Chapter LII: Letter 109: To Mr. William Bankes

"Cheltenham, September 28. 1812.

"My dear Bankes,

"When you point out to one how people can be intimate at the
distance of some seventy leagues, I will plead guilty to your
charge, and accept your farewell, but not _wittingly_, till you
give me some better reason than my silence, which merely proceeded
from a notion founded on your own declaration of _old_, that you
hated writing and receiving letters. Besides, how was I to find out
a man of many residences? If I had addressed you _now_, it had been
to your borough, where I must have conjectured you were amongst
your constituents. So now, in despite of Mr. N. and Lady W., you
shall be as 'much better' as the Hexham post-office will allow me
to make you. I do assure you I am much indebted to you for thinking
of me at all, and can't spare you even from amongst the
superabundance of friends with whom you suppose me surrounded.

"You heard that Newstead[55] is sold--the sum 140,000_l._; sixty
to remain in mortgage on the estate for three years, paying
interest, of course. Rochdale is also likely to do well--so my
worldly matters are mending. I have been here some time drinking
the waters, simply because there are waters to drink, and they are
very medicinal, and sufficiently disgusting. In a few days I set
out for Lord Jersey's, but return here, where I am quite alone, go
out very little, and enjoy in its fullest extent the 'dolce far
niente.' What you are about, I cannot guess, even from your
date;--not dauncing to the sound of the gitourney in the Halls of
the Lowthers? one of whom is here, ill, poor thing, with a
phthisic. I heard that you passed through here (at the sordid inn
where I first alighted) the very day before I arrived in these
parts. We had a very pleasant set here; at first the Jerseys,
Melbournes, Cowpers, and Hollands, but all gone; and the only
persons I know are the Rawdons and Oxfords, with some later
acquaintances of less brilliant descent.

"But I do not trouble them much; and as for your rooms and your
assemblies, 'they are not dreamed of in our philosophy!!'--Did you
read of a sad accident in the Wye t' other day? a dozen drowned, and
Mr. Rossoe, a corpulent gentleman, preserved by a boat-hook or an
eel-spear, begged, when he heard his wife was
saved--no--_lost_--to be thrown in again!!--as if he could not
have thrown himself in, had he wished it; but this passes for a
trait of sensibility. What strange beings men are, in and out of
the Wye!

"I have to ask you a thousand pardons for not fulfilling some
orders before I left town; but if you knew all the cursed
entanglements I _had_ to wade through, it would be unnecessary to
beg your forgiveness.--When will Parliament (the new one)
meet?--in sixty days, on account of Ireland, I presume: the Irish
election will demand a longer period for completion than the
constitutional allotment. Yours, of course, is safe, and all your
side of the question. Salamanca is the ministerial watchword, and
all will go well with you. I hope you will speak more frequently, I
am sure at least you _ought_, and it will be expected. I see
Portman means to stand again. Good night.

"Ever yours most affectionately,

"[Greek: Mpahirôn]."[56]

[Footnote 55: "Early in the autumn of 1812," says Mr. Dallas, "he told me that he was urged by his man of business, and that Newstead _must_ be sold." It was accordingly brought to the hammer at Garraway's, but not, at that time, sold, only 90,000_l._ being offered for it. The private sale to which he alludes in this letter took place soon after,--Mr. Claughton, the agent for Mr. Leigh, being the purchaser. It was never, however, for reasons which we shall see, completed.]

[Footnote 56: A mode of signature he frequently adopted at this time.]

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