Chapter XXXVIII: Letter 96: He married, in July following, Lady Grizel (4)

(1143 "Charles arrived at Derby in high spirits, reflecting that he was now within a hundred and thirty miles of the capital. Accordingly, that evening, at supper, he studiously directed his conversation to his intended progress and expected triumph--whether it would be best for him to enter London on foot or on horseback, in Highland or in English dress. Far different were the thoughts of his followers, who, early next morning, laid before him their earnest and unanimous opinion for an immediate retreat to Scotland, Charles said, that, rather than go back, he would wish to be buried twenty feet under ground. On the following day he sullenly consented to retreat, but added, that, in future, he would call no more councils; since he was accountable to nobody for his actions, excepting to God and his father, and would therefore no longer either ask or accept their advice." See Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a Grandfather, vol. v. p. 226.-E.

(1144) Sir John Willes, knight, chief justice of the common pleas from 1737 to 1762.-D.

(1145) In the beginning of the year 1755, on rumours of a great armament at Brest, one Virette, a Swiss, who had been a kind of toad-eater to this St. Germain, was denounced to Lord Holderness for a spy; but Mr. Stanley going pretty surlily to his lordship, on his suspecting a friend of his, Virette was declared innocent, and the penitent secretary of state made him the honourable amends of a dinner in form. About the same time, a spy of ours was seized at Brest, but not happening to be acquainted with Mr. Stanley, was broken upon the wheel.

457 Letter 190 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington street, Dec. 20, 1745.

I have at last got your great letter by Mr. Gambier, and the views of the villas,(1146) for which I thank you much. I can't say I think them too well done. nor the villas themselves pretty; but the prospects are charming. I have since received two more letters from you, of November 30th and December 7th. You seem to receive mine at last, though very slowly.

We have at last got a spring-tide of good luck. The rebels turned back from Derby, and have ever since been flying with the greatest precipitation.(1147) The Duke, with all his horse, and a thousand foot mounted, has pursued them with astonishing rapidity; and General Oglethorpe, with part of Wade's horse, has crossed over upon them. There has been little prospect of coming up with their entire body, but it dismayed them; their stragglers were picked up, and the towns in their way preserved from plunder, by their not having time to do mischief. This morning an express is arrived from Lord Malton(1148) in Yorkshire, who has had an account of Oglethorpe's cutting a part of them to pieces, and of the Duke's overtaking their rear and entirely demolishing it. We believe all this; but, as it is not yet confirmed, don't depend upon it too much. The fat East India ships are arrived safe from Ireland--I mean the prizes; and yesterday a letter arrived from Admiral Townshend in the West Indies, where he has fallen in with the Martinico fleet (each ship valued at eight thousand pounds), taken twenty, sunk ten, and driven ashore two men-of-war, their convoy, and battered them to pieces. All this will raise the pulse Of the stocks, which have been exceedingly low this week, and the Bank itself in danger. The private rich are making immense fortunes out of the public distress: the dread of the French invasion has occasioned this. They have a vast embarkation at Dunkirk; the Duc de Richelieu, Marquis Fimarcon, and other general officers, are named in form to command. Nay, it has been notified in form by the insolent Lord John Drummond,(1149) who has got to Scotland, and sent a drum to Marshal Wade, to announce himself commander for the French King in the war he designs to wage in England, and to propose a cartel for the exchange of prisoners. No answer has been made to this rebel; but the King has acquainted the Parliament with this audacious message. We have a vast fleet at sea; and the main body of the Duke's army is coming down to the coast to prevent their landing, if they should slip our ships. Indeed, I can't believe they will attempt coming hither, as they must hear of the destruction of the rebels in England; but they will probably, dribble away to Scotland, where the war may last considerably. Into England, I scarce believe the Highlanders will be drawn again:--to have come as far as Derby--to have found no rising in their favour, and to find themselves not strong enough to fight either army, will make lasting impressions!

Vernon, I hear, is recalled for his absurdities, and at his own request, and Martin named for his successor.(1150) We had yesterday a very remarkable day in the House: the King notified his having sent for six thousand Hessians into Scotland. Mr. Pelham, for an address of thanks. Lord Cornbury (indeed, an exceedingly honest man(1151)) was for thanking for the notice, not for the sending for the troops; and proposed to add a representation of the national being the only constitutional troops, and to hope we should be exonerated of these foreigners as soon as possible. Pitt, and that clan, joined him; but the voice of the House, and the desires of the whole kingdom for all the troops we can get, were so strong, that, on the division, we were 190 to 44: I think and hope this will produce some Hanoverians too. That it will produce a dismission of the Cobhamites is pretty certain; the Duke of Bedford and Lord Gower arc warm for both points. The latter has certainly renounced Jacobitism.

Boetslaar is come again from Holland, but his errand not yet known. You will have heard of another victory,(1152) which the Prussian has gained over the Saxons; very bloody on both sides--but now he is master of Dresden.

We again think that we have got the second son,(1153) under the name of Macdonald. Nobody is permitted to see any of the prisoners.

