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 SELECTIONS 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 LETTERS AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 SIR JAMES BLAND BURGES, BART., 
 
 SOMETIME UNDER -SECRET ART OF STATE 
 FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 WITH NOTICES OF HIS LIFE. 
 
 EDITED 
 
 BY JAMES HUTTON, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "JAMES AND PHILIP VAN ABTEVELDT," 
 
 ETC. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1885.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 STAMFORD STRKF.T AND CHARING CROSS.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN his delightful ' Sketches of Persia/ Sir John Malcolm quotes 
 an epilogue by Sadi, which, to a certain extent, illustrates the 
 position held for some years by Sir James Bland Burges : 
 " One day, as I was in the bath," so runs the parable " a 
 friend of mine put into my hand a piece of scented clay. I 
 took it and said to it, ' Art thou musk or ambergris, for I 
 am charmed with thy perfume ? ' It answered, ' I was a 
 despicable piece of clay, but I was some time in the company 
 of the rose ; the sweet quality of my companion was commu- 
 nicated to me, otherwise I should be only a bit of clay, as I 
 appear to be.' ' Sir James Burges was neither a statesman 
 nor a diplomatist, but for many years he associated on equal 
 terms with the most eminent public men of his day, and thus 
 acquired not only political influence, but also an exceptional 
 insight into the characters of the personages who were each, 
 according to his capacity and opportunity, making contem- 
 porary history. As Under Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs at the close of the last century, he was inevitably 
 drawn into a brisk and confidential correspondence with the 
 first Lord Auckland, Lord St. Helens, the first Lord Malmes- 
 bury, Lord Elgin, Colonel Gardiner, Mr. Joseph Ewart, and 
 several of the inferior agents employed by Mr. Pitt to obtain 
 information that was not always trustworthy. At his very 
 outset in public life, Mr. Burges, as he was then designated, 
 became a warm partisan of Warren Hastings, whose cause 
 he espoused in Parliament with greater zeal than discre- 
 tion. He was also an intimate friend of the gallant, if un-
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 fortunate, Major-General Sir John Braithwaite, the prisoner 
 of Tippoo Sahib, and subsequent capturer of Pondicherry. 
 Not the least interesting of his correspondents were his own 
 nephews, the sons of his brother-in-law, Mr. James Eoper 
 Head, and who in later life distinguished themselves as ob- 
 servant travellers and brilliant writers. After quitting the 
 Foreign Office, in 1795, Sir James Burges applied himself 
 to literary pursuits with moderate success ; neither do his 
 literary friends appear to have been men of any special merit 
 or force of character. 
 
 The materials from which this volume is compiled are 
 furnished by an autobiographical memoir, which, however, 
 breaks off at his marriage with his first wife, the younger 
 daughter of Lord Wentworth. A more valuable bequest is 
 a series of papers in an epistolary form, in which Sir James 
 Burges describes with considerable detail his relations with 
 Mr. Pitt, the Marquis of Carmarthen, afterwards Duke of 
 Leeds, Mr. Dundas, Lord Thurlow, and Lord Grenville. 
 In these letters he claims for his friend, Mr. Lamb, the 
 suggestion of Pitt's Sinking Fund, and for himself the dis- 
 covery that a Mutiny Bill is not necessarily a Money Bill, 
 and may therefore be introduced in either House. His cha- 
 racters of the statesmen with whom he came into frequent 
 contact are sketched with equal boldness and finish, and 
 are in tolerable harmony with general opinion. There is, 
 besides, a large collection of letters, from which only a few 
 have been selected, by reason of their intrinsic merit or com- 
 parative originality. Through the lapse of time, and the 
 previous publication of so many able Diaries, Memoirs, and 
 Journals, the larger portion of this correspondence is already 
 known to students of modern history: and for ordinary 
 readers, in quest of sensation and novelty, would possess 
 only a faint interest.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 FAGR 
 
 PREFACE .......... iii 
 
 CHAPTEE T. 
 
 Origin of the Surges Family A Stout Cavalier Sir James Burges's 
 Father At Culloden Appointed Aide-de-Camp to General Bland 
 Restoration of Order in Scotland The Family of Somerville 
 The Sunday Chariot and Yellow Livery Recovery of the Title 
 Two Fortunate Marriages A Melancholy Episode An Ill- 
 matched Couple Improvements The Rebellion of 1745 
 A Boyish Escapade Somerville House plundered by High- 
 landers A Bloody Affray The Diamond Quest Lady Somer- 
 ville in Holy Rood House A Love Affair A Romantic Wedding 
 Separation of the Young Couple Mr. Burges proceeds to 
 Gibraltar Reunion of Husband and Wife 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Mr. Burges retires from Military Service Conflict with the New 
 Governor Mr. Burges re-visits England on Sick Leave Return 
 to Gibraltar General Corruption Discomfiture of the Colonels 
 Dismissal of General Fowke Mr. Burges returns to England 
 Obtains two Appointments in Scotland Boyhood of James 
 Burges Edinburgh University Westminster School Oxford 
 Trip to France Financial Difficulties An Involuntary Fast 
 Travelling by Diligence Down the Loire The Fair Widow of 
 Tours " A Liberal Education " An Affair of Spirit A Homi- 
 cide in a Hurry Return to Oxford The Grand Tour 
 Adventure at Castel Gandolfo The Pretender The Catacombs 
 at Naples All Souls' Day A Disgusting Spectacle Received 
 in Private Audience by Pope Clement XIV. Return to Bath . 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Personal Character and Accomplishments A Ball-room Episode 
 Entered at the Temple The Choice of Hercules Life as a Law 
 
 2068877
 
 vi CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Student Mr. John Lamb Lord Camden on Special Pleaders 
 Two Views of the Question Lord Camden's Discourtesy Two 
 Good Eesolutions Admitted into Good Society A Travelling 
 Adventure Snowed Up Miss E. Noel Love and Courtship 
 Bemoval of Difficulties Marriage Happiness Death of Mrs. 
 James Surges His Second Marriage. . 43 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Militia quartered on Lincoln's Inn Mr. Gibbon Passage of Words 
 between Mr. Gibbon and Mr. Pitt Marquis of Carmarthen 
 Opposition Leaders at Mr. Burges's House Dismissal of Lord 
 North and Mr. Fox A Curious Scene Mr. Pitt Prime Minister 
 His Colleagues Lord Howe Lord Sydney " Lord Tommy " 
 How Mr. Pitt's Sinking Fund Originated Legacy Duties sug- 
 gested by Mr. Lamb The Mutiny Bill not a Money Bill Dis- 
 comfiture of Mr. Fox and Triumph of the Ministry Short-lived 
 Gratitude Returned to Parliament for Helston ... 58 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The First Lord Auckland Lord Carmarthen and the French Treaty 
 of Commerce Warren Hastings Pitt's Extraordinary Conduct 
 Mr. Burges's Maiden Speech Misrepresentation Mr. Burges 
 and Mr. Pitt Mr. Dundas and Sir Thomas Rumbold Ante- 
 cedents of Mr. Dundas Influence of Dundas over Pitt Warren 
 Hastings returns from India Jealousy of Dundas and Pitt An 
 Unworthy Transaction Mr. Pitt's Subsequent Regret Dimdas's 
 Cynicism Curious Interview of Mr. Burges with Warren Hastings 
 A Lifelong Friendship ....... 76 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Eulogy of Warren Hastings Likeness to Uncle Toby " This, too, 
 will Pass" The Indian King and his Three Favourites Mrs. 
 Hastings accepts " Rosetta " Mr. Hastings's Opinion of Indian 
 Histories Mr. Burges moves for an Account of the Expenditure 
 A Scene in the House of Commons A Skirmish with Sheridan 
 A War of Words with Burke Sheridan's Speech on the Oudh 
 Begums Mr. Burges's Tactical Error Burke's Revenge Extract 
 from the " Letters of Simpkin the Second " At the Royal Leve'e 
 The Prettiest Spot in the Island The King's Displeasure with 
 the Managers Mr. Burges at Hendon Anecdote of the Duke of 
 Kent . 93
 
 CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 .CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Horrors of the Middle Passage Mr. Surges and Imprisoned Debtors 
 Lord Thurlow The King's Illness The Eev. Dr. Willis The 
 King's Amendment Defection from Pitt of " Single-Speech " 
 Hamilton and Lord Malmesbury Mr. Burke slighted by Pitt A 
 Strained Coincidence The King's Wet-Nurse Lady Archibald 
 Hamilton Thanksgiving in St. Paul's Cathedral The Duke of 
 Cumberland's Speech The Duke of York's Duel with Colonel 
 Lennox A Severe Winter Uniform of the Constitutional Club 
 Death of Mr. Speaker Cornwall Election of " Bogey " Gren- 
 ville Succeeded by Mr. Addington Mr. Pitt's Indebtedness 
 Mr. Surges publishes a Pamphlet Difference with the Duke of 
 Leeds Appointed Under Secretary of State in the Foreign 
 Department ......... 109 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Reforms in the Foreign Office Royal Approbation Mr. Burges 
 maintains the Rights of the Foreign Office Negotiations with 
 Naples Mr. Sundersberg and his Letters Insurrection in the 
 Low Countries Nootka Sound Mr. Alleyne Fitzherbert Peace 
 of Reichenbach Letter from Mr. Burges to Mr. Fitzherbert Mr. 
 Joseph Ewart 131 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Projects of Catherine II. Mr. Pitt's Counter-Demonstration Opposed 
 by Lord Grenville The Duke of Leeds resigns the Foreign 
 Office Succeeded by Lord Grenville Mr. Fawkener's Mission to 
 St. Petersburg Frustrated by Mr. Adair Congress of Sistova 
 Polish Constitution " Finis Poloniaj " Stanislaus Augustus 
 Lord Auckland at the Hague Anecdotes Four Couriers Cor- 
 respondence with Erskine Imprisonment of "John Walter The 
 Ockzakow " Bustle " National Dignity and National Wisdom 
 Lukewarmness of Holland . . . . . . 147 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Mr. Hammond on the State of Affairs in France Mr. Burges un- 
 seated for Helston Letter to Mr. Ewart Mr. Fawkener's In- 
 structions -Character of Lord Grenville Letter to Mr. Ewart 
 Squabble between Mr. Ewart and Lord Auckland Mr. Burges on 
 Lord Auckland Letter to Mr. Ewart Mr. Burges on Ministers 
 His own Position ...... 166
 
 viil CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Seditious Publications Revolutionary Societies Riots at Birming- 
 ham London Tranquil Letters from Mr. Burges to Lord Auck- 
 land and Mr. Moore Recall of Mr. Ewart Lord Auckland's 
 Rancour Sir Morton Eden Mr. Jackson Convention between 
 Holland and Austria Mr. Ewart's Letter to Lord Grenville 
 Stuart Papers at the Scotch College in Paris Treaty of Pilnitz 
 Royal Misalliances Royal Marriage Act Prince Augustus 
 Frederick and Lady Augusta Murray Their Marriage annulled 
 Sir John Scott and Lord Thuiiow Lady Hamilton Mr. 
 Burges's Correspondence with [Sir W. Hamilton Suicide of Dr. 
 Murray Prince Augustus returns to Rome .... 176 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Miscellaneous Correspondence The Duchess of York Town Talk 
 Destruction of the Pantheon by Fire Present from the King of 
 Poland Desecration of Music " The Dying Negro " General 
 Washington French Revolution Mr. Burke's Dagger Scene 
 Pitt's Despondency The Flight to Varennes Its Consequences 
 Fete of the Champ de Mars Slaughter of the Swiss Guards 
 Lord Gower recalled Lady Elgin and the Herrings Lady 
 Sutherland's Intrepidity Arrival of Lord Gower and of Mr. 
 Lindsay Murder of the Princesse de Lamballe Cynicism of the 
 Duke of Orleans Massacre at the Prisons Spirited Conduct of 
 Mr. Lindsay. ......... 197 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Major-General Sir John Braithwaite Singular Career Imprisoned 
 by Tippoo Sahib Colonel Braithwaite on Amalgamation of the 
 King's and Company's Armies Division of Canada into Upper 
 and Lower Parliamentary Reform Association Letter from 
 Colonel Simcoe Government House Letter from Mr. Thorn- 
 ton Character of the American Nation General Washington 
 American English Letter to Lord Auckland Pitt and Grenvillo 
 Dismissal of Lord Thurlow Letter to Mr. Long John 
 Walter's Jealousy of the Sun Congress declines the Princes' 
 Bond for 100,000 Government Papers . . . . .212 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Letter from Mme. Du Barry Letter from Mr. Thornton Re-election 
 of Washington Mr. Jefferson's Heroes Letter to Governor
 
 CONTENTS. ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Simcoe Suicide of the Neapolitan Ambassador Three Letters 
 from Sir William Hamilton" Bakhshish " The King's Approval 
 of Mr. Burges Letter from Sir George Staunton China and the 
 Chinese 230 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Letter from Sir W. D. Brodie. Algerine Corsairs Negligence of Lord 
 St. Helens A Christmas Present Letter to the Eev. Mr. Nares 
 Post Office Proverbs Letter from Stanislaus Augustus Two 
 Letters from Captain G. C. Braithwaite Complaints against 
 French Republicans and Americans Letter from Mr. Hammond 
 Strained Relations Letter from Mr. Thornton Riot at Balti- 
 more American Trade 241 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Misconduct of Mr. Windham Mr. Hailes a Diplomatic Failure 
 Letter to Lord St. Helens Letter from Mr. F. Daniel The 
 French Emigres Letter to Mrs. Burges The King takes par- 
 ticular Notice of Mr. Burges Letter from Mr. Craufurd Spread 
 of Jacobinism in Denmark Letter from Mr. Bowdler The 
 French Prizes off Spithead Battle of the First of June Letter 
 to Mrs. Burges Appointed Commissioner Privy Seal . . 250 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Ministerial Changes Under Secretaries of State in Alarm Mr. Bur- 
 ges Tranquil Mr. Windham Mr. Pitt's Influence diminished 
 Mr. Burges offered Diplomatic Employment Letter from 
 Mrs. Burges Offer declined Letter from Lord Grenville A 
 Venison Banquet to French Nobles Letter from Mr. Wagner 
 Dearness of Living in the United States Chilly Reception of 
 Dr. Priestley 258 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The King and the Duke of Leeds Epigrams on the Duke of Port- 
 land Destruction of the 37th Regiment Supping not Wisely, 
 but too Well Pressure of Business Mr. Burges at the Play 
 The Drawing Room Recall of the Duke of York Inhu- 
 manity of the Dutch The Princess Royal Unhappiness of the 
 Princesses ...... 271
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 PACK 
 
 Mr. Burges at Carlton House Lady C. Bruce washing a Gown 
 New Year's Greeting from Lady Elgin Letter from Sir William 
 Hamilton Prince Augustus's Entanglement Eiots in London 
 Present from Catherine II. " with compliments " A Free Trans- 
 lation Close of Mr. Burges's Official Career Vexatious Delays 
 Satisfactory Arrangement Baronet and Knight Marshal of the 
 Royal Household Congratulations 281 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " The Birth and Triumph of Love " Illustrated by Princess Eliza- 
 beth Letter to Miss Burges A Poetical Petition Letter from 
 Lady Elgin Reception of the Poem by the Queen and Princess 
 The King's Health Letter from Princess Elizabeth Letter to 
 Miss Burges Sir James Burges's Portrait engraved " by desire " 
 Projects for the Future Mr. Sundersberg The Knight 
 Marshal and his Baton Fete at Frogmore Conversation with 
 the King The Duke of Leeds's Pincushion .... 294 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Death of Mr. John Lamb The Knight Marshal's Volunteers 
 " Richard Co3ur de Lion " Compliments Letter from Words- 
 worth Richard Cumberland on Sir James Burges ' The Exo- 
 diad' ' The Dragon Knight ' Dramas Minor Pieces William 
 Cobbett Kindly Deeds The Right Hon. J. W. Croker on 
 Vanities Letter from Mr. George Chalmers The Somerville 
 Family 'Marmion' The Francis Burdett Riots Death of 
 Lady Burges Reminiscences of Pitt Death of Richard Cum- 
 berland Heroic Death of Wentworth Burges The Right Hon. 
 J. W. Croker in Quest of " Junius " Anecdote of Lord Welling- 
 ton His Solicitude for his Sick Soldiers .... 305 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Amoris Bedintegratio A First and a Last Love Lady Margaret 
 Fordyce " Auld Robin Gray " Letter from Sir James Burges 
 to Lady Margaret Fordyce Letter from Sir James Burges to his 
 Sister Letter from Lady M. Fordyce to her Sister, Lady E. 
 Hardwicke Letter from Lady M. Fordyce to a Cousin Letter 
 from Francis Bond Head Zante The Morea Death of Lady 
 Margaret Burges Letter of Condolence from Lady Charlotte 
 Lindsay . . 326
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lord Byron's Marriage Letters from Lady Milbanke Marriage of 
 Sir J. Burges's Eldest Son Captain Burges wounded at Waterloo 
 Visited at Brussels by his Father and Sisters Brussels 
 Letter from Francis B. Head Entry into Paris of Louis XVIII 
 French Fickleness Letter from James Head to Lady Anne 
 Barnard From Brussels to Paris in 1815 Sir James Burges on 
 " Inter- Acting " Buffoons Correspondents The ' Sexage- 
 narian.' * . 337 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 Sir James Burges succeeds to Mr. Lamb's Estate Takes the 
 Name of Lamb Letter from Archdeacon Nares Letter from 
 Mrs. Chetham Stoode Catalan! A " Difficulty " at Whampoa 
 Promotion by Suicide Letter from Francis Bond Head Pre- 
 parations for George IV.'s Entry into Edinburgh Death of Sir 
 James Lamb His Children and Grandchildren . 350 
 
 APPENDIX A. Massacre of Glencoe ...... 357 
 
 B. Sir Thomas Rumbold and the Nabob of the Carnatic . 359 
 C. Count de Fersen's Account of the Flight to Varennes . 364
 
 SELECTIONS 
 
 LETTERS AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 SIR JAMES BLAND BURGES (LAMB), BART. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Origin of the Burges Family A stout Cavalier Sir James Burges's 
 Father At Culloden appointed A.D.C. to General Bland Restora- 
 tion of Order in Scotland The Family of Somerville The Sunday 
 Chariot and Yellow Livery Recovery of the Title Two Fortunate 
 Marriages A Melancholy Episode An Ill-matched Couple Improve- 
 ments The Rebellion of 1745 A Boyish Escapade Somerville 
 House plundered by Highlanders A Bloody Affray The Diamond 
 Quest Lady Somerville in Holy Rood House A Love Affair A 
 Eomantic Wedding Separation of the Young Couple Mr. Burges 
 proceeds to Gibraltar Reunion of Husband and Wife. 
 
 THE name of Burges is said to be a corruption of Bruges, 
 that " quaint old Flemish city." The founder of the English 
 family appears to have settled in Eeading in the reign of 
 Henry VII., probably in consequence of the staple of Bruges 
 being transferred to Calais. At that time, in the words of a 
 chronicler of the sixteenth century, Flanders was reduced to 
 the tomb of its ancient grandeur famosum antiyuitatis 
 sepulchrum. Not a few of the most substantial and energetic 
 burghers of Bruges and Ghent crossed the silver streak and 
 established themselves chiefly in the eastern counties, where 
 
 B
 
 2 THE CAVALIER ANCESTOR. [CHAP. I. 
 
 their ancestors had founded industrial colonies under the 
 protection of the third Edward. The Burges family must 
 have thriven apace, for in the Civil Wars Lieut.-Colonel 
 Eoger Burges is described as a gentleman of good estate, 
 who distinguished himself as a stout soldier and loyal Cava- 
 lier. In 1645 he successfully defended Farringdon against 
 Cromwell in person as is fully set forth in the sixth volume 
 of Eushworth's 'Historical Collections.' On the third day, 
 after sustaining a notable repulse, Cromwell raised the siege 
 and proceeded to effect a junction with Fairfax. At Naseby 
 Lieut.-Colonel Burges again encountered the great Parlia- 
 mentarian leader, but not with the same good fortune, being- 
 made prisoner with three other officers of the same military 
 rank, and with some thousands of Cavaliers of greater or less 
 repute. A few years later, however, we again find him in 
 arms, as Governor of Cornet Castle and the Island of Guernsey. 
 Here he acquitted himself with such courage and energy, 
 that he held his position until after the fatal battle or 
 "crowning mercy" of "Worcester, when he capitulated to 
 Colonel Bingham on the most honourable terms. His estates 
 are believed to have been forfeited, though his descendants 
 continued to occupy a conspicuous place among the landed 
 gentry of Berkshire, partly, no doubt, through their matri- 
 monial connections. 
 
 The father of James Bland Burges was George Burges, the 
 eighth of nine sons born to James and Mary Burges, of 
 Grey's Lee, near Sulhamstead, in the county of Berks. Of 
 this large family only three of the sons attained maturity 
 George, born 17th of May, 1725; James, father of Dr. 
 Burges, a person of eccentric character, immortalised by 
 Gilray ; and John, who died unmarried. 
 
 George Burges was educated at Westminster, and on the 
 breaking-out of the Scottish Eebellion in 1745, entered the
 
 1745.] PACIFICATION OF THE HIGHLANDS. 3 
 
 army as a lieutenant in the Duke of Bedford's Eegiment of 
 Foot. At Culloden he distinguished himself by capturing 
 the standard of Prince Charles's Bodyguard, borne by the 
 Duke of Athole. On the restoration of peace he purchased a 
 cornetcy in General Bland's Eegiment of Dragoons, and was 
 appointed aide-de-camp to that gallant officer on his pro- 
 ceeding to Scotland as Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's 
 forces in that kingdom. General Bland was invested with 
 extraordinary powers for the purpose of disarming the High- 
 landers and reducing the disaffected to obedience. In re- 
 cognition of his aide-de-camp's exceptional assiduity and 
 intelligence, the General entrusted to him the arduous duties 
 of Military Secretary, and instructed him to draw up a\ 
 report on the condition of the country, which was afterwards 
 submitted to Ministers, and was warmly commended not only 
 by the Duke of Newcastle, but also by the King himself.* 
 At a later period Mr. George Chalmers studied this paper 
 with great interest, and regretted that he had not been able 
 to avail himself of the valuable information it contained, when 
 preparing his exhaustive work on ' Caledonia.' The vigorous 
 measures enforced by General Bland speedily stamped out 
 the smouldering embers of rebellion. The magistrates were 
 compelled to execute the laws against non-juring preachers, 
 who were everywhere stirring up the people to fresh strife. 
 The sheriffs, or rather their " deputes," were coerced into 
 doing their duty in spite of their Jacobite predilections. The 
 Highland veterans were driven back by a double chain 
 of military posts into their remote fastnesses. The great 
 gathering of Jacobites and disaffected persons of all kinds, 
 who deemed themselves secure at Lochaber, was broken up 
 and dispersed by the newly raised Highland Companies. 
 Cattle-lifting was almost entirely suppressed, and smuggling 
 
 * Appendix A. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE SOMERVILLE FAMILY. [CHAP. T. 
 
 rendered an extremely perilous pursuit. Besides repairing 
 General Wade's " old roads," as they had already come to be 
 called, General Bland constructed a new road, seventy-six miles 
 in length, from Stirling to Fort William, and another, of twenty- 
 eight miles, from Blairgowrie to Castle Town in Brae Mar. 
 Forts William and Augustus were also enlarged and rebuilt, 
 and within the brief space of two years the Highlanders were 
 pacified, and the inhabitants of the low countries at the foot 
 of the mountains relieved from an abiding sense of insecurity 
 for person and property. In the midst of all this multifarious 
 and troublesome business Mr. Burges conducted himself in 
 a manner that won for him the permanent esteem and friend- 
 ship of his immediate superior, and which even attracted the 
 notice of the Duke of Newcastle. 
 
 The family of Somerville is one of the most ancient and 
 honourable in Great Britain. Gualter de Somerville, a 
 Norman knight of considerable distinction, was one of the 
 companions of William the Conqueror, who recognised his 
 services by the grant of the manors of Wichnour in Stafford- 
 shire, and of Aston-Somerville in the county of Gloucester. 
 At a comparatively early period the family stock divided into 
 two branches, the one English, the other Scotch. The former 
 of these was short-lived, but the latter increased in wealth 
 and honour, and grew in favour at the Scottish Court. In 
 the year 1424 the fifth descendant from Sir Gualter de 
 Somerville was created a baron by James II. of Scotland, 
 and took his place among the Scottish Peers. The eighth 
 lord, Gilbert by name, was, however, a spendthrift, and at 
 his death in 1618 left only a barren title to his brother, 
 Hugh, Page of the Bedchamber to James VI. Destitute of\ 
 means to support his new dignity, the ninth Lord Somerville 
 elected to remain a Commoner, and that peerage lay dormant 
 for rather more than a century.
 
 1745.] A NOBLE ADVENTURES. 5 
 
 Sir James Burges, as it is more convenient to call 
 him until he actually adopted the name of Lamb, states 
 that : 
 
 "XThis family, which had formerly possessed very large 
 estates in Scotland, had been reduced to poverty by the mis- 
 management of Lord Gilbert. For several generations their 
 possessions had been limited to the lands of Drumm in Mid- 
 Lothian, which, on my grandfather's accession to them at the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century, did not produce an 
 income of more than 300 per annum. With this small pro- 
 vision, and with seven brothers and sisters, he was left an 
 orphan about the year 1715, when he himself was only seven- 
 teen years of age. On attaining his majority he determined 
 to push his way in the world and, if possible, redeem the 
 long-lost honour and fortunes of his family. 
 
 To remain in Scotland and to obtain what he wished, he 
 rightly considered as incompatible with one another. After 
 setting aside one-third of his small income for the main- 
 tenance of his brothers and sisters, he accordingly went 
 up to London, where he speedily found that the company 
 of the Dukes of Douglas and Argyle and of the other per- 
 sonages of high rank, whose society he frequented, could 
 not be kept up on an annual income of 200. On the 
 other hand, to relinquish such a connection was, in fact, to 
 relinquish all the hopes he had formed of recovering the 
 ancient title of his family such matters depending, in 
 reality, more upon personal interest and proper recommenda- 
 tion to His Majesty and his Ministers, than upon the best 
 case which could be laid before Parliament or Court of 
 Session. A short reflection upon his situation suggested to 
 him a plan which might at once answer the double purpose 
 of his ambition and his economy. . 
 
 S He had an old servant, who went by the name of Old " 
 Robin, and who had waited on his fathers before him. With 
 this man, the faithful attendant of his fortunes, he retired 
 to a little lodging at Kensington. There, from Monday to 
 Saturday night, he passed his time in great obscurity, 
 employed in study, particularly of heraldry, history, and 
 anecdote ; while Robin watched the higglers as they passed 
 on to town and bought of them fowls and eggs, which he 
 afterwards dressed for his master. Every Sunday morning 
 a handsome carriage and pair made its appearance, in which
 
 6 A GAME WELL PLAYED. [CHAP. I. 
 
 he drove to town, with Eobin behind in a yellow and silver 
 livery. He went to Court, dined with his Dukes, as he used 
 to say, at their five-halfcrown club, attended the Drawing- 
 Room in the evening, and endeavoured to recommend himself 
 to royal notice. When the glories of the day were passed, he 
 again ascended his chariot, returned to Kensington, and re- 
 mained buried there till the ensuing Sunday restored the 
 chariot, the livery, and the Drawing-Room. The scheme, 
 thus persistently followed out, was crowned with complete 
 success. The noble friends with whom he associated pro- 
 moted his interests so warmly that His Majesty at length 
 gave his consent to the presentation of a petition to the 
 House of Lords, for the purpose of examining his claim to 
 the Barony of Somerville. 
 
 The petition was accordingly presented by Lord Townsend 
 for His Majesty's approval, by whose command it was referred 
 to the Lords' Committee of Privileges. After due consider- 
 ation that committee reported in favour of the claimant, and 
 in the end James Lord Somerville was enrolled in the Scottish 
 Register as Premier Baron of Scotland. Having thus suc- 
 ceeded in recovering his ancestral dignity, Lord Somerville 
 next directed his attention to the ways and means for keeping 
 it up. In this pursuit he was equally successful, and in the 
 following year, 1724, he married Anne, widow of Thomas 
 Rolt, Esq., of Sakum, in Hertfordshire, and only child of 
 Henry Bayntum, Esq., of Spye Park, in the county of Wilts, 
 by his wife Lady Anne Wilmot, daughter and co-heir of the 
 famous John, Earl of Rochester. By her first husband, Mr. 
 Rolt, Lady Somerville had had five sons and one daughter, 
 who in course of time succeeded to the landed property. 
 In the meanwhile Lord Somerville found himself master 
 of an annual income, derived from Spye Park, of nearly 
 3000 a year, which he employed in improving his small 
 hereditary estate near Edinburgh. He planted many thou- 
 sands of trees, and exhibited so much knowledge and energy 
 that in a few years he tripled his original income of 300
 
 1745] TWO MATRIMONIAL PRIZES. 7 
 
 per annum, without taking into account the handsome 
 revenue he derived from the collieries, stone quarries, and 
 sand pits, which he gradually opened and worked. By her 
 second marriage Lady Somerville had two sons James, the 
 eleventh lord ; and Hugh, afterwards Lieut.-Colonel in General 
 Burgoyne's Eegiment of Light Horse, and father-in-law to Sir 
 Francis Bond Head ; and one daughter, Anne Wichnour, who 
 subsequently married Captain George Burges. Eleven years 
 after his marriage Lord Somerville had the misfortune to 
 lose his excellent wife, in consequence of her imprudence in 
 sitting on wet grass while superintending the laying-out of a 
 new plantation. His grief was not inconsolable. As soon 
 as decency would permit, he wooed and won a second widow, 
 Frances, daughter of John Eotheram, Esq., a Yorkshire 
 squire, and relict of a Mr. Curgenven, an East Indian mer- 
 chant, much older than herself. The history of that unfor- 
 tunate gentleman is so strange and melancholy that no apology 
 need be offered for continuing this Somerville digression. 
 Sir James Burges shall tell the tale in his own words : 
 
 Having amassed a very large fortune, and being de- 
 sirous of returning to his native land, Mr. Curgenven set 
 about arranging his affairs. As the variety of his engage- 
 ments rendered this an operation of greater length than he 
 had anticipated, he sent Ms wife to England by herself, and 
 determined to follow her with all Ms wealth as soon as 
 possible. About a year or so later he succeeded in winding 
 up his affairs, and chartered two vessels, one of wMch he 
 loaded with the greater part of his rich effects, and with the 
 residue of his property he Mmself embarked in the other. 
 He had not sailed, however, many days when, by some 
 accident, the accompanying ship took fire and was consumed 
 before his eyes with everything she contained. The loss of 
 more than half Ms fortune, earned by a long life of toil and 
 exile, was a severe blow, but he bore it with fortitude, 
 resigning himself to the will of Heaven, and comforted by 
 the reflection that much riches still remained to him. Brief 
 and ill-founded was this consolation. The morrow's sun had
 
 8 A TALE OF MISADVENTURE. [CHAP. 1. 
 
 hardly risen when he found himself surrounded by the fleet 
 of the famous Eastern pirate, Angria, by whom, after a short 
 resistance, he was taken prisoner. His property was carried 
 to Gheriah, while he himself was chained to a bench in 
 Angria's galley, and obliged to row as a slave. A long time 
 elapsed before he was able to send intelligence of his mis- 
 fortune to England ; and it was longer still before Angria, 
 who knew the value of his prize, could be brought to accept 
 his ransom. Nearly ten years passed before he regained his 
 liberty, and then only on payment of a large sum of money. 
 At length he reached England, and rejoiced the heart of his 
 wife after such a long and bitter separation ; but their troubles 
 were not yet at an end. The iron bolt by which he was fastened 
 to the chain had so worked into the flesh of his thigh that, 
 within a week after his return to London, mortification set 
 in, and it was judged expedient to amputate his leg as near 
 as possible to the body. The operation was successfully 
 performed, and for a week afterwards there was every reason 
 to expect his recovery. One evening, however, as liis wife 
 was sitting by his bedside, he uttered a sudden exclamation 
 and threw off the bed-clothes. The great artery had burst, 
 and before any assistance could be procured he bled to 
 death. 
 
 The second Lady Somerville had a fortune of about 
 20,000. She was a very worthy and uncommonly sensible 
 woman. Her understanding was strong, and she had read 
 much. From having seen a great deal of the world, and 
 from having lived in the highest company, her natural wit 
 and cleverness had received an additional force. Her heart 
 was excellent, and her friendships vehement. Her temper, 
 however, was warm, and her quickness of apprehension led 
 her sometimes into sallies which were entertaining to every 
 one except to the person who was the object of them. With 
 the greatest good nature, she could say very severe things, 
 which, as they always were witty, were remembered and 
 repeated. Unfortunately for her own happiness, her husband 
 sometimes became the subject of her observations. These 
 affected his consequence and disturbed his temper. When 
 her Ladyship was pungent, his Lordship was angry; and, 
 though he knew and acknowledged her merits, his behaviour 
 was oftentimes stern and unamiable. In truth, they lived 
 together by no means happily, and, with mutual esteem and 
 good opinion, they felt little mutual attachment.
 
 1745.] AN ILL-MATCHED COUPLE. 9 
 
 Lady Somerville's conduct to her step-children was 
 highly meritorious. During her whole lifetime she was 
 their benefactress and kindest friend. Immediately after 
 her marriage she took my mother from school, treated her 
 with every indulgence, and exerted herself to instil into her 
 mind every principle which might qualify her to become the 
 elegant woman and the good Christian. Notwithstanding 
 the disparity of their years, the most unreserved communi- 
 cation (except, indeed, as to one subject on my mother's 
 part, to be presently noticed) was maintained between 
 them as long as Lady Somerville lived. 
 
 Lord Somerville now pulled down his old house and 
 erected a more stately mansion on its site. He also laid out 
 his grounds in a more modern fashion, and exercised a 
 generous hospitality. He thus rendered himself extremely 
 popular, and in the year 1741 was elected one of the sixteen 
 representative peers of Scotland. In the following year, 
 William- 'Somerville, author of ' The Chase ' and other 
 poems, who belonged to the English branch of the old stock 
 and traced his descent from John Somerville, executed for 
 high treason in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, bequeathed to 
 his distant kinsman, James Lord Somerville, his estates in 
 Warwickshire, worth 1300 a year, and at Aston- Somerville, 
 in Gloucestershire, yielding upwards of 800 per annum. 
 The former estates, indeed, were sold to pay off the debts of 
 the testator, but the Gloucestershire property was unen- 
 cumbered, and, as nothing succeeds like success, Lord Somer- 
 ville shortly afterwards obtained a seat at the Board of 
 Police, which added 700 to his annual income. 
 
 In the Kebellion of 1745 Lord Somerville took an active 
 part in defence of the House of Hanover. His eldest son, 
 who had just attained his twentieth year, he despatched to 
 the Koyal army, accompanied by seven of his tenants' sons 
 well mounted and well armed, of whom only one ever re- 
 turned to his parents. Their youthful chief was at once
 
 10 TEE FORTUNE OF WAR. [CHAP. I. 
 
 appointed aide-de-camp to Sir John Cope, and shared the 
 fortune of that commander at Preston Pans. He afterwards 
 served in the same capacity under General Hawley, and at 
 Falkirk again encountered the fierce valour of the High- 
 landers. A better fortune, however, awaited him at Culloden, 
 where he learned how a battle may be won as well as lost. 
 
 Besides this, he [Lord Somerville's son] was employed on 
 a good deal of active service. Among other things, he was\ 
 sent with a detachment to burn Lord Lovat's house and to 
 lay waste his estate, with positive orders I am sorry to add 
 to kill and destroy every human being he found upon it. 
 He undertook the task, but he executed it with humanity. 
 At a few miles from the destined spot, he contrived to give 
 notice of his approach to his intended victims. On his 
 arrival the people were gone, though all their property was 
 left behind. Of this he destroyed every thing inanimate, 
 and drove off the horses and cattle to the Royal army. 
 
 While the eldest son was thus actively engaged, his 
 younger brother Hugh, who was just seventeen, and had 
 been placed, as in a secure retirement, at an academy in the 
 neighbourhood of Edinburgh, employed himself in a very 
 different manner. At this school there were a number of 
 youths of good birth, and Jacobitical principles inherited 
 from their parents ; so many of them had quitted their studies 
 to join the rebel standard. Some of these, when the Pre- 
 tender's army approached the capital, visited their fellow- 
 students, and endeavoured to prevail on them to follow their 
 example. With many their exhortations prevailed ; but 
 young Hugh, into whose mind different ideas had been 
 instilled, and two of his companions, resolutely withstood 
 this solicitation. On this the young recruiters went away, 
 threatening to return the next morning with a detachment 
 and to carry them off. Alarmed at this threat, and knowing 
 that they would fulfil it, Hugh and his companions, without 
 money, and no change of clothes, immediately quitted the 
 academy and ran to the seaside. There they happened to 
 find a boat, and rowed over to the little island of Inch-^' 
 Keith. The only inhabitants were a quantity of rabbits,' 
 an old fisherman, and his wife. Here they remained for 
 more than three weeks, paying for their poor subsistence by
 
 1745.] A BOYISH ESCAPADE. 11 
 
 the rabbits they were able to catch for the old couple ; while 
 the fisherman, who sold his fish at Leith, brought them 
 intelligence of what was going forward at Edinburgh. 
 When they heard the rebels were gone, they returned almost 
 naked and starved to their friends, who had during this time 
 been under the greatest anxiety on their account, and who 
 were not less pleased at the steadiness and resolution they 
 had shown than at their unlooked-for return. 
 
 As Lord Somerville's house was not more than four miles 
 from Edinburgh, he found himself in the midst of the rebels, 
 who bore him no good will by reason of his known attach- 
 ment to the reigning Family, and consequently he had every- 
 thing to fear from the humours of a licentious army. His 
 situation was, indeed, extremely unpleasant. After much 
 consideration, however, he resolved not to abandon his place, 
 until compelled to do so. He had not long to wait. Onej 
 night, while the family were seated at supper, word was 
 brought that a party of rebels was coming down the avenue. 
 The plate was instantly thrown out of the window into the 
 grass which, luckily, was high in that place, and Lady Somer - 
 ville delivered a casket of diamonds to my mother with 
 directions to hide them. Much alarmed, my mother took 
 with her a maid-servant and ran from the house into the deer 
 park, which was on the opposite side from where the High- 
 landers were approaching. Making a hole at the root of a 
 tree, she buried the casket and regained the house unobserved. 
 In the meantime the rebels, about forty in number, broke 
 open the door and quickly found their way into the cellar, 
 where they drank or destroyed every thing they could find. 
 The pantry, the kitchen, and the parlour, were served in the 
 same way. While the majority were thus employed, some of 
 the party began to search the house for his Lordship, whose 
 life they swore they would take. He had contrived, however, 
 to lock himself and Lady Somerville into a closet in one of 
 the garrets, which, by good fortune, escaped their notice. 
 When the plunderers had stripped the house, and had 
 devoured whatever they could find to eat and drink, they 
 began to withdraw. By that time a servant had escaped to 
 the village of Gilmerton, which belonged to my grandfather, 
 and had informed the inhabitants of what was going on at 
 Somerville House. The villagers immediately armed them- 
 selves with axes, iron bars, a few muskets, and broadswords, 
 and set out in a body nearly equal to that of the rebels. 
 About half-way from the house they met the Highlanders,
 
 12 HIDE AND SEEK. [CHAP. I. 
 
 loaded with their booty, in full march upon Gilmerton, which 
 they proposed to pillage and burn. The two parties 
 encountered one another in a large field, in a corner of 
 which were some old coal-pits. They instantly engaged, 
 and a bloody battle ensued, which at last ended in favour 
 of the villagers, who slew and flung into the pits five of 
 their assailants, three of their own party also being killed. 
 The surviving Highlanders threw down their booty and took 
 to night. The next day, on this matter being represented to 
 the Pretender, he sent an apology to Lord Soinerville, with 
 the offer of an officer's guard to protect him. This his Lord- 
 ship thought prudent to accept, and by this means escaped 
 further molestation. 
 
 After H.E.H. the Duke of Cumberland had defeated the 
 rebels at Culloden, and tranquility had in some degree been 
 restored, Lady Somerville bethought her of her casket of 
 diamonds. My mother readily undertook to find them, but 
 the task proved more difficult than she had imagined. There 
 were hundreds of trees in that part of the park, and the more 
 she endeavoured to recollect the exact tree to which she had 
 confided her treasure, the more uncertain and embarrassed 
 she became. It was unadvisable to employ the servants in 
 this quest, and to acquaint Lord Somerville with their per- 
 plexity was what neither her Ladyship nor my mother wished 
 to do. At length the present Lord was admitted into their 
 confidence. He and his sister night after night went out toV 
 explore the wood, and at length after much trouble and 
 anxiety they discovered the diamonds lying safely in the 
 earth, the casket having entirely rotted away. These diamonds 
 were left by Lady Somerville at her death to my mother, 
 who, in her turn, divided them equally between my two 
 sisters. 
 
 Having quieted the Highlands, the Duke of Cumberland 
 kept his Court for some time in Holy Eood House, where 
 x Lord Somerville had apartments, in which he resided during 
 the winter months. As his loyalty was well known, and as 
 his son's services had been much talked of for out of his 
 little band only one man and two horses survived the 
 campaign the Duke showed the most marked attention to 
 him and his family. .He was much consulted upon every 
 step which was taken; while Lady Somerville, at H.E.H.'s 
 particular request, presided at his table and did the honours 
 of his Court. 
 
 In October, 1747, General Bland arrived in Scotland with
 
 1747.] LOVE AND ROMANCE. 13 
 
 extraordinary powers, and fixed his abode in the royal apart- 
 ments at Holy Eood House. As he was a single man, and, 
 besides recognising the merits of Lord Somerville, had capacity 
 to relish the wit and pleasantry of his lady, a strict intimacy 
 sprang up between them. Lady Somerville was entreated to 
 resume the post she had filled under H.R.H. the Duks, and 
 the two establishments were hardly ever asunder. 
 
 The consequence of this intimacy was first the acquaintance, 
 and then the mutual attachment, of my father and mother. 
 As Lord Somerville was warm and hasty, beyond measure 
 crazy after matrimonial alliances, and set upon matching his 
 children into the best families of the kingdom, it became 
 absolutely necessary to conceal this affair from his know- 
 ledge. Though he was extremely pleased with my father, 
 the slightest suspicion of his becoming connected with 
 his daughter would have made him forbid my father's 
 coming into his apartments. Lady Somerville, though less 
 vain and more partial to my father, was nevertheless too 
 prudent and too much a woman of the world to have con- 
 curred in a step so clearly unadvisable. The two young 
 people, who thought of nothing but each other, were thus com- 
 pelled to keep their love a profound secret. A circumstance, 
 however, happened which brought about their union much 
 sooner than either of them had anticipated. General Bland 
 was recalled from Scotland to take up his new appointment 
 of Governor of Gibraltar, and from his regard for my father 
 he applied to have him appointed as his secretary. His 
 application was successful, and the General and his secretary 
 received orders to repair forthwith to London. As the lovers 
 were now confronted with the alternative of a long and 
 perhaps eternal separation, or of an immediate marriage, 
 they naturally preferred the latter. 
 
 Having secured a lodging in the High Street, my father 
 communicated his business to two of his most intimate 
 friends, Captain Molesworth and Captain Stewart. They 
 agreed to assist him. Availing himself of the opportunity 
 offered by a private dinner with his Lordship, Captain Moles- 
 worth informed Miss Somerville that he should return about 
 midnight and escort her to my father's lodgings, where the 
 nuptial ceremony was to be performed, Captain Stewart 
 having undertaken to procure a clergyman. On quitting my 
 grandfather's apartments, Captain Molesworth contrived, 
 without being seen by the servants, to put the key of the
 
 14 ALL FOR LOVE. [CHAP. I. 
 
 door into his pocket. Just as the clock struck twelve, he 
 opened the door and let himself into the house. On the 
 first floor, within the dining-parlour, lay Lord and Lady 
 Somerville. The first room upstairs was a large drawing- 
 room, within which was a bedchamber occupied by the 
 present Lord Somerville. Within that, again, was a third in 
 which my mother slept, in the same bed with Mrs. Mmmo, 
 the housekeeper. In the dark Captain Molesworth mounted 
 the first flight of stairs, passed Lord Somerville's room, 
 ascended the second flight, went through the drawing-room, 
 and opened the door of Captain Somerville's chamber, who 
 was lying in a sound sleep. Passing through this room, he 
 opened the door of my mother's bed-chamber. Mrs. Nimmo 
 was asleep. My mother, who was lying awake and in her 
 clothes, hearing the door opened, put aside the curtain 
 and, by the light of a lamp which burnt in the room, re- 
 cognised Molesworth, who made her a sign to get up and 
 follow him. At this moment her resolution failed. She 
 beckoned him to the bedside, and told him that her courage 
 was gone, and that she could not venture to rise. Hq 
 whispered in her ear : " Look you, madam, I have come thus\ 
 far at the peril of my life, to serve you and my friend Burges, ' 
 but I assure you I will not be made a fool of. Either get 
 up this moment and come with me, or I will make a noise 
 that will awaken both your bed-fellow and Captain Somerville, 
 and what then will become of your character ? As to myself, 
 I am not afraid of the consequences, for I am completely 
 armed. You are safe if you arise and go with me if you 
 do not, by all that is sacred ! your character is gone from this 
 moment." Upon this menace, which she knew he was quite 
 capable of fulfilling, my mother arose and, with trembling 
 steps, followed him through her brother's chamber and down 
 stairs. As they left the house it rained exceedingly hard, 
 and was quite dark. Molesworth pulled off his great-coat and 
 put it upon the lady, and placing his own hat flapped upon 
 her head, he took her under the arm. They walked together 
 in this condition to the High Street, where my father awaited 
 them, in the company of Captain Stewart and Mr. Jamieson, 
 the clergyman. In a few minutes the ceremony was per- 
 formed, and the contracting parties executed what in Scotland 
 is termed marriage lines, and what in England we call a 
 certificate of marriage. Shortly after the ceremony was com- 
 pleted my mother returned to the Abbey under the pro-
 
 1747.] CORRUPTION AT GIBRALTAR. 15 
 
 tection of her former guide. They entered the house quietly 
 without disturbing any of the inmates, and my mother again 
 lay down beside the unconscious housekeeper. 
 
 Within a few days after his marriage my father was forced 
 to tear himself from his bride, leaving her in a most cruel 
 and embarrassing situation. The necessity, however, was 
 urgent and irresistible, and shortly afterwards my father 
 quitted England as General Eland's secretary, and arrived 
 safely at Gibraltar on the eighth day after leaving Falmouth. 
 
 The irregularities and peculations of the preceding governor 
 and his secretary had been of the most infamous character. 
 They made money of everything, invented a variety of new 
 fees and perquisites, defrauded the inhabitants, preyed upon 
 the garrison, and cheated the public. As a proof of the 
 sums they had amassed, it may suffice to say that the secre- 
 tary, who went out without a shilling, and remained there 
 not more than five years, left each of his daughters over 
 40,000, To redress these grievances, and to restore the 
 discipline of the garrison, General Bland was sent out. He 
 resolutely set about doing his duty, and was vigorously 
 seconded by my father. Immediately on their arrival all 
 the late exactions ceased, regular and moderate tables of fees 
 were hung up in public places, and presents of all kinds 
 were positively prohibited. These reformations were followed 
 by the thanks of the garrison, the prayers and blessings of 
 the inhabitants and traders, and the marked approbation of 
 His Majesty and his Ministers. 
 
 In the meanwhile my mother continued to reside at her 
 father's house, fearful of a premature discovery, and anxious 
 for her husband's return. She had occasionally the consola- 
 tion of hearing from him. though her channel of correspond- 
 ence was so precarious as to render an intercourse of letters 
 very difficult. She passed her time in as much retirement 
 as the style of life in her father's house and the affection of 
 her step-mother would permit, and endeavoured by reading 
 to beguile the weary hours. The secret of the marriage was 
 loyally guarded for two years, when it accidentally bjazed 
 out at a moment when it was least expected. A servant of 
 my father, who had unavoidably been made acquainted with 
 the transaction, left his service and returned to England. 
 Thinking himself now released from the obligation of silence, 
 he began to speak of the affair publicly. The story flew 
 from mouth to mouth till at last it reached Edinburgh, and
 
 16 A JOYFUL REUNION. [CHAP. I. 
 
 then a good-natured friend thought proper to bring it to the 
 knowledge of Lord Somerville. His pride instantly took 
 fire, and his indignation led him to the greatest excesses. 
 He confined his daughter in a garret, and forbade her to 
 appear in his presence. In this situation, without any 
 comfort save what she derived from sometimes slipping 
 down to Lady Somerville's apartment (from whom she con- 
 stantly experienced the kindest and most generous treat- 
 ment), and from the goodness of her eldest brother, she 
 remained more than three months. At the end of that time 
 his Lordship's anger subsided. The arguments and entreaties 
 of Lady Somerville and his friends prevailed over his disap- 
 pointment. My mother was released from captivity and 
 restored to his favour. He even gave a great dinner, and, 
 leading her by the hand to the head of the table, introduced 
 her by the title of Mrs. Burges to all the company. In the 
 following month of May she accompanied Lord and Lady 
 Somerville to London, and in the beginning of July embarked 
 for Gibraltar, where she arrived after a tedious voyage of 
 several -weeks, and was received by her husband with the 
 utmost joy and affection after a separation of thirty months. 
 
 Mr. Burges had not only the satisfaction of welcoming his 
 wife, but also that of presenting her with His Majesty's sign 
 manual, appointing him, through the friendly recommendation 
 of General Bland, receiver-general and cashier to the garri- 
 son, with a salary of 300 a year, so that his income now 
 amounted to at least 1000, independently of his commission 
 in the army. Towards the end of 1751 General Bland 
 returned to England and, after an unpleasant interregnum, 
 was succeeded by General Herbert, who retained Mr. Burges 
 in the same capacity that he had filled under General Bland. 
 Mrs. Burges was peculiarly fortunate in enjoying the friend- 
 ship of Mrs. Herbert and of the wife of Colonel Leighton, 
 for an event coveted by wives who love their lords soon 
 began to cast its shadow before.
 
 1752.] ( 17 ) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Mr. Burges retires from Military Service-^Conflict with the New 
 Governor Mr. Burges revisits England on Sick Leave Return to 
 Gibraltar General Corruption Discomfiture of the Colonels Dis- 
 missal of General Fowke Mr. Burges returns to England Obtains 
 two Appointments in Scotland Boyhood of James Burges Edinburgh 
 University Westminster School Oxford Trip to France Financial 
 Difficulties An Involuntary Fast Travelling by Diligence Down 
 the Lciire The Fair Widow of Tours "A Liberal Education" An 
 Affair of Spirit A Homicide in a Hurry Return to Oxford The 
 Grand Tour Adventure at Castel Gandolfo The Pretender The 
 Catacombs at Naples All Souls' Day A Disgusting Spectacle 
 Received by Pope Clement XIV. in Private Audience Return to 
 Bath. 
 
 SIR JAMES BLAND BUEGES LAMB was born on the 8th of 
 June, 1752, O.S., his birth being well nigh fatal to his 
 mother. Nature, however, triumphed over the unskilfulness 
 of the medical attendant, and mother and child, to use the 
 stereotyped phrase, were soon doing as well as could be 
 expected. Shortly afterwards the Duke of Cumberland, as 
 Commander-in-Chief, having issued an order that no military 
 officer should hold any civil employment together with his 
 Army commission, Mr. Burges received notice that he 
 must either rejoin his regiment, or resign his profession. He 
 chose the latter alternative, and sold his cornetcy for 1000. 
 A residence of more than three years in a hot climate had so 
 seriously affected his health that he was anxious to obtain 
 some appointment which would enable him to reside in the 
 British Isles. His friends, however, failed to exert them-
 
 18 FALLEN AMONG THIEVES. [CHAP. II. 
 
 selves on his behalf, and preferred to regard his ailments as 
 somewhat fanciful, and not more alarming than home-sick- 
 ness usually proves to be in the long run. 
 
 Apart from motives of health, Mr. Burges had good 
 reason to be dissatisfied with his position. General Herbert 
 had been recalled, and replaced by General Fowke, a man 
 utterly unfit to be entrusted with such a command. The 
 new Governor strove to repeat the experiences of the worst of 
 his predecessors, and invited the co-operation of his secretary. 
 Mr. Burges flatly refused to lend himself to dishonourable 
 conduct of any kind, and avowed his intention of thwarting 
 every measure that was contrary to duty and His Majesty's 
 interests. The Governor thereupon sought to remove him 
 from his post, but his machinations were baffled by the 
 steady friendship and powerful influence of General Bland. 
 In such circumstances Mr. Burges was naturally more and 
 more anxious to return to England, if only on a temporary 
 leave of absence ; but his friends refused to render him any 
 assistance in that direction, and, consequently, he was com- 
 pelled to endure the inconveniences of his situation yet a 
 little longer. The birth of his eldest daughter, Frances 
 Anne, on the 10th of September, 1753, was an additional 
 motive for the exercise of prudence and patience, and for 
 some time longer he bore his own illness and General 
 Fowke's ill-usage. At last he completely broke down, and, 
 having obtained leave of absence, he returned to England 
 with his wife and two infant children. 
 
 Mr. Burges returned to Gibraltar towards the end of July, 
 and lost no time in entering upon his arduous and delicate 
 duties as deputy paymaster. At the very outset he found 
 himself opposed by all who had thriven by dishonest means. 
 At the head of these was the Governor, nor were the 
 colonels of regiments less fraudulent. They had hitherto
 
 1753.] OFFICERS AND GENTLEMEN. 19 
 
 been in the habit of drawing upon Messrs. Burrel and 
 Bristow, the contracting paymasters, for large sums which 
 they kept in their own hands till compelled by the increasing 
 clamour of the subaltern officers and the privates to dole out 
 a portion of their pay. These disgraceful, if profitable, 
 practices were at once suppressed. Mr. Burges not only 
 acted with perfect integrity, but introduced such regularity 
 and method into the system that his employers were agree- 
 ably surprised with the results to themselves. The colonels, 
 however, were not easily appeased, and used language to- 
 wards him that no gentleman could tolerate. He therefore 
 sent a message to the Field Officers' Club, stating his de- 
 termination to adhere to the plan he had adopted, but if 
 any one thought himself aggrieved he was ready to give 
 him the usual satisfaction. Insults thereupon ceased, but, 
 with the Governor's concurrence, the colonels forwarded 
 a memorial to the Commander-in-Chief, complaining of the 
 grievances to which they were subjected by the new system. 
 At the head of the memorialists appeared the name of 
 Colonel Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle, to whom Mr. 
 Burges had particularly alluded in his message to the club. 
 Fortunately for himself, Mr. Burges was privately informed 
 of this manoeuvre, and so managed to send off by the same 
 vessel a* counter-memorial, in which he set forth all the 
 enormities that had been practised, and which he had set 
 himself to correct. The reply was most gratifying. The 
 conduct of the Governor and the field officers was visited 
 with the most severe censure, while the deputy paymaster 
 was commended in the most complimentary terms for his 
 honourable and upright conduct. In the following year 
 General Fowke was recalled and tried by court-martial, 
 which sentenced him to one year's suspension from rank and 
 emolument. The King was still more severe, for he dis- 
 
 c 2
 
 20 FAEEWELL TO GIBRALTAR. [CHAP. II. 
 
 missed the General from his service for ever. The unhappy 
 man does not appear to have made any provision against 
 evil days. Shunned by his former friends and associates, he 
 retired with his wife, a person quite worthy of himself, and 
 numerous children, to a retired part of the country, where he 
 died in great distress. 
 
 To testify their sense of Mr. Burges's meritorious behaviour 
 in resisting General Fowke and the colonels, the Ministry 
 thought proper in the beginning of 1756 to appoint him, in 
 addition to his other appointments, agent for the prizes 
 carried into Gibraltar. As hostilities had commenced on the 
 part of England before war had been actually declared, a 
 great number of French vessels were seized, carried into port, 
 and condemned. This agency was so lucrative that in the 
 first twelve months it yielded a clear profit of upwards of 
 5000. Another piece of good fortune was the appointment 
 of Lord Tyrawley as successor to General Fowke. The new 
 Governor conceived a great esteem for Mr. Burges, which 
 lasted through life, and was guided by his advice in all 
 things. Prosperity, however, is proverbially short-lived. 
 While everything seemed to presage domestic happiness and 
 the rapid accumulation of riches, Mr. Burges was attacked 
 by his old disorder, which grew to such a height that his 
 recoveiy seemed more than doubtful unless he could return 
 to his native air. He therefore obtained leave of absence, 
 and in the month of November, 1757, quitted Gibraltar for 
 the last time. 
 
 Having conceived a great dislike to Gibraltar, Mr. Burges 
 exerted himself to obtain some permanent employment at 
 home, and in June, 1758, was appointed Secretary of the 
 Excise in Scotland, with a salary of 400 a year. On 
 applying for his patent, he was presented with a second 
 parchment in the name of the Duke of Newcastle, who had
 
 1758.] MERIT REWARDED. 21 
 
 spontaneously conferred upon him the post of Receiver 
 General of the Duty on Places and Pensions in Scotland, 
 worth an additional 350 per annum. The value of this 
 substantial favour was enhanced by the handsome manner in 
 which the Duke checked his expression of gratitude. His 
 Grace was pleased to tell him that he owed the appointment 
 entirely to his own merits, and that he was glad to have an 
 opportunity of showing how highly he esteemed Mr. Burges's 
 services both in Scotland and at Gibraltar. His income from 
 public and private sources was thus raised to 1500 a year, 
 " acquired," as his son remarks, " in the most upright and 
 honourable manner by the time he had reached his thirty- 
 third year." 
 
 In the beginning of 1760, Mr. Burges suffered greatly from 
 a recurrence of his old Gibraltar complaint, and at one time 
 mortification of the bowels was apprehended. He was accord- 
 ingly ordered to try the effects of the waters at Tunbridge Wells, 
 where the family passed the summer, with the exception of 
 James Burges, who was placed at a school in Kensington, with 
 the result of forgetting the little Latin he had then picked up, 
 " in exchange for some writing, and the first two rules 
 of arithmetic." His father luckily made a better use of his 
 time, and was appointed one of the Commissioners of Excise 
 in Scotland, by which his salary in that department was 
 increased to 500 a year. The summer of 1761 was also 
 passed at Tunbridge Wells, and a complete cure was effected 
 of that particular complaint, which was replaced by gout, 
 a frequent visitant during the last twenty years of his life. 
 In the spring of 1762 the family returned to Edinburgh, and 
 there settled down for some years. Under his cousin Mr. 
 Somerville's assiduous tuition, James Burges quickly recovered 
 what he had lost at Kensington. His sister Frances, afterwards 
 Mrs. James Koper Head and the happy mother of a distill-
 
 22 THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY. [CHAP. II. 
 
 guished family, shared his studies, and acquired a fair know- 
 ledge of the easier Latin authors, and also of the grammar of 
 her own language a rare accomplishment even at the present 
 day. Mr. Burges, indeed, spared no expense in giving his 
 children the best education money could procure. They were 
 taught to dance, and draw, and play on the harpsichord, and 
 received lessons in geography, writing, and arithmetic, as well 
 as Latin. James also learned to ride and to fence, and for two 
 or three years was one of Mr. Angelo's pupils. This routine 
 was varied by an event that broke in upon its monotony. After 
 an interval of more than ten years Mrs. Burges presented her 
 husband in December, 1763, with a second daughter, named 
 Mary Anne though always addressed by her brother as 
 Maria who lived and died a spinster. 
 
 "X Towards the close of 1765, James Burges was entered at 
 the University of Edinburgh, and passed through two 
 sessions, with very little profit in any way. In the Humanity 
 or Latin class he did make some progress, but Greek was 
 taught in such a slovenly manner, through the age and 
 infirmity of the professor, that he scarcely mastered the 
 grammar. The system was then, as it has ever since been, 
 grossly defective. Boys, barely fourteen years of age, were 
 treated as young men, and left entirely to themselves. As 
 a natural consequence they were perpetually involved in 
 scrapes and grave irregularities. A sprightly and vivacious 
 lad, James Burges became a leader in the frequent " bickers," 
 and was engaged in many a street riot, to the annoyance of 
 his parents, to whom complaints of his disorderly conduct 
 were constantly being made. On one occasion he and a few 
 others smashed every pane of glass in Principal Eobertson's 
 windows, and forcing their way into his house thrashed his 
 man-servant, and roughly used his housekeeper. As the lad 
 would not listen to quiet admonition, his father resolved to
 
 1765.] WESTMINSTER AND OXFORD. 23 
 
 place him at Westminster School, where he himself had been 
 educated. Accordingly in June, 1767, Mrs. Burges and her 
 three children posted up to London, with no more serious 
 mishap than the loss of two front teeth to her son. To 
 relieve the footman, the boy had offered to exchange his seat 
 in the second chaise for a ride on the hack, but the animal 
 came down, and the rider was thrown on his face. A few 
 weeks later he was placed at Westminster School, where he 
 had soon reason to regret his ignorance of the Greek language, 
 and his inability to write Latin verses an accomplishment 
 lightly valued in Scotland. He was encouraged, however, 
 by Dr. Smith, the head master, to overcome these defects, 
 and at Christinas, 1769, he " stood the second boy in the school, 
 being perfectly versed in Latin, so well furnished with Greek 
 as to be able to read, with tolerable ease, Sophocles, Euripides, 
 Aristophanes, and the more difficult authors, and possessed of 
 as much Hebrew as was at all necessary for one not destined 
 to the Church." He then quitted Westminster School, being 
 in his eighteenth year, and prepared for his introduction to 
 new studies and pursuits, and for association with young men, 
 mostly his seniors. 
 
 At Oxford James Burges was entered at University 
 College, and enjoyed the immense advantage of having for 
 tutor Mr. William Scott, afterwards Lord Stowell. He was 
 further fortunate in being brought into familiar contact with 
 a number of young men of remarkable ability, almost ev^ry 
 one of whom subsequently took a useful and conspicuous 
 part in public affairs. Among these may be mentioned Lord 
 Folkestone, afterwards Earl of Eadnor ; Lord Fortescue, 
 created an Earl in 1789 ; Lord Rawdon, afterwards Earl 
 Moira, but better known as Marquis of Hastings, Governor 
 General of India ; the Right Honourable William Windham ; 
 John Scott, younger brother of their tutor, and eventually
 
 24 CWING ABROAD. [CHAP. II. 
 
 Lord Eldon; Sir William Young, author of a 'History 
 of Athens ' and other valuable works ; George James 
 Cholmondeley, Chairman of the Board of Excise in 1789 ; 
 Thomas Plumer, one of the counsel for Warren Hastings at 
 the great trial in Westminster Hall ; Sir William Jones, the 
 famous Oriental scholar, and one of the Bengal Judges. 
 Besides these, there were at least half a dozen young men 
 who were in due time chosen as representatives of the people 
 in Parliament, and two or three of great promise cut off at 
 an early age. 
 
 , At the beginning of the second Long Vacation, 1771, Mr. 
 .Burges offered to allow his son to pass the summer in France. 
 His object was twofold. First of all, the acquisition of the 
 French language; and, secondly, to ascertain how far the 
 youngster's discretion and judgment could be depended upon. 
 He began by placing perfect confidence in his son, who was 
 thus put upon his mettle to justify his father's faith. James 
 Burges was to be left entirely to himself, with what seemed 
 to him unlimited credit on a bank in Paris. The proposal, 
 as might be expected, was eagerly accepted. The few pre- 
 liminary preparations were soon made, and a route was laid 
 down for proceeding to Tours by way of Rouen, Paris, and 
 Orleans. On the 3rd of July the youthful tourist quitted 
 his father's house, accompanied by his favourite yellow and 
 white spaniel, Prince, and "lay that night at the Golden 
 Cross, Charing Cross, to be in readiness for the Brighthelm- 
 stone stage." At that fishing village he was detained two 
 days waiting for a packet, and got through the tedious hours 
 by strolling over the Downs, and studying Boyer's French 
 Grammar. However, on the evening of the 6th he set sail 
 from the British shores, and after a passage of fifteen hours 
 landed next day at Dieppe. The story of his adventures in 
 France is told with so much simplicity and freshness that it
 
 1771.] FISST IMPRE SSIONS. 25 
 
 may be best repeated in his own. words, allowing for a few 
 excisions and occasional condensation : 
 
 I will not attempt to describe my surprise at finding 
 everything so different from what I had left behind me, or 
 the distress I experienced in consequence of my ignorance 
 of the language of the people among whom I had landed. 
 I stood upon the beach much perplexed, and, as it was 
 Sunday, a small crowd issuing from the churches thronged 
 to see the arrival of the packet-boat. I naturally attributed 
 to the awkwardness I felt every observation that was made, 
 and every smile I observed. Presently, an elderly woman, 
 very smartly dressed, came up to me, and in broken English 
 asked if Monsieur was provided with an apartment. If not, 
 she kept the Hotel de Londres, where I should have the best 
 of everything. If an angel had spoken to me I could not 
 have been more transported ; and if it had been the Devil 
 who came so opportunely, I believe I should have followed 
 him. Accordingly I accompanied my antiquated guide to 
 a very dark and dirty house, where she provided a dinner 
 and honoured me with her society. In the evening she 
 was of great service in giving me the particulars of my 
 route to Rouen, and in procuring for me a horse which, she 
 said, would carry me and my portmanteau very commodiously. 
 I was rather startled at this mode of travelling, but as she 
 assured me it was very common in France, I determined to 
 adopt the fashion of the country, and conjured up pleasant 
 visions of the delightful ride of thirty-six miles I was to 
 enjoy on the morrow through cornfields and orchards. 
 
 After an early breakfast next morning I went down into 
 the courtyard, where I was much struck with the appearance 
 of my charger. He was about twenty years old and about 
 eleven hands high, perfectly white, and rivalling Rozinante 
 in his sharp points and corners. On his head was a large 
 curb bridle, with a halter to be used for tying him up in 
 inns; and on his back a monstrous full peak saddle, with 
 gorgeous furniture somewhat the worse for wear. 
 
 It took me five uncomfortable hours to accomplish 
 eighteen miles, beneath a burning sun, when, fortunately for 
 myself and my horse, I came upon a small village containing 
 a public-house. It was kept by an old woman, ten times 
 more hideous and dirty than my landlady at Dieppe, and
 
 26 FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. [CHAP. II. 
 
 very deaf into the bargain. I pulled out my grammar, and 
 with much ado found my way to the stable, where I put up 
 the poor beast and gave him some corn and straw. The next 
 difficulty was to make the old woman understand that I 
 wanted something to eat, whereupon she opened a cupboard 
 and produced some cold calf's liver, larded with thick lumps 
 of bacon. But, first of all, she covered the crazy deal table 
 with a coarse cloth full of holes, and begrimed with dust and 
 grease, upon which she placed a plate and a silver four- 
 pronged fork. Hungry as I was, I could scarce muster 
 resolution enough to touch a morsel, but Prince was less 
 fastidious and devoured his dinner greedily. Having washed 
 down the liver with a draught of sour cyder, I pursued my 
 course to Eouen, where I arrived about sunset. At every 
 turn I had to repeat my quotation from Boyer, until at length 
 I alighted at the Hotel de Vatel. 
 
 After supper I applied for a place in the Berlin which 
 plied between Eouen and Paris, and was mortified to learn 
 that it would not start for three clear days. This was 
 alarming on financial grounds. Upon my leaving London 
 my father had given me six guineas and a half, which he 
 reckoned would carry me to Paris. But now, after paying 
 all my travelling expenses, I found that I had expended 
 5 3s. 4|^., and consequently had no more than 1 13s. \^d. 
 remaining in my purse, and out of that I should have to 
 disburse twenty-one shillings for my place in the Berlin, and 
 support myself three days and a half in the hotel at Eouen, 
 and two days more while on the journey to Paris. I at once 
 secured my seat, and was thus reduced to twelve shillings, 
 one penny, and one farthing. At the end of the first day I 
 ordered my bill, which amounted to three shillings and six- 
 pence, besides eighteenpence for the carriage of my trunk 
 from Dieppe. It became, therefore, indispensably necessary 
 to adopt a more economical mode of living. Accordingly, 
 next morning, after breakfasting on a basin of bread and 
 milk, I contrived to tell my landlady that I proposed to walk 
 about and see the town, and might possibly not return to 
 dinner. Sallying forth, I wandered about the streets and 
 looked at the churches and other buildings, until I grew 
 hungry, when I bought a penny loaf, and striking into the 
 country, strolled to the top of St. Catherine's Hill. Here I 
 sat down and divided my bread between myself and my 
 faithful dog. Having finished my philosophical repast, I
 
 1771.] A FRIEND IN NEED. 27 
 
 took out my favourite volume of the minor Greek poets, and 
 amused myself with reading Musaeus's ' Loves of Hero and 
 Leander,' and with contemplating the beauties of the land- 
 scape spread before me, till the sun went down. Having 
 made up a story of having dined with a friend in the town, 
 I supped upon some bread and milk and went to bed. The 
 same plan carried me through the next day, and on Friday 
 morning, after paying my hotel bill and the carriage of my 
 trunk to Paris, I ascended the Berlin with somewhat less 
 than two shillings in my pocket. 
 
 At Vaudreuil, where we stopped to breakfast, I slipped 
 away from my fellow-travellers and walked in the garden till 
 they were ready to start, The same thing happened at 
 Gallon, where we stopped to dine ; but at Bonnieres, where 
 we lay, I found myself incapable of longer fasting, and 
 supped with the rest. In the morning I paid my share of 
 the reckoning, which swept away all that remained of my 
 worldly wealth. On the way to Meulan I was so overcome 
 with vexation, and so humiliated by the fear of my poverty 
 being discovered, that the blood gushed from my nose. I 
 tried to conceal my misadventure from my companions, but 
 it was observed by the gentleman who sat opposite to me, 
 who assisted me with so much kindness, that he won my 
 heart, and I resolved to acquaint him with my situation as 
 soon as we reached Meulan. Fortunately for me he spoke 
 English, and was a very worthy, humane man. His name 
 was Lambert. Taking him aside, I told him who I was and 
 how I was circumstanced, and showing him my letter of 
 credit on M. Grand at Paris, I asked him to supply me with 
 sufficient to carry me through to my journey's end. Had I 
 been on my trial for a footpad robbery I could not have been 
 more confused and distressed than I was while making this 
 avowal. He saw into the workings of my mind and, pulling 
 out his purse, begged me to take what I pleased. I told him 
 that five shillings would be ample, and though he pressed me 
 to take more, I resolutely refused. The load being removed, 
 I recovered my spirits, and at Poissy we dined together 
 gaily. In the evening I arrived at the Hotel d'Anjou in the 
 Rue Dauphine, where, on mentioning Lord Somerville's 
 name, I was heartily welcomed and capitally entertained. 
 
 As soon as I had breakfasted the next morning, I called 
 upon M. Grand, presented my letter of credit, and received 
 some money, which appeared to me a vast sum, being paid,
 
 28 FROM PARIS TO TOURS. [CHAP. II. 
 
 according to the custom of the country, in crown-pieces. 
 With my pockets thus replenished, I posted off to my friend 
 M. Lambert, and with sincere thanks repaid him the money 
 he had lent me. The remainder of that day, and two more 
 which I passed in Paris, were employed in sightseeing and 
 in going to the Colisee and the theatres. On the morning 
 of the 17th July I ascended that commodious vehicle called 
 a diligence, and set out for Orleans. As the weather was 
 uncommonly hot, and there were ten inside passengers, my 
 journey was not very agreeable. The carriage, moreover, 
 had no springs, and we were dragged along at a foot-pace by 
 eight great black entire horses. We dined at Arpajon, and 
 reached Estampes by supper-time, after travelling for twelve 
 hours, in which time we had accomplished thirty miles. 
 The next morning, at one o'clock, we remounted our vehicle 
 and drove into Orleans about sunset. We were then half- 
 way to Tours. The misery of employing thirty hours to 
 traverse sixty miles had such an effect upon myself, and 
 upon two very civil young Frenchmen with whom I had 
 made acquaintance in the diligence, that we agreed to change 
 our plan, and to pursue the remainder of our journey by 
 water. We accordingly hired a boat, and set out next 
 morning upon the Loire. 
 
 Our boat was flat-bottomed, and was composed of rough 
 deal planks loosely nailed together, so that we could see 
 through to the water, and our oars were two old mop-sticks 
 with a flat piece of wood fastened to one end. Bad, how- 
 ever, as our accommodation was, we enjoyed the transition 
 to it from the diligence, and rowed alternately, with much 
 good-humour, between the rising banks, enjoying a succession 
 of the noblest and most pleasing objects. We passed Blois 
 and Amboise, both beautifully situated on the river, and 
 famous as the scenes of great historic events. Our first 
 night was spent at Nohan, a little village before coming to 
 Blois, where we were overtaken by the darkness. Our host 
 was an old Scotchman, who fairly owned that he had fled 
 from his country on account of the Rebellion, and almost 
 cried when he recognised a countryman. At the close of the 
 next day we safely arrived at the Trois Barbeaux at Tours, 
 where I supped and took leave of my obliging companions, 
 who continued their journey to Saumur. 
 
 As I had now reached the place of my destination, my 
 first care was to come to an arrangement with the landlord.
 
 1771.] PREPARING FOR CONQUEST. 29 
 
 I accordingly chose an apartment looking out upon the Loire, 
 and agreed to certain charges for board and lodging which 
 cannot be deemed extravagant. For the former I paid one 
 hundred livres, or 4 Ss. 4d., per month, for which I had a 
 dinner of two courses and dessert, and a supper of one course 
 and dessert, with wine. For my lodging I paid forty livres, 
 or 1 13s. 4d., per month, in which all necessary linen was 
 included. With a very good hairdresser I agreed for six 
 livres, or five shillings, a month, and with a washerwoman 
 for the same sum. I then engaged a dancing-master to come 
 to me every morning at the rate of ten shillings for twelve 
 lessons, and with an abbe to instruct me in French for 
 twenty shillings for the same number of lessons. After that 
 I purchased two suits of clothes to enable me to make a 
 proper appearance in public. A week thus glided past, 
 during which I remained at home and applied myself dili- 
 gently to acquire the means of conversing with my neigh- 
 bours. The rapidity with which I mastered the language 
 surprised me, for by the time I had been three weeks in 
 France I could understand tolerably well what was said to 
 me, and could ask for what I wanted without much hesitation 
 or obscurity. 
 
 Exactly a week after my arrival at Tours, I dressed 
 myself in my best coat, and went to the play. I was shown 
 into a box in which sat two gentlemen, with a lady whose 
 elegance and beauty struck me so much that my attention 
 was soon called off from the stage, and fixed upon her. She 
 was uncommonly fair, with the finest complexion and colour, 
 a degree of embonpoint, and a certain air of manners and 
 acquaintance with high life. She was apparently turned 
 thirty, though she preserved in full perfection all the bloom 
 and freshness of eighteen. While my eyes were fixed upon 
 her, and while I was forming schemes for somehow or other 
 introducing myself to her notice, the two gentlemen got up 
 and, wishing her good-evening, went out of the box, leaving 
 the door unfastened. I thought that the longed-for oppor- 
 tunity had arrived. With a hesitating voice, and with 
 much trepidation, I ventured to ask, in the best French I 
 could muster, if I should shut the door. She very civilly 
 answered in the affirmative, and then surveyed me for some 
 time with much attention. I was too great a novice in 
 gallantry to know that it was incumbent upon me to follow 
 up a conversation thus happily begun. So I sat silent and
 
 30 THE WIDOW OF TOURS. [CHAP. II. 
 
 probably looking foolish enough, when, after having satisfied 
 herself as to my exterior and my language, neither of which 
 could be mistaken for French, she asked me, in very good 
 English, if I was not a stranger newly come to Tours, and an 
 Englishman. I answered that she guessed aright in both 
 particulars, and that, in fact, I was so freshly imported that 
 I had not yet completed my third week upon the Continent. 
 I then asked if I might have the honour of sitting by her 
 side, as my situation at the back of the box rendered con- 
 versation somewiiat inconvenient. Having obtained her 
 permission, we began a long tete-a-tete, which lasted till the 
 play was over, and in the course of which I informed her who 
 I was, what were my connections in England, and what was 
 my object in residing at Tours for a month or two. In re- 
 turn she told me her name, and added that she was the sister 
 of an English baronet, and the widow of a Roman Catholic 
 gentleman. She blamed me for selecting a strange place 
 without any introductions or letters. " But," she said, " I 
 know some of your family. I have been at Lord Somerville's 
 house in Scotland, and perhaps I may be able to assist you. 
 I have lived here for some time, and, if you please, I will 
 introduce you to M. de Cluzel, the Intendant,* and his 
 wife. If you are once properly received by them, you will 
 easily obtain admission everywhere. Remember, however, 
 that you must pass as an old acquaintance of mine, so I 
 must know first if that is a character you choose to assume." 
 It may easily be supposed that my thanks and professions 
 were not lacking in profusion. I was in a moment struck 
 to the heart, and was so eager to express my gratitude and 
 admiration, that she was obliged to remind me that we were 
 in a public assembly, where people had eyes and were 
 censorious. "You overrate my little services," she said, 
 "but the Intendant has a public day to-morrow, when, if 
 you will drink tea with me, I will take you there and 
 introduce you properly." She allowed me afterwards to 
 hand her out, and to conduct her to the door of her house, 
 
 * Previous to the Revolution M. 1'Intendant was a very great person- 
 age. He was usually the representative of the Fermier-Ge'neral of the 
 province, and in that capacity controlled the finances and the administra- 
 tion. He is sometimes likened to the Lord Lieutenant of an English 
 county, but his functions were real, comprehensive, and very often 
 troublesome.
 
 
 1771.] VOGUE LA GALORE I 31 
 
 where she wished me good-evening. For my part, I returned 
 to my hotel as happy as a young man can be who, for the 
 first time in his life, has been flattered by the smiles of a 
 fine woman. 
 
 The next evening I was punctual to the moment. We 
 drank tea, and I became more and more pleased with my 
 new acquaintance. She took me with her to M. de 
 Cluzel's, where I was most civilly received, and, a few days 
 afterwards, the Intendant returned my visit and gave me a 
 general invitation to his house. My time now passed very 
 pleasantly. The Intendant had a party and a magnificent 
 supper two or three times a week, which I constantly 
 attended. There were also parties at other houses, to which 
 I obtained an entree. There were frequent concerts and a 
 good playhouse. I divided my hours between them and my 
 charming widow, to whom I became a faithful servant. We 
 made several excursions to the environs of Tours; among 
 others to the Due d'Aiguillon's chateau* at Verret, and to 
 the Due de Kichelieu's. An intercourse of this nature 
 tended to improve my manners, and to enlarge my ideas 
 
 * The Due d'Aiguillon joined the Revolutionists, and in 1796 was a 
 refugee in England. Once a month he dined at the Crown and Anchor 
 tavern in the Strand, in company with Charles Lameth, at one time 
 President of the National Assembly, and Dupont, a member of that 
 Assembly, whose assistance was indignantly rejected by Marie Antoinette, 
 when he offered to hand her out of her carriage on being brought back 
 from Varennes. Michael Kelly, the composer, was taken to one of these 
 dinners by Viotti, the leader of the orchestra at the Opera House, and 
 became acquainted with the Duke, a great admirer of music and the 
 drama. The three refugees frequently dined with Kelly, who gave them 
 free admissions to the Opera House and Drury Lane Theatre. When re-\ 
 duced to the last shilling the Duke asked Kelly to let him copy music 
 for the theatre at the ordinary rate, being too proud to accept pecuniary 
 assistance from any one. He would rise at daylight and work till the 
 evening, copying music for a shilling per sheet. He then dressed in 
 evening attire, and took his seat in the pit at the Opera House. (There 
 were no stalls in those days.) For one reason or another he and his 
 friends were ordered by the Alien Office to quit the country within forty- 
 eight hours. The Duke went to Hamburg, was arrested, condemned, and 
 - shot, meeting his fate with perfect calmness. He left a Danish dog, a 
 great favourite, with Kelly, but the faithful animal pined after his 
 master, refused all nourishment, and died. ' Reminiscences of Michael 
 Kelly,' vol. ii. pp. 84-88.
 
 32 AN AFFAIR OF SPIRIT. [CHAP. II. 
 
 more than any theoretical lectures could have done. I 
 considered myself a man, and wished to make myself a 
 gentleman. Being entirely anxious to please her, and 
 having an excellent instructress, I soon lost the boyish 
 bashfulness I had brought with me from England. I talked 
 French fluently, and a little affair in which I had an 
 opportunity of showing some spirit, gave me a little con- 
 sequence, and helped to raise my opinion of myself. 
 
 This little affair may be briefly told. Mr. Burges found 
 the fair widow one day seated on a sofa, dissolved in tears, and 
 holding a letter in her hand. After some little pressing, she 
 gave it to him to read. It came from the Intendant's 
 secretary, who professed a passionate love for her, but 
 reproached her for her coldness and indifference to himself, 
 which he imputed in a very insolent tone to her preference 
 for the young Englishman, whose qualifications he considered 
 inferior to his own. Thereupon the young gentleman 
 snatched up his hat and ran out of the room. The Intendant 
 had gone to his country house at Grammont, where Mr. 
 Burges singled out the enamoured secretary, and contrived to 
 lead him into a sequestered part of the wood. Suddenly 
 producing the letter, he demanded a written apology and a 
 promise not again to molest the lady in any way. The 
 Frenchman at first demurred, but finding that the only 
 alternative was to draw and defend himself, he allowed 
 discretion to master his valour, and, returning to the house, 
 wrote as he was bidden to do. The matter was hardly 
 arranged when the Intendant and his friends came in from 
 their walk, and sat down to cards. Pleading urgent business, 
 the youthful " Squire of Dames " took a hasty leave, and, hurry- 
 ing back to the town, laid the letter at the feet of his charmer. 
 
 Two months quickly flew by, and the time arrived for 
 returning to Oxford and resuming more serious pursuits. 
 Bidding adieu to all his kind friends, Mr. Burges started on
 
 1771.] A HOMICIDE IN A HURRY. 33 
 
 the 26th of September in a post-chaise on his homeward 
 journey, and at Tours met with a curious adventure : 
 
 A chaise drove into the yard, in which was a gentleman 
 who appeared to be in a great hurry, and called instantly for 
 horses. Expedition not being the characteristic of a French 
 post-house, the stranger and I had ample opportunity for 
 conversing. He told me that he was going to Paris on a 
 business of great emergence, that every moment's delay was 
 death to him, and that he had travelled, without stopping, 
 from the banks of the Garonne, where he had left his chateau 
 and family in much confusion. This communication, de- 
 livered with great vehemence, raised my curiosity, to gratify 
 which I remarked that as we were both travelling to the 
 same place, and both in an equal hurry, it might be a good 
 plan to proceed together, instead of following each other in 
 different carriages. He answered very politely that I did him 
 much honour, and that he would be glad of my company. 
 As soon as the horses were put to we started. He appeared 
 exceedingly disturbed, sometimes melancholy and silent, 
 sometimes bursting out into violent exclamations. My 
 curiosity had nigh given way to apprehension, for I began 
 to suspect the sanity of my fellow-traveller, when, suddenly 
 turning round, and observing, perhaps, some marks of as- 
 tonishment on my face, he caught my hand. 
 
 " My dear sir," he cried, " be not surprised at the agita- 
 tion I am in. God knows I have enough to disturb me. I 
 am a murderer." " God forbid ! " I exclaimed. " Yes," he 
 continued, " I have not changed my clothes since the thing 
 was done." I now became extremely anxious on many 
 accounts to know something more of this business, and there- 
 fore asked him, as gently as I could, if he would acquaint 
 me with the particulars. " I live, sir," he replied, " on the 
 banks of the Garonne. A variety of disputes brought about 
 a proces between myself and a gentleman whose estate 
 bordered upon mine. He was extremely impetuous, and I 
 was not much calmer. From one thing to another our 
 quarrel became personal. He dared to make use of expres- 
 sions derogating from my character and honour. I challenged 
 him. Three nights ago we met by moonlight in a wood, each 
 armed with a carbine. At the first shot I laid him dead at 
 my feet. I ran home, embraced my wife and family, and 
 
 D
 
 34 RETURN TO ENGLAND. [CHAP. IT. 
 
 have travelled ever since on my way to Versailles, where I 
 shall throw myself before our good King, and implore 
 forgiveness. Such is my history. You will no longer be 
 surprised at the agitation which possesses me." Though I 
 was certainly not much pleased with these details, my previous 
 apprehensions were dissipated, and as, by his own account, 
 he had had a good start of his pursuers, I entertained no doubt 
 of our reaching Paris before they could overtake us. I therefore 
 exerted myself to calm his excitement, and by diverting the 
 conversation to lighter and more agreeable topics, to turn away 
 his thoughts from himself. By degrees my efforts proved 
 successful, and during the remainder of our journey he gave 
 me much information relating to the customs of his own 
 province. About sunset we reached Paris, whence my fellow- 
 traveller continued his journey to Versailles, while I repaired 
 to my former hotel in the Eue Dauphine. Next morning I 
 started for Rouen, where I arrived that night, and next day 
 proceeded to Dieppe. On the 6th of October I landed at 
 Brighthelmstone, exactly three months from the day I sailed 
 from it. In the interval I had gained some experience of the 
 world, I had enjoyed a foretaste of the pleasures of good 
 society, I had acquired the French language so thoroughly 
 that I was able to converse on any subject with perfect 
 fluency, and my entire expenditure from the day I left London 
 to that on which I returned to it had not exceeded 89 Is. 7d., 
 including every charge. 
 
 During his son's absence in France, Mr. Surges had 
 removed with his family to Bath, where he purchased a 
 house in the Crescent. To Bath, therefore, the young 
 traveller directed his steps, but shortly afterwards returned 
 to Oxford, which continued to be his headquarters till the 
 month of June, 1773. In addition to his former studies 
 he passed through two courses of the Vinerian Lectures, 
 as many of Civil Law, and one each of Astronomy, 
 Architecture, and Fortifications. In February, 1772, he was 
 examined for the Bachelor of Arts degree, and received his 
 testamen, but as academical honours were not likely to help 
 him at the Bar, he contented himself with a permission to
 
 1772.] THE GRAND TOUP. 35 
 
 wear a civilian's gown, which in University precedence was 
 considered of equal rank. He was flattered, however, by 
 obtaining the Freedom of the Bodleian Library after a standing 
 of two years and a half in University College, whereas four 
 years was the usual period. This exceptional compliment 
 was the consequence of a motion made by Mr. Scott, his 
 tutor, in Convocation, in recognition of his pupil's assiduous 
 application. 
 
 On attaining his majority, James Burges was informed by 
 his father that he proposed to send him on a second tour, of 
 greater extent and importance than his former brief excur- 
 sion into France. This time he was to have a travelling 
 companion in the person of his kinsman, the Kev. William 
 Somerville, vicar of Bibury, in Gloucestershire, who is de- 
 scribed as " a very worthy man, a good clergyman, and an 
 excellent farmer." 
 
 Although amusing enough in themselves, it is unnecessary 
 to recite the numerous misadventures which befel the two 
 ill-matched tourists during their seven months wanderings in 
 the Low Countries, Germany, Switzerland, and France. Some- 
 times their chaise came to grief, sometimes their horses. 
 Occasionally they encountered plausible swindlers, though 
 without loss to their own pockets. At Spa, James Burges 
 lost his heart in half-an-hour to a Dutch damsel, but seems 
 to have got on very well without it. The inns were not 
 always very clean or comfortable, and if, perchance, they 
 took places in a public conveyance, their fellow-travellers 
 were not invariably desirable companions. Then, the reve- 
 rend gentleman had a trick of muttering half aloud the Latin 
 epigrams he was trying to compose on the town they had 
 just quitted, or on that which they were approaching. These 
 trifling unpleasantnesses, however, only imparted a zest to 
 the enjoyment of the new scenes and strange peoples that 
 
 D 2
 
 36 A CASTEL OANDOLFO. [CHAP. IT. 
 
 were day by day passing before their eyes like slides in a 
 magic lantern. But in Italy they came upon some things 
 quite out of the common run. The knife solved many a 
 quarrel, and was also drawn to intimidate travellers dis- 
 posed to resist exactions. Eoadside accidents were by no 
 means unknown. It was, however, in Rome that the most 
 remarkable incidents of the journey occurred. Clement XIV. 
 then tilled the Papal See. As his Holiness had been a 
 Franciscan, it was arranged that the festival of St. Francis 
 should be celebrated with unusual magnificence at Castel 
 Gandolfo, near Albano, where the Pope was then staying. 
 Recourse may again be had to Sir James Burges's Journal : 
 
 When we arrived at Castel Gandolfo we walked into the 
 large court of the palace, where great preparations were 
 making for a feu d' artifice. An amazing crowd was collected 
 to see the Pope get into his carriage, and to receive his 
 blessing. A servant of Mr. Jenkins came up to us to tell 
 us that his master had procured for us a place in the gallery 
 to see the fireworks. As they were not to commence, how- 
 ever, till it grew dark, we preferred mixing with the crowd. 
 I was much amused with the curious mixture of the Swiss 
 Guards in their fantastical uniform, the ecclesiastical servants 
 of the Pope in their purple and scarlet vestments, the various 
 friars of different orders, and the mob of men, women, and 
 children, who thronged together in every direction. I was 
 particularly taken with the beauty of several led horses, the 
 finest animals that Andalusia ever produced, covered with 
 gold, silver, and precious stones. While I was admiring one 
 of these, which had momentarily been entrusted to a little 
 boy, notice was given that his Holiness was coming forth, 
 and instantly the band of music struck up, the drums beat, 
 the trumpets brayed, and the people sent up a loud shout. 
 The horse I was looking at, alarmed at such a sudden out- 
 burst of sound, sprang forward into the thickest of the crowd, 
 kicking furiously, and dragging after him the little boy who 
 had heedlessly fastened the bridle round his waist. The 
 bystanders, in their eagerness to escape, threw each other 
 down, while those farther off, like true Italians, clapped their
 
 1772.] PRINCE CHARLES STUART. 37 
 
 hands and made all the noise they could. As no one 
 attempted to stop the horse, which was every instant be- 
 coming more furious, I called out to the people to stand 
 aside, and, running up, caught the animal by the bridle. 
 He struggled a good deal, but I soon mastered him, and 
 extricated the poor boy from the imminent peril he was 
 in. While this was being done, and while the crowd were 
 tumultuously applauding " il Cavaliere Anglese," the Pope 
 had reached the gallery, from which the staircase descended 
 to the court. Of course, he saw everything. When the 
 hubbub had subsided he stretched forth his hand and gave 
 his blessing to the people, which was received with much 
 devotion. He then entered his coach, and proceeded to 
 celebrate Mass at the Franciscan church in the town. 
 
 While he was thus employed we quitted the castle, and 
 took a walk through the country in the neighbourhood. We 
 had not strolled far when, at the turning of a road, we saw 
 advancing towards us a magnificent cavalcade, consisting of 
 three coaches and six, and a number of running footmen and 
 other servants dressed in scarlet and gold. Inquiring what 
 this might be, we were told it was " il Pretendente Carolo 
 Stuardo," with his lady.* Curious to see a man of whose 
 fortunes I had heard so much, I stopped and awaited him. 
 Presently he drove up. As he passed I pulled off my hat 
 and made him a bow. He looked thoughtful and melancholy, 
 but when he saw that I was an Englishman his countenance 
 brightened up. He bent forward from his seat and returned 
 my bow. He was fat and bloated, and bore the marks of 
 habitual inebriety. 
 
 As night approached we returned to Castel Gandolfo, and 
 went into the gallery, where Mr. Jenkins had procured a 
 place for us. We had not been long in the crowd when one 
 of the Pope's attendants came up and inquired for the 
 English gentlemen. Having found us, he said that the Pope 
 had been pleased with my conduct in the alarm occasioned 
 by the horse, and that if we liked, we might pass into the 
 inner apartment, where we should see the fireworks more 
 conveniently. We accordingly availed ourselves of this 
 permission and, walking through a suite of rooms which 
 opened one into the other, we entered the last in order to be 
 
 * The Pretender died in 1788. His widow, Louisa Maximiliana of 
 Stolberg Gosdern, Duchess of Albany, lived afterwards witL Alfieri, the 
 poet, and was supposed to be privately married to him.
 
 38 A HIDEOUS SPECTACLE. [CHAP. IT. 
 
 as much as possible out of the way of the cardinals and 
 prelates, who were walking up and down in expectation of 
 his Holiness's appearance. It was not long before a pair of 
 folding-doors in the furthermost apartment were flung open, 
 and his Holiness entered, leaning on the arm of a cardinal. 
 He walked forward, speaking to the great personages on 
 his right and left, and advanced from one room to another 
 till he came to that in which we were. As he approached, 
 we conformed to the etiquette of the place and kneeled down, 
 but he no sooner perceived us than he ran forward and, as I 
 happened to be the nearest, he raised me up and gave me 
 two or three pats on the cheek. He then in the most 
 gracious and obliging manner mentioned what he had seen, 
 and asked me how long I had been in Eome and how I 
 had been treated. On receiving my answer he again patted 
 my cheek and said, " Vi, raccomando Eoma." After saying 
 something obliging to Mr. Somerville, he' turned to Mr. 
 Jenkins and bade him take care of us. He then rejoined the 
 cardinals with whom he had previously been conversing. 
 
 At Naples the travellers witnessed two painful and 
 hideous spectacles. They had devoted a forenoon to an 
 inspection of the Catacombs, and were throughout much 
 annoyed by the multitude of bats disturbed by the torches 
 
 carried by their guides. 
 > 
 
 Ny, At the end of a long vault, [Mr. Burges remarks] I noticed 
 a large pair of iron folding-doors, behind which were thou- 
 sands of human bodies in various stages of decay, but all 
 quite black. On inquiry, I was told that they were the 
 bodies of those who had died in the great plague which 
 ravaged Naples in the last century. Turning with loathing 
 from such a sight, I sought the entrance of the vaults, but no 
 sooner had I breathed the fresh air than I fainted and lay 
 some time unconscious. Such was the noxious quality of 
 the air contained in those doleful chambers, from which, 
 however, I experienced no further ill-consequences. 
 XWe had not reflected long on those abodes of the dead, 
 before our attention was called to a more modern, though 
 an infinitely more disgusting exhibition of the same sort. 
 While sitting one day after dinner at Sir William Hamilton's, 
 a servant came in with a message that a certain countess,
 
 1772.] A FESTIVAL OF TEE DEAD. 39 
 
 who had died a few weeks previously, would receive 
 company the next morning. Greatly struck with so odd a 
 circumstance, I asked Lady Hamilton* what it meant. 
 " If you will go to such a church," said she (naming one 
 which I now forget), " you will understand its meaning. 
 The ceremony begins early, but you will be in time if you go 
 after breakfast." The next morning, accordingly, I went 
 there and found the church hung with black, a great number 
 of tapers lighted, and a catafalque in the centre, round which 
 a multitude of priests and monks were chanting solemn 
 hymns. All this was somewhat dismal, but it by no means 
 answered my expectations, which had been wound up to a 
 high pitch. At length, however, I perceived the crowd was 
 pushing forward to a corner of the church where there 
 appeared to be a door. I went with the others and, passing 
 through the door, descended a staircase. When I arrived at 
 the bottom, a scene presented itself which only a Neapolitan 
 imagination could have devised. It was the Festa dei Morti, 
 or All Souls' Day, and, according to annual custom, the body 
 of every person who had been buried in the vaults of the 
 church during the preceding year had been taken out of its 
 coffin and placed upright against the wall. The surviving 
 relatives gave notice of this ceremony and invited their 
 acquaintances to visit their departed friends, who were all 
 dressed out magnificently the men in silk, velvet, or em- 
 broidered clothes; the women in sacques, ruffles, and high 
 head-dresses. It is impossible to conceive anything more 
 horrid or disgusting than the appearance of so many hundred 
 corpses in every stage of putrefaction, from tiie first livid 
 swelling to the absolute skeleton, decked out like persons 
 going to a ball. Notwithstanding the perfumes which were 
 kept burning, the stench was so intolerable that, after a 
 hasty survey of the dreadful exhibition, I retired as much 
 astonished at the superstitious folly of mankind, as horrified 
 with a scene which could only be equalled by the Festival of 
 the Dead among the North American Indians, as described 
 by Pere Lafitau.f 
 
 * This lady was Sir William Hamilton's first wife, and not the Lady 
 Hamilton whose name was so unpleasantly mixed up with that of Lord 
 Nelson, and of whom larger mention will be made hereafter. 
 
 t ' Mceurs des Sauvages Ameriquains compare's aux Mceurs des Premiers 
 Temps.' 4to, 1724.
 
