
_Lives of the Poets_, i. 283;
on R. Berenger, i. 284;
_Rasselas_, ii. 161;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 161, 173

Jones, a merchant of Huntingdon, ii. 39

Jones, Inigo, _i. 242_; ii. 35

Jordain, Monsieur, ii. 37, 267

Joseph I., of Portugal, ii. 158;
attempted assassination of, ii. 180

“Jumps,” a kind of stays, i. 259

Jurin, Dr. James, i. 268

Keith, Field-Marshal, i. 95

Kennet, Mrs., wet-nurse, i. 148, 183

Kent, Duchess of (Sophia Bentinck), i. 60, 61

Kent, Henry (Grey), 1st Duke of, _i. 60_

Kilmarnock, Earl of, i. 231

King’s lectures, ii. 38, 40

Kingston, Duchess of (_née_ Chudleigh), i. 265

Kingston, Evelyn, Duke of, i. _50_, 237

Kingston, 2nd Duke of, i. 149, 190, 286;

Kinnoull, 7th Earl of, i. _47_, _61_

Kinnoull, 8th Earl of, i. 8, 9, 44, 46, 54; ii. 84, 85, 168, 179

Kirke, Gilbert, _i. 55_

Kirke, Thomas, i. 55

Kloster-Seven, Convention of, ii. 111

Knatchbull, Sir Wyndham, 5th Baronet, i. 20, 32, 36

Knatchbull, Lady, i. 21

Knatchbull, Miss, i. 21

Knight, Mrs. (_née_ Robinson), i. 179, 256

Knollys, Lady Katherine, afterwards Law, i. 22, 33

Kollin (Bohemia), Frederick the Great defeated at the battle of,
ii. 114

Kouli Khan, ii. 99

Lambard, Mr., ii. 188

Lambarts, the, ii. 253

Lane, Mrs., of Bramham Park, Yorkshire, ii. 37

Langham, Lady, ii. 43, 55, 57, 87

Langham, Lord John, i. 278

l’Angle, Rev. Samuel de, Prebendary of Westminster, i. 52

Lansdowne, Lady (Lady Mary Villiers), i. 50

Lansdowne, George Granville, Lord, i. 50

La Perche, Count Thomas de, i. 151

La Perche, Geoffry, 4th Earl de, i. 150

Laud, Archbishop, _i. 75_

Law, John, the financier, i. 22, 23

Law, Lady Katherine (_née_ Knollys), i. 22, 23

Layton, Francis, of Rawdon, _i. 55_

Layton, Lucy, afterwards Mrs. Leonard Robinson, i. 2, 4

Le Despencer, Sir Francis Dashwood, Lord, i. 218

Lee, Colonel, i. 60

Lee, Dr., i. 93, 94

Lee, Lady Betty (afterwards Young), i. 59, 60

Leeds, Duchess of (Lady Harriet Godolphin), i. 51

Leeds, Thomas, 4th Duke of, i. 51; ii. 209

Legge, Hon. Harry, Lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the
Exchequer, i. 231; ii. 49, 83, 84, 95, 153

Leicester, Lord, ii. 165

Leigh Place, Sir John Evelyn’s, ii. 75

Leland, Dr., _Observations of Lord Bolingbroke’s Letter_, ii. 25;
_Life of Philip of Macedon_, ii. 159

Lely, Sir Peter, his portrait of 1st Earl of Sandwich, ii. 249

l’Enclos, Ninon de, ii. 113

Leslie, Mr., i. 293, 294

Lestock, i. 177

Levens Hall, Westmoreland, Lord Berkshire’s seat, i. 224

Lichfield, Earl of, i. 60

Lichfield, Marquis of, i. 93

Liddell, Mr., of Newton, ii. 224

Light, Anthony, i. 2, 55

Light, Mrs. Elizabeth (_née_ Clarke), afterwards Mrs. Thomas Robinson,
i. 2

Light, Lydia, afterwards Mrs. Thomas Kirke, then Mrs. Robert Lumley,
i. 55

Ligonier, Field Marshal John, Earl of, i. 216, 218

Lincoln, Lady (Catherine Pelham), ii. 187

Lindsey, John, 7th Earl of, and 17th Earl of Crawford, i. 41

Linnell, Mr., i. 294; ii. 17

Lisbon, earthquake at, ii. 85

Lisle, Miss, i. 245

Locke, ii. 61, 62

Lodge, _Peerage of Irish Peers_, i. 191

Lodomie, dentist, ii. 209

Lombe, John, inventor of silk-weaving engine, _i. 201_

Lonsdale, 3rd Viscount, i. 209

Loudoun, Earl of, i. 206;
Commander-in-Chief of English in America, ii. 115

Louis XIV., i. 291, 295; ii. 18

Louis XV., i. 175

Louisburg, ii. 76, 116, 134;
taken, ii. 140, 154

Lovat, Lord, beheaded, i. 235, 253

Lowther, Mrs., ii. 149

Lucian, _Triumph of the Gout_, i. 283; ii. 47

Lumley, Elizabeth (Mrs. Laurence Sterne), i. 3, 55, 73–75, 84, 230

Lumley, Rev. Robert, i. 55, 230

Lumley Castle, ii. 139

Lyster, Mrs., ii. 167

Lyttelton, Rev. Charles, Dean of Exeter, afterwards Bishop of
Carlisle, i. 201, 284; ii. 96, 115, 136, 149, 208, 209, 262

Lyttelton, Sir George, 1st Lord, i. 64, 278; ii. 8, 11, 22, 25, 30,
32, 35, 60, 93, 168, 245, 250, 252, 255, 260, 267;
_Observations on Cicero_, i. 82;
Mrs. Montagu on his Verses, i. 90;
his first marriage, i. 110;
_Monody_, i. 253, 254;
_Dissertation on Saint Paul_, i. 283;
his second marriage, ii. 11;
his friend Bishop Berkeley, ii. 15;
calls Mrs. Montagu “Madonna,” ii. 16, 50, 72;
Hagley, ii. 41, 192;
cofferer, ii. 49;
Bower’s fervid Italian, ii. 50;
his tour in North Wales, ii. 72;
Chancellor of the Exchequer, ii. 84;
Gilbert West’s reinstatement at Chelsea, ii. 85;
a peer, ii. 96;
_History of Henry II._, ii. 96, 148, 159, 192, 256;
“is got pure well,” ii. 115;
reproves Lord Temple in the House of Lords, ii. 127;
his amusing letter to Dr. Monsey, ii. 132;
Mrs. Montagu’s _eau de luce_ accident, ii. 145;
Dr. Monsey’s doggerel verses on, ii. 154;
_Dialogues of the Dead_, ii. 181, 182, 200, 204, 207;
at the Coronation, ii. 259;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 81, 90, 94, 135, 140, 148, 150,
165, 172, 178, 179, 186, 192, 201, 203–205, 209, 212, 213, 261,
264;
Mrs. Montagu’s letters to, ii. 89, 96, 134, 164, 167, 172, 185, 191,
194, 205, 210, 215

Lyttelton, Lucy, Lady (_née_ Fortescue), 1st wife, i. 110, 253

Lyttelton, Lady (_née_ Rich), 2nd wife, ii. 11, 72, 115

Lyttelton, Miss, ii. 255

Lyttelton, Sir Richard, ii. 95, 191

Lyttelton, Thomas, 2nd Lord, i. 253; ii. 50, 86, 89, 140, 150, 165,
167, 168, 261;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 141, 166, 168, 179;
Mrs. Montagu’s letters to, ii. 139, 193, 253

Lyttelton, Sir Thomas, _ii. 182_

Lyttelton, William Henry, created Baron Westcote of Ballymore, i. 284;
ii. 32;
Governor of South Carolina, ii. 68, 78;
Governor of Jamaica, ii. 182

Macartney, Mr., _ii. 6_

Macpherson, _Highland Poems_, ii. 194, 197, 205, 211, 234, 257, 268

Mahon, Lady (Hester Pitt), afterwards Lady Stanhope, ii. 82

Maillebois, Field Marshal Jean Des Marets, i. 220

Maintenon, Madame de, _i. 38_; ii. 19;
_Memoirs_ of, ii. 154

Mainwaring, Mrs., i. 177

Mallet, David, Scottish poet, i. 54

Malton, 6th Baron of, i. 209

Manchester, Isabella, Duchess of, i. 201;
remarries Edward Hussey, i. 267

Manchester, 2nd Duke of, _i. 201_

Mangey, Rev. Dr., ii. 54

Mann, _Horace Walpole’s Letters to Sir H._, i. _264_, 274, 287

Mansfield, William Murray, 1st Earl of, Lord Chief Justice,
“Silver-tongued Murray,” i. 138; ii. 124, 127, 190

March, 3rd Earl of, afterwards Duke of Queensberry, i. 269, 286

Marchmont, Lord, ii. 211

Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, ii. 114, 146

Marlborough, John Churchill, 1st Duke of, i. _51_, 267; ii. 118

Marlborough, Charles Spencer, 2nd Duke of, i. 51; ii. 116

Marlborough, Charles, 3rd Duke of, i. 54, 104, 154, 161, 171; ii. 102,
126, 142, 152, 154

Marlborough, Elizabeth, Duchess of, ii. 152

Marlborough, Sarah, Duchess of, i. 54, 94, 157, 165;
her _Account of Her Conduct (Memoirs)_, i. 103, 296

Marriott, Mr., ii. 185

Marsh, Mrs., i. 280

Mary of Hesse, Princess (George II.’s daughter), i. 53

Mason, _Caractacus_, ii. 161

“Matadors,” term used in card-games, i. 40

Matilda of Saxony (Countess de La Perche), i. 150

Matthews, Admiral Thomas, i. 176, 177

May, Mrs., i. 181

Mead, Dr. Richard, i. 17, 82, 86, 88, 98, 128, 153, 155, 158, 160,
162, 199

Meadowcourt, Rev. ----, Vicar of Lindridge, Worcester, ii. 135, 136,
203

Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Princess Charlotte of, marries George III. ii.
249, 251, 252, 258–260

Medows, Sir Philip, i. 277; ii. 82, 145

Medows, Sir Sydney, i. 111; ii. 177

Medows, Jemima, Lady (_née_ Montagu), i. 111, 117, 128, 148, 149, 153,
154, 158, 184, 248, 262, 266, _273_; ii. 12, 61, 129, 144, 151,
163, 177;
her letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 22, 57, 82

Medows, Dorothy (_née_ Boscawen), i. 277

Melmoth, William, _Letters of Pliny_, ii. 242

Mendip, Lord (Welbore Ellis), ii. 186

Merle, M. de, French Ambassador to Portugal, ii. 181

“Merlin chair,” i. 92

Mersham Hatch, Sir W. Knatchbull’s place, i. 20, 32, 36

Micklem, General E., _ii. 106_

Middleton, Dr. Conyers, i. 4, 5, 233, 275;
_Life of Cicero_, i. 6, 29, 70, 71, 82;
his second marriage, i. 10, 11, 14, 16;
fails to obtain the Mastership of the Charter House, i. 19;
_Letters on the Use and Study of History_, i. 90;
his second wife’s death, i. 198;
_An Account of the Roman Senate_, i. 234;
his third wife, i. 237, 239, 241, 257;
_Free Enquiry into the Miraculous Powers_, i. 263;
death of, i. 276, 285, 292;
his bust by Roubilliac in Trinity College, Cambridge, ii. 35, 36,
91;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, i. 119, 123

Middleton, Mrs. Conyers, No. 1 (previously Mrs. Drake), i. 5, 6

Middleton, Mrs. Conyers, No. 2 (Mary Place), i. 10, 11, 14, 16, 180,
198

Middleton, Mrs. Conyers, No. 3 (Anne Powell), i. 237, 241, 257, 275,
285, 292; ii. 35, 36, 91

Middleton, 3rd Viscount, ii. 156

Middleton’s Academy, ii. 100

Midgham, seat of Mr. Poyntz, i. 169.