In the midst of our political distresses, which, I assure you, have reduced the town to a state of Presbyterian dulness, we have been entertained with the marriage of the Duchess of Bridgewater(1154) and Dick Lyttelton - she, forty, plain, very rich, and with five children; he, six-and-twenty, handsome, poor, and proper to get her five more. I saw, the other day, a very good Irish letter. A gentleman in Dublin, full of the great qualities of my Lord Chesterfield, has written a panegyric on them, particularly on his affability and humility; with a comparison between him and the hauteur of all other lord-lieutenants. As an instance, he says, the earl was invited to a great dinner, whither he went, by mistake, at one, instead of three. The master was not at home, the lady not dressed, every thing in confusion. My lord was so humble as to dismiss his train and take a hackney-chair, and went and stayed with Mrs. Phipps till dinner-time--la belle humilit`e!

I am not at all surprised to hear of my cousin Don Sebastian's stupidity. Why, child, he cannot articulate; how would you have had him educated? Cape Breton, Bastia, Martinico! if we are undone this year, at least we go out with `eclat. Good night.

1146) Villas of the Florentine nobility.

(1147) "Now few there were," says Captain Daniel, in his MS. Memoirs, " who would go on foot if they could ride; and mighty taking, stealing, and pressing of horses there was amongst us! Diverting it was to see the Highlanders mounted, without either breeches, saddle, or any thing else but the bare back of the horses to ride on; and for their bridle, only a straw rope! in this manner do we march out of England." See Lord Mahon's Hist. vol. iii. p. 449.-E.

(1148) Sir Thomas Watson Wentworth, Knight of the Bath and Earl of Malton. [In April 1746, he was advanced to the dignity of Marquis of Rockingham. He died in 1750, was succeeded by his second son, Charles Watson Wentworth, second marquis; on whose death, in 1782, all the titles became extinct.]

(1149) Brother of the titular Duke of Perth. [And a general officer in the French army. "The amount of supplies brought by him reminds us," says Sir Walter Scott, "of those administered to a man perishing of famine, by a comrade, who dropped into his mouth, from time to time, a small shelfish, affording nutriment enough to keep the sufferer from dying, but not sufficient to restore him to active exertion."]

(1150) On the 2d of January, Admiral Vernon, having arrived in the Downs from a cruise, struck his flag; upon which, Admiral Martin took the command, in his room.-E.

(1151) Henry Hyde, only son of Henry, the last Earl of Clarendon. He was called up to the House of Peers, by the style of Lord Hyde, and died unmarried, before his father, at Paris, 1753. (When Lord Cornbury returned from his travels, Lord Essex, his brother-in-law, told him, with a great deal of pleasure, that he had got a handsome pension for him, All Lord Cornbury's answer was, "How could you tell, my Lord, that I was to be sold? or, at least, how came you to know my price so exactly?"--"It was on this account," says Spence, "that Pope complimented him with this passage-

"Would you be bless't? despise low joys, low gains; Disdain whatever Cornbury disdains; Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains."

On the death of the earl, a few months after his son, the viscounty of Cornbury and earldom of Clarendon became extinct.-E.]

(1152) The battle of Kesselsdorf, gained by Prince Leopold of Anhalt Dessau over the Saxon army, commanded by Count Rutowsky. This event took place on the 15th of December, and was followed by the taking of Dresden by the King of Prussia.-D.

(1153) Henry Stuart, afterwards Cardinal of York. This intelligence did not prove true.-D.

(1154) lady Rachel Russel, eldest sister of John, Duke of Bedford, and widow of Scrope Egerton, Duke of Bridgewator; married to her second husband, Colonel Richard Lyttelton, brother of Sir George Lyttelton, and afterwards Knight of the Bath.

460 Letter 191 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, Jan, 3, 1746.

I deferred writing to you till I could tell you that the rebellion was at an end in England. The Duke has taken Carlisle, but was long enough before it to prove how basely or cowardly it was yielded to the rebel: you will see the particulars' in the Gazette. His Royal Highness is expected in town every day; but I still think it probable that he will go to Scotland.(1155) That country is very clamorous for it. If the King does send him, it should not be with that sword of mercy with which the present family have governed those people. All the world agrees in the fitness of severity to highwaymen, for the sake of the innocent who suffer; then can rigour be ill-placed against banditti. who have so terrified, pillaged, and injured the poor people in Cumberland, Lancashire, Derbyshire, and the counties through which this rebellion has stalked? There is a military magistrate of some fierceness sent into Scotland with Wade's army, who is coming to town; it is General Hawley.(1156) He will not sow the seeds of future disloyalty by too easily pardoning the present.

The French still go on with their preparations at Dunkirk and their sea-ports; but I think, few people believe now that they will be exerted against us: we have a numerous fleet in the Channel, and a large army on the shores opposite to France. The Dutch fear that all this storm is to burst on them. Since the Queen's making peace with Prussia, the Dutch are applying to him for protection; and I am told, wake from their neutral lethargy.

We are in a good quiet state here in town; the Parliament is reposing itself for the holidays; the ministry is in private agitation; the Cobham part of the coalition is going to be disbanded; Pitt's wild ambition cannot content itself with what he had asked, and had granted: and he has driven Lyttelton and the Grenvilles to adopt all his extravagances. But then, they are at 'variance again within themselves: Lyttelton's wife(1157) hates Pitt, and does not approve his governing her husband and hurting their family; so that, at present, it seems, he does not care to be a martyr to Pitt's caprices, which are in excellent training; for he is governed by her mad Grace of Queensberry. All this makes foul weather; but, to me, it is only a cloudy landscape.

