George Selwyn: His Letters and His Life Part 6

Beauclerck looks wretchedly, and has been very ill. Our Minister,(79) as you call him, goes on very well, but he is now a widower a second time; his Lady set out for Paris last Sat.u.r.day. I hope he will not be undermined. The King will never have a servant that will please the public more. I dine with him often a pet.i.t convert at March's. I am not desirous that my friends should become ministers; but if they are ministers, it is fair to wish they may become one's friends. He is yours very cordially, I'm persuaded. He always asks very kindly after you, and seems uneasy that the Order has not yet reached you. He said the other day at dinner, aun ton tres patetique, "I shall be much disappointed if in four or five years Lord Carlisle does not give a very good account of himself."

Ministre, ou non ministre, qui tient des propos pareils, n'aura pas grande difficulte a me contenter sur le reste. I have abandoned him to-day for Lady Sarah, at which you will be neither surprised, [n]or offended. He dines at March's, and I in the Privy Garden.

The D[uke] and D[uches]s of Rich[mon]d are in town. A young man whose name I cannot recollect asked me very kindly after you yesterday, at the H[ouse] of C[ommons]; he used to sit by your bedside of a morning in King Street; he is tall and thin.

Dr. Musgrave, the Provost of Oriel College in Oxf[or]d, cut his throat in bed the other day; he was ill, but he had taken to heart a mistake which he had madeabout a letter of Sir J. Dolben's, who is to be member for the University the remainder of this Parliament. A dispute with the Fellows, as they tell me, arose in consequence of it, and this seized the poor man's brains. He was reckoned very pa.s.sionate, but d'ailleurs a good kind of man. I knew his person and his elder brother, Sir Philip, formerly very well. There is a stagnation of news just at this moment, but as soon as any preferments, peerages, or changes of any kind are known for certain, I will send you word of them.

I dined at the D[uchess]'s or Duke's, which you please, of Northumberland's(80) on Sat.u.r.day; you are a great favourite of her Grace's. She told me of I don't know how many sheets which you had wrote to Lady Carlisle, giving an account of your travels. All the company almost were of Yorks.h.i.+re, or of the North; Lord and Lady Ravensw[orth], Sir M. Ridley and his father, the Punch Delaval, Lord Tankerville, &c. Her Grace goes soon to Paris, but has as yet fixed no day.

A disagreeable report has prevailed lately, but I believe without the least foundation, that Crew has lost a monstrous sum to Menil.

Almack's thrives, but no great events there. I have ordered the M[arquis] of Kildare to be put up at the young club, at White's. If little Harry is come to town, he shall write to you; others should write to you if I could make them, but I am afraid those wishes are more of a courtier than a friend. I should be sorry and ashamed, by endeavouring to flatter your inclination, if I lost your good opinion, which without flattery I value much.

I sat the other morning with Miss Blake; Lady S[arah], and Sir Ch[arle]s were rode out, and I did not see them. She told me a letter was come from Charles, and there is a rendezvous she said, somewhere, but she could not recollect where. She thought you intended to meet Charles and their family at Spa the end of the summer; if so, I shall not despair of seeing you many months sooner than I can otherwise expect it. I shall know to-day at dinner more particularly about it. Lord March thanks you for your frequent and kind mention of him.

My new chaise comes home the week after next. I shall defer making a chariot for some time. I may, perhaps, ask your opinion about a friensh [French?] equipage. March's great room is gilding, and when finished he is to give a dinner to Lady Sarah, and a concert to a great many more. I will finish this au sortir de table.

Tuesday night.--I dined at Sir Charles's. Harry came to town this morning with his French friend and Academist. He has promised me to write to you next post. Lady Sarah says that if you are not satisfied about the St. Andrew, Hemmins is to blame, not her. She could not get him to come near her; and the day it was finished, which was the day before it went away, she never saw it.

Charles, I find, is to meet you in April at Rome; and Lady Sarah the latter end of the summer to meet him at Spa. You do not return to Nice. I do not count much upon hearing from you, but by accident, when you proceed further into Italy.