Millar, architect, ii. 90, 121

Millar, publisher, ii. 167, 234

Miller, Joe, _Book of Jests_, i. 73

Milles, Rev. Isaac, _i. 172_

Milner, Sir William and Lady, ii. 91

Milton, John, i. 172; ii. 245

Mincing, Mrs., i. 65

Minden, battle of, ii. 165

Minorca, ii. 140

Mirepoix, M., French Ambassador, i. 284, 291; ii. 74

Mirepoix, Madame, i. 284

Mitchell, Mr., ii. 143

Moivre, M. de, i. 286

Molière, _L’École des Femmes_, i. 16;
_Precieuses Ridicules_, ii. 55.

Molyneux, Miss, i. 168

Money, _History of Newbury_, i. 150

Monkey Island, i. 54, 154

Monsey, Dr. Messenger, private physician to Lord Godolphin, afterwards
to Chelsea Hospital, ii. 98, 108, 111, 115, 117, 121, 129, 132,
134, 136, 145–147, 150, 152, 154, 165, 171, 186, 187, 194, 200,
212, 220, 225, 229, 235, 241, 262, 263, 266;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 133, 142, 155, 204, 208, 224;
Mrs. Montagu’s letter to, ii. 102

Montagu, Charles (Edward’s father), his first wife Elizabeth Forster,
his second wife Sarah Rogers, i. 111, 188

Montagu, Charles (Edward’s cousin), ii. 152

Montagu, Crewe (Edward’s brother), i. 111; ii. 129

Montagu, Edward, of Allerthorpe, i. 110;
short account of, i. 111;
marries Elizabeth Robinson, i. 114;
the honeymoon, i. 117;
his Whig principles, i. 127;
guardian and manager to John Rogers and his estate, i. 146, 199,
234, 289–291; ii. 36;
arms his tenants, i. 226;
death of his steward and agent, i. 233;
Edward Wortley Montagu, Junior, i. 237, 238, 243; ii. 167;
the Huntingdon Elections, i. 239; ii. 39;
James Montagu’s death, i. 262;
Duke of Montagu’s death, i. 266;
death of Edward Carter, ii. 51;
John Rogers’ death and will, ii. 128, 137;
Elizabeth’s _eau de luce_ disaster, ii. 144;
his illness, ii. 164;
Durham Election, ii. 223, 228;
old Wortley Montagu’s will, ii. 231;
the Newbold Vernon picture, ii. 249

Letters from his wife, i. 123, 127, 136, 159, 200, 235, 240, 252,
266, 270, 276, 281, 284, 285, 288, 291, 292; ii. 6, 11–13, 16,
30, 33–35, 37–40, 49, 51–53, 56, 74, 90, 103, 107, 111, 112,
114, 123, 124, 126, 129, 151, 153, 156–158, 185, 187, 193, 199,
215–217, 219, 223, 226, 228–231, 251, 258

His letters to his wife, i. 129, 134–137, 146, 147, 171, 173–175,
182, 201, 205, 209, 211, 212, 233, 234, 239–241, 269, 282, 285,
286, 289, 290, 292; ii. 4, 14, 35, 36, 39, 84, 104, 106, 112,
188, 218, 223, 231, 232, 249

Montagu, Edward (Elizabeth’s godson), i. 271

Montagu, George, _Horace Walpole’s Letters to_, i. 275; ii. 178

Montagu, James (Edward’s half-brother), i. 111, 188, 232; ii. 249;
death of, i. 262

Montagu, Hon. James (Edward’s cousin), _ii. 152_

Montagu, Jemima (Edward’s sister), afterwards Lady Medows, _q.v._

Montagu, John (Edward’s brother), i. 111; ii. 129

Montagu, John, “Punch” (Edward’s son), i. 149, 165, 166, 168, 169,
178, 182–186, 188;
death of, i. 191; ii. 119

Montagu, Captain John, i. 240

Montagu, Hon. Mrs. Sarah, i. 151

Montagu, Captain William, i. 286

Montagu, Edward Wortley, i. 51, 237, 239; ii. 87, 112;
illness and death, ii. 229–231

Montagu, Junr., Edward Wortley, i. 51, 237–240, 243, 261, 286, 287;
ii. 167, 197, 249

Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley (_née_ Pierpoint), i. 50, 51, 237;
introduces inoculation into England, _i. 35_

Montagu, Hon. Sidney Wortley, i. 237, 239, 244

Montagu, Hon. Mrs. Sidney Wortley (Anne Wortley), i. 237

Montagu, Matthew (Elizabeth’s nephew), 4th Baron Rokeby, _The Letters
of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu_, i. 6

Montagu, Lady Barbara, i. 256, 260, 266, 270, 284, 293; ii. 7, 11, 29,
58, 59, 75, 78, 79, 87, 93, 105, 163, 247, 266

Montagu, John, 2nd Duke of, Master of the Wardrobe, and Grand Master
of the Order of the Bath, i. 182, _201_, 216, 218, 219, 237,
238, 244, 248, 266, 267

Montagu, 3rd Duke of, ii. 92, 113

Montfort, 1st Baron, i. 286; ii. 67

Moor, Captain, i. 80

Moore, Deputy Governor of Jamaica, ii. 182

Moore, Edward, publisher of _The World_, ii. 25

Mordaunt, Sir John, ii. 116, 118, 120, 121, 158

More, Hannah, i. 284

Morgan, Rev. ----, curate of Newtown, i. 271, 272

Morgan, Jacky and Nanny, i. 272

Morley, Dr., ii. 77, 185

Mornington, Garrett Wesley or Wellesley, 1st Earl, i. 169; ii. 80

Mornington, Baron, ii. 80

Morris, Matthew Robinson (Elizabeth’s brother), i. 194; ii. 13

Morris, Morris Drake, i. 4, 5, 73

Morris, Sarah (Mrs. Robert Drake), i. 4

Morris, Thomas, i. 4, 229

Morritt, John B. Saurey, i. 2

Morton, Charles, Curator of British Museum, ii. 243, 256, 257

Mount Bevis, i. 247, 248

Mount Edgecumbe, Countess of (_née_ Gilbert), ii. 73

Mount Morris, or Monk’s Horton, near Hythe, home of the Robinsons, i.
4, 7, 73, 74, 229; ii. 14

Mountrath, 6th Earl of, i. 169

Murrain, cattle, i. 219

Murray, Secretary, i. 235

Nash, Miss, i. 167

Nash, Richard (“Beau Nash”), i. 167; ii. 39;
his threatened _History of Bath, etc._, ii. 59, 60

_National Biography, Dictionary of_, i. 7, 97; ii. 15, 146, 189

National Portrait Gallery, ii. 258

Naylor, Miss Maria, i. 286, 287

Ned, Montagu’s head-groom, ii. 188, 199

Nedham, Mrs., ii. 94

_Neustra Signora de Cabodonga_, Spanish treasure-ship
captured by Lord Anson, i. 186

Newbold Vernon, i. 188

Newcastle-on-Tyne, Mrs. Montagu’s description of, ii. 138

Newcastle-on-Tyne, John Holles, 1st Duke of, i. 7

Newcastle-under-Lyne, Thomas Pelham, 1st Duke of, i. 51, 288; ii. 49,
94, 95, 142, _187_, 212, 217

Newcastle, Duchess of, i. 288; ii. 121

Newton, Dr., _Dissertation on the Prophecies_, ii. 159

Newton, Mr., valuer, i. 290

Newton, Sir Isaac, _ii. 91_

Newton, Sir T., Roubilliac’s statue of, ii. 36

Nicholson, Bishop, ii. 15

Nicholson, John, i. 145

Nivernois, Duc de, ii. 266

Nixon’s drawing of the Coffee-house, Bath, _i. 255_

Norfolk, Dowager Duchess of (_née_ Sherburne), i. 39, 42

Norfolk, Duchess of (Mary Blount), i. 17, 102, 125, 288

Norfolk, Edward, 9th Duke of, i. _17_, _102_

Norfolk, 15th Duke of, _i. 39_

Norfolk, Edward Howard, 16th Duke of, i. 125; ii. 257

Norman, Mrs., ii. 267

Norris, Admiral Sir John, i. 176

North, 7th Baron, afterwards Earl of Guilford, _i. 63_

North, Lady, i. 93

North American campaign, ii. 134

Northampton, Elizabeth, Countess of, i. 273

Northampton, 11th Earl of, _i. 273_; ii. 161

Northfleet Fair, i. 99

Northumberland, Hugh Smithson, 15th Earl, 1st Duke of, ii. 99, 101,
102, 146, 154, 166

Norwood, J. D., i. 97, 255

_Notes and Queries_, ii. 23

Nottingham Castle, i. 121

Nugent, Mr., ii. 95

Offleys, the, i. 167

Ogle, Mrs., ii. 173

Oglethorpe, General James Edward, i. 210, 213

_Old and New London_, i. 46

Onslow, 3rd Baron, i. 286

Orange, Princess of, i. 86; ii. 156

Orford, Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of, i. 100, 101, 104, 156, 157, 171,
_190_

Orrery, Charles Boyle, 4th Earl, _Observations on the Life and
Writings of Dr. Swift_, ii. 18, 85

Osborne, Admiral, ii. 154

Ossian, ii. 267, 268

Otway, Thomas, _Orphan_, i. 177

Oxford, Robert Harley, 1st Earl of, i. 9, 83, 104

Oxford, Edward, 2nd Earl of, i. 7, 8, 46, 54–57, 62, 82, 83

Oxford, Edward Harley, 24th Earl of, ii. 140, 141

Oxford, Countess of (Henrietta Cavendish), i. 7, 8, 54, _83_, 86, 133,
157, 226

Page, Sir Gregory, i. 28

Page, Mr. (brother of above), i. 28, 29

Palgrave, Mr., ii. 208

Palmer, Sir Thomas, of Wingham, Kent, _i. 21_

Panmure, Lord, ii. 216

Pannel, Captain, ii. 188

Panton, Master of the King’s Racers, i. 279

Paul, Father, _History of the Council of Trent_, i. 124

Pegu, king of, ii. 124

Pelham, Right Hon. Henry, i. 100, 102, 171, 220; ii. 49, _187_

Pembroke, Earl of, _i. 249_

Pembroke, Henry, 28th Earl of, i. 273

Pembroke, Henry, 29th Earl of, ii. 160

Pembroke, Lady, ii. 185

Pendarves, Mrs. (_née_ Granville), afterwards Mrs. Delany, “Pen,” i.
18, 25, 40, 43–47, _50_, 56, 57, 98, 103, 116, 146;
her letters to Mrs. Montagu, i. 101, 116, 131.
_See also_ Delany, Mrs.

