Chapter XI: Part 11

2. Young Severy's letter, which may be now in your hands, and which, for these three or four last posts, has furnished my indolence with a new pretence for delay, has already informed you of the means and circumstances of my resurrection. Tedious indeed was my confinement, since I was not able to move from my house or chair, from the ninth of February to the first of July, very nearly five months. The first weeks were accompanied with more pain than I have ever known in the Gout, with anxious days and sleepless nights; and when that pain subsided, it left a weakness in my knees, which seemed to have no end. My confinement was however softened by books, by the possession of every comfort and convenience, by a succession each evening of agreeable company, and by a flow of equal spirits and general good health. During the last weeks I descended to the ground floor, poor Deyverdun's apartment, and constructed a chair like Merlin's, in which I could wheel myself in the house and on the terrace. My patience has been universally admired; yet how many thousands have passed those five months less easily than myself. I remember making a remark perfectly simple, and perfectly true: "At present," I said to Madame de Severy, "I am not positively miserable, and I may reasonably hope a daily or weekly improvement, till sooner or later in the summer I shall recover new limbs, and new pleasures, which I do not now possess: have any of you such a prospect?" The prediction has been accomplished, and I have arrived to my present condition of strength, or rather of feebleness: I now can walk with tolerable ease in my garden and smooth places; but on the rough pavement of the town I use, and perhaps shall use, a sedan chair. The Pyrmont waters have performed wonders; and my physician (not Tissot, but a very sensible man) allows me to hope, that the term of the interval will be in proportion to that of the fit.*

3. And so Aunt Hester is gone to sing Hallelujahs, a glory which she did not seem very impatient to possess. I received the news of this dire event with much philosophic composure: she might have done better, she might have done worse, and I was always prepared for the worst. By this time you have probably a copy of the Will, and will take (as I suppose you are authorized) the proper and necessary steps. I most wish to learn whether she has left me the fee simple, the absolute disposal of her Sussex estate; the power of selling or the necessity of keeping that costly piece of property will make a wonderful difference in the value of her gift. From a motive of curiosity I wish to learn what she has done with her personal fortune; her four copper shares were worth at least five or six thousand pounds. Has she given them to the Laws? If in the bequeathing what was absolutely in her power she has postponed relations for friends, I think her determination both honourable and wise. If in the entailed estate she has preferred a poor though unbelieving nephew to a rich niece, she was likewise right. I speak with the impartiality of a third person.

And now let me seriously address you on the most important of my temporal concerns, Buriton. You will do me the justice to allow that I have not been either impatient or nervous: but the Estate was sold in April, 1789: this is now August, 1790, and the money is not yet paid, nor the purchase concluded. Is Lord Stawell perfidious, is he poor, is he unwilling? is the delay only produced by the ingenious forms of the lawyers? How many terms do they require for an amicable suit in Chancery? In the meanwhile I lose interest, the estate must suffer by neglect, and what will be the event? Exert your vigour, argue, persuade, consummate! On the 10th of November next my father will have been dead twenty years: let it not be said that with the counsel and aid of such a friend, I have not been able to settle my affairs in twenty years. What can I say more? the conclusion an Indian Epistle.

Yes, I have more or rather nothing more to say about the disposal of the money. I hope the Buriton mortgage for £8000 still holds: nothing else can be so easy or good. The remainder you will throw into the funds, and I wish we could take advantage of the present fall, but if a sure bond or neat mortgage from £2500 to £4000 should offer itself, I should be very well pleased.

[Sidenote: SWISS SENSIBLE OF THEIR HAPPINESS.]

*Have you read in the English papers, that the Government of Bern is overturned, and that we are divided into three Democratical leagues; true as the Gospel: true as what I have read in the French papers, that the English have cut off Pitt's head, and abolished the house of Lords. The people of this country are happy; and in spite of some malcontents, and more foreign Emissaries, they are sensible of their happiness.*

My MADEIRA is almost exhausted, and I must receive before the end of the Autumn a stout cargo of wholesome exquisite wine with proper _previous_ notice which may prevent all accidents at the Custom House. Your Bristol connection must give you great advantages, but (if I could procure his direction) I would not neglect Sir Ralph Payne's favours.

*Inform My lady, that I am indignant at a false and heretical assertion in her last letter to Severy, "that friends at a distance cannot love each other, if they do not write." I love her better than any woman in the world; indeed I do; and yet I do not write. And she herself--but I am calm. We have now nearly one hundred French exiles, some of them worth being acquainted with; particularly a Count de Schomberg, who is become almost my friend; he is a man of the World, of letters, and of sufficient age, since in 1753 he succeeded to Marshal Saxe's regiment of Dragoons. As to the rest, I entertain them, and they flatter me: but I wish we were reduced to our Lausanne society. Poor France! the state is dissolved, the nation is mad! Adieu.*

554.

_Lord Sheffield to Edward Gibbon._

Sheffield Place, 21st Sept., '90.

I approve your observations on the Bristol Election, and I do not believe you heard the Excursion to Coventry pretty generally blamed. I knew nothing of an Opposition till two days after the Poll began. A man who had been useful to me in the same line being concerned, I had no difficulty nor hesitation as to what was to be done.