The Prince has dismissed Hume Campbell(1158) who was his solicitor, for attacking Lord Tweedale(1159) on the Scotch affairs: the latter has resigned the seals of secretary of state for Scotland to-day. I conclude, when the holidays are over, and the rebellion travelled so far back, we shall have warm inquiries in Parliament. This is a short letter, I perceive; but I know nothing more; and the Carlisle part of it will make you wear, your beaver more erect than I believe you have of late. Adieu!

(1155) The Duke of Cumberland entered Carlisle on the 31 st of December; but his pursuit of the Highlanders in person was interrupted by despatches, which called him to London, to be ready to take command against the projected invasion from France.-E.

(1156) "Hawley," says Lord Mahon, "was an officer of some experience, but destitute of capacity, and hated, not merely by his enemies, but by his own soldiers, for a most violent and vindictive temper. One of his first measures, on arriving at Edinburgh, to take the chief command, was to order two gibbets to be erected, ready for the rebels who might fall into his hands; and, with a similar view, he bid several executioners attend his army on his march." Vol. ii. p. 357.

(1157) Lucy Fortescue, sister of Lord Clinton, first wife of Sir George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton. [She died in January 1747, at the age of twenty-nine.

(1158) twin-brother to the Earl of Marchmont; who, in his Diary .of the 2d of January, says, "My brother told me he had been, last night, with Mr. Drax, the Prince's secretary, when he had notified to him that the Prince expected all his family to go together to support the measures of the administration, and that, as Mr. Hume did not act so, he was to write him a letter, discharging him, In the conversation, Mr. Drax said, that the Prince was to support the Pelhams, and that his dismission was to be ascribed to Lord Granville. My brother said, that he had nothing to say to the Prince, other than that he would support all the measures he thought conducive to the King's interests, but no others."-E.

(1159) The Marquis of Tweedale was one of the discontented Whigs, during the administration of Sir Robert Walpole; on whose removal he came to court, and was made secretary of state, attaching himself to Lord Granville's faction, whose youngest daughter, Frances, he afterwards married, He was reckoned a good civilian, but was a very dull man.

461 Letter 192 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, Jan. 17,1746.,

It is a very good symptom, I can tell you, that I write to you seldom -. it is a fortnight since my last; and nothing material has happened in this interval. The rebels are intrenching and fortifying themselves in Scotland; and what a despicable affair is a rebellion upon the defensive! General Hawley is marched from Edinburgh, to put it quite out. I must give you some idea of this man, who will give a mortal blow to the pride of the Scotch nobility. He is called Lord chief Justice; frequent and sudden executions are his passion. Last winter he had intelligence of a spy to come from the French army: the first notice our army had of his arrival, was by seeing him dangle on a gallows in his mufti and boots. One of the surgeons of the army begged the body of a soldier who was hanged for desertion, to dissect: "Well," said Hawley, "but then you shall give me the skeleton to hang up in the guard-room." He is very brave and able; with no small bias to the brutal. Two years ago, when he arrived at Ghent, the magistrates, according to customs sent a gentleman, with the offer of a sum Of money to engage his favour. He told the gentleman, in great wrath, that the King his master paid him, and that he should go tell the magistrates so; at the same time dragging him to the head of the stairs, and kicking him down. He then went to the town-hall; on their refusing him entrance, he burst open the door with his foot, and seated himself abruptly: told them how he had been affronted, was persuaded they had no hand in it, and demanded to have the gentleman given up to him, who never dared to appear in the town while he stayed in it. Now I am telling you anecdotes of him, you shall hear two more. When the Prince of Hesse, our son-in-law, arrived at Brussels, and found Hawley did not wait on him, the Prince sent to know if he expected the first visit? He replied, "He always expected that inferior officers should wait on their commanders; and not only that, but he gave his Highness but half an hour to consider of it." The Prince went to him. I believe I told you of Lord John Drummond sending a drum to Wade to propose a cartel. Wade returned a civil answer, which had the King's and council's approbation. When the drummer arrived with it at Edinburgh, Hawley opened it and threw it into the fire, would not let the drummer go back, but made him write to Lord J. "That rebels were not to be treated with." If you don't think that spirit like this will do-do you see, I would not give a farthing for your presumption.(1160)

The French invasion is laid aside; we are turning our hands to war again upon the continent. The House of Commons is something of which I can give YOU no description: Mr. Pitt, the meteor of it, Is neither yet in place, nor his friends out. Some Tories oppose: Mr. Pelham is distressed, and has vast majorities. When the scene clears a little, I will tell you more of it.

The two last letters I have had from you, are of December 21 and January 4. You was then still in uneasiness; by this time I hope you have no other distresses than are naturally incident to your miny-ness.

I never hear any thing of the Countess(1161) except just now, that she is grown tired of sublunary affairs, and willing to come to a composition with her lord: I believe that the price will be two thousand a-year. The other day, his and her lawyers were talking over the affair before her and several other people: her counsel, in the heat of the dispute, said to my lord's lawyers, "Sir, Sir, we shall be able to prove that her ladyship was denied nuptial rights and conjugal enjoyments for seven years." It was excellent! My lord must have had matrimonial talents indeed, to have reached to Italy; besides, you know, she made it a point after her son was born, not to sleep with her husband.