 40 AUDIENCE OF THE POPE. [CHAP. II. 
 
 On their return to Eome in the beginning of November, 
 the English travellers were graciously admitted to a private 
 audience of the Pope. What passed is worth reporting in 
 Mr. Burges's own words : 
 
 \About five in the evening of the 18th of November, we 
 went with Mr. Jenkins to the Palace of Monte Cavallo. 
 After waiting some time while his Holiness sipped his coffee 
 after his siesta, we were desired by one of the chamberlains 
 to walk into his apartment. We were conducted through 
 his bed-chamber, a large room, whitewashed, without any 
 ornament or furniture except a plain table, a few chairs, a 
 bed without tester or curtains, and a crucifix of wood as 
 large as life. We found the Pope sitting in the adjoining 
 room at a great table covered with a Turkey carpet, on 
 which were heaped a vast number of books and papers, in an 
 arm-chair close by a good fire. Advancing a few steps we 
 bent the knee, on which he came forward and lifted us up, 
 saying with a smile : " This ceremony does well enough in 
 public, but here it is unnecessary; besides, you heretic 
 Englishmen are not accustomed to such reverences. It is a 
 pity you are heretics, for among you are many great men. 
 4 For my part, I wish we were all of one faith. Don't you 
 think " addressing himself to me " that that might have 
 been contrived ? " " Holy Father," said I, " when the differ- 
 ences in opinion between us first arose, the world was 
 in a state of semi-barbarism. Both parties, from being 
 warm, grew outrageous, and mutual violence produced 
 mutual hatred. More coolness and more knowledge might 
 have dispelled prejudices, which, I apprehend, are now 
 become articles of faith too powerful ever to be overturned." 
 " You say well," he replied. " II Papa Clemente and his\ 
 successors did not understand the nature of Englishmen. 
 Had they acted differently we might still have been friends. 
 Your Queen Elizabeth was a great woman, and I believe, 
 had we been contemporaries, the fatal schism which I have 
 often lamented would never have happened." He then asked 
 us if we had visited Civita Vecchia. We told him we had not. 
 " When you do," said he, " you will see what I am doing there. 
 I endeavour to do good, and to improve the temporal as well 
 as the spiritual condition of my dominions. It has long been 
 a reproach to us that, situated as we are on a fine sea-coast,
 
 1772.] A FLATTERING RECEPTION. 41 
 
 we have neither harbours nor trade. If I live long enough 
 I shall hope to see my Eomans in possession of both." 
 He then asked us many questions about what we had seen 
 at Rome, and what opinion we had formed of the ancient and 
 modern state of the city and its inhabitants. Happening 
 to mention his new museum, on which we bestowed great 
 and merited commendation, he said, " That museum has 
 afforded me much pleasure, but I have been perplexed about 
 the choice of a proper person as the custode. I have received 
 a great many applications, but I should be sorry to bestow 
 such a charge on any one who is not possessed of real merit 
 and learning." I remarked that in such a city as Eome a 
 person of that description might easily be found, for even in 
 the short time I had resided there I had been so fortunate 
 as to meet with several gentlemen of real learning and, as 
 far as I could discover, of great virtue and merit. " Pray," 
 said he, " who are these persons of whom you think so well ? " 
 " Holy Father," I replied, " it does not become me on the 
 short acquaintance I have had with them to mention to your 
 Holiness any persons as really deserving ; but there is one 
 whom I have had better opportunities of knowing than the 
 others, as he has been my constant companion since my arrival 
 in Eome, whom I know to be very learned, and whom I believe 
 to be very meritorious." " And what is his name ? " he asked. 
 "His name," I said, "is Signor Orazio Orlandi, who has 
 favoured us with his company as an antiquarian." " I am 
 very glad to know so much," he replied. " I knew him long 
 ago, and always esteemed him. Pray tell him, when you next 
 see him, that I have chosen him as the keeper of my 
 museum." My acknowledgments for this appointment, 
 which I took in its proper light as a compliment from this 
 good old man, were, of course, not wanting. As we were 
 thus discoursing a chamberlain entered, and said a few words 
 apart to the Pope. His Holiness asked us to wait for a few 
 minutes till he returned, as his presence was required on 
 some business. He thereupon went out and left us to take 
 a survey of his apartment. All this time we had been stand- 
 ing near the fire, while his Holiness partly stood, and partly 
 sat on the table. I had a great curiosity to know what were 
 his studies when we entered. I therefore took up his book, 
 which he had turned down open, and found it to be a treatise 
 of controversial divinity in Latin. The other books in the 
 room were chiefly of the same nature. Every thing in it was
 
 12 AN OLD MAN'S BLESSING. [CHAP. II. 
 
 very comfortable, though no finery or parade was to be seen. 
 In a few minutes his Holiness returned with a bundle of 
 papers in his hand. " I am sorry," he said, " that some 
 unforeseen business will prevent me from conversing any 
 longer with you at present, but I am not my own master, 
 and the interests of my people must be my first care." On 
 this we were about to withdraw, and were preparing to bend 
 the knee, when he came up to us and said with a smile : 
 " Though you are heretics, Christian charity makes me wish 
 well to you. II mio caro Ruffiano Jenkins can tell you that 
 I know how to esteem good men of every description. I 
 wish you health and happiness, and, as the blessing of an 
 old * man, though you do not think him infallible, cannot 
 hurt you and may have weight with Heaven, take mine " 
 putting his hands on our heads "and may the God of 
 Heaven bless and preserve you." The scene was too affect- 
 ing to admit of a reply. We received his blessing with 
 thankfulness and, with tears in our eyes, retired from his 
 presence. 
 
 Four days later Mr. James Burges and his incongruous 
 companion were on their way to Florence, whence they 
 gradually made their way to England. At Paris they 
 remained a week, passed in " a constant round of diversions," 
 but inexorable necessity soon forced them to tear themselves 
 from a city which, as Mr. Sutherland Edwards has pleasantly 
 remarked, from being the Lutetia of the ancients has become 
 the Lsetitia of the moderns. The gaieties of Bath must have 
 seemed somewhat sombre by the contrast. 
 
 * Very nearly the same words are attributed by Bourrienne to Piiis VII. 
 when visiting the Imperial Printing Office in Paris. One of the workmen 
 refused to take off his cap, an act of rudeness that drew murmurs from his 
 comrades. "Uncover yourself, young man," said the Pope in gentle 
 tones, " that I may give you my blessing. No one was ever the worse 
 for the blessing of an old man."
 
 1776.] ( 43 ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Personal Character and Accomplishments A Ball-room Episode Entered 
 at the Temple The Choice of Hercules Life as a Law Student Mr. 
 John Lamb Lord Camden on Special Pleaders Two Views of the 
 Question Lord Camden' s Discourtesy Two Good Resolutions Ad- 
 mitted into good Society A Travelling Adventure Snowed-up 
 Miss E. Noel Love and Courtship Removal of Difficulties 
 Marriage Happiness Death of Mrs. James Surges His Second 
 Marriage. 
 
 THE variety of scenes through which I had lately passed, 
 the society into which I had been introduced, and the 
 manners and information which I had acquired, made me, on 
 my return, extremely acceptable to all my old friends, and 
 procured me the acquaintance of many to whom, otherwise, I 
 had small pretensions to be known. I soon discovered that, 
 if I had the art to put a value on myself, others would value 
 me in proportion. I had the laudable vanity of desiring to 
 show my acquirements. I resolved to profit by the manner 
 in which I had been received, and to place myself on a 
 footing in life which the education my father had given me, 
 and the polish I had just obtained on the Continent, enabled 
 me to support. I had, indeed, considerable advantages ; such 
 as being an excellent Latin and Greek scholar; talking 
 French and Italian perfectly; dancing, riding, and fencing 
 well ; playing on the harpsichord, guitar, and violoncello. 
 These I considered as my fortune, and with these I determined 
 to work my way. When I thus mention the favourable 
 circumstances which attended me on my setting out in life, I 
 must add that I possessed a temper warm and impetuous to 
 a degree of violence, and that my vanity was more than 
 equal to anything I had to be vain of. These were the
 
 44 A CHARACTER SKETCH. [CHAP. III. 
 
 disadvantageous parts of my character, and these I resolved, 
 if possible, to subdue. Whatever may have been my efforts 
 to effect this, it is most certain that even to this moment 
 (1788) those efforts have not been completely successful.* 
 Though more easily controlled, I still occasionally blush to 
 think that my temper sometimes carries me beyond that 
 calm serenity which true wisdom demands, but I trust that 
 I have obtained a considerable dominion over it, and that 
 my vanity has now subsided to that just estimation of my 
 own faculties which every man, who wishes to maintain 
 himself in a due equipoise with those around him, ought to 
 preserve. I often reflect with pleasure that, when I was 
 young in the world and had nothing to boast of, I was vain 
 and supercilious, and that, in proportion as I have had cause 
 to rise in my own opinion, I have gained a just appreciation 
 of myself, and have become more humble. 
 \ 
 
 \ Vanity was to the last the besetting weakness of Sir J. B. 
 Burges. It led him to fancy himself a poet, whereas he was 
 only a fluent versifier. His verses, it is true, were quite 
 equal to those of his contemporaries during his early man- 
 hood. When two such poetasters as Whitehead and Warton 
 were successively counted worthy of the distinction of 
 being dubbed Poet Laureate, it would be unfair to expect 
 great things from the rank and file. But, vanity apart, he 
 had many admirable qualities, which commanded the esteem 
 of a large circle of friends and acquaintances. He was a 
 high-minded gentleman, in the old-fashioned meaning of that 
 word, and exceptionally independent for the times in which 
 he lived. He might be biassed by friendship, but he was 
 inaccessible through fear or self-interest. Not that he was 
 indifferent to social and political influence, or that he omitted 
 to make an honourable use of the opportunities for personal 
 advancement which occasionally came in his way. Far from 
 it. It will be seen that the example and teaching of his 
 
 * In the MSS. " compleatly successfull," but the modern system of 
 orthography has been adopted throughout.
 
 1778.] 'A BALL-ROOM EPISODE. 45 
 
 grandfather, Lord Somerville, were not lost upon him. The 
 " dour " resolution which carried that nobleman through his 
 unpleasant experiences at Kensington, was exhibited in a 
 softer manner by his grandson when he found himself at 
 Rouen with only a few shillings in his pocket. A certain 
 analogy, too, will be traced between Lord Somerville's 
 adherence to his Dukes, and the determination adopted by 
 young James Burges to avoid much association with the 
 Templars, and to work his way into the best society in 
 London. They were equally successful, as they deserved to 
 be, for neither of them ever stooped to ignoble and ungenerous 
 courses, however anxious to struggle to the front. The 
 younger of the two modestly attributed the prosperity he 
 attained to " a quarter of an hour accidentally employed at a 
 ball at Bath," and may now be allowed to describe the 
 episode which exercised such a salutary influence on his 
 subsequent career : 
 
 One evening I sauntered into the ball-room with all the 
 affectation of nonchalance and indifference which was then 
 the fashionable mode of behaviour. Of all fashions it was 
 certainly the most ridiculous, and though it supplied many a 
 stupid beau with a screen for his want of other qualifications, 
 yet such an apparent state of apathy hung like a heavy 
 weight upon myself, whose natural vivacity and impetuosity 
 of temper made me always take an active interest in 
 whatever was going forward. A behaviour of this kind, 
 however, being the mode, I put it on like a new coat, while 
 in conformity with the reigning humour, and with an air of 
 insensibility which I never felt, I contemplated with languor 
 a variety of couples going down a country-dance. A young 
 lady, with whom I was slightly acquainted, came up and 
 began to rally me on my indolence. As it was also the ton 
 to despise dancing, I gravely replied that I never danced. 
 " I am sorry to hear that," said she ; " there is a charming 
 young woman of our party here to-night, who is just come to 
 Bath, and who can't dance because she knows nobody. I 
 thought you would have been a proper partner for her."
 
 46 LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. [CHAP. III. 
 
 " Ay ! " said I. " Who is this hapless damsel ? " " She is Miss 
 Betty Noel," she answered, " second daughter of Lord 
 Wentworth. However, as you are too fine to dance, I fancy 
 there are many gentlemen here who will be glad of the honour 
 of dancing with her." " Nay," said I, " I have not absolutely 
 foresworn it, and, if you will introduce me, I will ask the 
 favour of her hand." I accordingly advanced with my guide. 
 Miss Noel received me with the utmost good-humour and 
 frankness. We danced for some time, and then sat down on 
 a side bench, where we entered into a long conversation. 
 At length she told me that, as she had attended her father to 
 Bath on account of his health, she considered it her duty to 
 wait on him, particularly before he went to bed. " I hope," 
 said she, "you will think this a sufficient apology for my 
 leaving you, as he keeps early hours and will, I know, expect 
 me home to supper." I handed her to her chair, after she 
 had given me permission to renew an acquaintance thus 
 happily begun, and we parted with mutual sentiments of 
 regard, which afterwards improved into the most sincere 
 affection. During the remainder of her stay at Bath we 
 frequently met, and she introduced me to her brother, the 
 present Lord. Though neither of us, at that time, had 
 perhaps the most distant idea of carrying our intimacy 
 beyond the footing of friendship, it cannot be denied that we 
 parted with mutual regret when she returned with her father 
 to London. I felt as something essentially necessary to my 
 happiness the promise she gave of renewing our acquaintance 
 in Town. During that year, however, we saw little more of 
 each other. In consequence of her father's health growing 
 worse, they were obliged to go into Leicestershire, and his 
 death, which happened in October, 1774, prevented the family 
 from going out and from seeing company. 
 
 The pursuit of love had to give way to that of law. The 
 travelled beau, cured of bashfulness by a comforted widow, 
 petted by a pope, and smiled upon by the daughter of a 
 British peer, was about to begin life in earnest as a law 
 student, frequenting the Court of King's Bench, and residing 
 in chambers in the Temple. He frankly admits that his 
 previous training was at first very much against him. He
 
 1778.] ESCAPE FROM A DILEMMA. 47 
 
 had been brought up as though his future had been easy for 
 him without any exertion on his part. He had received the 
 education and acquired the accomplishments of a man of 
 fortune and fashion. He fancied that it would be a pleasant 
 thing to take his seat in the fulness of time on the woolsack 
 and repeat the experiences of a Murray, a Yorke, and a 
 Camden ; but neither he nor his father had any distinct ideas 
 on the subject of legal studies or a legal career. Disenchant- 
 ment awaited him on the very threshold. If ever he had 
 thought at all upon the ways and means, it had been with 
 the pleasant assurance that he would be abundantly provided 
 with worldly goods and that the path which lay before him 
 would be strewed with roses. All such delightful visions 
 were dispelled by the confidential communication made to 
 him by his father, preparatory to installing him in his 
 chambers on the first floor at 11 Paper Buildings. It was 
 to the effect that his present income would not exceed 200 
 per annum, and that eventually he would inherit no more 
 than 5000. 
 
 However unpleasant the contemplation of such a change 
 might be [he subsequently remarked] it was attended with 
 one good effect. The style in which I had lived made me 
 delicate in my choice of company. I had known what an 
 elegant society was, and I felt a repugnance to enter into one 
 less suited to the ideas I had formed. In my new situation, 
 however, my only alternative was to lead a life of solitude, or 
 to live as others in the same circumstances did. I might 
 adopt one of these two plans belong to some club of young 
 lawyers at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane or the Strand, 
 dine and sup there every day, and become a critic at the 
 play-house or live by myself in my own chambers, dine on 
 a solitary mutton-chop, and occasionally launch out into the 
 style of life for which my late experiences had given me a 
 decided taste. I chose the latter. 
 
 His first year's residence in chambers afforded him little
 
 48 ME. JOHN LAMB. [CHAP. III. 
 
 pleasure. The forenoon was passed in the Court of King's 
 Bench, taking notes. Now and again he dined in Lincoln's 
 Inn Hall, but more frequently in his own room. The evening 
 slipped away while reading and writing. Of his fellow- 
 students, with a few rare exceptions, he saw little and did 
 not desire to see more. Some of his father's friends, however, 
 were kind and thoughtful towards the involuntary recluse, 
 especially Mr. John Lamb, who subsequently gave him a,V 
 most substantial proof of his friendship by bequeathing to him 
 and his children a very considerable fortune. This gentleman, 
 sprung from an obscure family at Ashford, in Kent, had gone 
 into business at an early age. In 1745 he accompanied 
 Major Sawyer to Scotland, where he was appointed Pay- 
 master-General of the Duke of Cumberland's forces. As one 
 of the Deputy Paymasters, Mr. Lamb displayed so much 
 intelligence and honourable feeling that, on the suppression 
 of the Rebellion, Major Sawyer engaged his services as an 
 assistant in the Army Agency which he then established. 
 On the Major's death his brother continued the business with 
 Mr. Lamb as his factotum. As years rolled on the principal 
 became a wealthy man, and in a proper spirit handed over 
 several regiments to his subordinate who, in his turn, also 
 became rich. This did not, however, avert a paralytic stroke, 
 which affected the muscles of his neck and turned his head 
 to one side, but without impairing the clearness of his 
 intellect, the soundness of his judgment, the evenness of his 
 temper, or the urbanity of his manners. As the friend of 
 the father he now showed marked attention to the son, and 
 James Burges was a frequent and might have been a constant 
 guest at his table. 
 
 The Long Vacation was passed at Bath. The young student, 
 who was really anxious to become a sound lawyer, availed 
 himself of this opportunity to impress on his father the
 
 1778.] LORD CAMDEN'S OPINION. 49 
 
 expediency, perhaps the necessity, of placing him . in the 
 office of a special pleader, where he might obtain a clearer 
 understanding of the technical phraseology and forms of 
 expression which had hitherto been a stumbling-block in his 
 path. Possessing no personal experience in such matters, his 
 father wrote to Lord Camden to ask his opinion, and 
 received the following reply : 
 
 Before the present rage for dissipation prevailed, young 
 men intending for the Bar were under the necessity of 
 searching deep for information, and of applying their whole 
 attention to render themselves masters of the knowledge 
 necessary to their profession. It was then rare for 
 attorneys' clerks and special pleaders to become advocates. 
 As dissipation increased, and application grew less, the 
 technical part of the law rose into more consequence, till, at 
 last, it became a sort of middle mart between attorneys and 
 advocates, and many formed in this school rose through the 
 interest of the former into great business as the latter. But 
 of the whole number I do not find there is one capable of 
 shining above his fellows, or of supplying the place of the 
 great men, as they go off. Want of proper education, or 
 dulness of parts, generally occasioned their going to these 
 middle-shops for first principles, and their appearance and 
 success in life were such as might be expected from such a 
 course of studies. Money was preferred to reputation and 
 they got what they wanted. 
 
 Acknowledging that this statement was not altogether 
 fanciful and prejudiced, Sir James Burges afterwards came 
 to look upon it as overcharged. Lord Camfden, he said, had 
 " risen to the highest eminence by the force of ability, and 
 by a coincidence of fortunate circumstances, and the latter 
 were probably more instrumental to his rise than the 
 former," but his own experience convinced him that, 
 
 "however brilliant has been the success of some men who 
 pursued their legal studies without this technical assistance, 
 as many arid perhaps as great men have arisen from the
 
 50 OPINIONS DIFFER. [CHAP. III. 
 
 desk of a special pleader, or a drawer in Chancery. Place 
 on the one hand Lord Camden, Lord Mansfield, Lord 
 Thurlow, Lord Grantley, Lord Loughborough, and Sir 
 William de Grey, who attained their present or their late 
 eminence without such help ; and on the other Lord Kenyon, 
 Mr. Dunning, Sir John Scott (Lord Eldon), Mr. Erskine 
 (afterwards Lord Erskine), Lord Hardwicke, and Lord King. 
 The balance is so even that the nicest legal critic will 
 probably find it difficult to determine on which side the 
 weight of learning, of talents, and of merit preponderates. 
 Both modes are equally eligible according to the genius, the 
 temper, and the situation of the young man who is to choose. 
 If his talents are bright, his elocution good, and his taste 
 correct ; if he discovers a proper and manly spirit, ambitious 
 of distinction and emulous of fame ; if his family connections 
 are good, and his fortune such as to support him decently for 
 a few years without other assistance if these things concur, 
 the mode prescribed by Lord Camden is what he ought to 
 follow. If, on the other hand, any of these requisites are 
 wanting if he is more solid than brilliant, if he discovers 
 small marks of future eloquence, or if his education has not 
 been classical, and, above all, if his fortune is such as to 
 make a more immediate addition to it of importance then 
 the office of a special pleader or of a drawer in Chancery is 
 preferable. There is, indeed, one other reason to make it so 
 and I speak feelingly, because it was my own I mean the 
 impracticability, from the want of any one to advise with, 
 of gaining that technical knowledge which neither ability, 
 emulation, nor industry can acquire alone, at a time when our 
 law is so choked and fenced in with these incumbrances. 
 
 As Lord Camden had expressed a wish to see the son of 
 his old friend, the young man lost no time in turning to 
 account such a gracious invitation. It was something to be 
 acquainted with an ex-Lord Chancellor, especially as he was 
 quite likely to be again intrusted with the Seals. It was 
 therefore with the most pleasurable expectations that he 
 sallied forth one morning and knocked at the great man's 
 door in New Burlington Street. On sending in his name, he 
 was shown into Lord Camden 's study. 
 
 *
 
 1778.] TWO GOOD RESOLUTIONS. 51 
 
 He received me with a very formal countenance, which, of 
 course, I interpreted into the sage gravity of a statesman. I 
 was just beginning a speech about the honour he did me in. 
 permitting me to wait upon him, when a knock at the street 
 door was heard. Instead of attending to what I was saying, 
 he exclaimed, " There's somebody coming ! " I paused, and a 
 silence ensued till a servant opened the door and announced 
 Lord Nugent. His Lordship came in with his usual good- 
 humour and cried out, " My dear Lord, I hope I don't dis- 
 turb you." "Not at all, my dear Lord," Lord Camden 
 replied ; " pray sit down." Then, turning to me, he said : 
 " I can't talk to you now, sir. You may call some other 
 time." On that he rang the bell and bade the footman open 
 the door. I rose and was retiring without taking any notice 
 of my host, when Lord Nugent, seeing I suppose that I was 
 hurt with this behaviour, begged that I would not go, as he 
 had called merely to ask after Lord Camden's health. " No, 
 my Lord," said I, " I have nothing to say to his Lordship, 
 and I wish your Lordship a very good morning." With that 
 I walked out of the house, fully determined never more to 
 accept an invitation from one whose performance so little 
 corresponded with his voluntary professions. 
 
 The lesson, however, was not thrown away. It led to the 
 formation of two good resolutions which were never for- 
 gotten. The one was never to court the favour of a great 
 man, but rather to act in such a manner as to make his own 
 acquaintance desirable to those who might be, socially or 
 politically, his superiors. And the other, was always to bear 
 himself with respect, attention, and sympathy towards his 
 own inferiors. At a later period Lord Camden was abun- 
 dantly polite to Mr. Burges when he found that he stood in 
 no need of patronage. By degrees, as already hinted, the 
 young man found his way into the houses of his father's old 
 friends, who treated him with great kindness and hospitality. , 
 Among these were Lord Abercorn, Lord Gage, Lord Eosebery, ' 
 and Sir Sampson Gideon. At their houses he became 
 acquainted with many distinguished individuals who gladly 
 
 a ** 
 
 Ci u
 
 52 A POSTING EXPERIENCE. [CHAP. III. 
 
 welcomed him into their own social circles, and his time 
 passed pleasantly enough till the Long Vacation in 1775. 
 His mornings were devoted to regular attendance upon the 
 Law Courts, and Ms evenings were employed in reading and 
 writing, except when he was asked out to some pleasant 
 house, where he was sure to meet the kind of company he 
 most affected. At times when he had a spare half-guinea in 
 his pocket he arrayed himself in his best attire, and repaired 
 to the Opera House. The period of dismal thoughts and 
 gloomy seclusion had come to an end. 
 
 At the end of Michaelmas Term, James Burges returned to 
 his parents at Bath and spent his holidays at home. When 
 the time came for resuming his studies, he joined a party 
 made up of his intimate friends Sir William Dolben, his 
 sister, son, and daughter, and Mr. and Miss Digby, afterwards 
 Mrs. Mills. Digby and James Burges set off together in a 
 post-chaise, their companions taking the coach, but a heavy 
 snowstorm disturbed their arrangements and caused con- 
 siderable delay. The post-chaise was the first to arrive at 
 the Castle Inn, Marlborough, and dinner was ordered for the 
 entire party. 
 
 Several hours, however, elapsed, during which the storm 
 continued with increased violence, and night was just coming 
 on when a servant of Sir William arrived and informed us 
 that the coach was imbedded in the snow on the Downs about 
 three miles off, and that after trying in vain for more than an 
 hour to extricate themselves, the horses were knocked up 
 and the carriage and its contents half buried in the snow. 
 On receiving this intelligence we despatched fresh horses, 
 and as many persons as could be found, to the assistance of 
 the unfortunate travellers, who at length made their appear- 
 ance, hall' frozen and half-starved. However, we supped 
 together comfortably, and retired to bed in the hope of 
 continuing our journey the next morning. But the storm 
 raged all night with such violence that the roads were quite
 
 1778.] AN OLD-FASHIONED SNOW-STORM. 53 
 
 impracticable, and we were informed that at the bottom of 
 Marlborough Hill, about a mile from the town, the snow had 
 drifted to a depth of thirty feet. All hope of moving for 
 some days being thus cut off, we resolved to spend our time 
 as pleasantly as possible. Our first inquiry was into the 
 strength of the larder, which proved to be well stocked. We 
 then procured some books, cards, a backgammon-table, a 
 violin, a flute, a violoncello, and some music-books, and 
 our concert was considerably strengthened by a travelling 
 musician, who was snowed-up like ourselves at the inn and 
 was only too glad to meet with a musical party. In this 
 manner, and with the most perfect good-humour and cordiality, 
 we passed five days. One of these happening to be Sunday, 
 we decided to perform Divine Service in our parlour, and 
 gave a general invitation to all the inmates of the house to 
 come and join us. Our congregation numbered between 
 twenty and thirty persons, to whom I read prayers. Such a 
 thing had never before happened in that inn during the 
 many years it had been conducted by Mrs. White, our hostess. 
 At length, by the united efforts of all the labourers that 
 could be procured, a way was cut through the snow, and we 
 prepared to resume our journey. This was necessary, for the 
 two good reasons that we were anxious to reach town as 
 soon as possible, and that our expenses had already exceeded 
 thirty guineas. As Digby and I travelled in a chaise, we led 
 the way with six horses and three postillions, but the road 
 was so bad, and we met with so many impediments, that we 
 were more than two hours in getting to Hungerford, a 
 distance of only ten miles. Further progress was impossible. 
 We were therefore obliged to take up our abode in a very 
 indifferent inn, which was a complete contrast to the palace 
 we had left in Marlborough. Fortunately for us, some old 
 ladies, descendants of the famous Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke, 
 and near relatives of Sir William Dolben, happened to live in 
 the town. From them we received great civilities, and, as 
 they were worthy, sensible women, we passed our imprison- 
 ment more pleasantly than we had expected. At last the 
 storm subsided. After a tedious day's journey we arrived at 
 Salthill, about forty-five miles distant, and on the next day 
 reached London, ten days after our departure from Bath. 
 
 The year 1776 was destined to exercise a very important
 
 54 THE FIRST MRS. BUROES. [CHAP. III. 
 
 influence on the life and fortunes of James Burges. His 
 father's introductions, and his own excellent qualities and 
 polished manners, had obtained for him admittance into the 
 highest circles of society. The Duchess of Northumberland 
 was particularly kind and attentive, though her Grace's 
 hospitality was perhaps less valued than that of the Noel 
 family, with whom, it may be remembered, he had become 
 acquainted at Bath on his return from his Continental tour. 
 Lord Wentworth had taken a house in Bentinck Street, 
 Cavendish Square, where he lived with his aunt and his 
 three sisters, and where the young aspirant to the Woolsack 
 renewed his intimacy with the Honourable Elizabeth Noel. 
 Their friendship soon ripened into a warmer sentiment, and 
 before they were themselves aware of it, they had drifted 
 into the troubled waters of a love which scarce dared to hope 
 for a fortunate issue. The lady appears to have been all 
 that any man could desire for a wife. She had not quite 
 completed her twenty-first year. Her understanding was 
 clear and, for her age, remarkably mature. Her temper was 
 sweet and unruffled, her affections true and steadfast, and 
 her good sense was equalled only by her good nature. Her 
 father had bestowed upon her an almost virile education, 
 with which she united many accomplishments. Her musical 
 talents were of the highest order, and few, if any, surpassed 
 her as a player on the harpsichord. But these manifold 
 advantages were unaccompanied by wealth corresponding to 
 her rank. Her private fortune did not exceed 5000, while 
 James Burges had nothing whatever beyond the small 
 allowance made to him by his father. In these delicate 
 circumstances the young man behaved in a most straight- 
 forward and honourable manner. Having accidentally dis- 
 covered that his feelings were fully reciprocated by Miss 
 Noel, he resolved at once to ascertain to what extent he
 
 1776.] MATRIMONIAL NEGOTIATIONS. 55 
 
 might look for assistance from his father. It seems to be a 
 common law of nature that men should hesitate to acknow- 
 ledge a love affair to their parents, even when it is an open 
 secret, known to their friends and suspected by their ac- 
 quaintances. James Burges was no exception to the rule. 
 Although his parents had always exhibited the utmost 
 considerateness and indulgence towards him, he shrank from 
 a personal interview, and accordingly secured the services of 
 a somewhat singular dtiysman. His agent was no other than 
 his father's friend Colonel Braithwaite, who was subsequently 
 surprised, defeated, and cruelly imprisoned by Tippoo Sahib. 
 In the capacity of love's messenger the gay and gallant 
 officer acquitted himself so far successfully that he easily 
 persuaded both the father and the mother to approve their 
 son's choice, and even to consent to an early marriage, but 
 he signally failed to obtain any definite promise of pecuniary 
 aid. Fortified, however, by his father's sanction, James 
 Burges called upon Lord Wentworth and laid before him the 
 whole case plainly and honestly. The revelation was not an 
 agreeable one. To the suitor personally there could be no 
 possible objection, but his means did not justify his union 
 with any young lady of noble birth and high social position. 
 Besides, there were already two Eichmonds in the field, both 
 of them Leicestershire neighbours possessed of considerable 
 landed property, the one M.P. for Coventry, the other for 
 the county of Leicester. In the end Lord Wentworth 
 promised not to oppose his sister's wishes, provided he were 
 satisfied that the husband of her choice could assure her a 
 comfortable home. Thereupon the hot-headed lover rushed 
 off to a coffee-house in Bond Street and ordered a chaise-and- 
 four to carry him with all speed to Sulham, where his father 
 was then staying. The utmost, however, that Mr. Burges 
 could or would engage to do, was to increase his son's
 
 56 LOVE THE CONQUEROR. [CHAP. Ill 
 
 allowance to 300 a year ; but after some further persuasion 
 the kind, good man promised to give an additional 40 a 
 year, which, with Miss Noel's fortune, would make up their 
 annual income to 700, and in the event of his son's death 
 to allow his widow 240 a year for life. Much good advice 
 was of course thrown into the bargain, and it is only fair to 
 the young people to say that they acted as if in deference 
 to it. Some further difficulties arose on the part of the 
 lady's brother and aunt, but it was finally arranged that 
 James Burges should be recognised as her affianced suitor, 
 and that the marriage should take place in about two years. 
 
 The Noel family shortly afterwards went into the country, 
 partly in the vain hope that absence might work in their 
 favour, while James Burges diligently applied himself to his 
 legal studies under the direction of Mr. Farrer, an eminent 
 Chancery solicitor, who took infinite pains to impart a 
 thorough knowledge of what was then considered the modern 
 practice of the different courts. At Christmas he was 
 invited to join the Noel party at Kirkby Mallory, and was 
 present at the marriage of the eldest Miss Noel to the eldest 
 son of Sir Ealph Milbanke, and heir to 15,000 per annum. 
 The issue of this union was Lady Byron. In the following- 
 month of April, 1777, James Burges was called to the Bar, 
 and removed from the Temple to a house he had taken in 
 Southampton Row, Bloomsbury. A long engagement being 
 neither agreeable nor profitable to any of the parties concerned, 
 Lord Wentworth was easily induced to hasten the happy 
 day. The marriage ceremony was accordingly performed 
 at Marylebone Church by the bride's uncle on the 19th of 
 June, 1777 the twenty -fifth birthday of the bridegroom 
 the bride being given away by her brother Lord Wentworth, 
 in presence of the entire Noel family. A few months later 
 Lord Chancellor Bathurst bestowed on the newly-called
 
 1780.] WAVE FOLLOWS WAVE. 57 
 
 barrister a Commissionership in Bankruptcy, a welcome 
 addition being thus made to his slender means. His married 
 life was extremely happy, but it terminated suddenly within 
 the brief space of two years, his wife dying in childbirth, 
 and leaving no issue. After a decent interval the afflicted 
 widower sought consolation in a "second marriage. Some 
 time in the year 1780 he took to wife Anne, third daughter \f 
 of Colonel Montolieu, Baron de Saint Hypolite, by whom he 
 had ten children. This lady was evidently a woman of 
 excellent parts, sound judgment, and considerable force of 
 character.
 
 ( 58 ) [CHAP. IV. 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Militia Quartered on Lincoln's Inn Mr. Gibbon Passage of Words be- 
 tween Mr. Gibbon and Mr. Pitt Marquis of Carmarthen Opposition 
 Leaders at Mr. Burges's House Dismissal of Lord North and Mr. 
 Fox A Curious Scene Mr. Pitt Prime Minister His Colleagues 
 Lord Howe Lord Sydney " Lord Tommy " How Mr. Pitt's Sink- 
 ing Fund originated Legacy Duties suggested by Mr. Lamb The 
 Mutiny Bill not a Money Bill Discomfiture of Mr. Fox and Triumph 
 of the Ministry Short-lived Gratitude Returned to Parliament for 
 Helston. 
 
 IN the year 1818 Sir James Surges for he had then obtained 
 his baronetcy committed to paper some very interesting 
 recollections of the men and events which came within his 
 own personal knowledge on his entrance into public life. 
 As they certainly throw a new and surprising light upon 
 many important points that have hitherto been obscure, or 
 wrongly apprehended, they are here reproduced in his own 
 words, subject to a certain amount of abridgment and con- 
 densation. 
 
 acquaintance with Mr. Pitt began in the month of 
 June, 1780, in the midst of the disturbances caused by Lord 
 George Gordon. At that time we both resided in chambers 
 in Lincoln's Inn, which was converted into a military depot 
 by the introduction of the Northumberland Militia, number- 
 ing 800 men, who remained with us for ten days, under the 
 command of Lord Algernon Percy and Colonel Holroyd. 
 Such novel guests occasioned no small bustle among the 
 long-robed inhabitants of the place, and it was found expe- 
 dient, in order to avoid the confusion likely to arise from a 
 diversity of opinions, to invest the Attorney-General with a
 
 1780.] HOSPITABLE TEMPLARS. 59 
 
 kind of dictatorial authority, which, to do him justice, he 
 exercised with great judgment. Among other good regula- 
 tions, he proposed two which were immediately accepted, 
 namely, to maintain and lodge both officers and men so long- 
 as they should remain with us, at our own cost and charge ; 
 and that six persons should be selected from among us, who 
 should form a committee to advise and co-operate with our 
 military commanders. Somebody present suggested that it 
 would be advisable to give the preference to those who were 
 acquainted with the officers, and thus it happened that the 
 choice fell upon Eichard Pepper Arden, Attorney-General, 
 afterwards Lord Alvanley, Mr. Mitford, now Lord Redesdale, 
 Mr. Graham, now a Baron of the Exchequer, Mr. Pitt, myself, 
 and another, whose name I do not recollect. This circum- 
 stance naturally brought us into closer contact than might 
 otherwise have been the case, and to it I am certainly in- 
 debted for my first acquaintance and subsequent intimacy 
 with Mr. Pitt, who, though only twenty-one years of age, 
 had already given large promise of the transcendent genius 
 which was so soon to be manifested to the nation and to the 
 whole world. 
 
 One of the first resolutions passed by our committee of six 
 was that each of us should, in rotation, entertain at dinner 
 our two military commanders and the field officers of the 
 regiment. When my turn arrived I invited the four military 
 gentlemen, our committee, and six other persons the best 
 qualified 1 could meet with, among whom were my father, 
 Lord Carmarthen, and Mr. Gibbon,* the historian, who was 
 
 * Lord Sheffield eulogises Mr. Gibbon's conversational powers as some- 
 thing quite exceptional. " Those," he remarks, " who have enjoyed the 
 society of Mr. Gibbon will agree with me that his conversation was still 
 more captivating than his writings. Perhaps no man ever divided time 
 more fairly between literary labour and social enjoyment ; and hence pro- 
 bably he derived his peculiar excellence of making his very extensive 
 knowledge contribute, in the highest degree, to the use or pleasure of 
 those with whom he conversed. He united, in the happiest manner 
 imaginable, two characters which are not often found in the same person 
 the profound scholar and the peculiarly agreeable companion." ' Sequel 
 to the Life of Gibbon in " Autobiography," ' vol. xv. In a letter to Mrs. 
 Gibbon, dated from London, June 8, 1780, Gibbon says of his friend and 
 biographer, " Colonel Holroyd was all last night in Holborn among the 
 flames, with the Northumberland Militia, and performed very bold and 
 able service."
 
 60 GIBBON THE HISTORIAN. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 then at the zenith of his fame, and who certainly was not at 
 all backward in availing himself of the deference universally 
 shown to him, by taking both the lead, and a very ample 
 share of the conversation, in whatever company he might , 
 honour with his presence. His conversation was not, indeed,\ 
 what Dr. Johnson would have called talk. There was no 
 interchange of ideas, for no one had a chance of replying, so 
 fugitive, so variable, was his mode of discoursing, which 
 consisted of points, anecdotes, and epigrammatic thrusts, all 
 more or less to the purpose, and all pleasantly said with a 
 French air and manner which gave them great piquancy, 
 but which were w r ithal so desultory and unconnected that, 
 though each separately was extremely amusing, the attention 
 of his auditors sometimes flagged before his own resources 
 were exhausted. At my repast, however, there appeared to 
 be no reason to apprehend such an untoward issue, for one 
 of the principal guests was his fidus Achates, Colonel Holroyd, 
 now Lord Sheffield, his admiring friend and future bio- 
 grapher ; and the rest of us were young untried men, except 
 my father, who, having never previously been in the company 
 of this celebrated person, was more inclined to listen than 
 to talk. 
 
 "-\In these favourable circumstances, Mr. Gibbon, nothing 
 loath, took the conversation into his own hands, and very 
 brilliant and pleasant he was during the dinner and for 
 some time afterwards. He had just concluded, however, one 
 of his best foreign anecdotes, in w r hich he had introduced 
 some of the fashionable levities of political doctrine then 
 prevalent, and, with his customary tap on the lid of his snuff- 
 box, was looking round to receive our tribute of applause, 
 when a deep-toned but clear voice was heard from the bottom 
 of the table, very calmly and civilly impugning the cor- 
 rectness of the narrative, and the propriety of the doctrines 
 of which it had been made the vehicle. The historian, 
 turning a disdainful glance towards the quarter whence the 
 voice proceeded, saw, for the first time, a tall, thin, and 
 rather ungainly-looking young man,* who now sat quietly 
 
 * Sir Nathaniel Wraxall says of Pitt : " In the formation of his person 
 he was tall and slender, but without elegance and grace. ... In his 
 manners, Pitt, if not repulsive, was cold, stiff, and without suavity or 
 amenity. He seemed never to invite approach, or to encourage acquaint- 
 ance ; though when addressed he could be polite, communicative, and
 
 1780.] WILLIAM PITT. 61 
 
 and silently eating some fruit. There was nothing very 
 prepossessing or very formidable in his exterior, but, as the 
 few words he had uttered appeared to have made a consider- 
 able impression on the company, Mr. Gibbon, I suppose, 
 thought himself bound to maintain his honour by suppressing 
 such an attempt to dispute his supremacy. He accordingly 
 undertook the defence of the propositions in question, and a 
 very animated debate took place between him and his youth- 
 ful antagonist, Mr. Pitt, and for some time was conducted 
 with great talent and brilliancy on both sides. At length 
 the genius of the young man prevailed over that of his senior, 
 who, finding himself driven into a corner from which there 
 was no escape, made some excuse for rising from the table 
 and walked out of the room. I followed him and, finding 
 that he was looking for his hat, I tried to persuade him to 
 return to his seat. " By no means," said he. " That young 
 gentleman is, I have no doubt, extremely ingenious and 
 agreeable, but I must acknowledge that his style of conver- 
 sation is not exactly what I am accustomed to, so you must 
 positively excuse me." And away he went in high dudgeon, 
 notwithstanding that his friend had come to my assistance. 
 When we returned into the dining-room we found Mr. Pitt 
 proceeding very tranquilly with the illustration of the subject 
 from which his opponent had fled, and which he discussed 
 with such ability, strength of argument, and eloquence, that 
 his hearers were filled with profound admiration. 
 
 The termination of the disturbances in the metropolis 
 broke up our committee, and various circumstances combined 
 to interrupt the friendly intercourse between Mr. Pitt and 
 myself until the introduction of Mr. Fox's India Bill in 
 1783. The renewal of our connection, and the consequences 
 that flowed from it, shall presently be set forth in some 
 detail, but first of all I have something to say about the / 
 Marquis of Carmarthen.* At the period to which I have 
 
 occasionally gracious. When animated," he continues, " Pitt's eye lighted 
 up and became strongly intelligent. He walked up the House with a 
 quick and firm step, his head erect and thrown back, looking neither to 
 the right nor to the left ; nor favouring with a nod or a glance any of the 
 individuals seated on either side, among whom many who possessed 5000 
 a year would have been gratified even by so slight a mark of attention.'' 
 ' Posthumous Memoirs,' vol. lii. pp. 469-70. 
 
 * Described by Horace Walpole as " a light, variable young man, of
 
 62 THE MARQUIS OF CARMARTHEN. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 just referred he was about thirty years of age. He appeared) 
 then to have united in himself a combination of endowments, 
 such as have rarely fallen to the lot of the most favoured 
 individual. Descended from noble ancestry, heir to the 
 Dukedom of Leeds, in possession of an ample independent 
 fortune, and looking forward to the not distant accession to 
 one still more considerable, he had in these respects no 
 reason to envy any man. And not inferior were the advan- 
 tages which Nature had liberally bestowed upon him. His 
 ^"-talents were brilliant and acute, his memory uncommonly 
 retentive, his power of conception so prompt that he was able 
 at a glance to comprehend whatever was submitted to him, 
 and to decide upon the line of action to be taken ; while his 
 ready wit and his wonderful faculty of expression, whether 
 by speech or by writing, in prose or in verse, charmed and 
 dazzled all with whom he associated. These rare qualities 
 had received the cultivation derivable from an education at 
 Westminster School and at Oxford, followed by several years' 
 residence at foreign Courts. In addition to all this, few men 
 equalled him in personal beauty of face and figure. His 
 countenance was most prepossessing, and seemed to. indicate 
 at once the quickness of his intellect and the suavity of his 
 disposition. He had the gallant spirit of a noble gentleman 
 with the manners and address of an accomplished courtier. 
 His outset in Parliament had afforded strong hopes of his 
 future eminence, and the favour of his Sovereign had already 
 singled him out for distinction by unmistakable proofs of his 
 regard both on public and private grounds. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that there were no 
 
 shades to temper, or obscure, this flood of brilliancy. There 
 
 were, indeed, many weaknesses, many blemishes, and much 
 
 "-\ misconduct, which, perhaps, more than counterbalanced all 
 
 very moderate parts, and less principle." ..." After Wilberforce had one 
 day, in 1785, dined with Pitt, we find him in his Diary contrast 'pompous 
 Thurlow and elegant Carmarthen.' And at the same period the new 
 American Minister, John Adams, writes: 'The Marquis of Carmarthen 
 is a modest, amiable man ; treats all men with civility, and is much 
 esteemed by the Foreign Ministers, as well as the nation, but is not an 
 enterprising Minister.' " Lord Stanhope's ' Life of Pitt,' vol. i. p. 311. 
 The Mafquis of Carmarthen was raised to the Peerage during his father's 
 life. He married a Miss Anguish, whose beauty, accomplishments, and 
 sweetness of disposition have been highly commended.
 
 1783.] A BEILLIANT DAWN. 63 
 
 liis natural and acquired advantages, and which, as he 
 advanced in life, sensibly lowered him in public estimation, 
 and afforded a melancholy illustration of the insufficiency 
 of rank, fortune, talents, and accomplishments to ensure 
 happiness or good repute, while unsupported by discretion 
 and uncontrolled by principle. At the time, however, when 
 our acquaintance commenced few circumstances had occurred 
 to dim the lustre of his character. No young man at that 
 day was so generally admired, nor was there any one of 
 whose future success a higher expectation had been formed. 
 At the early age of twenty-five he was made, in 1776, a Lord 
 of the Bed-chamber to His Majesty, and in the following year 
 Lord Chamberlain to the Queen. During the Rockingham 
 Administration in 1782 he was nominated Ambassador to 
 the Court of France, but did not take up the appointment, 
 in consequence of the death of Lord Rockingham, and the 
 consequent change of Ministry. 
 
 During the space of four or five years antecedent to the 
 period to which I am about to return, a very intimate and 
 unreserved friendship had subsisted between Lord Carmarthen 
 and myself. Though I was the younger of the two, he 
 usually deferred to my opinion, and in general, unless some 
 irresistible temptation crossed his path, he was swayed by 
 my advice. He certainly had a very sincere regard for me, 
 which he manifested on all occasions, particularly during 
 Lord Rockingham's brief Administration in 1782, by pro- 
 curing for me without any previous knowledge on my part 
 or intimation on his the appointment of Minister to the 
 Court of Warsaw. When he informed me of this, he said, in 
 his light, airy way, " As they have made me an Ambassador,\ 
 I thought I could not do better than have you made a 
 Minister. It's a pretty thing enough to begin with a 
 thousand a year and a service of plate ; and it will suit you 
 a great deal better than looking wise in Westminster Hall. 
 And so, Mr. Plenipotentiary, I wish you joy!" As I con- 
 sidered the matter from a different point of view, I declined 
 the honour thus thrust upon me, and the dissolution of the 
 Ministry, which almost immediately followed, proved that I 
 was right in my determination. 
 
 From this period Lord Carmarthen cultivated the acquaint- 
 ance with Mr. Pitt, which began at my dinner. When the 
 attempt made by Mr. Fox to force his India Bill through 
 Parliament in 1783 had brought about a general rallying of
 
 64 FALL OF THE COALITION MINISTRY. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 the King's friends, he was regarded in the light of a very 
 useful associate by Mr. Pitt and Lord Thurlow, the leaders 
 of what was then a very weak and inconsiderable party. 
 The nature of the business not admitting of delay, and the 
 success of their plans depending upon the maintenance of 
 inviolable secrecy, few persons were admitted to their 
 meetings, which frequently took place at a house I therA* 
 occupied in Bedford Square. I was, of course, present OIF 
 such occasions, when everybody assumed the privilege 
 of giving his opinion without other distinction than such 
 as must always arise from superiority of talent or intel- 
 ligence. Had Mr. Fox carried his India Bill through both 
 Houses of Parliament, the Coalition Ministry might have 
 enjoyed almost dictatorial power for an indefinite period. 
 The House of Lords, however, approved themselves the true 
 and faithful supporters of the Crown and Constitution. They 
 rejected the Bill and emancipated the Sovereign from bondage 
 to a desperate and unscrupulous faction. The King also 
 showed himself equal to the crisis. He lost no time in 
 following up the advantage gained by the decision of the 
 Lords, but instantly dismissed from his service Lord North 
 and Mr. Fox, and the incidents of this process were related 
 to me by Sir Evan Nepean, who was then Under Secretary 
 of State. 
 
 After the decision touching the India Bill had taken place 
 in the Upper House, Nepean was sent for, about eleven 
 o'clock at night, to attend His Majesty at Buckingham House. 
 The King was alone, and without any previous conversation 
 or remark, at once directed Nepean to demand from the two 
 Secretaries of State the Seals of their several departments. , 
 and bring them to him without delay. Nepean instantly\ 
 repaired to Lord North's house, where he found him,* 
 Mr. Fox, and a large party sitting after supper and dis- 
 
 * History is written with many variations. Mr. Massey asserts that it 
 was one o'clock in the morning when Sir Evan Nepean knocked at the 
 door of Lord North's bed-chamber, and stated that he had come on most 
 important business. " Then," said the Minister, " you must see Lady 
 North too," and declared that he would not get out of bed. Sir Evan 
 Nepean having explained the nature of his mission, Lord North gave him 
 the key of the closet in which the seals of office were kept, and turned 
 round to finish his sleep. Massey's ' Reign of George III.,' vol. iii. p. 209 
 (note). Sir Evan Nepean's own version is in every way preferable to this 
 inherently improbable narrative.
 
 1783.] RESIGNING THE SEALS. 65 
 
 cussing the measures which might be most advisable to 
 take after what had so unexpectedly happened, but by no 
 means despondent, or at all suspecting the misfortune that 
 was impending over their heads. With his usual cordiality 
 and good-humour Lord North asked Nepean what had 
 brought him there at so late an hour, and requested him to 
 sit down. This, however, he declined to do, and for some 
 minutes stood, amid a general silence, in a state of the most 
 painful embarrassment, at a loss how to discharge the un- 
 pleasant commission intrusted to him. At length, finding 
 no suitable preface for what he had to announce, he said he 
 was sorry to be under the necessity of informing his Lord- 
 ship that he had the King's commands to require from him 
 and Mr. Fox the Seals of their departments. One may con- 
 ceive, though Nepean declared himself incompetent to de- 
 scribe, the diversity of sensation which was manifested by 
 the company, who quickly passed from incredulity to doubt, 
 from doubt to belief, of the authenticity of the message so 
 abruptly delivered to them. Mr. Fox, in particular, refused 
 to credit it, for, he said, it was impossible to believe that 
 the King in his actual circumstances would hazard such a 
 step. This, for a moment, seemed to revive the hopes of the 
 party, when Nepean, who had now regained his composure, 
 effectually crushed them by repeating the King's commands 
 to receive the Seals and deliver them to His Majesty imme- 
 diately. On this Lord North, whose admirable temper always 
 served him in good stead at critical moments, turned to 
 Nepean and good-humouredly replied : " If such be the case, 
 Nepean, you will have very little trouble with me. My 
 Seals are in your own custody * you have only to take 
 them to the King." As the Seals of Mr. Fox's department 
 were in the possession of Mr. Fraser, that gentleman soon 
 produced them, and Nepean, returning to Buckingham House, 
 delivered the Seals to His Majesty, who took them without 
 making any comment or observation on what had passed. 
 
 On Lord Temple resigning the delicate task of forming. 
 a new Ministry, the King sent for Mr. William Pitt and 
 
 * According to Wraxall, some little delay took place because Lord 
 North's Seals were in the custody of his son, Colonel North, one of his 
 Under Secretaries, who could not be found for some time. However, the 
 King waited until they were brought to him at one in the morning, when 
 he returned to the Queen's House. 
 
 F
 
 66 PITT'S COLLEAGUES. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 placed in his strong, if untried, hands the helm of govern- 
 ment.* The Administration thus hastily patched together 
 Nwas quite inadequate to the work that had to be done. It 
 consisted, in addition to Mr. Pitt himself, of Lord Thurlow, 
 Lord Carmarthen, Lord Sydney, the Duke of Kutland, Lord 
 Camden (who soon made way for Lord Gower), Lord Howe, 
 and the Duke of Eichmond. With the Duke of Eutland 
 and Lord Howe I never had any personal intercourse, but 
 nothing was known of the abilities of the former, and his 
 premature death left it in doubt whether or not he possessed 
 any. A brave and experienced seaman,f Lord Howe can 
 only be considered as a second-rate statesman, and as First 
 Lord of the Admiralty he made such a poor figure that he 
 was obliged to retire with so much unpopularity that the 
 Navy especially hailed with delight the accession of Lord 
 Chatham, though nothing more was known about him than 
 that he was Mr. Pitt's brother. Of Lord Carmarthen I have 
 already written at sufficient length, and to Mr. Pitt and 
 Lord Thurlow I shall have frequent occasion to refer here- 
 after. The characters of the remaining three may be briefly 
 told. Lord Sydney was a good-natured, heavy man, whom 
 family connections, perseverance, and strength of lungs had 
 brought into a sort of notoriety, quite disproportioned to his 
 talents and acquirements, either literary or political. He 
 had a sort of technical knowledge which in some measure 
 qualified him to discharge the functions of Home Secretary 
 of State, which, for the most part, demand a smaller share 
 of splendid abilities than is necessary in the other principal 
 
 * Thus noticed in ' The Eolliad ' : 
 
 " A sight to make surrounding nations stare, 
 A kingdom trusted to a schoolboy's care." 
 
 " The Gibbon," as Lord Sheffield loved to call him, was magnanimous. 
 Very possibly he had forgotten his passage of words with Pitt in Lincoln's 
 Inu. In any case, he wrote to Lord Eliot from Lausanne, October 27, 178-4 : 
 "A youth of twenty-five, who raises himself to the government of an 
 empire by the power of genius and the reputation of virtue, is not less 
 glorious to the country than to himself." Stanhope's ' Life of Pitt,' vol. i. 
 p. 237. 
 
 f George III. had a very strong personal regard for Lord Howe, and 
 used to call him " My Admiral." He deeply regretted the death of the 
 Admiral, and of his widow, Lady Howe. See the King's letters in Jesse's 
 ' History of George III.,' vol. iii.
 
 1733.] "LOUD TOMMY." C7 
 
 departments of the Executive Government. He had, more- 
 over, a kind of absurd pomposity perfectly natural, and 
 well assorting with his large, clumsy figure and broad, un- 
 meaning face, in which not a ray of intelligence was dis- 
 cernible that sometimes was irresistibly comical. While he 
 figured as an orator in the House of Commons, he was gene- 
 rally distinguished by the familiar designation of Tommy 
 Townshend,* nor was it quite dropped after he was advanced 
 to the dignity of the peerage, being occasionally tacked to 
 his title in the caricatures and newspaper paragraphs of the 
 period. One day, when he did me the honour to take me in 
 his carriage to the House of Lords, he suddenly remarked, 
 ^" I can't imagine why they call me Lord Tommy. Can you 
 tell me ? " I answered as gravely as possible that I could 
 not. " It's very strange," said he. " Lord Tommy ! I should 
 like to know why they call me that. But I'll ask Lord 
 Carmarthen. He'll be most likely to know don't you 
 think so?" I told him I thought he could not do better, 
 and I could say so honestly, for it happened that it was to 
 Lord Carmarthen that he was indebted for the title that 
 puzzled him. In other respects he was a good, worthy man, 
 faithful in all things to Mr. Pitt, to whom he was nearly 
 allied by the marriage of his daughter to Lord Chatham, and 
 very obliging and accommodating in the discharge of his 
 official duties. f 
 
 Of Lord Gower and the Duke of Richmond no more need 
 be said than that in the capacity of consultative members of 
 
 * Described by Wraxall as " a man of independent fortune and of con- 
 siderable parliamentary interest, present as well as prospective; two cir- 
 cumstances which greatly contributed to his personal as well as political 
 elevation; for his abilities, though respectable, scarcely rose above 
 mediocrity. Yet, as he always spoke with facility, sometimes with 
 energy, and was never embarrassed by any degree of timidity, he main- 
 tained a place in the front ranks of Opposition." ' Historical Memoirs,' 
 vol. ii. p. 47. His name is mentioned in Goldsmith's ' Ketaliation.' 
 
 f Nature had endowed him with a remarkably long chin, which he had 
 a trick -of protruding as though he would elongate it still further. This 
 peculiarity is thus noticed in ' The Rolliad ' : 
 
 " Oh ! had by Nature but proportion'd been 
 His strength of genius to his length of chin, 
 His mighty mind in some prodigious plan, 
 At once with ease had reach'd to Hmd.ostan." 
 
 F 2
 
 68 PITT'S SINKING FUND. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 the Cabinet, and as strenuous supporters of Mr. Pitt, they 
 acquitted themselves equally to his satisfaction and their 
 own. There were three gentlemen, however, who, though 
 not included in the Cabinet, had really more to do with the 
 conduct of public affairs than some of the more ostensible 
 members of the Government. I allude to Mr. Henry 
 Dundas,* Mr. Charles Jenkinson, and Mr. William Wynd- 
 ham Grenville, of whom I shall have occasion to speak 
 .hereafter, having had many opportunities of becoming well 
 .acquainted with their characters. 
 
 Two circumstances connected with the very commencement 
 of Mr. Pitt's Administration have never yet been clearly ex- 
 plained to the public. The second was known at the time to 
 several persons, who kept what they knew to themselves ; but 
 the first was confined to three individuals only Mr. Pitt, Mr. 
 John Lamb, and myself. It was no less a matter than the 
 establishment of the Sinking Fund, which proved the basis 
 of Mr. Pitt's exalted reputation as a financier. Although 
 few measures have been the object of so much public dis- 
 cussion, there is scarcely one respecting the origin of which 
 so many falsehoods have been told. Dr. Price and various 
 other economists have individually assumed to themselves 
 the merit of the invention, and found less difficulty in ob- 
 taining credit for it in their respective circles from the 
 contemptuous neglect with which such reports were treated 
 by Mr. Pitt. When the project had got wind many ingenious 
 persons tendered calculations, some of which he deemed 
 deserving of attention, and for which therefore he returned 
 thanks; and it is certain that Mr. Atwood, the celebrated 
 mathematician, was actually employed by him to reduce the^ . 
 plan to system and order. But the measure really originated^ 
 with an obscure individual, neither then nor at any subse- 
 quent period known to Mr. Pitt even by name. He was, 
 indeed, no other than my kind and estimable friend, Mr. 
 John Lamb, a man of very superior understanding, which he 
 had constantly exercised on figures, calculations, and all 
 matters connected with finance. Entertaining the highest 
 opinion of his knowledge and sagacity, I had long been in 
 
 * Mr. Dundas, afterwards Lord Melville ; Mr. Charles Jenkinson, much 
 ridiculed in ' The Kolliad,' afterwards Lord Hawkesbury, finally develop- 
 ing into the Earl of Liverpool ; the Hon. W. W. Grenville, afterwards 
 Lord Grenville.
 
 1783.] A REVELATION. 69 
 
 the habit of consulting him whenever difficulties arose with 
 which my youth and inexperience were hardly competent to 
 grapple. 
 
 A few days after the dismissal of the Coalition Administra- 
 tion Mr. Lamb asked me to accompany him into the country, 
 as he had a matter of importance to communicate to me, and 
 wished to avoid all chance of interruption. When we were 
 safely closeted together he addressed me, after a few prelimi- 
 nary observations, in nearly the following terms : " Admit-? 
 ting that Mr. Pitt " (whom he commonly designated as ''that 
 wonderful youth ") " will finally succeed in this contest, it 
 will be utterly impossible for him, opposed as he is by almost 
 all the talent and Parliamentary strength of the country, to 
 maintain himself in office for any length of time unless he 
 can, as it were, identify himself with the nation by the 
 adoption of some measure equally novel and important, the 
 tendency and effect of which would be generally manifest. 
 The enormous expenditure occasioned by the late war has 
 brought us into a state of the greatest embarrassment and 
 peril, insomuch that, unless some very decided remedy be at 
 once applied, nothing short of a national bankruptcy can be 
 looked for. If you ask me how this may be avoided, I 
 answer: By the adoption of a plain and simple plan, 
 grounded on principles which cannot be disputed, and of 
 which the operation must prove infallible, provided it be 
 adhered to and carried out with resolution. Sir Eobert 
 Walpole and others have made a wonderful parade of their 
 Sinking Fund. I am old enough to remember the nonsense 
 that was talked about it, and have witnessed its absolute 
 non-effectiveness. It is lamentable to observe how men, in 
 other respects of good capacity, deceived themselves into a 
 belief that by a system inapplicable even to the common 
 exigencies of domestic economy, they would be able to liqui- 
 date the embarrassments of a great nation. They appear to 
 have been ignorant of what every schoolboy ought to know 
 that if you pay ten pounds with one hand and borrow ten 
 pounds with the other, the balance of your account remains 
 the same. But they have gone on paying ten pounds and 
 borrowing a thousand, with the result we now behold. I 
 do not despair, however, of the future if only Mr. Pitt can be 
 persuaded to set about the work in the right way. Hitherto 
 bur wise men have confined themselves to a calculation of 
 feimple Interest, which amounts to worse than nothing. Let
 
 70 ORIGIN OF THE LEGACY DUTY. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 Mr. Pitt try ,the effect of Compound Interest, and he will soon 
 find out the difference. A fixed Sinking Fund of one million 
 a year, inalienable and constant in its operation, will pay off 
 the whole National Debt in his own lifetime. Take a pen, 
 and let us see how the idea will look upon paper." 
 
 I did as I was bidden and, as we had nothing to interrupt 
 us, we not only satisfied ourselves of the justness of the 
 calculation, but devised a method of providing the annual 
 million by the imposition of a tax on personal property 
 'transferable on the decease of the owner, or, in other words, 
 what is now known by the nam6 of the Legacy Duty.* 
 Furnished with these materials, I reduced the whole in the 
 course of the evening into the form of a memoir. Just as we 
 -were parting, Mr. Lamb said to me, " Mr. Pitt knows nothing 
 about me, and I have no ambition that he shall ; but you are 
 a young man, and may look forward to much good from 
 improving your connection with him. He has no occasion 
 to know how the idea was started, and you have no business 
 to tell him. So keep the secret, and lose no time in giving 
 him the paper. And, to make it more palatable, you may 
 tell him at the same time that, whenever he has a point to 
 carry at the India House, you have eight votes at his service." 
 
 I lost no time in communicating this paper to Mr. Pitt, 
 who was too much delighted with its contents to ask any 
 questions respecting the mode of its fabrication, so that I 
 had no trouble in keeping the secret imposed upon me. 
 Mr. Pitt's keen intelligence instantly perceived the impor- 
 tance of the suggestion, and the immense advantages which 
 nkight be derived from it. He set no bounds to his acknow- 
 ledgment of the obligation under which he felt himself for 
 so valuable a present, but his mind was too much absorbed 
 in the work he had in hand to keep in recollection the indi- 
 viduals who rendered him services that needed not the publi- 
 cation of their names.f 
 
 * On October 13, 1785, Mr. Pitt wrote to Sir James Harris at the 
 Hague to send him whatever information he could procure respecting the 
 tax on successions imposed in Holland in 1723 and 1743. In a note it is 
 said that " Sir J. Harris gave Mr. Pitt the desired information respecting 
 the Dutch Legacy Duties, and the latter accordingly imposed them upon 
 this country." ' Diaries and Correspondence of James Harris, First Earl 
 of Malmesbury,' vol. ii. p. 156. 
 
 t Fox is reported to have said that the institution of the Sinking Fund 
 was one of Pitt's chief claims to the gratitude of his country.
 
 1783.] THE KEY OF THE POSITION. 71 
 
 The second incident connected with Mr. Pitt's early tenure 
 of the highest political office in the kingdom, in which it 
 fell to ray lot to play an important if inconspicuous part, is 
 sufficiently interesting to be described at some length. It 
 had been for some time clearly understood by the nation at 
 large, as well as by the contending parties in Parliament, 
 that the issue of the struggle between Ministers and the 
 Opposition would be decided upon the question of Supply. 
 It was obvious that in the existing state of the House of 
 Commons, where every motion was carried against him, a dis- 
 solution would alone afford Mr. Pitt a chance of maintaining 
 his position. From the advanced period of the session, how- 
 ever, and from the near approach of the 25th of March, when 
 the annual Mutiny Bill would expire, it was equally clear 
 that no dissolution could take place unless that Bill was 
 previously renewed. On that ground, therefore, Mr. Fox 
 took his stand with great confidence, and it was intimated to 
 Mr. Pitt on his part that if he brought in that Bill it would 
 be negatived. The embarrassment of Ministers was extreme. 
 The rejection or expiration of the Bill would be equally 
 fatal, and appeared to be avoidable only by their immediate 
 resignation. They had, indeed, the King and the House of 
 Lords on their side, but in the case of a Money Bill no 
 effectual aid could be rendered by either. And yet the 
 Ministry escaped shipwreck, though contemporary publica- 
 tions have omitted to explain how their deliverance was 
 accomplished. The 'Annual Eegister' for 1783, which is 
 extremely diffuse and circumstantial in all its other details 
 of this contest, passes over the most memorable of all with 
 singular brevity : " It was not till the 9th of March that 
 Opposition may be said to have struck their colours, and 
 surrendered a fortress which they had defended with an 
 unconquerable perseverance and spirit. The step to which 
 we allude was the motion which was made for a long Mutiny 
 Bill, and which Opposition suffered to be carried without a 
 division. A short Mutiny Bill had for some time been the 
 measure which they had announced as their last security 
 against a sudden and premature dissolution. But even this 
 last resource was given up by them, and the whole contest 
 ceded, without any reserve, in the affair of the Mutiny Bill." 
 That is all the ' Annual Eegister ' had to say upon the 
 subject. 
 
 Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, who was a member of the House
 
 72 A STORM IMMINENT. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 at the time, and who, as is well known, was not only a 
 diligent collector of political anecdotes, but possessed very 
 good means of acquiring a pretty full knowledge of the cir- 
 cumstances, which he has detailed so agreeably, and in most 
 instances so accurately, in his ' Historical Memoirs,' is still 
 more concise in his account of this transaction. The follow- 
 ing extract is the only mention he has made of it, and I 
 know from his own acknowledgment that it contains the 
 whole of his information respecting it : " 9th March. The 
 spell which had so long suspended and paralysed all the 
 functions of Government was now dissolved ; and on the 
 ensuing day the Mutiny Bill, no longer opposed, passed 
 through the Committee." * 
 
 The threat of negativing the Mutiny Bill, which our 
 Ministers were persuaded Mr. Fox intended to execute, had 
 almost exclusively engaged their attention during the first 
 days of March, when, as the crisis approached, every moment 
 became more precious, and every delay more pregnant with 
 mischief. I had various opportunities of witnessing the 
 excess of their alarm and the vacillating nature of their 
 deliberations, and I witnessed them with no small degree of 
 surprise, as I could not bring myself to consider the matter 
 as so forlorn and desperate as they did. My opinion, how- 
 ever, not being asked, I forbore to give it till Lord Carmarthen, 
 speaking to me on the subject, begged I would endeavour to 
 suggest some means of obviating the impending danger. 
 " Do," said he, " turn it over in your mind. Come and dine 
 with me to-morrow, when I shall have some of our Cabinet 
 people, and we can talk the matter over at our leisure." I 
 promised to do so. 
 
 With the subject to be discussed I had in the course of 
 my legal studies rendered myself to a certain degree familiar, 
 and I knew where to look for further information. I had 
 four and twenty hours before me, and I employed them all 
 without going to bed. Having committed to paper the 
 
 * " Next day, the 9th of March, came on the long-expected Committee 
 on the Mutiny Bill. When the Secretary at War moved in the customary 
 form that the blank as to the time should be filled up for the usual period 
 of one year, it was found that in spite of all the previous threats no 
 opposition was attempted. Only two independent Members, Sir Mtv. 
 White Ridley and Mr. Powys, rose to lament what they termed the 
 degradation of the House." Lord Stanhope's ' Life of Pitt,' voL i. p. 197.
 
 1783.] THE CLOUDS DISPERSING. 73 
 
 result of my labours, I repaired with a light heart to Lord 
 Carmarthen's, where I met a select Ministerial party. When 
 dinner was over the subject of the Mutiny Bill was brought 
 forward, and upon one point there appeared to be no dif- 
 ference of opinion, namely, as to the necessity of first intro- 
 ducing it in the House of Commons, seeing that it was a 
 Money Bill with the obvious corollary that it would be 
 thrown out. This was the exact point to which I wished 
 the discussion to be drawn. Lord Carmarthen, perceiving 
 my desire to speak, asked me if I could hit upon anything 
 to get rid of a seemingly insuperable difficulty. I replied 
 that, having thought it likely that the topic might come 
 uppermost, I had taken some pains to investigate it and, in 
 order to avoid mistakes, had written down what I wished to 
 say. Thereupon I produced my paper, to the contents of 
 which my auditors paid no common attention. They were, 
 however, a good deal startled by the exordium, which con- 
 tained a direct contradiction of the proposition they had 
 unanimously accepted as unanswerable. I maintained that 
 neither law nor parliamentary usage made it an indispensable 
 necessity that a Mutiny Bill, though in some respects a 
 Money Bill, should originate in the House of Commons. I 
 insisted that it was a matter of indifference in which House 
 it originated, because, since the Revolution, it had originated 
 sometimes in one House, sometimes in the other, though 
 most frequently in the House of Commons. I had extracted 
 from the journals a great number of instances of material 
 alterations inserted in Mutiny Bills by the House of Lords, 
 which were received and passed by the House of Commons. 
 I also enumerated four or five Mutiny Bills that were first 
 introduced in the House of Lords, and which passed through 
 the other House without objection or hesitation. From all 
 this I drew two inferences. First, that a Mutiny Bill did 
 not come within the definition of a Money Bill so far as 
 to make its introduction in the House of Commons indis- 
 pensable. Secondly, that should such a proceeding be deemed 
 advisable, the Bill might, consistently with parliamentary 
 law and usage, originate in the House of Lords. 
 
 I need not attempt to describe the surprise and delight 
 occasioned by this wonderful discovery, which any one might 
 have made for himself if he had taken the trouble to look 
 for it. Dans le royaume dcs avcugles le boryne se fait roi ; and 
 in a party of ignorant persons a little knowledge goes a long
 
 74 ELECTIONEERING TROUBLES. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 way. The main point being thus secured, it remained to 
 decide upon the course to be pursued. Considerable dif- 
 .ference of opinion was expressed, until, after a time, I ven- 
 tured to suggest that the simplest and most efficacious plan 
 might be for Mr. Pitt to inclose a copy of the paper which 
 -i had just been read to Mr. Fox, and request to be favoured 
 with his determination one way or the other, so as to regulate 
 his own line of conduct. The suggestion was unanimously 
 adopted, and a letter despatched that same evening with the 
 inclosure. The effect, as I have already shown, was perfectly 
 satisfactory to Ministers. 
 
 A sense of recent obligations generally acts as a stimulus 
 on generous minds, and at the moment Mr. Pitt seemed to 
 be considerably impressed with what I had done for him. 
 All coldness and reserve on his part disappeared. Strong 
 hints were thrown out of the expediency of my withdrawing 
 from the Bar, and devoting myself to political pursuits, and 
 I received an absolute promise of a seat in Parliament. A 
 dissolution being the immediate consequence of the passing 
 of the Mutiny Bill, this promise was not forgotten. I was 
 requested to go down to Totness, where I should meet with 
 no difficulties, and for which my return would be certain. 
 I repaired thither, underwent all the horrors and fatigues of 
 a twenty-one days' canvass, and lost my election. I was ex- 
 horted, however, not to be discouraged, as an opening would 
 immediately occur, and everything be set right. Accordingly, 
 I soon afterwards received a summons from Mr. Pitt, who 
 informed me that a seat for the borough of Seaftfrd was ready 
 for my acceptance and that, if I would call upon George 
 Kose (Secretary to the Treasury) the business might at once 
 be arranged without putting me to any further trouble. I 
 lost no time in going to Rose at the Treasury, who not 
 only confirmed what Mr. Pitt had said, but told me that 
 as Mr. Harbin, who had the management of the borough, 
 happened at that moment to be in the next room, the affair 
 might be immediately settled. I found Mr. Harbin a very 
 civil gentleman, who quietly informed me that the terms on 
 which the seat was to be had were the payment down of 
 five thousand pounds. On hearing this, I broke off my con- 
 ference with him, and, returning to Rose, asked him what he 
 meant by such a proposal after what I had done for them at 
 Totness, and after what had subsequently passed. Instead of 
 .sharing my feelings he vowed to God that he thought the
 
 1787.] RETURNED FOR EELS TON. 75 
 
 proposal extremely reasonable, and expressed his conviction 
 that, as things were circumstanced, a seat was not procurable 
 on lower terms. I then betook myself to Mr. Pitt, to whom 
 I reported what had passed, at which he professed himself 
 highly displeased, assured me he had not been apprised of 
 the nature of Mr. Harbin's arrangement, and renewed his 
 promise of providing a seat for me as soon as possible. 
 
 I believe he was perfectly sincere when he said this, but 
 Prime Ministers cannot command events, or dispose of them 
 as they please when they do present themselves. For 
 between two and three years after this incident I neither \ 
 heard from him, nor had any communication with him. The 
 fault may have been partly my own, as I disdained to thrust 
 myself upon his notice. In any case I regarded the separa- 
 tion as final and conclusive, until one morning in January, 
 1787, I received a short letter from Lord Carmarthen, de- 
 siring me to come up to Town immediately to take my seat 
 for the borough of Helston, in Cornwall, for which, as he 
 informed me, I had just been returned.
 
 ( 76 ) [CHAP. V. 
 
 CHAPTEK V. 
 
 The First Lord Auckland Lord Carmarthen and the French Treaty of 
 Commerce Warren Hastings Pitt's Extraordinary Conduct Mr. 
 Burges's Maiden Speech Misrepresentation Mr. Burges and Mr. 
 Pitt Mr. Dundas and Sir Tbomas Rumbold Antecedents of 
 Mr. Dundas Influence of Dundas over Pitt Warren Hastings returns 
 from India Jealousy of Dundas and Pitt An Unworthy Transac- 
 tion Mr. Pitt's Subsequent Regret Dundas's Cynicism Curious 
 Interview of Mr. Burges with Warren Hastings A Life-long Friend- 
 ship. 
 
 AT the commencement of the session of 1787 the attention 
 of Parliament was chiefly directed to the consideration of two 
 important measures the treaty of commerce with France, 
 and the impeachment of Warren Hastings. The convention 
 with France was signed at Versailles on the 31st of August 
 by the French Foreign Minister, the Count de Montmorin, on 
 the one part, and by Mr. William Eden, afterwards Lord 
 Auckland, on the other. This Mr. Eden had been Vice- 
 Treasurer of Ireland under the Coalition, and was the first to 
 desert the sinking ship, and take service under Mr. Pitt. 
 A Disappointed and angered by his patron's icy indifference to 
 his supposed merits, he suddenly turned upon him in 1785, 
 contesting his statements and harshly criticising his plans. 
 He was further displeased by Pitt's opposition to his candi- 
 dature for the post of Speaker in the House of Commons, 
 but his ruffled plumage was smoothed for a time by Ids 
 being sent to Paris in January, 1786, nominally as coadjutor
 
 1787.] THE FIRST LORD AUCKLAND. 77 
 
 to the Duke of Dorset, British Ambassador at the Court of 
 Versailles, but in reality to negotiate a commercial convention. 
 Having a certain aptitude for diplomacy on the back stairs, 
 he was not unfrequently enabled to transmit early intelli- 
 gence to Pitt, though neither Lord Carmarthen nor Sir James 
 Harris, afterwards Lord Malmesbury, entertained a favour- 
 able opinion of his judgment and trustworthiness. 
 
 Lord Auckland was essentially a time-server, and egre-\ 
 giously selfish. His letters to the Right Honourable George 
 Rose, insisting upon some public recognition of his services, 
 argue a man destitute of the most ordinary feeling of 
 self-respect. He was simply insatiable, but his reiterated 
 importunities obtained for him an Irish Peerage for his 
 diplomatic activity at Madrid and the Hague, and in 1793 
 he was enrolled among the Peers of England. Not that he 
 was then satisfied. So far from it, he charged Pitt in the 
 House of Lords with insincerity on no better ground than 
 the lack of a suitable provision having been made for 
 himself. This outrageous conduct exhausted the patience 
 even of Rose, a model and long-suffering Secretary to the 
 Treasury. He accordingly declined to hold any further 
 intercourse with Lord Auckland. Nevertheless, Lady Auck- 
 land shortly afterwards obtained a pension of 800 a year, 
 which was subsequently increased by an additional 500 per 
 annum for the golden age of pensions and sinecures had not 
 yet expired.* 
 
 At a later period, as Under Secretary at the Foreign Office, 
 Mr. Burges had much correspondence with Lord Auckland, 
 
 * In The Rolliad,' " Billy Eden, the Renegade Scout," is repeatedly 
 mentioned in terms of bitter derision-: as in ' The Lyars ' 
 
 " See Eden's faith expos'd to sale again, 
 Who takes his plate and learns his French in vain." 
 
 And in another place
 
 78 COACHING A SECRETARY OF STATE. [CHAP. V. 
 
 and was evidently aware of his duplicity and want of fixed 
 principles. But at his outset in public life he was brought 
 in contact with the treaty and not with the treaty -maker. 
 One day Lord Carmarthen invited him to a tete-a-tete dinner 
 for the purpose, as he said, of making an arrangement with 
 reference to that convention. The preliminary negotiations 
 had, of course, passed through the Foreign Office, but Lord 
 Carmarthen admitted that he had nothing to do with them 
 beyond affixing his signature to despatches which had been 
 drafted by Mr. Pitt. He therefore begged Mr. Burges to help 
 him in preparing his speech on introducing into the House of 
 Lords the Bill founded on the treaty. " I am conscious," 
 he said, "that in making this request I am putting your 
 friendship to a strong test ; but I have had proofs enough of 
 its extent to flatter myself that you will not withhold it on 
 this occasion, where my credit as Secretary of State is so 
 deeply at stake, and where, of course, I shall be expected to 
 take the lead. As the Bill must previously pass through the 
 House of Commons, where every clause in it will be opposed, 
 my only apprehension is that you may wish to take a part 
 in the debate and display the information which you possess 
 on the subject. You will, however, have many opportunities 
 which you may take or leave, as you like, while I am tied 
 down to this ; and from its very nature, which calls for the 
 
 " There liv'd a man at Beckenham in Kent, Sir, 
 Who wanted a place to make him content, Sir ; 
 Long had he sigh'd for Billy Pitt's protection, 
 When thus he gently courted his affection. 
 ' Will you give me a place, my dearest Billy Pitt, oh ! 
 If I cannot have a whole one, give me a little bit, oh ! '" 
 
 These lines were afterwards set to music and sung with great effect by 
 Mrs. Jordan. The treaty negotiated by Mr. Eden was known as " The 
 East India Convention," because the French thereby acknowledged 
 British supremacy in Bengal.
 
 1787.] A FALLING-OUT OF FRIENDS. 79 
 
 utmost secrecy, have no one but yourself to whom I can 
 apply for assistance." Mr. Burges readily undertook to put 
 him in the way of properly elucidating the various objects 
 aimed at in the treaty, and disclaimed any particular wish 
 to seek distinction for himself in connection with it. He 
 therefore consulted many authorities, took careful notes of 
 the objections urged in the House of Commons, and drew up 
 a memoir which his noble friend quickly mastered. But 
 when the eventful day arrived, and while all eyes were 
 turned upon Lord Carmarthen, up rose 
 
 une identical Lord Temple who had fled from his post in 
 1783, and with a becoming apology for his boldness and 
 insufficiency, proceeded to open the Bill, and detail the 
 particulars of the commercial treaty. Enraged beyond 
 expression at so unexpected a termination of my labours, and 
 fearful that I should not be able to command either my 
 temper or my countenance if I remained there any longer, I 
 hastily quitted the House, and did not go near his lordship 
 for some days. At last I received a very kind note from 
 him, requesting me to call upon him at the Foreign Office. 
 When I entered his room, he said : " I see by your looks that 
 you are angry with me, and I can't wonder at it. It was, to 
 be sure, a damned piece of business, but I could not help it. 
 The day before the Bill was to be brought into our House 
 Pitt told me that, as he was aware it was a matter out of ray 
 line, and one on which I had not bestowed particular atten- 
 tion, he had wished to relieve me from it, and had therefore 
 arranged with the Marquis of Buckingham (for that was now 
 Lord Temple's title) for him to open the Bill." " And pray," 
 said I, " why did you not tell him you could do it yourself ? " 
 " For the best reason in the world," he replied, with a smile. 
 " From all he knew of the matter he. was perfectly founded in 
 his conjecture ; and I had neither the presence of mind nor 
 the assurance to tell him what a change had been wrought 
 in me. And so the matter passed without any more speak- 
 ing about it, and so let it pass between us ; and come and 
 meet some pleasant people at dinner at my house to-day/ 
 And so that squall blew over.
 
 80 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS. [CHAP. V. 
 
 In the early clays of the Warren Hastings impeachment, 
 Mr. Burges bore a conspicuous, if not an influential, part. 
 His conduct gained him the King's favour, and the friend- 
 ship of the persecuted man who had added an empire to 
 the British Kingdom. At the same time it estranged Mr. 
 Pitt, whose displeasure, however, gradually evaporated, and 
 was succeeded by real confidence and substantial kindness. 
 Shortly before Mr. Burges took his seat as the represen- 
 tative of Lord Carmarthen, rather than of the borough of 
 Helston, two charges brought against Mr. Hastings had 
 been partially disposed of. A large majority 119 to 74 
 including Pitt's silent vote, had negatived Burke's motion 
 in condemnation of the Eohilla war, and even as regards 
 Mr. Fox's motion in the matter of Cheyt Sing, the Raja 
 of Benares, public opinion had been in favour of the accused 
 notwithstanding Pitt's extraordinary act of tergiversation, 
 in voting with Fox after justifying Hastings for inflicting 
 a fine on the contumacious Kaja, though the amount of the 
 fine appeared to him somewhat out of proportion to the 
 alleged offence. 
 
 The House was thunderstruck, [says Macaulay] and it 
 well might be so. ... The one course which it is inconceivable 
 that any man of a tenth part of Mr. Pitt's abilities can have 
 honestly taken, was the course which he took. He acquitted 
 Hastings on the Eohilla charge. He softened down the Benares 
 charge till it became no charge at all; and then he pro- 
 nounced that it contained matter for impeachment. 
 
 Many reasons were given to account for the Prime 
 Minister's glaring inconsistency. It was reported that the 
 Lord Chancellor Thurlow had declared that if the first Lord 
 of the Treasury was afraid to recommend Hastings for a 
 peerage, he was ready to take that responsibility upon 
 himself. Pitt's ruling weakness was an insatiable love of
 
 1787.] ME. SURGES A EASTINGSITE. 81 
 
 power. He would brook no encroachment on his privileges 
 and functions. It was a thousand times more endurable 
 that Hastings should be impeached, than that William Pitt 
 should suffer any diminution of grandeur. It is morally 
 certain that Dundas had a good deal to do with this unto- 
 ward business, and some clue to his motives will be given a 
 little further on. Mr. Burges, however, positively states that 
 the general impression on the public mind as to Mr. Pitt's 
 aversion from a formal prosecution of the ex-Goveror-General 
 remained unaltered. He then proceeds to explain the part 
 taken by himself, for which he was at the time most unfairly 
 ridiculed : 
 
 The high character of Mr. Hastings, and the acrimony and 
 talents of his prosecutors gave such an interest to the 
 business that it, in a great measure, superseded all other 
 topics of conversation. It was not unfrequently discussed in 
 the ministerial circles to which I was now invited, in which 
 there seemed to be little diversity of opinion ; and it was 
 on all hands agreed that, if the next charge respecting the 
 Begum should be negatived, the whole prosecution must fall 
 to the ground. It was not long before I caught the general 
 contagion. I set myself diligently to work, read every 
 publication on the subject, and rose from them with a 
 decided conviction of the integrity of Mr. Hastings, the 
 iniquity of the attack made upon him, and the propriety of 
 opposing it.* Having resolved on this course, I took the 
 
 * Lord Shelburne (first Marquis of Lansdowne) observed in his place, 
 March 10th, 1795, that on hearing the ex-Grovernor-General called, like 
 Ealeigh, " a spider of Hell," he had asked to see his commission and in- 
 structions. There were no instructions, but his commission bestowed 
 upon him absolute sovereign power in India. If tried at all, it should 
 have been by a Mohammedan judge and jury, but it was absurd to apply 
 Christian notions and Constitutional principles to a people living under 
 Mohammedan law, and accustomed to despotic government. In fact, there 
 were only two questions to be considered had Warren Hastings governed 
 India to the satisfaction of the people, and had he improved the interest 
 his native country held in those distant possessions? Frederick the 
 Great would have asked only that, and would have been satisfied with the 
 
 G
 
 82 AN EXTRAORDINARY SCENE. [CHAP. V. 
 
 opportunity of a private conversation with Mr. Pitt to com- 
 municate to him my purpose. He not only higlily approved 
 it, but went far into the subject with me, in a manner so 
 earnest and so cordial as to leave no doubt in my mind of 
 his sentiments respecting it ; nor did his subsequent con- 
 duct in any degree tend to diminish the strength of this 
 impression. On the evening when the charge was brought 
 forward, on his entering the House he took me behind the 
 Speaker's chair, where he suggested several new hints. The 
 effect produced by Sheridan's opening of the charge gave me 
 but small hopes of being much attended to, and of course I 
 felt disposed not to rise ; but Mr. Pitt, immediately behind 
 whom I was sitting, urged me so strongly to get up, that at 
 last I complied with his wishes. I soon, however, found 
 that the effervescence of the House was too great to admit 
 of any calm attention to my arguments ; so, whispering to 
 Mr. Pitt that I would leave the remainder of what I had to 
 say to him, I sat down, and the debate, on his suggestion, 
 was adjourned till the following day. 
 
 Sir Gilbert Elliot, one of the managers, and at that time a 
 vehement admirer of Fox, Burke, and Sheridan, though his ad- 
 miration of those remarkable men subsequently cooled down, 
 thus describes the scene, which he witnessed with his own 
 eyes, and in which he probably took a conspicuous part : 
 " The conclusion, in which the whole force of the case was 
 collected, and where his (Sheridan's) whole powers were 
 employed to their utmost stretch, and indeed his own feelings 
 wound to the utmost pitch, worked the House up into such a 
 paroxysm of passionate enthusiasm on the subject, and of 
 admiration for him, that the moment he sat down there was 
 a universal shout, nay, even clapping, for half a second ; 
 every man was on the floor, and all his friends, throwing 
 
 answer, " I found the resources of the Government equal to three millions ; 
 I left them five and a half; and the people happy and contented." 
 Warren Hastings had been too lenient to Cheyt Sing, and in his opinion 
 should be acquitted on every charge. By that time such was the general 
 opinion.
 
 1787.] ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE. 83 
 
 themselves on his neck in raptures of joy and exultation. . . 
 All the Ministry and all the friends of Hastings were struck 
 absolutely dumb, and sat confounded, not knowing how nor 
 daring to meet the impression made on the audience; and 
 after Burgess (sic) had talked absolute nonsense for an hour 
 in favour of Hastings, they recollected themselves enough to 
 move for an adjournment. Pitt, I think to the disgrace of 
 Government on such a question, not only never gave the 
 least sign of feeling, or of life, during the speech, but would 
 not give the least hint of his opinion or intentions, which are 
 a profound and impenetrable mystery even to his friends at 
 this moment." If the hubbub was as great as it is here 
 represented to have been, it would have been useless for the 
 Opposition to have continued the debate. Mr. Burges at least 
 had the courage to make the attempt at Mr. Pitt's request, 
 and it is not unreasonable to question Sir Gilbert Elliot's 
 competence at that moment to judge whether sense or non- 
 sense had been uttered. It was to Mr. Pitt's credit that 
 he was not swept away by a torrent of words. He knew 
 Sheridan to be essentially an actor, and estimated his decla- 
 mation at its real value. 
 
 In recording this incident Bishop Tomline remarks, " At 
 length after a considerable interval a young member, who 
 had never before risen in the House, attempted a reply ; but 
 being unable to command attention, he was soon under the 
 necessity of sitting down." The Editor of Sheridan's Speeches 
 also confines himself to a bare recital of the fact : " After a con- 
 siderable suspension of the debate one of the friends of Mr. 
 Hastings Mr. Burgess (sic) with some difficulty obtained 
 for a short time a hearing ; but, finding the House too strongly 
 affected by what they had heard to listen to him with favour, 
 sat down again." The notice in the ' Annual Eegister ' for 
 1787 is equally brief and dispassionate, but in the following 
 
 G2
 
 84 PITTS TERGIVERSATION. [CHAP. V. 
 
 year Mr. Burke waxed characteristically insolent in referring 
 to the young member's self-possession while older men were 
 quivering with emotion " under the spell of the enchanter," 
 and Mrs. Oliphant, an admirable novelist but an indifferent 
 writer of political memoirs, has thought proper to follow his 
 unjust and ungenerous leading. 
 
 When the House resumed on the following day, Mr. Burges 
 very reasonably expected that Mr. Pitt would apply his vast 
 intellectual and oratorical powers to the demolition of Sheri- 
 dan's brilliant sophistries and rhetorical exaggerations, and 
 accordingly placed himself " in a snug corner of one of the Op- 
 position benches, just facing the Treasury bench," whence he 
 could obtain the best view of Mr. Hastings's mighty champion. 
 
 In due time he arose, but what was the astonishment of 
 the House, and above all of myself, when, with a steady 
 countenance and sonorous voice, he poured forth an invective 
 against the unfortunate Hastings, so energetic and so 
 acrimonious, as precluded all hope of further support or 
 assistance from him against the formidable host by whom 
 that persecuted gentleman was assailed. The sensation pro- 
 duced by it was decisive ; and, under any other circumstances, 
 I doubtless should have been amused by the variety of 
 emotions depicted on every countenance around me, had not 
 my mind been occupied by feelings of a very different kind. 
 The leaders on both sides being thus unanimous, little 
 attention was paid to what any one else presumed to advance. 
 The question was put and pronounced by the Speaker to 
 have been carried, when I started up and demanded a 
 division from what motive, or with what hope, I can no 
 more say now than I probably could then, unless it were that 
 no other mode of venting the mingled feelings of indignation 
 and contempt which were working within me immediately 
 presented itself. Few unpremeditated enterprises, however, 
 ever succeeded better than this one, so unexpectedly hazarded 
 under the most forbidding circumstances. The question, 
 indeed, was carried by a great majority (175 to 68), but those 
 who were against it were almost entirely of those who till 
 then had implicitly voted with the Minister. This was not
 
 1787.] A MOEAL ENTANGLEMENT. 85 
 
 only mortifying to Mr. Pitt, but was highly encouraging to 
 Mr. Hastings and his steadfast friends. That the impression 
 made upon Mr. Pitt's acute and sensitive mind was strong 
 and unpleasant, I had an early proof. When the House 
 broke up, he said to me with an austere look, " So, sir, you 
 have thought proper to divide the House. I hope you are 
 satisfied." " Perfectly so, sir," I replied. " Then you seem 
 satisfied very easily." " Not exactly so, sir. I am satisfied 
 with nothing that has passed this evening except the dis- 
 covery I have made that there were still honest men present." 
 On that, with a stern look and a stately air, he left me. 
 
 Mr. Burges was a sturdy partisan. He seldom did things 
 by halves. He may have been sometimes a- little hasty in 
 forming his conclusions, bat when formed he adhered to 
 them tenaciously and lost no time in acting upon them. In 
 the case of Warren Hastings he refused to see any spots upon 
 the brilliancy of Ms character and career. He felt convinced 
 that the impeachment of that remarkable man originated 
 with Henry Dundas, afterwards Lord Melville, and he states 
 his reasons with sufficient precision. The unexpected col- 
 lapse of the committee of inquiry into the conduct of Sir 
 Thomas Eumbold, ex-Governor of Madras, gave rise to dis- 
 agreeable suspicions with reference to Mr. Dundas and Mr. 
 Eigby, both of whom began by taking an active part against 
 the accused, but suddenly cooled down and connived at his 
 escape from justice. Mr. Rigby has been handled with 
 adequate harshness by Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, but the 
 possibly greater delinquent was strangely overlooked by that 
 amusing if not always trustworthy writer ; and it was with a 
 view to repair the consequences of his oversight that Mr. 
 Burges undertook tq guide the judgment of posterity. His 
 narrative is here slightly abridged : 
 
 "NMr. Henry Dundas was descended from an ancient and 
 respectable family in Scotland, which for several generations 
 had been distinguished by a marked superiority of talents,
 
 86 HENRY DUNDAS. [CHAP. V. 
 
 by which it had been raised to great eminence and conse- 
 quence. The highest judicial situation in that country, that of 
 Lord President of the Court of Session, had been consecu- 
 tively and with great ability filled by his father and brother ; 
 and he himself, at what was esteemed an unusually early 
 age, had risen to the post of Lord Advocate. This success, 
 however, only whetted his ambition for a loftier elevation. 
 Looking upon Scotland as too narrow a field for the display 
 of his exceptional abilities, he descended into the political 
 arena and procured a seat in Parliament. He had evidently 
 not miscalculated his powers, for he soon acquired indisput- 
 able weight and influence in the House and with the leading 
 persons in the Administration. All that he now wanted was 
 a stage for the clearer manifestation of what was in him. 
 This was afforded him by the inquiry into East Indian 
 delinquencies, and he succeeded in being appointed chairman 
 of the committee charged with the investigation of those 
 abuses. In that capacity he assumed a large discretionary 
 power, and exercised a somewhat singular influence over 
 a host of peculators, whose interest it was to take the 
 sting out of the inquiry. The first of these gentlemen who 
 fell into his hands was Sir Thomas Eumbold,* whose 
 prosecution was begun with a degree of violence and 
 acrimony strangely contrasted with the suddenness with 
 which it was dropped. Fraudulent connivance was at once, 
 and very generally, suspected. Anecdotes, unfavourable to 
 the characters of all concerned, were widely circulated, and 
 were at least never contradicted. To rake up the ashes of 
 the past by the repetition of scandalous stories over which the 
 veil of thirty-five years is now cast, is by no means agreeable 
 to my nature and disposition ; but what is all history but 
 anecdote ? And how can truth be recorded, if all circum- 
 stances injurious to the fair fame of the individuals under 
 notice, are to be eliminated ? In the case of Mr. Dundas, 
 who commenced his English career as the parliamentary pro- 
 secutor of an alleged peculator, and who ended it by becoming 
 himself the object of a parliamentary prosecution for 
 peculation, no fastidious delicacy need stand in the way.f 
 
 * Appendix B. 
 
 t Sir Nathaniel Wraxall was disposed to acquit Dundas of anything 
 worse than culpable weakness in allowing himself to be influenced by 
 Rigby, whose integrity was by no means above suspicion.
 
 1787.] PITT AND DUNDAS. 87 
 
 It is treading on safe ground to affirm that Mr. Pitt could 
 hardly have dispensed with the co-operation of Mr. Dundas a 
 man thoroughly conversant with public affairs, whose abilities 
 stood high in the estimation of the country, and whose 
 professions of personal attachment and of veneration for his 
 leader's superior endowments, made a strong impression upon 
 Pitt's ardent and unsuspecting nature. Pitt's disposition was 
 frank, liberal, and considerate. His attachments were strong 
 and his friendships sincere. Superior to artifice and duplicity, 
 he was too apt to judge of others by himself, and to give 
 credit to appearances against which a greater experience of 
 mankind and of the world might have guarded him. To this 
 imperfection, if such it may be called, was added another, 
 innately inherent in his disposition and wonderfully strength- 
 ened by the success attendant on his seemingly precocious 
 public efforts. To profess a personal attachment to him, 
 never failed to gain his heart. To express admiration of his 
 talents, to defer to his judgment, and, above all, to avoid 
 everything that bore a semblance of competition or rivalry, 
 was a sure passport to his intimacy and confidence. These 
 weak points of his character were discovered and abused by 
 many, but by no one were they turned to better account than 
 by Mr. Dundas. It is only just, however, to remark that at 
 that early period Mr. Dundas could have had few opportuni- 
 ties of making himself so thoroughly acquainted with Pitt's 
 weaknesses, and that he is rather entitled to the credit of 
 having foreseen his greatness, and of having therefore attached 
 himself to his rising fortunes, at the price of the connections 
 he had previously formed and held to up to that time. 
 Under Lord North he had made a successful debut, and 
 during the brief Administration of Lord Shelburne he had 
 filled the post of Treasurer to the Navy, and was thus 
 brought into intimate relations with Mr. Pitt, Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer in the twenty-third year of his age. With 
 the accession to power of the Coalition it became necessary 
 for Dundas to look carefully around. Considerable as were 
 his own parts and eloquence, they could not be compared 
 with the extraordinary gifts nature and art had conferred on 
 Fox, Burke, and Sheridan. By uniting himself with that 
 brilliant galaxy he could not hope to occupy more than a 
 secondary position. The front rank was already made up, 
 and there was no room for him. Even after the downfall of 
 the Coalition their parliamentary influence was little dimi-
 
 88 TEE KING'S DISLIKE TO DUNDAS. [CHAP. V. 
 
 nished. The King might be opposed to them, and in the Lords 
 they might be in a minority, but in the Commons they 
 carried every question brought forward by themselves and 
 negatived everything brought forward by their opponents. 
 Such being the case, Dundas resolved to ally himself to Pitt, 
 who restored him to his former post of Treasurer to the Navy, 
 to which, after the new East India Bill came into operation, 
 was added the Presidency of the Board of Control.* He also 
 dispensed the valuable patronage of Scotland. 
 
 All these advantages he was enjoying without alloy when 
 the return of Mr. Hastings to Europe roused him out of his 
 sense of security. There was now imminent danger of losing 
 the practical government of India, and its immense patronage. 
 Of all public characters that of Mr. Hastings stood the 
 highest in the King's estimation. As Governor-General of 
 India he had, during a long period of unexampled embarrass- 
 ment and difficulty, displayed a degree of talent and energy 
 by which, almost without resources and without any support 
 from this country, it was on all hands acknowledged that he 
 not only had saved that " most valuable jewel of the British 
 Crown," but had, by his brilliant successes and the importance 
 of his conquests, afforded to the Government at home the only 
 means by which a peace could be negotiated. 
 
 Towards Dundas the King entertained feelings of strong 
 repulsion. The conduct of that individual in the Kumbold 
 case had affected the King's mind most unfavourably. There 
 were passages, too, in his private life which were quite at 
 variance with His Majesty's own principles and practice. 
 The King was further annoyed by his forward and familiar 
 manners and broad Scottish dialect, and felt, moreover, a 
 mortal antipathy to his handwriting, which I have heard 
 him, and with great truth, declare to be the worst and 
 most ungentlemanlike he had ever met withX This, by 
 
 * At the Board of Control, Dundas reigned supreme. He himself wrote 
 to Lord Cornwallis from Wimbledon, July 29, 1787 : " Out of delicacy to 
 Lord Sydney, the alteration in the constitution of the India Board was 
 not made, as intended last winter, but certainly will in the course of next. 
 Lord Sydney never attends, nor reads or signs a paper, but still I do not 
 think he likes to see the business so exclusively in my hands, as the head 
 of the Board. Mr. Pitt is a real, active member of the Board, and makes 
 himself thoroughly master of the business." ' Cornwallis Correspondence,' 
 vol i. p. 321.
 
 1787.] . DUNDAS AND HASTINGS. 89 
 
 the way, was a curious particularity of our good King; 
 but it was one which operated forcibly on more occasions 
 than one that have fallen within rny own observation, 
 to add to the dislike which he might have preconceived 
 against an individual. All this, however, would have given 
 Dundas but little concern, had he not by some means become 
 master of a secret which showed the small reliance that could 
 be placed on his fancied security. That secret was no other\ 
 than the King's intention of profiting by Mr. Hastings's 
 talents and experience, and of recognising his distinguished 
 public services by appointing him to the post of President of 
 the Board of Control.* 
 
 It would argue but a small knowledge of human nature, 
 and especially of Mr. Dundas's disposition, to have any doubt 
 of the effect produced by the revelation of this design on the 
 part of His Majesty, of whose steadiness and perseverance in 
 the prosecution of any purpose which he had at heart there 
 could not be two opinions. He at once perceived that his\ 
 own ruin could only be averted by that of Mr. Hastings. 
 Avoiding all appearance of hostility towards his rival, and 
 seeming rather to discountenance the violent and acrimonious 
 attacks made on him by Burke, Francis, and their adherents, 
 he contrived, under the mask of candour and moderation, to 
 lead them to the institution of a Court of Inquiry, and from 
 that to the introduction of specific charges, the dependence 
 of which, whether or not they ended in a formal impeach- 
 ment, must for a considerable time, if not for ever, prevent 
 the accomplishment of the King's purpose. But, though he 
 contrived to keep his secret better than His Majesty had done, 
 it was impossible to avoid the detection of his real design, in 
 spite of all his efforts to conceal it. Mr. Hastings and his 
 friends were not the last to make this discovery, and as they 
 possessed favourable channels of access, they were not slow in 
 conveying it to the King, upon whose mind it made a deep 
 impression. 
 
 Neither was Mr. Dundas destitute of sure sources of 
 intelligence as to what was being discussed and contemplated 
 at Court. Unless he succeeded in sacrificing Mr. Hastings 
 without further delay, his own dismissal 'from office was 
 
 * "Wraxall was also of opinion that Dundas feared he would be sup- 
 planted by Hastings at the Board of Control. 'Posthumous Memoirs,' 
 vol. ii. p. 35.
 