On the subject of Buriton I acknowledge you have been as Philosophic as could be expected. There seems to be something supernatural attending all your worldly concerns. In answer to a repeated remonstrance to Mr. Sainsbury, the last information is from Mr. Rhodes the Attorney, dated Sept. 4th instant. He says (Mrs. Sainsbury desired him to write, Mr. Sainsbury being in Ireland), "The matter in Chancery remains unfinished by the Master. When we obtained the Deed and laid it before him, he said that he had then so many other reports to prepare that he was apprehensive that he should not be able to prepare ours. We said and did everything in our power to induce him to do it, but we could not prevail. He has promised to let us have it before the ensuing Term, which will begin on the 6th of November next, and the other business cannot be completed before the first week in the term." It is difficult to believe these delays are intentional, as a considerable sum remains dormant as to the Land in the hands of the Auctioneers, Messrs. Skinners, and as so great a proportion of the purchase money is to remain in Mortgage. The only thing I can firmly object to, is an over nicety on the part of Sainsbury or his Lawyers as to the title, but I shall go to London as soon as Term begins and reiterate every measure that can speedily bring matters to a conclusion. In the meantime I shall be very troublesome until I am assured every paper is ready for signature. As to the Estate it does not suffer by neglect; a new Tenant recommended by Sainsbury has taken it from the poor flimsy creature that held it in a fright, and Andrewes stoutly exacts the rent when due.

[Sidenote: LORD SHEFFIELD'S OFFER FOR NEWHAVEN.]

We almost howled when we read the tremendous account of nearly five months' confinement--the weakness in your traces affrighted me most, but I rejoiced exceedingly in your last, which says that you have advanced to nearly your usual condition of strength. I never heard of Pyrmont waters for the gout--but I grieve to tell you that notwithstanding repeated applications I find your Hogshead of Madeira (which is on its travels) may not arrive sooner than 4, 5, or 6 months. I must spare you all I can of my Old Madeira which is in London, but I do not know that it will amount to a quantity worth the trouble of sending. I shall make every effort and inquire everywhere for you. As to Sir Ralph Payne, surely a letter directed to him in London would find him, if you think that mode preferable.

Your plan as to Charlotte Porten might be the most desirable, but nothing could be more fancifull than to suppose it could possibly succeed, unless you could send a Demon cracked from Paris to hang the mother to a Lanthern.

My last letter answers your question whether Hester had left you the fee-simple of the Sussex Estate. I have learned nothing more concerning that Holy woman since the receipt of the Copy of her Will, nor am I likely, unless I should find some of the family of the Laws in London next winter. I think you should inclose to me an order to the Executors, Messrs. William Law, Senior, of Kings Cliffe, and William Law of Stamford, to deliver to me all the Writings, Papers, Surveys, Plans, &c., relating to the Sussex Estate, and you may add, those which relate to the Family of Gibbon.

When Batt was here not long since, I mentioned to him your old Aunt's Bequest and my proposition to you; at first, he did not object, but next day he scouted my folly and extravagance in diminishing my Income. My observations that I should and could easily cut down annually more timber than would pay the difference, and that in case I went to glory, those who came after me would be fully compensated in the end for loss of Income--I say, these observations seemed to make little impression on him. However, I was somewhat chilled, yet I cannot help thinking it or something of the kind might answer to both of us, if you should be desperately disposed to sell to increase your Income. I should acquire a position on the Sea-Shore--but you may have thought of something that would answer your purpose better.

You admire the Minister's secrecy and vigour. There is no secrecy in the case, but surely he has made a desperate plunge, and it appears to me a very wanton one--and if it is right to take an advantage, he is losing the opportunity.[153] It is difficult to suppose that Spain will engage _single-handed_ with us, but we may bully them into it, and although France cannot at present do much, yet the adherence of the National Assembly to the Family compact may help the Spaniards to be stout, and above all it would be good policy in the French Aristocrats to dash France into a war at all events.

You are incorrigible, but we desire that you will encourage De Severy to write. It is surprising he can write and remember English so well. The alterations in your Chateau pleased us very much. I have enquired more than once whether you would have the provision for Mrs. Gibbon to be £200 or £300. You pay the latter, but I understand.

Everybody is looking into Bruce's Travels.[154] Part takes the attention, but they are abominably abused. Banks objects to the Botany, Reynell to the Geography, Cambridge to the History, The Greeks to the Greek, &c., &c.; yet the work is to be found on every table. Bruce printed the work, and sold 2000 copies to Robertson for £6000. He sells to the booksellers at 4 guineas, and they to their customers at 5 guineas.

[153] In May, 1790, a message from the king was delivered to the
House of Commons by Pitt, informing them that two British ships
had been seized in Nootka Sound off the coast of California by
two Spanish men-of-war, that satisfaction had been demanded,
that Spain claimed exclusive rights in those waters, and was
making active preparations for war. Spain, relying on the family
compact, asked aid from France, and Louis XVI. communicated the
demand to the National Assembly, asking that a fleet should be
equipped to send assistance. Preparations were made at Brest to
send assistance; but the mutinous conduct of the French sailors
apparently alarmed the Spanish Government, which withdrew its
claims, restored the property seized, and offered compensation.
The Convention between England and Spain was signed October 28,
1790. "The first and great news is the pacification with Spain.
The courier arrived on Thursday morning with a most acquiescent
answer to our ultimatum" (Walpole to the Miss Berrys, November 8,
1790).

[154] James Bruce of Kinnaird, F.R.S., published in 1790 his
_Travels to discover the Sources of the Nile_, in five quarto
volumes.

555.