Thank you for the little medal. I am glad I have nothing more to tell you-you little expected that we should so soon recover our tranquility. Adieu!

(1160) Glover, in his Memoirs, speaks of Hawley with great contempt, and talks of "his beastly ignorance and negligence," which occasioned the loss of the battle of Falkirk.-D.

(1161) Lady Orford.

463 Letter 193 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, Jan. 28, 1746.

Do they send you the gazettes as they used to do? If you have them, you will find there an account of another battle lost in Scotland. Our arms cannot succeed there. Hawley, of whom I said so much to you in my last, has been as unsuccessful as Cope, and by almost every circumstance the same, except that Hawley had less want of skill and much more presumption. The very same dragoons ran away at Falkirk, that ran away at Preston Pans.(1162) Though we had seven thousand men, and the rebels but five, we had scarce three regiments that behaved well. General Huske and Brigadier Cholmondeley,(1163) my lord's brother, shone extremely - the former beat the enemy's. right wing; and the latter, by rallying two regiments, prevented the pursuit. Our loss is trifling: for many of the rebels fled as fast as the glorious dragoons- but we have lost some good officers, particularly Sir Robert Monroe; and seven pieces of cannon. A worse loss is apprehended, Stirling Castle, which could hold out but ten days; and that term expires to-morrow. The Duke is gone post to Edinburgh, where he hoped to arrive to-night; if possible, to relieve Stirling. Another battle will certainly be fought before you receive this; I hope with the Hessians in it, who are every hour expected to land in Scotland. With many other glories, the English courage seems gone too! The great dependence is upon the Duke; the soldiers adore him, and with reason: he has a lion's courage, vast vigilance and activity, and, I am told, great military genius. For my own particular, I am uneasy that he is gone: Lord Bury and Mr. Conway, two of his aides-de-camp, and brave as he, are gone with him. The ill behaviour of the soldiers lays a double obligation on the officers to set them examples of running on danger. The ministry would have kept back Mr. Conway, as being in Parliament; which when the Duke told him, he burst into tears, and said nothing should hinder his going--and he is gone! Judge, if I have not reason to be alarmed!

Some Of our prisoners in Scotland (the former Prisoners) are returned. They had the Privilege of walking about the town, where they were confined, upon their parole: the militia of the country rose and set them at liberty. General Hawley is so strict as to think they should be sent back; but nobody here comprehends such refinement: they could not give their word that the town should not be taken. There are two or three others, who will lay the government under difficulties, when we have got over the rebellion. They were come to England on their parole; and when the executions begin, they must in honour be given up--the question indeed will be, to whom?

Adieu! my dear sir! I write you this short letter, rather than be taxed with negligence on such an event; though, YOU perceive, I know nothing but what you will se in the printed papers.

P.S. The Hessians would not act, because we would not settle a cartel with rebels!

(1162) "Hawley was never seen in the field during the battle; and every thing would have gone to wreck, in a worse manner than at Preston, if General Huske had not acted with judgment and courage, and appeared every where." Culloden Papers, p. 267.-E.

(1163) The Hon. James Cholmondeley, second son of George, second Earl of Cholmondeley. He served with distinction both in Flanders and Scotland. In 1750, he became colonel of the Inniskillen regiment of dragoons; and died in 1775.-D.

464 Letter 194 To Sir Horace MANN. Arlington Street Feb. 7, 1746.

Till yesterday that I received your last of January 27, I was very uneasy at finding you still remained under the same anxiety about the rebellion, when it had so long ceased to be formidable with us: but you have got all my letters, and are out of your pain. Hawley's defeat (or at least what was called so, for I am persuaded that the victory was ours as far as there was any fighting, which indeed lay in a very small compass, the great body of each army running away) will have thrown you back into your terrors; but here is a letter to calm you again. All Monday and Tuesday we were concluding that the battle between the Duke and the rebels must be fought, and nothing was talked of but the expectation of the courier. He did arrive indeed on Wednesday morning, but with no battle; for the moment the rebel army saw the Duke's, they turned back with the utmost precipitation; spiked their cannon, blew up their magazine, and left behind them their wounded and our prisoners. They crossed the Forth, and in one day fled four-and-thirty miles to Perth, where, as they have strong intrenchments, some imagine they will wait to fight; but their desertion is too great; the whole clan of the macdonalds, one of their best has retired on the accidental death of their chief. In short, it looks exceedingly like the conclusion of this business, though the French have embarked Fitzjames's regiment at Ostend for Scotland. The Duke's name disperses armies, as the Pretender's raised them.

The French seem to be at the eve of taking Antwerp and Brussels, the latter of which is actually besieged. In this case I don't see how we can send an army abroad this summer, for there will be no considerable towns in Flanders left in the possession of the Empress-Queen.

The new regiments, of which I told you so much, have again been in dispute: as their term was near expired, the ministry proposed to continue them for four months longer. This was last Friday, when, as we every hour expected the news of a conclusive battle, which, if favourable, would render them useless, Mr. Fox, the general against the new regiments, begged it might only be postponed till the following Wednesday, but 170 against 89 voted them that very day. On the very Wednesday came the news of the flight of the rebels; and two days before that, news from Chester of Lord Gower's new regiment having mutinied, on hearing that they were to be continued beyond the term for which they had listed.

