Chapter IV (2)

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

[291] Mr. Rust was travelling companion to the son of Mr. Hoare, of
Stourhead, the great banker.

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

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

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

[Page heading: GREEN TEA AND SNUFF]

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

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

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

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

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

[292] Her mother’s house near Newbury.

[Page heading: DEATH OF KING GEORGE II.]

[Page heading: GEORGE III. KING]

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

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

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

[293] George III.

From Hagley, on October 26, Lord Lyttelton writes--

“MADONNA,

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

“Your most faithfull
and obedient humble Servᵗ,
“LYTTELTON.

“My respectfull compliments to Mr. Montagu.”

[Page heading: ON THE DEATH OF GEORGE II.]

[Page heading: MR. MACPHERSON]

To this Mrs. Montagu replies--

“Newcastle, ye 31st October, 1760.

“MY LORD,

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

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

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

[Page heading: “GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY”]

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

“MADONNA,

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

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

[Page heading: GEORGE II.--WILL]

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

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

[294] Sister of Lord Chatham.

[295] Sometimes called Princess Amelia, daughter of George II.

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

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

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

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

[296] John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, born 1713, died 1792; married
Mary Wortley Montagu.

[297] Francis, 10th Earl of Huntingdon, son of the famous Lady
Huntingdon, the patroness of the “Huntingdon Connexion” branch of
the Methodists.

[Page heading: MR. AND MRS. VESEY]

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

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

[298] The funeral of King George took place the same day, November
11, 1760.

[Page heading: FLOODS]

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

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

“MY DEAREST,

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

Writing the same evening to Lord Lyttelton, she says--

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

[Page heading: A GREAT LADY’S AVARICE]

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

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

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

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

‘_A Pittical administration,--no Sc--tch influence_;’

and on the Royal Exchange--

‘_No petticoat administration, no Lord G. S--k--lle[299]
at Court_.’”

[299] Lord George Sackville.

[Page heading: THE KING’S FIRST SPEECH]

[Page heading: GOING TO COURT]

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

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

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

[300] Parliament met on November 13.

[301] Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont.

[302] Sir Richard Grosvenor, afterwards 1st Earl Grosvenor.

[303] Made 1st Earl Camden, became Lord Chancellor and Lord
President of the Council.

[304] A famous Whig coffee-house.

To this letter Mr. Montagu replies--

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

To this his wife replies--

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

[Page heading: KISSING HANDS]

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

[Page heading: MR. PITT AND THE SECRET]

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

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

[305] George Townshend, 4th Viscount and Marquis, born 1723, died
1807.

[306] George Keppel, 15th Earl of Albemarle.

[307] Hans Stanley, of Paultons, Hants.

December 2. Mrs. Montagu writes to Lord Bath--

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

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

[Page heading: BISHOP OF LONDON’S LETTER]

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

“SIRE,

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

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

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

[Page heading: BILLETS DOUX]

Lord Bath’s answer was--

“MADAM,

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

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

“Most passionate Adorer.

“Wednesday, 10 a clock, Decr., 1760.”

To this Mrs. Montagu replies--

“MY LORD,

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

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

“Yours.

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

[Page heading: LORD CHESTERFIELD’S BON MOT]

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

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

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

[Page heading: THE MILLENNIUM]

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

“MADAM,

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

“BATH.”

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

“SERENISSIMA PRINCIPESSA!

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

[Page heading: DR. MONSEY’S DOGGEREL VERSE]

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

“What power can withstand Gt. Britain’s King,
Where for a Queen he has so fair a thing?
Nations fight Nations, and one fool beats t’other,
And Frederick[308] pommels his dear Polish brother.
He burns a town and then knocks down a Church,
Then Daun comes thundering with a rod of birch.
He scampers, then he rallies, whip goes Daun,
Old boy, I’ll meet you on a Torgau[309] lawn.
They meet, they fight, and then more bloody noses,
And then great victories, as our news supposes.
They both are Victors, yet both beaten well,
And who’s best man the Devil himself can’t tell.
Things are by both into confusion hurled,
Montagu speaks, and she subdues the world.”

[308] Frederick “the Great.”

[309] The battle of Torgau, fought on November 3, 1760.

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

[Page heading: BERENGER MADE MASTER OF THE HORSE]

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

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

[310] Master of the Horse; author of “The History and Art of
Horsemanship.”

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

[Page heading: GEORGE COLMAN, THE ELDER]

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

“MADAM,

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

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

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

[311] George Colman the elder, born 1732, died 1794; dramatist, etc.
His first acknowledged comedy, “The Jealous Wife,” first acted at
Drury Lane on the 12th of February, 1761, and dedicated to the Earl
of Bath as a “lover of the belles lettres.”

[312] Means Lord Coke, in his work upon Lyttelton. In 1757, Colman
had been entered by Lord Bath at Lincoln’s Inn and called to the
bar.