 90 AN UNWORTHY TRANSACTION. [CHAP. V. 
 
 certain and imminent. Only one course of safety presented 
 itself, and that a desperate one. Nothing remained for him 
 but to convince Mr. Pitt that he was imperilled by the growing 
 favour shown by the King to Mr. Hastings. There is in the 
 nature of every Minister an instinctive antipathy to a possible 
 rival. From this failing Mr. Pitt was as little exempt as 
 any of his predecessors or successors. Fully conscious of his 
 own superior endowments, and proud of his position at the 
 head of the British Government, he could not be expected to 
 view with equanimity the chance of encountering a rival 
 distinguished by the royal favour. Mr. Dundas, careful to 
 keep his own motives and interests in the background, 
 sedulously fanned Mr. Pitt's jealousy and uneasiness, and so 
 alarmed his mind that he hurried him on to a decision, before 
 he had time to satisfy himself as to its justice or expediency. 
 I know positively that so late as the very day when the 
 Begum charge was brought forward, Mr. Pitt was well dis- 
 posed to vindicate and support Mr. Hastings. And it is 
 equally certain that on the very next day he appeared as his 
 bitter enemy and acrimonious accuser. That his subsequent 
 reflections upon this affair were not pleasant I have good 
 reason to believe; and that he shrank with a singular 
 degree of soreness from even the most distant allusion 
 to it, I had an opportunity of witnessing. Some time 
 after he had made common cause with Mr. Hastings's 
 prosecutors, I happened to meet him at Lord Carmarthen's. 
 The conversation after dinner chancing to turn upon this 
 unlucky subject, a considerable variety of opinions was 
 expressed by the company. An accidental allusion being\ 
 made to his unexpected change of sentiments respecting the 
 Begum charge, Pitt suddenly rose from his chair and, 
 striding to the fireplace, remarked in a dignified tone to Lord 
 Carmarthen, " We have had enough of this subject, my 
 Lord. I will thank you to call another." " With all my 
 heart," said Lord Carmarthen ; " I am as sick of the subject 
 as you can be. So come, Pitt, sit down and put the bottle 
 round, for, strange to tell, it stands by you."* 
 
 ^-x* William Pitt was not often chargeable with stopping the bottle. It 
 was the fashion of the times to drink hard, and in that respect he went 
 with the fashion of the day. The Kev. G. Croly relates how Pitt, Thurlow, 
 and Dundas, after dining with Charles Jenkinson (afterwards Lord 
 Hawkesbury) at Croydon, were returning to Wimbledon on horseback,
 
 1787.] DUNDA&S CYNICISM. 91 
 
 In Mr. Dundas no such fastidious delicacy wasobservable. 
 He enjoyed in its full plenitude the victory he had gained, 
 and made no secret of the feelings with which he contem- 
 plated his triumph. Of this, as well as of the style * and 
 manners of Mr. Dundas himself, a memorable instance 
 occurred some time after the impeachment had been carried 
 into the House of Lords. As I was present on the occasion 
 I can vouch for the perfect authenticity of the incident. Lord 
 Maitland, one of the managers, came up to Mr. Dundas in 
 the House of Commons, and asked his opinion on some point 
 respecting the impeachment. Dundas declined to give any. 
 Lord Maitland urged him strongly and said, " You cannot ba 
 indifferent about our success." " Troth, am I," answered', 
 Dundas ; " ye hae done a' we wanted, and I shall gie mysel' 
 nae trouble aboot what comes o' ye." " Will you say so to 
 any one else ? " Lord Maitland asked. " Troth, shall I," 
 replied the other. On that Lord Maitland called aside 
 Fitzpatrick and Sheridan, also managers,! to whom, without 
 shame or scruple, Dundas repeated what he had just said. 
 
 When I volunteered in the House of Commons to interpose 
 on behalf of Warren Hastings, I was so entirely a stranger to 
 him that I did not know him even by sight, and most pro- 
 bably he had never heard my name. That eventful evening, 
 however, made him desirous to become acquainted with 
 the stranger who had stood by him when his own friends 
 
 when the whim seized them to dash through the toll-gate between Tooting 
 and Streatharn without paying. The keeper, mistaking them for high- 
 waymen, boldly discharged his blunderbuss at them, but fortunately 
 missed them all. 
 
 * In Dr. Lawrence's prefatory Criticisms on * The Rolliad,' it is written 
 of Mr. Dundas : 
 
 Turn and return: whole hours at Hastings bawl, 
 Defend, praise, thank, affront him, and recal. 
 
 But Wraxall says in his ' Posthumous Memoirs,' vol. i. p. 166, " Dundas 
 manifested more amenity of manner, more placability of temper, more 
 facility of access ; a more yielding, accommodating, and forgiving nature 
 (than Pitt). If Pitt subdued, Dundas conciliated adversaries." 
 
 f The managers were Burke, Fox, Sheridan, Pelham, Windham, Sir 
 Gilbert Elliot, Grey, Adam, Anstruther, M. A. Taylor, Lord Maitland, 
 Dudley Long, General Burgoyne, North, St. John, Fitzpatrick, Wilbraliam, 
 Co\u'tenay, and Sir Thomas Erskine.
 
 92 AN AFFECTING INTERVIEW. [CHAP. V. 
 
 had abandoned him. He accordingly lost no time in calling; 
 upon me to return thanks. Our conversation was deeply 
 interesting, but I made a note of only one passage. I 
 explained to him that, independently of my own conviction 
 that Ms cause was just and honourable, I had been moved to 
 take part in his defence by the positive instructions of my 
 father, who had died about two years previously. Expecting 
 that I should one day have a seat in Parliament, and fore- 
 seeing that an attack would be made upon Hastings, to 
 whom he attributed the preservation of our power in India, 
 he charged me to abstract myself from all personal and party 
 considerations, and support him liberally and manfully. Mr. 
 Hastings was deeply moved by my little tale. The tears 
 ran down his cheeks, as he pressed my hand, and exclaimed, 
 " Would to Heaven that your father could now listen to the 
 effusion of my gratitude, and witness the sincere acknowledg- 
 ment I make to him and to you ! " That interview was the 
 beginning of a warm and intimate friendship which lasted, 
 without a flaw, for thirty years, and terminated only at the 
 death of that great and venerable man."* 
 
 * Warren Hastings died on the 22nd of August, 1818, in the eighty-sixth 
 year of his age. " He met death," says Macaulay, " with the same tranquil 
 and decorous fortitude which he had opposed to all the trials of his various 
 and eventful life."
 
 1787.] ( 93 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Eulogy of Warren Hastings Likeness to Uncle Toby " This, too, will 
 pass " The Indian King and his Three Favourites Mrs. Hastings 
 accepts " Eosetta " Mr. Hastings's Opinion of Indian Histories Mr. 
 Surges Moves for an Account of the Expenditure A Scene in the 
 House of Commons A Skirmish with Sheridan A War of Words 
 with Burke Sheridan's Speech on the Oudh Begums Mr. Burges's 
 Tactical Error Burke's Eevenge Extract from the "Letters of 
 Simpkin the Second" At the Eoyal Levde The Prettiest Spot in 
 the Island The King's Displeasure with the Managers Mr. Burges 
 at Hendon Anecdote of the Duke of Kent. 
 
 DUKING the winter session of 1787-88 Mr. Burges appears 
 to have occupied apartments in Fludyer Street, while Mrs. 
 Burges and her three children James George, Clara Maria, 
 and Charles Montolieu remained at their country-house, at 
 Nantcribba, in Montgomeryshire. He was, however, a very 
 regular and communicative correspondent, and if generally 
 on good terms with himself he was evidently anxious that 
 his wife should take an active interest in all that was 
 passing around him. In matters that presented any 
 difficulty he was usually guided by his wife's judgment, 
 which appears to have been remarkably sound and based on 
 the loftiest principles. The allusions to Warren Hastings 
 in his confidential letters were frequent, and often in the 
 highest degree interesting. Mr. Burges, being naturally 
 sensitive and tender-hearted, was deeply moved by the 
 painful position in which his friend was placed, chiefly
 
 94 MORAL TORTURE. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 through a network of abominable intrigue, and his sympathy 
 was naturally extended to Mrs. Hastings, to whom he always 
 refers in terms of commiseration. On the 23rd of February 
 1788, he thus wrote to Mrs. Surges : 
 
 The conduct of Mr. Hastings on his trial impressed me 
 with a still more exalted idea of his character than I had 
 previously entertained. Exposed as he is to the torrent of 
 abuse and Billingsgate invective publicly thrown upon him 
 every morning, he has never yet shown a trace of passion, 
 and even his countenance has hardly ever altered. "You 
 cannot imagine," he said to me, " what my struggles are 
 when I hear the atrocious calumnies of Mr. Burke and Mr. 
 Fox. My spirit sometimes rises and almost gets the better 
 of my resolution. They charge me with cruelty and 
 oppression, with injustice and tyranny ; but I never was so 
 cruel, oppressive, tyrannical, and unjust to any man as they 
 are to me. Do they think it nothing to submit to their 
 obloquy, and patiently endure insults which no man ever 
 yet bore with patience? I try to bear it all like a man. 
 When I quit my house in the morning I summon all my 
 courage. I prepare my mind and my body to undergo the 
 tortures of the rack without flinching. I say to myself, They 
 may tear me limb from limb, but they shall not make me 
 degrade myself. God knows, I would not inflict such a 
 punishment upon them, whatever cause I have to hate them. 
 I would not hurt them, however much I despise and abhor 
 them." " That I am sure he would not, Mr. Burges," cried 
 Mrs. Hastings. " Do you know, notwithstanding all they 
 say, I sometimes laugh at him for being like Uncle Toby, 
 is so tender-hearted that he won't kill a fly, and even in 
 India he used to scold me for killing a mosquito when I 
 caught it stinging me. He used to say, 'Let the poor 
 tiring go. The little drop of your blood is a feast to it.' " And 
 then she burst into tears. 
 
 Mr. Hastings is fond of eastern anecdotes, which he fre- 
 quently introduces either to illustrate his own situation, or 
 to indicate the grounds on which he builds his resolution and 
 confidence under persecution. Two of these will perhaps 
 entertain you. " When I reflect," said he, " upon my present 
 circumstances, when I listen to the railings of my accusers, 
 and when my spirit rises up against them, I call to mind the
 
 1788.] TWO EASTERN ANECDOTES. 95 
 
 story of an Indian king whose temper never knew a medium, 
 and who in prosperity was hurried into extravagance by his 
 joy, while in adversity grief overwhelmed him with de- 
 spondency. Having suffered many inconveniences through 
 this weakness, he gave notice that on his forthcoming birth- 
 day the most acceptable present which any of his courtiers 
 could make would be a sentence short enough to be 
 engraved on a ring, and suggesting a remedy for the 
 grievance of which he complained. Many phrases were 
 accordingly proposed, but not one that was satisfactory, until 
 his daughter came forward and offered him an emerald on 
 which were engraved two Arabic words, the literal translation 
 
 which is 'This, too, will pass.' The king embraced his 
 child, and declared that she was wiser than all his wise men. 
 Now," continued Mr. Hastings, " when I appear at the Bar, 
 and hear the violent invectives of rny enemies, I arm myself 
 with patience. I reflect upon the mutability of human life, 
 and say to myself, ' This, too, will pass.' " 
 
 In the course of the evening I happened to express 
 some surprise that sensible, intelligent men, like Fox and 
 Burke, the self-appointed champions of humanity, could 
 derive any gratification from wounding the feelings of a man 
 whom they knew to be undeserving of the evil things they 
 said. "My dear sir," Mr. Hastings exclaimed, "they are 
 men whose own feelings are callous, and who have no idea 
 of any sufferings but those of the body. They cannot under- 
 stand that a man can feel any pain but what results from 
 stripes, imprisonment, or poverty. I will tell you a story of 
 another Indian king, who had three favourites his vizier, his 
 steward, and his body servant. One morning he wakened 
 from an unpleasant dream, with a frown on his brow. His 
 favourites appeared before him. He took offence at their 
 manner of accosting him, and his fury increased when they 
 tendered apologies. He frowned at his vizier and com- 
 manded him to withdraw. His steward he ordered into 
 confinement on bread and water, and he sentenced his body 
 servant to be whipped within an inch of his life. The night 
 following the king slept well and arose in good humour. 
 The harshness with which he had treated his favourites the 
 day before afflicted him, and he immediately sent to inquire 
 after them. The first account he received was that the 
 vizier, on retiring from his presence, had shut himself up and 
 died of <nief. The second messenger brought him word that
 
 96 THE DUCHESS OF GORDON. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 the steward had refused to eat the bread and water, and had 
 wept bitterly over his disgrace and the loss of his usual 
 food. The third messenger informed him that he had found 
 the body servant with his back covered with plaisters, but 
 eating, drinking, and singing, and more than half drunk. 
 The king reflected for a moment, and then murmured, ' Why 
 did I not consider that to a virtuous mind disgrace is a 
 severer punishment than starvation or stripes ? ' ' 
 
 Mr. Burges's intimacy with Warren Hastings grew still 
 closer as time went on, and was creditable alike to the young 
 enthusiast at the outset of his political career, and to the 
 careworn statesman who had built up a commercial factory 
 into an imperial fabric. So high an opinion had the ex- 
 Governor-General formed of his zealous admirer that he 
 permitted him to present Mrs. Hastings with " Eosetta," a 
 saddle-horse that had apparently been the property of 
 Mrs. Burges. In writing to his wife to inform her that the 
 horses were to be again advertised in the World on the 
 morrow, Mr. Burges tells her what he has done, and 
 deprecates her displeasure until they meet, when he hopes to 
 satisfy her that he has acted quite rightly. " She is a very 
 fortunate little mare," he remarks in conclusion, " for she has 
 got into a service where she will be treated very kindly." 
 The worthy gentleman was not proof against sympathetic 
 tears and broken English fluently spoken. 
 
 In those days there were ladies who loved to make them- 
 selves as conspicuous as do certain of their successors at the 
 present day. In one of his letters to his wife Mr. Burges 
 mentions the beautiful and witty Duchess of Gordon as\ 
 leaning over the gallery in Westminster Hall and clapping 
 her hands at an incident favourable to Warren Hastings, 
 as though she had been in a playhouse, or at the Opera. 
 On another occasion he writes : " There was a curious 
 phenomenon in our House last night no less than Lady
 
 1788.] LADY WALLACE. 97 
 
 , Wallace sitting in the front row of the gallery, apparelled 
 in a brown scratch wig, coat, waistcoat, breeches, and boots. 
 She came in at a little past eleven yesterday morning, and 
 sat out the whole debate, till she was forced to retire with 
 the others on the division at seven this morning " (March 
 4th, 1788). In the third volume of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall's 
 ' Posthumous Memoirs ' it is stated that this lady was one 
 of the three daughters of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, 
 and consequently sister to the celebrated Duchess of Gordon. 
 She possessed great personal charms, and obtained an un- 
 pleasant notoriety through her eccentric manners and con- 
 versation. Habited as a man, she frequently sat in the 
 Strangers' Gallery. She was married to a Scotch baronet, 
 Sir Thomas Wallace of Craigie, against whom she brought 
 an action for adultery, which she failed to prove, but never- 
 theless refused to live with him afterwards. In 1794 she 
 embarked for Hamburg, with the avowed intention of con- 
 ferring with Dumouriez. Her death took place at Munich, 
 to the relief of all her relatives and acquaintances. She 
 wrote a comedy entitled, ' Ton ; or, Follies of Fashion,' which 
 for three nights filled Covent Garden Theatre from pit 
 to gallery, the characters being all well known people of the 
 fashionable world. It is clever and spirited, but is spoilt by 
 frequent passages much too indelicate for the taste of the 
 present day. It was given for the first time on the 8th of 
 April, 1788, with a prologue by Jekyll, delivered by Farren, 
 and an epilogue by Captain Morris and Captain Topham, 
 delivered by Mrs. Wells; but neither the one- nor the other 
 rises above a tame mediocrity. The following notice of the 
 piece appears in the May number of the ' European Maga- 
 zine ': " This comedy, the production of a muse of quality, 
 is deficient in plot, situation, character, and business; and 
 though supported by a party who evidently came to applaud 
 
 H
 
 98 A JUDICIOUS BOTTLE-HOLDER. [CHAP. A r T. 
 
 in all events, yet met with so much opposition as to oblige 
 the manager to abandon it after the third night. Lady 
 Wallace appears, however, to possess considerable talents, 
 though not calculated for the theatre. In the course of the 
 piece there were many happy turns of wit, with some points 
 of satire properly directed. The general intention of the 
 play was good, and the actors, though many of them were 
 shamefully imperfect, would very evidently have done justice 
 to the performance, had it met with the approbation of the 
 audience." A copy of this play was sent by Mr. Burges to 
 his wife to amuse her lonely hours at Nantcribba. 
 
 Mr. Burges may be said to have inherited from his father 
 a strong friendship for General Caillaud, a highly distin- 
 guished Indian officer whom Burke quite gratuitously in- 
 sulted, charging him with the deliberate murder of an Indian 
 prince some years before. The General hurried up to town 
 with the intention of vindicating his honour in the old- 
 fashioned way, but was dissuaded from so doing by his 
 young friend, in whose hands he placed the arrangement of 
 the business. A parliamentary course of procedure was 
 accordingly adopted in preference, but as all public interest 
 in the matter has long since evaporated it is unnecessary to 
 go into particulars. The steadfastness and prudence dis- 
 played on this occasion by Mr. Burges were worthy of a 
 much older man, and were heartily commended by all who 
 were cognisant of the facts of the case. It may interest 
 Anglo-Indians to learn that Mr. Hastings characterised 
 Dow's ' History of Hindostan ' as " mere trash, and not worth 
 the reading," but he does not appear to have explained that 
 it was a translation from the Persian of Ferishta. He 
 naturally preferred Orrne's narrative of the ' Military Trans- 
 actions of the British Nation in Hindostan,' though his 
 praise did not extend beyond the first half of the first of the
 
 1788.] HOOKS ON INDIA. 99 
 
 four quarto volumes. He recommended Mr. Burges, how- 
 ever, to procure James Eraser's 'History of Nadir Shah,' 
 and Scrapton's ' Hindostan/ as the best works then written 
 on the subject of India. These books and Lady Wallace's 
 play Mr. Burges accordingly sent down to his wife in the 
 country. The following letter to Mrs. Burges illustrates a 
 curious episode in the Warren Hastings trial. It is dated 
 May 10th, 1788 : 
 
 Just half an hour ago [apparently at 7.30 A.M.] I quitted 
 the House of Commons, where I had the pleasure of passing 
 the whole night on Sir Elijah Impey's business. At that 
 hour Sir Gilbert Elliot* on the part of the impeachment, 
 and I against it, told the House, and my side proved vic- 
 torious. In the course of the evening some remarkable tilings 
 happened. I made my motion for an account of the money 
 expended on Hastings's trial, in which I was most strongly and 
 handsomely supported by Pitt. After some vapouring from 
 Eox and Burke, the motion was carried, and the account may 
 be expected in a few days. Some hours afterwards, Sir James 
 Johnson thought fit to get into a serious scrape ; first, by 
 attempting to turn Mr. Sumner out of his place ; then, by 
 
 * Afterwards Earl of Minto, Governor-General of India. In familial- 
 letters to intimate friends, Mountstuart Elphinstone was fond of referring 
 to Lord Minto as " Gibbie Elliot of Stobs," in allusion to an ancestor 
 known in the district, says Lady Minto, as " Gibbie wi the gowden 
 garters." As yet quite a young man, Sir Gilbert Minto was fascinated 
 by the glamour of the remarkable clique then composed of Burke, Fox, 
 Sheridan, Windham, Pelham, and Grey, but declined to take an active 
 part in the impeachment of Warren Hastings, who had shown much 
 kindness to his deceased brother Alexander, a writer on the Bengal es- 
 tablishment. He was therefore deputed to impeach Sir Elijah Irnpey, in 
 which he failed, though through no want of ability or earnestness on his 
 part. At a later period he greatly distinguished himself as Minister 
 Plenipotentiary to the Italian States and Viceroy of Corsica. He was 
 subsequently sent as Ambassador to Vienna at a critical moment, and 
 acquitted himself to the entire satisfaction of the Government. His 
 character, as delineated by his great-niece the Countess of Minto, appears 
 to have been singularly good and noble. Children took to him by instinct 
 and adhered to him by affection. 
 
 H 2
 
 100 AN EXCITING SCENE. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 complaining aloud that the said Sumner would not stir ; and 
 lastly by threatening to knock Lord Mornington down for 
 advising him to be quiet. He very narrowly escaped being 
 sent to Newgate, which he most certainly would have been 
 had he not asked pardon on his knees *. . . David Murray 
 played me false and did not come down to second my motion, 
 but his place was well supplied by my never-failing friend 
 Sir William Dolben, who entirely concurred with my views. 
 X.You do not as yet know the immediate reason of my 
 standing forward on this occasion. I did not mention it 
 before, lest you might take alarm where no danger was. A 
 few days previously there had been a division in the House, 
 in which I went into the lobby with Mr. Pitt. As we were 
 beginning to talk together, Sheridan came up and, addressing 
 me, desired to know whether I continued in my resolution of 
 attacking him and the rest about the expense of the trial. I 
 told him I meant to move on that subject, though I hoped 
 there would be no occasion to make an attack. " Why," said 
 he, " there can be no occasion for you to do so. You cannot 
 suppose the business will last much longer." " No," I 
 replied, " not more than three or four years, if one may judge 
 from the progress you have already made." " Nay," Pitt 
 remarked, " that can never be, for I am sure they do not 
 mean to go through all the charges." " Of that," I answered, 
 " I am no judge ; but, at all events, a little inquiry into your 
 
 * In the ' European Magazine ' it is reported tbat Sir James Johnstone 
 and Sir Michael Le Fleming entered the House while Sir Kichard Sutton 
 was defending Sir Elijah Impey. The former complained that a gentleman 
 (Mr. Sumner) had taken his seat and refused to give it up, though he had 
 left his hat and card upon it. Lord Mornington, with more good nature 
 than prudence, tried to soothe the angry Scot, and was answered with 
 scant civility. Pitt then moved that the House be resumed, whereupon 
 Sir James protested his readiness to make any apology to the House ; he 
 venerated the House, he was down upon his knees to apologise for any 
 inadvertency on his part. Grenville mildly suggested that he should 
 " make some submission to the noble lord." " Submission to him ! '' 
 he cried. " I'll be d d if I do. I'll meet him, if he likes, to-morrow 
 morning." The Speaker here offered a few conciliatory remarks, and Lord 
 Mornington followed in the same strain. Whereupon the irate baronet, 
 who had been dining not wisely but too well, shook hands with him, 
 and there the affair ended. Wraxall says that Sir James Johnstone was 
 " cast in a Herculean mould, of an uncouth aspect, rude address, and almost 
 gigantic proportions."
 
 1788.] COLLISION WITH BURKE. 101 
 
 proceedings can do no harm." "If you are positively 
 determined," said Sheridan, " I cannot help it ; but I will 
 plainly tell you what we mean to do. Our purpose is to 
 enter only upon one charge more that of the presents. 
 With that we shall certainly conclude, and hope to get 
 through it before the summer recess, for it must be very 
 short." " Why," exclaimed Pitt, " don't you mean to take\ 
 up the opium contract, and one or two more in the contract' 
 charge ? I thought there was impeachable ground there, and 
 am surprised you should not take it up now." " No," said 
 Sheridan, " we don't think of it ; we shall confine ourselves 
 to the presents. Now," he continued, turning to me, " do ' 
 you seriously mean to persist in your attack ? " "I certainly 
 mean to persist in my inquiry," I replied, " because I hold 
 myself bound to let the public know how their money is 
 disposed of." " Well," he said, " you will then drive us to 
 say publicly what I have now told you, but I hope you 
 will think better of it." After that we all three walked 
 into the House to be told, and nothing further passed just 
 then. But last Thursday sennight, when an account of the 
 money actually issued from the Exchequer on account of Mr. 
 Hastings's trial was laid before the House, I happened to 
 be in the midst of a group of managers, and, turning to Burke, 
 I said, " We don't get much intelligence from this, for there 
 is no account of particulars, and a survey of your proceedings 
 must be extremely curious. I have a great mind to move 
 for it, but I can't do that without your permission, Mr. 
 Burke, who are the general." On this he flew into a passion, 
 asked me what I meant by saying such a thing to him, and 
 told me I was at liberty to do as I pleased. " But mark 
 this, sir," he continued, " if you do what you say, I shall 
 consider it as a personal attack upon myself, which I shall 
 despise." "Will you, really ? " I asked. " Yes," he answered, 
 " I shall consider it a personal attack upon myself." " I am 
 very glad to hear it," I replied, " for then you may be assured 
 I shall make the motion, and you may take what course you 
 please." Several of his friends afterwards came to me, and 
 tried to prevail upon me not to do so. My answer was, " If 
 Mr. Burke had had common sense, he would have acted 
 differently. As he has thought fit to set me at defiance, he 
 will find he has mistaken his man. He is perfectly at 
 liberty to consider what I am about to do as a personal 
 attack. Whether he does so or not, I trust he will feel it to
 
 102 MR. BURGES'S MOTION. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 so before many days have elapsed." Yesterday morning, 
 however, he thought fit to alter his tone, or rather to move 
 his battery from me to Pitt, for to me he was extremely 
 civil, and to him he was very rude. Pitt, in return, threshed 
 him handsomely. I believe the whole kingdom will applaud 
 us for having thus brought the prosecutors to their trial. 
 
 Burke went so far as to characterise an assertion made by 
 Pitt as untrue, and was reminded that such expressions were 
 unusual in Parliament, and in the society of gentlemen, but 
 that he had grown accustomed to extraordinary licence of 
 speech in another place. The other retorted that Pitt was 
 very seldom in that other place, and derived his information 
 from whisperers and talebearers. To Mr. Burges, Burke was 
 rather sarcastic than " extremely civil." The former having 
 said that he was neither to be talked out of his purpose nor 
 intimidated by angry words, Mr. Burke begged him to be 
 assured that, as he had no expectation of altering his deter- 
 mination by any arguments he might use, so neither should 
 he attempt to intimidate him, which he believed would be 
 equally unsuccessful. He added that he quite understood 
 Mr. Burges's allusion, but he really never entertained any 
 idea of the kind. The managers, unlike Ministers on a vote 
 of censure, having abstained from taking any part in the 
 division, Mr. Burges's motion was carried by a majority of 
 sixty to seventeen. In a letter to his wife Mr. Burges 
 suggests the possibility of being made the hero of a second 
 ' Eolliad,' except that Dr. Lawrence was probably aware that 
 he would not submit to his insolence so quietly as Mr. Eolle 
 had done. ' The Eolliad,' however, did contain an allusion to 
 himself in Dundas's apocryphal journal for October, 1787. 
 
 After some dispraise of George Hardinge* for making 
 
 
 
 "~\ * Dr. Lawrence was only one of the authors of ' The Rolliad,' and the 
 least brilliant. Among his contributors were Tickell, General Fitzpatrick, 
 Lord John Townshend, Bate Dudley, and O'Bcirne, afterwards Bishop of
 
 1788.] A TACTICAL ERROR. 103 
 
 so many blunders, the question is asked, " Won't do for 
 
 Chancellor , why not try Burgess ? " In contemporary 
 
 writings the name is usually spelt with two "s's." Even 
 Lord Malmesbury, who corresponded with him while Under 
 Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was guilty of that mistake. On 
 the 13th of March, 1795, while dancing attendance on Princess 
 Caroline of Brunswick, in writing to Commodore Payne the 
 Prince of Wales's friend, " Jack " Payne Lord Malmesbury 
 remarks, "I send you one (letter) I received from Mr. 
 Burgess." 
 
 The expenses of the trial in Westminster Hall were enor- 
 mous. The first twenty-five days absorbed 13,000, and as 
 there seemed every likelihood of the business going on for 
 some years, there was really good reason to call for a proper 
 account of disbursements. The papers produced being 
 insufficient, Mr. Burges undertook to demand something 
 more ample and explicit, but he committed a tactical error in 
 choosing the very evening after Sheridan's great speech on 
 the Oudh Begums. It might be, as Fox and Lord Grenville 
 averred, that Sheridan had surpassed this demonstration of 
 perfervid eloquence on former occasions, but it is certain that 
 its effect upon all who heard it was electrical. "The 
 curiosity of the public to hear him," Macaulay wrote, " was 
 unbounded. His sparkling and highly finished declamation 
 lasted two days; but the hall was crowded to suffocation 
 during the whole time. It was said that fifty guineas had 
 
 Meath. In the ' Memoirs of Lsetitia Matilda Hawkins,' vol. i. p. 360, 
 George Hardinge is described by her brother as a man of great parts, 
 whose legal attainments entitled him to aspire to the highest distinction, 
 had it not been that indomitable indolence and a certain spice of Bohe- 
 mianism prevented him from making any serious efforts to push himself 
 forward. Nevertheless, he was nominated Solicitor-General to the Queen 
 in 1782, a Welsh Judge in 1787, and Attorney-General to Her Majesty 
 in 1789. His uncle was Lord Camden.
 
 104 A MATTER OF FINANCE. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 been paid for a single ticket. Sheridan, when he concluded, 
 contrived, with a knowledge of stage effect which his father 
 might have envied, to sink back, as if exhausted, into the 
 arms of Burke, who hugged him with the energy of generous 
 admiration." It was on that same evening Mr. Burges i 
 was so ill advised as to play the part of the "justum, et 
 tenacem propositi virum," heedless alike of the "civium 
 ardor prava jubentium," and of the "vultus instantis 
 tyranni " in this instance represented by Mr. Burke. It was 
 an imprudent thing to do, but at least it argued self-possession 
 and earnestness, and did not at all merit the contemptuous 
 allusion to be found in Mrs. Oliphant's ' Memoir of Sheridan ' 
 (pp. 145-6). It is there written : 
 
 In the sitting of the House held on the 6th of June, after an 
 exciting morning spent in Westminster Hall, a certain Mr. 
 Burgess (sic), the same pertinacious person who had risen to 
 speak in favour of Hastings while still St. Stephen's was 
 resounding with applause and inarticulate with emotion on 
 the day of Sheridan's first speech, got up once more, while all 
 minds were again occupied by the same subject, to call the 
 attention of the House to some small matter of finance. He 
 was transfixed immediately by the spear of Burke. 
 
 The preference of theatrical declamation to prosaic consider- 
 ations of finance, is delightfully feminine. To Sheridan and 
 his colleagues, however, it would have been no small matter 
 of finance had Mr. Burges succeeded in cutting off, or even 
 in sensibly diminishing, their pecuniary supplies. To Burke 
 it was always an easy matter to simulate passion and pour 
 forth any required amount of verbiage. In Adolphus's 
 remarkably accurate and dispassionate History we may read 
 how Burke offered Mr. Burges his warmest congratulations 
 on having chosen that glorious day after the triumph of 
 the morning, to fill up the happy interval between
 
 1788.] BURKKS REVENGE. 105 
 
 the adjournment of the trial and their rising by asking 
 them to examine the items of a solicitors' bill. " This pro- 
 ceeding alone was fit to follow his first onset within these 
 walls, when he had stood up and boldly ventured for a long 
 time, singly and unseconded, to call for the attention of the 
 House, after every other member had been struck dumb 
 with astonishment and admiration at the wonderful eloquence 
 of his honourable friend (Mr. Sheridan), who had that day 
 again surprised the thousands who hung with rapture on his 
 accents, by a display of talents unparalleled in the annals of 
 oratory, and which did the highest honour to himself, to the 
 House, and to his country. For his part, Mr. Burke added, 
 his mind was not sufficiently let down from the height of 
 exaltation to which it had been raised ; it required a degree 
 of bending, of wetting, and of relaxation, to sink his thoughts 
 to the level of the proposed inquiry. After the sublime and\ 
 glorious feast of the morning, this curious speculation on 
 minute particulars indicated to him the intention of Provi- 
 dence that man should not be proud, but that ecstacy of the 
 mind should be checked and cooled by some sudden mortifi- 
 cation and disgrace. ... If any man doubted the solicitors' 
 charges, let Mm call the solicitors to the Bar, and examine 
 them." The motion, of course, collapsed, being superseded by 
 the order of the day.* 
 
 The further references to Mr. Warren Hastings and his 
 trial which occasionally crop out in Mr. Burges's letters no 
 longer possess any particular interest. He alludes, indeed, in 
 terms of commendation to " The Letters of Simpkin the 
 Second, Poetic Recorder of all the Proceedings upon the 
 Trial of Warren Hastings, Esq., in Westminster Hall," and it 
 
 * Adolphus's ' History of the Keign of George III.,' vol. vi. pp. 149-50. 
 It must not be forgotten that on the former occasion Mr. Burges rose with 
 considerable reluctance, and only in deference to the urgent request of 
 Mr. Pitt.
 
 106 SIMPKIN THE SECOND. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 is possible that they may at the time have afforded some 
 amusement to Mr. Hastings and his friends. They were 
 written by Captain Kalph Broome of the Bengal Army, and 
 originally appeared in the World. They are supposed to 
 have been composed for the benefit of sympathising friends 
 in Wales, but it must be admitted that the humour, such as 
 it was, has since lost its flavour. Perhaps the least insipid 
 passage in the little volume published by John Stockdale, 
 " opposite Burlington-House," is the following extract : 
 
 "There I found Mrs. Wells who, for new imitations, 
 Might challenge with safety all countries and nations; 
 With resemblance surprising, she imitates all 
 The speakers that figure in Westminster Hall. 
 When like Fox I observe her with vehemence speak, 
 She has got to the life his rat-tat and his squeak. 
 When she imitates Edmund, the Irishman's tone 
 Is so like, that you'd swear 'twas the orator's own; 
 To his mode of pronouncing surprisingly true, 
 When she speaks of the Bheagum and Canta Bah-Bhoo (Baboo). 
 And when she's repeating what Anstruther said, 
 You have Saturn before you, the father of lead. 
 Then, all of a sudden, she changes the play 
 And shews her white teeth as politely as Grey. 
 When reading like Erskine, she lises and drops, 
 And is equally careful in minding her stops. 
 There is not one speaker, as far as I find, 
 Save only the clerk, who can leave her behind." 
 
 On the 26th of February Mr. Burges was honoured at the 
 levee by the King's special .notice. His Majesty began the 
 conversation by asking how long he had been in town, and 
 was answered: 
 
 " Since the meeting of Parliament, Sir." " Where was 
 you before you came to town ? " " In Montgomeryshire, 
 Sir." " Oh, but I mean where did you pass the summer ? " 
 " At my own house in Montgomeryshire, Sir." " What 
 part of the county do you live in ? " " In the centre
 
 1788.] ROYAL AFFABILITY. 107 
 
 of the vale, Sir." "I am told that it is a very beautiful 
 county." " Extremely so, Sir." " They say it is the prettiest 
 spot in the island." " I think it is, Sir." ' Did you ever see 
 a prettier place in England ? " "I don't think I ever did, 
 Sir." " Did you ever see so pretty a place anywhere else ? " 
 " Never. Sir, except the Tyrolese Alps and the Lago Maggiore." 
 " Those are very pretty places, I believe ; but yours is 
 certainly a beautiful country." [On the 7th of May Mr. Burges 
 attended another levee, and was again singled out by His 
 Majesty :] When my turn came he gave me the usual dose 
 of weather, and, as I thought, was moving off ; but, to my 
 surprise, he commenced a conversation, so remarkable, con- 
 sidering the subject and the person to whom it was addressed, 
 that I made a note of it immediately after quitting St. 
 James's. The strokes between the sentences should be filled 
 up with my replies, but as they are obvious and of no 
 importance, it requires no stretch of genius to imagine them. 
 "Vastly unpleasant business, this trial." "When will it 
 end ? " " It puts a stop to all public business." " They tell 
 me there are about 140 causes in arrear in the Court 
 of Chancery." "It has taken a year to get through two 
 charges." " I should like to see a calculation of the time it 
 probably will last." " It must be some years." " It is a 
 very unfortunate business." " The Chancellor [Lord Thurlow] 
 must be tired to death." " I am glad to see him look so 
 well." " I shall be happy when it is over." " It never 
 should have been brought forward." " The managers do not 
 seem to understand their business. There is a great difference 
 between those who are Counsel and those who are not, in 
 examining witnesses." "The managers ought to have con- 
 sidered this before they undertook the business." 
 
 Mr. Pitt's coldness of demeanour after the division taken 
 by Mr. Burges became so exasperating to the latter that he 
 determined to have a full explanation on the subject with 
 Lord Carmarthen, with the intention of resigning his seat in 
 Parliament if it were not satisfactory. As the representative 
 of a Minister he was, of course, expected to support the 
 Government whenever his vote was required. To this he 
 had no objection, being at heart a believer in their policy, but
 
 108 A CHARLATAN REBUKED. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 he demurred to being treated as a bondsman who had no 
 option as to acting otherwise. Accordingly he asked for an 
 interview, and was invited to pass a day at Hendon. The 
 result was all that could be desired. Lord Carmarthen was 
 confidential as well as communicative, and Mr. Burges 
 returned to town on the morrow much relieved in mind, and 
 with all bitterness of feeling mitigated if not removed. In 
 the course of conversation Lord Carmarthen told an anecdote 
 of the Duke of Kent, father of our gracious Sovereign Queen 
 Victoria, which has already appeared in print, but will bear 
 repetition. The magistrates of Berne had invited Prince\ 
 Edward to a superb banquet, and, " by way of providing 
 suitable company for him, had also invited the famous Count 
 Cagliostro. The Count sat next to the Prince, and, at dinner, 
 filling his glass, drank to the health of our King in the 
 following manner : " Monseigneur, je bois a la sante du 
 Eoi de 'Great Britain.' J'aime beaucoup boire a sa sante 
 parce qu'il est si bon roi." Shortly afterwards he thought 
 proper to toast our Queen's health, assigning as his reason 
 that she was " une si bonne reine." Nettled at this insolent 
 familiarity, the Prince filled his glass and turning to the 
 Count, said : " Je bois a la sante du Roi de France. J'aime 
 beaucoup boire a sa sante, parce qu'il chasse les coquins de 
 son royaume."
 
 1788.] ( 109 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Horrors of the Middle Passage Mr. Burges and Imprisoned Debtors 
 Lord Thurlow The King's Illness The Rev. Dr. Willis The King's 
 Amendment Defection from Pitt of " Single-Speech " Hamilton and 
 Lord Malmesbury Mr. Burke slighted by Pitt A Strained Coin- 
 cidence The King's Wet-Nurse Lady Archibald Hamilton Thanks- 
 giving in St. Paul's Cathedral The Duke of Cumberland's Speech 
 The Duke of York's Duel with Colonel Lennox A Severe Winter 
 Uniform of the Constitutional Club Death of Mr. Speaker Cornwall 
 Election of " Bogey " Grenville Succeeded by Mr. Addington 
 Mr. Pitt's Indebtedness Mr. Burges publishes a Pamphlet Difference 
 with the Duke of Leeds Appointed Under Secretary of State in the 
 Foreign Department. 
 
 IT must not, however, be supposed that Mr. Burges narrowed 
 his benevolence to sympathy with Warren Hastings. Far 
 from it. As a practical philanthropist he gavie a steady 
 support to Wilberforce in his arduous crusade against slavery. 
 He was also a zealous associate of Sir William Dolben in 
 mitigating the horrors of the Middle Passage. At that time, 
 according to Bishop Tomline, the space allotted to each slave 
 on board ship was 5 feet in length by 16 inches in width, 
 and the intervals between decks or platforms varied from 24 
 to 30 inches. The mortality during an average voyage of six 
 weeks amounted to 12 per cent., or at the rate of cent, per 
 cent, per annum, and it must be remembered that there were 
 comparatively few women and children, and no males beyond 
 the prime of life. Sir William Dolben was vehemently 
 opposed by the merchants of Bristol and Liverpool, for much 
 the same reasons that moved the silversmiths of Ephesus to
 
 110 THE MIDDLE PASSAGE. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 object to the preaching of St. Paul. Well-meaning persons 
 too were found who feared lest a Bill to humanise the treat- 
 ment on board ship should seem to legalise and approve the 
 traffic in human beings, apart from its incidental hardships. 
 In a letter to his wife, dated May 13th, 1788, Mr. Burges 
 thus describes the result of an exploration he had undertaken 
 that morning in the company of Sir William Dolben, with a 
 view to obtaining positive facts illustrative of the condition 
 of the hapless negroes during their voyage to the West Indies 
 and America : 
 
 He and I set out this morning in a boat and boarded 
 several Guineamen just ready to sail. We took notes of 
 everything. The most remarkable is the space allotted to 
 the captives. On an average, each person has about as much 
 as would barely suffice for a calf just born. You shall have 
 the particulars of two of the best ships we inspected. They 
 are as follows : The Alfred frigate, burthen 305 tons, pro- 
 poses to take in 500 slaves. The space to be occupied by 
 them measures in height about 5 feet. It is 62 feet in length 
 and 23 in breadth, which gives 34^ square inches for each 
 person. The Maria, burthen 230 tons, proposes to take in 
 400 slaves. The space to be occupied by them measures in 
 height about 5 feet 10 inches. It is 54 feet in length and 20 
 in breadth, which gives 32 f square inches for each person. 
 When you consider the length of time during which human 
 creatures are thus wedged together, the heat of the climate, 
 the horrible stench occasioned by the impossibility of their 
 stirring out from sunset to sunrise, and the circumstance of 
 their being chained two and two by the hand and the leg, 
 you will be able to form some judgment of their situation, 
 and to imagine what misery really is. 
 
 But Mr. Burges was not content to be merely a fellow- 
 worker, walking in the footsteps of other men. He prepared 
 a Bill for the amelioration of the condition of prisoners for 
 debt, and twice carried it through the second reading, but 
 was each time overpowered by the interested opposition of 
 the legal profession, to whom the loss of fees and other
 
 1788.] PRISONERS FOR DEBT. Ill 
 
 emoluments was a matter of weightier consideration than the 
 sufferings of the poor and the oppressed. There were no 
 fewer than 8000 debtors in confinement in London alone, 
 and in 1784 the number had been considerably greater in 
 consequence of the expectation of a new Insolvency Act. 
 The Court of Queen's Bench derived an annual revenue of 
 20,000 from arrests for debt, while the King's Bench prison 
 drew an annual profit of 3000 from the prisoners, besides 
 the gain on the sale of liquor. A creditor, on payment of 
 fourpence a day, could keep a debtor in prison for the re- 
 mainder of his life unless a satisfactory arrangement were 
 made. Upwards of twelve months often elapsed before 
 redress could be obtained for a fraudulent arrest. Mr. Burges 
 himself recapitulates in his letters some of the more flagrant 
 evils he sought to remove or diminish, and some pertinent 
 cases of oppression are cited by his correspondents from 
 different parts of the country. The most formidable opposi- 
 tion Mr. Burges was doomed to encounter was covert and 
 insidious. Professing the greatest sympathy and the warmest 
 interest in the success of his Bill, Lord Chancellor Thurlow 
 laboured in an underhand manner to work out its rejection 
 by Parliament. His character, as sketched by Horace Wai- 
 pole and filled in by the whole tenor of his public life, was 
 repellent and in some respects contemptible. He was natu- 
 rally indolent, unambitious, and strangely unconscious of his 
 remarkable powers, so much so, indeed, that at one time he 
 almost accepted the stewardship of the Duke of Queensberry's 
 estates with a salary of 300 a year. His understanding was 
 sound and comprehensive; his constitution, as regards both 
 mind and body, vigorous and energetic. He was possessed 
 of strong, sterling, good sense, but his temper was crabbed 
 and overbearing, and his manners exceedingly coarse. His 
 pleasures were low, indelicate, and sensual. His pride and
 
 112 LORD THVULOW. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 sullenness vented themselves in a rough, arrogant demeanour, 
 and in a stupid unmeaning practice of seasoning his speech 
 with oaths and imprecations. At the end of a law term he 
 was hurrying out of court without a word of farewell to 
 counsel, when a young barrister muttered loud enough to be 
 overheard, " He might at least have said, ' Damn ye ! " 
 Thereupon he suddenly stopped, turned round, and uttered a 
 few compliments. In ' The Eolliad ' he is described as 
 
 " The rugged Thurlow, who with sullen scowl, 
 In surly mood, at friend and foe will growl." 
 
 According to Walpole he had no virtues, and was destitute 
 of moral principle, which he regarded as a weakness. There 
 was much of the conspirator in his composition. He was 
 fond of intrigue, either to promote his own interests or to 
 undermine an opponent, or even a colleague. It is well 
 known that during the King's great illness Lord Thurlow 
 coquetted with Fox in the hope of still retaining the Seals 
 on the expected dismissal of Pitt, though he had the audacity 
 to exclaim, when His Majesty's recovery was placed beyond 
 .a doubt, " When I forsake my King, may God forsake me!"* 
 Upon which, with irreverent felicity, Wilkes murmured in a 
 stage whisper, " He'll see you d d first." At a later period 
 his systematic obstructiveness compelled Pitt to raise the 
 Hon. William Grenville to the peerage, and finally to get 
 rid of a colleague whose grudging support was more annoying 
 
 ^^ 
 
 than his open enmity. That such a man should play a 
 
 * " It seems scarcely possible to exaggerate the strong impression which 
 \ this half sentence made. Within the House itself the effect was not 
 perhaps so satisfactory. Wilkes, who was standing under the Throne, 
 , eyed the Chancellor askance, and muttered, ' God forget you ! He will 
 see you d d first ! ' Burke at the same moment exclaimed, with equal 
 wit and with no profaneness, ' The best thing that can happen to you ! ' 
 Pitt also was on the steps of the Throne. On Lord Thurlow's impreca- 
 tion he is said to have rushed out of the House, exclaiming several times, 
 ' Oh, what a rascal' ! " Lord Stanhope's ' Life of Pitt,' vol. ii. p. 10.
 
 17HS.] THE KING'S ILLNESS. 110 
 
 double part towards Mr. Burges is not surprising. He could 
 not deny the excellent scope and tendency of the Bill under 
 discussion in the Lower House, nor was there much fault to 
 find with its individual clauses. The only objection that 
 could be urged against it was the pecuniary loss that would 
 be inflicted upon a profession even then thought to be over- 
 crowded. In any case, he took care that the Bill should not 
 be carried. 
 
 The great event of the period under review was the King's 
 insanity. It began with a bilious attack on the 12th of 
 June, 1788, which partially abated and allowed His Majesty 
 to proceed to Cheltenham. Deriving no benefit from the 
 waters the King returned to Windsor on the 16th of August, 
 and shortly afterwards symptoms of mental derangement 
 began to be observable. By the 24th of October the terrible 
 nature of the malady had become unmistakable. A violent 
 fever set in, and the life of the royal patient was pro- 
 nounced in imminent danger. Three physicians, Sir G. Baker, 
 Dr. Warren, and Dr. Eeynolds, were in constant attendance, 
 and occasionally consulted Sir Lucas Pepys and Dr. Adding- 
 ton, father of the future Prime Minister. On the 3rd of 
 December five physicians appeared before the Privy Council 
 at Whitehall and attested the King's inability to attend to 
 public business of any kind. A few days previously His 
 Majesty had been removed to Kew after an outrageous re- 
 sistance, which ceased, however, on a note from Pitt being 
 read to the royal sufferer. Recourse was at last had to the 
 Rev. Dr. Francis Willis, Rector of St. John's, Wapping, who 
 for twenty-eight years had kept an asylum at Gretford, limited 
 to thirty patients, of whom nine in ten were cured in the 
 space of three months.* The King was predisposed in favour 
 
 * Dr. Willis was joined by his son, Dr. John Willis, who assisted him 
 in his asylum in Lincolnshire. 
 
 i
 
 114 DR. WILLIS'S TREATMENT. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 of Dr. Willis, though he disapproved a clergyman entering 
 upon a secular profession, and accordingly asked him how he 
 reconciled it with his conscience to prefer medical practice 
 to the duties of his sacred calling. "May it please your 
 Majesty," said Willis, " our Saviour went about healing the 
 sick." " Yes," the King replied, " but 1 never heard that he 
 had 700 a year for doing so." Mr. Burges mentions two or 
 three instances of the good effect produced by Dr. Willis's 
 moral influence when harsher measures had proved injurious 
 rather than otherwise. 
 
 On being desired to go to bed, 
 
 " -the King refused, and, on Willis's insisting on it, he flew into a 
 passion and talked in high terms against being dictated to. In 
 proportion as he raised his voice Willis grew more peremptory, 
 speaking always in a steady, resolute tone. At length the 
 King stopped and said with a smile, " Why, doctor, I believe 
 what you say may be right. I will go to bed." " It is not 
 enough," said Willis, " for your Majesty to go to bed. You 
 must be quiet when you are there." The King promised 
 he would, and slept till one o'clock. When he awoke, he 
 wanted to get up, but, on Willis telling him he must again 
 compose himself, turned round and slept till morning. He 
 arose early and breakfasted. When that was over, " Doctor," 
 said he, " though I may not see the Queen, is there any harm 
 in writing to her?" "Far from it," Willis replied, and 
 immediately called for writing materials. The King wrote a 
 long and very sensible letter, full of kind expressions and 
 good wishes for herself and the Princesses. When he had 
 done, he remarked, "Now, doctor, the difficulty is how to 
 send it." " Your Majesty," Willis answered, " may send it 
 by a page." " I ask your pardon," said the King. " I sent 
 one a few days ago by a page to my son York, and I am sure 
 it did not reach him, for I have had no answer." " If your 
 Majesty will allow me," said Willis, " I will carry it myself." 
 " I shall be obliged to you," was the answer, " for you, I 
 know will not deceive me." The letter was accordingly con- 
 veyed to the Queen, who was much pleased at such a mark 
 of the King's affection and returning sense. " Now, madam," 
 said Willis, " I beg favour of your Majesty to answer it."
 
 1788.] DP. WILLIS AND THE KING. 115 
 
 She accordingly wrote a letter, which he took to the King, 
 who appeared extremely happy on getting it. 
 
 After His Majesty had read the letter, Willis observed 
 that his nails were very long, and asked Mm if he would not 
 like to cut them. The King replied that he had wished to 
 do so for some time, but they would not let him have a 
 knife. " That is very odd," said Willis, " but if your Majesty 
 will condescend to make use of mine, you will find it a very 
 good one." The King accordingly took it and cut his nails.* 
 Willis next observed that his beard was very long, and asked 
 if he would not be shaved. The King said, " No ; I always 
 shave myself." " Your Majesty may certainly shave yourself, 
 if you please," was the reply. " Why, do you know r , doctor," 
 said the King, " they refused to let me have a razor, for fear 
 I should cut my throat." " I am surprised, Sir," Willis re- 
 marked, " that such a strange idea should have been enter- 
 tained. Your Majesty has too much wisdom, too great a 
 sense of the duty you owe to yourself and your people, ever 
 to conceive such a thought ; and, above all, your Majesty has 
 too much religion, and too just a sense of the duty you owe 
 to the commands of God, to incur His eternal displeasure." 
 " Most certainly I have ; you talk like a wise and a good 
 man, doctor very differently from those I have had about 
 me. I am obliged to you for it, and am happy to have you 
 here." On this Willis called for the shaving materials. The 
 people present were up in arms, and vehemently remon- 
 strated with Willis ; but he was firm and resolute, and the 
 King shaved himself without more ado. 
 
 The debates on the Regency Bill and the treasonable 
 doctrines of Fox and his friends are treated at considerable 
 length in Mr. Burges's letters, but no new incidents are 
 produced, nor does his narrative materially differ from those 
 with which the reading public has long since been familiar, 
 except that he singles out some particularly disgraceful 
 instances of "ratting."t Among these shameless waiters 
 
 * This is given in the Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xliv. 
 pp. 75-80. 
 
 t Some one asked Lord Carmarthen how Fox came to let the cat out of 
 the bag so soon. "To catch the rats, I suppose," was the prompt reply. 
 
 i 2
 
 116 " SINGLE-SPEECH" HAMILTON. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 upon Providence were Lord Brudenel, whose family and 
 himself might be almost said to owe their daily bread to 
 the King's bounty. Gerard Hamilton, commonly known 
 as " Single-Speech " Hamilton though he really spoke on 
 several occasions was another of the backsliders. 
 
 had [Mr. Burges wrote to his wife] a sinecure place 
 in Ireland, the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, worth about 
 2000 per annum. When disturbances prevailed in that 
 island a few years ago, he applied to Pitt for leave to ex- 
 change it for a pension of 2000 a year on the Irish Estab- 
 lishment. After much importunity Pitt complied with his 
 request. A little later he assured Pitt that he was in great 
 want of money, and asked permission to sell his pension, as 
 Prince Ferdinand and others had done. For a long time 
 Pitt held out against this fresh demand, but at length gave 
 way. Thereupon Hamilton sold his pension for ten years' 
 purchase, which amounted to 20,000. As soon as he had 
 pocketed this money, he went off to Brighthelrnstone, where 
 he insinuated himself into the good graces of the Prince and 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, and was among the first to join the Opposi- 
 tion against Mr. Pitt. 
 
 In some respects Lord Malmesbury's defection was still 
 more pitiable, being ungracious in time and manner. His 
 views from early manhood were in sympathy with those of 
 Fox, but it was from Pitt that he received his appointment 
 as Minister Plenipotentiary at the Hague, with the treatment 
 of an ambassador, and it was also from his hands that he 
 accepted a peerage. Under these circumstances he might 
 fairly have been expected to exercise some forbearance, if 
 not to maintain an absolute neutrality between the two great 
 political rivals. He himself thought that something more 
 
 Another quidnunc inquired if it were true that Fox was suffering from a 
 stomach complaint, and was answered : " It is very likely. He has been 
 eating his own words, and they must have disagreed with him." 
 Burges M8S.
 
 1788.] LORD MALMESBURY. 117 
 
 was required of him. He therefore called upon Pitt, and sat 
 with him for upwards of an hour, during which he fully 
 acknowledged his obligations and assured Mr. Pitt of his 
 eternal gratitude, and particularly said that he only waited 
 for some occasion in which he might be personally concerned, 
 to show him by every exertion, in and out of Parliament, 
 how sincere was his attachment. Two days afterwards he 
 wrote to Pitt a letter, to tell him that he had reflected upon 
 the conversation they had had ; that there were particular 
 reasons which made it impossible for him to take the part 
 he then proposed to do ; and that he hoped he might be 
 excused if he acted with his former friends. To this Pitt\ 
 wrote in reply, that there was no necessity for his Lordship 
 to make any excuse about the matter; that he took it for 
 granted that he (Pitt) must have misunderstood what had 
 been said in their conversation, of which he was now con- 
 vinced that he had not understood a single word ; and that 
 he begged his Lordship would act in any manner he thought 
 proper, without giving himself the trouble of making 
 apologies. At that time Mr. Burges had more than re- 
 covered his former relations with Mr. Pitt, who once more 
 treated him in the most friendly and confidential manner; 
 while his intimacy with Lord Carmarthen still remained un- 
 impaired.* 
 
 No doubt the flatterers of the Prince of Wales were more 
 eager than himself to proclaim the Regency and oust the 
 Ministry. Many of them were needy men, of loose lives, and 
 heavily encumbered with debt, whose only prospect of release 
 
 * Lord Sydney, Secretary of State, wrote to Lord Cornwallis, 21st 
 February, 1789 : " Sir James Harris was created Lord Malmesbury, and 
 took his seat during the King's illness. He desired Lord Carmarthen and 
 me to introduce him. He went to Mr. Pitt and declared his approbation 
 of the intended measures and the restrictions on the Regent's power. He 
 then went to the Prince, and turned to the right about." ' Cornwallis 
 Correspondence,' vol. i. p. 407.
 
 118 BURKE SLIGHTED. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 from the clamorous importunities of creditors lay in their 
 early advent to place and pension. Fox suffered from chronic 
 impecuniosity, Sheridan was always quivering on the verge 
 of ruin, while Burke was ever rushing into extremes. Just 
 then he was not only anxious to provide for himself and his 
 brother Eichard, but he had also a private wrong to avenge 
 on the First Lord of the Treasury. 
 
 \A committee had been appointed to examine the King's 
 physicians. It was composed almost exclusively of Privy 
 Councillors selected from two lists, the one Ministerial, the 
 other supplied by the Opposition. Pitt had to choose twenty- 
 one names from the two lists, Burke's being down on the 
 adverse side. After reading aloud twenty names, Pitt paused 
 for a moment. The scene that ensued is thus described by 
 Mr. Burges : 
 
 the Opposition benches the name of Burke re-echoed. 
 Pitt still remained silent, and Burke's name was repeated yet 
 more loudly. All this time he sat erect with much apparent 
 consequence. When Pitt had kept us all in suspense for a 
 couple of minutes, he very quietly proposed Lord Gower. 
 Burke threw himself back in his seat, crossed his arms 
 violently, and kicked his heels with evident discomposure. 
 [This disgrace presently produced another outburst on the part 
 of Burke.] The question before the House [according to Mr.' 
 Burges] was whether, after the physicians had been examined 
 by the Privy Council on oath, and I heir depositions had been 
 laid on our table, it would be necessary to examine them 
 again, without oath. Burke insisted it would be ; and 
 instanced the case of a divorce where evidence was given in 
 Doctors' Commons, the King's Bench, and the House of 
 Lords, and where, nevertheless, our House always examined 
 the witnesses without oath. " Now, sir," said he, " should a 
 divorce of greater magnitude than any of these come before 
 this House, we should the more insist on our rights." By 
 " divorce " he meant the divorce between the King and his 
 Crown. This gives me a clue to guess at the authors of the 
 following piece of impudence. You may recollect [lie is 
 addressing Mrs. Burges] a poor fellow who has been long
 
 1788.] THE KINO'S NURSE. 119 
 
 remarkable for writing with an uncommonly fine hand upon 
 the pavement in chalk. This morning he wrote the following 
 passage of Scripture on the pavement directly leading to the 
 House of Commons stairs : " And Samuel said unto him, The 
 Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and 
 hath given it to a neighbour who is better than thou." When 
 Burke talked of his " divorce " I mentioned this inscription to 
 the friends around me, who all agreed that the coincidence 
 between them was too great not to come from the same 
 quarter. 
 
 Neither Mr. Burges nor his friends could have been in a 
 very judicial frame of mind to be satisfied with such feeble 
 evidence of a coalition between Burke and the street calli- 
 graphist. Men's judgments, however, were carried away by 
 passion. Few on either side, whether the King's friends or 
 the Prince's followers, were in a condition to distinguish 
 between " a hern and a hernshaw." There was never a shape 
 in the clouds but one party averred it was " like a camel," 
 while the other protested it was " very like a whale," and yet 
 it presented the same form to both. Party feeling ran so 
 high, indeed, that an attempt was made to induce the belief 
 that the King's affliction was of an hereditary character, and 
 derived from his wet-nurse, forgetting that the stigma cast 
 upon His Majesty would affect his children in their turn, 
 including the Prince of Wales himself. The woman, whose 
 name was Smith, was in the service of Lady Archibald 
 Hamilton, and was nurse to her son Sir William Hamilton. 
 She was recommended to the Princess of Wales, the mother 
 of George III., by Lady Archibald Hamilton. She became 
 laundress to the King, and died at an advanced age, having 
 enjoyed the reputation of being a remarkably shrewd, 
 sensible woman. This statement is accepted by Mr. Burges 
 as conclusive, and it is quite possible that the good woman 
 really was thoroughly sound in mind and body. On the 
 other hand, Lady Archibald Hamilton, as depicted by Lord
 
 120 LADY ARCHIBALD HAMILTON. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 Shelburne,* was an intriguing and unscrupulous person. 
 She completely dominated the Princess, and loved to inflict 
 upon her all manner of mortifications, for no other reason 
 than that she was the wife of the Prince of Wales, the avowed 
 " slave and blackamoor " of Lady Archibald. The Prince, 
 indeed,' had promised to marry her on her husband's death, 
 but Lord Archibald Hamilton clung to life with a tenacity 
 that baffled his wife's projects, and in the end she was obliged 
 to consent to the Prince's marriage with the Princess. The 
 King's restoration to health, however, dispersed all these 
 malarious fogs. The political atmosphere once more became 
 free from clouds and thick darkness. Mr. Pitt was confirmed 
 in his place, and his enemies slunk back into the shade. 
 
 Of the interesting scene in St. Paul's Cathedral when 
 George III. proceeded thither in royal state to return thanks 
 for his recovery, Mr. Burges wrote to his wife a very touching 
 description. His letter is dated from Fludyer Street, 25th 
 April, 1789 : 
 
 n Thursday morning I rose at five, dressed and break- 
 fasted. Neither coach nor chair being procurable for love or 
 money I made my way through the mob to the House, where 
 I found Lord Newhaven, and set out with him in his chariot. 
 Our procession consisted of well-nigh 500 carriages, and such 
 was the excellent order maintained by our civil and military 
 protectors that not a single accident, not the slightest inter- 
 ruption, occurred. Lines of soldiers were drawn up on each 
 side. Between them and the rails stood the mob closely 
 wedged. Every window of every house was crowded with 
 ladies and gentlemen. Various booths were erected where 
 such conveniences could be. admitted, covered with company. 
 Other booths were filled with bands of musicians in dominos, 
 who saluted us with marches and loyal tunes. The whole of 
 the circular part of St. Paul's was occupied by the charity 
 children, 6500 in number, who were piled up in two semi- 
 
 * ' Life of William, Earl of Shelburne,' by Lord E. Fitzmaurice, vol. i. 
 pp. 60-62.
 
 1789.] THE KING AT ST. PAUL'S. 121 
 
 circles, one on each side of the passage left for us. As the 
 royal procession entered a band of thirty or forty drums and 
 fifes struck up the " Grenadiers' March ; " and on His 
 Majesty's entrance all the children, accompanied by the 
 organ, sang the Hundredth Psalm. There could not be a 
 nobler burst of sound, but the rest of the music was very 
 indifferent. The King looked tolerably well. His air was 
 composed and thoughtful, but his devotion baffles description. 
 When he came into the choir he stopped, as though struck 
 with the spectacle. He then made a low bow, on recovering 
 from which he burst into tears. When the form of thanks- 
 giving for his restoration to health was about to be read, he 
 seemed to collect himself together. He leaned his head on 
 his hands, which were clasped. By degrees he grew agitated, 
 and when the part descriptive of his late situation was 
 reached, he suddenly extended his arms upwards, fixing his 
 eyes on the ceiling. In this attitude he remained for at 
 least a minute, when he again clasped his hands and drew 
 them towards his breast, still keeping his eyes turned up- 
 wards. Presently nature relieved him from the agony of 
 gratitude that oppressed him by a copious flood of tears. He 
 applied his handkerchief to his eyes ; and the Queen, who had 
 earnestly watched him throughout, was immediately overcome 
 in the same manner.* 
 
 A good story is told of the Duke of Cumberland, whose 
 strong point was not eloquence. The question under discus- 
 
 * Sir Gilbert Elliot, albeit little given to the melting mood, acknow- 
 ledges that when the children struck up the Hundredth Psalm, he found his 
 eyes " running over " and " the bone in (his) throat, winch was the case 
 with many people." He was much struck with the alteration in the 
 King's appearance, especially with his excessive leanness. " His face was 
 as sharp as a knife, and his eyes therefore appeared more prominent than 
 before." He also declares that " in general the King's manner was 
 apparently indifferent ; and he looked about with his opera-glass and 
 spoke to the Queen during the greatest part of the service, very much as 
 if he had been at a play." Sir Gilbert admits that he was so much 
 above the royal couple, who sat, besides, under a canopy, that he had 
 only a bird's-eye view, and did not see distinctly. Moreover, the mot 
 ifordre of his faction was to be incredulous as to the King's recovery. 
 ' Life and Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot, first Earl of Minto,' vol. i. 
 pp. 304-5.
 
 122 THE DUKE OF YORK'S DUEL. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 sion was as to the peers going to St. Paul's in their robes. 
 " My Lords," His Eoyal Highness is reported to have said, 
 " I am of opinion it is proper to go proper. There can be no 
 propriety without propriety. Therefore, if the noble Lord 
 thinks a motion ought to be made, I will move that the 
 Lords do go robed in their robes." 
 
 The Duke of York's duel with Colonel Lennox was men- 
 tioned by Mr. Burges in a letter to his wife dated May 17th, 
 1789 : 
 
 X Some time ago the Prince of Wales was at a dinner (at the 
 Daubigny Club) where a number of Opposition toasts were 
 given. As the bottle went round he called on Colonel 
 Lennox for a toast. He gave Mr. Pitt. The Prince refused 
 to drink it. The altercation grew high, and he told Lennox 
 he was as timorous and pusillanimous as his uncle the Duke 
 of Richmond. On this Lennox very properly dropped the 
 subject, and soon afterwards withdrew. Next morning, on 
 cool reflection, the Prince sent him a message, apologising 
 for what he had said, assuring him he did not mean to 
 affront him, and hoping that he would forget what had passed. 
 Lennox sent a suitable reply, and there the matter seemed to 
 have ended. A few days ago, however, the Duke of York 
 said, before a large company, that he had lately been present 
 when Colonel Lennox, who is in his regiment, had put up 
 with words which no man of honour would bear, and that 
 he had been insulted without resenting it. This was im- 
 mediately earned to Lennox, who, on Saturday morning, 
 walked up to the Duke on parade and repeated what he had 
 heard. " I have a right," he added, " as a gentleman, to ask 
 your Royal Highness what the words were, who spoke them, 
 and from whom you had your information. I conceive that 
 you are bound to tell me, that I may have an opportunity of 
 vindicating my character." The Duke told him he would 
 speak to him when the field-day was over, and accordingly, 
 after the officers had retired to the guard-room, he called 
 Lennox up and told him he would not give him the informa- 
 tion he desired, " but," he continued, " if you conceive yourself 
 injured I am ready to lay aside my rank and give you any 
 satisfaction you desire." " Your Royal Highness," replied 
 Lennox, " may act in any manner you think proper, but I
 
 178U.] A NARROW ESCAPE. 123 
 
 cannot forget that you are a Prince of the Blood and my com- 
 manding officer. If you were not, I should know how to 
 treat you." 
 
 At this point Mr. Burges breaks off his narrative, and 
 repeats the fault of him who " left, half-told, the story of 
 Cambuscan bold." Fortunately, the defect is more easily 
 remedied in one case than in the other. The meeting came off 
 on Wimbledon Common, the Duke being attended by Lord 
 Eawdon, and the Colonel by the Earl of Winchelsea. The 
 Colonel's shot removed one of the Duke's curls,* and on His 
 Royal Highness refusing to fire, the seconds interposed and 
 the affair ended. The officers of the Coldstream Guards, 
 Lennox's regiment, subsequently agreed at a general meeting 
 that he had acted with courage, but not with judgment, 
 though they admitted the circumstances to have been pecu- 
 liarly difficult. Colonel Lennox, however, had not yet heard 
 the last of this curious business. One Theophilus Swift, a 
 very minor poet and in some way connected with Dean 
 Swift's family, wrote to him a most offensive and at the same 
 time ridiculous letter. For this impertinence he was called 
 out and severely wounded. His motive was probably the 
 hope of currying favour with His Royal Highness. 
 
 Mr. Charles Greville,f however, imparts an entirely new 
 colouring to the duel between the Duke and Colonel Lennox. 
 In 1822, he says, he went to Bushey with the Duke of York. 
 " As we passed over Wimbledon Common he showed me the 
 spot where he fought his duel with the Duke of Richmond. 
 He then told me the whole story and all the circumstances 
 which led to it, most of which are in print. That which I 
 
 * " Lord Rawdon always said that by delaying the signal for firing, and 
 thus rendering Colonel Lennox's aim unsteady, he had saved the life of 
 the Duke, whose curl was carried away by his opponent's ball." 'Corn- 
 wallis Correspondence,' vol. i. p. 469 (footnote). 
 
 f ' The Grcvillc Memoirs,' edited by Hy. Eceve, vol. i. p. 62.
 
 124 TALK OF THE TOWN. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 had never beard before was that at a masquerade three masks 
 insulted the Prince of Wales, when the Duke interfered, 
 desired the one who was most prominent to address himself 
 to him, and added that he suspected him to be an officer in 
 his regiment (meaning Colonel Lennox), and if he was he 
 was a coward and a disgrace to his profession; if he was 
 not the person he took him for, he desired him to unmask 
 and he would beg his pardon. The three masks were sup- 
 posed to be Colonel Lennox, the Duke of Gordon, and Lady 
 Charlotte." Sir Gilbert Elliot wrote to his wife on the 30th 
 of May, 1789, that " Colonel Lenox (sic) had been amusing 
 himself all this winter with abusing and insulting the Prince 
 of Wales and the Duke of York in the most scurrilous and 
 blackguard way, both behind their backs and sometimes to 
 their faces." This was done to curry favour with the Queen. 
 He had, so to speak, been forced into the Duke's regiment 
 over the heads of many officers, and without any previous 
 intimation to the Duke. One day, at D'Aubigny's Club, he 
 spoke evil of the Princes and their friends in the presence of 
 the Duke of York, and was sharply called to order by Colonel 
 St. Leger, who indirectly charged him with acting in a cow- 
 ardly manner. H.E.H. afterwards mentioned to someone 
 that Lennox had submitted to language which no gentleman 
 ought to bear. What followed is pretty nearly the same in 
 both versions, except that Sir Gilbert goes on to dwell on the 
 Queen's heartlessness and seeming indifference when told 
 of the danger her son had so narrowly escaped. The King 
 was much agitated by the news, and exhibited the natural 
 emotion to be expected from a parent. The Queen, on the 
 contrary, " heard it all with perfect composure, and without 
 the slightest expression of feeling or agitation." She merely 
 remarked that she understood it was the Duke's own fault. 
 To His Eoyal Highness himself she said, at their first meeting
 
 1789.] A SEVERE WIN TEH. 125 
 
 after the duel, " Did you think Boodle's ball full last night ? " 
 At the French Ambassador's Her Majesty was very gracious 
 to Colonel Lennox, kissing her fan to him half the length of 
 the room, two or three times. It may be as well to remember 
 that Sir Gilbert's authority was in the first instance " Jack " 
 Payne, a parasite of the Princes, who only repeated what 
 he had heard, or thought he had heard, from the Prince 
 of Wales ; and, secondly, the Prince himself, who was not 
 absolutely truthful. 
 
 The winter of 1788-89 happened to be unusually severe. 
 On the 29th of December Mr. Burges came to the conclusion 
 that he never before knew what cold weather really meant. 
 The streets were covered with ice, and the surface of the 
 river was frozen. For his part, he went to bed in a flannel 
 waistcoat, drawers, and stockings, with thick moreen curtains 
 drawn closely round, while in the daytime he never ventured 
 abroad without two flannel waistcoats and " a Prudence." 
 A few evenings later there was " such a thick stinking fog 
 that the coaches could hardly pass along the streets in safety." 
 At least one man walked across the river at "Wapping, whence 
 it may be inferred that above bridge the Thames was com- 
 pletely frozen over. On the llth of January the weather is 
 described as almost unbearable. 
 
 This morning a pail of water was brought from the plug in 
 the street, and before the door could be opened it was covered 
 with a cake of ice. Nothing can look so dismal as the firemen 
 from the different offices patrolling the streets day and night so t 
 as to be ready in case of fire. We are, however, much better off 
 here than they are in France. Hamilton had a letter on Satur- 
 day from Paris, which says that butcher's meat was selling for 
 thirty-two sous the pound. There is hardly any firing, and 
 even the Duke of Dorset (the British Ambassador) has a 
 small portion of wood sent him every day by the Government, 
 as he can get neither that nor coals elsewhere. And what is 
 worse, assassinations have become so frequent that orders are 
 given for no one to stir abroad after eiojht in the evening.
 
 126 THE CONSTITUTIONAL CLUB. [CHAP. VTI. 
 
 The distress of the poor drives them to have recourse to any 
 means to avert starvation. In the south of France the misery 
 of the inhabitants is still greater. All this time, however, in 
 Scotland the weather is uncommonly open and mild. Lord 
 Abercorn's steward wrote him word on Saturday that they 
 
 had no frost, but for the two previous days line gentle rains. 
 
 > 
 
 N^ The excessive cold did not, however, prevent Mr. Burges 
 from donning a new attire, not particularly warm, which he 
 calls the uniform of the Constitutional Club. In those dajs 
 men had the courage of their convictions, and would have 
 made motley their garb to distinguish themselves from their 
 opponents. To belong to the Constitutional Club was a very < 
 simple affair. There was no balloting, and consequently no 
 " pilling." Neither were there fees of any kind to be paid 
 beyond the cost of the costume. A gentleman desirous of 
 becoming a member inscribed his name in the club-book, 
 and straightway hurried off to his tailor to be measured for 
 ' a dark blue frock, with a broad orange velvet cape and 
 large yellow buttons, round each of which is the inscription, 
 ' Constitutional Club.' The waistcoat is white kerseymere, 
 with yellow buttons, bordered all round with orange-coloured 
 silk. The breeches are white kerseymere with yellow buttons. 
 In point of taste we certainly beat the Blue and Buff of our 
 opponents." A few days later Mr. Burges wrote : " Our uni- 
 form goes on well. Several people have told me they will put 
 it on. To-day (January llth, 1789) in the House we were a\ 
 pretty knot of orange capes, Pitt, Lord Mornington, Lord 
 Bayham, Lord Belgrave, Villiers, Addington, and myself. I 
 never saw Mr. Lamb so pleased with anything as with this 
 dress, which he says is a wise and manly thing. I have been 
 endeavouring^ to \ make Hastings's party assume it, and I 
 believe I shall be successful, for two have promised to do so." 
 The death of Mr. Speaker Cornwall,* on the 1st of January, 
 * " Cornwall possessed every physical quality requisite to ornament
 
 1789.] A NEW SPEAKER. Ill 
 
 1789, as it was first supposed from pleurisy, brought about 
 a contested election. He had complained throughout the 
 previous week of a feeling of constriction at the heart, and 
 on his body being opened it was discovered that "a bony 
 excrescence had grown from the inside of the second rib, and 
 at length pressed on the coats of his lungs and produced a 
 settlement of matter." He was only fifty-four years of age. 
 The Ministry having resolved to put forward the Hon. 
 William Grenville, joint Paymaster of the Forces, commonly 
 known as " Bogey Grenville," the Opposition rashly pro- V 
 posed Sir Gilbert Elliot (afterwards Lord Minto), and 
 managed the affair so badly that he was beaten by a majority 
 of 71 215 to 144. In any case Grenville's election was 
 certain, but his victory would have been less triumphant 
 had the Opposition exerted themselves ever so little. Sir 
 Gilbert Elliot wrote to his wife that twenty to thirty of his 
 promised supporters arrived too late for the division, and 
 that a dozen votes were lost through sheer carelessness. 
 Lady Elliot* treated his canvass as ridiculous, because of his 
 physical incapacity to bear the fatigue, and protested that 
 she was never more entertained in her life, and never 
 laughed more heartily than in trying to realise the situation 
 he hoped might fall to his share. Mr. Burges, who liked 
 Sir Gilbert Elliot as little as Sir Gilbert liked him, was 
 evidently pleased at his discomfiture, little foreseeing that 
 
 the place ; a sonorous voice, a manly, as well as imposing figure, and a 
 commanding deportment. . . . After . his election Cornwall gave little 
 satisfaction, and had recourse to the narcotic virtues of porter for enabling 
 him to sustain its fatigue ; an auxiliary which sometimes, becoming too 
 powerful for the principal who called in its assistance, produced incon- 
 veniences." Wraxall's ' Historical Memoirs,' vol. i. p. 356. Cornwall 
 owed his election to the interest of Charles Jenkinson, Secretary at War, 
 who had married his sister. 
 
 * ' Life and Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot, First Earl of Minto,' vol. i. 
 p. 255.
 
 128 "BOGEY" GRENVILLE. CHAP. VII. 
 
 in 1790, through Lord Malmesbury's interest, the rejected 
 Speaker would turn him out of his seat for Helston. Neither 
 was he prescient enough to guess that a very brief ex- 
 perience of " Bogey Grenville's " industry and aptitude for 
 business would cause him to change his opinion to an entirely 
 opposite view. For the moment he could only tell Mrs. 
 Burges that the new Speaker was the youngest man who 
 ever sat in that chair, being only thirty-two years of age,* 
 but " I have no doubt," he continues, " of his doing the 
 business much better than his predecessor ever did. He 
 enjoys the benefit of contrast, for I defy him to be less fit for 
 his place than that poor man was. If he succeed in restoring 
 regularity and decency in the House, he will be entitled to 
 great credit ; and I am inclined to think he will, for he is a 
 man of spirit, and has excellent sense and a great love for 
 business." Mr. Grenville was elected on the 5th of January, 
 1789, and on the 8th of the following June made way for 
 Mr. Addington, son of Lord Chatham's physician, and the 
 future Viscount Sidmouth. Sir Gilbert Elliot was again put 
 forward in opposition, but only to be defeated by a majority of 
 41 215 to 174 The vacancy was caused by Mr. Grenville's 
 promotion to the post of Secretary of State in the room of 
 Lord Sydney. Mr. Burges seems to have been much dis- 
 
 * " Nature had bestowed on him no exterior advantages. His person 
 was heavy and devoid of elegance or grace ; his address cold and formal ; 
 his manners destitute of suavity. Even his eloquence partook of these 
 defects." Wraxall's ' Posthumous Memoirs, ' vol i. p. 278. Wraxall 
 says he was only twenty-nine years of age, and the youngest Speaker 
 since the reign of Edward III. Mr. Massey's estimat of Grenville'a 
 qualifications as "Mr. Speaker" is not complimentary. "Grenville's* 
 manner," he says, " was cold, arrogant, and disagreeable ; his knowledge 
 of the law and forms of Parliament was imperfect, and the House was 
 little disposed to show deference to a young man of thirty, merely because 
 he inherited a great party name, upon which he seemed to presume to 
 a degree hardly warranted by the ability which he unquestionably 
 possessed." Massey's 'History of England,' vol. iii. p. 412.
 
 1789.] PITTS INDEBTEDNESS. 129 
 
 quieted by the report of Mr. Pitt's indebtedness, and at a 
 subsequent period he contributed 1000 towards his patron's^ 
 extrication from pecuniary embarrassment, though his name 
 is not mentioned by Lord Stanhope. 
 
 \I am very sorry [he writes] to hear a bad account of 
 Pitt's circumstances. He has nearly run out his private 
 fortune, which was 10,000.* He has spent his salary, 
 8000 per annum, and is dreadfully involved in debt, 
 variously estimated at from ten to twenty thousand pounds. 
 He has never paid for his coach-horses since he came into 
 office, and I am assured that he has a score at an inn near\ ' 
 Holwood for beer for his family, &c., amounting to 500. 
 All this I am very sorry for, as I wished him to be irre- 
 proachable. 
 
 In the month of June, 1789, Mr. Burges wrote to his 
 unmarried sister that he had just published a little book 
 about some legal abuses, which, though literally written in 
 three days, was extremely well received by the public, and 
 attracted considerable notice among professional men. It 
 was entitled 'An Address to the Country Gentlemen of 
 England and Wales,' and would have furnished a foundation 
 for a Bill against pettifogging practitioners had he retained 
 his seat in Parliament. It was about that time he had the mis- 
 fortune to lose a fine little boy, named Osborne, but circum- 
 stances occurred which checked over-indulgence in sorrow 
 and compelled him to direct his thoughts to wider and more 
 important questions. The thing came upon him as a surprise. 
 The Duke of Leeds had expressed himself very strongly 
 
 * Wraxall affirms that Pitt inherited from his father only 5000, which 
 was increased by a legacy of 3000 bequeathed to him by the Duke of 
 Rutland in 1787, and yet in 1784 he had declined the Clerkship of the 
 Pells, a life sinecure worth 3000 a year. After the marriage of his 
 sister, Lady Harriot, to Mr., afterwards Lord, Eliot, he drifted into the 
 bad habit of giving his tradespeople fresh orders when they became 
 importunate for payment. 
 
 K
 
 - 
 
 130 ME. SURGES IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 against the support given by Mr. Burges to the opponents 
 of the Slave Trade, and had plainly intimated his wish that 
 he should cease from troubling the merchants of Bristol and 
 Liverpool. Firmly, but respectfully, Mr. Burges declined to 
 vote against his conscience. He was quite ready to vacate 
 his seat in Parliament, but not to sacrifice his honour. In 
 
 ""0 
 
 reply the Duke, in the handsomest manner in the world, 
 gave him carte blanche to act in accordance with his honest 
 ' convictions, and a few weeks afterwards offered him the post 
 .of Under Secretary of State in the Foreign Department. He 
 did not, however, take office till the beginning of August, 
 when he accompanied his Grace to Weymouth to be pre- 
 sented to the King. As first and confidential Under Secretary 
 he drew a salary of 1500 a year, his junior coadjutor being 
 Mr. Kyder, M.P. for Tiverton, and a son of Lord Harrowby. 
 The Duke of Leeds, as a further personal gratification, nomi- 
 nated Lord Wentworth, brother of the first Mrs. Burges, to 
 be a Lord of the Bed-chamber.
 
 1789.] ( 131 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Reforms in the Foreign Office Royal Approbation Mr. Burges main- 
 tains the Rights of the Foreign Office Negotiations with Naples M. 
 Sundersberg and his Letters Insurrection in the Low Countries 
 Nootka Sound Mr. Alleyne Fitzherbert Peace of Reichenbach 
 Letter from Mr. Burges to Mr. Fitzherbert Mr. Joseph Ewart. 
 
 IT is the proverbial quality of new brooms to sweep clean, 
 and Mr. Burges was no exception to the rule. As it seemed 
 to him, the organisation of the office was extremely defective, 
 and he at once set about introducing order out of chaos. The 
 clerks, of course, raised many objections and assured him 
 that his proposed innovation would be intolerably burden- 
 some, and quite beyond their powers of endurance. Their 
 anxiety, however, was sensibly relieved when he informed 
 them that he should himself undertake the additional labour 
 without interfering with their unearned leisure. His dis- 
 satisfaction with the existing state of things was not unreason- 
 able. In a letter to Mrs. Burges he explained the confusion 
 in a very few words : 
 
 ^ The immense numbers of dispatches which come from and 
 go to Foreign Courts are piled up in large presses, but no 
 note of them is taken, nor is there even an index to them ; 
 so that, if anything is wanted, the whole year's accumulation 
 must be rummaged over before it can be found, and frequently 
 material concerns must be forgotten for want of a memoran- 
 dum to preserve their memory. As to the past, it would be 
 an Herculean task to attempt to put things right, but it is 
 my intention to take better care in future, and to enter the 
 
 K 2
 
 132 A POST OF LABOUR. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 purport of every dispatch in a volume properly prepared for 
 that purpose. By this means the Duke will be enabled at a 
 glance to recollect everything that has passed, and public 
 affairs will be reduced to a regularity they have never yet 
 attained. 
 
 He added that, so far as salary was concerned, his post 
 was preferable to that of a Lord of the Treasury, though the 
 latter drew 1600 a year, but subject to land-tax and other 
 deductions which reduced it by nearly three hundred pounds 
 per annum. His annual income, including his private 
 fortune, he estimated at 2600. 
 
 The Duke of Leeds and Mr. Pitt were much pleased with 
 the new arrangements, and offered many civilities to the 
 zealous and hard-working Under Secretary, who soon found 
 that he had quite enough to do to avoid falling into arrears. 
 
 On Tuesday [he writes] I was at the office at ten, and 
 continued there, incessantly employed (except for about 
 three hours engaged in dining at the Duke's) till half-past 
 twelve at night. Yesterday I was again at the office at a 
 quarter before ten ; remained there till half-past five, when 
 I went to dinner at the French Ambassador's and afterwards 
 to supper at the Duke's. 
 
 And this was during the parliamentary recess. Suppers 
 were then in vogue, and not unfrequently lasted till two or 
 three in the morning, and even later, as Lord Minto so often 
 complains in the correspondence admirably edited by his 
 grand-niece. With excusable complacency, Mr. Burges dwells 
 upon the complimentary manner in which the King had 
 spoken to the Duke of Leeds touching his' conduct of the 
 public business, which he contrasted with Mr. Eyder's 
 carelessness and love of pleasure. 
 
 " As for Mr. Eyder," His Majesty is reported to have said, 
 " I cannot approve of a peer's eldest son being in this place.
 
 1789.] THE ROTAL APPROBATION. 133 
 
 As to his wishing to learn effective business, he might have 
 done that as a Lord of the Admiralty, if he had thought 
 proper to discharge his duty ; and, indeed, he might have 
 done it there as effectually as in your Grace's office, if I may 
 judge from his conduct since he was appointed. I think it 
 extremely strange that an Under Secretary of State, within 
 a fortnight after his appointment, should be running about 
 the country to races and watering-places instead of attending 
 to his duty. I saw him a little while ago at Weymouth, and 
 thought that he ought to have been in your office, doing or at 
 least learning his business." 
 
 The times were very critical, and Mr. Burges had quite as 
 much to do as any man could desire. The responsibility, no 
 doubt, rested with his superior, His Majesty's Secretary of 
 State, but the Duke of Leeds, though keen-sighted and 
 possessed of much promptitude and energy at a moment of 
 pressure, was fitful and uncertain and deficient in close 
 application. His confidential Under Secretary had, therefore, 
 more to do than usually devolves upon a subordinate, and it 
 is much to his credit that, with his previous inexperience of 
 foreign affairs, he should from the first have attracted the 
 favourable notice not only of his personal friend the Duke of 
 Leeds, but also of Mr. Pitt and the King, for George III. 
 watched the management of the public offices with much 
 shrewdness and sagacity. In consequence of the Duke's 
 indolence and indifference to ordinary business, Lord Hawkes- 
 bury, whose department was the Board of Trade, had contrived 
 to filch from the Foreign Office the conduct of certain 
 negotiations with the Neapolitan Court with which he had 
 officially nothing to do, except with reference to customs 
 duties and matters affecting the revenue. Mr. Burges 
 accordingly intimated to the Neapolitan Ambassador that 
 unless he communicated with the Foreign Office direct his 
 treaty was not likely to make rapid progress. Lord Hawkes- 
 bury took this interference in good part, and wrote a very
 
 134 LORD HAWKESBURY. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 civil note to Mr. Burges, expressing the pleasure he felt in 
 co-operating with him in public business, and how much he 
 was nattered by the approval bestowed on the ideas he had 
 suggested for bringing the treaty with Naples to a proper 
 conclusion. Sir Nathaniel Wraxall* describes Lord Hawkes- 
 bury, the Charles Jenkinson of ' The Kolliad,' and who was 
 subsequently created Earl of Liverpool, as reserved but not 
 silent, and, though guarded on certain topics, communicative 
 on ordinary subjects. 
 
 His manners were polite, calm, and unassuming ; grave, if 
 not cold ; but not distant, without any mixture of pride or 
 affectation. . . Supple, patient, mild, laborious, persevering, 
 attentive to improve the favourable occasions which presented 
 themselves, and always cool he never lost the ground he had 
 once gained . . . He used to remind me of a man crossing a 
 torrent on stones ; and so carefully did he place his foot at 
 every step as never once to wet his shoe. 
 
 His enemies likened him to a dark lanthorn, the twinkling 
 motion of his eyebrows giving point to the allusion. He 
 spoke rarely, but always to the purpose, and his know- 
 ledge of trade, navigation, manufactures, and revenue, was 
 acknowledged to be exceptional. His weak point lay in 
 his being more conversant with books that with men, and in 
 postponing every other consideration to his own welfare and 
 advancement. Such was the statesman with whom Mr. 
 Burges elected to run his first " career with lance," prudently 
 forbearing to strike his shield with the point of his weapon. 
 He gained his object, however, and the treaty was finally 
 negotiated through the Foreign Office. It is unnecessary to 
 pursue this point any further, as not tho slightest interest 
 now attaches to the commercial convention with Naples, any 
 more than to the settlement of a dispute with the Court of 
 
 * 'Historical Memoirs/ vol. i. p. 533-39.
 
 1789.] M. SUNDERSBERG. 135 
 
 Madrid respecting the Spanish claim to inspect from time 
 to time any fortifications that might be erected by English 
 engineers on the coast of Honduras. With the assistance of 
 Lord Chancellor Thurlow, Mr. Burges succeeded in disposing 
 of the Neapolitan and Honduras questions without troubling 
 the Duke of Leeds for much more than his signature. 
 
 The rebellion in the Austrian Netherlands occupies quite 
 a disproportionate amount of space in the Burges corre- 
 spondence of this period. He seems to have taken a fancy to 
 a man named Sundersberg, for whom he obtained a place 
 as courier or king's messenger, and whom he afterwards 
 occasionally employed on confidential missions. Judged by 
 his letters, M. Sundersberg was apparently a native of 
 Hanover. He calls himself a British subject, but he does not 
 venture to express himself in English, while the French he 
 employs is a bad translation of vulgar German. He had 
 evidently discovered the weak point in his patron's armour, 
 through which he stabs him with flattery, and fools his vanity 
 to the top of its bent. It is surprising that a somewhat 
 fastidious and remarkably well-bred, and also well-informed 
 man, such as James Burges, should have given so much 
 attention to the reports of this ill-educated, boisterous, 
 insolent fellow, whose letters were unworthy of much notice 
 by reason alike of matter and manner. A few brief allusions 
 to his correspondence are all that can be needed in a memoir 
 of this description. 
 
 The wisdom of letting well alone was hidden from the 
 mind of the Emperor Joseph II. The love of innovation 
 was with him a dominant passion. Against the past and 
 the present he was ever at open war, though he had neither 
 the intelligence nor the continuity of purpose to mould the 
 future to his wishes, for he cannot be said to have had a will. 
 At one time he sought to exchange the Low Countries for the
 
 136 JOSEPH II. AND THE NETHERLANDS. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Electorate of Bavaria, with a view to strengthen his position 
 in Germany ; but on being opposed by Prussia, by the German 
 States including Hanover, and by the Duke of Deux Fonts, 
 the Elector's heir presumptive, he suddenly drew back and 
 gave up the project. He was more headstrong, however, in 
 his attempt to crush whatever semblance of liberty still 
 lingered in the Austrian Netherlands. He began by remov- 
 ing Count de Murray from the command of the army, and by 
 substituting in his place General D'Alton, a mere soldier of 
 fortune, while he appointed Count Trautmansdorff to preside 
 over the civil government. His next step was to abrogate 
 the privileges of the University of Louvain, and to institute 
 a Theological Seminary under the direction of foreigners. 
 He broke down the provincial divisions which had endured 
 from the earliest times, and declared the Netherlands to be 
 one indivisible province, partitioned into nine circles or con- 
 trollerships. He abolished the " Joyeuse Entree," by which 
 name was known the great charter promulgated on the entry 
 of Philip the Good into Brussels. He approved the violence 
 of the soldiery in firing on unarmed mobs, and finally drove 
 the people into open rebellion. In an incredibly short space 
 of time the country was purged of the foreigner. The 
 Austrian garrisons in most instances capitulated without 
 firing a single shot. Nowhere was serious resistance offered. 
 The States of Brabant and Flanders made common cause 
 against the common enemy. It was proposed to construct a 
 constitution similar to that of Holland. Bepresentatives 
 were accredited to the British and Continental Courts in the 
 hope of obtaining a formal recognition of the independence 
 of the new State, before even it had become a State. In 
 the meantime Joseph II. had the good fortune to die, on 
 the 20th of February, 1790, and was succeeded by his brother 
 Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, a pacific and tolerably
 
 1790.] RESTORATION OF ORDER. 137 
 
 enlightened prince. He was at least wise enough to accept 
 the mediation of Great Britain, Prussia, and the United 
 Provinces, and to promise his revolted subjects the restoration 
 of their ancient rights and privileges, and an entire amnesty 
 of their recent commotions. These fair words were enforced 
 by a reasonable exhibition of strength. At the head of a 
 small, compact, well-appointed army General Bender steadily 
 advanced from point to point, without encountering much 
 opposition. The leaders of the people fled to other lands, 
 and by degrees the old state of things was renewed, except 
 that Leopold prudently made some further concessions and 
 granted a few additional privileges of a popular character. 
 This hasty outline may suffice to give a general idea of the 
 circumstances out of which sprang the monstrous growth of 
 M. Sundersberg's voluminous correspondence. It should be 
 premised that some excellent reports of passing events in 
 the Netherlands were regularly and amply supplied by 
 Captain Sontag, who had been deputed by Mr. Fitzherbert, 
 afterwards Lord St. Helens, to keep the Foreign Office duly 
 informed as to the true state of affairs. But, after all, it is 
 difficult not to agree with Prince Bismarck* that diplomatic 
 reports may be "agreeable reading enough; but they con- 
 tain nothing essential, and are mere feuilletons written for 
 the sake of writing." Diplomatic literature the German 
 chancellor is reported to have summarily characterised as 
 " for the most part nothing but paper and ink." 
 
 As usually happens in such cases, the people were 
 speedily disenchanted with the displacement of a despotism 
 for the equally selfish rule of an aristocratic oligarchy. 
 Captain Sontag dwells upon the popular discontent at the 
 States assuming as their natural right " the power of regula- 
 ting every thing for the public good." If that assumption 
 
 * Moritz Busch's ' Our Chancellor,' vol. i. p. 274.
 
 138 RIDING A BUOY. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 were understood to be strictly temporary, urged the popular 
 leaders, well and good ; but the sovereignty dwells with the 
 people, and it is for them to decide after what manner they 
 choose to be permanently governed. "Disunion," Captain 
 Sontag thereupon sagely remarks, " will do more for the 
 Emperor than all his armies." The States, on their part, 
 hesitated to confide the command of their troops, such as 
 they were, to any person of real weight and influence, lest he 
 should be tempted to use that powerful weapon for his own 
 purposes. Some of the chief nobility ostentatiously placed 
 themselves at the head of their respective " corporations " or 
 guilds, and took their turn at mounting guard in deference 
 to the fraternal equality of all men. Of one of the leaders of 
 the patriotic party Captain Sontag tells an amusing anecdote. 
 The Count de la Marck was ambitious of imitating Lafayette, 
 but it was feared that he might prove deficient in courage as 
 well as in ability. During the last war the letter is dated 
 January 26th, 1790 the Count went with his regiment to the 
 East Indies on board the Argonaute, a French man-of-war, 
 which accidentally caught fire. The first thing he did was to 
 order the largest buoy to be brought into his cabin, but when 
 the captain of the ship heard of this proceeding he caused 
 the buoy to be removed and administered to the Count a 
 severe rebuke for setting such a bad example to the soldiers 
 and the crew. The thing of course got wind, and a cari- 
 cature was published of the Count sitting astride upon a 
 buoy, beneath which was written, " Monture du Comte de 
 la Marck." Another conspicuous personage was the Prince 
 de Bethune, a very flighty individual, not far removed from 
 insanity, who, disgusted at being unable to raise a corps, went 
 off to Paris in high dudgeon. The family is not remarkable 
 for talent or attainments. A few years ago it was repre- 
 sented by a father and son, who were known as Bete-
 
 1790.] SEMI-OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 139 
 
 line, and Bete-Deux. The transition from the German 
 English of Captain Sontag to the German French of M. 
 Sundersberg is more amusing than edifying. The latter, 
 however, goes more into details, and has an eye for the 
 humours of the streets. He speaks of the superb banners 
 adopted by the different volunteer corps, overloaded with 
 paintings and gildings, until they were as stiff as brocade, 
 and more suitable to hang out as signboards over dress- 
 makers' shops than to carry at the head of a battalion. 
 
 M. Sundersberg had a serious grievance to allege against 
 Sir John Peters, British Consul at Ostend. So highly did 
 Mr. Burges's correspondent think of his titled friend that 
 he had entrusted him with the key of his bureau, some- 
 where in London, and commissioned him to bring or send 
 certain manuscripts, together with an " Album Amicorum," 
 and some necessary articles, especially a pair of boots. But 
 neither did he himself return to the Low Countries, nor did 
 he confide the coveted articles to another, and they were 
 much wanted, " principalement mes bottes." The Album, 
 too, was valuable, for it contained a beautiful painting, for a 
 copy of which the owner had once been offered twelve guineas. 
 Sir John Peters had also promised to procure " un instru- 
 ment pour prendre des insectes," but he did not care so much 
 about that for, " on rn'a voile (sic) mes epingles." The Under 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is accordingly requested 
 to hunt up Sir John Peters, and take everything from him. 
 Finally, " Mrs. Thorne me mande que les bottes ont ete tout 
 le terns chez elle a sa disposition, mais il n'a pas pense a 
 me les faire passer malgre mes prieres ; je 1'ai prie de vous les 
 remettre, et espere que vous voudries bien avoir la bonte de 
 les faire porter par la premiere bonne ^occasion pour Dover 
 pour etre," &c., &c. At the same time the Under Secretary of 
 State is requested to pay Mrs. Thorne the rent due to her, and
 
 140 AN UNDIGNIFIED FUNCTION. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 to hand over 50 to Mr. Freake, because of " that villainous 
 affair of Hickey, but on no account to let the said Freake 
 know where his debtor is to be found or what he is doing. 
 The postscript to this letter is in strict harmony with what 
 precedes : " Je vous prie de faire remettre les 2 incluses a la 
 penny-post." M. Sundersberg ridicules, in a free and easy 
 way, the childish practice of receiving in great state, at the 
 door of the Chamber of Congress, the present of a cannon 
 supposed to have been purchased by the subscriptions of 
 young girls, who escorted in gay procession their patriotic 
 offering. In reality the guns were lent for the occasion, 
 while the slender amount subscribed was poured into the 
 public Exchequer. The unfortunate Prime Minister, M. 
 Van der Noot, however, had to embrace every one of the 
 feminine patriots, who were drawn up in two rows to receive 
 the compliment. The folly was short-lived the spectacle 
 of a serious discussion being suspended while a Minister of 
 State kissed some scores of young girls dressed up for the 
 occasion, becoming at last too much even for Belgian stolidity. 
 Though nominally a courier, and provided with the badge 
 of that function, a silver greyhound, M. Sundersberg was 
 virtually a spy, and a very useless one to boot. His letters 
 are amusing from their unconscious effrontery, but they convey 
 no intelligence whatever of what was passing behind the 
 scenes. And all this time there was an accredited agent at 
 Brussels, Colonel Gardiner, subsequently Minister at Warsaw, 
 who seems to have looked to his unavowed colleague for the 
 information he himself was unable to procure. Probably the 
 real cause of the failure of both was the absence of anything 
 to tell. Destitute of foreign allies, the insurgents were 
 powerless to act, and after the Treaty of Reichenbach their 
 deliberations were idle words. M. Sundersberg appears to 
 have been sent to Florence on a confidential mission, and
 
 1790.] MR. ALLETNE FITZHERBERT. 141 
 
 later on to Mannheim to report upon the condition and pro- 
 spects of the French emigres, but his letters are not worth 
 reproducing. 
 
