A letter was brought up-and who should be below but-Dr. Kippis. The letter was to announce himself and his business, flattered me on my writings, desired my assistance, and particularly my direction and aid for his writing the life of my father. I desired he would walk up, and received him very civilly, taking not the smallest notice of what you had told me of his flirts at me in the new Biographia.' I told him, if I had been applied to, I could have pointed out many errors in the old edition, but as they were chiefly in the printing, I supposed they would be corrected. With regard to my father's life, I said, it might be partiality, but I had such confidence in my father's virtues, that I was satisfied the more his life was examined, the clearer they would appear; that I also thought that the life of any man written under the direction of his family, did nobody honour; and that, as I was persuaded my father's would stand the test, I wished that none of his relations should interfere in it; that I did not doubt but the Doctor would speak impartially, and that was all I desired. He replied, that he did suppose I thought in that manner, and that all he asked was to be assisted in facts and dates. I said, if he would please to write the life first, and then communicate it to me, I would point out any errors in facts that I should perceive. He seemed mightily well satisfied-and so we partedbut is it not odd, that people are continually attacking me, and then come to me for assistance ?-but when men write for profit, they are not very delicate. I have resumed Mr. Baker's Life, and pretty well arranged my plan; but I shall have little time to make any progress till October, as I am going soon to make some visits. Yours ever. 1757. TO THE EARL OF HARCOURT. Strawberry Hill, Sept. 17, 1778. I SHOULD not for one moment have delayed thanking your Lordship for the honour of your very kind invitation if I had not been absent, and did not receive it till last night, when I returned from Park-place after the post was gone. I had gone thither to keep Mr. Conway and Lady Aylesbury company on the death of Lord William Campbell, and was frightened home by an attack of the gout in my knee, which prevents me, my dear Lord, from daring to name a day for having the great pleasure of waiting on your Lordship and Lady Harcourt. I do hope to execute my wish on Monday next, for the motion of the chaise has removed the pain into my foot, and when it flutters about I have seldom found it to end in a fit; yet vexatious as it would be to lose my visit to Nuneham, it would mortify me still more to trouble your Lordship with my decrepitude, and therefore be assured I will not venture if I am not quite well, and as Herculean as ever. My best friends shall not be troubled with my moans, nor my enemies neither, though the last sooner; and yet I abhor Lady Mary Wortley, who said, "People wish their enemies dead-but I do not; I say give them the gout, give them the stone!" indeed I would not give them a bodily pang-a little twitch in their minds, that would make them feel for others, would be rather wholesome. 1 I must not omit my compliments on Colonel Harcourt's marriage,' and yet it is not with perfect cordiality. It is not thence I wish for a Lord Nuncham. Pray forgive me; in friendship I am a Tory, and love the right line, though I desire the house of Harcourt may reach to the end of the world, as it has reached from the beginning. I beg your Lordship's prayers for those that are to travel by land or water, or rather that they may travel, and pray do it as sincerely and fervently as he does for whom your prayers are desired. Your Lordship's Most faithful and obedient Humble servant, P.S. Your Lordship authorises me and therefore I presume to add the following words to an Israelite indeed: TO MR. MASON. Vide in my writing-box a long letter that will clear me from your accusation; and the reasons why I choose to bring it myself, moreover I have waited time out of mind for Mr. Alderson. I pressed him to come and see my house, and flattered myself that would be a temptation; but he is a Priest, And Strawberry must yield to Sion Hill. As to wanting the conclusion, I do ardently, especially if it is ad The Hon. Colonel Harcourt, only brother to the Earl of Harcourt, married 21st Sept. 1778, Mrs. Lockhart, widow of Thomas Lockhart, of Craighouse, in Scotland: and eldest daughter of the Rev. William Danby, D. D.-CUNNINGHAM. infinitum. Do you think I can have enough of you, of you issime? do you imagine I have no self-love? am I so accustomed to flattery as to be surfeited with it? am I to be praised in every Magazine like Garrick and Dr. Johnson; and if not satiated with panegyrics, do I write them on myself, like the former? do I not know that a line of yours will preserve me like a fly in amber? what do you think is come to me? In short, in self-defence I must tell you why I did not send away my letter. I have done such justice on myself in it, on your account, that my modesty would not hold out; and though I shall be rigorously just enough to trust you with my confession, I could not bring myself to stand in a sheet before the clerks of the Post Office, and I am too idle to write a letter over again—so much for that. I sit feeling and handling and probing myself from hand to foot and putting myself to pain, in trying if the gout is gone. I am just like Harlequin, when he was tickling himself to death. If it does not come before Monday, I shall think myself safe. I was rejoiced to be got home; but when I came up into the Blue Room, and found Lord Harcourt's letter, I was out of my wits; yet I do not despair, as the journey has shifted the seat of the pain, which I always reckon a good symptom. I have begged