_This letter is apparently written to M. Langer, the Librarian
of the Ducal Library of Wolfenbuttel. A translation of part of
it was found with Gibbon's manuscript of the_ Antiquities of the
House of Brunswick, _and published by Lord Sheffield_ (Gibbon's
Miscellaneous Works, vol. iii. pp. 353-558).

À Rolle, ce 12 Octobre, 1790.

[Sidenote: M. LANGER AT WOLFENBUTTEL.]

Je vous aurois plutot remercié, Monsieur, des soins obligeans que vous avez bien voulû vous donner pour me procurer les Origines Guelficæ,[155] si d'un côté notre honnête libraire Mr. Pott ne m'avoit pas appris que vous etiez en voyage, si de l'autre je n'avois pas été moi même en proye à l'acces de goutte le plus rigoureux et le plus long que j'aye encore éprouvé.

Nous revoici à present dans notre état ordinaire, je marche, et vous ne courez plus. Je vous suppose bien etabli, bien enfoncé dans votre immense bibliotheque dans un endroit qui fournit peut-être un choix plus étendu et plus interessant des morts que des vivans. Comme vous êtes également propre à vivre avec les uns et les autres, je desirerois pour votre bonheur aussi bien que pour celui de vos amis, que vous pûssiez enfin executer comme moi le projet de chercher une douce retraite sur les bords du lac Leman. Il s'en faut de beaucoup que vous n'y soyez oublié: nous parlons souvent de vous surtout dans la famille de Severy, nous regrettons votre absence et en nous rappellant l'aimable franchise, la vivacité piquante de _l'Esclave_, nous cherisons l'esperance de vous revoir parmi nous en homme libre, ne dependant que de vos gouts et pouvant vous donner tout entier aux lettres et à la societé.

Vous aurez sans doute appris la perte irreparable que j'ai faite du pauvre Deyverdun. En vertu de son testament et de mes arrangemens avec son heritier Mr. le Major de Montagny, je me suis assuré ma vie durant la jouissance de sa maison et de son jardin. Vous en connoissez tous les agrémens qui se sont encore augmentés par une dépense assez considerable et assez bien tendu que j'y ai faité depuis sa mort. Je dois être content de ma position mais on ne peut pas remplacer un ami de trente ans. Votre curiosité, peut-être votre amitié, desirera de connoitre mes amusemens, mes travaux, mes projets pendant les deux ans qui se sont écoulé depuis la dernière publication de mon grand ouvrage. Aux questions indiscretes qu'on se permet trop souvent vis-à-vis de moi, je responds avec une mine renfrognée et d'une manière vague, mais je ne veux rien avoir de caché pour vous et pour imiter la franchise que vous aimez, je vous avouerai naturellement que ma confidence est fondée en partie sur le besoin que j'aurai de votre secours.

Après mon retour d'Angleterre les premiers mois ont été consacrés à la jouissance de ma liberté et de ma bibliotheque, et vous ne serez pas étonné si j'ai renouvellé une connoissance familière avec vos auteurs Grecs et si j'ai fait vœu de leur reserver tous les jours une portion de mon loisir. Je passe sous silence ces tristes momens dans lesquels je n'ai été occupé qu'à soigner et à pleurer mon ami: mais dès que j'ai commencé à me retrouver un esprit moins agile, j'ai cherché à me donner quelque distraction plus forte et plus interessante que la simple lecture. Le souvenir de ma servitude de vingt ans m'a cependant effrayé et je me suis bien promis de ne plus m'embarquer dans une entreprise de longue haleine que je n'acheverois vraisemblablement jamais. Il vaut bien mieux, me suis je dit, choisir, dans tous les pays et dans tous les siecles, des morceaux historiques que je traiterai separément suivant leur nature et selon mon gout. Lorsque ces opuscules (je pourrai les nommer en Anglais, _Historical Excursions_) me fourniront un volume, je le donnerai au public: ce don pourroit etre renouvellé jusqu'a ce que nous soyons fatigués ou ce public ou moi même: mais chaque volume, complet par lui même, n'exigera point de suite, et au lieu d'être borné comme la diligence au grand chemin, je me promenerai librement dans le champ de l'histoire en m'arrêtant partout où je trouve des points de vue agreables. Dans ce projet je ne vois qu'un inconvenient,--un objet interessant s'étend et s'aggrandit sous le travail: je pourrois être entrainé au dela de mes bornes, mais je serai doucement entrainé sans prevoyance et sans contrainte.

[Sidenote: THE HISTORY OF THE GUELFS.]

Mes soupçons ont été vérifiés dans le choix de ma première _excursion_. Ce que j'avois si bien prevu n'a pas manqué d'arriver à mon premier choix et ce choix vous expliquera pourquoi j'ai demandé avec tant d'empressement les Origines Guelficæ. Dans mon histoire j'avois rendu compte de deux alliances illustres, d'un fils du Marquis Azo d'Este avec une fille de Robert Guiscard,[156] d'une princesse de Brunswick avec l'Empereur Grec. Un premier appercu de l'antiquité et de la grandeur de la maison de Brunswick a excité ma curiosité, et j'ai cru me pouvoir interesser les deux nations que j'estime le plus par les mémoires d'une famille qui est sortie de l'une pour regner sur l'autre. Mes recherches, en me devoilant la beauté de ce sujet, m'en ont fait voir l'étendue et la difficulté. L'origine des Marquis de Ligurie et peut-être de Toscane a été suffisament eclaircie par Muratori et Leibnitz; l'Italie du moyen age, son histoire et ses monumens, me sont très connus et je ne suis pas mécontent de ce que j'ai déjà écrit sur la branche cadette d'Este qui est demeurée fidelle a garder ses cendres casanières. Les anciens Guelfs ne me sont point étrangers, et je me crois en etat de rendre compte de la puissance et de la chute de leurs heritiers, les Ducs de Bavière et de Saxe.