At court all is confusion-. the King, at Lord Bath's instigation, has absolutely refused to make Pitt secretary at war.(1164) How this will end, I don't know, but I don't believe in bloodshed: neither side is famous for being incapable of yielding.

I wish you joy of having the Chutes again, though I am a little sorry that their bravery was not rewarded by staying at Rome till they could triumph in their turn: however, I don't believe that at Florence you want opportunities of exulting. That Monro you mention was made travelling physician by my father's interest, who had great regard for the old doctor.(1165) if he has any skill in quacking madmen, his art may perhaps be of service now in the Pretender's court.

I beg my eagle may not come till it has the opportunity of a man-of-war: we have lost so many merchantmen lately, that I should never expect to receive it that way.

I can say nothing to your opinion of the young Pretender being a cheat; nor, as the rebellion is near at end, do I see what end it would answer to prove him original or spurious. However, as you seem to dwell upon it, I will mention it again to my uncle.

I hear that my sister-Countess is projecting her return, being quite sick of England, where nobody visits her. She says there is not one woman of sense in England. Her journey, however, will have turned to account, and, I believe, end in almost doubling her allowance. Adieu! my dear child; love the Chutes for me as well as for yourself.

(1164) Lord Marchmont, in his Diary of Feb. 9, says, "My brother told me, that on the ministry insisting on Mr. Pitt being secretary at war, and the King having said he should not be his secretary, Lord Bath had gone to the King and told him, though he had resolved never to take a place, yet now, finding his ministers would force a servant on him, rather than he should be so used, he would undertake to get him his money. The King said. the ministers had the Parliament; Lord Bath said, his Majesty had it, and not they: and that hereupon the King thanked him; and it was expected the ministers would all be out."-E.

(1165) In 1743, Dr. John Monro was appointed, through the influence of Sir Robert Walpole, to one of the Radcliffe travelling fellowships. In 1752, he succeeded his father as physician to Bridewell and Bethlehem Hospitals. In 1758, he published "Remarks on Dr. Battie's Treatise on Madness," in which he vindicated his father's treatment of that disorder. He died in 1791.-E.

466 Letter 195 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, Feb. 14, 1746.

By the relation I am going to make, you will think that I am describing Turkish, not English revolutions; and will cast your eye upwards to see if my letter is not dated from Constantinople. Indeed, violent as the changes have been, there has been no bloodshed; no Grand Vizier has had a cravat made of a bowstring, no Janizaries have taken upon them to alter the succession, no Grand Signior is deposed--only his Sublime Highness's dignity has been a little impaired. Oh! I forgot; I ought not to frighten you; you will interpret all these fine allusions, and think on the rebellion--pho! we are such considerable proficients in politics, that we can form rebellions within rebellions, and turn a government topsy-turvy at London, while we are engaged in a civil war in Scotland. In short, I gave you a hint last week of an insurrection in the closet, and of Lord Bath having prevented Pitt from being secretary at war. The ministry gave up that point; but finding that a change had been made in a scheme of foreign politics, which they had laid before the King, and for which he had thanked them; and perceiving some symptoms of a resolution to dismiss them at the end of the session, they came to a sudden determination not to do Lord Granville's business by carrying the supplies, and then to be turned out: so on Monday morning, to the astonishment of every body, the two secretaries of state threw up the seals; and the next day Mr. Pelham, with the rest of the Treasury, the Duke of Bedford with the Admiralty, Lord Gower, privy seal, and Lord Pembroke,' groom of the stole, gave up too - the Dukes of Devonshire, Grafton, and Richmond, the Lord Chancellor, Winnington, paymaster, and almost all the other great officers and offices, declaring they would do the same. Lord Granville immediately received both seals, one for himself, and the other to give to whom he pleased. Lord Bath was named first commissioner of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer; Lord Carlisle, privy seal, and Lord Winchilsea reinstated in the Admiralty. Thus far all went swimmingly; they had only forgot one little point, which was, to secure a majority in both Houses: in the Commons they unluckily found that they had no better man to take the lead than poor Sir John Rushout, for Sir John Barnard refused to be chancellor of the exchequer; so did Lord Chief Justice Willes to be lord chancellor; and the wildness of the scheme soon prevented others, who did not wish ill to Lord Granville, or well to the Pelhams, from giving in to it. Hop, the Dutch minister, did not a little increase the confusion by declaring that he had immediately despatched a courier to Holland, and did not doubt but the States would directly send to accept the terms of France.