the prayers of Lord Harcourt and his congregation, but I will have none of yours: they are not worth a straw. Should we be in such a dismal situation, if you could have prayed us out of it? The English clergy have prayed for popery and slavery, and drawn down miseries on us, that will not be suspended for your deprecations, because folly and iniquity are punished by their natural consequences. My commission to you shall be to lay my homage at Miss Fauquier's feet, which will make it more agreeable. I shall be very happy or very miserable on Monday on all your accounts, as no party could be assembled more to the liking of my heart, but I must not trespass too much in a Postscript, for which I again beg Lord Harcourt's pardon. You will oblige me, dear Sir, if you will drop in conversation that Lady Craven has lately allowed me to print at my press her translation of the Somnambule; and pray observe if no one in the company seems to feel a soupçon of remorse. I shall not tell you why, but I have my reasons. 1758. TO SIR HORACE MANN. Strawberry Hill, Sept. 17, 1778. YOUR last is of August 22nd, and mine of the 25th. Since then I could have told you of nothing but expectations; nor are they realised yet. Admiral Keppel has been hunting for the Brest fleet, which has either gone southward, or is dodging in and out of their ports: at least he had not found it. But if the god of sea-fights does not smile, the god of merchantmen has wrought miracles: all our fleets are come in from Portugal, the West Indies, and every other mart: he has been as cunning as if he were the demon of smugglers. Letters are arrived too from New York. D'Estaign had quitted that blockade, and was thought to be sailed to attack Rhode Island. Lord Howe has gone after him with an inferior force, but, as they say, hoping to be joined by six of Byron's squadron; which six are come to light again, and were not far off. Of that Admiral not a word. This is the quintessence of all I know. In my family we are very happy that the King of Prussia has sent the Duke a most handsome excuse, being afraid of exposing a constitution so delicate as his Royal Highness's to the fatigues of a latter campaign; so that anxiety is at an end! Prince Henry's success has not availed much. Having devoured the country, the Prussians have been forced to step back. The people that have been devoured count for nothing. Your Duchess of Kingston is a paltry mountebank. It is too ridiculous to have airs after conviction. Mrs. Anne Pitt, I hear, is arrived. Her nephew, Mr. Thomas Pitt, I believe, you will see ere long. A weakness is fallen on his knees, and made him a cripple. He is, I think, set out for Italy, like Eneas, with his Creusa, her father of eighty-seven, and two sucking babes.' Let me give you a caution: he and I have never been on more than civil terms since Mr. Grenville's reign. He now swears by the ghost of his uncle Chatham, whom in those days he detested. I saw Mr. Mackenzie last week, who spoke of you with the 1 Mr. Thomas Pitt, in 1783 created Lord Camelford, married, in 1771, the daughter and co-heir of Pinkney Wilkinson, Esq., of Burnham in Norfolk; by whom he had one son, Thomas his successor, who was killed in a duel in 1804, and one daughter, who, in 1792, was married to William, Lord Grenville.-WRIGHT. 2 They quarrelled about Mr. Conway. See vol. iv. p. 139.-CUNNINGHAM. heartiest kindness; and so does Lady Betty. Lady Chesterfield is dead, at above fourscore. She was not a girl when she came over with George I. What can I tell you more? My politics, beyond facts, would be but the conjectures of a private dreamer. Yet I am ashamed to send such a sippet of a letter; especially when you are impatient for mine, and reckon on and depend upon them. But you would not trust to them, if I were not cautious not to send you anything but truths; no easy task, if I were not brief. Ten thousand lies are propagated every week, not only by both sides, but by stock-jobbers; for those grave folks, monied citizens, contribute exceedingly to embroil and confound History, which was not very authentic before they were spawned. Newspapers, that ought to facilitate intelligence, are the vehicles of lies, and blunders, and scandal; and Truth, which formerly could trudge ten miles on foot, cannot now get along the road for the crowds of counterfeits. An historian, who shall consult the Gazettes of the times, will write as fabulous a romance as Gargantua. You will wish to know something of Spain's intentions. I am sure I cannot satisfy you. She has a fleet, and she arms; but her Ambassador is here-if to blind us, his purpose is not quite answered, for many have no faith in him. On the other hand, though at war with France, neither country takes notice of it. The English pass through Calais as quietly as just after a peace. The Spanish Ambassador, whose size makes him look as if he represented the King of Lilliput, diverts the town with his gallantries, which are not at all in the style of the novels of his country, nor consist in mere serenades. He made a visit lately to a house of ill odour, and, though they say his wife is jealous, he left his two footmen at the door with flambeaux. His generosity, too, was not of a piece with the masters of Peru. He gave the nymph but half-a-guinea, and a shilling to the maid. As a pigmy does not pay with his person, the damsels made much noise against the receipt of silver pennies, which might be in proportion to his stature, but not to his character. To stifle their clamours, he declared he was the Venetian Resident; and now he has a quarrel on his hands with that Minister for the double scandal. 1 Lady Elizabeth Campbell, third daughter of John Duke of Argyll.-WALPOLE. Count Almodovar.-WALPOLE. |