Pendarves, W., _i. 18_

Penshurst pictures, ii. 34

Percival, Lord, i. 94

Percival, Mrs., i. 160, 288

Percival, Hon. Philip, i. 41, 160, 259

Perth, 3rd titular Duke of, i. 213

Peter the Great, _i. 95_

Peterborough, Lady (Anastasia Robinson), i. 22, 169

Peterborough, Earl of, i. 22, 247

Petrowna, Czarina Elizabeth, i. 95

Philip, Agnes (Mrs. Ralph Robinson), i. 2

Pierce, Jerry, ii. 4

Pigott, Captain, i. 260

Pinchbeck, Christopher, i. 46

Pitt, Miss Anne, i. 58, 64, 255; ii. 213, 216

Pitt, Mrs. George (Penelope Atkyns), i. 265; ii. 158, 163

Pitt, Miss Hester, afterwards Lady Mahon, then Stanhope, ii. 82

Pitt, Lady Hester (_née_ Grenville), ii. 60, 63, 65, 77, 78, 81, 82,
94, 115, 158;
created Baroness of Chatham, ii. 265

Pitt, John, Viscount, ii. 95

Pitt, Miss Mary, i. 64; ii. 51, 53, 69, 73, 77, 78, 81, 94, 95, 158,
170, 265

Pitt, Thomas, of Boconoc, Cornwall, ii. 153, 266;
his letter to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 180

Pitt, William, afterwards 1st Earl of Chatham, “the great commoner,”
i. 58, _64_; ii. 1, 22, 35, 41, 45, 53, 77, 78, 83, 85, 111,
173, 216;
his speeches in the House of Commons, i. 137, 138, 171; ii. 153,
156;
Sarah Robinson on, i. 167;
obtains for Gilbert West the Clerkship of the Privy Council, ii. 4;
his house, South Lodge, Enfield, ii. 8, 10;
his hospitality to West, ii. 9;
authorship of _The Adventurer_ attributed to, ii. 25;
his insomnia, ii. 30–33;
at Tunbridge Wells, ii. 37, 40;
King’s lectures, ii. 38;
Bath, ii. 43;
gout in his hand, ii. 51;
appoints West paymaster of Chelsea. College, ii. 51, 52;
marries Lady Hester Grenville, ii. 60, 61, 63, 64;
his daughter’s birth, ii. 82;
_v._ Fox, ii. 84;
purchases Mrs. Montagu’s Hayes house, ii. 94;
his son John’s birth, ii. 95;
a sharp attack of gout, ii. 96, 98;
Secretary of State, ii. 96, 262;
the Mordaunt Expedition, ii. 116;
and Lord Royston, ii. 128;
and Emin, ii. 154;
his “great compliments” to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 157;
Burke’s application for the Madrid consulship, ii. 170;
the pictures at Hagley, ii. 172;
a mark of the City’s affection, ii. 213;
Duke of Newcastle and, ii. 217;
and the Lord Mayor, ii. 220;
the intended expedition to France, ii. 226;
receives a barony for Lady Hester and a pension for three lives,
ii. 264;
his “act of humility,” ii. 265

Place, Rev. Conyers, _i. 10_

Place, Mary, afterwards Mrs. Conyers Middleton, i. 10, 11, 14, 16,
180, 198

Plumtree, Dr., i. 276

Pocock, Mrs. (_née_ Milles), i. 172, 173

Pococke, Mrs., ii. 69, 208

Pococke, Miss, ii. 79

Pococke, Rev. Dr. Richard, Bishop of Ossory and Meath, i. 173; ii. 61,
69, 204, 208, 211;
_Descriptions of the East_, etc., i. 241

Polignac, Madame de, ii. 98

Pomfret, Countess of, ii. 256, 260;
her death, ii. 261, 267, 268

Pomfret, 1st Earl of, i. 179; _ii. 256_

Pondicherry, taken by the English, ii. 250

Pope, Alexander, i. 7, _54_; ii. 57, 113;
his epitaph--“Under the marble, etc.,” i. 24;
_Dunciad_, i. _38_, 172;
_Letters_, i. 89;
his villa at Twickenham, i. 163;
at Mount Bevis, i. 247;
_Universal Prayer_, i. 248;
“ill health is an early old age,” ii. 8;
on Silence, ii. 55;
on Virtue, ii. 82;
“the story of the great, etc.,” ii. 123;
conscience “the god within the mind,” ii. 157;
“Sporus,” _ii. 192_;
on Sir John Cutler’s funeral, ii. 202

Porpora, i. _16_, _27_

Portland, Duchess of (Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley), i. 8, 12, 13,
23, 44–46, 48–50, 55, 56, 60–62, 65, 69, 76, 81, 86, 87, 103,
146, 160; ii. 43–45, 80, 148;
her letters to Mrs. Montagu, i. 13, 22, 26, 82–85, 99, 100, 102,
103, 124, 128, 133, 149, 157, 176;
Mrs. Montagu’s letters to, i. 8–12, 14, 16–20, 27, 28, 31, 36,
38–43, 66, 99, 114, 120, 125, 131, 133, 138, 152–155, 158, 163,
169, 170, 172; ii. 196

Portland, William Henry, 1st Duke of, i. 81

Portland, William, 2nd Duke of, i. 12, 44, 45, 48, 61, 92, 100, 115,
170; ii. 43, 80;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, i. 34, 36, 76

Portland, William Henry, 3rd Duke of, i. 26, 28

Portland, Earl of, _i. 49_

Potter, Mr., ii. 111

Potts, Mr., i. 189

Powell, Anne, 3rd Mrs. Conyers Middleton, _q.v._

Powis, Lord, i. 269

Poyntz, Stephen, of Midgham, i. 169; _ii. 147_

Poyntz, Mrs., i. 148

Pratt, 1st Earl of Camden, ii. 217, 250

Preston Pans, i. 206

Pretender, the, i. 174, 175, 205, 216; ii. 39

Price, Robert, ii. 136

Prichard, Mrs., actress, ii. 234

Primrose, Anne, Lady (_née_ Drelincourt), i. 235; ii. 192

Primrose, 3rd Viscount, _i. 235_; _ii. 192_

Primrose, Mrs., ii. 267

Prior, Matthew, i. 38, _57_

Pulses, the Miss, ii. 12, 22

Pulteney, General, ii. 11, 185

Pulteney, Lord, ii. 227

Purdie, Mrs., i. 254

Quadrille, a card-game, i. 40

Quarle, _Emblems_, i. 73

Quebec, taken by English, ii. 171, 172

Queensberry, Catherine Hyde, Duchess of (Prior’s “Kitty”), i. 57, 63

Queensberry, Charles, 3rd Duke of, i. _57_, _63_, 286

Queensborough, Duke of, i. 249

Quin, the actor, i. 47;
as “Falstaffe,” i. 237

Ramsay, Allan, poet, _The Gentle Shepherd_, etc., ii. 195

Ramsay, Allan (son of above), portrait painter, i. 279; ii. 147, 195,
211

Ramsay, Mrs. Allan, ii. 195

Ramsay, Dr., ii. 133

Ranelagh, a masquerade at, i. 264

Ravensworth, Lord, ii. 138, 165, 201

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, his portrait of Lord Bath, ii. 258, 268, 269

Rich, Field Marshal Sir Robert, _ii. 72_

Richardson, Adam, ii. 183, 184, 229

Richardson, Miss M. (afterwards Mrs. William Robinson), ii. 183, 184

Richardson, Samuel, _Sir Charles Grandison_, _Pamela_,
_Clarissa Harlowe_, etc., i. 258; ii. 46, 250, _260_

Richmond, Charles, 2nd Duke of, i. 100; ii. 97

Richmond, 7th Duke of, i. 216, 218

Ridley, Mayor of Newcastle, i. 210

Risback, ii. 168

Rivers, George Pitt, Lord, _i. 265_

Rivers, Pitt, of Stratfieldsaye, i. 151

Rivington, Mr., ii. 208

Roberts, E. Sage, ii. 48

Robertson of Strowan, 7th Baron, i. 2

Robertson, William, of Kendal, i. 2

Robertsons of Struan, or Strowan, the, i. 1

Robinson, Charles, “Poor Pigg” (brother), i. 5, 121, 130, 131, 136,
139, 182, 224, 262, 272; ii. 52

Robinson, Deborah, Lady (_née_ Collet), i. 2

Robinson, George, i. 216

Robinson, Grace, afterwards Mrs. William Freind, _q.v._

Robinson, Henry (brother of above), i. 80

Robinson, Henry, of Kendal, i. 2

Robinson, John (brother), i. 5, 121, 130, 131, 136, 139, 247, 253,
258; ii. 7

Robinson, Sir Leonard, i. 2, 4

Robinson, Matthew (father), i. 2, 3, 6, 11, 14, 16, 34, 76, 118, 129,
219, 232, 243; ii. 23, 156;
his letter to his daughter Elizabeth, i. 237;
Elizabeth’s letters to, i. 54, 62, 104, 236, 287; ii. 201

Robinson, Mrs. Matthew, Elizabeth Drake (mother), i. 4, 7, 34, 35,
149, 215, 227;
her letters to her daughter Elizabeth, i. 176, 180–182, 196, 198,
222, 225;
Elizabeth’s letters to, i. 46, 48, 50, 61, 87, 88, 93, 94, 116, 141,
180, 226

Robinson, Matthew (brother), afterwards 2nd Baron Rokeby, i. 5, 34,
70, 74, 83, 84, 86, 87, 91, 129, 186, 229, 240, 259, 265, 270,
282, 291; ii. 14, 65, 69, 93;
M.P. for Canterbury, i. 252, 253;
presents address to George III., ii. 228;
his letters to his sister Elizabeth, i. 73, 77, 260