La succession de la maison de Brunswick au trône de la Grande Bretagne sera très assurément la partie la plus interessante de mon travail; mais tous les materiaux se trouvent dans ma langue, et un Anglois devroit rougir s'il n'avoit pas approfondi l'histoire moderne et la constitution actuelle de son pays. Mais entre le premier Duc et le premier Electeur de Brunswick il se trouve un intervalle de quatre cent cinquante ans, je suis condamné à suivre dans les tenèbres un sentier étroit et raboteux, et les divisions, les sous divisions, de tant de branches et de territoires repandent sur ce sentier la confusion d'un labyrinthe Genealogique. Les événemens sans éclat et sans liaison sont bornés à une province d'Allemagne et ce n'est que vers la fin de cette periode que je serois un peu ranimé par la reformation, la guerre de trente ans, et la nouvelle puissance de l'Electorat. Comme je me propose de crayonner des Memoires et non pas de composer une histoire, je marcherois sans doute d'un pas rapide, je presenterois des resultats plutot que des faits, des observations plutot que des récits: mais vous sentez, combien un tableau general exige de connoissances particulières, combien l'auteur doit être plus savant que son livre.

Or cet auteur, il est à deux cent lieues de la Saxe, il ignore la langue et il ne s'est jamais appliqué à l'histoire de l'Allemagne. Eloigné des sources, il ne lui reste qu'un seul moyen pour les faire couler dans sa bibliotheque. C'est de se menager sur les lieux même un correspondant exact, un guide eclairé, un oracle enfin qu'il puisse consulter dans tous ses besoins. Par votre caractère, votre esprit, vos lumières, votre position, vous êtes cet homme precieux et unique que je cherche, et quand vous m'indiquerez un _suppléant_ aussi capable que vous même je ne m'addresserois pas avec la même confiance à un étranger. Je vous accablerois librement de questions, et de nouvelles questions naitroient souvent de vos reponses; je vous prierois de fouiller dans votre vaste depôt; je vous demanderois des notices, des livres, des extraits, des traductions, des renseignements sur tous les objets qui peuvent intéresser mon travail. Mais j'ignore si vous êtes disposé à sacrifier votre loisir, vos études chéries à une correspondance pénible sans agrémens et sans gloire. Je me flatte que vous feriez quelque chose pour moi, vous feriez encore davantage pour l'honneur de la maison à laquelle vous êtes attaché, mais suis-je en droit de supposer que mes ecrits puissent contribuer de quelque chose à son honneur?

J'attends, Monsieur, votre reponse qu'elle soit prompte et franche. Si vous daignez vous associer à mon entreprise, je vous envoyerai sur le champ mon premier interrogatoire. Votre refus me decideroit à renoncer à mon dessein, ou du moins à lui donner une nouvelle forme. J'ose en même tems vous demander un profond secret: un mot indiscret seroit repeté par cent bouches et j'aurois le desagrement de voir dans les journaux, et bientôt dans les papiers Anglois, une annonce, peut-être défigurée, de mes projets littéraires, qui ne sont confiés qu'à vous seul.

J'ai l'honneur d'être,
E. G.

[155] _Origines Guelficæ, quibus potentissimæ gentis primordia,
magnitudo, variaque fortuna exhibentur._ Opus præeunte G. G.
Leibnitii stilo J. G. Eccardi literis consignatum, postea a J. D.
Grubero novis probationibus instructum. (Ad finem perduxit atque
edidit C. L. Scheidius. Accedit duplex index, etc., curante J. H.
Jungio.) Hanoveræ, 1750-80, fol.

[156] _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_ (edition of 1862),
vol. vii. p. 119.

556.

_To Lord Sheffield._

[Oct. 17, '90.]

[Sidenote: SERVITUDE TO LAWYERS.]

You call me incorrigible: but I never was less disposed than at present to plead guilty. Have you forgot the general picture of mind, body and estate which I sent you since my recovery? in the tranquil life of Lausanne a long interval might elapse without affording any features to alter or any colours to vary. On the most interesting topic, poor Buriton, it is mine to hear rather than to write, and most ardently indeed do I now desire to hear of the conclusion of that incomprehensible business. Is it possible, are we under such servitude to the lawyers that an obsolete act without force or meaning should have hung us up for a year in Chancery? If I do not learn before the end of the year that the money is paid and placed, I shall be as miserable as pecuniary events can make me; when it is done I am easy and happy for life. In the midst of your arduous affairs I do not suspect any failure of zeal, but I now call upon you to redouble your speed, and to strain every nerve till we have reached the goal. Till the present business I never imagined that it was difficult to find people who would take your money. It is lucky that Sainsbury has consented to leave £8000 on Buriton: with regard to the remainder I leave it absolutely to your judgement, but since you distrust with reason private bond security, I see no other way than throwing it into the funds; a short delay might be allowed in expectation of their sinking, but the rise and fall are so uncertain, that it might be the 'rusticus expectat dum defluat amnis.' In the mean while Buriton rent must be paid, and as the two quarters due at Lady day had been neglected, the whole year till last Michaelmas must be rigorously exacted. I do not believe (though I would not give a gentleman the lye) that you ever asked me the question about Mrs. G.'s jointure: it will be an handsome, an easy compliment to give her a right to the three hundred which I pay her in fact.

