Chapter III (2)

Dear Nanny,--I have been persecuted with a succession of little
impertinent complaints; I have been deliver'd some time of my broken
tooth, by the most dextrous operator, I beleive, in the World, but
am at present in my Room with a sore throat, which is very
troublesome to me. I wou'd not have You be very uneasy at Harrison's
proposal; it appears to me, as it did at first, of no consequence,
and deserves being spoken of only for the Impertinence of it. I am
persuaded it is no more than an absurd, sudden thought of ye
Coll's; 'tis hardly possible my Brother shou'd have given his
consent to it as a foundation for Harrison to proceed upon with me.
My Brother's Interest no doubt do's not persuade him to such a
bargain between Harrison and me: if he intends to consult that, in
the disposition of this seat in Parliament, he must certainly rather
oblige me to accept of satisfaction for the loss of it by something
he may obtain for me, and chuse a man more agreeable to Sir Robt.
than Harrison, who will put him two thousand pounds in Pocket: I am
very much deceived if I hear any thing more of it. You misunderstood
me in thinking I had given no sort of answer to the proposal. I was,
I confess, little sollicitous about giving a speedy one or a very
particular one: I said to Harriot in general that I was extremely
surprised at the offer: that an answer was almost needless for the
Coll., if he had thought of it since, must be able to guess what
answer it deserved. that I was sorry she had employ'd herself at all
in so strange a Proposal, in short something to that effect. I
apprehend no difficulties from this affair; if I have any to
encounter they'l come from another Quarter. I wrote to a certain
Gentleman[66] above a month ago, without answer, so judge of his
kind disposition towards me. my Lord Pembroke is very good in
leaving it in my Power to come to Town, if I found it necessary. I
have at present no thoughts of making use of his Indulgence. I want
to see you more than you can imagine. Adieu:

Yrs most affecly
W. PITT.

Lady Suffolk, Ann's principal friend at Court, has now retired from an ungrateful servitude. The loss must have been great to Ann, who required more than most an experienced and sagacious friend at her elbow.

_Newbury Nov: ye 17: 1734._

Dear Nanny,--I was persuaded my Lady Suffolk's removal from court
wou'd affect you in the Manner you tell me it dos: Your Friend
Mrs Herbert, where I dined the day before yesterday, was speaking
of the thing with concern and was sure it wou'd touch you, as much
as any Body: your Greifs are so much mine that it wou'd be needless
to tell you I am sorry for your Loss; I foresee a very disagreeable
consequence to you from this change, which is, that your Friendship
with Her may be charg'd upon you as a crime, and what was before a
support may now be a prejudice to you. Harriot's complaint is far
from giving me any uneasiness, I think nothing but such a necessity
wou'd have made Them do what they indisputably ought to do. my
concern for Her is, that her situation is so bad as to render this
circumstance, (distresfull as it is) necessary to put her into a
better. Poor Girl, what unnatural cruelty and Insolence she has to
suffer from A Person[67] that shou'd be her support and comfort in
this distress: I have heard him say so many hard Things upon this
affair, that I think I do him no injustice to say he will be more
inexorable than the Knight.[68] I suppose Lyttelton is return'd from
Stowe and has found a letter from me Laying for him at the
Admiralty. If he's not come back I am afraid he's ill this Pinching
weather. I continue well, as I was when I wrote to you last. Adieu
Dear Nanny,

Yrs most affecly
WM. PITT.[69]

The letter that follows is important, as it marks an epoch in Pitt's life: for he was now at Stowe, where he was to make a long stay, and enrol himself in Cobham's band of connections. He had just entered Parliament[70] and now commences a politician. But, happily for us, he has not yet assumed his political dialect.

_Stowe. July ye 2: 1735:_

Dear Nanny,--I am mighty glad to hear you escaped the headach after
so fatiguing a journey, but I desire that may not prevent your
applying to a Physician: I am extremely pleas'd with the account you
give me of the Person[71] you saw, it is a great step to be able to
seem easy: I wish his mind may ever be as easy, as I have the
pleasure of hearing his affairs are at present, the other Part of
your letter astonishes me: I think he'l not succeed, tho' I assure
you he has my good wishes, for I am persuaded nothing less will ever
extricate him. The turn indeed is very sudden, but since he has
taken it, he'l disgrace himself less by obtaining, than losing. My
Ld Cobham wou'd have been very glad to see you and wish'd I had
brought you, I am sorry you lost so good an opportunity of seeing
Stowe. Adieu

most affly yrs
WM. PITT.

I have had other business to write to my Brother upon, which has
hinder'd my speaking of the Orange trees. I'l make Ayscough do it.

I hope you found Lady Suffolk well.

The next letter is burthened with mysterious and anonymous allusions, as to which conjecture is futile.