Robinson, Rev. Dr. Matthew, i. 122

Robinson, Matthew (son of Morris), 4th Baron Rokeby, i. 1, 6, 254;
ii. 92, 174

Robinson, Morris (brother), i. 5, 107, 129, 166, 174, 187, 233, 235;
ii. 13, 49, 92, 123, 129, 152, 184, 191, 228

Robinson, Mrs. Morris (Jane Greenland), ii. 92, 111, 184

Robinson, Morris (son of above), 3rd Baron Rokeby, ii. 111

Robinson, Ralph, i. 2

Robinson, Rev. Dr. Richard (cousin), Archbishop of Armagh, 1st Baron
Rokeby, ii. 2

Robinson, Captain Robert (brother), i. 5, 18, 24, 47, 128, 131, 182,
224, 233, 262, 266, 279, 282; ii. 10, 88

Robinson, Sarah (sister), afterwards Mrs. George Lewis Scott, “Pea,”
i. 5, 21, 34, 37, 78, 117, 135, 143, 146, 148, 158, 163–165,
174, 194, 195, 208, 213, 224, 252, 256, 260, 266, 293; ii. 10,
52, 87, 88, 93, 94, 105, 266;
engagement, i. 270;
marriage, i. 284;
and separation, ii. 5–7, 44;
her daily life at Bath Easton, ii. 78, 79;
_Millenium Hall, by a_ Gentleman _on his Travels_, _ii. 79_;
her letters to her sister Elizabeth, i. 64, 164, 166–168, 219, 280;
ii. 59, 97, 144;
Elizabeth’s letters to, i. 45–47, 53, 56, 60, 61, 63, 65, 74, 88–90,
95–97, 108, 149, 165, 178, 183, 184, 186, 187, 215, 248, 258,
262, 264, 271, 279; ii. 1, 20, 29, 33, 54, 58, 67, 69, 75, 79,
86, 118, 184, 246

Robinson, Sir Septimus, i. 177; ii. 2

Robinson, “Short” Sir Thomas, Lord Grantham, i. 259, 260, 277, 288

Robinson, Lady (wife of above), i. 277

Robinson, “Long” Sir Thomas, i. 2, 30, 47, 100, 112, 123; ii. 2, 42,
275–277

Robinson, Thomas, i. 2, 3

Robinson, Thomas (brother), _Common Law of Kent, or Customs of
Gavelkind_, i. 5, 32, 97, 129, 137, 140, 251, 254, 255

Robinson, Mrs. Thomas (afterwards Mrs. Anthony Light), i. 55

Robinson, Ursula, i. 2

Robinson of Rokeby, William, i. 2, 177; ii. 2

Robinson, Rev. William (brother), i. 5, 121, 130, 131, 136, 139, 247,
253, 258, 285;
Rector of Burghfield, Berks, ii. 1, 2, 9, 87, _93_, 183, 184, 229,
270

Robinson, Mrs. William (wife of above), _née_ Richardson, ii. 183,
184, 229

Robinson, Sir William (cousin), ii. 2

Robinsons and Sternes, pedigree of the, i. 3

Rochester, Earl of, ii. 113

Roger family of Oxwell Park, _ii. 37_

Rogers, a grocer, ii. 100

Rogers, John, of Newcastle, i. 111, 144, 145

Rogers, Mrs. John (Sarah Cock), i. 111

Rogers, Junr., John, i. 144–147, 151, 234, 285, 289, 290; ii. 17, 51,
53, 128, 129, 151, 201

Rogers, Junr., Mrs. John (Anne Delaval), ii. 129

Rogers, Mrs. Elizabeth, ii. 129

Rogers, Sarah (Mrs. Charles Montagu), i. 111, 144

Rokeby, Sir Thomas, i. 2

Rokeby, Rev. Dr. Richard Robinson, 1st Baron, Bishop of Killala,
afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, ii. 2

Rokeby, Matthew, 2nd Baron. _See_ Robinson, Matthew (brother)

Rokeby, Morris Robinson, 3rd Baron, ii. 111

Rokeby, Matthew Robinson, 4th Baron, i. 1, 6, 254; ii. 92, 174

Rolfe, Rev. Edmund, ii. 98

Rolfe, Mrs. (_née_ Alexander), ii. 98

Rollin, ii. 25

Rolt, Mrs., i. 202, 203

Romney, 2nd Baron, i. 275; ii. 77

Romney, Lady (Priscilla Pym), i. 275, 284; ii. 77

Romney Marsh, i. 223

Rook, Mrs., i. 128

Rooke, Heyman, _i. 4_

Rosbach, battle of, ii. 122

Rosebery, Lord, _i. 235_

Roubilliac, Louis François, sculptor, ii. 35, 36;
his bust of Shakespeare, _ii. 130_

Rousseau, ii. 159

Rowe, Nicholas, Poet Laureate, _Fair Penitent_, i. 177

Royston, Lord, afterwards 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, ii. 127, 217

Rush, Lady, i. 246

Russia, revolution in (1741), i. 95

Russians, defeated by Frederick the Great at Zorndorff, ii. 142

Rust, Mr., travelling companion to Mr. Hoare’s son, ii. 206

Rutland, 3rd Duke of, i. 216

Ryder, Sir Dudley and Lady, i. 277

Sackville, Lady Caroline (afterwards Countess of Dorchester), i. 53

Sackville, Lord George (afterwards Lord George Germaine), ii. 165,
212, 216

St. Albans, 1st Duke of, _i. 80_

St. Evremont, ii. 113

Saint Germain, Comte de, French General, i. 222

St. Lazare, i. 80

St. Malo, attempted invasion of France at, ii. 126–127

St. Real, C. V. de, i. 70

Sallier, Abbé, ii. 257

Sandford, Lieutenant, i. 80

Sandleford Priory, Berks, i. 150–152; ii. 278–280

Sandwich, 1st Earl of, Lord High Admiral of the Fleet to Charles II.,
i. _51_, 111, 151, 237;
Lely’s portrait of, ii. 249

Sandwich, 3rd Earl of, ii. 113

Sandwich, John, 4th Earl of, “Jemmy Twitcher,” i. 87, _138_, 174, 218,
219, 238, 240, 243, 244, 259–261, 265, 266, 268, 270, 286;
ii. 33, 39, 69, 113, 230

Sandwich, John Montagu, 5th Earl of, i. 138, 271; ii. 113, 232

Sandwich, Dowager Countess of (Elizabeth Wilmot), ii. 113

Sandwich, Dorothy, Lady (_née_ Fane), i. 87, 138, 218, 244, 259–261,
265, 266, 269, 271; ii. 51, 69, 76, 113;
her letter to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 103

Sandys of Ombersley, Samuel, 1st Baron, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
i. 102, 105, 130

Sandys, Dr., i. 33, 45, 48, 54, 61, 98, 127, 138, 160

Saumaize, M., i. 86

Saunders, Admiral, ii. 89

Savernake Forest House (Lord Bruce’s), i. 250

Saxes, Maurice, Comte de, Field Marshal of France, i. 175

Scarborough, 3rd Earl of, _i. 63_

Scarborough, Lady, i. 63

Scarron, Paul, French satirist, _Le Roman comique_, etc., i. 38;
ii. 19

Scheemackers, sculptor, i. 190

Schulenburg, Count, ii. 154

Scotland, the 1745 rising in, i. 205–209, 214, 215

Scott, Mrs., of Scott’s Hall, i. 35, 86; ii. 15

Scott, “Cally” (afterwards Mrs. T. Best), i. 86, 103, 121, 184

Scott, Cecilia, i. 86

Scott, George, of Bristo, Scotland, i. 206

Scott, George Lewis, i. 206, 211, 213, 219, 260, 280, 287, 292, 293;
engagement, i. 270;
marriage, i. 284;
and separation, ii. 5–7, 44;
dismissed from tutorship to the Princes, ii. 20;
Commissioner of the Excise, ii. 97

Scott, Mrs. George Lewis. _See_ Robinson, Sarah

Scudamore, Miss (Mrs. Scudamore), ii. 72, 185

Secker, Thomas, Bishop of Oxford, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury,
i. 71; ii. 42, 160, 260

Secker, Mrs. Thomas, i. 71

Selwyn, George, ii. 252

Severn river, ii. 112

Sevigné, Madame de, _Letters_, ii. 68

Shadwell, Sir John and Lady, i. 50

Shaftesbury, 3rd Earl of, _Characteristics_, i. 138; ii. 18

Shaftoe, Mr., ii. 202

Shakespeare, _As You Like It_, i. 47;
_King Lear_, i. 253;
_Hamlet_, ii. 20;
Roubilliac’s bust of, _ii. 130_;
his Plays compared with Greek Plays, ii. 206

Shaw, Dr., of Tunbridge Wells, i. 289; ii. 11, 17

Shaw, Dr. Thomas, Regius Professor of Greek, Oxford, traveller,
botanist, antiquary, etc., i. 44, 189, 236, 258, 259, 288;
ii. 88, 90, 121

Sheep Leas (Mr. Weston’s place), ii. 75

Shelley, Mrs., ii. 261

Shenstone, William, poet, ii. 135

Sherlock, Thomas, Bishop of Salisbury, and of London, i. 249, 269,
284; ii. 2, 3, 42, 43, 54, 55, 73, 77, 132, 147, 194, 220;
his letter to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 198;
his letter to George III., ii. 221

Sherlock, Mrs. T., i. 249, 269; ii. 3, 42, 147

Shirley, Lady F., i. 35

Shobbington family, the, _i. 49_

Shrewsbury, Lord, ii. 2

Shuttleworth, Mrs., i. 160; ii. 6

Sidney, Sir Philip, _Arcadia_, i. 56, _249_

Skerrit, Miss, i. 100, 101

Skipper, Mr., i. 105

Skipton, Dr., i. 82

Sleidan, _History of the Reformation_, i. 124

Sloane, Sir Hans, and his Museum, i. 103, 128; ii. 26, 98, 186, 243

Sloper, Simon Adolphus, of West Woodhay House, i. 166, 242

Smallpox, inoculation for, i. _35_, 149, 158

Smith, Dr. Robert, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, founder of
“Smith’s Prize,” i. 200; ii. 35, 36