Sir R. Rich died last night only, so I can know nothing of his preferments yet. Dr. Smith, the Master of Trinity, is also dead, and Dr. Hinchliff asks for his Heads.h.i.+p. Lady Sarah was melancholy about Stee (81); she hears that his lethargy increases, and thinks it probable her sister may lose both her husband and son in a very short time; that is a disagreeable perspective. They all desired to be remembered to you. Adieu, my dear Lord, pour aujourd'hui. I have no chance of hearing from you by this post, the letters having come yesterday; so G.o.d bless you. I am ever most sincerely and affectionately yours.

(76) Richard Rigby (1722-1788). A prominent politician, he was for many years Paymaster of the Forces; but was a coa.r.s.e, hard-drinking place-man.

(77) Horace Walpole (1717-1797) was the fourth and youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole. He was Selwyn's lifelong friend. His biographers place him at Eton with Selwyn, the two Conways, George and Charles Montagu, the poet Gray, Richard West, and Thomas Ashton. On leaving Cambridge he made the continental tour with Gray, but after two years of travel together they disagreed and separated for the homeward journey. In 1747 he bought Strawberry Hill, which he transformed into his Gothic Castle, ornamenting the interior with objects of beauty or curiosity. In 1757 he set up his private printing press, where he brought out Gray's poems and other interesting English and French publications, beside his own productions, which culminated in "The Castle of Otranto," a departure in fiction beginning the modern romantic revival. In 1765 he visited Paris, where he went much into society, and when his celebrated friends.h.i.+p with Mme. du Deffand began. He helped to embitter Rousseau against Hume by the mock letter from Frederick the Great offering him an asylum in Germany. In 1789, nine years after Mme. du Deffand's death, he met the two sisters, Agnes and Mary Berry, who came to live near him at little Strawberry, which he left them at his death. He succeeded his nephew as fourth Lord Orford in 1791, but he preferred the name which he had made more widely known, and signed himself "Horace Walpole, uncle of the late Earl of Orford." The celebrated letters begin as early as 1735 and extend to 1797. Walpole never married.

(78) "Historic Doubts on Richard the Third."

(79) The Duke of Grafton.

(80) Hugh, second Duke of Northumberland (1742-1817).

(81) Stephen Fox.

[1768,] Feb. 16, Tuesday morning, Newmarket.--I have just finished a long letter, which, when I came to sand, I have, par distraction, covered all over with ink. I came down here on Sat.u.r.day with March to meet the Duke of Grafton, who by the by only stayed here that night, and then went to Bury, so that I have scarce seen him.

We are at Vernon's house, that is, dinner and supper; which he has bought of Lord G.o.dolphin(82) [for] 4000. Here has been Sir J. More, Bully, and Polly Jones, Vernon's Polly, Mr. Stoneheir,(83) who came with the D[uke] of G[rafton], Sir Charles Bunbury and little Harry, and Mr. Richmond has been here also to lay out Vernon's gardens. Sir Charles has held us a Pharo bank of a night which has cost him 200 pound, a sum, I imagine, not so easily spared at this juncture by him.

March promised that I should be in London again today, but you know his irresolution, and the little opposition which I can give to what he desires; but it is a great sacrifice for me, for you have been so good in writing to me since I left you, that there is not a week that I am absolutely without my hopes of hearing from you, although, when I left you, I should have been glad to have compounded for once a month; and I'm the more impatient to know what accounts are come by Monday night's post, from what you told me of the gripe, and that you could not go to the French Amb[a.s.sado]r's Ball. Harry tells me that he wrote to you, as you ordered him.

Lady S[arah] is in town, and I suppose very happy with the thoughts of a Mascarade which we are to have at Almack's next Monday sevennight, unless in the interim some violent opposition comes from the Bishops. Harry has had here with him a son of Lord Carysfort's(84) from Cambridge. Bully's affair ends with the Session; as soon as that is concluded, he will be in respect of matrimony absolutely evinculated.

There has been an Almack since I wrote, but no events.

At the other shop, a great deal of deep play, where I believe Ossory has been a great sufferer; the D[uke] of Roxb[urgh](85) is become a very deep player also, and at Hazard. I have been, as you justly call it, foolish, but very moderately so, and rather a winner, for which I'm not certainly less foolish. But my caution at present arises from being at the eve of an expense probably for which an opposition at the Hazard table is but a bad preparatif. However, all things are quiet as yet, and my own private affairs en bon train, according to the present appearances.