 A far more important question than the insurrectionary 
 movement in the Austrian Netherlands occupied the serious 
 attention of the Foreign Office during the winter of 1789-90. 
 At one time war with Spain seemed almost inevitable, and 
 there was also danger that France would ally herself with 
 that power. This episode, known as the affair of Xootka 
 Sound, has been so often and so thoroughly explained that 
 it would be now a mere waste of time to repeat the well- 
 known incidents. Fortunately the power of France to strike 
 a heavy blow at England was not equal to the ill will then 
 borne by her to this country, and the Spaniards single- 
 handed were manifestly incapable of measuring themselves 
 against the might and majesty of Great Britain. The 
 English Minister at Madrid at that critical juncture was 
 Mr. Alleyne Fitzherbert, who had won his spurs at St. Peters- 
 burg as successor to Sir James Harris characterised by 
 Mirabeau as " ce ruse et audacieux Harris " to whom Fox 
 wrote that the new ambassador was " a man of parts and of 
 infinite zeal and industry," and worthy of entire confidence. 
 Lord Malmesbury, however, met him eleven years afterwards 
 at the Hague, and entered in his diary, " I found Lord 
 St. Helens friendly, but insouciant as to business, and not 
 attentive enough for Ms post." No such charge could have 
 been made against Mr. Fitzherbert at Madrid. Spanish 
 arrogance, bluster, and mis-statements failed to make any 
 impression upon the firm, imperturbable demeanour of the 
 British Minister, and in the end the demands of his Govern- 
 ment were fully satisfied at every point, war was averted, 
 and Mr. Fitzherbert became an Irish peer with the title of 
 Lord St. Helens.
 
 142 CONGRESS OF REICHENBAGH. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 The aspect of affairs on the Continent in the latter half of the 
 year 1790 is clearly delineated in a letter, dated 9th of August, 
 from Mr. Burges to Mr. Alleyne Fitzherbert at Madrid. 
 After congratulating His Excellency on the happy result of 
 his labours up to that date, he proceeds to sketch for his 
 . benefit an outline of the proceedings of the Congress of 
 Keichenbach in Silesia. Peace was there concluded between 
 Austria and the Porte, to which Russia declined to be a 
 party. The dispute between the Emperor Leopold and his 
 revolted subjects in the Low Countries was also adjusted, 
 while the King of Prussia found it expedient to lower his 
 tone and renounce his grand scheme of territorial aggrandise- 
 ment. This brief introduction may be supposed to bring 
 Mr. Burges on to the stage. He assumes that Mr. Fitz- 
 herbert was aware that a provisional congress had been 
 opened at Reichenbach at the beginning of summer for the 
 purpose of arranging differences between the Porte and the 
 Court of Vienna, and then proceeds to inform him that 
 
 the business at its outset promised little of peace ; for the 
 King of Prussia, calling himself a mediator, appeared for 
 the first time at the head of 250,000 men, with an evident 
 disposition to quarrel, and with the avowed intention of 
 possessing himself of Thorn, Dantzic, and an adjoining 
 territory of about four hundred square German miles. 
 To compass this object he proposed to indemnify the Poles 
 by a slice of Galicia of nearly the same extent; and to 
 induce Austria to submit to this loss, the terms of the Treaty 
 of Passarowitz * were offered to her. In this arrangement, 
 however, the Turks seemed to be sacrificed to the in- 
 terests of their great ally ; but the King of Prussia was 
 not really forgetful of them, for, while he proposed these 
 terms to Austria, he at the same time sent to Constan- 
 tinople the ratification of Dietz's Treaty, by which, as you 
 
 * A treaty was concluded at Poscharewatz between the Imperial 
 Government and the Porte in 1718.
 
 1790.] PRUSSIAN PRETENTIONS. 143 
 
 will recollect, it was engaged that all the conquests made 
 by the Austrians during the war should be restored to the 
 Porte. 
 
 I am afraid you will hardly think me serious in giving 
 you this detail ; yet certain it is that such was the system 
 pursued by Prussia, and that such were the contradictions 
 which arose from his plan of personal aggrandisement. Our 
 sentiments when this account reached England you will 
 easily conceive. No time was lost in representing our 
 disapprobation, and strong assurances were given that our 
 support, in case a war should follow from the failure of 
 such a plan, was by no means to be expected. In the 
 same manner the Dutch construed the defensive treaty, and 
 representations of the same nature were forthwith conveyed 
 from the Hague. These, doubtless, had weight ; but I fancy 
 a still stronger effect was produced by the vigorous declara- 
 tion of the Poles ; who fairly said they entirely disapproved 
 of the plan, as taking from them, without even their consent 
 being asked, one of their best possessions, which they es- 
 timated greatly beyond any parts of Galicia; which must 
 make Prussia a very formidable maritime power at their 
 expense and to their destruction; and which finally, they 
 were determined not to give up so long as they had strength 
 to retain it. How far the King of Prussia was influenced by 
 these reasons it is difficult to say. A very short time, how- 
 ever, sufficed to bring about a considerable change in his 
 way of thinking ; for, while we were reflecting on the 
 obvious and, as we conceived, the immediate consequences of 
 these propositions, we were surprised with an account of the 
 negotiation having taken a new turn by his Prussian Majesty 
 declaring to the Austrian Plenipotentiaries that nothing 
 short of the status quo, as before the war, would satisfy him, 
 or prevent him from instantly commencing hostilities. This, 
 as he argued, would of course operate as a census fcederis, and 
 oblige England and Holland to support him. To resolve 
 upon this, he gave the King of Hungary a fortnight. This 
 monarch, who had agreed to the former terms, lost no time 
 in returning an answer to the new proposal, by which he 
 unconditionally accepted the status quo, and complied with 
 his Prussian Majesty's wishes in toto. 
 
 In consequence of this, on the 27th ult., declarations and 
 counter-declarations were signed and exchanged between the 
 Prussian, Austrian, English, and Dutch Ministers, which,
 
 144 TREATY OF PEACE. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 though consisting of a variety of instruments, may be classed 
 under a few heads : 
 
 1st. The King of Hungary accepts the status quo, such as 
 it was before the war. He agrees to restore all the conquests 
 made from the Turks, to an immediate armistice, and to the 
 opening of a congress, in which a peace is to be negotiated 
 under the mediation of the three allies. He declares his 
 intention of standing neuter if Eussia should refuse to 
 accede to the negotiations ; and in fine, not to take part, 
 directly or indirectly, in the war should it continue. His 
 Hungarian Majesty is to keep Choczim en depot, as that 
 fortress was conquered by the united arms of the two 
 Imperial Courts, but consents that Prussia shall guarantee 
 its restitution to the Porte on a peace. Lastly he reserves 
 the right of settling separately with the Turks the question 
 of limits. 
 
 2nd. The King of Prussia accepts fully the propositions of 
 the Court of Vienna, with this restriction, namely, that if in 
 the arrangement of limits between the Porte and Austria, 
 the latter should obtain any acquisition on the side of the 
 Aluta, Prussia shall have an equivalent on that of Upper 
 Silesia. 
 
 3rd. The King of Prussia declares that no sort of hostile 
 engagement subsists between him and the Belgic States; 
 and that he will co-operate with the maritime powers to 
 appease the troubles in those provinces, and to restore them 
 to the Austrian dominion, on condition of the re-establish- 
 ment of their ancient privileges and constitution. 
 
 4th. The English and Dutch Ministers guarantee, in the 
 names of their principals, these several conditions sub spe rati. 
 
 Such is a short abstract of the voluminous papers which 
 we have received here, and which will certainly be ratified 
 without loss of time. From it you will perceive that 
 Austria, to keep out of a new war, gives up everything which 
 had been acquired by an enormous expense of blood and 
 treasure ; that the Belgic provinces will again become subject 
 to her ; that Eussia will either join in the approaching peace, 
 or will have Prussia to fight, when she is nearly exhausted ; 
 that Prussia relinquishes the acquisition of Dantzic and 
 Thorn ; and that this great and good work has been brought 
 about solely (for that is the truth) by the wisdom and 
 moderation of this Government, who, by keeping firmly to 
 the principle they originally laid down, have tempered and
 
 1790.] MS. JOSEPH EWART. 145 
 
 moulded the violent and uncertain politics of the Court of 
 Berlin, and compelled the hot-headed monarch and his no 
 less impetuous Minister (Count Hertzberg) to adopt a line 
 of conduct in terminis. 
 
 Great Britain was represented at Keichenbach with great 
 spirit and ability by Mr. Joseph Ewart, of whom an interest- 
 ing account is given in Wraxall's ' Posthumous Memoirs.' 
 He was the son of a Scotch minister at Dumfries, but was 
 brought up as a surgeon, and in that capacity accompanied 
 Macdonald of Clanronald to Vienna in 1782. Having 
 quarrelled with Ms patron he was engaged, unofficially, as 
 secretary by Sir Kobert Murray Keith, the British Ambas- 
 sador ; and again in 1784 he held a similar position towards 
 Sir John Stepney, British Envoy to the Court of Berlin. 
 He was a man of great energy, but, unhappily for himself, 
 was exceedingly irascible. However, he gave so much 
 satisfaction to Lord Dalrymple, subsequently Earl of Stair, 
 that he was appointed Secretary of Legation, and in 1788 
 was accredited as Envoy to the Prussian Court. There he 
 married the Countess Wartensleben, a lady of good family, 
 and acquired great influence over the King Frederick 
 William II., and his Minister Count Hertzberg. He was an 
 implacable enemy of Catherine II., and set on foot a con- 
 federacy between England, Holland, Prussia, and Turkey, 
 with the avowed object of arresting her progress towards the 
 south-east. The death of Joseph II. in February, 1790, 
 greatly forwarded his views, for his successor Leopold was 
 sincerely solicitous of peace, which he compassed at Eeichen- 
 bach. The Czarina was accused of sending Ewart a poisoned 
 potion on his setting out from Berlin, but he had received 
 a timely caution from the Empress's physician, Sutherland, 
 a kindly Scot like himself. Leopold is reported to have said 
 of Catherine that " her head ought to be encircled in glory
 
 146 SHABBY TREATMENT. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 in order to conceal her feet, which stood in blood." After 
 the Duke of York's marriage Mr. Ewart was harshly recalled, 
 and was never again employed on public service. As he did 
 not, strictly speaking, belong to the Foreign Office, and had 
 no courtly connections to take up his case, he was con- 
 strained to hold his peace and accept a pension of 1000 a 
 year. He passed the remainder of his days at Bath, and 
 was frequently consulted by Government with reference to 
 foreign politics.
 
 1791.] ( 147 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Projects of Catherine II. Mr. Pitt's Counter-Demonstration Opposed by 
 Lord Grenville The Duke of Leeds resigns the Foreign Office Suc- 
 ceeded by Lord Grenville -Mr. Fawkener's Mission to St. Petersburg 
 Frustrated by Mr. Adair Congress of Sistova Polish Constitution 
 Finis Polonise Stanislaus Augustus Lord Auckland at the Hague 
 Anecdotes Four Couriers Correspondence with Erskine Imprison- 
 ment of John Walter The Ockzakow " Bustle " National Dignity and 
 National Wisdom Lukewarmness of Holland. 
 
 THROUGHOUT the year 1791 the British Ministry were sorely 
 disquieted by the ambition of Catherine II. of Russia. Her 
 avowed object was the expulsion of the Turks from Europe. 
 The bag and baggage policy of the present day is simply a 
 plagiarism. The Czarina was resolved to banish the Moslem 
 from the realms of Christendom. One of her favourite schemes 
 was the construction of a Christian principality, composed 
 of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Bessarabia, to be governed by 
 Prince Potemkin in the first instance, and ultimately by 
 her grandson Constantine, who had received that name 
 at the baptismal font in anticipation of his succession to 
 the founder of Constantinople. The mutual jealousies of 
 the other European Powers prevented a coalition with a 
 view to check the alarming development of the Russian 
 Empire. Leopold II. not only repudiated the restless 
 dreams of his predecessor, but was sincerely anxious to 
 live at peace with all his neighbours. Frederick William 
 
 L 2
 
 148 HOSTILE PREPARATIONS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 II. of Prussia was a fitful and wayward prince, easily 
 influenced by his mistresses, and ever covetous to appropriate 
 Thorn and Dantzic. Neither France nor Spain was in a 
 mood to follow the lead of Great Britain, or even to co-operate 
 with the British Government then personified by Mr. Pitt. 
 Holland alone dreaded the undue aggrandisement of Russia, 
 but the Dutch were far too wary to commit themselves to a 
 contest with the unscrupulous Czarina, unless supported by 
 powerful and zealous allies. England was thus practically 
 isolated, but that consideration had little weight with Pitt, 
 who thoroughly understood the latent strength and almost 
 inexhaustible resources of the English people. He therefore 
 pushed forward the naval armaments, in conformity with the 
 King's Message of the 30th of March, directing the attention 
 of Parliament to the projected subversion of the Ottoman 
 Empire. A dutiful address to the Crown was carried in both 
 Houses by large majorities, and an early war with Russia 
 seemed inevitable. The Opposition, however, nothing dis- 
 couraged by their repeated defeats, persistently renewed their 
 attacks until they succeeded in inspiring the country with 
 doubts as to the necessity, or expediency, of engaging in a 
 costly and dangerous conflict in defence of the Turks. Had 
 his own Cabinet effectively supported him, Pitt would 
 probably have disregarded the popular caprice, but he was 
 opposed and dominated by his own kinsman, Lord Grenville, 
 whom he had quite recently raised to the Peerage in the 
 belief that he had secured a counterpoise to the overbearing 
 arrogance and surly obstructiveness of Lord Chancellor 
 Thurlow. According to Windham, as reported by Lord 
 Malmesbury, Lord Grenville was " well informed and high- 
 minded," and entertained loftier ideas of the national dignity 
 than Pitt himself, but would never be a great Minister owing 
 to his impenetrable reserve and repellent haughtiness of
 
 1791.] CHANGE OF FRONT. 149 
 
 deportment. His dislike to the contemplated war with 
 Russia was only part of his deliberate aversion from all 
 interference with continental affairs, and his rigid obstinacy 
 finally bent to his will the more pliable temperament of the 
 First Lord of the Treasury. Ministers, therefore, affected to 
 yield to the wishes of the people, of which nothing was really 
 known, and orders were issued for the suspension of the 
 naval armaments. In this crisis the Duke of Leeds acted 
 with admirable consistency. Entirely disapproving the 
 sudden and undignified change of front announced by the 
 Cabinet, he resigned the post of Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs, and retired into private life. His successor, as a 
 matter of course, was Lord Grenville, whose vacated post as 
 Home Secretary was consigned to Mr. Dundas. It may here 
 be stated that Mr. Pitt called upon Mr. Burges at the Foreign 
 Office, and in the kindest and most flattering manner begged 
 him not to think of following the fortunes of his patron. 
 With becoming self-respect that gentleman, after thanking 
 the Minister for his good opinion of him as a public servant, 
 declined to give any answer until he had ascertained what 
 the Duke of Leeds really desired him to do. His own 
 impulse, he said, was to resign office, and he should certainly 
 do so unless his Grace laid upon him a positive injunction to 
 remain where he was. To the credit of all parties, it was 
 speedily arranged that Mr. Burges's position should not be 
 affected by the substitution of one Secretary of State for 
 another, and with unwonted graciousness Lord Grenville said 
 he congratulated himself on having such an able and 
 assiduous coadjutor. Lord Malmesbury, who was no more 
 free from prejudice that his fellow-mortals usually are, 
 permitted himself to use an ungenerous tone in alluding to 
 the resignation of the Duke of Leeds, who, he said, was 
 " carried away more by his imagination and sanguine hopes,
 
 150 A SINGULAR MANOEUVRE. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 in which his string of toad-eaters encourage him, than by 
 reason and reflection." But in this instance " sanguine 
 hopes " would have induced him to retain power and influence, 
 and it could hardly be to the interest of "toad-eaters" to 
 move their patron to take a step adverse to their own 
 interests and chances of promotion. 
 
 The change of men was speedily illustrated by a change 
 of measures. Instead of despatching a formidable fleet to 
 the Baltic, the Ministry sent Mr. William Fawkener to St. 
 Petersburg with instructions to prevail upon Catherine to 
 restore to the Porte the town of Ockzakow together with the 
 territory inclosed between the Bog and the Dniester. Upon 
 that point the Empress was intractable; and as the new policy 
 was characterised as dolce e conciliante, it was plain from the 
 beginning that she would be allowed to take her own 
 way. The British Plenipotentiary was, besides, impeded in 
 an entirely unconstitutional and almost treasonable manner 
 by Fox's friend, if not actual representative, Mr. (subsequently 
 Sir) Robert Adair, who encouraged the Empress to hold out 
 against all demands, in perfect confidence of their being- 
 withdrawn one after the other. This extraordinary amateur- 
 diplomatist was particularly honoured by Catherine, who 
 placed him at her right hand at public audiences, and on the 
 conclusion of the treaty, which amounted to a surrender at 
 discretion, the gifts presented to the accredited and non- 
 accredited envoys were of a similar character, except that 
 Mr. Adair's were of greater intrinsic value. The Empress 
 further testified her high appreciation of Mr. Fox's unpatriotic 
 conduct by instructing Count Woronzow, Russian Minister 
 at the Court of St. James's, to send her the most perfect bust 
 he could procure of that statesman, " puisque c'etait par ses 
 talents efc son eloquence qu'il avait epargne une guerre 
 sanglante aux deux nations qui les aurait egalement ruinees,
 
 1791.] CONGBESS OF SISTOVA. 151 
 
 et qu'elle le placerait dans sa galerie entre Ciceron et Demos- 
 thene." Two years later however, after Fox had declared 
 himself a thoroughgoing partizan of revolutionary principles, 
 his bust was deposed from its pride of place, the Empress 
 drily remarking, "C'etait M. Fox de Quatre-vingt-onze, 
 que j'ai place dans mon cabinet." 
 
 Simultaneously with this " bustle " to quote the diploma- 
 tic slang of that period the British Foreign Office was kept 
 on the alert by the Congress that was held at Sistova, and 
 which after much wearisome discussion was nearly wrecked 
 by the abrupt departure of the Austrian plenipotentiaries. 
 Negotiations, however, were almost immediately renewed 
 through the good offices of Count Bernstorff, the Danish 
 Minister, and Old Orsova, the bone of contention, was suffered 
 to remain in the hands of Austria. With that exception the 
 status quo between the Austrians and the Turks was renewed 
 through the mediation of the allies and a definitive peace 
 concluded on the 4th of August, 1791. Another business, 
 which scarcely attained the importance of a " bustle," was 
 the inconsequent movement in Poland, intended to bestow a 
 liberal constitution upon a people to whom the elementary 
 principles of true liberty and a regular government were 
 still unknown. Nevertheless, the Polish Diet on the 3rd of 
 May, 1791, swore, in the presence of the King, the clergy, the 
 nobles and the people, to maintain the new system. The 
 Eoman Catholic religion was recognised as that of the State, 
 though a very large toleration was accorded to all who 
 professed a different faith ; and the crown was declared 
 hereditary until the extinction of the family of the Elector 
 of Saxony, when a national election was to decide upon a 
 successor. The weak and amiable Stanislaus Augustus was, 
 however, the last King of Poland, being fascinated by the 
 stronger mind of Catherine II. A few years later, on the
 
 152 KING STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 25th of November, 1795, he accepted from the Czarina an 
 annual pension of 200,000 ducats, equivalent to 93,700, and 
 on the 21st of October of the following year the kingdom of 
 Poland ceased to exist. The King himself died in February, 
 .1797. Towards Mr. Surges he always evinced the most 
 kindly feelings, frequently sending him friendly messages 
 through his Envoy, M. de Bukatij, between whom and the 
 Under Secretary of State there existed an intimacy of long 
 standing. On the 3rd of November, 1791, his Polish Majesty 
 wrote to M. de Bukatij, " You shall express to Mr. Burges 
 how sincerely I share his grief on the loss of his son," and on 
 another occasion he presented a portrait of himself to Mr. 
 Burges accompanied with an autograph letter couched in the 
 most flattering terms. 
 
 In the second volume of ' The Journal and Correspond- 
 ence of William, Lord Auckland,' edited by the Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells, are published eighteen letters addressed by 
 Mr. Burges to that thoroughly selfish and unsympathetic 
 diplomatist, at that time British Minister at the Hague. 
 As already stated, Mr. William Eden, Secretary for Ireland, 
 deserted the coalition of Fox and North, at the most oppor- 
 tune moment for himself. At first, indeed, it seemed that 
 he was not likely to gain much by his defection, but in the 
 end he prevailed upon Pitt to make use of his really exten- 
 sive commercial knowledge in negotiating the " East India 
 Convention " with the Court of Versailles, and while those 
 negotiations dragged their slow length along, his appoint- 
 ments were equal to 6000 a year, though he always 
 avowed that he was poorer by 3000 through that mission. 
 His importunities on his own behalf were well known 
 to the public of London, and he was constantly assailed 
 with satire and epigram, which made no more apparent 
 impression upon him than a schoolboy's squirt of dirty water
 
 1791.] THE FIRST LORD AUCKLAND. 153 
 
 upon the hide of a pachyderm. Wraxall mentions a ballad, set 
 to the air of ' Ally Croaker,' which was nightly sung with 
 great applause by Mrs. Jordan, the refrain of each verse 
 being, 
 
 " Will you give me a place, my dearest Billy Pitt O ! 
 If I can't have a whole one, give me a bit ! " * 
 
 He is described as being tall, elegant, and not ungraceful ; a 
 little too thin, perhaps, and of a pale complexion. His 
 manners were calm, polite, and conciliating. His features 
 were regular and his expression highly intelligent, but he never 
 inspired confidence, and was so singularly deficient in the 
 ordinary accomplishments of men of his order and vocation 
 that, after he accepted his mission to France, he was obliged 
 to engage a French master. His correspondence with Mr. 
 Surges embraced the politics of the entire Continent, though 
 these momentous questions did not cause him to forget his 
 own personal requirements. After an expression of much 
 anxiety respecting Alleyne Fitzherbert's negotiations in 
 Spain, he thus proceeds : " May I request the favour of you 
 to lay a few sheets of blotting paper at the bottom of the 
 next box. It is an essential article to me. I happen to be 
 at the end of my stock, and it is not made here " (the Hague). 
 The paper was duly forwarded, and in return His Excellency 
 was asked to procure for the Post Office a pound or two of the 
 finest Dutch wax, as none could be had in England " suffi- 
 ciently prepared." It was ascertained that the best wax 
 was made at Amsterdam for five florins (8s. 6<2.) per pound, 
 and in the end the Post Office was supplied with a pound 
 of the Hague and a pound of the Amsterdam quality. 
 
 The dominant idea of the British Ministry and of the 
 majority of Continental statesmen was to excite a counter- 
 
 * See page 78. /$ ^t /oC, ^K <
 
 "PRINCE" BOOTHS Y. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 revolution in France, under the erroneous impression 
 that the national feeling was decidedly in favour of the 
 restoration of the Bourbons. Mr. Burges, however, took an 
 extremely insular view of the matter, and demurred to any 
 interference in the affairs of that country, because as he 
 wrote to Lord Auckland on the 28th of December, 1790 
 
 we have felt too strongly the immense advantage to be 
 derived by this country from such a state of anarchy and 
 weakness as France is at present plunged in, to be so mad as 
 to interfere in any measure which may, even remotely, tend 
 to put France into the situation where a long and terrible 
 experience has taught us she had the power to injure us ; and 
 when she had the power I believe you will agree with me 
 she never wanted the will. 
 
 In common with most of his contemporaries, Mr. Burges 
 failed to foresee the portentous issues of the French Eevolu- 
 tion. He could even be amused by the grim humour that 
 occasionally relieved the horrors of the situation. Wraxall, 
 in his ' Historical Memoirs,' casually mentions his acquain- 
 tance with " the late Mr. Boothby, so well known during 
 many years in the first walks of fashion and dissipation." 
 This same gentleman came under Mr. Burges's notice in a 
 different way. 
 
 You remember [he wrote to his wife, August 1st, 1789] 
 the old coxcomb who goes by the name of Prince Boothby. 
 He happened to be at Paris during the height of the disturb- 
 ances. Somebody, either out of mischief or malice, affirmed 
 him to be a corndealer. No sooner was this said, than the 
 mob seized him, and carried him off to instant execution. 
 Luckily for him, he was met by some popular leaders 
 who knew him and prevailed on the mob to shut him up 
 in prison. There he lay for three days, and at last got off 
 with considerable difficulty. I am told he is much more 
 displeased at the suspicion than at the seizure, as it has cast 
 an indelible stain on his air and manners, which could 
 not preserve him from such an ignominious misconstruction.
 
 1791.] FOUR COURIERS. 155 
 
 In a similar mocking spirit he treated the ill-advised 
 ^wasi-diploniatic mission to this country of the Due d' Orleans, 
 afterwards known as Philippe Egalite. The British nobility 
 agreed as one man to receive him in the most contemptuous 
 manner, and it thus happened at a grand supper party, at 
 which the Spanish Ambassador and other notable persons 
 were present, that the conversation turned on the Duke, 
 and various conjectures were hazarded as to the rank and 
 position he would hold in the diplomatic body. " C'est tres 
 difficile de 1'apprecier," Mr. Burges quietly remarked. " On 
 peut seulement dire avec certitude qu'il est venu ici sans 
 caractere." The equivoque pleased the fancy of the day, and 
 made the tour of London society. 
 
 In a letter from the Hague, dated " 10th of January at 
 midnight," Lord Auckland doffs his usual stateliness and, 
 as it were, stands at ease. Pleading fatigue from fifteen hours 
 of work without intermission as an excuse for a short note, he 
 remarks : 
 
 It was rather a ludicrous circumstance last night. I had 
 the foreign ministers and others, and a table of about twenty- 
 six to supper. We were finishing the dessert when the 
 Confiseur whispered to me, "II y a quatre courriers, milord, 
 dans le vestibule." The lady sitting next to me overheard 
 him, and exclaimed involuntarily, " Mon Dieu ! Quatre 
 courriers, mais qu'est-ce qu'on fait de quatre de ces gaillards- 
 la, tons a la fois ? " " On les expedie, madame, et, sauf votre 
 bon plaisir, c'est precisement ce que je vais faire." 
 
 At this point a digression takes place, and la haute politique 
 gives way to questions of simple police. On the 1st or 
 2nd of February, 1791, Mr. Burges wrote to Sir Thomas 
 Erskine,* Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales, a letter 
 that sufficiently explains itself : 
 
 * Afterwards raised to the Peerage, and Lord Chancellor from February 
 5th, 1806, to April 1st, 1807.
 
 156 MIL JOHN WALTER. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 MY DEAR SlK, 
 
 I have just received the enclosed letter from the son 
 of Walter the printer,* at present confined in Newgate for a 
 libel on His Eoyal Highness the Prince of Wales. As I 
 know how natural it is for a person interested to represent 
 his own case in the most favourable manner, I take the 
 liberty of submitting it to you that you may have the goodness 
 to tell me whether his statement is correct. There can be 
 no doubt that the insolence of the paragraph for which he 
 was convicted was inexcusable, or that he deserved a very 
 marked punishment for having presumed to insert in his 
 paper anything reflecting on so exalted a character. Should 
 it, however, be true that His Eoyal Highness no longer con- 
 siders this person as deserving of correction, and that he does 
 not object to his being released from confinement, there will 
 not, I presume, be any difficulty in obtaining a dispensation 
 for the remainder of a punishment from which, I am con- 
 vinced, nothing ought to relieve him but the operation of 
 His Eoyal Highness's clemency. This is a matter with 
 which I have no official concern ; nor should I have presumed 
 to take any part in it had not the inclosed application come 
 to my hands. I mention it freely to you, as I am sure you 
 will not put any construction upon it but what can be 
 warranted by my most perfect respect for His Eoyal Highness, 
 
 * Mr. John Walter, "the printer of the Times," was sentenced in 
 1789, for a libel on the Duke of York, to pay a fine of 50, to be im- 
 prisoned in Newgate for twelve months, to stand in the pillory for one 
 hour, and to give security for good behaviour for seven years, in his own 
 recognizances for 500, and in two sureties for 100 each. The pillory 
 was remitted. While undergoing this sentence he was brought up from 
 Newgate to the Court of King's Bench to receive judgment for two more 
 libels inserted during his imprisonment. The one was a truthful state- 
 ment of the misconduct of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, by 
 which they had incurred the displeasure of their Royal father. For this Mr. 
 Walter was condemned to pay a fine of 100, and to undergo an additional 
 year of confinement. The second libel was an assertion that the Duke of 
 Clarence had left his ship without leave, from the Admiralty, or even 
 from his commanding officer. For this offence Mr. Walter was sentenced 
 to pay a fine of 100. He was released, March 7th, 1791, after sixteen 
 months' imprisonment, through the intercession of the Prince of 
 Waie.
 
 1791.] VOX CLAMANTIS. 157 
 
 as well as by the sincere esteem and regard with which I have 
 the honour to be, 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 Your most faithful and obedient humble servant, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 To Mr. Surges from Mr. John Walter. 
 
 Newgate, February 1st, 1790. 
 SIR, 
 
 Little did I ever expect ever to be an inhabitant of this 
 vile receptacle, or that any political sin would doom me to so 
 severe a sentence. I am the more astonished when I daily 
 read in the Opposition prints the most opprobrious libels and 
 treasonable paragraphs against those who gave birth to my 
 prosecutors and yet without notice. Even Almon,* convicted 
 before my trial for a most atrocious paragraph against the 
 whole family on the throne, escapes without being brought to 
 judgment. 
 
 I am ordered up again on Wednesday to receive sentence 
 on the informations on the Prince of Wales and the Duke of 
 Clarence, that the measure of my sufferings may be full. 
 Had I not listened to Mr. Bearcroft'sf advice, but made a 
 defence on trial with the Duke of York, and not permitted 
 judgment to go by default on the others, I should doubtless 
 have been this moment at liberty and not been trapped in my 
 present situation. I was one of the jury who tried " Junius's 
 Letter to the King " twenty years since, and under a similar 
 evidence the printer of the St. James's Evening was acquitted, as 
 the jury did not choose to vest a power in the Court to give a 
 sentence which might have criminated him of having wilfully, 
 
 * Mr. John Almon author, publisher, and bookseller ws convicted 
 of having sold, through his shopmen, two copies of a monthly magazine 
 called 'The London Museum of Politics, Miscellanies, and Literature,' 
 which happened to include Junius's " Letter to the King." He got off 
 easily for those times. He was condemned to pay 10 marks, equal to 
 6 13s. 4:d., and to give security for his good behaviour for two years : 
 himself in 400, and two sureties in 200 each. His costs, however, 
 amounted to 139 Os. lie?. 
 
 t Mr. Edward Bearcroft, frequently mentioned in Twiss's ' Life of Lord 
 Eldon,' was for some time M.P. for Hindon, and afterwards for Saltash. 
 He became Chief Justice of Chester.
 
 158 A GENUINE GRIEVANCE. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 maliciously, and seditiously published the papers when only the 
 mere sale in the common course of his business was proved. 
 
 I cannot help complaining of the little attention shown 
 me, where I have the greatest right to expect it both before 
 and since my cruel confinement. 
 
 I am now going into the twelfth week of my martyrdom, 
 without the least dawn of flattering expectation. 
 
 I should not have troubled you with these remarks had it 
 not been at the same time to suggest a hardship experienced 
 in this prison, and which, as I observe in my paper you 
 intend to introduce a Bill for the regulation of gaols, may be 
 worthy observation. 
 
 Newgate was undoubtedly a receptacle for felons, though it 
 is the fashion of the Court, at present, to extend it to mis- 
 demeanours, by which means we are subject to more solitary 
 confinement than felons who are guilty of murder, and the 
 greatest outcasts of society. Though I am confined in what 
 is called the State side and, by paying for a room, have one 
 to myself, yet the same entrance leads likewise to the felons, 
 and whenever any are brought into the gaol the outward 
 door is shut, and they are fettered in the common passage, so 
 that it discourages my friends from access, and such is the 
 audacity of some of the turnkeys that they will frequently 
 keep them and those who bring my provisions for an hour at 
 the door, even when they are lolling in their chair in an 
 adjoining room, because several people shall collect together ; 
 and what is still worse, at 8 o'clock I am locked up every 
 evening in common with the felons, after which time no soul 
 is permitted to have a person with them. At the Kings 
 Bench the doors are opened till 10 o'clock, with liberty to 
 have servants to attend them all night, but here, were a 
 person ever so ill, they might call their hearts out before any 
 assistance could be procured. Judge then what a man 
 must feel? who has till lately enjoyed even the luxuries of 
 life. If any remarks here made are of use, though they will 
 hardly avail me, yet I have so much philanthropy, they may 
 be serviceable to others hereafter ; as such I submit them to 
 your consideration, and am with the greatest regard, sir, 
 
 Your obliged and faithful servant, 
 
 JOHN WALTER.* 
 
 * Grandfather of the present Mr. John Walter, M.P. The Times was 
 started in 1785 as the Daily Universal Register. It came out as the 
 Times on January 1st, 1788.
 
 1791.] AN UNSATISFACTORY REPLY. 159 
 
 To this letter and its inclosure a reply was forwarded 
 apparently on the 21st of February : 
 
 I will tell you very shortly what I know on the subject 
 of your letter. Some time ago I received a letter from Mrs. 
 Knox, daughter of Mr. Walter, stating the dangerous state of 
 health of one of her sisters, which was increased by her 
 father's unhappy situation in prison, and asking my inter- 
 position with the Prince of Wales. I afterwards had a visit 
 from the lady, accompanied by her husband Mr. Knox, whom 
 I have frequently since seen on the subject. Being much 
 affected with the representation made to me, I promised to 
 speak to the Prince, and more than once applied to His Eoyal 
 Highness. But what passed between us I never had the 
 Prince's authority to communicate; having only mentioned 
 them in confidence to Mr. Knox to alleviate the anxiety and 
 suspense of Mr. Walter's family. I wish, therefore, that no 
 notice may be taken of the letter to you, which you sent me 
 inclosed, until I have the Prince's authority, as I went beyond 
 my commission in speaking confidentially to Mr. Knox on 
 the subject. I by no means wish to be understood to be 
 complaining of breach of confidence, which I am persuaded 
 was never intended, and I can easily forgive the anxiety of 
 relations on such a subject, and I am still in hopes that I 
 shall soon have the Prince's commands on the subject, as it 
 is quite a mistake that His Eoyal Highness objected to asking 
 a favour of the King or his Ministers. The difficulty which 
 I stated to Mr. Knox was That the Prince was afraid of 
 seeming officiously to interfere with the exercise of the King's 
 prerogative. I have taken very great pains to relieve the 
 distresses which originally induced me to interfere, and I 
 shall be happy yet to be successful. But unquestionably I 
 have as yet no authority to name the Prince on the subject 
 my communications, for the reasons above-mentioned, being 
 merely confidential, from a disposition to give hope to an 
 unhappy family that had applied to me for assistance. 
 
 Believe me to be ever 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 THOMAS ERSKINE. 
 
 Returning to the foreign policy of the Cabinet, and notably
 
 160 THE OCKZAKOW QUESTION. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 to the Ockzakow question, Mr. Burges thus wrote to Lord 
 Auckland on the 22nd of February, 1791 : 
 
 . . . The consideration I have been able to give to the 
 intrinsic importance of Ockzakow and its district has con- 
 vinced me that Eussia ought not by any means to be suffered 
 to retain it. It is, in my opinion, a question whether that 
 Power shall or shall not establish a formidable maritime 
 strength in the South of Europe whether she shall hold the 
 Turkish Empire at her absolute disposal whether she shall 
 regain, or perhaps increase, her former influence in Poland 
 whether she shall carry her point in defiance of the Allies, 
 who hitherto have given the law to France, Austria, and 
 Spain and it is perhaps a question which may finally 
 determine the very continuance of that alliance. All these 
 appear strong reasons for persisting in our demand. On the 
 other hand, we have before us a war, of which no one can 
 calculate the events or the risks we hazard the interruption 
 of our present prosperous tranquillity and we can look for 
 no immediate personal advantages. In any case, where so 
 much may be said on both sides, the utmost consideration 
 undoubtedly is necessary. . . . 
 
 The next letter is more absolute, and may be regarded as a 
 reproof of Lord Auckland's flippant levity in sneering at 
 whatever savoured of speculative policy, the value of which 
 could not be precisely estimated by pounds, shillings, and 
 pence. Nowadays the views expressed by Mr. Burges would 
 by a certain faction be derided as " Jingoism," their elegant 
 synonym for English manliness. The letter in question is 
 dated the 1st of March, 1791 : 
 
 MY DEAR LORD, 
 
 As we have generally been pretty much of the same 
 opinion upon Continental affairs, I feel some concern at the 
 difference there now appears to exist between your sentiments 
 and mine on this important business of Ockzakow. I 
 evidently perceive that you consider the circumstance of that 
 fortress and its district remaining in the hands of Eussia as
 
 1791.] DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIA. 161 
 
 a matter of light concern, and by no means of importance 
 enough to justify vigorous measures on our part. I fairly 
 confess that the more I consider it the more am I convinced 
 to the contrary. It strikes me that it must give Eussia such 
 a command in the Black Sea as to enable her to avail herself 
 of all the advantages of the Crimea to erect a formidable 
 maritime power to command Constantinople and, indeed, the 
 whole of the east of Europe to obtain such a check upon 
 Poland as effectually to command the Ukraine and the best 
 parts of that republic and to gain a breathing time, in the 
 course of which she may recruit her forces, her marine, and 
 her revenues, and be enabled with an accession of alliances 
 to act with suddenness and vigour, when it may be out 
 of our power to prevent her. Were I to go into a detail 
 of all the facts on which I ground my opinion of the impor- 
 tance of this territory, I should far exceed the bounds of a 
 letter. Let me refer you to maps and to your own know- 
 ledge of the country 1 have alluded to. Thinking as I do on 
 this subject I am at no loss in saying that this is the moment 
 for us by our interference to prevent the bad consequences 
 which may result from Russia's carrying her point. We 
 have everything in our favour. Our finances are in an ex- 
 cellent state ; we have more money than has been known in this 
 country for many years ; we have a fleet of near thirty sail of 
 the line ready for sailing, the expense of which is already 
 defrayed ; we have the season for our operations just begin- 
 ning ; we have the glory of having given the law to France, 
 Spain, and Austria. On the other hand, Russia is exhausted 
 by a long and ruinous war ; she still has a formidable 
 opponent in the Turk ; she has lost her ally, the Emperor, and 
 has not yet obtained the alliance of Sweden. Denmark has 
 declared her intention to be neutral. Spain has actually 
 joined with us in representations, and will not join against 
 us in action. France is altogether out of the question. All 
 these circumstances convince me that this is the moment for 
 us to act. Should we adopt a different course and suffer 
 Russia to retain what she asks, the Turks will be effectually 
 at her mercy she will be enabled to exert a formidable 
 marine in the south of Europe ; she may renew her alliance 
 with Austria, with Sweden, with Denmark, and with Poland ; 
 she may strengthen herself beyond our power ever to equal 
 her, I had almost said most undoubtedly even to check or 
 to keep her within due bounds. I am also of opinion that 
 
 M
 
 162 LORD AUCKLAND'S FEAR8. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 this is the moment for us to undo that miserable and absurd 
 policy by which Eussia was suffered, nay, encouraged, to 
 become a maritime Power ; by which our own officers and 
 seamen were permitted to foster an enemy, whose first efforts 
 were directed against ourselves. And if my reasoning applies 
 to England, it does so still more forcibly to Holland, whose 
 consequence, nay, existence, as a maritime Power is impli- 
 cated in this question, and whose very existence as a State 
 depends upon preventing a future offensive alliance between 
 Austria and Eussia (which cannot be of importance if the 
 latter is not a leading maritime Power), which might effec- 
 tually prevent her from acting with her present allies, and 
 might even produce a revolution, for which there actually 
 are, even now, very many advocates. It is, therefore, the un- 
 doubted interest of that Eepublic to act vigorously in concert 
 with us and Prussia ; and I sincerely trust your Excellency 
 will keep up such a spirit there, at least till a contrary 
 revolution is effected here, which, however, I do not think 
 likely. 
 
 Mr. Burges would nowadays be stigmatised as an alarmist 
 and a pessimist. Ockzakow was to him the sign and 
 portent which Merv has been to many men of our own 
 generation. The place itself was small and insignificant 
 except through its situation, nearly midway between the 
 modern commercial port of Odessa and the naval arsenal of 
 Nicolaief. To use a hackneyed illustration, the thin edge 
 of the wedge was then driven in, which has since rent 
 asunder the Turkish Empire in Europe. The event has only 
 too fully justified Mr. Burges's gloomy previsions. Lord 
 Auckland, however, looked at the matter from a different 
 point of view. He shuddered to think of the dangers the 
 British fleet would encounter in the Baltic, without the 
 support of a single ally. He foresaw the possible overthrow 
 not only of the Turkish, but of the Eussian Empire, and 
 dreaded lest such a catastrophe should involve even Great 
 Britain in its ruins. He was struck with " astonishment at 
 the levity with which some people urge the war, and all
 
 1791.] NATIONAL DIGNITY. 163 
 
 because they say that the National Dignity is engaged. 
 I have no idea," he continues, "of National Dignity as 
 opposed to National Wisdom ; nor do I even admit that in 
 such a pacification as we shall have influenced and accom- 
 plished without risking a war, we have any reason to think 
 that our dignity will suffer." A pacification was certainly 
 accomplished, but only by a surrender at discretion. Every 
 point demanded by Russia was conceded. No risks, indeed, 
 were encountered, but the material interests as well as the 
 dignity of the British Empire were seriously compromised. 
 The tone of his Excellency's letter roused the quick temper 
 of the Under Secretary of State, who poured forth his indig- 
 nation in a flood of energetic if diffuse declamation : 
 
 Whitehall, March 21st, 1791. 
 
 MY DEAR LORD, 
 
 I have for some time abstained from writing to you, as I 
 found our sentiments on the existing state of affairs were 
 much too dissonant to admit of arguing about them, and 
 especially as it had been thought proper to desire you to 
 apply to Admiral Kingsbergen for his opinion as to the 
 importance of Ockzakow. [Mr. Burges here takes much 
 pains to demolish the Admiral's report, as being double-faced 
 and misleading, points out numerous inaccuracies and con- 
 tradictions, and convicts the Grand Pensionary of using 
 loose phrases and seeking to mystify the real question at 
 issue. He then turns upon the British ambassador.] I 
 know not to whom your Excellency alludes as the persons 
 who with levity urge a war, and all because they say that the 
 National Dignity is engaged. If the longest and most sober V 
 deliberation which ever was given to a political subject be 
 levity, then are our Ministers guilty. If it be levity to have 
 negotiated for a year and a half without a change of prin- 
 ciple to have made every research and inquiry which our 
 archives, which the experience and local knowledge of every 
 informed person both here and abroad, would admit of if to 
 have paused for more than six weeks after we were called 
 upon for a decision, then and not otherwise can I subscribe 
 to the charge. As to the circumstance of its being all because 
 
 M 2
 
 164 NATIONAL WISDOM. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 the National Dignity is engaged, I must equally differ from 
 your Excellency, as I know of no one at all conversant with 
 the question who could limit his argument to this one point ; 
 there being an infinity of others equally cogent and equally 
 obvious. I am, however, one of those who think very 
 highly of this same National Dignity. As the good character 
 of an individual is his best possession, and that which a 
 sensible man values more highly than any other, so should 
 a nation estimate its character, in other words, should 
 studiously maintain its dignity. The loss of character to 
 an individual entails loss of credit, confidence, and weight 
 in society. The loss of dignity to a nation lowers her in 
 the scale of surrounding Powers, disables her from future 
 exertions, and dissolves the magic of superior influence which 
 former exertions may have perfected. There may be 
 temptations, there may be reasons for giving up wealth, 
 territory, or power, but there can be none of sufficient 
 weight for giving up that pre-eminence of virtuous dignity 
 which such a long adherence to an honourable course of 
 successful integrity has established. Were other considera- 
 tions totally removed, our very interest would lead us to 
 adopt these principles ; for I affirm that the invariable ex- 
 perience of past ages is as necessary to national prosperity 
 as individual character is to individual success. Your lord- 
 ship says you have no idea of National Dignity as opposed 
 to National Wisdom. I perfectly agree with you. But I 
 affirm that the one can never be opposed to the other. They 
 are essentially the same, nor can the one exist, much less be 
 maintained, without the other. National Wisdom cannot 
 consist in anything which can degrade the National Character ; 
 nor can a nation ever arrive at dignity unless it pursues the 
 paths chalked out by wisdom. I thank God we have at 
 present much dignity to support a dignity acquired by 
 a long exercise of National Wisdom. I well know the 
 characters and sentiments of his Majesty's present servants, 
 and am well assured they will not suffer this dignity to 
 be lessened, and I am equally convinced the people of 
 England will not refuse their hearty concurrence to so noble 
 and salutary a purpose, being well convinced that, with the 
 dignity of this country, its commerce, its finances, and its 
 power must stand or fall. 
 
 Thinking on this subject as I do, I cannot but feel a 
 sincere uneasiness when I reflect on the intelligence we have
 
 1791.] LUKEWAEMNESS OF HOLLAND. 165 
 
 received from Holland, of something like a determination 
 having been formed there not to support us, or to join with 
 us, in case of hostilities taking place with Russia. How this 
 sentiment can have taken place is surely difficult to say, as 
 undoubtedly your Excellency's endeavours and influence in 
 that country have been sedulously directed to induce the 
 States-General to take means for co-operating with England 
 and Prussia to make the Empress to agree to an armistice on 
 the basis of the status quo, agreeably to your instructions of 
 the 14th August last. At all events, it would have been 
 desirable that the spirit of the Dutch should have been kept 
 up till some decision of our Cabinet could have taken place. 
 Should this, which I believe now to be at no great distance, 
 prove to be in favour of hostile measures, I confess I look 
 forward with much uneasiness to the future fate of the 
 United Provinces themselves, as well as of the present 
 alliance. This circumstance of the Dutch having decided on 
 not assisting us (if it be true that such a thing exists) is a 
 matter which, I confess, puzzles me to account for ; as that 
 Republic manifested a great spirit on the occasion of our 
 Spanish bustle last year ; and I should therefore have 
 thought, would not now have adopted the system they are 
 reported to have taken up, without some hidden and forcible 
 reason which, should matters take the turn I have alluded 
 to, undoubtedly it will be the interest of this country 
 thoroughly to investigate.
 
 ( 166 ) [CHAP. X. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Mr. Hammond on the State of Affairs in France Mr. Burges unseated 
 for Helston Letter to Mr. Ewart -Mr. Fawkener's Instructions 
 Character of Lord Grenville Letter to Mr. Ewart Squabble between 
 Mr. Ewart and Lord Auckland Mr. Burges on Lord Auckland 
 Letter to Mr. Ewart Mr. Burges on Ministers His own Position. 
 
 A REMARKABLY able letter from Mr. Hammond, who at a 
 later period succeeded Mr. Burges at the Foreign Office, will 
 still, notwithstanding its great length, be read with consider- 
 able interest : 
 
 Paris, 25th March, 1791. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 When I left England, I felt no kind of hesitation in 
 promising to comply with your desire, that I would endeavour 
 to give you some account of the actual situation of affairs in 
 
 this country. 
 
 ****** 
 
 There is one point upon which all parties seem to be agreed 
 that the restoration of the ancient form of government is 
 become totally impracticable, from any quarter or by any 
 means whatsoever. The three descriptions of persons in the 
 Kingdom, the most interested in this event, are the Sovereign, 
 the Nobility, and the Clergy ; but it is evident that their 
 exertions alone, unaided by foreign Powers, are absolutely 
 inadequate to the accomplishment of it. That loyalty and 
 attachment to their Sovereign, which were formerly the 
 characteristics of this nation, exist no longer. The mental 
 imbecility of the present King, and the profligacy of some 
 branches of the Eoyal family, have implanted contempt and 
 aversion so deeply in the bulk of the people, that his present 
 melancholy state of captivity and humiliation, so far from
 
 1791.] STATE OF AFFAIES IN FRANCE. 167 
 
 creating a spirit of indignation against those who have 
 usurped his authority, has afforded a subject of ridicule and 
 triumph to a great majority of the nation. In regard to the 
 nobility,* their dispersion, their want of concert, of pecuniary 
 resources and of a leader, but chiefly the circumstance of their 
 estates being at the mercy of their enemies, all concur to 
 prevent them from forming or carrying into execution any 
 enterprize of much magnitude and moment. The respect 
 that used to be paid to, the character and functions of the 
 clergy has been long dwindling away, and the influence which 
 that body derived from their great territorial possessions now 
 acts as an instrument against them. Not only inasmuch as 
 their estates have been wrested from them, but also as the 
 individuals who have purchased those estates under the 
 national faith are now materially interested in protecting 
 them, by every means, against any new invasion of their 
 recently acquired rights, and the possibility of their ever 
 reverting to their original possessors. With respect to the 
 prospect of any external interference, you, Sir, are better able 
 to judge of that than I can be. I am, however, firmly 
 persuaded that no serious apprehensions on that head are 
 entertained here. The ruling party, indeed, do not rely on 
 the three millions of men (now trained to arms) alone they 
 assert they have a more effectual pledge for the non-inter- 
 vention of other Powers, in possessing the persons of the 
 King, and of such of the Aristocratical party as have not 
 chosen to expatriate themselves, both of whom they would 
 not scruple to deliver up to the fury of an exasperated 
 populace on the first appearance of a foreign invasion. 
 
 I have been rather diffuse on the above point, as I know 
 that in England the project of a counter-revolution is esteemed 
 to be a matter much more easy to be effected than I fear it 
 would prove in the event of an experiment for that purpose. 
 
 * The French nobles were estimated at about 200,000, and the clergy 
 at 130,000. Towards the end of December, 1792, it was judged advisable 
 to obtain some information as to the number of French refugees in and 
 around London. There were found to be at least 15,000, of whom a large 
 sprinkling were suspected of being emissaries of the Revolution. It 
 should be borne in mind that patents of nobility were purchasable, and 
 that consequently a certain proportion of the French nobility were not of 
 noble blood. Of the 25,000 armed emigres who took part in the Prussian 
 invasion of France, the majority were of gentle birth.
 
 THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. [CHAP. X. 
 
 There is no assertion of Mr. Burke's more true than this 
 that the French have shown themselves much more skilful in 
 destroying than in erecting. As I am convinced that no man 
 in this country, even at this moment, has any clear notions of 
 the new order of things that is to arise in the place of the 
 old, it is therefore needless to enter into any discussion of 
 the numerous speculative theories that now swarm in the 
 nation, which have no other foundation than in the heated 
 imaginations of their fabricators. 
 
 No party in the National Assembly seems to be actuated 
 by an adherence to a regular well-defined system, which is, I 
 think, pretty clearly proved by the contradictory decrees that 
 are every day issuing out to answer the emergency of the 
 moment. And even if there was a system, there does not 
 appear to be any man of abilities so transcendent, or of 
 patriotism so unsuspected, as to be capable of giving direction 
 and energy to the movements of any compact concentrated 
 body of individuals. This is a circumstance which separates 
 the French Eevolution from every preceding one in any other 
 country, and renders it impossible to discover a clue to the 
 present and future operations of that body, in whom all 
 authority is at present centered. 
 
 The duration of the present National Assembly is a subject 
 of great importance, about which public opinion is much 
 divided. But as the members of it have decreed "not to 
 separate until they have formed the constitution," it is in 
 their power to protract their existence to any period they 
 may think proper. And I do not think they will be in any 
 hurry to separate, both through an unwillingness to relinquish 
 the personal consideration that is attached to them indi- 
 vidually, and an uncertainty with respect to the future legis- 
 lature. By remaining in this present state of real inaction and 
 apparent industry, they inure the people (and especially the 
 inhabitants of the capital) to anarchy and disorder, and they 
 gain time to acquire a knowledge of the characters and senti- 
 ments of the persons the most likely to succeed them as 
 representatives of the nation. 
 
 In the meantime they avoid rendering themselves obnoxious 
 and unpopular, by throwing the execution of everything that 
 is either odious or absurd in their own numerous decrees on 
 the King and his ministers. They have stripped royalty of 
 everything that could make it either respectable or amiable, 
 and by perpetually separating the function from the person of
 
 1791.] TRANQUILLITY OF PARIS. 169 
 
 the monarch, they insensibly confound him in the general 
 mass of citizens. Indeed this affectation is carried to so 
 ridiculous a pitch, that I am rather surprised that we do not 
 hear of the pouvoir executifs looking out of the window or 
 going to bed to its wife. 
 
 In the midst of all this wretched scene of political con- 
 fusion, it is strongly suspected that several members of the 
 National Assembly have enriched themselves by stock-jobbing 
 and other arts, and Mirabeau in particular. That arch- 
 patriot is now living in great magnificence, and indulges his 
 ruling passion for buying up valuable books with unexampled V 
 profusion. 
 
 As you may have been perhaps surprised that the late dis- 
 cussion of the question of Eegency should have appeared to 
 be a matter of such urgency, I think it necessary to remark 
 that the King's health, not from extreme sensibility, but from 
 want of exercise and from indulging too freely in thev' 
 pleasures of the table, has suffered so much that it is not 
 expected that Ms Majesty can survive many years. 
 
 I must not omit to mention two circumstances that have 
 struck me greatly in my present residence in this capital 
 the tranquillity which now appears to subsist in it, and the 
 little interruption that the newly-created paper money has 
 had to encounter in its circulation. Excepting a greater 
 number of men in military uniforms parading the streets, all 
 the common occupations of life proceed as smoothly and 
 regularly as if no event of consequence had occurred, and the 
 public amusements are followed with as much avidity as in 
 the most quiet and flourishing periods of the monarchy. In 
 regard to the Assignats, although they are now at a discount 
 of 7 per cent, and are expected to fall lower, no person seems 
 to murmur at taking them in payment, or to express any 
 doubts of their validity. 
 
 Be assured that I am, with the greatest esteem, 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 Your ever-obliged and 
 
 Faithful humble servant, 
 
 GEO. HAMMOND. 
 
 It has already been related how, on the retirement of the 
 Duke of Leeds, Mr. Burgqp offered to share the political
 
 170 MR. SURGES UNSEATED. [CHAP. X. 
 
 obscuration of his patron, but was induced to remain at his 
 post at the particular request of Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville, 
 backed by his Grace. This was the second time, however, 
 that Mr. Burges had tendered his resignation. At the General 
 election of 1790 the little borough of Helston, which was 
 entitled to two representatives in Parliament, contrived to 
 return four members. Sir Gilbert Elliot bracketed with 
 Mr. S. Lushington, and Mr. J. B. Burges coupled with 
 Mr. Charles Abbot,* who lived to be one of the best 
 Speakers who have ever kept order in the House of Commons, 
 and was subsequently raised to the peerage as Lord Colchester. 
 The dispute was, of course, referred to a Committee of the 
 House of Commons, which sat for three hours on the 30th of 
 December, 1790, and in the end unseated the second batch of 
 candidates, very much to Mr. Burges's surprise and disgust. 
 His proffered resignation of his official post was, however, 
 handsomely declined by the Duke of Leeds. 
 
 Writing to his unmarried sister, Mr. Burges speaks 
 favourably of Lord Grenville. " From what I know of him," 
 he says, " I have great reason to be pleased with his nomina- 
 tion to the Foreign Department, as he is extremely sensible, 
 well informed, diligent, and good humoured, and as he takes 
 my continuance with him (as he assured me yesterday) in 
 the most flattering and obliging way possible." A disquieting 
 rumour touching the health of the Prince of Wales is thus 
 referred to in the same letter (May 2nd, 1791) : 
 
 I understand the Prince of Wales is very far from well. 
 He is supposed to have ulcers on his lungs, like the late 
 Duke of Cumberland, and was actually blooded four times 
 
 * On the appointment of Sir Gilbert Elliot to the Viceroyalty of 
 Corsica, Mr. Abbot succeeded to the vacated seat for Helston in J une, 
 1795. Like most of his parliamentary contemporaries, he was inimical to 
 journalism, and was polite enough to designate the reporters as " those 
 blackguard newswriters." He was elected Speaker in 1802.
 
 1791.] LORD QRENVILLE. 171 
 
 last week. His physicians have ordered him to live upon 
 French beans and barley-water. He, however, dined on 
 Friday with three hundred officers and, as I am informed, 
 made great havoc of sundry savoury meats and much cham- 
 pagne, claret, and burgundy. 
 
 It is creditable to Mr. Burges's faculty for reading charac- 
 ter that, so early as May, 1791, he observed the growing 
 ascendency of Lord Grenville in the Councils of the State, 
 and foresaw his future elevation to the leadership of the 
 Cabinet. He did not, however, foresee Lord Grenville's 
 shameful defection from his early friend, kinsman, and 
 patron, or his desertion to Mr. Fox ; but the Grenville family, 
 one and all, were tainted with intense selfishness, and were 
 always ready to subordinate public interests to their own. 
 As so much has been said of Lord Grenville's haughty and 
 reserved manner, it is only fair to quote Lord Minto's letter 
 to liis wife, of the 12th of August, 1805 : 
 
 There never was a more gallant or attentive husband [he 
 had been married thirteen years] ; and to all appearance a 
 better-natured as w r ell as tempered one. We walked after 
 dinner to his farm, where he patted and poored an old horse 
 which they are keeping alive by mashes and care, a full 
 quarter of an hour. This was an old horse he had been used 
 to ride himself in his youth ; but he went half the length of 
 a field out of the way to do the same by an old cart-horse. 
 I mention these traits only because they are very unlike the 
 notion which is generally entertained of his character.* 
 
 To return to Mr. Burges it was on the 6th of May that 
 he wrote as follows to Mr. Joseph Ewart : 
 
 There is a sort of versatility in the letters you now so 
 frequently receive by messengers, which I apprehend may 
 now and then puzzle you a little to account for ; and I own 
 I have my doubts how far the last, containing a request 
 to postpone the consideration of the Dantzic business, will 
 
 * Lord Minto's ' Life and Letters,' vol. iii. p. 357.
 
 172 MR. F. J. JACKSON. [CHAP. X. 
 
 prove palatable in the present moment at Berlin. Our 
 , foreign politics, however, of whatever nature they may be, 
 are solely and exclusively those of Lord Grenville, who does 
 his business by himself at his own house, with the aid of a 
 correspondence (in writing) with me. By everything I can 
 see, his Lordship is very rapidly gaining a pre-eminence, 
 which promises to place him much higher than any one at 
 present suspects. He seems already to be at least equal, 
 in point of political importance, to Pitt, and I should not 
 be at all surprised to see him rise on his shoulders to the 
 head of the Government. You may perhaps think this 
 problematical ; but I assure you I perceive strong symptoms f 
 of it, and can, on many occasions, discover that Pitt gives V 
 way to him in a manner very extraordinary, especially in 
 one of his character. The business in which you are now 
 engaged is indeed a strong proof that I am not far wrong ; 
 for you cannot be ignorant that one prime cause of the 
 sudden turn we have experienced was owing to the influence V 
 of Lord Grenville. His Lordship has not as yet opened himself 
 very much to me ; this, however, must happen sooner or later, 
 as, in my situation, confidence is absolutely necessary. He, 
 however, has honoured me with some long tete-a-tetes, in 
 which I found him extremely good-humoured, and apparently 
 inclined to advance towards that intimacy which ought to 
 subsist between two persons in our several situations. He 
 has referred himself to me for all the information he wanted 
 respecting our office, our foreign ministers, our establish- 
 ments, &c., as well as for the characters and talents of the 
 various persons employed in our department. In the course 
 of this I did not fail to represent our friend Jackson to him 
 in a proper light ; and I have the pleasure to assure you that 
 he gave me every reason to believe, that, on the first oppor- 
 tunity, he will advance him as you and I wish. 
 
 Mr. Francis James Jackson, then Charge d'Affaires at 
 Berlin, had applied to Mr. Burges to solicit two favours on 
 his behalf. The one was his appointment to Warsaw as 
 Minister Plenipotentiary, and the other an extra allowance 
 of 2 a day while acting as Charge d'Affaires during Ewart's 
 absence. Mr. Burges succeeded in obtaining for him a lump 
 sum of 450, but the post at Warsaw was entrusted to
 
 1791.] MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 173 
 
 Colonel Gardiner, brother of the first Lord Mountjoy, with 
 whom, or under whom, M. Sundersberg played at diplomacy 
 at Brussels. The Duke of Dorset's assistant and persistent 
 bore, Mr. Hailes, had been acting imprudently at Warsaw, 
 and it was considered expedient to supersede him by a diplo- 
 matist of longer standing than Mr. Jackson, however excep- 
 tional his merits, and the latter was accordingly appointed 
 Secretary of the Embassy at Madrid. About this time an 
 unpleasantness occurred between the irascible Scot, Joseph 
 Ewart, and the touchy Lord Auckland. For one reason or 
 another, a Messenger had been sent direct from Berlin to 
 Downing Street without his despatches being submitted, 
 under flying seal, to Lord Auckland at the Hague. There- 
 upon his Excellency wrote a private letter to Lord Grenville, 
 grievously complaining of the imaginary slight, or oversight. 
 Warning him that a letter from Lord Grenville was on its 
 way, Mr. Burges advised his friend to take no notice of the 
 affair to any one, but to send his despatches for the future by 
 the old route. 
 
 The confidence of our worthy Ambassador (lie continues) 
 will lead him on from one step to another, till at length Lord > 
 Grenville's good sense will find him out as you and I have ^ 
 done. En attendant, be assured of my constant attention 
 and best service. I must know all his machinations, and 
 you may depend upon my opposing the best shield I can. 
 Mr. Pitt agrees with me in the highest opinion of your merits 
 on this occasion, and so does Lord Grenville, though he talks 
 less about it. 
 
 A few days later he suggests that Ewart would do well to 
 " send private letters pretty frequently with anything that is 
 curious to Lord Grenville, who likes that sort of confidence. 
 Lord Auckland practises this manoauvre very successfully; 
 and I thought I could discover, when your Messenger came 
 with your first despatches and a private letter for Mr. Pitt,
 
 174 THE MINISTRY. [CHAP. X. 
 
 without one to him, that he was a little piqued." Tantiene 
 animis celestibus irce ! Lord Grenville did ultimately " find 
 out " Lord Auckland, and when the latter shamelessly 
 deserted Mr. Pitt, to whom he was indebted for every dis- 
 tinction he had received, he was in his turn rejected by the 
 new master of the situation, and consigned to the quiet 
 enjoyment of the rural delights of Eden Farm. 
 
 Writing to Ewart on the 7th July, 1791, Mr. Burges says 
 of Fox's semi-accredited agent, Mr. Adair : " He is a clever 
 young man, about thirty as I should suppose, tall, thin, and 
 pale, with an appearance of considerable vivacity." He then 
 proceeds to express his opinion, confidentially, of the Ministry, 
 and of his own position towards them : 
 
 As it may be necessary for you to know how we go on 
 here in the interior of things, I must tell you in confidence, 
 that I think Mr. Pitt daily gains a more and more decided 
 influence in the Cabinet. The Duke of Leeds' resignation, 
 by placing Lord Grenville here, has absolutely given him all 
 Foreign Affairs ; that is, these two friends are so inseparably^ 
 connected that there is but one sentiment between them ; 
 and, in addition, by Dundas's nomination, they have complete 
 possession of the Home Department, as he is guided by them 
 in everything, as owing his appointment solely to them, and 
 as he holds it (as I have good reason to believe) without any 
 share in the patronage, which, added to that of this office 
 and of the Treasury, gives them nearly all His Majesty's 
 dominions produce. The Chancellor (Thurlow), though sup- 
 ported by Lord Hawkesbury (a support, however, I am sure 
 he cannot always depend upon), stands nearly alone ; for Lord 
 Stafford is almost past business, and neither the Duke of 
 Eichmond nor Lord Camden much like him, nor, if they did, 
 would they take any trouble they can avoid. I am able to 
 speak more decidedly upon this subject now than I was when I 
 last touched upon it, as my own situation is of late considerably 
 altered in consequence of the ice having been broken between 
 Lord Grenville and me, and a confidence having succeeded to 
 the reserve which I mentioned to you as subsisting on his part. 
 In fact, I now find him as open and communicative as I can
 
 1791.] MR. BURQES CONTENT. 175 
 
 wish, and I have reason to believe that he is fully as much so 
 with me as he is with any one. He now converses freely with 
 me on business, and seems on all occasions desirous of having 
 my opinion, as well as of very candidly giving me his own. 
 I have also frequently been at his house, where I have passed 
 hours at a time in a tete-a-tete with him, and I have much 
 pleasure in assuring you that every time I see him my 
 opinion of him rises, both as a public and a private man. Of 
 his talents and his management of business you can form a 
 judgment ; and I can from experience add that he is uncom- 
 monly good-humoured, easy in his manner, and compliant on 
 all occasions where he can be wished to be so. In a word, I 
 trembled at first when I found myself the confidential coad- 
 jutor of another than the Duke of Leeds, with whom I lived 
 in such cordial and unreserved intimacy; but I now find 
 Lord Grenville to be altogether as easy to transact business 
 with, and perfectly ready to be satisfied with my endeavours 
 to discharge properly the duties which iny situation imposes 
 upon me.
 
 ( 176 ) [CHAP. XL 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Seditious Publications Revolutionary Societies Riots at Birmingham 
 London Tranquil Letters from Mr. Burges to Lord Auckland and 
 Mr. Moore Recall qf Mr. Ewart Lord Auckland's Rancour Sir 
 Morton Eden Mr. Jackson Convention between Holland and Austria 
 Mr. Ewart's Letter to Lord Grenville Stuart Papers at the Scotch 
 College in Paris Treaty of Pilnitz Royal Misalliances Royal Mar- 
 riage Act Prince Augustus Frederick and Lady Augusta Murray 
 Their Marriage Annulled Sir John Scott and Lord Thuvlow Lady 
 Hamilton Mr. Burges's Correspondence with Sir Wm. Hamilton 
 Suicide of Dr. Murray Prince Augustus returns to Rome. 
 
 THE publication of Burke's ' Eeflections on the French 
 Eevolution,' in the autumn of 1790, heralded the secession 
 of that statesman from the factious clique with which he had 
 so long been associated. The pamphlet had an immense 
 success. According to Horace Walpole, 7000 copies were 
 sold within the first week; a wonderful circulation for 
 those days. In England alone 30,000 copies were sold at 
 5s. each, in a very short time. The avowed principles of 
 the Revolution found at first many adherents among even 
 moderate men of the Opposition. In the abstract they 
 were plausible, and perhaps were only impracticable from 
 being misunderstood and exaggerated. They were of too 
 ethereal a nature to be materialised without losing their 
 purity and truth. They never struck deep root on the British 
 side of the Channel. A few seeds germinated by the road- 
 side, but their growth was stunted, and they were soon 
 plucked up or trampled under foot. The excesses of the 
 French Eevolution had not assumed their most hideous shape
 
 1791.] SEDITIOUS SOCIETIES. 177 
 
 in 1791. The guillotine had not become a permanent insti- 
 tution. After the fall of the Bastile there was an interval of 
 comparative repose. Anarchy, indeed, threatened to displace 
 a regular government, but the mad saturnalia of horrors had 
 not yet begun. In England, the movement, such as it was, 
 was directed chiefly against antiquated privileges, and the 
 unjustifiable pretentious alleged against the aristocracy. In 
 crossing the Silver Streak, however, the most terrible and 
 pernicious utterances of the French democrats had evaporated 
 into thin air, or rather, their true significance was recognised. 
 It was as when the running stream dissolved the spell, and 
 the Goblin Page of Branksome Hall stood revealed in his 
 own elfish form and features. Sedition, indeed, was rife, but 
 for the most part confined to publications and societies 
 usually misnamed. ' The Eights of Man,' by Thomas Paine, 
 and the ' Vindiciae Gallicse ' of (the future Sir) James 
 Mackintosh, were the two most notable books those troublous 
 times brought forth, though the evil that was done was chiefly 
 caused by ephemeral productions in which violence of 
 language was made to do duty for argument. Not a little 
 mischief, moreover, may be traced to the action of such 
 societies as " The Friends of the People," " The Society for 
 Constitutional Information," and " The London Corresponding 
 Society." The first named was originally founded by Mr., 
 afterwards Earl, Grey, in co-operation with Sheridan, Fox, 
 Lord Lauderdale, and men of that stamp. Of the one hundred 
 members who belonged to it, twenty-eight had seats in 
 Parliament. Now-a-days their avowed principles would be 
 deemed moderate and harmless. They were in favour of a 
 milder punitive code. They desired to abolish the penal 
 statutes against Unitarians, which were still in force. Their 
 chief fault was that of being in advance of their age, and 
 therein lay their weakness. They were able to create dis- 
 
 N
 
 178 EEVOLUTIONAEY ASSOCIATIONS. [CHAP. XT. 
 
 content, but had no power to redress the grievances they 
 denounced, simply because public opinion was stupid and 
 distrustful. Another society that gave umbrage to the 
 Government of the day was called " The Revolutionary 
 Society." In reality it was an association of Dissenters 
 established for many years, and was intended to commemo- 
 rate the principles of the Revolution of 1688. It had, how- 
 ever, become somewhat affected by the taint of the French 
 Revolution, which Dr. Price laboured to prove a development 
 of the movement which rescued Great Britain from Roman- 
 ism. On the 4th of November it held its usual anniversary 
 meeting at the London Tavern, with the eccentric Earl 
 Stanhope in the chair, and voted a congratulatory address to 
 the National Assembly. A far more mischievous gathering 
 of busy-bodies was known as " The London Corresponding 
 Society," which was decidedly revolutionary, its funds, as it 
 was alleged, being supplied from Paris. " The Society for 
 Constitutional Information," was founded at the close of the 
 American War of Independence, by the Duke of Richmond, 
 Lord Mahon, Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and others, who were joined 
 by Major Cartwright, Home Tooke, John Frost, and the Rev. 
 Mr. Wy vill, but the outbreak of the French Revolution served 
 as a signal for the secession of the more respectable members. 
 It was by the " residuum " that Erskine and Pigott, re- 
 spectively Attorney-General and Solicitor-General to the 
 Prince of Wales, were retained for the defence of Thomas 
 Paine, tried on a criminal indictment before Lord Kenyon at 
 the Guildhall, in December 1792, and outlawed. The most 
 troublesome association, however, at this particular period, 
 was the Unitarian Society, of which Dr. Priestley was a con- 
 spicuous member. That eminent philosopher and physicist 
 then resided at Birmingham, where he had offended many 
 respectable prejudices by a funeral sermon in eulogy of Dr.
 
 1791.] RIOTS IN BIRMINGHAM. 179 
 
 Price. If not actually suggested by Dr. Priestley, it was at 
 least with his decided approval, that a demonstration was got 
 up to celebrate the capture of the Bastile. Invitations to a 
 banquet were widely circulated, and among these a handbill 
 attributed to a Dissenting minister who suddenly dis- 
 appeared which distinctly advocated republican doctrines. 
 Some of these bills were exhibited in a public-house, and 
 were met by a counter-circular, offering a reward of one 
 hundred guineas on conviction of the writer, printer, 
 publisher, or distributor of the libel. The majority of the 
 proposed meeting disavowed the handbill and professed an 
 unwavering allegiance to king and constitution. Neverthe- 
 less, eighty-one gentlemen met at the appointed place on the 
 14th of July, 1791, amid much hooting and hissing from the 
 mob collected outside in the street. The dinner was quickly 
 hurried through, and by six o'clock the terrified guests had 
 returned to their homes. For all that, the windows were 
 smashed, and gathering courage from immunity, the rioters 
 proceeded to worse outrages. The residence of Dr. Priestley, 
 two chapels, and several dwelling-houses, were utterly 
 wrecked, and for three days the normal length of a revo- 
 lutionary disturbance the town was practically at the mercy 
 of the mob, who threw open the town gaol and the prison of 
 the Court of Eequests. The damage done to property, 
 however, did not exceed 35,000, and on the arrival of three 
 troops of horse on Sunday evening, the commotion at once 
 subsided. The sufferers were, without exception, dissenters. 
 Dr. Priestley himself retired to London, and was elected a 
 member of the French Legislature, though he prudently 
 declined to take his seat. Three years later he crossed the 
 Atlantic and was soon forgotten. Three men, however, were 
 hanged for the part they took in these riots, and a fourth 
 would have shared their fate had it not been proved, almost 
 
 N 2
 
 180 INDIFFERENCE OF THE LONDONERS. [CHAP. XT. 
 
 by accident, that he was actually labouring to save the life of 
 a fellow-creature. In London there was scarcely any breach 
 of the peace, the affair being briefly and contemptuously dis- 
 missed by Mr. Burges in a few lines written to Lord Auck- 
 land on July 15th, 1791 : 
 
 MY DEAR LORD, 
 
 As some pains have been taken to magnify the prospect of 
 evils expected from the celebration of the French anniversary 
 yesterday, I lose no time in assuring yoiir Excellency that 
 everything passed quietly, and with as much contempt on the 
 part of the public as any mountebank exhibition could 
 possibly do, I do not find that above three or four persons 
 who could be called "gentlemen," attended the meeting ; 
 concerning which nothing more can be said than that several 
 apprentices and French hairdressers got extremely drunk, and 
 that the principal operators of the evening were pickpockets 
 and street " bunters" * who, I am informed, got a very plentiful 
 harvest. 
 
 In a similar strain was a note addressed the same day to 
 Mr. Francis Moore, at Paris : 
 
 Our day passed over very quietly yesterday, and nothing 
 could have happened more opportunely than this attempt to 
 make a disturbance, as even by the lowest of the mob a most 
 sovereign contempt was exhibited both for French politics 
 and for the Boute-feus, English and French, who endeavoured 
 to raise a riot, and to introduce Gallic principles as well as 
 practice among us. We now have a convincing proof that 
 Englishmen have too much sense to be carried away by the 
 absurdities which the De Propaganda gentlemen have taken 
 so much pains to introduce into this country. That illustrious 
 body will do well to carry their mountebank doctrines else- 
 where ; though I still think that their Society, as well as what 
 they facetiously call their Constitution, must ere long sink 
 into that contempt which it deserves, and which, indeed, it 
 already almost universally begins to meet with. 
 
 * In Johnson's Dictionary a " bunter " is described as a woman who 
 picks up rags in the streets, The tewn is applied contemptuously to any 
 low and vulgar person.
 
 1791.] RECALL OF MR. EWART. 181 
 
 The marriage of the Duke of York to the Princess Charlotte 
 Ulrica Catherine, eldest daughter of Frederick William II., 
 King of Prussia, on the 28th of September, 1791, was made use 
 of as a pretext for the harsh recall of Mr. Ewart from Berlin, 
 and his consequent retirement into private life at Bath, on a 
 pension of 1000 a year. The real motive was a desire to 
 gratify the insatiable greed of the Eden family. Sir then 
 Mr. Morton Eden coveted the post of Minister at Berlin, 
 and naturally enough, his brother's influence was strenuously 
 exerted in his favour. By reading between the lines, how- 
 ever, it is easy to see that the Beckenham " farmer " had 
 never forgiven Ewart for sending his despatches by another 
 route than through the Hague. The two were diametrically 
 opposed to one another on the subject of war with Eussia, 
 and the Edens were wont to regard as dupes and dunderheads, 
 if not worse, those who presumed to differ from them. On 
 the 1st of November, 1791, Lord Auckland wrote to his brother 
 Morton that he had succeeded in obtaining for him the red 
 ribbon, which, indeed, his diplomatic services had fairly de- 
 served,* and then turned aside to attack his recent colleague 
 and correspondent behind his back : 
 
 Your nomination to Berlin will not diminish Mr. Ewart's 
 anger. He has been very absurd, nearly, I think, to insanity ; 
 and if he had been allowed to drive on as he wished, would 
 have forced the whole world into a state of war, upon the 
 short-sighted and silly speculation of placing the power of 
 England upon a colossus for the admiration of the present 
 age and of posterity, of which colossus he, the architect, was 
 to have received an unbounded tribute of fame and honour. 
 In the whole idea there was a total ignorance of our finances 
 and of the disposition of this country, and a total disregard 
 to all collateral consequences. . . . Mr. Ewart wrote long 
 
 * Sir Morton Eden was created an Irish peer in 1799, with the title of 
 Lord Henley. At first strongly prejudiced against George III., he came 
 by degrees to admire and esteem his character.
 
 182 MB. EW AST'S APPLICATION. [CHAP. XI ; 
 
 letters to me, sometimes in a tone of flattery, sometimes in 
 one of presumption and menace ; and if, in the interval, it 
 had so happened that the Empress of Eussia had given way 
 or made sudden peace with the Turks, the world would not 
 have been large enough for the political importance of 
 Mr. Ewart. This will not be entirely the case at present. * 
 
 The earthen pitcher, coming into collision with the iron pot, 
 was, as usual, shattered to pieces, while the conqueror went 
 on gaily floating on the current. On the 25th of November, 
 1791, Mr. Ewart thus addressed Lord Grenville from Bath : 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 I took the liberty of mentioning to your Lordship, in a letter 
 I wrote to you some time before leaving Berlin, different 
 extraordinary expenses I had been put to during the last 
 eight months, for which I solicited an extraordinary allow- 
 ance. Not having been favoured with an answer, I now 
 confine my application to the two articles stated in the 
 enclosed note, which I beg leave to recommend to your 
 Lordship's candour, hoping my request will be found equally 
 just and reasonable. 
 
 Of the 1000 allowed me for the Duke of York's marriage, 
 I spent about 700 in giving a great ball and entertainment, 
 at which the King of Prussia and the whole Court were 
 present, contrary to the usual etiquette. My clothes and 
 other expenses for the ceremony and fetes cost me above 
 300, but I should certainly have been more economical had 
 I not been made to expect that the 1000 was destined solely 
 for the expenses incurred during the time of the marriage 
 entertainments, and that my previous extraordinary expenses, 
 occasioned by the Duke of York's long stay at Berlin, would 
 be reimbursed. I need not recall to your Lordship's recol- 
 lection the circumstances of my journey from London to 
 Berlin last spring. 
 
 I send a copy of this letter to Mr. Pitt, in the hopes that 
 he will have the goodness to concur with your Lordship in 
 granting me the indemnification I solicit. 
 
 I have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 * ' Auckland Correspondence,' vol. ii. pp. 302-93.
 
 1791.] THE STUART PAPERS. 183 
 
 To expenses of my journey from London to Berlin last spring 170 
 To expenses incurred above my appointments, by the long 
 stay of the Duke of York at Berlin, previous to his 
 marriage .. .. .. .. 720 
 
 890 
 
 In November, 1791, Mr. Burges's attention was drawn to a 
 collection of original papers written by Charles II., James II., 
 and other personages of great political importance in their 
 time, which the Scotch College at Paris was disposed to sell 
 for 3000. The Government having no spare funds for such 
 a purpose, Mr. Burges was directed by the Duke of Leeds to 
 apply to His Majesty through the Bishop of Salisbury ; but 
 money was scarce also in that quarter, and with many ex- 
 pressions of regret the offer was declined. 
 
 In the summer of 1791 the Emperor of Austria and the 
 King of Prussia held a Conference at Pilnitz, near Dresden, 
 at which were present the Elector of Saxony, Count d'Artois, 
 afterwards Charles X. of France, Prince Hohenlohe, Baron 
 Bischoffswerder, the Archduke Francis, Baron Spielrnann, 
 the Marquis de Bouille, M. de Calonne, and other notable 
 personages, ostensibly guests of the Elector. The King of 
 Prussia advocated the immediate adoption of vigorous mea- 
 sures, while the Emperor was disinclined to venture beyond 
 strongly worded manifestoes, but in the end a Declaration 
 was issued addressed to the Count d'Artois, which inspired 
 the Royalists with the most sanguine and unfounded ex- 
 pectations. The co-signatories affirmed that the melancholy 
 condition of the King of France was a matter of common 
 interest to all the sovereigns of Europe, and they demanded 
 the concurrence of the other powers to enable Louis XVI., 
 when once more a free agent, to establish a monarchical 
 government on liberal principles. The co-operation was
 
 .TEE ATT OF PILNITZ. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 invited of Spain, Eussia, England, Naples, and the Kingdom 
 of Sardinia, sympathetic answers being received from all 
 except from the British Court, whose hesitation was justified 
 by the French King's acceptance of the new Constitution. 
 The French emigrants could hardly have been aware of the 
 real tendency of the Treaty of Pilnitz, which pointed to a 
 dismemberment of France for the benefit of Austria and 
 Prussia. The true purport of that instrument appears clearly 
 enough from an abstract made by Mr. Burges, for the abso- 
 lute correctness of which he expresses himself ready to 
 vouch : 
 
 The Emperor and King of Prussia engage to co-operate 
 in the re-establishment of the monarchy of France, under 
 limitations similar to those proposed by the Constitutional 
 Articles of the first National Assembly. 
 
 The other Great Powers to be invited to become parties to 
 this Treaty. 
 
 By way of indemnification, Alsatia and part of Lorraine 
 to be ceded to the Elector Palatine in exchange for the 
 Duchies of Juliers and Berg, and what is called Lower 
 Bavaria. 
 
 Prussia to have Juliers and Berg, and part of Brabant. 
 
 Austria to have Lower Bavaria, the remaining part of 
 Lorraine, and French Flanders. 
 
 It is worthy of note that although the other Great Powers 
 were invited to assist in the liberation of the French King 
 from his subjects, they were not also invited to participate 
 in the "indemnification." A question of greater insular 
 importance, as directly affecting the honour and happiness of 
 the Eoyal Family, speedily effaced the memories of Sistova 
 and Pilnitz, and turned the attention of the Under Secretary 
 of State to the movements of a young British Prince in the 
 South of Italy. The House of Hanover in those days was 
 Addicted to con ti acting marriages with subjects, to the preju- 
 dice of other royal families, and, perchance, with a risk of
 
 1791.] ROYAL MISALLIANCES. 185 
 
 creating unpleasant complications in the future. In the 
 autumn of 1771, the Duke of Cumberland married Lady 
 Anne Horton, daughter of Colonel Simon Luttrell, after- 
 wards Lord Carhampton, and widow, at the age of twenty- 
 four, of Christopher Horton, Esq., of Catton Hall, near Derby. 
 We are told that she had bewitching eyes, and danced 
 divinely. Early in the following year George III.'s younger 
 brother, the Duke of Gloucester, married the Dowager 
 Countess of Waldegrave, natural daughter of Sir Edward 
 Walpole, Horace Walpole's brother. These two events 
 coming so closely one upon the other exasperated the King, and 
 led to the passing of the Eoyal Marriage Act, which declared 
 null and void the marriage of any member of the royal 
 family who, under the age of twenty-five, should take to 
 himself a wife, or to herself a husband, without the previous 
 sanction of the reigning sovereign. Nevertheless Prince 
 Augustus Frederick, afterwards Duke of Sussex, ventured to 
 set the Act at defiance. Lady Malmesbury wrote to her sister 
 Lady Elliot, subsequently Countess of Minto December 16th, 
 1791 that the Prince was "very well behaved and good 
 humoured indeed." For several years he had been suffering 
 from a complaint of the lungs, and lived entirely on potatoes 
 and water. The King's command was that he should reside 
 at Portici, in preference to Naples, probably to avoid the 
 temptations which would beset a young man in his position 
 in that city. But during his previous visit to Eome the 
 Prince had become acquainted with the Countess of Dun- 
 more and her large family, the Earl being absent at the 
 time in North America. The daughter, Lady Augusta 
 Murray, who is described as possessing unusual attractions, 
 was some years older than His Eoyal Highness, who, indeed, 
 had not completed his twentieth year. The young people 
 pledged themselves to one another in writing, but were not
 
 186 ALL IN THE WRONG. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 doomed to a long suspense. On the 4th of April, 1793, they 
 were secretly married in Rome, by an English clergyman 
 of the name of Gunn. The ceremony was repeated in 
 St. George's Church, Hanover Square, on the 5th of the 
 following December, without any suspicions of their identity, 
 although the banns had been read in the names of Augustus 
 Frederick and Augusta Murray. The curate who read the 
 marriage service over them also protested his entire inno- 
 cence. The transaction, having got wind, came before the 
 Privy Council. Sir John Scott was then the Attorney- 
 General, and in his ' Anecdote Book ' thus sketched the 
 proceedings*: 
 
 Great blame was imputed to the rector for publishing the 
 banns without inquiry as to the residence of the parties in 
 the parish : so it was proposed to call upon the clergy of the 
 church, St. George's, Hanover Square, to account for the 
 marriage having taken place by banns, without the proper 
 residence of the party in the parish, and without their knowing 
 the parties. The rector first appeared : he said he had two 
 most respectable curates, and he had always most solemnly 
 enjoined them not to marry parties without having first 
 inquired about their residence. The curates were then ex- 
 amined, and they said theirs was a most respectable parish 
 clerk, who wore a gown, and they had always most solemnly 
 given a like injunction to him. The clerk was then called, 
 and he declared that no man in the parish had a more ex- 
 cellent careful wife than he had, and that he daily gave her 
 most solemnly a like injunction. She then made her appear- 
 ance, and said that she must sometimes be about her own, 
 and not about parish business ; but that she had two female 
 servants, as discreet as any in the parish, and she had always 
 given them a like solemn injunction, when anybody brought 
 a paper about publication of banns in her and her husband's 
 absence, to make proper inquiries about the parties' residence. 
 All this put Lord Thurlow out of humour, and he then said 
 to me angrily, "Sir, why have you not prosecuted, under 
 the Act of Parliament, all the parties concerned in this 
 
 * Twiss's ' Life of Lord Chancellor Eldou,' vol. i. pp. 235-6.
 
 1791.] EMMA HART. ]87 
 
 abominable marriage ? " To which I answered, " That it 
 was a very difficult business to prosecute that the Act, it 
 was understood, had been drawn by Lord Mansfield, and 
 Mr. Attorney-General Tlmrlow, and Mr. Solicitor-General 
 Wedderburn,* and unluckily they had made all parties 
 present at the marriage guilty of felony ; and as nobody 
 could prove the marriage except a person who had been 
 present at it, there could be no prosecution, because nobody 
 present could be compelled to be a witness." This put an 
 end to the matter. Afterwards there was a suit in the 
 House of Commons, and the marriage was there declared 
 void. 
 
 At that time the British Minister at Naples was the 
 celebrated antiquary, Sir William Hamilton, who had long 
 survived any other talent he might have possessed. His 
 first wife, an accomplished and estimable person, had been 
 dead some years when, in his old age, he fell a victim to the 
 fascination of Emma Hart. According to Lsetitia Matilda 
 Hawkins, Emma Hart was at one time a nursery-maid, 
 with a lovely face and voice, but deficient in moral qualities, 
 and was more than suspected of having been the mistress as 
 well as the model of the painter Eomney. Horace Walpole 
 met her at a private concert at the Duke of Queensberry's 
 residence at Richmond, in 1791, by which time she had 
 emerged alike from the nursery and the studio. He wrote 
 of her to the Misses Berry with enthusiasm : " Oh ! but she 
 sings admirably ; has a very fine strong voice ; is an excellent 
 bvffa, and an astonishing tragedian. She sung 'Nina' in 
 the highest perfection ; and there her attitudes were a whole 
 theatre of grace and various expressions." Lord Malmesbury f 
 wrote of her, "Lady Hamilton was a woman . . . whom 
 Sir W. Hamilton fell in with here when he began to dote, 
 and married when his dotage was confirmed ; she is clever 
 
 * Subsequently Lord Loughborough, and finally Earl of Rosslyn. 
 t ' Malmesbury Diary,' vol. iv. p. 214.
 
 188 LADY HAMILTON. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 and artful, but a sad . . ." The story goes that shortly 
 after her arrival in Naples, as wife of the British Ambassador, 
 the King sent her a carte blanche to fill up, which she wisely 
 presented to the Queen, who asked what return she could 
 make to evince her gratitude. Lady Hamilton replied that 
 she asked for nothing more than to be received at Court. 
 " Not at my Court alone," exclaimed her impulsive Majesty, 
 " but at my private parties, and at all times." Sir Gilbert 
 Elliot described her at considerable length for the benefit of 
 Lady Elliot * : 
 
 
 She is the most extraordinary compound I ever beheld. 
 Her person is nothing short of monstrous for its enormity 
 [December, 1796], and is growing every day. She tries hard 
 to think size advantageous to her beauty, but is not easy 
 about it. Her face is beautiful ; she is all Nature, and yet 
 all Art ; that is to say, her manners are perfectly unpolished, 
 of course very easy, though not with the ease of good 
 breeding, but of a barmaid ; excessively good-humoured, and 
 wishing to please and be admired by all ages and sorts of 
 persons that come in her way; but, besides considerable 
 natural advantages, she has acquired since her marriage some 
 knowledge of history and of the arts, and one wonders at the 
 application and pains she has taken to make herself what 
 she is. With men, her language and conversation are ex- 
 aggerations of anything I ever heard anywhere ; and I was 
 wonderfully struck with these inveterate remains of her 
 origin, though the impression was very much weakened by 
 seeing the other ladies of Naples. 
 
 A little later Sir Gilbert Elliot saw Lady Hamilton one 
 night taking a part in " the attitudes," and protested that " by 
 candle-light nothing could equal (her) refined taste and 
 talent, though she called her husband ' Sir Willum.' " In 
 Pettigrew's ' Life of Nelson/ it is stated that Lady Hamilton's 
 maiden name was Cadogan, and that' she was reputed to have 
 borne Mr. Greville three children, named Eliza, Anne, and 
 
 * ' Minto Correspondence,' vol. ii. p. 364.
 
 1791.] COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH SPAIN. 189 
 
 Charles.* Mrs. Cadogan was living with the Hamiltons at 
 the same time that Miss Cornelia Knight was residing under 
 their roof. The unfortunate connection of Lord Nelson with 
 Lady Hamilton does not fall within the province of Mr. 
 Burges's biographer, but he may be pardoned for referring those 
 who would rather think good than evil of their neighbours to 
 Miss Cornelia Knight's Autobiography, to Pettigrew's ' Life 
 of Nelson (appendix),' and to ' Blackwood's Magazine ' for 
 April, 1859. These explanatory remarks, it is hoped, will 
 suffice to render the following correspondence intelligible and 
 interesting : 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Lord St. Helens. 
 
 Whitehall, August 26th, 1791. 
 MY DEAK LOED, 
 
 You will receive a set of very lengthy dispatches by your 
 servant, which may be explained in a very few lines. As to 
 the Alliance, it is a thing much wished for by us all ; but 
 strong hopes are entertained that two birds may be killed by 
 one stone, and that a little additional trouble will procure for 
 us that Commercial Treaty which we have so long looked for 
 in vain. I can tell you (though in strict confidence) that this 
 is the idea entertained by Mr. Pitt, and that there will be 
 some danger of failing in what Florida Blanca has proposed 
 (however anxiously it may be wished for) if the commercial 
 part is not added to it. You have already done great things ; 
 but I assure you, if you can carry this point, you will not 
 only merit, but will meet with the most sincere gratitude 
 from all those whose regard is worth having. We stand at 
 this moment in a situation somewhat critical. The event of 
 
 * Lady Hamilton was born at Preston, in Lancashire, in or about the 
 year 1764. Her father's name was Lyon, and it is said that he was a 
 common labourer. His daughter was probably seduced by " Jack " Payne, 1 ** 
 but did not long remain under his protection. Subsequently her loveg 
 were somewhat versatile, though she appears to have lived for some years 
 with Charles Greville, son of the first Earl of Warwick. Her mother 
 subsequently took the name of Cadogan, while she herself preferred that of 
 Hart. See an interesting paper in ' Temple Bar ' for October, 1884,
 
 190 DIPLOMATIC INTRIGUES. [CHAP. XL 
 
 the Eussian business, though much what was expected, has 
 certainly not been such as to give great cause for boasting. 
 On the other hand, the termination of the Sistova Negotiation 
 has been as creditable as could have been expected. Thus we 
 stand equally balanced. If you can make the scale preponde- 
 rate in our favour (which undoubtedly must be the case if you 
 break the family compact and give us a treaty of commerce), 
 you may make your own terms, sure of being most gratefully 
 attended to. 
 
 Count Merci * is here at present. I dined with him yester- 
 day and the day before at Pitt's and Lord Grenville's, and am 
 delighted with his vieille cour manners, his temper, and his 
 acuteness. He will not succeed in any attempts he may 
 make to influence this Court to join in an attack on France. 
 That country plays our game too well of itself to make it 
 necessary for us to be at any expense or trouble about it. 
 The Emperor and King of Prussia, however, appear to be in 
 earnest in their idea of restoring the monarchical power there, 
 and (I will tell you in strict confidence) a treaty has actually 
 been signed by them (through the medium of Bischoffswerder) 
 for that purpose, and, I apprehend, for a further alliance. This 
 is an additional and a strong reason for wishing that the 
 treaties you are concerned in may immediately be concluded. 
 
 Sir Wm. Hamilton is now here, and is next week to marry 
 
 Mrs. Hart, a famous , who has lived with him as such 
 
 for more than five years. I doubt whether this accident will 
 not occasion a vacancy at Naples. 
 
 Adieu, my dear Lord, and believe me ever most truly 
 Your Excellency's most faithful and 
 
 Obedient servant, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Sir W. Hamilton. 
 
 Whitehall, November 25th, 1791. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I flatter myself that by this time you and Lady Hamilton 
 are safely arrived at Naples, and that you continue to enjoy 
 
 * Count de Merci-Argenteau controlled Austrian affairs in the Low 
 Countries, which the Emperor desired to exchange for Bavaria. He died 
 in London in 1794.
 
 1791.] A LELICATE COMMISSION. 
 
 good health and as much happiness as all your friends can 
 wish you. 
 
 I avail myself of the freedom of an old friend to mention 
 a circumstance to you, which I am sure will induce you to be 
 at a little extra trouble, and occasionally to favour me with a 
 letter. The Queen, as you probably know, is greatly attached 
 to her son, Prince Augustus ; and the general report of the 
 world, as well as the particular accounts of him which have 
 been sent home, tend to confirm the propriety of Her Majesty's 
 opinion of his excellent qualities and admirable conduct. It 
 has hitherto been my good fortune to have received many of 
 these, and to have conveyed them to the Queen ; and Her 
 Majesty, undoubtedly overrating the zeal I have shown to 
 fulfil her wishes in this respect, has been more than once very 
 graciously pleased to express her approbation of it. As, 
 independently of her rank and my duty, I ever feel a sincere 
 pleasure in being able to gratify her by communicating 
 authentic information on a subject so congenial to the feelings 
 of a mother, I avail myself of your goodness to beg that, 
 during the approaching residence of His Koyal Highness at 
 Naples, you would have the goodness, from time to time, to 
 write to me, fully and confidentially, such accounts of his 
 health, conduct, and tendencies, as may occur to you. I am 
 very confident that nothing will present itself to you which 
 will not do the highest credit to His Royal Highness's head 
 and heart ; and I am equally sure that such accounts of him 
 as I have mentioned will be in the highest degree gratifying 
 to Her Majesty, who on more occasions than one has done me 
 the honour to speak to me of her son in the most tender terms, 
 and such as demonstrate the lively interest she takes in 
 everything that relates to him. 
 
 From Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Caserta, December 17th, 1791. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I take the very first opportunity of complying with the 
 request in your obliging confidential letter of the 25th of 
 November, and shall acquaint you without reserve with 
 whatever may occur relative to H.E.H. Prince Augustus 
 during his stay at Naples. All that I can yet say from my 
 own observation is that I think that the Prince is at present
 
 192 PRINCE CHARMING. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 in a very good state of health, and is likely to continues so, as 
 he is remarkably temperate. The affability and politeness 
 of H.RH. is conspicuous on every occasion, and there is 
 every reason to expect that he will be a most accomplished 
 prince, H.E.H.'s attendants seem to have been well chosen, 
 particularly the Baron de Hanstein, for whom the Prince 
 appears to have the most sincere regard. 
 
 Our reception on our return from England has been very 
 flattering. The Queen of Naples of her own accord desired 
 me to present my wife to her, and Her Majesty received 
 Lady Hamilton most graciously indeed. I had previously 
 explained to their Sicilian Majesties fairly and openly our 
 situation, and that the utmost of Lady H.'s ambition was to 
 be treated as the wife of Sir W. EL, supposing him to be at 
 Naples independent of his public character ; and so far she 
 has succeeded perfectly, and I see with pleasure that by her 
 judicious and prudent behaviour she has completely gained 
 all the wives of the foreign Ministers, and all the English 
 travelling ladies which you will, I daresay, hear from many 
 quarters. You see I take the liberty of a friend and trouble 
 you with my private affairs, which I flatter myself your 
 goodness will excuse. 
 
 I have the honour to be, my dear Sir, 
 
 With great truth and regard, 
 Your most obedient and obliged humble servant, 
 
 WM. HAMILTON. 
 
 From Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Naples, January 24th, 1792. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I have the pleasure of assuring you that H.E.H. Prince 
 Augustus is in perfect health. H.E.H. leads a most regular 
 life at Portici, coming to Naples twice a week, and never 
 staying on late. His goodness and affability gain the hearts 
 of all who have the honour of approaching him. The Court 
 of Naples leave H.E.H. at perfect liberty, according to his 
 desire on his first arrival, but should he have a wish, I am 
 sure the King and Queen of Naples would be happy to 
 comply with it immediately. The Baron de Hanstein, who
 
 1702.] PRINCE AUaUSTUS. 193 
 
 has the honour of accompanying the Prince, is as sensible 
 and prudent a young man as I ever met with, and I see that 
 H.R.H. has a real love and regard for him. 
 
 I natter myself that you will hear from every quarter that 
 Lady Hamilton's conduct has been such as to gain universal 
 approbation. She is totally independent of the diplomatic 
 line, but has received every honour and civility from the 
 Court and public as the wife of Sir W. H., supposing him at 
 Naples in a private character, and more she could not with 
 any propriety pretend to. 
 