_Stowe July ye 20: 1735._

Dear Nanny,--I am mighty glad you are so well satisfy'd with the
match you give me an account of: I was not surpris'd to hear it, for
I fancy'd I saw it long ago. I have all sort of reasons to wish Her
happy, but to mention no other, She loves you in the manner I am apt
to think one shou'd love you. the Person[72] you think pretty easy,
is far from it: he endeavours to acquiesce under Pain, to bring his
mind, if possible, to such a state of composure as to go through the
duties of Life like an honest and Reasonable Man. our Friends[73]
Repulse is the most scandalous and ignominious of all things. I want
to hear a little of his noble designs for next year: Despair must
produce something Extraordinary in so great a mind. I am seriously
ashamed of him, and if he was to ask my advice what he should do, I
think I cou'd only beg him to do nothing: that Man's whole life is a
sort of consolation to me in my poor little circumstances. He gives
me occasion to reflect too often, that I wou'd not act his Part one
month for twice his estate, but I leave him to talk to you of
yourself: I don't hear what Broxom says of your headach's: if you
have not consulted him you have used me very ill: Pray send for him
and let me know if you are better. Adieu.

most affectionately Yrs
WM. PITT.

Pope and Martha Blount were now at Stowe, so was Lady Suffolk; and William was polishing himself in the best company.

_Stow Sept. ye 2: 1735._

Don't say a word more of my never writing, but confess immediately
that you admire my way of writing more than any Body's, that is my
way of sending you Postcripts Every Day: I have nothing to say of
Letters, but Mr Pope[74] says somewhere, 'Heaven first taught
Postscripts for the wretches aid,' etc: you must know I han't a word
to say to you; for I write only to introduce the Postscript, as Mr
Bays wou'd make a Poem to bring in a fine thought, that was none of
his own; I therefore finish to leave more room for my Lady Suffolk.
adieu.

[In another hand, evidently Lady Suffolk's] how often my Dear Child
have I wish'd you here? I know you wou'd like it, and I know two who
thinks (_sic_) even Stowe wou'd be still more agreeable they talk of
you I believe both Love you; but one can pun, and talk nonsense
wth Mrs Blount most Elegantly remember Saturday and never
forget me, that is, do not be ungratefull.

We see in the next letter that Pitt was not merely supping with the wits, but playing at cricket, with Pope perhaps as umpire.

_Stow Septr ye 14: 1735._

I am very well pleas'd with the conversation you Had lately, and
that you met with nothing in it that at all corresponds with the
Subject of my former letter: I shall now be at ease, and give myself
no more trouble in thinking and conjecturing about it. I am glad my
Lady Suffolk got so well to Town; if she's not the worse for her
journey, I fancy you are not much so for her return. if she did not
happen to be the most amiable Estimable Person one has seen, I
shou'd still love her For the admirable Talent she has of
Distinguishing and Describing merit, in which she do's not yeild to
the Noble Ld of our acquaintance. if she has done me justice, She
has Told you I was very stupid and play'd very well at Cricket. I
obey'd her orders to my Ld and Lady Cobham; my Lds reflection
was, He wish'd he cou'd take such a journey and do after it just
what she did. when you see Lyttelton, tell him Mr Pope has been
writing a letter to him ever since he has been here, but head-ach
and Laziness has delay'd it, so that I believe He may be time enough
at London to bring the letter to him himself, as he talks of setting
out in a few days. Ayscough has been here, and desires Lyttelton
will mention him to the Speaker for preaching before the House the
next 30th of January sermon. I'l leave off for fear I shou'd think
of half a dozen messages more.

I am most affecly Yrs
W. PITT.

direct to me at Stow I am more here than at Touster [?Towcester].
You must say 'member of Parlt' They make me pay always else.

The next two letters deal with some dark transaction relating to wine, probably smuggled, from Guernsey.

_Stow Sept. ye 16: 1735._

I am very sorry I can't answer all your Questions this Post, but to
begin with that I can answer the Frame Maker's Name is Bellamy, he
lives in Rupert Street: as to the Guernsey wine, it is a commission
of so secret a Nature, and must be treated with such art and
circumspection, (according to the instructions I am honour'd with)
That I must desire further time to get the lights necessary to the
full discovery of so dark an affair. I have been able to penetrate
no farther than that my Ld Cobham and his Butler are the only
Persons at the bottom of the secret, The one I can't ask he being
abroad; the other I must not, being ty'd up by my orders: there
remains therefore nothing To be done, but to wait the return of the
Butler, or larger Power to treat with my Ld in Person. but to talk
no longer like a Minister, but an humble Servant of my lady
Suffolk's, I desire my compliments to Her, and I'l be sure to send
an answer about the wine next Post. I please myself with thinking
you are free from Head-ach, both as they are very bad things; and
because they are ye effect with you of other uneasiness: be well
and happy, is the only advice you want; and the only means by which
I can be so:

I am most affecly yrs
W. PITT.