The D[uke] of G[rafton] tells me that he wishes to recommend for Luggershall, Lord Garlics,(86) and a son of Sir M. Lamb's. I wish Morpeth(87) could have waited till you come of age. But I hope that in future times everything will be done there and elsewhere which your family consequence ent.i.tles you to wish may be done.

The Corporation of Oxford was dismissed on Wednesday last with a reprimand that is to be printed; un discours a.s.sez plat, as I have heard. That affair has raised up many others, and a mult.i.tude of attorneys, who have been hawking about people's boroughs, have been sent for. It is high time to put a stop to such practices, and to check the proceedings of nabobs, commissaries, and agents.

Very luckily for you I cannot find many materials here for detaining you long, so G.o.d bless you, my dear Lord. I wish I may be able to contrive some means of abridging the time and distance which seems determined to separate me from you. I am constantly regretting that which I gave up to old women and presidents. But il est de nos attachemens comme de la sante; nous n'en sentons pas tout le prix que quand nous l'avons perdue. I beg my compliments to the Marquis of Kildare; I am happy to know that you have a companion, and that it is him.

(82) Francis G.o.dolphin Osborne, Marquis of Carmarthen, fifth Duke of Leeds. In 1773 he married Amelia, daughter of Robert d'Arcy, Earl of Holdernesse. He was Secretary for Foreign Affairs 1783-91.

(83) Richard Stonehewer, the Duke of Grafton's private secretary. He was a friend of Gray, the poet, and of Horace Walpole.

(84) Sir John Proby (1720-1772). He was created Baron Carysfort in 1752, and appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty in 1757.

(85) John, third Duke of Roxburghe (1740-1804). In society he was regarded as one of the most agreeable and handsome men of his day, but he is now chiefly recollected as a book collector. The sale of his library in 1812 occupied forty-five days. The Roxburghe Club was inaugurated at the time of the sale.

(86) John Lord Garlics (1735-1806), seventh Earl of Galloway.

(87) The parliamentary representation of.

[1768, Feb. 26]. . . .The Bishops have, as I apprehended that they would, put a stop to our Masquerade, for which I am sorry, princ.i.p.ally upon Lady Sarah's account. I shall go this morning and condole with her upon it. . . . March is very pressing to know if I do him justice in my letters to you; he is not very fond of writing, and therefore deposits with me all his best and kindest compliments to you.

I thank you for saying that you would have me a few hours gazing at amphitheatres, and you for the same time gazing here at something more modern. That would not answer my purpose. I never carried my love of antiquity and literary researches to that point. I should be glad to have a view of Italy, but with you; and if you should take a trip here for a few days, pray don't insist on my being at that time in contemplation of the mazures de nos ancetres. The last letter which you mention to have received from me was of the 15th of last month, and you did not receive it till the 3rd of this. I hope my letters come to you, since you permit the writing of them. I shall always hereafter put them myself into the post. . . .

A match is much talked of between Lord Spencer Hamilton and Miss Beauclerk, the Maid of Honour. I hope it will not take place. There is not as much as I have sometimes lost of a night at Hazard between them both, either at present or in expectation, and the number of beggars is increased to an enormous degree. . . .

1768, February 28, Sunday morning, Chest(erfield) Str(eet).--I wrote to you on Friday morning, and at night, just before the post was going, received the pleasure of yours of the 10th; so that what I wrote afterwards was much in haste, and from the impetuosity of my temper to make my acknowledgments to you. I was yesterday at Lady Carlisle's door, to enquire for Sir W(illiam), but he was not at home. I asked if they had had any letters from you, and being told they had not, I took the liberty to leave word that I had received one of the 10th, and that you was then very well.

I believe all the apprehensions which Me Viri had filled us with, are now dispersed, and not fearing anything from cold, I hope that I shall not be so foolish as to be thinking of the consequences of heat; cela ne finit point. I saw Viri at Lady Hertford's at night; he was unacquainted with the particulars of the courier, &c., but only said that the King, his master, had a.s.sured him that he should invest you with that order, as his Brother(88) had desired he would, and that it should be done avec toute la pompe et eclat dont la chose fut susceptible. He is a stupid animal in appearance, this Viri.