 I am, with great truth and regard, 
 Your most obedient and obliged humble servant, 
 
 W. HAMILTON. 
 
 From Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Naples, February 27th, 1792. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 Not to oinit any circumstance relative to Prince Augustus, 
 I must inform you that until Sunday last H.R.H. has enjoyed 
 a most perfect state of health. He has led the most regular 
 life possible in the country, and has gained the hearts of 
 every person who has had the good fortune to approach him. 
 On Sunday last at my house I observed that H.R.H. was 
 paler than usual, and remarkably chilly. He went home 
 early in the evening and took an emetic, which he likewise 
 repeated yesterday, and finds himself greatly relieved to-day, 
 which shows that his slight indisposition proceeded from the 
 stomach, and not from any return of his former complaint. 
 
 from Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Naples, March 6th, 1792. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 You had the first hint of Prince Augustus's indisposition, 
 and by my last to Lord Grenville you will have seen that 
 H.R.H.'s disorder was a rheumatic fever. Mr. Murray, the 
 young German physician that the Prince brought with him, 
 seeming to be alarmed at the disorder being different from 
 the usual complaint of H.R.H., agreed with Baron Hanstein 
 
 o
 
 194 SUICIDE OF DR. MURRAY. [CHAP. XL 
 
 to call in the aid of Dr. Cutunio, one of the Court physicians, 
 but soon after Mr. Murray began to be jealous and to think 
 that the Prince had more confidence in Cutunio than in 
 him, and in short worked himself up into a sort of despair, 
 though Cutunio had approved of all he had done. On Saturday 
 night Mr. Murray drew up a state of the Prince's disorder, 
 and which was inclosed in my letter to Lord Grenville. 
 Baron Hanstein thought that he had calmed the mind of 
 Mr. Murray, but unfortunately it proved otherwise. For, not 
 coming down to breakfast at the usual hour on Sunday 
 morning, on finding his door locked and no answer returned 
 when called, a ladder was placed to the window, and the 
 unfortunate young man was found dead, having cut his 
 throat with a razor from ear to ear. In this cruel dilemma 
 Baron Hanstein (whose calm prudence I cannot sufficiently 
 praise) took every precaution that this unhappy accident 
 should be kept a secret from the Prince, until H.K.H. should 
 be perfectly recovered. Cutunio sent one of his aides to 
 attend the Prince constantly, the Prince having been told 
 that Mr. Murray was ill in bed, and Baron Hanstein and I 
 agreed to ask their Sicilian Majesties' friendly assistance 
 that the body of Mr. Murray might be got out of the house, 
 and every precaution taken to avoid the Prince's being 
 alarmed. Every assistance was given by the Court, and 
 yesterday the body was removed. Thank God ! in the midst 
 of all this confusion Prince Augustus's fever is taking a very 
 favourable turn, and Cutunio does not doubt but that H.K.H. 
 will be perfectly recovered in a few days. However, we 
 shall take every precaution that the Prince may not be 
 acquainted with the horrid circumstance of Mr. Murray's 
 death, at the same time that it was thought necessary to 
 acquaint H.E.H. that Mr. Murray's illness was taking a 
 serious turn. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 WILLIAM HAMILTON. 
 
 From Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Naples, March 13th, 1792. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I have only to assure you, as in my dispatch, that I 
 think Prince Augustus perfectly recovered. He is told that
 
 1792.] RECOVERY OF PRINCE AUGUSTUS. J95 
 
 Mr. Murray is removed from Portici to Naples on account of 
 his fever being putrid, but will not be acquainted with the 
 shocking accident until the last moment. The poor man 
 was certainly mad he had cut the arteries of his shins 
 and his throat at the same moment, and left his intention 
 in writing, so that there was no room for doubt. Tiiis 
 Government lent every friendly assistance, that the Prince 
 might not be alarmed during his illness, but the necessary 
 process has prevented this being a secret at Naples, and I 
 believe Prince Augustus is the only person here that does not 
 know it. 
 
 Lord Malmesbury has left Naples, and the Holy Week 
 will call the numerous travellers to Rome. I have presented 
 this winter ninety-nine British travellers to their Sicilian 
 Majesties. 
 
 Ever yours, my dear Sir, 
 
 WILLIAM HAMILTON. 
 
 From Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Naples, March 27th, 1792. 
 
 MY DEAR Sm, 
 
 By the means of a courier sent to Lord Eardley to give 
 his Lordship the happy news of his eldest son's recovery from 
 a most dangerous illness, I can give you an earlier account 
 by post of the situation of Prince Augustus Frederick, and 
 happy I am that I can assure you H.R.H. looks infinitely 
 better than before his last and serious indisposition, and 
 I am fully persuaded that by the alteration in his diet 
 prescribed by Doctor Cutunio, H.E.H. will enjoy a better 
 state of health than with the quantity of vegetables, beer, 
 and tea he was accustomed to. The Prince has been ac- 
 quainted with the death of Mr. Murray, but not with the 
 melancholy circumstances that attended it, and indeed it is 
 better that they should be ever kept secret. He laments 
 the young man's having been cut off in the prime of life, but 
 it is plain to discover that H.E.H. had not great confidence 
 in him as a physician. The Prince proposes to leave Naples 
 on Monday next, and to be present at the functions of the 
 Holy Week at Eome. Every one who has had the honour of 
 approaching H.E.H. regrets his departure ; his manner is so 
 
 2
 
 196 A COURTLY PROPHET. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 simple, amiable, and obliging, that he attaches at the first 
 moment, but, what is better, H.E.H. improves upon you 
 on a further acquaintance. He speaks French and Italian 
 perfectly. In short, I shall be much mistaken if our Eoyal 
 Master and Mistress do not find a lasting comfort in Prince 
 Augustus.
 
 1791.] ( 197 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Miscellaneous Correspondence The Duchess of York Town Talk De- 
 struction of the Pantheon by Fire Present from the King of Poland 
 Desecration of Music " The Dying Negro " General Washington 
 French Revolution Mr. Burke's Dagger Scene Pitt's Despon- 
 dency The Flight to Varennes Its Consequences FSte of the 
 Champ de Mars Slaughter of the Swiss Guards Lord Gower Re- 
 called Lady Elgin and the Herrings Lady Sutherland's Intrepidity 
 Arrival of Lord Gower, and of Mr. Lindsay Murder of the Princesse 
 de Lamballe Cynicism of the Duke of Orleans Massacre at the 
 Prisons Spirited Conduct of Mr. Lindsay. 
 
 THE ensuing correspondence needs little if any comment. 
 It is of a very miscellaneous character, but illustrates the 
 period to which it belongs. The first letter (Decemher 2, 1791) 
 is addressed to Mr. Edward Thornton, a young man of great 
 merit who had lived for some time with Mr. Burges as his 
 son's tutor, and through his interest was taken by Mr. 
 Hammond to Philadelphia as his secretary. 
 
 "We have had lately an accession to our Eoyal Family by 
 the arrival of the Duchess of York. She is a very pleasing 
 young woman in her appearance and manners ; not by any 
 means beautiful, but with speaking blue eyes and a very 
 expressive countenance. The Duke her husband (at least, so 
 I am told) is already visibly cooled in his attentions to her, 
 and the Prince of Wales appears to give up his whole time 
 and thoughts to attach her to Opposition .... 
 
 The most important matter which has occurred since I 
 wrote the preceding sheet is the destruction of the Duke of 
 Richmond's house, in Priory Gardens, by fire, on Wednesday 
 last. The conflagration began at between eight and nine in
 
 TOWN TALK. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 the morning, in consequence of a hot coal starting from a 
 grate on the curtains of a bed ; and, though the walls are 
 standing, the house and much of the furniture is destroyed. 
 
 The Duchess of York, though surrounded by Opposition, 
 still conducts herself admirably. She cultivates the King 
 and Queen very properly, and her engaging manners have 
 made a great impression upon them. The whole Eoyal 
 Family breakfasted together this morning at York House, to 
 see the Duke's Eegiment ; and the whole exhibition, as I 
 saw it from my windows, was equally entertaining and 
 interesting. We shall speedily lose these august neighbours ; 
 for an exchange of houses has taken place between His Royal v 
 Highness and Lord Melbourne (in consideration of about /; 
 20,000 to be paid to the latter), and the Duke and Duchess 
 move to Piccadilly in the course of next week. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Mr. Edward Thornton, Philadelphia. 
 
 Monday, December 12th, 1791. 
 
 We have an amazing frost, some snow, and the appearance 
 of much more. As usual, the idle and the foolish crowded 
 the canal in the park yesterday, when the ice on a sudden 
 broke, and three young men were drowned. 
 
 The greatest news I know is, that Lord Orford is dead, 
 and that Lord Grenville succeeds him as Ranger of Hyde and 
 St. James's Parks ; an appointment worth at least 2,000 a 
 year, and for life too, and what is more, a sinecure with many 
 good little things to give away, and with many opportunities 
 of doing favours. 
 
 Dr. Davies, Master of Eton, is made provost in consequence 
 of the death of Dr. Roberts, and Dr. Langford is made Head 
 Master of the school. There has been a rebellion of a very 
 serious nature at Westminster, in which Dr. Vincent has 
 given way ; it seems probable that he will be unable ever to 
 recover his authority ; if so, he must resign, and, in that case, 
 a proud, vulgar fellow will be put out of the way, who never 
 ought to have been put into it. It will perhaps surprise you 
 when I tell you, that this rebellion was produced by the 
 operation of French democratical principles, and by the 
 doctrine of the rights of man, which had crept into the 
 school, and had been rankling for some time. You may 
 however be assured that this is the fact ; and as their first
 
 1792.] DESTRUCTION OF THE PANTHEON. 199 
 
 effort has been so successful, there is little chance of their 
 stopping here. 
 
 Tuesday, February 7th, 1792. 
 
 I sent you word of the destruction of the Duke of Rich- 
 mond's house, and now have another story of a similar 
 nature to send you. This is no other than the total destruc- 
 tion by fire of the Pantheon* in Oxford Street, of which 
 nothing but a few of the outward walls is now remaining. 
 There are suspicions of its having been burnt designedly; 
 but nothing of this sort has yet been ascertained. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Mrs. Surges. 
 
 Whitehall, February 24th, 1792. 
 MY DEAREST LOVE, 
 
 Nothing new of any sort has occurred, except that Mr. 
 Bukatij presented me yesterday with two portraits, cast by 
 Wedgwood after the originals, and framed, of the present 
 king of Poland and of the former Polish Monarch, John 
 Sobieski, which he requested me to keep as marks of his 
 Royal Master's regard. 
 
 I am yours, 
 
 J. B. BUKGES. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Miss Surges. 
 
 Whitehall, March 19th, 1792. 
 
 MY DEAR MARIA, 
 
 I have received your letter and the music inclosed in it. 
 At this moment I have not any instrument to try it upon, as 
 
 * The Pantheon was built at a cost of 60,000. Horace Walpole says 
 that he took the French Ambassador and Count de Levi to see the new 
 Winter lianelagh in Oxford-street. " Imagine Balbec in all its glory ! 
 The pillars are of artificial giallo antico. The ceilings, even of the passages, 
 are of the most beautiful stucco, in the best taste of grotesque. The 
 ceilings of the ballrooms and the panels painted like Eaphael's loggias in 
 the Vatican. A dome like the Pantheon glazed. M. de Guisnes said to 
 me, 'Ce n'est qa'a Londres qu'on peut faire tout cela.' " The Pantheon 
 was used for some time as an Opera House. Pitt wrote to Lady Chatham, 
 April 4th, 1780, of his doings on the 3rd, and said, " I concluded my 
 evening at the Pantheon, which I had never seen illuminated, and which 
 i.s really a glorious scene.'' Stanhope's ' Life of Pitt,' vol. i. p. 39.
 
 200 DESECRATION OF MUSIC. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 a harpsichord I bought to supply the place of that which 
 was burnt, is at Broadwood's, for the purpose of being altered 
 and put in good order. I have, however, read your per- 
 formances, and am sure they must be good ; they undoubtedly 
 are of an original cast, and so much the better ; for a musical 
 style becomes hacknied as easily as any other, and in my 
 opinion, almost all our modern music is little better than a 
 repetition of the same meagre and unmeaning jingle, which 
 somehow or other catches the vulgar, and continues in vogue 
 for want of something better to turn it out. I often think it 
 strange, that the same age which seems to adore Handel, and 
 to bring him more forward than he ever was when alive 
 which can sit for hours together to hear Geminiani, Purcell, 
 and Corelli should be so ready to turn from this heavenly 
 treat to feed upon such garbage as Shield, Dibdin, and Hook. 
 I never could relish any music which did not speak to the 
 soul; and of course I abhor all the trick and mummery 
 introduced by modern composers, who write because they 
 must eat, and who, having no feeling, and no capacity of 
 adopting musical tones to the expressions of nature, adopt 
 the very easy plan of frittering a subject into divisions or 
 variations, or, what is as bad, of punning in notes, and of 
 introducing mimicry as a substitute for expression. It is 
 curious to observe how far this has been carried by some 
 geniuses. I have seen a journey in a post chaise, a fair in 
 Germany, a farm yard, a storm and a battle, represented to 
 the life by a score of instruments and voices. These gave us 
 the creaking of ungreased wheels in a variety of ungreased 
 notes ; and then slid into a sudden easy modulation, to 
 express the facility with which a carriage runs when well 
 oiled. We had the crack of the postillion's whip, the 
 sounding of his horn, the rattling over a pavement and the 
 crash of a breaking down, represented after nature ; and there 
 were not wanting the noisy altercation about payment, or the 
 actual dropping of the silver into the postillion's hand. The 
 same minuteness was observed in the other compositions. 
 And this trash is called music, that heavenly art which raises 
 the feelings of mortals to the divinity, and which opens all 
 the floodgates of passion and inspiration. After having so 
 freely delivered my judgment on this subject, you may 
 perhaps think me presumptuous for saying, that I have 
 lately been employed, at leisure hours, in writing music of a 
 nature different from that which I so reprobate. I have been
 
 1792.] " THE DYING AFRICAN." 201 
 
 engaged in an arduous task, and have indeed nearly completed 
 a work longer and more difficult than any I ever before 
 undertook. When finished it will be an entire act with an 
 overture, and accompaniments for a large band. The subject 
 is a beautiful poem just published, entitled the "Dying 
 Negro,"* which is full of sublime expression and delicate 
 feeling. I have written it for three voices ; and I trust it 
 will meet your approbation. The modulation has been 
 finished for some time ; but I have not yet completed the 
 accompaniments, and shall not be able to do so till I get 
 back my harpsichord. I will send it to you when I think it 
 fit to be criticised. 
 
 I ever am, my dear Maria, 
 
 Yours most affectionately and faithfully, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 From Edward Thornton, Esq. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 2nd, 1792. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I promised you in a former letter a description of the Pre- 
 sident ot the United States, General Washington. Conscious 
 as I am of the difficulty and danger of describing again 
 what has been so often described before, I will yet attempt 
 to convey to you my idea of him. His person is tall and >' 
 sufficiently graceful ; his face well-formed, his complexion 
 rather pale, with a mild and philosophic gravity in the 
 expression of it. In his air and manner he displays much 
 natural dignity ; in Ms address he is cold, reserved, and even 
 phlegmatic, though without the least appearance of haughti- 
 ness or ill-nature ; it is the effect, I imagine, of constitutional 
 diffidence. That caution and circumspection which form so 
 
 * Mr. Burges probably alluded to ' The Dying African,' by S. S., pub- 
 lished in the ' Gentleman's Magazine ' for November, 1791. It begins 
 
 "Stretch'd on the ground the panting slave was laid, 
 Around his temples stifling breezes play'd; 
 Faint mov'd his pulse ; his glistening eyes were dim ; 
 Wither'd and feeble was each toil-worn limb : 
 While thus unheeded sinking to the grave 
 No heart to mourn him, and no hand to save, 
 Amid his frequent sighs and lab'ring throes, 
 These faltering accents from his lips arose," &c.
 
 202 GENERAL WASHINGTON. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 striking and well-known a feature in his military, and indeed 
 in his political character, is very strongly marked in his 
 countenance : for his eyes retire inward (do you understand 
 me ?) and have nothing of fire, of animation, or openness in 
 their expression. If this circumspection is accompanied by 
 discernment and penetration, as I am informed it is, and as I 
 should be inclined to believe from the judicious choice he has 
 generally made of persons to fill public stations, he possesses 
 the two great requisites of a statesman, the faculty of 
 concealing his own sentiments, and of discovering those of 
 other men. A certain degree of indecision however, a want 
 of vigour and energy, may be observed in some of his actions, 
 and are indeed the obvious result of too refined caution. He 
 is a man of great but secret ambition, and has sometimes, I 
 think, condescended to use little arts, and those, too, very 
 shallow ones, to secure the object of that ambition. He is, I 
 am told, indefatigable in business, and extremely clear and 
 systematic in the arrangement of it ; his time is regularly 
 divided into certain portions, and the business allotted to any - 
 one portion rigidly attended to. Of his private character I\ 
 can say little positive. I have never heard of any truly noble, 1 
 generous or disinterested action of his ; he has very few who 
 are on terms of intimate and unreserved friendship ; and, 
 what is worse, he is less beloved in his own State (Virginia) 
 than in any part of the United States. After all, he is a 
 great man ; circumstances have made him so ; but I cannot 
 help thinking, that the misconduct of our commanders has 
 given him a principal part of that greatness. 
 
 Believe me, ever your faithful and affectionate servant, 
 
 EDWAKD THORNTON. 
 
 Among the Burges papers there is a large and interesting 
 correspondence relating to the French Eevolution. Many of 
 these letters would have been extremely valuable had they 
 been published fifty years ago. During that period, how- 
 ever, so many memoirs, diaries, journals, and collections of 
 correspondence have been published, that it is almost a waste 
 of time again to go over the oft-trodden ground. A selection, 
 however, may be made from the most picturesque descriptions, 
 drawn by eye-witnesses, of the terrible events in France, and
 
 1792.] THE DAGGER SCENE. 203 
 
 above all in Paris, which horrified the whole civilised world. 
 To avoid breaking the sequence of the subsequent narrative, 
 it may be mentioned in this place that Mr. Burges was 
 indirectly the cause of the dagger scene in the House of 
 Commons on the 28th of December, 1792. Mr. Burke threw 
 only one dagger on the floor of the House, as a sample of the 
 boons to be expected from the revolution, but two seem to 
 have been preserved, like the two heads of Cromwell. Lord 
 Eldon was under the impression that the genuine article was -. (. *(. 
 in his own possession, and at his death it passed with his , ^ ^ ' 
 papers into the hands of his biographer, the eminent King's 
 Counsel, Mr. Horace Twiss, who speaks of it as a piece of 
 coarse workmanship, a foot long in the blade, and five inches 
 in the handle, and suitable to be used as either a dagger or a 
 pikehead. Mr. Twiss, however, discovered that the weapon 
 actually flung down by Burke was kept as a curiosity by 
 Mr. Burges's son, Sir Charles Montolieu Lamb, who favoured 
 him with the following account of the incident.* 
 
 " The history of it is, that it was sent to a manufacturer at 
 Birmingham, as a pattern, with an order to make a large 
 quantity like it. At that time the order seemed so suspicious 
 that, instead of executing it, he came to London and called 
 on my father at the Secretary of State's office, to inform him 
 of it and ask his advice ; and he left the pattern with him. 
 Just after, Mr. Burke called on his way to the House of 
 Commons, and upon my father mentioning the thing to him, 
 borrowed the dagger to show in the House. They walked 
 down to the House together, and when Mr. Burke had made 
 his speech, my father took the dagger again, and kept it as a 
 curiosity." 
 
 Mr. Massey affirms, on the authority of the Locker MSS., 
 that there was really a conspiracy connected with this order 
 
 * Twiss's ' Life of Lord Eldon,' vol. i. p. 218 (footnote).
 
 204 THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 for 3000 daggers. The Cabinet was so fully convinced that 
 war was imminent, that Pitt asked Mr. Burges to write a 
 pamphlet to prepare the public mind for what was about to 
 follow, and he himself touched it up. A very large edition 
 was sold off immediately. Three days later Pitt saw M. 
 Maret, the French envoy, privately, and told him that 
 England would support Holland if attacked by France. The 
 existence of this plot was disclosed to Mr. Burges by a 
 foreigner whom he chanced to meet in the street. The Cabinet 
 sat till four in the morning. After the other Ministers had 
 N retired, Pitt sat musing over the fire, and suddenly asked 
 Mr. Burges what he thought of the state of affairs, but 
 anticipated his answer by adding, " Probably by this time 
 to-morrow we may not have a hand to act, or a tongue to 
 utter."* 
 
 No allusion to this remarkable scene occurs in the papers 
 submitted to the present editor. 
 
 At the end of the volume will be found a very interesting 
 memorandum relating to the Flight to Varennes, written by 
 Mr. Quentin Craufurd, on the authority of Count Fersen, 
 which forms the basis of the ' Illustrations ' published at the 
 end of the third volume of the ' Auckland Correspondence.' 
 That sadly mismanaged business is commented upon with 
 considerable acumen by Mr. Francis Moore, who was at the 
 time in Paris with Lord Gower : 
 
 Paris, July 15th, 1791. 
 MY DEAR SlE, 
 
 The more I consider the effects of the King's flight, the 
 more I see reason to regret that rash measure, which, even 
 had he succeeded in effecting his escape, would not, in my 
 opinion, have been equally advantageous either to himself or 
 his country, as his remaining quietly at Paris ; for although 
 his situation before the 21st ult. was very lamentable, it 
 
 * Massey's ' History of England,' vol. iv. p. 45.
 
 1791.] ITS EVIL CONSEQUENCES. 205 
 
 afforded considerable grounds to hope for an amendment. 
 His resignation to the decrees of the National Assembly, the 
 apparent indifference with which he saw himself stripped of 
 his former power and splendour, and above all, the voluntary 
 visit he had paid to the Assembly to protest his attachment 
 to the constitution and declare himself its defender, had 
 acquired him the good will and confidence of the nation ; and 
 had he continued to observe the same moderation, and 
 allowed the Assembly to have finished (what they would 
 have been pleased to call) the constitution, after the first 
 effervescence of liberty, or rather licence, had subsided, the 
 influence of a civil list of thirty millions would have 
 gradually acquired a sufficient share of power to the monarch, 
 whereas, by the fatal step of his evasion, he has laid the 
 foundation of infinite misery to his country. He has 
 irretrievably forfeited whatever hold he had of the confidence 
 and affection of the people, and, at the same time, encouraged 
 the Jacobins entirely to throw off the mask, and boldly to 
 bring forwajd their wild Republican doctrines, even in the 
 National Assembly, where, although there is hitherto a great 
 majority in favour of the present constitution, yet there is too 
 much reason to apprehend that these Bedlamites (amongst 
 whom it cannot be denied there are men of considerable 
 ability, and who are employing incredible industry to acquire 
 proselytes, by disseminating in all the departments, and indeed 
 throughout all Europe, the most licentious publications) will 
 acquire the ascendancy in the next, and indeed, even sup- 
 posing this should not be the case, and the next Assembly 
 should prove no less favourable to monarchy than the present, 
 the King will not now, I fear, be able to acquire that degree of 
 influence, which I am inclined to think he might have done 
 had he not attempted his escape. 
 
 In the Champ de Mars yesterday the greatest order was 
 preserved which, c6nsidering the prodigious concourse of 
 people, surprised me a good deal. I was very much gratified 
 with this scene, and the more so as I went along with their 
 joy, and felt that it was a natural and proper occasion of 
 national exultation. This was far from being my sentiment 
 last Monday when the procession of Voltaire took place. I 
 then could not help being struck with the absurdity and 
 frivolity of expending near 10,000 pounds sterling in so 
 unworthy a manner ; and that at a time when the public 
 finances are in so bad a state, and when the most important
 
 206 ATTACK ON THE TUILERIES. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 objects are in discussion ; not to mention the indecency and 
 impolicy of shewing so much respect to the memory of a man 
 who had employed the greatest part of his time and talents 
 in turning religion into contempt and ridicule. The eternal 
 avidity, indeed, of the French to seize every opportunity of 
 such spectacles makes one suspect that they are fonder of 
 that nonsense than of the solid benefits arising from civil 
 liberty. 
 
 Believe me ever, my dear Sir, 
 
 Your most faithful, and affectionate servant, 
 
 F. S. MOORE. 
 
 Mr. Surges to Lord Cfrenville. 
 
 Whitehall, August 15th, 1792. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 As the account of the enormities committed at Paris, 
 which I have had from the messenger Morley, is much more 
 circumstantial than what Lord Gower gives in his dispatch, 
 I think some particulars may not be uninteresting to your 
 lordship, though indeed they are so very horrid that I 
 almost scruple to give you any detail of them. 
 
 The guard at the Tuileries consisted of at least 1500 
 men, 800 of whom were Swiss soldiers, and the remaining 
 700 were gentlemen of rank, whose attachment to their 
 sovereign, and their knowledge of his danger, had induced 
 them to put on the Swiss uniform and to run the risk of 
 defending him. The whole of this number was killed. The 
 name of one only, the Due de Clermont Tonnerre, is known ; 
 but, though it seems certain that the rest were of a similar 
 description, it will perhaps be for ever impossible to identify 
 them with any degree of accuracy, as the mob industriously\ 
 disfigured their faces, by roasting them in the fires they 
 had made with the wood torn from the apartments of the 
 Chateau. The messenger saw hundreds of them lying in 
 the fires, with uniform coats on, but with embroidered 
 waistcoats, laced shirts, and various ornaments of rings and 
 other jewels. When the mob broke into the Palace, they 
 massacred indiscriminately, without distinction of age or 
 sex, every person they found there. Only four ladies, who 
 had waited on the Queen, escaped by accident ; all the rest 
 were slaughtered. Of the mob themselves, by the fire from
 
 1792.] MASSACRE OF THE SWISS. 207 
 
 the poor people in the Chateau, but still more from the 
 wanton manner in which they discharged their cannon in 
 every direction, not less than 4000 were killed in the course 
 of four hours ; and the messenger declared that, in the 
 course of his walks about the town, the number of dead 
 bodies he saw could not be less than six or seven thousand, 
 though he thinks there must have been many more. On 
 Saturday, detachments of the mob paraded through the 
 streets, and forced their way into every house where it was 
 known that a Swiss was to be found. They brought them 
 out, and cut off their heads at the doors. They even visited 
 Lord Gower's, where there was known to be a Swiss ; but 
 luckily he had been disguised and put out of the way. Such 
 was their inveteracy against these unhappy people that, 
 recollecting on Sunday morning that a detachment of a 
 hundred of the Swiss Guards had been sent into the neighbour- 
 hood of Paris to protect the harvest, a vast mob, well armed, 
 went in search of them, and as the messenger was travelling 
 on Sunday night he heard a great firing of musketry. On 
 enquiring what it might be, he was informed that the 
 Parisians had driven the Swiss into a wood, where they 
 surrounded them, and were then killing them. The King and 
 his family were suffered to remain in a small room adjoining 
 to the Hall of the Assembly, without beds and without food. 
 They slept on Friday and Saturday nights on the bare benches 
 which were placed along the wall ; and after fasting for more 
 than twelve hours, they were indebted to the charity of a 
 poor huissier for some biscuits and a glass of wine. 
 
 To Lord Auckland. 
 
 Whitehall, August 17th, 1792. 
 
 MY DEAK LORD, 
 
 Notwithstanding Lord Grenville's absence, we have been 
 doing considerable execution to-day. The French business 
 is at length arrived at such a pitch of enormity, that to suffer 
 Lord Gower and Lindsay to remain any longer at Paris was 
 little better than murder. They are both therefore directed 
 to come home, and have an instruction to leave behind them 
 a hint that, though we have been and mean to be at all
 
 208 LADY SUTHERLAND'S INTREPIDITY. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 points extremely neutral, any personal attempt upon the 
 King and his family will raise strange sensations here. 
 
 I am vastly obliged to you for the fresh cargo of herrings* 
 you have the goodness to send me ; but I cannot think of 
 thus trespassing eternally on your bounty, and beg you will 
 not send me any more. As to Lady Elgin, I have known of 
 old her uncommon talents for the subaltern line of negotiation, 
 as well as all the benefits which have accrued to her from it. 
 The old quotation of Crustulis et Pomis never could apply 
 better than she has had the dexterity to discover it will in 
 the quarter where she pays her adorations. The general 
 report is that she will be the next Lady of the Bedchamber. 
 
 Mr. Pitt has taken the Cinque Ports, as I hinted in my 
 last, and upon the same footing Lord North held them. 
 What is surprising, not a single libel has yet appeared upon 
 the occasion. 
 
 After the Paris mob had been at Lord Gower's to get hold 
 of his Swiss, for the declared purpose of cutting off his head 
 because he was a Swiss, the ruling Powers offered him a 
 guard. He refused this, on the high ground of being 
 protected by his character, &c., but thought it prudent, how- 
 ever, to publish that circumstance as much as possible, by 
 writing in large letters over his door "Hotel de 1'Ambas- 
 sadeur d'Angleterre." Lady Sutherland, writing about this to 
 a friend here, concludes her letter " Now we have done all 
 we can, and if the mob attacks us now, it is their concern, 
 not ours." 
 
 I shall be very glad to see your lawn at Beckenham ; and 
 shall now be able to show you one of my own in your neigh- 
 bourhood, as I have just bought rather more than two 
 
 * Lord Auckland had sent Mr. Surges a handsome supply of herrings 
 about a week before, but Lady Elgin happened to espy them, and appro- { 
 priated them in the name of the Queen, who was exceedingly partial to ' 
 that dainty. Presents from Ambassadors to Under Secretaries of State 
 could not very well have been meddled with, but on July 27th, 1792, 
 Mr. Burges informed a Mr. Cooper that his stationery was too high-priced 
 and not sufficiently good, and that for the future the custom must be dis-\ 
 continued of giving Almanacs and Pocket-books at Christmas to the 
 Secretary of State, the gentlemen of the Office, and their servants. Lord 
 Grenville was perhaps sick of the sight of presents, having been married 
 " on July 18th, to Ladv Ann Pitt, daughter of the first Lord Camelford.
 
 1792.] CONDITION OF PARIS. 209 
 
 hundred acres between Eltham and Chislehurst, where I 
 believe I shall set up my staff. 
 
 I remain, with sincere truth and regard, 
 
 My dear Lord, 
 
 Your Excellency's most faithful 
 And obedient humble servant, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 To Lord Grcnville. 
 
 Whitehall, September 1st, 1792. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 I have the honour to inform your Lordship that Lord 
 Gower and his family arrived here about half an hour ago, in 
 perfect health. He left Paris last Tuesday, and arrived 
 yesterday morning at Dover: but as he did not write or 
 send any one here with this information, I was unable to 
 give you this intelligence sooner. I learn from him that 
 everything was quiet when he left Paris ; that the necessary 
 steps for bringing on the Queen's trial were taking; that 
 there was ample proof against her, and that her condemnation 
 and execution were looked upon as certain and immediate. 
 He also says that Mr. Lindsay remains at Paris, because he 
 has not yet been able to procure a passport. The Venetian 
 Ambassador is in the same situation, as well as the various 
 persons attached to the other Foreign missions still remaining 
 in the Capital. The reason assigned for refusing them 
 permission to depart is the intention they profess of coming 
 over to England, which they style the Foyer d'une Contre- 
 Rtfvolution. 
 
 To Lord Grenville. 
 
 Whitehall, September 8th, 1192. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 Mr. Lindsay arrived here safely this morning, having left 
 Paris on Wednesday last, at which time the mob still con- 
 tinued to exercise its fury, though from the circumstance of 
 time having been given to many of their devoted victims to 
 conceal themselves, the number of murders of course was not 
 so great as it had been at first.
 
 210 CYNICISM OF TEE DUKE OF OliLEANS. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 In addition to what Mr. Lindsay has mentioned in his 
 letter to your Lordship, he communicates to me several 
 circumstances, which though extremely horrible and disgust- 
 ing, are of an interesting nature, and tend to exemplify the 
 temper of the people he has quitted. 
 
 Madame de Lamballe was literally torn to pieces, in the 
 most cruel and indecent manner. Her head and heart were 
 paraded on pikes through the streets. 
 
 It happened, when this murder was committed, on Monday, 
 that Lindsay and some other Englishmen were at the Duke 
 of Orleans's in the Palais Eoyal. As they were waiting for 
 dinner they heard the outcries of a vast mob, and, going to 
 the window, they saw the spectacle of Madame de Lamballe's 
 head passing by on its way to the Temple, where they were 
 taking it to show it to the Queen. Struck with horror at 
 such a sight, they retired to the further end of the room, 
 where the Duke of Orleans was sitting. He asked what was 
 the matter. They told him the mob was carrying a head on 
 a pike. " Oh," said he, " is that all ? let us go to dinner."* 
 As they were at table, he made some inquiries whether the 
 women who had been imprisoned were killed ; and being 
 informed that many of them were, " Pray," said he, " what is 
 become of Madame de Lamballe ? " M. Walkiers, who was 
 sitting near him, made a sign of her having been killed by 
 passing his hand across his throat. " I understand you," 
 said the Duke; and immediately began to converse on 
 indifferent topics. 
 
 The mode of conducting the trials of these poor people was 
 curious. When the mob came to the prisons, and had 
 liberated the debtors, they formed hasty Courts of Justice, 
 consisting of three Judges and twelve Jurymen selected from 
 the bystanders. After a mock trial, if they thought proper 
 to acquit the prisoner, one of the Judges said to the Jury 
 " Messieurs, croyez-vous qu'on puisse le declarer innocent ? " 
 They answered " Vive la Nation ! " and immediately the 
 fortunate person was mounted on the shoulders of some in 
 the crowd, and was carried off in triumph. If it was intended 
 
 * It is commonly stated that the mob carried the head of the Princess 
 on a pike to the Palais Royal, and that the Duke of Orleans was compelled 
 to show himself at the window. While he was gazing at the horrible 
 object, his mistress, Madame de Buffon, who was dining with him, ex- 
 claimed that they would one day treat her in the same way.
 
 1792.] MB. LINDSAY'S SPIRITED CONDUCT. 211 
 
 to condemn a prisoner, a Judge asked the Jury " Peut-on 
 1'elargir ? " They answered in the affirmative ; the doors 
 were thrown open ; the prisoner was obliged to go out, when 
 a number of persons, placed there for the purpose, killed him 
 in such manner as they thought proper.* 
 
 The manner in which Mr. Lindsay at length obtained a 
 passport is, however, so creditable to him, and so demonstra- 
 tive of the opinion entertained of this country at Paris, that 
 it deserves being mentioned to your Lordship. Finding that 
 every attempt he had made for that purpose was fruitless, he 
 waited last Tuesday on M. le Brun ; and after recapitulating 
 every thing he had done, and forcibly stating his order to 
 return and his intention of complying with it, he told him 
 that, if a passport could not be procured, he was determined 
 to set off without it ; that he was aware of what might be the 
 consequences of such a step ; that he might be brought back, 
 be imprisoned, or even be liable to further violences ; that he 
 was prepared to run the risk ; but he advised M. le Brun to 
 reflect upon the consequences of such an event, and upon the 
 character and firmness of the British Cabinet, whose deter- 
 mination upon it it could not be difficult for him to foresee. 
 After some deliberation, M. le Brun promised that he should 
 have a passport the next morning, and it was delivered to 
 him accordingly. 
 
 I have the honour, &c., 
 
 J. B. BUEGES. 
 
 * The National Assembly, being informed of the march of the Austrian 
 and Prussian armies, declared the country to be in danger, and called upon 
 all patriotic citizens to enrol themselves in regiments of volunteers. For 
 that purpose an immense multitude assembled in the Champ de Mars 
 on September 2nd, 1792, when someone exclaimed that France must 
 first be purged of her domestic foes. There was an instantaneous rush 
 towards the prisons, but it was afterwards affirmed that the number of actual 
 assassins never exceeded 200, though thousands of spectators looked on 
 without attempting to check the murderers. In the space of two days at 
 least 1085 victims perished in Paris alone. At Versailles the assassins 
 were only 30 in number, and were watched by 1500 Gardes Nationaux 
 under arms. 
 
 p 2
 
 ( 212 ) [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Major-General Sir John Braithwaite Singular Career Imprisoned by 
 Tippoo Sahib Colonel Braithwaite on Amalgamation of the King's 
 and Company's Annies Division of Canada into Upper and Lower 
 Parliamentary Reform Association Letter from Colonel Simcoe 
 Government House Letter from Mr. Thornton Character of the 
 American Nation General Washington American English Letter 
 to Lord Auckland Pitt and Grenville Dismissal of Lord Thurlow 
 Letter to Mr. Long John Walter's Jealousy of the Sun Congress 
 declines the Princes' Bond for 100,000 Government Papers. 
 
 IT is necessary here to go back a good many years, so far 
 back indeed as to 1776. At that time Mr. Burges was 
 anxious to obtain his father's consent to his marriage with 
 the Honourable Elizabeth Noel, and with that view, instead 
 of going home and pleading his own cause, he adopted the 
 singular expedient of employing as his special envoy Colonel, 
 afterwards Major-General Sir John Braithwaite.* This officer's 
 career, as described in the autobiographical fragment, was in 
 every way so remarkable that it is worthy of commemoration. 
 He was an only son, and inherited an unincumbered estate of 
 1500 a year. His talents were considerable, but he was 
 unfortunate enough, while at Westminster School, to become 
 associated with a number of young men who subsequently 
 became more distinguished by their parts than by moral 
 character or steadiness of conduct. Shortly after attaining 
 his majority young Braithwaite lost his whole fortune at 
 play to a clique of professional gamesters, and was glad to 
 accept an ensigncy in a marching regiment. In that capacity 
 * Ante, p. 53.
 
 1792.] A CHEQUEBED CAREER. 213 
 
 he proceeded to Gibraltar about the year 1756, and by his 
 extreme good humour and the pleasantry of his conversation 
 was recommended to the friendly offices of James Burges's 
 father. In due course he obtained his company, and re- 
 turned with his regiment to England, where he made the 
 acquaintance of a Miss Browne, a beautiful and accomplished 
 young lady, whose face was her fortune, while he himself had 
 nothing beyond his captain's pay. Nevertheless they were 
 married, and the discovery was soon made that they had 
 been somewhat over hasty. Useful friends, however, came 
 to their assistance, and through Mr. Burges's influence the 
 then vacant post of Secretary to the Garrison of Gibraltar 
 was procured for Captain Braithwaite. The pay of this 
 office, aided by the interest on the price of his commission, 
 enabled the young couple to live in a comfortable and 
 respectable manner. Their position was soon afterwards 
 improved through the favour of General Cornwallis, the 
 Governor, so that their income exceeded 1000 per annum. 
 Doing so well, Captain Braithwaite could not rest till he 
 did still better, and so in an evil hour was persuaded by 
 Sir John Irwin, the Deputy-Governor, to join him in issuing 
 Mediterranean passes to individuals who were not British 
 subjects. This illegal practice was speedily denounced to 
 the Government. Sir John Irwin, who had powerful interest, 
 escaped by throwing the responsibility upon his associate, 
 who was accordingly deprived of his various appointments 
 and declared incapable of again serving His Majesty in any 
 capacity. His friends, however, a second time rallied around 
 him, and after some little delay the unfortunate man was 
 appointed major in the East India Company's service on the 
 Bombay Establishment, but ere long was removed to Madras 
 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 On proceeding to India Major Braithwaite left his wife
 
 214 A DRAMATIC INCIDENT. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 and two children under the care of Mr. Burges and Colonel 
 afterwards General Phillips of the Artillery, who was one 
 of his oldest and most intimate friends. During an absence 
 of eight years Colonel Braithwaite had contrived, per fas aut 
 nefas, to accumulate a fortune of about 20,000. For the 
 sake, no doubt, of the high interest, he left this money in the 
 hands of some native merchants, and returned to England on 
 leave of absence. He landed at Portsmouth and passed the 
 night in a room adjoining to that occupied by his wife and 
 her paramour, Colonel Phillips, to whom she had borne four 
 children, and who was then under orders for America. 
 Discovering their perilous neighbourhood, Phillips embarked 
 for America, where he shortly afterwards died, while Mrs. 
 Braithwaite escaped on board a vessel bound for Denmark, 
 taking with her a daughter by her husband, who happened 
 to be with her. The aggrieved husband obtained a divorce 
 and returned to India with the rank of colonel, but not until 
 he had made ample provision for his erring wife and his 
 children, one of the trustees being Mr. James Bland Burges. 
 The war with Hyder Ali was then raging, and Colonel 
 Braithwaite had the good fortune to capture Mahe, and to 
 exhibit military talents of a high order. His evil star, 
 however, was soon once more in the ascendant. In the early 
 part of 1782 he was surprised by Tippoo Sahib on the banks of 
 the Coleroon, and after a gallant struggle for twenty-six hours 
 in which out of twenty-one officers, twelve were killed and 
 seven wounded was compelled to surrender. His captivity 
 lasted over two years. It was not until peace was made with 
 Tippoo in 1784 by Lord Macartney, that he recovered his 
 liberty. His sufferings were not deemed an adequate ex- 
 piation of his defeat. Possibly his energy may have been 
 impaired during his long captivity, or the Government may 
 have deferred to the arguments attributed to Eegulus by the
 
 1792.] THE COMPANY'S OFFICES S. 215 
 
 Augustan poet. In any case his claims were repudiated, 
 and after well-nigh twenty years' service in India, he found 
 himself hopelessly stranded with little to subsist upon beyond 
 his pay as a colonel. 
 
 Under the erroneous impression that, on the departure 
 of General Medows for England, he would, by virtue of 
 seniority, succeed to the command of the Madras army, 
 Colonel Braithwaite addressed a letter of immense length to 
 Mr. Burges, dated Madras, July 28th, 1792. Although the 
 letter itself is much too long to be published in its entirety, 
 Anglo-Indian readers will probably find something to interest 
 them in the subjoined summary. Colonel Braithwaite, while 
 duly appreciative of the honour of commanding such an 
 army, shrank with natural sensitiveness from the overwhelm- 
 ing responsibility attached to it. He was about, as he 
 supposed, to succeed to officers, not only of distinguished 
 merit, but in possession of high military rank combined with 
 political influence. He would have no seat in the Council 
 and would therefore be deprived of all patronage, so that he 
 would possess no means of rewarding good service. The sole 
 authority he could exercise would be the ordering of Courts- 
 Martial. But Colonel Braithwaite was disquieted about 
 others far more than about himself. He lamented that His 
 Majesty's officers serving in India could not share in the 
 advantages possessed by the Company's officers, especially as 
 regarded the command of Sepoy battalions. He equally 
 regretted that the Company's officers of the highest rank and 
 most distinguished services could no longer monopolise the 
 honours and emoluments to which they believed themselves 
 entitled, as it was through their valour and prowess that India 
 had so far been conquered. These constant bickerings must, 
 sooner or later, bear bitter fruit, a result that could only be 
 avoided by the amalgamation of the two services, and the
 
 216 A LONG FORECAST. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 transfer of the territory to the Crown together with the 
 Company's troops. Commerce alone would then be left to 
 the Company, a change that would decidedly not improve 
 the position or the stability of that corporation. At the 
 same time it was highly inadvisable to prolong an imperium 
 in imperio that was fraught with many present inconveniences 
 and much future peril. If India was to be kept for the chief 
 advantage of Great Britain, it could only be by the operation 
 and influence of naval and military establishments acting 
 upon a single and indisputable authority. A strong party in 
 the nation would doubtless oppose the augmentation of the 
 Koyal influence by the addition of such valuable patronage, 
 and many individuals would be privately interested in 
 keeping India in its existing state of confusion. It would 
 not be enough to take over the European portion alone of 
 the Company's forces, for that contained the only prizes to 
 which the Company's officers could aspire. The European 
 contingent consisted of four regiments of eight companies, 
 each of which was commanded by three field officers and 
 eight captains, making a total of twelve field officers and 
 thirty-two captains. The Sepoy army was composed of thirty 
 battalions commanded by thirty captains and ten field officers, 
 whose chance of promotion was inseparably connected with 
 that in the European corps promotion being in the line 
 according to seniority and without reference to the corps. 
 Lord Cornwallis had thought proper to show a singular 
 favour to colonels in command of European corps and had 
 bestowed upon them appointments entirely distinct from 
 their regiments, by which they had lost all claim to the 
 emoluments arising from the clothing of their respective 
 corps, those emoluments being now divided into shares, and 
 so distributed that the lieutenant-colonel received three 
 times as much as the colonel, who was supposed to have
 
 1792.] TRANSFER OF INDIA TO THE CROWN. 217 
 
 nothing to do with the corps.' As the lieutenant-colonel had 
 now all the work and responsibility, it was deemed just that 
 he should have the lion's share of the perquisites. It was 
 supposed that the Governor-General's motive was to make 
 the regiments more acceptable to the Crown by their not 
 being clogged with colonels. In the Koyal army (Colonel 
 Braithwaite continued) the majority of the colonels were 
 general officers and frequently employed in that capacity, 
 but they were not deprived of the emoluments attached to 
 the command of a regiment, as was the case with Company's 
 officers under the new system. It was true that for the 
 moment only the colonels were affected, but it was obvious 
 that, if the European corps were transferred to the Crown, 
 His Majesty would place them on the same footing as his 
 other regiments and would appoint colonels to them, so that 
 the Company's colonels, now employed on separate duties, 
 would be superseded, while the lieutenant-colonels would 
 lose their clothing perquisites. The result of depriving the 
 Company of their European army would be to confer upon 
 the Crown the patronage of twelve regiments, six in Bengal, 
 four at Madras, and two at Bombay. 
 
 And each of these regiments is worth about 600 a year 
 more than any regiment in England to any colonel, though 
 he should never see it, which, according to the usage of His 
 Majesty's service, will most probably be the case with ten of 
 the colonels out of the twelve, as they will most probably be 
 all of them general officers, and out of those twelve probably 
 never more than two will be employed in India, as His 
 Majesty will have eight or ten other corps in India. 
 
 The alternative, as it seemed to Colonel Braithwaite, was for 
 the Crown to take over the entire army, Native and European, 
 and to do away with all distinctions between the two 
 services, but guarding against supercession by the intro-
 
 218 THE COMPANY'S EUROPEANS. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 duction of officers from the corps. He was also in favour of 
 adding the bonded debt of India to the funded debt of 
 England, and at that time the amount was so small that it 
 would have made little difference to the latter country, while 
 India would have been relieved by the sensible reduction of 
 interest. 
 
 It is worthy of note that Colonel Braithwaite avoids all 
 allusions to the disgraceful condition of the Company's 
 European soldiers. Lord Cornwallis repeatedly complained 
 that out of the six battalions in Bengal he could not organise 
 one fit for active service. He urged Dundas to enable the 
 Company to beat up for recruits in the open market, and 
 insisted upon the necessity of their establishing a training 
 depot in England, whence they could be shipped as soldiers. 
 The directors, however, declined Carisbrooke Castle when 
 offered to them for that purpose, on the ground of expense, 
 and preferred to employ crimps, who smuggled on board 
 ships about to sail the sweepings of the gaols and back slums, 
 and always in a state of stupid intoxication. Colonel 
 Braithwaite, it may be remarked, had rendered excellent 
 service in preventing the outbreak of a mutiny of the 
 European officers, when Lord Macartney, at an inopportune 
 season and without previous preparation, proposed to 
 abolish the half-batta system. The Government thereupon 
 offered a compromise, and ended by yielding every point. 
 
 When hostilities broke out between France and England 
 in 1793, Colonel Braithwaite was appointed to the command 
 of the forces against Pondicherry, which surrendered on the 
 23rd August after a siege of eighteen days. Captain G. C. 
 Braithwaite, his son and aide-de-camp, was sent home 
 with the captured colours, and dispatches, but was taken 
 prisoner by a French squadron and landed in the United 
 States.
 
 1792.] MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS. 219 
 
 In 1799, during the absence of General Harris in the 
 field, Major General Braithwaite took over the command at 
 Madras, where he organised the expedition against Malacca. 
 The conqueror of Tippoo Sahib resigned the command of the 
 Madras army in January 1800, and was succeeded by Major 
 General Braithwaite, whose decease in 1803 is thus men- 
 tioned in the Morning Chronide of Thursday, the 25th August 
 of that year : " On Tuesday in Welbeck Street, after 
 a lingering illness, Major General Sir John Braithwaite, 
 Bart., aged 64, lately returned from the Coast of Coromandel, 
 where he long held the chief command of the Company's 
 army."* 
 
 Among the Burges papers are many letters relating to 
 Switzerland, and especially to the republic of Geneva, which 
 at the time must have possessed great interest, but which 
 would nowadays be carefully skipped by ordinary readers. 
 There is likewise a bulky mass of correspondence connected 
 with the Duke of Brunswick's abortive irruption into France 
 and the ill-managed campaigns of the Austrian, Dutch, and 
 English armies, but it is questionable how far general 
 interest is still sustained in those now distant events. The 
 Duke of York's campaigns have, moreover, been so clearly 
 described by General Sir Harry Calvert and by Captain 
 L. T. Jones, that it would be superfluous to repeat the well- 
 told tale. A few words, perhaps, may be needful to introduce 
 Colonel Simcoe's letters from Canada. In 1791 the popula- 
 tion of Lower Canada was estimated at 100,000 souls, while 
 that of Upper Canada did not exceed a tenth part of that 
 number. The latter province was chiefly peopled by English 
 settlers, who found it difficult to live on terms of amity with 
 the French inhabitants of the country round Quebec. At 
 
 * This paragraph is chiefly compiled from information kindly supplied 
 by Mr. E. M. Wade, of the India Office Library.
 
 ^PARLIAMENTARY REFORM ASSOCIATION. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 the instance of Mr. Pitt, Canada was in that year divided 
 into two provinces, Upper and Lower, and each was to be 
 governed by its own local legislature. Colonel Simcoe, a 
 friend of Mr. Surges, was appointed Lieutenant Governor of 
 Upper Canada, and to him the Under Secretary of State 
 wrote on the 4th of May, 1792 : 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 At the distance you now are from this country, the 
 correspondence even of those the least considerable becomes 
 of importance. I therefore avail myself of the fair oppor- 
 tunity which now presents itself to me, and add to the 
 letters from my sister and Miss Elliot a few lines from 
 myself, to express my best wishes for your happiness and 
 prosperity, and to assure you of my very sincere regard. 
 
 While you are exploring the pathless wilderness, and are 
 introducing civilisation and the arts of life into the hordes of 
 savages, we go on here in an humbler line, content to pre- 
 serve those blessings which I trust it is your lot to create. 
 And there is in truth some necessity for attending to this 
 point; for our industrious neighbours the French are not 
 wanting in their endeavours to make us as happy as them- 
 selves, and to propagate among us their doctrines of the 
 Eights of Man. This was too good a thing to be neglected 
 by Sheridan, who, having nothing to lose, of course con- 
 ceives he must be a gainer by the losses of others. He has 
 accordingly prevailed upon a set of wild, unthinking young 
 men, such as Grey, Lambton, and a few more, to put them- 
 selves forward as the ostensible leaders of a democratical 
 faction, and to take up, as their stalking-horse, the trite and 
 threadbare topic of a parliamentary reform. They have 
 accordingly had meetings, which have been attended by 
 Presbyterian parsons and some desperate people ; they have 
 advertised in the newspapers, and have attempted a debate 
 in the House of Commons. They have not, however, met 
 with success ; on the contrary, the people are generally 
 against them, and all the aristocracy of Opposition decidedly 
 set their faces against such an absurd and ill-judged measure. 
 You may be assured that Government will not sleep in a 
 business of this nature, but that, on the contrary, the very 
 first opportunity will be laid hold of, to make an example
 
 1792.] UPPER CANADA. 221 
 
 of these libellers and treasonable propagators of French 
 principles. 
 
 I remain, my dear Sir, 
 
 Your very faithful friend and servant, 
 
 J. B. BUKGES. 
 
 From Colonel J. G. Simcoe. 
 
 Niagara, August 21st, 1792. 
 
 DEAE SIK, 
 
 ****** 
 
 I have just time to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 favour, as it depends upon the winds to stay the vessel, 
 while I answer that and other communications. His Koyal 
 Highness Prince Edward* is just arrived here, but not yet 
 landed, on a visit to the stupendous wonder of this country. 
 There are also the chiefs of our Indian neighbours, who, coming 
 to compliment me, luckily will have the opportunity of seeing 
 the " Son " of " their Great Father." When these people 
 shall have departed, we move our tents for a week near the 
 Falls, that Mrs. Simcoe may have her amusements. 
 
 As you may suppose, I am miserably off for accommodation 
 in this country, and I am fitting up an old hovel, that will 
 look exactly like a carrier's ale-house in England when 
 properly decorated and ornamented ; but I please myself with 
 the hopes that some future ' Gentleman's Magazine ' will 
 obtain drawings of the first Government House, the first 
 House of Assembly, &c., and decorate it with the " Aude, 
 Hospes, contemnere opes " of old Evander. 
 
 This country must be a great one, and some time or other, 
 from its position, govern internal America. It wants the 
 fostering protection of Great Britain to be vigorously applied 
 at its outset. 
 
 I have divided it into counties, of which I send a plan to 
 Mr. Dundas. I have not forgot to name one Leeds, and shall 
 give you, the first opportunity, your township. A con- 
 stitutional speech of Lord Stormont'sf though in the 
 Opposition, made me celebrate his name in a similar manner. 
 ****** 
 
 * Father of Queen Victoria. 
 
 t Nephew and heir to Lord Mansfield.
 
 222 AMERICAN VANITY. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 From Edward Thornton, Esq. 
 
 Philadelphia, June llth, 1792. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 Your character of the Americans, from their writings in 
 the magazine I sent you, is perfectly just; and you will 
 perceive by several passages in different letters of mine that 
 I have the happiness of coinciding in opinion with you. 
 But there is one trait which you neglected to mention it is 
 impossible you could have overlooked it their vanity as a 
 nation. This tinctures the whole of their character. In arts, 
 in arms, in literature, in political economy, they think that 
 they take the lead, and have pointed out a new road to 
 Europe. If they have any genius or original invention, I 
 believe it is in the mechanic arts ; but even there how far do 
 they fall short of the discoveries of our manufacturing 
 counties ? They borrow, or rather steal, the models of our 
 machinery, add some small improvement, and call the whole 
 their own invention. Nor is this vanity confined to the less 
 informed class of people, but it extends to the highest. In 
 his history of Virginia, Mr. Jefferson discovers the same 
 spirit. Because Hadley, and Godfrey an American, invented, 
 independently of each other, the instrument known by the 
 name of Hadley's Quadrant, poor Hadley is a plagiary, and 
 the American has been robbed of the merit of the discovery. 
 It is in vain for an Englishman to allege that it is very 
 possible two men might hit on the same idea without any 
 previous communication, and to assert in proof of the possi- 
 bility (which is an undoubted fact) that Sir Isaac Newton had 
 the same idea, which he communicated to Dr. Hadley, and 
 which, from some curious circumstances, neither Hadley nor 
 Godfrey could have known anything of. All this is of no 
 avail ; the verdict of plagiarism is given against Hadley,* and 
 he must abide by it. And because Pdttenhouse made an 
 orrery of his own, the man who really invented that instru- 
 ment, I believe before Eittenhouse was in being, is a plagiary 
 too. For my part I see nothing in this country of talents in 
 politics or literature, that can endure for an instant a com- 
 parison with those of the luminaries of the past and present 
 day in England. Nor, however rapid the improvement may 
 
 * John Hadley also invented a five-feet reflecting telescope. He was 
 Vicc-rresident of the Royal Society, and died in 1744.
 
 1792.] WASHINGTON'S PSEUDO-REPUBLICANISM. 223 
 
 have been in civilisation, can it be expected in a country 
 whose very existence has not been known more than three 
 centuries. If America assume a rank in literature and arts 
 to which she has no claim, she must not be surprised to be 
 told that, on the scale of original invention, she is rated very 
 low indeed. The effect which you so kindly intended to be 
 produced, by conveying through my hands Sir Isaac Hoard's* 
 Packet to the President, has certainly taken place. Since 
 his return from Virginia, prior to which journey he had 
 desired me to forward a packet for Sir Isaac Heard, which I 
 addressed to you, or to Mr. Boyd for you, by the ship George 
 Barclay, since that time I have been honoured by an invi- 
 tation to dine with him. Except in the honour, believe me 
 there is nothing pleasant in the circumstance ; for it is of all 
 others the most dull and unentertaining. The President's 
 reserve, the effect partly I think of pride, partly of constitu- 
 tional diffidence, throws a restraint on the whole party. The 
 conversation was in consequence uncommonly phlegmatic and 
 trivial, though as the party contracted into a smaller circle, the 
 Secretary of State's strictures on monarchs began to throw a 
 certain portion of animation into it. This gentleman [Thomas 
 Jefferson] is, or affects to be, a most rigid republican ; a warm 
 admirer of Thomas Paine, and a vigorous stickler for revolu- 
 tions and for the downfall of all aristocracy. The death of the 
 Kingf of Sweden made it extremely probable, he said, that 
 there would be a revolution in that country during the 
 minority of his successor. 
 
 The most dignified character in this country (Washington) 
 has a good deal of (I cannot call it republicanism, for he 
 affects state, he loves to be treated with great respect, and 
 (by the by) is not a little flattered, I conceive, by the particu- 
 lar attention of Mr. Hammond not to visit him but in full 
 dress, but of) a certain dislike to monarchy. If Kings were 
 Presidents, or if the President were a King, I believe that 
 aversion would cease. At present he cannot but conceive 
 
 * Garter King at Arms. 
 
 f Gustavus III., assassinated by Captain Ankarstroem at a masqued \ 
 ball on March 16tb, 1789. He lingered for twelve days. Shortly before A, ^ 
 he expired, he said, " I should like to know what Brissot will say of my /t^HL 
 death." Ankarstroem's bust was placed in the hall of the Jacobin Club, 
 next to that of Brutus. The Duke of Sudermania, the minor's grand- 
 uncle, governed as Regent and maintained a strict neutrality. Al^ nA\^
 
 224 AMERICAN ENGLISH. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 himself much inferior in dignity and importance to any of 
 them. When he travels, it is in a very kingly style ; for on 
 his last journey he foundered five horses, and I am informed 
 that his secretaries are not admitted into his carriage, but 
 stand with their horses' bridles in their hands, till he is seated, 
 and then mount and ride before his carriage. 
 
 With regard to that same " lengthy," Mr. H. says that he 
 bows with submission to your superior knowledge ; but he 
 cannot avoid thinking yet, that the word is a good word ; 
 and if it be not English, it deserves to be so. For my own 
 justification, I must observe to you, that at the time of 
 reading over the dispatch which contains it, I noticed to him 
 that the word, as far as I could recollect, had not been 
 adopted into our language. But you must have observed 
 numerous instances of new words coined, or old ones applied 
 to a new sense, in the same magazine that has given you 
 such an insight into the manners of the Americans. They 
 plead, I presume, revolution and the rights of man for these 
 innovations in language, and the liberty of talking in bad 
 English is, I suppose, considered as indefeasible as that of 
 doing wrong, when the people unite in such a resolution. 
 What will be the language, or what the national character of 
 a people composed of such heterogeneous particles, collected 
 and huddled together from all parts of the world, it is 
 impossible to say. The mischief of it is, that in the Eastern 
 States, whose inhabitants are almost entirely English, or 
 descendants '-of Englishmen, they retain all the local idioms 
 and barbarisms from the country from which they migrated. 
 Thus a barbarous dialect becomes a national language, and 
 its corruption is perpetuated. They must act on this point 
 as they have done in their government, and as they have 
 borrowed the most beautiful and useful parts of their con- 
 stitution from the English model, they must in future ages 
 refer to the language of the same country as the standard by 
 which the purity of their own is to be regulated. 
 
 I am ever, my dear Sir, 
 Your grateful and affectionate, 
 E. THORNTON. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Lord Auckland. 
 
 MY DEAR LORD, 
 Your Excellency wishes me to say a little more on the
 
 1792.] LORD TUUR LOW'S DISMISSION. 225 
 
 word " Internally." I can have no objection to tell you 
 what I alluded to, especially as the matter in question forms 
 but a small speck to obscure the general brilliancy of our 
 prospects. 
 
 From the confidence I feel in the abilities and virtues of 
 Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville, who, in addition to those 
 primary qualities, unite that great desideratum of political 
 existence, the most intimate private friendship, and an 
 attachment founded on ties which can never be dissolved, I 
 entertain little apprehension of anything which may arise to 
 counteract the great plans they have hitherto pursued so 
 successfully, or to affect their popularity. There is, however, 
 as we well know, such a thing as Parliamentary management, 
 on which the success of the best concerted and most useful 
 plans ultimately depends ; and we also know that numbers 
 alone will not always insure this. Lord Thurlow had, for so 
 many years, carried things in the House of Lords with a 
 high hand, that of course he obtained an influence there, 
 which, when employed on the side of Government, greatly 
 facilitated every measure which was brought forward ; and 
 his known talents as a lawyer, and particularly his singular 
 expertness in all points of Scotch Law, had taken from the 
 Administration a considerable part of the weight of affairs in 
 that House. This very consideration had probably a con- 
 siderable influence in inducing the rest of the King's 
 Ministers to put up with a variety of unpleasant traits in his 
 public character ; and, in fact, I have sometimes been unable 
 to attribute to any other cause the great forbearance and 
 good humour which Mr. Pitt has manifested on occasions 
 when no one, who knew what was going forward as well as 
 myself, would have blamed him for acting very differently. 
 It now, however, happens, that circumstances have occurred 
 which have made a continuance of that forbearance imprac- 
 ticable. Those circumstances you are perfectly apprised of, 
 and I need not mention them. They have occasioned Lord 
 Thuiiow's dismission from office ; and that, in all probability, 
 will occasion his adoption of a hostile line in Parliament. A 
 slight knowledge of human nature leads to this conclusion ; 
 but unhappily there are surer grounds for it, from a consider- 
 ation of the conduct he adopted immediately after this event 
 took place. I do not like to give any individual, be he who 
 he may, more weight in the political scale than he deserves ; 
 but undoubtedly, from a variety of circumstances, Lord
 
 226 MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Thurlow has a great deal ; and I think it not at all unlikely 
 that, out of office and at liberty to take what ground he 
 pleases, he will have more than he hitherto has had. From 
 the present constitution of the House of Lords this, in my 
 opinion, may operate powerfully against Government. Except- 
 ing Lord Grenville, all the best speakers there are against 
 us ; and, indeed, excepting Lord Grenville, we have not one 
 tolerable speaker there on our side. Lord Grenville has 
 certainly shown very great parliamentary talents since he 
 has acted as Minister in the House of Lords, and has not only 
 made some of the best speeches ever heard within those 
 walls, but has manifested a quickness and capacity for 
 business which rarely has been seen in that Assembly. 
 Powerful, however, as he may be and very powerful he is 
 I hold it to be absolutely impossible for any one man to 
 support the whole weight of government business, with 
 hardly an Aide de Camp to assist him, against so formidable 
 a phalanx, as that now existing, of veterans in political 
 intrigue and parliamentary management, reinforced by such 
 talents, experience, and knowledge as those of Lord Thurlow. 
 It is 'neither suitable to the station or gravity of a Minister, 
 nor indeed is it possible for him, to answer every one who 
 chooses to object or to ask questions; and of this the 
 Opposition appear to be perfectly aware, and of course to act 
 upon. In the last session, Lord Grenville got through these 
 difficulties with great talent and address ; but such a kind of 
 warfare cannot continue ; and either the friends of Govern- 
 ment in the House of Lords must find ability to support him, 
 or aid must be obtained from other quarters. Of the former 
 there is no great expectation; and the latter is full of 
 difficulties. Something, however, must be done before the 
 meeting of Parliament. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Charles Long* Esq. 
 
 Whitehall, October 15th, 1792. 
 
 MY DEAR LONG, 
 
 I have just had a visit from young Walter, who is furious 
 about the success of character of the Sun^ and came to 
 
 * Secretary to the Treasury, afterwards Lord Farnborough. 
 
 f The Sun, of which the Edinburgh Review once remarked that " it 
 daily appears, but never shines," rose for the first time in 1792, and went 
 on doing so for nearly eighty years, though its principles changed from
 
 1792.] PATRONAGE OF THE PRESS. 227 
 
 me, as to an impartial person, to complain of the partiality 
 shown by Government, and especially by Mr. Eose, to that 
 paper, which he said was very unjust, considering his long 
 services, and the many advantages which Government, and 
 especially Eose, had derived from the Times. He told me it 
 was well known that Eose recommended the Sun, and 
 patronised its publisher; and he threw out sundry strong 
 hints of Mr. Aust giving early accounts of Foreign Trans- 
 actions, which he also stated to be very ill usage. He said he 
 knew the people who wrote for this paper ; and assured me 
 I might depend upon it, that Coombe wrote "Alfred,"* 
 " Tacitus " and the " Jacobin Emissaries." On the whole, he 
 was very sulky and impudent ; and said, if he found things 
 went on as they were now doing, and if he did not find some 
 support from me, who he knew by experience never inter- 
 fered in the newspaper business, he certainly should not 
 suffer himself to be ruined by the success the Sun must 
 certainly meet with, from a priority of intelligence which, he 
 had undoubted information, came from the Treasury and our 
 office. How he procured his intelligence about Eose having 
 recommended the paper, I do not know ; but, from what he 
 said relative to this office, I am perfectly satisfied he must 
 have had it from some of the people employed here, who have 
 given him a tolerably correct report of what Mr. A. has said 
 on the subject. This, in fact, amounts to no more than that, 
 as he understood the new paper was intended to be favourable 
 to Government, he would readily contribute as much as he 
 could to its success. From the whole tenor of his conversa- 
 tion, however, it was evident that he had not the slightest 
 idea of either of us having anything to do with it ; and he 
 was much too angry not to have mentioned such a circum- 
 stance if he had suspected it. 
 
 Toryism to the confines of Radicalism. The paper was started by Mr. i 
 Pitt and supervised, if not actually edited, by Mr. (afterwards Sir George)' 
 Rose. Sheridan once said of the Sun there was " one paper in particular, 
 said to be the property of members of that House, which had for its motto 
 a garbled part of a beautiful sentence, when it might, with much more 
 propriety, have assumed the whole : 
 
 " Solem quis dicere falsum 
 Audeat? Ille etiam cajcos instare tumultus 
 Saepe monet, fraudemque, et operta tumescere bella." 
 
 * Written by Mr. Burges and repubiished in pamphlet form. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 INDIFFERENT SECURITY. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 From George Hammond, Esq. 
 
 Philadelphia, December 4th, 1792. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 ****** 
 
 I cannot avoid mentioning to you a circumstance which 
 has lately occurred here, and which is deserving of attention 
 perhaps more from its singularity than its novelty. A banker 
 in Paris, of the name of Herbert, has lately transmitted to 
 Congress an attested copy of a bond, under the hands of their 
 Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Dukes of York 
 and Clarence, in the sum of 100,000 sterling, for the pay- 
 ment of which they pledge the whole of their property in 
 possession and eocpectancy, and allow the holder of it to 
 subdivide that sum into as many shares as he shall think 
 proper. This Mr. Herbert, probably reflecting on the uncer- 
 tain tenure of lands in the republic of France, is desirous 
 of purchasing estates in this country, and offers this bond to 
 Congress as security for payment. But that body, having no 
 land to dispose of, passed over in silence the proposition of 
 Mr. Herbert and the bond of the sons of their ci-devant 
 Sovereign. I must, however, render this justice to the mem- 
 bers of Congress, that, although they thought a post obit on 
 the crown of Great Britain a pretty good joke, they have, as 
 far as has lain in their power, endeavoured to prevent the 
 circumstance from being generally known. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Lord Auckland. 
 
 Whitehall, February 2nd, 1793. 
 
 MY DEAR LORD, 
 
 Have you heard that we have got two papers, perfectly 
 attached to us, and considered as the authentic vehicles of 
 such matters as Government chooses to make known ? Their 
 titles are the Sun and the True Briton ; and I really think 
 they are very much superior to any we have seen. It was 
 indeed high time to look a little seriously upon our daily 
 vehicles of intelligence ; for almost all of them were in the 
 pay of the Jacobins, and contained the most atrocious libels
 
 1793.] GOVERNMENT NEWSPAPERS. 229 
 
 upon Government, the King, and all those who were not 
 known to be attached to the French interest. A very good 
 man at this moment volunteered as a friend to Government ; 
 and in return Government has taken him by the hand, and 
 his papers nourish accordingly. This is a trifling anecdote ; 
 but, at a moment when all sorts of tricks are playing, I thought 
 you might like to know where good intelligence was to be 
 procured.
 
 ( 230 ) [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 
 
 Letter from Mme. Du Barry tetter from Mr. Thornton Re-election of 
 Washington Mr. Jefferson's Heroes Letter to Governor Simcoe 
 Suicide of the Neapolitan Ambassador Three Letters from Sir W. 
 Hamilton " Bakhshish " The King's Approval of Mr. Burges 
 Letter from Sir George Staunton China and the Chinese. 
 
 THE following undated letter possesses a melancholy interest, 
 as being perhaps the last ever written by the notorious 
 Mme. Du Barry, mistress of Louis XV. Unfortunately for 
 herself, she obtained her passport, and returned to France, 
 with the intention of disinterring some diamonds and jewels, 
 buried under a tree in her park at Luciennes, near Versailles. 
 She was betrayed by her black page, Zamoro, on whom she 
 had lavished infinite kindness. She was condemned to death, 
 and on her way to the guillotine exhibited the utmost terror. 
 While her companions maintained a decent composure, she 
 shrieked aloud, " Life ! life ! life for repentance and devotion 
 to the Republic ! "* 
 
 Mde. du barry a Thonneur de faire mille compliments a 
 Monsieur borgesse elle le prie de vouloir bien lui faire 
 avoir un passe-port pour Mrs. Mortimer, dame anglaise de sa 
 connoissance, qui part avec elle demain pour Paris, et qui 
 compte s'en retourner en angleterre dans quelque terns (sic). 
 Mde. du barry est bien fachee d'etre obligee de quitter 
 Londre sans avoir eu le plaisir de voir Monsieur borgesse 
 il 1'obligera infiniment de lui rendre le service qu'elle Lui 
 
 * The painful scene is vigorously depicted by Alison, vol. iii. pp. 309-10.
 
 1793.] WASHINGTON'S RE-ELECTION. 231 
 
 demande elle espere a son retour, qui sera dans les premiers 
 jours du mois prochain, faire tous ses renierciments a 
 Monsieur borgesse. 
 
 London, Bruton Str e , No. 31. 
 
 From Edward Thornton, Esq. 
 
 Philadelphia, March 5, 1793. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 * 
 
 I was present yesterday at the ceremony of administering 
 the oath of office to Mr. Washington on his re-election for 
 the next four years as President of the United States. It 
 was administered by one of the Judges of the Supreme Court 
 in the Senate Chamber, in the presence of the senators and 
 as many individuals as could be crowded into the room. 
 The President first made a short speech, expressive of his 
 sense of the high honour conferred on him by his re-election. 
 There was nothing particular in the ceremony itself. 
 
 Our innovating demagogues in England will, I suppose, 
 draw strong inferences in favour of the electing of the first 
 executive magistrate from this instance, which is certainly 
 an uncommon one, of an unanimous choice of a whole people 
 repeated in his favour. I confess I am not disposed to 
 consider this circumstance as so highly honourable to the 
 object of it, as others might be who take a slight view of it. 
 I consider it rather as a mutual concession of prejudices on 
 the part of the people, than as the unanimous acknowledg- 
 ment of incontestable superiority of merit ; and as far as it 
 is honourable to have conciliated opposite tempers and sup- 
 pressed partial dislikes, I allow that credit to the President. 
 The circumstance which proves incontestably, I think, that 
 I am right in this opinion, is that a great number of votes 
 for Vice-President,* his second, and in certain events bis 
 successor, was given to a man whose principles are diametri- 
 cally opposite to those of the President, and who has been, 
 and still is, the decided opponent of the measures of the 
 present Government, and of the Federal constitution itself. 
 This conduct can be explained on no ground, I think, but 
 either of most strange inconsistency, or of the kind of mutual 
 concession which I mention. After all, it must be said that 
 
 * Mr.' John Adams, the first Ambassador from the United States to 
 Orcat Britain.
 
 232 MB. JEFFERSON'S HEROES. [CHAP. XIV, 
 
 he is the only man in the whole Continent for whom such 
 concessions would be made. 
 
 There was one thing, which I observed yesterday in the 
 Senate Chamber, which, if not accidental, will serve to mark 
 the character of the people, though it was trifling in itself. 
 The portraits of the King and Queen of France, which were 
 presented, I believe, during the war, were covered with a 
 curtain, a circumstance which was not the case most certainly 
 when I have been there on former occasions. Alas ! poor 
 Louis! 
 
 " Deserted at his utmost need 
 By those his former bounty fed ! " 
 
 The French, those murderous imitators will, I fear, supply 
 the rest of this passage, and in the very spirit too which 
 actuated the assassins of the unfortunate Darius. I don't 
 know whether I mentioned to you formerly that the key of 
 the Bastile, given to a certain great man here by La Fayette, 
 is hung up in a glass frame in the principal room of the great 
 man's house, with an engraving of Louis XVI., le patriote 
 Eoi des Frangais, opposite to it: In the drawing-room of 
 Mr. Jefferson * there are three busts, of Franklin, Paul Jones, 
 and La Fayette, three gentlemen, the first of whom had 
 talents without virtue, the second deserved hanging, and the 
 last, not improbably, may meet with that fate. The French 
 principles are gaining ground fast in this country ; you will 
 have heard of their rejoicings at the late successes of the 
 French ; you will have heard of the attacks upon the Presi- 
 dent himself for his levies, and other appendages of monarchy 
 and aristocracy ; the name of " citizen " is bandied about, 
 and in the course of last month a motion was made in the 
 House of Kepresentatives, in the very spirit of Cromwell and 
 democracy, that the mace of that House should be broken up, 
 as a useless bauble, and the silver, of which part of it is 
 composed, sent to the public mint. The mace is somewhat 
 in the form of the ancient Roman Fasces; it consists of 
 thirteen arrows bound together, and an eagle on the top. 
 
 With most sincere wishes for the continued happiness of 
 Mrs. Burges and my young friends, 
 
 I am, 
 
 Most faithfully yours, 
 
 EDWARD THORNTON. 
 
 * Secretary of State. In 1801 elected third President.
 
 1793.] AN UNSUCCESSFUL APPLICATION. 233 
 
 To Lieutcnant-Governor Simcoe, from Mr. Surges. 
 
 Whitehall, April 30th, 1793. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I received with great satisfaction your very kind and 
 friendly letter, and consider it as a proof that neither time 
 nor distance have diminished the regard I ever shall be am- 
 bitious that you shall entertain for me. 
 
 Many thanks for the further proof of remembrance and 
 esteem you have manifested towards me by giving my name to 
 one of your new townships. I will do my best not to disgrace 
 my new namesake ; and of course I feel a great interest in its 
 welfare and prosperity. Pray how do you manage the allot- 
 ment of the territory you are thus sub-dividing ? Can you 
 give me a grant of land in my own township ? It may 
 perhaps be a good thing to have in case of accidents ; for, at 
 the rate the Empress of Eussia and the King of Prussia are 
 going on, there is no saying how soon we may have a visit 
 from them here. I have lately made myself master of a little 
 freehold in Kent, where I am planting and improving, and 
 where I have an intention to build ; and all this on a specu- 
 lation of England remaining free and undisturbed. I have, 
 however, no wish either that I or my posterity should be 
 governed by Eussians, and therefore a good American free- 
 hold may be worth having in case of necessity. Pray think 
 of me, therefore, when you are meting out your unappropriated 
 acres, and give me an opportunity of settling if I please, on 
 the banks of a navigable river. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Your most faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 This letter was answered on the 23rd of September, but the 
 application for a grant of land was declared inadmissible, 
 because " the Eules of our Council in respect to lands are not 
 to grant any parcel, agreeably to our instructions, but to those 
 who shall reside and cultivate their respective allotments." 
 The township of Burges was situated in the County of Leeds 
 named after the Duke, and not after the English city.
 
 234 SUICIDE OF AN AMBASSADOR. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 A most painful duty devolved upon Mr. Burges in June, 
 1793. He was charged by Lord Grenville to communicate 
 to Sir William Hamilton the shocking details of the suicide of) 
 the Neapolitan Ambassador, the Duke of Sicignano. He was 
 comparatively a young man, but had complained some days 
 previously of much pain in the head, and in a jocose manner 
 had asked his friends which was preferable, death by drown- 
 ing or by shooting. Accompanied by the Prince of Castel 
 Cicala, he had conferred with Lord Grenville for nearly two 
 hours in the afternoon of the 31st of May, and had conversed 
 with the Foreign Secretary with perfect composure and self- 
 possession. He then returned to Grenier's Hotel, where he 
 lodged, and dictated some official letters to his two secretaries, 
 whom he then dismissed, with instructions to return at eight 
 o'clock. His servants he despatched in various directions 
 with notes and messages, and, taking advantage of the 
 solitude, placed the muzzle of a pistol close to his temple. 
 The ball was found in the brain, to which it had penetrated 
 through a very slight aperture in the skull, which was other- 
 wise uninjured. The report of the pistol brought the hotel 
 servants to the spot, and the most skilful medical attendance 
 was immediately procured. Nothing, however, could be done 
 for the sufferer, who shortly afterwards expired in strong con- 
 vulsions. The first step to be taken was to quiet the scruples 
 of the Coroner, who for a while insisted upon holding an 
 inquest. In the end he waived that point and accepted 100 V 
 as a salve to his conscience. The body was then temporarily 
 deposited in a vault in St. Pancras churchyard until arrange- 
 ments could be made for its conveyance to Naples. 
 
 It is a mistake to regard " bakhshish " as a purely Oriental 
 institution. In any case it was not unknown in diplomatic 
 circles at the close of the last century. An amusing illus- 
 tration of this assertion occurs in Sir "Win. Hamilton's corre-
 
 1793.] INTERCHANGE OF PRESENTS. 235 
 
 spondence with Mr. Burges. The question of the customary 
 presents bestowed upon the negotiators employed to bring 
 about a treaty, or commercial convention, is treated as a 
 matter of the first importance, and doubtless it greatly 
 interested the fortunate expectants of such favours. It is 
 better, however, to let the British Minister at Naples tell 
 his own tale. 
 
 From Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Naples, July 13th, 1793. 
 MY DEAR SlR, 
 
 I flatter myself that the business of the Convention is now 
 firmly settled, and that this fair city is no longer in danger of 
 being insulted as it was last year. You will see by my dis- 
 patch to Lord Grenville how matters are settled, so that I 
 may come to our private business. Although the subject was 
 somewhat delicate, being myself concerned, I read to General 
 Acton* the part of your private letter to me on the subject of 
 the presents usually made on the signature of treaties. I 
 think with you that there could be no difficulty in settling 
 this matter as they have been lately settled by the Courts of 
 Petersburg and Turin which, as you say, are cases in point. 
 I believe the General would be more inclined to follow the 
 example of the latter than the former, as in the South we are 
 better economists than in the North. As this is my first 
 business of the kind, I am totally ignorant on the subject, 
 but I know in general the presents of this Court have hitherto . 
 consisted of jewels, by which both parties are the dupes of thel 
 jewellers. I dare say what is proper will be done, but as far 1 
 as I can with delicacy I shall be for preferring the money to 
 the jewels, both for you and myself. 
 
 * Sir John Francis Edward Acton, Bart., of Aldenham, Salop, born in 
 1736 or 1737, passed through a strange career until he became the 
 favourite of Queen Caroline of Naples, through whose influence he was 
 appointed Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Naval and 
 Military Forces. In 1803 he retired into Sicily, and died at Palermo in 
 1811. His brother,' Joseph Edward, held for a time the post of Governor 
 of Gaeta. He left two sons, one of whom became a Cardinal. Lord 
 Granville, the present Minister of Foreign Affairs, married the widow of 
 the younger son, Baron Acton.
 
 236 COSTLY COMPLIMENTS. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 From Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Naples, September 2nd, 1793. 
 MY DEAE SIR, 
 
 Not until yesterday were the Batifications exchanged. 
 They are not much used to Conventions here, and they were 
 resolved that the box containing the Great Seal should be 
 like ours, which has cost no small pains and time, but I 
 think they have succeeded very well for the first time. I 
 have paid 500 to the Chancellerie here, and General Acton 
 told me yesterday that the orders are given to pay the same 
 free of all deductions into your office at Whitehall. I 
 have reason to believe that, when the King's presents arrive 
 here for the three Plenipotentiaries, the box with His 
 Sicilian Majesty's picture set in diamonds will be sent in 
 His Majesty's name to Lord Grenville, His Majesty being 
 truly sensible of the kind part his Lordship has taken in 
 an affair which gives him so much satisfaction but this is 
 entre nous. 
 
 From Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Naples, November 10th, 1793. 
 MY DEAE SlE, 
 
 Mr. Clarke, who will deliver this letter to you, will return 
 immediately to Naples, so that if Lord Grenville should 
 choose to make use of this opportunity of sending the 
 presents to General Acton and the Marquis de Marco, who 
 signed the late treaty, his Lordship may do it safely, and 
 save the expense of a messenger. The Marquis Circello has 
 taken leave of this Court, and is to set out for London in a 
 day or two, so that his box may be kept there for him. 
 General Acton gave me lately, in the name of His Sicilian 
 Majesty, His Majesty's picture on a tortoise-shell box set with 
 three rows of diamonds, and which, as the King's jeweller 
 himself told me, cost His Majesty 3000 ducats, which is 
 between 500 and 600. I have seen the box intended 
 for Lord Grenville, it is nearly twice as rich, and I suppose 
 the Marquis Circello is to present it to his Lordship. 
 
 From Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Caserta, March 14th, 1794. 
 
 T must tell you a curious fact. I saw in the newspapers 
 the great value of the snuff-box the King of Naples gave
 
 1793.] KINDLINESS OF THE KINO. 237 
 
 me. The jeweller that set it told me its real value was 
 3000 ducats, little more than 500, whereas the one sent to 
 Lord Grenville was set by the same jeweller, and cost the 
 Court 6200 ducats, a little more than 1000. I carried the 
 boxes that were sent here for General Acton and the Marquis 
 de Marco to the same jeweller, who valued them at 6000 
 ducats each, though the one, which I gave in the King's 
 name to General Acton, was better than the other. In these 
 cases one has nothing to do but hold one's tongue; but I 
 wish to tell you the exact truth, as it certainly at home must 
 have been imagined that the box given me was similar to 
 that which was sent to Lord Grenville. As this is the only 
 perquisite that has fallen to my lot in near thirty years' 
 residence, it is hard to have been jockeyed out of half its 
 value by what means I cannot account, as this Government 
 knew that the allowance of the King for these treaty presents 
 was 1000. 
 
 From, Mr. Surges to Mrs. Surges. 
 
 October 23rd, 1793. 
 ****** 
 
 Mr. De Luc * has been with me this morning to impart to 
 me in confidence a conversation he has had with the King. 
 His Majesty told him that, having heard that a difference 
 had occurred between the Duke of Leeds and me, and that 
 Ms Grace had written to Lord Grenville on the subject, he 
 had asked Lord Grenville whether it was true, and what 
 had been the occasion of it ; that Lord Grenville had given 
 him an account of it, as well as of the answer he had sent to 
 the Duke ; and that he had added, that he had had every 
 reason to think my conduct in the business perfectly proper ; 
 that the King then inquired into the circumstances, and 
 especially whether it was not true that I had resigned at 
 the same time with the Duke, and that I had agreed to stay at 
 the desire of Mr. Pitt, and by the express wish of the Duke 
 himself: he was told it was. "All this," said the King to 
 De Luc, " gave me great satisfaction ; and as I know you are 
 very well acquainted with Mr. Burges, perhaps you may 
 know more of the circumstances of the affair than Lord 
 
 * Geologist and Natural Philosopher. Author, with large assistance 
 from Miss Burges, of ' Geological Travels in the North of Europe and in 
 England.'
 
 238 DUPLICITY OF TEE DUKE OF LEEDS. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Grenville does." De Luc said he knew that everything that 
 Lord Grenville had said was true, as he remembered calling 
 upon me at the time of the Duke's resignation, but that I 
 had never told him anything that could be construed into 
 any complaint of the Duke ; though he had reason to believe 
 that his Grace had not acted properly towards me. " That 
 is my own opinion of the business," said the King ; " and I 
 know the Duke of Leeds well enough to be satisfied of his 
 capricious and variable disposition ; as, however, I know you 
 have a regard for Mr. Burges, I thought I would tell you all 
 this, that you may make your own use of it, and that you 
 may know what impression the story has made upon me." 
 This sort of confidence naturally led me to some further con- 
 versation on the subject; and by degrees De Luc said it 
 would, he believed, be satisfactory to the King to know the 
 other particulars which Lord Grenville had not mentioned. 
 Of course I replied that His Majesty's commands and wishes 
 were sacred to me ; that there was not the smallest circum- 
 stance I wished to conceal ; though I should certainly feel 
 a repugnance to disclose anything which might tend to 
 increase the opinion His Majesty had expressed of the Duke's 
 conduct. De Luc applauded this delicacy; and concluded 
 by saying that both the King and Queen appeared greatly 
 satisfied with me in every respect. 
 God bless you all. 
 
 Affectionately and faithfully yours, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 The next letter is from Sir George Leonard Staunton, a 
 native of Ireland, but educated at Montpellier. He began 
 life as a physician in the island of Granada, but subsequently 
 accompanied Lord Macartney to Madras, as his private 
 secretary. Through a shameless act of jobbery, he obtained* 
 a pension of 500 a year, and was created a Baronet. In 
 1792, when Lord Macartney was sent as Ambassador to the 
 Court of Pekin, Sir George Staunton went with him as 
 Secretary of Legation, and on their return to Europe pub- 
 lished a narrative of the mission, which, at the time, was 
 thought interesting.
 
 1793.] CHINESE EMPEROR-WORSHIP. 239 
 
 From Sir George Staunlon. 
 
 Han-Chow-Fou, in China, N. Latitude 30, 
 
 November 12th, 1793. 
 
 DEAR SIB, 
 
 I expected to have had many opportunities of writing to 
 you from China ; but our stay was short at Pekin, and we 
 had no communication with Canton. It is extremely worth 
 while to have come to this country on account of its magni- 
 tude, prosperity, and singularity. I have had, indeed, but 
 little opportunity of examining any particular place or thing 
 minutely ; but the glance I have had makes me regret I 
 could not take a fuller view. In talking of its extent we 
 must best speak by degrees of longitude and latitude. I fancy 
 it is not much known in Europe that the Emperor of China 
 receives tribute from Princes not very distant from the 
 Caspian Sea. I saw above eighty Tartar Princes come to 
 pay their obedience, or rather make their adorations on the 
 Emperor's eighty-third birthday anniversary. The old man 
 is still vigorous and cheerful, and from being long sincerely 
 devout to the god Fo-hi, he begins to fancy that his favourite 
 deity has vouchsafed to become incarnate in his person: 
 which he thinks may be fairly inferred from his unusual 
 length of days, his continuance of perfect health and unin- 
 terrupted prosperity ; his subjects, by their attention to him 
 as superior to mortals, maintain him in this opinion ; and 
 libations are offered regularly at the shrines of the palaces 
 from whence he is absent, as to the altar of the Godhead. 
 However, though not divine, he is a well-disposed mortal, 
 and was very gracious to us all. There were people about 
 him, however, who looked upon us with an evil eye. The 
 Tartars found this country an easy conquest, and suspect 
 that others might find it so likewise. There is to this hour 
 the utmost antipathy between the Tartars and Chinese, which 
 is kept up by the favour shown to the former, and the de- 
 pression in which the latter are still held. The common 
 people, indeed, hold in detestation the mandarins of both 
 nations, because they abuse the power of corporal punish- 
 ment which they possess, never judge a cause without a bribe 
 or bribes, and raise upon the subject about six or sevenfold 
 the taxes imposed by the Imperial Edicts. The mandarins 
 themselves, except those of the very first class, have very 
 trifling salaries from Government, and are become venal
 
 240 WEAKNESS OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 almost by necessity ; they feel not the less the precariousness 
 of their situation in case the complaints against them should 
 happen to be listened to; and know they are still more 
 exposed for any offence to a superior, or even for any mis- 
 fortune happening in his district. If Government, therefore, 
 be most stable where the largest proportion of individuals 
 are satisfied with their condition, and interested in its 
 duration, as is our case in England, the present authority 
 in China, where scarcely any person is satisfied with his 
 situation, may be said to stand on hollow ground. I cannot 
 think it will be kept together if the successor to the present 
 Prince should happen to be of a weak and unsteady mind. 
 I fear that it is to little purpose that I have constantly 
 before my mind your kinsman's list of desiderata for his 
 Cabinet ; he may reckon, however, upon my endeavours. If 
 I can but bring him a single article, I hope he will accept it 
 as a token of my wish to bring him more. 
 
 I soon hope to have the pleasure of seeing you in England ; 
 and am, 
 
 Ever, dear Sir, 
 With the truest respect and regard, 
 
 Your most obedient, humble servant, 
 GEORGE STAUNTOX. 
 
 As to the political object of our mission, all I can say 
 is, that besides what we have already obtained there is a 
 foundation laid for a great deal more in time.
 
 1793.] ( 241 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 Letter from Sir VV. D. Brcxlie Algerine Corsairs Negligence of Lord 
 St. Helens A Christmas Present Letter to the Rev. Mr. Nares 
 Post-office Proverbs Letter from Stanislaus Augustus Two Letters 
 from Captain G. C. Braithwaite Complaints against French Repub- 
 licans and Americans Letter from Mr. Hammond Strained Rela- 
 tions Letter from Mr. Thornton Riot at Baltimore American 
 Trade. 
 
 THERE is at least some novelty in the letter of a British 
 Consul at Malaga, complaining of the depredations of the 
 Algerine corsairs, chiefly exercised at the cost of the 
 Americans. Towards the latter part of his communication 
 Sir William Brodie confirms what Lord Malmesbury wrote 
 as to the indolence and indifference of Lord St. Helens with 
 regard to the current duties of his post. He was capable of 
 exerting himself when something of a large and urgent 
 character presented itself, but he took little interest in 
 ordinary everyday business. 
 
 From Sir William Douglas Brodie. 
 
 Malaga, December 14th, 1793. 
 SlK, 
 
 Since my last of the 23rd of October I have not had the 
 pleasure, nor has anything of consequence since then occurred 
 to communicate. The ravages of our barbarian neighbours 
 against the American flag continue with much success, and t 
 we are given to understand that the number of prizes already' 
 in their possession (and almost all loaded with provisions, 
 
 R
 
 242 ALGERINE CORSAIRS. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 wheat, flour, rice, &c.) exceeds forty sail, and daily augmenting. 
 This circumstance will be severely felt both in Portugal and 
 this Kingdom, but particularly in the former. Our wants on 
 that account will only be temporary, as the cargoes being 
 superfluous and unnecessary in Algiers, will ultimately all be 
 brought to Spain. Although the success of these pirates has 
 been very considerable, yet they are by no means contented, 
 and the Dey so little is, that I am told he has dismissed the 
 greatest part of the commanders and appointed others, sup- 
 posing that they had not been diligent enough, although I 
 know there are some vessels in their possession that left this 
 port with a fair wind on the 24th of September, whereas these 
 robbers did not pass the Straits till the 6th of October, so 
 that they must have been taken very far to the westward. 
 The Portuguese have got a small squadron of ten sail at 
 Gibraltar, the object of which I ain at a loss to account for, 
 as they do not seem to have any particular destiny, unless it 
 is to intimidate the Algerines into terms by a display of their 
 grandeur when the present truce is finished ; others partici- 
 pate in the commerce of these seas. At the same time that 
 they seem willing to permit these unfortunate wretches to 
 fall into the hands of the infidels, they give convoy to all 
 American vessels bound to America until a certain latitude, 
 which seems somewhat inconsistent. Colonel Humphries, 
 the American Envoy at Lisbon, made lately a tour of this 
 coast with an intention of passing over to Africa to treat with 
 the Dey of Algiers, for which purpose he is furnished with 
 most ample powers from the President of the United States. 
 He has sent over to know whether or not his person would 
 be secure, and if he could be admitted to an audience with 
 that mighty monarch. I understand he has got a flat denial, 
 and I hope they will not easily succeed, unless by some other 
 channel, through which the trade of Great Britain will not be 
 materially injured, as it would undoubtedly be by a direct 
 understanding. 
 
 With Lord St. Helens I remain, as formerly mentioned to 
 you, without being able to get the smallest kind of satisfaction 
 (or even answer to my letters) upon various interesting- 
 particulars which I have repeatedly and most particularly 
 represented to his Lordship, which really astonished me beyond 
 conception. I shall continue a little longer my entreaties, 
 and if I do not meet with some redress shall take an oppor- 
 tunity of stating to you the particulars, that you may judge
 
 1794.] A CHRISTMAS-BOX, 243 
 
 how little attended to, and of how little consequence the 
 Consuls are in this country, to the very great detriment of 
 our commerce, and to the no less prejudice of our countrymen, 
 who are thereby exposed to have their persons imprisoned, 
 and insulted upon the most trifling pretext, and their property 
 pillaged at the caprice of these despotic governors. 
 
 I took the liberty of sending you a quarter cask of wine per 
 the brig Charlotte, Captain Hill, to the care of my friends 
 Messrs. J. F. Burnett and Co., of your city, with a couple of 
 boxes of raisins, almonds, and grapes, for the use of your 
 table, which these gentlemen will send you upon their arrival. 
 Wishing you many and happy returns of the season, with the 
 long enjoyment of health and happiness, 
 
 I remain, with much sincerity, Sir, 
 Your most obedient and 
 
 Most obliged humble servant, 
 
 WILLIAM DOUGLAS BRODIE. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to the Rev. Mr. Nares* 
 
 Downing Street, Wednesday morning, 
 
 January 22nd, 1794. 
 
 DEAR NARES, 
 
 When I came here a quarter of an hour ago I found lying 
 on my table, exactly in the state I send them to you, the 
 three enclosed packets, which I guess to be those about the 
 fate of which you was anxious. They tell me they were so 
 received, and that is all the information I can get respecting 
 them. It is evident they did not come by the post, as they 
 want altogether the outward and visible sign of the Post Office, 
 for as the proverb truly has it, 
 
 "A letter sent by post does never lack 
 A red or sable postmark on its back ; " 
 
 and it will be evident to you without your spectacles that on 
 these letters there is no such sine qua non. I leave to your 
 
 * The Rev. Robert Nares, son of James Nares, the composer and 
 organist, was an able critic and theologian. He founded and conducted 
 the ' British Critic,' and published several useful and learned works. He 
 was Archdeacon of Stafford, Canon of Lichfield, and rector of Allhallows, 
 London. He died in 1829. 
 
 R 2
 
 244 POST-OFFICE PROVERBS. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 superior sagacity to reason upon and account for this phe- 
 nomenon. It is clear these packets have had a locomotive 
 quality, but I am lost to conjectures as to the mode and time 
 of its being exercised. 
 Vale. 
 
 J. B. B. 
 
 There is another proverb about letters which you 
 would do well to insinuate to the literary giant who sent you 
 the accompanying packets : 
 
 " If you would not your secret thoughts reveal, 
 You'd better close your letters with a seal." 
 
 A good scribe, indeed, never forgets this any more than that 
 other sage proverb, which says : 
 
 " The careful penman never lacks 
 His box of wafers or his wax." 
 
 There is also another proverb which your friend may be 
 reminded of, viz. : 
 
 " The critic, politician, wit, and lover, 
 Should always put their letters under cover." 
 
 Letter from King Stanislaus Augustus. 
 
 Warsaw, March 8th, 1794. 
 
 MASTER BURGES, 
 
 I am not only highly flattered of all you have been 
 pleased to say of obliging for me in your letter of 17th 
 January, delivered through Mr. Bukatij, but am likewise 
 exceeding glad of this opportunity to renew you, sir, 
 the assurance of all my sensibility and acknowledg- 
 ments for so many proofs of your constant good-will and 
 propensity for my person. I beg you therefore to receive 
 these my lines as a pledge of my sincere gratitude and con- 
 sideration, as well as of a strong desire to enjoy inalterably 
 the continuance of your friendly disposition, which shall be 
 always not less dear as agreeable to 
 
 Your most affectionate, 
 
 STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS. 
 King.
 
 1794.] FRENCH REPUBLICANS. . 245 
 
 From Captain G. C. Braithwaite* 
 
 Norfolk, Virginia, April 20th, 1794. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 You have heard how much my health has been impaired 
 by the campaign in India. It has not been mended by the 
 confinement of 194 days at sea. However, I am recovering 
 fast all but legs, which are very weak and swelled from the 
 determination of the disorder into those parts. However, 
 neither my exhausted appearance nor remonstrance of the 
 surgeon could prevail upon the French to let me go on shore 
 until the time of the departure of the convoy. Of all these 
 particulars Mr. Hamilton will write to you. We are all 
 greatly indebted to his zeal and activity, and I am now living 
 under his hospitable roof. . . . The French have sung the people 
 of this town into all their principles, and we do noc consider 
 ourselves in much greater security here than on board the 
 French ships, and meet with frequent insult, which you will 
 hear from Mr. Hamilton. Although I must consider my 
 having been taken by the French, with my colours, a very 
 great calamity, nevertheless, now it is over I rejoice that I 
 have seen wonders that nothing but seeing could have made 
 me believe, so extraordinary is the change from what I once 
 remember the French nation. I have also received a great 
 deal of information, too long to detail in this hasty letter. 
 The French general received me at his table, and gave me a 
 berth in the gun-room, and used his exertions to prevent our 
 baggage being plundered, all of which is positively commanded 
 by the National Assembly. As to the rest of their conduct 
 towards us (except a few individuals), it was intended to 
 insult, irritate, and intimidate ; but we treated this play upon 
 pur feelings with the contempt it deserved. Nevertheless, 
 we were inwardly shocked and angered by their blasphemies 
 and sanguinary expressions, such as wishing to eat our 
 Monarch's head, to be allowed to murder their prisoners, and 
 other the like horrors ; reviling the British nation as a band 
 of cowards and villains, &c. By this mode they keep their 
 spirits in a constant nutter, and feed the flame by constant 
 songs and dances till worn out and obliged to come to a 
 
 * Son of the Colonel Braithwaite mentioned in Chap. xiii. He was 
 the bearer of dispatches from his father, whose A.D.C. he had been, 
 announcing the capture of Pondicherry and the misconduct of the French 
 garrison.
 
 246 REPUBLICAN INSOLENCE. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 pause, when they appear totally deprived of the former gaiety 
 of that nation. They all seem distrustful in the extreme of 
 each other, and business, if not communicated to the whole 
 ship's company, is transacted in the presence of two or three 
 officers besides the general. I observed they talked continu- 
 ally to the public, and for the public, without reason, argument, 
 or thread in the discourse, but only to manifest their civisme 
 through thick and thin. And during our stay two captains 
 of frigates were suspected and examined, many other people 
 denounced and put in irons, and by the account of our private 
 sailors, many of the French expressed a wish to be taken by 
 the English and released from their misery which I wish 
 all my countrymen could see. 
 
 From Captain G. C. Braithwaite. 
 