I should tell you too, that Lord Bath's being of the enterprise contributed hugely to poison the success of it. In short, his lordship, whose politics were never characterized by steadiness, found that he had not courage enough to take the Treasury. You may guess how ill laid his schemes were, when be durst not indulge both his ambition and avarice! In short, on Wednesday morning (pray mind, this was the very Wednesday after the Monday on which the chance had happened,) he went to the King, and told him he had tried the House of Commons, and found it would not do!(1167) Bounce! went all the project into shivers, like the vessels in Ben Jonson's Alchymist, when they are on the brink of the philosopher's stone. The poor King, who, from being fatigued with the Duke of Newcastle, and sick of Pelham's timidity and compromises, had given in to this mad hurly-burly of alterations, was confounded with having floundered to no purpose, and to find himself more than ever in the power of men he hated, shut himself up in his closet, and refused to admit any more of the persons who were pouring in upon him with white sticks, and golden keys, and commissions, etc. At last he sent for Winnington, and told him, he was the only honest man about him, and he should have the honour of a reconciliation, and sent him to Mr. Pelham to desire they would all return to their employments.(1168)

Lord Granville is as jolly as ever; laughs and drinks, and owns it was mad, and owns he -would do it again to-morrow. It would not be quite so safe, indeed, to try it soon again, for the triumphant party are not at all in the humour to be turned out every time his lordship has drunk a bottle too much; and that House of Commons that he could not make do for him, would do to send him to the Tower till he was sober. This was the very worst period he could have selected, when the fears of men had made them throw themselves absolutely into all measures of Government to secure the government itself; and that temporary strength of Pelham has my Lord Granville contrived to fix to him: and people will be glad to ascribe to the Merit and virtue of the ministry, what they would be ashamed to Own, but was really the effect of their own apprehensions. It was a good idea Of somebody, when no man would accept a place under the new system, that Granville and Bath were met going about the streets, calling odd man! as the hackney chairman do when they want a partner. This little faction of Lord Granville goes by the name of the Grandvillains.

There! who would think that I had written you an entire history in the compass of three sides of paper?(1169) ***Vertot would have composed a volume on this event. and entitled it, the Revolutions of England. You will wonder at not having it notified to you by Lord Granville himself, as is customary for new secretaries of state: when they mentioned to him writing to Italy, he said-"To Italy! no: before the courier can get thither, I shall be out again." it absolutely makes one laugh: as serious as the consequences might be, it is impossible to hate a politician of such jovial good-humour. I am told that he ordered the packet-boat to be stopped at Harwich till Saturday, till he should have time to determine what he would write to Holland. This will make the Dutch receive the news of the double revolution at the same instant.

Duke and his name are pursuing the scattered rebels into their very mountains, determined to root out sedition entirely. It is believed, and we expect to hear, that the young Pretender is embarked and gone. Wish the Chutes joy of the happy conclusion of this affair!

Adieu! my dear child! After describing two revolutions, and announcing the termination of a rebellion, it would be below the dignity of my letter to talk of any thing of less moment. Next post I may possibly descend out of my historical buskin, and converse with you more familiarly--en attendant, gentle reader, I am, your sincere well-wisher,

Horace Walpole, Historiographer to the high and mighty Lord John, Earl Granville.

(1166) Henry Herbert, ninth Earl of Pembroke, an intelligent lover of the arts, and an amateur architect of considerable merit. Walpole says of him, in his account of Sculptors and Architects, The soul of Inigo Jones, who had been patronised by his ancestors, seemed still to hover over its favourite Wilton, and to have assisted the Muses of Arts in the education of this noble person. No man had a purer taste in building than Earl Henry, of which he gave a few specimens: besides his works at Wilton, the new Lodge in Windsor Park; the Countess of Suffolk's house, at Marble Hill, Twickenham; the Water-house, in Lord Orford's park at Houghton, are incontestable proofs of Lord Pembroke's taste: it was more than taste; it was passion for the utility and honour of his country that engaged his lordship to promote and assiduously overlook the construction of Westminster Bridge by the ingenious M. Lahelye, a man that deserves more notice than this slight encomium can bestow." He died in January 1750-1.-E.

(1167) "Feb. 13. Lord Bolingbroke told me, that Bath had resigned, and all was now over. He approved of what had been done, though he owned that Walpole'S faction had done what he had wrote every King must expect who nurses up a faction by governing by a party; and that it was a most indecent thing, and must render the King contemptible. Lord Cobham told me, that the King had yesterday sent Winnington to stop the resignations; that he had offered Winnington the seat of exchequer, after Bath had resigned it; but Winnington said it would not do. At court I met Lord Granville, who is still secretary, but declared to be ready to resign when the King pleases." Marchmont Diary.-E.

(1168) In a letter to the Duke of Newcastle, of the 18th, Lord Chesterfield says, " Your victory is complete: for God's sake pursue it. Good policy still more than resentment, requires that Granville and Bath should be marked-out,'and all their people cut off. Every body now sees and knows that you have the power; let them see and know too, that you will use it. A general run ought to be made upon Bath by all your followers and writers."-E.

(1169) The projectors of this ,attempt to remove the ministers were overwhelmed with ridicule. Among other jeux d'esprit, was "A History of the Long Administration," bound up like the works printed for children, and sold for a penny; and of which one would suspect Walpole to be the author. It concluded as follows: "And thus endeth the second and last part of this astonishing administration, which lasted forty-eight hours, three quarters, seven minutes, and eleven seconds; which may be truly called the most wise and most Honest of all administrations, the minister having, to the astonishment of all wise men, never transacted one rash thing, and, what is more marvellous, left as much money in the treasury as he found in it. This worthy history I have faithfully recorded in this mighty volume, that it may be read with the valuable works of our immortal countryman, Thomas Thumb, by our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, to the end of the world:'-E.

469 Letter 196 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, March 6, 1746.

I know I have missed two or three posts, but you have lost nothing: you perhaps expected that our mighty commotions did not subside at once, and that you should still hear of struggles and more shocks; but it all ended at once; with only some removals and promotions which you saw in the Gazette. I should have written, however, but I have been hurried with my sister'S(1170) wedding; but all the ceremony of that too is over now, and the dinners and the visits.