Smith, Sir Sidney, ii. 140, 247

Smollett, _Peregrine Pickle_, ii. 2

Smythe, Dr., ii. 250

Solis, Antonio de, _History of the Conquest of Mexico_, ii. 135

Somerset, Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of, i. 260

Somerset, Charles, 6th Duke of (“The Proud Duke”), _i. 269_

Somerset, Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of, ii. 101

Somerset, Duchess of (Lady Algernon Seymour), ii. 101

Somerset, Edward Adolphus, 11th Duke of, _i. 49_

Somerset, Lord Noel, afterwards 4th Duke of Beaufort, i. 39, 41, 42

Sophia, Princess, George I.’s daughter, i. 206

Sophocles, _Œdipus Coloneus_, ii. 191;
_Philoctetes_, ii. 206

Soubise, Prince, ii. 122

South Lodge, Enfield (Pitt’s house), ii. 8–10

Southwell, Right Hon. Edward, i. 40, _253_, 293

Southwell, Mrs. Edward, i. 253, 293; ii. 80, 84, 107, 111, 164

Southwell, Sir Thomas, _i. 40_

_Spectator_, the, i. 39

Speed, Miss, ii. 71

Spencer, Hon. John, i. 95, 195

Spencer, Mrs., i. 195

Spencer, Georgina, Lady, ii. 147, 148

Spencer, John, 1st Earl, ii. 148

Spencer, George John, 2nd Earl, ii. 148

Spinckes, Miss, i. 87

Spirit Tax, 1742–43, i. 174

Squire, Mr., i. 216

Stamford and Warrington, Henrietta, Countess of, i. 19

Standen, i. 241

Stanhope, Mr., i. 201; ii. 123

Stanhope, Captain, ii. 182

Stanhope, Sir Charles, ii. 101

Stanhope, the Ladies, daughters of 1st Viscount Stanhope, i. 264

Stanhope, Lady Hester, _ii. 82_

Stanhope, Lady Lucy, i. 255

Stanhope, Philip, 2nd Earl of, i. 18

Stanhope, 1st Viscount, _i. 264_

Stanley, Anne, afterwards Lady Mendip, ii. 186, 193

Stanley, Sarah, Mrs. Charles D’Oyley, ii. 186, 193

Stanley, Right Hon. Hans, of Paultons, Hants, Lord of the Admiralty,
ii. 186, 220

Stanley, Mrs., ii. 45, 186

Stanley, D., his letter to the Duke of Montagu, i. 216

Stanley, Anne, Lady (_née_ Granville), _i. 46_

Stanley, Sir John, i. 46, 101

Sterne, Jacob, i. 75

Sterne, Rev. Laurence, i. 3, 55, 73–75;
_Tristram Shandy_, ii. 174, 268–270;
his letter to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 175;
his “memorandums,” ii. 270

Sterne, Mrs. Laurence (_née_ Lumley), i. 3, 55, 73–75, 84, 230;
her letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 27, 176

Sterne, Miss Lydia, Mrs. Montagu’s godchild, i. 90; ii. 28

Sterne, Richard, Archbishop of York, _i. 75_

Sternes and Robinsons, pedigree of, i. 3

Steuart, Edward, ii. 128

Stevens, Captain, ii. 83

Stevens, George, his edition of _Shakespeare_, ii. 105–107

Stewart, Captain, i. 206, 212

Stewart, Sir James, Lord Advocate of Scotland, i. 206

Stillingfleet, Edward, Bishop of Worcester, _Eirenicon_, ii. 128

Stillingfleet, Dr. Benjamin (_Cabinet of Flora_, etc.), ii. 73, 86,
93, 95, 98, 99, 102, 160;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 104, 185, 250;
Mrs. Montagu’s letters to, ii. 114, 117, 127, 136, 149

Stonehenge, i. 249

Stonelands (now called “Buckhurst”), Duke of Dorset’s seat in Surrey,
ii. 37

Strafford, Anne, Lady (2nd Duke of Argyll’s daughter), ii. 233

Strathmore, John Lyon, 7th Earl of, ii. 180

Stuart, James (“Athenian” Stuart), _The Antiquities of Athens_,
ii. 150, 232

Stuart, Mrs., ii. 146

Suffolk, 11th Earl of, _i. 144_

Suffolk, Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of, i. 39

Suffolk, Lady, i. 229

Sugar, proposed tax on, i. 174

Sully, Duc de, _Memoires_, i. 281; ii. 18

Sunderland, ii. 139

Sunderland, Charles, Earl of, _i. 162_

Sunderland, 4th Earl of, i. 233

Sunderland, Lady (Judith Tichborne), afterwards wife of Sir Robert
Sutton, i. 162, 233

Sundon, William Clayton, Baron, i. 80

Sussex privateers, i. 212

Sutton, Right Hon. Sir Robert, i. _162_, 232, 246

Sutton, Miss, i. 233

Swale river, i. 122

Swift, Dean, i. 7, 25, 41, 153, _184_, 196; ii. 2, 85;
_Letters_, i. 89;
_Four Last Years of Queen Anne_, i. 104;
his Yahoos, i. 113;
“Friend, you make the very crowd you blame,” i. 288;
_Life and Writings_, ii. 18

Taafe, Mr., i. 287

Talbot, Edward, Bishop of Durham, i. 71, 234, 290; _ii. 113_

Talbot, Mrs., ii. 113, 266

Talbot, Miss, i. 71; ii. 160, 212

Talbot, D.D., Rev. W., _i. 71_

Talbot, William, 2nd Baron, afterwards Earl Talbot and Baron Dinevor,
i. 104, 266

Talbot, Mary, Lady (_née_ de Cardonnel), i. 266, 268, 269; ii. 259

Tanfield of Calthorpe, i. 213

Tatton, Miss, i. 46

Tar water, i. 235

Tavora, Marquis of, ii. 158, 180

Tavora, Marchioness of, ii. 180

Taylor, _Perspective_, i. 252

Taylor’s _Sermons_, ii. 121

Temple, Penelope (Mrs. M. Berenger), i. 284

Temple, Richard Grenville, Earl, ii. 22, 64, 85, 95, 127, 262, 265

Temple, Lady, ii. 60

Temple, Sir Richard, of Stowe, i. 278

Temple, Sir William, i. 184

Tennison, Mrs., i. 35

Thanet, 7th Earl of, i. 19, 22, _64_

Thanet, Sackville Tufton, 8th Earl of, i. 22

Thanet, Mary, Lady, i. 18–21, 29, 86

Thompson, Mr., of Coley Park, Berkshire, ii. 15

Thompson, E., Resident in Paris, i. 175

Thomson, James, _Seasons_, i. 54, 177;
_Tancred and Sigismund_, i. 236

Throckmorton, Lady, i. 48

Throckmorton, Sir Robert, 4th Baronet, i. 48

Thynn, J., i. 50

Tillotson, John, Archbishop of Canterbury, ii. 20

Titchfield, Marquis of, i. 26, 28, 295; ii. 80

Tonbridge Castle, i. 204

Topham, Dr., ii. 174

Torgau, battle of, ii. 225

Torriano, Samuel, i. 277; ii. 72, 73, 86, 95, 99, 160, 175, 176, 185,
190;
his letter to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 97

Torriano, Mrs. (_née_ Scudamore), ii. 72, 185

Townsend, Charles, ii. 84

Townsend’s _Translation of the Conquest of Mexico_, i. 259

Townshend, General, ii. 171

Townshend, George, 4th Viscount and Marquis, ii. 220

Townshend, Lady, ii. 171

Traill, _Life of Laurence Sterne_ in the _Englishmen of Letters_
series, _i. 74_; ii. 174

Travers, Robert, _i. 270_

Travers, Mrs. Robert (Kitty Gunning), i. 270

Travile, Mrs. Montagu’s lady’s-maid, ii. 76–78, 82

Trelawney, i. 107

Trentham, Lord, i. 286

Trevor, 2nd Baron, _ii. 152_

Trevor, Mrs. G., i. 255

Trevor, Mrs. John Morley (_née_ Montagu), i. 264

Tufton, Lady Mary, i. 64

Tull, Jethro, inventor of the four-wheeled post-chaise, i. 266

Tullibardine, William Murray, Marquis of, i. 231

Tunbridge Wells, i. 9, 17, 199, 202, 269; ii. 11

Turner, M.P. for Yorkshire, i. 209

Turvin, Lieutenant, i. 80

Twisden, Sir Roger, ii. 188

Twycross, Captain, i. 135, 141, 213

Tyers, Mr., ii. 52

Vaillante, bookseller, i. 275

Valentia, Arthur, Viscount, i. 253

Valentia, Lucy, Viscountess (_née_ Lyttelton), i. 253; ii. 95

Vanburgh, Mr., i. 167

Vandyck, i. 249

Vane, Anne, Lady (_née_ Hawes), afterwards Lady William Hamilton,
ii. 2

Vane, Lord, _ii. 2_

Vanharen, Mr., i. 261

Vaughan, chair of, a sedan chair, ii. 6

Ventriloquism, ii. 40

Vere, Baron, of Hanworth, ii. 45

Verney, Mrs., i. 45

Vernon, Admiral, i. 58, 79, 91, 97, 107, 208, 222, 224

Vertue, George, engraver, etc., i. 62

Vesey, Agmondesham, M.P. for Harris Town, i. 267; ii. 214

Vesey, Mrs. A. (formerly Mrs. William Handcock), i. 267; ii. 73, 77,
_192_, 214, 268

Vesey, Sir Thomas, Bishop of Ossory, i. 267

Viper broth, ii. 151

Voltaire, i. 207; ii. 19, 120, 163;
_L’Orphelin de la Chine_, ii. 85;
_Tancred_, ii. 233;
Dr. Young on, ii. 257

Vourse, Mr., ii. 4

Wade, Field Marshal George, i. 177, 207, 208, 212, 214, 216

Wadman, Mrs., i. 166

Waldegrave, 2nd Earl, ii. 160

Waldegrave, Maria, Countess (_née_ Walpole), afterwards Duchess of
Gloucester, ii. 160

Wales, Frederick, Prince of, i. 95, 99, 280

Wales, Augusta of Saxe Gotha, Princess Frederick of, i. 103, 284;
ii. 17, 44, 83, 84, 97, 214, 217, 249, 251

Wall, Dr. John, founder of porcelain manufactory at Worcester, ii. 104

Waller, the poet, i. 108

Wallingford, Lady (Mary Katherine Law), i. 22, 25, 33, 35, 44, 48,
160, 196, 199, 235

Wallingford, Lord, i. 22, 48, 49

Walmoden, Amelia S. de, created Lady Yarmouth, ii. 126

Walnut medicine, i. 215

Walpole, Sir Edward, i. 28, 29, _156_; ii. 160

Walpole, Horace, i. _28_, 33, 124; ii. 24, 38, 114, 207;
_Letters to Sir Horace Mann_, i. _264_, 274, 287;
_Letter to George Montagu_, i. 267, 275; ii. 67, 177;
_Memoir of the Reign of George III._, ii. 44;
_Memoir of George I._, ii. 178

Walpole, Sir Robert (Earl of Orford), i. _28_, 94, 99, 100

Walton, Miss, i. 8

Warburton, Colonel, ii. 76

Warburton, Dr. William, Bishop of Gloucester, _Pope’s Works_, ii. 18;
on Lord Bolingbroke, ii. 61, 63