Let us now make a tour to Newhaven. Upon the whole I am very well satisfied. You remark that about February, 1788, the old Saint decimated her nephew: but have you forgot that her atheistical nephew had neglected to accept her invitation and would not even write her a civil letter? surely _he_ has no right to complain. I am ignorant of the character and behaviour of the Laws, but in the general principle of preferring friends to relations, I think her perfectly right.--You were not surely impatient for an answer to your proposal: it demands the coolest deliberation, and there cannot be the smallest occasion for dispatch. I will however impart such ideas as have arisen.

1. I agree with Batt in thinking it an unwise measure for yourself. Is this a time to diminish your income when you must enlarge or at least support your expence, when you know that for seven years to come you will not enjoy the benefit of a single winter fallow? If you have timber it will be sufficiently wanted for your annual supplies.

2. The balance of my fortune and my wishes depends on a contingency which I have neither power nor inclination to hasten. As soon as the Belvidere subsides, I am rich beyond all my plans of expence at Lausanne. Every winter such an event is probable, and it is highly probable that it will happen in three or four winters. It is indeed possible that a fine thread may be drawn to a great length without breaking, and if I turned a landed estate into an annuity, I should never be at a loss to employ the superfluity. If my heir, the creature of my choice does not think he has enough, the dog has too much.

557.

_Lord Sheffield to Edward Gibbon._

Sheffield Place, 3rd Jan., 1791.

It occurs to me in the midst of much hurry, that you may have a wish for further information on the subject of the Madeira. It was shipped for Ostend on the 3rd Dec., with full and ample instructions (according to your own directions) for its conveyance to Basle, where it is to wait your further orders. I suppose that on the receipt of my former letter you wrote to your correspondent there.

The Wine is gone in one hogshead and one tierce, marked & No. E. G. No. 1 & 2.

The Bill as follows--

£ _s._ _d._
No. 1. 6 doz. finest Malmsey sealed red--
on board 17 4 0
6 doz. Bottles 1 1 0
No. 2. One Hogshead best Old Madeira--
on board 39 0 0
1 Hogshead--1 Tierce--1 Case &
Bills of Lading 1 10 8
---------------
59 5 8

Probably it is the best wine of the kind that ever reached the centre of Europe. You will remember that an Hogshead is on his travels through the torrid zone for you. I suppose you do not mean to decline it when it arrives. No wine is meliorated to a greater degree by keeping than Madeira, and you latterly appeared so ravenous for it, that I must conceive you wish to have a stock.

I have had a Congress with Sainsbury, &c. The business has been referred to the Master of the Rolls. I have talked with the Master. It seems in good train. The conveyance is preparing. The message of young Porten is very troublesome. Sainsbury wished to avoid taking the £8000 on mortgage. I remonstrated strongly. He agreed, handsomely, to take it rather than embarrass. I have promised £4000 on a Yorkshire mortgage. I have been very busy in Town. I am glad I cannot finish _the Paper_, because you are such a worthless fellow, that you do not answer even on business.

Yours ever,
S.

N.B.--The Birth of Maria, & the Justices are waiting for me at the Inn.

558.

_To Lord Sheffield._

1791.

[Sidenote: GIBBON'S SERIOUS ILLNESS.]

*Your indignation will melt into pity, when you hear that for several weeks past I have been again confined to my chamber and my chair. Yet I must hasten, generously hasten, to exculpate the Gout, my old enemy, from the curses which you already pour on his head. He is not the cause of this disorder, although the consequences have been somewhat similar.* After some days of fever and a most violent oppression in my head and stomach, the morbid humour forced itself into my right leg, which was covered from my knee to my toe with a strong inflammatory _Erisipèle_ or Rash. I was gradually relieved by a plentiful discharge of pus _atque Venenum_ (excuse the indelicacy) which, according to my Physician, has surpassed that of fifty blisters. The skin has been compleatly renewed, and I now crawl about the house upon two sticks. *I am satisfied that this effort of nature has saved me from a very dangerous, perhaps a fatal, crisis; and I listen to the flattering hope that it may tend to keep the Gout at a more respectful distance.* You will determine whether it ought to raise or sink the purchase of my annuity.

I must confess that I am disappointed, vexed, harrassed, fatigued with the strange procrastination of the Buriton affairs which are now verging to the end of the second year. In former transactions while we were fighting with knaves and madmen nothing could surprise, but in this amicable connection with a willing and able purchaser, it is indeed provoking that term after term we should be hung up (a most proper expression) in the forms of the Court of Chancery. You are now on the spot, and I conjure you by every tye of friendship and humanity to steal some moments from the service of Bristol, to strain every nerve of your active genius, and to send me a speedy and satisfactory account that the business is terminated, and the money paid. The funds are indeed so very high, that I agree with you in preferring a clear four per cent. which _they_ do not yield, on the solid basis of the Earth, I mean on good landed security. I therefore much approve of your holding Sainsbury to his engagement of retaining the £8000 on the mortgage of Buriton's own self, and hope you will not fail of success in registering £4000 more in Yorkshire. Should any loose hundreds remain, they may be best added to my India bonds in Gosling's hands. I much fear that another half year from Buriton will become due (at Lady-day), and hope you will order Andrews to exact it without mercy or delay.