The rebellion has fetched breath; the dispersed clans have reunited and marched to Inverness, from whence Lord Loudon was forced to retreat, leaving a garrison in the castle, which has since yielded without firing a gun. Their numbers are now reckoned at seven thousand: old Lord lovat(1171) has carried them a thousand Frasers. The French continually drop them a ship or two: we took two, with the Duke of Berwick's brother on board: it seems evident that they design to keep up our disturbances as long as possible, to prevent our sending any troops to Flanders. Upon the prospect of the rebellion being at an end, the Hessians were ordered back, but luckily were not gone; and now are quartered to prevent the rebels slipping the Duke, (who is marching to them,) and returning into England. This counter-order was given in the morning, and in the evening came out the Gazette, and said the Hessians are to go away. This doubling style in the ministry is grown so characteristic, that the French are actually playing a farce, in which harlequin enters, as an English courier, with two bundles of despatches fastened to his belly and his back: they ask him what the one is? "Eh! Ces sont mes ordres." and what the other? "Mais elles sont mes contre-ordres."

We have been a little disturbed in some other of our politics, by the news of the King of Sardinia having made his peace: I think it comes out now that he absolutely had concluded one with France, but that the haughty court of Spain rejected it: what the Austrian pride had driven him to, the Spanish pride drove him from. You will allow that our affairs are critically bad, when all our hopes centre in that honest monarch, the King of Prussia-but so it is: and I own I see nothing that can restore us to being a great nation but his interposition. Many schemes are framed, of making him Stadtholder of Holland, or Duke of Burgundy in Flanders, in lieu of the Silesias, or altogether, and that I think would follow-but I don't know how far any of these have been carried into propositions.

I see by your letters that our fomentations of the Corsican rebellion have had no better success than the French tampering in ours-for ours, I don't expect it will be quite at an end, till it is made one of the conditions of peace, that they shall give it no assistance.

The smallpox has been making great havoc in London; the new Lord Rockingham,(1172) whom I believe you knew when only Thomas Watson, is dead of it, and the title extinct. My Lady Conway(1173) has had it, but escaped.

My brother is on the point of finishing all his affairs with his countess; she is to have fifteen hundred per year; and her mother gives her two thousand pounds. I suppose this will send her back to you, added to her disappointments in politics, in which it appears she has been tampering. Don't you remember a very foolish knight, one Sir Bourchier Wrey?(1174) Well, you do: the day Lord Bath was in the Treasury, that one day! she wrote to Sir Bourchier at Exeter, to tell him that now their friends were coming into power, and it was a brave opportunity for him to Come Up and make his own terms. He came, and is lodged in her house, and sends about cards to invite people to come and see him at the Countess of Orford's. There is a little fracas I hear in their domestic; the Abb`e-Secretary has got one of the maids with child. I have seen the dame herself but once these two months, when she came into the Opera at the end of the first act, fierce as an incensed turkey-cock, you know her look, and towing after her Sir Francis Dashwood's new Wife,(1175) a poor forlorn Presbyterian prude, whom he obliges to consort with her.

Adieu! for I think I have now told you all I know. I am very sorry that you are so near losing the good Chutes, but I cannot help having an eye to myself in their coming to England.

(1170) Lady Maria Walpole, married to Charles Churchill, Esq.

(1171) Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, a man of parts, but of infamous character. He had the folly, at the age of eighty, to enter into the rebellion, upon a promise from the Pretender, that he would make him Duke of Fraser. He was taken, tried, and beheaded.-D.

)1172) Thomas Watson, third Earl of Rockingham, succeeded his elder brother Lewis in the family honours in 1745, and died himself in 1746. The earldom extinguished upon his death'; but the Barony of Rockingham devolved upon his kinsman, Thomas Watson Wentworth, Earl of Malton, who was soon afterwards created Marquis of Rockingham. ant`e, p. 458, letter 191.

(1173) Lady Isabella Fitzroy, daughter of Charles, Duke of Grafton, and wife of Francis, Lord Conway, afterwards Earl of Hertford.

(1174) Sir Bourchier Wrey of Tavistock, in Devonshire, the fifth baronet of the family. He was member of parliament for Barnstaple, and died in 1784.-D.

(1175) Widow of Sir Richard Ellis.

470 Letter 197 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, March 21, 1746.

I have no new triumphs of the Duke to send you: he has been detained a great while at Aberdeen by the snows. The rebels have gathered numbers again, and have taken Fort Augustus, and are marching to Fort William. The Duke complains extremely of the loyal Scotch: says he can get no intelligence, and reckons himself more in an enemy's country, than when he was warring with the French in Flanders. They profess the big professions wherever he comes, but, before he is out of sight of any town, beat up for volunteers for rebels. We see no prospect of his return, for he must stay in Scotland while the rebellion lasts; and the existence of that seems too intimately connected with the being of Scotland, to expect it should soon be annihilated.

We rejoice at the victories of the King of Sardinia, whom we thought lost to our cause. To-day we are to vote subsidies to the Electors of Cologne and Mentz. I don't know whether they will be opposed by the Electoral Prince;(1176) but he has lately erected a new opposition, by the councils of Lord Bath, who has got him from Lord Granville: the latter and his faction act with the court.