Watson, R.A., Colonel, i. 80

Webster, attorney in Cheapside, ii. 100

Wedderburn, Sir John, ii. 195

Weller, Jane (Mrs. Greenland), ii. 92

Wells and Hartley, i. 181

Wemyss, James, 5th Earl of, i. 177

Wentworth, M.P. for York City, i. 107, 209

Wentworth, Edward, 9th Baron, i. 201

Wentworth, General, i. 210

Weser river, ii. 109

Wesley, or Wellesley, Garrett, 1st Earl Mornington, i. 169; ii. 80

West, LL.D., Gilbert T., “Tubby,” i. 278, 279, 288; ii. 1, 11, 12, 38,
40, 72;
translation of _Pindar_, i. 90;
and of Lucian’s _Triumph of the Gout_, i. 283; ii. 47;
Clerk of the Privy Council, ii. 4;
introduces Bower to. Mrs. Montagu, ii. 163;
his “evergreen-nevergreen” garden, ii. 19;
Paymaster to Chelsea Hospital, ii. 51, 52, 85;
death of son, ii. 68;
his death, ii. 86, 87;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 9, 24, 28, 30–32, 42–44, 54, 57,
63, 71, 77, 81;
Mrs. Montagu’s letters to, i. 294, 295; ii. 8, 9, 17, 19, 20, 25,
41, 43, 46, 47, 55, 60, 61, 65, 71, 73, 74, 78, 82, 83, 86

West, Mrs. Gilbert T. (Catherine Bartlett), i. 90, 278, 279; ii. 1, 4,
10, 16, 18, 30, 32, 40, 63, 68, 71, 86, 88;
letter from Mrs. Montagu, ii. 21

West, Maria (Viscountess Bridport), i. 278; ii. 10, 23, 30, 32, 40,
57, 86, 87, 92, 115, 135

West, Dr. Richard, i. 278

West, Richard, ii. 12, 25, 38, 54, 63, 68, 71

West, Admiral Temple, ii. 1, 57, 83, 87, 89, 90

West, Mrs. Temple, ii. 22

Westcote, of Ballymore, William Henry, Baron, i. 284; ii. 32;
Governor of South Carolina, ii. 68, 78;
Governor of Jamaica, ii. 182

Westmorland, Lord, i. 90, 104

Wey Hill Fair, ii. 57

Weymouth, Lady, i. 50

Wharton, Duke of, i. 60

Wheatears, i. 160, 200, 286; ii. 197

Whiston, Mr., ii. 223

Whitehead, Paul, ii. 84

Widdrington, Lady, i. 39

Willes, John, Lord Chief Justice, i. 222; ii. 217

William Rufus, i. 204, 247

William of Wickham, i. 247

Williams, Sir Charles Hanbury, ii. _115_, 124

Williams, Lady Frances, ii. 115, 124, 162, 216, 247

Williams, Mrs., ii. 161, 162

Williamson, Mr., i. 142

Wilmington, Earl of, i. 100

Wilmot, Elizabeth (Countess Sandwich), ii. 113

Wilmot, Dr., i. 162, 254

Wilson, Dr., ii. 217

Wilton House, Lord Pembroke’s place, i. 249

Wimpole, Lord Oxford’s seat, i. 7

Winchester, Dr., ii. 17

Winchester Cathedral, i. 247

Winchilsea, Lady (Molly Palmer), i. 21

Winchilsea, Daniel, 7th Earl of, i. 21

Winchilsea, Daniel, 8th Earl of, i. 102

Windsor, Lord, i. 166

Windsors, Miss, i. 39

Winnington, Mr., i. 100

Witney blankets, i. 179

Woffington, Margaret, i. 92, 93

Wolfe, Brigadier-General, ii. _134_, 140, 155, 172

Woodward, Dr. John, geologist, i. 241

Worksop Manor, i. 125

Wortley, Mrs. Anne, _i. 51_

Wortley, Sir Francis, i. 237

Wortley, Sidney (Montagu), i. 237

Wright, John, publisher, _ii. 161_

Wye river, ii. 112

Yarmouth, Lady (Amelia S. de Walmoden), ii. 126, 154

York, county meeting at, i. 209

Yorke, Mr., ii. 217

Yorke, Mrs., i. 129, 194, 195

Yorke, General, ii. 142, 143, 154

Young, Dr. Edward (_Night Thoughts_), i. 59–61, 84, 85, 90, 91, 95,
133, 169, 199, 202–204, 213; ii. 199, 200, 236, 250;
Clerk of the Closet, ii. 249;
his letters to Mrs. Montagu, ii. 240, 248, 251, 257;
_Resignation_, ii. 257

Young, Sir William, i. 100, 235

Zincke, Christian Frederick, miniature painter, i. 45–48

Zorndorff, battle of, ii. 142

ROBINSON PEDIGREE

The Robinsons are said to be originally descended from the Robertsons
of Struan, or Strowan, in Perthshire, Scotland; the Clan Donachie, of
whom are many descendants to this time, 1905. For descent, _vide_ “The
New Peerage,” by William Owen, of 1785; “Collins’ Baronetage,” 1741;
“Lodge’s Irish Peerage,” 1739; “Longmate’s Irish Peerage,” 1808, etc.

The Robertsons of Struan, or Strowan, Perthshire, N.B., afterwards
Barons of Struan, descended from the “Comes de Atholia,” Earls of
Athole in the direct line.