I feel myself much embarrassed how to define or establish my claims on Hugonin. We always treated with the confidence of friends, and the ease of Gentlemen, and his short accounts, from art or accident, were always so vague, that I could never discern to what half year his remittances applied. I am satisfied that two years or at least eighteen months have never been accounted for; but on the most moderate footing I may demand the year's rent which ended at Michaelmas 1788, and which was not paid when I left England. The agency of Hugonin will not be disputed, the Tenant's receipt will prove that it was paid into his hands, and even the silence of Gosling's books will afford some evidence that it never was remitted for my use. Besides, will not the _onus probandi_ rest on Hugonin's heirs, who ought to produce my discharge? On recollection I may even state my damages at eighteen months, since according to a vile abuse, the tenant only paid at Michaelmas the year's rent which had been due the previous Lady-day.

[Sidenote: ACCEPTS ANNUITY FOR NEWHAVEN.]

I now proceed to the important business of Newhaven, and am not sorry that we have both of us taken sufficient time to avoid the reproach of rash and precipitate measures. As you are not an infant I will decline any farther remonstrance of what may be proper or improper for yourself, and will think solely of my own interest. After mature consideration I am _resolved_ to amplify my income by the sale of Newhaven, leaving one half of the purchase money to sink in an Annuity and the other half to swim in a Mortgage. My old scruples against pecuniary transactions with a friend are much diminished by my experience of the delays and difficulties which occur in a treaty with a stranger, and I flatter myself that you will not think it necessary to ascertain my title to the Estate by an amicable suit in Chancery. Your statement is impartial and your terms are liberal: Twenty-eight years' purchase appears a fair price for an Estate circumstanced like mine, and I am not ambitious of paying more than twelve years for the chance of my earthly existence. But I do not perfectly acquiesce in your striking off the casual profits to balance the casual losses and repairs, and I must request that you would try a very simple calculation: Supposing the three per Cents at eighty, your landed estate, after deducting every possible outgoing, would pay you as good interest as your money in the funds. Is such an equality reasonable? Should you pay nothing for the solid security of land? Is the National Debt less exposed than the Sussex acres to be swallowed in the Ocean? The calculation is easy.

£ _s._ _d._
Clear rent of Newhaven after deducting
Land-tax and quitrents 234 17 10

Interest paid by the Tenant on £154 at
4 per cent. 6 0 0

Casual profits on an average 19 13 4
-------------------
£260 11 2
28
------
£7280, of which

£ £
4000 mortgage 160
3280 annuity 273
----
£433

Suppose we reduce this sum to £7000 and divide it equally, the produce will be £430 (£140 for the Mortgage, £290 for the Annuity). I cannot think my expectations quite unreasonable, but I leave the final arbitration to yourself, as if we were treating with a third person, and I authorize you to conclude with Lord Sheffield on such conditions as I ought to ask and he will be disposed to give. The farm itself will never answer for the Mortgage, and you will obtain a good and sufficient security for the annuity. In the meanwhile I should be glad to know when I may expect the payment of some rent, and from what date it will begin to accrue to me.

N.B.--Your own offer is £4200, the Mortgage; £280 Annuity. But arithmetic is erroneous: 3052 divided by 12 do not produce 280 but only 254. You are a pretty man of business. So much for Newhaven.

Since we are talking of Wills, I must request that you would commit mine to the flames. By the first opportunity I will send you the duplicate of another which I have constructed on more rational principles. You will not disapprove the preference which I now give to the children of Sir Stanier Porten: they are the nearest, the most indigent and the most deserving of my relations.

*The whole sheet has been filled with dry selfish business; but I must and will reserve some lines of the cover for a little friendly conversation. I passed four days at the castle of Copet with Necker; and could have wished to have shown him, as a warning to any aspiring youth possessed with the Dæmon of ambition.[157] With all the means of private happiness in his power, he is the most miserable of human beings: the past, the present, and the future are equally odious to him. When I suggested some domestic amusements of books, building, &c. he answered, with a deep tone of despair, "Dans l'état où je suis, je ne puis sentir que le coup de vent qui m'a abbattu." How different from the careless chearfulness with which our poor friend Lord North supported his fall! Madame Necker maintains more external composure, _mais le Diable n'y perd rien_. It is true that Necker wished to be carried into the Closet, like old Pitt, on the shoulders of the people; and that he has been ruined by the Democracy which he had raised. I believe him to be an able financier, and know him to be an honest man; too honest, perhaps, for a minister. His rival Calonne has passed through Lausanne, in his way from Turin; and was soon followed by the Prince of Condé, with his son and grandson;[158] but I was too much indisposed to see them. They have, or have had, some wild projects of a counter-revolution: horses have been bought, men levied, and the Canton of Berne has too much countenanced such foolish attempts which must end in the ruin of the party.

[Sidenote: PRAISE OF BURKE'S _REFLECTIONS_.]

Burke's book[159] is a most admirable medicine against the French disease, which has made too much progress even in this happy country. I admire his eloquence, I approve his politics, I adore his chivalry, and I can forgive even his superstition. The primitive Church, which I have treated with some freedom, was itself at that time an innovation, and I was attached to the old Pagan establishment. The French spread so many lyes about the sentiments of the English nation, that I wish the most considerable men of all parties and descriptions would join in some public act, declaring themselves satisfied with and resolved to support our present constitution. Such a declaration would have a wonderful effect in Europe; and, were I thought worthy, I myself should be proud to subscribe it. I have a great mind to send you something of a sketch, such as all thinking men might adopt.