_Stowe. Sept. ye 19: 1735._

If you happen to write to me once in a week or fortnight I am never
to hear the last of it; but pray admire the exact diligence of my
correspondence: I don't only answer your letter the first Post, but
I continue answering It two or three Posts successively: I am now
only at the second, and you shall see you are not above half
answer'd yet: but to tell you all I can, the Man Mr Hardy, who
sells my Ld Cobham the Wine in Question, is now in Guernsey; the
Buttler will write to his correspondent to know when he is like to
return, which he supposes must be soon--all which my Lady Suffolk
shall be informed of: I expect a clear distinct answer from you to
each letter of the volumes I have lately writ to you.

Adieu.

The following letter alludes in all probability to his brother, and also to that Richard Grenville who was afterwards so notorious as Lord Temple. It seems strange when one recalls Temple in maturity to read of him as Dick, with a careless countenance and jolly laugh. But everybody has been young.

_Stowe. Sept. ye 28: 1735._

I don't understand this way of answering two letters in form, avec
un Trait de Plume; I expected you shou'd have told me you had
nothing to tell me in more words, or at least at two different
times: this sort of Correspondence, where one must not talk, seems
rather a sort of visit to shew yourself: I hope you won't be in such
a hurry next time; that I shall see you a little longer, or I shall
call it only leaving your name, after all this, I am not really
angry at the shortness of your last letter; you gave a reason that
satisfied me entirely. I hope our friend is well; I had the Pleasure
of hearing he seem'd in very good Spirits, when Dick Greenville
(sic) saw him; I hope really was so. I suppose You have seen Dick's
careless countenance at Kensington, and that you begin to be
acquainted with his Laugh. I am called to breakfast, so goodby

Yrs most affectionately
W. PITT.

October finds William still at Stowe, and not likely to leave, but he sends this anxious and tender note to Ann.

_Stowe. October ye 5: 1735._

My Dear,--I long to be with you to know what the particular
circumstance is that gives you uneasiness: or is it only the Thing
in general? whatever it be, take all the comfort you can in knowing
you act humanely and honourably. it won't be in my Power to see you
till December, and the latter End of it. I am very much at Stowe,
and pass my time as agreeably as I can do at a distance from you at
a time you say you want to talk to me: I hope by your next letter to
hear you have talk'd to yourself upon the Subject of your uneasiness
and don't want my advice: Adieu,

I am with all affection yrs
W. PITT.[75]

The next note deals again with the affair which is causing Ann uneasiness, but without giving us any clue to it. One cannot however refrain from the surmise that Ann's temper and tongue had now begun to get her into trouble.

_Stowe. Octobr ye 12: 1735._

My dear Child,--I can't by letter enter into particulars relating to
The affair you mention, nor were I with you, cou'd I give you any
other than a general advice, which is, as well as you can to make
yourself and others easy: I know this is saying almost nothing, and
that is the very thing I think you have only to do: I beg you will
be at Quiet as to what you have hitherto done, believe me it is not
only irreproachable, but must do you great honour with whoever know
your conduct. I will say one word more, which is this, that you
shou'd take care not to be misunderstood, at least in any great
degree. This is all I can say to you, who have the warmest concern
for your happiness and am with more affection than I can tell you,

Yrs W. PITT.

There is now an unexplained interval of two years. Some letters have perhaps been lost or destroyed, one has apparently miscarried; or, still more probably, the brother and sister have been together. But the next letter is still dated from Stowe, where William was evidently established on the most familiar footing.

_Stow. Novr ye 6: 1737._

You are even with me for all the want of readiness in writing, ever
since I began to correspond: I wou'd tell you how many weeks it is,
since I wrote to you my last unanswer'd letter, if my memory was
strong enough to carry so remote a period of Chronology in my head:
I have sometimes told you I have been ashamed of not writing: I take
this occasion to retract all Declarations of that sort, and tell
you I never was, nor ever will be ashamed of want of regularity in
corresponding, after this last silence of yours: I am aware that you
must throw the blame upon ye Post, and say you never received the
letter in question, and indeed the Doctor has given me an
intimation, yt the thing was to take yt turn, without which you
wou'd not have been troubled even with these reproaches. the Letter
had nothing in it, and yet I had rather you had receiv'd it, if you
are in earnest that you did not. I intend to be in Town the
beginning of December: I shall see Mrs. Nedham at Bampton before I
come:

Yrs W. PITT.

I desire you will write immediately to let me know you have no
return of ye disorder you had just before you left Hampton court.

In the next he refers to Lord Cornbury, a friend, a Tory, and something of a Jacobite. He was a great admirer of Pitt, and had indeed written an ode to him.

_Stow. Novr ye 12: 1737._

I do not think myself obliged to thank you for your letter, it was a
defence to an accusation, you was under a necessity of pleading and
you did it with the confidence of an old offender, and even went so
far as to recriminate upon yr accuser: but let the act of oblivion
cover all. however that I may thank you for something, I thank you
for haveing hardly any remains of yr cold. Pray keep keeping
yourself well till December, in one week of which month I hope to
see you. Adieu.

Yrs Most affecly
W. PITT.

I wish you the Dutchess of Queensbury and Lady Cardigan with all my
heart. How do's Ld Cornbury?