+----
|1 WILLIAM ROBERTSON 7th Baron of Struan.
| =
|A DAUGHTER OF CREIGHTON.
+----
|
| +----
|-|1.1 ROBERT ROBINSON, of Struan, from whom descended the
| |Alexander Robertsons, of Struan.
| +----
|
| +----
+-|1.2 WILLIAM ROBERTSON, who was deprived of his younger
|son’s portion by the Earl of Athole. He fled to England, and
|settled at Kendal, Westmoreland, in the time of Henry VIII.
| =
|(?) Wife’s name unknown to me.
+----
|
| +----
+-|1.2.1 RALPH ROBINSON, settled at Brignall, Yorkshire.
| | =
| |AGNES PHILIP, eldest dau. and coheiress of James Philip,
| |of Brignall, by his wife, -- Bainbrigge. She died 1633. _Vide_
| |Visitation of Yorkshire for curious cursing stones on
| |Gatherley Moor, of this family.
| +----
| |
| | +----
| +-|1.2.1.1 WILLIAM ROBINSON, of London and Brignall. He
| |purchased Rokeby, Yorks, from Sir Thomas Rokeby, on June 7,
| |1610. He was the first Robinson who lived at Rokeby. He died at
| |a great age in 1643. He compounded by fine to avoid knighthood
| |at the coronation of Charles I.
| | =
| |MARY, daughter of Thomas Hill, Esq., of Thornton, Yorks;
| |buried, Jan. 21, 1633.
| +----
| |
| | +----
| +-|1.2.1.1.1 THOMAS ROBINSON, b. 1590; mar. at Rokeby, 1621; ,
| | |died in a skirmish at Leeds, June, 1643; buried at Leeds,
| | |June 21, 1643. He was a barrister of law; raised a troop
| | |of horse at his own expense for the Parliamentary army. He
| | |was one of the sesquestrators of estates in the North Riding.
| | |He left the Parliamentary army to join the King owing to
| | |their vehemence.
| | | =
| | |FRANCES, daughter of Leonard Smelt, Esq., of Kirby
| | |Fletham, Yorks. Her mother was an Allanson.
| | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.1 MARY ROBINSON, married at Rokeby,
| | | |June 9, 1640.
| | | | =
| | | |SIR CHRISTOPHER BLENCOWE, son and heir of Sir Henry
| | | |Blencowe, of Blencowe in Cumberland; descended from Adam
| | | |De Blencowe, standard bearer of Edward III.
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2 WILLIAM ROBINSON, born at Rokeby, 1624;
| | | |m. there in 1644; surnamed “The Justice” from his great
| | | |knowledge of law.
| | | | =
| | | |MARY, eldest dau. and coheiress of Frances Layton, of
| | | |Bawdon, Yorks, who was younger brother of John Layton, of
| | | |West Layton Hall and Kirkby Hall, Yorks. West Layton Hall
| | | |descended to Sir Leonard Robinson, and from him to his son
| | | |and grandson.
| | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.1 FRANCES ROBINSON, bap. at Rokeby,
| | | | |Jan. 25, 1646; m. April 23, 1667.
| | | | | =
| | | | |MICHAEL PICKERING, of Thornborough, Yorks.
| | | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2 THOMAS ROBINSON, of Rokeby, bap.
| | | | |Jan. 4, 1650; buried, June 26, 1719, at Merton Abbey,
| | | | |Surrey.
| | | | | =
| | | | |GRACE, dau. of Sir Henry Stapylton, of Mytton,
| | | | |Yorks, and Elizabeth, dau. of Conyers, Lord D’Arcy,
| | | | |created Baron Holdernesse.
| | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.1 ELIZABETH ROBINSON, b. 1674;
| | | | | |d. unmarried, 1739; buried at Merton Abbey; Co. of
| | | | | |Surrey.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2 WILLIAM ROBINSON, of Rokeby;
| | | | |bap. there, Sept. 23, 1675; m. 1698; d. Feb. 24, 1720;
| | | | |buried at Merton Abbey. Seven sons and two daughters.
| | | | | =
| | | | |ANNE, dau. of Robert Walters, of Cundall, North
| | | | |Riding, Yorks. She died in 1730. Her mother was a
| | | | |Stordale, of Belton Park, Yorks. Buried at Merton
| | | | |Abbey.
| | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.1 ANNE ROBINSON, b. York, 1699; m.,
| | | | | |first Robert Knight, of Barrels, Warwickshire,
| | | | | |father of the Earl of Catherlough, by whom she had a
| | | | | |son, who died early; secondly, James Cresset,
| | | | | |secretary to the Princess Dowager of Wales, and
| | | | | |Comptroller of Army Accounts. She died in 1759.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | | |ELIZABETH (1st wife), dau. of Charles Howard, 3rd
| | | | | |Earl of Carlisle, widow of Nicholas, Lord Lechmere.
| | | | | |She died at Bath April 10, and was buried at Rokeby,
| | | | | |April 24, 1739. A monument to her and Sir Thomas in
| | | | | |Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey, with medallion
| | | | | |portraits.
| | | | | | =
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.2 SIR THOMAS ROBINSON, nicknamed
| | | | | |“Long Sir T. R.,” Bart. of Great Britain, March 10,
| | | | | |1730–31. b. in 1700; 1727, M.P. for Morpeth. First
| | | | | |marriage, Oct. 25, 1728, at Belfreys, Yorks; 1735 to
| | | | | |1742 Commissioner of Excise; Governor of Barbadoes,
| | | | | |Jan. 1742–47. Sold Rokeby in 1769 to John Saurey
| | | | | |Morritt. It had been 160 years in the family. Died at
| | | | | |Prospect House, Chelsea, March 3, 1777.
| | | | | | =
| | | | | |SARAH, (2nd wife) dau. of Booth, Esq., of the
| | | | | |family of Delaware, and widow of Samuel Salmon, of
| | | | | |Barbadoes. She preferred to remain in Barbadoes when
| | | | | |her second husband returned to England.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.3 ROBERT, 2nd son, died,
| | | | | |_ætat_ 14.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.4 SIR WILLIAM ROBINSON, b. 1702;
| | | | | |succeeded to the baronetage in 1777, at the death of
| | | | | |his brother, Sir Thomas Robinson; d. 1785. Unmarried.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.5 HENRY ROBINSON, Major in the Army;
| | | | | |killed at the attack on Fort Lazare, near Carthagena,
| | | | | |1741–42.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.6 JOHN ROBINSON, died young,
| | | | | |unmarried.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.7 SIR RICHARD ROBINSON, Archbishop
| | | | | |of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland; b. 1709; educated
| | | | | |at Westminster and Christchurch, Oxford; B.A. 1730;
| | | | | |M.A. 1733; B.D. and D.D. 1738; chaplain to the
| | | | | |Archbishop of York, 1738; Rector of Elton, Prebend of
| | | | | |York, and Vicar of Aldborough, Suffolk; Bishop of
| | | | | |Killala, Jan. 19, 1752; Bishop of Leighlin and Ferns,
| | | | | |1759; Bishop of Kildare, April 13, 1761; Dean of
| | | | | |Christchurch, Dublin, 1761; Primate of Ireland,
| | | | | |Jan. 19, 1765; made Baron of Ireland, as 1st Baron
| | | | | |Rokeby, Feb. 26, 1777; English baronet in 1785 at his
| | | | | |brother William’s death; died at Clifton,
| | | | | |Oct. 10, 1794, _ætat_ 86.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.8 GRACE ROBINSON, b. 1718, m. 1739,
| | | | | |d. Dec. 28, 1776; left 4 surviving children.
| | | | | | =
| | | | | |The REV. WILLIAM FREIND, succeeded his father, the
| | | | | |Rev. Robert Freind, as Rector of Witney, Oxon., in
| | | | | |1739; made Prebend of Westminster, Oct. 17, 1744;
| | | | | |also Royal Chaplain, 1747; Rector of Islip; Canon of
| | | | | |Christchurch, May 15, 1756; Dean of Canterbury,
| | | | | |June 14, 1760. Rebuilt Witney Rectory; built and
| | | | | |endowed Hailey Chapel, Witney. He died Nov. 26, 1766.
| | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.8.1 ROBERT FREIND, b. 1740;
| | | | | | |d. 1780.
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.8.2 WILLIAM MAXIMILIAN.
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.8.3 REV. SIR JOHN, b. 1754;
| | | | | | |Archdeacon of Armagh; assumed the name of Robinson,
| | | | | | |and became principal heir to his uncle, the 1st
| | | | | | |Baron Rokeby, and Primate of Ireland. He was made a
| | | | | |baronet, Dec. 14, 1819.
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.8.4 GRACE, m. 1765: d. 1807.
| | | | | | =
| | | | | |LIEUT.-GENERAL DUNCAN CAMPBELL, R. M.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.2.2.9 SIR SEPTIMUS ROBINSON, 7th son,
| | | | |b. Jan. 30, 1710; educated at Westminster and
| | | | |Christchurch, Oxford; served one year in the French
| | | | |Army with Marshal Clermont in six campaigns; then in
| | | | |the English Army, under General Wade, in 1745;
| | | | |three campaigns with Marshal Ligonier in Holland;
| | | | |1751 to 1760 Governor to the Dukes of Gloucester and
| | | | |Cumberland. He was knighted in 1761, and made Usher
| | | | |of the Black Rod at the accession of George III. He
| | | | |died at Brough, Westmoreland, Sept. 6, 1765; buried
| | | | |at Rokeby. His monument, by Nollekins, erected by his
| | | | |brothers, Sir William and Sir Richard Robinson.
| | | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.2.3 ANNE, bap. Dec. 8, 1665; d. Dec., 1665.
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.3 FRANCES, bap. July 15, 1627; m. 1646;
| | | |d. July 10, 1661.
| | | | =
| | | |GEORGE GRAY, of Sudwich, Durham;
| | | |descended from the Grays of Chillingham and Wark.
| | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.3.1 The REV. GEORGE GRAY, who succeeded
| | | |his uncle, the Rev. Matthew Robinson, as Vicar of
| | | |Burneston.
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.4 The REV. MATTHEW ROBINSON, Vicar of
| | | |Burneston, Yorks; b. 1628; m. Oct. 12, 1657; d. Nov. 27,
| | | |1694. Remarkable for his piety and learning in law and
| | | |physic; great judge of horses and dogs.
| | | | =
| | | |JANE PICKERING, dau. of Mark Pickering, and sister and
| | | |heiress of William Pickering, of Eworth, Yorks.
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.5 JOHN, bap. Dec. 9, 1632; d. Oct., 1638.
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.6 THOMAS, bap. May 16, 1635;
| | | |d. Dec., 1635.
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.7 THOMAS, bap. Dec. 10, 1637; merchant of
| | | |York. In his will, 1660, he left his brother, the Rev.
| | | |Matthew Robinson, his executor and heir.
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | | |LUCY LAYTON (1st wife), of West Layton, descended
| | | |from John Layton, eldest son of Francis Layton, of West
| | | |Layton Hall and Kirkby Hall, Yorks. Died _s.p._
| | | | =
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8 SIR LEONARD ROBINSON, bap. June 23, 1643;
| | |knighted, Oct. 29, 1692; d. 1696. Was Chamberlain of the
| | |City of London. He was a posthumous son, born a few days
| | |after his father’s, Thomas Robinson’s, death in the
| | |skirmish at Leeds.
| | | = -----------------------------------------------+
| | |DEBORAH (2nd wife), dau. of Sir John |
| | |Collet, Sheriff of London. She was the ancestress |
| | |of the 2nd House of Robinson. |
| | +---- |
| | |
| | +--------------------------------------------------+
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1 THOMAS ROBINSON, b. 1667; d. 1720.
| | | | =
| | | | ----+
| | | |2. ELIZABETH, dau. of William Clarke, of |
| | | |Merivale Abbey, Warwickshire, and sister and heir |
| | | |of her brother, William Clarke. She had been |
| | | |previously married to Anthony Light, Esq., by whom |
| | | |she had one daughter, Lydia, who married, first, |
| | | |Thomas Kirke, Esq., and, secondly, the Rev. Robert |
| | | |Lumley, by whom she had two daughters; one married |
| | | |the Rev. John Botham; the other, the Rev. Laurence |
| | | |Sterne. |
| | | +---- ----+
| | | | |
| | | | +-------------------------------------------------+
| | | | |
| | | | +----
| | | | |2.1 LYDIA.
| | | | | =
| | | | |REV. JOHN BOTHAM.
| | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|2.1.1–5 Five children.
| | | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | | |2.2 ELIZABETH.
| | | | | =
| | | | |The REV. LAURENCE STERNE.
| | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|2.2.1 LYDIA, died an infant.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|2.2.2 LYDIA.
| | | | | =
| | | | |ALEXANDER DE MEDALLE.
| | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|2.2.2.1 son died young.
| | | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1 MATTHEW ROBINSON, of the city of York,
| | | | |Edgeley, and West Layton, Yorks.; b. at York, 1694; m.
| | | | |at 18, in 1712; d. Oct. 1778, _ætat_ 85; Gentleman
| | | | |Commoner of Trinity College, Cambridge. He had 12
| | | | |children, 9 of whom survived.
| | | | | =
| | | | |ELIZABETH, dau. of Councillor Robert Drake (of the
| | | | |Drakes of Ash, Devon), and sister and heir of her
| | | | |brother, Morris Drake Morris, of Coveney, Cambridge,
| | | | |and Mount Morris, in the parish of Horton, near Hythe,
| | | | |Kent; m. 1712; d. 1744; buried at Monk’s Horton.
| | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.1 MATTHEW ROBINSON, b. April 6,
| | | | | |1713; bap. at York, April 12, 1713. Educated at
| | | | | |Trinity Hall, Cambridge; graduated 1734; became a
| | | | | |Fellow; elected M.P. for Canterbury, July 1, 1747;
| | | | | |re-elected, 1754; between these dates assumed the
| | | | | |additional name of Morris, on inheriting his mother’s
| | | | | |property at Mount Morris, near Hythe, Kent;
| | | | | |d. Nov. 30, 1800; buried at Monk’s Horton, Dec. 8,
| | | | | |_ætat_ 87. Became 2nd Baron of Rokeby on the death of
| | | | | |his cousin, the Archbishop of Armagh, in 1794. Author
| | | | | |of several political pamphlets.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.2 THOMAS ROBINSON, barrister of
| | | | | |Lincoln’s Inn, b. 1714. Wrote a treatise on
| | | | | |_Gavelkind_ and borough English in 1741, of which
| | | | | |there have been three or more editions. d. 1747;
| | | | | |unmarried.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.3 MORRIS ROBINSON, of Lincoln’s Inn
| | | | | |Fields and of the Six Clerks’ Office, b. 1715; d. in
| | | | | |Dublin, 1777, _ætat_ 61; buried in Armagh
| | | | | |Cathedral. He was solicitor in Chancery and agent to
| | | | | |John, Duke of Montagu, etc.
| | | | | | =
| | | | | |JANE GREENLAND, dau. of John Greenland, of Lovelace,
| | | | | |co. Kent, and his wife, _née_ Jane Waller, of
| | | | | |Kingsgate House, Rolveden, Kent.
| | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.3.1 MORRIS ROBINSON, b. July 14,
| | | | | | |1757; bap. in the parish of St. Andrew’s, Holborn;
| | | | | | |barrister of the Middle Temple; succeeded his
| | | | | | |uncle, Matthew, as 3rd Baron Rokeby, in 1800. He
| | | | | | |died, unmarried, in 1829, _ætat_ 71.
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.3.2 MATTHEW MONTAGU, b. Nov. 23,
| | | | | |1762; bap. at St. Andrew’s, Holborn; assumed the
| | | | | |name and arms of Montagu by virtue of the King’s
| | | | | |Sign Manual, June 3, 1776, and Dec. 21, 1776; M.P.
| | | | | |for Tregony, Cornwall, 1788 to 1790, then for St.
| | | | | |Germans; became 4th Baron Rokeby in 1829. Died at
| | | | | |Montagu House, Sept. 1, 1837, _ætat_ 68.
| | | | | | =
| | | | | |ELIZABETH CHARLTON, sole heir of Francis Charlton,
| | | | | |by his wife, _née_ Elizabeth Southby; m. July 9,
| | | | | |1785; d. March 7, 1817, leaving thirteen surviving
| | | | | |children. Her grandmother was of royal descent from
| | | | | |Edward I. and Edward III.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.4 ROBERT ROBINSON, a captain in the
| | | | | |East India service; d. in China, 1756; unmarried.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.5 The REV. WILLIAM ROBINSON, b.
| | | | | |1726. Educated at Westminster and St. John’s College,
| | | | | |Cambridge; m. in 1760; Rector of Denton, Kent; lived
| | | | | |at Denton Court, Kent, from Nov. 23, 1764 to 1785;
| | | | | |Rector of Burghfield, Berks; died there Sept. 9,
| | | | | |1803, _ætat_ 76. He was the great friend of the poet
| | | | | |Gray.
| | | | | | =
| | | | | |MARY RICHARDSON, dau. of Adam Richardson, and heiress
| | | | | |of her father and brother, William Richardson, of
| | | | | |Kensington. She died April 8, 1789, _ætat_ 64,
| | | | | |leaving one son and two daughters.
| | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.5.1 REV. MATTHEW ROBINSON, Rector
| | | | | | |of Coveney and Manea, Cambs.; d. Aug. 10, 1827, at
| | | | | | |Burghfield, Berks., where he had succeeded his
| | | | | | |father as rector. Unmarried.
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.5.2 SARAH.
| | | | | | | =
| | | | | | |SAMUEL TRUMAN.
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.5.3 MARY.
| | | | | | =
| | | | | |SIR SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES, as his second
| | | | | |wife; several children by him.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.6 JOHN ROBINSON, Fellow of Trinity
| | | | | |Hall, Cambridge; d. 1800; unmarried.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.7 CHARLES ROBINSON,
| | | | | |b. 1733; Recorder of Canterbury in 1763, and M.P. for
| | | | | |same 1780 to 1790; d. 1807.
| | | | | | =
| | | | | |MARY, 2nd dau. of John Greenland, and sister of
| | | | | |Mrs. Morris Robinson. She was a wealthy widow. 1st
| | | | | |husband, R. Dukes, Esq.
| | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.7.1 SARAH, an only child.
| | | | | | =
| | | | | |WILLIAM HOUGHAM, of Barton Court, Kent.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.8 ELIZABETH ROBINSON, b. Oct. 2,
| | | | | |1720, at York; m. Aug. 5, 1742; d. Aug. 25, 1800, at
| | | | | |Montagu House, Portman Square, in her 80th year.
| | | | | |Elizabeth was the eldest daughter, but the fourth
| | | | | |child of her parents.
| | | | | | =
| | | | | |EDWARD MONTAGU, son by second marriage of Charles
| | | | | |Montagu, 5th son of 1st Earl of Sandwich. His mother,
| | | | | |_née_ Sarah Rogers, of East Denton,
| | | | | |Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northumberland. He was born on
| | | | | |Nov. 13, 1692; d. May 20, 1775, _ætat_ 83.
| | | | | +----
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +----
| | | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.8.1 JOHN MONTAGU, nicknamed
| | | | | |“Punch,” b. May, 1743; died at Allerthorpe, Yorks,
| | | | | |the end of August, 1744, aged 15 months. Buried at
| | | | | |Burneston, Yorks, but afterwards removed to
| | | | | |Winchester Cathedral, and reinterred with his
| | | | | |parents by order of his mother’s will.
| | | | | +----
| | | | |
| | | | | +----
| | | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.1.9 SARAH ROBINSON, b. Sep. 21, 1723;
| | | | |m., 1751, George Lewis Scott, a barrister, son of
| | | | |George Scott, of Bristow, N.B., by his wife, _née_
| | | | |Marion Stewart. Mrs. Scott died at Catton, Norwich,
| | | | |Nov. 3, 1795, without issue. She was authoress of
| | | | |_Millennium Hall_ and other works.
| | | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.2 THOMAS, R.N., died without issue.
| | | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.1.3 LEONARD, died unmarried.
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.2 DEBORAH.
| | | | =
| | | |THOMAS BAKER, of Westminster. Consul at Algiers in 1698.
| | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.2.1 HONOR.
| | | | | =
| | | | |WILLIAM CHETWYND, afterwards 3rd Viscount Chetwynd.
| | | | +----
| | | |
| | | +----
| | | |1st, GIBBONS, Esq.
| | | | = +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.3 FRANCES. |1.2.1.1.1.7.3.1 LEONARD.
| | | | = --------------------------|1.2.1.1.1.7.3.2 JOHN
| | | |2nd, BOURNE, Esq. +----
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.4 MARY
| | | | =
| | | |WILLIAM SNELL, Esq.
| | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.4.1 JAMES.
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.4.2 WILLIAM.
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.4.3 DEBORAH.
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.4.4 ANNE.
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.5 SARAH
| | | | =
| | | |THOMAS KNIGHT, of Barrels, Warwickshire.
| | | +----
| | | |
| | | | +----
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.5.1 ROBINSON KNIGHT, a barrister.
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.5.2 DEBORAH.
| | | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.5.3 SARAH.
| | | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.6 MARGARET.
| | | =
| | |ELMES SPINKS.
| | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.6.1 ELMES SPINKS.
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.6.2 DEBORAH.
| | +-|1.2.1.1.1.8.6.3 SARAH.
| | +----
| |
| | +----
| +-|1.2.1.1.2 The REV. JOHN ROBINSON, Vicar of Burneston,
| | |Yorks.
| | | =
| | |CATHERINE, dau. of Dr. Wilson.
| | +----
| | |
| | | +----
| | +-|1.2.1.1.2.1 WILLIAM ROBINSON, bap. Feb. 14, 1636,
| | |ob. _s.p._
| | +----
| |
| | +----
| | |PERCIVAL PHILIPS
| | |(1st husband), of
| | |Wensleydale, +---- co-heiresses.
| | |Co. York. |1.2.1.1.3.1 MARY.
| | | = -----------------------------|1.2.1.1.3.2 LUCY.
| +-|1.2.1.1.3. |1.2.1.1.3.3 ANNE.
| |CATHERINE ROBINSON +----
| |Hers the first
| |marriage at Rokeby in 1613. +----
| | = -----------------------------|1.2.1.1.3.4 WILLIAM,
| |RICHARD SMITH |and other issue.
| |(2nd husband), of Cottingham. +----
| |Second marriage took place
| |at Rokeby, Oct. 1, 1626.
| +----
|
| +----
+-|1.2.2 HENRY ROBINSON, a citizen of London; bought
| |Cranstay, Northamptonshire, from Sir Thomas Cecil; d. 1585; left
| |issue.
| | =
| |ALICE WILKES, dau. of Thomas Wilkes, of Islington; she
| |died 1613. She married, secondly, William Elkin; thirdly, Thomas
| |Owen, Judge of Common Pleas.
| +----
| |
| | +----
| +-|1.2.2.1 SIR HENRY ROBINSON, of Cranstay, d. 1637.
| | =
| |MARY, daughter of Sir William Glover.
| +----
| |
| | +----
| +-|1.2.2.1.1 HENRY, b. 1625.
| | =
| |ANNE BIRCH, by whom he had three sons and one
| |daughter.
| +----
|
| +----
+-|1.2.3 URSULA ROBINSON.
| =
|THOMAS MORE, a London merchant.
+----