I have intelligence of the approach of my Madeira, and on its receipt will despatch a draught for the payment. I accept with equal pleasure the second, now in the torrid zone. Send me some pleasant details of your domestic state, of Maria, &c. If my lady thinks that my silence is a mark of indifference, my lady is a goose. I _must_ have you all at Lausanne next summer.* Apropos, I must have £3000 on Annuity and £3000 on Mortgage: the surplus you may divide as you like best. I wish you would not enclose your letters to Paris. I have no longer any connections with Lessert, and they desire not to be troubled with them.

[157] "Mr. Gibbon writes that he has seen Necker, and found him
still devoured by ambition, and I should think by mortification
at the foolish figure he has made" (Walpole to the Miss Berrys,
February 28, 1791).

[158] Louis Joseph, Prince de Condé (1736-1818), was the son of
the Duc de Bourbon who was minister to Louis XV. He had served in
the Seven Years' War, and commanded the _émigrés_ on the banks
of the Rhine, who were known as the _armée de Condé_. Both his
son and grandson died by violence. His son, the Duc de Bourbon
(1756-1830), was found hanged in his room. Suspicion, probably
without reason, fell on his mistress, Madame de Feuchéres. With
him was extinguished the family of Condé, for the grandson here
mentioned was the Duc d'Enghien (1772-1804) who was shot at
Vincennes in 1804.

[159] Burke's _Reflections on the Revolution in France_ were
published in October, 1790. "Gibbon admires Burke to the skies,
and even the religious parts, he says" (Walpole to the Miss
Berrys, February 28, 1791).

559.

_Lord Sheffield to Edward Gibbon._

Downing Street, 5th Feb., 1791.

We remained in the country to the last moment, & I came to Town furious against you on account of your neglect of writing, but on reaching Lord Guilford,[160] I learned that you had been very ill, & I was completely softened and no longer abusive. His information came from Major Frank North, who added that you were recovering.

Now are you not a damned good-for-nothing fellow for not recollecting that we might hear you were ill, & therefore not desiring De Severy to write a line to mention that you were recovering? I have for a long time exhorted my Lady to write to him. I think she will now favour him with a Philipick. What has been the matter? for my account does not say whether it has been the gout only or something more. I shall be really sulky if you do not write one line. We are much annoyed. I went to Elmsley & he knew nothing.

[Sidenote: THE CORN LAWS AND SLAVE TRADE.]

I will not write to you on business until a fragment arrives from you, except to say the Business has stopped in hopes of information from you relative to the amount of Hugonin's debt to you. You know I had nothing to do with the affairs between you and him, and of course could not make out the ballance. Andrews has stated it to me at £347 2_s._ 3_d._ I supposed it to be more, therefore waited to hear from you; but I have an Affidavit ready prepared to make before a Master for that amount; that operation is necessary before any further progress can be made. In addition to my other occupations I am more busied than ever I was in my life about a Corn Bill[161] now depending, (as great a business as I have ever undertaken). I examined it well during the Recess, and made ample notes on my arrival; I have shewn them to Batt and Sir Joseph, and they recommend strenuously that I should publish them with my name. They say it is too argumentative, it requires too much consideration, for a speech. They think it will do me great credit. They add it is impossible even for a very able man in the art of speaking and in the habit, to do it justice in a speech. In short, I am obliged to undertake publication in such an hurry as will not produce your commendation. The question comes on in a week. I find the first Edition of my _Observations on the Project for Abolishing the Slave Trade_[162] was not sent to you. I have delivered the second Edition to Elmsley to be forwarded when there is an opportunity. I learned from him that you had not received Burke's _Pamphlet_.

If you had not been ill I should have talked to you as you deserve about the addition to your History. It is as it should be, that I am to hear of that addition for the first time from Newspapers or accidental correspondents. I did not believe the circumstance until everybody was convinced of it, and Mr. Cadell's information was general. It is intolerable.

[160] The Earl of Guilford (1704-1790) died August 4, 1790, and
was succeeded by his eldest son Frederick, better known as Lord
North.

[161] Lord Sheffield's _Observations on the Corn Bill now
depending in Parliament_ was published in 1791. The Corn
Regulation Bill was introduced early in that year. The House went
into committee on the Bill on February 22, 1791, Lord Sheffield
protesting against its principle, but not dividing the House.
Lord Sheffield twice beat Pitt (March 11 and April 11) on the
question of warehousing foreign corn. He also argued for 52_s._
instead of 48_s._ as the lowest price at which, in the interest
of farmers, it was possible to admit foreign corn (April 4).

[162] Lord Sheffield opposed Wilberforce's motion (April 18,
1791) for the Abolition of the Slave Trade on the ground that the
West Indian Assemblies alone could deal with the question fairly
in all its bearings.

560.

_Lord Sheffield to Edward Gibbon._

Downing Street, 15th March, 1791.

Your manuscript at last received exhilarated us very considerably. We heard you were better, but did not exactly know the state of things. We had almost made up our minds to go to see you in a snug party for a month or two in the summer, but now you are well we do not care so much about you. Maria says the allowance of a year's purchase is a fair offer, and my Lady is still more eager to go than Maria.