 Philadelphia, May 10th, 1794. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 With respect to myself, I embarked on the 20th of Sep- 
 tember, 1793, on board the Scorpion charged with dispatches 
 upon the capture of Pondicherry, which surrendered to my 
 father on the 23rd of August, and on the 12th of January 
 last, in lat. 27 30", long. 38, at 4 A.M., were captured by a 
 French squadron in such a manner that I had only just time 
 to sink my dispatches. Indeed, had more time been allowed, 
 I should not have thought myself authorised in destroying 
 the French colours, as contrary to the custom of war, and 
 with regard to them not reciprocal, as we found in Pondicherry 
 British colours taken last war still in preservation. The 
 French squadron, commanded by the Centre- Amiral Van- 
 stabel, arrived in the Chesapeake on the 10th of February. 
 But the British prisoners were not allowed to acquaint their 
 Consul with their situation and wants till the activity of 
 Mr. Consul Hamilton procured a communication, but as this 
 gentleman will write to you fully upon the subject, and is pro- 
 vided with every means of information, I shall not recapitu- 
 late the detail contained in my former letter any more than 
 to assure you that Captain Oakes and the other officers, 
 conscious of their own dignity, and reposing in the power of 
 their country, were never intimidated by the dangers which 
 surrounded us, but continued to answer every abuse with 
 firmness and the superior decency of gentlemen. And in the 
 midst of this irritation, we were somewhat flattered to find 
 how much the British nation occupied their attention, inso-
 
 1794.] BAD FEELING IN AMERICA. 247 
 
 much that they signalised Mr. Pitt as the most dreadful 
 enemy of France, and wished to make us believe that the 
 monarchs of Europe only obeyed his nod in the present 
 powerful confederacy. At the same time, he enjoys their 
 peculiar hatred, which they express with an unbounded 
 rancour and thirst for vengeance. I could not avoid answer- 
 ing their threats by politely confessing they tended so much 
 to raise him in my esteem, that of all the great men of 
 Europe I looked upon his position as the most enviable to a 
 noble mind ; which declaration, contrary to my expectance, 
 was received in good part. 
 
 From George Hammond, Esq. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 28th, 1794. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 From my dispatch of this date you will perceive that the 
 ferment in this country has not diminished since my last, 
 and I must confess that if it continue to increase, I cannot be 
 responsible for the preservation of peace with Great Britain, 
 for any definite period. I have, in regard to this dispatch as 
 to every other during my residence here, deemed it a proper 
 act of deference on my part to confine myself to facts, and to 
 leave the reasoning upon them to my official superiors. To 
 you, however, as a personal friend, I can express my convic- 
 tion that, whatever may be the result of the negotiation to 
 which Mr. Jay's* mission will lead, the conduct of His 
 Majesty's Ministers may be satisfactorily explained not only 
 to Great Britain but to Europe in general. The grievances 
 which the commerce of this country has really sustained 
 has been most preposterously magnified, and the rights, 
 which she claims as a neutral power, are extravagant indeed, 
 when contrasted with the concessions of other Powers neutral 
 in former wars, and consequently ridiculous when asserted 
 by a nation that has not the means of enforcing them. 
 
 I am ever, with the sincerest esteem, my dear Sir, 
 Your most obliged friend 
 
 And faithful, humble servant, 
 
 GEO. HAMMOND. 
 
 * Mr. Jay was sent to England as Envoy Extraordinary, and concluded 
 the treaty which still bears his name.
 
 248 RIOT IN BALTIMORE. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 From Edward Thornton, Esq. 
 
 Philadelphia, May 27th, 1794. 
 MY DEAREST SIR, 
 
 I presume that I shall very shortly resume my post. I 
 cannot say that I look forward to this period with particular 
 satisfaction : as, since the present causes of dispute have 
 arisen between Great Britain and this country, the general 
 malignity against the British name is so much increased when 
 concentrated and pointed against a known Englishman, 
 especially if he has any public employment, that a residence 
 in any part of this country is become extremely unpleasant. 
 At Baltimore solitude or insult is almost my only alternative. 
 In that town, since I left it, the most violent outrages have 
 been committed against persons accused of being friends to 
 Great Britain, and I enclose you a handbill * which, after one 
 of these riots, the Chief Justice of Maryland (Samuel Chase) 
 found himself obliged to circulate in order to insure from the 
 orderly part of the community protection to his own person 
 in the exercise of his duty. Captain Braithwaite, whom I 
 find to be an intimate friend of yours, my dear sir, and who 
 appears to have very superior talents, can relate to you very 
 particularly the nature of the temper which actuates the 
 people of that part of the country, as he has passed through 
 the most inflammatory portions of it (an absolute ordeal), and 
 I believe was actually in Baltimore at the time of the above 
 riot. Whatever may be the termination of the present 
 disputes between the two countries, some most important 
 lessons have been given in the course of them as to the 
 nature and extent of her commercial connections with this 
 continent. Our merchants must hereafter in their accounts 
 of profit and loss calculate the risk of a confiscation of their 
 debts in a given period of years, in the same manner as a 
 West India planter looks forward to a hurricane ; and I 
 
 * The handbill inclosed by Mr. Thornton is too prolix to be inserted. 
 It may be enough to state that Mr. Chase warns the inhabitants of Balti- 
 more that he will maintain the peace of the city at any cost. Two 
 individuals, a Captain Kamsdell and the commander of a privateer named 
 Sinton, had been tarred and feathered, seemingly at the instigation of a 
 Captain Stodder, who afterwards defied the magistrate to proceed against 
 him. Nevertheless, he intended to commit Captain Stodder and all others 
 who had been arrested, and would refuse to accept bail.
 
 1794.] TRADE OF THE WEST INDIES. 249 
 
 would beg them to reflect whether a less extensive but certain 
 trade (or at least with very little danger of loss and none of 
 confiscation, which is by no means impracticable) be not 
 preferable to one which, though it may produce considerable 
 profits, may encounter a tempest which will sweep off the 
 whole at once. The other lesson which respects the West 
 Indies is a still more momentous one. The late embargo on 
 vessels in the United States has discovered a spirit of refined 
 hostility (which has been happily harmless in the present 
 instance, but) which may one day operate most fatally to the 
 colonies in the West Indies and to Great Britain. If they 
 continue to look to the United States alone as the source of 
 supply for the necessaries of life (I mean flour and Indian 
 meal), let them beware of any period of national calamity in 
 Great Britain. Whenever that moment shall occur, let but 
 any motive of pique, or caprice, or hostility, or even a com- 
 mercial speculation actuate the people of this country, and 
 the sudden suspension of their supplies will plunge the West 
 Indies in distress, if not in ruin. While the States are the 
 only source of supply, the suspension can be sudden and must 
 be effectual, and I beg to observe that it can only be so by 
 being unexpected. I am therefore of opinion, my dear sir, 
 that it is the duty and interest of Great Britain to seek out 
 one or many other markets for the West Indies, even at an 
 additional expense to those islands. Let the United States 
 have a share in that trade if necessary ; but do not let us 
 encourage a monopoly which can never be advantageous to us 
 and may be made the instrument of our destruction. My 
 most affectionate remembrances ever attend Mrs. Burges and 
 my dear young friends. May every blessing of Heaven attend 
 you and yours, 
 
 Is ever, my dear Sir, 
 
 The wish of your faithful servant, 
 
 EDWAED THORNTON:
 
 ( 250 ) [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Misconduct of Mr. Windham Mr. Hailes a Diplomatic Failure Letter 
 to Lord St. Helens Letter from Mr. F. Daniel The French Emigres 
 Letter to Mrs. Barges The King takes Particular Notice of Mr. 
 Burges Letter from Mr. Craufurd Spread of Jacobinism in Den- 
 mark Letter from Mr. Bowdler The French Prizes off Spithead 
 Battle of the First of June Letter to Mrs. Burges Appointed Com- 
 missioner Privy Seal. 
 
 IN June, 1794, Lord St. Helens was at the Hague, whence 
 he wrote to Mr. Burges on the 17th to inquire if he had 
 heard that 
 
 His Majesty's Minister at Florence (Mr. Windham) had 
 horsewhipped a Count Corletti on the public walks there 
 for talking neutral * politics ? The thing is certainly true 
 [he continues] and can, of course, be no secret. However, 
 I would not say that it would not be right for either you or 
 myself to be the first to mention it in England. I confess 
 that I by no means approve either of that outrageous pro- 
 ceeding, or of the political horse whippings which Mr. Hailes 
 is daily inflicting upon Count Bernstorff, and I wish you 
 would let me know in confidence in what light the latter are 
 considered by our principal. 
 
 This Mr. Hailes was continually getting into hot water. 
 As Secretary of Legation to the Duke of Dorset in Paris, he 
 
 * In October 1793, Lord Hervey presented his third memorial to the 
 Grand Duke of Tuscany, insisting on the immediate departure of M. la 
 Flotte, the French Minister, as the Allies could not allow the Tuscan 
 Government to remain neutral. He carried his point.
 
 1791.] AN INTRACTABLE DIPLOMATIST. 251 
 
 was utterly impracticable. He was then sent to Warsaw, 
 where he became a thorn in the side of the unfortunate 
 Stanislaus Augustus. He was accordingly removed to 
 Copenhagen, where he gave great umbrage to the Minister, 
 M. Bernstorff, a Hanoverian by birth and a sincere well- 
 wisher to England, though somewhat alienated by the slights 
 he received from the British Government. Mr. Hailes will 
 be heard of again in the next chapter, but in the meanwhile 
 Mr. Burges's reply to Lord St. Helens shows that he was 
 quite unfit for a diplomatic career. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Lord St. Helens. 
 
 Downing Street, June 24th, 1794. 
 
 MY DEAR LORD, 
 
 Nothing certainly can be more distressing than the 
 conduct of some of our foreign Ministers. With respect to 
 Mr. Hailes, his conduct both in taking up the idle business 
 of 4lie libel, and his subsequent proceedings, have been much 
 disapproved of. He has received a long letter from Lord 
 Grenville on the subject, to which he has sent a very civil 
 answer, which however shows he is not convinced by what 
 has been said to him. This is the second hint of this sort 
 which he has received since I have been here. The first was 
 a very strong check from the Duke of Leeds, in consequence 
 of his behaviour to the King of Poland. I am afraid his 
 present ill-humour will not be very serviceable in the pre- 
 servation of good harmony between us and Denmark, and I 
 am sorry for it, because we already have causes of complaint 
 enough. As to Mr. Windham's business, it turns out to 
 have been attended with circumstances which render it still 
 more unpleasant than your letter gives me reason to imagine 
 you were acquainted with. I have ground to believe that 
 Lord Grenville has not seen Count Corletti's letter ; and as it 
 must on every account be of a nature extremely unpleasing 
 to him, I have not judged it right to be the first to com- 
 municate it. From the zeal shown in its circulation, how- 
 ever, I take it for granted it will soon be generally known.
 
 252 THE FRENCH EMIGRANTS. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 From F. Daniel, Esq. 
 (Undated, but placed among the correspondence of this period.) 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 The chief magistrate of Brussels, upon refusal of non- 
 residence to a noble emigrant, concluded with this remark, 
 (Test vous, monsieur, et vos confreres, qui causcnt tons les mal- 
 heurs de V Europe. 
 
 It seems to be the determination of all the German States, 
 &c., not to grant any asylum to the emigrants ; but obliging 
 a man to carry a musket contrary to his inclination and 
 perhaps temperament physique, shows a want of policy on the 
 one hand, and liberality on the other. It is very certain 
 that the emigrants in many cities act with the usual im- 
 prudence of Frenchmen. Frequenting gambling-houses, &c., 
 car il faut vivre. Eunning in debt is natural enough, and 
 money borrowed is to return four hundred (on getting back 
 to France) for twenty-five. I made it a point of frequenting 
 the tables d'hote in the different towns I passed through, and 
 it appears that three principles actuated the emigrants 
 I'honneur, I'ambition, et la crainte. Two-thirds emigrated 
 from ambition, and the other third may be divided between 
 honour and fear. All the emigrants acknowledge this, and, 
 what is very flattering to an Englishman, they all speak in 
 raptures of the generosity of the British nation. But a 
 Frenchman will be a Frenchman as long as he lives, and 
 though Great Britain acts a noble part in this present very 
 interesting period, yet consequences must be attended to, 
 and conclusions drawn. Fifty thousand emigrants know the 
 geography and almost every inch of the Low Countries, &c., 
 ten thousand that of England. Journals are kept, remarks 
 made, &c. What forms and completes a good general is 
 knowing the local. I do not choose to prophecy, but if the 
 emigrants are restored to their possessions without France 
 being dismembered, it will be the worst day that Europe 
 ever saw, and particularly Great Britain. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Mrs. Surges. 
 
 Dartmouth Street, June 5th, 17 ( J-i. 
 MY DEAREST LOVE, 
 
 Yesterday (the King's birthday) exhibited a very different
 
 1794.} ROYAL COMPLIMENTS. 253 
 
 scene from that which our Jacobin friends had intended for 
 us. Nothing could surpass the magnificence and universal 
 loyalty which was manifested not only at St. James's, but all 
 over London. The Court was more crowded than I ever 
 remember it. The Queen was a mass of diamonds. She was 
 very kind and civil to me, as she always is : but the King 
 was more so than ever. He drew upon me the eyes of the 
 whole room by the length and subject of the conversation he 
 honoured me with. After the usual questions, whether 
 anything had arrived and whether I thought we should receive 
 any accounts soon, he began upon our new official arrange- 
 ments, and made many inquiries whether I found them turn 
 out as well as I had told him I hoped they would. When I 
 had answered these, he said, " I have had a very long 
 experience of public business, long indeed at my time of life, 
 for I am afraid it is more than three and thirty years since 
 they have been my constant employment; and in such a 
 period one cannot, you know, avoid contracting some prejudices. 
 Now, one of my prejudices was that the old way I had been 
 used to was the best. But I confess I have now altered my 
 opinion ; for I find your new arrangement is a great improve- 
 ment." On my expressing my satisfaction, he looked full in 
 my face, and, after a short pause, " I do, indeed," said he, " find 
 a great improvement in all respects. I have every reason to be 
 pleased with your department. Nothing can exceed the manner 
 in which your business is done. I cannot but take notice of the 
 difference there is between the red and green boxes I receive ; \' 
 and I have a pleasure in telling you that I find this difference 
 remarkably increased since you took the northern depart- 
 ment." You may guess how I received this and what I said 
 about gratitude, encouragement, &c. He replied, " Your de- 
 partment, above all others, requires ability and honour ; you 
 have much to do, and that of the most confidential nature ; 
 but it is all done in a manner which proves the truth of 
 my old opinion, that no man can truly be said to possess 
 sense and talents who does not also possess the integrity and 
 virtue without which they are as useless as folly." He then 
 appealed to the Chief Justice Eyre, Lord Effingham, and one 
 or two more near us, whether tin's was not true ; and, on their 
 acquiescing, he said to me, " I know everyone must be of that 
 opinion, and for my part I always value characters of this 
 sort, and think them the only men deserving of being employed 
 in important departments." So ended our conversation, which
 
 254 JACOBINISM IN DENMARK. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 lasted in the whole at least ten minutes, and which I assure 
 you made a very considerable impression, as it was immedi- 
 ately easy to perceive. I send Charles an immense collection 
 of almonds, which I trust you will superintend in such a 
 manner as to prevent them from having a bad effect on the 
 young stomachs of our flock. 
 God bless you all. 
 
 Ever most affectionately yours, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 From James Craufurd, Esq. 
 
 Copenhagen, June 24th, 1794. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 We yesterday had the pleasure of receiving your letter, 
 containing the Gazette with the account of Lord Howe's 
 most brilliant victory, on which I sincerely congratulate you. 
 The successes of His Majesty's arms have a particularly good 
 effect here, but I cannot by any means agree with Mr. Hailes 
 in what he says in his last dispatch : " that if His Majesty 
 and his allies should deem it expedient to demand the 
 removal of the French agents from this country, and, in case 
 of refusal, threaten to suspend all commerce and communi- 
 cation with it, in its infected state, the most beneficial 
 consequences would result to the Danish Monarchy." I 
 think that very doubtful. Certainly the removal of the 
 French agents would be attended with the best effects to 
 this country, provided it could be accomplished without 
 producing a convulsion ; but I very much question, whether, 
 if this Government were disposed to take such a step, they 
 would not have much to apprehend from the dissatisfaction 
 which it would not fail to occasion here. Jacobinism 
 has made great progress here. The Navy, the Law, the 
 Bourgeoisie, are universally infected with it, and in Norway 
 all classes without exception. These form a body which the 
 Government, in its present state of weakness, dares not to 
 resist, particularly as the army is by no means to be depended 
 upon. The height to which the mischief is already grown 
 is, it may be said, the strongest reason that can be given for 
 the removal of those who have so much contributed to its 
 introduction ; but, on the other hand, it must be considered 
 that the juncture is extremely critical. The error of this 
 Government, in not endeavouring to give a different turn to
 
 1794.] GEORGE III. AT SPITHEAD. 255 
 
 the minds of the nation, which they might have clone, was 
 egregious ; but it is highly probable that, if they were now 
 to take any strong measures which should not fall in with 
 the reigning disposition, they would be attended with the 
 greatest and most immediate danger. I have the honour to 
 be with great regard, 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient and humble servant, 
 
 JAMES CRAUFURD. 
 
 From Thomas Bowdlcr* Esq. 
 
 Cowes, July 3rd, 1794. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 The newspapers will have given you a better account of 
 the King's visit to the fleet than I can do. I shall only 
 say that it was the finest sight I ever beheld. The repairs of 
 the fleet are almost complete, but the Bmmswick remains as 
 she was, and presents a lively picture of a sea-fight. This, 
 however, is nothing to the appearance of the French prizes. 
 You would be astonished that any person on board them 
 could have escaped, if you saw in what manner the cannon- 
 balls have penetrated every part of them. To an ignorant 
 man like myself they appear very ugly ships, but when 
 viewed with a seaman's eye, I am told they are thought very 
 fine ones. The Sans Pareille is fourteen feet longer than the 
 Charlotte.^ All the prizes are much damaged, but all are 
 
 * The well-known author of 'Letters from Holland,' editor of the 
 ' Family Shakespeare,' and expurgator of Gibbon. He died in 182G. 
 George III. inspected the fleet off Spithead on June 30th. 
 
 t The Queen Charlotte, of 100 guns, was Lord Howe's ship in the 
 famous battle of the First of June. The French Admiral, Jean Bon St. 
 Andre', showed the white feather, and took refuge in the hold of his flag- 
 ship, the Montagne, of 120 guns. Mr. Canning wrote of him in the 
 An ti- Jacobin : 
 
 " Poor John was a gallant captain, 
 In battles much delighting ; 
 He fled full soon 
 On the First of June, 
 But he bade the rest keep fighting." 
 
 The English sailors called him M. Jambon, and said that he fled to 
 save his bacon. It was in this sea-fight that Le Vengeur went down.
 
 256 LORD HOWE'S VICTORY. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 capable of being repaired and fitted for service. Almost all 
 our captains behaved well, but George Berkley and Hugh 
 Conway are the most spoken of. On the other hand 
 Molloy's conduct is much censured, and it is supposed must 
 be referred to a court-martial. Two other captains are said 
 not to have done quite as much as they might have done, 
 and a lieutenant on board the Marlborougli is reported to 
 have run from his station, and though brought back re- 
 peatedly, to have been unable to stand the fire. These are 
 the only exceptions I hear to the good conduct of our fleet. 
 It is universally said that the seamen never behaved better 
 in any action, and that their spirits and courage and exertions 
 appeared to increase in proportion as the engagement became 
 closer, and warmer, and longer. This was not the case with 
 the French. They had been promised a speedy and certain 
 victory. They began the action with great courage, but 
 when they came to close quarters, and no appearance of the 
 English giving way, many of them could not be kept on 
 deck. The prisoners say that the English did not attack 
 them like men, but comme des loups affames. It is con- 
 fidently said that the French fired hot balls from three ships, 
 but with little effect. I have tried to obtain certain infor- 
 mation of this fact, but cannot positively affirm it. One 
 gentleman pointed out to me the black marks of them in the 
 side of the Brunswick, but he did not absolutely convince 
 me. Our having fired dollars from the Leviathan is better 
 ascertained, for I believe it is really true that we fired shot 
 which had been brought from Toulon, in one or more of 
 which dollars were concealed, and the shell of the shot 
 bursting when it struck the French mast, the dollars fell on 
 the deck. Four ships of the line did undoubtedly join the 
 French fleet between the 29th and the 1st. Taking every 
 circumstance into consideration, it is generally allowed in 
 the fleet that this victory is the most glorious that we ever 
 obtained. 
 
 Your very sincere friend, 
 
 THOS. BOWDLEK. 
 
 From Mr. Surges to Mrs. Surges. 
 
 Downing Street, July 18th, 1794. 
 MY DEAREST LOVE, 
 
 I am now to acquaint you that I have just received
 
 1794.] PRIVY SEAL IN COMMISSION. 257 
 
 intimation that a high dignity is about to be conferred upon 
 me. Don't be alarmed at this information. I am not going 
 to be knighted, or made a peer, or a baronet. From the 
 present state of public affairs it has been deemed advisable 
 to send a sort of Ambassador Extraordinary to the Emperor. 
 The person fixed upon for this purpose is Lord Spencer. 
 As he became Lord Privy Seal last Wednesday, it is now 
 necessary to put the Privy Seal in Commission, as the 
 Great Seal is during the absence of a Lord Chancellor. 
 A commission for this purpose is now preparing, by which 
 myself, Mr. Nepean,* and Mr. Stephen Cotterell, are ap- 
 pointed Commissioners, and shall immediately be invested 
 with this new dignity, which will not, I believe, give us 
 any great trouble. This is a matter settled by our Ministers, 
 and was begun and finished without my knowing anything 
 about it. So you see, in addition to my present honours, 
 I am become the third part of a Lord Privy Seal and 
 Cabinet Minister. I have no idea what the pecuniary advan- 
 tages of this appointment are, but I suppose they must be 
 something ; and should any vacancies of clerks, &c., happen 
 during our reign, we shall have the patronage. This is the 
 only novelty which has occurred since yesterday ; except that 
 Windham entered upon his ministerial functions this morning 
 by sending for a qiiarter of a pound of gingerbread nuts and 
 eating them in my room with myself and Sir William 
 Scottf 
 
 Most affectionately and truly yours, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 * Afterwards Sir Evan Nepean, Bart. 
 
 f Sir William Scott, afterwards Lord Stowell, was tutor to Mr. Burges 
 at Oxford.
 
 ( 258 ) [CHAP. XV II. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Ministerial Changes Under Secretaries of State in Alarm Mr. Burges 
 Tranquil Mr. Windham Mr. Pitt's Influence diminished Mr. 
 Burges offered Diplomatic Employment Letter from Mrs. Burges 
 Offer declined Letter from Lord Grenville A Venison Banquet to 
 French Nobles Letter from Mr. Wagner Dearaess of Living in the 
 United States Chilly Reception of Dr. Priestley. 
 
 THE Parliamentary session of 1793-94 had satisfied Mr. Pitt 
 as to the absolute necessity of widening the foundations of 
 his position. The obstructiveness and consequent dismissal 
 of Lord Thurlow had practically left him with only one 
 representative in the Upper House, in the person of Lord 
 Grenville. In the Lower House he was supported by Mr. 
 Dundas, but the work of explanation and defence demanded 
 a wider exposition and a more varied eloquence. It seemed 
 expedient, therefore, to strengthen the Cabinet by the 
 introduction of several moderate Whigs whose accession would 
 at least weaken the Opposition. The third Secretaryship of 
 State, which was suppressed in 1782, was now revived, to 
 enable the Duke of Portland to have a seat in the Cabinet. 
 Individually, the Duke was a useless adjunct to any Ministry, 
 but his influence was too great to be slighted. He accord- 
 ingly received the Seals for the Home Department, while 
 Lord Grenville remained at the Foreign Office and Mr. 
 Dundas presided over War and the Colonies, with Mr. 
 Windham as Secretary at War, with a seat in the Cabinet ; 
 Earl Fitzwilliam as Lord President of the Council ; and Earl
 
 1794.] CHANGES AND CHANCES. 259 
 
 Spencer as Lord Privy Seal. The death of Lord Camden and 
 the resignation of the Marquis of Stafford facilitated these 
 changes. Lord Spencer, however, was sent abroad on a 
 temporary mission, and, as shown in the last chapter, his 
 ministerial function was intrusted to a commission consisting 
 of Mr. Burges, Mr. Nepean, and Mr. Cotterell. The re- 
 spectable, if inane, Mr. Welbore Ellis became in the eightieth 
 year of his age Lord Mendip, and Lord Porchester was 
 created Earl of Carnarvon. The Duke of Portland also 
 received the Garter, and his son Lord Titchfield was appointed 
 Lord-Lieutenant of Middlesex. These changes and chances 
 came to pass in the month of July, 1794, but the year had 
 not expired before further modifications were introduced. 
 Earl Fitzwilliam was sent to Dublin as Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland. Earl Spencer became First Lord of the Admiralty, 
 Lord Mansfield President of Council, and Earl Chatham 
 Lord Privy Seal. Pitt was always more considerate to his 
 brother than was consistent with a strict sense of duty to his 
 country. Lord Chatham was equally incompetent in peace 
 and in war, and was wholly unfit for any post that was ever 
 confided to him. Jobbery and nepotism were, however, still 
 the order of the day, and in those respects Mr. Pitt was not 
 at all in advance of his contemporaries. 
 
 In reporting these political incidents to his wife, Mr. 
 Burges, fortified by his inexpugnable self-complacency, 
 expresses himself as quite at ease with regard to his own 
 position. The Duke of Portland might have " many hungry 
 dependents to provide for," and some of the other Under 
 Secretaries might entertain gloomy forebodings, but, for his 
 part, his bosom's lord sat lightly on its throne. Lord 
 Grenville, he wrote, knew when he was well off, and was too 
 wise to part with a man who was useful to him, and he 
 therefore felt quite secure as to his own stability. 
 
 s 2
 
 260 SECURITY NOT CERTAINTY. [CHAP. XVII.] 
 
 I never indeed apprehended [he continues] that I was in 
 any danger, because I knew he could not find any one who 
 could do what I do, and because I recollected what the King 
 said to me on the Birthday, which I hold to be sufficient to 
 insure my official existence. But, while intrigues of this 
 nature are going on, there is no answering for what may 
 happen. Fortunately, however, my peculiar department is 
 now extremely important. Talents and experience are 
 absolutely necessary for its management; and, as Lord 
 Grenville wishes to be as much as he can in the country,* 
 this favourite plan must have been overturned if any other 
 person had stepped into my place. 
 
 \ He then proceeds to show how it is that he must be 
 personally indispensable to the Cabinet. The Duke of 
 Portland had not been in office for ten years, while Earl 
 Fitzwilliam and Mr. Windham were without any experience 
 in the conduct of public affairs. They would therefore be 
 compelled to have recourse to the only person who could 
 supply them with the information they needed. To facilitate 
 this communication he had voluntarily removed his clerks 
 into another room, so that the spacious reading-room, which 
 ^adjoined his own, would be at the disposal of the twelve 
 Ministers who now constituted the Cabinet. For so doing he 
 had been warmly thanked by Lord Grenville, and he hoped 
 to consolidate his position by laying Ministers under frequent 
 acts of obligation. With respect to the changes themselves, 
 Mr. Burges had the sagacity to foresee that Pitt would have 
 reason to regret that he had given a firm footing in his 
 Cabinet to a clique upon whom he could not implicitly rely, 
 whose connections and views were different from his own, and 
 ,who would sooner or later endeavour to gain the ascendency. 
 
 " 
 
 head of this party [he continues] is undoubtedly 
 Windham, who, now become a Cabinet Minister, will naturally 
 look to be a leader in the House of Commons, and who as I 
 
 * At his newly i urchased country seat at Diopmore.
 
 1794.] ME. WINDHAM. 261 
 
 well know, though I fancy Pitt does not is a man not only 
 of very great abilities, but of immense pride, ambition, and 
 resolution ; who fears nothing, who will never submit to act 
 a second part ; who has abilities to sustain a first, and who 
 naturally will be supported by the powerful aristocracy with 
 whom he is connected ; who possesses all the arts of forming 
 and increasing a party, and who is certainly in high personal 
 favour with the King. And I have reason to think Lord 
 Hawkesbury is of my opinion. Jenkinson* was with me 
 yesterday. Conversing on this subject, he made the following 
 observation : " Things are now likely to take a new turn in 
 the Cabinet. Mr. Pitt has hitherto been absolute, and the 
 other members have had no more to do than to give their 
 opinions and to submit to his, unless when Grenville chose to 
 make a stand. At present, unless I am much mistaken, a 
 member of the Cabinet, who knows how to manage matters well, 
 may do a great deal with a casting vote" As Jenkinson is a 
 mere echo of his father, I have no doubt this is Lord 
 Hawkesbury's sentiment, and will be his line of conduct. 
 Indeed, the King seems to be the greatest gainer from this 
 arrangement. For many years his hands have been com- 
 pletely tied up. He has had no other option than that 
 between Pitt and Fox, who have divided the country and the 
 House of Commons between them. As he was determined 
 not to employ the latter, he of course fell under subjection 
 to the former. At present, a third party is formed. If he 
 quarrels with Pitt, he has Windham to resort to. I really 
 think that, till now, the King never was his own master; 
 and, from my personal knowledge of His Majesty, I am 
 satisfied he will be very well inclined to avail himself of the 
 freedom he has thus acquired. I suspect Lord Grenville is 
 much of my opinion. Everybody has been surprised at his 
 conduct on this occasion. Instead of taking the part in the 
 new arrangement which appeared so natural, he has been 
 almost the whole week at Dropmore, studiously avoiding 
 even the appearance of interfering in it ; so much so, as to 
 occasion inquiries from every one as to the reason of his 
 being absent at such a moment. As he never does anything 
 without a good cause, I am satisfied he has abstained from 
 taking part in the business that he may hereafter feel himself 
 
 * Robert Banks Jenkinson, son and heir to Lord Hawkesbury, after- 
 wards Earl of Liverpool and Prime Minister of England.
 
 262 AN INSIDIOUS PROPOSAL. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 entirely at liberty to act as he may find most suitable; 
 satisfied in the mean time with having gained the King's 
 perfect good opinion, and as great a share of his private 
 regard as I believe His Majesty is now capable of bestowing 
 on any of those employed in his service. 
 
 Ever my dearest love, 
 Most affectionately and truly yours, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 \ Mr. Burges was not long in discovering that he was less 
 indispensable in the Foreign Office than he imagined. On 
 the 21st of August, barely six weeks after the date of the letter 
 in which he had boasted that his seat was likely to be as 
 permanent as that of Theseus in the Shades, he had occasion 
 to inform his wife that he had been offered his choice of 
 going as Minister to Copenhagen or to Switzerland the 
 object being to appoint a new Under Secretary of State in 
 his room.* The appointment, he believed, would be worth 
 
 * Letter from Lord Grenvttle. 
 
 St. James's Square, August 19th, 1794. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I have chosen this way as the easiest to us both to mention to you an 
 idea which has occurred to me, and which I flatter myself may not be by 
 any means disagreeable to you, at the same time that I will not conceal 
 from you that it would fall in with, and considerably facilitate, other 
 arrangements which I wish to make. 
 
 The circumstances of our situation with the Court of Copenhagen seem 
 evidently to require the recall of Mr. Hailes, whose further stay there 
 must be both unpleasant to himself and injurious to the King's service. 
 In casting about for a successor fit to replace him at this critical period I 
 see no person whom I should be as well satisfied to send there as yourself, 
 and the situation would certainly afford you the means of rendering no 
 inconsiderable service to the Government, and to the public, by restoring 
 and maintaining our affairs there on the footing on which they naturally 
 ought to stand, and for which the occasion seems very favourable. 
 
 If, however, the mission to Switzerland should for any reason present 
 itself to your mind in a more agreeable shape, I apprehend that Lord 
 Robert Fitzgerald would willingly make the exchange, thi.ugh I will 
 freely own that, considering the nature of the business now pending
 
 1794.] A CAREER OPEN TO TALENT. 263 
 
 3000 a year, and, as he should only accept it as a favour to 
 Lord Grenville, he should stipulate for a pension to be settled 
 upon her. He adds that he cannot much longer endure the 
 overwhelming fatigue and anxiety of his present occupation, 
 that the post at Copenhagen is of the first importance to the 
 interests of the country, and that " the King and Lord Gren- 
 ville are sensible of my being better qualified than any other 
 person to undertake so important a business." In the line 
 now opened to him, he continues, " Talents are in the most 
 conspicuous point of view. I shall undoubtedly set out with 
 immense advantages in every respect, and with a double 
 chance of arriving at the highest diplomatic honours." The 
 decision he leaves entirely with Mrs. Burges, protesting his 
 own readiness to make every personal sacrifice for the sake 
 of herself and their children. The lady's perspicacity was 
 greater than that of her husband. Her letter raises the 
 curtain so far as to afford glimpses of various unpleasantnesses 
 not otherwise revealed to the editor. Towards Lord Gren- 
 ville himself Mrs. Burges appears to have entertained 
 feelings the reverse of flattering, and she expresses herself 
 with a feminine vehemence and directness of purpose that 
 leave no doubt of her earnestness and sincerity. 
 
 Letter from Mrs. Burges. 
 
 August 21st, 1794. 
 I would in your place send the most decisive negative to 
 
 between this Court and that of Copenhagen, I should be much better satis- 
 fied with the arrangement I have first mentioned. Either of them would 
 in other respects coincide with the other plans I have in view. 
 
 I do not of course wish to hear from you till you have had time 
 enough to turn thoroughly in your mind a point of so much importance 
 to yourself, but I should wish this thing not to. be talked of. 
 
 Believe me ever, my dear Sir, 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 GRENVILLE.
 
 264 A SPIRITED REPLY. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 Lord Grenville's two proposals, without the slightest notice 
 of the personal views he intimates. My feelings would lead 
 me to sacrifice as much to your delicacy as the most refined 
 sentiments could suggest, but to sacrifice aught to the selfish 
 and ungrateful being whose letter you send me, I should 
 disdain, and respect myself too much even to think of it. 
 One of two motives has occasioned his letter envy at the 
 applause you have received both from the King and abroad, 
 or offence taken at your having supplied his neglect, and 
 marked it by the unsigned dispatch you sent to Lord St. 
 Helens, or the spirit with which you adjust your claim in 
 opposition to Mr. Nepean, and your venturing to discover 
 that your rights are the same as his Lordship's. 
 
 Do not, I beseech you, let your feelings betray you ; Lord 
 Grenville can have no motive for his offer he dares avow. 
 The public is a consideration to which he will never sacrifice 
 anything. You can never be in a situation in which you can 
 serve it more. If I ever had been doubtful of Lord Gren- 
 ville's want of feeling, his letter in which he unblushingly 
 mentions his private considerations to a man, his conduct to 
 whom does not entitle him to expect that with him they can 
 have any weight, would perfectly satisfy me on the subject. 
 Indeed I am so perfectly satisfied on the whole business that 
 the proposal has no other motive but his Lordship's own 
 views, his own jealousies, and his own fears, that, even if 
 you remain, I should in your place feel none of that 
 awkwardness you mention. You cannot despise him more 
 he cannot consider you less than he ever has done. If he 
 wishes you very much out, and as I am perfectly satisfied 
 cannot avow his motives, he will make you a pont d'or to 
 retire on. Do not, I beg of you, assist him in the exertion ; 
 leave all the dirty work to him ; understand nothing that can 
 be misunderstood. Be malicious. Oblige him to speak 
 plainly, or to pay well the permission of being silent. I do 
 not know whether you will seize my idea. If you do, you 
 will feel yourself too much above him to consider, or fear 
 him. Do not listen to any offer out of England. At any 
 time I do not think it desirable ; at this time, it is particularly 
 to be avoided. If you agree with me in opinion write 
 immediately if not, take time, as he desires, to answer. 
 Come if possible here on Saturday; I shall be alone till 
 Tuesday, as Mr. Trollope goes to town. It is impossible to 
 write and still more to connect all I think on this subject.
 
 1794.] SHORT AND SWEET. 
 
 If you are doubtful as to the propriety of what I advise, 
 we will talk it over ; you will either convince me, or I shall 
 influence you. To discover what is right being our mutual 
 object, we cannot long revolve a subject and differ. 
 
 Your health and ease with me will ever be the first 
 consideration my own interest never. The cold and un- 
 pleasant climate of Copenhagen will neither conduce to your 
 health nor enjoyment. The offer of Switzerland I consider as 
 an insult, there not being the slightest veil to deceive you 
 and blind the public. If I submitted to be kicked, it should 
 be upstairs, not down. 
 
 On every occasion you have spoiled me ; I give a full proof 
 of it in venturing to set down what I would write to Lord 
 Grenville : 
 
 " MY LOKD, 
 
 " It is perfectly unnecessary to take the time your 
 Lordship is so obliging as to give me to consider your pro- 
 posal, as not anything can be more contrary to my 
 inclination than the accepting of either of the situations 
 you mention. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, 
 " My Lord, &c. &c. &c." 
 
 I am perfectly satisfied it is equally becoming, and your 
 interest, not to give his Lordship the least loophole. Leave 
 everything, as I have already said, to him, for which reason I 
 reject any additional sentence, " Of your flattering yourself 
 that any abilities you may have, are exercised as much to the 
 advantage of the public in your present situation, or any 
 other that may offer in this country, as in the diplomatic 
 line to which you have no inclination." Excuse all this, and 
 believe me ever 
 
 Most fondly and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. BUKGES. 
 
 It is a little surprising to learn from Mr. Burges's answer, 
 dated the 22nd of August, that the sentiments expressed 
 by his wife were exactly those he himself entertained. In 
 writing as he did, he was only anxious to obtain her un- 
 biassed opinion. He proposes to act precisely as she
 
 266 A STRAIGHTFORWARD ANSWER. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 suggests. He cares nothing for Lord Grenville, who has 
 always behaved to him in an unhandsome manner. He will 
 not move from his post without receiving an adequate 
 compensation. Mr. Pitt was a very different sort of person. 
 As a man of honour and feeling he could be trusted not to 
 overlook the circumstance that it was at his " personal and 
 pressing instance " that Mr. Burges consented to remain in 
 the Office in 1791. In any case, they who wished to get rid 
 of him must construct for his retreat a bridge made of gold, 
 and not of base metal. His answer to Lord Grenville was 
 simple enough. 
 
 Downing Street, August 21st, 1794 (half-past 8 P.M.). 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 Having fully considered the proposals contained in your 
 Lordship's letter of this day, I have the honour to acquaint 
 you that, as nothing can in every point of view be more 
 contrary to my inclinations, and as I have reason to believe, 
 to those of my family, than the acceptance of either of the 
 situations you mention, I must beg leave to decline them. I 
 have the honour to be, with great truth and respect, my 
 Lord, 
 
 Your Lordship's most obedient and 
 
 Most faithful, humble servant, 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 In reply, Mrs. Burges duly commended the propriety of 
 her husband's sentiments, and exhorted him to be on his 
 guard against himself. " I am sensible," she adds, with fond 
 partiality, " how difficult it is for a generous temper to bear 
 unmoved the unfeeling selfishness of a being you despise, but 
 the consideration that you alone can give him any advantage 
 over you will, I hope, be sufficient to restrain your feelings 
 to your own breast." On the following day, the 23rd of 
 August, Mr. Burges informed his wife that, although Lord 
 Grenville had been at the Office, he had neither seen him
 
 1794.] A VENISON BANQUET. 267 
 
 nor heard from him ; that he proposed to insist upon a 
 twofold compensation for retiring into private life namely, 
 the title of Privy Councillor and a pension of 1000 a year; 
 and that if these terms were refused they would have 
 to turn him out. On the 25th he again wrote to say that 
 Lord Grenville had that morning received him " with many 
 smiles and in a perfectly gracious manner," but that their 
 conversation was wholly of an official character. After a 
 meeting of the Cabinet they renewed their discussion of 
 business matters, and parted without the slightest allusion 
 on either side to their late correspondence. The same thing 
 happened on the morrow, though Mr. Burges was able to 
 add, on the authority of Mr. Long, that 5 a day would be 
 equally divided between the Commissioners of the Privy 
 Seal. On that point, however, he was mistaken, for, in his 
 letter of the 30th of August, he remarks : 
 
 We have just put the Privy Seal to our own allow- 
 ance warrant of 4 by the day, in lieu of the ancient 
 allowance of sixteen dishes of meat. These are the words 
 of the warrant. Lord Spencer is still at Vienna and is, I 
 suppose, likely to continue there for some time longer. So 
 much the better for us, especially as I find but a small 
 portion of the fees will come to us. 
 
 In September Mr. Burges, having received a present of 
 venison, invited several distinguished French emigres to 
 partake of it. 
 
 All of them [he writes] people of the highest rank, and but 
 a few years ago flourishing in prosperity, power, and wealth ; 
 and now with hardly a coat to their backs, and with hardly 
 a shilling in their pockets ; but, however, men of the highest 
 politeness and good breeding, full of entertaining anecdotes, 
 and, in spite of all that has happened and is still happening, 
 of good and lively hopes of a change of fortune. I was very 
 much pleased with my guests, and they appeared to be 
 equally so with their host ; so we passed a very pleasant
 
 268 COST OF LIVING IN AMERICA. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 evening, for they seemed perfectly reconciled to the English 
 custom of sitting after dinner and drinking anti-Jacobin 
 toasts, and no one made the least attempt at breaking up the 
 party till near ten o'clock. I left the management of things 
 to Hertzlett, who employed to dress the dinner an acquain- 
 tance of his, one Mrs. Jones, who formerly lived with your 
 grandmother at Putney as cook, and who provided a very 
 good dinner. I borrowed some knives and forks from 
 Mortimer Street ; and, with the addition of my good wine, 
 I succeeded extremely well in my enterprise. There was not 
 one of the party who was not more or less acquainted with 
 your family, of which they spoke in very high terms, both 
 as to their blood and their reputation. 
 
 A Mr. J. M. Wagner, a gentleman engaged in American 
 commerce, imparted some interesting information to Mr. 
 Burges respecting the productions and industries of the 
 United States, together with some curious notes on the 
 comparative expense of living on the opposite coasts of 
 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 London Coffee House, October 7th, 1794. 
 
 Those productions of the country [he wrote] which form 
 the principal necessaries of life are at present so exor- 
 bitant, that it is impossible for a labouring person to live 
 under nearly one half additional expense that he could in 
 this city (London), and he could not procure equal comforts 
 even at this additional price. The productions of the 
 country are not of so good quality as the same articles 
 produced in England, except flour, and notwithstanding the 
 baker sells his bread at a much higher price than it is sold 
 in London, and it is not so good in quality for want of yeast, 
 &c., which makes it almost unfit for use the second day after 
 being made. Vegetables are treble what they would cost in 
 Co vent Garden Market, and perfectly insipid and tasteless, 
 so much so that blindfolded you can hardly taste the 
 difference between green peas and a cabbage. Beef, mutton, 
 veal, and even poultry are equally inferior to our own. Such as 
 looks tolerably well when made up by the butcher, appears 
 on the table poor and lean, the fat dissolving in boiling or 
 roasting. The most common necessaries such as milk, beer, 
 soap, candles, and many other articles I could enumerate,
 
 1794.] DISAPPOINTED EMIGRANTS. 269 
 
 are very bad in their kind, and at such prices as I should 
 run the risk of having my veracity called in question to 
 mention. The common beer drunk by most people is made 
 from bran, by pouring hot water thereon, and mixing the 
 beverage with molasses, the drainings from the brown sugar 
 in all its filth as imported from the West Indies. I cannot 
 conceive how the common labourers support themselves, 
 for there is no production of the country which they can 
 afford to buy that can be substituted for the beer, porter, 
 and cheese of old England. Indeed the pallid, squalid, 
 ragged appearance of my poor deluded countrymen, after having 
 been in that boasted, free, independent, happy country of 
 America for only six months, sufficiently evinces the super- 
 iority of the English food and English clime. Many, very 
 many, of them have I seen with tears lament their leaving 
 this country, cursing those villains who could, to make their 
 land speculations turn out profitable by an increasing popu- 
 lation in America, entice them by false representations, and 
 the allurement of making quick fortunes, to leave their own 
 country ; wishing to return, but cannot save a sufficient sum 
 to pay for bringing them home. They were deceived with 
 the idea of being without taxes, of having higher wages and 
 less labour ; not considering or knowing that every article of 
 food and raiment would cost them double that it did here ; 
 not knowing that the climate of America was hotter in the 
 summer than it is in the West Indies, and colder in winter 
 than it is in Russia ; ignorant that labour in this country was 
 an amusement when compared to labour in that country; 
 and uninformed of the high price of wood for firing, and the 
 huts given for houses, which is more than double what it is 
 even in London. Many of them laid out their little all in 
 the purchase of estates which proved to be air castles, and 
 they were glad to dispose of them at one half the cost. 
 The truth is, America pays as great taxes as in this country ; 
 I mean, a house in America of equal goodness to a house in 
 this country will pay as great a sum to Government. It 
 makes no difference to the payer that the rent of the house 
 is double in America. A dwelling-house that you pay 25 
 per annum for in this country would bring in 100 in 
 Philadelphia, on which 20 taxes will be levied ; on such a 
 house here I believe the tax would not be so much. The 
 duties on all imports will sufficiently point out what taxes 
 are paid in America, and also prove that it is the poor who
 
 270 DR. PRIESTLEY'S RECEPTION. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 pay all the taxes there, as the duty is on every necessity, for 
 clothing, &c. Here the rich are taxed in a higher proportion 
 than the poor and laborious. 
 
 In respect to the reception of Dr. Priestley in America, 
 no proper conclusion can be drawn from those addresses 
 which were made him by the insignificant clubs at New 
 York and Philadelphia, which are composed of men of very 
 indifferent character and generally desperate fortune. I can 
 assert from my own knowledge and observation that he did 
 not meet with a favourable reception, and that very few 
 respectable inhabitants even complimented him with an 
 invitation to their houses. Their slight was even carried so 
 far as to refuse him the use of a pulpit, though requested 
 repeatedly, and he has not yet had a single opportunity to 
 preach in any place of worship since his arrival on the 
 continent. He acknowledges himself to be much deceived 
 and disappointed in his idea of America, and has more than 
 ever expressed a wish to return to this country. He appears 
 much altered in his health since I saw him in Birmingham ; 
 and, so far as a judgment can be formed from appearance, 
 unhappy in himself. There are many more of the same 
 principles with himself in the same situation, and it requires 
 no great degree of penetration to predict the return of many, 
 in another year. Amongst them I am inclined to think the 
 Doctor himself will be one.* He and a kind of company 
 have made a large purchase of lands, far back in the country, 
 which eases them of their superfluous cash quickly, and 
 convinces them, to their sorrow, that the form of government 
 established in America is not such as will produce the 
 greatest degree of happiness to mankind. The want of order, 
 decorum, and a decent degree of subordination, which the 
 Doctor finds the want of in America, will convince him, if 
 not already done, that his speculative system for governing 
 nations is erroneous, and can only answer when mankind are 
 free from all sin, when there can be no occasion for any 
 form of government whatever. I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient humble servant, 
 
 J. M. WAGNER. 
 
 * Dr. Priestley lived and died at Northumberland, in Pennsylvania. 
 His death took place in 1804.
 
 1794.] ( 271 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The King and the Duke of Leeds Epigrams on the Duke of Portland 
 Destruction of the 37th Regiment Supping not Wisely but too Well 
 Pressure of Business Mr. Burges at the Play The Drawing Room 
 Recall of the Duke of York Cruelty of the Dutch The Princess 
 Royal Unhappiness of the Princesses. 
 
 ME. BUKGES again describes himself as being in great request, 
 and then gives a curious history of an interview between the 
 Duke of Leeds and the King, which is not mentioned in any 
 hitherto published life of Pitt. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Burges to his Wife. 
 
 Downing Street, October 14th, 1794. 
 
 Every day messengers arrive from Holland, and every 
 messenger adds to the alarming intelligence brought by his 
 forerunner. This keeps our Ministers upon the alert. They 
 are all at this moment assembled in my next room, which is 
 now become the seat of the Cabinet. Since matters got to 
 their present crisis my importance appears to have greatly 
 increased, and indeed I seem to be considered as the only 
 person who can be employed, not only in my own, but in 
 other branches of public business. The consequence is my 
 being continually engaged, and my being every moment 
 wanted for something or other. I have been obliged to 
 abandon my system of not employing any clerks but those 
 who are particularly attached to me, both for their sake and for 
 my own ; and I now have several others, as their services are 
 wanted. Thank God, my health continues very good, but 
 I have no prospect of being spared for a moment ; nor indeed 
 could I be absent for even a few hours without risk, as mes- 
 sengers are coming in early and late, without its being
 
 272 A MODUS VIVENDI. [CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 possible for me to know when they can be expected, or 
 indeed when it may be necessary to send off messengers of 
 our own. One main reason of my being in such request at 
 present is my being the only person (except Lord Grenville) 
 who can write French well ; and this quality is now particu- 
 larly desirable. I have had much practice in it lately, and 
 have considerably improved. 
 
 \ I have learnt a very curious anecdote of the Duke of 
 Leeds, which does great credit to his modesty and good sense. 
 Before the present Ministerial arrangement took place, and 
 when the negotiation for that purpose was depending, many 
 difficulties, as you will readily believe, arose as to the manner 
 in which it was to be adjusted. The Duke, having heard of 
 this, and conceiving that a favourable opportunity was 
 thereby afforded to him of again coming into power, devised 
 a plan which he submitted to his Cabinet Council, consisting 
 of the Duchess, Dr. Jackson, Sir Ealph Woodford, Mr. Aust, 
 and Mr. Glover, and which was approved of by them. In 
 consequence of this he drove down to Windsor, and requested 
 an audience of the King. After the proper preliminaries, 
 and professions of zeal arid attachment, he told His Majesty 
 that it appeared to him that, however desirable the depending 
 coalition of parties might be, he was satisfied it could not be 
 effected unless some means could be found to reconcile the 
 jarring pretensions of Mr. Pitt and the Duke of Portland, the 
 latter of whom, having formerly been Prime Minister and 
 expelled by the former, could never submit to the degrading 
 circumstance of coming into Administration while Mr. Pitt 
 continued First Lord of the Treasury. To obviate this 
 barrier, and to render everything easy, the Duke said he had 
 determined to come forward and to propose to His Majesty 
 that he should be named First Lord of the Treasury (in plain 
 English, Prime Minister) ; that then Mr. Pitt might continue 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer (in plain English, his deputy), 
 in which case he would be answerable to His Majesty that 
 the Duke of Portland would accept of the Secretaryship of 
 State, as from his (the Duke of Leeds) being the senior 
 Duke, no impediments from etiquette would stand in his way. 
 His Grace assured the King he had no other reason for 
 making this proposal but the most sincere wish to save His 
 Majesty from embarrassment, and to serve his country, &c., 
 &c. My information does not go so far as to enable me to 
 state with clearness the answer which was given to all this ;
 
 1791.] TEE DUKE OF LEEDS. 273 
 
 nor do I know certainly what passed till about five minutes 
 after the audience was over. When the Duke had made 
 his bow, he came out upon the terrace ; and immediately 
 after the King did the like. The Duke joined his suite, and 
 before they had advanced many paces Mr. Pitt came up. 
 He had hardly taken off his hat to make his bow before the 
 King called out to him, " I am sorry I have bad news for 
 you ; but you are out." " Out, Sir ? " exclaimed Mr. Pitt 
 with much surprise. " Yes," replied the King, " I am sorry 
 to tell you you are out ; you are no longer First Lord of the 
 Treasury : but do you know who succeeds you ? " "I really 
 do not, Sir," replied Mr. Pitt. " That's very strange," said 
 the King ; " I should have supposed you might at least have 
 been able to form some idea of who it is. Look about you, 
 and try if you can discover him." Mr. Pitt accordingly did 
 so, and then assured His Majesty he had not been able to 
 find him out. " Why," said the King, " if you can't guess I 
 will tell you ; it is the Duke of Leeds, here, who has this 
 moment offered himself to succeed you as First Lord of the 
 Treasury, in order to prevent confusion. I am sure you will 
 agree with me that such an arrangement will be very desir- 
 able, as you know the Duke so well, and must have so high 
 an opinion of him." I leave you to figure to yourself what his 
 Grace's feelings and countenance were on this occasion. The 
 consequence, however, was a fit of his stomachic complaint, 
 and his being entirely left out of the arrangement.^ You 
 may depend upon the whole of this being literally true ; for 
 my authorities are indisputable, as you will know when I 
 tell you they are George Brooks and Lady Holdernesse. 
 Our new coalition is already, in some measure, in confusion. 
 Everything was arranged a fortnight ago for Lord Fitz-v 
 William's nomination as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and 
 Tom Grenville had accepted of the Secretaryship. The 
 parties concerned keep the business as secret as possible, 
 and therefore I have not yet been able to know more than 
 the fact ; but I strongly suspect our new friends begin to 
 entertain a strong jealousy of Windham, who is become 
 extremely intimate with Pitt, and that the Duke of Portland 
 apprehends the consequences of taking the Presidentship, 
 and leaving the patronage of the Home Office to Windham. 
 His Grace, however, has gone too far to recede, and he now 
 must subscribe to Pitt's terms, or retire lost and abandoned 
 by all his former political associates. The morning Chronicle 
 
 T
 
 274 TWO POLITICAL EPIGRAMS. [CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 is every day filled with bitter and often with witty attacks 
 upon his Grace. Among others, I was particularly amused 
 yesterday with a short epigram, which contains as much 
 contempt, neatly expressed, as I ever saw in the compass of 
 four short lines : 
 x\ 
 
 *' By war's sharp fang how torn is Pitt, 
 
 E'en Portland's aid to beg ! 
 So, when the shark sage Watson bit, 
 He got a wooden leg." 
 
 As I was writing this a fancy came into my head to make 
 another, which you may suppose to have been addressed to 
 the King when he sailed from Weymouth to the Isle of 
 Portland in his late excursion : 
 
 " To view a block of Portland stone, 
 
 Oh King ! no longer roam : 
 A Portland block it is well known, 
 Your Premier keeps at home." 
 
 The destruction of H.M.'s 37th Eegiment in Holland has 
 never been so clearly explained as it was by one of 
 Mr. Burges's confidential correspondents with the British 
 forces. The 37th had been sent without supports to a point 
 nine miles distant from the main body, and apparently 
 forgotten. They were accordingly surrounded one Sunday 
 morning in the month of October, 1794, and were compelled 
 to lay down their arms without firing a shot, their command- 
 ing officer, Major Hope, and sixty men alone effecting their 
 escape. It appears that on the Saturday afternoon 
 
 General Bonneau's adjutant-general came over with a flag 
 of truce, and Major Hope asked him to stay and dine with 
 the mess, which he did, and, drinking too freely of the port, 
 told Major Hope that a French general had crossed the Maese 
 with 60,000 men, and meant to attack the whole of the 
 British posts, and advised him to fall back, as he knew very 
 well their cannon was sent off. Hope immediately wrote a 
 report to the Adjutant-General's Office, and sent it off at 
 eight o'clock at night. It was delivered at ten, and no notice 
 was taken of it till next day that the outposts were really
 
 1794.] INCONVENIENT JOVIALITY. 275 
 
 attacked, when the Duke, at ten o'clock in the morning, 
 immediately inquired into the delay of the letter not being 
 delivered sooner, and he was informed it had been laying on 
 the Adjutant-General's table all night. A large party, one 
 of whom was the Adjutant-General, Sir James Craig, were 
 dining with H.E.H. the Duke of York, where they all got so 
 royally drunk that Sir James was carried to his quarters in 
 a state of insensibility, from which he was next morning 
 aroused by a summons from the Duke, on the receipt of 
 intelligence that the regiment had been cut off. Great 
 blame was thrown upon Major Hope, and no one could guess 
 to what his negligence could be attributed. But the business 
 was soon explained, for upon Sir James's return to his 
 quarters, he found Major Hope's dispatch lying on his table 
 unopened. 
 
 The next letter may be taken for what it is worth. It is 
 evident that Mr. Burges, like Apollo, did not keep his bow 
 perpetually strung. However hardworked at the Foreign 
 Office, he could condescend under due provocation to disport 
 himself at the play-house and scribble bouts rimes to amuse a 
 princess and her favourite attendant. 
 
 From, Mr. Burges to his Wife. 
 
 Dartmouth Street, November 26th, 1794. 
 
 When I tell you it is entirely out of my power to accept 
 your and my dear children's invitation to be with you to- 
 morrow, I am sure you will believe I do myself a great 
 violence, and that I deprive myself of the greatest pleasure 
 I can enjoy. Nothing could make me more happy than to 
 assist at the celebration of our dear Wentworth's birthday, 
 and to show him return proofs of fondness for those he mani- 
 fests towards me. But the present most critical state of 
 affairs nails me down to this spot, where my presence cannot 
 be dispensed with. I have a number of instruments of 
 ratification, &c., in hand, which I must have ready for the 
 King to-morrow, and early next morning they pass the Great 
 Seal in order to be sent abroad ; and Lord St. Helens has 
 been directed to send us a messenger every day, without 
 waiting for the ordinary mails. In truth, the Dutch havo 
 
 T 2
 
 276 MS. BUBOES AT THE PLAY. [CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 opened a negotiation for a separate peace, and everything is 
 getting ready to bring off our army. You will therefore 
 guess how I can be spared. 
 
 In the midst of this hurricane, however, you will not be 
 sorry to hear that by accident I have passed this day without 
 my usual portion of fatigue, a circumstance which, as much 
 from contrast as from anything else, I assure you has been 
 very acceptable to me, especially as yesterday was a very 
 severe day, and a long one too, for my business was not over 
 till one in the morning. But to-day I have relaxed. I had 
 a pleasant dinner with two curious originals good De Luc 
 (the geologist), and an old acquaintance, Flaxman (the 
 sculptor), who is just returned from Borne, precisely what he 
 was outwardly, even to his hair, but much improved in ideas 
 and conversation. After dinner I availed myself of Lady 
 Elgin's invitation to go to the play at Covent Garden, where 
 the King, Queen, Princesses, &c., all were, and where I saw a 
 most magnificent spectacle called ' Hercules and Omphale,' 
 very absurd, but amazingly magnificent. I never saw this 
 theatre but once, when we were at an oratorio, and I therefore 
 was struck with the magnificence of the sight, which was 
 really very fine and very much worth seeing. I was informed 
 of two things by Lady Charlotte Bruce that my poetical 
 correspondent is Princess Elizabeth, and that I am considered 
 by their Royal Highnesses as an astonishing genius, and that 
 they have taken copies of all my verses, and that they desire 
 to have everything I write, and so forth. 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Ever most affectionately and truly yours, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 From Mr. Purges to his Wife. 
 
 Downing Street, November 28th 1794. 
 
 There was so much company at the Drawing Room yester- 
 day, and I was consequently kept there so late, that it was 
 impossible for me to write to you, and to-day I have so much 
 business of all sorts upon my hands, that I cannot write 
 much. Her Majesty was very gracious ; asked me many 
 questions about the way in which I had passed the summer, 
 told me she felt for my having been prevented from being
 
 1794.] RECALL OF THE DUKE OF YORK. 277 
 
 with you and our children, and told me she hoped you all 
 continued well. I was also honoured with a conversation by 
 the Muse. Her Royal Highness made an opportunity of 
 beginning an acquaintance by asking me the names of some 
 French emigrant officers who were to kiss hands. Our con- 
 ference, as you may suppose, was not very long, and the 
 subject of it not very important ; but it was enough to show 
 she meant to pay me a compliment, and that I stood well in 
 her opinion. 
 
 Dartmouth Street, December 2nd, 1794. 
 
 The Duke of York has received the King's permission to 
 return to England. A convoy has sailed to conduct him 
 over, and he will probably be here with the first fair wind. 
 This I consider is the beginning of our bringing away our 
 army ; a measure which I hold to be both unavoidable and 
 wise, and which I foretold our great men many months ago 
 they would at length be compelled to adopt if an alteration 
 in the mode of. carrying on the campaign was not immediately 
 enforced. I can, however, assure you that within these ten 
 days several of them were quite displeased with me for pre- 
 suming to hint that such a measure was even likely, and 
 especially Lord Spencer and Lord Hawkesbury ; the latter of 
 whom told me he thought it a measure too important to be 
 decided upon without much more information than had been 
 received, and one which after all might be in the highest 
 degree ruinous ; and Lord Spencer seemed quite angry at my 
 having conceived such an idea, and told me he was surprised 
 at such a thing being even hinted at by a member of Govern- 
 ment, as it was a matter which ought to be reprobated in the 
 strongest degree. It is, however, a curious anecdote that 
 within a few days after he said this, he made one of a small 
 detachment of Cabinet Ministers consisting of himself, Pitt, 
 Grenville, Dundas, and Windham who determined on the 
 measure, and brought it forward in a full Cabinet this day 
 seven-night. You see that, by being thus behind the curtain, 
 I have only to open my eyes in order to see what sort of stuff 
 great men are made of. I think we are advancing rapidly to 
 decided rupture with the Dutch, and that if we do not take 
 great care they will take leave of our forces by trying to 
 knock them on the head. Our last letter from Lord St. 
 Helens mentions that as it was found necessary to send about 
 500 of our sick and wounded to the hospital at Delft (within
 
 278 THE EOYAL FAMILY. [CHAP. XV11I. 
 
 
 
 a few miles of the Hague, and supposed to be more than any 
 other place under the influence of the Stadtholder), Lord 
 St. Helens applied to the States-General for leave, and 
 obtained an order for their admission. On their arrival, how- 
 ever, the gates of the town were shut against them; the 
 magistrates caused every preparation to be made as if for a 
 siege ; and assembling the people, they administered an oath 
 to them to stand by each other and to prevent the entrance 
 of the English robbers. When Lord St. Helens heard of this, 
 he again applied to the Dutch Government ; but he had not 
 been able to prevail upon them to interfere ; and our poor 
 disabled soldiers were remaining without food or medicines 
 and exposed to all the severity of a wet wintry season. Yet 
 these are our good allies, for whom we are to sacrifice our 
 blood and treasure, and for whose sake we are to risk the ruin 
 of our country. Our Princesses, who you know are treated N 
 hardly better than children in a nursery, and who are never 
 informed of what is going on, even by means of a newspaper, 
 (for these are contraband at Windsor), are now become 
 constant suitors to me for intelligence. I had an application 
 the day before yesterday from the Princess Eoyal, to know 
 whether there was any chance of seeing the Duke of York. 
 I assure you, from what I have lately heard, that Koyalty, 
 when closely inspected, has few charms for reasonable people. 
 "^1 do not believe there is a more unhappy family in the 
 kingdom than that of our good King. They have lately passed 
 whole hours together in tears ; and often they do. not meet 
 for half a day, but each remains alone, separately brooding 
 over their misfortunes. The ill-success and disgraces of the 
 Duke of York, the wounds and ill-health of the Princes 
 Ernest and Adolphus, the bad conduct of Princes Edward 
 and Augustus, and the strange caprices and obstinacy of the 
 Prince of Wales all these causes are perpetually preying 
 upon them, and make them miserable. The Queen appears 
 to feel and to suffer the least ; the King sometimes bursts 
 into tears, rises up and walks about the room, then kisses his 
 daughters and thanks God for having given them to him to 
 comfort him ; by which the Princesses are variously agitated, 
 and sometimes so much so to go into fits. You will per- 
 haps wonder where I have picked up all these private 
 anecdotes ; but two or three evenings ago I got a note from 
 Lady Elgin, telling me her children were gone out to divert 
 themselves, and that she wished to see me on a matter which
 
 1794.] TREATMENT OF THE PRINCESSES. 279 
 
 she could explain only in a tete-a-tete. This was the message 
 from the Princess Royal. After we had done with that, as 
 her Ladyship is perfectly good-humoured and communicative, 
 I led our conversation towards the Koyal Family, and she 
 entered into all these details, which had passed during her 
 late visit at the Queen's Lodge. At the end of our conference 
 she fairly told me that the Princesses had begged of her to 
 send them private accounts of what would be interesting to 
 them about their brothers, of whom they never were allowed 
 to hear anything, and that they had told her they earnestly 
 wished that I would be their friend, for that they were sure, 
 from what they knew of me, they might depend upon my not 
 betraying them, and that they should always think them- 
 selves obliged to me for such a kindness, as they already did 
 for my having contributed so much to their amusement 
 during the summer ; and Lady Elgin also told me that these 
 poor Princesses were in a terrible state with respect to them 
 finances. The three eldest have had each for some time*' 
 past an allowance of 2000 a year, out of which 
 they are obliged to furnish themselves with everything : 
 clothes, servants' wages, and even jewels, for neither the 
 King nor the Queen have ever given them any. The two 
 eldest are very prudent, and contrive to live tolerably within 
 their allowances ; but Princess Elizabeth is a bad economist, 
 and, as she says herself, must go to gaol very soon. I saw 
 Duval, the king's jeweller, yesterday, and asked him if the 
 King had lately given his daughters diamonds. He told meV 
 His Majesty had never made them any presents of that sort, 
 but that the Princesses had bought of him all they had, and 
 that upon the whole they paid very well, " that is," said he, 
 " I really believe they pay me whenever they have any 
 money." He added, that he had frequently been ordered to 
 attend at the Queen's house with diamonds, and that he had 
 sometimes carried there jewels to the amount of more than 
 20,000 : that he always hoped, when he displayed them, 
 and when the Princesses expressed their pleasure at seeing 
 such beautiful things, that their Majesties would have made 
 them presents, " but no, my dear sir," said he, " no such 
 thing ; the poor Princesses never got even a spark that they 
 did not pay me for themselves." The effect of this kind of 
 life upon the three Princesses has been different according to 
 their constitutions. Princess Augusta, soft and tender- 
 hearted, vents her sorrow at her eyes, and cries till she 
 becomes composed and resigned. Princess Elizabeth feels
 
 280 THE PRINCESS ROYAL. [CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 very strongly, but soon recovers her spirits, and observes 
 that, as she is never consulted, she is not answerable for what 
 happens ; that, thank God, she does no harm herself, and 
 that she will try not to be such a fool as to make herself 
 more unhappy than she is obliged to be ; and that therefore 
 she will try to be merry if she can, and drive away all the 
 care which she is strong enough to keep at a distance. But 
 the effect of all this upon the poor Princess Eoyal is very 
 different. She is naturally nervous and susceptible of strong 
 impressions. Convinced that she now has no chance of ever 
 altering her condition ; afraid of receiving any impressions 
 of tenderness or affection; reserved and studious; tenderly 
 loving her brothers, and feeling strongly every unpleasant 
 circumstance attending them; she is fallen into a kind of 
 quiet desperate state., without hope, and open to every fear ; 
 or, in other words, what is commonly called broken-hearted. 
 This has operated strongly upon her health, and Sir Lucas 
 Pepys, under whose care she is, expresses considerable appre- 
 hensions for her, and even privately hints that he thinks she^ ' 
 is in very great danger, as from her particular situation there' 
 is no chance of her being able to marry,* which he pretty 
 plainly says is the only probability he can foresee of saving ' 
 her life or her understanding. The greatest relief she has is 
 in the society of the Duchess of York, with whom she has 
 made a great intimacy ; but even this pleasure she can enjoy 
 but seldom, and then hardly ever but in the presence of the 
 Queen, before whom she is under the utmost restraint, and 
 who maintains a very strict discipline and the most formal 
 etiquette even in her moments of relaxation. I understand, 
 indeed, that the smiles and graces worn at Court are generally 
 laid aside with the full-dressed gown and jewels. One word 
 more about the Princesses. You know I sent you two epi- 
 grams about Del Campo's wig. Princess Elizabeth sent me 
 word she had taken copies of them, and that she thought the 
 last the best in her whole collection. 
 
 Ever most entirely and affectionately yours, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 * The Princess Eoyal, Charlotte Augusta Matilda, was married on 
 May 18th, 1797, to Frederick William, Hereditary Prince of Wiirtemberg- 
 Stuttgart. Parliament voted 80,000 for the Princess's dower, which, 
 Consols being then exceedingly low, purchased 165,000 worth of Three 
 per Cent. Stock. g , . 
 
 5 W TA>VV *Y* fc ^ vt l '
 
 1794.] ( 281 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Mr. Burges at Carlton House Lady C. Bruce washing a Gown New 
 Year's Greeting from Lady Elgin Letter from Sir William Hamilton 
 Prince Augustus's Entanglement Eiots in London Present from 
 Catherine II. " with compliments " A Free Translation Close of Mr. 
 Burges's Oflicial Career Vexatious Delays Satisfactory Arrange- 
 ment Baronet and Knight Marshal of the lloyal Household Con- 
 gratulations. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the hearty dislike so often expressed by 
 Mr. Burges with respect to the Prince of Wales, he does 
 not appear to have had any hesitation about accepting the 
 mission of waiting upon His Eoyal Highness with the papers 
 relating to his forthcomiug marriage with Princess Caroline 
 of Brunswick. His " most private and secret " letter to 
 Mrs. Burges will still be read with considerable interest : 
 
 Downing Street, Tuesday Night, December 16th, 1794. 
 
 ^SQne principal matter we have had in hand was the rati- 
 fication of the Prince of Wales's marriage treaty ; and this 
 formed a main part of the deliberations of a Cabinet Council 
 held here. Amidst other resolutions, it was thought proper 
 that a deputation should be sent to His Royal Highness, 
 to convey to him the treaty itself, the steps which had been 
 taken, and the measures which were to be adopted ; and it 
 was proposed to me that I should undertake this embassy. 
 I agreed to do so, and accordingly went to Carlton House. 
 As soon as I had announced myself I was taken into a room 
 on one side of the hall, which was entirely void of furniture 
 except two small sofas, a table, two vases on the chimney- 
 piece, a large picture of the late King on horseback, without a 
 frame, set against the wall, and a huge frame without a picture
 
 282 MR. SURGES AT CARLTON HOUSE. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 set up against the wall on the other side. After waiting 
 here about two minutes, I was desired to walk up stairs. I 
 ascended two flights of narrow back stairs, and was shown 
 into a small room, where I was desired to wait, and was told 
 His Royal Highness would come to me. I staid here alone 
 not more than three minutes, when I had time to make a 
 survey of the furniture. There were two frames filled with 
 waxen portraits of the Royal Family, a portrait in oil of a 
 pretty woman, whose face I do not know, four crayon 
 portraits of other girls, and prints of Charles Fox, Lord 
 Malmesbury, and his daughter Miss Harris. There was a 
 small bookcase full of books, a secretaire, another table, and 
 a great basket, in which lay a very handsome black and 
 white water-spaniel. While I was surveying these, the door 
 opened and His Royal Highness came in dressed (or rather 
 undressed) in a white linen gown, his shirt-collar open, and 
 his hair all loose. He said he was very glad to see me, and, 
 though he was quite ashamed to see me in such a way, he 
 thought it was better to come to me immediately than to 
 make me wait. I told him I had the honour of waiting 
 upon His Royal Highness from His Majesty's Ministers, and 
 that I was charged with His Royal Highness's marriage 
 treaty, Lord Malmesbury's account of his negotiations, and a 
 letter from Lord Grenville, which I begged leave to have the 
 honour of putting into his hands. He replied in the most 
 obliging manner, and having taken the papers from me, we 
 fell into conversation on the subject of his marriage, when I 
 mentioned several things he wanted to know. After dis- 
 cussing these, " Pray," said he, " will you give me leave to ask 
 you a question which I confess I have a great desire to know ? 
 When my grandfather married, the late King made a par- 
 ticular provision that the Princess should not bring over 
 with her any favourites or confidantes, and I think it was 
 a very wise one. Now I wish you would tell me whether 
 any provision of this sort has been made now ? And I will 
 tell you why I ask. By the messenger who came last Sunday 
 from Brunswick, I got a letter from Lord Malmesbury, in 
 which he tells me that the Princess means to bring over two 
 suivantes or people who have been used to wait upon her ; 
 and you know it would be cruel to make any opposition to a 
 thing of that sort, which must be convenient to her, and is 
 not likely to do any harm ; but he also tells me it has been 
 determined that another woman shall be of the party who is
 
 1794.] INTERVIEW WITH THE PRINCE. 283 
 
 of a better rank, and one whom the Princess has been used 
 to have about her, and who may sit with her, and read to 
 her, and amuse her when she is alone. This, in my opinion, 
 is a very different matter, and must prove extremely un- 
 pleasant at least ; at all events it must be very embarrassing, 
 for one cannot tell how to behave to a person who is neither 
 a servant nor yet in such a situation as to be brought into 
 company or carried about. In short, I do not at all approve 
 of it, and I think you will agree with me that it will be 
 much better to prevent such a thing than to have any diffi- 
 culties about it afterwards." Here he stopped. I told him 
 I recollected- the late King's caution ; but that it had been 
 merely a private act of his own, and had not been made part 
 of Lord Delawarr's instructions ; and that, as these were 
 taken as our model on the present occasion, and as I myself 
 had drawn up Lord Malmesbury's instructions, I could assure 
 His Uoyal Highness not a word on that subject had been 
 inserted there ; that as he did me the honour to ask my 
 opinion on the subject, however diffidently I might have 
 spoken on a matter of so much delicacy without such an 
 order, I should not hesitate to assure him of my entire ac- 
 quiescence in his opinion, which, both from experience and 
 reason, I was convinced was perfectly right, and likely to 
 conduce to his own happiness and the good of the country. 
 He said he was extremely glad to find my opinion agree so 
 much with his own ; that indeed he could not bring himself 
 to agree to this sort of proposal, which he conceived must be 
 attended with unpleasant consequences ; that therefore he 
 would write this evening to Lord Malmesbury, and send the 
 letter to me to be forwarded to put an end to the business, 
 "which," said he, "may be done much better before the 
 Princess sets out, for, if she loves this woman, she will feel 
 much less at parting with her in the hurry of setting out on 
 a journey and when her spirits are all alive, than after she 
 gets here among strangers, when her attachment to an old 
 acquaintance must of course increase." After this we talked 
 a little about less important matters, and I concluded a most 
 flattering audience of about a quarter of an hour long, with 
 a most gracious and good-humoured, as well as a very civil 
 parting. 
 
 Ever most entirely and affectionately your own 
 
 J. B. B.
 
 A KINDLY (HtEETING. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 A few days before Christmas, 1794, Lady Elgin wrote, in 
 her son's name, requesting Mr. Burges to ascertain " the 
 expense of a band of music fit for a Highland regiment," 
 which, she had been told, should consist of eight per- 
 formers. Lady Charlotte would have taken that oppor- 
 tunity to scold him for sending her " such a puzzle," but was 
 " washing a gown," and had not a moment to spare. On 
 the last day of December, however, Lady Charlotte Bruce 
 had leisure to wish him "a happy new year," though the 
 Queen, the Princesses, and some of the ladies in attendance, 
 had been as closely employed for three weeks in embroider- 
 ing dresses for the birthday and the forthcoming marriage of 
 the Prince of Wales, as if they had been " working for their 
 daily bread." 
 
 From Lady Elgin. 
 
 Queen's Lodge, January 2nd, 1795. 
 
 (Past One o'clock.) 
 
 DEAR SIK, 
 
 The continual attendance that so large a family calls for, 
 keeps me so continually engaged, that I really have not a 
 moment to myself. Eeading with one, working with another, 
 are all pleasing obligations, but still I have much work for 
 my own room ; and so little am I in that quiet corner, that 
 only this minute, when all are gone to bed, have I been able 
 to steal half an hour to wish you and your family many 
 returns of this season, attended with all the blessings this 
 life affords. I am as glad to part with 1794 as you can be. 
 Since 1771 have I never passed as uncomfortable a year. 
 In every one wish of my heart I have been disappointed ; 
 but such has been the will of God, and I am perfectly con- 
 vinced that it is for the best, and I look forward to the year 
 now opening with humble submission, satisfied that every 
 event, public or private, is in the hand of God.
 
 1755.] A ROYAL ENTANGLEMENT. 285 
 
 From Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Caserta, March 24th, 1795. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 Prince Augustus,* as you know, has been living witli me 
 and at this Court. The King and Queen of Naples love 
 him as if he was their own child, and H.E.H. is certainly a 
 good-hearted young man, but without much judgment, and 
 perfectly bewitched by Lady Augusta Murray, who is by no! 
 means worthy of the regard he seems to have for her of 
 that I am sure by her behaviour during her stay at Naples 
 three years ago. The Prince, often talking to me on the 
 subject, and his impatience to have her with him at Eome, 
 I always entreated him, and so has the Queen of Naples, 
 never to push matters to the extremity, so as to lose the 
 countenance of the King and Queen when, as the Queen of 
 Naples told him, he would lose those honours and attentions 
 which he now enjoys, and it would be madness Madame 
 Augusta's, without any income, going about a charge de tout 
 le monde. My hopes are, if she keeps from him, that she will 
 be caught in some imprudence which will open his eyes, and 
 then he may be off at once with honour. H.E.H. is certainly 
 v much improved in health ; but, entre nous, he has an odd way 
 ^ of crossing himself when he sits down to dinner. My idea 
 is that he wishes it to be observed that it may alarm at 
 home, and that he may be sent for. I am sure nothing one 
 sees here or at Kome could tempt a man to change his 
 religion for that of the Catholic Church. He has sometimes 
 N hinted to me that he should like well enough to be at the 
 ~ head of the Pope's guards, I suppose in joke, and I said 
 he would make a charming figure at their head in one of 
 Banbury's caricatures. 
 
 By the middle of 1795 the nation had grown weary of a 
 war that seemed to them without point or purpose. The 
 excitement of an occasional naval victory was deemed a 
 poor compensation for bootless expeditions, ill-conceived and 
 worse executed. Deceived and plundered by their allies, 
 Englishmen became indifferent to the sufferings of the 
 
 * Ante, pp. 185-196.
 
 RIOTING IN LONDON. [CHAP. XIX- 
 
 French Royal Family and nobility, and asked themselves 
 how long they should go on enduring privation and hard- 
 ships for the sake of aliens, who expressed scant gratitude 
 for the immense sacrifices that had been made on their 
 account. The restoration of the Bourbons was recognised as 
 practically impossible, and not certainly desirable. The dis- 
 graceful mismanagement and disorganisation which charac- 
 terised every department of the State naturally discouraged 
 people of all classes, and gave rise to much murmuring and 
 discontent among the lower orders. Scarcity of employment, 
 combining with the high price of the ordinary necessaries 
 of life, drew the poor together in groups and mobs. Pro- 
 fessional agitators seized the opportunity to fan the popular 
 discontent, and serious riots occurred in London. On the 
 29th of June Mr. Burges wrote to his wife, apparently at 
 Eltham, entreating her not to come up to town, as a mob had 
 assembled in St. George's Fields, and the Horse and Foot 
 Guards, with the City regiments, were held in readiness to 
 act at a moment's notice. Pitt himself had taken his 
 friends' advice to repair to Holwood, and remain there till 
 the squall blew over. In the afternoon the Riot Act was 
 read the magistrates being supported by formidable detach- 
 ments of horse and foot. Before this demonstration of 
 firmness the mob, estimated at 10,000, gradually melted 
 away, and by nightfall no traces of disorder were to be seen. 
 The calm, however, was of brief duration. On the 12th of 
 July Mr. Burges wrote to his wife that a serious riot had 
 occurred, under the plea of protesting against the outrages 
 committed by crimps, though the actors in the commotion 
 were the same who, a fortnight before, had met in St. George's 
 Fields to clamour for Parliamentary Reform. On this occasion 
 they wrecked a house in Johnson's Court, near Charing Cross, 
 and flung the furniture into the street. The house was
 
 1795.] SERIOUS DISTURBANCES. 287 
 
 actually one with a bad reputation, though not frequented 
 by crimps or persons of that type. The Horse Guards that 
 had been called out were abused and pelted, but quickly 
 succeeded in dispersing their assailants. Mr. Burges relates 
 that he himself " heard several well-dressed men haranguing 
 the populace in a true Parisian style by addressing them 
 as citizens, and exhorting them to assert their rights." On 
 the following night the rioting was renewed. Several of 
 Mr. Pitt's windows wer.e broken, and two houses near the 
 Obelisk in St. George's Fields were emptied of their contents, 
 which were not stolen but burnt. " The assembling of the 
 people," Mr. Burges wrote on the 14th, "continues to-day, 
 and there was such a crowd in Downing Street about eleven 
 this morning that it was found necessary to have a guard of 
 constables stationed at our end of it to prevent the mob from 
 coming any farther. Every imaginable precaution," he adds, 
 " has been taken to prevent the peace of this metropolis from 
 being disturbed again, and the military have shown the best 
 disposition to lend their aid." 
 
 On the following day he informed Mrs. Burges that 
 
 for these three days the Duke of Portland has not been at 
 his office, and the sole Under Secretary is in Somersetshire. 
 The only people who have stood forward are Pitt, Nepean, 
 and myself; and as to myself, I have taken a great deal of 
 trouble to very little purpose. So has Nepean. What his 
 determination is, I know not ; but mine is, to take no more, 
 but to look to myself and the office, and keep them as safe as 
 I can. What has passed has, I am convinced, merely served 
 to do mischief by encouraging the mob, and by exposing the 
 soldiers to derision. The most violent and inflammatory 
 papers are circulated and stuck up everywhere with impunity, 
 and everything denotes a still more violent explosion. 
 
 England's sun, however, had not yet set, nor did everything 
 go to the dogs. Mr. Burges's own opinion of life in general,
 
 288 PRESENT FROM CATHERINE II. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 and of his own position in particular, was sensibly improved 
 by a present sent to him by the Czarina Catherine II. 
 through the Eussian Ambassador Prince Woronzow. He 
 thus relates the incident to Mrs. Burges, from Downing 
 Street, under date of the 8th of July, 1795 : 
 
 I am in possession of a fine diamond snuff-box, presented 
 to me with a most flourishing compliment by Woronzow in 
 the Empress's name, with Her Imperial Majesty's cypher 
 on the top. Not only the lid, but the sides are covered with 
 diamonds. If their size were as considerable as their number 
 it would indeed be a very valuable thing; but as it is, I 
 suppose it may be worth 400. I am, however, a very bad 
 judge of these matters, and therefore it is not unlikely that 
 I overrate it. The compliment, however, which accompanied 
 it, was by no means unequivocal ; for the Count said he was 
 ordered to tell me from Her Imperial Majesty that she 
 desired my acceptance of this proof of her regard, as a mark 
 of her high opinion of my character, and her conviction of 
 the justice of my sentiments with respect to the interest of 
 the two countries which I had manifested on many occa- 
 sions, and which had satisfied her that I never had enter- 
 tained any of those extravagant ideas which had more than 
 once endangered the good understanding she wished to 
 maintain with England, more especially in the year 1791. 
 You will guess that I did not dispute this point with Her 
 Imperial Majesty, though it did carry the appearance of a 
 persiflage, especially coming from Woronzow ; but things come 
 strangely about, and it is no more strange that the Empress 
 should make me this compliment than that she should have 
 made Monsieur de St. Priest a knight of one of her orders 
 for his good offices in facilitating her peace with the Turks, 
 though it was perfectly certain that he had been employed 
 by Louis XV. to put every impediment in her way. The 
 great Catherine knows how to play her part ; and I take it 
 for granted she knows the use of making friends in the right 
 place. I am certain she would not have distinguished me 
 in this manner unless she had had reason to suppose it was 
 worth her while, either to secure the attachment of a valuable 
 friend, or to mitigate the force of a formidable enemy. Be 
 the case as it may, I have got a very pretty snuff-box, which 
 I will keep as long as I can for the sake of the fair donor,
 
 1795.] MISS M. A. BURQES. 289 
 
 unless you learn to take snuff', and then you shall make a 
 figure with it. 
 
 One of Woronzow's phrases was " L'imperatrice m'a charge 
 de vous dire, qu'elle est persuadee que vous etes veritable- 
 ment un bon ami de la Russie ; c'est pourquoi elle vous a 
 particulierement distingue en cette heureuse occasion." 
 
 To Mr. Burges from Miss M. A. Burges. 
 
 MY DEAR BKOTHER, 
 
 ****** 
 
 Sir John Delapole has chosen as a motto on the bits of a 
 troop he has raised, Pro aris et focis. A farmer who belonged f 
 to it, as well as to his hunt, was asked to explain those , 
 mysterious words ; and he said he believed they meant " For 
 the hares and the foxes." 
 
 Adieu, my dear brother, 
 
 Ever believe me to be, 
 Your most sincerely affectionate sister, 
 
 M. A. BURGES. 
 
 Miss Burges was the authoress of a small Puritanical 
 book, entitled, 'The Progress of the Pilgrim Good Intent.' 
 It came out anonymously, and ran through ten editions 
 within a very few years. Miss Burges was a learned and 
 accomplished lady. In addition to Greek and Latin, she 
 acquired a familiar knowledge of French, Spanish, and 
 Italian, and spoke the three languages with fluency and 
 correctness. German and Swedish she read with facility. She 
 contributed largely to the illustrations of M. de Luc's ' Geo- 
 logical Travels in the North of Europe and in England.' She 
 was not less versed in botany, and left among her papers a 
 MS. account of the British lepidoptera, beautifully illustrated. 
 She was further a musical composer, and a performer of no 
 mean repute ; nor was she less proficient in drawing, painting, 
 etching, and needlework. Miss Burges died at Ashfield, 
 
 17
 
 290 MS. QODDARD'S INDISCRETION. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 near Honiton, August 10th, 1813, in the forty-ninth year of 
 her age, deeply lamented by all classes, and especially by 
 the poor, to whom she had been an earthly Providence. 
 
 *"S The termination of Mr. Burges's official career was now 
 near at hand. An officious gentleman of the name of V 
 Goddard had been buzzing around, informing his friends that 
 on his return from Naples he was to take Mr. Burges's seat 
 in the Foreign Office, which would be held for him by a 
 gentleman during his absence. Naturally irritated by such 
 underhand conduct, Mr. Burges immediately wrote to Lord 
 Grenville, stating what he had heard, but expressing his 
 
 ' disbelief that any such arrangement could be in contempla- 
 tion, seeing that no intimation had been made to himself on 
 the subject. His letter was dated the 21st of August, and on\ 
 the following day Lord Grenville answered him from Drop- 
 more, acknowledging the truth of the rumour, though he 
 disapproved Mr. Goddard's indiscretion in talking about the 
 matter before it could be properly divulged. As things 
 stood, he had much pleasure in offering Mr. Burges the 
 mission to Genoa and Milan. Should he, however, object to 
 going abroad, a vacancy would probably, though not cer- 
 tainly, occur at one of the Eevenue Boards. The income 
 was inferior to that of the post he then held, but a special 
 arrangement might be made in his case, and the situation 
 had the advantage of being permanent. Mr. Burges's reply\ 
 is not forthcoming, but he apparently exhibited some temper, 
 for on the 25th of August Lord Grenville declared that he was 
 " not sensible of any want of delicacy or kindness in what had 
 passed," and that he would be glad to acquiesce, if in his 
 power, in any other arrangement that might be more accept- 
 able to his correspondent. Mr. Pitt, he added, was desirous 
 of conversing with Mr. Burges, for it seems that the latter 
 had forwarded some complaint on the subject to the Prime 
 Minister.
 
 1795.] PAINFUL SUSPENSE. 291 
 
 x Mr. Pitt, however, braced by the sea-breezes at Walmer 
 Castle, came up to town to transact business that could not 
 be postponed, and then hurried back to Deal. Mr. Burges 
 meanwhile fumed and fretted at the delay. The thermometer, 
 he complained, marked 82^ in the shade, hanging out of a 
 northern window, and when put out of a south window rose 
 to 99. Consequently, he lived in a state of perspiration, 
 but by keeping quiet he contrived to be " stupid and well 
 enough." Mrs. Burges thereupon urged him to seek a 
 personal interview with Mr. Pitt, as the most straightforward 
 and satisfactory mode of settling the business. She strongly 
 dissuaded him from proposing any terms, as that was playing 
 his enemy's game, but suggested that he might agree to 
 retain his present post if pressed to do so, provided some 
 compensation were made for the annoyance he had experi- 
 enced, without any manner of provocation on his part. In 
 reply, Mr. Burges mentioned that Mr. Goddard's mother was 
 a housemaid, and Mr. Canning's mother was Mrs. Eeddish, 
 the actress which seems slightly irrelevant to the question of 
 his retirement. On the 10th of September he again wrote to 
 say that he had received no sort of communication from Mr. 
 Pitt, notwithstanding the note he wrote at his wife's suggestion, 
 and that neither the King, nor any one of the other Ministers, 
 was aware of what was going on. On the 12th he had some 
 official conversation with Mr. Pitt, who received him very 
 kindly, but there were too many persons present to permit 
 of any talk about private matters. Mr. Long, however, 
 assured him that Mr. Pitt fully intended he should be no 
 sufferer in a pecuniary way, and was contriving some plan 
 for enabling him to retire with distinction. At last, on the 
 22nd of September, he proceeded to Wimbledon, at Mr. Pitt's 
 request, to arrange this mighty business no doubt sufficiently 
 important to himself. Mr. Pitt began by acknowledging 
 
 U 2
 
 292 A LIBERAL ARRANGEMENT. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 that no fault whatever could be found with his discharge of 
 the public duties entrusted to him. Lord Grenville's sole 
 desire for a change was the not unreasonable wish to have 
 one of his own people in the office. This excuse would have 
 been' more valid had it been urged some years previously. 
 Brought forward after such a long experience of Mr. Burges's 
 ability and industry, it points to the widening of a rift of 
 long standing, and it appears, from Mrs. Burges's letters 
 rather than from his own, that his relations with Lord Grenville\ 
 were far from satisfactory. Mr. Pitt very handsomely per- 
 mitted Mr. Burges to make it publicly known that he was 
 retiring from office solely to make room for a personal friend 
 of Lord Grenville. He offered him a baronetcy, together\ 
 with the sinecure, title, and post of Knight Marshal * of the 
 Royal Household, with remainder to his son. One way and 
 another his pension was made up to 1500 a year, so that, 
 upon the whole, he had every reason to be content with the 
 liberal compensation made to him for being suddenly liber- 
 ated from the arduous labours of which he so bitterly com- 
 plained, and for being restored to the domestic happiness 
 which he clearly appreciated very highly, and at its true 
 value. His friends congratulated him heartily on this 
 honourable termination of his official career, and he, on his 
 part, solicited Mr. Pitt's good offices on behalf of his brother- 
 in-law, Mr. Thomas Montolieu, his kinsman, Lord Somerville, 
 and a praiseworthy acting-messenger attached to the office. 
 Among the letters of congratulation was one from his cousin, 
 Mr. C. L. Bayntum, who reminded him that their common 
 ancestor, Sir Henry Bayntum, was Knight Mareschall to 
 
 * In Thorn's ' Book of the Court ' it is stated that the Knight Marshal 
 was supposed to have been originally the Deputy of the Earl Marshal, and 
 entrusted with the police of the Palace. In modern times he became the 
 Deputy of the Lord Steward, but still later was principally employed in 
 the Queen's Court of Marshalsea.
 
 1795.] WAREEN HASTINGS. 293 
 
 Henry III. his brother John being a Knight of Jerusalem, 
 slain in the Holy Land. Another letter was from Sir Isaac 
 Heard, Garter King-at-Arms, which possesses a certain 
 interest from being written at Daylesford House, under date 
 of the 9th of October, 1795 : 
 
 You can easily guess what my feelings must now be with 
 the returning health of Lady Heard, and the affectionate cordi- 
 ality, I will call it, also of Mr. and Mrs. Hastings, their ease 
 and charming humour, Mr. Hastings's extensive knowledge, 
 softness of manners, and a thousand entertaining and instruc- 
 tive qualities all altogether, you will conclude, must render 
 my present situation such as you would wish for any friend 
 whom you esteemed. . . . Mr. Hastings has spoken of you 
 in a very handsome manner.
 
 ( 294 ) [CHAP. XX. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " The Birth and Triumph of Love " Illustrated by Princess Elizabeth- 
 Letter to Miss Burges A Poetical Petition Letter from Lady 
 Elgin Reception of the Poem by the Queen and Princess The King's 
 Health Letter from Princess Elizabeth Letter to Miss Burges Sir 
 James Burges's Portrait engraved "by desire" Projects for the 
 Future Mr. Sundersberg The Knight Marshal and his Baton 
 Fete at Frogmore Conversation with the King The Duke of Leeds's 
 Pincushion. 
 
 MR. BUKGES became Sir James Bland Burges, Bart., on the 
 31st of October, 1795. Turning his back upon public affairs, 
 he devoted the remainder of his fairly prosperous life to 
 literary pursuits, and acquired a certain reputation as an easy 
 versifier. His first venture, indeed, was decidedly successful, 
 in great measure through the co-operation of Princess Eliza- 
 beth. Her Royal Highness had whiled away some portion of 
 her gloomy leisure by sketching twenty-four graceful designs 
 intended to illustrate the Birth and Triumph of Love. The 
 idea is worked out with artistic ingenuity, though Love's 
 flight through the air poised on an anchor albeit the anchor 
 of Hope seems a little incongruous. Be that as it may, Mr. 
 Burges undertook to furnish the letterpress, and acquitted 
 himself of the task in a very creditable manner. He adopted 
 the Spenserian stanza, at that time a novelty, and was 
 fortunate in obtaining favourable notices from contemporary 
 periodicals. Dr. Vincent, Dean of Westminster, chose the 
 little poem as the subject of his election verses at Westmin-
 
 1795.] A JOINT PRODUCTION. 295 
 
 ster School, and congratulated the " Nitidissima Nympha " on 
 the excellence of her handiwork. 
 
 " Lusus docta leves, roseique Cupidinis ortum 
 Pinxisse artifici, dulcis Eliza, manu, 
 Salve, progenies regum." 
 
 The Dean also wrote to Mr. Burges a note presumed to 
 be complimentary, in which he said that it was the first 
 allegorical poem he had ever read from beginning to end, and 
 that, although he never bought " books of expense," he had 
 purchased " the plates " to his poem the illustrations having 
 been published separately. Mr. Burges rendered the Dean's 
 rigid Latinity into tolerably fluent English, beginning after 
 this fashion : 
 
 " Hail, Royal Maid ! by whose plastic hand 
 Were Cupid's birth and first achievements plann'd ; 
 Illustrious leader of the graphic train, 
 To accept from me this votive chaplet deign." 
 
 He thus alludes to his poetic labours in a letter to his 
 sister, Miss Mary Anne Burges, dated from Eltham, the 7th 
 of November, 1795 : 
 
 I am much hurried at present; but I will satisfy your 
 curiosity about my epic poem, on condition that you will 
 confine what I say to yourself for the present. The title 
 and subject of it is ' The Birth and Triumph of Love.' I 
 have already finished the first book of it in the metre of 
 Spenser's ' Fairy Queen,' but not in his antiquated language 
 How the idea may have been executed it is not for me to 
 say; but the idea itself is so entirely original, that I am 
 confident nothing like it is to be found in any language. I 
 caught it from some drawings of Princess Elizabeth, and I 
 am writing the poem for Her Koyal Highness. In all 
 probability it will be printed ; but I will send it to you in its 
 manuscript state. Don't be surprised at my having this sort of 
 intercourse with so exalted a personage. I have already had 
 the honour of being concerned in a joint work with her, with 
 which the King was so pleased that he had it printed at his
 
 296 A POETICAL PETITION. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 own expense. I shall be very glad to have your opinion 
 of my present performance before I finally deliver it to the 
 Princess ; as I think that, if it succeeds, it will place me not 
 very low among the English poets. 
 
 Children are usually addicted to dabbling in rhymes. Sir 
 J. B. Burges's young people were evidently not exempt from 
 that amabilis insania. 
 
 To Sir James Bland Bur yes, Bart., from his Children. 
 
 " Good Sir James, we pray, 
 Favour us with an holiday, 
 'Cause 'tis fit, as it's Twelfth Day, 
 We should be merry, blithe, and gay ; 
 And we will remember your bounty 
 And tell it throughout the County. 
 Attend to this our humble lay, 
 And grant us one poor holiday. 
 
 CHARLES MONTOLIKU BURGES. 
 CLARA MARIA BURGES. 
 
 DEAR Sm, 
 
 From Lady Elgin. 
 Queen's Lodge, Windsor, January 6th, 1796. 
 
 You must think me the most unkind of all human beings 
 for having sent no answer to your letter, which I received 
 the evening before I left London. I then thought very soon 
 to be able to give you the account I wished of the charming 
 deposit entrusted to my care, but such was the state of things 
 that I could not see Princess Elizabeth alone till Friday at 
 two o'clock, and then it was a hurry, as the Orange Family 
 dined here. I was, however, most completely gratified by 
 her manner of reading, and the delighted expressions that 
 burst out, I may say, as she went through the lovely poem. 
 Had you been in my place, I am confident you would have 
 thought yourself well rewarded for the trouble you have 
 taken to record the deeds of the little Urchin (Cupid). 
 
 I however wished the poem to go farther, but Her Royal 
 Highness did not find it the moment to show it the Queen. 
 Her Majesty lias many objects of attention at present, and as
 
 1795.] THE KING'S ILLNESS. 297 
 
 the Princess did not like to have her Cupid mortified by 
 being set aside, she waited a proper opportunity to introduce 
 him. In the mean time she desired Mr. Smelt* (who came 
 from Yorkshire to gratify himself, as he says, by seeing his 
 Sovereign, and who unites the most refined talents with 
 every virtue that can adorn human nature) to peruse the 
 work. 
 
 He brought it back to me to-day, and with sincere pleasure 
 I heard his sentiments, which I shall communicate to you at 
 large when I come to London. Much he admires the work, 
 and says there is more real poetry in that composition than 
 in anything that has appeared these many years; some of 
 the scenery he is astonished at. He was just telling me he 
 thought the Temple might be introduced, when the door 
 opened, and Her Majesty came into the room. The poem 
 was shown her. She read the first stanza and was so 
 charmed, she desired I might carry it to her own apartment. 
 That is surely the dwelling of your Cupid, so I went, and laid 
 him on her table. There he may remain a few days, and I 
 have not a doubt of your receiving the unfeigned admiration 
 that your extraordinary talents deserve. The oftener I read 
 it the more I am charmed, and dear Princess Elizabeth is 
 absolutely ashamed that her little amusement, as she humbly 
 calls it, draws out such a work. Often she repeats, "Do tell Sir 
 J. Burges I am quite ashamed and distressed at the honour he 
 has done me. Do say for me and tell him I think it the 
 most beautiful poem I ever read." But all this and much 
 more you shall have on Wednesday next week, when, God 
 willing, that, or the next day, we shall be in town. I ought 
 to have begun my letter with telling you of the King's health, 
 which to me appears perfectly good, and I trust insured for 
 many years ; but he has been thoroughly cleared, and was 
 very ill with a bilious attack nothing more. The affair of 
 the papers is ridiculous. His Majesty was sick to death, but 
 signed, dated, sealed his papers, and locked his box ; went to 
 his room, threw up, laid down, and was confined twenty-four 
 hours or perhaps less. When he returned to his room, with 
 horror he saw his box. But he had given no orders to take it 
 away, and nobody dared, and there is the true cause of the story 
 that gave us all so much distress. What mighty matters 
 from small causes spring ! You will be sorry when I tell you 
 
 * A name familiar to readers of Madame d'Arblay's Diaries.
 
 298 LETTER FROM PRINCESS ELIZABETH. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 Charlotte has been very indifferent, and I now write by her 
 bed-side; though she is recovering from a severe attack of 
 illness, she desires her best compliments to you, with mine 
 to Lady Burges ; and believe me with every wish for your 
 happiness and hers, and the prosperity of your charming 
 family, to be with sincere regard, my dear Sir, 
 
 Your faithful and most obliged 
 
 Friend and servant, 
 M. ELGIN. 
 
 From Princess Elizabeth to Lady Elgin. 
 