I have told you to the utmost extent of my political knowledge; of private history there is nothing new. Don't think, my dear child, that I hurry over my letters, or neglect writing to you; I assure you I never do, when I have the least grain to lap up in a letter: but consider how many chapters of correspondence are extinct: Pope and poetry are dead! Patriotism has kissed hands on accepting a place: the Ladies O. and T.' have exhausted scandal both in their persons and conversations: divinity and controversy are grown good Christians, say their prayers and spare their neighbours; and I think even self-murder is out of fashion. Now judge whether a correspondent can furnish matter for the common intercourse of the post.

Pray what luxurious debauch has Mr. Chute been guilty of, that he is laid up with the gout? I mean, that he was, for I hope his fit has not lasted till now. If you are ever so angry, I must say, I flatter myself I shall see him before my eagle, which I beg may repose itself still at Leghorn, for the French privateers have taken such numbers of our merchantmen, that I cannot think of suffering it to come that way. If you should meet with a good opportunity of a man-of-war, let it come-or I will postpone my impatience. Adieu!

P. S. I had sealed my letter, but break it open, to tell you that an account is just arrived of two of our privateers having met eight-and- twenty transports going with supplies to the Brest fleet, and sunk ten, taken four, and driven the rest on shore.

)1176) The prince of Wales.

471 Letter 198 To sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, March 28, 1746.

I don't at all recollect what was in those two letters of mine, which I find you have lost: for your sake, as you must be impatient for English news, I am sorry you grow subject to these miscarriages but in general, I believe there is little of consequence in my correspondence.

The Duke has not yet left Aberdeen, for want of his supplies; but by a party which he sent out, and in which Mr. Conway was, the rebels do not seem to have recovered their spirits, though they have recruited their numbers; for eight hundred of them fled on the first appearance of our detachment, and quitted an advantageous post. As much as you know, and as much as you have lately heard of Scotch finesse, you will yet be startled at the refinements that nation have made upon their own policy. Lord Fortrose,(1177) whose father was in the last rebellion, and who has himself been restored to his fortune, is in Parliament and in the army: he is with the Duke-his wife and his clan with the rebels. The head of the mackintosh's is acting just the same part. The clan of the Grants, always esteemed the most Whig friendly tribe, have literally in all the forms signed a neutrality with the rebels. The most honest instance I have heard, is in the town of Forfar, there they have chosen their magistrates; but at the same time entered a memorandum in their town-book, that they shall not execute their office "till it is decided which King is to reign."

The Parliament is adjourned for the Easter holidays. Princess Caroline is going to the Bath for a rheumatism. The countess, whose return you seem so much to dread, has entertained the town with an excellent vulgarism. She happened One night at the Opera to sit by Peggy Banks,(1178) a celebrated beauty, and asked her several questions about the singers and dancers, which the other naturally answered, as one woman of fashion answers another. The next morning Sir Bourchier Wrey sent Miss Banks an opera-ticket, and my lady sent her a card, to thank her for her civilities to her the night before, and that she intended to wait on her very soon. Do but think of Sir B. Wrey's paying a woman of fashion for being civil to my Lady O.! Sure no apothecary's wife in a market-town could know less of the world than these two people! The operas flourish more than in any latter years; the composer is Gluck, a German: he is to have a benefit, at which he is to play on a set of drinking-glasses, which he modulates with water--I think I have heard you speak of having seen some such thing.

You will see in the papers long accounts of a most shocking murder, that has been committed by a lad(1179) on his mistress, who was found dead in her bedchamber, with an hundred wounds; her brains beaten out, stabbed, her face, back, and breasts slashed in twenty places- one hears of nothing else wherever one goes. But adieu! it is time to finish a letter, when one is reduced for news to the casualties of the week.

(1177) William Mackenzie, fifth Earl of Seaforth, the father of Kenneth Lord Fortrose, had been engaged in the rebellion of 1715, and was attainted. He died in 1740. In consequence of his attainder, his son never assumed the title of Seaforth, but continued to be called Lord Fortrose, the second title of the family. He was member of parliament in 1741 for the burghs of Fortrose, etc., and in 1747 and 1754, for the county of Ross, He died in 1762. His only son, Kenneth, was created Viscount Fortrose, and Earl of Seaforth in Ireland.-D.

(1178_ Margaret, sister of John Hodgkinson Bank,.;, Esq.; married, in 1757, to the Hon. Henry Grenville, fifth son of the Countess Temple, who was appointed governor of Barbadoes in 1746, and ambassador to the Ottoman Porte in 1761.-D.

(1179) One Henderson, hanged for murdering Mrs. Dalrymple.

473 Letter 199 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, April 15, 1746.

Your triumphs in Italy are in high fashion: till very lately, Italy was scarce ever mentioned as part of the scene of war. The apprehensions of your great King making his peace began to alarm us and when we just believed it finished, we have received nothing but torrents of good news. The King of Sardinia(1180) has not only carried his own character and success to the highest pitch, but seems to have given a turn to the general face of the war, which has a much more favourable aspect than was to be expected three months ago, has made himself as considerable in the scale as the Prussian, but with real valour, and as great abilities, and without the infamy, of the other's politics.