ELIZABETH MONTAGU
THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS
HER CORRESPONDENCE FROM
1720 TO 1761

Transcribers’ Note

The cover image was created by the transcriber, and is placed in the public domain. It is based on the original cover.

A combination of volumes one and two of “Elizabeth Montagu” is also published at Project Gutenberg. The inter-volume references (e.g. in the index) are working links in that version.

Please also see the [note at the end of this volume].

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

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1906

PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
LONDON AND BECCLES

CONTENTS TO VOL. II

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOL. II.

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.

1752

“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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

A SEDAN CHAIR — 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.

SOUTH LODGE — 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.”

CAPTAIN ROBERT ROBINSON — “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.

“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.

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.

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”.

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.”

“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.”

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.”

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

BERENGER — 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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.”

“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.”

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).”

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.”

“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.

John Nixon, pxt.]

TEA AND COFFEE IN THE BATH-ROOM.

“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.”

Thos. Malton, pxt.]

THE CIRCUS, AT BATH.

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.

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?

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.

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.”

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.

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!”

“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.”

“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.”

1754

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.

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.”

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!”

“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.

MR. WEST’S APPOINTMENT — 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.

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.

“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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

“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.

T. Rowlandson, pxt.]

THE KING’S BATH, AT BATH.

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.

REV. W. WARBURTON — 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.

MR. PITT’S MARRIAGE — 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.

W. Hoare R A Pinx. Emery Walker Ph. Sc.

Philip, 4th Earl of Chesterfield.

“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.”

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.

1755

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.

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!

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

W. Hogarth Pinx. Emery Walker Ph. Sc.

Garrick and his wife
from the picture in the possession of H.M. The King.

MR. GARRICK’S PLAYHOUSE

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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!”

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.

EMIN’S TROUBLES — 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 1½d. 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.

1757

“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.

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 8s. 6d. 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.”

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.

TO “KILLUM.” — “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 6d. 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.”

MRS. MARY DELANY.

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.”

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.

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

ALLERTHORPE HALL.

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.”

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.’”

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

BENJAMIN STILLINGFLEET.

JOHN ROGERS — 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.

ELIZABETH CARTER — 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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

ARRIVAL AT CARVILLE — “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.

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.

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!

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.”

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.

EMIN DISCONSOLATE — 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.

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.

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.”

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 3d. for a pd. Muton 4d. to 4½d., it is beyond prise wich I never heard before at this time of ye year, pork and veal 5d. a pound.”

MRS. SHERLOCK — 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.”

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.”