 MY DEAR LADY ELGIN, 
 
 I was just going to write to you, when I received your 
 kind note, to tell you I had the pleasure of putting into 
 Mamma's hands Sir James Burges's most beautiful and elegant 
 poem, which was received in a manner that I am certain 
 would have made Sir James happy and you doubly so for 
 your friend. For poor me, how can I express myself, who, 
 though brought up at Court, never could make a compliment 
 in my life ? I only wish that Sir James Burges through your 
 friendly means should be assured of my thanks and that I 
 really value the poem as much as possible, and think that 
 my poor little foolish silent Cupid owes all its worth and 
 merit to the poet, for I never before saw him in the favour- 
 able light you all did till he was privileged with verse. 
 Mamma desires you will say how much pleased she is with it. 
 
 From Sir J. B. Burges, Bark, to his sister Maria. 
 
 Dartmouth Street, March 25th, 1796. 
 
 The success of my poem has far exceeded my expectation. 
 That it met with approbation in the Court circle, I was not 
 surprised, as that was easily accounted for : but the public 
 voice is still more nattering, and I am quite embarrassed how 
 to answer the many superb encomiums I receive wherever I 
 go. I must mention to you two proofs of this which have just 
 occurred. Dr. Vincent, master of Westminster School, has 
 acquainted me that he considers my work as so great a credit 
 to the school that he has taken it as the subject of the election 
 exercise. This is certainly in itself a great compliment ; and 
 it is doubly so as it is the first instance of such a thing
 
 1795.] PORTRAIT OF SIR J. B. BURGES. 299 
 
 having ever been done. The other circumstance I mention 
 is that Her Majesty's engraver [P. W. Tomkins] has solicited 
 the honour of engraving my portrait. I was not much 
 inclined to comply with this request: but he urged it so 
 strongly that I was at last obliged to give way, and my 
 resemblance will very shortly make its appearance. I will 
 not fail to send you a print as soon as it is ready ; but I beg 
 the favour of you in the meantime to keep what I have now 
 told you a secret. 
 
 At the general election in 1796 certain electors of Honiton 
 waited upon Miss Burges, and expressed a hope that her 
 brother would consent to stand for the borough in opposition 
 to the democratic candidate. Miss Burges, however, had 
 been previously informed that the seat would cost at least 
 3000, and that a good deal of knavery was at work. She 
 accordingly declined the honour, on the plea that there was 
 not time to communicate with her brother. In his reply he 
 praises her discretion, and declares his intention of eschewing 
 public life for ever, and of passing his remaining years with 
 his wife and children. 
 
 In a long confidential letter to his sister, Sir James Burges 
 announces his intention of purchasing a freehold property of a 
 hundred to a hundred and fifty acres, which he proposed to 
 keep in his own hands, personally directing its cultivation 
 an admirable method for insuring incessant irritation and 
 annual loss. He required a large house, with ample accom- 
 modation for guests. There must be no lack of wood and 
 water ; and, for choice, the South of England, between fifty 
 and eighty miles from London, would be preferred to counties 
 where the spring season arrives late, and vegetation is back- 
 ward and uncertain. In this " castle " he was minded to 
 dwell eight months in the twelve, passing the remaining four 
 in town for the sake of his children's education, and to keep 
 up his connections for their future benefit. According to a
 
 300 MR. SUNDERSBERG. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 rough calculation, he hoped to live very comfortably upon 
 2000 a year, and go on adding to his capital. Within easy 
 reach of his own mansion he must, however, have a cottage 
 for a humble friend with whom he had agreed that they 
 should pass, side by side, through the years that might yet 
 await them. 
 
 This friend [he explained] is Mr. Sundersberg,* who has 
 long been attached to me, whose fortune I have made, and 
 whose various qualifications and general knowledge I highly 
 value. He has, by my means, secured an income for life of 
 about 120 a year, and I have engaged to fix him in a house 
 rent free, with a garden, and an acre of ground for his experi- 
 ments. We have agreed to set up telegraphs to give mutual 
 notice when we choose to meet, or when we prefer being 
 sullen. He is a great fisher and shooter, and a great hunter 
 of butterflies and beetles, but we have agreed that my own 
 land is to be privileged from all sanguinary depredations, so a 
 general amnesty will be maintained within my territory. As 
 I detest fishing, shooting, and hunting, both from inclination 
 and principle, I do not mean to lose my time in pursuing 
 any of them. I have resources enough in myself, in my 
 books, my music, my children, and my friends, to engage 
 well and profitably the hours of domestic life; abroad, 
 farming, gardening, riding, and walking, are surely enough 
 to amuse and occupy a rational being. 
 
 Sir James Burges further informs Miss Burges that she can 
 procure an engraved likeness of himself much commended by 
 his acquaintances, on application to Mr. Tomkins, engraver 
 to the Queen, 49, New Bond Street. He also advises her to 
 obtain a copy of the British Critic for the previous month, to 
 see what was said of his ' Triumph of Love.' In conclusion, 
 he mentions that he had taken an active part in securing the 
 return of " two good and staunch men " for the county of 
 Kent, and his services on that occasion were acknowledged 
 by Mr. George Eose in the name of Mr. Pitt. 
 
 In the early part of 1797 Sir James Burges was sufficiently 
 * Ante, pp. 135-141.
 
 1795.] THE KINO'S KNIGHT MARSHAL. 301 
 
 at ease in mind and body to be able to trouble himself about 
 " the nice conduct " of his Marshal's baton. The Lord 
 Chamberlain being unable to give him any information, he 
 asked Lord Wentworth, the brother of his first wife, to lay 
 the matter before the King, and solicit His Majesty's decision. 
 The result is told in the following letter to his sister, dated 
 the 13th of April, 1797 : 
 
 My predecessors, Marshals of the King's Household have, 
 for above a hundred years past not only neglected the duties 
 of their office, but given up all the honours and privileges 
 annexed to it. Among the latter was that of their rank and 
 dignity at St. James's, where the Marshal is a great man, and 
 has the right of bearing his baton whenever he conies into 
 the King's presence. As I always make it a rule to assert 
 the rights of whatever place 1 hold, I have done so in this 
 instance. I accordingly stated my pretensions to the King, 
 who pronounced them to be well founded, and desired that I 
 would always bear my baton when I came to Court. In 
 consequence of this, I attended at the levee yesterday with 
 my badge of authority in my hand, to the great surprise and 
 admiration of all persons present. 
 
 At the marriage of the Princess Eoyal with the Hereditary 
 Prince of Wurtemberg- Stuttgart, Sir James Burges had 
 the honour of marching in the procession, immediately after 
 the drums and trumpets, and in front of the pursuivants and 
 heralds. His feelings as a poet, however, were apparently 
 more flattered by an application made to him by the Queen 
 to devise " a surprise " for the royal party at a fete about to 
 be given in honour of the newly married couple at Frogmore, 
 traditionally the house inhabited by Mrs. Page, the Merry 
 Wife of Windsor. Upon that hint he wrote an address to be 
 delivered by Mrs. Maddocks in the character and costume of 
 Mrs. Page. The trifle was well received, but hardly merits 
 being handed down to posterity. About this time Sir James 
 Burges seems to have joined the noble army of volunteers,
 
 302 INTERVIEW WITH THE KINO. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 about which more will be said hereafter. In the meantime 
 room must be found for a long letter to Lady Burges, dated 
 from Dartmouth Street, the 18th of December, 1797, in 
 which he describes a curious conversation with which he 
 was honoured by the King: 
 
 After breakfast this morning I went as usual to the King's 
 Riding House, where I exercised my royal horse Solide, and 
 afterwards rode him out on the Pimlico Eoad, in order to 
 ascertain how he went among carriages. He did perfectly 
 well. Having brought him back into the Eiding House, 
 I had just dismounted, when the further door opened, and 
 the King came in. He told me that he had heard of my 
 being there, and was come to know how I went on, and 
 whether every thing was as 1 wished it. You may easily 
 imagine my answer. He then laughed a good deal about the 
 Lord Mayor's horsemanship, which he seemed to hold very 
 cheap. I told him I had heard that he rode well and was 
 fond of hunting, which he said he was glad to hear. He told 
 me what alterations had been made at St. Paul's,* and what 
 arrangements had taken place for piqueting fifty light horse 
 in the Pimlico Eiding House and seventy in that at the Mews. 
 After much conversation, he said he was going to look at his 
 horses, and asked me whether I liked to go with him. We 
 accordingly surveyed both stables, and when we had done, he 
 took me by the arm, and said he wanted to speak to me. 
 We accordingly returned alone to the Eiding House. When 
 we got there, " Pray," said he, " can you tell me whether the 
 Duke of Leeds will attend at St. Paul's to-morrow." I 
 answered that I could not. " Why," said he, " my reason for\ 
 asking is this. On the last occasion, when he was Secretary 
 
 * " As a public demonstration of gratitude to Almighty God for the 
 successes at sea which enabled this country so effectually to withstand the 
 overgrown power of France on the Continent, the King and Queen, the 
 royal family, the great officers of state, the two Houses of Parliament, and 
 the eminent commanders in the British service, formed a solemn procession 
 to the Cathedral of St. Paul, where a service of commemoration and 
 thanksgiving was performed (December 19th, 1797). The ceremony pro- 
 duced a strong and desirable effect on the people, though some misguided 
 or hired vagrants disgraced the scene by insulting Mr. Pitt." ' Adolphus's 
 History of England,' vol. vi. p. (573.
 
 1795.] THE DUKE OF LEED'S PINCUSHION. 303 
 
 of State, he thought proper to take offence at the Peers not 
 being robed, in consequence of which he not only did not 
 attend, but was seen in the window of a house in St. Paul's 
 Churchyard, as a spectator. Now this was so strange, that I 
 have a curiosity to know what he means to do now. But he 
 is so strange a man, that one can never tell. I hope, however, 
 that you and he continue on a good footing." " Sir," said I, 
 " we are on as good a footing as we probably shall ever be ; 
 that is to say, the Duke grew sorry for our quarrel, and made 
 an overture of reconciliation : we shook hands, and are very 
 civil when we meet." " That," said the King, " is a good 
 description of the matter, and is quite enough, considering all 
 that has passed, more especially as you never was informed 
 why he quarrelled with you. I suppose you still are un-y 
 acquainted with it." On my answering in the affirmative, he 
 said, " But, though he never told you, I take it for granted 
 you guess at it." " Sir," said I, " I never could attribute it to 
 anything but the misrepresentation of persons about him, who 
 conceived that their own interest might be advanced by 
 bringing about a quarrel between us." " I think " said he, 
 "that is by no means improbable, though perhaps there 
 might yet be another cause which I will tell you immediately. 
 But what you say is a thing which I have lamented on other 
 occasions besides this. Almost all our young men of fashion 
 have been spoiled by the same thing by having a parcel of 
 dirty low toad-eaters about them, who poison their minds. 
 That man Jackson, who died t'other day, was a terrible 
 fellow, and his other toad-eater, the Pincushion, is just as 
 bad." Observing that I looked surprised at this phrase, he' 
 laughed and said, " What ! did you never hear this name given 
 to Glover ? " I told him I had not. " Then," said he, " I'll 
 tell you how it happened. Some people were talking a little 
 while ago with the Archbishop of York about the Duke of 
 Leeds and his toad-eaters, and one of them, forgetting Glover's 
 name, mentioned him as the little fat man whom the Duke 
 had brought into the House. ' Oh,' said the Archbishop , 
 ' you mean the Pincushion.' ' The Pincushion, my Lord ? \ 
 replied the man. ' Yes,' said the Archbishop, ' don't you 
 know that the Duke carries him about in his pocket, to stick 
 his pins in when he does not know where else to stick them ? ' 
 Is not this a good story ? " I said no more than the truth 
 when I agreed with His Majesty, and we laughed a good deal 
 about it. " But," said he, " I told you that I thought there
 
 304 THE REASON WHY. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 was another cause for your quarrel. Cannot you guess at it ? " 
 " Sir," said I, " I know of nothing, unless it be that the Duke 
 was spoiled by the toad-eaters whom your Majesty mentioned, 
 and that he could not digest the truths which I thought it 
 my duty sometimes to tell him." " You have just hit upon 
 it," said the King ; " I have had reason to believe that was 
 the case ; for I know you always acted honourably and 
 handsomely towards him ; you resigned when he resigned ; 
 and you afterwards remained in the office solely in compli- 
 ance with his request. All this I know from Mr. Pitt and 
 Lord Grenville, who, I assure you, have always done you 
 justice, particularly in this affair. Lord Grenville told me of 
 the strange letter which the Duke sent him about you, and of 
 his own excellent answer to it ; so that I knew everything." 
 " Sir," said I, " I have no other ambition or concern than to 
 stand well in your Majesty's opinion, and your assurance of 
 that makes me truly happy." " Yes, indeed," replied he, " I 
 have every reason to be so, and I am glad I have had this 
 opportunity of conversing with you, as it has enabled me to 
 repeat what I have before told you. Now I must go back, as 
 I have a good many things to do ; so good morning." With 
 this we parted. 
 
 It is now five, and I must seal my letter. So with every 
 kind and affectionate wish for yourself and our dear children, 
 and with your sister's thanks for your fowls, I remain, 
 
 My dear Anne, most truly yours, 
 
 J. B. BUEGES.
 
 1798.] ( 305 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 Death of Mr. John Lamb The Knight Marshal's Volunteers " Richard 
 Coeur de Lion '' Compliments Letter from Wordsworth Richard 
 Cumberland on Sir James Surges 'The Exodiad ' 'The Dragon 
 Knight ' Dramas Minor Pieces William Cobbett Kindly Deeds 
 The Rt. Hon. J. W. Croker on Vanities Letter from Mr. George 
 Chalmers The Somerville Family ' Marmion ' The Francis 
 Burdett Riots Death of Lady Bnrges Reminiscences of Pitt 
 Death of Richard Cumberland Heroic Death of Wentworth Barges 
 The Rt. Hon. J. W. Croker in Quest of " Junius" Anecdote of Lord 
 Wellington His Solicitude for his Sick Soldiers. 
 
 THE death of his valued friend Mr. John Lamb on the 20th of 
 February, 1798, was, from a pecuniary point of view, very 
 advantageous to the family of Sir James Burges, who\ 
 eventually came into possession of his handsome fortune. 
 When that consummation came to pass the name of Burges 
 was absorbed in that of Lamb. It is a transformation of 
 frequent occurrence, and probably few persons would refuse to 
 adopt almost any name if amply compensated by lands and 
 riches. That was the case with Sir James Burges, though it 
 may still be imagined that he regretted his severance from an 
 honourable stock to be grafted upon one not less worthy of 
 honour, but which did not stand so well with the world. 
 He had to turn his back, as it were, upon the self-reliant 
 Flemish burgher who bravely left his fatherland to seek a 
 home among strangers. He had to disconnect himself with 
 the stout Cavalier who defended Farnborough against 
 Cromwell himself with equal resolution and success. He 
 
 x
 
 306 A VOLUNTEER CAPTAIN. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 had to break away from his own father, a man of rare in- 
 telligence, capacity, and honour. He had even to draw a line 
 through his own respectable and prosperous career, separating 
 the labours and anxieties of Mr. James Bland Burges from 
 the dignified repose and lotus-eating leisure of Sir James 
 Lamb. That last avatar, however, has not yet been reached. 
 For the present he is still a Burges, though, as he explains to 
 his sister in a letter dated the 4th of May, 1798, he had just 
 assumed a new character. 
 
 After having borne various characters on the worldly stage, 
 you will not perhaps be surprised to hear that I have taken 
 up a new one, and that I have the honour to be a captain of 
 Light Infantry and commander of a corps. Being at the 
 head of a department in the King's household, I made a 
 proposal of raising a body of volunteers for his service, to 
 march, in case of necessity, to any part of the country. My 
 advertisements were published only last Monday, and I can 
 already boast of fifty as fine men as any regiment can 
 produce, many of them gentlemen, the others substantial 
 tradesmen and householders, and all of them bold, loyal 
 fellows. I have little doubt of doubling my numbers before 
 ten days are over. The King has accepted our services in 
 the most flattering manner, and has given me the command 
 of the corps and the nomination of the officers. You will 
 perhaps be surprised, that, though the King has accepted of 
 this offer, as made by one department of his household, not 
 one of those who compose it has as yet offered his services. 
 My whole corps hitherto consists of those whom my own 
 personal interest has brought together. So much for courtly 
 attachment and courtly loyalty. I ought perhaps to add, 
 that I raise this body entirely at my own expense. 
 
 During his residence at Tunbridge Wells, Sir James 
 Burges had become intimately acquainted with Eichard 
 Cumberland, the dramatist, and throughout the year 1798 a 
 brisk correspondence went on between the two, with reference 
 to Sir James's ambitious poem entitled ' Richard Coeur de 
 Lion,' with which this partial critic declared himself delighted.
 
 1798.] "RICHARD C(EUR DE LION." 307 
 
 It is divided into eighteen books, and appeared in two, 
 volumes. In Todd's preliminary essay to his edition of the 
 Works of Edmund Spenser, a slight allusion is made to 
 ' Eichard the First ; ' and it is really all that could be said at 
 the present day : " In this interesting poem the versification 
 of Spenser is very successfully imitated." A great effort is\ 
 needed to read from beginning to end, for the cadence is 
 drowsily monotonous, there is no imagery worth mentioning, 
 and the general tone is forced and bombastic. Arthur's sword 
 Excalibur is supposed to have been discovered at Glastonbury 
 shortly after Richard's return to his dominions, and is brought 
 to him with much religious pomp, but as, after all, he has 
 occasion only to use it against his rebellious vassals in 
 Normandy, it was hardly worth while to rub off its rust for 
 so slight a purpose. The author's contemporaries, however, 
 thought well of his work. It was favourably reviewed by 
 the leaders of public opinion, while the proprietors of the 
 Monthly Mirror expressed the pleasure it would give them 
 to " insert an extended article on the subject of your splendid 
 epic " apparently expecting that it would be sent to them 
 and asked for " the loan of a large painting or miniature of 
 yourself to be engraved for their work." "They flatter 
 themselves," Mr. Thomas Hill writes from Henrietta Street, 
 Covent Garden, " the popularity of the Monthly Mirror is 
 not unknown to you, and they would confidently assure you 
 that all communications with them are considered inviol- 
 able." Princess Elizabeth was, of course, much pleased with 
 this greater effort on the part of her Paladin, nor were the 
 ladies of the Court behindhand in expressing their admira- 
 tion. Even Wordsworth had much to say in commendation, 
 as appears from the following letter, and possibly the poem 
 might be placed not much below Southey's ' Madoc,' or his 
 ' Roderick, the last of the Goths' : 
 
 x 2
 
 308 LETTER FROM WORDSWORTH. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 William Wordsworth to Sir J. B. Purges. 
 
 Grasmere, Westmoreland, January 14th, 1801. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 I entreat the honour of your acceptance of the accompany- 
 ing volumes, as an acknowledgment of the pleasure which I 
 have received from your poem. You will permit me to 
 mention, as an excuse of the liberty which I thus take, that I 
 had observed in your poetry, independent of its other merits, 
 a pure and unmixed vein of native English, which induced 
 me to hope that a series of poems written in the spirit of 
 dislike to that diction which proceeds from the individual, 
 not the community, would possess some claim to your 
 attention. The habit of considering the language of our \ 
 country as a servant and not as a master, has infected with 
 few exceptions almost all our writers, both in prose and verse, 
 since the death of Dryden, and has, I think, co-operated with 
 other causes in some measure to injure the simplicity of our 
 national character and to weaken our reverence for our 
 ancient institutions and religious offices. Those prepos- 
 sessions, therefore, which the knowledge of a wise purpose 
 gains in favour of the execution, I rely on from your kind- 
 ness, and have the honour, 
 
 Sir, to remain, 
 
 Your obedient, humble servant, 
 
 WILLIAM- WORDSWORTH. 
 
 Eichard Cumberland had a very high opinion of Sir James 
 Burges, and had intended to have entrusted the publication 
 of his ' Memoirs ' to his care conjointly with Samuel Rogers 
 and a Mr. Richard Sharpe, of Mark Lane, had he not been 
 persuaded by the last-named gentleman to bring them out 
 in his own lifetime. Of Sir James Burges he wrote, "he 
 had, with the candour which is natural to an enlightened 
 mind, generously engaged to take his share in selecting and 
 arranging the miscellaneous farrago that will be found in my 
 drawers after my body has been committed to the earth."
 
 1801.] DEAMATIC PRODUCTIONS. 309 
 
 The heroic poem of ' Richard the First ' [he remarks] 
 is truly a very extraordinary work. I am a witness to the 
 extreme rapidity with which my friend the author wrote it. 
 It far exceeded the supposed rate at which Pope translated 
 Homer, which, being at fifty lines per day, Samuel Johnson 
 hesitated to give credit to. ... Perhaps the public at large 
 have not yet formed a proper estimate of the real merit of 
 this heroic poem. ... In the meantime, it gives me great 
 satisfaction to know that the author of ' Richard ' has since 
 paid loyal service to the dramatic Muse, and when a mind so 
 prompt in execution, and so fully stored with the knowledge 
 both of men and books, shall address its labours to the stage, 
 I should be loath to doubt but that the time will come when 
 classic writing shall expel grimace.* 
 
 Mr. Cumberland \vas not a true prophet. As a playwright 
 Sir James Burges failed to make his mark. Only two of 
 his pieces were put upon the boards. One of them, ' Riches,' 
 was an avowed adaptation of Massinger's ' City Madam/ 
 while the other, entitled ' Tricks upon Travellers,' was not at 
 all improved by the introduction of some trivial songs to 
 give it the air of a comic opera, as Mr. Arnold was restricted 
 from producing anything but opera during his tenancy of the 
 Lyceum Theatre. These two pieces were subsequently pub- 
 lished together with six others, not actually inferior, but 
 which, for one reason or another, were rejected by the stage 
 managers of the day. The latter were 'The Knight of 
 Rhodes,' ' The Advertisement,' ' The Bandit,' ' Cortez,' ' The 
 Storm ' the scene of which is laid in Andalusia and ' The 
 Crusaders,' a genuine comedy depicting German life at a 
 somewhat distant date. Richard Cumberland justifies at 
 some length his partiality for his new-found friend : 
 
 Whilst Sir James Bland Burges inhabited the next house 
 to mine at Tunbridge Wells, I had ever an intimate and 
 kind friend to resort to ! He has always been a studious man, 
 
 * ' Memoirs of Richard Cumberland,' vol. ii. pp. 234-235.
 
 310 RICHARD CUMBERLAND'S OPINION. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 and his knowledge is very various ; few men have read to 
 better purpose, and fewer still can boast a more retentive 
 memory, or a happier faculty of narrating what they re- 
 member. The early part of his education he received in 
 Scotland, and completed it at Westminster School under 
 Dr. Smith ; at the University of Oxford he was the pupil of 
 Sir William Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell), an opportunity 
 that he has greatly benefited by, and an honour that he is 
 justly proud of. Upon his leaving Oxford he resided in the 
 Temple, and devoted himself to the study of the law ; since 
 then he has served in Parliament and filled an active and 
 efficient post in a public office. From both these duties he 
 is now released, and with a mind at leisure to pursue its 
 natural bent, has commenced his literary career by devoting 
 those talents to which his country has no longer any counter- 
 claim, to the more tranquil service of the Muse. Eeading 
 has stored the mind of my friend with such a plenitude of 
 matter, and nature has given him such a facility of ex- 
 pression, that his rapidity has hitherto been so great as 
 hardly to allow fair leisure to his judgment to exert itself. 
 The world, therefore, that has only seen his ' Richard Coeur 
 de Lion ' (and in my humble opinion not yet sufficiently 
 estimated the real merit of that extraordinary poem) has 
 better things to expect from him when his genius shall 
 begin to feel the rein, and practice shall make him sensible 
 that there is a labour as well as a luxury in composition. 
 He is now concerned with a long and arduous work, too 
 weighty to be moved by slight exertions, and too excursive 
 to be circumscribed by rhyme. He must no longer now 
 caparison his muse as a Spaniard does his mule, and make 
 her frisk along the road to the eternal jingle of her own bells. 
 He has in the meanwhile written some dramas, and if in 
 these he has not exactly struck out what the times are 
 pleased with, it is more than probable he might have struck 
 out something not so good and pleased them better.* 
 
 The allusion to the weighty work refers to ' The Exodiad,' 
 a poem sketched by Sir James Burges, and at which the two 
 friends laboured with equal industry and equal futility. 
 Cumberland explains in his ' Memoirs ' how this idea of 
 
 * ' Memoirs of Richard Cumberland,' vol. ii. pp. 361-362.
 
 1801.] " THE EXODIAD." 311 
 
 collaboration originated. Although he had just lost 100 
 by his poem on ' Calvary,' he was casting about in his mind 
 for a fresh subject to be taken from the Old Testament, when 
 Sir James Burges suggested a history of Moses, from the 
 flight from Egypt to his death on Mount Horeb. 
 
 This he did not propose in a crude and undigested state, 
 but imparted to me a plan deliberately and minutely 
 methodised and apportioned into books, ten in number, with 
 the argument of each correctly drawn up ; a work of much 
 labour and considerable research. When I had taken this 
 plan into consideration I found that he had not only traced 
 out the journal of the sacred historian with the most exact 
 fidelity, but had availed himself of maps and books till then 
 unknown to me, and which seemed to leave little to the pen 
 that followed, except the task of filling up the outline he 
 had laid down. . . . My friend, who had taken to himself the 
 whole labour of the plan, consented also to share that of the 
 execution, and we divided our portions accordingly. Though 
 we have each been drawn off to other studies, yet we have 
 advanced considerably in the joint work, and I purpose with 
 the concurrence of my worthy colleague to submit the first 
 and second books to the public very shortly, and so to 
 publish part by part, if life and health permit, till the whole 
 shall be completed. We entitle it ' The Exodiad.'* 
 
 The enterprise proved a failure. The idea was not 
 felicitous, and the public showed that it cared for none of 
 those things treated in that manner. The warm friendship 
 that had so quickly sprung up between Sir James Burges 
 and Eichard Cumberland must have surprised such of their 
 common friends as recognised their similarity of temper and 
 disposition. They were alike hot-tempered, painfully self-\ 
 conscious, extremely vain, and impulsive to a degree that 
 marred their judgment, besides being poets not of the highest 
 order, and members of the same convivial club. The name 
 of the club is nowhere given. One correspondent calls it the 
 
 * ' Memoirs of Richard Cumberland,' vol. ii. pp. 377-378.
 
 312 AN UNKNOWN CLUB. [CHAP. XXL 
 
 " Convivium Poeticum ; " Cumberland himself refers to it as 
 the "Porcine Club," but it seems to have been merely a 
 literary gathering at the Thatched House in St. James's Street, 
 the festal day being Wednesday, though it is not stated whether 
 the meetings were held weekly or monthly. Mr. Timbs 
 mentions several convivial clubs whose headquarters were at 
 the Thatched House, such as Johnson's Club, the Dilettanti 
 Society, the Literary Society, the Catch Club to which Sir 
 James Burges certainly belonged at one time. In the ' Corn- 
 wallis Correspondence ' reference is made to the " Wednesday 
 Club," which originally dined somewhere in Dover Street, 
 but afterwards removed to the Thatched House, where it 
 met for the last time in 1820. There was, indeed, no lack of 
 literary, artistic, and scientific clubs, of which the principal 
 characteristics were a good dinner and a pleasant talk, but 
 there is nothing to show to which of them Sir James Burges 
 and Mr. Cumberland both belonged nor is it a matter of 
 much importance. It is not impossible, however, that the 
 club mentioned by these correspondents may have been 
 "The Club," frequented by Johnson, Goldsmith, Burke, 
 Canning, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir James Mackintosh, 
 Marsden, and a host of minor celebrities. It came to be 
 called the Literary Club after the publication of Boswell's 
 wonderful Biography, in which he applied that epithet. 
 
 The literary labours of the accomplished baronet may here 
 be disposed of. His first appearance in print took place 
 in 1783, when he published a treatise on ' The Law of 
 Insolvency, with a Proposal for a Eeform,' to which his 
 correspondents frequently refer. Many years afterwards 
 applications were made to him for copies from various parts 
 of the country, on the ground that it was not easily pro- 
 curable at the booksellers'. In 1788 he produced a 
 humorous squib entitled 'An Heroic Epistle from Serjeant
 
 1801.] " THE DRAGON KNIGHT." 313 
 
 Bradshaw in the Shades to John Dunning, Esq.' During 
 his tenure of the post of Under Secretary of State Mr. Burges 
 as he then was called contributed frequently to the 
 World and Sun newspapers, and in 1792 he collected a 
 considerable number of letters bearing the signature of 
 " Alfred," that had first seen the light in the latter journal. 
 ' The Birth and Triumph of Love : a Poem ' was given to the 
 public in 1796, followed by ' Richard the First ' in 1801. 
 His play of ' Riches ' came out in 1810, and shortly after- 
 wards his pseudo-comic opera, ' Tricks upon Travellers.' 
 His collected dramas are of a later date. On New Year's 
 Day, 1818, Sir James Burges dedicated to the Countess of 
 Charleville a poem in twelve cantos, bearing the title of 
 ' The Dragon Knight/ He himself describes it as a romance, 
 which it is, but he also speaks of its " dramatic analogy," as 
 an excuse for giving a list of the dramatis persona. The act 
 needed no excuse, but the poem is only dramatic in the 
 sense of being full of action. It is not pleasant reading, 
 being full of villainies, with too much of murder and sudden 
 death. The style is, moreover, stilted and bombastic, while 
 the personages include the Kings of Mseonia, Caria, Mysia, 
 and Bithynia. There are Phrygian and Pisidian knights and 
 pirates of Arcadia (perhaps intended for Acarnania). The 
 scene is laid in the tenth century, and the names are classic 
 Greek. In the following year, apparently to oblige his 
 eccentric friend, Mr. John Bellamy, Sir James Burges wrote 
 an ingenious little book, purporting to contain ' Reasons in 
 Favour of a New Translation of the Holy Scriptures.' It is 
 a work creditable to his industry and power of assimilating 
 what he read, but it is rather ingenious than solid, and 
 rather sophistical than satisfactory. Sir James Burges was 
 also passionately fond of music, a performer on several 
 instruments, and a composer in a somewhat severely classical
 
 314 WILLIAM COBBETT. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 style. Among his lighter efforts he set to appropriate music 
 Collins's Ode to the Passions, and Horace's 25th Ode of the 
 First Book. 
 
 In the early part of May his Philadelphian correspondent, 
 Mr. Thornton, besought his good offices on behalf of William 
 Cobbett, already well known as Peter Porcupine, and who had 
 rendered himself extremely unpopular in the United States by 
 his rabid attacks on American institutions, and by his per- 
 sistent abuse of Franklin, Priestley, Paine, and others who were 
 at that time reverenced by the democrats of all countries. 
 After seven years spent in America he returned to London, 
 and opening a bookseller's shop at the West End, he started 
 a daily journal with the title of the Porcupine. It did not, 
 however, prove a paying speculation, his capital being too 
 small to enable him to offer an adequate remuneration for 
 articles of sterling merit. Mr. Pitt very early took a dislike 
 to the man, which he was at no pains to conceal, but 
 Mr. Windham adhered to him notwithstanding his scurrility 
 and coarseness of invective, and even Mr. Hammond rendered 
 him some assistance. It seems, however, that Sir James 
 Surges and his friends wisely stood aloof, and declined to be 
 mixed up with a writer of that stamp, whose character is 
 succinctly summed up by Adolphus as " void of truth, 
 patriotism, consistency, honour, or gratitude." He did not, 
 however, withhold his aid from those who deserved sympathy 
 and support. It was chiefly through his influence that 20\ 
 were contributed from the Literary Fund to relieve the 
 immediate necessities of the widow of Robert Burns, and an 
 additional five guineas to Dr. Thompson, the translator of 
 Suetonius. 
 
 On the principle that good wine needs no bush, a letter 
 from the Eight Hon. John Wilson Croker may be inserted 
 without further illustration. It is dated April 17th, 1805 :
 
 1805.] J. W. CROKER ON VANITIES. 315 
 
 MY DEAR SIR JAMES, 
 
 How did you escape the installation ? You must have 
 had the good fortune of being forgotten, or the King, who has 
 set his whole heart on having this show perfectly splendid, 
 and punctiliously attended, who has even insisted on Lord 
 Hardwicke [the Viceroy] coming from Ireland to play monkey 
 tricks in St. George's Chapel, would hardly have omitted to 
 require the presence of his Knight Marshal. However it 
 has happened, I congratulate you on having escaped those 
 costly and wearisome fooleries. When we hear of one feather 
 for a great man's cap costing 500, how can we help thinking 
 of "the brain of feathers and the heart of lead," that can 
 find enjoyment in such a silly, momentary, and prodigal 
 pleasure, and that too when salt is taxed, and the nation is 
 reduced to the alternative of giving up the comforts and 
 some of the necessaries of life to taxation, or of losing all by 
 invasion. Ma foi, on se moque du monde. Do, for God's sake, 
 take your red book, and read over the names of those pious, 
 puissant, and valiant knights, those preux chevaliers, those 
 champions and honour of their country and their faith, for 
 whom all these sums and ceremonies are to be lavished 
 and endured. The generous Buckingham, the gallant North- 
 umberland, Portland the loyal and steady, the dignified 
 Westmoreland, Camden active and acute, the heroic Hard- 
 wicke, Eutland the sage, with the mighty Devonshire and the 
 stern Salisbury, two thunderbolts of war, to say nothing of 
 twenty-two other heroes of equal talents, honour, and renown. 
 
 But what am I about, writing an epic in prose ? I beg 
 your pardon, and shall have done. 
 
 Make my compliments to Lady Burges and the young 
 ladies in the kindest terms in which they will condescend to 
 receive them, and believe, my dear sir, that there is at least 
 one man in the world who can entirely envy you, without 
 any diminution of the regard, with which he is your most 
 truly obliged, 
 
 JOHN WILSON CROKER. 
 
 From, George Chalmers, Esq. 
 
 Office for Trade, Whitehall, March 2nd, 1807. 
 MY DEAR SlK, 
 
 Your very obliging letter of the 27th ult. found me on
 
 316 CHALMERS " CALEDONIA." [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 Saturday busily engaged in writing an elaborate, erudite, 
 profound history of the King's Agency at Turk's Island, for 
 the enlightenment of Sir George Shea. 
 
 With all my accomplishments for so difficult a task, I feel 
 myself quite unable to thank you sufficiently for so many 
 kindnesses as your letter conveys. What my worthy friend 
 Colonel Dunlop told you is perfectly true. I have so far 
 proceeded in my ' Caledonia/ a work analogous to Camden's 
 'Britannia/ that I have actually printed the first volume, 
 a huge quarto of nine hundred pages ; and I only wait for a 
 map, which is almost finished, to give the whole to the 
 censorious world. 
 
 In this volume there is a chapter on the Saxon colonisation 
 of Scotland, by the fathers of the principal families in that 
 country. In this I say and show that the Somervilles form 
 one of the most ancient of the oldest families in Scotland, 
 I mean of those who can be traced in record. Yet should I 
 be happy to see your MS. history of that pristine family. 
 
 I would give the world for a copy of your father's account 
 of Scotland in 1747.* I have in my printed, but unpublished, 
 volume published a letter from General Bland to the Secre- 
 tary of State, complaining of his letters being opened at the 
 Edinburgh Post Office by the agent of the Duke of Argyle. 
 
 Happy shall I be to see ' The Exodiad.' This is a subject 
 for two such poets as the authors of it. But what are they 
 to Walter Scott, the Minstrel of the Borders ! He is bringing 
 out a poem on ' Flodden Field/ for which the booksellers of 
 Edinburgh are to pay him 1000. This it is to write for 
 women and children. 
 
 From William Cruchley, Esq., to Sir J. B. Surges, Bart. 
 John Street, Bedford Eow, April 9th, 1810. 
 
 MY DEAK SIR JAMES, 
 
 I am grieved to relate to you the perilous situation of the 
 metropolis. We are now on duty and have been since 
 Saturday. We mount guard in Gray's Inn Hall. The Duke 
 of Sussex with the North Britons are under our command. 
 He staid with us until past four this morning, and at five we 
 meet again. The Benchers, much to their honour, have given 
 us, with other accommodation, their own sitting-room, the 
 
 * Aide, p. 3.
 
 1810.] THE BUEDETT RIOTS. 317 
 
 command of their wine-cellar, &c., so that you will perceive 
 our quarters are not very bad. 
 
 Sir Francis Burdett* is now in the Tower. This has not 
 been accomplished without bloodshed some lives have fallen 
 a sacrifice to the fury of the insulted and enraged soldiery. 
 Several persons have been killed and wounded this morning 
 in the City. Last night the House of Lords was discovered 
 to be on fire, but providentially in time to extinguish it 
 without much damage. Your Marshalmen are ordered to 
 attend the House of Lords at two. John Cruchley is gone. All 
 the armed force in the metropolis, which is now immense, is 
 under arms. The members of both Houses of Parliament 
 are expected to be attacked on their way to it. In Blooms- 
 bury Square four field pieces and two droops of horse parade 
 round it, and although the poor fellows were exposed without 
 shelter to the rain, almost exhausted with fatigue, being 
 without refreshment, not one of the inhabitants had the 
 humanity to afford either the one or the other ; but on my 
 suggestion Henry Fry tendered his house and cold beef to the 
 officers, and most grateful they were for this mark of 
 attention, which in point of policy was well bestowed upon 
 them. His house and family will be sure to find early pro- 
 tection. Thus are we, my dear Sir James, situated ; and 
 when I reflect upon my present situation and contrast it 
 with the happy and honourable one I held under you, I 
 confess I do not feel as I could wish on the occasion ; and 
 more particularly, when I know the undisciplined set with 
 whom honour now obliges me to act, I am not without my 
 fears. I am confident hundreds, nay possibly thousands, of 
 stands of arms will be found in the hands of the rabble if 
 they have a mind to use them, and this from abandoning 
 that plan of an armoury and depot, with the value and 
 utility of which you and I are so well acquainted. However, 
 here we are, and we must make the best of it, therefore adieu. 
 
 * Sir Francis Burdett was committed to the Tower by the Speaker, for 
 breach of privilege. He foolishly resisted, and consequently the police 
 broke into his house, and, supported by a military force, carried him off 
 to the Tower. He was set free on the prorogation of Parliament, but had 
 the discretion to return home by water in order to avoid any more street 
 demonstrations of mob sovereignty. At a later period he abandoned his 
 Radical principles.
 
 318 DEATH OF LADY BUBOES. [CHAP. XXI, 
 
 The drum beats ; I. have only time to add assurances of my 
 being 
 
 Ever most faithfully and affectionately yours, 
 
 WM. CRUCHLEY. 
 
 To Charles Purges, from Ms Cousin, announcing the death of 
 Lady Surges. 
 
 Bean port, October 19th, 1810. 
 
 MY DEAR CHARLES, 
 
 I am very sorry to tell you that it is all over and that 
 your dear mother died on Wednesday morning. Wentworth* 
 arrived on Tuesday evening ; and the last intelligible words 
 she said were, " Thank God for it ! " They are all as well as 
 you can expect them to be after such a loss. 
 
 Ever yours affectionately, 
 MARY AMELIA HEAD. 
 
 From Sir James Bland Purges, Bart., to the Eight Hon. 
 J. W. Croker. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Beauport, November 27th, 1810. 
 
 MY DEAR CROKER, 
 
 n obedience to your and Barrows's command, I have since 
 my return to this place read with great attention the critique 
 on Gifford's ' Life of Mr. Pitt.'t As to Gifford's work, it seems 
 to be what I supposed it would be ; but, like Falstaff, 
 though it has little wit of its own, it has been the cause of 
 wit in another, and I hope may eventually prove the origin 
 of a work, which may do credit not only to the great man of 
 whom it will treat, but to our age and country. A detailed 
 life of Mr. Pitt, combining his public and private transactions, 
 written in the style of this critique, would be the most 
 
 * Wentworth Noel Burges, killed at the siege of Burgos in 1812. 
 
 t The Gifford who attempted Mr. Pitt's life must not be confounded 
 with William Gifford, critic and satirist, author of ' The Baviad,' and first 
 editor of the ' Quarterly Review.' The life of Pitt has yet to be written. 
 Bishop Tomline's Life is a thing of shreds and patches. Gifford's work is 
 unreadable, while Lord Stanhope's more ambitious labours are marred by 
 the partialities and prejudices of kinship.
 
 1810.] REMINISCENCES OF PITT. 319 
 
 valuable present which a man of talents could make to his 
 country; and, from the specimen now before me, I am 
 satisfied that the writer of it is the only man living who can 
 execute such a work. I am at no loss to guess who this 
 writer is. Aid Erasmus aut Diabolus. Perfect knowledge 
 of Mr. Pitt's way of thinking, intimate acquaintance with his 
 domestic and companionable manners, confidential commu- 
 nications of his public plans and political principles all 
 these, and indeed any of these, carry with them a proof that 
 my conjecture is well founded, and add force to my wish 
 that the gentleman in question may dedicate some portion of 
 his leisure to the collecting of the amplest materials for the 
 life of him, who, if any man ever truly merited such a 
 character, was at once the honour of his country, and the 
 object of the warmest affection of all those who were distin- 
 guished by his private intimacy. Unfortunately very few of 
 the latter possessed the talent of reading his character, or of 
 appreciating the wonderful stretch of mind, which might be 
 traced even in his familiar conversation. They lived with him 
 as we live with the sun, basking in his beams, enlivened by 
 his rays and profiting by his warmth, without troubling 
 themselves about his nature, and indeed making their hay 
 while he shone, and as ready as the rest of the world to 
 think no more about him when he finally set. I have often 
 been surprised at the little effect which such a luminary had 
 on those gentlemen, while my own mind was filled with 
 admiration and astonishment. For about three or four years 
 of my life, I had the honour of living with him in very con- 
 fidential intimacy. I knew him originally in 1780, when we 
 were young men together in Lincoln's Inn, and I well 
 recollect the involuntary respect which I felt for the abilities 
 which even then were too evident not to be distinguished 
 beyond those of any other in the same society. When he 
 came into office in 1783 he admitted me into his private 
 confidence ; and though my absence from London, for two 
 years afterwards, prevented me from profiting by similar 
 opportunities, they were renewed when I came into Parlia,- 
 ment in January, 1787, and multiplied when I became Under 
 Secretary in 1789. From that period, till about the end of 
 1792, I enjoyed the most confidential intimacy with him, 
 which I presume to think might have subsisted much longer, 
 if it had not been for the kind offices of a certain great man\ 
 [Lord Grenville] who never could bear anything, however
 
 320 WANTED, A LIFE OF PITT. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 humble, to approach his own vortex of greatness, especially 
 when personally connected with him in office. But though 
 from that period, or rather from the middle of 1793, I ceased 
 to have that familiar private intercourse with Mr. Pitt which 
 I had formerly enjoyed, I flatter myself I never lost his 
 esteem, and I still had more opportunities, from my official 
 situation, than most persons possessed of becoming acquainted 
 with his views as a Minister, and indeed of communicating 
 with him as a man ; and this continued till towards the end 
 of 1795, when a hicky discovery of a projected manoeuvre of 
 the great man to whom I alluded above, enabled me to free 
 myself from official shackles, and to receive a very satisfactory 
 proof of Mr. Pitt's regard, greatly exceeding both my merits 
 and my expectations. Furnished as I was with much infor\ 
 mation respecting him, which hardly any one else could have 
 acquired, and with a strong recollection of many private as 
 well as public anecdotes, which perhaps no one else possessed, 
 it more than once occurred to me that I might employ to 
 good effect some portion of the quiet retirement which his 
 friendship had so greatly enabled me to enjoy, in tracing 
 them as memoir es pour servir a I'histoire, in order to enable some 
 future writer of our history more truly to appreciate the 
 character, talents, and virtues of him, who will, while England 
 lasts, be classed among her brightest ornaments. This 
 design I now for ever abandon. The perusal of the critique 
 has convinced me that its writer is the proper person to 
 undertake such a task. He has powers fully equal to the 
 great undertaking, and, presuming I am right in my guess at 
 his identity, he has had peculiarly advantageous opportunities 
 of investigating a character, which was too often seen through a 
 false medium, or, if through a right one, seen by those incapable 
 of forming an adequate judgment of it. You will do a great 
 public service, if you can prevail upon him to set about it, 
 at a time when there are many living from whom he may 
 obtain anecdotes and circumstances anterior to the period of 
 his own personal knowledge. Everything of that sort of 
 which I am in possession, or which I treasure in my recol- 
 lection, are at his disposal. They extend from the rise to the 
 zenith of Mr. Pitt's brilliant course. From that to his 
 setting, the writer of the critique probably knows more than 
 anyone. Should what I have said induce you to speak to 
 him on the subject, you may hint my suspicion of his being- 
 mistaken in what he says about the Treaty of Pilnitz. There
 
 1811.] DEATH OF R1CHAED CUMBERLAND. 321 
 
 certainly was such a treaty. I have had it in my hands, and 
 have now by me an abstract of its contents. 
 
 Adieu. I have been carried farther by this subject than I 
 proposed to go when I took up my pen. But, feeling as I 
 do, I use some violence with myself to stop even now. 
 
 Ever truly and faithfully yours, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 From Henry Fry, Esq. 
 
 Bedford Place, May 7th, 1811. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I trust you will not deem it a liberty I take in informing 
 you of the death of our poor friend Mr. Cumberland, who 
 died at my house this morning a quarter before 9 o* clock. 
 He was taken ill last Thursday week. The day before I never 
 knew him more cheerful or well. He was perfectly resigned 
 and died without a groan. He was sensible, but for the last 
 four or five days deprived of speech. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 
 Your very obedient, humble servant, 
 
 HENRY FRY. 
 
 Each year was now marked with a black stone. In 1810 
 Sir James Burges lost his wife, his best counsellor and truest 
 friend. In 1811 his greatly esteemed fellow-workman, 
 Eichard Cumberland, passed away. And in 1812 his son 
 Wentworth Noel, a brave, high-spirited youth, an ensign in 
 the Coldstream Guards, fell in the gallant discharge of his 
 duty in leading the forlorn hope at the fifth assault on the 
 Castle of Burgos. He had escaped unhurt from the terrible 
 struggle on the plain of Fuentes d'Onoro, though it was his 
 cousin George Head afterwards the well-known traveller 
 and author, Sir George Head who wrote to inform his father 
 of his safety, the poor lad, only twenty years of age, having 
 been on picket duty throughout the previous night, and con- 
 sequently worn out by the fatigue of that fierce fight. He 
 
 Y
 
 322 DEATH OF WENTWOBTH BRUGES. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 does not appear, indeed, to have been a good correspondent, 
 for the letters that describe the many moving incidents of 
 the campaign bear the signature of George Head, at that 
 time employed in the commissariat department with Lord 
 Wellington's army. At Burgos his young life ended glo- 
 riously. Sir George Greville wrote to Charles Surges, 
 afterwards Sir Charles Montolieu Lamb : 
 
 It was on the evening of the 18th [October] that a storm- 
 ing party was ordered from the brigade to storm the second 
 line of the Castle, the forlorn hope of which was led by your 
 brother. He effected a lodgment, but, while bravely cheering 
 his men on, fell with most of his party under one of the most 
 dreadful fires that has ever been witnessed. . . He most par- 
 ticularly distinguished himself, and every mouth is loud in all 
 his praise. 
 
 These few lines were confirmed by a letter received by Mrs. 
 Cruchley from her son, who wrote on the 31st of October from 
 the camp, on the banks of the Douro : 
 
 Poor Wentworth was nobly leading the forlorn hope con- 
 sisting of twenty men. He w r as the first to ascend the ladder 
 and scale the walls, when he received a ball in his body, 
 which brought him down. In this state he was seen most 
 heroically to cheer and animate his men, when on another 
 volley being fired from the enemy he fell and rose no more. 
 The return of the party was so rapid as not to admit of time 
 to bring off his body, but there was no doubt of its being 
 honourably interred by the enemy. 
 
 The Eight Hon. John Wilson Croker had a strong convic- 
 tion in favour of Lord George Sackville (afterwards Lord 
 George Germaine) being the author of the ' Letters of Junius/ 
 Under this impression he wrote to Sir James Burges on the 
 16th of December, 1812, asking for any information he might 
 be able to afford, especially as to certain points specified in 
 his letter. The idea was shared at the time with many other
 
 1812.] LORD GEORGE SACKVILLE. 323 
 
 critics, but has now passed beyond the domain of serious 
 discussion. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR JAMES, 
 
 Forgive me for troubling you with a few inquiries, which, 
 however, I know of no one else so likely to be able to 
 answer. 
 
 Lord George Sackville has been mentioned amongst those 
 supposed to have written ' Junius.' 
 
 Some strong circumstances have come to my knowledge to 
 confirm these suspicions. And / am led to believe that a 
 more accurate inquiry into Lord George's (while he was 
 Lord George) connexions and habits, would confirm the 
 already very strong evidence on this subject. I write to you 
 in perfect confidence, and beg that you will not allude to 
 the matter to any one. Did you know Lord Sackville ? 
 Were his talents equal to this work ? Who were his 
 principal associates between his dismissal in 1759 and his 
 return to the world in 1775 ? Did he reside principally at 
 Stonelands ? Where did he reside in London, and was he 
 much here ? Had he any personal cause of quarrel with the 
 Townsends ; I mean the late Marquis's family ? Had he any 
 ground of personal animosity to the present King ? 
 
 Had His Majesty in any way confirmed his grandfather's 
 proceedings subsequent upon the court-martial ? 
 
 I cannot put to you all the questions which I should be 
 particularly glad to have answered, but generally I request of 
 you to let me have all the information and opinion which 
 you have on the subject, and to be so kind as to direct me to 
 any sources of his history, particularly before the battle of 
 Minden. 
 
 Your old friend Cumberland, who lived a good deal with 
 Lord Sackville, does not appear to have suspected his 
 Lordship ; but I have really no doubt that a chain of evidence 
 may be produced which will satisfy all doubts on the subject. 
 
 Give Mrs. Croker's love and mine to all your girls, and 
 our compliments to Lady Margaret, and believe me to be, 
 
 My dear Sir James, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 J. W. CROKER. 
 Y 2
 
 324 ANECDOTE OF LOED WELLINGTON. [CHAP. XXI 
 
 From Sir James Bland Surges to his son Charles. 
 
 Warren's, (Tuesday) February llth, 1812. 
 
 As I think you will be amused and interested by an 
 authentic anecdote of Lord Wellington, I will tell it to you. 
 It comes from his aide-de-camp, Major Gordon, who brought 
 over the account of the capture of Ciudad Eodrigo. Some 
 little time ago, as a party of officers were dining with him, 
 one of them happened to say that he had just returned from 
 a place where a post of our soldiers was stationed, and that 
 a considerable number of sick were without shelter, and 
 exposed to the severity of the weather. When the party 
 broke up, Lord Wellington ordered his horse, and set off 
 with Gordon. They rode to the post in question, about 
 thirty miles off, and arrived there about midnight. They 
 found a great number of sick lying in the open air. 
 
 Lord Wellington immediately knocked up the commanding 
 officer, and asked him why the men were left in such a 
 condition. He said, that there was no accommodation for 
 them in the place. 
 
 "\ " Be so good," said Lord Wellington, " as to show me this 
 house." After he had walked over and inspected it, he told 
 Gordon immediately to remove 150 of the sick into it. He 
 then went to the next officer in rank, and so on, till he had 
 removed the whole of the sick ; and, addressing the officers, 
 he read them a severe lecture on the impropriety of their 
 conduct, and told them that, if they or any officer under his 
 command, should presume to consult his own convenience or 
 luxury while a single sick man should remain unsheltered, 
 he would make an example of them ; and that, as to them- 
 selves, they might procure accommodations as they could 
 somewhere else, for that the sick should remain where he 
 had placed them. He and Gordon then mounted their 
 horses, and returned to head quarters before day, and without 
 any one suspecting they had been absent. On the following 
 evening, however, he told Gordon he suspected, from the 
 sulky manner in which his orders had been received, that 
 they were likely enough to be disobeyed ; he was, therefore, 
 determined to pay those gentlemen another visit. 
 ^ > Accordingly, they mounted their horses again, and arrived 
 past midnight at the post, where they found the sick
 
 1812.] A SALUTARY EXAMPLE. 325 
 
 removed into the open air, and the officers comfortably 
 reposing in their old quarters. However, he soon aroused 
 them ; for he ordered the sick to be instantly brought in, 
 put the officers under arrest, marched them to head quarters, 
 where they were tried for disobedience of orders, and 
 cashiered.
 
 ( 326 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Amoris Redintegratio A First and a Last Love Lady Margaret 
 Fordyce ' Auld Kobin Gray ' Letter from Sir J. Surges to Lady 
 M. Fordyce Letter from Sir J. Surges to his Sister Letter from Lady 
 M. Fordyce to her sister, Lady E. Hardwicke Letter from Lady M. 
 Fordyce to a Cousin Letter from F. B. Head Zante The Morea 
 Death of Lady M. Burges Letter of Condolence from Lady Charlotte 
 Lindsay. 
 
 A KOMANTic episode, of an idyllic character, was inserted 
 into the life of Sir James Burges in the year 1812. It 
 was an illustration of the graceful and tender fancy Edgar 
 Poe worked out in ' Annabel Lee.' Sir James might truly 
 have said 
 
 " / was a child, and she was a child, 
 
 In this kingdom by the sea ; 
 But we loved with a love that was more than love, 
 
 I and my Annabel Lee ; 
 With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven 
 
 Coveted her and me." 
 
 And not less truly applicable, alas ! were the last lines of 
 the third stanza 
 
 " So that her high-born kinsmen came 
 
 And bore her away from me, 
 To shut her up in a sepulchre 
 In this kingdom by the sea." 
 
 \ When he was a boy of thirteen James Burges formed a 
 boyish attachment for Lady Margaret Lindsay, which was 
 ardently reciprocated. The sentiment grew with their growth, 
 but their parents, being moved by practical considerations, were
 
 1812.] "AULD ROBIN GRAY: 327 
 
 at last obliged to intervene and break oft tne sweet commerce 
 of the young people. James Burges was sent abroad to 
 dispel idle regrets ; and at last, to please her father, the 
 fifth Earl of Balcarres, Lady Margaret consented to become 
 the wife of an elderly gentleman, named Alexander Fordyce, 
 a general in the army. Her sisters afterwards, respec- 
 tively, Lady Anne Barnard and Lady Elizabeth Hardwicke 
 sympathised with the young man's disappointment, and for 
 ever celebrated the incident in the beautiful lines known, 
 wherever the English language is spoken, as 'Auld Kobin 
 Gray.' " Jamie's wraith," it is true, never came any more 
 than in the song to disturb the lady's tranquillity, but 
 somewhat late in life her faithful lover appeared to her 
 in the flesh, and said, " I'm come hame to marry thee," 
 and after a very slight hesitation, she consented, for she 
 remembered that " Young Jamie had lo'ed her weel, and sought 
 her for his bride." The union was a singularly happy one, 
 though too briefly terminated. Sir James Burges, indeed, 
 had reason to think well of womankind, for thrice he drew a 
 prize in the matrimonial lottery. Sir Gilbert Elliot wrote to 
 his wife, June 13th, 1789 : " Lady Margaret Fordyce, though 
 somewhat faded, still retains much beauty and great powers 
 of pleasing." She had done her duty to her elderly help- 
 mate, but grief had told upon her, as her sisters had foreseen 
 when they wrote of her as " a ghaist." The correspondence 
 on this subject will still be read with interest, as a tale of 
 true love. 
 
 From Sir James Bland Burges to Lady Margaret Fordyce. 
 
 Warren's Hotel, Wednesday Evening, 
 
 February 5th, 1812. 
 
 I should be deficient in every good and generous feeling, 
 my dear Lady Margaret, were I to delay giving you an imme- 
 diate and explicit answer to your letter.
 
 328 A SOBER LOVE-LETTER. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 
 I give you the most solemn assurance, that I will comply 
 with every request contained in it. They are perfectly rea- 
 sonable ; nay, they are what I myself was about to propose 
 to you, when your brother's entrance prevented me. I most 
 earnestly wish you to judge for yourself, and to decide 
 how far both I and everything belonging to me are likely 
 to insure your happiness. The partiality which I must feel 
 for children whose conduct towards me has been invariably 
 kind, may make me judge more favourably of them than 
 others, more unprejudiced perhaps, may do; but you have 
 a right to judge for yourself, and I flatter myself you will do 
 so. I feel pretty much the same, though certainly much 
 less strongly, about the house and the place which I pre- 
 sume to offer you. You ought to see both, and decide 
 whether you like them. And you ought to do this with per- 
 fect freedom of thought and judgment, without any condition 
 either expressed or implied, and without considering yourself 
 under the slightest obligation from anything which has 
 passed, to decide otherwise than your unbiassed judgment 
 may dictate. 
 
 I told you, my dear Lady Margaret, and I told you truly, 
 that your happiness was the first object of my heart. From 
 my earliest youth I have felt for you the tenderest regard, and 
 I could not refrain from acknowledging it to you when all 
 those impediments which had prevented such an avowal had 
 ceased to exist. But I never meant to solicit more than you 
 now have granted. I should myself have implored you to 
 decide as you have done. I shall be the happiest of man- 
 kind if you pronounce yourself satisfied with what I have 
 to offer you ; if you decide otherwise, no personal feelings 
 will affect my regard for you, or diminish that sentiment 
 which has become congenial with my heart, and which, 
 while that continues to beat, I am very sure will never be 
 extinguished. 
 
 This perhaps may be an answer to what you say about 
 some other person who might make me happy ; but it is not 
 such an answer as I both can and will give you. In the 
 sight of Heaven I declare you are the only woman existing 
 to whom I would make the offer which I have made to you. 
 If, finally, you should decide on declining it, in a manner 
 equally solemn I assure you that nothing can ever induce 
 me to repeat it to another. 
 
 A thousand motives have led me to address you, not one
 
 1812.] PRUDENT PRECAUTIONS. 329 
 
 of which would apply to any other woman in the world. It 
 has become habitual to my nature to love, to esteem, to 
 respect you ; to all other women I am indifferent. My report 
 has, from their infancy, made your name and my opinion of 
 you familiar to my children; they already respect you, they are 
 anxious to know you, and when they do know you, they will 
 love you. I have, by this post, written to my two eldest 
 daughters, requesting them to come to town, to give me their 
 opinion of my new carriage. When they come, I will present 
 them to you. You shall see them as they are, without any 
 knowledge on their part of anything that has passed. I have 
 not given the most distant hint to them, or to any one, either of 
 the sentiment which I entertain towards you, or of my having 
 any intention to form a new engagement. All they know of 
 you is our old acquaintance, your amiable qualities, and the 
 friendship which has so long subsisted between us ; and that 
 is all they shall know, till you choose they should know 
 more. My secret, you may depend upon it, shall inviolably be\ 
 kept. Honour and principle alone would be sufficient to 
 insure its sanctity, but your letter, were anything more 
 wanting, would add new and forcible motives for my obedience 
 to your request. 
 
 Forgive, my dear Lady Margaret, the incoherency which 
 I am afraid you will find in what I have said to you. I have 
 read your dear letter again and again ; and if I put a con- 
 struction on it too favourable to my hopes if I am too much 
 disposed to flatter myself that the most amiable woman 
 in the world may be induced, sooner or later, as she may 
 determine, to make me the happiest of men attribute my 
 presumption to anything but a want of respect to you. 
 
 I put the decision of my fate and my happiness into your 
 hands. Whatever that decision may prove, if you consult 
 by it your own happiness, I will subscribe to it, and so far 
 at least endeavour to prove to you the sincerity with which 
 I am 
 
 Your truest and most affectionate Mend, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 From Sir James Bland Surges to his sister Maria. 
 
 Warren's, July 17th, 1812. 
 
 MY DEAR MARIA, 
 
 The extreme kindness of your letter to me can be ex- 
 ceeded by nothing except the kindness of your letter to
 
 330 A LONG ATTACHMENT. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 Lady Margaret, which has gratified both her and myself in 
 the highest degree. I never saw her more pleased with any- 
 thing, and I have no doubt of your soon receiving a very 
 satisfactory answer from her. I lament extremely that any 
 circumstance should delay your meeting, as I am sure you 
 would suit perfectly, for she is as good in her way as you 
 are in yours. I need say no more to prove the opinion 
 I entertain of her; an opinion which I may confidently 
 assert, as I have known her longer than I have known you. 
 ~^ There is an agreeable kind of romance in our history, which 
 perhaps can hardly be paralleled. I was only thirteen, 
 and she was only twelve, when we became acquainted, and 
 formed a friendship, perhaps I ought to give it a stronger 
 name, which nothing has ever affected, but which, after a 
 lapse of so many years, and with the intervention of so 
 many apparently insurmountable obstacles, is now on the 
 eve of uniting us for the remainder of our lives. I suppose 
 it is the novelty of such an incident which gives it such an 
 interest with those who hear of it ; for there is no accounting 
 otherwise for the general satisfaction which everybody ex- 
 presses, particularly those who have known us longest and 
 best. With respect to her family, my situation and my 
 sensations are as singular as they are pleasing. Conscious 
 as I am of the immense advantages which both I and my 
 children must derive from this match, I sometimes am 
 almost inclined to doubt the evidence of my senses, when I 
 receive from them the various proofs of satisfaction which 
 they seem so earnest to give me. It really appears as if they 
 had entered into a combination to call all my vanity and 
 self-conceit into action. I trust, however, that I am steady 
 enough to resist this torrent, which is strong enough to 
 affect a wiser head than mine; but I make no scruple to 
 indulge myself in the enjoyment of the flattering visions 
 which it presents to me, of the advantages which such an 
 alliance will produce to my daughters. Of this I can have 
 no doubt ; for it must necessarily place them in the best as\ 
 well as in the first line of society. What can, what ought 
 to be so gratifying to me, as the conviction of having thus 
 been enabled to unite my own happiness with theirs? I 
 fully appreciate the value and extent of such a blessing, and 
 am proportionably thankful for it. It remains for time to 
 prove how far I am worthy of it. It will not be in Lady 
 Margaret's power and mine to visit you soon, as I assure 
 you we should be very happy to do ; for we must necessarily
 
 1812.] A NEW DEPARTURE. 331 
 
 pass the remainder of this year at Beauport, where many 
 friends are coming to us ; and next summer we cannot avoid 
 going to Scotland to visit her mother, who is still living there, 
 in full possession of her faculties at the age of eighty-five. 
 We have reason to hope that this will prove a very pleasant 
 tour, as we shall hardly have occasion to go to an inn, either 
 in going or returning, as we shall take in our way Lord 
 Wentworth, Lord Scarsdale, Lord Pollington, Lord Balcarres, 
 and a number of other friends who have given us invitations. 
 I flatter myself, however, that, though we cannot imme- 
 diately go to you, you may find yourself well enough to come 
 to us. You will find Beauport very much improved since 
 you saw it. 
 
 From Lady Margaret Fordyce to her sister Lady Elizabeth 
 Hardwicke. 
 
 Your letter, my dearest sister, dated the 20th, arrived 
 this day, and I write one line to thank- you for congratu- 
 lations which I do not claim, as I am still the same 
 Margaret Fordyce I was. The day which now stands as 
 one which must be of so much consequence to the remaining 
 comfort of my own life and Sir James's, is Monday, the 1st of 
 September. At all ages a change is awful, be it death or 
 marriage ! but at my time of life it is so to such a degree, 
 that the state of my mind has made me appear unkind and 
 careless of you all. Nothing in the world can be less true, 
 for I never felt to love all my own dear folks more than on 
 the eve of taking new duties and forming new connections 
 whom I do not know. The extreme unquietness of my mind 
 must plead my excuse with you all round and round. Do 
 not, because of any seeming neglect to any one, feel less 
 kind to me I entreat, for there are some states of mind that 
 make writing most painful. The truth is, I write to you 
 all ! but the letters remain in my desk, while you naturally 
 judge that I do not think about you. I fear my mother feels 
 in that manner, else she would have written me a line, 
 although my tardy letter scarce deserved it. I thank her, 
 however, for her blessing ; it comes through very kind hands 
 when it is conveyed by you. Whenever this matter does 
 take place I hope to be able to tell you truly that I am 
 happier than I now am, and try to obtain for my new ties 
 the kind regard of you all.
 
 332 A PLEASING PROSPECT. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 From Lady Margaret Fordyce to a Cousin. 
 
 Thank you a thousand times, my dearest cousin, for your 
 second kind letter of congratulation. The first ought to 
 have been answered ages ago, but I know you will make 
 allowances for certain anxious states of mind which make 
 writing less congenial than the kind and cordial confab of a 
 friend at the fireside. Though silent till now, believe me 
 I have been and truly am very sensible of your most kind 
 and cordial wishes for my happiness, which, if attachment 
 long felt with much esteem, and also the attention of a man 
 of worth and kind temper, can promote, my friends should 
 have a confidence that the evening of life will be rendered 
 more happy by the step I have taken. The affection of 
 Sir James's family to him and their union amongst each 
 other give an earnest that they will attach themselves to 
 me, in which case the society of young people is a pleasing 
 addition, as Sir James is most kindly anxious to cultivate 
 all those whom I love. I feel a great hope that my friends 
 will take an interest in all that belong to Mm as well as in 
 himself, and I need scarce say, my dear cousin, that I shall 
 be most happy to present you to each other as soon as we 
 can meet. You will find my new family amiable, unaffected 
 girls, whom I trust you will like, as well as his sons, the 
 eldest of whom is a very fine young man much attached to 
 his father; he seems of a most pleasing manly character, 
 loving London and all its gaieties in the winter, and in the 
 country taking to all its simple pleasures, as a sportsman 
 and a farmer. As Sir James is most kindly desirous of 
 cultivating all my friends and family, I feel most anxious 
 that not only himself, but all that belong to him may be 
 sure of testing the kindness and cordiality of all those I 
 love. 
 
 The next letter, dated Zante, August 1st, 1813, is from 
 Sir James Burges's nephew Francis afterwards Sir Francis 
 Bond Head, the distinguished traveller, author of ' Bubbles 
 from the Brunnens of Nassau/ ' A Faggot of French Sticks,' 
 and other miscellaneous works, and for a time Lieutenant 
 Governor of Upper Canada. The Heads were all remarkable 
 men, and all achieved meritorious distinction. Their father,
 
 1813.] THE PLAGUE IN MALTA. 333 
 
 Mr. James Roper Head, married to Sir James's eldest sister, 
 Frances Anne, was a man of great knowledge, and of a 
 thoughtful mind, but some coolness existed between the two 
 brothers-in-law, owing to Mr. Head's political principles being 
 strongly tainted with Radicalism. He would, therefore, have 
 hardly approved his son's commendation in a subsequent 
 letter of the new system of parliamentary suffrage introduced 
 into Sicily, according to which " the votes are given in acres, 
 so that a man who has a large estate has more interest than 
 the small farmer." 
 
 The plague at Valetta is worse. The streets are blockaded, 
 and the Guards are ordered to shoot any one they may see 
 out of their houses after ten o'clock in the morning. The 
 men who came from Sicily to bury the people are all dead, but 
 there are others who have agreed to perform so dreadful an 
 operation for four dollars a-day. There is so little soil in 
 Malta, that at first they could not make the graves deep 
 enough, but they now use the ditches of the fortifications. 
 The disease is particularly violent, not above 15 per cent, 
 of those who have been attacked by it have been saved, 
 nearly double that number generally recover in Constan- 
 tinople. 
 
 Thank God, I am out of it ; however, I shall very probably 
 suffer in a small degree, for my servant, the honestest old 
 fellow in the island, lives in a very bad part of the town. 
 If he dies, all my clothes and everything in my house will 
 be burned, and my horse will for want of attendance very 
 likely be starved. However, the more misfortunes that 
 happen in my house, the happier I shall be that I am not 
 in it. 
 
 The Queen of Sicily has been here for some time; she 
 sails for Constantinople to-morrow ; her eldest son Prince 
 Leopold is with her. The Archduke Francis arrived yester- 
 day, and has taken up his abode in the town. Zante has 
 of course been very gay ; we have had balls without number, 
 although it is July, but as the rich man's joys increase, the 
 poor's decay; their residence here has nearly doubled the 
 price of provisions, and I believe the poor hungry Zantiots 
 will most readily salute their departure.
 
 334 DEATH OF LADY M. SURGES. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 I am very glad that I have been into the Morea, for, from 
 being only at Malta, I had not the least idea that a place so 
 nearly under the same meridian could have been so fertile. 
 I was very much pleased with the country, and was quite 
 sorry to leave it. The features of the Morea are rough, and 
 on a very large scale ; the valleys are often nearly perpen- 
 dicular, and are dreadfully cut up by the rain which makes 
 them impassable for the greatest part of the winter. We 
 passed a fiumara, which was more than 150 feet broad, and 
 although it was only from the melting of the snow on the 
 mountains, yet the water came with such force that our 
 horses' legs were nearly taken from under them. The popu- 
 lation is very small, and one town has but little intercourse 
 with another. There are some few that are entirely in- 
 habited by Greeks, who then appear as happy as princes, 
 but in the others there are but two sorts of men to be seen, 
 slaves and tyrants. 
 
 The idyll was soon run out. The following letter from 
 Lady Margaret Burges's brother, Lord Balcarres, alludes to a 
 sad event which is not directly mentioned in the papers 
 placed before the editor. The letter from Lady Charlotte 
 Lindsay, sister-in-law to the deceased lady, also testifies to 
 the kindly feelings with which Sir James Burges had inspired 
 Lady Margaret's family and relatives. Lady Anne Barnard 
 ever after acted as a mother to his children. 
 
 From Lord Balcarres. 
 
 Haigh Hall, Wigan, December 10th, 1814. 
 
 DEAR SIR JAMES, 
 
 We deeply lament the severe loss of Lady Margaret. 
 Under such an affliction we have received much consolation 
 by the tender and watchful attentions paid to her by the 
 whole of your family in her last moments. 
 
 With our respects and thanks to them, 
 
 I remain, dear Sir James, 
 
 Most affectionately and sincerely yours, 
 
 BALCAKRES.
 
 1815.] A LETTER OF CONDOLENCE. 335 
 
 From Lady Charlotte Lindsay (wife of the Hon. Colonel 
 Lindsay, and daughter of Lord North). 
 
 Nice, January 20th, 1815. 
 
 Sorrowful as the subject must be to us both, yet I cannot, 
 my dear Sir James, refrain from writing you a line of 
 condolence, upon the very, very sad loss we, and you 
 particularly, have sustained by the late severe affliction the 
 death of our dearest and most valuable Margaret ! But you 
 may have the greatest of all possible consolations in the 
 consciousness of having rendered her, during the too short 
 period of your marriage, as happy as I believe it is ever the 
 lot of any mortal to be in this world ! and of having by your 
 tender affection, and by the kind and unremitting attention 
 of your whole family, smoothed her bed of death. I had 
 been apprised of this event by the English newspapers, and 
 by some letters from England, about a fortnight ago, but it 
 was not till the day before yesterday that I heard the sad 
 particulars from Lady Anne, who also informed me of the 
 handsome legacy, and of the most kind, considerate, and wise 
 manner (so like her own dear self) in which this legacy is 
 left me. I cannot attempt to describe to you how much I 
 feel affected upon this occasion, or the variety of sentiments 
 that overwhelmed me upon first reading that part of her 
 letter. I have transcribed it and have sent it to my husband, 
 but it may be a long time before he receives my letter, as I 
 am not certain whether he is still in England. 
 
 It was a great comfort to me to .hear that my dear departed 
 friend appeared to suffer little, and that she was unconscious 
 of her situation, which (considering that her pious and 
 virtuous mind and life made her always in a fit state for 
 this awful change) was, I think, a great happiness, as it 
 saved her, I trust, many a painful pang of regret at parting 
 from those she loved so well. I will not say that I fear to 
 have renewed your grief by this letter, for though I trust 
 through the mercy of God and your pious resignation to His 
 will, that the first bitterness of it is past, yet I am too 
 deeply impressed with the sense of all the valuable and 
 endearing qualities of my dearest Margaret, which you so 
 truly appreciated, to think that the loss of her can ever be 
 long from your remembrance. I will only add, my dear Sir 
 James, that I hope, that although the dear tie that formed
 
 336 A FRIENDLY WISH. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 our connection is no more, our friendship will still con- 
 tinue, that you will love me for her sake, as I shall you from 
 that motive, and also for your own estimable and exceptional 
 qualities. 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 My dear Sir James, your truly 
 
 Affectionate friend and sister, 
 
 CHARLOTTE LINDSAY.
 
 1814.] ( 337 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Lord Byron's Marriage Letters from Lady Milbanke Marriage of Sir 
 James Burges's eldest Son Captain Burges wounded at Waterloo 
 Visited at Brussels by his Father and Sisters Brussels Letter from 
 Francis Head Entry into Paris of Louis XVIII. French Fickleness 
 Letter from James Head to Lady A. Barnard From Brussels to 
 Paris in 1815 Sir James Burges on " Inter-acting Buffoons " Corre- 
 spondents The " Sexagenarian." 
 
 THIS chapter also begins with the triumph of love, though a 
 love that could not pass unscathed through the ordeal of 
 matrimony. Sir James Burges, it may be remembered, 
 married as his first wife the Hon. Elizabeth Noel, whose 
 elder sister was shortly before united to Sir Ealph Milbanke, 
 of Seaham, in the county of Durham. The issue of that 
 marriage was a daughter, Anne Isabella, called by her mother 
 Annabella, married on the 2nd of January, 1815, to Lord 
 Byron, the poet. The betrothal of the ill-assorted pair was 
 thus announced to Sir James Burges by Lady Milbanke some 
 few months before the irrevocable step was taken. It may 
 be here mentioned that Lady Byron's uncle, Lord Wentworth, 
 died in the following April, and that his property, some 
 seven to eight thousand a year, descended to Lady Milbanke 
 and her daughter. Some unpleasantness afterwards ensued\ 
 in which Lord Byron failed to exhibit the contempt of riches 
 usually attributed to poets. For a time a slight coolness 
 prevailed between him and Sir J. Burges, one of Lord Went- 
 worth's executors, which eventually ceased, Lord Byrou 
 
 z
 
 338 LORD BYRON'S ENGAGEMENT. [CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 placing his opera-box at the disposal of Sir James, with a 
 reversion to Sir John Cam Hobhouse. 
 
 From Lady Milbanke. 
 
 Seaham, near Stockton-on-Tees, 
 
 October 4th, 1814. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR JAMES, 
 
 I am doubly tempted to write to you at this time, having 
 two pieces of intelligence to give, both of which I trust will 
 afford you pleasure, and I hope you will be able to repay me 
 by giving a better account of dear Lady Margaret, or rather 
 confirming the good one I have received from my brother 
 [Lord Wentworth], who shall be the first of the subjects I 
 alluded to. He arrived here on Sunday in much better looks 
 and spirits than when I left Kirkby, nor has he suffered from 
 the fatigues of the journey. I hope the sea air and such 
 exercise as he can have near it, will be of great service to 
 restore his health, which has indeed been much shaken by 
 the melancholy scenes he has gone through. Now, my dear 
 friend, to my second topic, one most interesting to me, and I 
 am certain for my sake will be also to you. My daughter is < 
 engaged to marry Lord Byron, with the entire approbation^ 
 of her father and myself, to which is added my brother's 
 kindest sanction. You, who like Lord Byron are favoured 
 by the Muses, no doubt admire him as a poet, but believe me 
 he has like yourself, a warm, affectionate, and liberal heart, 
 with many qualities which promise happiness to the woman 
 who will be his wife ; his attachment to her has been constant, 
 and is deep founded on the best basis : that of esteem. 
 
 He has not yet been here, being detained in town on 
 business law business previous, I imagine, to his seeing Sir 
 Ralph, but we expect him in a few days. Annabella, I must 
 confess, returns his attachment very sincerely. You will feel 
 for me and Milbanke. What is to become of us when we 
 lose our sweet companion, I know not ; and the very thought 
 is dreadful to me ! but yet I cannot wish it otherwise. 
 When you communicate this to Lady Margaret, tell her, with 
 my kindest love, that I demand her congratulations and her 
 pity at the same time. I know she will feel for me. So will 
 , Lady Anne, who my brother thinks is now with you, and to 
 whom I request to be tenderly remembered.
 
 1815.] LORD BYRON'S DOMESTICITY. 339 
 
 I would have written to you some days since, but have 
 been rather seriously ill, too ill to use my pen, but I am 
 recovering it was a violent bilious attack. Sir Ealph and 
 Annabella truly join with me in every kind wish to you and 
 yours. Pray write to me, and believe me, 
 
 Your ever affectionate sister and friend, 
 
 JU. MlLBANKE. 
 
 From Lady Milbanke. 
 
 Seaham, January 27th, 1815. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR JAMES, 
 
 Your letter of the 24th authorises me to offer congratu- 
 lations on an event which I had heard of some time since 
 with great pleasure, as one which must afford you the greatest 
 satisfaction a father can feel, namely, his son forming an 
 alliance with an amiable woman, and in every respect 
 advantageous and honourable. Believe me, Sir Ealph and 
 Annabella cordially join in every good wish on this occasion, 
 and request you will make this known to your son, and offer 
 our respects to Lady Montgomerie,* whom I have not the 
 honour to be acquainted with. The Byrons returned here 
 last Saturday, and I hope will make some stay with us ; they 
 are both well, and as happy as youth and love can make\ ' 
 them. He appears to prefer a quiet domestic circle to any ! 
 other, and neither of them seems in any haste to visit London. 
 We think of being there about Easter, but as yet we have 
 no house there. It will probably end in our going to a hotel 
 to look about us. I forbear recurring to past events, and 
 wish you to look forward to the pleasing prospect of your 
 son's happiness, and I sincerely hope the health and pro- 
 sperity of yourself and family. 
 
 Believe me, dear Sir James, 
 
 Your ever affectionate friend, 
 
 Ju. MILBANKE. 
 
 * Lady Mary Montgomerie was the eldest daughter and co-heiress of 
 Archibald, eleventh Earl of Eglinton, and widow of Archibald Lord 
 Montgomerie. She married as her second husband Mr. Charles Montolieu 
 Burges, afterwards Sir Charles Lamb, Bart., to whom she bore a son, named 
 Charles James Savile Montgomerie, who died before his. father. She 
 herself died in June, 1848. / 
 
 z 2
 
 340 CAPTAIN SURGES WOUNDED. [CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 It has already been told how Sir James Burges gave one 
 son, Wentworth Noel, to his country, but his patriotism was 
 proof against even the severe affliction he sustained in the 
 mad assault on Burgos. A younger son, Somerville Walde- 
 mar, born in 1794, commanded his company of the Grenadier 
 Guards at Waterloo, where he was so severely wounded in 
 the leg by a grape shot that he was compelled to suffer 
 amputation of the limb. A brother officer wrote to Sir 
 James that his son had displayed " unrivalled courage " in 
 battle, that his " gallant conduct was particularly admired," 
 and that " he bore the amputation with wonderful spirits " 
 and was " doing exceedingly well." An equally satisfactory 
 account was received from his nephew, Francis Head, who 
 wrote to say that Colonel Barclay, of the Guards, told him 
 that his cousin Somerville " behaved like a most gallant 
 officer in the field, and bore the operation with most wonder- 
 ful fortitude and courage." 
 
 Sir James Burges forthwith started off for Brussels, taking 
 with him two of his daughters, Clara and Caroline, and his 
 nephew James, afterwards Captain, Head, with a servant 
 in the dickey of his barouche. The passage from Eamsgate 
 to Ostend occupied thirty hours, at the end of which the pilot 
 contrived to strand the vessel on a shoal off the mouth of the 
 harbour. After some trouble, and not without danger, the 
 passengers were transferred to a rowing-boat, and ultimately 
 landed in safety. Travelling through Belgium in those days 
 demanded the exhibition of considerable patience. Starting 
 from Ostend at six in the morning, the travellers got no 
 further than Alost by nine that evening. Eesuming their 
 journey by good time next morning, they reached Brussels 
 about noon. Writing to Lady Anne Barnard, Sir James 
 Burges acknowledged that his nerves had been so unstrung 
 by what he had lately passed through, that he could not
 
 1815.] ASPECT OF BRUSSELS. 341 
 
 restrain his tears at the sight of such a fine young fellow, his 
 own son, crippled for life. He was also much shocked as he 
 drove through the town at seeing so many wounded men 
 hobbling about. "Every second or third house chalked 
 2 Blesses, 3 Blesses, officier Uesst, &c. : the door of a church 
 wide open, exhibiting rows of mattresses covered with 
 wounded men." Captain Burges recovered with wonderful 
 rapidity. By the 3rd of July he was able to walk with 
 crutches from the Place Eoyale to the Park and back again. 
 The town swarmed with English who had the execrable taste to 
 form parties of ladies and gentlemen to visit the battle-field, 
 although aware that not one half of those killed had been 
 properly buried. Sir James remarks that his daughters 
 
 are in high health and good looks. They walk about in 
 French bonnets with high feathers and veils, and have got 
 immense ruffs for their necks, like pouting pigeons. ... I 
 saw yesterday morning a large cart loaded with nothing but 
 crutches ; 200 waggons were engaged to-day to convey such 
 of our people as can safely be moved to Ostend, for their 
 passage to England. 
 
 The following letter from Francis Head to his uncle, is 
 painfully illustrative of the French character under adverse 
 circumstances. It is dated from Paris, July 9 thy 1815 : 
 
 We entered the Faubourg of Paris three days ago, but by 
 Lord Wellington's order were not permitted to advance any 
 farther. We found all the gates of the city manned by the 
 National Guards, and saw the tricolor flag flying from all 
 parts of the town. A French general and his aide-de-camp 
 happened to pass one of the barriers while I was there, with 
 the white cockade in his hat ; he was charged by the National 
 Guard, was taken prisoner, and his aide-de-camp was nearly 
 killed by the canaille, who pelted him with whatever they 
 could get hold of. The next day our division of the army 
 passed round the walls of Paris into the suburbs, where we 
 now are. On our march not a single person greeted us, no
 
 342 FRENCH FICKLENESS. [CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 one even cried Vive le roi I More than half the people we 
 met carried the tricolor cockade. 
 
 You will perhaps at this account stop reading my letter to 
 observe what a pity it is that so loyal a nation should be 
 obliged by foreign bayonets to change their king, and you 
 will perhaps expect to hear that they fought for him to the 
 last, and that they did honour to their country by dying for 
 one they professed so much to love. I acknowledge that I 
 expected that such would be the result, and I almost thought 
 that, like the last defenders of Carthage, they would not only 
 die themselves, but would destroy even their wives and 
 children. 
 
 Yesterday papers were sent about the streets proclaiming 
 merely that Louis XVIII. intended to enter his capital that day 
 at three o'clock. At twelve o'clock the tricolor flag still wasV 
 to be seen everywhere, and the people still honestly seemed 
 to preserve the same opinions, with the same cockade. At 
 about two o'clock I observed that Buonaparte's flag was every ^ ' 
 where taken down, and was replaced by the white one. 
 However, I considered that that perhaps was the act of some 
 great man who had got into power, but that the people would 
 still prevent Louis' entrance, and I went into the street he was 
 to pass through, firmly expecting to see a most bloody battle. 
 While I was thinking on the scenes which in former times 
 had taken place in Paris, and which I expected to see re- 
 peated, I observed little boys going about with baskets full 
 of white cockades, for which to my utter astonishment they 
 seemed everywhere to find customers. In a short time the 
 King's troops and some of his generals made their appearance. 
 They were received in the most cordial manner you can 
 imagine. Every house was filled with people who shouted 
 Vive le roi ! The National Guards, who the day before wera 
 for Buonaparte to the last drop of their blood, now screamed^ 
 Vive le roi! and actually danced for joy. Every man's 
 mouth was stretched to its utmost, while the other part of 
 his face really seemed pleased. The houses (which in Paris 
 are many stories high) looked like the boxes of a theatre, so 
 crowded were they. I never in the course of my life saw 
 such universal joy.. However, I was really so disgusted with 
 the sight that I walked home before even the King made his 
 appearance for although I like old Louis, and really wish 
 him well, yet I could see him degraded with infinitely less 
 pain than human nature. The conduct of the French yester-
 
 1815.] A NATION IN A FEVER. 343 
 
 day will certainly be a disgrace to them for ever. Their 
 former affection for Buonaparte would have affected only 
 their judgment had they remained firm to him. The world 
 would have said that they had acted like fools, but nothing 
 more ; at present every one must think them a cowardly, 
 spiritless nation. 
 
 I happen to be living in the house of a Frenchman who 
 is really a very clever man. The excuse he makes for his 
 countrymen is this. He said yesterday to me, " Monsieur, 
 if ever you had a fever, have you not observed that you turn 
 continually in your bed, and that you endeavour to find rest 
 by turning to one side, though you have perhaps already 
 turned sleepless from it a hundred times ? Monsieur, France 
 for these last five-and-twenty years has been acting the same 
 unhappy part. The fever has been her Revolution. Wishing 
 to find a point of repose she has turned on all sides, and has 
 grasped at all sorts of governments. Finding herself uneasy 
 with Buonaparte, she turned to Louis, for the same reason 
 again to Buonaparte, for the same reason again to Louis, and 
 if she still continues unhappy you will see that she will once 
 more turn in despair to Buonaparte, or to any one else that 
 may offer her relief." 
 
 Captain Burges was mentioned in his colonel's report as 
 having particularly distinguished himself. He had had a very 
 narrow escape on the 17th. " Late in the evening his battalion, 
 being exposed to a very severe fire, was ordered to lie down. 
 As Somerville and Mr. Lascelles were lying near each other, 
 a shell fell, which wounded Lascelles severely on the side, 
 and struck Somerville a blow on the head, which crushed his 
 cap and stunned him. When he recovered his senses, to his 
 own surprise, and that of all with him, he found his head 
 actually in contact with the shell, which most providentially 
 had not exploded." He was also slightly wounded in the 
 hand. His company went into action on the 18th, with 
 three officers and eighty men. When the affair was over, one 
 sergeant and eight privates answered to their names. By the 
 10th of July, the company consisted of about thirty-five all
 
 344 FROM BRUSSELS TO PARIS. [CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 told, including the wounded. Upon which Sir James Surges 
 pertinently remarked: "As far as personal courage and 
 conduct in the field go, too much cannot be said in favour of 
 the Duke of Wellington; but his negligence in suffering\ 
 himself to be surprised when his army was dispersed and 
 unprepared, admits of no excuse, and undoubtedly was the 
 occasion of such a horrible waste of human blood." 
 
 The English visitors troubled themselves very little about 
 their wounded countrymen, with the exception of Lord Mount- 
 Norris, who went about among them, chatting with them and 
 telling them the news. This indifference contrasted painfully 
 with the kindness and sympathy shown by the people of 
 Brussels. Sir James's son-in-law, Colonel Halket, who had 
 married his daughter, Emily Charlotte, had also acquitted 
 himself very valiantly, and was rewarded with a red ribbon. 
 
 From James Head* to Lady Anne Barnard. 
 
 Brussels, August 3rd, 1815. 
 
 MY DEAR LADY ANNE, 
 
 After I had been here about ten days, I thought it a good 
 plan to take advantage of my being so far on my way to go 
 a little farther and see Paris ; and as I was lucky enough to 
 hear of a fourth place in a voiture I went that evening and 
 settled everything to be off the next morning, when I accord- 
 ingly set out. As we were following the track of the army, 
 it was probable we should not be able to procure horses on the 
 road ; we therefore made a bargain at Brussels for the same 
 horses to take us all the distance, which was to be completed 
 in five days. Until we passed Koye, except the corn being a 
 good deal trodden down near the road, we saw but slight 
 marks of the army we were following, but after passing that 
 place the case was very different. Hitherto we had been 
 following the British army only, we now came in upon the 
 track of the Prussians also. The cottages were in many 
 places abandoned, and sometimes burnt. Almost all the 
 
 * Afterwards captain of an " East Indiaman," and lost off the mouth of 
 the Hooghly.
 
 1815.] TO ONE THING CONSTANT NEVER. 345 
 
 windows and doors broken, and the corn, for a much wider 
 space than it had been, was trodden down and spoilt. These 
 were strong features of the late passage of a large army, and 
 continued, with the addition of frequently passing the wreck 
 of a waggon or a dead horse almost every half mile, all the way 
 to Paris. On my arrival in Paris, I found my brother Frank, 
 who is in the Engineers : he was in both actions, and had 
 a horse shot under him on the 16th. The next day we set 
 out on our work of seeing sights, which lasted five days, after 
 which, with him, I set out on my return to Brussels. 
 
 It struck me as a strong instance of the heartlessness and 
 frivolity of the French character, the extreme indifference 
 with which they treat this wonderful Revolution. At Paris, 
 they are all as gay, and apparently as happy, as if this total 
 overthrow had been reversed, or as if they had forgotten the 
 events of the 16th and 18th of June. All the theatres are 
 full (and of Frenchmen !), and their promenades gay. There 
 is no sign of national mourning to be seen, though they 
 generally confess their dislike and contempt of Louis XVIII. 
 Yet there is constantly a crowd of respectable-looking people 
 standing round the Tuileries who shout " Vive le roi ! " with 
 apparent sincerity. 
 
 The Brussels episode at length came to an end, and the 
 Burges party returned to England, Captain Burges, after 
 awhile, rejoining his regiment in France. Sir James appears 
 to have reverted to his old pursuits, and especially to the 
 drama. In 1817 he introduced Talma to Lady Charleville, a 
 pupil of the famous Clairon, and as both were " strenuous 
 partisans of Buonaparte," they were at once on excellent 
 term's with one another, the Countess giving a grand dinner 
 in honour of the great tragedian, the friend and companion of 
 the late Emperor. With pardonable vanity, Sir James 
 Burges presented a copy of his " dramas " to Talma, who 
 wrote to say, that he would " take them with him to Paris, 
 where he was sure they would soon get into high repute and 
 circulation. This, if he chooses to peruse them, will very 
 probably be the case."
 
 346 INTER-ACTINQ BUFFOONS. [CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 There is an extremely interesting letter, without any 
 address, dated the 16th of August, 1817, in which Sir 
 James Burges gives several examples of the ancient 
 practice of introducing an interlude of buffoonery between 
 two acts : 
 
 When I had the pleasure of dining with you some time ago 
 at our Club, you maintained a proposition to which some 
 gentlemen present did not agree, namely, that, in our old 
 drama, a kind of Inter-act was occasionally introduced, in 
 which the clowns displayed their extemporaneous wit, and, 
 as Shakespeare observes, spoke more than was set down for 
 them. I abstained from taking any share in the debate, 
 though I strongly inclined to your opinion ; but I have since 
 accidentally met with some authorities which strongly 
 confirm it, and which probably never fell in the way of the 
 critics who disputed your proposition. They are not indeed 
 founded on the practice of the English stage, but they are 
 nevertheless good authorities, inasmuch as they prove the 
 existence of such a practice. 
 
 The first of these is the Spanish dramatist Calderon. In his 
 Famosa Comedia, entitled, ' En esta vida todo es verdad y todo 
 mentira/ which was written about the year 1637, there are two 
 " graciosos," or buffoons, who have no concern in the piece, 
 and for whom the author has not written a word, though he 
 has inserted for their use a variety of stage directions, as for 
 instance: "At this interesting moment," namely, when an 
 affecting recognition has just taken place, " the two ' gra- 
 ^ ciosos' take opportunity of coming forward with their 
 buffooneries." My second authority is equally authentic, 
 though it does not bear so great a name for in fact it is 
 
 anonymous. It is a volume entitled ' The Lady* 's 
 
 Travels in Spain,' in the form of letters, which contains a 
 number of curious and interesting details of the manners and 
 customs of that country, and is now, I believe, very scarce. 
 In one of these letters, dated Vittoria, February 24th, 1673, 
 is the following passage : " It was proposed to go to the play. 
 The comedy consisted of three acts. At the end of each serious 
 act, another began of farce and pleasantry, wherein appeared 
 him they called 'el gracioso,' which is to say, the buffoon, 
 who, among much insipid stuff, says sometimes something
 
 1817.] FRENCH INTERLUDES. 347 
 
 that is less nauseous. I would not have you think these 
 actors, for being in a little city, do much differ from those 
 of Madrid." 
 
 In no less degree was this practice of inter-acting prevalent 
 on the Italian stage ; and, if we can prove that it was in 
 vogue some time after Shakespeare's period, it may be fairly 
 inferred that it- had been contemporaneous with him. Such 
 proof is not wanting, for in Gherardi's ' Theatre Italien,' 
 which was published in 1694, plenty of instances are to be 
 found, pretty much of the same complexion as those cus- 
 tomary in Spain, but still better defined. I will give you 
 one or two as a sample. 
 
 In the comedy of the ' Mercure Galant,' * acted at the 
 Hotel de Bourgogne on the 22nd of January, 1682, there is the 
 following stage direction : " Ici Pan, appercevant 1'ane sur 
 lequel Arlequin etoit monte, demande a Arlequin si cet ane 
 lui appartient. Arlequin repond qu'il est a lui, que c'est un 
 ane virtuoso, qui spait faire le manege, qui courbette, qui 
 joue fort bien du clavecin. Pan demande s'il veut le lui 
 preter. Arlequin y consent. Pan monte sur 1'ane, lequel, 
 apres avoir fait quelques pas, se separe en deux, laissant Pan 
 par terre. Arlequin se moque de lui et s'en va." 
 
 In another comedy, ' L'Avocat Pour et Contre,' acted at 
 the same theatre on the 8th of June, 1685, to the concluding 
 scene of the first act, which is gravely enough written, is 
 subjoined the following stage direction: "Dans ce terns 
 Scaramouche arrive. Arlequin lui dit qu'il vient de voir 
 encore Colombine. Scaramouche dit qu'il perd 1'esprit; et 
 que cela est impossible. Au moment arrive Pasquariel 
 dans un sac, et il se roule jusque sur les pieds d'Arlequin, 
 qui, le voyant, dit, C'est un sac de charbon qui va au marche ; 
 Scaramouche dit que c'est un balot qui va a la douaiie. 
 Arlequin vient regarder par I'embouchure du sac ce qu'il y 
 a dedans. Pasquariel aussi-tot sort avec trois. tetes, contre- 
 faisant le diable, et epouvante Arlequin et Scaramouche qui 
 tombent a la renverse de peur ; et le premier acte finit." 
 
 I leave you to decide how far these examples go to prove 
 the justness of your proposition. When you couple them 
 with what Stow f says of Tarlton's $ " Wondrous plentifull, 
 
 * By E. Boursault. 
 
 t Stow's ' Annales,' ed. 1615, p. 697, quoted by Mr. Halliwell. 
 % Kichard Tarlton, actor, jester, and author of ' The Seven Deadly Sins.' 
 Mr. Halliwell edited ' Tarlton's Jests ' for the Shakespeare Society, 1844.
 
 348 A LIFE-LIKE PORTRAITURE. [CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 pleasant, extemporall wit " and invention, they amount, in 
 my opinion, to a conclusive proof of your being right, and as 
 such I venture to submit them to your consideration. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 
 Your most faithful humble servant, 
 
 J. B. BURGES. 
 
 Throughout the following year, 1818, Sir James Burges 
 was much taken up with John Bellamy's craze about a new 
 translation of the Old Testament, although his own knowledge 
 of Hebrew is said to have been very superficial. Sir James, 
 acting on a friendly impulse, published a treatise in support 
 of Bellamy's views and pretensions, and Dr. Clarke, librarian 
 at Carlton House, was also drawn into the tiny vortex 
 that swirled round the pseudo-Hebraist. The translation 
 was never completed, and is now as entirely forgotten as his 
 ' History of All Eeligions/ The unfortunate William Beloe, 
 who had been somewhat harshly dismissed from his post of 
 assistant-librarian at the British Museum, because of the 
 thievish practices of an individual whom he had introduced 
 on the recommendation of several most respectable persons, 
 was another frequent correspondent about this time. There 
 can be no doubt that Sir James Burges sat, unknown to 
 himself, for the portrait delineated in the 'Sexagenarian' 
 (chapter v. vol. ii.). It is complimentary, but quite truthful, 
 and bears ungrudging testimony to the high moral and 
 intellectual qualifications which characterised Sir James, 
 while at the same time it charges him with want of flexibility, 
 with excess of pride, which prevented him from paying court 
 to the great and influential, and thus caused him to be out- 
 stript in the race of life by men every way his inferiors. 
 There was no lack of wholesome ambition, ' Sexagenarian ' con- 
 tinues, but covetousness and greed of riches were altogether 
 wanting. Strangers complained of a certain reserve and
 
 1818.] TEE REV. 2i. NARES. 349 
 
 chilliness of manner, which disappeared on further inter- 
 course. Acknowledgment is also made of "a very long 
 attachment, esteem, and a friendship never interrupted." 
 Another correspondent, of a very different type, was the 
 Eev. E. Nares, Archdeacon of Stafford, who took a lively 
 interest in Bellamy's labours, being himself a philologist, 
 and aware of the incessant mutation in the meaning of words 
 and phrases.
 
 ( 350 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Sir James Burges succeeds to Mr. Lamb's Estate Takes the Name of 
 Lamb Letter from Archdeacon Nares Letter from Mrs. Chatham 
 Stoode Catalan! A " Difficulty " at Whampoa Promotion by 
 Suicide Letter from Francis Bond Head Preparations for George 
 IV.'s Entry into Edinburgh Death of Sir James Lamb His Children 
 and Grandchildren. 
 
 THE property left by Mr. John Lamb did not pass at once to 
 Sir James Burges. A Mr. Thomas Henry Cock, who in 
 1798 took out a royal licence to assume the name of Lamb, 
 had a life interest in it, and in the ordinary course of nature 
 might have been expected to survive Sir James, but late at 
 night on the 19th of September, 1821, he suddenly expired 
 at his residence in Golden Square. Sir James Burges now 
 became by royal licence Sir James Lamb, and his former 
 name knew Mm no more. Congratulations poured in from 
 all quarters. Henry Head honestly wrote: "My dearest 
 Uncle, I am heartily glad to see in the papers the death 
 at last of old Mr. Lamb, and I most heartily wish you many 
 happy years to enjoy the good fortune that will in conse- 
 quence devolve upon your family." The epithet " old " was 
 ill chosen under the circumstances, but the poor gentleman 
 was evidently thought inconsiderate for living so long as he 
 did to keep an estimable family out of considerable wealth, 
 which they were likely to enjoy much more than he had 
 ever done. Sir Henry Halford offered the hospitality of 
 Wiston Hall, near Market Harborough, if Sir James Lamb
 
 1821.} CORDIAL CONGRATULATIONS. 351 
 
 were disposed to go down to that neighbourhood to inspect 
 his estate at Foston ; while Mr. J. C. Gape wrote from 
 St. Albans, not merely tendering the use of his house, but 
 also proposing to look after the game on Beach Farm, which 
 was surrounded by his own lands. A pleasanter letter came 
 from his old friend, Mr. Nares, dated from Hart Street, 
 Bloomsbury, November 3rd, 1821 : 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 Under whatever name Bland Burges, or Lamb I was 
 beginning to write to you yesterday, but thinking that it 
 was 2^ossible you might be at the club, I desisted. Now, as I 
 think it possible that you may get my letter, though I am 
 not sure where to direct it, I pursue my intention. You 
 told me long ago of the will of Mr. L., but, as the succession 
 depended on the failure of a younger life, I recollect you did 
 not much build upon being personally benefited by it. 
 Providence has ordered it otherwise, and you are the gainer 
 of I know not what ; but I hear, and I hope truly hear; that 
 it is something very considerable. Supposing my letter to 
 reach you, I shall hope ere long to be informed of particulars. 
 