I had yesterday morning my conference with the D(uke) of G(rafton); he has a.s.sured me that I should have the place of Treasurer to the Queen, added to that which I already have (without any kind of pension), as soon as ever one could be found out for Mr. Stone, but he having been the King's Preceptor there will be some management with him, but the Duke said, if he would not acquiesce, he insinuated force. The two places together, if I am not mistaken in the estimate, will be near 2,300 pounds per annum. I'm much obliged to the D(uke) for his liberal and kind manner of treating with me. I have succeeded better, I find, in negotiating for myself, than when I employed another; but I have this time had to deal with a person who seemed willing to comply with anything which I could propose in reason, and has even gone beyond my proposals; and I have reason to flatter myself that his Majesty has not that reluctance to oblige me, which his grandfather had, and has certainly a much better opinion of me. Then, if this Election goes off without an enormous expense, I shall be enabled to pay off much the greatest part of my debt; but my imprudences have been beyond conception. I hope that that Providence which has preserved me from the usual effects of them will be kind enough to let me enjoy some few years of ease, and to pa.s.s them with your Lords.h.i.+p. I will not then complain of my lot here, which, were the cards to be shuffled again, I might mend in some particulars, without perhaps adding anything to the general felicity of my life.

I went from the D(uke) of G(rafton's) to a little concert at March's, where was Sir C(harles) and Lady S(arah). She and I went up into the rooms above, which are now gilding and repairing, and I communicated to her such parts of your letter as I thought would please her, and which I thought you would be pleased that I should repeat to her. . . .

Monday morning.--Miss Blake(89) did not leave them till yesterday.

She went with Lady S(arah) to Court, and then Sir Ch(arles) and Lady S(rah)dined at Mr. Blake's and left her there. I saw Lady S(rah)afterwards at the D(che)s of Hamilton's.(90) a.s.sembly is there at present; Lady Harrington has not been able to see company for some time.

There is now no talk but of Elections. Lord Thom(n) is thrown out at Taunton, and opposed at Winchelsea, and so it goes on. This is the week I am in most apprehension of, because I think next, as the Judges will be then in the town (loucester) there can be no treating nor bustle; but as yet I know of no opponent. Sackville sticks close to . . . (sic). I was with her Grace most part of yesterday morning, with Lord W. Gordon. Harry St. John asks me if you have mentioned a Me Chateau Dauphin; all Italian news interests him much. . . .

(88) George III.

(89) Carlisle in a letter refers to her as Selwyn's ward.

(90) Elizabeth Gunning, d.u.c.h.ess of Hamilton and Argyll (1734-1790); a sister of the equally beautiful and famous Maria Gunning, Lady Coventry, who died in 1760. The d.u.c.h.ess of Argyll, who married the second time the year following the death of the Duke of Hamilton, was generally known as the d.u.c.h.ess of Hamilton, and in 1776 was created Baroness Hamilton in her own right. This unt.i.tled daughter of a poor Irish gentleman was the wife of two dukes and the mother of four.

(1769,) July 4, Tuesday night.--I have sent to-day for you 45 bottles of the vin de Grave and six bottles of Neuilly, and the same quant.i.ty is ready to be packed up and sent when I have your further commands. The reason why I did not send the whole at once, was the consideration of the weather, etc.; when this comes safe, the rest shall follow directly, and then according to my cellar-book you will have had in all ten dozen, that is seven dozen and a half now and two dozen and a half before, of that particular wine, and about a dozen of Burgundy. It goes by sea to Hull. The Knight cutter, Thomas Savil, master, Hull, at the custom-house quay. That custom-house quay may mean at London. However, this is the method prescribed by your porter, for I have been at your house to enquire, as well as my servant.

I have wrote to Frances about the tricote, and will send you an account of it by next post. I have regulated the papers to-day, for upon enquiry at the house, I found two were sent you from thence, and the three besides from Jolliffe, which you ordered; so I bid Jolliffe look to that.