Transcribers’ Note

Variant spelling, inconsistent hyphenation, punctuation and spelling
are retained, however a few changes have been made to correct apparent
errors, these are listed below.

Page headings have been moved to appropriate positions. Dates from
these headings have been retained for each new year. Both page headings
and years are shown here in square brackets.

Footnotes have been moved to end of the paragraph or letter to which
they refer.

In captions of illustrations, “Mr.” “Mrs.” “1st.” were originally
printed with all but the first character as superscripts, and variant
spellings of “née” have been standardized.

In the printed book there were a few blanks where characters or parts
of characters did not print. These have been corrected.

Mismatched quotation marks have been made standard.

The Robinson Pedigree chart was printed on a loose sheet of paper, and
inserted inside the back cover of Volume One. It is shown here at the
end of Volume Two. It has been rearranged to fit within the confines of
this file. Entries have been numbered.

In the index punctuation, the use of volume numbers, and
the use of italics have been standardized.

Other changes that have been made: Volume 1

Page 14: “be” changed to “he” in “he brought me out a whole face”.

Page 74: “perferment” changed to “preferment” in “prospect of better
preferment”.

Footnote 214: “Freind” changed from “Friend” in “Mrs. Freind’s brother”.

Page 167: the paragraph starting “Last night in the middle of the
dancing” has been formatted as an extract from a letter.

Page 266: “neé” changed to “née”.

Footnote 476: “Febuary” changed to “February”.

Page 264: Please note that the apostrophe has been left as printed in
“the Lady Stanhopes’”

Other changes that have been made: Volume 2

Footnote 47: “Sir T. Newton” changed to “Sir I. Newton”. Note
that “Roubilliac” has been left as printed.

Page 69: Duplicate “of” removed from “To complete the measure of of his
good usage”.

Page 88: “_souffre douelur_” changed to “_souffre douleur_”.

Footnote 145: “Northumerland” changed to “Northumberland”.

Page 148: In “... the gold pap boat; and Lady Besborough.” the
semicolon was originally printed as a full stop. Note that “Besborough”
has been left as printed.

Footnote 312: “In 1775, Colman” changed to “In 1757, Colman”.

Page 278: “_neé_” changed to “_née_”.

The following changes have been made to the entries in the Index:

“Fitz-Adam, Adam”: “FitzAdam” changed to “Fitz-Adam”.

“Hawkesworth, LL.D., John, _Oriental Tales_”: “Hawksworth” changed
to “Hawkesworth”, and the entry has been moved up one to keep it in
alphabetic order.

“Helvetius, Claud Adrien, _De l’Esprit_”: “Adrian” changed to “Adrien”.

“Lyttelton, Sir George, 1st Lord,”: sub-entry for “a pea” changed to “a
peer”.

“Thanet, Sackville Tufton”: “Tutton” changed to “Tufton”.

“Place, Rev. Conyers”, the reference has been changed from volume ii.
to volume i.

Robertson Pedigree: In the entry for Thomas Robinson, bap. May 16,
1635, his year of death has been changed from 1655 to 1635. In the
entry for Elizabeth Robinson, daughter of Councillor Robert Drake,
“heir of” was originally repeated. William Robinson’s year of birth
has been changed from 1720 to 1726.

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Elizabeth Montagu, the queen of the bluestockings, Volumes I and II : Her Correspondence from 1720 to 1761" ***

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