 My neighbour, D'Israeli [father of Lord Beaconsfield], who 
 saw you at Tunbridge Wells, was the first to inform me of 
 your good fortune, but the appearance of your name in the 
 Gazette put the matter out of all doubt, and I determined 
 immediately to send you my congratulations. Not that I 
 doubted of his report, but that I thought perhaps some 
 difficulties might yet intervene. Honourable mention was 
 made of you yesterday at the Thatched House. The meeting 
 indeed was small, but all rejoiced in your advantage. Mrs. N. 
 and I returned about a month ago from a long tour in the 
 North of England and Scotland, upon which we set out as 
 soon as my Lichfield * residence was at an end. We are 
 now fixed here for the winter, where, if you come up to town, 
 I shall be happy to see you. Mrs. N. joins in remembrances 
 to yourself and family, and 
 
 I am, as ever, truly yours, 
 
 R. NARES. 
 
 * Mr. Nares was Canon of Lichfield Cathedral.
 
 352 CATALANI AT BATH. [CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 From Mrs. C. Chetham Stoode. 
 
 South Hill House, November 18th, 1821. 
 
 How very singular, my dear Sir, the morning after the Coro- 
 nation, you should have so well predicted the Queen's [Caro- 
 line of Brunswick] approaching fate ! Her intended visit to 
 Scotland would have created great mischief; it seems like an 
 interference of Providence her being cut off at the moment 
 she was. The ' Wag ' says, the Devil wanted a good rubber of 
 whist, and therefore sent for Buonaparte, Her Majesty, and the* 
 Dowager Lady Jersey. Our good King is returned from the 
 Continent without a wife, or without even thinking of one, I 
 surmise. I am sorry for it ; I wish we had an amiable female 
 on the Throne, and Lady Conyngham at her proper distance. 
 From well-regulated, sober-minded people, who were in 
 Dublin during the royal visit, and witnessed a little of her 
 proceedings, I know they were highly objectionable. 
 
 We attended the great musical festival in Bath three 
 weeks since. Catalani's powers astonished and surprised us. 
 I think her improved since hearing her seven or eight years 
 since, and in beauty she is decidedly so. She is a very 
 natural, unaffected creature. We met her twice in private, 
 and were much pleased with her manners and conversation. 
 She has been staying at Clifton since that period on the 
 score of health, having caught a violent cold, which affected 
 her throat. 
 
 The hollowness of the Celestial Empire had not been 
 found out in 1820-21. The Chinese Emperor was regarded 
 as a mighty potentate, much as the Great Moghul had been 
 a few years previously. An amusing illustration of the 
 reverence with which the East India Company, at least, 
 treated the mandarins and other shadowy personages is 
 afforded in the following letter from James Head to his 
 uncle, dated on board the Honourable East India Company's 
 ship Buckinghamshire, off Whampoa, 7th December, 1820 : 
 
 MY DEAE UNCLE, 
 
 We are all just relieved from a state of much anxiety by 
 the favourable termination of what had the appearance of a
 
 .1821.] .AN UNTOWARD INCIDENT. 353 
 
 ;very serious disturbance with the Chinese ; and I am no 
 longer afraid of (what I fully expected the day before 
 yesterday) our ships being detained here three or four 
 months. A Mr. Piggott, an officer of the London, being in 
 charge of a boat, unfortunately killed a Chinese by a musket 
 ball. Of course he was demanded by the Chinese, but he 
 was not to be found. How his escape was managed, and by 
 whom, we will talk over when I see you, as perhaps the less 
 said of it the better for a certain friend of yours either at 
 Canton or the India House. As Mr. Piggott was not to be 
 found, the Chinese would in all probability have stopped 
 the trade until the affair was settled, which would have kept 
 us here God knows how long. When it so happened that 
 an unfortunate butcher on board the Duke of York cut hisi 
 throat in a fit of delirium. He was immediately dressed in' 
 a uniform, and a report made stating that the delinquent 
 was found and secured, but, unluckily for the Canton Jack 
 Ketch, he had made away with himself. In consequence of 
 this, yesterday a party of mandarins and police officers of 
 various kinds went on board and inspected the dead body, 
 and returned to Canton perfectly satisfied. Thus has ended 
 a business that we had every reason to fear would keep us 
 out here till March or April. 
 
 Our climate has now altered from the thermometer being, 
 as it was ten days ago, up at 80, to what it was in my cabin 
 this morning, 50 ; this, though rather sharp, is very accept- 
 able, as it clears the sick lists like magic, leaving only a few 
 cases of ague. 
 
 God bless you, my dear uncle ; give my kindest love to 
 all your party, and believe me to be 
 
 Yours, very affectionately, 
 
 JAMES HEAD. 
 
 I hear that the bribing necessary to turn the poor butcher 
 into a fifth mate will cost the Company nearly 20,000 dollars 
 5000. 
 
 The last letter that appears in this volume will probably 
 be thought not the least interesting. It is dated from Edin- 
 burgh, August 12th, 1822, and gives some curious details of 
 the preparations for the reception of George IV., styled by 
 
 2 A
 
 354 PREPARATIONS FOR A PAGEANT. [CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 Mrs. Chetham Stoode " our good King." The writer was 
 subsequently known to fame as Sir Francis Bond Head. 
 
 MY DEAK UNCLE, 
 
 ... I have been very busily employed lately in preparing 
 the Castle for the King's visit, and have at last managed to 
 make it clean, which is all that can be expected. The King 
 is to arrive in the Forth to-morrow ; is to land at Leith, and 
 to proceed to the Palace of Holy Rood by Leith Walk. Edin- 
 burgh is really full of people, and there is scarcely a bed to 
 be had. It is supposed that there are 140,000 strangers in the 
 town. Everything is in a bustle and confusion, and I believe 
 that not half the dresses ordered for to-morrow will be ready. 
 The principal personages in the processions to Holy Eood, 
 and afterwards to the Castle, are the Lord First Constable 
 (Lord Erroll) and the Knight Marshal (Sir A. Keith). They 
 are each to be attended by six esquires and two pages. 
 
 I am one of Lord Erroll's esquires, and am to be dressed 
 in a scarlet embroidered coat, white satin waistcoat, white 
 satin breeches, with white shoes. 
 
 We have another dress for riding in, and have magnificent 
 accoutrements for our horses. Everything is found by Lord 
 Erroll, and I therefore believe the ceremonies will cost him 
 about 1500. We made a claim for the King's horses from 
 the riding school, but your Scotch brother, the Knight Mar- 
 shal, had been beforehand and obtained them for his esquires, 
 so I am prevented riding a long-tailed horse. 
 
 Lord Erroll only came to Edinburgh a few days ago, and 
 had then all his dresses to invent and to order. There was 
 no one here who could give him any instruction but Walter 
 Scott, and he misled him. It was for a long time a matter 
 of dispute whether the esquires were to ride with batons, 
 but it is at last decided that we are. They, however, will 
 not allow us to ride with spurs, without which it is quite 
 impossible to manage one's horse. 
 
 The regalia was carried in procession (guarded by the 
 yeomanry and Glengarry Highlanders) to Holy Rood House 
 this morning, and I am sorry to say that a scaffold, crowded 
 with people, gave way, and that a number of persons were 
 hurt. 
 
 It is expected that numbers of people will be killed 
 when the procession to the Castle takes place, and I rather
 
 1822.] DEATH OF SIR JAMES LAMB. 355 
 
 expect there will be a row, for the magistrates have taken 
 possession of almost every vacant spot in order to erect 
 scaffolds for their friends and for people of distinction, and 
 as upwards of two hundred thousand people will find it im- 
 possible to see anything, I certainly fear the canaille will 
 be dissatisfied. There is a great deal of curiosity evident 
 everywhere to see the King, but if it was not for that I do 
 not think he would be well received not from any bad 
 feeling, but from the cold, sedate habits of the people. I 
 really expect, however, that he will be pleased with his visit, 
 for he must admire the scenery of Edinburgh, and all the 
 authorities and the respectable people seem aware of the 
 duties they have to perform. . . . 
 
 Sir James Lamb did not long enjoy his new name, or its 
 valuable accompaniments. He died on the llth of October, 
 1824, and was succeeded in his title and estates by his eldest 
 surviving son, Charles Montolieu, who had also the reversion 
 to the dignity and privileges of Knight Marshal of the Eoyal 
 Household. As already stated, Sir Charles Lamb's first 
 wife was Lady Mary Montgomerie, daughter of the eleventh 
 Earl of Eglinton and relict of Archibald Lord Mongomerie. 
 Sir Charles Lamb married a second time in 1853. His wife 
 was Frances, eldest daughter of the Eev. William Margesson, 
 of Van and Oakhurst, in the county of Surrey. Sir Charles 
 Lamb died in 1860. His widow survived him till the 
 month of July, 1884. 
 
 Sir James Burges had ten children by his second wife, 
 Anne Montolieu: 1, James George, born in 1781, died in 
 infancy ; 2, Clara Maria, born 1783, died unmarried in 1821 ; 
 3, Charles Montolieu, born in 1785, died in 1860 ; 4, Osborne, 
 born 1788, died in infancy ; 5, Emily Charlotte, born 1789, 
 married in 1810 to Major-General Sir Hugh Halkett, by 
 whom she had sons and daughters ; 6, Caroline Eliza Anne, 
 died unmarried in 1863 ; 7, Wentworth Noel, born 1792, 
 
 killed at the siege of Burgos in 1812 ; 8, Somerville Walde- 
 
 2 A 2
 
 S56 CONCLUSION. [CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 mar, born 1794, wounded at Waterloo, died in 1869 ; 9, Sophia 
 Anne, married in 1821 Eev. Warburton Davies, died without 
 issue in 1858 ; 10, Julia Octavia, died unmarried in 1826. 
 
 It is surely unnecessary to add, as it were, an epitaph. 
 The life and letters of James Bland Burges photograph the 
 man as he lived and moved and had his being. He was a 
 thorough English gentleman, the highest type of civilisation 
 yet attained by mankind. In all the domestic and social 
 relations of life he was faultless. As a son, he was dutiful 
 and affectionate; as a husband, faithful and loving; as a 
 father, equally judicious and indulgent ; as a public man, 
 intelligent, industrious, and patriotic ; as a friend, kind, 
 hospitable, and forbearing ; and if, as a poet, he failed to reach 
 a higher order of excellence, let it not be forgotten that genius 
 is the gift of nature and cannot be won by any amount of 
 labour. He was an honourable, upright man, beloved in 
 life, and sincerely regretted in death. Multis ille bonis 
 fleHlis occidit.
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 ANECDOTES RELATING TO THE AFFAIR AT GLENCOE, TAKEN 
 FROM MRS. OGILVY'S MOUTH, 1762, BY MR. GEORGE BURGES. 
 
 1700. MRS. OGILVY went to Fort William. 
 
 M'Donald, of Glencoe, came in to Colonel Hill to take 
 the oaths to the Government, but after the time limited by 
 law, which Colonel Hill refused to administer; from there 
 he went to Inverary to the sheriff (supposed Campbell of 
 Meinon), but in going down was guilty of some violence on 
 the Breadalbane Estate, the Earl of which informed the 
 Ministry, for which they were brought to justice upon the 
 information of one of their own clan M'Donald, who was 
 a very weak man ; this enraged them, and they privately 
 murdered the informer, whose sister having discovered the 
 same, sent away the two nearest heirs of the deceased for 
 fear of their meeting the same fate, which two young men 
 had before, one a drummer, the other a soldier, entered into 
 Argyle's regiment, part of which were quartered upon Glencoe's 
 ground, under the command of Major Duncanson . . . 
 
 Sir John Hill was ordered to march up a detachment of 
 his regiment under the command of Colonel Hamilton, a 
 Scotch-Irish gentleman, to assist Major Duncanson in 
 quelling this part of the country, but the weather proving 
 extremely bad, and the rivers being swelled, this detach- 
 ment did not arrive till twenty-four hours after the death of 
 Glencoe and his people, and the only person who suffered 
 from this party was an idiot, who was shot on the top of a 
 rock ; however complaint was made to Sir John Hill that 
 the detachment had plundered the country and drove away 
 the cattle, which upon the strictest inquiry was found to be 
 altogether a falsity, except in one instance where a soldier
 
 358 CURIOUS DETAILS. 
 
 had carried off one sheep, for which he was severely punished 
 by running the gauntlet. From hence it appears plainly that 
 Glencoe was killed by the men of Argyle's regiment, and 
 particularly by the heirs of the men whom he had put to 
 death for giving information against him of the riot com- 
 mitted on the Breadalbane estate ; and by virtue of a warrant 
 from Sir John Dalrymple, then Secretary of State, Glencoe 
 and ten others were killed, as was likewise a boy who had 
 taken shelter under Captain Campbell of Glenlyon's cloak, 
 but was stabbed by Captain Drummond of the same regi- 
 ment, with this remarkable expression, that where there were 
 nits there would always be lice. The report of Glencoe's 
 wife dying of wounds she received endeavouring to protect 
 her husband, is entirely false, as she lived thirty years after 
 the affair, and was married to Donald Garrom, one of the 
 family of the Kippocks. M'Donald's, likewise Glencoe's sons, 
 John and Alister, fled the night before the affair upon appre- 
 hension that something was intended against them, from 
 seeing the soldiers more than commonly busy with their 
 arms. These sons returned afterwards to their estate, and 
 lived there very quietly and unmolested. 
 
 Mrs. Ogilvy's father, Captain William Kichardson, was in 
 Colonel Hill's regiment at Fort William, where she went in 
 1700. Captain Richardson was at Fort William when the 
 affair happened. 
 
 ^\ -As soon as the business was over, Colonel Hamilton came 
 to Edinburgh, when finding the people suspicious that he 
 had been concerned, and that the real facts were greatly 
 magnified, he was obliged to go away as expeditiously as 
 possible, and borrowing two horses from Mr. John Richardson 
 (brother of the Captain) at Gilmerton, he went away directly 
 to Flanders to King William ; Mrs. Hamilton, wife to the 
 Colonel, resided at the Abbey Hill, in Edinburgh, till his 
 return from Flanders.
 
 ( 359 ) 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 AT Arthur's gaming-house, one Eobert Mackreth,* the head- 
 waiter, carried on a profitable business by furnishing money 
 to those who frequented it, on the reasonable terms of 
 receiving back, on the following morning, the sum advanced 
 with five per cent, premium. As this business engrossed 
 much of his time, he found it necessary to engage some 
 person to whom he might delegate the less interesting parts 
 of his duty ; and, accordingly, he fixed his choice on Tom 
 Eumbold, who then filled the respectable posts of errand-boy 
 and shoe-black to the establishment. In this advanced 
 situation Tom had the good fortune to acquit himself to his 
 patron's satisfaction, and by his address and obsequious 
 
 * In Timbs's ' Club Life in London ' it is stated that Mackreth from 
 being a waiter at White's ultimately became the proprietor of the club. 
 He married the only child of Mr. Arthur, proprietor of Arthur's Chocolate 
 House, which developed into Arthur's Club at 69, St. James's Street. 
 Mackreth lived to represent the borough of Castle Rising in the British 
 Parliament, and received the doubtful honour of a civic knighthood. The 
 following lines illustrate his relations with the future Sir Thomas 
 Rurnbold : 
 
 " When Mackreth served in Arthur's crew, 
 He said to Rumbold, ' Black my shoe,' 
 
 To which he answer'd ' Ay, Bob.' 
 But when return'd from India's land, 
 And grown too proud to brook command, 
 He sternly answered ' Nay, Bob.' " 
 
 Rigby was suspected of bringing about the collapse of the proceedings 
 against Sir" Thomas Rumbold, whom he had patronised as a waiter at 
 White's Club. He was believed to have borrowed money from Rumbold in 
 1782, when hard pressed to make good certain alleged deficiencies at the Pay 
 Office. Shortly afterwards Rigby's nephew and heir married Rumbold's 
 daughter. Timbs's 'Club Life in London,' vol. i. pp. 107-108 and 119.
 
 360 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD. 
 
 manners obtained the favour of the subscribers to the Club. 
 In due time he was promoted to the dignity of head- waiter on 
 the resignation of Mackreth, who, having realised a large 
 fortune, took a new road to distinction, and became Sir Robert, 
 a Sheriff of London, and a Member of Parliament. Whether 
 Eumbold was excited by this brilliant example, or was 
 prompted by the sagacity of his own nature, to follow so 
 successful a precedent, is little worth inquiry. He certainly 
 did follow it for some time with good effect, till, having 
 advanced to a person of high rank a larger sum than the 
 latter found it convenient to repay, he commuted the debt 
 for an appointment as a Writer in the East India Company's 
 service at Calcutta. He there amassed an enormous fortune 
 by joining two others in buying in all the rice offered for 
 sale in the market and re-selling it at famine prices. Not- 
 withstanding the very equivocal reputation he enjoyed, he 
 was twice appointed Governor of Madras, was made a 
 baronet, and obtained a seat in Parliament. 
 
 But it is necessary to go back a little. Having pretty 
 well run through the immense sums of money he had accu- 
 mulated during his first residence in India, Eumbold was 
 constrained to return to that country, and contrived to be 
 sent to Madras in the quality of Governor. His second 
 residence out there did not, I believe, exceed eighteen 
 months, but he nevertheless came back to Europe in pos* 
 session of great riches. It was during his tenure of the 
 Governorship of Madras that Lady Eumbold was delivered 
 of a son. As this was the first time that such an event had 
 occurred to the lady of a Governor, it occasioned a consider- 
 able sensation, and everybody hastened to offer their con- 
 gratulations, accompanied, as is the usage of the country, 
 with presents of greater or less value. Among the most 
 forward to testify sympathy was the Nabob of Arcot, whom 
 a long experience had convinced of his absolute dependence 
 on the British Government, and of the advisability of pro- 
 pitiating those who were entrusted with the duties of admin- 
 istration. His congratulatory offerings, being proportioned 
 to the rank alike of the donor and the recipient, could not 
 fail to gratify Sir Thomas, who, in return, signified to the 
 \ Nabob his desire that His Highness should stand as one of 
 the godfathers of the new-born infant. It was a strange 
 thing, no doubt, to select a Mohammedan to fulfil one of the 
 most solemn duties of the Christian Church, but that con-
 
 THE NABOB'S DIAMOND. 361 
 
 sideration did not affect the Nabob, who accepted the pro- 
 posal as a distinguished compliment, and as opening the road 
 to the Governor's favour in the future. 
 
 At the appointed time His Highness proceeded to the 
 Governor's residence arrayed in all the plenitude of Eastern 
 magnificence, and wearing on his finger the famous Arcot 
 diamond. His reception was in the highest degree cordial. 
 After the conclusion of the baptismal ceremony the company 
 repaired to the banquet-hall, where they sat down to a 
 sumptuous repast, the Nabob occupying the post of honour 
 on the Governor's right hand. In the course of their conver- 
 sation, which, on Rumbold's part, was particularly compli- 
 mentary and gracious, something was said about jewels, 
 which naturally led the Governor to expatiate on the un- 
 common size and lustre of the stone which sparkled on the 
 Nabob's finger. At length he requested leave to inspect it 
 more closely. The unsuspecting prince, taking it off, placed . 
 it in his hand. After examining it from every point of view,\ 
 Kumbold gravely put it on his own finger, and in very- 
 courteous and impressive terms thanked His Highness for 
 his magnificent present, which, he said, far exceeded any- 
 thing he could have expected from even his princely liber- 
 ality. He further assured him that he would never part 
 with the ring, but would keep it till his dying day, as a 
 pledge of the union between them so happily cemented. 
 Not a little astounded at the turn things had taken, the 
 Prince protested with much earnestness that he had never 
 had any idea of parting with his diamond, which was a 
 family possession that had come down to him from his 
 ancestors, and was indeed a sacred inheritance which he had 
 no power to alienate. It was all to no purpose. Eumbold 
 adhered to his resolution, and the Nabob had to retire 
 without his ring, which was straightway transferred to the 
 Governor's strong-box, and shortly afterwards conveyed to 
 England with the rest of his spoils. 
 
 In the meantime, the Nabob poured forth his lamenta^ 
 tions and complaints to all who would listen to them. His 
 grievance soon reached the ears of Colonel Cosby, a dis- 
 tinguished officer in the Company's service, who had con- 
 ceived an extraordinary antipathy against the ex-Governor. 
 He accordingly informed His Highness that he must abandon 
 all hope of ever again seeing his diamond, but that he could 
 deprive his despoiler of the advantage of possessing such a
 
 362 AN UNPLEASANT SITUATION. 
 
 treasure. The Queen of Great Britain, he continued, had a 
 remarkable passion for jewels, and especially for diamonds. 
 Her influence over her Royal husband was unbounded, and 
 through him over the great councils of the kingdom. In the 
 present exigency of his affairs, nothing could be more politic 
 than to secure Her Majesty's particular favour and support 
 by adding this unique gem to her collection. Thirsting for 
 revenge, sorely in need of powerful protection, and knowing 
 about as much of English politics as of what was passing in 
 Nova Zembla, the Nabob agreed to follow Colonel Cosby's 
 advice. A respectful letter was accordingly written to the 
 Queen, to inform Her Majesty that, as a token of His High- 
 ness's veneration of her virtues, he had entrusted to Sir 
 Thomas Eumbold, for delivery into her own Eoyal hands, a 
 jewel which had long been the pride of his family, and that 
 he had further commissioned Colonel Cosby to lay this letter 
 at Her Majesty's feet. 
 
 The Colonel arrived in England about the same time as 
 the ex-Governor, and at once hurried off to Buckingham 
 House, and demanded an audience. On being admitted to 
 the presence of the Queen he acquitted himself of bis com- 
 mission in a manner that inspired alike curiosity and gratifi- 
 cation. Replying with appropriate enthusiasm to Her 
 Majesty's multitudinous questionings, Cosby at length ven- 
 tured to express some surprise that the ring had not already 
 come into her royal possession, at the same time darkly 
 hinting suspicions as to the ex-Governor's integrity. The 
 Queen took alarm, and asked how she should act to insure 
 the due discharge of the Nabob's trust. The Colonel answered 
 that nothing more was necessary than Her Majesty's written 
 authorisation to himself to bring her the ring. Armed with 
 this document he proceeded at an early hour on the following 
 morning to Rumbold's house, and was shown into the study. 
 As soon as the servant had retired, Cosby walked to the door, 
 double-locked it, and put the key in his pocket. Surprised 
 at such singular behaviour, Rumbold asked him what he 
 meant by it. The other replied that his object was to 
 prevent any interruption to their conversation, as he had 
 come, by Her Majesty's command, to demand the transfer of 
 the jewel, out of which he had so shamefully swindled the 
 Nabob. Rumbold positively refused to do anything of the 
 kind, asserting that His Highness had voluntarily presented 
 the gem to him, on occasion of standing godfather to his son.
 
 DESPOILING TEE DESPOILEE. 363 
 
 He added that he was astonished at such a paltry attempt at 
 imposition, with which he was not likely to be taken in. 
 " Mighty well," replied Cosby. " I am likely, I find, to have 
 more business on my hands than I looked for. It is lucky 
 that I laid in a provision for the occasion." With that, he 
 drew out of his pockets a brace of pistols, and laid them 
 beside him on the sofa on which he was seated. Sir Thomas 
 Eumbold made a motion as though he would ring the bell, 
 but was prevented by the Colonel, who coolly remarked: 
 " Pray do not excite yourself, Sir Thomas, as we shall transact 
 the business that is before us much more satisfactorily if we 
 set about it with calmness. Allow me, as I am somewhat 
 methodical, to give Her Majesty the precedence which is 
 justly her due. We can afterwards settle our account for 
 the insulting language you have used towards myself." 
 Eumbold protested that he did not mean to insult him. The 
 disclaimer being easily accepted, the Colonel handed him a 
 copy of the Nabob's letter, the original of which, he said, 
 was in Her Majesty's possession. He then presented him 
 with the Queen's autograph command to transfer the ring 
 forthwith to the bearer of the missive. After some reflection, 
 but without saying a word, Eumbold went to the bureau, 
 took out the ring, and put it in the Colonel's hand. " There," 
 said he, " take it to the Queen, and represent the matter to 
 her as favourably as you can. If you took amiss what I 
 said in my heat, I am sorry for it, and beg your pardon." 
 Cosby was not implacable. He replaced the pistols in his 
 pocket, and made all haste to Buckingham House, where he 
 was honoured with a most gracious reception. The diamond 
 in question was frequently worn by Her Majesty, to my 
 personal knowledge. My authority for this statement was 
 the Colonel himself, who narrated it, with all its details, 
 after dinner, to a small party assembled round Mr. Hastings's 
 table. On the first levee day after this incident, he received 
 from His Majesty's hand the honour of knighthood, and rose 
 up Sir Alexander Cosby. (Condensed from a Memorandum 
 in the handwriting of Sir James Lamb, dated from Lower 
 Brook Street, 3rd September, 1818.)
 
 ( 364 ) 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE KING OF FRANCE'S ESCAPE 
 FROM PARIS IN JUNE, 1791.* 
 
 THE following paper was delivered to Mr. Pitt and Lord 
 Grenville (together with a letter to me from the King of 
 Sweden to His Majesty) on the 3rd of August, 1791, by Mr. 
 Quentin Craufurd, an English gentleman of fortune, who 
 usually resicled at Paris, of undoubted character, sense, and 
 veracity. There can be no doubt of the authenticity of his 
 information. 
 
 J. B. B. 
 
 was hinted to me some months ago, that the Count de 
 Fersen f frequently saw the King and Queen of France in 
 private, both at the Tuileries and St. Cloud ; but the difficulty 
 
 * At the end of the third volume of the ' Auckland Correspondence' a 
 paper is given headed ' Illustrations,' evidently founded on the following 
 Memorandum preserved among the papers of Sir J. B. Lamb. The Bishop 
 of Bath and Wells remarks that the paper published by him in his 
 capacity of editor of his deceased father's ' Correspondence ' " was found 
 amongst Lord Auckland's dispatches for 1793, but it was drawn up at an 
 earlier period. It is not possible to say by whom it was written, but Lord 
 Auckland had collected a variety of papers illustrating the French Revo- 
 lution, and from his intimacy with Count Fersen, M. de Bouille", and 
 Mr. Quentin Craufurd, he had the best means of knowing the truth." In 
 a footnote it is suggested that " it may possibly be copied from one of the 
 ' Curious Papers ' the Count de Merci showed to Lord Auckland in April, 
 1793, or from the papers of Mr. Quentin Craufurd." 
 
 f This gentleman was Colonel of the Eoyal Suedois ; was Her Most / 
 Christian Majesty's prime favourite ; and is generally supposed to be the) 
 father of the present Dauphin. Q. C.
 
 M. DE FEBSEN, 365 
 
 and danger seemed so great, that I scarcely gave credit to it. , 
 I have since understood from him, that, from towards the)' 
 end of October, 1789, about three weeks after their Majesties 
 were brought from Versailles to Paris, he generally saw them 
 once or twice a week, and sometimes oftener, according as 
 he had business with the King. The place where he con- 
 stantly saw their Majesties was the King's Closet. He went 
 to the Palace after it was dark, dressed in a frock, with 
 a round hat, and was admitted into the apartments by means 
 of one of those passes which were given to persons of the 
 Household. From about the beginning of February last, the 
 Abbe de Montesquieu* was admitted in the same manner. 
 
 The confidential correspondence of their Majesties, both 
 within and without the Kingdom, was carried on by means 
 of M. de Fersen. The infidelity of some, and the indiscretion 
 of almost all, made them now extremely cautious whom they 
 trusted: but they were under the necessity of employing 
 some one on whom they could depend ; and he seems to have 
 enjoyed and to have merited their entire confidence. I know 
 him intimately, and think him a man of unquestionable 
 honour and veracity. He is calm, resolute, and uncommonly 
 discreet, without being reserved. 
 
 The only person abroad who was fully authorised to treat 
 for the King with foreign powers, was the Baron de Breteuil. 
 Though the King loves the Count d'Artois, he seems to be 
 
 * Cousin to the Marquis of that name. He has twice been President of 
 the National Assembly, but for some months past has scarcely ever 
 attended it. Before the Revolution happened he was agent for the clergy ; 
 and, though ineffectually, defended their rights with courage and ability. 
 He promised to be one of the most rising young men in France. With an 
 excellent moral character, he possesses great gentleness of manners, a 
 natural, easy eloquence, and, I believe, a considerable degree of knowledge 
 both in ancient and modern learning. Since the beginning of February 
 last he had been employed by the King to observe the different parties, 
 and to send some money out of the kingdom, as preparatory to the King's 
 escape. As the King had positively rejected every idea of a bankruptcy, 
 the Abbe de M. made a plan for reimbursing the assignats by the clergy, 
 who were to have been put in possession of their lands again, on condition 
 of their repaying the purchase money of those that had been sold, in 
 assignats, and changing the assignats that were in circulation the day 
 before the King's departure at the rate of loss they then bore. To enable 
 them to do this, they were to have been empowered to suppress unnecessary 
 monasteries, and to sell their estates. Q. C.
 
 366 A ROYAL FABEWELL. 
 
 mistrustful of his prudence ; and the King and Queen have 
 shown the most decided disapprobation of his employing M. 
 de Calonne.* 
 
 ^A Early in November, 1789, the King wrote to the King of 
 Spain, and sent him a protest against whatever he might 
 publicly be engaged to do or sanction during his detention at 
 Paris, or while under any sort of restraint. This letter was 
 delivered to the Spanish Ambassador, and by him forwarded 
 to his Court. 
 
 I left Paris on the 3rd of May last to come to England ; 
 and I left London on the 17th of June to return to Paris. On 
 my arrival at Boulogne on the 18th, a letter was delivered to 
 me, by which I was advised not to come to Paris, but to go 
 immediately to Brussels. I did so ; and, on the 22nd, advice 
 was received there of the King's escape. M. de Fersen, who 
 had conducted it, left the royal family about seven miles . 
 from Paris. He pressed the King to permit him to accompany^' 
 him, but he positively refused, saying : " If we should be 
 stopped and you taken, it would probably be impossible for me 
 to save you : besides, you have a letter for the Emperor,f 
 which in case of my being arrested may be of importance : I 
 therefore order you to go to the Low Countries as fast as you 
 can; and, added he, 'Que Dieu vous conserve, acceptez 
 I'offre que je vous fais de mon amitie, et, arrive ce qui veut, 
 je n'oublierai jamais votre zele et vos services.'" M. de 
 Fersen told me that he felt himself much affected at the 
 manner in which the King spoke to him ; and, looking after 
 the carriage as it went away, was strongly tempted to disobey 
 an order that was merely the effect of goodness, and to follow 
 it. He arrived at Mons on the 22nd, early in the morning ; 
 and, having delivered a message to Monsieur, who came 
 there about the same time, he set out to join the King at 
 
 x^ * Had the King arrived safely at Montmedy, the Baron de Breteuil and 
 the Archbishop of Bourdeaux (the late Garde des Sceaux) were imme- 
 diately to have joined him. Monsieur was to have remained with the 
 King, but the Count d'Artois was to have been sent back to Turin, to act 
 in the Southern Provinces as circumstances might require. Q. C. 
 
 t This letter served to transmit a copy of the manifest that the 
 King left behind him. He observed to the Emperor that should he be 
 prevented from going away, it would serve to announce his real senti- 
 ments ; and requested him in that case not to abandon him, or words to 
 that effect. Q. C.
 
 A FLATTERING COMMISSION. 367 
 
 Montmedy ; but at Arlons he met Monsieur de Bouille', and, 
 being informed by him of what had happened at Varennes, he 
 came to Brussels. 
 
 I have been acquainted with the Count de Merci for some 
 years past. He had often talked with me on the affairs of 
 France, both at Paris and since my arrival at Brussels. Soon 
 after M. de Fersen came there, he told me that Monsieur de 
 Merci and he wished me to go to England, to represent the 
 state of the King's secret negotiations with foreign Powers, 
 what he expected from them, and what was desired by our 
 Court. He said that M. de Merci, as well as himself, were 
 incapable of advancing anything with a view to mislead ; 
 but that, on the contrary, they wished to prevent misrepre- 
 sentation, being sensible that whatever effect it might have 
 for the moment, it would probably produce very serious 
 embarrassments in the end: that they had spoken to me 
 without disguise, and that they should continue to furnish me 
 with every information I might desire. 
 
 Though I confess I was pleased to be in possession of 
 intelligence that seemed to me of so much consequence, yet 
 the confidence that had already been and was still intended 
 to be reposed in me, I thought demanded candour on my 
 part ; and I therefore mentioned to him the objections that 
 appeared to me to lie in the way of my accepting such a 
 commission, especially my not having the honour of being 
 in any sort of correspondence with any of His Majesty's 
 Ministers ; but I asked him, in case I did accept of it, if I 
 was to be left at entire liberty with respect to the information 
 I should think it necessary to communicate to them, without 
 which, I told him, I must decline it. He said it was never 
 meant to propose any sort of restraint in that respect ; and 
 he thought on this occasion it was demonstrable that Great 
 Britain might at the same time render an important piece of 
 service to the Royal Family of France, and to Europe in 
 general, and essentially promote her own interests. In 
 answer to a hint I gave him of sending a Frenchman to 
 England, he said it was unfit in such a case to employ any 
 of them ; that he was certain M. de Merci would not approve 
 of it ; that they were all guided by party spirit, and their 
 passions too much inflamed ; that M. de Merci had that very 
 morning observed to him that, though they had not a spot of 
 ground to put their feet on, except by the complaisance and 
 hospitality of other powers, there was already among them
 
 368 A SCRAP OF PAPER. 
 
 " Monsieur's Party " headed by Madame de Balbi ; the " Count 
 d' Artois' Party " with M. de Calonne ; the " Prince of Conde's 
 Party," and perhaps twenty parties besides, with as many 
 mancEuvres and intrigues as if they were all settled again at 
 Versailles. 
 
 M. de Fersen, after going to the King of Sweden at Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, returned to Brussels ; and a Swedish officer was 
 despatched from thence to Paris with a letter to the King 
 from the King of Sweden, and a paper that was drawn up 
 by M. de Merci and M. de Fersen. The former, I understood, 
 merely contained compliments of condolence on the late 
 event, and assurances of attachment. The latter was desiring 
 to be informed with respect to the situation of the Eoyal 
 Family ; to know if the King remained in the same senti- 
 ments as when he left Paris on the 20th of June ; and sub- 
 mitting to His Majesty's consideration, whether it might not 
 be proper for him to send full powers for Monsieur to act on 
 his behalf. The officer was furnished with a passport from 
 the King of Sweden, as a person travelling on his own affairs, 
 and was ordered, on his arrival at Paris, to deliver the packet 
 to the King's maitre d'hotel, a man of fidelity and discretion. 
 
 On the 6th of July, M. de Merci resigned his place of 
 Minister of the Low Countries, and went to Spa. He had 
 been pressed by the Emperor to retain that office some time 
 longer; and, on his excusing himself, was requested to continue 
 to assist the Archduchess and the Duke Albert with his 
 advice, who were desired to observe it. 
 
 On the 14th the Swedish officer returned from Paris. The 
 Eoyal Family there was so strictly guarded, that some days 
 were spent before opportunities could be found to deliver the 
 packet he carried, and again to obtain an answer. In the 
 packet he brought back, there was a small scrap of paper, \ 
 written in the King's hand, and a much larger one in cypher 
 that appeared to be written in the Queen's, both dated the 7th 
 of July. The first was addressed to Monsieur and the Count 
 d' Artois, saying that he trusted to the love he knew they 
 bore him, for taking measures with foreign Powers for the 
 security of himself and his family, and for restoring tran- 
 quillity to his kingdom. It is, however, to be observed that 
 it was not a full power, as had been suggested to the King. 
 The paper written in cypher spoke of the situation of the 
 King and Queen, and contained reflections on the manner in 
 which the King thought the foreign Powers should interfere ;
 
 M. DE MERCPS OPINIONS. 369 
 
 which seemed to breathe a considerable share of anxiety for 
 the safety of his family. 
 
 On the 16th of July I went to Spa, and M. de Fersen to 
 Aix-la-Chapelle. On the day of my arrival at Spa, I had a 
 long conversation with M. de Merci. In the course of it he 
 dwelt much on the danger with which, he thought, all the 
 States in Europe were threatened, from the principles that 
 were propagated by the partisans of the Democratic Party ; * 
 principles, that, he said, were equally destructive to every 
 government, whatever name it might bear, as they tended 
 to level mankind to one general mass, to destroy subordina- 
 tion, and, from a pretended spirit of toleration, not only to 
 overthrow every established religion, but, if it were possible, 
 even to eradicate from the mind all idea of a Supreme 
 Being ; that, however monstrous and absurd those notions 
 were, however much they might in the end produce the 
 wretchedness of those they were employed to captivate, yet 
 some of them were so much calculated to engage the licentious 
 and unthinking part of mankind, that, when he considered 
 the pains that were taken to spread them, instead of being 
 
 * M. de Merci had lately received a letter from Paris, without any 
 name to it, but which he imagined came from M. La Borde the father, who 
 has long professed a great attachment to M. de Merci. The author of the 
 letter says that he has been desired to acquaint him that a coalition had 
 been formed between M. de la Fayette, Barnave, Duport, Alexr. de 
 Lameth, La Borde the son, &c., to support the Monarchy in the sense 
 decreed by the National Assembly ; but that, after the Constitution 
 should be revived, they expected that the King would accept and sanction 
 it, and that the Emperor and other Powers would acknowledge that Consti- 
 tution as the only true Government of the French Dominions ; and giving 
 him to understand that if any of them should attempt to disturb it 
 (meaning the Constitution), they should certainly employ the means they 
 had in their power for effecting those changes in their possessions which 
 had taken place in France. M. de Merci at first resolved not to take any 
 notice of it ; but, as he was persuaded it came from La Borde, he replied, 
 first, by taking notice of the extreme impropriety and indelicacy of 
 addressing such a writing to him ; said that he had no sort of connection 
 with the gentlemen who were mentioned in it, nor had he any opinion to 
 give them. He treated with great severity the principles they seemed to 
 avow, and with contempt their menaces ; and assured him that, if any 
 persons were found in the territories of the Emperor, his Master, attempting 
 to disturb the established Government, they would speedily be brought to 
 the punishment they would deserve. Q. C. 
 
 2 B
 
 370 A GRAND PROJECT. 
 
 surprised that symptoms of them now began, almost every- 
 where, to appear, he rather wondered that they had not 
 made greater progress. He observed, that it was become the 
 interest, perhaps the duty of all the Powers of Europe, to 
 unite in suppressing them ; that it would be a phenomenon 
 indeed to see them all cordially agree to co-operate in the 
 same enterprise; but what had happened in France (and 
 what might happen everywhere) was still more extra- 
 ordinary ; for there we had seen above twenty-four millions 
 of persons agreeing to destroy the laws and government 
 under which they lived, and saying we will have no superior 
 among us, nor any one vested with authority, but such as 
 we may choose to set up, and then only to obey them when 
 we approve of the orders they may give. He said that, 
 when the great object for which the Pow T ers should unite 
 was accomplished, each of them -might return exactly to his 
 former political situation, unless they chose to take that 
 opportunity to form a plan for preserving the general peace 
 of Europe. He conceived such a plan to be very possible ; 
 he entered into many speculative reflections on the probable 
 effects of it ; he said, that this indeed would merit the name 
 of the Grand Project,* and, if ever it took place, that no 
 country would reap so great advantages from it as England, 
 because it was the most commercial country in Europe, but 
 perhaps more than any other loaded with public debt. Then, 
 returning to the original subject, he observed that unfortu- 
 nately every one thought the danger either in some degree 
 chimerical, or at a distance, or that it was easy to guard 
 against it ; he wished they might not find themselves mis- 
 taken. He said that, in the Low Countries, he was far from 
 thinking the Government secure against disturbance; for, 
 notwithstanding all the discipline that existed among the 
 troops, the soldiers must at last be surprised to see such 
 numbers of officers coming, and no soldiers; and, if they 
 required, they would find that the soldiers had beaten and 
 driven them away; that, were the propaganda of the 
 Jacobins, or the Diplomatic Committee of the National 
 Assembly, to succeed in debauching, or, according to their 
 language, in converting one or two regiments in Eussia, 
 especially of the National Troops, in all probability the 
 whole army would follow their example ; that to the soldiers 
 
 * Alluding to the " Grand Projet " attributed by Sulli to Henri IV.
 
 IDLE SPECULATIONS. 371 
 
 was held out increase of pay, the prospect of rising to the 
 rank of officers, and, in the meantime, the inability of those 
 to punish them ; that the same spirit of insubordination might 
 be introduced into a fleet, and we already saw it prevailed 
 in the navy of France as much as in the armies. He con- 
 cluded by saying, that the insults which had been offered to 
 different Powers, the threats that had been held out to them, 
 the means that had been employed to disturb their pos- 
 sessions, the acts of injustice that had been committed in 
 violation of solemn treaties, and the danger that was to be 
 apprehended from the anarchy that prevailed in France, 
 fully justified an interference that tended to restore public 
 tranquillity ; that, if the principal Powers of Europe would 
 seriously unite, and act with good faith towards each other, 
 success was certain; but, if Great Britain and her allies 
 refused to join, his opinion in that case was that nothing 
 should be attempted. He observed that the Princes (meaning 
 Monsieur and the Count d'Artois) and those who advised 
 them, were totally unequal to the management of an affair 
 of such magnitude ; that they might undoubtedly be most 
 usefully employed, but that the different Powers should 
 take the planning and direction of what was to be done 
 almost entirely upon themselves. He entered into some 
 detail upon this subject, and, in order to save time, suggested 
 an idea of Ministers being deputed from the different Courts 
 to meet in some central place, but without eclat until it 
 were time for those Courts to announce their intentions. Ho 
 repeated several times that the future tranquillity of all the 
 countries of Europe depended on England, who would not 
 only participate in that blessing in common with them, 
 but would obtain advantages which the others, from local 
 situation and other circumstances, were not susceptible of. 
 Before I came away, he said, " However, the anarchy that 
 now reigns in France must have an end ; but, in the mean- 
 time, a bankruptcy will inevitably happen ; which, doubtless, 
 will ruin many individuals, both French and foreigners, but, 
 after this convulsion, the Government will probably take a 
 settled form, and that Government will find itself freed from 
 the payment of about two hundred and fifty millions of livres 
 a year ; which certainly would be a very fatal circumstance 
 for England ; whereas, if the royal authority were restored, 
 the debt ought to be secured. This is a point which the 
 
 2 B 2
 
 372 GUSTAVUS III. OF SWEDEN. 
 
 Powers who may interfere in the affairs of France should 
 insist on, both as an act of justice and as necessary to facili- 
 tate their enterprise." 
 
 On the 19th M. de Fersen came to Spa from Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, and M. de Merci repeated in his presence almost 
 everything he had said to me. While we were in conversa- 
 tion, the Elector of Cologne came in ; and, though he entered 
 on the affairs of France, I observed that M. de Merci spoke 
 only in very general terms before him. 
 
 On the 20th I went with M. de Fersen to Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 and with him waited on the King of Sweden, who talked 
 with great earnestness on what had happened in France, 
 and seemed well acquainted with many transactions there 
 both before and since the Eevolution. He said, that he 
 felt himself called to act on this occasion both by sentiment 
 and interest ; that the same means might be used in other 
 countries that had been employed in France to seduce the 
 soldiers from their duty, and the people from their allegiance ; 
 that the resolution he had taken of co-operating with other 
 Powers, to the utmost of his ability, for delivering the King 
 of France from his captivity, and the country from the 
 abominations that now prevailed in it, was founded on 
 principles of justice and good policy, and did not arise from 
 a spirit of chivalry, as some of the late French orators were 
 pleased to ascribe to him ; for that, whatever might be his 
 dispositions, it was sufficiently evident that neither the state 
 of his country or finances admitted of his making campaigns 
 by way of amusement, or for the sake of being spoken of. 
 He observed (like M. de Merci) that the success or failure 
 of what was proposed would, in a great measure, depend on 
 the resolution that might be taken by the Court of England. 
 
 The next day the King of Sweden again took me into his 
 cabinet ; and, after talking to me for some time, gave me a 
 letter for His Majesty. He desired that nothing might be 
 said on the subjects he had spoken of to M. de Nolcken, and 
 added, M. de Fersen knows " why." The King detained me 
 at Aix-la-Chapelle till the 23rd ; on the 25th he set out for 
 Sweden. On the 24th M. de Fersen set out for Vienna. 
 At Brussels I saw the Archduchess, who in private seems 
 much affected at the situation of the Queen of France, and 
 informed me that she had found it impossible to obtain any 
 direct information from her.
 
 FINAL INSTRUCTIONS. 373 
 
 Before I left Aix-la-Chapelle the King of Sweden * gave 
 me an order to his Minister at the Hague, for forwarding, 
 by a special messenger, such dispatches as might be sent to 
 him ; and M. de Fersen gave me a copy of the cypher that 
 is used by the King and Queen of France, in their secret 
 correspondence. FINIS. 
 
 * Gustavus III. was assassinated at a masked ball by Ankaarstrom on 
 March 17th, 1792. As Gustavus IV. was only in his sixteenth year, the 
 Duke of Suderniania, the late King's uncle, assumed the Regency, and 
 preserved a strict neutrality.
 
 ( 374 ) 
 
 The folloiving are Copies of the Queries proposed by Mr. Crau- 
 furd to M. de Fersen, with the Answers written respectively 
 in the Handwriting of those two Gentlemen. 
 
 1. What was the date and purport of the King of France's 
 letter to the King of Spain, after he was brought from Ver- 
 sailles to Paris on the 6th of October, 1789 ? 
 
 ^Elle est de la fin d'octobre ou de novembre 1789 ; et 
 contient une protestation contre tout ce que le Eoi pourroit 
 dire, faire, ou signer pendant sa captivite. 
 
 2. What was the date and purport of his letter to the 
 Emperor, on his leaving Paris on the 20th of June, 1791 ? 
 
 v * Elle est du 20 juin, 1791. C'est un extrait de la procla- 
 mation qu'il a laissee en partant ; et il finit par reclamer les 
 secours de 1'Empereur, dans le cas ou il seroit arrete. 
 
 3. What was the date and purport of the power given to 
 the Baron de Breteuil ? 
 
 ^vUn plein pouvoir ou autorite de traiter avec toutes les 
 Puissances au nom du Eoi. 
 
 4. What was the date and purport of the powers sent to 
 Monsieur and Monsieur le Cornte d'Artois from Paris, after 
 the King was arrested and carried back thither ? 
 
 Un pouvoir de traiter avec les differentes Puissances, et 
 de convenir avec elles des moyens a employer pour le reta- 
 blissement de 1'ordre et de la tranquillite dans le Eoyaume, 
 en prenant toutes les precautions necessaires pour sa surete , 
 et celle de la famille. Date du 7 juillet, 1791. V 
 
 5. What was the date and substance of the observations 
 that were written in cypher, and which accompanied that 
 power ? 
 
 \Du 7 juillet, 1791 de former une maniere de Congres 
 appuye de forces imposantes, et faire prendre toutes les 
 demarches de quelques ne'gociations, afin de ne pas pro- 
 voquer au crime et a un massacre. 
 
 6. To whom were the two letters addressed, written by
 
 LETTER FROM THE EMPEROR. 375 
 
 the Emperor, that I saw at Brussels ? What were their 
 contents and dates ? 
 
 \Ecrites a la Eeine. La premiere du 2 mai ; la seconde 
 du 6 juin contenant toutes les assurances les plus positives 
 de secourir le Roi, et de lui fournir tout ce qu'il pourroit 
 demander. 
 
 N Tres chere Soeur, J'ai rec,u votre petit billet et la lettre en 
 chiffre par le Baron de Breteuil : enfin je sqais vos intentions 
 et celles du Eoi, et vous serez obele. Par M. D'Urfort re- 
 venu a Paris vous avez SQU ce que j'ai concerte avec le Comte 
 d'Artois. J'attends sur cela vos ordres. Je n'etois plus a 
 terns de la faire retourner a Turin, mais, comme il me te- 
 moigne de la confiance, je lui ai ecrit pour qu'il obeisse aux 
 ordres du Roi et ne revienne point, et je me flatte qu'il le 
 fera. Je prie Dieu que vos projets reussissiroient heureuse- 
 ment. Figurez-vous mes peines et mes inquietudes pour vous. 
 Mon coeur vous est bien attache. Vous, ainsi que le Roi, 
 pouvez compter sur moi en toutes occasions, dans tout ce qui 
 dependra de moi. Vous n'avez qu'ordonner avec le Comte 
 de Merci, qui a les ordres et instructions necessaires. Je ne 
 me fierai qu'a ceux que vous m'avez marques. Le Prince de 
 LambJswf) est entre a mon service, &c. 
 
 7. What were the contents and date of the letter that 
 came lately from the Emperor at Padua ? 
 
 ^Un ordre a 1'Archiduchesse et a M. de Merci, de laisser 
 a la disposition du Roi toutes les troupes, 1'argent, et tout 
 ce qu'il possede dans les PaYs Bas. Le tout dans la supposi- 
 tion que le Roi fut sauve. Ordre de garder ces ordres, qui 
 pourroient servir de regie par la suite. 
 
 8. What were the contents and date of the letter, or 
 message, lately received from the Court of Spain by the 
 Baron de Breteuil ? 
 
 Qu'il s'engage a fournir 14,000 hommes, dont cinq de 
 cavalerie, et six millions d'un emprunt ordonne en Hol- 
 lande. Le tout dans la supposition de 1'dvasion du Roi. 
 
 9. What was the date of the engagements, or promises, of 
 the Emperor, that were to have been transmitted by the 
 Count A. D'Urfort ? And what were the contents <of those 
 engagements, and with whom were they made ? 
 
 Mantoue, au mois de mai de fournir 45,000 hommes 
 un emprunt de 15 millions de negocier avec 1'Espagne et 
 1'Angleterre, pour les faire entrer dans la ligue, et faire 
 fournir a cette premiere 20,000 hommes. Que tout seroit
 
 376 UNFULFILLED ENGAGEMENTS. 
 
 pret au 15 juillet. Ce papier a dii etre signd par 1'Empereur 
 et le Comte d'Artois. On doute de son authenticite. 
 
 10. What engagements have been entered into, or rather 
 what promises have been made by the King of Sardinia ? 
 
 D'agir avec 20,000 hommes, des que 1'Espagne et 1'Empe- 
 reur agiroient, et a la requisition du Eoi de France. 
 
 11. What engagements have been made by the Swiss 
 Cantons ? 
 
 De fournir 30 a 40,000 hommes, et un emprunt de 40 a 
 50 millions ; mais a la requisition seule du Eoi, lorsqu'il 
 seroit en liberte. 
 
 12. Now that the King has attempted to quit Paris, that 
 lie has been arrested, carried back, and is in confinement, 
 will those promises or engagements above mentioned be 
 observed ? 
 
 La nouvelle captivite du Eoi ayant absolument change la 
 face des affaires, on ne peut plus repondre de la bonne volonte 
 des differentes Puissances, qui toutes etoient disposees a 
 agir a la reclamation du Eoi; et -c'est a s'assurer de leurs 
 sentimens actuels qu'il faut travailler. 
 
 13. And, if it may still be permitted to ask, what is 
 the aid that will be granted by His Majesty the King of 
 Sweden ? 
 
 L'envoi de 16 a 17,000 hommes, et ses bons offices aupres 
 de I'lmperatrice de Eussie pour y joindre 10 a 12,000 hommes 
 de ses troupes ; mais il lui faut pour cela de 1'argent, dont il 
 manque absolument. 
 
 14. What was the date and purport of the letter from the 
 Baron de Breteuil, that gave so much offence to the Count 
 d'Artois ? 
 
 Du mois de juin ; ou il lui transmet, de la maniere la 
 plus respectueuse, les ordres precis du Eoi, de ne pas aller a 
 Worms, mais de se rendre a Turin pour entretenir le Eoi de 
 Sardaigne dans les bonnes dispositions qu'il avoit temoignees, 
 et de rassembler et diriger tous les Eoyalistes des provinces 
 meridionales, et diriger les operations des armees espagnoles 
 et sardes. 
 
 I* 
 
 ^ ' 
 
 rl
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Adair, Sir Robert, at St. Petersburg, 
 and specially noticed by Cathe- 
 rine II., 150. 
 
 Addingtou, Right Hon. Henry, after- 
 wards Lord Sidmouth, elected 
 Speaker, 1'28. 
 
 Algerine corsairs, 241, 242. 
 
 American vanity, 222, 223 American 
 English, 244 American exaggera- 
 tion, 247 dislike to England, 248, 
 249 cost of living in America, 268, 
 269 reception of Dr. Priestley, 270. 
 
 Auckland, Lord, as Mr. Eden, nego- 
 tiates Treaty of Commerce with 
 France, 76 his antecedents, ib. 
 his character, 77, 152, 153 the four 
 couriers, 155 letter from J. B. B. 
 on Ockzakow question, 160-162 
 letter from J. B. B. on National 
 Dignity, 163, 164 lukewarmness of 
 the Dutch, 165 offended by Mr. 
 Ewart, 173 thrown over by Lord 
 Granville, 174 displaces Ewart, 
 181 letter to Sir M. Eden, *. 
 from J. B. B. on condition of Paris, 
 207, 208 sends J. B. B. a supply of 
 herrings, 208 letter from J. B. B. 
 on Lord Tliurlow s dismission, 225, 
 226 and on Government organs, 
 228, 229. 
 
 Augustus Frederick, H.R.H. Prince, 
 his entanglement, 185 marriage, 
 186 marriage annulled, 187 re- 
 commended by J. B. B. to Sir W. 
 Hamilton, 190, 191 watched by Sir 
 W. Hamilton, 191-196 his indis- 
 position, 193, 194 suicide of his 
 physician, 194 entangled with Lady 
 Augusta Murray, 285. 
 
 'Auld Robin Gray,' origin of, 327. 
 
 BRODIE. 
 
 B. 
 
 Balcarres, Lord, letter from, 334. 
 
 Baltimore, riot at, 248. 
 
 Barnard. Lady Anne, joint-autlioress 
 of ' Auld Robin Gray,' 327 letter 
 from James Head, Brussels to Paris, 
 344, 345. 
 
 Bayntum, C. L., his ancestor Knight 
 Mareschall to Henry III., 292, 293. 
 
 Bellamy, John, assisted by Sir J. B. B., 
 313, 348. 
 
 Beloe, William, describes Sir J. B. B. 
 in the ' Sexagenarian,' 348. 
 
 Bernstorff, Danish Minister, 151 an- 
 noyed by Mr. Hailes, 250, 251. 
 
 Birmingham, riots in, 179. 
 
 Bland, General, Commander-in-Chief 
 of H.M.'s forces in Scotland, pacifies 
 the Highlands, 3, 4 Governor of 
 Gibraltar, witli Mr. G. Surges as 
 private secretary, 14 suppresses 
 abuses at Gibraltar, 15 returns to 
 England, 16. 
 
 Booth by, " Prince," his misadventure, 
 154. 
 
 Bowdler, Thos., King's visit to Spit- 
 head ; French prizes, 255, 256. 
 
 Braithwaite, Capt. G. C., taken by the 
 French and ill-treated, 245-247. 
 
 Braithwaite, Major-General Sir John, 
 intercedes for J. B. B. with his 
 father, 55 early life, 212, 213 
 taken prisoner by Tippoo Sahib, 214 
 letters to J. B. B. on amalgama- 
 tion of Royal and Company's armies, 
 and on the transfer of India to the 
 Crown, 215-218 captures Pondi- 
 cherry, 218 takes command of 
 Madras army, 219 his death, ib. 
 
 Brodie, Sir W. D., letters to J. B. B. 
 on Algerine corsairs, 241, 242
 
 378 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 complains of Lord St. Helens, 242, 
 243. 
 
 Brussels, after Waterloo, 341-344 
 from Brussels to Paris, 344, 345. 
 
 Buckingham, Marquis of. See Temple, 
 Lord. 
 
 Buffoons, interacting, 346-348. 
 
 Bukatij, Polish Envoy, 152, 199. 
 
 Burges, George, father of Sir J. B. 
 Surges, 2 at Culloden, 3 A.D.C. 
 to General Bland, ib. paper on 
 Scotland, ib. attachment to LorJ 
 Somerville's daughter, 13 romantic 
 marriage, 14, 15 General Eland's 
 secretary at Gibraltar, 15 rejoined 
 by his wife, 16 birth of a son, 17 
 retires from the army, ib. opposes 
 General Fowke's corrupt practices, 
 18, 19 birth of a daughter, 18 
 returns to England, ib. at Gibraltar, 
 19 exposes malpractices of Gover- 
 nor and officers, ib. appointed prize 
 agent, 20 quits Gibraltar, ib. 
 receives two appointments in Scot- 
 land, 21 complimented by the Prime 
 Minister, ib. at Tunbridge Wells, 
 ib. Commissioner of Excise, ib. 
 enters his son at the Temple, 46 
 consults Lord Camden, 49 pro- 
 motes his son's marriage, 55 meets 
 Gibbon at his son's table, 60 ad- 
 mires Warren Hastings, 92 his 
 death, ib. 
 
 Burges, Mrs. George, her family, 13 
 her romantic marriage, 14, 15 her 
 unhappy situation, 16 rejoins her 
 husband, ib. birth of a son, 17 
 birth of a daughter, 18 of a second 
 daughter, 22 removes to London, 
 23. 
 
 Burges, James, eccentric character, 2. 
 
 Burges, J. B., derivation of name, 1 
 founder of English family, ib. Lt- 
 Col. Burges iu the Civil Wars, 2 
 immediate ancestors of J. B. Burges : 
 his father, 2-4 his mother, 13 
 their marriage, 14, 15 his birth, 17 
 his education, 21, 22 Westminster 
 School, 23 University College, Ox- 
 ford, ik. his tutor and fellow- 
 students, 23, 24 trip to France, 24- 
 32 returns to Oxford, 32 his 
 second tour, 35-42 private audience 
 of Pope Clement XIV., 40-42 his 
 character, 43, 44 ball-room ad- 
 venture at Bath, 45, 46 entered at 
 
 the Temple, 46, 47 life as a law 
 student, 47, 48, 52 differs from 
 Lord Camden as to Special Pleaders, 
 49, 50 -posts from Bath to London, 
 52, 53 storm-staid at Marlborough 
 and Hunserford, 53 wooes and wins 
 Hon. Elizabeth Noel, 54-56 a 
 widower, 57 his second marriage, 
 ib. acquaintance with Pitt, 58 
 entertains Gibbon and Pitt, 59-61 
 friendship with Marquis of Carmar- 
 then, 63 declines post of Minister 
 at Warsaw, ib. conveys to Pitt Mr. 
 Lamb's outline of the Sinking Fund, 
 68-70 proves the Mutiny Bill to be 
 not a Money Bill, 71-74 rescues 
 Pitt's Ministry, 74 electioneering 
 troubles, 74, 75 returned for Hel- 
 ston, 75 prepares a speech for Lord 
 Carmarthen, 78 disappointment, 
 79 becomes a partisan of Hastings, 
 81 rises to answer Sheridan, 82 
 House refuses to hear him, 82-84 
 divides the House against Pitt, 84- 
 85 intimacy with Hastings, 93-96 
 prevents duel between General 
 Caillaud and Burke, 98 describes 
 scene in House of Commons, 99, 100 
 moves for Bill of Co.^ts on the 
 Hastings trial, 100-105 skirmish 
 with Sheridan, 100, 101 squabble 
 with Burke, 101, 102 mentioned in 
 the ' Rolliad,' 103 his tactical 
 error, 103, 104 misrepresented, 104 
 attacked by Burke, 104, 105 
 noticed by the King at the leve'e, 106, 
 107 visit to Lord Carmarthen at 
 Hendon, 108 interests himself in 
 mitigating the horrors of the Middle 
 Passage, 109 inspects two slave 
 ships, 110 takes up the grievances 
 of imprisoned debtors, 110, 111 
 opposed by Thurlow, 111-113 
 writing on the pavement, 119 
 describes the Thanksgiving Service 
 in St. Paul's Cathedral, 121 Duke 
 of York's duel, 122 severe winter, 
 125 joins the Constitutional Club, 
 126 its uniform, ib. expects much 
 from W. W. Grenville as Speaker, 128 
 contributes 1000 to payment of 
 Pitt's debts, 129 publishes a pam- 
 phlet, ib. appointed Under Secre- 
 tary of State, Foreign Affairs, 130 
 introduces reforms approved by the 
 King, 131, 132 maintains rights of
 
 INDEX. 
 
 379 
 
 the department, 133 negotiates 
 commercial convention with Naples, 
 133, 134 settles Honduras question, 
 135 influenced by Sundersberg, ib. 
 Nootka Sound, 141 letter to 
 Alleyne Fitzherbert, 142 Congress 
 of Reichenbach, ib. offers to retire 
 on resignation of Duke of Leeds, 149 
 pressed to remain in office, ib. 
 friendly, relations with Stanislaus 
 Augustus, 152 correspondence with 
 Lord Auckland, 152-154 " Prince " 
 Boothby, 154 bon mot, 155 in- 
 terested for Mr. John Walter, 156- 
 159 letter to Lord Auckland ex- 
 plaining the Ockzakow question, 
 160-162 lectures Lord Auckland on 
 National Dignity, 163-164, and on 
 lukewarnmess of the Dutch, 165 
 unseated for Helston, 170 letter to 
 Miss Surges on Lord Grenville, and 
 health of Prince of Wales, 170, 171 
 letter to Mr. Ewart on Lord Gren- 
 ville, 171, 172 renders a service to 
 Mr. F. J. Jackson, 172 counsels 
 Ewart to keep his temper, 173 
 describes Mr. Adair, 174 Mr. Pitt 
 and Lord Grenville, ib. his own 
 position, 175 writes to Lord Auck- 
 land and Mr. Moore on tranquillity 
 of London, 180 Stuart Papers, 183 
 Conference at Pilnitz, ib. Treaty 
 of Pilnitz, 184 Royal misalliances, 
 185 letter to Lord St. Helens on 
 Commercial Treaty with Spain, 189, 
 190 correspondence with Sir Wm. 
 Hamilton respecting Prince Au- 
 gustus Frederick, 190-196 letters to 
 E. Thornton, 197-199 to Mrs. 
 Burges on present from Stanislaus 
 Augustus, 199 to Miss Burges on 
 music, 199-201 letter from E. 
 Thornton, character of Washington, 
 201, 202 the Dagger Scene, 203, 
 204 letter from F. Moore on the 
 Flight to Varennes, 204, 205 to 
 Lord Grenville on massacre of the 
 Swiss, 206, 207 to Lord Auckland 
 on Lady Sutherland's courage, 208 
 to Lord Grenville on Lord Grower's 
 return from Paris, 209 and on 
 murder of Princesse de Lmbnlle, 210 
 letter to Colonel Simcoe on Parlia- 
 mentary Reform Association, 220 - 
 township in Upper Canada named 
 after him, 221 letter from E. Thorn- 
 
 ton on American vanity, 222, 223 
 and on American English, 224 
 letter to Lord Auckland on Thurlow's 
 dismission, 225, 226 to Charles Long 
 on Mr. Walter and the Sun, 226, 
 227 from George Hummond on 
 Princes' Bond, 228 to Lord Auck- 
 land on Government organs, 228, 229 
 from Mdme. Du Barry, 230 from 
 E. Thornton; re-election of George 
 Washington, 231 Jefferson's heroes, 
 232 letter to Colonel Simcoe, asking 
 for allotment (refused), 233 suicide 
 of Neapolitan Ambassador, 234 
 four letters from Sir Wm. Hamilton 
 on presentation snuff-boxes, 235-237 
 letter to Mrs. Burges on King's 
 conversation with M. De Luc, 237, 
 238 from Sir G. L. Staunton on 
 China and the Chinese, 239, 240 
 from Sir W. D. Brodie on Algerine 
 corsairs, 241, 242, and on Lord St. 
 Helena's neglect, 242, 243 to Mr. 
 Nares, postal proverbs, 243, 244 
 from Stanislaus Augustus, 244 two 
 letters from Capt. Braitliwaite, taken 
 by the French and ill-treated, 245- 
 247 from G. Hammond, American 
 exaggeration, 247 from E. Thorn- 
 ton, riot at Baltimore, danger to 
 West Indies, 248, 249 from Lord 
 St. Helens, scandal at Florence, 250 
 to Lord St. Helens, misconduct 
 of Mr. Hailes, 251 from F. Daniel, 
 French Emigre's, 252 to Mrs. Bur- 
 ges, King's favourable notice, 252- 
 254 from James Craufurd, Jacob- 
 inism in Denmark, 254 from Thos. 
 Bowdler, Naval Review at Spithead, 
 255, 256 appointed Commissioner 
 Privy Seal, 257 at ease about him- 
 self, 259, 260 offered choice of 
 Copenhagen or Switzerland, 262, 263 
 letter from Mrs. Burges, strongly 
 opposed to either offer, 263-265 
 adopts his wife's sentiments, 265 
 declines both offers, 266 entertains 
 French refugees, 267, 268 letter 
 from J. M. Wagner < >n cost of living 
 in America, 268, 269 Dr. Priestley 
 in America, 270 letter to Mrs. 
 Burges, Duke of Leeds and the 
 King, 272, 273 epigrams on Duke 
 of Portland, 274 destruction of the 
 37th Regiment, 274, 275 letter to 
 Mrs. Burges, at the Play with the
 
 380 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Eoyal Family, 276 letter to Mrs. 
 Surges, noticed by Princess Eliza- 
 beth, 277 recall of Duke of York, 
 ib. inhumanity of the Dutch, 278 
 unhappiness of Royal Family, 278- 
 280 letter to Mrs. Surges, inter- 
 view with Prince of Wales at 
 Carlton House, 281-283 letters from 
 Lady Elgin, 284 letters to Mrs. 
 Surges on rioting in London, 286, 
 287 diamond snuff-box from Cathe- 
 rine II., 288 letter from Miss Sur- 
 ges, 289 Mr. Goddard's indiscretion, 
 290 retires from public service, as a 
 Baronet and Knight Marshal, 292 
 letter from Mr. Bayntum, ib. letter 
 from Sir I. Heard, "293 ' Birth and 
 Triumph of Love,' 294-299 letter to 
 Miss Surges, explaining origin of 
 the poem, 295 poetical petition from 
 his children, 296 letter from Lady 
 Elgin, reception of poem at Court, 
 296-298 declines seat in Parlia- 
 ment, 299 letter to Miss Burges, 
 describes wishes for the future, 299, 
 300 portrait engraved, 300 asserts 
 dignity of his office, 301 writes a 
 little piece by Queen's command, ib. 
 letter to Lady Burges, interview 
 with King in Riding House, 302- 
 304 raises corps of volunteers, 306 
 publishes ' Richard Cceur de Lion,' 
 306, 307 letter from Wordsworth, 
 308 friendship of Richard Cumber- 
 land, 308-312 dramatic pieces, 309 
 'The Exodiad,' 311 the Club, 
 312 'The Dragon Knight,' 313 
 pamphlets, ib. distrusts Cobbett, 
 314 kindly acts, ib. letter on the 
 Installation from J. W. Croker, 315 
 from G. Chalmers, 316 from Wm. 
 Cruchley, the Burdett riots, 316, 317 
 death of Lady Burges, 318 letter 
 to J. W. Croker on Wm. Pitt, 318- 
 321 death of R. Cumberland, 321 
 heroic death of his son Wentworth, 
 321, 322 letter from J. W. Croker, 
 Lord G. Sackvilleas Junius,' 323 
 anecilcte of Lord Wellington, 324, 
 325 romantic love passage, 326 
 'Auld Robin Gray,' 327 letter to 
 Lady M. Fordyce, 327-329 letter to 
 Miss Burges, 329-331 from F. B. 
 Head, Zante and the Morea, 333, 
 334 death of Lady M. Burges, 334 
 letter of condolence from Lady Ch. 
 
 Lindsay, 335, 336 two letters from 
 Lady Milbanke, Lord Byron, 338, 
 339 marriage of eldest son, 339 
 his son, Capt. Somerville Burges 
 wounded at Waterloo, 340 proceeds 
 to Brussels, 340, 341 letter from F. 
 B. Head, entry of Louis XVIII. into 
 Paris, 341-343 presents his dramas 
 to Talma, 345 on Interacting Buf- 
 foons, 346, 347 described in Beloe's 
 ' Sexagenarian,' 348 defends Bel- 
 lamy, ib. succeeds to name and 
 property of Mr. J. Lamb, 350 con- 
 gratulations, 351, 352 letter from 
 James Head, incident at Whampoa, 
 352, 353 from F. B. Head, prepara- 
 tions for a pageant, 354, 355 his 
 death, 355 his children and grand- 
 children, ib. 
 
 Burges, Lady, her marriage, 57 letter 
 from J. B. B., 99 ditto, 154 ditto, 
 199 ditto, on King's conversation 
 with De Luc, 237, 238 ditto, on 
 King's complimentary conversation 
 with J. B. B., 252-254 letter from 
 J. B. B., secure of his position, 259, 
 260 letter from J. B. B., Duke of 
 Leeds and the King, 271-273 
 epigrams on Duke of Portland, 274 
 letter from J. B. B. on the Play, 
 276 letter from J. B. B., on Princess 
 Elizabeth, 277 Duke of York re- 
 called, ib. inhumanity of tlie Dutch, 
 278 unhappiness of Royal Family, 
 278-280 letter from J. B. B., inter- 
 view with Prince of Wales at Carl- 
 ton House, 281-283 letters from 
 J. B. B., rioting in London, 287 
 snuff-box from Catherine II., 288 
 letter from Sir J. B. B., interview 
 with King in Riding House, 302-304 
 death of Lady Burges, 318. 
 
 Burges, Lady Margaret. See Fordyce, 
 Lady M. 
 
 Burges, Mary Anne, her birth, 22 
 letter from J. B. Burges, 170 ditto, 
 on music, 199-201 a free transla- 
 tion, 289 sketch of her character, 
 289 letter from Sir J. B. B., ex- 
 plaining origin of his poem, 295 
 success of the poem, 298 letter from 
 Sir J. B. B. on his future life, 299, 
 300 declines seat in Parliament for 
 her brother, 299 letter from Sir 
 J. B. B., captain of volunteers, 306 
 ditto, Lady M. Burges, 329-331.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 381 
 
 Burges, Capt. S. W., wounded at 
 Waterloo, 340 visited by father and 
 sisters, 340, 341 narrow escape, 343. 
 
 Surges, Wentworth Noel, killed at 
 Burgos, 321, 322. 
 
 Burke, Eight Hon. Edmund, scofi's at 
 J. B. Burges's self-possession, 84 
 squabble with J. B. B., 101 angry 
 words with Pitt, 102 attacks 
 J. B. B., 104, 105 slighted by Pitt, 
 118 active in promoting the Re- 
 gency Bill, ib. secession from Whigs, 
 176 ' Reflections on the French Ee- 
 volution,' ib. the dagger scene, 
 203, 204. 
 
 Byron, Lord, betrothed, 338 his 
 domesticity, 339. 
 
 C. 
 
 Camden, Lord, his opinion on special 
 pleaders, 49 rudeness to J. B. Bur- 
 ges, 51. 
 
 Canada, divided into Upper and Lower, 
 219 Colonel Simcoe on Upper Can- 
 ada, 221. 
 
 Carlton House, 281, 282. 
 
 Carmarthen, Marquis of, afterwards 
 Duke of Leeds, his character, 61-63 
 obtains for J. B. B. offer of dip- 
 lomatic appointment at Warsaw, 63 
 pays court to Pitt, ib. in the Min- 
 istry, 66 speech prepared for him 
 by J. B. B., 78, 79 not delivered, 79 
 visited by J. B. B. at Hendon, 108 
 see Leeds (Duke of). 
 
 Catalani, Mme., at Bath, 352. 
 
 Catherine II., Empress of Russia, her 
 projects, 147, 148 threatened by 
 Pitt, 148 change of policy of British 
 Government, 150 shows special fa- 
 vour to Mr. Adair, ib. places but 
 of Fox in post of honour, 150, 151 
 displaces it, 151 dominates Stanis- 
 laus Augustus, 152, 153 the Ockza- 
 kow question, 160-162 sends dia- 
 mond snuff-box to J. B. B., 288. 
 
 Chalmers, George, author of ' Cale- 
 donia,' 3, 316. 
 
 Charlotte, Queen, supposed to favour 
 Colonel Lennox, 124, 125 severe to 
 her daughters, 279, 280 pleased 
 with ' Birth and Triumph of Love,' 
 297 commands "a surprise" from 
 SirJ. B. B., 301. 
 
 Chatham, Earl of, his incapacity for 
 public affairs, 259. 
 
 China and the Chinese, 239, 240, 352, 
 353 
 
 Club, the, 312. 
 
 Cobbett, William, assisted by Wind- 
 ham, disliked by Sir J. B. B., 314. 
 
 Congress of BeichenbacLi, 142-144 of 
 Sistova, 151. 
 
 Constitutional Club, its law of existence 
 and uniform, 126. 
 
 Cornwall, Mr. Speaker, Ids death, 127 
 evil-spoken of by J. B. B., 128. 
 
 Craufuril, James, Jacobinism in Den- 
 mark, 254. 
 
 Craufurd, Quentin, Appendix C, 364- 
 376. 
 
 Croker. Eight Hon. J. W., letter on 
 the Installation. 315 letter to, on 
 Life of Pitt, 318-321 inquiries 
 about Lord G. Sackville, 323. 
 
 Cruchley, Wm., the Burdett riots, 
 316,317, 322. 
 
 Cumberland, H.R.H. Duke of, sup- 
 presses rebellion in Scotland, 12, 13. 
 
 Cumberland, H.E.H. Duke of, his 
 speech, 121-122 misalliance, 185. 
 
 Cumberland, Eichard, friendship for 
 Sir J. B. B., 308-312 admires 'Eich- 
 ard Cceur de Lion,' 309, 310 eulo- 
 gises Sir J. B. B., 310' The Exo- 
 diad,' 311 the unknown club, 312 
 death of, 321. 
 
 Curgenven, Mr., Bust Indian mer- 
 chant, 7 captured by Angria, 8 
 works as a galley slave, ib. release 
 and death, ib. 
 
 Cutunio, Dr., attends Prince Augus- 
 tus Frederick, 194, 195. 
 
 D. 
 
 Daniel, F., letter to J. B. B., French 
 Emigre's, 252. 
 
 De Luc, repeats conversation with 
 King on J. B. Surges, 237, 238. 
 
 Dolben, Sir William, storm-staid at 
 Marlborough and Hungertbrd, 52, 53 
 seconds J. B. Burges's motion, 100 
 exerts himself to mitigate the 
 horrors of the Middle Passage, 109 
 inspects two slave ships, 110. 
 
 Du Barry, Mme. de, her last letter (?), 
 230. 
 
 Dundas, Eight Hon. Henry, afterwards 
 Lord Melville, colleague of Pitt, 68
 
 382 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 prejudices Pitt against Hastings, 
 81 his antecedents, 85-87 his mo- 
 tive for attacking Hastings, 88, 89 
 his cynicism, 91 succeeds Lord 
 Grenville, 149. 
 ' Dying Negro, The,' 201. 
 
 E. 
 
 Eden, Sir Morton, afterwards Lord 
 Henley, succeeds to Ewart at Ber- 
 lin, 181. 
 
 Eden, William. See Auckland, Lord. 
 
 Edinburgh, preparing for George IV., 
 354, 355. 
 
 Edward, Prince, H.R.H., Duke of 
 Kent, reproves Cagliostro, 108. 
 
 Elgin, Lady, appropriates herrings, 208 
 invites J. B. B. to royal box at 
 Covent Garden Theatre, 276 con- 
 sults J. B. B. as to band for High- 
 land regiment, 284 New Year's 
 greeting, ib. letter to Sir J. B. B., 
 reception of poem at Court, 296-298. 
 
 Elizabeth, Princess, "the muse," 277 
 unhappy, 279 -designs the ' Birth 
 and Triumph of Love,' 294-299 
 admires Sir J. B. B.'s poem, 296, 297 
 letter to Lady Elgin, 298. 
 
 Elliot, Sir Gilbert, Bart, (afterwards 
 Lord Minto), describes scene in 
 House of Commons, 82. 83 sketch 
 of his career, 99 describes the 
 thanksgiving scene in St. Paul's 
 Cathedral, 121 account of the 
 Duke of York's duel, 124, 125 can- 
 didate for Speakership, 127, 128 
 returned for Helston, 170 describes 
 Lady Hamilton, 188. 
 
 Emigre's, French, 252, 267, 268. 
 
 Erskine, Sir Thomas, afterwards Lord, 
 correspondence with, respecting Mr. 
 John Walter, 155-159. 
 
 Ewart, Joseph, British Plenipoten- 
 tiary at Eeichenbach, 145 his cha- 
 racter and career, 145, 146 letter 
 on Lord Grenville, from J. B. B., 
 171, 172 offends Lord Auckland, 
 173 wisely advised by J. B. B., 
 173, 174 letter from J. B. B. on 
 Mr. Adair, 174 on Pitt and Gren- 
 ville, ib. and on his own position, 
 175 recalled from Berlin, 181 
 offends Lord Auckland, ib. letter 
 to Lord Grenville, 182, 183. 
 
 Exodiad, The,' 311. 
 
 GEORGE. 
 
 F. 
 
 Farnborough, Lord. See Long, Charles. 
 
 Fawkener, William, ambassador to 
 Catherine II., and slighted by her, 
 150. 
 
 Fersen, or Ferzen, Count de, the flight 
 to Varennes, Appendix C., 364-376. 
 
 Fitzherbert, Alleyne, afterwards Lord 
 St. Helens, Minister in Spain, 141 
 settles the Nootka Sound affair, 141 
 letter from J. B. B., 142-144 
 letter from J. B. B., touching com- 
 mercial treaty with Spain, 189, 190 
 official negligence, 242, 243 letter 
 to J. B. B., Mr. Windham's miscon- 
 duct. 250 from J. B. B., Mr. Hailes's 
 misconduct, 251 inhumanity of the 
 Dutch, 278. 
 
 Fordyce, Lady Margaret, romantic love 
 passage, 326, 327 letter from Sir 
 J. B. B., 327-329 letter to Lady E. 
 Hardwicke, 331 to a cousin, 322 
 her death, 324 letter from Lady 
 Ch. Lindsay, 335, 336. 
 
 Fowke, General, Governor of Gibraltar, 
 18 corrupt practices exposed by 
 Mr. G. Burges, 19 brought to 
 court martial, ib. dismissed the 
 service, 20 his death, ib. 
 
 Fox, Right Hon. C. J., dismissed by 
 the King, 64, 65 baffled by J. B. B., 
 74. 
 
 Frederick William II., King of Prussia, 
 his ambition, 142-144, 148 marriage 
 of his daughter, 181. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gardiner, Colonel, Minister at Brus- 
 sels, 140. 
 
 George III., partiality to Lord Howe, 
 66 dislike to Dundas, 88 favours 
 Hastings, 88, 89 notices J. B. B. at 
 the levee, 106 " prettiest spot in 
 the island," 107 disapproves the 
 conduct of " the managers," ib. his 
 insanity, 113-115 attended by Dr. 
 Willis, ib. his wet-nurse, 119 his 
 recovery, 120 public thanksgiving 
 in St. Paul's Cathedral, 120, 121 
 praises J. B. B. to Mr. De Luc, 237, 
 238 particularly notices J. B. B., 
 253 strengthened by Windham's 
 adhesion, 261 ridicules the Duke of
 
 INDEX. 
 
 383 
 
 Leeds, 273 unhappy in his family, 
 278 bilious attack, 297. 
 
 George IV., preparations for entry into 
 Edinburgh, 354, 355. 
 
 Gibbon, Edward, dines with J. B. B., 
 59 his conversation, 60 angered 
 by Pitt, 61 eulogises Pitt, 66. 
 
 Glencoe, massacre of, appendix A, 357, 
 358. 
 
 Gloucester, H.K.H. Duke of, mis- 
 alliance, 185. 
 
 Gordon, Duchess of, in Westminster 
 Hall, 9t> sifter to Lady Wallace, 97. 
 
 Grenville, Hon. W. W., afterwards 
 Lord Grenville, colleague of Pitt, 68 
 elected Speaker, 128 appointed 
 Secretary of State, ib. thwarts 
 anti-Russian policy of Pitt, 1-48 
 succeeds to Foreign Office, 149 
 commended by J. B. B., 170, 171, 172 
 and by Sir G. Elliot, 171 letter 
 from J. Ewart, 182 Ranger of Hyde 
 and St. James's Parks, 198 letter 
 from J. B. B. on the massacre of the 
 Swiss, 206, 207 condition of Paris, 
 209 takes a leading part, 225, 226 
 offers diplomatic employment to 
 J. B. B., 226, 263 excites anger of 
 Mrs. Surges, 263-165 Mr. God- 
 dard's indiscretion, 290. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hailes, a diplomatic failure, 250, 251 
 foolish suggestion, 254. 
 
 Hamilton, Lady Archibald, the wet- 
 nurse scandal, 119 described by 
 Lord Shelburne, 120. 
 
 Hamilton, Gerard, commonly called 
 " Single Speech," receives many fa- 
 vours from Pitt, 116 goes over to 
 the Opposition, ib. 
 
 Hamilton, Sir William, marries Emtna 
 Hart, 187 correspondence with 
 J. B. B., touching Prince Augustus 
 Frederick, 190-196 four letters to 
 J. B. B., on presentation of snuff- 
 boxes, 235-237 letter to J. B. B., 
 anxious about Prince Augustus, 285. 
 
 Hamilton, Lady, her antecedents, 
 187-189. 
 
 Hammond, George, his letter on the 
 state of affairs in [Paris, 166-169 
 Minister at Philadelphia, 197 
 Princes' bond for 100,000, 228 
 American exaggeration, 247. 
 
 JENKINSON. 
 
 Hanstein, Baron, in attendance on 
 Prince Augustus Frederick, 192, 193. 
 
 Hardinge, George, 103. 
 
 Hardwicke, Lady Elizabeth, joint 
 authoress of ' Auld Robin Gray,' 
 327 letter from Lady M. Fordyce, 
 331. 
 
 Harris, Sir James, characterised by 
 Mirabeau, 141. See Malmesbury 
 (Lord). 
 
 Hastings, Warren, Right Hon., de- 
 serted by Pitt, 80 championed by 
 J. B. B., 81-85 Lord Siielburne's 
 opinion, 81 attacked by Sheridan, 
 82 by Pitt, 84 jealousy of Dundas 
 and Pitt, 88-90 names of the ' man- 
 agers,' 91 interview with J. B. B., 
 92 his magnanimity, 94 his be- 
 nevolence, ib. " This, too, will 
 pass," 95 the Indian king and his 
 favourites, ib. accepts ' Rusetta,' 
 96 opinion of Indian histories, 98- 
 99 expenses of the trial, 103. 
 
 Hawkesbury, Lord. See Jenkinson 
 (Charles)" 
 
 Head, Mrs. Francis Anne, her birth, 
 18 her education, 21, 22 her hus- 
 band and sons, 332. 333. 
 
 Head, Francis Bond, Sir, letter to 
 Sir J. B. B., Zante and the Morea, 
 332-334 entry of Louis XVIII. into 
 Paris, 341-343 letter to Sir J. B. B. 
 from Edinburgh, 354, 355. 
 
 Head, James, from Brussels to Paris, 
 344, 345 a Chinese ' difficulty,' 352, 
 353. 
 
 Heard, Sir Isaac, Garter King-at- 
 Arms, 223 letter to J. B. B., from 
 Daylesford House, 293. 
 
 Henley, Lord. See Eden (Sir Morton). 
 
 Herbert, General Governor of Gib- 
 raltar, 16 re-called, 18. 
 
 Holroyd, Colonel, afterwards Lord 
 Sheffield, Lord G. Gordon riots, 58- 
 60. 
 
 Howe, Admiral Lord, loved by the 
 King, disliked by the nation, 66 
 victory of First of June, 255, 256. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jackson, F. J., Charge d'affaires at 
 Berlin, 172. 
 
 Jenkinson, Right Hon. Charles, after- 
 wards Lord Hawkesbury and first 
 Earl of Liverpool, colleague of Pitt,
 
 384 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 JENKINSON. 
 
 68 presides over Board of Trade, 
 133 liis character, 134 courteous 
 to J. B. B., 134. 
 
 Jenkinson, R. B., son to the above, 
 261. 
 
 Jchnstone, Sir James, called Johnson 
 by J. B. Burges, 99 creates a scene 
 in the House of Commons, 99, 100. 
 
 Joseph II., Emperor of Austria, op- 
 presses the Netherlands, 135, 136 
 provokes insurrection, 136 dies, ib. 
 
 K. 
 
 ' Kniglit, The Dragon,' 313. 
 
 Knight Marshal, 292, 293 -bearing his 
 baton, 301 Knight Marshal's vo- 
 lunteers, 306 on active service, 317. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lamb, Sir C. M., his marriage, 339. 
 
 Lamb, Sir James. See Burges, J. B. 
 
 Lamb, Mr. John, origin and career, 48 
 suggests the Sinking Fund, 68-70 
 approves the Constitutional Club, 
 126 his death, 305. 
 
 Lamballe, Princesse de, 210. 
 
 Leeds, Duke of (see Carmarthen, Mar- 
 quis of), Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs, 130 appoints 
 J. B. B. Under-Secretary, ib. his 
 indolence, 133 resigns the Foreign 
 Office, 146 county in Upper Canada 
 named after him, 221 distrusted by 
 George III., 238 offers himself to 
 the King as Prime Minister, 272 
 exposed by the King, 273 ridiculed 
 by George III., 303, 304. 
 
 Lennox, Colonel, afterwards Duke of 
 Richmond, his duel with the Duke 
 of York, 122-125 duel with Theo- 
 philus Swift, 123. 
 
 Leopold II., Emperor of Austria, grants 
 amnesty to Netherlands, 137 pacific, 
 147. 
 
 Lindsay, Lady Ch., letter of con- 
 dolence. 335, 336. 
 
 Lindsay, Mr., spirited conduct, 211. 
 
 London, tranquillity of, 180 rioting 
 in, 286, 287. 
 
 Long, Charles, Secretary to the Trea- 
 sury, letter from J. B. B. on Mr. 
 Walter and the Sun, 226, 227. 
 
 'Love, Birth and Triumph of, 294- 
 299. 
 
 M. 
 
 Malmesbury, first Earl of, deserts Pitt, 
 116, 117 Lord St. Helens, 141 
 Duke of Leeds, 149, 150 Sir Wm. 
 Hamilton, 187, 188. 
 
 Marriage Act, Royal, 185. 
 
 Melville, Lord. See Dundas, Right 
 Hon. Henry. 
 
 Merci-Argeuteau, Count de, in London, 
 190 his death, ib. 
 
 Milbanke, Lady, her marriage, 56 
 two letters to Sir J. B. B., daughter's 
 betrothal and marriage to Lord 
 Byron, 338, 339. 
 
 Minto, Lord. See Elliot, Sir Gilbert. 
 
 Misalliances, Royal, 185. 
 
 Moore, Francis, letter from J. B. B. on 
 tranquillity of London, 180 to 
 J. B. B. on the Flight to Varennes, 
 204, 205. 
 
 Morea, the, 334. 
 
 Murray, Lady Augusta, fascinates 
 Prince Augustus Frederick, 185 
 her marriage, 186 annulled, 187 
 denounced by Sir Wm. Hamilton, 
 285. 
 
 Murray, Dr., his suicide, 194, 195. 
 
 Music, Mr. Burges on modern, 200. 
 
 Mutiny Bill, not a Money Bill, 71-74. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nares, the Rev. R., letter from J. B. B., 
 postal proverbs, 213, 244-349 letter 
 of congratulation, 351. 
 
 Nepean, Sir Evan, Bart., demands the 
 Seals from Lord North and Fox, 
 64, 65 Commissioner Privy Seal, 
 257 exerts himself during riots, 
 287. 
 
 Netherlands, Austrian, insurrection in, 
 136-140. 
 
 Newgate, condition of misdemeanants 
 in, 158. 
 
 Noel, Hon. Elizabeth, in the ball-room 
 at Bath, 46 her character, 54 
 loved by J. B. B., 54-56 their en- 
 gagement, 56 their marriage, ib. 
 her death, 57. 
 
 Nootka Sound affair, arranged by 
 Alleyne Fitzherbert, 141. 
 
 North, Lord, dismissed by the King, 
 64, 65.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 385 
 
 OCKZAKOW. 
 
 o. 
 
 Ockzakow, correspondence respecting, 
 
 160-162. 
 Oliphant, Mrs., her misrepresentation 
 
 of J. B. B., 104. 
 Orleans, Duke of, J. B. Burges's mot 
 
 on, 155 shocking cynicism, 210. 
 
 P. 
 
 Pantheon, destruction of, 199. 
 
 Paris, state of affairs in, 166-169, 206- 
 208, 209 massacre at the prisons, 
 210, 211 after Waterloo, 341-343, 
 345. 
 
 Peters, Sir John, British Consul at 
 Ostend, 139. 
 
 Pilnitz, Conference at, 183 Treaty of, 
 184 reference to Treaty, 320, 321. 
 
 Pitt, Right Hon. William, his first 
 acquaintance with J. B. B., 58 
 masters Gibbon in argument, 61 
 courted by Marquis of Carmarthen, 
 63 appointed Prime Minister, 65, 66 
 receives the outline of the Sinking 
 Fund from Mr. Lamb through 
 J. B. B., 68-70 deserts Warren 
 Hastings, 80 his motive, 80, 81 
 instigates J. B. B. to answer Sheri- 
 dan, 82-84 inveighs against Hast- 
 ings, 84 offended with J. B. B., 
 85 his character, 87 misled by 
 Dundas, 90 regrets his conduct, ib. 
 deserted by " Single - Speech '' 
 Hamilton, 116, and by Lord 
 Malmesbury, 117 indebtedness, 129 
 prepares for war against Russia, 
 148 thwarted by Lord Grenville, 
 148, 149 his despondency, 204 
 takes the Cinque Ports, 208 defer- 
 ence to Grenville, 225 widens his 
 Ministry, 258, 259 diminishes his 
 personal influence, 260, 261 George 
 III. ridicules offer of Duke of Leeds 
 to supersede Pitt, 273 at his post 
 during riots, 287 arranges J. B. B.'s 
 retirement, 291, 292 " review ar- 
 ticle" on Gifford's 'Life of Wm. 
 Pitt,' 318-321. 
 
 Portland, Duke of, joins Pitt's Minis- 
 try, 258, 259 epigrams, 274 neg- 
 lects office during riots, 287. 
 
 Postal Proverbs, 243, 244 
 
 Priestley, Dr., his house gutted, 179 
 in America, 270. 
 
 SOMEBVILLE. 
 
 Princess Royal, her unhappiuess, 280 
 
 her marriage, 301. 
 Publications, seditious, 177. 
 
 R. 
 
 Reichenbach, Congress of, 142, 143 
 
 Treaty of, 143, 144. 
 'Richard Cocur de Lion,' 306, 307 
 
 commended by Wordsworth, 308 
 
 praised by Cumberland, 309, 310. 
 ' Rolliad,' the, 102. 
 Royal Family, unhappiness of, 278- 
 
 280. 
 Rumbold, Sir Thomas, prosecution of, 
 
 breaks down, 86 Appendix B. 359- 
 
 363. 
 Ryder, M.P., colleague of J. B. Surges, 
 
 130 displeases the King, 132, 133. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sackville, Lord Geo., as ' Junius,' 323. 
 
 Scott, John, afterwards Lord Eldon, 
 at Oxford, 23 Attorney-General 
 attacked by Lord Thurlow, 186 his 
 retort, 187. 
 
 Scott, William, afterwards Ld. Stowell, 
 tutor at Oxford, 23. 
 
 Sheridan, Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley, 
 his first great speech against Hast- 
 ings, 82, 83 J. B. Surges rises to 
 answer him, 82-84 skirmish with 
 J. B. Surges, 100, 101 speech ou 
 the Oudh Begums, 103-10.1. 
 
 Sicignano, Duke of, Ambassador from 
 Naples, commits suicide, 234. 
 
 Simcoe, Col. J. G., first Governor of 
 Upper Canada, 220 letter from J. 
 B. B. on Parliamentary Reform As- 
 sociation, ib. names a township 
 after J. B. B., 221 refuses allot- 
 ment, 233. 
 
 Simpkin the Second, Letters of, extract 
 from, 106. 
 
 Sinking Fund, the, suggested by Mr. 
 John Lamb, 68-70. 
 
 Sistova, Congress of, 151. 
 
 Smelt, Mr., admires 'Birth and 
 Triumph of Love,' 297. 
 
 Somerville, Hugh, escapes to Inch- 
 Keith, 11. 
 
 Somerville, James, Lord, ancient family, 
 4 succeeds to a barren title, 5 
 repairs to London, ib. lodges at 
 Kensington, 6 his Sunday man- 
 
 2 c
 
 386 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 SOMEBVILLE. 
 
 ceuvre, ib. his claim allowed as 
 premier Baron of Scotland, ib. first 
 marriage, ib. second marriage, 7 
 his prosperity, 9, 10 supports the 
 House of Hanover in 1745, 10 
 energy of his eldest son, ib. younger 
 eon's escape to Inch-Keith, 11 
 house plundered by Highlanders, ib. 
 rebels attacked and routed by 
 villagers, 12 resides in Holy Eood 
 House, 13. 
 
 Somerville, Lady, her character, 8, 9 
 her diamonds, 11-13 keeps house 
 for H.K.H. the Duke of Cumberland, 
 and afterwards for General Bland, 
 13. 
 
 Somerville, William, the poet, 9 
 bequeaths his landed property to 
 Lord Somerville, ib. 
 
 Societies, Revolutionary, 177, 178. 
 
 Sontag, Captain, British Agent at 
 Brussels, 137, 138. 
 
 Spencer, Earl of, sent to Vienna, 257, 
 259. 
 
 St. Helens, Lord. See Fitzherbert, 
 Alleyne. 
 
 Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, 
 King of Poland, dominated by Ca- 
 therine II., 151 abdicates, 152 his 
 death, ib. on friendly terms with J. 
 B. B., ib. sends him two medallions, 
 199 letter to J. B. Surges, 244. 
 
 Staunton, Sir G. L., early life, 238 
 letter to J. B. B. on China and the 
 Chinese, 239, 240. 
 
 Stoode, Mrs. Chetham, table-talk, 352 
 Catalani at Bath, 352. 
 
 Stuart Papers, the, in the Scotch 
 College, Paris, 183. 
 
 Sun, the, started by Government, 227 
 recommended to Lord Auckland, 
 228. 
 
 Sundersberg, courier and confidential 
 agent, 135 his correspondence, 139, 
 140 inseparable neighbour, 300. 
 
 Sutherland, Lady, her intrepidity, 208. 
 
 Sydney, Lord, his character, 66, 67 
 " Lord Tommy " 67 his chin, ib. 
 
 T. 
 
 Temple, Lord, declines to form a 
 Ministry, 65 explains Treaty of 
 Commerce with France, 79. 
 
 Thirty-Seventh Eegiment destroyed, 
 274, 275. 
 
 WALTKB. 
 
 Thornton, Edward, Secretary to Mr. 
 Hammond, 197 letters from J.B.B., 
 197-199 character of General Wash- 
 ington, 201, 202 American vanity, 
 222, 223 Washington's pseudo-Re- 
 publicanism, 223, 224 American 
 English, 224 re-election of George 
 Washington, 231 Jefferson's heroes, 
 232 riot at Baltimore, 248 danger 
 to the West Indies, 248, 249 re- 
 commends Cobbett to Sir J. B. B., 
 314. 
 
 Thurlow, Lord Chancellor, in Oppo- 
 sition, 64 in Office, 66 favours 
 Hastings, 80 undermines J. B. 
 Burges's movement on behalf of 
 imprisoned debtors, 1 1 1-113 his 
 character, 111, 112 scene in the 
 House of Lords, 112 disconcerted 
 by Sir John Scott, 186, 187 ; dismis- 
 sal by Pitt, 225-226. 
 
 Town Talk, 197-199. 
 
 Townshend, Lord. See Sydney, Lord. 
 
 Treaty of Commerce with France, 76 
 of Commerce with Naples, 133, 134 
 of Reichenbai-h, 144 of Sistova, 
 151 of Pilnitz, 184. 
 
 V. 
 
 Valetta, plague at, 333. 
 
 Varennes, flight to, 204-5 Appendix 
 
 C., 364-376. 
 Vincent, Dr., Dean of Westminster, 
 
 charmed with ' Birth and Triumph 
 
 of Love,' 294, 295, 298. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wagner, J. M., coat of living in 
 America, 268, 269 Dr. Priestley in 
 America, 270. 
 
 Wales, H.R.H., Prince of, rumoured ill- 
 health, 170, 171 waited on by 
 J. B. B. with marriage papers, 281- 
 283. 
 
 Wallace, Lady, parentage, 97 eccen- 
 tricities, ib. produces 'Town, or 
 Follies of Fashion,' 97, 98 her 
 death, 97. 
 
 Walter, John, the printer, his letter 
 from Newgate, 157, 158 corre- 
 spondence respecting him, 156-159. 
 
 Walter, John, son of the above, com- 
 plains of official support of the $u, 
 226, 227.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 387 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Washington, General, sketched by E. 
 Thornton, 201, 202 liis pseudo- 
 Republicanism, 223, 224. 
 
 Wellington, Lord, anecdote of, 324, 325. 
 
 Wentworth, Lord, his daughter, 46 
 his death, ib. 
 
 Wentworth, Lord, his sister, 52 ; dis- 
 approves her attachment to J. B. B., 
 53 withdraws his opposition, 55, 56 
 gives her away, 56 appointed 
 Lord of the Bedchamber, 130. 
 
 Willis, the Rev. Dr., attends the King 
 in his insanity, 113-115. 
 
 Windham, Right Hon. W., at Oxford, 
 23 enters Pitt's Ministry, 258 his 
 force of character, 261. 
 
 Winter, severe, 125. 
 
 Wordsworth, William, letter from, 308. 
 
 Y. 
 
 York. Duchess of, 197, 198 sought by 
 
 Princess RoyaL 280. 
 York, H.R.H. Duke of, duel with 
 
 Colonel Lennox, 122-125 marriage, 
 
 181, 182 recalled, 277. 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zante, 333. 
 
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