I know not how I made the mistake in saying the annuity should be £280 instead of £254, but on the receipt of your letter, I desired Woodcock to make out the conveyance for £3000 in an annuity at 12 years' purchase (£250) and £4000 on Mortgage at 4 per cent., £160 together with £410. You will observe that I have somewhat diminished the sum to be laid out on an annuity and encreased the sum on Mortgage, thinking it better for you. Unfortunately for you, since the above arrangement, I have discovered that besides the outgoings I mentioned to you there is a Fee Farm rent of £5 8_s._ 0_d._ payable out of the Estate, which at 28 years' purchase makes a deduction of £151 4_s._ 0_d._ Be assured that you are a damned Jew, otherwise you would have been content with the £6700 which I profferred to you, and I think you ought still. I propose that the annuity and mortgage interest shall begin from Lady-day ensuing, and the Deeds shall be sent to you whenever I can prevail on Woodcock to prepare them. The Annuity shall be payable out of certain farms at Sheffield, and the £4000 mortgage shall be on the Newhaven Estate. The Mortgage Deeds, &c., shall be left in Batt's hands for your account. It is observable that I am paying you £4000 for the reversion of the Estate, and in the meantime more than the annual clear income of it. I am purchasing Lord Heathfield's House and Estate in Sussex, 14 miles from Sheffield, for Sir Henry Clinton. Only 25 years' purchase, deducting every outgoing, is asked, and the timber (which will be very advantageous) is rated very moderately.

You have often remarked how singular your ill-luck is as to sales and titles to Estates. Be it known to you that the conveyance of the Newhaven Estate to your Grandfather is lost. All the other old writings belonging to it were found carefully tyed up and transmitted to me by Mr. Law. The Lawyers say, as I know the circumstances of the Estate and Family, it is such a title as I may take if I please. Yet that I should not be able to sell it again but to disadvantage. I answer that I do not wish it to be sold again. Thus it appears you could not easily sell to anybody but me. As to the Buriton business, I have been almost afraid to tell you that it is still hung up. It is again referred to a Master in Chancery. However, there is no step neglected that can bring it to a conclusion, and I hope it cannot hold on much longer. I have made out that Hugonin was indebted to you to the amount of a year and a half of Buriton. I have sworn to the account, and you will receive at least ten shillings in the pound. Hugonin, his Mistress and daughter are all dead within two years. You will have £8000 on Mortgage in Hampshire, £4000 in Sussex, and £4000 in Yorkshire. All good strings to your bow.

[Sidenote: THE LABOURING OAR IN THE HOUSE.]

The account of your undergoing a drain equal to fifty blisters furnishes me with some satisfaction, as we think it will be serviceable to your fat carcase. You have proven me busy, but I was comparatively at leisure. I have illuminated the Corn Laws. The subject was not understood. The Pamphlet written in a few days is in great repute. You will abuse it because I only attended to the sense in writing it. I have the labouring oar in the House of Commons. I shall write again soon. In the meantime you must write by return of post, if you wish any other distribution of the money.

I am on a Committee every day from ten to four.

561.

_To Lord Sheffield._

Lausanne, April 9th, 1791.

I _will_ say no more, because I can say no more on the unfortunate subject of Buriton, the most unlucky because the least expected of all my worldly embarrassments. Tell me fairly whether you suspect any secret management, or any legal chicanery, &c., on the side of the purchasers. If they are sincere and willing as ourselves, what hinders that we should give possession, we of the land and they of the money, and let the Master in Chancery make his report whenever it may amuse him? If such a scheme be impracticable, goad, I conjure you, the lawyers and fix a day, a definite day, a short day for the final conclusion, for my release from a state of suspense which keeps me hanging between heaven and earth.

You say nothing of what rent may be due from Newhaven, and of the payment of my wretched legacy. My repairs and improvements have now run away with a great deal of money, and my cash account with the Goslings has seldom been so low. It would, however, suffice to pay for the Madeira which is arrived in perfect health: but with my usual accuracy I have lost the account.

After mature consideration I accept your terms of £250 annuity and four thousand mortgage with the security which you propose; the former on some farms at Sheffield (doubtless of a more ample produce), the latter on the Newhaven estate, the imperfect title of which it will not become me to dispute. Notwithstanding your recent discovery of a fee farm rent, I think you will still have a very good bargain; but if you are obstinate, you may strike off ten pounds a year from the Annuity, for your chance of getting back any money would be a very poor one indeed.--With regard to the writings, I have no objection to the method which you propose of lodging them in Batt's hands. I do not recollect anything more on the subject of business, since I have already approved of the distribution of the purchase money. £8000 on Buriton, £4000 in Yorkshire, the loose residue, if any, in the funds. We may therefore proceed to more interesting and less interested topics.

*First, of my health; It is now tolerably restored: my legs are still weak, but the animal in general is in a sound and lively condition; and we have great hopes from the fine weather and the Pyrmont waters. I most sincerely wished for the presence of Maria, to embellish a ball which I gave the 29th of last month to all the best company, natives and foreigners, of Lausanne, with the aid of the Severys, especially of the mother and son, who directed the œconomy, and performed the honours of the _Fête_. It opened about seven in the evening; the assembly of men and women was pleased and pleasing, the music good, the illumination splendid, the refreshments profuse: at twelve, one hundred and thirty persons sat down to a very good supper; at two, I stole away to bed, in a snug corner; and I was informed at breakfast, that the remains of the Veteran and young troops, with Severy and his sister at their head, had concluded the last dance about a quarter before seven. This magnificent entertainment has gained me great credit; and the expence was more reasonable than you can easily imagine. This was an extraordinary event, but I give frequent dinners; and in the summer I have an assembly every Sunday evening. What a wicked wretch! says Lady Pantile.